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Kostov prayer letter – December 2004 www.kmission.netfirms.com
In this issue:
◦ Christmas
ministry in the other two orphanages (Photos!)
◦ Our visit to the US
◦ Teresa’s pregnancy
◦ Our
planned prophetic conference in Burgas, Varna and Silistra
Dear friends,
Thank you
all for your financial and spiritual support. We must tell you again that you
are a vital part of our ministry here with your love, with you prayers and your
monetary gifts! We’d like to share some of the highlights with you from the
past two months…here it goes!
New
orphanage work in Sigmen and New Winter Boots!
This year we have added
another aspect to our youth work - recruitment
and training. Our desire is to multiply the Father’s Heart (biweekly
meetings in orphanages, including VBS and Christmas outreaches) into State-run
orphanages throughout the country. In order for this to happen we need to find
co-laborers! Therefore, we are at present seeking to explain our work to youth
workers and volunteers in churches all through Bulgaria.
We are also asking them to
consider being trained and supported in replicating our model of
ministry in reaching out to these forgotten and highly vulnerable youth in
their communities. A couple from a church in Burgas (Black Sea), Peter and
Radka, responded to our invitation to be trained to effectively reach the youth
in an orphanage in Sigmen, a small village, with the love of the Father and the
truth of the gospel.
The youth in Sigmen are all under the age of 14 (60 kids in all) and
have been placed in the orphanage due to being “criminal offenders.” The
youngest kids are only 6 and 7 years of age! We have made two visits to the
orphanage as a team and have provided training and financial support to Peter
and Radka as they reach out to these youth and grow in relationship with them.
(Photos here!)
On December 4th we
held a short Christmas celebrations in which we taught the youth new songs,
played games, answered their questions about Jesus and gave them small
presents. We also provided each of the 60 children with new winter boots –
thanks to a very generous donation by some lovely Christian friends in Wales,
U.K.! The Director was so pleased to see good shoes on the kids’ feet, that he
threatened them with severe consequences if they sold their new winter boots
in order to buy cigarettes! The children looked beautiful with their new
shoes and were very appreciative of the love shown them.
Viktor and Yavor made two
visits to a small church in Varna – in the end of October and during our last
trip to Sigmen. These visits were part of our effort to build relationships
with Christians and leaders who are open to having our team visit and train the
church in the Biblical views of the prophetic ministry and the gifts of the
Spirit. God is showing us how great is the need for such training and
conferences. We presented the vision of our ministry and the message which God
has put on our hearts in our teaching of the Bible. We want to train the saints
to hear God’s voice and obey it. Jesus is interested in true relationship with
His disciples not in some form of religious activity which substitutes it. We
had a good time with the pastor and his wife who showed hospitality even though
they did not have much. We have a conference planned in Varna in the second
week in February 2005.
We spent almost a full
week in Romania in November.
Remaining faithful to the prophetic team patterns we congregated in Bucharest
International Airport. Yavor and myself drove from Sofia to Bucharest and
Stuart and another friend came by plane from London. We picked them up, along
with the hosting pastor’s son, who came to meet us all at the airport. Then we
drove off into the night to Iasi (pronounced ‘Yash’) some 8 hours away to the
north. Stuart has had a relationship with the church and the leaders for over
10 years now.
It was a tremendous
blessing for me, and I believe, for
all of us. We held several meetings, did a one-day prophetic conference and met
some precious people. During the sessions we worshiped with the Romanian
brothers, taught the Scriptures, and released words relevant to the life of the
church and some of the members. We were warmly welcomed and hosted by David,
the pastor and his family (he and his wife have 6 wonderful children, ages 14
to 23).
In the end we felt like we
really had met brothers in Christ in a remote area in Romania. We felt that the
Lord is confirming His previous words that He sees Bulgaria and Romania
together in His plans. Please, pray for the Romanian church and the Romanian
people who have suffered violence, oppression and deprivation of the saving
news of Jesus Christ for many years.
The youth, 10-14 year old
kids in the church, some of them orphans, were strongly touched by the Holy
Spirit as well (if not the most of all!). A group of them testified at the
Sunday evening service about how God had touched them during their one day
retreat in the mountains. During worship the whole section where their seats
were was as if it were on fire! They were jumping up and down and worshiping
Jesus with all of their might! I just received an email from the pastor’s
daughter with further testimonies of how the Holy Spirit continues to work in
the lives of these young people – they testify of speaking in tongues, new
boldness to share Christ with their classmates and supernatural healings
confirmed by doctors. One insight that God had impressed on my heart for the
saints in Iasi was that He would make them thirsty for His Spirit and hungry
for His Word. I say, Yes Jesus! Let’s continue to pray for the move of God in
Romania. (Click here
for photos from Iasi.)
We saw off Stuart and
Anthony at the Bucharest airport and continued back south where we crossed the
border over the Danube river back into Bulgaria. But being back was not going
back to old things. We felt that the Spirit of God has indeed expanded our vision.
As you all know, one of our
passionate concerns is religious liberty in Bulgaria. We are proud to
announce that as of December 1st our electronic publication “Freedom For All,” which
is part of an ongoing project by the same name, officially went online. The
publication serves as a forum for dialogue along the topics of: the freedoms
of conscience, choice and expression of religious faith. The themes of the
four issues (to be published December 15, 2004; February 20, 2005; April 20,
2005; and June 20, 2005) will attempt to make clear the theological, political,
social and legal understanding of these terms, which to a great degree
are missing in the awareness of Bulgarian
society. We have lined-up an impressive group of contributors/authors,
including Philip Dimitrov who is a former Prime Minister of Bulgaria and former
Ambassador to the US. For the time being, the site is only in Bulgarian, but we
are hoping to raise the funds to have the site translated into English in
the near future. We pray that this electronic publication will aid to foster
the understanding of the worth of these fundamental freedoms and the practical
application and use of these freedoms. Please pray with us along these lines so
that the project will help the Gospel’s advance and to touch the lives of those
who really seek God and Jesus Christ.
◦ Christmas
ministry: On Saturday, December 11 and Sunday, December 12 we visited the
two orphanages in Belogradchik and Novo Selo with the youth work team. This is
our fourth year celebrating Christ’s birth with these same kids! God has been
so good to us to give us favor in these homes, both amongst the kids and the
Directors. We followed our usual pattern of singing songs, performing a skit,
teaching on the “reason for the season”, passing out presents and then holding
a time of fellowship. This time there was the sense of trust and routine, in a
good sense, during our time together. We all, both adults and youth, laughed a
lot during the program and spend time talking and playing games afterwards. Please
pray for Gabi, a teenager from the Novo Selo home. She gave her life to the
Lord after serious consideration. We also brought a little food for the orphans
so the home can replenish their food supplies. Thank you for your prayers for
the kids and the Lord’s work among them, we are so privileged to do. (Photos – click here!)
◦ Teresa’s mom has
been extremely generous with us this Christmas – God put in her hear the desire
to buy us airplane tickets to visit home for the holidays! We are excited to be
traveling home for a break, with the chance to visit family and friends. Please
give us a call if you will be in Pasadena for the holidays or to just
connect: (626) 351-8270.
◦ Teresa is just
entering her fifth month of pregnancy. The pregnancy is going well this
time! Since Teresa is in her thirties : )
the doctor wants to do some special testing on a 3-D machine to see that
all is fine with the baby – this is in the place of an amnio test. The testing
will be on Tuesday at 3 pm. Thank you for your prayers.
◦ We are in the course
of planning a week of 3 prophetic conferences in churches at the Black
Seas coast and with our friends in Silistra in February 2005. I sense that
there is a spiritual opposition to this round of ministry. Please, pray
for the plans of the enemy – to bring confusion and misunderstanding in relationships
and communication – to be thwarted. Jesus wants to bring the message of
abundant life in Him to the weary saints in the towns at the Black Sea coast.
And our team is eager to meet and minister to the believers as the Lord leads
us.
We pray and hope that you
will have a season of rest and reflection on the sacrifice of Christ for our
souls during this Christmas season.
Please, visit our website for more photos and
information: http://kmission.netfirms.com. We are grateful to all of you who pray for
our work and give generously. The work
we do is possible due to the sacrificial giving of God’s people. To support us financially, mail checks
to: Door of Hope International
S-15, PO Box 303, Glendale, CA
91209-9984. To use your credit card click here. To subscribe to our e-mail
newsletter, or unsubscribe from our list, write to vikkostov@hotmail.com