Day 5

We arrived to Sofia, the location of our third medical clinic to 100+ people, young and old waiting to be seen. The group was so large that they flooded out of the main floor and onto the steps of an old Soviet building that now serves as the local community center/school house/library/police station. Many of these people had been standing (uncomfortably) for hours just waiting for the clinic to begin. We moved all of the supplies up 2 full flights of stairs, quickly set up "shop," and began clinic.

Thank goodness for the presence of all members of the team at this location throughout the day. Many people utilized canes and were barely able to make it up the stairs with assistance. Eric and Kristin spent the entire day assisting these people so that they could be ministered to both spiritually and physically. Today we saw 100-120 people, yesterday 133, Monday 89.

In the afternoon, half of the group continued the clinic while the other half took food bags with Ian (Sofia village volunteer) to 8 local families to visit and pray with them. At the completion of dinner today, we were brought to tears as Ian shared how important our visit was to him, personally. He was an orphan and at the age of 16, recalled a visit missionaries made to his home. He remembered the happiness he saw in the faces of the visitors as they gave him a gift. That moment... changed his life- he knew he wanted to bring joy to people. I feel that at times it can be easy to lose focus in daily life; what it means to bring joy to someone. It doesn't have to be the moon and stars- God has given us all we need to be there for others, listen, be present, show them they're loved and valuable to Him and to us.

Despite the challenges of this trip so far, out team has been brought closer together. Today was actually Joy's birthday :) we celebrated with decorations, "Happy birthday" at dinner in both English and Russian...then cake when we returned home.


Day 3 of clinicals in the books, by nothing more than technicality...