We Have Arrived!

We left at 6:30 pm on Tuesday. After about a 6 hour flight to London on British Airways, we had just enough time to rush through terminal 5 at Heathrow and get to our flight to Sofia. That took another 2 1/2 hours and we finally arrived about 1:30 pm Sofia time. The flights were both good. BA has improved since the last time we flew on them. It's a good thing because we have been avoiding them for several years and just decided to give them a try one more time. Now we can have that alternative and it's good. Aside from the fact that we love a day or two in London on the way home, BA gives us a few perks that the other's don't. Our good friend, Ludmil Mandichev picked us up at the airport and took us to his B&B. Pat was the second person to stay there years ago when he opened it and we have been staying there for several days on every trip since. He and Mariana and their two girls Eva and Mila have become very good friends. Eva is a college freshman this year so their life is now changing. Here is a picture of them and a couple of their B&B. As you can see, it is very nice!

After we arrived, we unpacked a little and then took about a 2 hour nap. We didn't want to sleep too much so we could sleep well when it came time to go to bed, but we needed at least a nap. After that we went for a short walk and then to the pizza restaurant down the street. We have been going there too ever since we started coming to Bulgaria. The whole staff and the owner always greet us with big smiles because they all know us now. It always reminds me that being faithful at something (just about anything) makes a big impression on people. Most people in Bulgaria don't see that many Americans; this is not exactly a popular tourist destination. So, we tend to stand out, even though we try to stay under the radar. So people really do notice when we keep coming back year after year. Tomorrow is a day for a couple of meetings with our partners and a long walk! We will probably spend about 4 hours and walk 6 or 8 miles. That's about all we do for exercise over here so we try to do a lot of it. Saturday we go to work with all day seminars. Pat will do a conference for gypsy women with the theme of, "A Woman After God's Own Heart" . I will be teaching an all day class on church administration to gypsy Pastors, a subject on which they have had no training at all. I will try to post again on Saturday evening or maybe Sunday. Here are a few pictures of Sofia for those of you who haven't seen any before.