Spoiled

Bulgaria is considered the poorest nation in the EU, yet our hotel is extremely luxurious. I feel a bit ashamed. Spacious rooms, a large Spa center and incredible buffets three times a day. If the fruit of self-control is not yet developed well in your life, you 'll eat here until you're in a food coma;)  The hotel is located in a ski resort and beautifully surrounded by the Balkan mountains. I can imagine it's a great place to stay during the winter, when everything is covered by snow! Where ever I walk, I come across hotels and restaurants and more hotels, and a few private houses. However, these are, sad tot say, in bad condition, see some photo's. 

Bulgarian borders

The Dutch are still blocking Schengen entry for Bulgaria. I got an invoice of the hotel asking me to make a payment of 933,- BGN, accompanied with a lot of strange symbols that most likely describe the details of my booking and the bank; no English version added, very convenient ;) The written language looks a bit like Greek, it's hard to read any signs on the way. Initially I was considering renting a car from the airport but I was afraid I would get terrible lost. Eventually a CTF-group from the UK were willing to wait another two hours for the arrival of my flight and giving me a ride in their van. I could sit back and relax during this almost three hour drive to the hotel, thank you!

Unexpected visitors

A Christian retreat is essentially a time away from our everyday lives, meeting other believers for the purpose of a deeper connection with God and each other. Therefore we're offered morning and evening meetings every day with powerful worship, teaching and activation led by the Holy Spirit. In between there's plenty time to hang out, having fun and spending time together. (Or to take a nap for those ended up in a food coma:)).

Our meetings are taken place in a conference room in the hotel and can be followed on the screen in the lobby. As we were praying for people, suddenly the door went open and two Bulgarian families with kids (who 're staying at the hotel as well) entered the room, they 'd been watching us in the lobby and wanted to be prayed for. Immediately the program got canceled and all people gathered around these families, starting praying and singing over them. It was such a beautiful moment seeing God's presence on them and touching their lives. All of them were in tears because they just had a divine encounter with Jesus. I love these kind of interruptions!

We're here an hour ahead, it's midnight and I really need to sleep. Have a good night, friends and I 'll be back on Friday on the plane with my final story!

Love, 

Marieke