Slaveykovo

Slaveykovo ... 

ons eerste nessie in hierdie pragtige land.

Die heerlikste pere, direk vanaf die boom.. dis hoe die mense hier lewe!

So hartseer, pragtige kerkie, slegs vir die mooi, nooit regtig gebruik nie...

En rondom ons is berge...

Een van my baie maatjies hier...

Ons laaste aand in Slaveykovo, baie dankie Here vir 'n baie spesiale plekkie wat U vir ons uitgesoek het!

Terug blik op die laaste week

Die laaste week het definitief anders uitgedraai as wat ons verwag het, nie dat ons regtig geweet het wat om te verwag nie. Die visie om ‘n vastrap plek vir KE (Kingdom Encounters)  in die Europese Unie (EU) te kry was voorwaar ‘n leer proses, opwindend, frustrerend,   en met tye selfs intimiderend. Dit was ‘n belewenis om te ervaar hoe die sirkel al hoe kleiner geword het van ‘n land na ‘n streek . . . 

 van ‘n streek na ‘n dorp . . . 

en van ‘n dorp na ‘n spesifiek huis . . .

Ons kan met eerlikheid se dat na elke tree ons volkome vrede gehad het dat ons op die regte pad was. Dit, nieteenstaande dat daar soms tussen voet optel en voet neersit  te doen gekry het met ‘n magdom van emosies, ‘n stort vloed van gedagtes en ‘n deeglike bewustheid dat ons nie eers met dit wat ons nou weet alles kan uit redeneer nie . . .

Hoe dit ook al sy, die “Kindom Encounters” maatskappy dokumente is in, die aanbod is gemaak, nou wag ons net om te hoor van die Italianer aan wie die eiendom behoort. Dankie vir almal se gebede.

VELIKO TARNOVO

The picturesque old town of VT -I absolutely fell in love with this special town!

 Greek Orthodox Church

 A chimney... so much detail                                                                               

 Autumn happened in front of our eyes over the past week.

A 'Builders Warehouse' kind of store...This sign tells you what you can expect to find inside - if you can read it!

The ice-cream is 'yummie'!!!

As you leave the town. Isn't it amazing..!!

Little Gypsy girl who wanted to take our trolley back to claim back the 0.5 Leva. 

 We had so show them a bit of our culture too.

"Spot the chair and win a car. . . "

You find these watering points all over. Lady doing some washing and retrieving water.

This guy was quite keen to show us his wooden bowl as we passed is house.

Almost every house has it's own well.

Outside (summer) kitchen at the house of one of the friends we made.

Lots of houses in the rural areas still have these tradition trusses. Clearly they do not have strait  indigenous trees . .

Christoph enjoying a "Doner". A pita bread filled with chicken slices, salad stuff, mayonnaise and even french fries.

'n Baie voorspoedige reis sover insluitend die vliegtuig kos -of is dit 'n geval van honger is die beste kok. Toe ons 22:15 uiteindelik kos kry was Christoph se eerste reaksie: "Hierdie is die lekkerste hoender wat ek nog ooit geëet het. Dit proe net 'n bietjie soos vis . . ."

Ons eerste Bulgaarse Pitstop. Het gou agter gekom. "Do you speak English" maak nie veel indruk nie. Inteendeel, dit sorg vir 'n onvriendelike frons op ons kelnerin se gesig. Het intussen uitgevind wat koffie en toilet in 'Bulgarski' is!

Aanwysings na die "Village" waar ons die eerste week bly ("Slaveykovo") was nogal omslagtig,wat mens seker sal verwag as daar nie iets soos 'n adres of straatname in die "Village" bestaan nie . .

Een van die aanwysings het ons tot op die dorpsplein gebring waar ons by die Gypsies probeer uitvind het of ons is waar ons dink ons is . . . Kobus het 'n vraag deur 'n oop kar venster gevra waarop die meisie geantwoord het met iets wat presies geklink het soos "klim uit die kar uit". Ons kon ons ore nie glo nie. Het toe maar ewe gedwee uitgeklim en 'n paar fotos geneem.

Hierdie aanwysings was nie van veel nut nie . . .

Was baie bly om die trekker (een van die landmerke op die aanwysings!) te vind. Toe weet ons ons is naby.

Ons baie vriendelike buur-tannie.

Tamaties vars uit haar tuin. Sy het dit sommer op die muurtjie tussen ons gepak en gewink dat ons dit moet kom haal! Dit was 'n besonderse ervaring...

Ons verken die "Village" - 'n baie interessante ervaring waar heelwat nuuskierige inwoners sien dat ons besoekers is en net wil kuier... dis lekker...

So what is "Passage to Purpose" all about?

Trying to explain what Passage to Purpose is all about in a couple of paragraphs is quite a challenge. I must admit that if I had to do this at different times over the past year I would probably have formulated it differently every time. But at this point in time I would say that it is about discovering the two programs that God has been running with since the beginning of time (the Redemptive Program and the Kingdom Program) and how he longs for every person on earth to be a part of both programs.

Most Christians and churchgoers are fairly familiar with the Redemptive Program. Some of the prominent Scriptures that point to the redemptive program are John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” and also Eph 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Churches in general are very good at running with the Redemptive Program . . . If we take a close look at the two verses above you'll notice the words “faith” and “believes”. The question is have faith in what . . .? In Jesus of course! But what about Jesus? Everything about Jesus . . . ! This is exactly where the problem comes in . . . .

So why is this a problem? Because during the three years that Jesus ministered on earth his teaching was often radical when we consider it from our frame of reference. No wonder that the church of the time desperately wanted to get rid of Him. Because you see there is also the Kingdom Program whereby God is as committed to establish His kingdom, than what He is to save mankind. You see Jesus also said (Mat 10:37-39): “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

So in summary I would say that “Passage to Purpose” is about discovering that God also has a Kingdom Program and that He longs for every believer to play his (or her) part in that. To establish His kingdom and glorify Him, is ultimately why He created you and me. Once you have discovered this, "Passage to Purpose" is about making our roll in Gods Kingdom Program a reality during the time that we have on earth.

So when and how did it all start?

For all practical purposes the journey that we are on at the moment started round about August 2010, almost exactly a year ago. It started with us attending a "Starting Point" presentation presented by Kingdom Encounters. A bit more about that later (or click on this link if you really can't wait). But before I go there I would like to briefly explain why we attended the presentation. Over the period 2006-2009 I had a growing sense of dis-contempt inside of me. That despite the fact that I have been relatively successful according to the norms of the world. I was pretty sure that the level of accomplishment in the world was not the reason behind my dissatisfaction and lack off fulfillment. I was satisfied with what I have achieved from a career perspective. 

On the spiritual front as a Christian I've also been very much engaged all the time and has constantly been at least part of a home cell group and about half of the time leading the group. Then there has also been the normal church camps and courses like discipleship EEIII, etc. Round about 2006, I read a book titled "Half Time" which helped me understand why I did not really felt fulfilled. The title of the book refer to the half time that you would typically have during most team sport events. Half time is an opportunity to take a time out and reflect on what you have accomplished the first half and to make some decisions on how you plan to approach the second half to ensure that you will end up on top by the time the final whistle blows. I realized that from a career perspective I've more or less reached the half time mark and that it was probably a good idea to take some time to contemplate what I wanted to achieve during the "second half". 

The main theme of the book was "moving from success to significance" and after reading the book I was pretty much sold on the idea that moving to significance will bring true fulfillment. The question was how should I go about to become significant and experience true fulfillment? I believe that there is only one answer to this question and that is that you need to find your purpose in life. The very purpose God had in mind when He created us in so much detail. When we discover that purpose and start to live it, we will be fulfilled. So in August 2010 we attended "Starting Point", an introduction to a series of seminars collectively titled "Passage to Purpose" . . .