Today is July 9th, the day we were supposed to
have our visas. About two months ago, Alex and I went to Washington DC to visit
the Bulgarian Embassy and turn in all of our paperwork and documents. Let me
say that the whole process was not as nerve-racking as I thought. Yes, we
started the process back in November, getting an invitation from the Church of
the Nazarene in Bulgaria, a letter from the Bulgarian government granting the
church permission to invite us, housing documents, an FBI background check, getting
that FBI background apostilled, not to mention all of the money these things
have required; however, everything has gone smoothly and we have had no major
hang-ups. Right now, my biggest prayer is that my visa gets here soon. Did I
mention that my passport should have been here today, too? Yeah, the Embassy
had to keep it. I was not ok leaving it there, but they needed it so what could
I do?
I have recently (in the past two months) spoken at three
different churches, which have all been a blessing. In May, Real Life Community
Church of the Nazarene in Murfreesboro, TN invited me to speak at their annual
missions service. I was given all the time I needed and to my surprise, I was
able to share 30 minutes packed full of facts about Bulgaria, personal stories,
prayer requests, and financial needs. This was the first time I formally spoke
outside of Trevecca about Bulgaria and God’s calling for me to return and the
first time I introduced myself as a graduate (which was super exciting!).
In June, Alex and I both spoke at two churches together… on
the same day. That Sunday morning, I drove from Bradenton up to Brandon, where
Alex lives, to pick her up and we drove to Orlando. Center Pointe Community
Church of the Nazarene gave us time in their morning service to speak about our
upcoming journey. During the same service, two missionary families, one serving
in Africa, the other in a creative access country, were represented and prayed
for and a team of teens was seen off to Jamaica where they would serve for, I
believe, a week. I am pretty sure we went a little bit over our allotted 10
minutes, but the presence of God was there and moving, which became even more
evident after the service had ended. The church provided a table for us to use
as we needed and it became a place for people to come and speak to us, ask
questions, and offer generous donations. I was so taken aback when a woman, a
perfect stranger, gave a $500 gift to each of us! This was a person who did not
know us from Adam, yet she so believes in the work the Lord is doing in and
through us that she was willing to make such a sacrifice. I am very thankful.
When we left the church in Orlando, we had just enough time
to eat lunch and head back to Bradenton. This Sunday happened to be one of the
days Tropical Storm Debby (Debby Downer) decided to slam Florida. We had 30
minutes to spare by the time we made it back to Bradenton and ended up running
into the church 10 minutes before the service started. Bradenton First Church
of the Nazarene is my home church and I was offered full control of the Sunday
night service. Alex and I alternated speaking of our own unique paths and the
callings we were each pursuing. As different as our stories may be, we have
very similar passions and callings, all leading us to Vidrare, Manaselska Reka,
Pravets, Botevgrad, Etropole, and Razliv, Bulgaria.
Fast-forward to today: My visa is not here, but Alex and I
are at the 1/3 mark on our fundraising! Thank you so much to everyone who has
already helped us out financially!! It truly is a blessing. That being said, we
still have a ways to go. We each need at least $2,000 before we leave on
September 3. That is only 56 days away! If you have not already done so, please
consider helping us out. I promise that you will not regret it.
We are currently putting together a list of email addresses
for our newsletter we will be sending out, hopefully monthly. If you would like
to receive it while we are gone, please let me know by emailing me at
vspendergraft@gmail.com. Feel free to
use that to contact me about anything else as well. My prayer/information cards
should be in by the end of the week, too, so I will be handing them out like
crazy! If you would like to help, visit my Convio page -->
http://web.nazarene.org/goto/vspendergraft Remember that you can make a one time donation, but the option to do monthly deposits is also available! This would be super helpful because we will also need to continue raising funds even after we get to Bulgaria.
Oh, I also got shots today! Boo… I had to get my second
Hepatitis A shot, that one is in my right arm. That one’s doing well. My left
arm, however, feels like it got punched a hundred times with brass knuckles.
The Polio vaccine combined with the Typhoid/Diphtheria/Pertussis vaccine is
killing me. Plus, they did a lovely Tb skin test on that arm. The good news?
They gave me Bugs Bunny band aids J
I felt like a child when I looked down and saw them, but something as terrible
as shots deserves fun band aids, right? I think so.
Thanks for reading all of this! I haven’t posted in a few
months so I had a lot to catch you up on!
-Vera
