Sofia II Bulgaria Mission Report by John Jung

by WMD   01-15-2015   0 reads

We thank and praise God who guided and blessed us and our mission in the University of National and World Economy (UNWE, 경제대학) in Sofia in 2014. We took two key verses from Ezra 7: 10 “For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel." and Isaiah 60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.” Our two main prayer topics were to preach God’'s word in and out of season obeying the word of 2 Timothy 4:2 and to establish as one vessel of the Holy Spirit to serve God’s ministry faithfully.

During this year God blessed us abundantly through His words. We finished our study on the book of John and continued with the book of the prophet Malachi, Apostle Paul’s message to Colossians and 1 Samuel and some special lectures for Easter on John 11 and 1 Corinthians 15. Msn John Jung and Shepherd Georgi served Sunday worship service messages faithfully and Missionary Heather and Shepherdess Veska served some messages on several occasions.

Through the Bible study on the book of prophet Malachi our hearts were urged to repent from the formal way we worship God as most of us have been attending SWS regularly for about ten years or more. We also learned from Malachi to bring to God the full tithe and challenged some of the newer brothers and sisters to start offer a tithe to God with a thankful heart. The word from Colossians taught us again to set our hearts on the things above like serving God’s mission and preaching the gospel to the students and not on earthly things like success and comfort in this world. Through the word from 1 Samuel we could see how God raised one faithful boy Samuel as shepherd for the Israeli nation through the sincere prayer of Hannah. We prayed that through us God may raise one student in UNWE who like Samuel can preach the word and pray faithfully for the lost souls on campus.

We thank God that He gave Msn. Maria Jung & shep. Veska strength and courage to go to campus regularly, raising an altar of prayer and tell the gospel to many students inspite of their lack of interest for the Bible and being watched by the guards of the university. They could approach many young people, hear their concerns and interests and give them one word of God. Through these activities they could meet some students and invite them to Bible study, but none of them came. We thank God for their faithful struggles in Jesus regardless of no visible fruit.  Missionary John's family served with regular Bible study brother Dimitar(디미트르) and his family, brother Adrian(아드리안), brother Maxim(막심) and sister Boriana(보리아나). John's family visited Korea for a month in July for his father’s 80th anniversary and had a rest and fellowship among families.

We thank God that in April God sent to shepherd Georgi’s family a new member little Daniella and gave good growth for Elijah. Shepherd Georgi's family served during the year with Bible study brothers Petar(페트르), Nikolay(니콜라이), Tony(토니), Sangmyong(상명).            

In May the family of Msn John and Maria visited the hometown of Shepherdess Veska to have good fellowship with their mother and grandmother and preach them the word of God and pray for them.

Especially we thank God that we could participate in the European Summer Bible Conference in Willingen, Germany with the title "Faith in God" where shepherd Georgi prepared and served the message on Mark 5:36 “Just believe”. We prepared for this conference with group Bible study on the word in advance lead by Msn John after the worship service. We could enjoy rest in the mountains of Willingen and renew our strength and decision to live and serve God’s mission only by faith in God.

Now brother Dimitar, brother Adrian, brother Maxim, brother Petar, and sister Boriana study the Bible every week and grow in God’s words. In November we gathered for a thanksgiving dinner in a Korean restaurant with them to have a good fellowship in Jesus. Throughout the whole year we enthusiastically focused on the Bible study so that we could live practically according to the words of God. God blessed our Bible studies abundantly to grow as a Bible teacher and shepherd in the mission field. God’s words urged us to go back to the Bible and to have repentance before them.

As a main repentance topic we couldn’t keep the early morning prayer steadily and didn’t write testimony every week due to our laziness and stubbornness, even though it is very useful for our spiritual growth. We also  condemned each other as we didn’t obey God’s words. God’s words helped us to see what are our problems and to fix them accepting God’s words.   

Key verses for 2015 year

2 Corinthians 4:6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

John 21:15 “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Prayer topics for 2015 year

  1. To learn God’s words very deeply so that we could be good Bible teachers and shepherds for God’s glory.
  2. May God send us one sheep who can study the Bible steadily in 2015 year to lean shepherd’s heart actually.
  3. Msn. John Jung and shep. Georgi to serve the message (1 Samuel) for SWS through deep repentance and prayer. 
  4. May God raise up 1 Abraham and 12 disciples in UNWE (University of National and World Economy) and grow SWS’ attendants twice (20 persons) .
  5. May God raise the house church of Sh. Veska in his time.