The Swanns - Updates

Dear Friends,

"Mama, mama, look what I found in the trash can out side. Doesn’t this look cool? I want to go. Can I go?
Please?" begged Mitko after he found a flyer for our VBS/English club. The recipient of the brochure had
thrown it away and Mitko, a nine-year old boy, found it sticking out of the dumpster near his apartment block.
Mitko’s mother, Nadia, read the flyer and noticed that it invited her to stay with her son and so agreed to take
him the first day and see what it was all about. They were so impressed that Mitko came the entire week and
Nadia stayed with him for 3 of the days. On the second day, Mitko even brought a friend. We end our English
Club with a special service on Sunday where the children present a program for the parents and receive
certificates for their attendance. Nadia had told me on Friday that they would not be able to make it to the
Sunday service because they were going out of town. So I was pleasantly surprised to see them walk in the
door on Sunday morning. Nadia smiled rather sheepishly at me and told me that Mitko had bugged her so
much about missing the program that she had agreed to change their plans.

Our English Club went very well this year. This was our second year and we had
a total of 19 Bulgarian kids come. I know that 19 does not sound like a lot of kids
for a VBS, but for here in Bulgaria it is significant because we are considered a
sect and there are often warnings in the paper for parents to beware of allowing
their children to attend these type of activities. On Sunday at the closing
ceremony, 15 of the kids, most with their parents, came and received their
certificates. They also heard the gospel – three people raised their hands saying
that they needed to be saved and asked for prayer. It was a great week for us
and the kids and we are praising the Lord for the new contacts He gave us for
the church and for the after-school program that we run - we had 6 new kids
sign up for it.

Please pray for our church as we are experiencing a little opposition from
some people in the neighborhood. A month ago someone spray painted
graffiti on our door. Today, as I drove up to the church I was shocked to
find that someone had slung a whole can of yellow paint on the front of
our building. I guess I need to leave a sign on the outside that if one wants
to paint our building that they at least need to do a good job! During the
VBS, two people complained to me about the church teaching the Bible to
children. One man said that I ought to leave that up to the museums and
schools – yes, not all of the communists are dead in Bulgaria. The other
man said that I should not be teaching children about something that does
not exist, but since he could not prove to me that God does not exist I told
him that I would keep doing what I was doing. Satan is opposing us, he
does not like that we are reaching young families for Christ – I guess we
must be doing something right! Please keep our church members in
prayer, we have many young Christians and I do not want them to get
discouraged.

We have good news about our building that we
rent. The owner told me today that he has all the
documents ready and is ready to sell the building. I
am to meet with him next week with my lawyer to
look over the documents to see if everything is in
order. We are not even close to having the money
needed to buy the building, but if it is God’s will we
know He will provide. Please pray for this situation.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ,
Steve Swann