The Swanns-Updates

Dear Friends,
“Lord I believe; help my unbelief!” This was the prayer of the father who wanted Jesus to heal his
demon possessed son 2000 years ago and this has been my prayer as I have been trying to raise
the money to purchase our church building. Most of you have been contacted by phone or by
letter concerning the great opportunity that God has given us here to purchase our building.
Although the amount seems insurmountable to me at $240,000, and although I firmly believe that
nothing is impossible for God; I have still found myself asking God to help my unbelief. As always,
He has answered that prayer as 24 of our supporting churches have already promised $51,750.
With the $25,000 we had already raised, we now have $76,750.

I want to encourage any of you who have not given to make
this a matter of prayer. God has made it very clear to us that
this building is the place for us. It is a building that our church
will be able to grow in to, where we can expand our children’s
ministries and have a Bible institute. If you feel lead to give to
this project, please remember that we need to raise the money
for the property by December 1st.

This summer we were able to work with two groups, one from
the States and the other from London doing a park renovation
at a playground near our church. The first group that came
spent the week cleaning up the jungle, uh, I mean park. Then
the second group came in and repaired all of the broken
equipment, painted it and also put up a small gazebo where the
mothers can sit in the shade while they watch their children
play. During this project we were able to work and fellowship
with the young families in the apartments around the
playground and were even able to share the gospel with some
of them. Many of these people would never have been willing to
talk to us before. The owner’s association even allowed us to
put up a sign saying that our church had remodeled the park.

As always in Bulgaria, this project was not done without opposition. Someone in the
building at first called the municipality to complain that we were cutting down trees. Since
this is illegal in Bulgaria without permission, an official was sent out to see what was going
on. After looking at the situation, he decided we were doing something good and left
without causing any problems. Then one lady from the owner’s association who opposed
the project has started calling the others “dirty Baptists.” Interestingly enough, even the
families who are not believers or members of our church have stood up for our church
because of the relationship that we have developed with them. Pray that the relationships
deepen, that they accept Christ as their Savior and that they are baptized so that they can
become real Baptists.
Thank you once again for praying for us and for supporting the ministry here in Bulgaria, we
are reaping the results of your faithfulness.

In Christ,
Steve Swann