Recently I’ve been in communications with a woman in Bulgaria. Her name is Vaska and she wrote me after she began to show my videos on Bible prophecy and the book of Daniel to two churches she ministers to in Bulgaria. It’s been quite an encouragement to hear from her and to know that the material I’ve been working on is being used by her to “feed the flock of God” (I Peter 5:2) in places I’ve personally never been to.

Actually, I was in Sofia, Bulgaria for four very wonderful months in the early 90’s. It was a tremendous time of witnessing the Lord’s truths and it seemed like everywhere you went, there were people who were extremely hungry to hear about salvation and to learn what the Bible says. So it’s a joy to know that the videos and blog posts I’ve been placing on line are being used weekly by this dear new friend to share with two home-church type congregations in her part of Bulgaria.

Maybe what I can do is to share parts of letters Vaska has sent me in response to the Daniel videos she’s been showing there.  This letter is from mid January, the first time I heard from her:

Dear Mark, the videos are an absolute blessing!  We watch them on a big screen in our Bible study classes in church and the church is always full and everybody is so blessed and thankful. They say they understand everything so well. Thank you so very much for this great job and huge help in understanding these difficult chapters.

Vaska explaining to her flock a Russian chart I sent her about the 7 world empires of prophecy

After seeing the video everything is more than clear. So the whole church blesses you and thanks you very much. But I can’t find a video on Chapter 9 and in two week’s time we will be studying Chapter 9. Is there a video on Daniel Chapter 9? At the end of the video on Chapter 8 you say there is one on Chapter 9 but I can’t find it.

So I wrote back to Vaska for the first time, explaining that the Daniel 9 videos are the ones that I’m working on now and that they won’t be ready for a few more months.  Here are parts of Vaska’s reply:

Thank you very much for working on the video on chapter 9, we look forward to seeing it in a few months. Your videos on Daniel are the best. We’ve seen all of them and the video about the tsunami too. And the “Introduction to Prophecy” as well, all your videos. God bless you abundantly for everything you do to help.

We are going to study Daniel chapter 9 this Sunday and repeat the Bible Study again when your video is ready because you make everything entirely clear. After watching the video everything is well understood and remembered. So thank you in advance for the new video. I have a lot of questions on Chapter 9 but I’ll wait until the video is ready.

Vaska is an English teacher in her city and she translates the classes live in the churches she visits. She wrote:

Haven’t you thought of doing the same type of Bible Study lessons on Revelation? You have a great gift of knowledge and it would be a great blessing for all Christians who are interested to know the Bible in depth. Yet, you know whether you have the time to do that, because it’s much longer than Daniel.

Then she told me some about how she became a Christian, when she was in Moscow in the early 90’s, going to high school there.

I thank the Lord very much for my American brothers and sisters because I became a Christian soon after the collapse of Communism by the testimony of American missionaries in Moscow. We were living in Moscow, Russia, at that time and I’m so grateful to those wonderful Christians who traveled the long way to come and preach the Gospel to us.

As you know during Communism, Christianity was forbidden and we were in total darkness about any spiritual matters. And after my grandfather died I was absolutely terrified of death, because they taught us that everything finished with the grave.

And also  while studying astronomy at my last year at high school in Moscow, they told us that the Universe was in absolute chaos and there is no order and nobody knows what would happen next. That also left me in terror. The Communists were so proud of their knowledge of Space and still they couldn’t give me a reasonable answer of Who is in charge.

But I’m so grateful to those missionaries who came from far away America and told me that if you accept Jesus as Savior, you will never die but live eternally. They also told me about the Mighty Loving Creator who made everything and is in control of everything. What a relief and what a joy! So, I immediately accepted the Lord as Savior and was saved. And ever after I’ve lived my life for Him and my greatest concern is to tell the others about Jesus, because they might be lost as I used to be.

One of Vaska’s flocks in their large room at their church

So now the Lord has given me two flocks to care of – one of about 60 people and one of about 30 people. We have a nice small building and there on the wall we see your videos (I interpret for everyone to understand) and try to study the Bible in depth. So, one day, if the Lord helps, you might come and visit us and rejoice together. We have other friends from the States too who come and visit us regularly and we are very happy. And I will always be grateful to the American Christians; they have done a lot of good in my life even until today. 

Blessings,  Vaska

So, needless to say, this has been a real thrill to get to know this new friend and to know that what I’m working on here is being a help to her in ministering to people in her far off corner of southeastern Europe. A very fitting Bible verse that comes to mind in regard to all this is, “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” (Proverbs 25:25)

There’s more I could share from Vaska but I think I’ll put it into another blog post for another time. There have been a few others like this, friends in central Africa who use the videos in their Bible studies there and also in other places. In many ways this is exactly what I’ve hoped would happen, that this material can be useful for Christian disciples everywhere to teach and explain to their flocks the wonders of God’s Word and the hope we have in Him and in His future to come. More soon on all this, your friend in Him, Mark