Rose in the Desert

By Tim Awtrey

Since it was the first time in a long time to meet in the church building, it felt right to celebrate with a special ceremony the first Sunday back. From time to time, we commend someone for faithfully completing our 24-week discipleship course. On this special day, we celebrated Vivka’s completion of this life-changing endeavor. Such commitment and faithfulness is rare in Bulgaria, let alone in a 17-year-old.

Ten years ago, when this little girl came to church as a result of Operation Christmas Child, who could have known the transformation that would take place in her life? Like many of us, this transition was not always smooth. For many years, Vivka was distant from the faith. Then her friend had a spiritual dilemma, and Vivka remembered a place where people spoke to her heart and soul years earlier. It was her friend’s first time in church and the first in a long time for Vivka. Vivka decided to take part in a summer camp the next week. She heard the good news and gave her heart to Jesus!

This is only the beginning of the story. You see, Vivka lives in a country where less than 0.5% of people regularly attend church. Almost no one Bulgarian Christians know goes to church or has ever read the Bible. Bulgarian parents typically forbid their children from attending church. The rare young believer is usually the only follower of Jesus in the entire school. Bulgaria is hard ground and a tough place to live as a new follower of Christ. Yet, Isaiah wrote, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose” (Isaiah 35:1). Vivka is a rose in this spiritual desert.

“I used to think people needed to earn my kindness, but in the Bible I learned I should love others because Jesus first loved me,” Vivka explained. This transformational love has transformed Vivka.

She began studying the Bible and learning about God through a discipleship course with IM missionary Lydia Awtrey. Vivka says, “The biggest challenge for people my age is peer pressure—pressure from other kids to go out drinking and act rudely toward one another. At the same time, parents apply pressure to stay away from church. They think we will be brainwashed.”

The challenges are many and come from all sides.

Yet, Vivka will not give in to the pressure. “Even though we, as young Christians, are a small group within Bulgaria, we are alive with faith and will change Bulgaria,” she says.

After 500 years of Islamic oppression, 50 years of communism, and 30 years of corrupt politicians, people have lost all hope for the future. Yet, young people like Vivka, who have a strong faith in Jesus Christ exhibit a marked difference. “Bulgaria needs God,” says Vivka. She knows God has transformed her life, and He can transform an entire nation.

About the Writer: Tim Awtrey, and his wife Lydia, initiated a church-planting ministry in Svishtov, Bulgaria, almost 15 years ago. Since then, five other couples and a single woman have joined their
efforts and have established churches in three other major cities as well as many outreaches in villages and towns.