Next stop: Bulgaria

Not yet packed, still wrapping up a million things before we leave, but we are PUMPED. We head off to a little town in the heart of the Rhodope Mountains. Populated in the majority by people of the Muslim faith and who are in the midst of starting to overcome the consequences of communist oppression for many decades, this region suffers economically, spiritually and in other ways.

Kerby has been in Bulgaria once in February for a short visit to see if it would be feasible to bring an IMED training to this region. His team concluded there were solid in-country contacts and enough people wanting to take active steps to improve their working and economic situation. That's where we come in.

We are heading to do the IMED business training - essentially, Phase 1 of 3, in which we will teach Business 101. Kerby will teach Finance and Cristina will try to lend some perspective regarding Marketing and conducting Market Research. The 20 Bulgarian students will then take what they've learned in Phase 1 and do all their business research so that they can write a real business plan, including financials and a marketing plan, during Phase 2. There, the team will assist them in organizing and packaging their business plan as a loan proposal. These are to be reviewed by IMED, and those that succeed will qualify for loans and Phase 3, which is like Business 201.

We'll see what it actually IS like, this whole experience. Kerby's been to Europe for a total of 2 days, and this is Cristina's first time in Europe, and most definitely, in a post-communist culture. Also, we have no idea how to approach the Bulgarian language... check out how you say "hello": "Здравейте Здравейте." Yep, we are probably going to stick to good ole English, relying heavily on our translators and smiling a lot while Kerby manages to get everyone to laugh through his nonverbals.

Anyway - thanks to everyone for your support, prayer and encouragement as we head off!