Philippi and the first night at Gotse Deltchev

We arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria and were met by an incredibly competent, smart and dynamic guy named Grozdan. He is our in-country contact for gathering together the participants for the IMED business training. We stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast and enjoyed a delicious Bulgarian meal – freshest tomatoes in the world! And if any of you know Kerby, you know how much he loves them!

We went on a short trip to Greece and stayed a night in Kavala, on the Mediterranean Sea and saw many of the places that the apostle Paul traveled to. We toured Philippi (see video!), which is a stunning historic city and saw the river where Paul and company met Lydia from Acts 16.

This afternoon we made it to Gotse Deltchev in the Rhodope Mountains and are staying in an absolutely beautiful hotel, although it bears the weight – and sometimes gaudiness – of communist influences in its old architecture. It’s been fun to start to get to know some of the students, who are staying at the hotel with us. They seem to be in their twenties through forties, mostly, with the exception of a few older ladies. Through our translators, and whatever English the entrepreneurs know, we are able to chat with them and learn about what they are passionate about and what kind of dreams they have for business. After dinner tonight was a special moment, a couple of the guys took out a guitar and entertained us with phenomenal music, some popular songs and some that they had composed. Grozdan, mentioned above, is on the guitar and Viktor (a translator), who is extremely talented musically, put together a cheese grater and a piece of thin paper and created a wind instrument that was both impressive and funny.