I know that I dont just speak for myself when i say that I would've paid all of the money it cost to get over here, all of the time it took to travel, and all of the sleep we've been without just to experience the day we had today.

And with that said I don't quite know where to begin.

We congregated on the bus and headed off for Lom in the morning. We all had a great sleep and a fine breakfast and the Holy Ghost celebrating commenced immediately! Following along side of us were our U.K teammates that had joined us the evening before.

The laws have changed in Bulgaria since we have last been here and busses must now travel at half the speed that the other cars around us do. So the travel times have become basically double what they were last year. We arrived in Lom and had lunch at a restaurant on the banks of the Danube river overlooking the Romanian shore. After a great lunch we headed for the banks of the river to reach our hands accross and pray for the neighboring nation.

We met a local sailor who inquired about our purpose and activity. We told him about the mission trip and we offered him prayer. He accepted our offer with wide eyes and was a bit stunned as we all layed hands on him and prayed. With glassy eyes he thanked us and said he had never seen such behavior or experienced such love from strangers.

After a yummy desert we got back on the bus and headed to the Gypsy village to finally reunite with our sweet Lom Gypsy friends.

We paraded throughout the village and were met by curious onlookers, and hugged and kissed by those who were thankful for our return.

If you have read the journals from last year you will recall a house that Georgian Winnie Karen and I stopped at to pray for a young blind boy who was confined to a wheelchair. As we prayed for him a noise in the next room revealed an older rough looking man and a beautiful girl. We invited them to join us and soon they asked the Lord into their hearts with great tears and repentance. We were told by Pastor Mitko afterwards that these folks were the leaders of a 3 town prostitution ring.

This year as we passed their house Winnie took myself, Karen, Pastor Mitko's wife and some others into the small room to see how they were doing. The boy was still sitting in the same place in his wheelchair and the mother along side of him with a big pile of walnuts on the floor that she was ( I dont know that right term for this) peeling (with an axe?). What was shocking was that this woman who had looked so OLD last year now seemed to be at least 10 - 20 years younger. She was softer and welcomed us into her small room.

We prayed for the boy again who laughed and giggled again as if we were tickling him and he couldnt keep his hands off of winnies hands. We inquired as to the whereabouts of the man and young girl. The woman said that they had both acquired jobs in Sofia and were working and living there. She obviously had gotten a job as well, thus the pile of walnuts in her room. I peeked behind her curtain into the living room where last year the walls were wallpapered in pornography from floor to ceiling. Now the room is clean and pornography free, looking like a regular living room for this standard of living. What a change! What a wonderful change! We invited her to join us in the field and she said she would try. She appeared to be very moved and choked up at our care for her and her son and thanked us for visiting again with her.

Some of the townspeople, knowing of our return, had requested to Pastor Mitko that we stop by their homes and pray for them. So throughout our route we would stop and pray for homes and people and families. Laying hands on the sick, blessing homes and buildings, and annointing with the oil of Joy. Between homes a man carrying what appeared to be a religious portrait of some sort, and a blouse, approached us with sad eyes and, sobbing, he asked us for prayer. We prayed for him and he joined us on our route to meet up with everyone else already celebrating in the field that was set up with a worship team and sound system by the local church.

The majority of the town was there waiting for us when we arrived. What took place from this point on was moment after moment of glorious reunions between those who had travelled with us last year and the people who's lives were changed by our love and joy and their excitement to see us again. Person after person told us through translators that they had waited eagerly all year for our return and were overjoyed at seeing the same faces return.

I had the special priviledge of returning with photos that I had taken last year to give to some of the folks. The response from them floored me. Tears and rejoicing. Some told me that it was the most precious gift they had ever been given and that they were unable to explain what it meant to them. WHOA!!!

The woman last year who was healed from being paralyzed as our parade had passed in front of her house was there, and all of us knowing the story and remembering her were overjoyed to see her still dancing and celebrating, and she was even wearing the same dress ;) which made here even all the more recognizeable.

She was hillariously overwhelmed by the hugs and love from everyone happy to see her again. I think just about everyone on the trip spent some time rolling on the ground with her and laughing.The joy was so intense. It was just God exploding all over the place with love and joy in such great and intense portions it just brought us all to tears several times over.

The look on peoples faces as they saw a photo of themselves was priceless. The other Gypsies would join in helping us locate and find the persons within the photos navigating us through the crowd to hand them out to the right persons.

There was one particular photo that a few of us were eager to give. We've used it several times in our publishing over the last year. Its a photo of one of our team members Cathee praying for a young Gypsy girl. Cathee titled the photo "Jesus on the Gypsy gals face" and its become a special favorite of mine. The girl is just shining joy in the photo. She had had some eye infection and was healed of it and the photo looks like it was taken the moment she realized the Lord's love for her and his caring that He had healed her. Her face is just one of exuberant joy!

As the children and adults pulled us through the crowd they took us this time to the man who had met us in the streets with his sad eyes asking for prayer. We wondered why they brought us to this man and not the girl we were so eager to reunite with. We showed him the photo thinking he may know where the girl was. When he looked at the photo his knees buckled and several around him caught him and held him us as he burst into deep heavy sobs. When he could speak the translator told us that this was his daughter and she was in the hospital with Lukemia. This is why he had come to us on the street for prayer. He brought her blouse along with him so that we could lay hands on it and annoint it to bring back to her for her healing.

We all lost it at that point of course and held him, and unable to hide our saddness cried along with him, but then as we prayed with him would not let the saddness overcome us. Through the translator we told him the story of Jesus and the Centurion who understood that Jesus only had to say the word and the Centurions servant would be healed.

Later on in the day this same man who was so sad was dancing and shouting and celebrating with the rest of us. We are all eager to hear the testimony of the girl, and I know that some of our group members are going to see about visiting the girl in the hospital during one of our free days. It is all for the Lord's Glory! Hallelujiah!

Our day in Lom was amazing. Miracles and healings, salvations and homecomings! Too many to write down right now!

One of our group members, I didnt find out which, had given a large donation to purchase Bibles for those who answered the altar call. To see the looks on these peoples faces when we gave them a book. A book! They were amazed! They held them gently with loving care as if it were they most precious thing they had ever held. Its probably the only book any of them will ever own. But hey! If you are going to have only one book-- this is the book you should have!

We took a collection before leaving to give others in the group the opportunity to give an offering to purchase Bibles for our trip in Kazanlak today. We raised a little over $600 and at 2 - 3$ a piece we should have about 250 to give away today. Please pray that our Bulgarian helpers are able to track down 250 Bibles between now and our arrival into Kazanlak.

As we all shared testimonies and stories on our bus ride home we all spoke of how changed that little Lom village was from last year. Not to sound mean, but out of all the towns we visited last year, Lom was the dirtiest. Not the actual town so much as the people. They certainly were not the poorest, yet they had the least care for themselves. This year their faces were washed up, their streets were not as littered and, for the homes that we were invited to enter, they were sparse, but clean. It was such wonderful reunion and welcoming. It broke out hearts to leave as the children ran along side the bus and the old women in their kerchiefs waved and blew kisses at us. Oh the Love of God is so good and so precious and so wonderful... how crazy that he knits our hearts together from opposite sides of the planet. How crazy that such two completely different peoples are so in love with one another. We dont even speak the same language yet we long all year to reunite and share this awesome love of God with eachother.

Today we are off for Kazanluk. We covet your prayers and rejoice with you over the wonderful things the Lord has done and is doing and will do today!! WOOHOOOO!!!!!!