Sofia so far...

To say that this trip has been uneventful would be a lie. So instead of thinking upon the negatives, I'll focus on the trip as a whole from when we got here!

The flights were long, but good! No problems there and we even got to watch free movies during our 8 hour flight. I watched Mulan, Peter Pan and listened to music along with sleeping for maybe an hour. Our flight into Sofia went good and probably had the most leg room and the comfiest seats, despite the turbulence we experienced during a section of the sky while going through a storm! I wasn't scared about the movement but thought it was kinda fun, but not everyone would think that. Okay, so we got into Sofia around 10:30 and got our bags (none of ours were lost, thank goodness) and Christo, Vania, Martin (the interpreter), and Jeff Shepard who is moving his family here in August picked us up at the airport. The last Arkansas group came in about 20 minutes after us and then we loaded up in a van and headed to the hotel. Since the other groups were already here and checked in, they were already asleep so we had to be quiet going into our rooms. Once settled I laid down and it all hit me, and to be honest like I said I would be, I cried. I cried for about a half hour because I just wanted to be home with my family. I was scared, lonely, and uncomfortable. Later to realize I would become comfortably uncomfortable.

I got good sleep the first night and we woke up and had breakfast early so we could start our tour of Sofia early enough to beat the heat. At 8 we set out on a walking tour of Sofia. Our guide and interpreter Martin, who speaks English very well, took us through tons of old churches, Mosques, and parts of town that had AMAZING history. One of the churches we visited was the first Christian church built in Bulgaria in the early 4th Century built by Constantine. It was made of brick and just standing in the courtyard made me feel blessed to be able to experience this type of history. Like there is actually a piece of history that old that I can touch and experience for myself. It was a very cool experience and one that most people don't get to experience. We took a break for refreshing drinks part way through and I was extremely thirsty despite drinking water the whole time, and peach tea was the best refreshing drink I could've chose. It just hit the spot! We continued the tour and saw much more of the city and then hopped on the bus, which is very different from the Unite States, and went to eat lunch. For lunch I had chicken in a blue cheese and Creme sauce and it was very delicious! We ten walked around a little strip mall to kill some time and then headed back to the hotel to rest. At 6 we met back up and dispersed in groups to get dinner so we didn't overwhelm one restaurant. We came back to the hotel and sang some songs and debriefed the day. All the time, besides taking the bus or metro, we are walking. And with the 90 degree heat plus lots of humidity, we aren't used to it.

The next day we woke up and met at 8:30 to start our drive to Plovdiv which is about a 3 hour drive or a little less, for this trip we took a charter bus. The day was hot again with lots of humidity. We walked around the city and saw an art museum and then went and saw a 2nd Century Amphitheater. It was amazing!! It was only the back rounded area but it was amazing! It also had an amazing echo so as a group we decided to start singing a few songs! We drew quite a crowd as you can guess because 30 people singing under an overhang in an amphitheater drew up some loud noise in a country where loud noises aren't common. Many locals came and listened and took pictures of us singing, but it was such a God moment, you just would've had to have been there. After that we went to lunch and then went on a walk (hike) up a hill in Plovdiv where we went to another old Amphitheater (I can't remember the details of it), but it was a beautiful place and one of the Bulgarian ladies that came with us sang an opera song and wow, it sounded beautiful! We then continued on our walk up the hill and went into many houses that were turned into museums and into some artisan stores. By the time we got to the top, it was HOT, but the view again was incredible. It's not everyday that you see views like these. The way back down the hill was fast, but when we got to the bottom, we found out that two of our members had gotten sick from heat exhaustion and were going to be needing IVs so an ambulance was on the way. Once the ambulance got there and was checking them out, most of the group, including me, went further down the hill and got ice cream. And let me tell ya, it was DELICIOUS! But would cost me later. Once finished with ice cream we found out that the ambulance was on its way to the hospital so the rest of us loaded up in our charter bus and headed to the hospital to wait around. It was ht, humid, and very tiring. We waited outside the bus on the side of a road for 2 hours before heading into toward the hospital where we found out there was a little cafe, seeing as how it was dinner time. Walking over to the cafe I was telling Tammi, one of the ladies from the Spokane group, about how my worst fear was getting sick in a foreign country. And Im not kidding you, as soon as I walked into the cafe, I started feeling bad, so all I ordered was a Sprite. As I sat down at a table, I started feeling worse and worse. I don't know how long we stayed there because I was out of it, but as soon as I stood up, I knew I would be sick. And I was. It was then and there that I realized I was no longer in control of the trip and that it was all on God, because my worst fear came true. I felt fine after the first time and walked back to the bus with the group. But as soon as I got back, and we were waiting outside if the bus, I got sick again. (The cafe was outside as well). It was  not fun and I just wanted to be home. I started crying and saying how I want to get on an airplane right now. I was not having it, but I knew deep down that everything would be okay and that God was in control. While we were waiting by the bus for the other two ladies to get out of the hospital, I had gotten very tired and delirious. I had gotten heat exhaustion as well. I was miserable. As soon as the bus driver got back to the bus and turned the air conditioning on full blast, I was done being sick and just needed to be in a cold and dark environment where I could sleep. And the bus was it. The Arkansas group was so nice and cleared out the back row so I could lay down and kept quiet. I couldn't thank them enough. I fell asleep and 3 hours later we were back in Sofia with the two ladies who had gotten released from the hospital. I went into some of the ladies from Northside's group and took a cold bath and then went to sleep. The brought all my stuff in their room and were very motherly. It was nice since my mom wasn't here. I slept all night and all the next day (being Sunday), I missed church and focused on resting. I woke up for short amounts of time on Sunday but mainly slept and ate goldfish and drank water and sprite. Then that leads us to today.

Today I woke up and felt much better, I went down and ate a pice of toast and a kiwi. I felt we'll enough so I decided I would get dressed and head to the park for as long as I could handle. We took the city bus to the park and set up in a shady area under some trees and began playing games in small groups. I sat an watched for awhile as the walking around the park tired me out. Once I got energy, I started playing with a little boy who the group had met him and his mom last year. His name was Tyce (not sure on spelling) and he was the CUTEST little boy! He wanted to kick a beach ball back and forth and bounce it, which was good because its all I had the energy to do! He would giggle every time it got to me, and boy oh boy did he have an adorable giggle! It made my day, especially since I felt well for the most part. Once he and his mom left I played a game with the Arkansas kids called Kill Ball. It was fun and if I had more energy I would've played it more! A group and I then went and found something to eat and by the time I had taken a few bites of grilled chicken, which was mighty tasty, I was full and got tired. Once finished with lunch we headed back to the group and I waited for Tammi and Marti and Mike and told them I was tired and we went on our way back to the hotel. We wanted to go on a little adventure, so we tried the Metro, and thanks to Mike, we had much success and we got on the rights metros underground and got back to the hotel! I took a shower and am now writing this. Phew! I'm so glad I'm caught up in writing this and am now going to take a nap before our singing and devotional tonight.

It has been a trip with many ups and downs, but it has been a beautiful trip and I can't wait to feel 100%.