April 2010 - The Boys' Brigade

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Ten cute boys ar in Sliven orphan We were told scary stories about going to the gypsy village... On Saturday 24th October, ten young men from the 4th Sutton Coldfield Company travelled to Sliven, Bulgaria to work alongside two partners from Sutton Coldfield Baptist Church. The week long trip was the culmination of twelve months of fundraising activity towards the £5000 needed to refurbish and pay for new play equipment in an orphanage. We stayed in a high rise block of flats with 10 young men sharing two bedrooms just yards from the nearby local mafia headquarters. Most of the time was spent preparing and decorating the play room, looking around the orphanage, and meeting the children there. The local press came along to see what we were doing, and the following day a headline appeared in the local paper reading “Ten cute boys arrive in Sliven orphanage”. The press complaints commission should have had a field day with that, but nevertheless their egos were boosted! As well as all the hard work at the orphanage there were opportunities to spend time with the local church and visit a nearby gypsy church. The latter was a great experience. We were told scary stories about going to the gypsy village, and advised not to bring anything with us. Even after running someone over (no time to go into this here, but they were fine!), we were given such a warm welcome. The church was in a room underneath a house. They had a guitar and a bongo drum and although we couldn’t understand a single word they were singing, spiritually we were in tune! Afterwards we spoke about how it was like God had put our own words into our mouths and heads instead. Over the week we filmed just about everything we did, and at the end of each day different people produced a video diary of their experiences. This created a lasting record of not only what we did, but what we felt and experienced. Every day we also spent some time reading the Bible and praying together. This had a special significance and God really spoke to us during these times. 58 The Boys’ Brigade Gazette April 2010
ive age ...or so the papers say! There was no better way to read the Bible than to relate it directly to our experiences We experienced huge generosity from our hosts and heard about how they installed a new water heater just for our visit. In the evening we then read together the story about the old widow with the two small coins. There was no better way to read the Bible than to relate it directly to our experiences. At the beginning of the trip we went out expecting to make a real difference in the lives of the children in Bulgaria. We didn’t just want to talk about what God’s love is like, but to demonstrate it through what we did. However, in reality, despite all that we did we were left absolutely convinced that we had been given back more in return. “I’m going to take two things away. The first was their hospitality. When we went around to someone’s house for dinner they refused to sit down and eat with us, and preferred to just serve us. That meant a lot to me, because she put us first. It shows us that we should put others first too! The second was seeing the children play in the room when it was finished. That 45 minutes was the culmination of twelve months work and it was totally worth it.” (Nick Drury, 16) “The staff in the orphanage really loved the kids and treated them like family. I hope that what we take back from this country is how to show God’s love like they do. (Brad Maybury, 16) “When you’re at home you don’t see these things or you hear it on the news and pass it by. But when you actually look it’s really bad... Building the playroom really helps them as they don’t have any toys. It’s adding to their education because all kids learn from playing. We came here thinking we were doing a job, but it was God’s work we were doing.” (Benji Maycock, 17) “In England we have a nice house with loads of stuff in it and they had nothing.” (Dave Cobbald, 16) “I hope that, coming away from here, I understand that we don’t have to be in Bulgaria to do this sort of thing. Instead we can do it everyday of our lives. I’ll go home with the attitude that not everything that we’ve got is there to be used and abused. Instead it’s there as a gift and we should take advantage of what we’ve got.” (Stuart McCaw, 17) “The new activity room looks fantastic but the best part was when the young children first came into the room and we could see the smiles, excitement and joy on their little faces.” (Irene Liddy, group leader) “My highlight was going to the church in the gypsy village. I was so shocked. It was the grottiest cellar, but it was transformed as soon as they started singing. The worship was amazing. They brought the place to life. It showed me it’s not just about the building, but it’s the people inside. They are committed and really do worship God. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world you can do that!” (Chris Hodkinson, 17) “My prayer is that through coming to Bulgaria that God will plant things in our hearts to do when we go home. That we will be changed. We came to make a difference, but the people here have also made a difference in our lives.” (Paul Bridge, group leader) April 2010 The Boys’ Brigade Gazette 59
Page 1 and 2: THE OFFICIAL QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF T
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS 40 Recruitment Launch of n
Page 5 and 6: New resources have been produced to
Page 7 and 8: Raising our profile amongst churche
Page 9 and 10: Brigade announcements BRIGADE COUNC
Page 11 and 12: Introducing an exciting online syst
Page 13 and 14: 2009 INTERNATIONAL CAMP Twelve memb
Page 15 and 16: 7th North Staffs Members of the Com
Page 17 and 18: Ever since the 1st Glasgow first we
Page 19 and 20: 59th BIRMINGHAM BB COMPANY supports
Page 21: Top Team Challenge 2010 The Nationa
Page 25 and 26: NORTHERN Ireland Junior Section Mus
Page 27 and 28: Around the regions Scotland continu
Page 29 and 30: Global Fellowship: FDF has started
Page 31 and 32: Down Battalion returns BB to BB Sch
Page 33 and 34: News • News • News The Stedfast
Page 35 and 36: newly refurbished Thurso Centre is

April 2010 - The Boys' Brigade

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