Day 2 - Arrive in Plovdiv

Tired and overstimulated is the best way to describe how we have started our trip. We left our home at noon on Saturday and traveled for 15-16 hours with at most an hour sleep along the way. We arrive in Sofia, Bulgaria at 1:00 pm where we meet Toni and her brother Marty who take us to the hotel. We try our best to stay awake until evening, so that we can adjust to our new timezone. We order pizza, eat and then go to sleep at about 6:30 pm. Kristin and I both wake up thinking that it had been hours since we fell asleep. It is only 7:53 pm!!

After a few hours we fall back asleep only to wake up at about 2:00 am. We fall asleep at roughly 4 am and wake up to get ready to leave Sofia for Plovdiv at about 6:15 am. That was not exactly the quality sleep that we needed!

I have a whole new respect for Abraham:

Genesis 12:1-3


Now the Lord had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The most foreign destination that Kristin and I have ever been is New York City, and while the peoples of that city may speak strangely and have customs that are difficult to understand. I speak the same language. Now we are in a truly different country, with different customs, mannerisms and language. Listening to conversations, that I can't understand and trying to read the body language of the people is difficult. The people are usually very serious in tone, to an American it almost seems angry. Then at the end of the conversation (or even ordering at McDonalds) the people smile and say ciao. I find it very difficult to understand anything happening around me, and have decided to give up even trying.

Imagine how life must have changed for Abraham. He left a country and a situation of comfort to go where God called him. he didn't just visit there as we have, he moved there to people of strange language and cultures. They worshipped gods, who were not God. Yet Abraham went and prospered. The Bible does not tell us the feelings he experienced, which is why I now have new found appreciation for this patriarch.