Bumpy Bulgaria

The UniShow returned to Bulgaria for our third tour. From 1-16 August 2019, our team of 12 (from England, Australia, South Korea and America) traveled Bulgaria, sharing the Gospel among Turks in villages.  It was a privilege to perform with an amazing, professional jazz musician, extremely talented drummer and other great artists.

It was an interesting tour with many challenges throughout. Venues were very difficult due to our events being in Turkish areas which are not maintained like the rest of Bulgaria. Children were also plentiful and unrestrained but we know they are precious in His sight and Jesus said to let the little children come to Him.

Turkish Bulgarians are looked down upon in Bulgaria and often feel ostracized in their own country. The program was presented and translated into Turkish and we distributed Turkish literature, hoping to connect better with them in their heart language.

We worked with local believers and churches and many said they were inspired by our bold presentations. Some in the city of Partizanin loved all of the show's exciting elements, as well as how we shared, but asked why we didn't use Christian worship songs in our show. We explained that public worship, although beneficial, can turn away people who are not looking for God. Yet, our goal is to draw these people into an encounter with Him. When we present the Gospel through an entertaining show, we build a rapport with those people and they are more open to listening. After hearing this explanation, the believers were enthusiastic about this method of evangelism and thanked the team for coming.

  

Several areas we presented in were still healing from painful events where "Christian" leaders broke trust and left the faith. We prayed God would use us as a healing salve and it seems God did encourage and strengthen believers, as a result.

We were able to share the Gospel openly and give invitations during events and saw much openness and interest in the Gospel. After one show, a teen approached Dustin asking what we were doing, since he had just arrived and missed the show. Dustin shared the Gospel with him to which he responded, "That is the smartest thing I have ever heard!"

After the show in Sungulare, David prayed with a man who's family approached as the prayer was ending. David had the opportunity to share more about Jesus with the whole family. After this the daughter approached David separately and said she wanted to know how to have a personal relationship with Jesus. He went through the points of the Gospel and how forgiveness is only available through Jesus when we repent and believe. She prayed along with him to accept Jesus into her life, connected with the local church leader and received a Gospel of John.

In all, we did 13 presentations for 2,750 people. Despite the challenges, we saw God at work in and through us. Thousands of Gospel materials were distributed in addition to the words shared from stage. We pray those seeds will be cultivated into lasting fruit that remains. Thanks for praying with us!

UniShow Universe Bulgaria team at it's finest.

Here is a recap of our Bulgaria tour. We had some quality musicians accompany the UniShow:
https://vimeo.com/355298617/17d583153b

Shining the Light in Bulgaria

It's been four years since we've been to Bulgaria and it was wonderful to be back. Not only do they have the best Shopska salads around, but the people are beautiful and welcoming.

The performances combined Dustin's world champion unicycling with Adrian Van Vactor's international award-winning illusions. It was an impressive show which audiences loved.

We partnered with friends who are specifically reaching out to the 700,000 Turkish background Bulgarians. Most mornings we did presentations in different villages on their weekly market day. In the evenings we did presentations in Turkish communities or city centers.

In Salistra we were hosted by a local church who has a very active youth group. The students added a dance to our street outreach, one of them translated for us, and others were inviting students in the audience to youth group. It's exciting to see young people using their gifts to make a difference. During our street shows Saturday, people were invited to church Sunday morning. About 20 people came to church as a result of our outreaches and 5 new students came to youth group. This was the first time this church has done open air outreaches and we thank God for the results.

One special presentation was at an orphanage. The precious children were so receptive and enthusiastic and clung to us, not wanting us to leave at the end. We were encouraged to learn that the message of hope we shared was building on ministry the locals do regularly there.

During each presentation we shared the Good News in full and invited people to respond. Surveys were handed out after each show for people to request more information. Hundreds heard the powerful message of God's love, most for the very first time. Some were deeply touched through our presentations. We noticed tears in some people's eyes; others were very interested in the message, nodding along, eagerly raising their hands, then wanting the location of the local church. Please pray with us for each of these people to grow in their faith.

A pastor in a village who organized a few events for us has planted 10 churches and is going strong. He shared with us his powerful testimony of how God dramatically changed his life. He had been the town drunk and had almost died several times both from drug and alcohol poisoning and from trying to hang himself. He lived near a church and would throw rocks at believers who were headed there. One night he was walking home drunk when a bright light dropped him to his knees, the heavens opened and he saw a hand reach down and throw a lightening bolt into his heart. He heard a voice say "I am the Way, Truth and Life." Suddenly he started saying many verses from the Bible that he hadn't know before. He was on his knees for a long time in the middle of town while God worked on him and people stared at him like he was crazy. What an amazing story of how God is still in the business of changing people's lives.

Adrian wowing people at the church in Salistra.

Dustin defying gravity at the church in Salistra.

Turkish community in Razgrad.

Adrian blew their minds!

Special children at the orphanage.

Turkish quarter in Razgrad.

Turkish quarter in Razgrad.

Happy audience enjoying Dustin's antics at a Turkish village market.

Dustin's antics at a Turkish village market.

City center in Razgrad.

Adrian about to make a coin appear out of this kids sleeve at the city center in Razgrad.

Turkish village market outreach.

Turkish village market outreach.

Such a fun crowd in Sungurlare!

Such a fun crowd in Sungurlare!

Enthusiastic fans after the show in Sungurlare.

Eager beavers wanting surveys after the show in Sungurlare.

Community outreach in Slavyantsi.

Community outreach in Slavyantsi.

Make sure you have stamp

After a great tour in Bulgaria we took a 9 hour overnight bus ride through Macedonia to Pristina Kosovo.  The Bulgarian border officials had some trouble deciding what to do with Dustin because he appeared to be in the country illegally.  The officials on the Turkey/Bulgaria border had not entered him into the system and did not stamp his passport.  After some questioning and delay for the entire bus, one of the officials declared "We are good police, you can go...make sure you have stamp next time."  

Upon our arrival in Kosovo we had some great orientation and great food.  We have a super host here who has a big heart for the people of Kosovo.  He has organized a full line up of venues for us and is very enthusiastic about our partnership with him.  We are the first international group to come to Kosovo and share a message of true Hope and Love through creative outreach performances.  We feel extremely privileged to be here in the newest country in the world (only 2 years old)!

On our first performance day we did 2 shows at a preschool for the cutest 3-6 year olds ever.  Though we made our message very simple, we know they, as well as their teachers, thoroughly enjoyed it and heard about God’s love.  It was actually quite special to share with these precious children who need to know that they are known and loved.

Next we shared with students at a gypsy camp.  Their eyes were full of the heaviness of the world but they were well behaved and seemed to drink in the Prodigal Son parable about God’s love.  That same day we visited a city with a large Turkish population and did a spontaneous show on the sidewalk near the city center.  Several hundred people gathered and seemed totally into the performing and message.  We had great conversations with many who stayed after wanting to talk.

God has really blessed our events and kept doors open and we look forward to the rest of this amazing tour.

"Happy Kids" children's center

 

with some Roma gypsy kids

NATO, European Union, USA, Kosovo
we see the US flag almost as much as the Kosovo flag

getting some "help" from the audience...
and a few laughs

Good Times In Bulgaria

We can hardly believe that we started out this TACO tour nearly 2 months ago in the scalding heat of temps over 100F/40C.  The temperature dropped quite a bit during our second week in Bulgaria.  One show was rained out where it was impossible to set up in the beautiful town square where we had received permission to perform.  The band, however, did a simple acoustic set outside under a café awning.  We handed out flyers of the band StoryBox with the Prodigal Son story and though Dustin was just sitting in the café chatting with some Bulgarians, his flyers with his testimony were high in demand among the small audience the band drew.

Dustin did great keeping the message clear and succinct while, during some shows, his message was translated into Turkish and then into Bulgarian.  We again had very attentive and helpful hosts who have been busy preparing for us, transporting and serving with us and will be busy with all the follow up once we leave.  We know and trust that though we didn’t have huge crowds, God drew those who did attend and He will use the truth we shared to make an eternal difference.  He is worthy to be proclaimed, regardless of the results we can see!

making the jump in a village near Razgrad, Bulgaria

Katie's smokin' "Joyful, Joyful" dance

in the shadow of  Bulgarian kahn Asparuh

singin' in the rain

watch out for those potholes!
a disco parking lot in Razgrad