As you may recall, the GO Team spent some time in J-Town last month sharing the global mission work being done in Bulgaria. During this time, we made Christmas cards for children in Bulgaria and also learned about our missionaries to Bulgaria from JFM, David and Jill Sweet.
On Sunday, December 5, we were so excited to follow this up with a special visit from David and Jill who are in Michigan over the next couple months. It was really neat to have this time for the kids to connect names with faces and hear firsthand a little more about Bulgaria.
We began by learning a few Bulgarian words:
Slava Naboga (Praise the Lord)
Zdraviete (hi)
Obechan (I Love You),
Dovezdana (Goodbye - also can be said more informally as “Ciao”, like in Italian)
Kakse (How Are You?) and
Gubi ("Mushrooms”).
The kids also learned that when you shake your head side to side in Bulgaria (which would mean “no” in the U.S.), it means “yes” - when you shake your head up and down in Bulgaria (which would mean “yes” in the U.S.), it means “no”. We all thought that would be quite confusing if we had to do it regularly! David then presented a short slideshow to the kids so they could see some of the churches and children in Bulgaria.
After the slideshow, the kids played a game similar to “The Price Is Right” so they could see the difference between the U.S. and Bulgaria when comparing income and costs. Jill explained that in the U.S., the average per capita household income is $33,741; in Bulgaria it is $4,080. She then went on to show 4 different items: a large pizza, a pound of apples, a gallon of milk and a gallon of gas. Each item had the U.S. cost listed below it. The group was then split into two teams - one choosing what they thought the cost in Bulgaria would be for the pizza and apples, the other choosing what they thought the cost in Bulgaria would be for milk and gas.
There was discussion amongst the kids - some thought that if you made less money, the products would cost less; some thought if you made less, the products wouldn’t necessarily cost less because of that. We learned that a large pizza costs close to the same in both countries, a pound of apples costs significantly less in Bulgaria (due to the fact that David and Jill live in what’s referred to as the “fruit basket of Bulgaria” so produce like this is locally grown), a gallon of milk costs more in Bulgaria, as does a gallon of gas. It was a very fun game, as well as educational for all.
After the game, David and Jill taught the kids a simple song to the tune of “Praise Ye The Lord" and the kids had fun singing a few rounds of “Slava Naboga”/Hallelujah.
They were then challenged to go out and say “Slava Naboga” to someone that day. After a number of great questions from the kids (for example, where do you work, what is the grocery store like, do they have a president, do they have things like iPads?), we wrapped up our time in J-Town together. A special thank you to David and Jill for spending this time with our kids - it was a wonderful morning!
