Following a bereavement in the UK a family wondered if the deceased’s clothes could be of use to someone in Eastern Europe and if so, how could they be transported? (SGA is not involved in this type of ministry) We discovered that the deceased was affectionately known as “Pavarotti”. The description immediately brought to mind a suitable recipient - Pastor Vesselin Krustev from Dupnica, Bulgaria, also affectionately known as “Pavarotti” and supported by SGA. Could the clothing be delivered to him?
Once a year a (Blythswood) lorry loaded with shoeboxes leaves the North of Scotland for Sliven, Bulgaria. The question was could the clothes be transported in time, from the Isle of Lewis by ferry to Ullapool and then across Scotland to Inverness to the collection point, in time for the loading and departure of this consignment? Well..... the clothes arrived just in time to catch the Christmas shoebox lorry before its departure. Would the people in Sliven know “Pavarotti” in Dupnica? Did Pastor Vesselin Krustev receive the gifts? Did they fit?
The answers were provided when an SGA team arrived in Bulgaria at the Mission School in Velingrad some months later. A crushing bear hug from Vesselin said it all! Pastor Stojan Slavchev, (also supported by SGA) from Sliven Evangelical Church, was there to sort the boxes and discovered the parcel earmarked for Vesselin. He drove half way across Bulgaria to deliver the clothes to their destination.
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Not only did the clothes fit, but they arrived at just the right time to lift Vesselin out of a period of deep despondency. Feeling low, he had felt that perhaps he should give up the ministry......then, “I wept and wept and realised that the Lord had not forgotten me.
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Vesselin Krustev with Kenneth Macleod, SGA Voluntary Associate from the Isle of Lewis, who visited him in Bulgaria |
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