This was the beginning of Radiant Encounter although none of us knew it at the time! Steve, Adonna, Samuel and myself, Hannah, were on a normal family holiday in Bulgaria. Steve and Adonna decided to drive down a newly built road, because Bulgaria is always changing and building new roads. When they were driving down the road, they saw a gypsy father and his young son rummaging through the rubbish bins. They were looking for anything they could sell to make a tiny amount of money, so that they could buy some food to feed their family.
It was Easter time, in Bulgaria there were still piles of snow on the ground. The young son had a pair of shoes on his feet, but the soles were flapping to the heels. He had nothing to protect his feet against the wet, icy snow. When Adonna saw this, she remembered that I had a pair of snow boots that I no longer needed in our apartment. She thought that it would be better than what he had on his feet at the time. When Steve and Adonna were able to give the young son the snow boots and a bag of food to the father for his family, they both knew that Bulgaria could never be just a family holiday again.
Later that day Steve and Adonna went to a supermarket and they heard God say to buy some children’s boots. At that point they picked up six bags for life and filled them with boots. After buying them, they stood outside of the shop and said, “Okay God, we got the boots, where now?” God directed us to a gypsy village in the town of Razlog, where we found a local church who helped us give the boots to the children that really needed them, and this was the beginning of our journey with Jesus.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.” Philippians 2:3
