November 3, 1999

DENTIST Fred Sharp and assistant Patricia Cugini replace a crown on Pavlina Jordanova. (IMB photos by Grace Robinette)

54 Texans bring hope
and healing to Bulgarian people
___By Mike Creswell
___SBC International Mission Board
___GULYANTSI, Bulgaria--An international team, including 54 Texans, delivered medical and dental care, the gospel and lots of love to the Eastern European nation of Bulgaria this fall.
___Volunteers treated more than 3,000 patients in half a dozen locations across northeastern Bulgaria and fitted hundreds of Bulgarians with eyeglasses.
___The unusually large project put together volunteer teams from The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson and Forest Cove Baptist Church in Kingwood with a medical team from Baylor/Richardson Medical Center. They were joined by Baptist volunteers from Mexico and Latvia and dozens of Bulgarian Baptists.
___Medical teams set up clinics in a church, schools and other public buildings and

ARMS OF LOVE are placed around Gena Kuleva, a Bulgarian child treated at a free medical clinic this fall in Gulyansti, Bulgaria. Caring for her is Rhonda Walton, a pediatrician from Waxahachie who is affiliated with Baylor Health Care System. (IMB photo by Grace Robinette)

immediately faced long lines of Bulgarians sometimes desperate for medical or dental care. Teams also ministered in a prison and in a Gypsy village where residents struggle against poverty.
___While Bulgaria technically overthrew communism a decade ago, years of communist rule have left the country of more than 8 million people struggling economically, especially in the field of medical care.
___Baylor/Richardson medical personnel also came to Bulgaria to explore a continuing partnership with a hospital in Gulyantsi that is trying to expand to provide extended medical care in the region. Earlier this year, Baylor shipped a 40-foot train car of medical equipment and supplies valued at about $89,000.
___More recently, Baylor sent a second rail car filled mostly with medical supplies valued at more than $40,000, according to Carol Powers, Baylor's director of materials management who directed assembly of the shipments and came to Bulgaria to oversee delivery.
___The shipment included equipment ranging from hospital beds and furniture to diagnostic equipment and basic health monitoring gear, such as blood pressure cuffs.
___"This was a spiritual mission as well as treating the physical needs of people in a depressed area," said Ronald Boring, president and CEO of Baylor/ Richardson Medical Center.
___Boring and other medical personnel, together with leaders of the two Texas churches and Southern Baptist missionaries Paul Ridgway and Spencer Stith, met with leaders of a regional medical university, a regional governor and several local mayors as they negotiated details of the partnership.
___While Baptists and other evangelicals faced only reluctant freedoms in earlier years, recently elected politicians seem more conciliatory, especially when medical help is

RONALD BORING (above) treats Miroslavv Caramanov for emphysema as Bulgarian physician George Delchev assists. Boring is the CEO and president of Baylor/Richardson Medical Center.

involved. The American doctors said their Bulgarian medical colleagues appeared well-trained but hampered by inadequate funding and equipment. Both sides said they enjoyed getting to talk to the others, through translators in most cases.
___Chuck Oak, Forest Cove's missions pastor, received a key to the city of Berkovitsa and a certificate of appreciation from the village of Georgi Damyanovo in acknowledgement of the Baptist-led effort to help the region.
___Medical and dental teams treated hundreds of Gypsies who live in the village of Rakovitsa, where a delighted Mayor Victor Stefkov Georgiev even personally served lunch to the volunteers each day.
___"All the people around are very impressed with the care we've received here," he said. "In Bulgaria, Gypsies don't usually receive such care and attention. We're so impressed and stunned by the fact they traveled so many kilometers to come here and show us love."
___A Baptist church led by Gypsy pastor Ivan Zahariev has had a positive impact on

IN GULYANSTI, BULGARIA, John Wood examines Milka Ivanova Petrusheva, who came into the free Baptist clinic to get treatment for diabetes. Wood is a physician with Baylor Health Care system.

Rakovitsa's 3,400 residents, Stefkov said, estimating that more than 70 percent of the villagers have stopped smoking and drinking during the 10 years the growing church has been there.
___A highlight of the 10-day project was groundbreaking for a new church building, medical clinic and public bathhouse for Rakovitsa. The sight of local politicians teaming up with Baptist pastors and missionaries together is unusual for Bulgaria.
___Volunteers treated many of the 800 prisoners at a regional prison in Vratsa, and Gary Singleton, pastor of The Heights Baptist Church, preached to a full house in a theater. Zahariev has established a regular ministry to prisoners and leads services there.
___Traveling to Bulgaria has become routine for Darrell Grice, missions pastor of The Heights Baptist Church, because his church is halfway through a five-year partnership with the region. The church has helped fund agricultural projects and also gave a $60,000 financial boost to Rakovitsa's new building projects with a gift from an anonymous donor.


___

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!