The Angels of Ihtiman
By DANIELA ENCHEVA, Bulgaria
A Slum Next to a Luxurious Golf Course
The city of Ihtiman is located 40 miles from Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It is a city with contrasts. A thin wall separates the destitute Roma neighborhood from a manicured golf course.
Mission Possible provides support for the feeding of needy families in this neighborhood. A team of volunteers from the church visits families, taking meals to the hungry residents and praying for each one. The team is known as the “Angels of Ihtiman.”
They are messengers of God and carry His love and word from home to home.
As they walk on the streets of Ihtiman, the team members sing about Jesus. They have no wings but they seem to be flying, lifted by the joy of doing good in the name of the Lord.
As they go house to house, they carry their hot, heavy pot of bean and sausage soup, which they prepared earlier that same day.
Inside the homes of the poorest and neediest families they visit, they serve the soup and talk and pray.
They do not choose the recipients according to kinship or friendship – some residents have been resistant and unkind. The church simply wants to serve with God’s love.
One elderly man they visited is deaf and sick and lonely. There is a woman they met who was weeping because her four-year-old granddaughter was fighting for her life.
They visited little Christina who greeted them with a big, warm smile. She is not yet aware that she lives in squalor and misery.
The church is young, but the people in it, despite their own difficult lives, are generous and loving. They want to share Christ’s love with their neighbors.
A bowl of warm food is reason enough for some to open the door of their home to this team. And the prayer with which the Angels bless each person can open the door of his or her heart to God.
The streets of the Roma neighborhood
are muddy and dirty,
but there is now hope
because “angels” walk them
- the Angels of Ihtiman.
