March Update

Happy Spring! We do love this time of year. We are hoping for a pleasant spring as we feel we may have escaped winter. We have only had a few days of below freezing temperatures and no snow here in Sofia. Quite a contradiction to what you have all experienced in the States and the weather that first welcomed us to Sofia. We are certainly not complaining… it has been a nice winter.

We have become very busy and do not see things slowing down. Our mission team held their winter retreat in a nearby ski village of Borovets over a weekend in mid February. It was a great time of bonding as a team and Drew and I had a great time sledding in the snow.

I spent a week of February in Wroclaw, Poland attending a “Finance and Fundraising” seminar for theological institutions. I attended with my good friend, Tony Lalev, whom is the UTF Director. We received a lot of great information for the school and had a wonderful time in the city of Wroclaw.

Lisa, Drew and I had to make a last minute “run for the border” as our one year visas expired and we needed a border stamp for a 90 day tourist visa to complete our stay. We turned the trek into a nice weekend getaway to Thessaloniki, Greece, which is only an hour on the other side of the border. We had a wonderful time, enjoying beautiful weather, great seafood and Starbucks coffee!

Lisa is packing her bags now for a SEND women’s retreat in Madrid, Spain. The women of South Central Europe are gathering for a time of fellowship and discipleship, March 22-26. Please pray for Lisa’s travel along with the little one she holds. Don’t forget Drew and me as well – as we will be ‘bachelors’ for four days.

Lisa’s belly continues to grow as we anticipate the arrival of our new baby girl. Yes – a girl – please start praying for me now! Lisa is doing very well as she has moved out of the first trimester and is now half way through at 20 weeks. The doctor performed a 3D ultrasound last week and both mom and baby are very healthy.

Time is becoming short as we have less than 3 months here in Bulgaria. I am working closely with the staff here at UTF to transition / train many of the nationals on what I have been working on. I plan to continue to assist Tony and the UTF team by consulting from abroad. With modern technology – I will only be a “skype” call away.

Many have asked what our plans are when we return. Our long range plans are still in the Lord’s hands, but for now we are planning on arriving home by June 15^th. We plan on spending a few weeks in Decatur and then sometime in July moving onto Des Moines where we will temporarily settle down to await the arrival of our the new little one the first of August. I will be researching employment opportunities when home. (Picture to the Right: Drew's cousins, Christian (12 mo.) and Anna (18 mo.))

Please continue to pray with us as we lean on the Lord as He guides and directs us through this new and exciting transition.

With sincere love and gratitude,

Marc, Lisa and Drew Sheppard