Three years ago, Kayla Whittaker ventured out of her small town in White House, Tennessee to find herself studying abroad in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. She decided to get involved with local outreach and mission work. She joined a student group at the university called ‘Better Community Club’ which was founded by students at the American University in Bulgaria. Here, she learned a great deal about community service and volunteered each Saturday at a local orphanage. She also made close friends with professor/missionary, Bill Clark and his wife, Lisa. Each week, Kayla joined them in a small Bible study group with other students to study, pray, and talk about God’s work in Bulgaria. Bill and Lisa were able to introduce her to the local Roma people. Here, Kayla was exposed to the horrible living conditions, sickness, and struggle that people in the community dealt with daily. She knew that she would not be able to go back peacefully, knowing what those people had to continue with.
Kayla returned to America with a heavy heart, and longing to give back to the second home that she came to love. The next few years, she made connections, changed her major to Public Relations, and began constructing plans to make a project that gave back to the community in Blagoevgrad.
When Kayla met boyfriend, Thomas Collie, they found they both shared a love for helping others and mission work. Once they decided to travel together (including a return to visit and help in Bulgaria for a few days), God’s loving plan seemed to rocket.
When news of Kayla’s return to Bulgaria was announced, it was discovered that Kayla’s church (Seventh Day Adventist) was already involved in a project here. The KY-TN Conference was supporting the quarterly mission tithe for the InterEuropean Division. While reading the SDA website’s mission section, they found that there was a Bulgarian pastor asking for people to give to a cause that helped build a church in none other than Blagoevgrad. This was a project under the tithe offering for the InterEuropean Division in the SDA Church. Kayla instantly felt it was meant to be.
This discovery lead to the founding of the project: “Rays of Hope for Bulgaria”. At this point, the project is aimed at giving back to two set causes :
1.)To help the Roma (gypsy) children and families in Blagoevgrad. The Roma are a subculture community that reside all over Europe. Blagoevgrad is one of the most populated areas in Bulgaria of Roma people. The project has a mission to help provide further assistance in education programs, and meet other basic needs to prepare children for entering local school systems, and to stay in school until they graduate. If children can graduate high school, and possibly attend university, their acceptance within Bulgaria will be greater. Therefore, they will have hope for a better future.
2.) The second cause it to help fund the building and start up of the SDA church in Blagoevgrad. Many locals as well as Roma people are interested in learning about Christ. Unfortunately, the church is not able to physically accommodate over about 70 people. Therefore, we must help them have a gathering place to learn about Christ’s message of love, forgiveness, and HOPE.
“The reasons for helping in Bulgaria are not merely making these people into Christians…Christ desires us to love our neighbors, no matter the circumstance, and extend a loving hand to one another by doing so. If we can do this, we can provide hope and set a Christ like example for others. God and Christ are meant to do the rest. He is able to reach others THROUGH us. So many people say, “Why Bulgaria, why these people, we have people who need help here too?!” Yes, all are true. And each of us are in need in some way. God intended me to advocate and speak on the behalf of THESE people. When was the last time you heard of Bulgaria and the people there? If my ability is to shed light on this purpose, then I’m all in until I can’t help any longer.” -Kayla Whittaker
For more information, visit http://raysofhopebg.org or follow the mission on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/raysofhopebg.
If you would like to donate to Rays of Hope for Bulgaria you can :
*Mail checks, cash, etc. to
White House SDA Church
P.O. Box 299
White House, TN 37048
*Donate Online at:
www.whitehousesda.org/giveonline
Choose the Rays of Hope for Bulgaria project.
White House Seventh Day Adventist Church will be sponsoring this project by providing a separate account for funds of this project.