EMM missionaries Lamar and Pat Myers began a two year assignment in Bulgartia in January 2006.

When Eastern Mennonite Missions workers Lamar and Pat Myers returned to southern Bulgaria recently, their suitcase was bulging with an assortment of colorful cloth gifts, which they gave to small groups of believers in villages all over the countryside and mountains. Pat says of the unusual bundles, “When we visit people, we always take a small gift along. It’s a Bulgarian custom when making a visit. Usually it is a box of candy or cookies.

“But shortly before coming home this summer I got an idea – why not suggest that the ladies at Landisville Mennonite Church, our home congregation, make pot holders for us to give as gifts? While the Americans are making the pot holders, they can be praying for the Bulgarians who will be receiving them. When we give the pot holders to people, we can say they are symbols of the love and prayers prayed for them by the women in our home church.”

Joan Gingrich, president of the sewing circle at Landisville Mennonite, loved the idea and took it to the circle. They ran with it, and by the time the Myers returned to Bulgaria from their summer U.S. visit, they had a suitcase full of 126 handmade, prayed-over pot holders.

The pot holders were crocheted, quilted, knit, appliquéd, or sewed. Several young girls even made old-fashioned woven loop pot holders. Pat had suggested that Bulgarians especially love orange, yellow, red, and brown, so some women focused on those colors. Others just used what they had on hand.

Joan said that excitement mounted as the women brought their completed pot holders to church and strung them on clothes lines in the church lobby for everyone to see. She was amazed by the creativity displayed and is excited that they can have such a “hands on” connection with people in Bulgaria as well as be a support and encouragement to missionaries from their congregation, Lamar and Pat.

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