Shortly after missionaries Scott and Lisa Gill arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria, Scott scoured the city looking for a place to live. He found the perfect spot, then proudly took his wife to see the two-bedroom apartment. Lisa opened the door, looked around and began to cry.

Wow! thought Scott happily. Tears of joy!

Wrong. Behind the tears Lisa was thinking, I can't believe we're going to live in such a dark, dank place. Paint peeled off the walls.

Sunlight barely penetrated the tiny rooms. Abandoned buildings stood nearby, amidst litter and trash.

Nobody could say Lisa hadn't been warned. In fact, before she'd left America, friends had questioned her wisdom in going to the mission field with a 1-year-old and 6-week-old. What about medical care? What about the living conditions? How could you leave family and friends behind?

"I talked to Shirley Hinkson about my biggest fear," says Lisa. "Would it be safe for the kids?" Shirley, a Campus Crusade for Christ missionary who raised her children behind the Iron Curtain, said that one of the main reasons the

Israelites did not go into the Promised Land was fear for their children.

"Shirley said we should not use that as an excuse," says Lisa. "I cling to those Scriptures today, and God has been faithful."

During the past eight years, Scott and Lisa have developed a close-knit family that can only be described as "all-American." Yet they feel at home in Bulgaria, so much so that Scott, national director of Campus Crusade in this Balkan country, has been able to help build a flourishing ministry.

One night at dinner, Lisa placed shopska (a Bulgarian salad consisting of cucumbers, tomatoes and feta cheese) on the pinewood table. Taylor, 6, and Jordan, 9, could talk of nothing but baseball. Scott's sister, Shari, keeps the Gills well supplied with videos of Colorado Rockies games-only the victories, though, for Scott, 40, won't waste time watching a loss. The boys hang on every pitch, then discuss the game with their dad at dinner.

Meanwhile, 7-year-old Jeremi practiced his lines for the next day. His school would be celebrating Alphabet Day-a national holiday in Bulgaria-with a special program honoring the Cyrillic alphabet, developed over a thousand years ago by a Bulgarian monk. Jeremi would recite a poem about the letter "O."

Caleb, 5, aped his big brothers while Scott fed baby Sarah. After dinner the boys rushed back for the end of the game.

Later that night, Scott gathered everybody for family devotions. The boys bounced on the bunk beds singing praise songs, then gathered under a Little Tykes basketball hoop to discuss Gideon. "God doesn't put up with sin," said Scott, and the boys discussed what that meant.

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On nights with no new Rockies game to watch, the Gills watch John Wayne or VeggieTales, play Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit, or the boys challenge a visitor to a game of chess.

Life with a family of five kids isn't all peaches and shopska, though, no matter where you live. As Lisa points out, "Sometimes I have to believe that God can and will use me, even when I feel I'm being swallowed up by the kids. This is a huge part of my call, just keeping the family going."

"God uses our family as a form of ministry," adds Scott, flashing a smile at his wife. "Bulgarians want to see how a Christian marriage and family works."

And lots of people watch their family. A steady stream comes and goes through the Gill household-students needing a place to stay overnight, friends wanting to chat, neighborhood kids coming to play.

"Scott is the model we would like to follow," says Grozdan Stoevski, a Bulgarian staff member whom Scott mentors. "I've wondered if we're attracted to him because he is an American, but I believe it's because he reflects the character of God. We admire his wisdom, his cheerful spirit, his ability to look at the worst situation from a positive perspective."

That "relentless optimism," as Scott puts it, has served him well during his years in Eastern Europe. His passion for the region began in 1985, during a two-year mission project in Romania. Back then, with the Iron Curtain still very much present, he felt like James Bond: "We were followed, we were scared, I liked the adventure." He also saw the effects of 45 years of communism. People had little hope and their lives were full of despair, but the believers shined like "stars in the darkness."

During that time Scott and some friends took a "scouting" trip to Bulgaria. The people, it seemed, were more fearful than Romanians, and the secret police omnipresent. Nevertheless, Scott met a man on a bus, Dimitar, who took him to see the sights. While visiting an Orthodox church, Scott explained the stories behind the icons, and Dimitar gave his life to Christ. After that trip, Scott began thinking he might return someday.

Meanwhile, Lisa, who played basketball at the University of Richmond in Virginia, was spending the summer of 1986 in Yugoslavia, talking to people about Christ. She saw the contrast between America, with many opportunities to hear the gospel, and Eastern Europe, with so few.

The two met in Vienna, after Lisa's summer project, and married four years later. In 1993 the couple moved to Sofia to help launch a campus ministry.

Scott, who traces his ancestry back to Daniel Boone and John Hancock, needed every ounce of his optimism during those early days. Housing was limited and living was hard. The stultifying bureaucracy often meant the Gills stood in lines for days just to get a driver's license. And the collapsing economy often meant going without water or electricity.

Spiritually, Bulgarians were open to the gospel after communism fell in 1990, but in 1992 the atmosphere changed. Western cults were invading the land, and people grew suspicious of anything not affiliated with the ancient Orthodox church (though only 2 percent attend regularly).

Scott's desire to raise up spiritual leaders ran into roadblocks as well. Under 50 years of communism (and 500 years of Turkish rule before that), people had learned not to make waves, not to take risks, in fact, not to do anything that would draw attention to themselves.

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"Young couples like the Gills are the true heroes of Campus Crusade," says Swede Anderson, who travels throughout Eastern Europe ministering to business executives. "They are doing something that has never been done-going to an Orthodox country, with atheistic teachings, and presenting a clear, consistent, personal Christianity. To penetrate such a society and see fruit shows that God has given them a message."

But messages take time, which was OK, because Scott and Lisa planned to stay a while. "We wanted to invest in people for the long haul," says Scott, "and build a nationwide movement with Bulgarian leadership. It may take only a short time to lead someone to Christ, but much more time to build spiritual leaders."

As part of their long-term strategy, the Gills put their boys in Bulgarian schools, learned the language well and cultivated a love for Bulgarian things. "Scott values and appreciates Bulgaria and its history," says Grozdan. "He's more of a patriot than some Bulgarians."

As they identified with the people, though, the Gills faced many of the problems Bulgarians face, including the corruption that swept the country after the fall of communism.

One night, police stopped the young couple in their car on the road, and found they'd left their passports at home. Fishing for a bribe, the officer threatened to throw them in jail. Scott refused.

"How much money is in your wallet?" said the officer.

"Twenty dollars [in Bulgarian money]," replied Scott.

"Give it to me!"

Scott thought of Lisa sitting next to him, who needed to get home and nurse the baby. He gave the cop the money.

Afterward, however, he tossed and turned all night. Finally he and Lisa concluded they had made the wrong decision, and they vowed before God to never again pay a bribe.

Several years later the issue came up again. Campus Crusade wanted to air a commercial advertising the JESUS video during World Cup soccer matches. To obtain phones to answer calls, they were expected to bribe an official. "That's the way business is done in Bulgaria," friends advised. Call it what you will, thought Scott, it's still a bribe. He refused to pay and asked God to do the seemingly impossible. Ultimately, with God's intervention, the official provided 10 phones, and thousands eventually got their own copy of the video.

God has honored the faithfulness of Scott and his team. In recent years, 26 Bulgarians have joined Campus Crusade's full-time staff team, and close to 1,000 JESUS film volunteers have criss-crossed the country.

"We're committed to staying until a Bulgarian is ready to take my place," says Scott. "And I'd like to see at least 50 qualified staff members beneath him."

Later, driving through an alpine valley filled with fields of roses, he waves at an abandoned building and elaborates. "Bulgaria is like that building," he says. "The foundations have been destroyed. I see our job as helping rebuild the spiritual foundations."

Upon returning home, Scott walks by the cherry tree in his front yard, opens the door and is jumped by four frenzied little boys. They wrestle on the floor as baby Sarah hovers close by, a big grin lighting up her face.

Scott and Lisa have a nicer house now than they did at first. But that small, dark place turned out to be not so bad. They put their shoulders to the task, painted the walls and made it a happy home.

Much as they have done in Bulgaria itself.