Retreat

This past weekend was the worker’s retreat in Liptovsky Trnovec, a village near Liptovsky Mikulaš. We left Thursday evening and had a really nice long weekend together. We started each day with a Bible study, singing, and time in prayer. We had a couple of meetings about the work here, and went different places during the afternoons. Friday afternoon we took a trip to the aqua park in Liptovsky Mikulaš and had fun on all the water slides. A lot of the pools and slides are outdoors here and at one point it started raining so we all took cover in a tent that was set up. We were standing there cold and Eva opens up her back pack and started asking who wanted coffee. She pulls out mugs for everyone, a thermos of hot coffee, and has sugar, milk, and spoons. Then she pulls out sandwiches, apples, crackers, and is serving everyone. I couldn’t believe how much stuff she had packed in this back pack! Only a Slovak would be prepared to serve coffee and food to everyone while on a trip.

Saturday we took a hiking trip in the Low Tatra Mountains, and Eva was once again prepared with her back pack. We took a chair lift up to one point and then hiked the rest of the way up to the top of the mountain. I couldn’t believe how much colder it was as we worked our way up, and there were even patches of snow towards the top. The view was incredible at the top and worth the long hike up. Sunday afternoon we took a trip to an ice cave before heading back home. This was really cool, and I was surprised at how big the cave was.

Sunday evening we arrived back here, refreshed and ready to get back to work. I think it was such a great time for all the workers. Everything is so busy here and they rarely get a break, so I think they all needed to get away. I also really enjoyed getting to spend time with them, because a lot of them I don’t get to spend very much time with here. In my last newsletter I wrote about the fellowship here, and once again this weekend I felt the strong fellowship among everyone. It was like we were on a family reunion almost- it feels like a big family all together. It makes it even harder to think about leaving!

Gulaš, smoking car, and ice cream

Last Wednesday everyone here had off of work and we had a big gulaš party outside. I was so excited because whenever we had gulaš before everyone said the best gulaš is when it is cooked in the woods, which confused me at first but it just means outside. In the morning Kristen and I cut lots of potatoes and onions, while Pali cut all the meat. Then we took everything outside where they set up a big kettle over the fire. In the picture you can see Eva pouring the potatoes in! The gulaš cooked in the kettle all morning while we sat outside and talked, played futbal, and played volleyball. The weather was perfect- it actually felt like a real summer day (which unfortunately isn't the case now). After a couple of hours the gulaš was ready and we had a nice meal in the shade.


Monday afternoon Kristen and I went about our normal routine of going to Tesco with Pali to do the food shopping for the week and it turned out to be an interesting experience. All the vans the center has were taken so we took a little old car that had just been donated by someone to the center. I don't know what kind or what year (sorry, I don't pay attention to these things) but it was quite a car- the trunk is in the front. As we were coming home Gabko, who was sitting in the front seat asks "What's burning?", then we all see smoke coming from the floor of the passenger seat where he is sitting. It starts to fill the car and smells horrible. Pali pulls the car over right away coughing and yelling in English "Everyone get out of the car!" Poor Gabko, whose English consists of 'Hello' and 'Thank you' looks around confused and then jumps out as we all do. Now, I am thinking the car is ready to explode, because we had two gas tanks in the front trunk. Pali looks in and sees a loose cable that the smoke is coming from, does something to it (sorry I don't know...) and it stops smoking. So then we get in the car and drive this thing home!! I was a little nervous about whether we would make it back or not but we survived, and after people looked at the car they seemed to think it was no big deal. I don't think I really want to ride in the smoking car anytime soon though.

After English class today Kristen and I decided to get ice cream at the village shop, and I tried something really unusual. It looked like just a cup of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, but it was much more than this. It was chocolate ice cream with tvaroh (tvaroh is translated as cottage cheese, but it's really different- I don't think we have anything quite like it in America) with raisins, and orange flavor- all in a little cup of ice cream! I never would have thought of raisins or tvaroh in my ice cream, but it was really good. I might have to try to replicate this in the U.S. Well, that's some of the random things happening. Tomorrow evening all the workers are going on a weekend retreat. I am really excited- we are going to a village near Liptovsky Mikulaš. We will have some meetings, Bible studies, and have free time to go hiking and do other activities outside. It should be a lot of fun to spend this time with the workers.

May Newsletter!

A lot of fun things happened in May, both here at the center and as I was traveling. One weekend I went to visit my old placement in Horná Mičiná for their confirmation, and I enjoyed visiting with everyone again. It was really interesting to see what confirmation is like in Slovakia, and how it is similar to and different than confirmation in America. Saturday evening the confirmands had an examination at the church. Each of them had to stand in front of the congregation and answer seven questions about the mission of the church, the Bible and confirmation. The pastor then asked the congregation if they agreed that these young people were ready and fit to be confirmed. Sunday morning was the confirmation service and it was interesting how important this Sunday was for everyone. The church was decorated with white flowers, the girls being confirmed wore fancy white dresses and the boys wore suits, and the church was full of people. During the service the confirmands were presented with a Bible and a certificate, and the pastor said a prayer for each of them. The confirmands sang two songs for the congregation and presented the pastor and church-keepers with flowers, thanking them for their work. The Lord’s Supper was also celebrated on this special occasion. After the service I was invited to a party for Miška and Paťa, who are sisters that were confirmed. It was a lot of fun being a part of the celebration they had after confirmation, and getting to spend some time with the people from the village.
I took a long weekend trip to Budapest with Mark, Mary, and Ashley (three of the other American volunteers in Slovakia). It was great to spend time with them, and we had a wonderful time in Budapest. As much as I love the work here it is always refreshing to get away for a bit and spend time with other volunteers. One of the Friday nights last month the group of ladies here at the center had a night out, and it was so much fun! Eva (one of the directors), Monika (one of the worker’s wives, Janka (one of the worker’s wives), Kristen, Claire (Kristen’s friend who was visiting from America) and I went to a nice pizza restaurant in Poprad for the evening. We ate pizza, drank Kofula (the Slovak soft drink) and had Mak štrudla (a pastry with lots of poppy seeds) for dessert. It was so much fun to spend more time with them and get to know them better.
One of the things I have noticed is the emphasis on fellowship among the community here. At one of our Bible studies last month we read Philippians 2:1-2 where Paul writes, “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose” (NIV). We talked about how the community here can have this unity that should be among Christians. How can we work together and serve one another as Christ did? I think true fellowship is often neglected in our churches today. Of course there is often a “fellowship hour” after church or every so often, but I am not sure if this is always the same fellowship Paul talks about. Last month we had a longer Bible study one morning with some of the workers and I was thrown off guard a bit, but reminded of what true fellowship is. Vlado (who is in charge of the finances), Igor (who works construction with the guys), Momci (who also works construction with the guys), Pali (the cook), and I had read a passage from the Bible and talked about it as we usually do. Then, they began to talk about how they had been feeling at work recently, about feelings they had about the work with the guys here, and their Spiritual life. I couldn’t believe that I was sitting there with four men just expressing our feelings for maybe an hour and a half! Maybe this is normal for some people, but I was a bit surprised. It made me think about when we had read the passage from Philippians, and that this was a way the work team builds fellowship, better enabling us to do service. In order to do the social service and Christian outreach work that is done here it is necessary for the community to be like-minded (my Bible points out that like-minded does not mean uniform in thought, but the common disposition to work together to better serve). It is something that we are always praying about, and we are always talking about how it can improve so that we can serve better.
The work that I have been doing here has been going well; Kristen and I continue to help in the kitchen, have English classes, Bible studies, and teach swimming. The last week in May Pali needed to help with the construction work that some of the guys are doing down the street, so we took over in the kitchen for him. It was a busy week and somewhat stressful to be responsible for breakfasts and lunches here, but we were happy to be able to help. It was also nice to see how encouraging everyone was of our Slovak cooking. Everyday the guys and the workers told us our cooking was wonderful and complemented everything (even if it was something really easy…or not very good!). Their encouragement was so helpful though! English and Bible studies are about the same with some days having a good number of people and other days just a couple. Now that the weather is warm playing futbal outside has become a popular evening activity as well.
Along with the enjoyable things about the work, there were also some difficult things happening last month. One of the guys who always came to English and Bible studies left the center. He dropped out of school and went to the Czech Republic to find work. This was difficult, because he came to talk to me often when he was having problems in school or with other guys here. We had talked about his school many times before and I really wanted him to be able to finish. He has so much potential, but he was not doing well and wanted to go try to find work on his own. Another worker tried to convince him to stay here and work, but he had already made up his mind to leave. I guess it showed me that sometimes you can only do so much and now all I can do is pray for him.
It is hard to believe that it is already almost halfway through June now, and I have just about a month left here before I come home. I have started to think about how it will be exciting to go home, but also really hard to leave here. I am trying to just spend a lot of time with the people here and enjoy every day left.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Last week

Last week was busy here! Pali was not in the kitchen, because he was helping with the construction work at the old house. The old house is down the street, and is where the guys used to live, and will live when the reconstruction is finished. Some of the workers and guys work on the reconstruction each day, and last week they were putting the roof on. They needed extra help for the week, so they recruited the bodybuilder cook. So, Kristen and I were on our own doing breakfast and lunch each day. Monday we did the shopping trip to Tesco (big superstore in Poprad). It was interesting for us to buy all the food for the whole week and the guy at the meat counter laughed a little at us. I guess he was wondering why two foreign girls were buying 5 kilograms of meat and had two carts full of food. We were successful though and made it to Poprad and back in the old Inca! It was a little different being in the kitchen not just helping, but having the responsibility of the shopping, planning, and making meals for 30 some people. It was also hard waking up at 5:20 to make breakfast! But, we made it through the week and didn’t have any real kitchen disasters. Monday we made lentil soup, pasta with mak (poppy seeds, or opium as they like to say); Tuesday we made garlic soup, knedla with meat and tomato sauce; Wednesday we made garlic soup, French potatoes; Thursday we made Gulaš; and Friday we made egg soup, Ryžovy nakyp (a sweet lunch of rice cooked with milk and then baked in a tray with a layer of apples in cinnamon raisin sauce in between). Overall the week went well, but I am glad we don’t have to do this every week! I am glad we could help when they needed it, but after waking up early and being in the kitchen so long I felt so tired in the evenings that it was hard to spend time with the guys here.

A lot of other things have been going with the guys here. One man came back here last weekend. His son is here and he had been here before but was in the hospital for a little while. He is in his upper 40s and has Huntington’s Disease, and his son is around 21 or 22. He has many of the characteristic symptoms of Huntington’s Disease- slurred speech, uncontrolled movements, difficult eating, difficult sleeping. Earlier this week I was talking to Eva and she was telling me that there is no place for him to go. He doesn’t have any money and so he cannot stay in the hospital he was in, and cannot go to any type of institution or center to help him. Basically, if he was not at the center here he would just be on the streets. It is difficult for the center here, because he needs so much care and we don’t have the special care he could use. It is also difficult for his son, because there is a 50% chance he could develop this disease. He is seeing his father suffering so much, and trying to help care for him while being so scared that he will develop this soon.

Another one of the guys left earlier last week to go to the Czech Republic to work. He was one of the only guys here going to school, but he was not doing well and dropped out. His plan was to work in the Czech Rep. for a month and then try to go to England to find work. He was talking to me about this before he left, and it was hard because I wanted to convince him to stay in school so badly, but it was already too late- he was failing and couldn’t keep going. I also wanted him to talk to the directors of the center because they could help him start working since he was no longer going to school. But, he had already made up his mind and his plan to leave. I talked to Vlado, one of the workers that night and basically no one can make the guys stay here- it’s their decision, and he agreed that it is not good for him to drop out of school, and to leave the center to go to the Czech Rep, but at this point there was nothing we could do. Vlado also said that maybe in the end it will be good for him, because he came here straight from the children’s home and has never been out on his own. Maybe this will teach him responsibility and maybe he will be back in a month or so when he realizes he may need more help. A lot of guys have come and gone since I have been here, but for some reason it was harder for me when this one left. Maybe it is just because I got to know him more- he usually came to English classes and Bible studies, and was always wanting to talk about things. I also see that he is smart and has a lot of potential, and I just want to see him get his life on track.

So with all this I think I am ready to get away for a little bit! We have our last seminar this week (Monday-Thursday) in Slovensky Raj (Slovak Paradise). I am so excited for it, but it is bittersweet. I know we are going to have a great time, but it will be sad that it will be our last time together as a group of volunteers. I think it will also become more of a reality that my year is ending here and I will have to start dealing with how I will make the adjustment back home. But, after our seminar 3 other volunteers and I are going to Prague until Monday!! I can’t wait for that too, and I will take lots and pictures and tell you all about it! And I apologize because my newsletter will be pretty late this month!