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!