May 17

This morning we got up at seven thirty. I showered and then we had breakfast. We had the typical European breakfast: cold meat, cheese, bread, a few pastry like things, OJ, hot tea, hard boiled eggs and grape tomatoes. Then the Slovak brothers arrived and we left for today's trip. We took the scenic route through town so we could see the sights. We passed the government buildings which is a castle! Unfortunately we were too close so I couldn't get any good pictures. After driving for a while we arrived at the market where one of the brothers owns a bakery that Opa and several other donors financed. They showed us the actual bake room. It was really neat. Their ovens are huge. They have large racks that they put sheets in with the pastry and bread dough. Then they just roll the rack into the oven and bake it. I was quite impressed. Then we walked around the market and I found the perfect gift for Heather! I can't wait to see her face when she gets it! Next, we got to see where they actually sell the baked goods. Oh my word, the baked goods look fantastic! They gave us all some free food. They wouldn't take no for an answer. I had another pizza roll. Ive never had anything like it before. After that, we got back on the road for a bit before stopping at a gas station. It looked remarkably like a US gas station, except the coolers were not cold! I wanted a cold drink but no such thing existed. Also, you had to pay .2 euros to use the restroom. When we got back on the road, we started trying to think of all the words that you could add "up" to that don't really make sense according to the definition of up. We came up with over a hundred different phrases. I'll post the entire list on Facebook. Once we got out of the city, we passed into beautiful, tree covered mountain country. The lush green of the hills is a sight to behold. I wish I could have taken a hike up one of the mountains. That said, we soon headed into the mountains on a small road and I am happy. We visited a church in a lovely little village up in the mountains. The family that lives there was very nice. The parent are Julianna and Miroslav Bartos. They have eight kids: Miroslav, 23, Daniel, 22, Judith, 20, Mirian, 17, Filip, 14, Darina, 12 and twins, Jana and Jacob, 10. The twins were absolutely adorable. Jana was a little gigglebox, and instantly made friends with Barb. We all sang a song and then ate lunch. There was some sort of delicious wrap which basically tasted like pot pie. It looked kind of like a chimichanga, which is a deep fried burrito. They were stuffed with some sort of meat, potatoes and veggies. They were awesome. There was also rice, fruit, a sort of pizza with pastry crust and a potato salad with pickles and apples. The potato salad was amazing, despite my hesitation. After we ate they told a few stories of things that they had to go through during the reign of communism. Christians faced intense persecution. People used to throw stones at them as they would walk through town. One time, two men told some of the that if the believers came out of the church, they would be stoned. While the men were hiding in the bushes, a huge storm came up. The believers decided to keep singing in order to wait for the storm to pass or get lighter. At one point there was a super loud crash of thunder and a bright flash of lightning. When the believers left, they found one of the men completely fried by a bolt of lightning. The other never returned. Another time, one of the members was told by her husband that if she went to church, he would be waiting for her with an ax when she got home. She went to church. When she got home, the ax was by the door but he was not. She went looking for him and found him dead of heart attack. There are many stories like this that just prove that the Lord does indeed take care of his own. While Dave, Peter and the Slovak Elders had a meeting where they discussed the goings on of all the churches in Slovakia, the rest of us took a walk through the village. When we got back, the meeting was not over so we just sat around and talked. It was pretty neat. The family had about seven bee houses, and honey purifying equipment. It was a pretty cool setup. When the meeting was finally over, we all loaded up and left. As usual, the family followed us out to the road and waved until we were out of sight. After a short drive, we stopped at an elderly sister's house. She was very happy to see us. She brought out mineral water and some baked goodies. She was so sweet, making sure each one of us took something. As we prayed and then left she cried. It touched my heart to see the appreciation in this faithful one for just a short, ten minute visit. I was once again reminded how blessed we are in America where a "small" church has forty to fifty members. These churches often have twenty or less members. The next stop was Levice church. This church has seven members. We met three of them. We were told that ninety percent of the members in Slovakia are over fifty years old. After being compelled to eat more goodies and drink more pop, we got back on the road. We were all getting a bit weary at this point, just thinking about the long time we have left on the road. It was past seven at that point, with a two hour drive to our next destination. It didn't end up being that bad. I slept for quite a while. When we arrived at the church we looked through the farm there. He has pigs, chickens and some farm ground. It was a pretty decent operation. Then we headed in for dinner. Tonight's menu included steamed bread and pork chunks in gravy. It was just the meal I needed after all the sweets that we've been fed. Finally we loaded up and headed back to the hotel. The drive was uneventful and we all pretty much just collapsed into bed as soon as we could. We leave for the airport at seven forty five tomorrow morning. Goodnight and God Bless!