Parting in Sweet Sorrow

It’s 11PM and I’m finally getting to the blog.  What an emotional day for us !!!  We are anxious to return home soon because we miss all of you; but we will also miss be leaving friends here some we just met this trip and others I have known for two years.  When we spoke before the Kosice church tonight it was an emotional moment remembering where we have come from and looking forward to where this relationship will take us.  Our first trip we arrived rather unexpectedly in April of 2007 and what an experience it has been over the last 24 months. We have had some down times while we planned at home and waited to here from God about the possibilities and what was His plan for us.  However, I have never left here thinking what we were doing was not in accordance with His will.  He has directed us in different directions but has always seen us through. 

The church service was good in Presov this morning.  Besides the speaking opportunity that we had we sang song in Slovak and English.  The wonderful power point presentation was all lined up to begin and somehow things did not work out but He was glorified without it.  Citizenship in God’s Kingdom has no borders and has no language barriers.  We truly celebrated together this morning.  We videotaped parts of the service and tried to download them but they were quite long so I do not know if anyone had a chance to see them.  The church gave Carl and I gifts for remembrance; the gifts included a souvenir valaska (new Slovak word for you to guess), a book of the seven wonders in Presov governing region (we have seen one of them and we were told we needed to return to see the others) and candy.  After church we went to lunch with Milka, Zuzka I, Zuzka II, and Michal.  Like I said before there are many Zuzkas so our two friends refer to themselves as I and II.  It was a bitter sweet time as we got aboard the bus and left our friends; fortunately we were rushed to get the bus so they did not have to look at the tears that were in our eyes.  Carl and I have been deeply moved by the love and concern they share with us to reach others with the gospel message.

Hopefully tonight’s blog can redeem me for such a short blog last night.  Last night I spent about three hours emailing my student friends here and talking online with a few.

We returned to Kosice and arrived at about 3:30 and rode the bus to the church.  We had never had our tickets checked in Kosice while on the bus until this afternoon.  We have been checked in Presov twice; they have people who board the bus at every door where you might exit and they check to see if you have a properly stamped ticket.  Michal told us that if you ticket is not properly stamped you would get a ticket residents use their IDs and visitors must show their passports.  Carl and I have been sometimes fortunate but generally we have a ticket.  Once the ticket machine was not working and we had to ride the bus from and to the train station without a ticket.  Hopefully the authorities will forgive us if they read the blog.

What a great time we had as guests to the Bethel worship service today.  We enjoyed quite an ordeal just getting connect but thank to Don and Shelly and Wright in Bourbonnais and Jarko Ban here in Kosice the link was made.  Thanks for your prayers and what terrific questions were asked.  As Wright prayed I was reminded that we are all seed planters united to serve God.  While you are the holding the rope for us we try to make the most of every opportunity here.  I had Jarko write out the translation for a message I wanted to share with the Kosice church.  I guess I did okay but some of the words I mispronounced but the idea in the message was heard and understood.  We wore the vest that Vae Ingram-Davis had made and we were invited to become citizen of Slovakia.

I think it’s time to sign off for the night I need to be up in about five hours and I need to finish packing to make the trip to Budapest to visit with Sue and Skipper Perryman.  I’m not sure about  being able to call or blog or Facebook or Skype for the next few days but I will try my best to keep you up to date.  Dovidenia and Zhobhom