This and That

I’ve known of the influence of the Catholic Church in Slovakia since before my first trip 10 years ago, but a visual illustration of this came to me today. I was standing about in the middle of Centrum, the downtown city center, today and looked to both my left and right. To my left, at the south end of Centrum, one sees the spire of the Greek Catholic Church. To my right, at the north end of Centrum, one sees the bell tower of the Roman Catholic Church. So, wherever you are in city center, you are under the physical, visible influence of the Catholic Church.
Protestant, evangelical churches are present, but are smaller, and  have a smaller circle of influence.
And, yes, that is a Mickey Mouse ice cream store sign on the corner of the building.

Daycamp Day 2

Day 2 of DEPO Leto (summer daycamp) saw a few more people coming by, and a lot of them were young families. Of course, the bouncy castle was a big hit with everyone, and was a big draw.
A group from Kosice came today to provide some additional team competitions, songs, and a chemistry presentation of the message of the gospel.
And, yes, there is the requisite selfie of some of the group, including Stefan, Sonia, Peter, Bob, and Daniel.

First Day of Summer Daycamp (DEPO leto)

Today was the first day of the summer daycamp being sponsored jointly by the local DEPO youth center and the Slovak Baptist Union missions department. I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves. The location is new this year, but still in the Sibirska neighborhood. While the area we are set up in is smaller than what has been used in the past, it is shaded by the apartment building around it.

Sunday in Presov

Sunday in Slovakia is a day with a slower pace than the rest of the week. It is also a day for family. It was a joy sitting near city center and watching families walking or riding bikes together. Some of them were coming from Sunday Mass at St. Nicholas Church, and some had come downtown from the neighborhoods.

I met Milka and Michal for lunch and discussion time at their flat before going to the DEPO youth center where the church has its Sunday worship time at 5:00 pm during July and August.

Today’s photos:
Met a friend from past year’s, Stefan, and caught up with his life as a contract delivery courier, where he delivers primarily car parts all over Europe.
What City Center looks like on Sunday morning.
The Sibirska neighborhood, where the youth center is located, and where the summer day camp will be held for the next three days.
Part of the group that met for Sunday worship this afternoon. Includes Peter, Shane, Diane, Katarina, Christina, and others that are on the other side of the room.

Travel Day

Travel days are always both exciting and tiring. Include 9-plus hours of flying time in two legs; a three and a half hour layover (no, make that four and a half because the plane to Kosice didn’t arrive in Warsaw on time); seven hours of time difference; and new and different sights, smells and sounds, and your mind wants to take it all in but your body says    s l e e p .

The panorama was my first attempt at doing a panorama shot with my phone, and it didn’t turn out exactly the way I wanted. The people are Michal, Milka’s niece Sabina, Christina from NYC, and Milka. We were getting reacquainted over dinner at the outdoor cafe on Florianova Street in Presov.

 

DEPO Leto 2018

I will be in Presov, Slovakia next week to work in the summer daycamp, known as DEPO Leto. We will be in the Siberska neighborhood Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

A Share from a Friend

The Battle for Joy

Check out the link above for a blog post from our friend Laura.

Speaking, Teaching, Preaching

Before my trip to Slovakia this year I was asked if I would speak/preach on two different days. I said I would do that.  I also said that, since I am not a pastor or preacher, I would speak rather than preach. My speaking, I guess, is more like teaching.

So, I had prepared two talks (sermons).

After I arrived, and spoke at the mission service on Sunday, I learned that the second meeting time would be the mission church home group meeting – 3 families.  When I learned this, I realized that I needed to change my lesson/sermon from what I had prepared.

So I totally changed what I had previously prepared, and wrote out my notes over the next two days. I spoke about/taught the story of Joseph, using the theme “Two Steps Forward, One Step Back” or “Good Things Happen / Bad Things Happen.”  I then applied the lessons for application to our lives from the story.

You will find this story in the Bible in the book of Genesis, chapters 37 – 50.

Random Observations, Thoughts and Musings

On Sunday Michal, Milka, Tomas Spisak, and I toured the Solivar (saltworks) Museum in Presov. The neighborhood is called Solivar after the salt mines in the area. These mines were being worked in the 1600’s, and closed down in 1970.  It was amazing to see the engineering that went into the design of the equipment that was used to bring this necessity of life to people.

There were a number of families on the saltworks tour, on a Sunday outing.  One family of a mom and dad and young daughter were in the tour group near us.  We learned that the mom was from Slovakia and the dad was from England, and only spoke (British) English.  The daughter spoke both Slovak and English.  When she heard my American accent asking Michal for clarification of his translating the tour guide’s information, the little girl asked her mom, “What kind of English is that?”  Since she knew English with a British accent, she didn’t know what American English sounded like.

Had an experience the other day that I had never encountered in my travels on European public transport; although I was aware of it.  The transit system ticket control agent came onto the bus and asked every passenger to see their ticket.  Bus tickets in Slovakia are time-stamped and are valid for the amount of time you purchased.  A 50-cent ticket is good for 30 minutes and a 40-cent ticket is good for 10 minutes, and is validated by inserting the ticket into the time-stamp when you get onto the bus.  Each of us handed him our ticket, he checked the time-stamp (and to see if we even had a ticket) and if all was ok, handed it back.  If you do not have a valid ticket the penalty is up to a 30-Euro ($33) fine.  It is much better to pay for a 50-cent ticket than to risk a €30 fine.

The image below is the steeple atop the “salt miners church” in Solivar. Note the miner’s tools below the cross.

 

 

Response to the question, “English?”

While I am in Slovakia, and am in a restaurant, coffee shop, store, etc. I have learned that it makes any transaction easier if the first thing/question I say/ask is, “English?”

When I say that, as I did in a grocery store today, I usually get the response, “A little.”

Or, when I asked that in the cell phone store today, to purchase additional minutes on a phone, the response was, “Um, yes!”

But, when I went into the Bageteria (similar to a Subway sandwich shop) for lunch, stepped to the counter and said, “English?”, the three workers behind the counter, all in unison, turned to their left and called out, “Sonia!”

Apparently Sonia was the designated English speaker on duty today.  And, she took care of my order with no problem.