Travel Journey Chapter 4
We boarded a train after Euro Summit and traveled 3 hours to Banska Bystrica, a city in the tetras, up closer to the border of Poland. For those of you wondering what the tetras are…they are not mountains but very high hills. The trees were just beginning to change color so the ride was beautiful. At times we rode through dense fog. There is something very mystical about fog. You are riding through this thick stuff and can only see your very next step. I was reminded that there are times in our lives when we know we are heading the right direction but the fog of circumstances can be quite intense around us and we have to take the next step knowing we are doing the right thing. We can’t just stop.
We spent the next few days visiting with some missionaries from USA. We had breakfast meetings, supper meetings with some of the national people as well. We learn so much about the culture and that many of these dear friends struggle with the same issues we do. We may be of different nationalities but one thing is the same…we all have the same struggles with our bodies and emotions. Babies cry and throw temper tantrums. Young people fall in love. Jealousy, Anger, Sorrow, Laughter, Insecurity are all things we struggle with and share in common.
One dear lady we met was actually quite sick. She had just arrived in Slovakia to help teach at the University. Her husband had passed away and she still wanted to do something productive with her life. She was an inspiration to visit. I also had opportunity to visit with a young 24 year old gal who is doing some teaching there as well. She was a delightful girl. She sat and listened to our stories like a daughter might. It was special to hear her story too. No matter how old we are, we can LOVE God and DO something for the Kingdom of God.
The whole time I was visiting all these people, I had been wondering what on earth I was doing here. These people are extraordinary and gifted people. Who am I to have the privilege of just visiting these troupers? They unwittingly answered that by telling me how special it was to have someone come and “listen” to them and just have someone they can communicate in English and share some of their frustrations.
My husband got to fulfill one of his dreams. He is a history buff and one day he and one of the missionaries headed up to Poland to Auschwitz. I passed as I didn’t think I would handle that well. Instead I went down to the City square and visited many little shops. I also walked through a very old graveyard. My sister-in-laws would be so proud of me.
As I was walking through the graveyard I heard these things falling from the trees. They were hitting the ground with quite a “thug”. I had noted earlier these huge nuts on the ground but didn’t know what they were. “Chestnuts”! Boy are those suckers big. I wouldn’t want to get gonged by one of those beggars.
One evening we were driven up a very narrow windy mountain road to this little village. In reminded me of the stories of Heidi in the Alps. These mountains were not that big but still the setting was what I would imagine in a Bavarian setting. It was pretty cool. You have heard of covered bridges. Well we walked up 100 covered steps to a little church. It was getting dusk so we had to hoof it to get back down to the chalet where the restaurant was. We actually walked along paths that were at the height of roof gutters. The homes are built into the mountain. This little village was established MANY years ago as a gold mining village. Now it is being fixed up so you can get away to vacation in this quiet setting. The food was fabulous at the restaurant. We had some garlic soup to kill any bugs we might have encountered during our visit and it worked as we didn’t get sick. We visited with a gentleman from Romania and Armenia. They told us the struggles they are facing in their churches. Pray for fellow believers around the world. They face issues just like us and need us to pray for them. They always pray for the Western churches to be in love with Jesus.
Remember I told you about the conserving of energy. Well we were taken every night to an apartment building to spend the night in a suite of a missionary who was home in the US for health reasons. The first night our host walked us to the door and took us up the elevator and let us into the room. She gave us her cell phone that 1st night. The next night they dropped us off at the curb and gave us the key. We found the hole to put the key in and got into the apartment and remembered where the switches were to turn on the lights. We proceeded to the elevator and suddenly realized we had to idea what floor we were on. Now these buildings all look the same inside and out. We have no phone so we start pushing buttons. We are hoping we’ll remember something about the floor. We went to floor 5, found the hall switch but it didn’t feel right. We went to floor 6 but my husband felt we had not been up that high. Then I remembered something! I remembered waiting for the elevator in the morning and seeing a mat wrapped in a pink raglan sleeve t-shirt. The arms that wrapped around the bottom of the mat were striped. The pink looked like an arrow pointing to the apartment door. We decided to try the 4th floor and there was the pink covered mat!
I do have to mention the doors to the bathroom and toilet rooms were very unique in this suite. They reminded me of a doorway you would enter going into a castle. They had that arch shape. Pretty special. The walls and floors were tiled in brick red. The tub in this suite was huge!!!!! I almost needed to get a step stool to climb into it. You will have noted by now that I am a person who notices detail….sorry! I drive my husband and sons nuts! Probably you too!
We spent the next few days visiting with some missionaries from USA. We had breakfast meetings, supper meetings with some of the national people as well. We learn so much about the culture and that many of these dear friends struggle with the same issues we do. We may be of different nationalities but one thing is the same…we all have the same struggles with our bodies and emotions. Babies cry and throw temper tantrums. Young people fall in love. Jealousy, Anger, Sorrow, Laughter, Insecurity are all things we struggle with and share in common.
One dear lady we met was actually quite sick. She had just arrived in Slovakia to help teach at the University. Her husband had passed away and she still wanted to do something productive with her life. She was an inspiration to visit. I also had opportunity to visit with a young 24 year old gal who is doing some teaching there as well. She was a delightful girl. She sat and listened to our stories like a daughter might. It was special to hear her story too. No matter how old we are, we can LOVE God and DO something for the Kingdom of God.
The whole time I was visiting all these people, I had been wondering what on earth I was doing here. These people are extraordinary and gifted people. Who am I to have the privilege of just visiting these troupers? They unwittingly answered that by telling me how special it was to have someone come and “listen” to them and just have someone they can communicate in English and share some of their frustrations.
My husband got to fulfill one of his dreams. He is a history buff and one day he and one of the missionaries headed up to Poland to Auschwitz. I passed as I didn’t think I would handle that well. Instead I went down to the City square and visited many little shops. I also walked through a very old graveyard. My sister-in-laws would be so proud of me.
As I was walking through the graveyard I heard these things falling from the trees. They were hitting the ground with quite a “thug”. I had noted earlier these huge nuts on the ground but didn’t know what they were. “Chestnuts”! Boy are those suckers big. I wouldn’t want to get gonged by one of those beggars.
One evening we were driven up a very narrow windy mountain road to this little village. In reminded me of the stories of Heidi in the Alps. These mountains were not that big but still the setting was what I would imagine in a Bavarian setting. It was pretty cool. You have heard of covered bridges. Well we walked up 100 covered steps to a little church. It was getting dusk so we had to hoof it to get back down to the chalet where the restaurant was. We actually walked along paths that were at the height of roof gutters. The homes are built into the mountain. This little village was established MANY years ago as a gold mining village. Now it is being fixed up so you can get away to vacation in this quiet setting. The food was fabulous at the restaurant. We had some garlic soup to kill any bugs we might have encountered during our visit and it worked as we didn’t get sick. We visited with a gentleman from Romania and Armenia. They told us the struggles they are facing in their churches. Pray for fellow believers around the world. They face issues just like us and need us to pray for them. They always pray for the Western churches to be in love with Jesus.
Remember I told you about the conserving of energy. Well we were taken every night to an apartment building to spend the night in a suite of a missionary who was home in the US for health reasons. The first night our host walked us to the door and took us up the elevator and let us into the room. She gave us her cell phone that 1st night. The next night they dropped us off at the curb and gave us the key. We found the hole to put the key in and got into the apartment and remembered where the switches were to turn on the lights. We proceeded to the elevator and suddenly realized we had to idea what floor we were on. Now these buildings all look the same inside and out. We have no phone so we start pushing buttons. We are hoping we’ll remember something about the floor. We went to floor 5, found the hall switch but it didn’t feel right. We went to floor 6 but my husband felt we had not been up that high. Then I remembered something! I remembered waiting for the elevator in the morning and seeing a mat wrapped in a pink raglan sleeve t-shirt. The arms that wrapped around the bottom of the mat were striped. The pink looked like an arrow pointing to the apartment door. We decided to try the 4th floor and there was the pink covered mat!
I do have to mention the doors to the bathroom and toilet rooms were very unique in this suite. They reminded me of a doorway you would enter going into a castle. They had that arch shape. Pretty special. The walls and floors were tiled in brick red. The tub in this suite was huge!!!!! I almost needed to get a step stool to climb into it. You will have noted by now that I am a person who notices detail….sorry! I drive my husband and sons nuts! Probably you too!
posted by ladyyvonne | 9:57 AM
1 Comments:
Yvonne, I'm glad you share all those details. I love it and am not bored at all. It's so great to hear everything you did and how it was since I don't get to see you at church that often...
Hugs.
Post a Comment
<< Home