We have had a great first few days traveling together as a team. Our jet-lag is almost diminished, and we are now in Martin, Slovakia preparing for our mission of teaching and building tomorrow. Here is a quick recap of what we have done so far:
We met at LAX airport Tuesday afternoon in a smooth, effortless fashion. It couldn't have gone better; within 5 minutes, we all met at the curb in front of the international terminal. Amazing! Jeff from Saint John's drove a van from the northwest with most of the Saint John's , Bethel, Gloria Dei, and Peace, members; Andy drove the Hope, Fresno crew from the north; meanwhile Angela and Julie made it there safely too. We had a close connection in Heathrow due to a delay in our LAX flight, but we made it on and had a safe trip to Vienna. We continued our travels (1 more hour) by driving on a bus to our stop for the night in Bratislava, Slovakia, and after a late dinner, we finally called it a night.
The next morning (Thursday), we loaded onto the van for the 6 hour trip to Krakow, Poland. Once arriving, we had a great tour of the Old Quarter section of the city by our tour guide Andrew who led us by the Barbocan, through the old gate, the city square (Europe's largest), St. Mary's church, and the Royal Wawel castle. Then we broke up into smaller groups for the rest of the evening to wander the square, shop, and enjoy the many, many, many sidewalk cafes. Perogees (sp?) and gelatto were a big hit.
Friday a group of the team toured the horrible "man's inhumanity to man" Auschwitz, one of the main concentration/Jewish extermination camps during WW2, while another group toured the Jewish Quarter of Krakow, touring Shindler's Factory. Both trips were impacting to us as we learned and understood more about that time.
Saturday Katka from the Lutheran Bible School in Slovakia came with a city bus to greet us and transport us to the Bible School in Martin, Slovakia. We were introduced to the facilities, settled in, and began preparing for our 2 week mission of teaching English and building. And today, Sunday, we worshiped (with headsets and translator) in the beautiful church on campus here at the Bible School, shopped at Tesco (similar to a Walmart), and are having preparation meetings. We are sorry for this first blog being so late, but we just now were able to use a secure site. We plan to update the blog daily with members taking turns. Thank you for your prayers and may you be deep in God's peace!
Angela and Pastor Randy
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