Another day of celebration....

Yes, the 15th anniversary celebration continued today with a church service. The Martin Evangelical Lutheran Church is the sponsor for the school and all its programs.  So today we celebrated with them in the Memoranda Namestie (Memorandum square) with an outdoor service on a glorious sunny morning. There were around 400 people total, including the nearly 80 Americans from California, Oregon and Minnesota. St. Andrew's choir (from Minnesota) sang, as did the Evangelical Lutheran church choir, and some of the Bible school kids, both separately and together.  Pastor Randy gave the closing benediction. It was a wonderful, inspiring time of sharing God's love, and our love for him and each other.
 Afterwards, the celebration continued with lunch: Goulash. Gallons and gallons of goulash cooked sort of barbeque style in in 100 liter pots over wood fires. Goulash i thick spicy soup with pork, potatoes and vegetables, served with rye bread to soak up the liquid. Mmmmmm.
 After the meal, Tomas' band began to play.  Children played in the bounce house (with a really scary clown on it), played water futbol, and climbed all over a police cruiser that came to show support. The older folks, and some of the kids, too, tried out their shooting skills at the improvised pellet gun shooting gallery. Erica Thomas, Sara Ormonde, and Arriana Metcalf all took their turns shooting, and all did quite well! I also took a couple of turns, though I have done better in the past ;-) Erica kicked a soccer ball around with some young teens and showed off her juggling skills. All in all, it was a wonderful day of celebration.
In the late afternoon our team gathered to prepare for our real work which starts tomorrow. Sarah Martin gave a heart warming devotion, reminding us that God knows what he is doing, and we need only to trust in Him. We had a team strategy meeting, then broke up into our teaching groups to do the final preparations for our classes.  We are anxious to meet our students in the  morning!  God  Bless you all, and please keep us in your prayers. Yours in Christ,
Breck Thomas