Catching up

 Between losing a few days when our computer power cord went bad and taking trips and  .  .  .  (etc.)  .  .  .  we've fallen behind on our reporting on the progress of the Padina church addition.  So, here is a catch-up report  ---

               The first floor walls continue to rise  .  .  .

 

        

    The walls are strong enough to hold up an American!

The inspector wears pink.

The roof/ceiling beams are brought up, and put in place.

The tiles are positioned (above) and the staircase forms constructed (below).

Lots of poles are needed to hold everything up!

Reinforcing wire mesh is laid over everything.

Grandfather inspects.

The concrete truck and the boom are here!

 

Concrete delivered where you want it.

  

       

Watering down the new concrete

A new (but temporary) gate

Street view

Testing the new stairs

Awaiting the second floor.

Work is scheduled to resume on or about September 18.

We're learning Serbian (?)

Učimo srpski.

 Учимо српски.

Daniel has begun giving us lessons in Serbian.  As illustrated by the two sentences above, both of which say We're learning Serbian and are pronounced the same, there are (quite) a few differences between Serbian and English.   Serbian employs either of two alphabets.  The first one above is the "normal"/Latin alphabet, the second is the Cyrillic alphabet.   And some of the sounds, or combinations of sounds, are difficult to pronounce for the English speaking tongue and almost impossible to distinguish between for the English ear.  But Daniel is patient, and we're trying .  .  .  .

What are those funny symbols??

Now this isn't so hard .  .  .  is it?

Pivnice and Srbobran

A week ago Wednesday we and our hosts visited two other United Methodist churches in northern Serbia.  The first stop was in Pivnice (Piv-nit-sah).  This church conducts a day care center for pre-schoolers.  Since the school year had not yet begun there were no children, but there were painting and other preparations going on.   Two changes that had taken place were the enlarging of the bathroom to better accommodate the expected 20-22 children and the enclosing of a former porch to provide an area for the students to leave coats and shoes.  (It's customary to remove one's shoes when entering a home in Serbia.)  We took some pictures so we could report back to a couple in our church who have helped financially with these changes.  (Thank you, Louie and Jerry Rae!)  The workers here do a fabulous job with the kids.  Bravo!  Super!  (Two good Serbian words!)  We then enjoyed a meal and fellowship with Pastor Maria and the workers.

On the road again . . .

Pivnice UMC

Pastor Maria shows off the renovated bathroom (above) and area for bench, shoes and coats (below).

Daycare facilities -- inside (above)

 and outside (below)

                                         

                           C'mon in!

Lunch is served!

After a pleasant visit at Pivnice, we continued on to Srbobran (SIR-bo-brahn).    Pastor Katarina met us and showed us her home and church.  She and most of her congregation are Roma (gypsy).  She recently began learning Romani, which most of her generation and younger do not speak.  In her children's classes they are learning gospel songs in Romani, English and Serbian. Pray for the people of this congregation and their dedicated pastor.

The Srbobran church/parsonage yard

                

      Playing in the yard (above) and in the sanctuary (below)

                           

              Liljana,  Katarina,  Susie