Saturday in Sid

We left at 7:00 this morning for the UMC district conference - about a 3 hour drive west of Belgrade near the Croatian border (some delegates from northern parts had to cross through Croatia) . For you non- Methodists this is a church business meeting.

There are 12 pastors (4 women).  Here are a few photos from the meeting. It was good to greet people we had met before.

We are asked to say a few words....

Pastors and delegates and Susie

Cover of News Magazine for Slovak speaking Serbians  
Three pastors were married this summer

This wall must come down!

Sometimes in life we have something in our lives that must come down. A habit, an attitude, an opinion, a belief may have to go if we are to grow, mature, be more loving, caring -  be more Christ like.

This wall must come down!

What was used as a living room for the former owner needs to become part of the new sanctuary. A wall must come down so two rooms can become one.

Furniture must be moved

Time for a coffee break 

Ready?

Begin

Break thru!

Meanwhile Jano is plastering the exterior entrance wall

Stacking cleaned bricks taken from the wall 

New cooks today

or are they building inspectors?

the wall is coming down
Let's take a break for a late lunch

PROGRESS!

SUCESS!


What a change!   Look what taking down a wall did!

Working on the Kovacica Church Building

Andre Sjanta  clearing out future entrance

mixing concrete

Tamping down gravel

leveling concrete

coffee (kava) break

What hard working and diligent  volunteer workers!  Andre Sjanta (85 years old) chose to ride his bike the 7 miles to get to Kovacica from Padina and hardly ever stopped working for a rest!!  The women prepared great food and worked in the roses.

Lunch

Delivering gravel and sand

Removing dirt

Separating sand from gravel

Preparing to leave for Kovacica

Our wonderful cook enjoying the results of her labor 

Ready? Forward>>

Let's begin a new week!!

Yes, this is a posed picture, we did not peddle down the streets of Padina this way.  The trike is ready to go and has been delivered to our friend. She is excited at the possible freedom this will give her, she has difficulty walking. Seems like everyone here rides a bike.

Work begins today at Kovacica on the church part of the building. Volunteers will begin to clear out junk left by the previous owner and tools from the 'cabinet workshop', level the dirt floor and prepare it for pouring concrete. Women will prepare lunch for the volunteers.

First Sunday in Serbia

'Our' 1990 Yugo parked by entrance to
UMChurch/parsonage Padina

Leaving morning service at Padina

     "Dobré ráno! Ako sa máte?" How wonderful to greet old friends,  to give and receive smiles, handshakes, hugs and kisses.       The bond of Christian love/fellowship is a wonderful thing.We attended morning worship at 9:30 in Padina, afternoon worship at 2:30 in Kovacica and evening worship at 5:00 in Padina.  (The 2 towns are about 7 or 8 miles apart.)  All services had twice as many women as men in attendance.  Total attendance was about 15 in Padina and 26 in Kovacica.

     The morning text was I Thessalonians 5:25, "Pray for us."  Paul thought that he needed prayer, and that "common" people were able to provide it.  Appropriately enough, this was followed by a prayer time with the majority of the congregation praying out loud, one after the other.  In the afternoon Daniel shared from  Revelation 3:14-18, reminding us of the danger of being only lukewarm.  The day finished on a note from John 6:30-40 concerning the wonderful gift of Jesus, the bread of life.  

Visiting after the 5:00 evening service at Padina

Trike box arrived

Wednesday the box with trike parts was delivered. This evening (Friday) work began to get it put together. Darkness arrived too soon, so tomorrow we hope to finish.

Cabinets and plum dumplings

Present parsonage / future church at Kovacica

Carpentering in a future church room 

The structure for the new church building in Kovacica is a sort-of duplex house that was never finished (think rough brick walls and dirt floor).  Part of it is morphing into the "parsonage" for the newly assigned and newly wed pastor and his wife, and the other part will become the new sanctuary and other assorted church rooms.    The parsonage part is mostly finished;  the young (twenty-something) couple is living there now.  Janko and Marty spent the last 2 days assembling kitchen cabinets, installing them and installing the kitchen water heater in one of the cabinets (think small water heater!).  A problem for the immediate future is to figure out what to do with the 240 volt electric wires that run through the exact spot in the wall where the duct for the range fan must go.   Meanwhile, Susie and Liljana bought some plums at the local market and turned them into plum jam and plum dumplings.  

We'll buy plums today, maybe firewood later