First UMC Keller Blog

We are the sixth mission team to go from First United Methodist Church of Keller.to Trnavna United Methodist Church.  Some of us feel very familiar with the church and the town.  But we always have a few new people on the team and there are always some changes at the church when we return.  Today we experienced a mix of the old and new as we settled in for our days here. 

Barbara and Donna are fixing breakfast for us each day.  A wonderful new thing is discovering a small kitchen on our floor of the hotel and it is ours to use since we are the only ones on this floor.  A Slovak breakfast of fresh bread, sliced meat and cheese, and juice is served in the kitchen.  Mark your disposable cup, please.  Then we go to Donna’s room to eat and have morning devotional.  If at all possible the bread is bought fresh each morning at the grocery store next door. 

Today was Paige’s turn for devotional.  It was short, but meaningful.  We had free time until 3:45 so most people relaxed by strolling through the town center checking out the shops, restaurants, and cathedrals.  I went looking for “wi fi” to enter my daily blog.  With the sun beating down on me I first opted for green tea at a covered sidewalk cafe. My internet did not work there so I moved on to a computer store in hopes of better luck.  The blog entry was on my travel drive so they allowed me to use their computer to connect to the internet.  But when the screen came up all the formatting instructions were in Slovak.  The sales persons tried to be helpful, but the 1:00 closing time came before I had completed my task.  I went back to the town center to search again.  There I found about half the team eating lunch at a different sidewalk cafe and Scott had an internet connection.  At this restaurant I justified my use of the internet by ordering strapacky (noodles, sauerkraut and cheese). 

The free time passed quickly and we headed off to the church to unload team supplies and meet church members working with us in theEnglish camp.  Our arrival at the church was filled with hugs for Regina, Renata, Milena, and Evietta.  An extra special new thing we were given was a detailed schedule showing all the days of our trip.  That will be quite helpful.  We were told the schedule was put together by Ondre and Kika, who helped us last year and came to Keller in 2005 with the Trnava youth. 

After a really productive meeting the church members took us to dinner at a special restaurant where we had a private room for the seventeen of us.  When we walked in the room we were surprised by the beautifully set table.  The menu had a lot of traditional Slovak foods.  It took quite a while for dinner to be served which gave us plenty of time to enjoy the fellowship.

At team meeting we were excited about the meeting, the dinner, and most of all the fellowship we had while waiting for the meal.  Team meeting ended with everybody hurrying off to prepare for the next day.

My Friday began when Kara woke me up. “Food, Charlotte. Wake up.” It was about 5:15 a.m. London time. I had slept for an hour and we would soon land at London Heathrow airport. I stared at my plate for a while until Kara said, “Is something wrong?” In my foggy brain I was trying to understand why I wanted to be waked up for only a croissant and a cup of tea. But then I remembered I should always be grateful for food because many people in the world wake up to an empty plate. And besides, the croissant smelled wonderful, it was warm, and I had strawberry jam and orange juice to go with it.

We landed at 6:10 a.m. and had a long brisk walk to our next gate for a 7:35 a.m. flight to Vienna. Shirley rode in a wheelchair since she is using a cane to protect a painful knee. We threatened to pile all our backpacks in her lap, but thought that might be somewhat unwieldy. Surprisingly, we arrived at the gate with enough time for a devotional. What do you suppose people around us thought as Kara read scripture, shared her thoughts, and we circled up for prayer?

Finally we were on the flight to Vienna, coming ever closer to our final destination. The two hour flight was our last airplane ride. On landing we claimed our luggage, bought bus tickets to Bratislava and waited for Scott, Lisa, and Paige to arrive. Our admiration for Roger went up several notches when we got to the bus ticket office and learned he speaks fluent German.

The rest of our team members arrived about forty-five minutes later. We had seen them only yesterday, but we greeted them joyfully and now felt complete with the whole team together. It was time to get on the bus. I must say when we arrived at the bus with our twenty-two bags the driver looked dismayed. Some slept on the one hour bus ride to Bratislava, but others took in the scenery. Lisa commented that even though she had been away from Slovakia for four years, as she watched the familiar fields of sunflowers go by she felt like she was coming home.

In Bratislava we were greeted first by Stefan, the interim pastor at Trnava, and by Robert, the new district superintendent of Slovakia whom we had been with years earlier in a couple of different churches. Soon Lubos, Milos, and Lubo arrived from the Trnava church. After a lot of hugs and introductions we loaded up and were on to the last leg of our journey. Roger said later that our Slovak friends were so warm and friendly they felt like family even though it was the first time he had met them.

Shortly after checking into our hotel Palo, the youth pastor, arrived. We unpacked, rested a little, and went to the town center to have supper with him. The evening ended with a very productive and well organized team meeting. Scott and Lisa are doing a fantastic job as team leaders.

Now that we are back home with our ministry partners in Trnava our mission with the children and youth in English camp can begin.

After a nine hour flight we are in Frankfurt with a nine hour layover.  We will be planning our first day of teaching English while we wait for the evening flight to Bratislava on Czech Air.  I (Charlotte) almost singlehandedly derailed the whole trip the morning we left.  David had left on an earlier flight and I was locking cars and house while waiting for my ride to the church.  Never mind how, but I managed to lock myself inside a car in a locked garage.  Guess what.  Those electronic security devices on a car don’t work correctly when the car battery is almost dead.  I thought either we would miss our flight while team members searched for me or David would come home in a week and find me trapped in the car.  After about ten minutes of panic I managed to get the car`s built-in garage door opener to work.  With more light in the garage I was able to find a way to open a door.  Dennis and Kathy came to pick me up and with Problem #1 resolved we began working on Problem #2 - find a way to get across the railroad track.  As Kathy said “the devil jumped up”.  After trying three blocked railroad crossings we finally found an open one and arrived at the church only 20 minutes late. 

Thanks to everyone who came to see us off.  We feel very encouraged by your prayers and support.  We were reminded of how the Trnava church is our extended family as various persons handed us things to take or asked us to give greetings to special friends there.