Zuberec, SlovakiaTuesday, August 11, 2009
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Visiting a Historical Museum
A few months ago, Daniel, the senior pastor of the evangelical church where we have been staying and ministering, asked if we would like to take a trip to the south of Poland with he and his wife Ania. We thought it was a great idea, and the trip was supposed to take place a couple of weeks ago. I ended up getting sick so we couldn’t make the trip. So we decided that this week worked out best for everyone, and headed to Zakopane in the south of Poland.
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We all agreed that we would remain flexible in our plans once we got to the south of Poland, depending on the weather. Daniel told us that we were making this trip in faith, because the forecast was rain for both days. And man, did it rain on the way to Zakopane! Anyway, after a five hour trip, we made it to Zakopane, dropped our things off at a lovely, yet very inexpensive “hotel,” and decided that we would drive further south into the country of Slovakia. We were in a hurry to get out the door this morning, and I forgot to bring our passports. Thank the Lord, that after praying for favor at the border, no one was there to stop us going in or coming out of Slovakia. They are now using Euros for currency in Slovakia, so Daniel and I changed some Polish Złotys out at a Kantor near the border.
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Daniel and Ania decided to take us to a museum about a half hour drive south of the border that they had been to with their family once before. Slovakia is the eastern 40% of what was once Czechoslovakia. They speak Slovakian which is still a Slavic language, and according to Daniel, Poles can understand about 80 to 90% of Slovakian, where they can only understand maybe 50 to 60% of Czech. I noticed only little differences between the two languages, but it is written differently that Polish, closer to what we saw when we were in Czech. The landscape and architecture changes when you cross over from Poland to Slovakia. Even the people look a little different. It is a much more secularized nation than Poland, and according to Daniel, evangelism is much more fruitful in Slovakia than in Poland.
Daniel and Ania decided to take us to a museum about a half hour drive south of the border that they had been to with their family once before. Slovakia is the eastern 40% of what was once Czechoslovakia. They speak Slovakian which is still a Slavic language, and according to Daniel, Poles can understand about 80 to 90% of Slovakian, where they can only understand maybe 50 to 60% of Czech. I noticed only little differences between the two languages, but it is written differently that Polish, closer to what we saw when we were in Czech. The landscape and architecture changes when you cross over from Poland to Slovakia. Even the people look a little different. It is a much more secularized nation than Poland, and according to Daniel, evangelism is much more fruitful in Slovakia than in Poland.
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The museum was actually an outdoor museum where they had taken different domiciles from different eras and from different places in Slovakia. It was very interesting to walk around, using a pamphlet that explained what each building was, and what kind of person had lived there. While it was raining in Zakopane, it was just a little damp and misty outside in Slovakia. If you notice in the pictures of our family that Jordan’s eye looks a little strange, it is because she got a mosquito bite on her eyelid last night, and when she woke up this morning, it was completely swollen shut! Poor thing. We stopped and got some medicine before we headed out of town, and she was such a trooper.
The museum was actually an outdoor museum where they had taken different domiciles from different eras and from different places in Slovakia. It was very interesting to walk around, using a pamphlet that explained what each building was, and what kind of person had lived there. While it was raining in Zakopane, it was just a little damp and misty outside in Slovakia. If you notice in the pictures of our family that Jordan’s eye looks a little strange, it is because she got a mosquito bite on her eyelid last night, and when she woke up this morning, it was completely swollen shut! Poor thing. We stopped and got some medicine before we headed out of town, and she was such a trooper.
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We are really glad to be able to spend time with Daniel and Ania. They are lovely people, and we sensed a great connection with them ever since our team from Whipple came to Poland two years ago. Daniel has such a great sense of humor, and I enjoy joking around with the both of them. We have been having a lot of laughs together on this trip, but at the same time, encouraging one another in our faith, and having great talks about God, life, family and all kinds of things. Europe seems so small. I can’t believe how many countries we’ve been able to travel in since we arrived in January. Slovakia is the 11th country in Europe that we have visited. What a huge blessing to be able to see so much of God’s creation, and experience so many different cultures in less than nine months. It has been really neat to shine the light of Christ in these countries. And the cool thing is, it took only a little over 1/4 tank of gas in our little turbo diesel Audi to get down in to Slovakia! If these things weren’t so inexpensive for us, there’s no way we would have been able to travel like this. Thank you, Jesus.
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Christian Young
We are really glad to be able to spend time with Daniel and Ania. They are lovely people, and we sensed a great connection with them ever since our team from Whipple came to Poland two years ago. Daniel has such a great sense of humor, and I enjoy joking around with the both of them. We have been having a lot of laughs together on this trip, but at the same time, encouraging one another in our faith, and having great talks about God, life, family and all kinds of things. Europe seems so small. I can’t believe how many countries we’ve been able to travel in since we arrived in January. Slovakia is the 11th country in Europe that we have visited. What a huge blessing to be able to see so much of God’s creation, and experience so many different cultures in less than nine months. It has been really neat to shine the light of Christ in these countries. And the cool thing is, it took only a little over 1/4 tank of gas in our little turbo diesel Audi to get down in to Slovakia! If these things weren’t so inexpensive for us, there’s no way we would have been able to travel like this. Thank you, Jesus.
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Christian Young
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