Sunday, a day of rest for us Protestants. It started out with a late breakfast at 8:30 a.m. where Dušan Haška made us omelets and a spread of bread, cheese, meats, and veggies, juice and coffee as well. Worship starts at 10 a.m., where Katka Valčová was our translator. KJ gave a short greeting from the Roseville Lutheran Congregation to the congregation of Martin Evangelical Church.

After worship, we connected with several others we have seen in previous years. It was so good to be re-connected again. For our newcomers to the Builders Group, it was a refreshing experience to worship in a different setting than upper Midwest Lutheran congregation.

Blythe and Tony Barreto, from the Chicago area, and teaching here at the Lutheran Academy hosted our lunch at the Dormitory Café with salad and sandwiches. It was a welcome surprise to have salad. At 2 p.m., Eva Janotová and the Frolová family took us on the hike to the Šutovo Waterfall, about a 30 minute drive to the east. The hike was about a 1000′ elevation change over the course of 2.5 miles. No wonder we all were huffing and puffing (except the Slovaks!). But the waterfall in the winter was SPECTACULAR!

We arrived back at the Yellow Van about 5:15 p.m. and it was dark. Fortunately, there was a near full moon which gave us just enough light to see the path. So our day of ‘rest’ gave us each over 15K steps according to Rich’s cellphone app!

After a delightful dinner as a local restaurant and couple of games of Farkle, we put our minds back to tomorrow’s work effort. The temperatures have been COLD for Slovakia (-4F yesterday morning) but the forecast now is for rising temperatures throughout the week. More demolition tomorrow and Tuesday. We hope to see Bohdan, Adrian and Jozef for a few minutes on Tuesday evening, as they arrive back from their USA visit.

God has held us in the safety of His loving arms this week. Please continue to pray for our safe work and good health and our Renovating Rooms and Renovating Lives.

Peace and JOY ABOUND!