Szentgerice, 8:50

We just made the rounds of the village to meet each host family. It was a three and a half hour experience as many of the families insisted on serving us some treats as we passed through. We got pictures at each house, so I hope soon to post some pictures for you to see.

Back to yesterday: We left Budapest around 9:00 a.m. There were some interesting detours, including a trip down a narrow one way street that turned out to be a dead end! That was before we left Budapest. There was sleeping, singing, card playing, and story telling on the bus. Our experience at the border was pretty easy, according to those who have made the trip in earlier times. We drove straight through the Hungarian side without stopping. The Romanian border control gathered up our passports and stamped them with both the exit and the entrance stamps. It took a half an hour or so.

We stopped for dinner on the top of a mountain shortly after entering Romania. There was very little Hungarian spoken there--and much less English. Not even much German. We all managed to order and watch as a light rain cooled things down. It was three or four more hours from there. We arrived after dark and gathered around Sandor as he called out names and made the assignments.

Today it has been fun comparing notes. Lisa and Annalisa have "only one computer in the house." Others are without indoor plumbing. I've heard that some have fed horses and chickens. Some climbed the hill behind the church. And now all of us have seen the village during this late afternoon tour. We are all well-fed. Our experience here in the parish house is not unusual. We enjoyed a great soup for lunch and then much to my surprise the main dish came out. Though we are walking a lot, I think none of us will come home any slimmer.

The church is beautiful. The men and the women still sit on opposite sides of the sanctuary. The bells started ringing well before the time for the service. Some from the village came to visit the cemetary before the service. My sermon didn't take too too long...maybe thirty minutes with translation and all. It was really an honor to stand in that historic pulpit and give a sermon. I told about Albert Schweitzer and his idea of reverence for life. I thought this would be a good topic because this is the underlying purpose of our partnership--that through these relationships we learn yet more to love each other.

Our group sang two songs. (We did well!) Before my sermon we sang "Gathered Here." In a round even. It sounded pretty cool with the women starting from one side and the men responding from the other. Andy W. presented the beautiful mosaic chalice that Bonnie F. made for us to bring. Then Sandor presented a hand-made stole with a chalice and said he hoped my wearing it would remind our congregation of our partnership and their affection for us.

Tomorrow we take a trip to a nearby city. I'll report more then.