Hi all,

We have had a great week in Slovakia. On Wednesday we flew to Kosice in the eastern part of Slovakia for a Wheelchair closing ceremony. We stayed in a lovely Hotel on the main square of Kosice which was established in the 12^th century. It is a beautiful city which was not destroyed at all in the war so the beautiful architecture has been preserved. The main square is approximately 2 kilometers long with several parks including one with a beautiful water fountain orchestrated to music. On the square is found the most eastern Catholic Cathedral in Europe. It is in Romanesque style architecture, and it is beautiful. There are several other beautiful churches as well in the City.

This cathedral is on the main street of Kosice, a beautiful 2 Km pedestrian street

Thursday, we drove two hours to the eastern border of Slovakia to the city of Bezovce. The Ceremony was in the School Gym. It was attended by the Mayor and the Slovakian minister of Social work, both acknowledged how much humanitarian aid the church has given to help the Slovakian People. It was also attended by the Mission President and his wife, 12 missionaries’ and 20 recipients and their families. 500 Wheelchairs will be distributed to people who are mobile challenged. The wheelchairs will enable these people to get out of their homes and interact in society. The Program was orchestrated by a special lady who heads up a nongovernmental organization dedicated to helping people with handicaps. Her organization assembled all the names of the recipients and distributed the chairs the church provided. Those who received chairs and their families were very appreciative. Several of the officials spoke and the missionaries sang I am a child of God accompanied by the senior missionary couple on the Guitar.

Look at the lovily countenance of this sweet little girl

This little guy could only walk aided by someone or very slowly with a walker

Look at that smile! Life has just become much better for him

The lady who organized the program to distribute the wheelchairs and conducted the ceremony was in a lot of back pain and was scheduled for back surgery on the 2nd of Aug. I asked if she had been offered a priesthood blessing, which she had not. I had one of the young elders ask her if should like a blessing and she said yes. We went into a room with her daughter, and one of the young elders who spoke Slovakian anointed her, and another sealed the anointing and gave her a blessing. The next day this lady called one of our interpreters who is also a member of the church, and told her that the blessing had been an amazing experience for her. She said a peaceful calm feeling came over her,and she wasn't worried any more about the operation. The next morning when she awoke the pain was gone. She doesn't understand how the blessing did this, but she knows that what happened is real and not just in her mind. Sunday in church was a wonderful spiritual experience as well, there is a lot of love among the members in this small branch. There were 5 nonmembers in attendance, and they could feel that loving feeling as well.

Sat. we had the opportunity to do a little sightseeing and drove to an old fortress that was started in 1269 by the Celts. Over the course of 500 hundred years it was enlarged and beautified. The view from the top of the watchman's tower was amazing, we could see for miles in all directions,and in each direction there were 3 or 4 small villages one behind the other. I'll send of picture of the fortress with this blog.

This is Spiss Casltle and Fortress with an awesome view from the top of the tower

Traveling is one of the blessing of this calling, which so far has required 11 to 13 hour days 5 days a week and work on Sat.and Sun. as well. But I figure on Sun. it's OK to work because we're doing the Lord's work (no we don't skip church to work ). In Sept. we will drive to Hungary via Vienna, and return to Frankfurt via Berchtesgaden. In Budapest we will be organizing another wheelchair project to distribute 500 wheelchairs plus walkers and crutches, we will also check on a food and nutrition project that is about 2 years old now.

We have been having trouble with the blogging, and so our blogs a been sparse, but we think we have the bugs worked out and can blog much easier now and therfore we'll be able to blog more consistently. We love you and wish God's blessings for you. Oma and Opa