Slovak Hospitality

This morning we were picked up by car at our flat, by Mr. Hudak and his son, Daniel.  We were taken to their village, Liptovsky Ondrej, named for St. Andrew Church there.  (Ondrej is Slovak for Andrew, and the region is Liptovsky, so many towns are named this way.  Similarly, Liptovsky Mikulas is named after St. Nickolas.)  Katarina Hudakova (women often add "ova" to the surname), is the female pastor you may have seen on the school website photos of the opening day ceremony.  She had invited us for church this Sunday and dinner at their house afterwards.  

This is the church where Katerina Hudakova is pastor

 The service was very full, as there was a choir anthem (a cappella version of "This Little Light of Mine" in Slovak), communion, and a baptism.  Daniel's grandfather sat behind us and helped us find our places in our new worship books so we could sing along.  We just wish we could understand the sermon!  

The interior of the church - with the family of the baptized baby.  

 After church, we walked to the parsonage next door, which is a really beautiful, rather new home.  We visited a while with Daniel's grandparents and were fascinated by stories about their life experiences during WW II and under communism.  All four of his grandparents were pastors!!  (Only the paternal side were there at dinner.)  Daniel's English was great, as he spent a year as a foreign exchange student in the U.S., so he did a lot of translating all day.  The grandfather also spoke English well, as did a pastoral intern who joined us for dinner.  Dinner was delicious and elegant.  We were treated royally!  


Later, we went on a walk around the village, since it was such a warm, sunny day to be outside.  We walked up a long hill overlooking the village and the surrounding valleys, to the cemetery.  I wasn't sure if it would be polite to take a photo, so I didn't.  Then we walked back down to the 13th century Catholic church, which was Protestant during the Reformation, but is now Catholic again.  Nearby is the older section of the village, with historic cottages and homes that are still inhabited.  The village set-up is similar to others we've visited, with a long street through the town with many houses on very narrow but deep lots, with gardens, fruit trees, and sometimes livestock up the hill behind the houses.  
It was a delightful day!

Pastoral intern - Katka, Pastor Hudakova, her son Daniel, and Tim
Notice Daniel's T-shirt ....  College of William & Mary!!

The view of the village from the cemetery hill

St. Andrew's church in the older part of the village

St. Andrew's Catholic Church - 13th century

The elder Mr. Hudak had told us of his other son who has lived in Sweden for 30 years, who is an architect, graphic artist, and author and illustrator of children's books.  (English translations are available on Amazon.com, so you can take a look - the author is Michael Hudak.)  They gave us three of the books as gifts!!  The lambs look very familiar to me, so I think I've seen them in the States sometime.  They are so beautifully illustrated!  The first is the story of the shepherd and his lost sheep.   

When we got home again, Tim and I went for a run over the RR tracks and all the way to the village of Trstene, uphill most of the way, but of course downhill on the return trip!  ;-)  Our scenery on that route is unbelievably picturesque - like seeing a movie set in the Swiss Alps!  There were many fruit trees along the ditches on the sides of the road, large haystacks in fields, groups of people out digging up long rows of potatoes, sheep grazing with their bells gently clanking, and even horses in one place with a stable.  But we didn't have the camera - some day we'll have to take it along!