Macedonia: Arrival Day

First look at Macedonia on the ride from the airport to Prilep

This church on the corner served as our landmark for the street our apartment was located on

Our apartment was on the top floor

our little kitchen

supplies from Jackie

the view from the kitchen window

the living area

the bathroom/laundry room

no shower, only a tub with a seat to sit on.

our back porch

the view from the back porch

the view from the bedroom window

the town square

the market

the corner grocery where we picked up supplies

kitties everywhere!

graffiti on the way to Kyle and Jackie's home

many of the homes have trellis's over their patio

Kyle and Jackie's home

Danny went to Prilep, Macedonia last summer to visit his cousin Kyle Kirkpatrick and his wife Jackie. Kyle and Jackie are missionaries in Prilep and Danny came over to work alongside them for a short time. His stay there was so meaningful to him, that when he came home he began developing plans to take me back with him to work with Kyle and Jackie again. So here we are in May in Prilep after a four flight journey that was amazingly (for me) on time and uneventful. Last year they lost Danny’s luggage for a day. This year our luggage was the first off the plane! We were prepared though with an extra set of clothes in our backpacks. Kyle met us at the airport in Skopje and drove us the 1 1/2 hour trip to their home in Prilep. The drive was beautiful through countryside that reminded us of Italy. There were mountains in the distance and we drove by old ruins, vineyards and fruit orchards. It’s Spring here and the roads are flanked with lush green grass and lots and lots of beautiful red poppies! The red poppy here is as plentiful as bluebonnets in Texas!! There were also other wildflowers interspersed among the poppies. Kyle and Jackie live here with their two sons, Josh and Daniel. Their daughter Becca is in boarding school in Germany and will be home soon for the summer break. We drove straight to their home for a hot lunch prepared by Jackie that was delicious. Chicken in a white sauce, mashed potatoes, and a Macedonian favorite which is cucumber, tomato salad with white cheese grated on top. Kyle and Jackie took us to the apartment we would be staying in for the duration of our trip. It is spacious but modest and adequate for our needs. I don’t ever take for granted hot water for a shower on a mission trip and we thankfully have that here! They left us to unpack and get settled which meant showers for both of us. Danny and I walked into the city center, visited the ATM and picked up some bread to go with the cold cuts Jackie had given us. After eating our sandwiches for dinner, we decided that we could hang on a little longer before sleep and walked the 8/10 of a mile back to Kyle and Jackie’s to sit in on a bible study that Kyle was conducting with some of the locals. They had a lively discussion on the basics of Christianity outlined in Acts 17 but spoken completely in Macedonian so Jackie thankfully translated for us the key points and comments. We are back at the hotel quickly getting ready for bed as we are fading fast. I will continue to blog every night but we do not have internet at the apartment we are in so my post uploading will happen when we are at Kyle and Jackie’s. Until tomorrow….