Macedonia: Day Eight

Kyle and Jackie picked us up at 10 to go on the first of many home visits today. Our first visit was to Tale’s family. They had gathered some things for Tale and we were to pick them up to bring back to the United States with us, but that still means a sit down visit with the family over coffee. The morning was lovely today and we sat outside as we visited. After our visit, Danny and Kyle had a visit scheduled with Ruben who works at a bank. They dropped Jackie and me at home so Jackie could make lunch for Daniel, Josh and their German teacher, Belinda. The school has two shifts during the day. Josh attends the early shift and is home around 12:30. Daniel attends the late shift so the German teacher teaches Daniel first, has lunch with Josh (and sometimes Jackie) and then teaches Josh. She is very sweet and has invited us for lunch tomorrow. Jeff joined Danny and Kyle for their visit with the man at the bank and it went longer than they expected but they said the visit was a good one. We had a very delayed lunch because of their long visit and a Skype call that Kyle needed to make. It is very Macedonian to have a lunch around 2-3 so I told them we are just eating in the Macedonian way! After lunch we went back into town to have a visit with Cane (pronounced Sahnneigh) and his wife, Valentina. We had a lively conversation over Turkish coffee and snacks. Valentina also made a wonderful nut cake for us. Our home visits generally last about 2 hours. Kyle said if you try to leave their house before an hour then you are being impolite. Once they have served the coffee, then you know that you can leave soon after. The next visit was with Vlado and Beti and their children Elena and Emanuel (Emo). They had invited their friends, Mila and his wife Veronica and their son Sam who live in New Jersey to come and visit as well. Mila is from Prilep and and brought his family home so that his son could meet his father’s family. Mila and Vlado went to school together way back when. Beti made us a delicious poppyseed cake and Elena and her brother who are accomplished pianists, played their new piano for us. With so many people to talk to, this visit went a little long, but it was a sweet fellowship. From there we went to our last home visit at Aleksandre and his wife Tinchka. Their son Boban is Daniel’s really good friend and their daughter Stefani was also at home. I know it is very tiring and many time inconvenient for Kyle and Jackie to both visit and stop to interpret for us and we have done a lot of visiting on this trip! Even thought it is mentally challenging, we really appreciate the effort they make in keeping us within the conversation and we patiently understand when it’s just not possible. We have one more visit to make in the late morning and a coffee visit with Spire to say goodbye. After that, it is family time with Kyle, Jackie and the boys before we prepare to leave and head back home. It has been a full and heartwarming visit. The Macedonians here in Prilep are very warm and inviting. It has been a joy to be welcomed into their homes to get to know them better. Some of the home visits were a first for Kyle and/or Jackie and we pray that it won’t be the last. We are thankful for all of the contacts we have made on this trip and we hope that it will make an impact on Kyle and Jackie’s ministry here as well as Jeff and Amy’s. Until tomorrow…