Macedonia: Day Five

growing tobacco seedlings

finding our way to our picnic spot

a vineyard along the way

a field of poppies!

looking out over the city of Prilep

a natural spring and water source for many

unpacking the supplies for our picnic

everyone plays CornHole at a picnic right?

this egg and cheese dish that Jackie made was delicious!!

Danny gave the message at the picnic while Kyle interpreted for him

of course we would have coffee at the picnic!

discussion after the message

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these little shrines are everywhere in Macedonia

this sheep dog showed up right at the end of our meal so we threw him a few leftovers

celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary at Macedonia House with the Kirkpatricks

We had a little bit of a lazy start to our day because today was the church picnic. We walked to the corner at 10 for Kyle to pick us up in the car and bring us to meet the rest of the folks who were gathering to walk up the mountain. The church usually has a picnic on May 2, May Day, which is a Veterans holiday, but the weather was too unpredictable then and they rescheduled it to today. Noone really seemed to know exactly where they wanted to go except that they all wanted to eat on the mountain. Eventually a leader popped out of the group and off we went. We walked about one and half miles up the mountain, skirting around vineyards, orchards, vegetable and tobacco fields. We stopped at a beautiful shady area that looked out over all of Prilep and was located near a natural spring. The spring has been directed into a pipe that pours into a stone basin. While we were there, several people came by for a drink of water or to fill containers. Apparently there are springs like this all over the mountain and the locals know where they can find the fresh water while on the mountain.  We set up tables for food and also set up a game called Corn Hole, which we play back home. Everyone nibbled on a delicious egg and cheese dish made by Jackie and played and visited until it was time for Kyle to go and pick up the meat that had been ordered. We had a picnic with hamburgers, grilled chicken breast, fresh bread, tomato and cucumber salad, and cabbage salad. The ladies made the salads on site. It was all delicious! After lunch everyone gathered around to hear the bible message brought by Danny from Philippians 2:1-11. Kyle was his interpreter. Danny says it can be a challenge to speak through an interpreter, but Danny and Kyle are so like minded that they make it look easy. There was dessert after the bible message which was cake and cookies and one of the ladies even made coffee using a tiny single burner camp stove and Nescafe instant coffee! There was more discussion among some of the adults about things relating to the Bible while the kids enjoyed running around and throwing water on each other from the spring. It was a very relaxing afternoon and we packed everything up and headed back down the mountain around 4 p.m. Before we left, a herd of sheep, a sheep dog and a shepherd came near us looking for some grass and probably a cool drink of water from the spring. We showered off back at the apartment and then met the Kirkpatricks at a favorite restaurant, Macedonia House, for dinner. Danny and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary today! We have a full afternoon and evening tomorrow. Until then…