Konjare and Shutka

My feet hurt, my brain hurts, my face hurts. Now before you get jumping to conclusions, let me clear that up. My feet hurt from walking through beautiful, exciting places. My brain hurts from trying to remember the names of the delightful people we met today. Most of all, my face hurts from smiling. I had such a wonderful day. Even though I probably destroyed my blowdryer, the morning was pleasant. The weather was nice and we walked a short way to a bakery to order some burek, which I believe is the term for bread. Mine had meat and goat cheese stuffed in. Not a bad breakfast. After that, the men went to work on building fences and the women travelled the short distance to the village of Konjare. We met the mayor of the village and his family We removed our shoes to enter the porch area that was covered with rugs and cushions to sit on. The mayor's daughter in law served us Turkish coffee (hopefully there was enough distraction to keep the face I made unnoticed). Traditionally, the youngest son in a family remains at home to care for the parents. After the parents die, the son inherits the house. The mayor has an English library above his home where Janice and I went to have English class with the children. There were about 8 girls and a few boys who joined us. That English class was one of the best experiences of my life. We went over numbers and colors and played games. I am not sure how to explain the contentment I felt teaching those kids. I am quickly falling in love with this country. We ate lunch while walking through the bazaar. It was an amazing outdoor market with all sorts of items. We had some delicious produce while we explored. One vendor laughed at me when I explained that I wanted one tomato rather than one kilo of tomatoes. The prices here are very low. Like many eastern European countries, the patterns and worldviews of communism are still affecting Macedonia's economy. Unemployment is over 20%. We are using denars here. About 45 denars is equal to one US dollar. After lunch, we went to Shutka, a Roma village. The name Shutka literally means garbage dump, which just about sums up the way other Macedonians view the Roma. In fact,finding a local church to partner with in ministry to the Roma several years ago was difficult. Even believers were, at the time, unwilling to put aside their prejudices. The church that we are now partnering with is a Congregational church. I had never heard of the denomination until today. At this point, the Roma church is thriving. It was recently able to move out of a rented house into a building of their own. Tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday, we will be using that building for kids club with the Roma children. We have songs and crafts and Bible stories picked out for what may ne 50 or 60 kids. We were warned about the stark contrast between the Albanian culture in Konjare and the Roma in Shutka. Still, I am not sure what to expect. Our team is made up of a great group of people and I am enjoying being part of it. We have had such a wonderful time in the day and a half we have been here. There is much more I would like to include, but I could really use some sleep. Thank you for reading!