6 Days in the Old Country

We returned to Slovakia on Tuesday evening after spending 6 days in BC. Amber's cousin Courtney got married and Matthew was asked to perform the ceremony (a first, and a true honour), and we were both asked to be the MC's. Amber's bloodline teems with ambition and so her uncle reached into his bag of tricks (and by that we mean travel points) and pulled out 2 plane tickets. Life in Slovakia does not come with a pause button and since we had been in Canada in November and the PAOC conference in January, we had to make this a quick trip.

With such limited time we tried to focus on connecting with friends and family, but even still we missed so many people. Each time we're back in Canada we learn more about balancing our visits (though appointments, traffic and shopping runs seem to consume valuable time). We returned to Nitra quite physically tired, but stocked-up on some great new memories.

We've received positive feedback from the wedding and reception, but there was nervousness going in. At one point during the ceremony there was a bit of a mix-up with kleenexes camoflauged amongst a white bouquet that led to flower petals and the kleenex hitting the floor - Matthew will admit that his first thought was "oh, I'm so happy it wasn't me who made the first mistake". He later acknowledged that the day was not all about him.

We also had the chance to share at ET Family Church in Nanaimo. We felt very welcome there and the warmth of the people was tangible - as in Matthew did not bring a coat, was wearing a white shirt on a cold, rainy day and so was given a loaner jacket for the day. We talked about how mission is something we, as Christians, are all required to engage in. As such, it then becomes a matter of the attitude we bring. It was a healthy motives check-up for us too.

So now we are back in Nitra missing the sunshine of BC, but happy to be home.