We were part of a team headed by Dave and Anne Dayton from Grove City’s East Main Presbyterian Church. The Daytons have been traveling to the same village (Hermanovce) in eastern Slovakia for five years, where they have helped build a local church and established a relationship with that small congregation.
Our team (pictured above) consisted of 22 members from all walks of life and from around the country. We had various opportunities to serve and meet the local people during our week’s stay in Hermanovce. A number of us had the opportunity to visit the local elementary school, some visited nearby Roma (gypsy) communities, while others spent the bulk of our time doing physical labor around the church building. We also had several opportunities to worship and fellowship with the wonderful Christians that we met during that visit.
We visited the local school each day during the week that we spent in Hermanovce. The primary purpose of our visits, for the children, was for them to hear spoken English from native speakers. We spent time singing songs, reading stories, and doing simple math and phonics games. After school, in the afternoon, the children would often congregate at the church and play various games with each other and with us. The picture on the left shows a group of children with their drawings of Noah's Ark.
We worked on many physical projects both inside and outside the church, from adjusting door hinges and changing light bulbs to collecting stones and building a wall (pictured left). Larger projects in
cluded refinishing seats for an outdoor worship area (pictured right) and clearing camp sites for future use as a youth camp area.
Most of our team was housed within the church building during our stay. The remaining four couples stayed in the village with church members. We were among those who stayed elsewhere. We stayed in a neighboring village with a wonderful couple, Andre and Margita. Our greatest challenge was the language barrier—they knew about as much English as we knew Slovak—none. We communicated using sign language and a travel dictionary, creating many ridiculous scenes as we tried to convey our messages to each other. Their sincere faith and gracious hospitality was humbling.
We had many wonderful experiences during this trip, but probably the most memorable came during a worship service on our final evening in Hermanovce. Our group had been asked to sing a song for the local congregation. We had chosen “How Great Thou Art” and “Amazing Grace”, primarily because the tunes would be familiar. Even if they could not understand our words, the music would tell them what we were singing. While we sang, looking out at the people, we realized that they were singing along with us in Slovak. And the music of the two languages being sung together was absolutely beautiful.
