Saturday, July 30, 2016

I really slept good last night but woke up at 5 a.m.  (After talking to some of the other team members several work up early.  Eli was wide awake at 3 a.m. and ready to go!  Sometimes I hate jet lag!)   Today each “family group” was responsible for their own breakfasts.  Sam & I and the Hawkins walked down the street to the end of the block where there was a small grocery store.  I purchased 4 bananas, two bottled juices, one pastry and a large bottle of water for 33 Kuna --- less than $5.  I’m not sure what the 5 ladies did for breakfast but the other two households are a little closer to the city center and lots of little stores, bakeries, and restaurants.  About 8:30 Pastor Chris picked the 4 of us up in his car and took us to Hotel Porin, where we will be working this next week.  The 5 women were transported by car by another volunteer in Croatia and the rest took a tram and a bus and walked 1-2 miles to make it to the site.  Tomorrow they will be arriving by a different way, although they did see some of the countryside!

Once we were all at the Hotel Porin, the site of one of the two Croatia Refugee centers, we were met by Anita, Minister of the Interior, who profusely thanked us for coming from “the Promised Land” to help them.  We assured her it was an honor for us to be there.  She is a believer also so understood, a little, why we were there.  After greeting us she took us on a tour of the building.  It is an old, old hotel.  Dreary and drab.  The Croatian government has been working on the building trying to get it livable for the refugees but it is a long slow process.  I’ll write more about it later. 

As we were touring through it we were also assessing what needed to be done that we could do in the short time we are here.  I think we are mainly going to focus on cleaning up the common areas on each floor and painting.  Anita was very happy when we asked if we could do bright colors and maybe some artistic designs on the walls.   It was around 10 a.m. now and we needed to get to a store to pick up some of the supplies.  Not much room in the cars but Jenni, Jimmye & I squeezed into the back seat of the small car while church volunteers, Pastor Chris and Brayden, took us to the local Home Depot.  It was huge and every bit as modern, if not more so, than the ones in the States.  Of course, it wasn’t called Home Depot.  We picked up everything we could think that we would need.  No paint, just swatches, but Chris has approved our color choices.
When we got back to the hotel everybody was outside sitting in the shade.  They had played some games with the kids at the hotel and some soccer with some of the adults.  It was supposed to be time for lunch, which was being prepared for us by a Syrian lady and an Egyptian man.  But, time is relative…..and we waited.  While waiting, church volunteer, Ashley brought us fresh watermelon, which we cut outside and shared with some of the refugees who were also outside.  Olivia and Eli are already fitting in with some of the kids.  They have made quick friends with a little girl and boy (sister and brother) from Kosovo and have been running all over playing.  They even went to their small apartment and had lunch with them while we were shopping.

Lunch finally arrived about 2:15 p.m.   We ate in the empty hotel restaurant area.  The food was delicious!!  But, we had to eat quickly because the church service held at Hotel Porin was to start at 3 p.m.  We went back into the conference room where we had first met that day for the church service.  It was basically the only room in the hotel with any type of air conditioning.  It is quite humid and warm here.  There were probably 12-18 residents there plus all of us.  Pastor Chris led us with some songs. He played the ukulele as our instrumental music.  Then presented two certificates of baptism to two of the refugees who were recently baptized.  Then Vito preached, being interpreted into Arabic.  After the sermon Pastor Chris invited the group to ask questions of Vito.  Of course, the first question was “how tall are you?”   Then the questions turned quite involved and serious with refugees asking how can God allow family member to suffer and be killed?   Why didn’t God get rid of sin after Adam’s fall…and many other questions.  Some about differences and similarities between Muslims and Christians.  That question was deferred by Vito to Pastor Chris for an answer. 
Once the service was over (about 5 p.m.) we all loaded up into vehicles to go to the city center to a very beautiful park, close to the three guys apartment.  We ate gelato and enjoyed the park for a little while.  Then we walked to the guys apartment where we had a debriefing and evening devotionals.   Then back to the city center to an absolutely great little restaurant for pizza, lasagna, calzones, calamari, gnocchi, or whatever anybody wanted.  I had a fantastic chicken breast stuffed with spinach with a mascarpone sauce  on it.  For 20 people our bill came to approximately $121 total!!

Since it was 10 p.m. when we finished eating we all left the still very busy, bustling city center for our respective apartments.  It’s is just a short 2 stop ride on the tram for us.  Night all!!