A second week in USA!

Sorry for the late update!

I just returned from my nameday dinner, so I’m writing with a satisfied stomach! 🙂

As I said in my last post, I am currently living with the Didyoungs – Helen and Doug – with who I was also staying two years ago. Doug is a lay minister at Saint Mark’s Lutheran church.

A lot happened this week. So let’s start with the weekly bible study of the pastor’s of Reading Lutheran parish. I attended two of those since my last post. And every Bible study is led by another pastor (where we discuss the verses for the following Sunday) and yesterday I got to be the co-leader of the Bible study with Doug. We had some great discussion (too bad every theological discussion here in the USA ends up being a political one, though) and we gave them some good insights with Doug (I hope).

Moving on! I got to visit Barnes & Noble – my favourite place in Reading (maybe after Shady Maples – this great all-you-can-eat restaurant). B&N is a huge bookstore where I got my first (but probably not the last) book for my second visit to the USA. It’s called “Heaven, Hell and Purgatory” written by an evangelical theologian Jerry Walls.

Last Thursday I had my first veteran’s funeral. We met with the family a few days earlier to prepare for the service. The funeral began at the funeral home, where I read from the Scripture and lead the prayers. After that we went to the cemetery, where I got to experience a veteran’s funeral – together with the shooting into the air and the folding of the flag ceremony. It was a great new experience (even though the occasion was not a happy one).

I got to see 4th July parade – which was on the 5th July, due to the weather. It was great to experience small town America. You’ll see some photos bellow.

On Sunday I got to lead the worship at Saint Mark’s Lutheran church (except for the Communion and sermon). I also chanted for them Slovak “Our Father” and the Gospel in Slovak, so they get to see a small part of our Slovak Lutheran liturgy.

I also got to see the family I also stayed with two years ago – the Opalinski’s. We were invited to their house party together with other pastors of the Reading Lutheran Parish.

All in all – it was a productive and an interesting week!  Next week I’ve got a lot of funerals to “look forward” to. You can see some the photos from this week: