Introduction

Hi, I´m Miloš. I am 22 years old and come from Slovakia – specifically from Štrba village in High Tatras. I came from a big family. Together I have 3 brothers. From childhood, I grew up in a Slovak Lutheran church and now I am studying at university to become a pastor in Slovakia in this church.
I have a lot of hobbies like small crafts and DIY, collecting stones, sewing practical things, drawing, writing, reading books, and light hikes and the list can continue …

I have been going to youth christian camps since I was a baby with my parents. Even I learned to walk here and also I started to walk with Christ. From high school, I have served in church mainly with youth and older children. I already do a few summer and weekend camps.
I´m very excited that I will spend this summer in your church and get experiences for my whole life.

Flight

The early morning was great. I felt excited and full of adrenalin. Travel from Bratislava to Vienna was good but a little stressful because I didn’t know where are places where I exactly must go 😖.

At Schwechat airport was a calm and funny experience. The airport is well organized so orientation here was easy. Every step of boarding on plane was ok – check-in, baggage point, first and second check point. I was a little bit amazed why I needed a second check in the USA 🤔.
Flight from Vienna to New York was very loooong. It was a great time to watch the films, Oppenheimer and Napoleon. I was not in the cinema on these films so I used it to the fullest. The food was tasty and good and my expectations of poor airplane meals and my notions were not fulfilled, fortunately. We landed in New York after 10 hours of flight. During the landing maneuver, I saw New York City skyscrapers in the distance. I felt for a while like on a roller coaster. It’s an adrenaline experience to land by plane. So flying in a plane looks like fun and adventure for me 😊

The scariest part of my flight was immigration control in the US 🥺. Workers on Immigration control were not welcoming and smiling as it was in videos on the Internet. I spent half an hour explaining the purpose of my journey. I must pray to get out here. But fortunately, men at Immigration Control let me go. I guess God told him to let me go. Everything else was good at Newark airport, except for the 45-minute delay of the flight to Cleveland. But the flight to Cleveland was much easier and shorter for me.



My day finished in Cleveland. From the gateway to the luggage, it was a long distance by walk. There after a minute of looking around, I found Pastor Eric. He welcomed me and took me to a great dinner local pretzels menu.

First Sunday

On my class’s Graduation announcement was this motto: “I don’t know what I am doing but it works.”

I had only a little idea of what was happening at the worship service. Sometimes people are standing and sometimes sitting. Fortunately, there was a clear summary of the worship program which helped me. The hardest part was to sing songs in English. People here sing very quickly. I was able to sing every second or third word. But it is only a question of time when I will be able to sing without problems.

After the worship service, there was Betty’s 95 birthday luncheon. It was a great surprise that this old lady had such good vitality and sense of humor. The biggest challenge was to take two jello shots which Betty did for us. They were strong but tasty, but still, I don’t understand who can put spirits and jelly together 😄.

See you soon in the next blog.