Well, it's safe to say that we've had a long past day and a half of travel. A nine hour flight from DFW to London, and then a two hour flight from London to Vienna, Austria, followed by an hour bus ride to Bratislava, Slovakia. Upon leaving the United States I was trying to prepare myself for what Europe was going to look like.
The minute we stepped off the airplane in Vienna, Austria, we felt the 25 degree wind and snow hitting our faces. We then had a bus ride through Vienna and some mountainous areas of Slovakia. The further we got, the more snow we saw. The buildings are all so close together and it is apparent we are not in East Texas. The houses here are either lime green, orange, or yellow and you could reach out your window to touch your neighbors house.
For our first night in Bratislava we bundled up and walked 15 minutes across downtown to a very nice restaurant where they served us nice, warm chicken noodle soup, with beef fillet and bread covered in this delicious sauce. After our bellies were filled, we walked to one of the local churches and got the opportunity to get to know some of the people that we will be working with over the next week. We all shared a little about ourselves and the more we talked, the more we realized that even though they are 4,000 miles across the globe, we are all very alike. Just normal Christian people living normal Christian lives. It's so cool to see what God is doing over here in Bratislava through hockey and the different churches that they call their community.
On day two we got up to a nice breakfast at the hotel and had a short devotional before we loaded up and went to the ice rink for our first practice. We skated for an hour and it was nice to brush off the cobwebs from Christmas break. We then went to lunch and again, the food was incredible! Chicken with a delicious gravy and sides of potatoes, rice, and salad. We then got into our groups and go serve the people of Slovakia. My group went to an impoverished area where we walked around and passed out gloves and beanies. Getting to see how these people live is a remarkably humbling experience. God has blessed us so much and I am glad I am fortunate to come here and spread His Word and help others that are in need. We finished off our night with nearly a 2 hour worship service with a youth ministry group at one of the local churches.
The other group spent eight hours at Depaul Slovakia, one of the largest homeless shelters in the country, which provides dinner, breakfast, showers, and a warm bed to over 200 people each night.
The players spent the afternoon washing mattresses, picking up trash, sweeping, sorting clothes, cutting wood and cleaning the facility.
After taking a dinner break, the group returned to Depaul to serve dinner to the homeless people staying in the shelter and to help prepare breakfast for Saturday morning.
"Today was our first day serving in Slovakia, and several of us served at a homeless shelter. When we first arrived and were given a tour of the shelter, it was a definite eye opener for everyone and it made us all realize how fortunate we all are to live where we do and have the things we do. The conditions were some of the worst many of us have every seen, but we tried to do some cleaning by washing the beds, sweeping, cutting pieces of wood. After our dinner break, we came back and made sandwiches that will be served for breakfast and then we also served dinner for the people that were in the shelter tonight. Overall a great day of serving and giving back to the less fortunate," Sophomore
Riley Knott from Edmonton, Alberta said.
On Sunday, we will travel to Trnava for ministry at another homeless ministry before playing our first game against a local junior team.
