Dancing and Divinity

Sunday began with a joint service by Zoltan and Marta. There was peak attendance as villagers came to see just who these strange pilgrims were, wandering around town. As in many Transylvanian churches, men and women sat in separate pews and the men entered in a group following the ministers after all the women were seated. Their women's choir, led by Zoltan, sang "Spirit of Life" to us in English. Marta asked John to do a solo on the spur of the moment as our musical contribution ("This Is My Song", the official partnership church hymn), which he nailed.

Marta's sermon's theme centered on showing kindness to strangers, an apropos topic to all of us. Zoltan translated it as it was delivered, and then all of us from Arlington read a selection of passages to give our hosts a more complete picture of Arlington. Our hosts were very moved to have us there, and everyone was moved by the whole spiritual experience.

After the service there was a goulash party in the community hall across the street, which about 80 people attended. The goulash was prepared in a large cauldron in the yard. The elders were up front (with the mayor at right). The former minister attended and talked with Marta and Zoltan after giving a five-minute address. As the goulash was cooking, we drank too much of several kinds of palinka, so that when the meal was over the singing began. Our hosts started it off with a hearty Transylvanian anthem, we answered with "If I Had A Hammer", and after they responded with another local song, we came back with "When All The Saints Go Marching In". To the next song, many of the women got up and danced, and we were reduced to teaching everyone the Hokey Pokey.

At the same time as the goulash party (which was the cool place to be in more ways than one since it was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit), there was a local futbol tournament happening up the road. Our friend Lajos was grilling sausages for the hungry players and their fans. There were about five teams, all of which played six short games lasting into the evening. As Michael watched with a complimentary beer in his hand, he was asked to play. Unfortunately it was just before needing to leave to meet up with the rest of the pilgrims (which was ok considering he was still in his church clothes and it was so hot).

We then visited Kismedeser---a very small village a few miles from Gagy. Zoltan preaches there once a month to the handful of residents that remain. To get to the church, you must ford the Gagy River, where the bridge was washed out a number of years ago. The church seems forlorn from the outside but was charming and beautiful on the inside, and of course Marta made a beeline straight to the pulpit. The table in front of the pulpit was a masterpiece of folk art, sitting on the dirt floor of the church.

On our way out of Kismedeser, Csilla wanted to show us her uncle's old house. We ended up interrupting a pizza party that her relatives were having, and they invited us to share some pizza before we left.