Mother's Day in Skopje

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there! Today we spent the majority of our day in the city where one of the greatest Mothers of all time was born. Skopje (pronounced scope ya) Mac. is the birthplace of Mother Teresa. Not only did we see the plaque marking the spot of where her home was, we toured the museum that was built in her honor.

Ryans shirt says let us run with endurance the race God has set before us (Heb. 12.1)
With Ryan at the wheel, we traveled to Skopje this morning, to cheer on Giorge who was running in a marathon there. Giorge is one of the coaches with the Sports Center.




 it was a 26 mile marathon! He came in 7th over all. Good job Giorge!! (center)

The drive to Skopje was beautiful. Again amazed at the country side. Lush, green, rolling hills, reminds me of Eastern WA in some spots with its farm land spreading out. Other places it feels like we're just driving down a country road in Whatcom County. Fields of red poppies are everywhere. We passed a vineyard owned by one of the members of the Strumica Bible club

Once we arrived and parked, we walked downtown to where the race would end. since it was still in progress we had some time to  explore the city. there is this amazing cement bridge that crosses over the river and that seemed like a good place for some group photos. with us is Giorge's wife. (L-R, G's wife, Kate, Audrey, the love burkes, Mike, si, Wendi, Don)

it was a warm day so some of decided to dive in the river and cool off....

After this, Bruce and I, and Don, set off to see the ruins of a Fort across the

river. Ancient Stone fortress-- absolutely amazing!!

We toured the Mother Teresa Museum as previously mentioned. As beautiful as it is, i admit i felt that this lavish monument to a grand lady is probably not what Mother Teresa would have wanted money spent on. HOWEVER, IF the place helps inspire others to DO for others then....

Had lunch at an american favorite! Yes, the Golden Arches-- the M doesn't stand for Macedonia!







We got back to Strumica (by the way the C in Macedonian is pronounced as an S sound) and headed up a narrow windy dirt road into the hills. This is where Ace (accent on the e) has his summer home. Ace is the project manager for the sports center renovation and he also owns several hardware stores. He is a Believer and has a huge heart and a great sense of humor! He and his wife provided lunch for us at the summer home. We sat outside under a covered patio and ate roasted chicken, pork. beef and had tomatoes and cucumbers. Have I mentioned that Cuke's and Tomatoes are grown here and are served in abundance! And my oh my... if you like tomatoes, you would go wild over these! SOOOOO good!!

After eating Ace's brother showed up and brought his guitar. it was passed around and those who can play plucked out some tunes. Si sang for us some Johnny Cash songs and we all joined in. We finished with a rousing rendition of "Home, home on the range". then it was time to head back into town as Ryan needed to get ready for church tonight. He will be preaching. The bible club meets at 8 pm. I am really looking forward to attending the service. Ryan says his topic will be in the tongue and how it can cause such problems when we speak without love. so more on that next post!