Sunday, October 24, 2010 in Bratislava

Because I didn't realize that day light savings time ended today, I was up and ready for church extra early, and wondering why Stan was still in his PJs....his Blackberry had changed automatically.  We went to the small Slovakian branch where Slovakian, Russian, English, and German were spoken.  One of the missionaries, Elder Melling, translated for us.  Elder Melling is soon going home to CEDAR CITY and will once again be a student at SUU.  Small world; he is the nephew of Cory Huntsman Melling, Stan's cousin's daughter.  It was a wonderful meeting with talks on covenants (in English given by a woman from Sweden) and dispensations (in Russian, translated into Slovakian, and then translated into English for us.) The 5th Sunday joint meeting was a lesson on temples given by the branch president.  The church is in its infancy here, the Book of Mormon has not been translated into the Slovakian language yet.  But there was a wonderful spirit in the meeting and we were grateful to be there among the members, the missionaries, and the investigators.

There is a bridge that crosses the Danube River that has a tower and looks like a space ship.  It is called the UFO.  We walked there, and took the inclinator up to the top to enjoy the view and dine at a fine restaurant.  Of course we didn't know it was a fine restaurant until we got there and certainly were not dressed as well as we should have been  (Stan editorial comment- I told Carol to be sure not to spill on her levies), but we stayed anyway and had a lovely dinner with a view of the whole city with it's lights.  The castle looked especially beautiful as the lights came on while we watched.

In the elevator as we left for dinner we met Bill Bagatelas.  He is an American from the Chicago area who has been teaching at the university here in Bratislava for eleven years.  He was on his way to meet someone and we were on our way to the bridge and dinner but we decided to meet later, and so we did.  We met him at a pub in Old Town and had a very interesting conversation.  At first it focused on the health care problems in America, taxes, the economy, why we were here, why he was here, etc. and then religion came up and Stan was able to tell him that we are Mormon.  He lit up and told us that for about a year, in 2008, he had been studying with the missionaries as a result of going to a international folk dance performance by BYU students.  He asked us several questions about Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, Carthage, the first vision, etc.  He may go to church with us next Sunday. 

It has been a full and wonderful Sunday.  We are looking forward to our final week here in Bratislava and continue to enjoy our experience here.

UFO Tower

Bratislava Castle at night from the UFO tower