St Sava's and the Long Trip Home

When we finally reached St Sava’s, it was still raining, so I couldn’t get one of those picturesque shots from the outside. The top photo was taken through the car window.

Inside, I could see progress from when I visited a year ago. It will be absolutely amazing when it’s done. It is the largest active Orthodox temple in the world (in other words, besides Hagia Sophia in Constantinople).

After that, we headed back to the apartment in New Belgrade. The main meal of the day in Serbia is around 3:30 or 4 (right after work), so we went back to join Nebojsa and Lepa for lunch.

After lunch, we went to visit Lepa’s older sister and her family for a little bit. Then, Nebojsa drove us downtown to meet with Bishop Maxim one last time before we left.

It was another wonderful meeting – we felt so blessed to get to know Bishop Maxim.

On Thursday morning, our car packed full of Lepa’s food, we headed back to Thessaloniki. Now that we knew the way, we did it all in one day – it’s about 8 hours.

The second photo is from a quick stop we made somewhere in southern Serbia. The last two photos are from another quick stop we made in FYROM.

The border crossings again were quick and easy, except for Greece. When we hit Greece, there was hardly anyone working, a long line, and total chaos. It was nice to be back in Greece! ( ;

Thank God, we arrived home around 7:00, safe and sound. The car performed magnificently!

The big news from the trip is that we will return to Belgrade in December. If God wills, Bishop Maxim will ordain me to the Holy Diaconate on Sunday morning, December 16 (December 3 OS), at St John’s Church in the Theology School. Please pray for us!

Now I am searching for the best deal for vestments. If anyone has any advice, please let me know. Also (and this is hard for me to say coming on the heels of our request for help with the car), but if anyone feels moved to donate something toward the cost of the vestments (about $900), it would be most appreciated!

Meanwhile, it’s back to work. Thank God, I keep getting translation work. Now I am working on a project for the Greek diocese in Volos. They have an Orthodox theological press (see here) and they are working on translating a good bit in to English. With the car, Pelagia has plenty of work also, thank God!