Today was the day that we would make the trek to Nis. Nis was the birthplace of Emperor Constatine and according to Bishop Elect Igor, it was the birthplace of Phillip, father of Alexander the Great. Our drive through beautiful Serbian countryside down to Nis took about 2 and a half hours with a stop for coffee at a local McDonalds, then picked up Igor's friend Nikola, a seminary student at a Orthodox seminary. We drove through a mountain village called Knel Kazlo (might be different, but from memory), a classical Turkish village. (This had been made during the occupation of Serbia by the Ottoman Empire.) We then went and saw an old church that had been there during the Turkish invasion I think during World War I or before. Then we went up to an old church that they believe dates from the 12th century, with a Byzantine dome, that had a high view. We saw a mountain in the distance that according to Igor, over that mountain was Bulgaria. Then we went back down dropped off Nikola, and went to Leskovac to meet the Serbian Orthodox Priest and the Baptist priest. We got a tour of the two Orthodox churches
One of the orthodox churches was a chimney church, which was built in disguise during the Ottoman Empire's occupation as Christianity was underground, but the Turks never thought to look under the chimney. Then we saw their new church, which was very large and beautiful on the inside. We got to see in both churches where the Orthodox priests conduct their mass services and got an explanation of what is on their holy table. Then we went over to meet with the Baptist group, and have +Jerry preach and have fellowship, with a lot of wonderful snacks. We then went out to dinner with the Orthodox priest, the Baptist priest and Igor and us, and we had the largest hamburgers I have ever seen. And they claimed they were small!. I napped for about 1.5 hours on the way back to Belgrade and when we got back to the hotel, it was around midnight when I went to bed and got settled in the hotel room.
It was a very wonderful day.
Over and out,
The Posh Kandaroog
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