36th Day - August 13th: Wedding in the historic city of Nitra

Early in the morning, around half past 7, I set off from the reservoir near Piestany. The destination of the day was Nitra, the oldest Slovak city after Bratislava. To avoid climbing too many meters, I took a detour of about 20 km through the small town of Hlohovec. Because today I would be leaving the Vah Valley and had to cycle over a small hill range. I arrived in Nitra in the morning and wanted to finally get my unattractive beard trimmed at a hairdresser. But in the end, I did it myself with my little scissors because the first hairdresser didn't have time and the second and third were closed. I arrived at the new and very modern Evangelical Church of Nitra at 1 pm. Ivan, the relatively young pastor, immediately brought me into his parsonage to escape the midday heat and served me lunch. Since he had a wedding at 3 pm, he wouldn't be able to eat before that anyway. He showed a great interest in my journey, but we agreed to have a longer conversation in the evening when he returns from the celebration after the wedding. I participated in the Slovak wedding from the back row and saw many happy young people and a small youth choir who sang two songs for the couple. The procedure is similar to ours, but the mutual wedding vows are significantly longer. At the end, Ivan mentioned my presence to the wedding congregation, and after the ceremony, a friend of the couple came straight to me and we started a conversation. He works in the westernmost church community in Slovakia and immediately invited me for a visit. Unfortunately, I couldn't accept because his community is exactly in the opposite direction. After the wedding, I explored the historic old town, where there is a beautiful view of the nearby mountain Zabor. Nitra is known for its large castle complex with the classical Catholic bishop's church. The Christianization of historic Slovakia began in the 8th century from Nitra. In the early evening, I went back and then Ivan came from the wedding celebration. We talked for over 3 hours about the various activities and the current challenges for his community. According to the state list, it has 2200 members, but according to their own records, only 1800. There is a church service every Sunday, attended by around 100-150 visitors, unless it's summertime. He reported how the time-consuming and costly community project with an evangelical nursing home fell through during the corona time because the cost increase was too high. During the holidays, he organized three children's summer camps with some volunteers. The biggest challenge for the community is to dream of having its own evangelical children and youth center in the city, where there are various offers and where children and young people can spend their free time. But it's still just a dream because it lacks the finances and trained personnel to make this project a reality. It was very interesting to talk to Ivan - in German - about possible perspectives. He had to say goodbye after 11 pm because he still had to prepare the final things for the church service the next day. I was amazed at so much commitment and dedication to a vibrant community life and fell asleep satisfied on Ivan's living room sofa.