16. Aug 2023

Busova_a - Čizma

Photo 1: Kiseljak is a popular mineral water in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It comes from a natural water spring in the city of Kiseljak. That was my destination today and at the end of the day I drank from the spring.

Photo 2: Shortly after I took this photo of the mosque in the town of Kaćuni I walked by a little fruit shop. The muslim owner called out to me and gave me some grapes and a cold 1.5 liter bottle of Kiseljak mineral water. All together today people would give me 4.5 liters of mineral water. I guess God knew I needed the minerals. My left leg had cramps in the evening after the last two long hikes.

Towards noon I passed by a large party tent were a muslim wedding was being celebrated. I know some of the people saw me walk by. I had this desire in my heart to somehow connect with the people and say a prayer of blessing for the bride and groom, but knew this would not be possible, or would it?

Down the road I bought things for lunch at a supermarket and ate in a shady corner. Shortly thereafter I saw a car with a German license plate and the Christian fish symbol. People were sitting outside in the shade, so I had to find out who these people were from Germany. It turned out they were Catholic believers from Cologne visiting relatives in Bosnia. We talked and prayed. About 15 minutes after I got back on the road, the wedding caravan drove by honking their horns and waving. I stopped, took off my hat and waved back with my hat in the hand and sang out my pilgrim song of blessing as each car drove by. It was a special moment.

Photo 3: It was getting really hot in the afternoon when a large storm cloud filled the sky. I made a short water stop at this Orthodox Church and thank God for the shade he had sent.

Photo 4: Shortly before Kiseljak a van pulled up in front of me. The driver, Ivan, said something to me, but I did not understand. I saw the van was from Austria so I answered back in German. We talked and I prayed for Ivan. He invited me to get something to drink, but I had just had my water break and was not very far from my destination. I explained that I just wanted to get to my room and take my shoes off and continued walking. About 15 minutes later Ivan pulled up again. He said he told his wife, Olivera, about meeting me and she said she would like to meet me as well, whether they could take me out for dinner this evening. Certainly, I said. The night before all I had was müsli with powdered milk, some grapes, nuts and a piece of chocolate. They picked me up and took me to this very nice restaurant that overlooked the city of Kiseljak. Their 19 year old son Luka came as well. I took this picture of the sunset from the restaurant... and had a great meal! On the left of the picture you will see a Catholic Church up on the hill. At night it is lit up with lights... very beautiful.

Photo 5: There were many questions asked about faith, God and following Jesus. In course of the conversation Ivan and Olivera mentioned that they never could have a church wedding because of a previous marriage that one of them had had. I asked whether anyone had ever said a prayer of blessing for their marriage. No, was the answer. I suggested that after the meal we go to the church lit up with the lights and have a marriage blessing. We did. It was amazing. Steps led up to platform before large wooden doors which had a carving of Jesus on them. There they said yes to each other and I blessed their marriage before God. Their son Luka was the man of honor. It was a God-Moment.