Medieval Rothenburg and South Africa Sunday.

What a week this was!  Dan changed our return-trip airline tickets so that we can stay a few days longer, to be available to help with the Eurasia Region’s retreat at the end of November. We’ll be 2 more “sets of hands” available to help with all the details of the retreat with over 150 adults and over 20 teens and more than 50 children!

The previous week, we had a reprieve from the autumn weather and we got to wear sandals! But this week, it’s cooler again. The leaves on the trees are still green but we’re excited about enjoying the fall colors here this year! We’ve missed fall for the last couple of years!

Entering the walls

A retired couple from the States visited here this past week, along with his sister and another lady (who had volunteered here a couple of years ago) and… we were able to spend 2 days with them during part of their touring of this part of the world! We were granted Friday off and were loaned a car, so off we went, following them to Rothenburg, Germany! It’s a fascinating medieval village with lots of shops and restaurants, of course, but the history is compelling!
Dan and I checked into Kreuzerhof Hotel, our quaint bed and breakfast, while the others moved into their hotel. We met them for lunch and, over the next 2 days, ate wonderful German food including the best meatloaf I’ve ever had with spätzles (German noodles) and a shared venison dinner!  

The Night Watchman tour

Friday evening, Dan and I bundled up and took a walking tour that began at 8:00PM and were thoroughly entertained by the “Night Watchman” who led us through the town with his humorous and historical stories.

Janet on the wall walk

We took tons of photos and even walked along the top of the wall that surrounds the village. We just soaked up the history and it was so much fun! The 6 of us stopped at 2 more villages on the way back to
Büsingen (Dinkelbühl and Nordlingen), enjoying a sunny day with bakery snacks and an art fair before arriving home later in
the evening… a couple of very full days!

Sunday morning at our home-church-away-from-home, it was South Africa Day, with special music, preaching by Dr. Richard Zanner (retired Regional Director of Africa), and a braai – an authentic African cook-out! The whole thing was to raise money for AIDS programs and rhino poaching prevention. Everyone had a wonderful time!

Back in our apartment, I baked some scones and we took them over to Firestones to watch, on BBC TV, the first episode of Season 4 of “Downton Abbey.” (PBS will show the series in the States starting in January and I’ll probably want to watch it again!)

These day were filled with wonderful experiences exploring and enjoying the diversity here, but our weekdays are also full as we help in the IT and administration areas of the Regional Office.  It is such a privilege to watch - and be a part of - how God is working across this diverse region and the amazing people he is using here.

P.S. More photos of this week are shown in a slide show in the right panel of this blog.