Helen's back!

It was fun following Helen's plane as it approached and landed at the Frankfurt airport

Shortly thereafter Helen emerged from the customs area with all her luggage!!

After a mad dash to the train station located beneath the airport terminal we just caught our train as the doors were ready to close

It was a long but relaxing trip back home and a chance to catch up a bit

We were struck by this familiar graffiti-face painted on the side of a train station that we passed on our way

Unpacking and settling in. There's no place like home!

Faithful Pray-er Lisbeth Leis

On Sunday, August 17 Becky, Zach and I went to Stuttgart for church and spent lunchtime and the afternoon with Lisbeth Leis. Lisbeth was one of the early church members in the Stuttgart church and has faithfully prayed for our family and church planting work in Aalen for all these years. It was a day to renew many old friendships and to bring back to mind lots of good memories
In the picture is Lisbeth's son, Rainer and grandson, Stefan

Visitor from Africa

Our friend, Francois Ngoumape from the Central African Republic turned out to be the lone representative from his country to the festivities in Germany. We had anticipated hosting 4 men from the CAR, but at the last minute three of them were refused entrance visas. It was nice catching up with Francois and getting updated on the status of things in his country and in his family. He preached in our church on Sunday and gave a moving report to our church after a pot-luck meal

"Heritage Tour" visit

A group of 21 Americans, the Grace Brethren "Heritage Tour" made an overnight stop in Aalen. We served them a "Schwäbisch" meal of Maultaschen and Kartoffelsalat and otherwise spent a very pleasant evening with them in our church facility. They were at the 300 year celebration in Schwarzenau the weekend before visiting us and afterwards headed to Switzerland and were to end up in Paris for several days. It was good to see familiar faces!

Pastor Dave and Ginni Plaster of the GBC Columbus/Worthington, OH

Dana and Bill Muncie, also from the GBC Columbus/Worthington
Dana is the sister of missionary Mark Sims from France

On the left is Janice Burkholder from the Epharta, PA Grace Brethren Church
Janice is church secretary and long-time friend
Across from Janice is her daughter Dawn
Wilfried is telling about his plans to go the the Central African Republic

Two Grace Brethren Pastors, Ray Feather and Tod Scoles in animated discussion

It was a special treat for us to reconnect with Margaret Zook
She and her husband, Loren, were on a short-term team that visited Aalen some 11 years ago

Most surprising to me was seeing Peter again
He is Dutch and was the bus driver for a Grace College music team that visited us several years ago
It just so happens that he was driving the bus for this group as well. We were both surprised to see and recognize one another again!

Several from our church joined with us for a pleasant German-American evening

Schwarzenau, Germany - 300 years later

On Sunday, August 3rd several from the Aalen church traveled to Schwarzenau for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the "Brethren Movement" begun by Alexander Mack. In August of 1708 Mack was baptized in the Eder river and then he baptized 7 other believers. This was a bold and courageous step at that time, was seen as a challenge to the prevailing religious and political powers and resulted eventually in pressure on the group leading to their move to Pennsylvania. In the New World, with guarantees of religious freedom, the movement grew and spread rapidly.

Our early morning departure (5:30 a.m.) guaranteed a timely arrival for the 10:00 a.m. church service

A brief pit and coffee stop along the Autobahn
The once voluntary contribution has become a mandatory 50 cent charge for use of the rest rooms (check out the sign in the background)!!!

Just one km to the Brethren "Mecca"

On the banks of the Eder river where the 8 believers were baptized

A transformed horse arena provided a very pleasant setting for the several hundred attendees from around the world - mostly USA with representatives from Philippines, Central Asia, Germany, England, Argentina, Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, etc.

Nice to see a familiar face - Steve Kern, presently from Wooster, OH, former colleague on our missionary team in Germany

A "private" tour of the Alexander Mack museum

A final "gathering at the river" with a short address, a song and a prayer

Commemorative plaque near the river (click for close-up)

Part of the Aalen contingent just before heading back home

Zach on the road again

Zach's new wheels - a "cross" bike, between a mountain bike and a trekking bike
We even found a used one that was just what we were looking for

When Zach grows a couple more inches it will be a perfect fit

Getting the hang of 27 speeds!

A little different than the ones we were used to as kids

With shock absorbers on the front fork

Precision mechanics

Daniel, you'll recognize this - it's the one I'm riding now
I told Zach not to feel too bad with his bike, not everybody can have a custom made beauty like this one

This puts new meaning to the term "multi-tasking"
Optimal use of time, Lucky Luke comics and computer game -
at the same time

Even though our flowers in front of the house aren't as nice this year,
we really like the color of this geranium
(click for full impact)