Final week...

Carol, Heidi, Melissa, April and I had a good experience sharing with the Science Ridge congregation about our sabbatical travels. We were glad to come back to Willow Springs for lunch and the shower for Gracie!

I’m in my final week of this 2007 sabbatical. What a refreshing, interesting time. The experiences of the pasts few months have been awesome; better than I had hoped for. Of course God and you are directly involved. Thanks again for all your prayers!!!

Peace in Christ! Cal

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Last week flew by as I made a trip to Goshen on Tuesday.  I used the Mennonite Historical Library, had supper with Jenna, then we went to a presentation on the Year of the Anabaptist in Switzerland.  It was interesting since we had been there and knew what the presenters we talking about.  Wednesday I used the library more, visited Ruth Kauffman and JL Burkholder and used the new library at AMBS.

I continue reading Acts and in various articles about Anabaptist Vision.

Life from Jesus is true reality!    + Cal +

PS Sunday we will be presenting reflection from our travels at Science Ridge MC.

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July 25, Wednesday - After saying Auf Wiedersehen to the Weisert’s, we hopped in the minivan for the Black Forest. We stopped in Tititsee. What a beautiful village right next to a lake surround by the Black Forest. A lot of shops and people we found. We also saw thousands of Cuckoo clocks.

In this area, Michael Sattler gave himself to the Anabaptist movement after working as the Abbot of a monastery in the Black Forest. He traveled in this area a lot. I imagined him traveling as we headed to the village of Schleitheim, where early Anabaptist affirmed a confession of faith together. Michael prepared much of the first draft. We found the director of the Scheitheim museum who then met us at the village museum. We explored a room with Anabaptist displays including a 1550 copy of the Scleitheim Confession. Amazing.

After a short journey we found ourselves at the Rheinfalls near Schaffhausen. The power of the river impressed us all. The roar. The foam. The huge volume of water! What an amazing sight. To view the falls we started at the top of a hill in a castle and worked our way down to the river. It cost one Swiss Franc - about .75 - to see this phenomena of creation.

As we approached our Youth Hostel for the evening, Bob Carter greeted us. What a treat to then share the evening with Bob - supper in an outdoor café, walking around the old town of Schaffhausen, finding ice cream and visiting along the Rhine River. Awesome company, the perfect weather, great food brought the conclusion to our final day in Europe.

July 26, Thursday - After an early breakfast we took off for the Zurich Airport. Here the road led us back into Germany. We spent some time at the boarder, we drove in Germany a few miles and then were waved on coming back into Switzerland. We fueled up. We ran into some construction. Finally we made it to the airport and checked the van back in. 3936 kilometers traveled. Thanks for safety, O Lord! We boarded immediately and took off for Philadelphia at10:25 am.

Steve and Eldon Eigsti picked us up at O’hare. We were all a bit exhausted after traveling with the sun all day long.

Our trip exploring Anabaptist/Mennonite life and history was over. What varied and amazing experience to ponder. What major blessings to meet new friends in Christ. What rich family experiences. The Lord is good!

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Sunday morning Vernice, Carol and I worshiped with the Fairfield Amish Mennonite Church just south of Tampico.  The worship service included quite a bit of singing, a devotional sermon, the regular sermon, witness to the sermon, and kneeling for prayer a couple of times.  After visiting for a while after the service, we headed to the pastor's home for dinner.  We visited until about 3:30.  What a great experience!

One thing we talked about is how different Anabaptist groups "draw the line" of separation from the world in different places.  I ponder where we draw the line. 

I continue in Acts.  Today, I travel to Goshen to attend the Goshen Mennonite Historical Societies meeting about Switzerland's Tauferjahr 07.  I also plan supper with Jenna!

Jesus is alive for our continued journey.     + Cal +

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July 22, Sun - Worship with Enkenbach Mennonite Church. The pastor gave a sermon using the illustration of doors. Occasionally through the sermon he would summarize in English for us. We do go through many doors where God hopes we would enter. Jesus is with us on this journey to help us discern which doors are the way of God. We toured the church building construction of a new kitchen and fellowship hall. After that we walked back home passing by a memorial that mentioned the PAX Boys. The Mennonite in Enkenbach arrived as refugees relocated with the help of MCC and with the PAX Boys building houses and the church. 600 were relocated from Prussia. They had been through terrible situations with the German army invading and the Russians forcing the Germans back out. MCC opened a new door. The PAX Boys hung doors for them to walk through to a new life in a new Mennonite community.

We walked to a near by Italian Restaurant for lunch. We visited with Andreas and ate a great lunch. We rested in the afternoon. Carol and I headed to Kaiserslautern and worshiped with a church plant group. We knew all the song tunes and were able to read the German to sing. There were about 20 people there as they are reaching out the area around them. Another interesting and fulfilling Sunday in Europe.

July 23, Monday -Visited Weierhof, a Mennonite village with the German Mennonite Archives and Library. Gary Waldner told us of what is going on in the Churches in Germany and their archives. He pulled out a Martyrs Mirror and Asbund printed in the 1700's. These came from the family of Joseph Zehr. We were able to look them over. The beginning pages had genealogy recorded in them. We got the keys to the Mennonite Church and looked around. We also explored the Cemetery and walked through this predominantly Mennonite town.

Next we explored Heidelberg. We walked by the university where many great philosophers studied and conversed. We rode up a very steep hill by train to the Heidelberg castle. This castle was a whole complex of walls and buildings. Then we headed to Gerd and Julianne’s house. Over the past nine years, Gerd’s family has been at Starland HB three times while we were there too.

We had supper with them and took a walk in the village. It was so special to be at there house.

July 24, Tuesday - Gerd, Julianne, Carol and I began the day reading scripture and singing together - a huge blessing! In the morning, we headed to a castle/palace on the edge of Ludwigsburg. What an expression of the Baroque period art!!! I have never seen anything like it in all my life. We walked about 1.2 miles on our tour. Late afternoon, after Sheila, Mya and Vanna were home from school we took of for Bad Wimpfen. We explored this walled, 12^th century, medieval village. We climbed to see the view over the wall. We checked out on of the village churches. We all ate a late supper. Gerd, Julianne, Carol and I stayed up an conversed in a lot of areas.

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What a blessing to be with Willow Springs on Sunday morning for worship and the meal honoring Carol A. birthday!

This week I am reading Acts and beginning some study in past work around Anabaptist Vision.

In the Hope of the Kingdom, +Cal+

July 19, Th - We headed back to Amsterdam in the morning to Singelkerk, a huge "hidden church." What a deal to walk into a sanctuary that can seat 400 through storefronts that simply looked like offices. A few building spaces to the right - a huge, obvious church. The Dutch government would let the Mennonites meet here it just could not be obvious that here was a church. It was n’t the official church after all! We took a city boat tour on the canals of Amsterdam. Then did some walking around downtown. I had a kip for lunch - a name for a sandwich. Next, we hoped in the van to go north. A highlight was a drive over a 15 mile dike to get to Northern Holland, Friesland. We found some Menno Simons sights - Pijgum, the church where he was a Catholic Priest and a small hidden church. We found, a monument to him, just North of Witmarsum, his home town. In town there is a church and street named after him. In the evening we ate at a Café in St. Annaprochie. The staff were very friendly and introduced us to some traditional Dutch foods, like Croquets. What an interesting and fun day.

Overnight we stayed in Tine de Jong Vegter’s house which was actually a house/barn under one roof. We had seen so many of these. Now we stayed in one.

July 20, F - In St. Annaprochie, we did a little shopping. Saw a hidden church that Tine attends. We also saw an octagonal church where Rembrandt was married. We headed out to Giethoorn - the Holland Venice. This village streets are canals. There are sidewalks with foot bridges. We rented an electric outboard powered "Whisper Boat" and toured the town. What beautiful houses and flowers. Some lots had animals grazing on them. Giethoorn was originally settled with all Mennonites since they were able to live here without much "interference" from others due to needing a boat to get around. We entered a larger lake area and found a restaurant for lunch. Heading back we ended up in some interesting spots. One in the middle of a wedding party and guests in boats. Somehow I made the corner into boat traffic and there we were in a line of boats with people that had been to a wedding. Then a rain shower came upon us. We pulled out three umbrella’s the man at the rental house gave us.

We headed over to Germany, stopping at Zwolle on the way. At the boarder all there was indicating the boarder like crossing a state line in America.

We arrived to the Stobbe-Dibbert house had a great visit and played the German version of "Mennonite Poker." Mennonite Your Way sure has been a blessing on this trip.

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We visited Science Ridge Mennonite Church on Sunday morning.  Bridget Donaldson, our niece brought the morning message on find our refuge and strength in the Lord.

I am reading the Gospel of John this week.

Labor Day has been good to catch up on some odds and ends around the house.

Jesus continues full of grace and truth!!!    + Cal+

July 16, M - We had stress and lunch in downtown Strasbourg, France. The traffic was crazy. Wow, was it ever hard to order lunch. Went to phenomenally Beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral. Then our trip took us through the Alsace area to discover our long lost Zehr cousin in Struth France. We drove through town and discovered an old cemetery on the edge of town. There were some old tombstones with the Zehr name. I asked about a building with Zehr on it. (I think that might actually be in Switzerland.) Being hot and sweaty, I decided to wash my hands and face at the city fountain. I gave my card to the lady cleaning the fountain. After she looked at it she said, "Some one with Zehr family name lives here." She scampered off and returned inviting me across the street. I retrieved the family for a brief visit with our long lost cousin. The great grandmother of the women we visited with was a Zehr. We sang some songs and said, Good bye." We thought it would be easy to order so, we ate supper at a French McDonald’s. Wrong about easy to order. But it worked out fine. Overnight at the Etap in Nancy.

July 17, T - We had a time finding a bank to cash travelers checks before we left for Paris. Travel to Paris reminded us a bit like traveling through Illinois. I can see why some of the early Illinois migrations felt right at home in Illinois. We checked into Etap just north of the city and took a public bus to the Opera house. Let someone else do the driving!!! Then, we hopped on a bus to sit on the top deck and explore Paris in a none driving way. Saw the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Seine River, Notre Dame Cathedral, A huge roundabout around a square arch Napoleon had built. Shopped. Saw an amazing store with church like interior dome. Supper at a Greek restaurant.

July 18, W - Made a visit to St. Denis Cathedral in St Denis. St, Dionysus, a disciple of the Apostle Paul was buried there along with lots and lots of French Kings and Queens. We bought sandwiches for the road and where off to Amsterdam. There we were moved by the story of Anne Frank’s family as we went through the Anne Frank House. We had supper at an Italian restaurant on a canal with an Egyptian waiter. We stayed with some Dutch Mennonites. They lamented about the decline of involvement in the church. They are very active in the Mennonite Church, yet their children and grand children are not interested in the church.

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