Bon Voyage!

Today was a day filled with a few surprises including meeting with a friend so that she could say "good-bye" to us, wish us well and give us these cookies (pictured above). She thoughtfully baked and decorated them for us to enjoy on our travels to Bangui, CAR! THANK YOU Lindsey so very much! The English translation for "bon voyage" is "good journey".

What is Valentines Day in Switzerland with out chocolate.....

This morning for Valentines Day, my dear husband surprised me with my favorite Suisse chocolate bar! Thank you Trace, I love you and Happy Valentines Day!

What is really special to me, is that Trace has remembered exactly which Suisse chocolate was my favorite. I'll explain.....since we have arrived in Switzerland, I have tried many different brands (and there are several brands and types of chocolates available, it's mind boggling....in the land of cheese and chocolate) and he picked my favorite!

Quotable Quotes.....

"When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now."
--C. S. Lewis

The Basin and the Towel

~ The Basin and the Towel ~

Reflecting back.....I remember while going through several weeks of training in a cross-cultural communication course in the fall of 2007, we were to each gather a stone and on this stone to write something that was to represent our thoughts and feelings about serving as a missionary. On my stone I had written from the title of Micheal Card's song "The Basin and the Towel". This being one of my most favorite songs and written below as to why.

This song speaks of how our Savior Servant Jesus is in an up-stairs room with His disciples during the time just before the Passover Feast. For the complete Scriptural reading - John 13:1-17. Jesus must show the disciples how, through the will of the water and the tenderness of the towel...and the call is to community, to serve others in humility. And after Jesus had washed his disciples feet, Jesus says to them starting in verse 14 "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done this for you."

This is my daily prayer that in humility I take the vow to day after day, I must take up the basin and the towel.

Mount First

Lionel and I at the summit of Mount First

God's incredible creations!

During the time that the Lord has blessed us with studying French in Neuchâtel Switzerland, we have been blessed with many fun and enjoyable things to take part in. During our 13 months here I have had opportunity, thanks to our friend Lionel to go for some amazing hikes and to go all terrain bicycling in the Jura mountians near where we live.

Karen had asked me to write about my most memorable adventure here in Switzerland. It was an easy answer for me to make....Mount First, in the Suisse Alps! Lionel had invited me to join him for an all day hike on a beautiful late fall day in October.

We began our day by taking an early train trip to a village called Frutigen at the base of some of the Suisse Alps. Our 9 hour hike started at around 8:15 am, leaving from Frutigen. With our backpacks full, we began hiking through some incredible beautiful country, as we started our climb to the summit of Mount First. I feel the photos do not do justice to how stunning the surroundings are in the Alps. The lush valleys and meadows that we hiked through in the cold morning air, were breathtaking. The Lord's hand of creation was so amazingly obvious as I took each and every step. Lionel is an excellent guide, in that he would point out the many different kinds of meadow flowers (some which are eatable) and moss, taking time to explain them to me as we continued our ascent.

After nearly 5 hours of steady hiking and climbing, we reached the 8,359 foot summit of Mount First, we stopped for a much appreciated lunch! The view from where we sat at the summit to eat was indescribable....words cannot express the majesty of what was surrounding us. It was very cool to be above the birds and small airplanes that were flying below us.

After lunch, was of course followed by a 4 hour plus of hiking back down to a village called Kanderstag (if you have not yet guessed by the names of the villages, we were in the German speaking area of Switzerland at this time.) This day was filled with wonderful sights, sounds and smells of the beautiful Suisse Alps. By the time we caught our train for the nearly two hour trip home....we had ascended over 5,800 feet of altitude and then descended the same 5,800 feet!

It's a day that I will always remember fondly, for the beauty seen and the time spent with my friend Lionel.

~ Picture of the Week ~

~ Picture of the Week~

The countdown begins...

We have only 10 more days and we arrive in Bangui, CAR!! Mind you, this comes with much in the way of mixed emotions: excitement to arrive in Bangui, to begin helping as support staff for those who work in translation both in literacy and the Bible. We are also grateful to God for His faithfulness and goodness to us ~ over this past year in Switzerland, God has provided for us in every way, taught us, stretch us and brought us through a trail we did not anticipate. Yes, we are experiencing a little sadness too, it's difficult to say our farewells to those new friends here in Switzerland who have been such a tremendous blessing to us!

You may be wondering....What about the all the other emotions that we have concerning arriving in Bangui?!....to be continued in our next blog, later this week!

It's been how long since I've skiied?

It's been 25 years since I last cross-country skiied and what an amazing area to have opportunity to ski again in the region of Vue des Aples, Switzerland! Our friend Christianne offered to spend our language learning time together last Monday while cross-country skiing. She thought this would be a great memory for us and she is absolutely right, we will always remember the fun, laughter, the beauty of seeing the Alpes and challenge and accomplishment it was for me, not for Trace mind you. He and Christianne are extremely athletic and....well, I'm not that athletic nor corrodinated (something that's needed with staying up-right on skiis).

Trace was impressed though on how well I did during our 3 hour cross-country ski adventure (bless his heart, he was so encouraging). After 6 times of falling down, I stopped counting. We had a GREAT time ~ THANK YOU Christianne so very much for this cross-county ski adventure ~ what a great memory!

We are GLAD to be back!

We are GLAD to be back! Our Internet connection problem was corrected and began working again from our aparment this past Tuesday ( Feb. 3 ). And we are grateful for it. We thank you for your patience in our responses to your e-mails and we are grateful for your visiting our blog-site ~ happy reading!