Well it was a wet rainy day today, which made sight seeing cold and a bit miserable.  We did get to go by two chruch buildings that were amazing.  We are sad to have the trip at an end.  Our team had a wonderful debrif meeting today sharing what we saw the Lord doing during the trip and what He was doing in our own hearts.  It was a special time to hear from everyone.  We are headed to bed so that we can be up and ready to leave the hotel at 4:00 am Swiss time.  We will travel by train, three planes and a van before we reach home.  Please pray for a safe arrival and that the girls endure the day well.  Addie was running a small fever before bed tonight, hopefully she will be feeling better in the morning.

There is much to say about our trip that we did not have time to write each day.  We will look forward to writing a recap letter and sending it out to give some of the specifics.  We are so thankful to have been able to come and work with this team with these teens.  It has been amazing.

 

We are now in Zurich and settling into our new home for two nights. Wow, what a difference from Adelboden to Zurich. More later, we are going to find some food to eat.

Today is a hard day because we have just finished up our last main session with the youth and are sending another three off this afternoon to go home.
Tonight we will have our farewell program with all the adults and children. Tommorrow we all leave Adelboden and the Calvary Team will go to Zurich to debrief and prepare for our travel home. Phil and I talked to one of our hotel hosts, Daniel, who grew up in Zurich about where to go while we are there. He told us of a place where Zwingli was working during the reformation. I hope to be able to visit there while in Zurich.

Now, let me catch up on a few pictures

Mandy jumps from the bridge on the first outing with the students. To get up the nerve she made the students standing around promise that if she jumps, they will dedicate their whole lives to serve the Lord. Fun!

Brian takes the leap too!

Emma dives into the cultural food of the Swiss

Addie loves the fondue too!

On Wednesday (the day before we got 6-8 inches of snow) we took a group of students up for a hike. Unfortunately Mandy had to turn back about 3/4 of the way up because Emma and Isabelle were going to wake from their nap. Below is a picture of those who made it to the top. It was a 1,400 foot vertical trek…

Maybe I will photoshop Mandy in – because she would have been there!

Yesterday Addie got a pretty good cut on her forehead.  She is doing well, but you can pray for good healing…I’ll get her to post later this afternoon!

More later
-Brian

Mandy with two of her small group girls on a hike

Our team with the WEG teens

Two teens with the CD’s donated by Calvary people!

Thanks for your prayers, more text update to come.
there is also some text updates on Calvary Church web page

It is Wednesday and we are in the middle of our time with the students. The main sessions have been going really well. Brian has been teaching through the Beattitudes from Matthew 5, the students are enjoying our worship times lead by Phill and Dustin, and the leader testimonies have been super! The students are growing more and more precious to us as we learn more about them and the lives they lead. Several are students at Black Forest Academy in Germany where Jen Smith is an RA. Others live all over in places such as England, Afganistan, Turkey and Pakastan. I learned a family from Pakistan now has two family groups living with them after they were displaced by the recent earthquake. It is amazing to listen to these students talk about the things they have experienced. Tonight we will be having a special dinner with the students on the mountain top for fondue. We hope it will be a meaningful and fun meal for them. Only two full days remain of our time with the students. Please pray our time with them would matter for eternity!

I miss sophie and brina and anna…
i like the chocolate because it is swiss.  i like the mountains and the missionaries. rebekah, emmie and emily are some of my new friends and i play with them.
please pray for to a great job teaching the children and the mommys and the daddys and the grandma and the grandad, papa’s and the aunts.
i went on a train, i had piggy-back rides and shoulder rides. i went on a bus too.  i had fun.
the mountains are pretty. i like the children’s clothes each day.

Addie and Emma with their new friend Rebekah

Addie plays with friends from all over the world

the Moore family at Hari

Geared up and ready to go!!

Little Swiss Skier!!

More time later today, just a note to say that things are going really well. We had a leaders meeting last night with the youth team to see what the “pulse” is and we are all very encouraged. We value your prayers intensely! God is dealing with our hearts and things in our lives. This morning’s message was “blessed are the meek” – pray for meekness to be built in us all.

Some think meekness is weakness or a deficient spirit, but it is truly great power under control. So as you are praying for meekness, pray for us to live a spirit controlled life. Galatians 5 is a good passage to read and pray for us all.

Pictures later, but Addie learned to ski yesterday in the Swiss Alps!!! she had a blast and woke up this morning asking me if we could go again. I told her “I wish we could, but what a privilege that we got to do it at all for a few hours.” She will have to tell about the face plant that she did in the 4 foot deep (at least) snow!
Emma is looking forward to going sledding on Wednesday with the teens. this isn’t your lancaster county sledding hill…we are talking 1.5 kilometer sledding hill!!!! wow!

Very memorable ministry and fun experiences for our family and the rest of the team.