From Germany Two

Hi again:
Last weekend we had to vacate our lodging here at the Wycliffe Center so the team decided to leave on Friday morning for a 4-hour trip to Rothenburg and on Sunday to Nurnberg. Most of us had no idea of what to expect. Rothenburg is a walled medieval city which today lives on tourism. The city was spared serious bombings of WWII so had relatively little damage. A wall still circles the old city on three sides; the other side is a steep ravine that needed no fortification

The nine of us (the others stayed behind and worked!) stayed at a pension inside the walls, only one block from the central market square. It was recently rebuilt over a grocery store with good accommodations and a breakfast room in the attic floor. We were very pleased with our stay there. Most of the time we walked the streets and the walls of the city, taking in all we could. Of course the gals had to do some shopping (window and real!). The city has a large Christmas museum and many stores that sell Christmas trinkets, etc. We visited the large Lutheran church which they inherited when the city turned Protestant during the reformation. We took a night tour with the city watchman, a comic with an interesting story of the city.

Rosie enjoys recalling some of her childhood German. We do okay as many of the younger people speak English. Some of our meals we ate together as a team; others we did on our own as we wandered around the city.




On Sunday morning after team devotions we left for Nurnberg, about an hour east of Rothenburg. Since we were so close we decided to spend at least a few hours there. We toured the Documentation Center which tells a very honest story of how the Nazi movement grew and how Hitler was able to rally the people behind him. Nurnberg is the city were many of the rallies and congresses took place. Hitler and his architects had dreams of a 80,000 seat congress hall and a 400,000 seat stadium for rallies and military demonstrations. The war broke out before much of this was completed. The Documentation Center, as it is now called, is in the partially completed congress hall, and the military parade grounds are put to other uses.
We had time to visit the old city for two hours before leaving for home. Rosie and I walked the streets, and up the hill to the Kaiserburg--the old castle. Much of Nurnberg was bombed and damaged during the war but much of it has been rebuilt, though not restored to its original architecture.

Now we are back to work again and expecting to make another shorter trip to the Mosel River valley this weekend. After that it will be mostly work and not much play. Pray that we will accomplish enough that the home will be useable by the time we leave.
Thanks to those of you who have left comments on previous blogs. We appreciate hearing from you, especially when we are away from home. You can email us at: abner_bauman@wowway.com We would be delighted to hear from you. Bye for now!

From Burbach, Germany

Hi friends:
We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany a week ago and rode the train for an hour and a half to our destination of Burbach, northwest of Frankfurt, near Siegen. We expect to be here for about five weeks working with Wycliffe Associates again; this time renovating a run-down house that a young German missionary couple purchased. The house is in good condition on the outside, but inside is a “mess.”


There are eleven of us on the team now -- three couples and three men without their wives. Two more single men arrived last evening, so our team has grown! These two guys are on their way back from a project in the Middle East. All of us on the team worked together on a team in northwest London, England (Horsleys Green) early in 2008. The team members are from Calgary, Alberta, Oregon, Virginia,Texas, New Mexico,Indiana and Illinois. It has been fun to see them all again and to work together.
The ladies help in cleanup, removing old carpet squares, painting, etc. The men have a variety of jobs -- plumbing, drywall and plastering, building a kitchen, flooring, putting in window sills and trim, running to the store (a Home Depot equivalent), supervising, and lots more. We hope to have the house ready to move into by the time we leave. My work is mostly drywall mudding and patching preparing for wallpaper and paint.
Our meals are served in a dining hall; breakfast is at 8, team devotions at 8:30, and off to work at 9. We return by car for our dinner (noon) and finish work at about 5 pm. A light supper is at 6 and from there on we are on our own. We usually talk for a while, check our emails, news and sports reports and then return to our room, mostly to read before we hit the sack. We didn’t sleep too well the first week but are quite adjusted now to the seven-hour time change. Our accommodations are very good; private room and bath, desk, 2 chairs, lots of room. We are thankful for that.

This past weekend we attended a German evangelical church. Some of the songs were sung in English, one we knew so that we could sing in English, but the sermon was all in German. Rosie is brushing up on her German, but only some phrases, expressions, and sentences are familiar. I catch some bits here and there!

On Sunday afternoon our hosts took us to an ancient castle nearby (c. 13th century). It was a cloudy, misty, dreary day but it was an interesting tour with beautiful countryside scenery. In addition to the castle there was an underground bell museum with about 75 bells of all shapes and sizes, some dating back to the 12th century.. Some had hammers attached for visitors to ring.
This coming weekend most of us have to vacate our accommodations for a large conference, so we are taking a 5-hour trip to Rothenburg. We will be there Friday and Saturday nights giving us plenty of time for some sightseeing and probably some shopping! We are looking forward to this small brake from the routine.

We are enjoying ourselves: the culture experience, the friendship with other believers, helping a needy family, and seeing a bit of Germany. Pray that we will have a successful time here, without illnesses to knock us down. We hope that you are well and rejoicing!
Abner and Rosie