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