Germany Blog 3

Hello friends!
We have been home from Germany for one week and adjusted to sleeping at our regular time in our own bed. The last week in Germany was very busy. On Sunday Rosie and I were invited by a German family whose relatives we met here at home. When this person found out where we were going in Germany she got real excited because it was near her hometown. After emails and phone calls we were picked up at the Wycliffe Center on Sunday morning and taken to church and then home for dinner. What a delightful time--a good German dinner with several other family and guests. Some of the people spoke only German, but a few spoke fluent English. Rosie had a great time remembering her German and understanding quite a bit of the German conversation.

The last week of work was a push to get the house ready for occupancy. By noon on Thanksgiving day we were close to finished; a few of the team were staying for the weekend so they expected to finish up.
Rosie and our Wycliffe hostess cooked a Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all the trimmings and 3 kinds of pies. The team had a great time celebrating.
On Friday morning Rosie and I, along with another couple, boarded the train for Frankfurt, about 60 miles southeast.

We arrived in Frankfurt about noon, walked to our hotel across from the big railroad station (Bahnhof) and then walked the town! We walked a few blocks to the Main (pronouced 'mine') river and down the esplande to the old town square (the Romer area).
The square and surrounding area was all set up for the Christmas Mart, with booths, eating stalls, shops, etc. for the month-long celebration. These German 'Marts' are famous and draw huge crowds.


Our friends had to leave town by bus for another airport, so we walked them back to the hotel for their luggage and to the nearby bus stop. After they left we looked aroud the RR station to buy our tickets and find the platform from which we would take the subway early Saturday morning for a ride to Frankfurt airport to catch our 8 a.m flight to Chicago.
In the evening we took a street car back to the Christmas Mart to see the lights and meander with the crowd. A retired policeman's group sang German Christmas songs for about an hour; we stood listening for a while and then took the street car back to our hotel. We skipped the famous red light district a few blocks away!

Before going to bed we asked for a wake-up call at 4:45 in the morning (we didn't have an alarm clock or cell phone with us). We were awake a few times during the night but we slept well toward morning. We didn't hear a wake-up call (either they forgot or the phone didn't work!), anyway, at 5:05 I woke up, we jumped out of bed, threw a few things into our baggage and hauled it off across the deserted street to the Bahnhof. We got to the platform a minute before the subwaay arrived at 5:38.
The 15-minute ride to the airport took us right to United's check-in counter where there was already a 100-feet line up, even before the ticket counter opened at 6.
We had a good flight home, almost no turbulence, a good breakfast and a snack before arriving at Ohare at 10:30 a.m. I think this was the first early morning flight west across the Atlantic; at least I can't remember leaving in morning daylight, flying for 3 hours into night darkness and then seeing a sunrise behind us an hour later! It was strange, but beautiful.
If you have read all three blogs you know that we had an enjoyable time in Germany. We had morning devotions together and worked hard with a friendly team, visited some beautiful and interesting sites in central/south Germany, had good fellowship with the German people and learned a great deal. We would love to go again!!

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

Summertime 2009

It has been a long time since the last blog; sorry for the delay but things got pretty busy after Florida. During the month of April and May Rosie cleaned out a friend's house, had 2 garage sales and worked with the realtor to sell the house. I did a dining room floor and bathroom for some friends—tore out the old carpeting in the dining room and tiled the floor. Also tore out the tile and wall around the bath tub and put in new ceramic tile; also large tiles on the floor.

During May and early June I worked for the church putting in a new entrance with paver stones. We tore out the old sidewalk and railroad ties and built a few retaining walls. The job was hard work and took 6 weeks to finish, but it is a huge improvement and welcoming entrance with landscaping put in.
In mid-June through to this week we were up at the Upper Peninsula Bible Camp (UPBC). They are in the process of building a new Retreat and Conference Center and I promised to help for three months. Permits were slow in coming through so I spent the first month repairing and renovating two cottages. The second month was working on the Retreat Center after the permits were finally granted. A retired contractor from Traverse City, MI is the boss on the job and much of his equipment and tools are used.

Rosie had a variety of jobs including planting and watering flowers, keeping the 6-bedroom senior staff house clean and ready for weekly turnovers, and doing some cooking and baking each week. Unfortunately, the weather was quite cool most of the summer so there was not much waterfront activity. Only during the last two weeks did it warm up. It was very hot out on the construction site for the last 6 or 8 days I was there, so I hit the lake a few times.

One of the buildings, the bunk house, was framed first and the roof put on. Now the second and main building (kitchen, dining hall, lounge, offices) is framed and ready for the trusses to be placed next week.
We came home at the beginning of this week to get ready for our entire family being here for the weekend. Keith and Sandra arrived from New Mexico on Wednesday, as did Karen from California. We have been spending time with them these days. Eric and Lisa and grandkids will be here from Grand Rapids, MI for Sunday and Monday. Evan and Leslie (from here in Chicago) will also be here for the family dinner tomorrow. It has been a few years since we have all been together.
After everyone leaves on Tuesday I will go back up to UPBC until Labor Day weekend, helping to install the trusses, put on the roof and finish up some other framing details. By then the plumbers should be working there and soon windows will be put in, making it ready for inside work over the winter. Most of the work until now has being done by volunteers; now some of the professional contractors will get to work.
The week before Labor Day Rosie expects to be working a few days at the flower shop doing wedding arrangements. She hasn’t worked there lately but they have quite a few weddings that weekend.

In September I will be doing a kitchen renovation for a local family. We have no plans for the fall months, maybe a short trip somewhere. After the year-end holiday time we will head to sunny Florida again for two months at Wycliffe Associates.
Instead of going overseas this year we have had a good time helping out in Christian ministry in the U.S; also had some fun when I had chances to run the bulldozer and shovel on the construction project! We hope you are doing well; we would love to have some comments or emails from you. God be with you!

Home Again

Hi friends: We are back home again. Not much of exciting news for you happened during our time in Florida so we didn't post another blog. But now we are home so we want to tell you some of our interesting (to us and, I hope, to you) happenings since January.

For five weeks Rosie was in California, spending time with our daughter and some siblings and other relatives and friends. She enjoyed much of the time but it was a long separation for us. I worked for Wycliffe Associates (a sister organization to Wyciffe Bible Translators) about 6 or 7 hours a day. While Rosie was gone I spent some free time walking, roller blading, visiting with friends at the RV park, reading, writing and relaxing. When she returned Rosie worked in the kitchen helpiung to prepare coffee breaks for the workers in the morning and afternoon.
Most of my work was helping two professional plumbers, each for a two-week period while they were volunteering. After the last one went home I was left with the final testing, making some required changes, and connecting roof drains to storm sewers. I learned much from the guys and enjoyed the challenging new experience. I made some mistakes but none that couldn't be fixed!!

Except for some permanent staff all the people who work with Wycliffe Associates do so as volunteers. They are not paid or remunerated in any way. Actually, people pay all their own expenses--travel, accommodations, food, and other expenses. There are a few thousand people scattered around the world at any given time helping Bible translators to do their job efficiently. There are teachers, nurses, accountants, administrators, construction people, information technologists, electricians, cooks, office personnel, and others who serve in most countries on five continents. It is exciting to be part of such a group of servants. Maybe some of you could give some short-term time serving the Lord in the U.S. or other countries. Ask us about it!

The night before we left we were able to see the shuttle launch from the Kennedy Space Center from forty miles away.

On the way home we drove up the gulf coast of Florida into the panhandle, then through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and into Illinois. We did an easy drive, camped out on Keaton Beach and other campsites along the way. In Tennessee we stayed overnight at a Christian camp and spent the morning doing some work, sharing the time with friends. We wanted to be home by Friday evening so we could attend a memorial service the next morning for a good friend who died three weeks earlier.

So now we are home again doing some spring cleaning of the house and yard. This past week I helped our son in Chicago do some remodeling in their basement. We will be around home for about two months, before going north to Upper Peninsula Bible Camp to help with some construction work for three months. Rosie will probably help in the kitchen or elsewhere with her many friends up there.

We hope all is well with you. We would love to hear from you. You can write us at: abner_bauman@wowway.com (or you can use Rosie's name), leave a comment at the end of this blog (click on 'comments'), or look us up on Facebook! We wish you God's blessing!