LIFE'S JOURNEY

Swimmers in the Rhine. The water moves rather swiftly so you don't really need to swim! They carry their clothes in waterproof bags on the water!

At last it is summer here in this part of the world and we are thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and cloudless skies. It will end all too quickly I am sure, but for the moment we are making the most of it.

The Europa Cup finished last night with a win to Spain and a very unhappy Germany. We were on the midnight train coming back from Basel and it was absolutely packed with unhappy fans, but it was still rather noisy! Now Basel can get back to normal, whatever that is. Quiet little Basel certainly did come alive with the various fanzones and big screen viewing. We certainly did enjoy all the excitement and were able to enjoy the atmosphere as we sat in a friends home overlooking the Rhine and watching all the activity below. It was great.

Busy time last week. We did manage to have Monday off by not going hiking and we needed to just be home, so that was great. Tuesday Roger had an all day conference near Zurich which Derek Webster had organized. There were 11 leaders who met together for a most worthwhile day. Derek is organzing a 3 day away Conference called PREKO at the end of August which we are hoping to go to. I've made him promise me it will be in English!

I wasn't able to go to the Conference because we had organized a farewell lunch for an Aussie friend we met 3 months ago and I couldn't disappoint her.

Tuesday evening we had our Nooma Night but only Bernhard turned up so we ended up spending 1.5 hours with him, which is always great. Sitting in Starbucks discussing the meaning of life!

Wednesday I was on duty at Centrepoint for 5 hours as well as helping to fold the Centrepoint magazine 'Horizon'. And then Rog had Deutsch conversation and volunteering for a couple of hours and I was at Ilona's helping with the last of the packing before they moved to Solothurn today. I hope it went well for them.

Hopefully this week will be a little quieter for us. I need some days at home. I did have today at home and Roger went hiking with the gorgeous group. He left and I went back to bed for a couple of hours after a late night! Tomorrow we will meet with our Youth Pastor Dave and his wife Simea to talk about the Youth Camp which we will be attending for 2 weeks at the end of July. It's always such a joy to catch up with them both.

COMING UP

We will be leading a hike in Schopfheim Monday morning which should last about 2.5 hours and be around 10 km's. The weather isn't the best today, so probably only the diehards will turn up! We will be having lunch at one of the local Gasthaus' (pubs). Who knows what the weather will do, but at least we will be warm from walking. It will be a bit muddy though. Early night tonight hopefully!

Late Monday night some Basler (Swiss) friends are coming out for a delicious roast dinner and Apricot Cheesecake dinner! We enjoy catching up with Christine and Gaudenz (Christine's one of my special friends) so it will be good to spend time with this delightful couple.

Tuesday I am hoping to have as a 'potter' day at home, though I have a few ideas going around in my head, so who knows!! Roger will go into Basel for his Deutsch conversation and then probably catch up with some mates. Tuesday night will be our only night home together!

Wednesday we meet with Derek Webster at 9am at Starbucks in Basel to go over the past 3 months and look to the future. We are looking forward to this meeting with Derek.

I am on Centrepoint duty from 2 - 5pm and this is usually a busy time, with young children coming into the centre for 'bookworms'.

In the evening we will have dinner with friends and say goodbye to an American couple who have been teaching at Black Forrest Academy.

Thursday Roger will go into Basel for Deutsch conversation and then has various appointments. I will train to Dornach, near Basel to spend the day with Ilona continuing to help her with packing for their move at the end of the month. This day also gives me the opportunity to speak German as Ilona does not speak much English. We have lots of laughs together.

Thursday night I have a Ladies Night in Basel at Christine's and Roger begins his Movie Nights for Men at Centrepoint. He has just realised it probably isn't the best night to pick as their is a major soccer match on in Basel Thursday night!!

Friday we go into Centrepoint again for the morning tea then I meet with Claudia.




So, we'll see if our week really does work out this way. It's always interesting to see what's around the corner!

Take care and thanks for feedback from dear friends.

NOOMA NIGHTS

We had our first Nooma Night at Starbucks in Basel on 27 May. Initially these will be held once a month, the next being 24 June at the same location. The purpose of these evenings is to gather together people with the aim of friendship and being able to practise German/English in a friendly environment.

Our friend Cheryl, who works for the Bible Society in South Australia first sent us some NOOMA DVD's by Rob Bell for Christmas 2006. Since then we have gathered quite a collection and we are hoping to use these as a tool for beginning conversations on spiritual issues.

This is what is says on the back of the NOOMA DVD

"We can get anything we want, from anywhere in the world, whenever we want it. That's how it is and that's how we want it to be. Still, our lives aren't any different than other generations before us. Our time is. We want spiritual direction, but it has to be real for us and available when we need it. We want a new format for getting Christian perspectives. NOOMA is the new format. It's short films with communicators that really speak to us. Compact, portable, and concise. Each NOOMA touches on issues that we care about, that we want to talk about, and it comes in a way that fits our world. It's a format that's there for us when we need it, as we need it, how we need it."

www.nooma.com

I did try to copy and paste the nice brochure Derek has made for these events, but it just wasn't working for me - so my apologies!