An early morning today – the alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. We packed up our things, said good-bye to the Will Family and headed down the road to Hamburg. Claus-Peter drove us to the airport – a one hour drive when there is no traffic, but in the morning we needed to plan on two hours.
We arrived at the Hamburg airport at 7:30 a.m., just in time to greet our first group of travelers to join us from Ohio. Ed and Shirley Wasser and Tom and Sue Rutherford were in the first flight. Soon we were joined by Pastor Christian and Melanie Lange and members of their church who are hosting us the next three days. Once we all were properly introduced we loaded into the church vans and headed into Hamburg for breakfast. We had a good German buffet and lovely conversation with our hosts. We then took a short walk past the town hall and through the shopping area near by.
Back to the vans to pick up two more couples of our group – Bill and Louise Richardson and Mel Wheeler and her daughter Martha Wendel. I was glad to see they all arrived safely even though all were exhausted.
We drove to the church in Vellahn where all of us were placed into the loving and capable hands of our hosts.
Lisa and I have been welcomed into the home of the Langes. They live across the street from the church in the parsonage. We had soup – pork with pasta noodles around it. It is a dish that, loosely translated means “fooling God.” The reason is you could eat it and hide the meat inside the pasta, so you could eat it during meatless days in Lent and God would not see you eating it. It was delicious.
Next to the church is the Schloss – the castle that is on the same property. This castle is being refurbished by Daniel and Ute – members of the church. They live there with their two daughters.
The second church is in Pritzier – one of the original churches of Epiphany’s partnership. The rug in front of the altar is a blessed reminder of this connection.
The church has no heat, so part of the sanctuary is enclosed in a glass frame that can be heated for worship and meetings. Unfortunately not many attend worship here.
The final stop for the day was the church in Warlitz.
We returned to Vellahn for a barbecue together with members of the congregations. Great food and fellowship. We look forward to the days to come with our German hosts.
