Follow every rainbow, till you find your dream...

July 18th

This is my direct dial if you ever HAPPEN to want to call me… 011-41-43-466-7777. I am usually available around 8:30pm my time, which is 7 hours past my family in WI.

I am not fully recovered yet, so it makes for some long nights at times. Please pray for my health. Yesterday I had so much fun being on the internet for an hour, chatting family and friends. The keyboard in the office has the usual German setup, which means that the “Z” and the “Y” are switched, and in place of our enter key is the “$” sign. My brother in law Alan was also online, and mimicking my typos, making me laugh until I cried. EVERYTHING ended with a “$”, and he would say things like, “this is crayz!”. :] So yeah, if you ever get an email signed “Beckz” you know why. :]

July 21st

Yes, I have not had much opportunity to write lately! It has been a special missions week, where all the missionaries from Africa are home and they share about the work that God is doing. As a result we have many guests, and are feeding about 200 per meal 3 times a day! That makes for a lot of table setting, and there are also the coffee breaks to prepare and clean up. :] It’s so funny, though, because I know a bunch of these guests - they were on my trip to Ethiopia, and when we greet each other warmly, and they rattle off to me in German, Zita wonders HOW I know these people! :]

One lady in particular had told me when we were in Africa that if I ever come to Switzerland, I must visit her. It had occurred to me that I should contact her, and here she appears yesterday! She does not know ANY English, and we had this long discussion - all in German! She was amazed at how much more I understand. There was no one around to translate, so I had to figure it out. Basically what she said was that she is involved with another mission in Switzerland, and they will be having a mission conference in the Tyrol. Many people from the Osterreich will be there, including folks who speak English. :] The cost is 420 Swiss Francs for one week, food and lodging. She will mail me a brochure and I can speak to Cornelia about it if I want to come.

So yes, this week has been busy, but there are about 5 girls from Germany who came to help out this week. It is such a relief for me to have someone else to set tables with! And it is a good exercise in German, the REAL German. You would not believe how much I hear Swiss German around here, but usually I can tell the difference. The girls told me that I am very good after 4 months, they took 5 years of English, and can barely speak it. Others from the Guetli told me the same, they tell me that my pronunciation is perfect. Thank you Lord! :]

Emanuel Hermann told me a joke the other day: “They say if you speak 3 languages you are tri-lingual. If you speak 2 languages you are bi-lingual, and if you speak one language you are an American.”. I told him mournfully that it’s so true it is not even funny! I explained to them how it is not required to learn additional languages in our schools, and other than Hawaii, we only have one language. The majority of people cannot afford to travel overseas, and if they do, most people speak English. It is so different here in Europe. The other day he was translating for me, from German to English. Then a French speaking man from Africa stood up to speak with another man to translate it to German. I thought I would have to wait for it to be interpreted twice, and then he began to translate from French to English. Yes, he actually speaks 5 languages that I KNOW of.

This last weekend was a special weekend for the youth, and I was not able to attend because Cornelia had forgotten to mention it to me, and you have to arrange for these things! (I will be included next month.) They really needed my help because of all the extra guests, but it was a little sad to see them all bike off to go swimming and grilling and stuff. I had to remind myself that I am here for MINISTRY not just fun. :] Anyway, Cornelia invited me to go swimming with her late Sunday evening to make up for it. It was sooo nice. We drove the windy road up towards Rifferswil - the lovely view road. You can look down over Zug and the snow capped mountains that tower over it. We went to the Turlursea, (they call lakes - “seas”) it was nestled in between a few hills, and simply lovely. The water was a unique green/blue hue, I could see my feet while swimming, and they say it is the yuckiest of the lakes around. (I found out later that there are black snakes that swim there! Ugh!) They just change on the shore and then swim out into the lake. It was quite cool, but very refreshing. As Cornelia and I were walking back along the trail, I thought to step on the grass as I was barefoot, and looked down just in time to see I almost stepped on one of those snails I wrote to you about! Then I saw they were everywhere! It was SO gross, I just shivered to think of what almost happened. They call them “naked snails” and they are something like a slug. 4” long, with antennas and a weird nude color. I DO NOT like them. Cornelia laughed and laughed at me.

I also went swimming yesterday afternoon in Mettmenstetten at the pool, and after the evening service at 8:30, Inge, Julia and I went swimming in Zug. The Zugersea is one of the loveliest lakes around. The evening was clear and perfect, and as you swim in water that once again you can see clear down to your toes in, you have a panoramic view of snow capped mountains. It was beyond words to describe. A fish bumped into me, and I saw another. It almost looked like a salt water fish. They are clear with vertical black stripes.

July 22nd

Yesterday was a full and special day! I got to go along with all the guests to the mountains!

July 23rd

Yes, you can see how far I got that time! :] We have been soo busy. With the missions week going on, and the way the Swiss eat 5 times a day, with 200 people to feed each time…well, you can see what I have been doing. It’s so funny, so many of them already know that I am an American, and they always say, “Sank you!” when I serve them food. Anyway, I have been very grateful to God for all the extra help this week. It’s amazing, He sends them just in time!

I have been hanging out with Tabea Jegge (“Tuh-bay-ah Yet-kay”) a lot lately. She sits by me when I sew, and is one of the only people with free time during my break, so we often go swimming and biking and walking together. I also found out she can give backrubs, for which I am extremely grateful. It’s not as easy as Martha you know, you can’t nag her like you can a sister. :] When we came back from swimming today, we decided to have a coffee together, and stole a couple of bites of sloppy pieces of the guests Zveri. Then we went around the corner where they all had just gathered, and she dragged me over and sat me down, and said, “Now let’s have Zveri all over again!!” So we did. :] The coffee here is awful. I just had to put that out there. If anyone ever wants to know what would be a good thing to send me, it would be Nescafe instant coffee. Then I can make it as strong as I like!

I have a lot of fun with Markus, too. He is the huge guy that can do anything. For some reason I am not afraid to try German on him, and then he rattles off back to me with his huge grin, and I peer up with a wrinkled nose and ask for interpretation. This morning he was preparing the guests breakfast, and Ursula came breezing in, and asked sweetly if he had some hot coffee. He goes, “Yep!” and in a sneaky tone: “But not for you!”. This was all in German, and I laughed, and he and Ursula were so amazed that I understood, he said it’s incredible. I am grateful for the encouragement. I sometimes feel like I can’t remember anything!

Anyway, about the mountains…They took the whole group of mission week guests to Hasliberg the other day, where the mission has another hotel in the mountains. Cornelia thought I would enjoy it since I missed out on the youth weekend. I rode up there with a young couple and one of the missionaries from Sudan, Tabea Roth. (“Wrote”) It was a familiar drive, but I could not believe how different it looked in the summer! I took a lot of pictures, and this driver stopped for me! When we got to Bellvue, we immediately left on the hike up to the Alpli. It is a tiny chalet and barn way up on the mountain, and it took about 1 hour of hiking - UPHILL the whole way! :] (“…my trainer…he says I’m in great shape!”) At times the path was so steep that you could scarcely move at all. I was completely soaked with sweat, but the missionaries from Africa were fine. :] It honestly looked like the scene from the end of The Sound of Music when they are hiking into Switzerland as a family, and the choir is dramatically singing “Climb every mountain!” I found out what hiking shoes are all about. My Chacos were OK, but now I see why people buy hiking shoes. A lot of them had the Salomon brand on.

When we arrived, several of the Bellvue co-workers were already there, having driven up with a Land Rover. They had benches and tables set out all around, and a toasty fire in a ring, and mountain cold water. We quickly set up a lunch, and ate fresh veggies and grilled bratwurst as we sat facing the amazing view. The glacier is so small this time of year. Sometime while I am here, I want to go up to the Alpli and spend the night, maybe with Elvira. It is so completely adorable, you would not believe it. I took a few pics, hopefully I can post them. It has a tiny kitchen with a stone fireplace built in, and a skylight with a small wardrobe with dishes. The tiny loft is above. And then the other room also has a stove, a bunk bed, and a small table facing out the window.

We ate, sang, had Raculet over the fire, and then after the Bible School students and I cleaned up, we hiked down the mountain, which took about 25 minutes, and was just as hard! :] We immediately went to the kitchen and washed all the dishes and prepared Zveri, and then ate it outside in the shade. Then we had the drive home already for supper. :] Yep, they eat a lot here.

Later that evening, Tabea, Julia and I biked to Mettmenstetten and went swimming. Then Tabea and I took a walk and sat on a bench and prayed together. It was a perfect evening. Can you believe it? Swimming, hiking, biking, and walking all on one day! I love doing these things!

Today was almost a full day of dishes. I am even now NOT sitting in the evening service so that I could write to you. I do think I will go now and see if I can find someone to unlock the buro so that I can have some contact with America again. :] I miss you, love you, pray for you.