SWITZERLAND!!!!!

We just got back from spending a week in Beatenberg Switzerland, a small town just outside of Interlaken, for our All-Europe Conference. It was truly spectacular.

Arrival day was semi-clear and the magnitude of the mountains was amazing, but it was not clear blue skies and we could not see the very tops of the mountains. I can only imagine what that would be like!

We spent 6 days in Switzerland. On the first day we could see the mountains pretty clearly, and the last day we could see them (sort-of) as the clouds moved in and out throughout the day. The weather turned out to be exactly what everybody said it would be: cold and rainy and most of the time we could not see the mountains at all because everything was covered by a cloud. But, we still had a wonderful time. Here are a few snapshots we took during the week.

A view from the bus as we climbed the mountains away from Interlaken.


This is the main building of the seminary where we stayed. Rough living, huh! It was a gorgeous (and fabulously cared for) old building with an amazing view.


The balcony of the main building.


The view from the balcony. Or, I should say this is a photo that shows about 1/10th of the view from the balcony. This is one of those times when you wish your "wide-angle lens" was waaayyyyy wider! We saw glimpses of the layers and layers of mountains with snow-capped peeks above these mountains at various times throughout the week.


Lena on the balcony visiting with some of the other girls. What a place for these young ladies to catch up! (I have no photos of the boys with their friends, because they were constantly running! They had so much fun together!)

The view from the dining room. We certainly felt spoiled!


Here are a couple of photos we took out the window of our room.



And, there was the playground. Total kid heaven here.


With goats roaming the hill next to it.


We had one day during the conference when we were given the afternoon and evening "off" from all meetings to get out and enjoy our surroundings. We decided to walk down the road to catch a cable car up to the top of a mountain peek.

As we were walking down the road, the lake below was an incredible color! Just gorgeous!


All the houses looked something like this. Lots of flowers, Swiss flags and porches with views of the lake and the incredible mountains across the valley.



Even the stores and cafes look similar. So quaint!


Especially when you see the sheep (in this case) or goats with bells tied to their necks roaming on the hills above or below these buildings. (That's the bright blue lake down at the bottom of the hill.)


Here we go, up the mountain in the cable car!


Yeah, we reached the top. But, it was covered in a cloud.


Still, we walked the path to the tippy-top and wouldn't you know it? We could see the other side of the mountain for about 30 seconds before the clouds covered it up.



We set off to walk back down the mountain. Here we go!

Among the cows.


Here's a super short video that lets you hear what the cow bells sounded like. (Just click on the link to see it.) I have never heard anything quite like it before!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gES2oLXMMH4

The path at one point.


Walking in a cloud made for some really interesting photos.


I love this one of Mark.


You might think this is a river, but it isn't. Talk about a rocky path! It had been raining a lot during the week, so it was rather sloppy too.


We got to the half-way point on the mountain, and there was a restaurant and a place to catch the cable car. We found a bathroom (the cleanest bathroom I think I've seen in Europe!). I took this photo of Ryan while we were there. We had just walked far enough down the mountain to be under the clouds again.


They have these really cool scooter bikes, that we decided to rent and ride down to the bottom of the mountain.


Todd rode with Mark, and let me tell you, it was a rush to fly down the mountain on these scooter-bikes! It was ALL braking...all the way to the bottom.


And, of course, the view coming down was spectacular! The photos just do not do justice.


Thankfully, we all made it down without killing ourselves!

While we adults had meetings, our kids had a genuine, good-ol' American Vacation Bible School. A group of people from 2 churches in Newton, Kansas came to take care of our kids and make our kids' week in Switzerland the absolute highlight of their entire year! We are so thankful for how these people poured into our children during the week!

At the end of the week, they put everything from the VBS on a "free table" and let the kids just go for it! Guess what Ryan got! Here, I'll show you:


But, that's not all. Did you have the cowboy theme VBS at your church? Did you have the 3 panel wall mural on your church walls? Well, they now hang on Ryan and Todd's ceiling!


Would you like a closer look at just the ceiling? Here it is. (I took the photo laying on the floor in the boys' room. The brown corner in the upper left corner of this photo is actually the boys' dresser, just to give you perspective.)


Let me tell you, Ryan could not be happier kid.

Here are a few photos I took of Interlaken before we caught our train back to Paris.



Proof that I was there!


On the way out of town, we had to spend the last of our Swiss francs. Guess what Mark bought. Yep! Makes sense to buy a Swiss army knife in Switzerland! (There were surprisingly inexpensive.) Here's one happy young man.


And, that was Switzerland. We are excited to return again in 2 years; that is, if we still fit in the seminary. We're told our group almost maxed out the place! But, we'll be praying that we get to go back, because it was just fabulous! We definitely feel spoiled by God.