Schwartenzenau, Germany

We had some time on Saturday morning to walk in Marburg, visit a cathedral, walk through the old town flea market and the shopping area. We stopped in a little bakery and bought a sandwich for lunch before we left for the anniversary events.
The small town of Schwartzenau has about 800 people in it. There were 260 of these people who had direct participation in this Brethren Assembly this weekend. The town is quaint, very clean, beautiful flower beds, and mountains all around. On Saturdaý we visited the Alexander Mack Museum. Most of the info was in German, but we had a lovely young lady who grew up here that came to work for the weekend. She is now a lawyer in Frankfort for a bank corp. She spoke excellent English and was a nice guide. The area around the museum looks like the introduction to Sound of Music. So I went out and sang on the hill and one of the ladies took my picture. The town has a prince who lives there on his estate. The estate has a BIG house, lovely gardens, horse stable, caretakers home, and a huge riding stable. The prince allowed us to use his property for the Brethren Assembly. So the riding stables had chairs and a stage. The grounds were being used for snacks, displays, a large tent to serve meals, portapotties, etc. We had supper on the grounds last night - schnitzel with accompaniments. Then there was a choir from the town that sang - men, women, and mixed group...okay for a little town, I'm sure. Then the McPherson College Choir from McPherson Kansas sang. They were okay. They are a Brethren School.
Today we ate breakfast at our hotel and boarded the bus. It was a little more than an hour away to Schwartzenau. They tried to use men from each of the 6 Brethren groups in both of the services. Grace Brethren had a great representation from MANY countries, many that I didn't even know we had missionaries in.
I met John and Becky Pappas at different times today and they both asked if I was related to the Bechtels from Minerva. They know mom and dad.
We walked around the little town after we ate lunch. It was really fun to just walk and explore. Then we had the anniversary meeting...long...boring...PAINFUL!! It lasted for THREE hours. The afternoon had a neat ending. The people all went out to the Eber River, we were on the banks of this river, and had some singing, a prayer, closing remarks and a benediction. This was the place where the first 8 Brethren were baptized. Then two of the men in our group decided they wanted to be baptized in this river. So they baptized each other.
We've returned to Marburg to our hotel. There is a small pool in the basement of the hotel. I may go swim before bedtime. Tomorrow morning we leave at 8 am and go to the Rhine River for a two hour river cruise and lunch. Then we go on to our next city. I don't know where without looking at the itinerary.
My roommate, Rozella is from Kansas (one of the states I haven't been to) We are well matched and it is working out well. The lady that I thought was going to be my roommate has a friend here from California that she has known for a long time. They had planned on rooming together and it worked out fine.
Guess that's all for now.
Judy

IT'S ALL IN GERMAN

This is the second try to post - we are here - my lengthy explanation went into draft and wouldn't post. The trip was fine. We are in a nice town called Marburg for three nights, quaint, no airconditioning, small hotel. This is a very nice internet cafe next door to the hotel, but pretty expensive, so I probably won't post again until Sunday evening.
Love to all,
Judy