Settling In

"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind." -1 Peter 3:8

The people here are so sweet! Germans have a reputation of being very hospitable and I have experienced that here. One lady in particular, Marion, has had 2 gatherings at her home since I arrived and her warmth just overflows when everyone is there. She prepares so much food and offers every type of drink... it seems like she rarely sits still. And ironically she used to live in Edmonton, where I just moved from! She worked there for a year and since returning to Germany has become a Christian. I am looking forward to getting to know her and the rest of the Christians here.

Amy and I have worked hard at adding our personal touches to our apartment. We have been blessed to "inherit" all the furniture we need from the Stoltes, a family who recently moved back to the States. In our main apartment we have a kitchen, large bedroom, and winter garden (a small room with lots of windows and typically filled with plants...similar to a porch or patio but is enclosed), and just across the hall we have more of a living room, with couches and a tv complete with a VHS player (compatible with videos from Canada and the US). It is a perfect size space for the 2 of us and we look forward to hosting people here soon. We have yet to get a closet, however, so we are currently living out of our suitcases clothes-wise. Hopefully we will find one by the end of the week and that will help alot in feeling settled...we can put the suitcases away! We are also planning to buy some fabric for curtains, but other than that we are very comfortable here. We even have a pull out couch if anyone wants to visit for a few days....;)

On Monday Amy and I began riding bikes around instead of walking. After a few days of walking around, what a blessing it was to ride instead! We had been walking the 25-30 minutes to the church building, and 20 minutes to the grocery store...but now with bikes it is so much more convenient and fun! The only downside is my sore butt, but it's a small price to pay for the luxury of speed!