Finally posted...apologies for a few days late.

As we begin our last day of travel, we reflect back on the many experiences we've enjoyed.  Highlights for us include an evening spent with our host in Bielefeld at the flat of a refugee from Iraq.  We heard about his harrowing journey through Turkey, Greece, Serbia and others lasting 23 days, arriving in Germany knowing no one and speaking no German.  He prepared an amazing dinner for us and now sees hope for his future in his new home, Germany.
Throughout our travels, we've heard about the destruction of lives and building that took place during WWII and have witnessed the incredible rebuilding that has taken place.  And of course we relish the new friends we've made--special folks from the German partnership who were so very gracious, knowledgeable and helpful and our traveling companions from the USA.  It's been a wonderful trip!
Doug and Nancy Norris

Final Thoughts from John

We made it home and are adjusting to the six hour time change.  It's bad enough to spring forward or fall back an hour during changes to daylight savings time, but two six hour changes in a month are tough.  The trip to Germany and the wonderful experiences we shared with the group make it worth the few hours of lost sleep.  I'd like to thank our trip leaders, Joyce, Dan, Annette, Scott and Crystal, and our translator Justine.  You did a lot of work and we appreciated it.  Our German partners and hosts, and the planners of the Forum were all outstanding people.

After reviewing my photos, I realize how much we saw in such a short time.  It was incredible.  It was very interesting to see how Christianity "evolved" in Europe through the dark ages, to the reformation, and to modern times.  Some of the older church buildings exhibited that in the combinations of art, relics, and artifacts present.  I'm going to have to do some study on all of this to understand how the Italian (Roman) culture impacted and spread through Southern Germany.  I'll also have to read about where all the money came from to build such huge churches and castles.  We saw more castles in a two hour trip on the Rhine then I have in my life.

Finallty, here are some observations that are wholly my own.  Other members of the group may have different opinions and should not take any blame if I am off-base.

Germany seems to be ahead of the U.S. in many ways.  They seem to be further down the path to being "green."  I heard comments about children being told early in school not to waste water.  The parts of the country we visited, Westphalia and Bavaria, had many large wind turbines to generate electricity.  There were acres of solar panels installed on the ground, and hundreds of panels on house and barn roofs.  I'm talking about barns that were very old and leaning over like many Ohio barns, yet their roofs were covered with solar panels.  Cars are small and mostly new, and I saw more people on bicycles in the cities than I've ever seen in the states.

Their infrastructure is in good shape.  There weren't potholes and patches in the roads we traveled.  You can drink the tap water, although most people seemed to prefer bottled water with different degrees of carbonation available.  Mass transit in the form of trains and busses were abundant and efficient within the cities.  Many were electrically powered from cables running overhead.  They were fast and quiet, and didn't pour out diesel fumes.  There were subways available in the larger cities, but we didn't ride on any of them.

Most people we talked to were interested in our political situation.  One boy from a confirmation class we attended made it a point to ask each one of us individually if we support Donald Trump.  They talked about how they are handling refugees, and compared their situation to that on our southern border, but I found it interesting that they asked questions about how we are taking care of Native Americans, who don't get much press coverage here.

I didn't see any obviously homeless people like you do in many large U.S. cities.  Outside of the cities, there was farmland that looked very much like that in the rolling hills around Sugarcreek, Ohio.  Much of the corn had already been harvested, but there were fields of root vegetables like turnips or beets that were still growing.  There were some large herds of dairy cattle and a few horses throughout the area.

One surprise was the siding on the older houses.  There are slate mines around the area that provided enough slate to entirely cover the sides and roofs of houses.  There were many that were very ornate with the slate cut into different shapes and overlapping in attractive patterns.

Finally I must say that it seems that the Germans aren't as "casual" as many Americans.  They seem to have protocols to follow and are quick to point out when someone steps out of line.  The ones I saw dressed well, i.e. not in baggy pants or t-shirts.  They seemed to be more fit and active than many of "us."  If we want to make America greater, we should take a good look around and try to keep up with those countries that have a several hundred years head start on us.  The world moves forward with or without us and it's never a good idea to get complacent.

The Gardens

We walked along a tall hedge that concealed several well maintained gardens. I remember a story from one of our hosts in 2004.  She told us about the threats of the bombing from allied forces and how her mother moved the children into the tool shed in their garden. Here they were much safer.  Steve Schroer

The Night Watchman

We all met at the city center along with about a hundred others for a tour conducted by the night watchman.  It was a dangerous job in medieval times because only thugs and thieves were out at night but he felt safe with all of us along.  

The hour long tour was filled with both history and humor. 

The evening was pleasant and the church bells awakened us to this new day. Now we are off to a tour of St Jacob’s Church and later today on to Augsburg.  Joyce Schroer 

Saturday!

Such a busy but thoroughly delightful day visiting the southern most reaches of the Westphalian Church District. A visit to Schloß Berleburg, lunch/tour at a church camp/retreat site, a visit to the village where the Church of the Brethren was founded, a slate mine, a visit and a meaningful Evening Prayer service in Erndtebrük followed by a delightful dinner hosted by our good friends Stefan and Ulli Berk!!! 

More Observations

Part of the reason Susan and I came on this trip was to see the homeland of our ancestors and find out more about the origins of our church traditions.  Those objectives have been met.  The countryside looks very much like Ohio.  There are corn fields and wooded areas.   We have seen many hunting blinds at the edges of fields and forests, so a lot of hunting must take place.  It sounds like towns can have several hunting clubs where they have shooting festivals.  The person who shoots down a certain target is given the title of shooting king.  In the town where we stayed, Borchen, the men wear green garments and green hats with feathers in them and the women wear fancy dresses to the shooting contest.

The churches that date back to the 1500’s and 1600’s are huge by our standards but have the same symbols in them such as chalices and doves. It’s a little confusing in that some of the buildings were Catholic Churches before the reformation and are now Protestant.  The objects inside, like large crucifixes look very Catholic.  A little more confusion is added because some of the churches were heavily damaged in WWII and you can’t tell what was original and what was rebuilt.

We were fortunate to attend a couple of church meetings that were run very much like ours at home.  We attended a mission/environmental committee meeting where they discussed a trek that is underway to protest global warming.  They talked about conflicts between people who want to mine coal and people who want to build more wind turbines for cleaner energy.  They discussed the requirements for a church to serve as a sanctuary church for a girl from the Mideast and the obstacles the German Government seems to be putting in front of them.  All of the discussions were very timely.

Some of the questions asked at the meetings and forums we attended included “what can the church do?”  I believe that we have taken a step in the right direction by sending people to other areas of the country/world to see that we are all basically alike and face the same problems.  A church has to look outside it’s walls to see what’s really going on.  If you only look within your four walls they will shrink and close you in. We sang a song several times, “Grow the Circle Wide, Grow it Wider Still.”

I think that is what churches need to do today.   John Muskopf

Select Photos So Far

Scott here. I thought I would share some select photos I've been taking over the last week. Captions are probably accurate, but don't cite them in your thesis or anything.

Colliery near Schwerte, but not Zollern. It was closed but we got to wander around anyway. 

The sylvan grounds of Haus Villigst.

Beautiful  St.-Viktor-Kirche in Schwerte.

Altar at  St.-Viktor-Kirche.

The modest and graceful Jugendkirche, an entire church for youth in Hamm.

The streets of Münster.

Bikes just might outnumber people in Münster. 

 Reinoldikirche in Dortmund.

Physically attaching old and new buildings is common in Germany cities in Westphalia. This is the old Rathaus (Townhall) in Dortmund.

Chinese companies entered a partnership with the industry in Bochum and built this Chinese Garden near Ruhr-Universität Bochum.

Chinese Garden in Bochum.

The massive green house complex of Ruhr-Universität Bochum.

Burg Blankenstein in Bochum.

The open air museum, LWL-Freilichtmuseum Detmold. Old homes and village buildings were relocated here to give visitors the impression of life from the late 18th through early 19th century. 

Home at the LWL-Freilichtmuseum Detmold

Intact and functioning windmill at LWL-Freilichtmuseum Detmold.

Neustädter Marienkirche in Bielefeld during a private demonstration of their brand new organ which took 20+ years to collect donations for its construction.

That's all for now.  Tschüüüüüüüüüssssss! Bis denne!