300 Years

I'm sitting in the train heading back to Brussels. This past week has been quite relaxing visiting with my family in my home city Karlsruhe.

This year marks the 300th anniversary of my city. Quite a young age for a place in Germany. However, they didn't want to miss out on celebrating this occasion appropriately. Thus, many events have been taken place throughout the city, but mainly evolving around the castle, which is right in the center. My older brother had the bright idea to take the family on a city tour yesterday. So we enjoyed the view from a tower on a little mountain outside town, and in the evening we attended the "Schlosslichtspiele", i. e. moving pictures projected on the facade of the castle. It was quite impressive.

At tower displaying 300 years

Nice view on the city

Going uphill by tram

Art in the city

Bizarr sculpture

A styrofoam house

Interesting view on the castle

Moving pictures on the facade

I realized that I had the privilege of living in this city ten percent of these 300 years. I'm thankful that I grew up in this particular area of town, which is a very quiet, suburban place with a lot of forest. I got to do a nostalgic tour to the two other places I used to live, i. e. the apartment where we lived until I was 11 years old, and also the small place I rented from 2002-2004, right before I moved to Brussels.

The house were I grew up - the middle window on the lower
balcony was my room

The place I rented from 2002-2004 (top floor)

And finally my parent's house (since 1983) -
the right top window is my room

So I'm not planning on coming back here before next summer. I booked my return ticket from the US only for July 2016. Now I only need to get my visa at the Consulate by Thursday, and then on Friday, I'll be heading off again. I'm first going to visit some friends in the Washington DC area, and on September 17, I'm bound to return to Uchee Pines. However, it won't be the same anymore. This past Thursday, the co-founder Dr. Agatha Thrash passed away. I was very saddened to hear this news. On the other hand I'm glad for her that she can rest now. I don't think it was a fun life for her lately, especially after those detrimental strokes she suffered last year. I'm thankful that she still recognized me last time I saw her in June. She was such a blessing to so many people. I just pray that this institute will continue florishing even without her.

Serbia

I'm now at the juice fasting camp in Crna Bara, a small village in the Hungarian part of Serbia, also called Vojvodina. I came here for the first time in 2009, when Lehel, my former classmate from Uchee Pines (who is a co-founder of this project) invited               Dr. Strachan and a few Uchee Piners to do some health programmes in Hungary and Serbia. Over the past six years, I haven't been able to come back, so I'm glad that it was finally possible. I really like this rural, primitive place. I'm on day five of my juice fast and it's been a good experience - although I still miss eating. Every morning at 7am, we get a special shake for kidney- respectively liver-cleanse. This is followed by kidney/liver tea at 8:30, fruit juice at 9:15, and vegetable juices at 12pm and at 2:30pm. After that, we get some potassium broth at 5pm, and another tea at 6pm. In between, we drink a special powder to cleanse the intestines, which consists of charcoal, clay, psyllium and some other ingredients. The main objective is to cleanse the bowels. We are also supposed to take some capsules with medicinal herbs to get the intestines moving. It's a very effective programme indeed; and it brings back fond memories from our time here back in 2009.

Our German camp meeting was blessed. In fact, there wasn't any major problem and the logistics went smoothly. This year, we only had about 290 attendees (as opposed to 350 last year and 400 in 2013), so this also made it easier for me.

On Wednesday, I'll be headed to Budapest to attend the ASI Europe meetings. After that, I'll be visiting my folks in Germany for one week before I head back to the US around September 10. So my Europe vacation is slowly coming to an end. Nevertheless, I look forward to returning to Uchee Pines!

Enjoying some melon juice

Preparing the juice

Busy helpers

Primitive, yet idyllic

Scandinavia

Yesterday, I came back from Scandinavia. I can look back on a very blessed and eventful 2 1/2 weeks there. After 19 years, I finally made it back to Norway. I arrived in Oslo, and the next day, I took a seven-hour train trip to Bergen at the west coast. It was a beautiful trip and this little city is really picturesque. Then I joined a car pool to go to the Living Water camp meeting in the Telemark, which is at the south coast of Norway. It was a spiritual blessing to be there, and I was even able to practise my Norwegian a little bit :-). Then I travelled to Stenshult, Sweden, where my friends Jay and Beathe run a small ministry. They had their annual summer camp meeting with Michael Avaylon from Washington. He gave some interesting talks on the Sanctuary. It was a nice atmosphere and it was good to see my friends again. After that I travelled to Stockholm to do a little sightseeing there. It was quite impressive to see "The Venice of the North", as they call this city.

So now I'm back to my home base in Brussels, but I'm busy getting ready for our annual German camp meeting. I really look forward to another spiritual blessing, and to see many friends again.

Interesting sculptures at Vigelanspark in Oslo

The harbour in Bergen

Beautiful view

At my 20th baptismal anniversary at a lake in Norway

So nice to see the Krueger family again

6 year old Johanna

With Beathe

Stenshult

And finally my sightseeing trip in Stockholm

General Conference

So here I'm back again in Brussels. This past Monday, after an unventful trip from San Antonio, I safely landed in good old Europe. Now I have some time to get over jet lag before I continue my travels this coming Sunday.

I'm thankful for the experience at the GC. It was exciting being together with 60.000+ fellow believers within such a small radius. I especially enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new people. Interpretation of the meetings was challenging at times, but yet a rewarding task. The trip from Uchee Pines took us 18 hours, but on the way back my poor friends were even less lucky, as the vehicle broke down and they had to spend the night at the highway!

Anyway, I'm thankful for the outcome of the business meetings. I'm especially relieved about the no to a more liberal approach towards women's ordination. It's sad to see non-biblical standards as well as influences of Western society creeping in our church more and more. But the Lord is still in control, and He will lead His people to His Kingdom - from whatever denominations they will eventually be composed of. I also appreciate very much the re-election of Elder Ted Wilson. He is definitely the right man to lead our church during such a time as this.

So my next leg will be my trip to Norway and Sweden. I'll be spending a few days in Oslo and Bergen before I travel to the Living Water camp meeting in the Telemark (south west of Norway). From there, I'm going to the camp meeting at Stenshult, which is not too far away from Gothenborg. I look forward to seeing friends and meeting new people. The Lord is good.

At the Hope Channel booth

At my post of duty

Entrance Alamodome

Inside the dome - view from the interpretation floor

With Walter and Sonica Veith

Delegates lining up to speak against or in favor of women's ordination

African choir

With my friend Andrea

Asian choreography

Grand Finale with the Wilson family

Tennessee

Praise God I safely made it back to Uchee Pines yesterday. I'm thankful for some nice fellowship and relaxation during my time in Tennessee. Now I'm getting ready for the trip to the GC session tomorrow, as well as for my two-months stay in Europe. I'm excited!

So here are some pictures of my trip:

Watering the okra in the Humes's garden

Alan & Lorraine in front of their property

Delicious blueberries

At Natchez State Park

Bill and Linda Jennings in Ooltewah

Vilma and Terry Myers

From One Place to Another

At the time of this writing, I'm dwelling in Tennessee visiting some dear friends while recuperating from these past weeks working at Uchee Pines. During the last two lifestyle sessions, I've had some interesting people to work with, including a young lady from Italy who used to work for the United Nations in Rome, as well as an 80-year old retired physician who used to be one of the very first students at Uchee Pines. But it has also been an intense time, with hardly any dull moment.

So I'm grateful I can rest a bit now before I go to the General Conference Session in San Antonio at the beginning of July. It will be a very intense time there as well, as I'm going to be part of the German interpreters. May God help me with that! There will be some interesting discussions during these meetings, and I pray that everything will work out to God's glory and to the advancement of our church.

After that, I'm due to leave the United States again, as my 90-day residence permit will expire once more. The following couple months will be filled with lots of interesting travels, including two camp meetings in Scandinavia, our German camp meeting, juice fasting in Serbia, and the ASI Europe meetings in Budapest. In fact, I'll be visiting six different countries. Well, I have to take advantage of my freedom as long as it lasts!

So if everything works according to plan, I'll be immigrating to the US again in September; and this time on an R1 visa.

Until then, I'm planning to enjoy the next three months to the fullest. I'm sure there will be lots of opportunities to serve; and I found that this is the true key to happiness in life.

"The only way to grow in grace is to be disinterestedly doing the very work which Christ has enjoined upon us—to engage, to the extent of our ability, in helping and blessing those who need the help we can give them. Strength comes by exercise; activity is the very condition of life. Those who endeavor to maintain Christian life by passively accepting the blessings that come through the means of grace, and doing nothing for Christ, are simply trying to live by eating without working. And in the spiritual as in the natural world, this always results in degeneration and decay. A man who would refuse to exercise his limbs would soon lose all power to use them. Thus the Christian who will not exercise his God-given powers not only fails to grow up into Christ, but he loses the strength that he already had." (Steps to Christ, p. 80)

Amen to that! May the Lord help you and me to make this happen in our everyday lives.

Some pictures of my trip will follow shortly :-).