Winter Crops

One aspect I really like about living out here is the fact that I can grow my own vegetables. Last September, I started growing carrots from seed, and I also got to plant some broccoli. In November, I realized that I probably won't see any harvest before the spring, however during the warm month of December that we had, the carrots ended up growing remarkably. So I've been harvesting them, and soon I'm going to enjoy some broccoli!

Carrot patch

Some of the harvest (yes, these are white carrots)

Soon to be harvested!

Now She Rests

At the time of this writing, I'm in Germany staying with family from my father's side. Last week, my dear grandmother Herta Weichhold finally passed away at the age of 96. Of course it's a sad experience, but on the other hand I'm glad for her that she can rest now. In particular the last few months were not worth living for her anymore. It went without saying for me that I would fly all the way over to attend the funeral in spite of the long journey, jet lag etc.

My grandmother was such a strong woman. I admire her for her stamina in these difficult times during and after World War II, when she lost her husband at age 25, having to raise two little boys by herself. I remember her telling me that in one of their last conversations, her husband had told her that she should make sure their sons would get a good education. And she sacrificed a lot for them and also for us grandchildren in order to support us to this end. She was always interested in our wellbeing.

The funeral was dignified, in spite of the pastor's allusions about the immortality of the soul. It's sad that so many people buy into this misbelief, although the bible is so clear on this matter.

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first."             (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

I really hope to see her again on that day!

My last picture with her - at her 95th birthday

Here she was in her late 80s - with my Dad on the right

At her 90th birthday

Here some wintery pictures of the beautiful countryside

And finally at the graveside this afternoon

Year End

The year 2015 is drawing to an end. Since our last lifestyle guests left this past Wednesday, there has definitely been a change of pace here at Uchee Pines, and quite a few have been traveling. So it has been rather quiet over Christmas, with strange weather patterns. For a few days, we had heavy rain falls and thunderstorms, and now it's been unusually warm with sunny spells. This coming week will continue to be quiet and restful. Normal operations will start again next Sunday, and I'm praying for strength and guidance.

Below, I'm posting a few pictures documenting the recent transformation in our house. Thanks to the skills of an 80-year old retiree (a former worker at Uchee Pines who used to run a carpentry shop), as well as some other skilled people, we got a wonderful new kitchen. I'm grateful that my adopted grandpa came back to do this excellent work!

This is how it looked like after they had removed the old kitchen

Here we are getting closer

And this is the finished kitchen!

And that's the house I currently live in!

More Fall Pictures

And here are some more of my recent nature impressions around campus!

And this is the veggie turkey we served to our Lifestyle Guests on Thanksgiving!

Fall in Alabama And Other Happenings

Ok, I'm still alive - just busy! It's been almost two months now that I'm back to the United States. After visiting some friends in the Washington DC area, I finally made it back "home" to Uchee Pines again. And busy I have been! We had a full 10-day lifestyle session as well as the fullest 17-day session ever this year (22 guests). It's been rather challenging, but also extremely rewarding to work with all these precious people. Last Sunday, we started a much lighter session, which of course is nice for a change.

Eventually, fall has arrived here in the South. During the nights, it's been markedly cooler, but we have still had very balmy day temperatures with a lot of sunshine in the past several weeks and very few rainy days. The only thing is that in the morning and evening, you mostly need to dress like in the fall, however during the day you better dress like for an Indian summer!

Anyway, many things have happened here. What impacted me most lately are the losses of several precious people. I did already mention the passing of our co-founder Dr. Agatha Thrash back in September. She was shortly followed by a former lifestyle guest, a 57-year old lady who lived with 4-stage cancer for several years, but finally succumbed to her disease. Linda was such a precious friend to me (you can find a picture of her with her husband here: - it is the second last on the post). And finally, Louise Champen, the wife of our chaplain, passed a couple of weeks ago - exactly on their 50th wedding anniversary. These are all big losses, however it makes me look forward to Heaven even more, when we will finally be reunited with our friends and loved ones. For now, may they rest in peace.

Below are some fall impressions. I will post more later!

Amazing Colors

Pineapply Guavas - yummy!

Persimons - even more yummy!

Dr. Agatha's grave - next to her husband's

Photo Shooting

Last week, I went to a photo studio to get some pictures done for my visa. In the process, I won a free photo shooting. I went for it, and here is the result. I'm quite impressed what professional photographers can get out of you.

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