On Sunday everything is closed here. Grocery stores, restaurants, pretty much everything other than some bakeries, which are open in the morning. It's not unusual to be in Germany on a Sunday and see large groups of people going on walks together. The past month and a half has been extremely busy for us. We have been going to language school five days a week and several days of the week we have been going to church events in Peine.

This past Sunday we decided it was time to explore our town a bit more. After all this is our new home. Before Sunday, we knew how to get to the grocery store, the train station, and downtown. When we first moved to Celle we were told that we should go visit the cemetery here in town. They told us it was really nice. I don't know about you, but when I'm just moving in to a town, the cemetery is not the first place I plan on going. But on Sunday we decided to take the journey to the cemetery. I have to tell you, they were right. It was really nice. In fact it was really beautiful too. You almost felt like you were in a botanical garden, except there were grave stones everywhere. It was in the woods, and each grave had a garden on it. A lot of them had fresh cut flowers. There was even a pond. The most interesting spot we found had three crosses erected and a bench. At first I thought this might be a good place to sit and meditate on God. Then as were walking along the path we noticed what the stones on the ground said. The stones said (in German) "unknown April 1945. I tried to count them and there must have been over 200 in this mass grave.

It's strange being here and seeing the war through their eyes. I don't agree with what happened to the Jews or what Hitler stood for, but I have to say it's hard to ignore the somewhat recent past. The city of Hannover where we go to school was bombed almost beyond recognition. There was one building left unharmed just so the planes flying over could recognize what city it was. I don't usually like to talk about the war here, but sometimes you can't help but be shocked by how devastating it can be.

Here's a picture of the building in Hannover that was left unbombed:

Here's a picture of the youth group in Peine. (that's the town we go to church in.)

Here's some pictures of the town we live in:

Apartment Pictures!

Here's our apartment. A man at the church is renting us his first floor. It came fully furnished. All that was missing was a bed. So that was great for our budget. We just had to buy a bed and some curtains and a few other items. We feel like God really blessed us. Even though we didn't raise the amount that was estimated we would need to live off. We have been blessed with this very nice apartment for a very good price. Our landlord has agreed to let us stay here for 6 months. It may be extended. We'll let you know.

The Living room/office


We have lots of storage too. Since there's no closets in Germany they use lots of cupboards and wardrobes. So you'll see lots of that here.




The Kitchen


This is a normal sized fridge. It's actually bigger than some I've seen. We even have a freezer, which is great!




The bathroom was really hard to take pictures of. It was so small I couldn't get a good shot. So I had to take a lot of pictures of it. I didn't even get the toilet in any of them. Hope you're not too dissappionted.





The Bedroom

This is a picture of what our mattress looked like when we bought it. It was all rolled up and vaccum sealed. I thought it was crazy. You can also see Germany's version of a bedspring. It's made of wood. I, Alyssa, thought this bed was going to be very uncomforable. But I've slept like a baby on it. I used to be such a light sleeper, but I don't know anymore.





Here's the bed:

Things to come...

Oh one more thought. We should be putting up some pictures soon. We're just both so bad at taking pictures. This Saturday we are having some friends come and see Celle. So hopefully we can get some nice pictures that day. I was trying to learn a little about Celle before we have people come. I found out Celle has over 500 half timber houses. Most cities in Germany don't have that many because of the war. The downtown is very pretty. It's about a 15 minute bike ride from our house. So now you have that to look forward to.

Language school is going really well. Because we already have learned some German these first two weeks have been very easy, but we are moving at a very fast pace and I think the rest of the class will be caught up before the first month is over. I am really excited about our class because I feel like it has been very good so far and we still have 5 and a half months to go. After the first week of school I (Zach) got really sick. I haven’t been that sick in a long time. After finally going to the doctor on Tuesday I am doing much better. Alyssa also got pretty sick, but she did not go to the doctor.

Thursday evening the “let’s start talking” group had a party for everyone that wanted to practice their English. “Let’s start talking” is an outreach group that uses English to read through a simple English version of the Bible and witness to people that want to improve their English speaking. I think things have been going pretty well for the group. They are only here for 3 more weeks. We are hoping to make friends with some of these people at the parties so that we can continue to witness to them after the group goes back to America.
Friday night we went to Peine again to go to the youth group bible study. I think that things went well. We had a good time getting to know the kids better. This coming week we will be meeting with Petra on Tuesday. She has helped other Americans in the past with their pronunciation and said that she would be willing to help us as well. I am hoping that we will be able to speak with little or no accent in the future.

Please continue to pray for us as any transition into another culture is difficult.

Language School

We started language school today. They covered a lot of different material but we understood everything. I think things will pick up in a couple of weeks. There are 7 people in our class. 2 are from Palestine, one is from Taiwan, one from China, and another lady from Lexington, KY. Today we went out for Döner with our new friends. Döner is a food from Turkey (the country) that is extremely popular. You can find Döner restaurants all over the place here. So it was fun to go out with everyone from class. We were really surprised how quickly we all started to mesh. The first day we really didn’t talk to anyone, but by the second day we were all talking a lot and by the 3rd day (today) we’ve already gone out.

When we were eating together we were speaking German, English, two of the people with us were speaking Chinese. There were some German girls sitting at the table next to us and they were giving us some odd looks. I think we are a strange group, but I love it. It’s so great to be with these people that I usually don’t have the opportunity to spend time with.

Monday was extremely hot, which was our first day of school. It’s especially hot when we ride our bikes everywhere and no one has air conditioning. It is about 36 degrees Celsius which I think is in the mid 90’s Fahrenheit. The internet forecast says that it is only 30 Celsius but that’s not what the thermometer outside our window says. It’s cooled down quiet a bit, but the first day of school was so hot and it was too loud outside to leave the window open. So no fans or air conditioner. That was one stuffy room.

Zach’s had a horrible time with allergies. I’ve never seen him this bad. I think today was the first day he’s felt alright. Although he said his eyes are starting to itch again. Other than some sickness we’re doing well. Thanks for your prayers!

We have arrived

We are so excited to be back in Germany, and have been very busy so far. Our flight over seas was a little delayed but we made it to our last flight alright. Randy Smelser picked us up from the airport and brought us to his house. we got there a little after 4 p.m. and had supper. We were finally able to take showers again. Then Randy needed help pouring concrete because they are remodeling the church's kitchen. So after my shower Randy, Tim (the intern) and I poured concrete. The next day I met Stephan, one of the elders from the church. He was remodeling his living room and needed help. Saturday there was a church work day for everyone to come and help remodel the kitchen. so we put wood down over the concrete we had poured and cut the flooring so it is ready to glue. I also repaired a picket fence. Alyssa was in charge of feeding everyone there. So far we have been keeping very busy. Tomorrow morning we are going to take a train into Hanover to take a test to see how far along in language school we will be. So far I am very impressed with myself on how much a remember and am able to speak. I don't remember being this fluent the last time I was in Germany. I hope to put some picture on here soon. I think the town we are in now looks really nice. This coming Thursday we move up to Celle to stay with Burkhard. We met him today and he is a very nice man. Friday the "Let's start talking" group from Joplin is coming to work with Germans that would like to work on their English. They will read through the book of John. I guess we came at a very busy time.