This is just one of the many clock towers in Bern, the capitol city of Switzerland, it snowed the day we came in. Did you know that Switzerland has no president or prime minister; they have a group of seven people which act as the executive branch of their government.
Here we are in front another of the clock towers. From left to right ? Annia (our children?s pastor), Denise (one of the missionaries from Seattle), Paulina (a Polish girl from our church, doing an internship in one of the Swiss foursquare churches), and me.
Just an upwards view at a typical Swiss (and most of western Europe) courtyard and style.
A view from one of the bridges crossing the river which goes through the city (I forget the name of the river), I loved the feel and look of the Swiss cities.
A church clock tower and residences in the ?old town? of Bern.
More of the ?old town?, the house we stayed in was about 230 years old, it was huge, and very beautiful, sorry I didn?t get any pictures of it.
One of the ?Bern? Bears, the city was named after the first animal the founder killed in the area, which was a Bear; ?Bern? is bear in Swiss-German.
A typical street view in the city of Bern, I can?t tell you enough how much I enjoyed Switzerland, I definitely want to visit again.
A statue in the city hall of ?Basel? the second largest city in Switzerland, of about 480k people. Another very nice city, we were here just to visit some of the youth pastors in a Foursquare church there.
The ?Poland? team standing in front of the Basel city hall. From left to right ? Carol (the other Seattle missionary), Annia, Me, and Denise.
I guess the speed setting on my camera was wrong, and so this picture came out kinda funky, but I like it. The lady in black is Sylvia, she is one of the Swiss youth pastors in the Basel Foursquare church.
There was a city-wide carnival happening in Basel the day we visited (which was the same day we left Switzerland, the Ferris Wheel you see is one of the largest in the world, it is 160 feet high at its highest point. It is placed at the highest point in the city, so we took a ride, and the views were great?
Here is one of the pictures from the top of the city.
A church which was in the same square as the Ferris wheel.
Another picture from the Ferris wheel.
A view across the ?old town? of Basel from the Ferris wheel.
A view looking down.
A picture overlooking the city and the ?Rhine? river.
Another view down.
This is kind of a cool picture, in our workshop for Youth leaders back in Bern, for the conference, Denise talked about taming the wild horse in youth, and focusing that energy into a positive life changing energy, just as a horse trainer uses a choral to train the horse, the church should be an area for learning, teaching, and training for teenagers. Plus the trainer makes a relationship with the horse, just as we should invest the time and care as a horse trainer does for the youth. So, the picture is of a ?wild horse? balloon which escaped the hands of some child, to meet heaven.
A picture on one of the ferries across the Rhine river. Left to right ? Carol, Sylvia, and Prisca from the Basel foursquare church.
A picture from the ferry, I tweaked it because it didn?t turn out very good, so I made it look artistic.
A better picture of the same view.
From the ferry looking up at the Ferris wheel.
Sylvia and Prisca with the Ferris wheel in the background from the ferry.
A very cool water fountain in down-town Basel, I antiqued it, since it was too dark otherwise.
This is about 12 hours into our trip home, a view of the Tatr mountains in Slovakia.
There it is a glimpse of Switzerland! It was truly an amazing time, I truly thank God for the believers in Switzerland, they are so supporting? and I hate to say, but even more so than our connections in the States? (as for Carol and Denise that is, my connections still have time to prove themselves? j/k) The Swiss believers are incredibly dedicated to helping us plant our church, and providing us the ability to make relationships for our young people. I truly feel like there is a family here amongst the believers, even though they are separated by 15 hours (by car)? if that can happen here, it can happen anywhere, even around the world. Thank you for your prayers, support, and simply maintaining the communication with me.