Refugees to Poland

You can go straight to the pictures at the bottom of this blog if you want to.  If you want more detail and better writing, you can check out Nancy's weekly email.

It is Sunday morning and the church bells are ringing all around Frankfurt.  It is 43 degrees outside, and the smoke from the chimney across from us is going straight up. The sky is blue with a few stationary, fluffy clouds.  We missed church today because an emergency meeting was called to discuss, plan, and coordinate how we might help the refugees who are flowing into Poland from Ukraine.  We have been involved with this for the past few days connecting with the Mission President in Poland and another knowledgeable contact.  The meeting today was designed to pull some thinking together.  The news says that 100,000 refugees have entered Poland.  Our guess is that there will be more.  It has been amazing to see how the church mobilizes to help these people.  We are finished with the initial contacting and connecting of key players and will now hand the responsibility off to the manager of welfare/self reliance services over the Poland area.  It has been a blessing and a learning experience to be able to interact with such good hearted, capable people.  I'm amazed at their dedication and commitment to do good.

Last week we initiated the first group gathering of all the Self-Reliance couple missionaries across Europe.  Moving forward, our plan is to have this gathering once a month.  It was and will be a nice venue to interact and learn from one another.  We will be able to share best practices, frustrations, and news from home with each other. 

Nancy continues to work on her collection of success stories.  She is very dedicated and focussed.  

We found time on Saturday to return to Würzburg for a second time.  Nancy and I went alone this week and spent most of the day at the Marienberg Fortress (castle).  We walked around the castle courtyard, and then went through a museum that was housed inside the castle.  It was a neat museum which included children discovery exhibits, exhibits of medieval castles and lifestyles, and a of art that had been moved to Würzburg from Bavaria during the war.  After the museum, we went the Würzberg square and did some unsuccessful shopping (looking for a stocking hat for Nancy).  We found a nice little cafe' to have a relaxing lunch, and then returned to Frankfurt.  

Here are some pictures:

Lunch in Würtburg after a nice day at the castle and shopping.

This might be weird, but I wanted to show the bathroom stalls.  They typically go from floor to ceiling.  

A view from inside the Marienberg Fortress.

A statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus in the Marienberg Museum at the Fortress.

More art at the museum.  Much of the art came from Bavaria to be housed here during the war.

The word for night in German is Ritter.

The fair maiden in front of the entrance to the castle courtyard.


Comments

  1. Susan ThomasFebruary 27, 2022 at 7:50 PM

    I am so happy to see you in your lovely environment. I am also so sad about the conflict in Ukraine and the upheavals it is causing for the people. Nancy's description of the people assembled to work together is inspiring; I know you and they are all doing much good right now. Thank you for your service!

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