A relaxed start to the day with breakfast and visiting. Mid day Kevin and I went into Frankfurt and parked at the Methodist office. We then took the train to a market place. Wow what a great lot of good smells. We looked around at all the booths just to get me oriented.
We stopped at a Wurst stand that had all kinds of sausages, schnitzel and wild pig. We got a bratwurst sandwich, with mustard of course. We went to another stand and they had hot cider and apple wine.
After we ate Kevin bought some different kinds of cheeses from his favorite cheese man and meat at one of the many meat stands. Walking past the waffel stand was too much for me and so we shared one. Then back on the train to the car.
We drove about an hour and a half to the Frankfurt Hahn airport. It is a smaller airport serviced by Ryanair and others. I took the flight to Kaunas, Lithuania. I had to pay $75 extra luggage fee because of all the strings. There were no assigned seats and one different thing was that everyone clapped when the plane landed.
John and Bonnie Campbell, the Districe Superentendant and his wife here picked me up and took me to their home. They fixed me a nice late night supper and we visited for a while. They didn’t really know what the “string man” does so I gave a demonstration. They said that many people remembered me from the last times I have been here.
Dave
We took the day off and went on the Autobahn to the Convent of Hildegard of Bingen to get there by noon. What a beautiful church and grounds set in the middle of wine country. The Sisters also make some very nice wines as well as having some other crafts at their Convent shop. We had noon Mass and looked around then went down the hill to the town.
We really had to search for a restaurant that was open. This is a big tourist area and many of the places were closed for the winter season. We found a place that served very good pork and red cabbage. A nice glass of wine went with lunch very well. What a nice relaxing lunch.
We then drove back down the Rhine and I was surprised at how many castles there were. They are really close together. It seemed as if they were every few miles…only 4 or 5 miles between them. Some in disrepair and some either kept up or refurberished. Beautiful villages along the way with a tall steeple for each. Sometimes more than one.
We then went cross country to Limburg traveling over hills with much of the land in forest. There really is a lot of land that is not farmed, even close to Frankfurt. There are no homes in the country. Everyone, even the farmers live in the village. The farmers live on the outer edges of it and go to their lands so you see fields or vinyards or orchards then a village then more fields or forest. Everything is neat and trimmed.
We went into Frankfurt to the Methodist office and then went to the train station so I could practice how to get home from a couple of my trips to the North. Kevin and Carol are taking very good care of me.
Dave
This morning Lisa took me to meet Kevin at the Frankfurt International School. It was about half way between their homes. Kevin was there to meet me and we drove to Friedrichdorf where they live. Kevin and Carol Seckle are Methodist Missionaries from America. I met them when they were working in Alaska as Spiritual Life Directors at the Alaska Children’s Home. I went to visit them when they were in Lithuania a couple of times and they really understand String Ministries. We had a great time visiting and catching up on our various travels, family etc.
Kevin and I walked over to the store and picked up typical sandwich stuff for lunch. After lunch he drove me to Saalburg where there are some Roman ruins. There is a blockhouse that was started about 80 AD. It was part of a wall system that ran across Germany into France. It was rebuilt about 100 years ago so by Oklahoma standards even that is old.
Kevin and Carol have planned my trip so we went over some of the plans. They are missionaries to refugee churches and international churches here. I will not cover those dates now since I will be writing of them later.
Dave
We got to the school about 9:30 and after we found coffee I was ready to work with the 6th graders. This in an International school, actually a satellite campus of the Frankfurt International School. There are children from all cultures here in this English speaking school. For many English is a second language. They did a great job of listening to the story and then following directions for making the figures. We learned some tough things, but they were up to it.
That was followed by 4th Graders. Caleb was in that class so they already had seen some things and were pumped. We did some of the same things he knew and also some new things. Ms.Gulick the librarian remembered doing Cat’s Cradle in school…a few years ago and was telling the kids that she would teach that to them.
Next we had third graders and they were equally ready and met the challange. They did a great job and learned many things.
Lunch was in the cafeteria. Very different from US school cafeterias. Chicken schnitzel with a delicious bacon, onion and pepper sauce to put over it, potato wedges and a nice lettuce salad.
After school we went to the Wiesbaden Military Base and I exchanged some dollars for euros. It is a little America with all the fast food places. Then we went back to school to pick up Caleb and Josh who had after school programs. We took the Autobahn. Boy do they travel fast on it.
After a great supper of steak and baked potato we all did strings. Caleb and Jake made a great long figure from the dancing ghost. I then taught Jake to make the Cross and Jesus on the Cross. We had some fun with some other figures and even had dad (Jon) confused with trying to connect too loops together.
Ready for bed Dave.
My day started in Lawton wth the weather misting on a 30 degree day. It was soon turning to ice on my windshield. As I was getting to Oklahoma City the roads were starting to get slippery. I left my car with a friend and he drove me to the airport past cars in the ditch or going the wrong way on the highway. I was sure that the plane would be grounded so I called and they said that the flight was still on.
We arrived at the airport and I checked in. Waited as the plane was one hour late getting in but it did load and after de-icing, we took off for Washington Dullas. I had about two hours layover there and then loaded on a 777 for Frankfout, Germany. I was supposed to have a three hour layover but since the plane was late it was two. Thank heaven for that leway. A seven hour flight seemed short after the 16 hour flight to Pakistan. Breezed through pasport control and customs.
Kevin and Carol are in Berlin so they had friends from their church pick me up. Lisa came into the waiting area after I had been waiting for only about ten minutes. She brought me to their home on the 4th floor in the American military housing area in Frankfurt for embasy personnel. A beautiful two floor appartment. I can be happy here for a couple of days. A hot shower, a nap and then Lisa and Jon and the boys will be back for supper. More later.
Lisa fixed a great dish with chicken, bacon, artichoke hearts and feta cheese over pasta. The three boys Jake, Chad and Josh were interested in learning some string games so we worked on that part of the evening. Turned in early.
Dave
I leave for Europe on Monday the 26th and get into Frankfort, Germany on the 27th. The missionaries that were picking me up will be at a conference in Berlin so another family is going to pick me up and baby sit me for a couple of days. I did not communicate on a date change very well.
I will be in Germany and fly to Latvia next week then take the bus to Lithuania for a few days. Then back to Germany. More standing in the waiting room for someone to recognize me from the pictures on the web, have a sign or something. Then off to wherever they are taking me. A lot of trust is needed for this job.
I am getting all the things home taken care of so that I can be gone a month. I am so happy Lynna is in the office to take care of all of that as well as my personal bills, etc. Of course, she is having some major surgury on the 4th and will be doing much of this from her computer at home…when she feels like it. More trust.
I think I have everything that I need so now I need to let it rest. I often think of something that I need to add, or, God reminds me of something that I forgot. It is a good idea for me to have a couple of days for this process to happen. I am taking winter stuff as well as an umbrella. The Balkins are having cold rain right now.
I should have internet capabilities so I will be blogging as we go along.
Dave
Tony Caro, the pastor at the United Methodist church in Hinton and I met about 5 years ago and he has been waiting for the right time to have me come to Hinton. That time arrived. The church sponsored my visit to the Hinton Elementary School for the day yesterday. I had a great time working with K - 5. They had about 2 classes of each grade level and so the groups were very workable. Mr Duffy, the principal set up a good workable schedule. We had a good time.
Then in the evening at 5:15 I was at the church for free hot dogs and cookies and a program for the community. We had about 100 people there…greater than they had expected. Everyone that came got a new string. Old and young came together to learn the “rest of the story”. I taught some of the high school youth to make the cross and Jesus on the cross. I also taught a couple of the men the figure that goes along with the story of the “camel and the eye of the needle.” The rest of us walked through creation and the seperation and rejoining of man and God.
We had a rowsing time in the gym of the church. Lots of laughter and helping each other. It was one of those old time small town get togethers that include everyone. What fun. I am sure that Hinton is now the string capital of Oklahoma. At least for a few days.
Dave
I talked with Rauf Swan the pastor in Pakistan that is working on a school for his village. He said that when they have $1,000 on hand they can start the school in the existing quarters of the church. We have a good start on that now. He thinks that they can start the school in April. What a great thing that would be for the kids of Jinnah Christian Colony.
If you would like a good read try “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It is the story of Greg Mortenson, a mountain climber who wanted to start a school in the mountainous region near K2 in Northern Pakistan. His experiences are much starker than mine as he was in a much more remote area but many of the things he talks about are true for the whole region. I really enjoyed reading it.
If you are interested in the school project for your church or school let me know and I can send you some more information. You can also check at www.StringMinistries.org Pakistani School. I will be adding information there soon.
Dave
What a nice day at the school. I was invited to work with the third graders for the day. I had them all together for a story and some visiting and then went to each of their 5 rooms seperately for a string workshop. They did a great job and are all pumped up to teach the rest of the school. Each group learned some things to each the younger kids as well as the rest of the school. The teachers want to make this an annual event.
I had an hour in the afternoon that they were busy so Margo Cannaday the Librarian arranged for me to work with three fourth grades. It was an extra treat for the school and I would rather work with kids than sit and wait for the others to become available.
The library staff enjoyed looking at the pictures from Pakistan and when the principal, Tim Haws came in we showed them to him. He was very interested and when I said that I was trying to start a school in the village, he said that he thought it might be a good project for his students to work on. Wow! He is very interested in his students having an outreach in the world. I will be sending him some pictures and information to use in getting this started.
If you are interested in reading about the school it is at www.StringMinistries.org Pakistani School.
Dave
UTube is such a good way for people to display their talents. Sure, some are pretty wierd and some are very amaturish but let’s face it, that is the way we are.
I was looking up string figures and am always amazed at how cute Alexander and his little sister are on the videos. I am even on UTube with a couple of shots of me working with people in Bolivia.
I saw some strings that sure looked like the ones that I have made at Goodwill. Some are home made with a big knot and some of different lengths but some are definately my strings. (Goodwill made 142,000 strings for me last year.) We ship all over so they are in all corners of the US and many parts of the world.
I also saw two people having a race to see who could make the “spider” the fastest. The method they were using was one that only is taught by myself. It is satisfying to see that some of the things that I am teaching are being used and passed along. Strings are really becoming part of the popular culture again.
More later, Dave