a time of mourning

remember the flood incident i told you about? well, there was a terrible loss amidst it all. My very first bible was soaked in the flooding and it could not be salvaged. so now i mourn. it is a very sad thing, i wrote and underlined a lot in that bible - some of you know how precious these things can be. so many memories . . . that bible saw so much travel - hungary, china, korea, the netherlands, many roadtrips . . . (tear)

 in other news - i traveled by train to Cuxhaven, Germany yesterday with some friends. not that every place looks the same, but pretty much, all the countries are starting to look the same. there's shopping area, some restuarants, fields with animals grazing. the buildings are slightly different, but each country has had unique looking buildings. I'm ready to see Benin - as i'm told it will look drastically different.

even while things looked familiar, we did have a nice time. the ship was docked in Cuxhaven two years ago and some of the people had been on the ship two years ago and remembered Cuxhaven. we went to this pizza parlor that they used to eat at a lot and then to this little icecream parlor. the owners remembered Mercy Ships and treated us - they were very sweet and the icecream was delicious.

 the only other noticable thing about Germany is they are not English friendly. Most places have English on signs and many people speak it or attempt to. This is not as common in Germany. It's pretty much German or bust. 

oh one more grand thing - lisa's back! hooray! she's great and lovely and funny - love that girl and it's nice to hear her laugh again:-)

 hope all is well with you - write me! oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO Mrs. Kritin Thompson and Mrs. Sarah Coe!!! emily:-)