Sam and I spent the first three years of our mission in a beautiful little town called Falkenstein. Mark was working very hard in Canada to raise support for our mission and even took a job in Calgary to help us make it through. Mark would fly to visit us every month and we built the base of everything for our German mission from that time in Falkenstein. Integration takes time, work, language studies and official paperwork. It also takes a flexible attitude. Falkenstein is a pretty place. Our town was very hilly. We lived beside the pink house which was beside the yellow church at the foot of the pathway to the castle. And it was as sweet as all that. Our social life was very limited because of the language barrier. My friend, Rosa, who at one time lived in the pink house moved. Sam and I made a life there as foreigners in that little town. He went to school and had friends. I walked him daily on the cutest little walk to his kindergarten. I’d just smile and wave at the other parents. I believed that no one could speak to me because I was English. I even sat in on “Mother’s Tee” and smiled and laughed with the other moms. I had no idea what they were saying. I was building trust just by sitting there and smiling. I learned after a year that there were a couple of moms that remembered enough English from their school days to say hello and even make some conversation. It was very difficult though. I was invited to their homes and we tried to communicate as best we could. They did much better than me! They also made better cakes. After I was there a couple of years I was asked to do an English learning class for the kindergarten haus (house). So, 23 kids signed up and I taught them 1 hour classes once a week for free. I did the best I could and made it as exciting as possible. I used youtube, toys, balloons, fruits, games, colouring, songs etc. Sam was my assistant and every time I did a class I was exhausted afterwards. “Teaching is not for me. Children are exhausting.” I kept telling myself. In spite of how hard I found it, the class was very appreciated by the moms and teachers! Sam and I became a little bit popular in our small town and we had lots of smiles, waves and acknowledging nods after that. We were even in the newspaper a couple of times. The people in Falkenstein were always very kind. BUT we were foreigners and it took us sticking around town for a long time before we felt totally accepted. I find myself missing Falkenstein a lot these days. Sam really misses his friends, too. From Falkenstein we searched for our “Ministry Centre/Hotel”….We would find it after viewing 50 hotels throughout Bavaria. Happily, the one we found was still in Bavaria but it was 3.5 hours away. “Good-bye Falkenstein, Aufweidersehen!”
googlemaps A:FALKENSTEIN B:BAD BRUCKENAU
Our apartment was on the second floor.
Out front of our apartment. We rented the spot where Sam is standing to park our car. What a blessing that was! We use to have to park down the road in public parking and walk up the hill with our stuff.
These are some shots of our apartment inside. When we arrived in Germany we only came with our carry-on luggage. For the first 3 months we had a few of Rosa’s mattresses on the floor and 1 chair for when Mark visited. We didn’t even have a stove but we had a toaster oven with a hot plate on top. Our fridge was a “college- 1/2 sized fridge” without a freezer; we used this the entire 3 years. It was a real change but I loved the simplicity of my life here!
My friend, Rosa, who we couldn’t have done all this without…..found an ad for some furniture in the paper. We went and saw it and Rosa and the people brought it to our house. When they heard our story they decided to give it to us, they were believers too!
Our time is Falkenstein is one of the sweetest seasons of our lives.
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