Sunday, so the first thing is church. Not quite what we expected (which was a very traditional service in a big cold church), it was a special "family service" at the place we went, in Burglein. We sat on benches in the lovely sunshine and watched the children act out a story and sang along to a brass band and listened and sang with the children (to the well tuned guitars - a pleasant change for this trip!). The pastor’s message was great: don’t push things away when opportunities arise of if you have a desire; live life today and get out and do it! Our hosts figured this message is for our parents who really must come to visit Germany. It was delivered well by the pastor and included lots of interaction. When he asked "What is something you would do to make yourself happy?" it took a good 5-10mins to get around the whole group (most people had something to say) and after he made his main point (to seize the day), people spoke with the benches around, again for another 5-10mins. Church is so much more integrated into community life in these many small villages, it’s nice to see such a genuinely simple spirituality.

We were given a look inside the church afterwards. Again it is hundreds of years old, and built in a certain style inside which was interesting to see. It’s certainly very much more ornate than anything I’ve seen in Australia, but still felt nice and cosy (despite the size and it being empty at the time).

Lunch was at a nice restaurant just out of Heilsbronn that has a little children’s play area, a large pond with ducks and swans, and an enclosure with rabbits and guinea pigs. Really pleasant atmosphere and nice food beer.

In the afternoon Lara and I had our first meeting with our extended family. A truely memorable occasion but I’m way too tired to write about it now. My fishbone has finally worked its way out of my food pipe into my stomach, and the shower is free: all the sings that I should sleep now and write later.

Residence of our family friends,
Heilsbronn, Germany