Adventures with Othmar and Esther Day 2

Sunday May 17 we had breakfast at 'home' and then went to church.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but that's okay.  We LOVED attending this ward!  There was something about it that was just so amazing!  The people, so different from one another and some so different than us, were beautiful and incredible.  They were so kind and welcoming and we felt so loved as we worshiped with them.

After church we stopped at home to get something to eat.  Then it was back into Stein Am Rhein.  We entered through a different gate this time.

I loved seeing Glenn with Othmar and Esther!  They truly became his grandparents while we were there.  Glenn would easily walk up to them, hold their hands and talk with them.  I had to get this picture of all three boys skipping through the streets!

We went to the Museum Lindwurm and got to go through it this time.  It showed what life was like in the home and the farm attached to it.  It was pretty incredible to see their way of life.

Glenn's favorite part was the more hands-on room.  Here we could sit on the beds and dress up and even play with the old toys!

We liked the view from the top window.  Its incredible to see so many different house tops so close together.

The museum was all we had time for because we wanted to get back to the church for a special musical fireside.  We took one last picture in the old city--at another entrance/exit.

Othmar and Esther especially wanted to go to the fireside because the choir was made up of young single and married members from Switzerland and they knew two of the performers.  I wish I could've recorded the entire fireside!  It was magnificent!  Even though they sung in German, the Spirit is still the same.  They brought me to tears on more than one song.  They even sang one of my favorites--My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee.  Look it up--it's such a beautiful song!

When the choir members entered the chapel, Paul and I turned to each other and pointed to one of them, mentioning how much he looked like a friend of ours. The resemblance was uncanny!  He even had similar ways of holding his head and little mannerisms.   After the fireside, Othmar and Esther found the young men they knew.  And one of them was our friend-look-alike!  So we had to talk to him about it.  It was a lot of fun to talk with him, to tell him about our friend and to find out more about him.

 I also recognized one of the sisters--I told Paul that she had been one of the sister missionaries in Madrid when we went the first time.  He didn't believe me, saying that it didn't look like her.  But I was brave and asked her afterwards if she had served a mission in Madrid.  She had and she recognized us as well but didn't think it could be us.  How funny!  Such a small world!

We enjoyed the fireside and talking with members afterwards.  But we also wanted to go out on the lake/river with Othmar's boat, so we headed out.  Again we were racing against the sun and even though it was getting close to dusk, we still went out.

Glenn and Paul helped Othmar get the boat ready.  There wasn't really room for 5 people, so Esther stayed on shore.  

I enjoyed taking pictures of the sunset and the lake.  So incredibly beautiful!!!

View of the castle that we toured the day before

And of the cloister

It was a bit chilly being out on the water in the evening.  We didn't have anything warmer with us--too bad we didn't have blankets.  But we still had fun.

But then the bugs came out.  In full furry!!  We were attacked on all sides

On our way back, Othmar let Glenn steer the boat.  Glenn loved this!  

Paul got to help too.  I stayed at the top of the boat, took pictures and then held the light up as it got really dark.

This was our final view of the water, just after getting out of the boat.  We were all pretty cold and ready to be inside and warm, but we really enjoyed the boat ride.  It had been a beautiful day!