Sunday in Basel

We gathered for Sunday morning breakfast with the Sagesser family. Swiss Sunday breakfasts include the special bread 'Zopf', a braided bread made simply of flour, salt, butter and milk. Every breakfast includes jams, breads, butter, milk and coffee.

We would be going to church this morning but ironically not to the Schantzli Mennonite Church (although that is Schantzli's sanctuary in the photo) that I had hoped to worship in. Instead we were to go to the neighboring Reformed church for a combined service. This is now a yearly occurrence, something that started 4 or 5 years ago, always on the first Sunday of July. The Mennonite pastor preached and the Reformed pastor presided over the service. There was an infant baptism to start the service off. I thought it a bit odd to put that ceremony front and center of a combined Mennonite/ Reformed service, almost like rubbing it in the face of your guests. But maybe Mennonites have had an adult baptism when they hosted. But everyone sat there quietly except the baby, who screamed away at the action of a strange woman (the Reformed Pastor) holding him and making him wet (just sprinkling).

After the service I did have a chance to talk to several people, one was a woman who knew a genealogist who is working on an Amstutz family history in NA. So I gave her my email address to give to this woman. My advice was, if she was going to visit the US, she should surely visit Kidron and the historical museum downtown. I also talked to a young man of 16, Daniel, who was a missionary kid with his family in the Congo as a boy. I also talked with Mattias and Sylvia Hofer who were MCC'ers in Botswana for several years. I also knew Mattias when I was a trainee in '86.

The rest of the day was mostly rest and relaxation. The girls needed to hop on the razor scooters and bicycles and go up and down the local street where the Sagessers live. We enjoyed lunch and supper there, including grilled sausage for supper with at least half of the family (that would be 4 of the children) present. Bruno & Heidi have been wonderful hosts and it has been fun to get to know their children, the majority are adults and gone.

I did show some photos as a power point presentation of sorts. I just pulled out groups of photos at random, which did remind me that I should go through all the photos and put together some presentations for family and friends.

In the evening as we were relaxing outside in lawn chairs on a beautiful summer's eve, we met Ernst and Mary Amstutz and their 14 year old daughter. Our girls seemed to hit it off with her while we enjoyed talking with Ernst and Mary. Mary is Canadian Mennonite from B.C. and Ernst was a trainee in Canada (its amazing the number of former trainees I have met). We enjoyed hearing their stories. Mary's story was amazing. Born in Tajikistan, emigrated to Canada at 6, now here in Switzerland, she was part of a Mennonite remnant in central Asia. Such stories are always fascinating to me.

Another day to remember in Switzerland.