Quick Post From Leipzig...

Good evening!

It's gettin kinda late here, so I'll keep it short, but I do get to sleep in a little bit in the morning!

Monday was a lot of fun, we did some sightseeing that ended up being mostly driving around and shopping in the rain, but it was fun! We had some members of the Espelkamp Mennonite youth group join us, Tabea, Tabea, Tobias, and Leo, it was a lot of fun! The concert was once again well recieved, so impressed by the audiences here... it was a smaller church, but we ate outside on the deck and it was beautiful! Thanks to all who helped!

This morning was another one of those bittersweet goodbyes... I was talking with a few friends, and it's hard, because we're all so much looking forward to the rest of the trip, but at the same time, we keep meeting new friends and don't feel like we've spent as much time with them as we'd like to before leaving again... So I said goodbye to the Enns family, Henry & Lisa, and their sons Christopher, Mike, and John. Had a great time with them too! We shared lots of stories and talked late into the night, seems to be a reoccurance with me... :) I am continiously impressed with the overwhelming hospitality and graciousness of our hosts and audiences here in Europe, and the Enns family was no exception...

So after leaving the church, we made our way to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, a 2 hr drive from Espelkamp. Most spent this time catching up on journaling or sleeping, but some were just enjoying the beautiful German countryside... and I have to say, the Canola fields are beautiful!!! I was of the journaling crew, but as we got closer to our destination, I kept getting caught up in what was ahead of us, and what it was going to mean... I began to feel a little bit of apprehension, and when bradley gave the wake-up call to nappers at 15 km away, my mind was racing...

Upon arrival at the camp, we were pretty much turned loose by Ken and Bardley to roam about the memorial museum and grounds at our own leisure, meeting back in the bus by 12:30... while I wish we had more time, I was very glad for the time to go through alone... The museum was very moving, a little much at some points with the graphic pictures, but the stories were amazing... I also learned much more that the history books tend to leave out, the brutality, the prisoners of war, and so much more... I didn't know what to think a lot of the time, and I think now that that was ok, it was a mixture of disbelief, anger, and helplessness... I had taken my camera in, wearing it around my neck, but not once in the hour and a half could I bring myself to take off the lens cap, it seemed as if nothing could capture the emotions that I felt, it was strange... but a very moving experience, and I was very appreciative of the assignment Bradley and Ken had for us to do back in the bus.

The first hour and a half of the 3 hour bus ride to Leipzig was deemed as quiet time by our fearless leaders, another thing to be thankful for, because it gave me time to process my experiences, go over the questions, and journal about the morning's visit... then I also had to think, this beautiful countryside that I am driving through, this was the site of war... so many places we'll visit have felt first hand the tragedy of war twice within the last century... here in Leipzig for instance, rebuilding is still happening... speaking of our journey, we also passed the old checkpoint between east and west germany, no man's land... another chilling reminder of the recent history. I also realized that my dad and grandparents were on this same tour here, and would've had to go through this checkpoint... hmm...

Anyways, we arrived at our Hostel to find that our reservations weren't there! after a little bit of problem solving, we got a little less desireable room situation, but it all worked out fine... we got a short orientation tour of the city from Ken, and then were off to dinner and an evening on our own! A group of us ate traditional Saxon food at a famous resturant that I can't seem to remember it's name... just know that it ended in Keller, and it's famous for being mentioned in literature... anyways, it was amazing!

The rest of the evening consisted of window shopping, actual shopping (how do you correctly notate the difference here???), getting train info for after tour, and ice cream! Then it was back to the Hostel for the evening where we journaled and hung out, mostly playing cards and contacting friends back home...

Well, it's off to bed! A sightseeing day in Leipzig lays ahead of me! Hope this post finds you all well...

Blessings,
John