First full day in Jena



Grill Teufel



Still trying to finish sharing about our trip to Europe (a month later - oops!)...

Tuesday morning we woke up and had breakfast with the Koch family. Anja and their younger son, Artur were off to the church for a moms group. Thomas was walking Immanuel (their older son) to school, so we joined him. I love being able to walk everywhere - so nice!

Once we back, three of the student leaders from Connexxion came over for a meeting. Thomas discussed all the things that were planned for the week. This week was the week when all the new students come on campus for registration, orientation, etc. We also had a time of devotion and prayer, and of course, coffee!



Walking around Jena, we found a
matryoshka! We also found a
Russian shop/restaurant in the city!



We set out for campus, and the weather was beautiful. We stopped for our first (of many) bratwurst, and then on to campus.

We spent several hours on campus, in conversation with a number of university students. WE had some great conversations and had the chance to invite a number of people to the week's events (bowling night, end of summer party, trip to Weimar).



Ice creat at Riva - yum!



Zack and I walked around the city for a while, and then met the Koch family for ice cream. Europeans just have a knack for this that Americans don't - it was outstanding!



Zack with Lydia & Jan
(I accidentally left the camera at the
Koch's home, so we had to use the
iPad for a pic)



After talking to the boys on skype, we had dinner with our friends Jan & Lydia. Zack met Jan when he was in Germany two years ago. And Jan and our friend Sven had just been in the states a couple of weeks earlier for a visit. We had an awesome dinner - Lydia is an amazing cook and hostess - and a great evening of conversation. As we got to know this sweet couple a little better, we learned that their story could easily be an award-winning romantic comedy! We are priviledged to have so many sweet friends in different parts of the world!