On Sat. evening, May 19, we drove from Immenstadt to Mindelheim which is a small city in the general area of Munich. (We tried to avoid the very large cities while driving - they are no picnic to drive in.) After searching some of the smaller villages looking for a room we ended up right in the old part of the city at Hotel Stern. The entrance was through a court yard where some people were sitting around smoking. Our window had to open on to this side of the building so we just left it shut until after the people went in. This same evening we went to a Greek restaurant for supper and meandered around the town on foot. We also found the address of the assembly so that we wouldn't be lost in the morning.
Sun. morning we arrived at the assembly building quite a little ahead of time and no one seemed to be there - also the time for the breaking of bread was not posted on the sign board - we had a time from the website. So we went for a walk in that neighborhood - it was a warm morning and I felt a little sweaty before meeting time but there wasn't anything to do about it.
We noticed an old gentleman on a public parking lot talking to another couple and when we came around the same way after quite a walk he was still talking. When the folks finally arrived for the meeting about 2 minutes before starting time the old gentleman was also there - the other folks he had been talking to were not.
The Breaking of Bread had a rather small attendance but was conducted about like most of the ones we have attended in North America
The S.S. and ministry meeting started at about 10:30 after a very short break. Many more folks showed up for the second meeting. They had an opening of hymns & prayer time when several participated. They sang What A Friend We Have In Jesus - they even had English words on the opposite page so I joined in in English. The children were taken to another area for their classes. The ministry lasted about one hour or perhaps a little over. (I noted that the benches were very hard and that it was hard to sit through so long without understanding the content of the message.)
The elderly gentleman got talking to H. after the meeting and continued on for a long time. He had an interesting story - Helmut will have to tell it some time ( maybe he did tell some of the family at the reunion.)
A dear couple with a young family invited us home to a meal. They live in a village about 11km from the city. You can see their pictures up above. Klaus-Peter barbecued sausages for the meal and Kerstin prepared the other items in the kitchen. While the meal was being prepared Helmut and I were asked to sit on the very small patio and the children came along to visit with us. The oldest is Madeleine, then Janet & the little boy is Jean-Marcel (pronounce that Jean as if it is Shawn). When he told us his name I couldn't figure it out at all but when I saw it written down then it made since. The folks were very pleasant to visit and spoke some English except for the little guy who doesn't go to school yet.
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