Category: Uncategorized (Page 3 of 5)

Apparently wisdom lies in in the so called wisdom teeth. I just got one pulled last Saturday. I feel like I have lost some wisdom. Perhaps it’s just my age and the feeling that as older I get as less I know.
The story went goes like this. My wisdom teeth never really bothered me. But one of them popped out and of course had to get a cavity. My dentist, she’s called doctor Love (I’m not kidding) said I should pull them all out. I post boned it for a long time and the next time I went to her I said I will be in Switzerland for the Summer but would go right when I get back. As a man of my word I made  an appointment  for the torture chair. This was with a specialist who pulls teeth and does jaw operations. Why are all my dentists female? I guess I have an unconscious hope it would hurt less or they would hold my hand when I’m in pain. Unfortunately it never works out.

Last Saturday at 1 pm. after a long morning of anticipation of pure horror I went to the Dentist. I came into the room and the Dr. spoke German. She studied in Munich for 5 years. My confidence rose (perhaps she knows what she is doing). She asked me then why I want my wisdom teeth pulled. I told her that I don’t really want to this, but that Dr. Love said I should. From my X-rays she showed me then that my wisdom teeth are situated to deep in the bone and to close to my sinuses. I could have complications. We decided then to just pull the one that was poking out. Pulling might be the wrong word. It felt like someone was using heavy power tools in my mouth mining for gold. After over an hour of splitting, sawing, pulling and braking out my tooth she would close the gab with some thread. It felt like she was sowing my tongue to my cheek. Now it’s Tuesday and it is still swollen and I’m hurting. I am so glad I didn’t have all four "pulled" at once.
If you want to read more on wisdom teeth here is the link.

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I found this Webpage where you can create your own church sign. There are also pictures of real church signs. Here are some of them. I found some of them really funny. I wonder why churches would put up adds like this. For more link to Churchsigns

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In Switzerland while I visited my brother I saw the very first guitar I owned. I got this Ibanez when I was 15 years old. 23 years ago. I bought this particular one because I looked up to a leader who had also a black guitar. I wanted to play like him. Therefore I had to have a black guitar.
This Ibanez was in many "Jungscharlager" (boy scouts camps). I led my first worship time on it and in 92 it went as far as Cambodia on my first mission trip. I also played my very first Beatles song on it. I remember playing "Yesterday" without even speaking a word of English at the time.
I got all nostalgic when I picked it up again. Those good (or sometimes not so good) old times.

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We are back in Chiang Mai. It’s our first full day here. I went shopping for groceries. There was nothing in the house. But not before noon. This is about how long I slept.
The flight was okay. We flew from Zurich to Singapore. The first hours the entertainment system didn’t work on our side. We had three seats to the window and two in the middle. after a couple of hours the flight attendants were able to reset the system on our side. The system is great to kill long hours on a flight. We could choose from over 60 movies and TV shows. We also were able to play games. So I played a battleship multi player game against my wife. It is a real treat if you can choose what you want to watch. I decided that one day in my life I would like to fly first class. Josiah, my six year old said he would like to as well.
We had to wait eight hours in Singapore for the connecting flight to Chiang Mai. We were so tired and after a nice coffee went to a quite corner called "the oasis". There were nice seats and even electric massage chairs to use. Singapore has the costumer friendliest airport I know. If I ever would be trapped in an airport like Tom Hanks in "the terminal" I would choose Singapore.
All our luggage arrived in Chiang Mai and also Lillian’s guitar arrived well. We took it as hand luggage and checked it in at the cabin door. Just like we used to do with our buggies.
Now we are back. It is extremely humid and it rains every night. The ants our already crawling over my ibook, the Water pump didn’t work and  all was moldy.  It will take some time to unpack, clean, and get started with everyday life. I’m tired from the trip and the program we had in Switzerland, and I also miss Switzerland, our friends and families.

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It rains here in Switzerland today. It’s cold and wet and my desire to go back to Chiang Mai is growing. Then on the other hand our area is flooding like last year and the sandbags are deployed along the river. Flood warnings are issued. There is rain in Chiang Mai every day and for Friday there is a storm prediction.

"Tropical storm "PRAPIROON" in the South China Sea. At 7.00 p.m. centered at latitude 17.5 degree north, longitude 116.7 degree east, maximum wind near center about 75 km/hr. It is moving northwest about 15 km/hr. It causes abundant rain and heavy to very heavy rain in some areas over the North, Northeast and East. People in risky and lowland areas should beware of flooding conditions."

Okay let’s stay some more. As I’m writing this post the rain has stopped and the sun is coming out over Berne. Nice.

Today I have to cook. Lillian went to visit a friend. Let me think…. Ah yes I will go down the road to the nice Chinese woman from Beijing and get some "sweet and sour".

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Today is  the national day of Switzerland. This year we are  here in the country. Enjoying barbeques and fire works. Fires will burn on the mountains like in "Lord of the rings" I guess many will wear their swiss t-shirts; alphorns and yodeling will sound through the country side. We remember the Grütli Pact of 1291. When our forefathers started the federation.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWITZERLAND!

May you not forget your roots and not forsake the God who blessed you in all those years. Don’t forget the foundation you were built on.

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A tree we never see in Thailand is the oak tree. I found these acorns on the ground and told my kids: "I’m ready for the Ice Age."

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We have spent the last 25 days in Switzerland. We came home this morning one o’clock from Liestal in Basel where we had a great time with a mix of new won friends, people we know from way back and people who were in the mountains with short term teams. It was such a blessing. First we were in the Vineyard Liestal where we realized that we know quite some people and where also Thomas (who does the music productions comes from).
On the way back Lillian and I were talking about all the blessings we received from Switzerland. Lillian said that we are used to give all the time and it seems like this time in Switzerland is a time to receive and be blessed. I was really touched.
It is seven and a half years away from Switzerland and sometime we are afraid that we loose connection to the people and the country. But I realize that the opposite happens and we are blessed with new relationships and people who are interested in what we do.
One of the greatest blessings is the generosity and open arms of the EBV (evangelische Brüderverein) the brethren church my wife grew up in. I’m also impressed by their work in PNG and their faithfulness in the work of the kingdom of God.
We had so many good experiences so far and still nearly two weeks to go. We will fly back on the 12th. of August. I will have three more meetings in Switzerland before I go back fresh and motivated to the work in the North of Thailand.

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It is strange to be here and at the same time wonderful. We left Switzerland for SEasia over seven years ago. Since then we came for visits every two years. Switzerland hasn’t changed much compared to Thailand which is in a constant change typical for a developing nation. Switzerland seems to stand still. At least that’s what I felt. Change here is perhaps more subtle. Change is part of this world and no country is an island not even Switzerland with it’s inhabited self preservation.
Coming here I realize how rich this country is even though the people make sure to tell me that they are not doing well financially. This is not always easy for me because in my mind I have the picture of refugees and hill tribe people who have no money to go to a doctor or send their children to school. On the other hand I see how much living here costs. I understand the difficulty of sustaining a family and trying to make it financially through the month hoping to save some for a holiday trip to the south of France. There are lots of people with big salaries and a good life here. There are also those who struggle to make ends meet. It seems that the gab between the rich and the poor is widening in my homeland. Can someone tell me what the government is doing long term to change this? Or how will Switzerland look like in ten years?

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I found this joke on the web. No idea who from.

A Christian guy is shiprecked and stranded on a desert island,after many years he builds a home and a church ect…. years pass and he is finaly rescued…. just as he is going up the gangplank to board the rescue ship the captain ask him what are the three buildings on the shore line? "The first one is my home where I lived,the second is my church where I worship my lord… and the third one is the church that I used to go to."

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