From Guten Tag to Bonjour and Back

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go to St. George (near Geneva) to help out with an Albanian family camp. Now, Switzerland is divided into different regions of different languages. St. George is in the French region (there is also the German region [Zurich], Italian [near Italy], and the Romanish [in the Alps]). It was an interesting weekend where my and R co-led the teen program and Saturday afternoon sports. This weekend was deeply needed. I saw the happiness of the people there who had left their home country for one reason or another and they still worship God with such force!

The sites there were extremely beautiful (pictures below)! Friday afternoon, everyone at the camp had free time, so I and a few others went to a small town that was on Lake Geneva and had some Roman ruins. After a quick tour of the town, we all headed back to the camp so we could all prepare for supper and the activities for the night.

I know that I keep bringing up the languages here, but this weekend was truly amazing! we had translations galore! People spoke Albanian, German, French, English, Greek, and I think one more language. We were all working together and trying to help each other communicate with each other. Man, it was an experience in worship with all these languages. I tried my best to sing in Albanian (though I did not know what I was singing) until I figured out the tune and sung the English lyrics to them. Everyone was together worshipping in their own language. It was absolutely amazing! At the beginning of the weekend, the leader had us all make a collage of sorts for our family. Well, let's just say I had a lot of red, white, and blue on my poster. I basically drew the southeast and mapped out where my family is (granted Switzerland is smaller than Tennessee). It was pretty cool to meet so many people there and to hear people's stories. It gave me the boost that I needed.

More of the Alps.

The Alps in more daylight. 

Can you tell I like mountains? This was from the inside of the wood pile. 

No really, I love mountains!

Duck in the lake. 

From the campsite hiking trail. 

Lake Geneva 

On top of the castle (below) looking at the lake.

Nice Castle. For sale $1.5mill Francs. 

Here's that poster I mentioned. 

The small town with the Alps in the background. 

This is what they call a BBQ. 

Last night at the camp.