Fröhlichte Dreikönigstag!

I must tell you, I love the apartment. It gets really great sunlight, and the red and white acrylic/lucite material in my kitchen and bathroom is pretty awesome. I am definitely spoiled here. But I miss the Lindenhof gang. A lot. I wish this apartment was on the other side of town, but you can't have everything I guess.

Yesterday was Driekönigstag, which means "three kings day," when the Three Kings arrived to see Jesus. Here, there is a tradition that you eat a sweet bread with your family and friends. Here's a picture of it, from Google.

The bread comes with a crown, and a small wise man baked inside (totally sueing nightmare for the States, I suppose)! Everyone breaks off a section of the bread, and the one who finds the wiseman is king for the day. My coworker brought one in to work, and guess who won!

I absolutely loved seeing grown men walking the streets with these crowns on their heads. I like this tradition!

Kailee and I have been up to a lot. On Monday, we ate at one of my favorite places, Piadina, and then saw Australia... I loved it! On Sunday, we said "auf wiedersehen" to Roger as he left to go back to the Netherlands. We also went to church, and then small group on Tuesday night in Liestal. The sermon and small group were about looking back to 2008 and looking ahead to 2009. Our pastor had a really great illustration. He took a vase, and gradually poured in sand. He explained that the sand is what creeps into our lives slowly and unknowingly. We catch  the "hurry sickness," and find that we have no time, because we are too busy with the humdrum. He then pulled out three rocks, symbolizing God, loved ones, and the mission field. The jar was completely full, and there were no more room for the rocks. He reminded us that we need to keep these rocks as a firm foundation, and build up and around them. He then poured out the sand, put in the rocks, and showed us that you can still fit sand in after the rocks are in place. It's so ironic, how we can forget to include these main elements into our daily life, even if we have intention. At group, we talked then about the sand, and listened to a sermon by John Ortberg called "It All Goes Back Into the Box." Here is a link to download it for free. He was speaking about Monopoly, how you can succeed or you can lose, but either way, whatever you earn or miss out on, it all goes back into the box. He was saying that if you are investing in hotels, in houses, in property... in sand, you will ultimately find yourself full of nothing, and missing the foundational purpose. This message has hit home for me, as to how I plan to spend my time here. I need to be investing in rocks, storing my treasures in heaven.

The week is going by quickly. We are headed to Geneva for the weekend. Miss you all! 

—Linds