On to Siegen!

The Staigmillers took us to their mission headquarters to see it and meet the people there. The DMG (German Mission ) is a group we partner with, in fact, they do not do their own projects, but prepare people to join teams from other organizations. Their headquarters is in a beautiful castle which the Lord amazingly provided. We took a lot of great pictures of it and many other interesting things, but our memory card failed us and all those pictures were lost. Really sad!

One thing that was lost were the pictures I took around Willi and Annerose's neighborhood. The houses in that area of Germany are shingled in slate and some of the have beautiful patterns. We also came to an old blacksmith's shop which was closed. It is actually a museum and opened at certain times. I was taking pictures of the outside and through the window when a man called from his balcony, asking if we wanted to go inside. He came down, opened the shop and I got some great pictures of the anvil, the forge and tools and horse shoes hanging on the walls. You will just have to imagine how good and interesting they were...  Sigh.

We found that the memory card worked fine if we just took less pictures between uploads to the computer. After that, I took a few more before we left Siegan.

This is the house across the street from the Jung's, which shows the half-timber construction. Most buildings are built like this, but are covered with slate shingles, or, after time, tin, aluminum or composite siding that looks like the slate.
Here are our dear friends and hosts, Willi (Wolfgang) and Annerose Jung, former coworkers from the Philippines. It was wonderful to be with them!
Here is the Jung's house in Neunkirchen. It is one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood. The basement door used to be how the farmer led his cows out to pasture, as the cattle barn was under the house. You can still see rings on the beams above for tying them, as well as the hatches where the pigs were fed. The house has been beautifully restored, but the old, rough beams are there and give the home a lot of charm.
This is the very old tile in the entry hall of the Jung's house. Isn't it beautiful?
Here is a picture that shows how the slates can be arranged in artistic patterns. This is just one design of many.
The gardens in Germany were lovely!
Here is Willi Jung making us a barbecue in their little pavilion out front. Daniel, their son, joined us later that evening, and it was really nice to see him!