Switzerland Update

17 July
Well, we're back home now, and still feeling the effects of jet-lag, after 37 hours of flying and waiting in airports!
But I promised I would fill on the gaps regarding Swizterland, so let's pick up from Thursday 9 July, where we were staying in the YWAM base on the hillside above one of Switzerland's beautiful lakes. We enjoyed a little bit of a sleep-in and a later breakfast before spending the morning first having a tour of the outside of the 'castle' and then a time of teaching and discussion. It was nice not to jump straight in the vehicles as we usually did most mornings. In the afternoon we were given a choice of having free time or going around the lake, walking up to some caves and then coming back across the lake on a paddle steamer. I probably should have chosen to rest, but I wanted to make the most of seeing and experiencing as much as I could of the area, so I chose the latter option. As you can see from the picture where I'm wearing a jumper, the weather was actually quite cold - I think someone said it was around 13 degrees! The caves were set high up on a hill, with a very steep climb - great exercise - and enclosed in a Swiss-style building, with a waterfall beneath - very picturesque. The caves are named after a guy called Beatus, and I'll quote here from a website: "Beatus himself reputedly came from Britain. The story goes that having given all his wealth to the poor to follow Christ, he was baptized in Rome by St Peter and sent with a companion, Justus, into the Alps as the first apostle to the heathen Helvetians. (In all probability, though, Beatus was one of the Irish followers of St Columba who brought Christianity to Switzerland in the sixth century.) When Beatus and Justus came to the lake, local people told them of a terrible dragon who occupied a cave overlooking the water. Beatus climbed up to the cave alone, and when the dragon emerged, raised his cross and spoke the name of the Holy Trinity, thereby sending the monster over the cliff edge into the water below. Beatus took over its cave, praying and working miracles until his death at the age of 90. A cult of pilgrimage rapidly grew up around him and the cave, which, after being walled up during the Reformation, was restored for public visits in the nineteenth century."
At night we watched a movie on the beginning of the Annabaptist movement, and especially focusing on Michael Sattler, the first of the Annabaptists to be matyred.
The last picture shows us eating breakfast out on the verandah, where we ate most our meals at the castle.