Monday, May 24

We started our 13th day of tour bright and early this morning as we awoke to different views of the beautiful Swiss countryside. After a wonderful breakfast and drive through the mountains, we said goodbye to our hosts to lead up the bus for yet another trip, this time to Zurich, Switerland. It was a beautiful, sunny day for our walking tour of Zurich, a city with lots of Anabaptist significance. Led by our fearless tourguide, Ken, we proceeded to hit all the major points of historical significance. Among those were a statue of Ulrich Zwingly, ther Gross Munster, the possible site of the first baptisms, the Conrad Grebel house, and the Felix Manz memorial. It was quite a goo tour. We even got to test the signing space in the Gross Munster when we sang "Set Me as a Seal" and "I Will Not Leave You." We paused briefly to eat our lunches by the river and enjoy the beautiful sunshine. Some of us opted to climb the tower of the Gross Munster after this. After a bunch of steps, we were greeted with the view of the entire city and Lake Zurich spread out in front of us. As we snapped pictures and rested from our strenuous climb, it was good to enjoy the beautiful view of the city. Although i wish i had counted the steps, i was to busy concentrating on not falling on my face or hitting my head. If anyone has this knowledge, they shoul report back to me ASAP, or else I will Google it. Anyway, after this great adventure, we quickly navigated our way back to the bus. Then we loaded up to travel to our hotel. We arrived at the hotel, got settled in, and then proptly left the hotel with the destination of a hiden Anabaptist worship site. We parked the bus at the goot of a hill and then climbed, climbed, climbed all the way to this cave. It was quite the hike, especially after all the delicious food we've been eating on the tour! But anyway, we made it to the top, huffing and puffing or not. At the cave, we shared a powerful time of song, communion, and prayer. To think that our ancestors, or at least spiritual ancestors, could have gathered in this place to worship God. Despite the persecutions against them, is an amazing experience. For a moment, all of us tried to put ourselves in their shoes and forget about other troubles. We ended in a joyful chorus of "Hark I Hear" and "606" to remember the joy of those who worshipped here before us. After this, some of us continued to hike around the area, while others took the moment to capture the beauty of our surroundings and the weather. When we got down to the bus, we got the chance to talk with and sing a few songs for the family who lived where our bus was parked. We then loaded the bus, again, to head back to the hotel, where we took some time to rest and shower before dinner. For dinner we had a wonderful meal consisting of salad, bread, schnitzel, and apple strudle. Once again, we ate too much, as is becoming typical! The rest of the evening was free for us to fill with playing cards and hanging out with the gang! And now it is time for me to get some sleep so that i can enjoy what our trip to the Alps tomorrow has to offer.

Kayci Detwiler