The Adventures of Swiss Family Willis

I would like to share with you part of my online ‘word on the web‘ daily inspiration from 3 July. Currently working through the book of Obadiah.

There is always a temptation to expect God to bring about his purposes supernaturally, and yet doesn’t it make sense that God should use people to do his work here on earth? …There is a poem (wrongly) attributed to Teresa of Avila, which starts:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Some people object to this poem, as it appears to deny that God has any supernatural power, but I think that we do well to take it to heart. After all, if we wish a blessing on someone in need but do nothing to meet their need, what good have we done? If we are to truly serve God, our actions must match our prayers, hopes and words. As Mahatma Gandhi once said “Be the change you want to see in the world”.

Having an incredible day celebrating summer and the start of holidays with all of Aarau. Went to the Maienzug this morning and watched the parade. Then coffee in the Altstadt with Marianne, Grosi, 2 New Zealanders and an Aussie! Then down to the fair ground for a ride on a ferris wheel and bratwurst. Out again tonight (when the kids are in bed!) to party on with some Swiss rap, rock and disco bands.

Also went into the church where I was baptised as a wee babe. So cool to see. Beautiful old church.

Here are some photos:

Yay, Melissa and Simon arrived safely from New Zealand this morning.  So cool to see them.  And Alana is arriving in Zurich by train (from her travels in Vienna, Salzburg and Munich).  Daniel is bringing her to Oberentfelden at this moment.  Awesome.

Off to Aarau Jugendfest tomorrow, kind of end of school year, beginning of summer holidays celebration. It is an annual parade of school kids dressed all in white, all the fountains decorated with beautiful flowers, music, dancing, food, rides, ferris wheels and partying all night.  Hope these crazy (and impressive) thunderstorms go away by then.  Nice to have a bit of a break from the heat though.

What have we been up to:

Paper work - On Friday I handed in the last bit of paper that was required for Daniel’s B Permit - a convictions record that finally arrived from the ministry of Justice in NZ. Well, lack of a convictions record actually - thankfully. I haven’t had any mail at all last week from any government department or insurance company. I feel a little lost without piles of paperwork around! Well, hopefully by the end of this month, we should have the Permit.

Entfelden Entefest - Every three years there is a town festival - combined Ober & Unter Entfelden - including street parade of bands and school kids all dressed up. Lots of fun rides and ferris-wheel type stuff, food stands and cafés all done by local organisations, free beer to get you started and free fireworks and dance music to keep you going, right up until 3 in the morning. It was such an awesome experience to be part of it and feel the ‘community spirit’. Really, it should be every year!

The Kids & I - We went along to a Muki Treff (Mutter & Kind), like a coffee / play group. Finally made it to one now that the kids are well again. It is also the last one. Since it is summer holidays there is a two-month break for all stuff like that. We also checked out three different Badis (pools). They really are quite something here, huge grassy areas, huge pools with something for everyone and very nice cafes. The boys love it, especially as it has been so hot. All are within Croozering distance too. Yay.

Euro 08 and Church - We spent Sunday morning in the Euro 2008 Arena set up in Aarau. The churches from the Evangelische Allianz Aarau had a big as church service with football theme. Was very cool. The final for the Euro was last night. Great game, Spain won.

This coming week - We are all getting excited about Missie (my sister) and Simon coming to visit, arriving on Thursday morning. Alana is heading over too from Aussie for a month of traveling around Europe and arrives in Switzerland on Thursday evening. So lots of visitors and we have lots of trips planned around Switzerland, including Jungfraujoch and Zermatt.

All for now.