During our three week wait at the apartment, we celebrated my 25th birthday. I wasn’t expecting anything, so it was a big surprise, when Jane called us into the kitchen and presented me with a German cake. Thomas had helped Naomi make a card, and Jane gave me a beautiful silk scarf. The photo from that day shows a framed scripture that I had hung by the kitchen table. It was a sweet gift from a woman we knew in the States. It’s fun to see that it later showed up, in the living room of our new house.
Our next Munich adventure, with Tony and Jane, was an outing to the world famous Octoberfest. This was Thomas’ first visit there! We all had fun exploring the huge festival grounds, and admiring the people, who were dressed to perfection, in their traditional costumes. The women in fancy, expensive Dirndls, and then men in Lederhosen (leather shorts with suspenders) and knee socks. Naomi and I, fit right in with our new Dirndls. But I was pretty sure, that I would never see Thomas, wearing those Bavarian Lederhosen. He was too much of a Berliner guy for that!
Finally the day arrived, when we could pack up our little car again, and drive to Trudering. Alan who knew the way, had led Peter into Munich, and to our new address. Tony, Jane and Elly took the public transportation. It was so exciting when we all met there, our reunion in Munich!
When Peter got out of the bus, and saw the modern house and neighbourhood, he was pretty impressed. It was not like his reaction on arriving at the farmhouse, when he said, “It looks older than the country of America.”
Thomas unlocked the gate and then the front door. The entry hall was a bright, open space with marble tiles and a staircase to the upper apartments. We were literally, stepping into our new lives, in the suburbs of a beautiful city. We had left behind, the country living, we had shared in Nienburg. We weren’t aware at that moment, what a huge door of opportunity, was being opened to us. The reason we were there, was to create a safe shelter, for all the needy people God would bring to us. In that we had unity, we had not come to Munich for personal gain, or a comfortable lifestyle.
