Geneva and Back Again...

Whew! Post-Geneva and in my flat! In some ways I could simply end my post there...what do you think? ;)


Ah, well! Geneva was great. A really nice city in a beautiful setting, lots of parks looking glorious in the autumn colours and well, I’ve decided that if a place has either water or mountains in its setting then it’ll be a pretty nice place to be. If it has BOTH mountains and water then you won’t find many better! Except for the prices...I think brown, dry flat places are probably much cheaper to live in!!

I chose to arrive into Geneva a few days before the 24-7 Gathering, to have some time to explore and “settle in”, and I also chose to take an overnight train to get there! I really do love train travel, and I don’t generally find long-haul journeys that bad, so despite the 2hr delay in our schedule(track construction overnight...) which meant it became a 17hr journey, I arrived in Geneva fairly easily...and immediately became REALLY confused and unable to communicate! Geneva is a French-speaking city. I like French. I don’t speak it well, but I can usually manage in cafes, etc, and enjoy doing so, except when I’ve just spent the previous 2 months trying REALLY HARD to learn German. So yeah, it was quite funny for the first couple days as I found my English, French and German colliding with each other to the extent that I couldn’t even find English, sometimes!

But I had a few pleasant days couchsurfing and exploring the city(riding the lake ferries, visiting the United Nations, hiding from the rain in museums...), and then shifted to an Airbnb flat with a few friends(read “Legends”!) for during the Gathering.

People have been asking how the Gathering was, and what my impressions/insights were from it, but I’m finding it a little difficult to articulate anything. I mean, last year in Vienna was BIG. Really big. In many ways. I was finishing my time travelling, so it was big for me personally and for what I was going to do next, but it was also BIG in the sense that it was the first “BIG” Catholic presence at a Gathering, it was happening in a significant city at a significant time in the whole Refugee/Migrant situation, there seemed to be so much going on around us and us meeting there at the time felt really significant to me on several “levels”.

This year was also a really significant place and time. At a time when there’s so much war and violence taking place all over the world, to meet in a “Seat of Peace”, where the Council of Human Rights meet, where peace talks are held, where humanitarian agencies of all kinds base themselves, would have been significant any way but also, on the “eve” of the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, we were also meeting in a city which was at the forefront of that whole time and which was incredibly influential in some of the directions that took.

So it was “Big” this year too, but maybe because last year was an “International” Gathering, and felt a bit like a universal “rallying call” or “staking a flag”, this year, as a “European” Gathering, seemed a bit smaller with more of a regional(read European) focus(?).

Anyways, it was great to see people and get caught up and to hear about things happening within the Movement as a whole. A new “Boiler Room” community in Dublin, Ireland, or the new team(which will be including “my” very own Slinn Family!!) that will be heading to Ibiza, Spain to continue and develop the community out there, or about the various teams still helping and supporting various work with refugees in Lebanon, Greece, Macedonia and Calais, and alongside all the numerous “little” churches and individuals who are “simply” living and loving people where they happen to live...!

But somewhat ironically(having just moved to Germany), I found that for me, the weekend was dominated by France! I loved that the sessions were being translated into French, I loved that some of the worship was happening(or trying to!) in French, and I loved that there, finally(!) seemed to be a bunch of people there who all wanted to see God “come alive”(or more so!) in France. On Saturday I had an opportunity to do a day trip to Lyon, France, to spend time there with a few new friends praying for and blessing the city there, for France, for the Catholic church in that country, and generally for the nation in this time.

On Saturday evening we once again met together for an evening of prayer, worship and celebration. Last year we were able to hold it in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, this year was held in St. Pierre’s in Geneva. Last year we were celebrating what was happening within the Catholic youth “Loretto” movement, this year the minister of the Swiss Reformed Protestant church asked a leader of the Catholic “Loretto” movement to pray for him and the Reformed church in Switzerland. That all may sound a bit vague and “jargon-ish” to some of you, but I absolutely LOVE the way that we are seeing so many different “streams” of Christianity coming together in friendship.

As always the ultimate highlight of the weekend, for myself, was the “Auction” on Saturday evening where, this year, we auctioned off slippers. And managed to raise €12,500 to go towards supporting various friends and initiatives throughout the movement! (Ever spent €2000 on a pair of crocheted slippers?! :) This year it got split between supporting an English girl who's recently joined the Lebanon Team, supporting a micro-business initiative in Tanzania, providing the Ibiza Team the means to bless some of the "working girls" they know with a really nice, special dinner to show that THEY are beautiful and worth care, and lastly to bless three couples who happened to be on their honeymoon there, as part of the family!!

Sunday was time spent hanging out and doing some “last minute” catch-ups, as well as farewells, before catching my 15hr overnight train back to Neubrandenburg! I have to admit, the train back wasn’t as comfortable as the train there, and I think I confused the local Neubrandeburg “Kebab Man” when I arrived as he was just opened and ordered a “Wurst mit Pommes” at 9:45am, in French...?!?!

This past week was mostly recovering from the overnight train, trying to remember the little German I had gained(it IS still there, but it’s a bit as if someone has shaken the puzzle pieces!), celebrating and thanking my friends who had finished my kitchen shelves for me while I was away, and then officially “shifting” myself into my own apartment!

I am now “In”, my boxes are (mostly) unpacked and, after two months of what feels like a lot of work and progress, I am now living in a half-furnished flat! I am in NO WAY complaining, but it has struck me as slightly funny that, after the two month’s effort, my flat is now basically at the state where I would have expected any flat I was moving into to be at upon getting the keys! I think simply more of a cultural “twig” than anything else! But that being said, my bed is LOVELY and comfortable, Mishka likes having my big fluffy duvet back, and I’ve managed to make some very adequate “shelves” out of my packing boxes, for a bookshelf and my clothes! :) Now the only slightly worrying thing seems to be that my kitchen sink drains via my bathtub, meaning that if I drain a lot of water from the kitchen sink, it backfills into my bathtub...and seemingly the pipes aren’t too clean...I’m hoping that it’s simply that no one has lived in the flat for a few years and that a few litres of drain cleaner might clear it all out...and that it won’t be an ongoing design fault of old, east german construction...(I'm happy to report that since writing the above, the drains seem to have cleared and I have a properly functioning sink & bathroom... :) )

This week will be back into discovering and adapting my personal “rhythms” within the community, then in two weeks we have our “Schall.platte” choir concert(!), followed a few weeks later by a visit from our very own Ian Nicholson!!


Thank you, as always, for having taken the time to read this far and, as always, for your love and support! :)

What did I say, water AND mountains...

School kids on a field trip to play chess in the park...and we wonder why Switzerland is successful...

The Reformation Wall

The Prodigal Son, Cathedral St. Jean, Lyon, France

Geneva! Catching up some of the Legends!

Back in the "Hood", Datzeberg

View from my Balkon, my "oh so cool" shelves made from packing boxes, and the questionable quality of my drainage...

My "new" Kitchen(with shelves!), my already messy living room, my incredibly comfy bed, and my first meal in the flat!