Nearly 50 years ago a beautiful friendship developed over the course of a few days skiing in Norway. Werner and Elke Lau's friendship with Rachel's parents, Dick and Linda Watson, started at that time. It was a friendship that spanned the globe, crossed different political ideologies, and wove two families together in an unusual way.
The Laus attended our wedding in 1994 as well as my brother in law's wedding in 2011. They traveled many times with Dick and Linda both in Europe and in the USA. Who knows how many letters and cards crossed the ocean over the years....and later emails and other electronic communication. They attended Linda and Dick's funerals as well in the 2004 and 2007 respectively.
So it was with great joy we learned they were having their 50th Wedding Anniversary July 20 in Hamburg, and we were going to be able to attend with all our children.
Werner and Elke Lau, July 1963...
The young couple....
Our family, Werner & Elke, and Rachel's brother Nathan.
The evening started with a simple service at this church...
Rachel was touched as she and her brothers were mentioned 3 different times during the service...
The reception afterward complete with wedding cake (chocolate, strawberry and vanilla layers)...
In Amsterdam (among other places) I looked to buy some slacks and a nice shirt. The slacks were $250USD and I said 'no thanks' and figured I would get something in Hamburg before the ceremony. Enter Andreas Lau, Werner & Elke's oldest son, who hosted our family for several nights. It just so happened Andreas wears pretty much the same size as I do (other than shoe size). But we made it work. Thanks Andreas for the threads!
When Nathan saw me he said "Have you been carrying around a suit for 7 months as you traveled the world???!!!" LOL
The kids and Rachel looked fantastic. They bought their dresses in various places during our trip and got fantastic deals on all these outfits....
I thought the reception would be all German but still interesting....and yet as each speaker talked (starting with Werner), Andreas would translate into English. That was a nice surprise and made the evening all the more special for us.
Elke's sister wrote a poem about the special relationship between Werner, Elke, and Rachel's parents....it was beautifully written and brought my sweet wife to tears....
Some stories from the evening:
1. During World War II, a huge anti-aircraft battery sat no more than 100 meters from Werner's home. He remembers the anti aircraft fire and tracers going directly over his home and thinking it was not such a good thing to be so close to such a gun. His family got very lucky as the gun was taken out in a bombing raid which had good aim. His home was never touched and survived the war intact.
2. Werner remembers the British tanks rolling into his little town in northern Germany. The Brits brought out a soccer ball....they all played soccer and he thought "this won't be so bad!"
3. Werner and Elke still have a letter from Richard and Linda after their 1998 tour of Europe together saying it was their favorite vacation of their lives. They visited many of the sites of Martin Luther during that trip. The next day Werner printed the entire itinerary and gave it to us saying "Dick was quite a planner and wanted to know exactly where we were going, when we were going and how much everything would cost." Yup, that was my father in law!
4. Elke's younger brother thought Werner was just the best when he was dating Elke ....riding in on his motorscooter like Robin Hood and later like John Wayne (much more liberal than Elke's conservative family). He told a funny story of a visit to their place on the island of Sylt (I didn't even know Germany had islands but it does!) when Elke was 15 years old. When they came back from a walk she had straw clinging all over her skirt. (that got a big laugh during the festivities!)
5. Elke grew up in a tiny town called Grundhof in northern Germany. During WWII she talked about a British bomber being shot down in 1943 and parachuting into their little town. The bomber figured since he was behind enemy lines with no chance at being retrieved that he would just turn himself in. That's what he tried to do. But their little town had no Nazi police or Gestapo and there was a big festival going on. So, they invited him to their festival and he drank with them & danced with them. The next day was Sunday and no one was going to the big town on Sunday....so they brought him to church and invited him to lunch & dinner. Finally someone took him to the big town on Monday and he turned himself in. She has no idea what happened to him, but it just seemed like a really funny story in the middle of a war.....the prisoner who celebrated with the enemy before becoming a POW.
As the night wore on, the kids started making pyramids...
..including this massive one by Felix (who along with Nathan is diabetic and earlier they had an odd pie eating contest in a kind of Russian roulette for diabetics....but they both survived)....
The girls with Uncle Nathan...
A wonderful night....I pray Rachel and I are able to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends in 2044!
July 21 - a favorite moment....
On July 21 one of my absolute favorite moments of our entire journey occurred.
We ate breakfast with a friendly atheist who was enthusiastic in his atheism. The girls asked him what he thought happened when he died. And he said he thought he would slowly decompose and ultimately turn to dust. And V said "Oh, so you believe in nothing?"
Now, internally I laughed at that comment because I knew she meant "Oh, so you don't believe in God or heaven or any existence beyond the here and now." His response was to explain he did believe in something and proceeded to explain his atheistic views.
I sat back with interest as our 14, 14, and 11 year old girls began debating this highly educated man. They responded to him with probing questions about what he had said. Instead of answering those tough questions, he would change the subject or ask a tough, probing question back to them. Then as they started effectively and directly answering his tough questions he would cut them off either with a sarcastic comment or another question.
As a father, I sat there amazed at what I was seeing. Our girls were standing firm for Jesus Christ in this debate. They were not intimidated at all; they were poised and articulate. The atheist actually started getting flustered. He started quoting facts that are absolutely false to make his points....and these facts are easy to show as false; in one example he said Christians weren't seriously persecuted until after 200AD. That is totally false and can easily be proven with many sources outside the Bible.
When the girls responded to him they focused on his question and responded with mature, logical, and unemotional responses. Instead of responding to their comments or questions, this man started mocking them at the end of the debate. He said "Oh, so you believe there is a little old man with white hair running around in heaven making everything in the universe....riiiiiiiiight!"
It was just stunning. When someone resorts to name calling or mocking, you know they have no intellectual argument to come back with. It really was an amazing thing to witness. The Holy Spirit clearly guided the girls as they were coming back with responses to him that I didn't even think about!
This moment wasn't a favorite of mine due to the result of the debate. It runs much deeper than that. In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable about a farmer spreading seeds. Some seeds are eaten by birds, others fall under rocks. Some seeds sprout in shallow soil but soon wilt because they don't have deep roots while others get choked by thorns. But some seeds take root in fertile soil and multiply 30, 60, even 100 times what was planted. This moment was a favorite of mine because I saw the seeds taking root in fertile soil preparing to multiply many times over during these 3 lives.
I have never been prouder of our girls, and it gave me great hope as they enter these difficult teenage years with all the pressures this world throws at our young....it gave me great hope that they will indeed defend Jesus Christ and live their lives according to His Will. WAY TO GO GIRLS!!! (insert Victory Cheer here ;)
After breakfast we headed over to Werner and Elke's apartment. Rachel had an absolutely hysterical conversation with Werner (whose English isn't always so great but his eyes dance with mirth as he talks so you just kind of go with the flow).
She asked him about how her brother was getting to the apartment and he said "I just called his room.... and he is sitting on the pot. He is talking to his girlfriend. He rented a porsche and will be there this afternoon....let's go" And then he turned and left as Rachel with a perplexed look wondered just what to make of those comments (as her brother is married, didn't have a rental car, and there were no phones in the hotel restrooms). It was probably one of those things where you had to be there to see how funny it was.
Anyway, we had a lovely time at Werner and Elke's apartment....
Schleswig
Andreas invited us to stay at his place about 1 hour north of Hamburg. He is a self taught sailor and invited us to go out on his sailboat that afternoon.
We had a GREAT time...
But there wasn't much wind so AJ and I did what we could to blow into the sails...
Rachel and AJ hoisting the sail....
AJ dropping the anchor...
Then it was time to swim! This water is actually from the Baltic Sea but it is a very long sail from this town of Schleswig to the Baltic Sea. We have a salt water pool at home (ie no chemical chlorine) and the water was very much like that....very mild salt....and fairly cool as well.
Andreas referred to the water temperature as 'refreshing' H would refer to it as 'freezing' So, there was this hilarious dance that ensued on H getting into the water as we all cheered her on....
Yes, she eventually made it fully into the water as evidenced by this picture...
AJ LOVED this car / boat that 'drove' on by. Notice the windmill in the background. Europe is FAR more advanced in using renewable energy. We saw wind turbines across the continent with the heaviest concentration (at least that we saw) in the western part of Austria. But there were plenty of wind mills in Germany and Denmark. In fact, Andreas has solar panels on his home that provide 100% of his electricity. Once battery technology improves (and it will over the next 10 years) he could literally go 'off grid' and be fine after adding one more row of solar panels to heat his water.
One more AJ car picture. The flat area in the background (the rim of the lake) is actually a dam. It used to be a marshy area and one of the Danish princesses had her chariot or something she was in get stuck. So, she got all muddy / messy and insisted that her Daddy the king fix it. So, he created a dam!
I never expected this area of Europe to be so beautiful. I thought it was going to be a bunch of flat land and had little expectations. Was I ever wrong! We learned as well that many of the Vikings who went on to conquer all kinds of lands came from here. There is a museum dedicated to Vikings here (that we didn't have time to see but will go there the next time).
In addition, this is the area of the world where the Anglo Saxons came from. They are the tribe that migrated to England and the rest is history. The roots of 'English' come from right here. In fact, Andreas' grandmother spoke 'Platt Deutsch' all her life which is VERY close to English. Though she never formally learned English she could communicate with English people because Platt Deutsch is very similar to English. It was really interesting learning about the history of this area and its people.
Doesn't this just LOOK LIKE SUMMER?
Remember the picture Rachel took of S seemingly walking on water in Croatia? Here is her shot of V running on water ;)
AJ after pulling up the anchor and getting mud on his face...
My lady....beautiful as always...
After sailing, we spent some time at this park next to the marina....
....and then we headed to Heike's office (Andreas' girlfriend) where she had a sonogram. We got to see baby! On this day our little one was at 28 weeks and 3 days gestation. It was nice to get Heike's 'everything looks good' comments since we haven't seen a doctor since the end of March. This baby has been such as blessing as he/she has helped reassure Rachel the entire pregnancy by kicking up a storm pretty much every day (and most nights as well!)
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| Dick and Linda with Elke on one of their trips to Europe (Werner taking pic) |
Werner and Elke were the first people to meet me 20 years ago because I met Rachel in Vienna; we traveled to Hamburg as we were dating. In some respects, I owe Werner big time for the 'thumbs up' he gave me to Rachel's dad. I imagine her dad had to have been highly skeptical about his favorite daughter dating some 'guitar playing street bum' from Vienna!
The Laus attended our wedding in 1994 as well as my brother in law's wedding in 2011. They traveled many times with Dick and Linda both in Europe and in the USA. Who knows how many letters and cards crossed the ocean over the years....and later emails and other electronic communication. They attended Linda and Dick's funerals as well in the 2004 and 2007 respectively.
So it was with great joy we learned they were having their 50th Wedding Anniversary July 20 in Hamburg, and we were going to be able to attend with all our children.
Werner and Elke Lau, July 1963...
The young couple....
Our family, Werner & Elke, and Rachel's brother Nathan.
The evening started with a simple service at this church...
Rachel was touched as she and her brothers were mentioned 3 different times during the service...
The reception afterward complete with wedding cake (chocolate, strawberry and vanilla layers)...
In Amsterdam (among other places) I looked to buy some slacks and a nice shirt. The slacks were $250USD and I said 'no thanks' and figured I would get something in Hamburg before the ceremony. Enter Andreas Lau, Werner & Elke's oldest son, who hosted our family for several nights. It just so happened Andreas wears pretty much the same size as I do (other than shoe size). But we made it work. Thanks Andreas for the threads!
When Nathan saw me he said "Have you been carrying around a suit for 7 months as you traveled the world???!!!" LOL
The kids and Rachel looked fantastic. They bought their dresses in various places during our trip and got fantastic deals on all these outfits....
I thought the reception would be all German but still interesting....and yet as each speaker talked (starting with Werner), Andreas would translate into English. That was a nice surprise and made the evening all the more special for us.
Elke's sister wrote a poem about the special relationship between Werner, Elke, and Rachel's parents....it was beautifully written and brought my sweet wife to tears....
Christian, Werner, Elke, and Andreas Lau...
Some stories from the evening:
1. During World War II, a huge anti-aircraft battery sat no more than 100 meters from Werner's home. He remembers the anti aircraft fire and tracers going directly over his home and thinking it was not such a good thing to be so close to such a gun. His family got very lucky as the gun was taken out in a bombing raid which had good aim. His home was never touched and survived the war intact.
2. Werner remembers the British tanks rolling into his little town in northern Germany. The Brits brought out a soccer ball....they all played soccer and he thought "this won't be so bad!"
3. Werner and Elke still have a letter from Richard and Linda after their 1998 tour of Europe together saying it was their favorite vacation of their lives. They visited many of the sites of Martin Luther during that trip. The next day Werner printed the entire itinerary and gave it to us saying "Dick was quite a planner and wanted to know exactly where we were going, when we were going and how much everything would cost." Yup, that was my father in law!
4. Elke's younger brother thought Werner was just the best when he was dating Elke ....riding in on his motorscooter like Robin Hood and later like John Wayne (much more liberal than Elke's conservative family). He told a funny story of a visit to their place on the island of Sylt (I didn't even know Germany had islands but it does!) when Elke was 15 years old. When they came back from a walk she had straw clinging all over her skirt. (that got a big laugh during the festivities!)
5. Elke grew up in a tiny town called Grundhof in northern Germany. During WWII she talked about a British bomber being shot down in 1943 and parachuting into their little town. The bomber figured since he was behind enemy lines with no chance at being retrieved that he would just turn himself in. That's what he tried to do. But their little town had no Nazi police or Gestapo and there was a big festival going on. So, they invited him to their festival and he drank with them & danced with them. The next day was Sunday and no one was going to the big town on Sunday....so they brought him to church and invited him to lunch & dinner. Finally someone took him to the big town on Monday and he turned himself in. She has no idea what happened to him, but it just seemed like a really funny story in the middle of a war.....the prisoner who celebrated with the enemy before becoming a POW.
As the night wore on, the kids started making pyramids...
..including this massive one by Felix (who along with Nathan is diabetic and earlier they had an odd pie eating contest in a kind of Russian roulette for diabetics....but they both survived)....
...but the pyramid did not...
The girls with Uncle Nathan...
A wonderful night....I pray Rachel and I are able to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends in 2044!
July 21 - a favorite moment....
On July 21 one of my absolute favorite moments of our entire journey occurred.
We ate breakfast with a friendly atheist who was enthusiastic in his atheism. The girls asked him what he thought happened when he died. And he said he thought he would slowly decompose and ultimately turn to dust. And V said "Oh, so you believe in nothing?"
Now, internally I laughed at that comment because I knew she meant "Oh, so you don't believe in God or heaven or any existence beyond the here and now." His response was to explain he did believe in something and proceeded to explain his atheistic views.
I sat back with interest as our 14, 14, and 11 year old girls began debating this highly educated man. They responded to him with probing questions about what he had said. Instead of answering those tough questions, he would change the subject or ask a tough, probing question back to them. Then as they started effectively and directly answering his tough questions he would cut them off either with a sarcastic comment or another question.
As a father, I sat there amazed at what I was seeing. Our girls were standing firm for Jesus Christ in this debate. They were not intimidated at all; they were poised and articulate. The atheist actually started getting flustered. He started quoting facts that are absolutely false to make his points....and these facts are easy to show as false; in one example he said Christians weren't seriously persecuted until after 200AD. That is totally false and can easily be proven with many sources outside the Bible.
When the girls responded to him they focused on his question and responded with mature, logical, and unemotional responses. Instead of responding to their comments or questions, this man started mocking them at the end of the debate. He said "Oh, so you believe there is a little old man with white hair running around in heaven making everything in the universe....riiiiiiiiight!"
It was just stunning. When someone resorts to name calling or mocking, you know they have no intellectual argument to come back with. It really was an amazing thing to witness. The Holy Spirit clearly guided the girls as they were coming back with responses to him that I didn't even think about!
This moment wasn't a favorite of mine due to the result of the debate. It runs much deeper than that. In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable about a farmer spreading seeds. Some seeds are eaten by birds, others fall under rocks. Some seeds sprout in shallow soil but soon wilt because they don't have deep roots while others get choked by thorns. But some seeds take root in fertile soil and multiply 30, 60, even 100 times what was planted. This moment was a favorite of mine because I saw the seeds taking root in fertile soil preparing to multiply many times over during these 3 lives.
I have never been prouder of our girls, and it gave me great hope as they enter these difficult teenage years with all the pressures this world throws at our young....it gave me great hope that they will indeed defend Jesus Christ and live their lives according to His Will. WAY TO GO GIRLS!!! (insert Victory Cheer here ;)
After breakfast we headed over to Werner and Elke's apartment. Rachel had an absolutely hysterical conversation with Werner (whose English isn't always so great but his eyes dance with mirth as he talks so you just kind of go with the flow).
She asked him about how her brother was getting to the apartment and he said "I just called his room.... and he is sitting on the pot. He is talking to his girlfriend. He rented a porsche and will be there this afternoon....let's go" And then he turned and left as Rachel with a perplexed look wondered just what to make of those comments (as her brother is married, didn't have a rental car, and there were no phones in the hotel restrooms). It was probably one of those things where you had to be there to see how funny it was.
Anyway, we had a lovely time at Werner and Elke's apartment....
Schleswig
Andreas invited us to stay at his place about 1 hour north of Hamburg. He is a self taught sailor and invited us to go out on his sailboat that afternoon.
We had a GREAT time...
But there wasn't much wind so AJ and I did what we could to blow into the sails...
AJ dropping the anchor...
Then it was time to swim! This water is actually from the Baltic Sea but it is a very long sail from this town of Schleswig to the Baltic Sea. We have a salt water pool at home (ie no chemical chlorine) and the water was very much like that....very mild salt....and fairly cool as well.
Andreas referred to the water temperature as 'refreshing' H would refer to it as 'freezing' So, there was this hilarious dance that ensued on H getting into the water as we all cheered her on....
Yes, she eventually made it fully into the water as evidenced by this picture...
AJ LOVED this car / boat that 'drove' on by. Notice the windmill in the background. Europe is FAR more advanced in using renewable energy. We saw wind turbines across the continent with the heaviest concentration (at least that we saw) in the western part of Austria. But there were plenty of wind mills in Germany and Denmark. In fact, Andreas has solar panels on his home that provide 100% of his electricity. Once battery technology improves (and it will over the next 10 years) he could literally go 'off grid' and be fine after adding one more row of solar panels to heat his water.
One more AJ car picture. The flat area in the background (the rim of the lake) is actually a dam. It used to be a marshy area and one of the Danish princesses had her chariot or something she was in get stuck. So, she got all muddy / messy and insisted that her Daddy the king fix it. So, he created a dam!
I never expected this area of Europe to be so beautiful. I thought it was going to be a bunch of flat land and had little expectations. Was I ever wrong! We learned as well that many of the Vikings who went on to conquer all kinds of lands came from here. There is a museum dedicated to Vikings here (that we didn't have time to see but will go there the next time).
In addition, this is the area of the world where the Anglo Saxons came from. They are the tribe that migrated to England and the rest is history. The roots of 'English' come from right here. In fact, Andreas' grandmother spoke 'Platt Deutsch' all her life which is VERY close to English. Though she never formally learned English she could communicate with English people because Platt Deutsch is very similar to English. It was really interesting learning about the history of this area and its people.
Doesn't this just LOOK LIKE SUMMER?
Remember the picture Rachel took of S seemingly walking on water in Croatia? Here is her shot of V running on water ;)
After sailing, we spent some time at this park next to the marina....
....and then we headed to Heike's office (Andreas' girlfriend) where she had a sonogram. We got to see baby! On this day our little one was at 28 weeks and 3 days gestation. It was nice to get Heike's 'everything looks good' comments since we haven't seen a doctor since the end of March. This baby has been such as blessing as he/she has helped reassure Rachel the entire pregnancy by kicking up a storm pretty much every day (and most nights as well!)
These days were just wonderful and a welcome pause from the 'go, go, go!' touristy aspects of much of our European travels. July 22 we headed to Berlin and that is what the next post will be about....
Til then, God bless
Other Favorite Pictures
To the Scott girls, I hope you realize that the God of this universe put His Holy Spirit in you and was at work in you when you were speaking to this man. H, V, S, there is nothing more fascinating but yet more difficult to do but to share your faith. So I just want to encourage you to keep doing this. Keep the courage you have, don't lose it, and God will reap a crop from you all, 30, 60, or 100 times more than what He planted in you.
ReplyDeleteFather, use these girls to impact others, especially other girls in this world who so desperately need You!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with what Greg said ... Andrew, in your mentioning the parable of the soils, who knows but what something the girls said might get the man to thinking, and one day, he might become a believer! And it looks like everyone is doing well. Do you know if the bump is a girl or a boy (maybe you do and are just not saying)?
ReplyDeleteI remember the first time I met R and the girls (at the HLAA convention in 2011 in Arlington) - H was almost scared of her shadow! The last year, in Providence, you almost couldn't get her to hush! She seemed to be having such a wonderful time! I'm so glad that what many consider to be handicaps don't seem to be bothering her now (and remember, I am legally blind and wear HAs). Greetings to all of you!
This trip continues to amaze me and bless me...from so far away! I cannot express to you the absolute strength it gives all of us to hear how you stood up for the KING of kings and how you poured out HIS love and wisdom on the new breakfast friend!! Thank you, Lord for gently feeding the girls Your words!!
ReplyDeleteHi Scotts,
ReplyDeleteGreat pics and commentary as always. I think the car/boat was pretty cool. Proud of you girls for sharing about your faith with such courage.
Germany is definitely on my bucket list as I have family there. One of these days we will get there. Glad you are back safely in the States. Hopefully you are getting good rest.
Blessings,
Ron
Once again, fantastic adventures and God still very much a part of the incidences and experiences you have! Dare I say that we have more wind and much cleaner looking water in New Zealand...so...anytime you're in the area....!
ReplyDelete