Jambo Friends
This is the official sign at the entrance of our village. It is the named after the tree right at the entrance door of our development.

This is the official sign at the entrance of our village. It is the named after the tree right at the entrance door of our development.

We celebrated Gil’s Birthday with friends and had a wonderful time together.

One of the pictures shows Gil at his therapy. Lenna is doing a great job encouraging Gil to keep on pushing forward. She has become a friend as well. It is so fun to make new friends here in Kenya; but still missing our friends in the States and Germany very much!

Love and grace, Maria & Gil

Jambo

Jambo
We had a wonderful week with Jodi and Steve our first international visitors from the States. The week was packed with exciting experiences. Here are a couple of pictures.

We are dancing with some natives at the cultur center in Mombasa

Another visitor, the kingfisher found the menu in our swimming pool irresistible

Hope you come and see us soon, Maria & Gil

A

Snap shots from daily life

Two guys are cutting and old fisherman “boat” to make book selves for us. It worked out pretty well.

Gil is taking up tuba again, but this time in the horizontal position.

How about this visitor?

Today we had an unexpected guest; a colobus monkey sized the opportunity of the open balcony door to check out our home. He is one of the rare species of monkeys and tourist love to see it in the wild. It took some effort to get the monkey out. After he found his freedom again he hung out in our back yard. Hospitality is a gift but I am not sure if I have it in that case!

Our New Neigbors

Last week we got to know the first of our neighbors in our development. Axel, Katrin and Karin. They couldn’t be nicer and we enjoyed getting to know them. They are from Germany and as all good Germans do they like Coffee/tea and cake. We are looking forward to many more visits with them.

More Hospital Visits

More Hospital visits
This time it was the other way around. Gil and I were both hospitalized. Three weeks ago Gil broke his hip as he fell on our veranda. After the surgery I could stay with Gil in the hospital in Mombasa. During the time I got food poisoning from the food I ate there. I too needed to be admitted. After 5 days we went home. Gil fell again, was unconscious for some time and needed again to go the Diani Beach Hospital. He has a concussion, recovering slowly. He is doing a bit better. But still weak from the entire trauma and rests a lot. We started with physical therapy which is going well. In all of it God was and is very good. We are encouraged by all the support we received and have peace in our hearts. Thank you for your prayers. Blessings, Maria

A Hospiltal Visit

We had the privilege to take Janet to the government hospital here in Kenya. Janet is a woman in her 40’s. She is not sure about her exact age. She was diagnosed with TB, weighting only 39 Kilos. Every day we encounter needs of people who have very little means to even get the basic medical treatments or daily nutrition. We hope to assist her with treatment, transportation and food. World Food Shortage is a reality here in Africa. We are grateful for the opportunity to make a difference in at least one family’s life. Love and blessings to you, Maria & Gil

Beach Walk

We just returned from our morning stroll along the Indian Ocean. The billows are rolling and the beauty of the white soft sand is amazing. Along the way to the beach we saw a big lizard, encounter some monkeys and a variety of beautiful butterflies. Come and stroll with us!

Everyday Life in Kenya

Every Day Life in Kenya

Everyday Life in Kenya

Shopping in Kenya is a bit different then what we are used to in Europe or America. Here you see some pictures of Gil and me buying our daily fresh vegetable and fruits. Lucy is always overjoyed when she sees us and greets us with a warm “Jambo”. Often she would give Gil an extra piece of fruit and calls him lovingly “Papa”.

The Post Offices are slightly different too. Today the camels parked right outside of it. The little window in the middle is were the clerk stands and serves us. Life is much slower here, but Gil enjoys that.

Hi Friends

Life in Kenya is an adventure. This week we caught two snakes. One in our neighbor's garden and this one on our veranda. The Africans insisted that both were poisonous and dangerous. There is not a dull moment here. My mother tells me that I am crazy for living here. She might be right. I went to Psalm 91 that talks about live here and I learn to apply it. I hope it doesn't scare you away from visiting us. love, Maria

Our friend Bernd

Our friend Bernd

Jambo Friends

The above picture was taken at our official “handing over the key to our house” ceremony that we had three weeks ago. It shows Gil and Bernd. Most of you have heard me talking about Bernd. Now allow me to introduce Bernd to you. He has helped us to live our dream! Designing and overseeing the building of our house here in Kenya Bernd was an intricate part of the whole process of moving and now living in Kenya. He created a place of rest for us that we can fully enjoy. Since we arrived here in Kenya Bernd has also been a tremendous friend. He assisted us in moving into our home, buying a car, getting furniture, connecting us with people, taking us to the doctors, opening a bank account, shopping in Mombasa …the list is long and we are very grateful for his kindness and friendship. He goes a second mile with you! Without him we would not be were we are today and we praise God for Bernd. To move cross cultural is an amazing and challenging experienced, Bernd was an invaluable source of encouragement and there for us when we needed assistance. We are truly grateful for him. If you ever contemplate to move here, he is the man!

Jambo Friends

Finally we could download the picture of our house. Africans name their houses and we decided to call it "Pumzika" which means rest. God invites His people to rest in Him and so we took the word out of scripture. Here you have a little glimpse into our new life. Love and blessings, Maria & Gil

Jambo Friends

Our favorite place is the beach bar "Nomad" it is directly located on the beach and it is just beautiful. As you can see we got already some good color.

Kenya

Dear Friends

We arrived! Two weeks ago we moved into our new home. We are doing well and enjoy living in Kenya. Here is our first picture Gil and a Massai Night guard practising bow and arrow.

We have difficulties to download pictures. Hope we can solve it soon.

See you soon, Maria

Youth Service in Gundelfingen

Dear Friends,

Many of you prayed for my sharing time at the Youth Service in Gundelfingen. Thank you, we had a great time and God really answered prayer. There were around 100 people at the service. The music was really good and the topic of 'One life to live" hit home with the kids.
I had much freedom and peace while Ben, my nephew interviewed me. I love to do things like that and it was very enjoyable.
Gil was there too and had a great time.

Blessings and love, Maria & Gil

Traveling in Germany

Dear Friends

In the last couple of weeks we traveled by train though the southern part of Germany. The picture on the left is Gil in Konstanze and on the right the old Muenster in Ulm. Germany is a very pretty country with lots of charm and history. A visit is worth while.

Much love, Gil & Maria

The Blue Women

Hi Friends

We had much fun doing our masks together. Not as blue as some famous men, but more beautiful. then they. My nice Franziska taught me a couple of new things like how to drink a "Haemmerle" when doing a mask. Women always can have fun together in all ages.

See you soon, Maria

A life long dream comes true

For the first time in his life Gil owns a tuba. We got it from eBay and we picked it up this weekend. Gil is thrilled to own his first tuba. After more then 50 years palying the instrument a dream came true for him. Did you know that Gil played for the Inauguration of President Johnson? We had a blast and as you can see he is very happy and handsome.

Happy Valentin's Day

Gil & I spend a wonderful afternoon in a cozy cafe, eating Black Forest Cake. Celebrating love is a true gift from God. The weather was wonderful and we posed for a picture outside the beautiful place. We enjoyed the company of my sister and brother-in-law. (top left corner)

Have a happy valentine's day,

Maria

Rosy and I are going way back to the late 80's where we studied together Christian Counseling in Philadelpia. Today she works as an Art Painting Therapist/Counselor near Zuerich.

We realized we look just the same then two decades ago or maybe even better!

Gruezi mitanand

"Gruezi mitanand" (roll the "r" really strong in the back of your mouth)
This is a typical swiss german greeting we heard this past weekend as we traveld to Switzerland and visited friends. We had a great time and it was fun to meet our friends after almost 15years. The weather was nice and if you look closley, you can see the mountain range in the background of one of the pictures. The other picture shows Rosy our friend and Maria. Switzerland is just beautiful!
We are doing well and are back in Germany.
Love, Gil & Maria

Trip to Hamburg

Dear FriendsWe just returned from a very nice trip to Hamburg. Two friends from Bible School, Martin & Moni are working there as Missioanries in the harbor of Hamburg. They visit seamen on the ships. Often they reach Nationals from countries where no Missionary can go offically to share the good news. We had a great time getting to know their ministry better.

Gil's high point of the week was to go with Martin on a ship to share the Gospel. I loved the evening on an old ship where they made out of the machine room a Jazz club. The music was fun and we had a great time. Later we went for a short sight seeing tour through the city of Hamburg. Enjoy some of the pictures we took there.

We are doing well and are back in the Black Forest! Greetings, Gil & Maria