European Basketball Trip

The last two days (Saturday & Sunday) have been quite the experience. Saturday we took the regional train into the town of Basel. Half of the city is in Germany and half is in Switzerland. We split into groups and went on a scavenger hunt through the city, staying in Switzerland the whole time. The hunt took us to some of the land marks of the city like the Münster church and the Rhine river. The river runs right through the middle of the city and is treated like a beach. The banks have steps every few feet so you can get in and out as you please. The weather has been unusually hot here, so we decided to float down the Rhine for awhile and it was very refreshing. Saturday night my host family had a barbecue with some friends. It was a very relaxing way to end the day. Sunday morning we attended a church that News Release is Partnered with. Bobby, who is a local and helps with the camp talked to the congregation about what we are doing and the people were very excited to have us. We sang some English songs, but other than that the entire service was in German. I really had to pay attention to what was being said because I couldn't understand when the pastor told us to rise and sing, or pray. I really loved singing in German. One of the last songs we sand was "Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord." I recognized the tune right away and it was just so cool to know that a local, Marco, who sat right next to me in the front row, was praising the same God that I was. The love of God transcends language.