Switzerland: Hiking and the Brothers

Our last, but certainly not least favorite, place to visit was Switzerland. We left our wonderful AirBnB hosts in Germany and headed to Switzerland. We took a slightly different route so that we could drive through part of the small country of Liechtenstein. Also on our route, we stopped at Lucerne, Switzerland, where Ryan took us on a short tour of the downtown area with long wooden pedestrian bridges over the river. It was the location he remembered best from his senior trip in high school. Sydney loved watching the swans.

Our last resting spot was not another AirBnB; rather, it was a guesthouse run by the Christusraeger Brotherhood, our ministry partners who also work in Vanga! The purpose of the guesthouse is to provide a place for retreats, family holidays, and also for the many pilgrims who walk through that part of Switzerland. As they say, "The beautiful surroundings encourage the soul to unwind and become open to the message of the Gospel." We certainly found that statement to be true for us! The proceeds of the guesthouse support their work in Afghanistan and also Vanga, Congo. They provide hospice for patients who are dying, a fund for the poor who cannot pay for care, and general upkeep of the hospital. If you want to know more details, their website is in German, but they have an English pdf which I'll link you to here. http://www.christustraeger-bruderschaft.org

When we arrived late Sunday evening, they greeted us warmly and served us a hot dinner! Brother Thomas, who worked in Vanga for 3 years, is in charge of the guesthouse. He ate with us, and then took us to a small cottage where we would sleep for the next 4 nights. He personally made sure that we had enough blankets and brought us an old wooden crib for Sydney. For the entire time we spent at Ralligen, we were completely taken care of. We had 3 hot meals a day except when we were out for the day, and they even provided us with food to make our own sack lunches! It was truly a relaxing experience and highly recommended for anyone traveling to/through Switzerland.

There are many buildings on the property owned by the Brothers, but the largest is Schloss Ralligen which is translated as "castle" but which really just looks like a very very large house. It dates back to the 14th century when it was the Augustinian Monastery of Interlaken. There is a full kitchen and dining room in the first floor, a tea room, meeting rooms, family room, conference room on the second floor, and then taking the large spiral staircase, there are 2 more floors of rooms and a sizable chapel at the point of the roof. Several times a day, the Brothers will say prayers and sing in the chapel and all the guests are invited.

Most of Monday we spent in personal reflection, prayer, solitude, or exploring the property. However, in the afternoon for a couple of hours, Tim, Nancy, and I drove about 10 minutes to a village nearby to see a very high and long pedestrian suspension bridge. In Switzerland, the mountains are incredibly steep, but then have places that are flat partway up and on these tiny spaces, there are villages. It is like the village is on a shelf. The valleys between these villages plunge down and then back up, and in this particular village, the bridge cuts the walking time to the next village (on the "shelf") from ~30 min to 5 min. We admired the bridge, then took the 30 min plunging path through the valley just for fun. I now consider that my favorite 30 minute hike! There was a waterfall at the bottom, and a small bridge. I took a video, being sarcastic that we had traveled far to see this small bridge, when I actually saw how awesome it really was.

In other words, I was really put in my place. We climbed the other side of the valley and then crossed back to the village via the pedestrian bridge. Every movement was felt as the bridge was quite light and suspended by cables. Tim got white knuckled at first, but enjoyed it. It probably didn't help that Nancy and I were lightly bouncing as we walked to see how much the bridge could move. ;)

We spent our next two days hiking the magnificent Alps. The first day, we took a funicular (basically a train that gets pulled by a cable very steeply up a mountain) and then cable cars (like a ski lift) to get to the summit, and then we hiked for about 4 hours on the top of the mountains. 

The funicular, complete with a tunnel and a turn!

Like walking on top of the world!

That evening, Brother Thomas made a special presentation about Vanga to a German church group which was having a retreat that week at Ralligen. Someone graciously translated for the Rices and us so that we could understand. Seeing Vanga through Brother Thomas's eyes and learning lessons through his experiences was a highlight of our time there. "This is not a success story, but a love story," he said towards the end, reflecting on the many times when things didn't go as planned, when people did not appreciate something because of a clash of culture, or when miscommunication happened. But, in all of that, he wanted to share his life with the people of Congo and love them as Jesus did. What wisdom! What honesty! "This is not a success story, but a love story." What an asset to have the opportunity to learn from him! At the end, the Rices and we spoke for about 10 minutes about our journey to medical missions and specifically to Vanga. Brother Thomas closed the meeting by describing a meeting held recently about the future of Vanga and their current needs.

"We need a surgeon." 

"We need more teachers."

"We need people who want to work with the youth."

"We need people who love Jesus and love our people." 

Dramatic pause... and he said to the German audience, "If you have been praying for us and for our work in Vanga,.." Then he paused and looked at each one of us: Tim (teacher of medicine, lover of Jesus), Kathy (teacher of nursing, lover of Jesus), Ryan (teacher of research and engineering, soccer coach for the youth, and lover of Jesus) and me (surgeon, teacher of medicine, lover of Jesus). And he continued, "These two families are an answer to your prayers." Goosebumps. 

Our final day of hiking was our favorite day of the vacation for all of us. We had very sunny skies even though it was cold. Brother Thomas came along with us, sneakily paying for our tickets to ride the aerial tramway. We drove through a valley with the mountains rising as steep cliffs on either side with waterfalls frequently pouring hundreds of feet over the edge of the cliff. One of the cities in the valley only gets 3-4 hrs of direct sun during the summer and 30 min in the winter! We then rode the aerial tram/cable car with about 75 other people and it whisked us up the side of the cliff and plopped us on top where there was a tiny village called Gimmelwald (featured on Rick Steves' Europe). We took the next car up to Murren and then walked on the Kid's Adventure Trail, complete with playgrounds along the way and a small zipline in the trees (which all of us rode, including Sydney with me). We had lunch in a sunny spot on the patio of a closed ski restaurant, talking extensively with Brother Thomas throughout the hiking and especially at lunch. We continued our afternoon on the Northface Trail which, indeed, warranted clothing made by the company of the same name. (Brrr..) We concluded by walking through cow pastures and trees and back down to Gimmelwald. The beautiful scenery combined with beautiful weather, a easy to medium hike, and wonderful conversation with Brother Thomas made it the highlight of our vacation! 

Lunch break with Brother Thomas

Rest/snack break for all

Brother Thomas expounding on his experiences organizing a soccer tournament

Northface Trail

Sydney loves those hiking sticks!

Tim capturing the moment