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Wow, what a whirlwind of a couple of weeks! We didn't want to advertise it much, but a couple of weeks ago Ryan had to head back to the States for his cousin's wedding, therefore leaving me all alone in a foreign country for almost a week...yikes! :) Everything went completely okay, and it gave me a chance to connect with this wonderful city I'm living in in a whole new way. When Ryan returned to Germany he brought a stowaway with him... His brother Cory!

We had a ton of fun while Cory was here, just the three of us. Cory had never been to Europe before so we got to show him just how awesome it is! He also got a good introduction to the Church in Germany and it's huge need for more workers... so we're praying maybe he'll come back to Germany someday to do ministry also! :) Anyway, After Cory's first few days in Germany we rented a car and drove to PRAGUE! It's funny seeing the drastic differences between the Czech Republic and Germany even though the border is only a couple hours away from Jena :) Anyway, the reason why we went to Prague was to meet my grandparents there!!!

We all had a ton of fun in Prague for a few days. We got to go to a Czech speaking church with the Mudrik's (the Missionaries in Residence at Lincoln last year) as well as do plenty of touristy things! My grandparents had also never been to Europe before! I'm so glad they came, it was so wonderful. Prague is a gorgeous city, absolutely stunning... and the FOOD IS AMAZING!

After our few days spent in Prague, we all piled into the car and drove back into our beloved Germany. Even after being in Prague for like a day, I already missed Germany :) I loved being able to recognize words and speak some again! Anyway, on our way back to Jena we stopped by Dresden to spend the afternoon doing some sightseeing. If you know anything about what happened to Dresden during WWII, you know just how heart wrenching it was to actually be there and see the city for yourself. In the book, Slaughterhouse 5, Dresden is described as having looked like "Heaven" or "Oz", but then it was so completely destroyed by the Allies bombing it that it is later simply referred to as "the moon". Being there are looking at some before and after bombing photos I couldn't help but weep, what a surreal experience. The city is totally rebuilt now and they have replicated some of the main original buildings and churches that were destroyed.

Then, eventually, we made it back to little ol' Jena. We loved having Cory and my Grandparents with us at our new "home". We spent most of our time eating waaaaaay too much! Perfect :)

We also got to go to an old WWII concentration camp located about 45 minutes outside of Jena. Buchenwald is particularly unique because it was the very last concentration camp to be liberated during WWII. It was of course chilling and surreal to be there, but I'm glad Cory as well as my Grandparents were able to experience visiting such a place. For Ryan and I, it was the second one we have visited. I believe that it's such a life changing experience that everyone should try to visit one in their lifetime.

The rest of our time in Jena was filled with more and more food, helping around at our Church a little bit, having to say goodbye to Cory (and trying to not envy him too much as he headed off on his European adventure), having my grandparents come to church with us (they were able to witness 2 baptisms!) and then eventually having to say goodbye to them as well :( All in all, having all of them here was a time that we will never forget and we loved every moment of it. Thank you to Cory as well and my wonderful Grandparents for coming to see us! And a VERY special thank you to my Grandparents for spoiling us so much while they were here!!! We love you!

So now here we are all alone again, back to real life. Actually Ryan has been at a conference in southern Germany the last couple days, so I've been on my own again :) It's been kind of nice to have some downtime alone though. I will be blogging again soon with some more ministry related things going on here in Jena! Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers!

-Elyse