Mark and Nix in Switzerland: April 2011

Wow....I haven't blogged in ages!! As I'm sure you can tell life has been too busy to blog, which leaves me in a bit of a dilemma...there's A LOT to catch up on!!

So I'm going to be brief and let the pics do most of the talking!

We've had MORE visitors... Nathan Mackenzie and Josh Moon came out for a long weekend at the beginning of April. Nathan is an expert in Sound Engineering/teching an area in our church which we need quite a bit of help with, so he came to do a sound training day for us. Josh came to, well, he just came because its Switzerland and why wouldn't you!! We had a great weekend, Mark really enjoyed having a boys weekend, they got up to all sorts. Here are some pics...

BBQ by the Lake with our 20's and 30's group

BBQ at the top of Leysin!

Never too cold for a dip in the lake....really!?

A boys weekend with Mark wouldn't be complete without a ride!!

After they left we had a busy week with some significant events...we had our 'Expertise' on our car. This is like a Swiss MOT but much, much more rigorous than in the UK. We were really quite worried that our car would not pass on several things, its a brilliant car for us but it pretty old and we weren't sure what may be up with it. However, we came away with just a handbreak to fix! So we were relieved. it was a very strange experience as you stay in the car the whole time they do the test and do several checks that we did not think possible! Thankfully the guy who carried out the test spoke some English, at the moment he discovered our terrible handbreak he had driven the car up a hill, put the handbreak on and as we rolled downhill backwards with an irritating screeching sound all he could say was (now you have to imagine this in a Swiss accent...) "bad, bad, bad, bad bad!", we couldn't help but give him our sweetest smile!! (its an automatic so we hardly even use it!) not sure that would've gone down as a good excuse!!

On the same day we had a very significant exchange...we changed our UK driving licenses for Swiss ones...you have to do this within a year of living in Switzerland otherwise you have to go through the tests all over again. Not having realised that we have to relinquish our Uk licenses for our new ones, it was quite a sad moment saying goodbye to them...sniff, sniff!!

Mark also discovered that he is allergic to Switzerland...well, the pollen anyway! This is a humorous picture of him trying to remedy his itching eyes...

Yes....that's vanilla! mmmmm!

At the end of the week we said goodbye to the Slacks as they set off to South Africa for a well-earned and deserved family holiday visiting with friends. Leaving the church and all matters surrounding it (including the keys)...gulp... to us! Fortunately, we have a fantastic eldership and very supportive bunch of people willing to get stuck in the hard graft which is setting up, doing the service and packing down again! Mark, bless him, had to handle the worship leading and teaching for the two services on the first Sunday, but Easter Sunday was taken on by some others! Phew! Mark taught on the Triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, it hasn't been put online yet but as soon as it does I'll put the link on here.

We had our dear friends Tom and Jen Cooper come and visit us with Caleb for a week of holiday. We had AMAZING weather the whole time, we stayed at the Slack's empty apartment as it has more space and a garden to enjoy and we did some of the usual touristy things around here....

As I had two weeks off from work for Easter Mark and I decided we'd take some time to get away and do some relaxing of our own...its felt like a whirlwind since we've got here in Switzerland and we're both feeling pretty run down and tired from the busy lifestyle we have here! So we took off driving on Monday with all our camping equipment in the back, not really sure where we were heading!! We ended up in Ticino the italian Canton here in Switzerland...it was quite bizarre really as we were still in Switzerland but everyone was speaking Italian, the buildings looked Italian and it felt like we were in Italy! We spent 2 nights in different parts of Ticino then went into REAL Italy for one night on Lake Garda.

On our first night we rode into town for our evening meal!

Needless to say, Mark was pretty hungry by the time the food came!

Gotta gotta gotta enjoy that Italian Gillato!!! mmmmmm!

Got to love half price Easter Chocolate!!!

Any resemblance?

What do you do when its raining, your tent is tiny and your car is huge??

You set up your deck-chairs inside the warm, dry car of course!!! Roll on the thunder!

Sunset at Lake Garda

What do you do when you're sick of sleeping in a tent...sleep in the car instead!

So, that's April in a nut shell...We're just enjoying the Royal Wedding Highlights and feeling very proud to be British! Congratulations Wills and Kate! What a lovely ceremony and prayers on live TV!

Prayers...

Back to work next week....humph! Enthusiasm, inspiration and energy please!!

Pray for health and energy for us as we keep busy here.

We cannot tell you how much we appreciate your faithful prayers for us as we minister here in Lausanne. May God bless you!

Well spring has officially sprung here in Switzerland...in fact so much so that I am going to head down to our 'cave' and get my summery clothes out today!! Time to put away wooly jumpers and warm boots...
Well, during our March spring weather my mum and dad came out for a week's visit with the intention to learn to ski! There has been no proper snow in the mountains since around Christmas and so the poor Ski piste people have made a desperate attempt at keeping the pistes open and running, which means you arrive at a ski resort and see a slightly brown-tinged ski run going down a mountain with grass on either side! Which doesn't really give the best conditions for learning how to ski. However, the Clarke's are deterred by nothing and so on the Wednesday we took them to a spot where we'd heard rumours that the snow was still in good supply...ahem!

There was no bunny run!! Yikes, so with a slight bit of training on the complete flat near the ski lift Mark and I took them straight up to do a blue run, we managed to get halfway down where there was a much-needed 'buvette' for a sunbathe and a quenching drink, then after a picnic lunch we attempted the second half of the hill with some renewed energy over some pretty slushy, bumpy, non-beginner snow! I must say it was rather a strange sensation watching my parents fall...I still kind of have this 'parents-are-superheros' type mentality, and so seeing them ski was an eye-opener for me! However, despite the terrible snow conditions, the fact that they were complete beginners and that we had to go down a run to teach them to ski; they did really well and I'm pretty sure they left feeling like they had achieved something and have a new love for skiing...so, better snow next year please!

The rest of the week was spent exploring and enjoying the sunshine (when its not snowing here, its generally gloriously sunny), as with all our guests Mark and I had to carry on with our normal routines so Ma and Pa got to do some exploring on their own. We had a morning in Montreux, where we walked beside the water. Dad couldn't stop singing 'Smoke on the water' as we saw the Casino which that song talks about. Thursday 24th March was their 27th Wedding Anniversary so my dad took my mum away for a night in Leysin and we met them the next day for picnic/BBQ at the top of the mountain. We also explored Lausanne a bit too.

It was so lovely to have them stay and give them a taste of our lives here, we are so blessed to have parents that support, love and encourage us the way ours do.

Here's a few snapshots of the week;