Well, it is so strange how trips draw to a close. In this case we’ve enjoyed a Sunday of a relatively relaxed pace, one that has seen us spread out all over the city and region. Some went to church, others to the local park where they purchased linens and fresh fruit. Still others returned to the Chortitza villages, and others yet returned to more-distant Molotschna. And all of that just in the morning!
Most of us gathered again in the hotel for our noon meal; those who didn’t ate “on the road” or in one of the city cafes. In the afternoon a full van load went around Chortitza Island in a boat and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I happened to be near the hotel as some returned from their day-long ventures, and was again moved to see how people like Vic and Nellie, Len and Lillian were moved to have been to the village of Vic and Lillian’s grandparents.
Just now, as I walked down the hall to my room, I walked past small clusters in front of their open hotel doors as they swapped stories from the day that has almost passed, or the trip that has seemed to have gone on now for days upon days; yet in another way has seemingly passed in the blink of an eye.
We are truly a blessed people, and fortunate to do what we have been able to do and see on this trip.
— Leonard Friesen
