The Pfennigers – Fred and Lydia

The town is called Les Ponts-de-Martel (We do not know how to pronounce it yet!)  Les Ponts-de-Martel is located about 1000 meter above and 20 km from Neuchatel.  To get here you have to go up a mountain, down a mountain, across a valley and start up a mountain again.  The distance is just enough such we have snow when Neuchatel does not and we have more snow when Neuchatel does!  The say that more snow is coming!!

The town consists of about 1300 people, 2 bank, 2 butcher shops, a small grocery store where Gruyere Swiss cheese – 19.50 CHF ($21.66 US) a kg and lunch ham is 27.80 CHF ($30.88 US) a kg.  There are also 2 bakeries, a pharmacy, 2 restaurants, 2 gas stations (gas is 1.71 CHF a liter –around $6 US a gallon), a train station, and multiple other small businesses.  The area is popular for cross-country skiing.  We live within 100 meters of the small grocery store, a bank, the post office, and the police station. There is also a church 30 meters from us whose bells goes off every half hour and on the hour! (Lydia keeps thinking it’s her cell phone.)  Besides the bells we live in a very quiet and beautiful little town.

It takes us 40 minutes by bus to get to Neuchatel.  Every morning, except for Saturday, we are up at 5:45 am and at the bus stop at 7:40.  We arrive in Neuchatel at 8:20 am.  The language school is a 5-minute walk from the bus station.  Language training which started on Jan 14th goes from 9 to 12:15 Monday thru Friday.  Daycare is at the church next door to the language school.  Saturday is our day off and on Sunday we go to Church in Neuchatel.  We have not been able to fully start this schedule yet as Noah has been sick –he got sick starting on the 11^th and was sick for 5 days.  Now he is doing better (Praise God).

Our apartment is small (4 rooms – 1 bedroom 1, living room, 1 kitchen, and 1 bathroom) but is nice, as it has been newly renovated and has basic furniture (no TV).  Fred is having withdrawal from watching “Once upon a time.” Unfortunately we have been unable to obtain Internet access at our apartment. (However the Language school has set us up with limit free access 4 hours a week starting Jan21, 2013.  Praise God). Lydia is having withdrawal from talking with her mom.

So outside of the cold weather, 40-minute daily bus-ride, limited internet and 5:45 am mornings, the set up is actual very convenient and simple. We are blessed with beautiful scenery, very good cheese and chocolate, and a group of women who are working very hard to make us feel welcomed. We are missing home but feeling very blessed.  Thank you God for keeping us safe thus far!

Please see our updated prayer requests and pictures. (Will be updated in the next couple of days)

Well, we are 13 days from the start of our journey – 6 months in Switzerland and then 2 years in Togo.  As the last things are coming together, I am left to ponder the things I have learned and experienced over the last 3 months while studying, taking care of Noah, packing, and living in the USA. (Remember, I am a Canadian who was born in the USA and raised with a Swiss mindset).

• 41 years of life, 1 wife, 1 child, 6 suitcases, a job, our health, and faith.  Cost: priceless.
• There is nothing more time-consuming and tiring than managing an 8-month old with a fever.  Residents and doctors have it easy.
• A blowout has a total different meaning when talking about kids versus tires.
• The building blocks of society have to be family, followed by community.  For a Christian, this means Church.  In all our presentations, the Church has provided an efficient, effective connection to community with a common purpose.  For an atheist I am not sure what this means.
• What happened in Newtown, Connecticut was a tragedy.  A question was asked, where was God?!  We need to understand that this is not God’s world.  God’s plan was the Garden of Eden.  We chose otherwise.
• ATM cards have replaced travelers checks in Europe.
• International ATM fees from banks include the following –> a 3% transaction fee, a $2 to $5 dollar ATM fee for each ATM use, and a local ATM charge. (International ATM fees from Credit Unions include a local ATM charge only!!)
• The definition of a great deal — 3 pairs of jeans, 4 shirts, 2 pairs of socks, and 1 pair of shoes. ($30.00, thank you Good Will)
• The definition of a bad deal –hospital charges. (We are still receiving bills from the non-complicated birth of our son in March of 2012.  From what I can see to-date -> you are billed separately for the facility, the doctor, the service, and the supplies.  One only knows what we will get next month.)

As we start on our journey in January, our goal is to blog (with pictures) two times a month about our trip, as well as thoughts and feelings on our experiences and the events that occur around us.  We hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to comment.

We found out on Thursday of last week that we passed the Family Medicine Boards.  Thank you, God.

Christmas 2012 Newsletter is now online.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

As we have continued to share our vision and work for Togo, Africa, we had a chance to present in Quincy, Illinois at the residency program and then in Kirksville, Missouri at Rehoboth Baptist church.  Kirksville is the town where Lydia went to medical school and Quincy is the city in which she did her residency training as a family physician.

As we made this 8-hour drive, Lydia had a chance to reflect on the journey that she has taken during the past few years and the many fears and stresses that she faced in med school with late nights studying and many tests.  During the time there, God blessed her with a group of Christian friends who helped to sustain her with dog piles, food fights, stress runs, and tickle fests.  There was also lots of prayers and hugs and, most importantly, DQ ice-cream!  This trip down “memory lane” was a blessed reminder from God saying, “Remember what I have done; do not be afraid, and have faith in what I will do!” Lydia was very grateful for this time and greatly enjoyed getting to talk with her previous colleagues, patients, and friends.

Check it out . .  we made the Madison Courier.

http://madisoncourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=182&SubSectionID=264&ArticleID=72776

Today we made a presentation at the Wirt Baptist Church in Madison Indiana.  The chuch is Great Grandma Phillps church (Lydia’s Grandma).  The missions committee at the church has supported Lydia in the past on short term mission trips; and is presently supporting us.  They do there fund raising throught the sale of peanut butter brittle (Lydia recommends them, Fred has yet to try them).  We are truely blessed by there support, both in prayer and in finance.

We left Tacoma on September 24, 2012 and arrived in Madison Indiana on Oct 3, 2012.  The trip was long but enjoyable.  We travelled through 2 provinces (British Columbia and Alberta) and 6 states ( Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana).  Notable events during our travels:

• Spent time with Grandma Pfenniger, Aunt Pfenniger and family, and friend the Days
• Spent time honoring and reflecting my dad life
• North Dakota is flat and takes 8 hours to drive across!!
• Noah loves the water (we got him into the pool twice)
• Loved the cites of Fernie BC, Grand Forks BC, Osoyoos BC, the state of Wisconsin, the Northern part of Illinois

Tomorrow we start week 3 of 5 in prepartion of our Board exams on Nov 10, 2012. Presently we spend about 6 hours a day / 5 days a week studying and doing question. Grandma and Grandpa Childress been a blessing.  They have not only been taking care of Noah during the day but feeding us lunch and dinner!  (I wonder if we can keep this going beyond the board exam, say until we leave to Switzerland!)

When strangers see Noah, they are quick to ask . .  . who does he look like, you or your wife?  When friends see Noah, they are quick to say . . . oh, he looks just like you or oh, he looks just like your wife.  This statement is usually followed by what do you think?

What do I think?  I have no idea.  From the moment he was born, I have not been able to tell whether he looks like me or he looks like my wife.  I often wonder if he got mixed up with another in the nursery. Well, that was until we started to feed him rice cereal . . .

To feed him, I sit in chair.  I then sit him at the end of my knees, facing me with my left hand on his back, holding him by his clothing.  With my right hand, spoon ready, I scoop up some rice cereal.  I bring the spoon within one to two inches of his face and I pause.  I kid you not, he opens his mouth, grabs for my hands, and shoves spoon / hand and all into his mouth!!!  Yes, Noah is my Son.

Last weekend we had the opportunity to make another presentation.  This time it was to a small group of Swiss people.  They are family friends, people who my mom and my dad knew during there single years in Tacoma / Seattle Washington.  The gathering lasted for 6 hours and was a true blessing, full of encouragement and memories.