Here are scenes from:

• A day in the park along the Rhein River in Cologne

Our July the fourth celebration this year had quite a different tone for us than in previous years. Since the celebration of the US Independence Day didn't take place anywhere in this region, and the nearest option was Berlin where the new American embassy was being dedicated, we opted for a quiet day of rest and an afternoon of sightseeing in down town Cologne and the Rheinpark across the river on the west of the down town. This was the same park where the Mid-Africa Festival took place on the weekend of our arrival in the middle of June. From down town Cologne you can take a tram (Seilbahn) across the river to the park and also the zoo is next to the park. It is a huge, beautiful park with trails, playgrounds etc. for people to enjoy a leisurely time with family and friends. Linda Akinyi, the secretary of the IBC Church, was our host, and part of the activities were a birthday gift to Claire as well. After walking, sitting, walking etc. we caught the train back to Siegburg where we are staying.

Rheinpark - Seilbahn

 

Prayer requests: '

1. That we can gradually reclaim most of the former members, almost a 100 people total, who have left the church over the past five or six years out of dissatisfaction with the way things were being done. A growing number have indicated interest in returning to the church once they see that the past troubles are indeed in the past and aren't going to plague the church in the coming days.
2. For Calvin and Betty Ann Hogue, the founding pastor of the church, as they finish up an interim in Stockton California and begin finalizing plans to return to Cologne to begin an interim here the first Sunday of September. God is miraculously making financial provisions to pave the way for their return until Claire and I return in January to begin as regular pastor of the church. They will be here from Sept. 4 to Dec. 30, serving the church.
3. That the mission team from the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, who will be with us August 4-11, will have safe traveling and a productive week helping us create greater awareness of the IBC church throughout the Cologne Bonn metropolitan area. We have numerous outreach activities planned, along with some sight-seeing activities to introduce them to a city whose beginnings reach back in history to 57 BCE.
4. That Claire and I will be able to find an adequate apartment to live in before we return to NC on August 14. This will make things much easier to know what items to ship from NC to Germany, as well as have a place where Calvin and Betty Ann can stay during the time they are here in the fall. The apartment search gets underway in a serious fashion this week and hopefully will be finalized in no more than two weeks.

Good news on this one. God has answered our prayers for an apartment. Tomorrow, Friday, July 11, we will sign the lease papers for a small three bedroom apartment. Our new German address beginning August 1 will be:

Lorin & Claire Cranford

Aachenerstra. 128

D 50389 Wesseling Germany

Größere Kartenansicht 

Right now the apartment is being renovated with new lament wood bedroom floors and the painting / wall papering of the inside walls. It should be ready by the last week of July for us to move into and then begin setting up things. Pictures aplenty will come later, once the renovation is completed and things are set up. The monthly rent is very good in comparison to other options, and about at the expense level of small apartment living in Gastonia. And the church is covering the cost of the basic rent; we pick up the utilities.

Wesseling, a small town of about 12,000 people, is located almost exactly half way between down town Bonn and Cologne on the south side of the river. It will be convenient for church members to get to when we have guests over. Just two S-Bahn stops toward Cologne and you're at a major factory outlet mall, along with other large shopping options.

The apartment is 83 square meters large, that is, about 900 square feet. The large living room / dining room combination is adjacent to the master bedroom. Both open up to the interior of the block where there is a nice view. A balcony goes from the living room to the outside. The kitchen is next to the dining room area with a window opening in the wall between. The front two bedrooms open up to the street, but this street is short and doesn't have much traffic. Almost directly across the street is a Plus grocery store (think small Ingels or Kroger chain grocery store) for grocery shopping. We will use these bedrooms as a combination office / spare bed room for both Claire and myself.

The entry way from the stairs is open and spacious when you first walk into the apartment. The apartment is located on the 2. Etage (German calculation) or third floor (American calculation). But the stairs are not steep nor very high. There's a really nice area in the basement for our washer and dryer, and also a large private storage room for our things. Plus there's free parking on the street for our visitors. Should we decide to get a car later on, for a small monthly amount we can rent a parking space either above ground or in the underground garage adjacent to the apartment. The four family apartment house was built originally in 1992 and is located in the newly developed part of Wesseling just south of the A-555 Autobahn. So it's a very convenient access by car from the Autobahn. We are about a 20 minute walk to the S-Bahn, or 3 blocks walk and then a bus to the S-Bahn. Eventually there will be a couple of bicycles in the picture for getting to and from down town. Getting to and from both Bonn and Cologne will be quite easy, about 15 minutes either direction. We are quite pleased with the location and especially with the adequacy of the apartment for our needs at this stage of life. We have been planning on down sizing when retirement came, and this will give us the chance to move into a place just slightly less than half the size of our house in Boiling Springs.

We hope you enjoy these pictures.

Lorin & Claire

Please note a correction to our German home telephone number; it was incorrectly listed at the beginning.

IBC - International Baptist Church Cologne  
Pastor Lorin Cranford
Postfach 800518 
D - 51005 Koeln


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