Hello Folks
Once again, a newsletter from Wyssachen.
With so many wonderful things, 2024 was a very exhausting year:
On one hand for David, there was his aunt who died in the spring. She was single, so the Wiedemann family had to take care of everything: And David is part of that. He was involved in the funeral and occasionally helped with the clear-out. As she lived on her own in a house and had “quite a lot” of stuff, it was a big job, but fortunately others in the family were very committed (MANY THANKS!). Then there were the property sales - the aunt's house and David's parents' apartment - and anyone with experience knows that this takes a lot of work and patience. Then there was David's job search and an outage at an association, where David then helped out as interim leader. There were also major projects at the Salvation Army: David was very occupied.
Of course, his family also felt this, as he was very busy elsewhere. Combined with Ursula's new job, Benaja's transition to secondary school and Matthja in a new school class, everyone was very challenged. On top of this, there were always health issues: Nothing serious, but always in addition to the other things.
Now some calm has returned and that was absolutely necessary! A few details below.
-> If you find yourselves on a picture and would not like to, please tell us quickly and we remove the photo(s)
Adonia-camp
Last summer, Ursula once again took over the management of the kitchen at an Adonia musical camp. This year was special because Ursula had been suffering from back pain from a few days back.
It was great to experience how she was supported by her kitchen team: They kept “ordering” her to take breaks, helped with the heavy stuff: It was nice to see what it's like when a team really works as such!
World of work
Ursula has settled into her job, many things are easier and now there is enough time to do what needs to be done. A change in the team will take place in the fall, which leads to a certain amount of suspense for Ursula.
For David, the year was very challenging: knowing that he had to change jobs - away from the Salvation Army - while still being fully committed was a difficult and demanding combination. At first, it looked like he was guaranteed a job with the service provider that runs the Salvation Army's IT infrastructure. Unfortunately, this turned out not to be the case in the summer. He also made efforts to find a solution within the Salvation Army: That didn't work out either.
After many applications, interviews and rejections, a position was finally found in December. David will be working for Caritas Switzerland in Lucerne from May 1, 2025 🙂.
Having planned to take a sabbatical last year, David has saved up a lot of vacation time and as the Salvation Army is also helping out a little, David was able to have his last working day on 29.1.2025 and now has time off until the end of April - a break that is doing him a great deal of good!
Holidays
These also took place last year within a similar framework as usual: Parents' time out again at Lake Aegeri, several camps - including Adonia in the summer - and with the Salvation Army Huttwil in Tuscany in the autumn. We would like to pick out two things from the fall vacations:
There was an offer that those who would like to can be baptized - and Benaja thought it was time to take this step. After talking to the people in charge, he definitely decided to be baptized in the sea and thus publicly profess his Christian faith - which made us very happy as parents 🙂 .
Then a very moving story:
In 2018, we were also in Tuscany and visited the town of Massa Maritima. We took photos of the children there. The owner of a store joined the children and was in a few pictures too. After the vacation, we sent this photo to an address that we thought from Google Maps was this man's store.
When we were back last fall, we wanted to go back to Massa Maritima because we really liked this town. On the way there, we wondered what had happened to the man - we hadn't had any response, but we kept remembering it. Once we were there, we went back to the same place to take a few more pictures of the children. A woman beckoned us into a store: It was THE store where the owner had posed with our children in the photo six years earlier. We learned that he had sadly passed away in the meantime - but it was the photo we had sent him that was hanging on the wall as a memento: that touched us very much!
Baptism Benaja:
Encounter in Massa Maritima:
Kids
The transition to secondary school in Huttwil was a big deal for Benaja: suddenly the journey to school was no longer 300m but 8 kilometers! He also has to work and learn much more independently and he really has to learn - which was unfamiliar! After some initial difficulties, he is doing very well in the meantime. While Matthja has mastered his transition to middle school well, Nayara is doing well in the current class.
Every now and then we do something together as a family - you can see more about this in the following pictures...
Together at Basel Zoo:
Hike from Nebikon to Zofingen:
Circus Knie:
Skiing on the Klewenalp (HIGHLY recommended, affordable as a family):
Plans
The short-term plans are shaped by David's new job and the current time out. There are two children's rooms to be painted, the IT infrastructure at home has to be renewed and then we're going to Hong Kong again: first David on his own, then the family will follow during the spring break.
Adonia is coming up again in the summer and Nayara is due to start secondary school this summer. If it's possible at David's new job, we'd like to go to Corsica again in the fall.
Music of the newsletter
7000 young people aged 13-25 in a camp at Messe Basel from 27.12.2024-1.1.2025: celebration, creativity, joy, life, time for conversation, community - and all without alcohol, drugs, fights, bullying, etc: That's Praisecamp, which took place at Messe Basel. Benaja was there for the first time and the following was a bit of a favorite song of the “pack” (loud and rocking - but we all like that here at Wiedemanns in Wyssachen... 😉): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2oxGYpuLkw
A few final pictures
Love regards
All Widis: Ursula and David with Benaja Isaak, Nayara Joy and Matthja David
Thank you deepl.com (free version) for helping with translation!