Our visit to Frankentrost
Here's the important information first: Move date: July 20th Installation: July 29th First Preaching: August 5th Yesterday we packed up the family in the van for a day trip up to our vicarage congregation in Frankentrost, Michigan. We left around eight a.m. without incident. We stopped for gas and toilet with coffee at McD's. All was going well so we called ahead to say we'd be a bit early. Unfortunately we got stuck in Flint for an extra thirty minutes fighting a one-lane bottleneck. Yuck. We got to the church around noon. Pr. Loest showed us around the church office (the vicar has cozy office), the school with full gym, labs, and such, and the church. The church is an A-frame with organ, high altar, and colorful glass. The sacristy has Luther in glass always looking over the pastor/vicar's shoulder. I'd say it seats around three hundred, maybe more. They're dealing with some structural and electrical issues. I met an elder and some other congregants who were pleasant. Franketrost is a very tight community, as is Frankenmuth. Everyone knows everyone. I didn't find this to be a problem in my brief dealings. Everyone I met was friendly. We had lunch at the parsonage. Pastor has five children, three girls and two boys. The youngest boys (3 and 5) matched up well with Ethan and Gabriel and the youngest girl (10) played well with Elsie. We had dogs, brats, kraut, and pudding for dessert. Ethan stayed behind and the rest of us had a driving tour of Frankenmuth. It was similar to my memory but Anne had never been there. Its only about seven miles away from "'Trost'" as they call it. We drove the three miles to our vicarage home. This is a new vicarage house for them. The previous home was no longer available. This house is nice with three bedrooms, full basement, and construction circa 1954. I'll have an office space there and the kids will get the upstairs to themselves. There are two and a half baths. It's on a farm property with four barns. The only negative is that is on a busy highway. We'll be able to deal with that. There is an ice cream parlor across the street. Yummy. Google Maps We came back and let the kids play for a while. I went with pastor to do a quick hospital visit. Unfortunately the member has been moved by the time we got there. I did get to see one of the hospitals. We came back and visited some more. As the day was waning, we left around five thirty. Dinner was Wendy's and traffic was light. We arrived back in Fort Wayne around ten p.m. It was quite the visit and a long day. I'm glad we did it as it will help us plan and pack. Pastor and his family were very welcoming. We are thankful!
