 Ken Rodgers (left), co-director of the Hesston College European tour, tells participants about the first Anabaptist martyr, Felix Manz, who was drowned in Lake Zurich on this river, the Limmat River, in Zurich, Switzerland on January 5, 1527. |
July 9, 2008
Twenty-six Hesston College alumni and friends enjoyed a two-week European tour to four countries May 30-June 12. The Hesston College Alumni Association sponsored the trip as part of the college’s Centennial celebration titled “Living The Vision” planned for the 2009-2010 school year.
Participants ranged in age from 50 to 87 and came from Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Virginia.
The group, which met in Amsterdam, took a relaxing and informative canal ride the first day, Saturday, May 31, then checked into their hotel, famous for housing George Clooney and Brad Pitt while filming the movie “Ocean’s 12.” The following morning, participants worshiped with the Mennonite “Hidden Church” (a reference to Anabaptist churches during the Reformation, including this church) in Haarlem. The Hesston College European Chorale—29 students co-directed by music professors Ken Rodgers and Bradley Kauffman who toured for about a month (May 6 to June 3)—provided special music.
Kimberly Kropf, Oregon City, Ore., blogged about the two-week tour. She wrote: “It is amazing how many [members] of the chorale have connections to someone in the alumni group—same church, same hometown, or even a relative! Some of the alumni [and friends] group were in the Hesston College Chorale or Bel Canto Singers in their college days.”
After the worship service, a living history play about Dutch Mennonites was shared.
“Later that evening,” Kropf writes, “we attended the final concert of the European Chorale. The church was full, evidently not common in these post-Christian days, and the music was well received, with two standing ovations. Of course there were tears from some [students] as it was another goodbye for them.”
The largest flower auction in the world, located in Aalsmeer outside Amsterdam, was one of the attractions the following day, according to Kropf. “The big warehouse was sooooo fragrant. Such a busy and quick auction.” The warehouse covers 300 million square feet.
 The 26 Hesston College alumni and friends on the two-week European tour stand in front of the Mennonite "Hidden Church" -a reference to Anabaptist churches during the Reformation, including this church-in Haarlem, near Amsterdam, The Netherlands. |
 Ken Rodgers (left), co-director of the Hesston College European tour, tells tour participants about the history surrounding the town of Pingjum and Menno Simons. Simons was a priest at a Roman Catholic church in this town in the Netherlands before joining the Anabaptist movement in 1536. The group is meeting in a visitor's center designed as a replica of a place where Anabaptists met. |
 The outside of the visitor's center in Pingjum, the Netherlands, designed as a replica of a place where Anabaptists met. |
 Some of the participants in the Hesston College European tour pose for a photo while visiting the "Top of Europe," Jungfrau Mountain. The Jungfrau (German for "maiden/virgin") is the highest peak (at 13,642 ft) of a mountain of the same name, located in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps, overlooking Wengen, Switzerland. |
Still on Monday, June 2, some of the group went to the Anne Frank Museum. “To be reminded of the horrors of this time of history was indeed sobering,” Kropf wrote. Later, Kropf and her husband Ken and another couple took a canal ride. “Amsterdam and its architecture are simply fascinating,” she said. “Pictures can’t do it justice.”
Before leaving Haarlem the next day, some members of the tour group went to the Corrie Ten Boom museum, while others visited the St. Bavo church. According to Kropf, “the church houses a wonderful old pipe organ that was played by both Mozart and Handel. We were specially treated to a hymn—“Be Still My Soul”—as the organ was going through some final tuning before an evening recital.”
Then it was on to the Friesland area of the Netherlands by bus, after crossing a long dike bridge (called Afsluitdijk) nearly 19 miles long, originally engineered by a Dutch Mennonite. “We saw the birth area of Menno Simons!” Kropf wrote. “We saw the church where he was a priest before joining the Reformation movement.” A monument to Simons stands outside Witmarsum, the village of his birth.
After a stop in Cologne, Germany, to visit, among other things, the majestic Cologne Cathedral, the biggest Gothic cathedral in the world, the group made its way to Strasbourg, France, one of the most scenic areas of the region of Alsace.
Kropf recounted, “Mabel Schmidt (in her 80s), from Greensburg, Kan., climbed up 330 stairs to the platform of the cathedral in Strasbourg—keeping up with one of the youngest group members. She was glad to have done this. It was quite a view from up by the bells.”
In Switzerland, Kropf wrote, “The towns are beautiful and quaint. Flowers are in full bloom everywhere and the vineyards—WOW is all I can say. Some of us actually saw a stork today with a baby one in the nest.”
The group worshipped at Langnau, Switzerland, the oldest Mennonite congregation in the world, Sunday, June 8. Kropf observed, “Many of us are able to connect to people we have met in the past or families of Mennonite Central Committee trainees. We have seen family names on signs and had a few minutes to walk through a graveyard and found family names there. It is humbling to see where our families fit into history.”
In the afternoon, the group took pictures outside Trachselwald Castle, where Anabaptists were held prisoner.
Then the group spent June 9 at the foot of Jungfrau Mountain (Switzerland). Kropf wrote: “Today, we had free time and half spent the day going to the “Top of Europe” Jungfrau Mountain*, others to Grindelwald*, [while] some of us stayed and rested in the beauty of the Alps at Wengen.”
* The Jungfrau (German for "maiden/virgin") is the highest peak (at 13,642 ft) of a mountain of the same name, located in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps, overlooking Wengen.
* Grindelwald is a gondola cable car linking Grindelwald with Männlichen, and is the longest passenger-carrying cable car (or aerial tramway) in the world.
A visit followed to Trummelbach Falls (near Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland), the largest accessible glacial waterfalls in the world.
Then the group traveled to Lucerne, and finally Zurich, full of Anabaptist history, before returning to the U.S.
Kropf ended her last blog by writing: “We are all taking many pictures, talking about returning, and just thoroughly enjoying every thing. We started mostly as strangers and are realizing that as we end, we are going away with many new friends.”