[www.aph-abendfrieden.de...] -- On Monday we visited Rosemary in Aue. She is helping care for aged residents in Abendfrieden (“Evening Peace”), a health care facility run by a community of Protestant deaconesses in Saxony. The facility is one part of the community’s central location, “Zion,” which is the main residence of the deaconesses and provides retreat and worship programs. Rosemary and Herr L., the facility manager, gave us an enthusiastic tour of Zion. We learned about the changes and challenges Zion has faced from its founding just after World War I, through the Nazi and Socialist eras into its current form. For about half of its history, governmental interests dictated the use of much of the facility and deaconesses had little opportunity to develop independent programs and uses. Fortunately, this did not stop them from thinking about what they would do once they had the chance. Thus, at the time of German reunification when they finally regained full control of their facility, they had good ideas of how to renovate it and how to use it to carry out programming suitable to their mission. Jo-Ann and Joe were impressed with the care given to making the building and grounds attractive and the emphasis throughout the institution on the dignity and value of all human life. Rosemary lives with other young volunteers in an apartment on the grounds.

After visiting Zion, we headed out to explore some of points of interest in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) region surrounding Aue. Virtually all the region’s once flourishing mining industry has ceased. Production of handcrafted wooden toys and other objects continues to be economically important. One weekend, a co-worker had taken Rosemary to a local fair at Annaberg-Buchholz about 30 km from Aue. From the top of the ferris wheel Rosemary spotted an interesting looking church and so we chose that as our destination for the day. Enroute we stopped off at the Scheibenberg to look at a basalt cliff. Admittedly, we have seen a lot of old churches while in Germany, but the St. Annenkirche in Annaberg turned out to be unusually interesting both inside and out. Sitting at one of the highest points in town, the façade of this massive late Gothic church (foundation stone laid 1499) is made up of uncut rocks—most churches we have seen either have plastered exteriors or make use of cut stone blocks. Inside, a balcony surrounds three sides of the main nave and a series of 100 colored stone reliefs depict biblical and other religious scenes. There are also several beautiful altars in stone and wood. Heading back to Aue, we took a meandering route along the Czech border and through some more of the mountains, though heavy rain kept us from undertaking any additional short hikes.