Up on the right just below the snowey area is Villars-sur-Ollon, an excellent ski resort. Visitors to L'Abri have come from there many times over the years because they have heard there is an English-speaking church service they can attend.

In the lower chalets to the left, the second one from the left is Chalet Bethany. Later on you will see a picture of the Rhone Valley that was taken on the same day from behind the chalet. You will see the car that is parked by the dark-colored chalet and the man working in the field just to the lower left of the car. But it will be a different picture indeed.

The road that goes toward the lower left goes to Panex. The road that goes to the lower right goes back down the mountain, through Ollon, and onto the main highway near Aigle. This mountain road is used for bicycle races when there is no snow on the ground.

Huemoz is a French-speaking dairy farm village. During the day you constantly hear the cow bells.

Where this picture was taken from was right in front of a barn that sets off by itself on a small hill. Every Sunday morning you hear gun shots coming from here. The villagers are practicing in case there might ever be a war again.

In the center right portion of the picture you can see the village church. When Farel House had a fire once, and had to be partially rebuilt, the villagers shared their church with the L'Abri family. My first church service was here as a student. The sermon was by Dick Keyes (then from English but now from Southboro L'Abri) and he spoke on John 3:16 like I had never heard it before. It was here also that I first met Dr. and Mrs. Schaeffer.

Off to the left of the church a bit is a fairly large building with the road right over the top of its roof line. That is the local school. During the rebuilding of Farel House, this is where all the lectures were held. It was here that I first heard Edith Schaeffer speak to a group of people. She was in the middle of writing her book Affliction (Fleming H. Revell, 1978). This particular night she was reading Chapter Six, "Cracked Teapots." I was wiping tears from my eyes through the whole thing because I knew, I really knew, that finally I was where the Lord, and my Mom and Dad, wanted me to be.

As time goes on, more information will be put on this page to describe what you see. If there are others who have been to Swiss L'Abri and can describe things in the picture, feel free to send me an e-mail - awinger@pbu.edu or alwinger1@aol.com and I'll add it in here.

 Return to Swiss L'Abri: Page 1