Dinner At The Herter's

As of right now, all of us Texas Instruments families live in the same apartment complex, except for the Herter family, who recently moved from the apartments into a house here in Manila. The Herters are a very sweet German family with four children, yet only two of them (Agnes-16, Emke -11) came with their parents to Manila. Mr. and Mrs. Herter and Agnes know a fair amount of English, while Emke is still learning—yet catching on very quickly.:-)


Before the Herters moved from the Ascott apartments, we frequently spent time together. We girls enjoy Agnes and Emke since (besides us) they are the only older children within the other TI families. :-)

Since they recently moved into a house, we have not been able to see them as often! So, a few days ago, the Herter family invited us over to their house for dinner and fellowship.

Since we do not have a driver or even car here in Manila, Agnes picked us up at our apartment with their family driver. To make a long story short, we made memories as we all packed into the car, where 5 of us sat squished in a back seat (that normally fits 3 average sized adults) for 30 minutes in Manila’s traffic! What memories! :-)

The Herters live in neighborhood with more trees and vegetation than around the Ascott apartments, so we thoroughly welcomed the fresh air as soon as we stepped out of the car! Once inside, we visited with the Herters, toured their new place, and even learned how to ride a unicycle—or at least attempted to.:-)


Of course Agnes and Emke rode this one-wheeled bike around their yard—and even in their house—like pros! They even asked if we wanted to ride it. At first we said, “No way!” Then, eventually we decided to try it, but only with the help of Agnes and someone else balancing us while we pedaled.




So, in the end we technically rode the unicycle, just not by ourselves! Agnes actually did all the work as she held on to the seat and us! We simply pushed the pedals and held on for dear life. :-) Well…. maybe not for dear life, but at least for balance. Even though we could not fully master the unicycle, we had fun and laughed at ourselves along the way.

When Dad was a little boy, he used to ride unicycles up and down his street. So, he was very anxious to try the Herter’s toy, because he wanted to prove that he could still ride a unicycle after many years. While we had help from Agnes and each other, Dad attempted to ride without help from anyone else. After several tries, he eventually stayed on long enough for it to count more than just a “try.”:-)


For supper, Mrs. Herter and the girls prepared an appetizing meal of fresh, homemade pizza. Instead of eating indoors, we all ate outside on the Herter’s patio, where they arranged a small round table with blue and white German dishes. Throughout our supper, we felt occasional warm, summer breezes, and we even heard their neighbor practicing his classical piano music in between our conversations.:-) A unique extra touch!;-)


Later in the evening, the girls taught us some German games. One of the games was an adorable memory-matching game. We say “adorable” because the game pieces were small, colorful, wooden chicks. We enjoyed testing our memory in this game, and laughing at ourselves when we could not remember easy matches!

When the evening was over, we were sad to say our goodbyes. We all enjoyed spending time with the Herter family and really appreciated their genuine hospitality and kindness. They opened up their home and willingly shared their time, food, and games with us. It was a good reminder for us to also freely share our home and time with others in order to show God’s love with those He brings in our lives.

1 Peter. 4:9-10, “Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”