Easter was very different this year. We didn't dye any eggs, though we did paint some molding dough eggs I made and baked (that's another post). We had a small egg hunt in our house the day we left, and we talked with Big E about the meaning of Easter. We talked about what the eggs and such can represent. And of course we talked about Christ.
Being in a Muslim country means that Christian holidays are a bit different. You celebrate as best you can. But we weren't in a Muslim country on Easter; we were in Germany! And of course, we were even more limited on what we could do. We went to the english ward (congregation), which is the same ward my in-laws are now going to while they are in Germany serving their mission. Big E was thrilled about our train ride to the church building. As he would say, "We got on the train underground, and then it came up out of the ground and onto the street!!" We'd seen the light rails as we walked around some areas of town, but we assume that was not covered by our pass, as our rail pass did not cover busses. But it turns out that the light rail is part of the train system. Big E loved that it! He talked about it almost non-stop. He'd tell anyone who'd listen.
It snowed while we were in church. There were tall windows in the Chapel were Relief Society (the women's organization) was held. So I watched it snow during the lesson, savoring that feeling that comes when you watch snow fall while you're warm inside, but dreading that cold walk in a skirt to the train stop.
We made it without freezing back to our hotel and had lunch and rested. My youngest sister was just about to leave the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Ut to prepare to serve a mission in Kobe, Japan. So we skyped with her one last time before she entered the MTC the following Wednesday.
Steve found the times for services in the Dom (the main cathedral in Frankfurt), and so we decided to attend one, even though it was in German and neither of us know German. We thought it would be a neat experience to see how it's done and to hear the organ play and to see it all done on a spot of ground that has had people worshiping on for hundreds of years. Even though the building was pretty much destroyed in WWII, they rebuilt on the same spot. Miss A fell asleep on the walk over and thankfully slept through the service. Can you imagine a crying child in a cathedral during a service? That would have been awful. Big E sat patiently. He does seem to know when he should whisper without being told to.
Here's another pretty church across the river from the Dom. This was taken as were were walking to the Dom.
We then walked back to our hotel and rested. Even though we were on vacation, we wanted to still do our best to keep the sabbath holy. We spent a while in our room, which was tiny (our bed was two single beds pushed together that we shared with Big E as there wasn't anywhere else for him). It didn't really feel like Easter. We couldn't have an Easter dinner, even though we could have ham. We weren't in a place to have normal traditions. Our church service wasn't even about Easter. It was fast and testimony meeting (were any member of the congregation can go up to the pulpit and share his or her testimony). So there were no talks about Easter, which I was disappointed about. But, the store windows were all decorated with eggs and bunny and such, though, and that was nice to see.
Being in a Muslim country means that Christian holidays are a bit different. You celebrate as best you can. But we weren't in a Muslim country on Easter; we were in Germany! And of course, we were even more limited on what we could do. We went to the english ward (congregation), which is the same ward my in-laws are now going to while they are in Germany serving their mission. Big E was thrilled about our train ride to the church building. As he would say, "We got on the train underground, and then it came up out of the ground and onto the street!!" We'd seen the light rails as we walked around some areas of town, but we assume that was not covered by our pass, as our rail pass did not cover busses. But it turns out that the light rail is part of the train system. Big E loved that it! He talked about it almost non-stop. He'd tell anyone who'd listen.
It snowed while we were in church. There were tall windows in the Chapel were Relief Society (the women's organization) was held. So I watched it snow during the lesson, savoring that feeling that comes when you watch snow fall while you're warm inside, but dreading that cold walk in a skirt to the train stop.
We made it without freezing back to our hotel and had lunch and rested. My youngest sister was just about to leave the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Ut to prepare to serve a mission in Kobe, Japan. So we skyped with her one last time before she entered the MTC the following Wednesday.
Steve found the times for services in the Dom (the main cathedral in Frankfurt), and so we decided to attend one, even though it was in German and neither of us know German. We thought it would be a neat experience to see how it's done and to hear the organ play and to see it all done on a spot of ground that has had people worshiping on for hundreds of years. Even though the building was pretty much destroyed in WWII, they rebuilt on the same spot. Miss A fell asleep on the walk over and thankfully slept through the service. Can you imagine a crying child in a cathedral during a service? That would have been awful. Big E sat patiently. He does seem to know when he should whisper without being told to.
Here's another pretty church across the river from the Dom. This was taken as were were walking to the Dom.
We then walked back to our hotel and rested. Even though we were on vacation, we wanted to still do our best to keep the sabbath holy. We spent a while in our room, which was tiny (our bed was two single beds pushed together that we shared with Big E as there wasn't anywhere else for him). It didn't really feel like Easter. We couldn't have an Easter dinner, even though we could have ham. We weren't in a place to have normal traditions. Our church service wasn't even about Easter. It was fast and testimony meeting (were any member of the congregation can go up to the pulpit and share his or her testimony). So there were no talks about Easter, which I was disappointed about. But, the store windows were all decorated with eggs and bunny and such, though, and that was nice to see.
1 comment:
We went to the Dom TODAY! Fun to think of you there with Steve and the kids. We WALKED there from our apt, which is next door to the church you attended : about 3k each way.
Post a Comment