Visit to a Jewish Synagogue, ZTM and Goodbyes

Visit to the Jewish Synagogue

 For a Family Home Evening activity with the YSA, we visited the Neu Synagogue in Berlin.  It was originally built in the mid 1800's as the main synagogue for the large Jewish community there.  It is an example of beautiful, Moorish style architecture capped with one of the most spectacular domes in Berlin.  It was the largest synagogue in Europe with seating for 3,200 people.

This synagogue was damaged but survived (due to an anti-Natzi police officer) the Nov. 9, 1938 "Kristallnacht" when Nazi looters rampaged across Germany.  It was badly damaged during WWII and reconstructed in the mid 1980's.  Today, Jewish services are once again held here - however, most of the building houses offices and a museum.

Our YSA Student Council had arranged for a Jewish guide to take us through the synagogue and museum.  She gave much interesting information about the Jewish religion and answered the many questions our group asked.  I think that she was a bit surprised at how much our YSA knew about the history of the Jews and the interesting questions that they posed to her.

We gathered after our tour for some pictures.

Our Group

This plaque gives a brief history of the synagogue.

A truly beautiful building

Hebrew writing on the building's facade

Another group photo

Our friend Susan joined our group for the tour and was kind enough to interpret the information from German into English for me.

ZTM - Zone Training Meeting

We met on Tuesday for Zone Training Meeting with our Berlin North Zone.  This gave us an opportunity to hear President Kosak speak and to have an interview with him.  He is a great mission president and always has a spiritual and uplifting message for his missionaries!

Goodbyes

Missions bring many goodbyes.  First of all when you leave home for the mission field and then as missionaries that you work with and come to love and appreciate finish their missions and return home.  Elder Ruckower was one of those missionaries that we were privileged to serve with.  He was our District Leader for 4 1/2 months and an outstanding young man.  He returned home to Freiburg, Germany this week.

We enjoyed a pizza lunch with him and other missionaries and friends.

Mickelsens visit Elder and Sister Mickelsen

Evan, Kelly, Treygan and Kyra came to visit us last Friday - August 1st.  We picked them up at the airport and took them first to check in their hotel and then over to the church for lunch.  We had prepared lunch for a group of 40 missionaries (with the help of the sister missionaries in our district) and we wanted them to meet President and Sister Kosak.  After lunch and an opportunity for them to meet the Kosaks, we took them to see a few of the sights of Berlin.  They were pretty jet-lagged but they were troopers and stayed up until after dark (which doesn't happen until about 9:30 to 10:00 PM).

We visited  Checkpoint Charlie.

A stop at our favorite place for gelato - Evan ordered the "club sandwich" made with ice cream and goodies.

Kyra ordered a delicious fruit creation made with mango, strawberry and lemon sorbet and fresh fruit - it was beautiful!

Treygan and Kelly shared a yummy strawberry and gelato dessert.

Our friend Susan came to meet the family.

The next morning (Saturday) we went on a bus tour of the city and then did some shopping.  They loved the Ampelman Shop and found some great souvenirs to take home.

After our busy morning we took the U Bahn (subway) for a late lunch at Louie's the restaurant that features the giant wiener schnitzel.

Evan and Treygan ordered the big one and they couldn't eat all of it.  It made great leftovers for Sunday evening dinner!

Der grosse Wiener Schnitzel

Sunday we all went to church together.

In front of our meetinghouse

We stopped on the way back to our apartment to take some pictures of the

" angels" at the Mexican Embassy across the street from the church.

Angel Evan

Angel Kelly

Angel Kyra

Angel Treygan

Angel Patty

"Tough Angel" Hal

Treygan with the two bears that live near our apartment.

Monday we traveled to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp about an hour's drive out of Berlin.  It is a sad and sobering place but a reminder of the tragedy, inhumanity and evil of war.

Kelly, Treygan, Evan and Kyra in front of the obelisk and statues honoring the men and women that died in Sachsenhausen.

Monday evening Evan and Kelly taught the Family Home Evening Lesson and did a wonderful job.  Their lessons were very uplifting and their questions thought provoking.  After the lesson, Kyra and Treygan organized a fun game with two teams - it was a bit like pictionary - except their theme was "scriptures".  The YSA had a great time playing it!  After the game, we enjoyed dinner together - taco salad and chocolate cake.  It was an awesome evening with our family and the YSA.

Tuesday morning we traveled to to the Freiberg Temple.  Treygan and Kyra did baptisms with young people from Hungary and Romania.  This was a very international experience for them with multiple languages spoken.  Our friend Susan came with us and the 5 adults attended an endowment session that was presented in Romanian.  Of course we had headsets that allowed us to participate in English.

Picture time after our session

Then we went to lunch at our favorite restaurant in Freiberg (we have only tried two restaurants but this one is our favorite).

Schwanenfchlosschen  is a charming restaurant in a beautiful location on a small lake in Freiberg.

How I love all these people!

                      Father and son

On the bridge to enter the restaurant

A view of the lake from the restaurant

Waiting for our food to arrive

It was delicious and worth the wait!

Sauerbraten, rotkohl and dumplings

Pasta with chicken, cheese and zucchini

After our lunch together, we had to say goodbye as Evan, Kelly, Treygan and Kyra left to drive to Prague and then back into Bavaria and finally Zurich to finish their  trip.  Goodbyes are always difficult but it was wonderful to see family and spend time with them!