Dresden: City of Dreams

So sorry about the cheesy title, but most of you know my love of alliteration....

On Monday night 2 week ago, we were all at the old Rathaus at a string quartet concert for Michele's birthday when Pika randomly let me know that she wanted to go visit Summit (past Brighton staff) who was serving her mission in Dresden and then go to the Freiberg Temple. I told her that I really wanted to go with her, as it has been a while since I have made it to the temple and I have been longing to go. Pika then was amazing and figured out trains and places to stay and found out Summit's address with Pato's help to track down her mom's phone number.

I woke up on the day of planned departure (Friday the 10th) feeling really sick, but I slept a little and took some drugs and then we left around noon. We were trying to make it to the Temple in time for the 7 O'clock session, so we took the fastest train option, which got us there around 6, but which also meant 4 train transfers. Let's just say it wasn't the most relaxing traveling I've ever done, but Pika had packed yummy food for the way and we talked the whole time.

We hurried to our little bed and breakfast to change and then made it to the temple with about 2 minutes to spare, which we quickly used by tearing up at the sight of the beautiful and miraculously historic temple (the first temple built in East Germany, and incredibly, during DDR times) that we we had traveled for what felt like so long to go to. It gave me a whole new appreciation for sacrificing for your beliefs. It was only a small taste of what so many people have to go through and sacrifice to get to the temple, but it felt so much more... special being there, to be able to sacrifice in our own small way to be able to get there. I ran off to do baptisms while Pika ran off to do endowments, but the people there were so nice and took special care to make sure I had everything I needed, though carefully only talking to me in German, as the Temple president was an English teacher for German students, and upon finding out I was studying German here, wanted to help me and made me promise to try to speak in German as much as possible during my time here, even when English is available. There was a Romanian group there and so everything was done in German, with some people translating into Romanian. I actually was baptized in English because there was a young man there who was from Chicago but had served his mission in Romania and then I think come back and married a Romanian girl and then they had all traveled from a branch in Romania. And he was the one baptizing me and only knew English or Romanian. The temple president talked to us before we started about the worth of souls in the sight of God. Before hand, he had asked me if I was a seminary graduate and if I knew the scriptures. I said I was (how embarrassing would that have been if I was from Utah county and couldn't say I had completed seminary. I was inexplicably grateful to be able to answer him that I did know the scriptures.) And so he quoted D&C 18:10 in German and asked me to recite the English translation, though it was more like, "the worth of souls is wonderful in the sight of the Lord" in German. Afterwards, the cute temple worker ladies took special concern to make sure all of us girls had enough time to blow dry our hair. It is this funny superstition to Germans that YOU WILL catch cold if you go outside with wet hair. Which actually, I could see being very true in the cold weather here, where it is always so humid and so it's not like Utah where my hair dries relatively fast. Anyway, afterwards, it was nice to have some time to sit and ponder in the temple while I waited for Pika to finish. Pika and I walked home through the sleepy town of Freiberg- it seriously almost felt like a ghost town because NO ONE is out after 8 pm- I was told that the missionaries who serve there always do there scripture and language study after 8 pm instead of in the morning because no one wants to make appointments after then. Anyway, we got home and stayed up until 2 am talking....

The next morning we thankfully slept in and then caught a train to Dresden. When we stepped off the train, it was like magic. It was seriously such a beautiful and diverse city. Not as big as Berlin (obviously) but still quite large. It had this great trax-like system and an amazing Fussganger zone (only peds and bikes allowed) with tons of great stores and cafes. Pika and I did some shopping and then as it started to get dark, we headed toward the old part of the city. I wish I could depict the sight of walking into the town center as the sky was getting completely dark. It was better than Paris or any other place I could imagine up in my head. There were lights strung across the tops pf buildings, forming a canopy of glow over the street lined with cafes and wandering musicians. It was so alive- I have never been to another German city that is still so living and breathing at 8:30 pm. People were eating, talking, laughing, strolling, entertaining, and observing. There along the Elbe River was a wall you could walk along and trace the river on you left side, and the cathedrals and downtown on your right. It barely seemed out of place when a guy dressed in a really authentic 18th century nobleman's wig and costume walked past us and on down the street, while turning the corner and seeing emo flame throwers. It was all so unique and varied from street corner to corner, yet amazingly flowing and fitting. We tried to take a picture, but it just doesn't come near to doing it justice. Anyway, Pika and I pretty much just wandered around with our mouths open, until we realized that we needed to start walking towards the sister missionaries' apartment if we were going to catch them. WE got there right at 9:30 pm, after pausing to pray when we were so close but couldn't find their building number. The Lord answered our prayers with a man who walked by just then and pointed us in the right direction. Sure enough, the doorbell said "Missionaire" and we rang. We asked if a "Summit" lived there, and one came bounding down the stairs to open the door in delicious shock and excitement (she had no idea we were coming or that we were even in Europe). It was so good to visit with her and meet her way cute companion (Sister Parker from Alpine, UT). Ok, now I am going to skip a lot of story because it would go on way too long and it's too close to my heart to not give it enough explanation, so for now I will skip to Sunday. We went to the Dresden Ward, which was huge! I mean, compared to our 20 people Goettingen branch. It felt like being at home in Utah. The people were so strong and confident in the gospel and all so friendly. We met two women- sisters- who were on a mission there- they were both well into their sixties and widowed within a few months of each other and wanted to serve a mission together. They were adorable and really cool- they didn't speak a word of German before they got there either, and only knew what they had started to pick up there. Pika had a miraculous answer to prayer with running into someone she knew there, but I will let her tell that story. And then skipping a lot of other detail and events, we found ourselves back on the train home. This was complicated a bit when one of our trains was three minutes late, which resulted in us missing our next transfer. This equated to us not getting home at 11pm Sunday night as planned, but at 3:30 am Monday morning. One of our train transfers had us stop at this tiny town no one has ever heard of. The only way I can think to describe it is to compare it to that tiny train stop in the movie "Fiddler on the Roof" where the Tevye waits with his daughter as she goes off to Siberia or something. We stepped off the train into this god-forsaken (as I referred to it at the time), cloud covered, desolate town. I kind of felt like I was in Siberia actually because the fog and penetrating damp cold and lack of any one or anything alive around. Admittedly, it was one in the morning, but, still. There was no place indoors to wait, so Pika and plunked down on a self- plastic-bag covered bench to wait out the hour and a half we had before our next train came. The time passed quickly however, as Pika and I told me of her adventures living in Germany back in college. And we arrived on the doorstep of our beloved Goettingen apartment at 4 am, Monday morning.

I wish I could tell you more of the miracles and adventures and tender mercies and answers to prayers Sister Pika and Sister Wren experienced that weekend in Dresden, but I feel bad for how long this is already. It has been a long week for me since then. But I will never forget the trip to Dresden and the things I learned. Thank you for all those who have had me in your prayers and thoughts- I have felt them so much. I miss you all excruciatingly. I will have to tell you all about how my classes at the Goethe Institute are going and the people I have met there, and maybe about my emotional and spiritual journey these past few days, but I will spare you for today. God be with you,

Emily