Sunday

Wow! What a day. The wake up call came at 6:00 a.m. It was a much needed and VERY restful night of sleep! We drove to the Baptist church in Bottropp. What a wonderful and healthy church. They did a great job of integrating English into their service and made us feel so welcome and a part of all that went on. A highlight was singing the hymns and worship songs together in German and English. As we sang the closing lines to “Blessed Assurance,” I was “filled with His goodness and lost in His love” as I saw a glimpse of Heaven! During the sermon, the pastor would speak a paragraph in German, then a paragraph in English. It was a great message and communicated very effectively (even with the language issues!) A musical group of young adults from the church called “Credo” sang a couple songs and then sang two selections with our choir. Their pianist is the director and was fantastic! They fed us a great lunch and man can those Germans do dessert. I’m going to grow in more ways than one on this expedition! A highlight for me in Bottropp came just after we arrived at the church. I went back outside to let the bus driver know where to park. As I came back into the church, I noticed a couple standing there looking at the sign just outside the church doors. It had an announcement on it about our singing that day, the service times, etc. They had that look that told me they were trying to decide whether or not to come in. I smiled and in my broken German, tried to tell them about our choir coming from the U.S. They came on in and I watched them during the service. They seemed to really enjoy the music and I pray they’ll connect with the church. After lunch, we did a rehearsal and then headed to Essen. We arrived to some snow flurries. We went to a building where our contact had prepared an early dinner meal…(yes, this is the “until we EAT again” tour!) We rehearsed a couple more songs. The first one we sang through was “Still, Still, Still.” As we began to sing, we sang the line “one can hear the falling snow” and we looked out the windows and a heavy snow began. It was quite a moment. Then we headed to the concert site which was a grand and beautiful old cathedral that had been remodeled after the war. The church sponsored the concert and since it was the opening of the Christmas Market, a crowd gathered. We sang to a full house and it was amazing singing in that setting. After the concert, we had an hour to walk through some of the Christmas Market. I wish I could adequately describe this scene, but it was like something from a book. The snow falling, everything beautifully lit with Christmas lights, hundreds of vendors set up along the streets with everything from live Christmas trees, to ornaments, gifts and wonderful things to eat. My personal favorite was the hot chocolate as I was FREEZING! It was truly something to experience. After singing some beautiful Christmas music in our concert, as I strolled through the market with all the Christmas decorations and the snow falling, I thanked the Lord for this wonderful opportunity and then thought about something Jay Wolf, our pastor asks on occasion…“why should the devil have all the good music?” Great point! So I just tried to soak this magical moment I will never forget. We loaded the bus and headed to the hotel for the night. What a day…it was really great! Thanks for reading and I will continue to try to keep you posted. I missed being with FBC Montgomery today and have already heard it was a great day. Sanctuary Choir…I am certain you’ll have a GREAT Christmas rehearsal tonight. Learn that music!! :) I’m off to bed… See the latest video here http://www.e-zekiel.tv/view_video.php?viewkey=992690f20c2d3b370ec7