European Family History Trip: Day 8 – Freiberg, Germany and Prague
Day 8, Tuesday, October 15th – We spent a peaceful morning in the Freiberg Germany Temple. of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This temple holds special significance for Dave because he served a 2-year mission for our church in the Western part of Germany and Switzerland in the 70’s before the Berlin Wall came down. At the time, Freiberg was in communist Germany and there were no temples in any part of Germany. Even West Germany was not an option because they had laws that required impromptu entrance by government officials into any building. Because our temples are considered sacred and only members may enter, this would violate the sanctity of the temples.
When the church approached the East German government about letting members of the Church leave on day passes to attend the Swiss temple, the East German government didn’t like the idea. Instead, they offered to let the church build a temple in East Germany. This was a truly miraculous offer. The Freiberg, East Germany (DDR) temple was dedicated in June of 1985, and the wall fell a little over 4 years later on November 9, 1989.
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!”
2 Corinthians 3:17
A Personal Encounter in the Freiberg Temple
If you’ve been following along with our journey, you’ll know my mother, Betty Morton, lived in Germany in 1953. She always spoke fondly of her time there. In various places on our trip, I felt close to my mom, but nothing on the level of what happened in the Freiberg Germany Temple.
There was a tall brunette in the temple who helped us with some things when we first went in, and she also assisted us right before we left. She looked to be 55-60 years old. Right as we were leaving, she looked me straight in the eyes and smiled. Suddenly, she looked like Mama smiling at me.
It was such an unusual experience because I didn’t think of Mama any other time when I’d interacted with this woman. But suddenly with that smile and the way she looked deeply into my eyes as if she were looking into my soul, she was Mama.
Prague, Czech Republic
After leaving the temple, we set out for Prague, Czech Republic. It’s normally a 2.5-hour drive, but we spent at least an hour more in traffic. We checked into our flat which was spacious with a big bedroom, living room, kitchen and bath. Then we went site seeing around the Charles Bridge and Old Town.
Word to the wise: don’t drive when site-seeing Prague. People step out in front of you and it’s very hectic. Better to find a central place to park and walk. In fact, that evening we parked our car in the museum’s long-term parking and left it there for the duration of our visit. Be sure to have Euros on hand if you park there because they wouldn’t take any of Dave’s credit cards when he picked up the car.
I really enjoyed seeing Prague at night with the old castle structures and the city lights on the Vitava River. It’s already the most beautiful city I’ve ever been in, but at night it’s absolutely stunning!
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