Seder meal was held all over the world last night. I am grateful to have participated in a beautiful Seder meal here in my home! I learned Sunday that I was in charge of the all girls activity for YW, supposed to be a Personal Progress night. I was preparing for a Seder meal later in the week for my family, but learned with the help of Google that Passover began this year at sundown on Monday, and that Seder meals would be happening on Monday and Tuesday all over the world! Seder meals are held once in Israel, but everywhere else, they hold two seder meals each Passover. So Tuesday was the second night. There was much to be done to prepare to pull it off!
I am grateful to have a beautiful basement remodeled and decorated to accommodate large dinner/party groups. With a walkout door, adding light, and windows, it is not dark or dreary, but light and beautiful! I cleaned Monday, shopping for a bit, hoping to find Matza bread - to no avail! I invited a few couples experts in gospel knowledge and passover traditions, to come and teach us. I assigned out just a few parts, hoping to have scripts for all when they arrived, but wanting a few major parts pre-assigned. With other responsibilities still on my plate, it was a full couple of days!
I am grateful to report that the event was beautiful! I panicked in the middle and pled for miracles with regards to the grape juice. Miracles followed, and the evening had only one hitch! I had prepared the scripts in the middle of the night on Monday, and in my weariness, I simply skipped my favorite part! We missed three pages of ceremony! I am grateful for a great book, written by Marianne Monson-Bensen titled Celebrating Passover. It has a Latter-day Saint Haggadah script in chapter 10. I prepared copies for 32 guests, and scrambled to prepare the seder plates, wine glasses, wash basins, tables, room decor, etc! Then I admitted I was simply going to have to make my own Matza. Gathering the Matza Meal early afternoon Tuesday, I jumped into this task! Thinking I had 5 hours of time, should be plenty, it wasn't! I had many tasks still outstanding, and the Matza took an hour each round. I could only cook 4 at a time because they were so large! Next year I will make the single batch, and then divide into thirds as instructed, then divide each of those again into thirds. I wanted one plate of Matza per table so the girls could all touch it, see it, handle it. That is a lot of Matza bread!
Other side notes: the eggs exploded even though I preboiled them! One blew in the oven, creating a stench in whole house. I quickly took them from the oven, putting them near the stove to cool, deciding they were plenty "browned." I turned my attention back to other projects, Matza Bread, and another egg shot across the kitchen, hitting the upper cabinets and splattering all over! What a mess! I had to clean the oven, rewash all the dishes I had just finished, and clean the cabinet and floor. Mess! I was grateful I had several hours to air out the house before the meal was to begin.
We had 25 people attend, and I thought all felt the spirit, and were taught in the traditions of the Jews and how they relate to our faith. I am so sad that we missed the Elijah part! Just a testimony to me that it is an important religious learning experience, and so the adversary was busy trying to keep it from happening! Problems didn't stop it from coming, it came just the same. We gathered and praised God, thanking Him for the gift of His Son to redeem us! We will seek him! We will do all we can to dedicate our lives to Him! Happy Easter! Love this special Week!
Beautiful presentations on the life of the Savior. We watched the New Testament show "For this end was I born" and the LDS Missionary video: "Faith in Christ" for FHE this week as we prepared for the Seder meal. Beautiful presentations on the life of our Savior! I love Him!
I am grateful to have a beautiful basement remodeled and decorated to accommodate large dinner/party groups. With a walkout door, adding light, and windows, it is not dark or dreary, but light and beautiful! I cleaned Monday, shopping for a bit, hoping to find Matza bread - to no avail! I invited a few couples experts in gospel knowledge and passover traditions, to come and teach us. I assigned out just a few parts, hoping to have scripts for all when they arrived, but wanting a few major parts pre-assigned. With other responsibilities still on my plate, it was a full couple of days!
I am grateful to report that the event was beautiful! I panicked in the middle and pled for miracles with regards to the grape juice. Miracles followed, and the evening had only one hitch! I had prepared the scripts in the middle of the night on Monday, and in my weariness, I simply skipped my favorite part! We missed three pages of ceremony! I am grateful for a great book, written by Marianne Monson-Bensen titled Celebrating Passover. It has a Latter-day Saint Haggadah script in chapter 10. I prepared copies for 32 guests, and scrambled to prepare the seder plates, wine glasses, wash basins, tables, room decor, etc! Then I admitted I was simply going to have to make my own Matza. Gathering the Matza Meal early afternoon Tuesday, I jumped into this task! Thinking I had 5 hours of time, should be plenty, it wasn't! I had many tasks still outstanding, and the Matza took an hour each round. I could only cook 4 at a time because they were so large! Next year I will make the single batch, and then divide into thirds as instructed, then divide each of those again into thirds. I wanted one plate of Matza per table so the girls could all touch it, see it, handle it. That is a lot of Matza bread!
Other side notes: the eggs exploded even though I preboiled them! One blew in the oven, creating a stench in whole house. I quickly took them from the oven, putting them near the stove to cool, deciding they were plenty "browned." I turned my attention back to other projects, Matza Bread, and another egg shot across the kitchen, hitting the upper cabinets and splattering all over! What a mess! I had to clean the oven, rewash all the dishes I had just finished, and clean the cabinet and floor. Mess! I was grateful I had several hours to air out the house before the meal was to begin.
We had 25 people attend, and I thought all felt the spirit, and were taught in the traditions of the Jews and how they relate to our faith. I am so sad that we missed the Elijah part! Just a testimony to me that it is an important religious learning experience, and so the adversary was busy trying to keep it from happening! Problems didn't stop it from coming, it came just the same. We gathered and praised God, thanking Him for the gift of His Son to redeem us! We will seek him! We will do all we can to dedicate our lives to Him! Happy Easter! Love this special Week!
Beautiful presentations on the life of the Savior. We watched the New Testament show "For this end was I born" and the LDS Missionary video: "Faith in Christ" for FHE this week as we prepared for the Seder meal. Beautiful presentations on the life of our Savior! I love Him!