With sunny weather the spring festival got off to a good start in the Netherlands and Germany.

We observe the biblical feast days, so this year’s Passover service was on Sunday evening (April 1). I was in the Netherlands for our Passover service in Maarn (not far from Utrecht), where 22 people were present. The next evening 29 people from our congregation in Dormagen, Germany met for dinner in a restaurant near the hall where we have our regular church services. Monday was the restaurant’s normal day off, but they opened just for our group. We enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner of lamb, beef, turkey and various vegetables. The occasion was the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a festival kept by Jesus, His apostles and the first Christians, but one that is largely unknown to nearly all of today’s denominational Christians. We also had a large group meet in Meersburg on Lake Constance, where John and Susan Miller were visiting. On Tuesday we had church services for the Holy Day in the Netherlands and in four locations in Germany.