Happy Easter!

“He is not here; for he is risen.  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying . . . Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:  and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  Amen.”  (from Matthew 28)

I love Easter, and I love the week before Easter and all it represents.  I am grateful to join in the celebration with my fellow Christians.  I am grateful for the resurrection of Jesus Christ that enables us to live with Him again.  He has paid the price . . . the rest is up to us.  To those of you who have recently gone through difficult times, this knowledge is sure to be a great comfort.

This past week has been a good week.  It has been fun to be involved in the social media Easter campaign #AlwaysThere.  If nothing else, it causes a moment of reflection, which is always such a blessing. I hope you took a minute to watch it. 

One last lunch with this fabulous District before Elder Murray and
Sister Chen  leave us. “I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord ....”. 🎶Goodbyes are hard!

We unexpectedly said good-bye to two dear missionaries this week.  Transfers caught everyone off guard, as it was just a five-week span (just the way the calendar works out a couple of times a year) and no one expected to go.  Real tears were shed by more than one.  But, on the bright side, we have two new missionaries to love, Elder Fox from here in England and Sister Brown from Canada.  They are both delightful.

VICTORY!

So . . . way back last year not long after we arrived we had our first turn to help clean the church.  Every church is supposed to have two Hoovers (kind of like we call all tissues Kleenex), and our church only had one that worked  . . . kind of.  It takes forever with just one!  Ron and I made it our goal to stay on Facilities Management (who are stationed in our office) until we secured another one for our building!  We went right over the head of the person in our ward who should have ordered one long ago . . .

This week was the fifth or sixth time we cleaned . . . Ron’s eyes lit up when he opened the utility door (as he is chief Hooverer) and he gave me thumbs up.  There, sitting next to the old vacuum was a brand new shiny, larger Hoover!  We did it!  V I C T O R Y! It only took a year.   Here’s to no unfinished business by the time we leave . . .

The whole of the UK basically shuts down over Easter weekend.  Bank holidays Friday and Monday.  No school for two weeks beginning last Friday.  The office was even quiet on Thursday, kind of like the few days before Christmas.  Everyone checks out.  We celebrated Good Friday with a trip to Costco to purchase food for our YSA activity Saturday.  The YSA wanted to get together to watch the opening session of Conference (that’s 5pm our time) and eat tacos and ice cream.  Easy peasy.  I’m on it.  I’m so glad they put up with us.

Friday evening we were invited to the home of Kathryn and Josie, a mum and 16-year-old daughter who have been members of our Church for only three years.  Josie is struggling with Seminary this year and Mum thought maybe Elder P. could help.  They are vegetarians so Ron is always a little worried when we eat with them that they’ll serve brussel sprouts or cauliflower and kale . . . and what would he do then?  But alas, he was safe, as we had nachos and a nice bean chilli over spaghetti noodles.  They are lovely people and we enjoy their friendship very much.  

Before Conference on Saturday we attended the baptism of Beth, one of the three little girls in the Ferguson Family that we have become very close to.  We love that they think of us as grandparents and not just missionaries, and they fill a void for us.  Along with every event, from Ward Conference to baptisms, and sometimes for no reason at all except a social, comes a Munch n’ Mingle.  I’m really going to miss that when we go home.  I think we should start neighbourhood or friend Munch n’ Mingles at least monthly, if not ward.  Anyone game?  But . . . back to Beth, she looked darling and was so excited and my heart melted at the opportunity to witness it.  Blessings, blessings, and more blessings . . .

WARNING:  A lot of Mormon Jargon in the next two paragraphs:

Like I mentioned, while most of you were enjoying a nice breakfast just before Conference, we were with the YSA’s eating tacos.  It was an awesome experience, that first session . . . wasn’t it?  I loved standing to sustain President Nelson with my Relief Society sisters, and I am so pleased about who was called as new apostles.  Ron said he thought one would be Elder Gong.  He spoke to us while we were at the MTC.  He’s awesome.

Today we have watched Saturday afternoon and Priesthood session of Conference so far along with the World Report and other special “in between” programs.  It is fun once again to see events we were involved with featured on the World Report.  We are anxious to watch the next two sessions, and then we will be sad it is over for six months.  Isn’t that the way it goes.

(End of jargon  J)

Favourite Conference quotes so far:

“If we do not find time to unplug, we may miss the opportunities to hear the voice of Him who said, ‘Be still, and know that I am God’.”  M.  Russell Ballard

“Things that don’t change remain the same.”  Lynn G. Robbins

“Personal sacrifice strengthens us and gives value to things we sacrifice for.”  Taylor G. Godoy

I feel like this is good advice for everyone, every religion, every age.

Happy Birthday on Saturday to our sweet daughter-in-law, Hilary whom we love so much, and to my best friend since we were 3 years old, Liz.  And also to the one who lets me eat off his plate . . . Happy Birthday!

We hope you have a wonderful week this week.  We are off to Highclere Castle tomorrow (Downton Abbey) on our day off and to the Netherlands on assignment on Thursday.  We will think of you as we tiptoe through the tulips.

Happy Easter!

All our love,

Ron and Marie