A very windy day at Ellis Island.
Decorating Easter cookies as the ward egg hunt.
Visiting Sister McSwain--she made us sing 5 or 6 hymns before we prayed.
Decorating plastic eggs for our zone.
I found my bag eventually.
Sister Call with her Easter prizes
Happy Easter, Family!
I hope you folks had a fun/spiritual time this Easter! And I hope you played lots of fun games and had all sorts of family bonding! Sister Call and I got in the spirit of things by filling each other's baskets and hiding them for each other. Thanks for the Easter package mom! And Sister Call's family sent a package too, so we had all sorts of fun! I had to hide Sister Call's basket twice because she found it too fast. And then she found the second one too fast. I ended up asking for a hint. I never would've found mine, as it was in her luggage.
We also got into the festivities by joining the choir last month. We've been to every practice, and we both can't read music, and don't know if we're alto or soprano. The people who know what they're doing made it to some of the practices, so we only all practiced together right before Church yesterday! Poor Brother Groom, the choir director, I think he was a little frustrated with the group. We were given directions not to take breaths in unnecessary places, and to just keep holding out our notes. Sister Call and I struggled with that...But it all turned out lovely for the program.
Then we taught the 12-14 year old youths about missionary work for Sunday school. There were only two of them there, so you could hear the crickets pretty clearly. We did a role play with them about sharing a Book of Mormon with their friends and that was fun, albeit a little awkward to watch. But that's why practicing is so great, because you can get all the awkwardness out. Not that you always do. Let me tell you, I can be pretty awkward when someone opens their door, and I don't know what to say. We had Easter dinner with the Grooms and the Bishop and his wife. The Bishop and I had quite the discussion of Cranford, Jane Austen, and Downton Abbey, so that was fun. And I felt cool to be able to sound like an expert on the subject of the BBC.
This week we had Zone Conference with two other zones. We learned from President Jeppson (who is back and nearly fully recovered from surgery!) about the Doctrine of Christ (aka the Gospel: Atonement, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End). This week I've learned A LOT about the Atonement, and it has been so great. And it's not so much because it's Easter, I've just learned about it in different places. President Jeppson told us the three things the Atonement accomplishes: 1) The Resurrection (because Christ was resurrected, He overcame physical death, and so we will too be able to be reunited with our perfected bodies). 2) Redemption (When He suffered for our sins in Gethsemane, He took upon himself all of our sins, and it's only through that that our spirits can be completely cleansed. He did this willingly and it's a free gift for us, if we choose to accept it and repent). And 3) The Enabling Power of Grace (Besides our sins, He took upon Himself every pain and suffering and trial we'll ever face. He is able to perfectly empathize with us, and so can give us the physical, spiritual, and mental strength to endure these things. Without it, we wouldn't be able to get through things if we were just left to our own strength. I'm definitely feeling His strength now as I'm out here--I couldn't do this without His help). There are also some excellent talks in the Ensign about this, so if you don't get it, look on LDS.org to read those and also Alma 7:11-13 is good reading.
Another thing that came up at Zone Conference are Tiwis (rhymes with Kiwi). They are little boxes in our cars that tell us if we're speeding, driving aggressively, etc. They were activated today and we have to sign in with special cards. There was a rumor that if you catch air, it'll say "Air time," but apparently that won't happen. If we get so many violations, we lose our driving privileges. Sister Call and I have named our Tiwi, Gaston. And our car is Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury). So, yes.
Well, I hope you all had a lovely Easter, and have a fun Cruise Moim! Sun and see should be great! Give Grandma a big ol' hug from this one!
I love you kids,
Sister Mis
