year for Easter I have read this wonderful little book on Easter
Sunday. Well, except for this year. But hey! I read the children's
book even in college. What a fun little tradition.
Yes, I know, that's not a very religious Easter tradition, but hey, my
Easter baskets were also filled with Cadbury Cremes and baseball
cards, so I've never been that big of Easter enthusiast in the first
place. However, the dying of Easter eggs has always had a soft spot in
my heart. And I'm sure that my dad has a soft spot in his heart for
them too, because after Easter he gets to eat them.
When I think of Easter, I think of family just as much as the savior.
Maybe I've missed the mark with this holiday, but Easter often
coincides with the LDS General conference. Conference is always a
great time to talk with family, discuss the talks given to us by
church leaders, and enjoy the spring season. Last year for Easter we
invited the missionaries over for a wonderful breakfast and a session
of general conference. I was thankful to watch such an exciting
broadcast with Elder L and Elder F. I thought about how I
would be in the same position in a year.
Easter and April conference go hand in hand for me. This time of year
is always filled with memories. One of my favorite sessions of
conference was one I missed half of! It was my sophomore year of high
school, and I had a double header for baseball where my coach got
thrown out of the first game. It was one of the best memories I have
of coach Clix. About the same time he was packing up his bag and
kicking dirt on home plate, Henry B. Eyring gave one of my favorite
talks ever, "Mountains to Climb." The next day President Uchtdorf
offered the heartfelt talk, "The Merciful Obtain Mercy", and Neil L.
Anderson finished with the introspective "What Thinks Christ of Me?"
Great conference.
Some other great conference talks in the past few years: "Lord, I
believe" (Holland,
April 2013) Help Them Aim High (Eyring, October 2012) The Plan of
Happiness (Packer, 2015) Is it Still Wonderful to you? (Causse, 2015)
Are we Not All Beggars? (Holland, October 2014) Faith is Not by
Choice, but by chance (Anderson, October 2015) living the Gospel
Joyful (Uchtdorf, October 2014), The Preisthood Man (Eyring, October
2013) Be Anxiously Engaged (Ballard, October 2012)
Easter concerning the Savior:
At sacrament meeting yesterday I was invited to be a part of three
special musical numbers, all of which were very beautiful. My favorite
one was a little barbershop trio that I sang with. We did a solemn
rendition of "That Easter Morn." I would like to share the lyrics of
the second verse to the forgotten psalm.
"This morn renews for us that day
When Jesus cast the bonds away
Took living breath and conquered death."
Easter is that morning. Almost 2000 years ago Jesus Christ rose from
the garden tomb. It is this morning that comes in the springtime of
every year, in which we renew the sacred and joyous climax of history,
in which Jesus Christ, the embodiment of love, service, selflessness,
passion, and perfection broke the bands of death. He rose again, never
to fall again. That is the truth. And through him, we all shall rise
again.
To me, this is the greatest message of hope, and proof of inherent
good that I know. If this world was to be filled with hate, grief,
sorrow, despair, selfishness, loathing, and depression, then the story
would have ended with Christ in the tomb. But Christ rose. He is
risen! And still rising are all those who came onto this earth, and
all his followers are rising up from sin, and putting on their
beautiful garments. Yes, this world is a world of good. The world of
God rises above the clouds of darkness. It is full of light. It is
full of love.
Other news:
I love training so much. Elder W has been in Texas for only a
few days, and he is loving it here. His faith has brought so many
miracles. Our street contacting is amazing. We have been doing an
amazing job focusing on commitment invitations. Teaching is so simple.
It also helps he doesn't know enough to overload the investigator with
information yet, but hey. Positives! He has the fire. We have the
fire! I love it!
I ran into one of my buddies at BYU this week! I was with the Stony
Point elders while waiting for Elder W to come to Texas. It was
so funny. Turns out he lives in the Ward right next to where I'm
covering. We had a great reunion.
Enjoy the spring time. It's a wonderful life.
Elder Richard Hall
1. Ro and I, an amazing investigator. He loves us to death. He also
benches 465. I'm not joking
2. Me and M, my friend from BYU. It was awesome.
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