Sun, Apr 17th, 2022: Tuxtla Gutierrez Mexico Temple, Happy Easter! StkConf notes, Easter Dinner, Paul's sister, Lois out of hospital, My message, J&K family, Messages of Easter

 

Tuxtla, Gutierrez, Mexico

75th operating temple

Dedicated: 12 Mar 2000

By: James E. Faust

Jesus Christ, Savior

D&C 18:23

Behold, Jesus Christ is the name which is given of the Father, and there is none other name given whereby man can be saved;

Book of Mormon

Mosiah 10:1-22

Easter

Jesus Christ-Rejoice!-Matthew 20:1-16,Luke 15:11-32, and Isaiah 14

Jesus Christ through His sacrifice

became our Redeemer, the

Holy One of Israel,

our Savior. 

On this day,

rejoice in Him!

 

AprGenCon

"Your Divine Nature and Eternal Destiny"

Elder Dale G. Renlund

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

I invite you to center your life on Jesus Christ

and remember the foundational truths

in the Young Women theme.

After saying my prayers I went in to the kitchen to begin preparing our Easter dinner. While I was preparing the cheesy potatoes I listened to an Easter program by the Tabernacle choir. They sang "In the Garden" which Nannie taught me when I was young. I got out two crockpots, one for the potatoes and one for the ham. I thought we would be going to stake conference and it would be nice to come home and have the ham and potatoes already ready to eat. As I was thinking this I remembered we had a Zoom connection for this meeting and how I had used it last year and enjoyed it because I could see the speaker and there was no background noise.

I watched stake conference on my phone while sitting at my desk in the bedroom. James watched it in the dining room on his computer. He thought my phone was too small.  Here are my notes:

I saw Tamara and Pierce in the choir: The choir did a pre-conference program and then the opening song for this session was "He is Risen."

Pierce is in the back row, 2nd from right

Tamara is in the green dress behind 

President Beeler at the pulpit. Tamara and then Sister Toronto is

right behind her.

 President Beeler conducted the meeting. Tamara gave the opening prayer and then after the sustainings, the choir sang "Behold the Wounds in His Hands."

President Beeler - He talked about going on visits and identifying with people and their challenges. Sometimes the weight is almost unbearable. Jesus Christ will make everything right. The gospel of Jesus Christ can overcome all things. "I find time everyday to take a walk with Jesus." Daily cleansings -repentance. Weekly - the sacrament. We must teach daily repentance! In the Doctrine and Covenants it says confess and forsake. Repentance is joyful! 

Have you seen miracles in your life. Record them. Begin to note the hand of God in your life. Do we hear President Nelson? Spiritual Momentum.

Becky Adams - When I draw near unto Christ he meets me where I am and takes me to a higher place. D&C 88:63 Come unto Christ is the most important decision of this life. The invitation is to all.

John 3:8-11 Woman taken in adultery. Go and sin no more. The woman glorified God from that time forth. Church video - The Lord kneels to her level and writes something on the ground. He stood and raised her up. Invitation to all of God's children. Believing Him. Overcome and Become through His Grace.

Jeff Robinson - Teacher at Blue Ridge. Is going to be baptized next Saturday. 

Sister Smith of the Scottsdale Mission - D&C 76 Gospel glad tidings. Preach the gospel to every nation and creature. Restoration Proclamation.

President Smith - Invite. The missionaries will teach you the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

"Christ the Lord is Risen Today"

Pres. Alder - Today is his birthday, Happy Birthday!

For his 13th birthday he got a poem from his grandparents, "The Man in the Glass." Pres. Nelson, Strengthen your spiritual foundation. Quoted Elder Haynie from 2015. What will we do to bring us closer to Christ? End conflicts, seek forgiveness and forgive others. It is hard to feel the Holy Ghost when you are grumpy. 

Elder Haynie - Samuel anointing a new king - thou shalt be turned into another man. Change of heart. Sustain you stake presidency, they are good men. The week before Easter Elder Haynie reads all the accounts in the scriptures of Jesus's last week. Passover - gather in room with apostles - one shall betray me. Elder Haynie's young daughter once prayed, "Please bless Jesus because sometimes He seems so sad." Jesus introduced the sacrament, blessed bread, brake, et of my body which I make as a ransom for you. Strife among the apostles, arguing about who is the most important. Jesus is introducing the sacrament and it's importance and his apostles are arguing. I wonder how Jesus felt. Intercessory prayer, hymn, Gethsemane. Peter, James, and John wonder if He is the Christ. People who are His friends are drifting. If possible remove the cup. Apostles sleeping, an angel comes. Judas's betrayal and Jesus is ridiculed and tortured. He felt completely alone in the 9th hour. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsake me." Because He walked the path alone. We do not have to. Example of marvelous women. He is Risen. Mary Magdalene is the First Witness of the Resurrected Christ. When Mary saw the risen Lord the reality of a risen Lord is established. Advocate - ability to claim rights. Listen to Him who is the Advocate with the Father. "I bear witness that He lives and He never loses hope for us."

For lunch/Easter dinner, we had ham, scalloped potatoes, croissants, asparagus, and baked apples. James made the baked apples and they were delicious!

We had some good news today and some heartbreaking news. James's mother was released from the hospital. James wrote this: 

Mom's release papers are being prepared with oxygen so she can be released. Easter is a great time to be released from confinement!"

Paul shared this message in a family group text:

I wanted to share what is happening in our family right now. I share not for sympathy, only so we can enlist your faith and prayers. Yesterday we were visited by two DPS detectives who informed us that my baby sister Patricia was found murdered on the 14th. They have two suspects in custody. I do not have any further details. Patricia had battled substance abuse all her adult life and I'm certain that it had a role in her death. Please keep her two children in your prayers as well as our family as we cope with this loss and try to put her to rest. I know there are no right words to say in tragic circumstances so please don't feel you have to respond. Your prayers will be enough.

How grateful I am for a Savior who has overcome sin and death for us. I wanted to send an Easter message but wasn't sure what to send. Here is what I sent:

Hello Family. I just wanted to share with you some thoughts about Easter. A year ago we spent Easter in Texas with Jared, Kacey, and Charlie, Tanner, and Summer and her boyfriend. I had spent two days in bed but was able to get up out of bed thanks to a priesthood blessing given to me by Dad and Jared. It was my own little miracle. 

This year we are alone at Easter except for Adam, Kyle, Chris, and Kaitlin who came to visit. They are excellent house guests and we enjoyed having them here.

This is the book we used to celebrate Easter this year:

Let me tell you about the red egg on the front. After World War II came to an end, many people in Eastern Europe countries were no allowed to attend church services. The Communist party taught the children that there was not a God. However, not wanting their grandchildren to grow up without a knowledge of the Savior, the grandmothers would teach the children about Jesus within the wall of their own homes. Then, every year at Easter, the families would attend a midnight service. When they returned home, they would stay up all night long talking about Jesus and decorating red Easter eggs. For the people of Serbia, eggs symbolized the eternal life of Jesus. According to some legends, the white eggs Mary left at her son's tomb as a sacrifice turned red after His resurrection. These red eggs hold deep meaning for the people of Serbia.

After the midnight service, as soon as the sun has risen, the people would have a huge breakfast. Then they would go from door to door and visit each of their neighbors. As each door was opened, they would say, "Christ has risen," and the person at the door would answer, "indeed He has risen." Then the person would give the guests at the door a red egg. The red egg meant good luck. Although Christians in Serbia are now allowed to worship publicly, much of this tradition still stands. It is not uncommon to see a red egg displayed in a Serbian house long after Easter has passed. This egg is called the "housekeeper," and it is supposed to guard the house until the next Easter.  I love the imagery in the tradition - the grandmother's teaching, the white eggs that turned to red in memory of the sacrifice, the decorating of eggs every single year as a reminder.

I want my grandchildren to know that Jesus Christ lives. In 2 Nephi 9:6-12 Jacob said if there were no resurrection, our flesh would crumble and return to mother earth no more to rise again. We would be angels to the devil with no hope for eternal joy. He goes on to say how grateful we should be that Jesus Christ overcame the two monsters, death and sin.

Easter should be celebrated every day of our lives with gratitude. Because He lives we too shall live!

I love you all!

I did some indexing and blogging today. I also ate 6 Peeps. That is too many.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!