AprGenCon
The Greatest Easter Story Ever Told
Elder Gary E. Stevenson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
New Testament scholar N.T. Wright suggested:
"We should be taking steps to celebrate Easter in creative new ways: in art, literature, children's games, poetry, music, dance, festivals, bells, special concerts....This is our greatest festival. Take Christmas away, and in biblical terms you lose two chapters at the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away, and you don't have a New Testament; you don't have a Christianity."
I woke up right at five o'clock and I got up. I want to have my scriptures and prayers early because today is my anniversary.
James and I have been married for 55 years. We started going together in 1965 so we have actually been together 58 years.
James got up early too. He fixed us breakfast and wrote me a letter.
The letter was so sweet and I will treasure it forever, putting it in my personal scrapbook.
We read from the Book of Mormon together and Come Follow Me. Come Follow Me was about the Last Supper, the first sacrament and the ordinance of the washing of feet.
I listened to Susan and Tanna on Inklings talk about "Finding Personal Peace" by President Eyring. I wish this would have been the talk last week as I could have used some of the ideas in my lesson. Emily is in Israel again leading her last tour. Yes, even with a broken leg.
James found some wild kittens on our deck. He wanted to feed them. I went inside and opened a can of tuna. When James took it outside there was only one kitten. The other was gone. James watched the doings of this kitten and got enjoyment from this activity. She had to go to the bathroom. She dug a hole, did her business, and then proceeded to cover it up. When she finished she went over and smelled the spot and threw some more dirt upon it. James says they do this to cover up their smell so other animals won't find them.
She sniffed at the tuna on the lid James had put it on and then began to throw dirt upon it. James decided she didn't like it that well and came back inside to get some cream. As we were walking around in the kitchen I looked out the front window and saw what I assumed to be the mama cat, a tabby. I called James over just about the time the kitten James had been feeding came into view. She literally hopped over to her mama and they went off together towards the Cranes.
James and I took an early nap together. When I woke up I went in to get ready to go to town. We are going out to eat and then doing some shopping at Walmart. When James woke up he said, "Wow, I needed that nap." He does need to relax more.
Armando called with a problem at work. James had asked not to be called today but this was kind of an emergency. James gave some advice and somehow the problem got solved. In the meantime James kept saying, "I should be there."
I forgot to mention that earlier in the day James had texted Samantha regarding getting paid the April payment for the job. He told her that if he didn't receive payment he would have to stop work on the job.
Hopefully they will at least send half of what they owe us, which is way overdue. (Don't want to think about this on our anniversary).
My friend Tamara had said how good the food was at The Pasta House in Pinetop. I MapQuested it and found out it doesn't open until 5. It was around 3 and we were starving since we had not eaten since breakfast. There were two other Italian restaurants in Pinetop. I chose Red Devil and that is where we ate.
It was by no means fancy. It seemed as if they specialized in pizza but they had other entrees too. I ordered jumbo cheese ravioli with marinara sauce. James ordered the chicken marsala with a side of pasta. We each got a warm sourdough roll and I ordered a small dinner salad with balsamic vinaigrette.
The sauce on James's chicken was rather watery, nothing like the sauce he gets when he orders chicken marsala at Olive Garden. I asked him how it tasted. He said it was okay but he made haste in eating every bite.
I'm not sure how I feel about jumbo ravioli, but the creamy cheese inside and the marinara sauce was delicious. I could only eat two of the three ravioli so I asked for a "to go" box.
Our next stop was Walmart where I did some shopping and James went back to the auto center to make an appointment for new front tires. He made the appointment for 9 a.m. tomorrow morning which means I will be taking it in since James will be going back to the valley.
When we got home James put on his work clothes and went over to Barbara's. This morning he had met with Loran Ellsworth, a brother in our ward who is a general contractor. Barbara wants a ramp built for her son's home as he is handicapped. James does not have time to do it so he asked Brother Ellsworth because he built a ramp for Sue Hubble's daughter who is in a wheelchair.
Brother Ellsworth said he would "work in" this project. He actually is a general contractor and teaches construction skills to men had the addiction recovery center that Brother Applegate runs. Brother Ellsworth asked James if he would level the ground where the ramp is to be built so he could start on it tomorrow. This was the only time James could go and I understood. He said when he returned we would watch a movie and work on the puzzle. We did work on the puzzle but did not have time to watch a movie as James has to get up early to go to the valley in the morning.
Although we didn't get to do everything we wanted, it was a nice day for me and I hope for James. We spent time together and expressed our love for each other. We will continue celebrating next week when we go out to eat and go to the temple.
I believe this picture was taken at the Lambson
