Easter

Hey everybody!

First off, there are some awesome things going around back home. JARED BUTLER and ALEX NEWEY have received their mission calls (I have yet to hear where Alex is going), and LEVI STANNARD has his papers in! Levi, I'm so happy for you! I remember a year ago, you were still preparing, and now you're here! For all you guys, and other potential missionaries, just know that no matter where you're called, God has someone prepared for you. I've already met a couple people who have been prepared for me. Not only that, but your first convert is going to be yourself.

The weather is heating up. Uncomfortably. We have not hit spring yet. It's straight into summer. And it'll only be worse. Luckily, we get the car this week. WITH FULL MILES.

On Tuesday, we helped the Walnut Grove missionaries move a part-member family from New Jersey into their new home. As we got closer to the back of the truck, I started picking up comic books that had fallen out of boxes. The back of the truck was pretty messy from the long trip they had made. There were a lot of comic books. We started to stack boxes of comic books in the garage, and the stack kept getting bigger and bigger. In the end, we probably unloaded over 100 boxes of Spiderman, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Batman and other comic series. It was a huge collection, and he even had boxes that he hadn't read yet. He has a long time of organizing ahead of him. The two hired unloaders would not have been able to do the job very fast themselves if it wasn't for us four missionaries. It was fun!

On Saturday, we helped an elderly woman in the ward with some yard work, which was also an enjoyable time. I realized that it was way fun to do service for other people, but doing chores around your own house is pretty much the opposite. I felt like I had to say that so my parents couldn't say, "Hey, you enjoy chores now! Do ours!" Nope. Others' chores. But I'll try to work out of that mentality, anyway. Chores are better when you've got friends, which is what has made chores out here fun, I think.

Easter was awesome. There were many fantastic talks given. The church was full in both wards, mostly because of the out-of-town visitors that were coming to visit families. Lemme paraphrase something I wrote in my journal: "We celebrate the day Jesus was resurrected so that all of us can live past death. Because of Him, we get to have our bodies forever, and we can live to see Heavenly Father again if we repent, obey the commandments, and receive saving ordinances. The word 'gospel' means 'good news'. I love the good news Jesus Christ has given us. It really is good news! It makes me happy, and gives me an undying hope in the future, as long as I can remember how much the gospel has blessed my life. It's the news that we can live forever. It's the news that we can be happy forever. It's the news that God loves us, and wants us to be happy." Another cool thing I heard this past Sunday was this story: A girl asked her mom once why our church doesn't have crosses. The mother replied, "Because we remember His resurrection, not his death." I learned from that small experience.

Hope you guys had a good Easter! This week, we get to take an investigator to Institute for her first time. We're very excited for her! I love you guys! Thanks for your letters and prayers!

-Elder Staib