A few good things,and one perfect thing...

Happy Easter- I just wanted to share a few wonderful things about our day.

1) The girls looked so cute in their matching Easter dresses- they even left the headbands on! (I'll add pictures soon.)

2) Evan was asked to give a talk in Primary about his testimony of Jesus. A few weeks ago, when we told him his topic He said, "I do have a testimony of Jesus!" Then he shared this with us- "My testimony is that He is real, and that He is living-that He is great. Jesus is a good man and He always tells the truth. I have warm feelings when I think about Heavenly Father and Jesus. They answer my prayers, even if it is not right away."

So what's the best part? We picked out pictures to go with is talk and but them in a 3 ring binder- and he ACTUALLY gave the talk! (As opposed to everytime in the past year that he's been scared and has just hid when it was time to give his talk). I am super proud of him!

3) I was asked to speak during Sacrament Meeting on "The Atonement of Jesus Christ & it's power to change lives." It was humbling to try to prepare to talk on such a sacred and important topic. The best part for me, was that through my preparing and pondering for speaking about the atonement, I felt a much greater sense of reverence and gratitude for Easter, and all that it means for us. I thought I'd include my talk, not becuase it's the best sermon ever, but because it's on my mind (sorry, it's not word for word):



The Power of the Atonement to Change Lives
The atonement is at the core of our beliefs as Christians and as members of the restored church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The bible Dictionary says that is was through Christs “ selection and foreordination in the Grand Council before the world was formed, his divine Son-ship, his sinless life, the shedding of his blood in the garden of Gethsemane, his death on the cross and subsequent bodily resurrection from the grave, (that) he made a perfect atonement for all mankind”
While it may be beyond our ability to fully understand how Christ could atone for us, it’s not beyond the ability of each of us to partake of the blessings of the atonement. As Elder Holland said in his most recent conference address,
“Brothers and sisters, my Easter-season message today is intended for everyone, but it is directed in a special way to those who are alone or feel alone or, worse yet, feel abandoned. These might include those longing to be married, those who have lost a spouse, and those who have lost—or have never been blessed with—children. Our empathy embraces wives forsaken by their husbands, husbands whose wives have walked away, and children bereft of one or the other of their parents—or both. This group can find within its broad circumference a soldier far from home, a missionary in those first weeks of homesickness, or a father out of work, afraid the fear in his eyes will be visible to his family. In short it can include all of us at various times in our lives.
To all such, I speak of the loneliest journey ever made and the unending blessings it brought to all in the human family. I speak of the Savior’s solitary task of shouldering alone the burden of our salvation.”
Christ bore the eternally decreed punishment for each of us, for our sins. That alone calls to the divine within each of us, and invites us to love and serve him. If we repent, and accept the Lords atonement, it can change the course of our lives, bringing our lives closer and closer to Him. But it didn’t stop there. So that he could lift and succor us, In addition to bearing the punishment for our sins, he bore the pain of the discouragement, rejection, etc. that we all feel as journey through this life.
-Elder Holland talked about how Christ, as he suffered, felt the comforting power of the Spirit withdraw, in Elder Hollands words,
it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.
Beauty for Ashes-The Atonement of Jesus Christ
Elder Bruce C Hafen taught, “
The Savior himself was not concerned that he would seem too forgiving or soft on sin. Said he, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. … For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28, 30). He spoke these comforting words in the context of asking his followers to develop a love pure enough to extinguish hatred, lust, and anger. His yoke is easy—but he asks for all our hearts.
His words do not describe an event, but a process. He does not request the answer to a yes-or-no question, but an essay, written in the winding trail of our experience. As we move along that trail, we will find that he is not only aware of our limitations, but that he will also in due course compensate for them, “after all we can do.” That, in addition to forgiveness for sin, is a crucial part of the good news of the gospel, part of the victory, part of the Atonement.



In Luke 4:18, Jesus quotes part of a passage from Isaiah that describes the heart of his (Christ’s) ministry. The Isaiah passage reads: “The Spirit of the Lord … hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; … to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, … to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion … beauty for ashes” (Isa. 61:1, 3; emphasis added).
“The Savior’s atonement is thus portrayed as the healing power not only for sin, but also for carelessness, inadequacy, and all mortal bitterness. The Atonement is not just for sinners.

I, and I believe all of us, have broken hearted.

Through the Holy Ghost, the Atonement makes possible certain spiritual endowments that actually purify our nature and enable us to live a more “eternal” or Godlike life.



The Savior desires to save us from our inadequacies as well as from our sins. Inadequacy is not the same as sinfulness—we have far more control over the choice to sin than we may have over our innate capacity. The Lord will not save us in our sins, but from them. However, he can save us in our inadequacies as well as from them. A sense of falling short or falling down is not only natural, but essential to the mortal experience. But, “after all we can do,” the Atonement can fill that which is empty, straighten our bent parts, and make strong that which is weak.


Elder Holland, "My other plea at Easter time is that these scenes of Christ’s lonely sacrifice, laced with moments of denial and abandonment and, at least once, outright betrayal, must never be reenacted by us. He has walked alone once. Now, may I ask that never again will He have to confront sin without our aid and assistance, that never again will He find only unresponsive onlookers when He sees you and me along His Via Dolorosa in our present day. As we approach this holy week—Passover Thursday with its Paschal Lamb, atoning Friday with its cross, Resurrection Sunday with its empty tomb—may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear. This Easter week and always, may we stand by Jesus Christ “at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death,”21 for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."