EAster in EAgar

Hi everyone!!!

I hope you all had an amazing Easter, because I did!!! But first things first: the week. The funny story of the week was that it was Sister Goodwin's birthday this week! That's not super funny, and you're right, it's not. But that's not the funny part. The night before (Monday) the Stake President and his wife threw a birthday party for her and we had cheesecake and fun and stuff. However, the funny part was when the Stake President sang "Happy Birthday". He didn't sing the traditional version that we all sing and harmonize with on someone's birthday. Nope, his version went like this:

(sung very solemnly)

It's your birthday, Happy Birthday

disease and pestilence in the air

people DYING everywhere

On your birthday

Happy birthday

Yep, it was pretty hilarious! But that isn't where it ends. The next day, Sister Goodwin woke up with the 24 hour stomach flu that's been going around, one of the elders went to the hospital for strep and another elder was ill as well. So Sister Goodwin would be sleeping in the bathtub (convenient place when you're sick) and I would be studying in the other room when I would hear her faintly singing "disease and pestilence in the air, people DYING everywhere, on my birthday. Happy birthday." Yeah, we kind of laughed about it all day. It's good to laugh about something when your sick, it lightens the mood!

Anyway, later this week we visited the Apache Reservation and I helped some sisters understand ancestry.com and familysearch a bit better and then we got 2 new investigators and... oh, I almost forgot. WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!! One of our investigators, after going through many sets of missionaries, made the eternal commitment to take upon him Christ's name and be baptized. The best part was that he got confirmed on Easter Sunday. I almost cried.

So besides that, Easter was pretty busy. We spoke in 3rd ward at 9am (I spoke on the crucifixion) and we had one of our less-active converts attend, then I taught the Signs of the Second Coming in Gospel Principles (that lesson is amazing, I would recommend studying up on the signs because THEY'RE HAPPENING!!) and in our other ward, we had 2 investigators come to Sacrament Meeting and Sister Goodwin taught the Restoration in Young Womens.

But it doesn't end there. After church, we got home and there was a knock on our door. A Sister from the ward had gone around to different ward members to collect food and stuff for us for Easter and then she dropped it off (the previous night, we'd returned home to find 4 Easter baskets for us on the front porch). We then had Easter dinner with a family that hid the eggs before they dyed them and then, after they'd found them all, they dyed them and secret Easter messages would appear and they would have a little lesson with those messages. She then fed us Mongolian Stir fry (I'd been craving chinese all week) and then had a s'mores cake for dessert (I gained a few pounds from that but it was SO WORTH IT!). After that, we ran over to the church building to sing in the Easter Cantata (we got one of our investigators to participate with us) and then we donated our Easter baskets to some of the families that we're working with. All in all, It was an incredible day and I'm so grateful that I was able to spend it in the service of my Savior.

I want you all to know that I miss you all so much and that I'm grateful that I was born into such a wonderful family that raised me in the principles of the Gospel and prepared me to lead the life that the Savior would want me to lead and that I have the opportunity and PRIVILEGE of helping others come unto him and to take upon themselves the covenants and the promises that will enable them to gain eternal life in the kingdom of our Heavenly Father. I know that, as we stick to those covenants, we will be blessed in so many ways and we will recognize those blessings in our lives. Thank you all for being such wonderful influences in my life. I'm truly grateful for you all.

Love,

Steph

The pics are of Josh (our recent convert) and yes, his personality is exactly like you see it in the picture :) and the second pic is of our doorstep when we discovered that the Easter Bunny had left us some gifts

By the way, I believe Sister Hamblin (the stake President's wife) may have sent a pic of me and Sister Goodwin to the home email. (she's super sweet)