Happy Happy Easter Week!

We had a great zone conference this past week and the new Easter video was introduced.  It was shown at the meeting and we were given cards to pass out as we visit with people.  It is a great and uplifting message and we hope everyone takes 3 minutes to watch it this Easter season.

Jim and I were both surprised to be asked to share our testimonies during the meeting.  The theme for the conference was "Using Time Wisely" and we realized as we talked and listened to others what "a gift" we have been given to be able to just be on our mission.  It makes us want to try even harder to make sure we are using the time we have been given wisely.

We feel the great power of the united missionary force when we meet together in zone meetings and conferences.  And....we also feel the quiet power of individual testimonies of the Savior as we visit one on one with individuals.


I had an awesome experience at church on Sunday.  The oldest Matembu daughter, Dorcas, asked me to help her prepare a lesson on the atonement and come to class with her while she presented it.  We talked about the lesson and she made some notes.  I explained a little about the scripture in Matthew ll:28-30 that says "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  Some of the English words in the scriptures such as "yoke" need to be explained to this family and in the process it helps us understand them better too.  Anyway, Dorcas, did a wonderful job leading a discussion on how the atonement helps us through the trials of life.  She and the other girls and leaders shared experiences where they had felt peace and comfort from the atonement.  We then played the Mormon Message "Mountains to Climb".    The spirit was so strong in class that day.

We also had a very fun evening on Sunday night when we invited a set of elders and a young couple from our ward to visit and have dinner with us.  Jay and Su are both second generation members of the church.  Jay's parents are from Taiwan but he grew up in Orem.  Su is from Malaysia.  She taught Chinese at Herriman High School and we found out that they lived very close to us at one time.

Anyway, our granddaughter, Kennedy, is in second grade and is in a Chinese immersion program.  So we arranged to Skype after dinner and Kennedy and Su could converse together.  It was very fun to watch them!
Kennedy is an energetic, happy, and talented 7 year old in our family and she seems to really like learning to speak Chinese.  She had a wonderful time celebrating Chinese New Year with her school class this past year.  She has also recently begun taking violin lessons again so we hope to hear her play when we get home!

Another fun experience for Jim has to do with his favorite sport...basketball.  He is starting to teach the Matembu family how to play.  They are all natural athletes, but haven't had the opportunity to learn many sports.  Gregory is a talented soccer player that we hope to be able to watch play some games this spring and summer.  He has never played much basketball though. The two older girls, as well as the younger boys, are also interested.

Anyway, Pat thinks Jim's secret desire has always been to be a basketball coach and so this may be his big chance.

The family has the week off for spring break so we hope to be able to go to the church with them a couple of times to practice.


Then today was P-day and we had another amazingly fun thing happen that really seemed planned out by our Heavenly Father to bless a sweet family that we met.  We decided that it deserves a blog post all of it's own!

So........Stay tuned for the next riveting episode in our blog world!