We Love "Egging" People

Happy Easter !!!  I love having holidays, but not until my mission did I realize all the candy/food holidays there are:  it starts with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day, and then Easter.  We aren't out of the clear until the summer.  The last six months on the mission, missionaries try to start losing the weight they gained. They term it "6 months to sexy".  My last 6 months includes the first three holidays mentioned ... yeah, so I won't be losing any weight.  Here are the highlights from the week:

Break-up season:  Alaskans, and I'm sure other people do too, call this time of year when the snow melts "break-up".  We have had a pretty bad winter (meaning there was a lot of snow compared to years past) so we thought break-up season would take longer but it really has flown by and my shoes aren't too ruined from the excess mud. We have been able to go OYMing (opening your mouth) so we have walked along the major roads in our area stopping to talk to anyone in our path. Members at church comment how they like seeing the missionaries out working.

Awkward: Every missionary is drawn to awkward moments all the time.  My trainer, Sister Nield, would always say "embrace the awkward, love the crazies".  I have taught Sister Williams the sign for awkward so we sign that to each other all the time (American Sign Language).  It is 53 degrees outside and Alaskan men go shirtless all over town.  You would think they thought it was 90 degrees.  It's just hot in opposition to the negative degree weather it has been for our norm this winter.

Monopoly:  So Sister Williams and I love playing games so we have been playing cards or monopoly at night before bed.  The game doesn't last too long because I end up winning really fast so now I'm teaching her how to be better.  During my studies one morning I was reading in 2 Nephi 15.  There is a verse Isaiah writes which, with the help of other scriptural manuals to be better understand, basically is a warning to landowners who buy up all of the property of the poor and that The Lord taught people not to do this in ancient Israel.  It was funny to me how it kind of applied to our game of monopoly.

Egging:  So mainly for Christmas or Valentine's Day people do some sort of heart attacking to people as a way to be nice and give others something for the holiday. Well Sister Williams came up with the idea to do the same for Easter and we, together, thought of "egging" people. We shopped at Target Monday in their $1 Spot section and got a lot of things to put in a small Easter basket to leave on members doors.  We also put cut-out eggs on the door to kind of decorate it.  Some members said they liked it so much that they decided to "egg" their neighbors to pass it on.

Easter:  Late Saturday night some members stopped by and gave us each Easter baskets.  Sunday and I ate a lot of candy for lunch.  We had Easter dinner with a recent convert and soon-to-be member who fed us lamb!  Everything was so good but we were stuffed when we left. We visited with a member and his now fiance' who told us the story of how he proposed three times.  We got more food being with them which after that I was about to burst open with the amount of food we had that day. They are adorable and we are so happy for them.  Everyone seemed to have a really good Easter celebration with their families and it is wonderful that we have this opportunity to really reflect on the Savior and what His resurrection means for us. Because He lives we will live too.  There is hope for us now on earth in the life to come.

Sent from ALASKA!

Sister Shelley Willden