Easter Sunday was nice, and Easter Sunday dinner was even better! (hehe) The Tuft's made the traditional ham and yummy potatoes, Ashley made deviled eggs and I helped by making some sparkling raspberry lemonade. (Thanks for the idea Kade!) It was all so yummy! Later, Dianna pulled out some plastic eggs with items in them to represent the Savior's atonement experience. This is a tradition in their family and I've seen this before in YW. One egg will have a nail, or soap, or a small piece of cloth, one had 3 dimes (30 pieces of silver), and the last one was empty. They all had a little paper with a New Testament scripture describing how the object was significant. It was good and afterwards we watched The Lamb of God, perfect to end the day with that, and actually I started my morning by watching the Testaments so I had some good bookends to my day! It was interesting, as I was driving to work the Friday before Easter I passed by a couple churches that had made, on their front lawn, a replication of the tomb, with the stone open. I don't know if they were going to use them for a presentation, or if they were just for show. It's great being back in the Bible Belt!
Speaking of the Bible Belt, it's really interesting see how open the people are here about their Christianity. My co-workers talk about going to church, teaching Sunday School, etc. A guy gave me a business card and there was a scripture on the back with that fish symbol. A co-worker, at another library, always wears this pin of the cross with a little piece of fabric and a small crown of thorns draped over it. Another co-worker, who is very religious in her catholic faith, was talking to me about her husband's new job prospects and she said to me: "I can tell you this because I know you're also God-driven". I was really flattered by that. This is a great experience!
The YSA Branch took a trip to the Washington D.C. Temple. It was amazing. We left at 11am and got there about 3:30pm. No, it doesn't usually take that long to get to D.C. - we hit Spring Break traffic. Good thing we made later appointments! The temple is so tall - and white. It's very beautiful. Inside, the celestial room had tall ceilings. My friend, Heidi, told me that they had designed it so you look up. I thought that was really neat. In the lobby of the temple is big floor-to-ceiling painting of Jesus and the right hand/left hand judgement. I can't remember the name. While waiting for others to finish with baptisms, I went over to the visitor's center. It has a Christus in the lobby - and if you turned around to look at the temple through the large windows you could see the reflection of Christ on the temple. Very neat. After a quick bit to eat, we got back on the road and didn't get home until at least midnight. It was good day!
