HE IS RISEN

Perhaps the most glorious words ever uttered on this earth were "He is not here, for He is risen..."

Jesus Christ, whose sole purpose was to come to earth and die for us, "carried the cumulative weight of all mortal sins--past, present, and future", said Neal Maxwell.  Little wonder an angel appeared in Gethsemane to strengthen Him.
Joseph Fielding Smith said these words "I think it is understood by many that the great suffering of Jesus Christ came through the driving of nails in His hands and in His feet, and in being suspended upon the cross, until death mercifully released Him.  That is not the case.  As excruciating, as severe as was that punishment, coming from the driving of nails through His hands and through His feet, and being suspended, until relieved by death, yet still greater was the suffering which He endured in carrying the burden of the sins of the world-my sins, and your sins, and the sins of every living creature.  This suffering came before He ever got to the cross, and it caused the blood to come forth from the pores of His body, so great was that anguish of His soul, the torment of His spirit that He was called upon to undergo.
Are we not indebted?  Yes.  Are we ungrateful?  Yes, unless we are willing to abide by every word that comes from the mouth of God, unless we are obedient, unless our hearts are broken, in the scriptural sense, unless our spirits are contrite, unless within our soul is the spirit of humility and faith and obedience."
Jeffrey R. Holland Said "(my) plea at Easter time is that the 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.  May we stand by Jesus 'at all times and in all things and in all places that we may be in, even until death.' for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone."

"HE IS RISEN" with the wonderful promise for us that if we seek Him first, in all we do, the things of this world shall be added unto us.
"HE IS RISEN" that we may all rise, each to the glory and station in eternity which we have earned in this life.
"HE IS RISEN", telling us that salvation is in Him alone.

We leave our testimony of Christ, our Redeemer, that He gave Himself a vicarious sacrifice for each of us that we might have eternal life. The greatest miracle the world has ever seen is that the tomb is empty and that Christ is RISEN.   May we seek Him....and find Him.......our Savior who is now RISEN for us.


Events of this past week:

"But before that great day shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood; and the stars shall refuse their shining, and some shall fall, and great destructions await the wicked"
We find it interesting that this red moon will occur several more times within the year.

This moon appreared on the same night that we took our missionaries out to view the leatherback turtles coming ashore to lay eggs.  It was a gorgeous night.  T'was the 2nd time that we (Kent and Lynne) saw this amazing phenomenon in less than a week!  

 Elder Smith Jr. was asked to be a midwife to the turtle during the "delivery".  How lucky was he?

 These last 2 pictures were from our post last week, but the pictures turned out better that night.

But, we got ahead of ourselves!  Before going to see the turtles, we took a little side trip to Belmont Estates to see the old chocolate factory

 At the factory, they also produce spices, besides chocolate.  There's not a whole lot of government regulation here!

 Cachews drying in the sun

 Mace is made from the red membrane that surrounds the nutmeg

 Inside the high tech area where cocoa is fermenting

 Cocoa pods.  Had an interesting aroma.

nutmeg

Cachew tree

 We are standing on cocoa pods while showing off our tan lines

 Poor Elder Strong.....he's a swimmer and surfer.  I think the beach nearly kills him!!!!

Some of the beautiful sights in Sauters

Then we sat down for a while and watched the sun go down....

 .......and the moon come up.......

....then ate a picnic by moon light......

 ....then went out to see the magnificent turtles.   What a perfect day, with NEARLY perfect people!!!


Later in the week, we went teaching with the missionaries and then had a birthday party for Ricky

Saturday, we took a 2 hour break from office work in the afternoon and went to Dodgey Docks and listened to a little steel pan........

 ..............then took a dip in the ocean.  We can do that, you know, as Senior Missionary couples.  We would love to entice you others out there who are thinking of going on a mission in your grown-up years.  This is pretty great!!!

Sister Grigg, Elder Dohrman and Sister Smith Sr. practiced during the week for a musical number on Easter Sunday.  Elder D sang "Savior Redeemer of My Soul"

Another great week!  HAPPY EASTER!