Easter

Today is Easter. It’s been a beautiful day, very different and much simpler than those we’ve celebrated in the past at home in California. No decorations around the house. No baskets of Easter eggs and candy. No special meals planned. No family or friends coming over for dinner. But a simple sweet feeling of peace surrounds me today. Marsh and I slipped into a ward for their Sacrament meeting and the bishop called us up to bare our testimonies with the members. This morning, especially, I had been thinking of the Savior and His atonement for us and I was grateful for the chance to share my thoughts and feelings. As always I wish I had the ability to really express myself in Portuguese but I often feel that the Spirit helps me when I struggle to find the right word or conjugation. Marsh often stands beside me and translates when I need him to. I am thankful with all my heart for my testimony of this Church and Gospel. I know it is true. I feel my testimony growing and strengthening daily.

I thought of an experience that my mother, Grandma Alma Hobson Bonner, had years ago when she was listening to a Relief Society lesson on the Atonement. As she sat pondering the Savior’s great and terrible sacrifice for us she began to marvel at what he had done for us and she wondered how He could have done it and why. She couldn’t imagine. It seemed such a difficult thing to do. She said that as she asked that question the Relief Society room full of sisters faded and she felt she was back in a hospital room where my youngest sister Tamara lay unconscious and fighting for her life. Mom had been with Tamara several years before when my sister had nearly died from complications of childbirth. It seemed to Mom that she was there again and pleading with the Lord to spare Tamara. Tam was young and had just had her first baby. Her whole life lay ahead of her. Mom pled, 'Let her live, take me instead. I love her so much. I want her to live’. And then she had the thought, ‘That was how it was done. He loves us so much that He wants us to live. He would die for us that we might live.' I have thought of my mother’s experience often. I can better understand how the Savior would love us enough to atone and die for us, because I understand a mother’s love. I hope I never callously forget or disregard the Savior's sacrifice for me. I love Him and am grateful for what he has done for me and for all of us. I hope you have a wonderful Easter. Love, Mom