April 21, 2014 Kearney, Missouri

Dear Family!

Well Happy Easter Monday! I was glad to hear that you guys had a really fun Easter at Auntie Kirsten's and I'm glad that Craig got my letter :) Haha, where did the time go. Also, you guys are crazy with rushing all the house projects in one day. But I guess at least its done and now you don't have to worry about it anymore :)

We had a ward party and our investigator Jeff invited a coworker to the party. His friend came with his wife and her sister and mom. The three women are originally from Iran and we ended up teaching them the entire Restoration lesson in front of the bon-fire. It was awesome! They are seriously the sweetest people ever and said they would come to church. They live outside of our area though and didn't ended up coming to church. It was really cool though getting to know them. 

Our Easter was pretty good! Our investigators Sam, Jeff and Charlie all came to church, and Charlie brought his mom, Barbara! I talked to her a lot in between classes and everything and she is the sweetest lady ever. She's Baptist and her husband passed away last August. She loved church and is so excited that she has Sundays off now so she can keep coming to church with Charlie. I asked her if she would be interested in learning the basic beliefs of the church and she wants to. BAM! New Investigator. Seriously, our investigators are the best NON- MEMBER missionaries I have ever met. All of the referrals we get comes from Jeff and his friends he invites to church. Its pretty awesome! Sister Jarman and I got to participate in the Musical Program in Sacrament meeting. We sang with the Young Women and then Bishop asked me to bear my testimony on the Saviour at the end of Sacrament meeting. After church we went to the Dietrich's house for Easter dinner. They hid some plastic eggs with our initials on them, and there were goodies inside the eggs. They also gave us an Easter basket. They are so sweet! Also the LeNeave's, the members we live with, spoiled us with a cookies n' Cream Easter chocolate Easter bunny, on top of which I have the Easter goodies you guys sent to me, which I made a paper Easter basket for Sister Jarman and gave her half of my chocolate. There is too much chocolate around the house right now, lol! 

But, I love the true meaning behind Easter. Not the fluffy stuff like Christmas where people get caught up in the candy and toys and mythical creatures like egg laying bunnies, lol! Its great to stop  and think about the hope and happiness that comes from knowing that Christ truly is Risen! He is amazing and He overcame everything that we too can have eternal life.  I was pondering Moses 1:39 and how God's purpose is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". Well, lets think about it, Christ overcame death and was resurrected and so he has fulfilled the immortality part, but how about eternal life. What does that mean? Well as I thought about that I thought of how eternal life means progression. We continue living and growing. Looking at Christ at what he has done since his death and resurrection( at least looking at what we currently know about from the scriptures). Christ has eternal life, he is a living example of what eternal life means. Since His resurrection he has continued the work of the gospel. He restored it back to the earth, he has visited and strengthened many people. His living power of the atonement continues to touch the lives of millions everyday. To me, thinking of the Saviour, eternal life, means we keep living the gospel everyday. We go about doing good and helping others for eternity. We live a Christ-like life forever and from it we find incomprehensible joy and happiness. How cool is that!

I love being a missionary! I love being a disciple of our living Saviour Jesus Christ. He helps and strengthens me everyday! He brings the hope that we too can not only live forever, but that we can eternally progress with Him. I hope you have a great week! I love you and miss all of you.
Love,

Sister Luening