"...all I got is wine, and beer. ...And water- that I don't drink." -Mark

Have y'all seen the Easter video for this year? It's pretty amazing and the spirit touches my heart every time! Well, we showed that video to a sweet family. Hahaha you know the part at the end where the music is super intense and it's flashing pictures of Christ saying "He is Lord of Lords, King of Kings... He is Jesus Christ..." well one of the little girls, Elajah, was reading out loud what it was saying. When the part came around that says "HE is Jesus Christ" she threw her arms in the arm and repeated "...He is JESUS CHRIST! Amen amen HALLELUJAH AMEN HALLELUJAH LORD JESUS!!" She was like 8. I loved it! So great. I love that video. 

HAPPY EASTER BTW! Oh it was such a beautiful day. We had stake conference and the Hales fam invited us to an on post potluck. We got to talk with the sweetest lady and her husband. Her name is Christine. She shared with us her story of coming to believe in God and Jesus Christ and she made me cry it was so touching. She also told us that one of her Native American friends, who was an atheist, told her about how Jesus Christ came to visit her people a longtime ago.... I was like what?! No way. So we explained 3 Nephi 11 in the Book of Mormon and invited her to read it. It was so cool! I had never heard of any native Americans saying that before. 

Elder Ronald A. Rasband came to town again! He was here for the wedding of President Huntsman's daughter, because they are like super good pals. So on Saturday evening, Elder and Sister Rasband AND THE John Huntsman and his wife, spoke to the D.C. South missionaries. We were instructed to bring investigators, less actives, returning members, and recent converts. That was such a neat experience. My heart was filled that night. I just happened to sit right smack down in the middle of the pew so I was looking dead straight on at Elder Rasband. I felt like there were times he was glaring into my soul. In a good way. Haha but he spoke about the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And lemme tell ya, when he testified of the Savior, the spirit was so so strong. I could not help but cry. It was so incredible. We have been truly blessed to have heard from several apostles speak to us in the last few months. It has been a once in a lifetime opportunity. I'm so grateful for Christ's restored church, the prophet and the apostles He has called on the earth today. I know they are special witnesses of Him. You can just feel it when they walk into the room.

I went on exchanges with Sister Strong this week! She is such a humble hilarious courageous sister. She is so stinking cute too! We had such a blast. We got to go see Jackie! Remember her? We would do service for her often. We helped pick up sticks in her beautiful pride and prejudice yard and then she fed us oranges, crackers and cheese afterwards. Classic. :) 

We met the funniest guy this week. His name is Mark. Mark is an older guy, and lives in the basement of a family's house. We were out talking to the owner and the mechanic (who happened to be from Ukraine #funfact so we had fun talking with him!). Mark then came outside to smoke and we started talking to him. The first thing he said to us was "do y'all know Lindsey Sterling? Yeah I love her she is awesome!" We talked about the Book of Mormon and set up a return appt. we had our second lesson with him yesterday right there on his back porch. He is one who seems like he's not interested but down inside I'm pretty sure he is interested and just not making a big deal out of it. I had invited him to be baptized on June 13th and he looked at me dead in the eye and said "now look...." and started going off on something that I had no idea if it applied to the invitation, so I asked "so will you?" And he looked at me and said "I can't say yes but I won't say no. I have to read and study about it." GO MARK! We just love him he is awesome. He is one of those people that I just click with. Okay and FUNNIEST THING EVER- when he offered us something to drink, he said "I don't got milk, I don't got juice, all I got is wine, and beer. ...And water- that I don't drink." HAHA I died laughing. 

I had interviews with President on Tuesday. I look up to President Huntsman so much. I have so much love and appreciation for both him and his wife. They have helped me incredibly on my mission just by their love and support they have shown me. There are over 170 missionaries in this mission and they truly know and love each missionary. You should've heard John Huntsman talk about him... talk about the sweetest, touching dad-son moment. I'm so blessed to have President Huntsman as my mission president! There was something I learned from President in interviews from preach my gospel that was completely amazing and I loved it. I have no doubt that president receives revelation for each missionary right in that moment he speaks with them. I felt like what he shared with me was exactly what I needed to hear. It said something along the lines of "Heavenly Father knows our weaknesses and is patient with us.... He blesses us as we strive to keep His commandments." I loved that so much. One, I know we are given weaknesses so we may be humble. Heavenly Father is patient with us and our weaknesses! So why can't I be? I have learned and continue to learn to be patient with others and their weaknesses, but often times I forget to be patient with myself and my own weaknesses. Be kind to yourself! Two, God blesses us as we STRIVE to keep His commandments. Not WHEN or IF but when we STRIVE to keep them. He blesses us for our efforts of trying our best. We aren't going to be perfect; but as we strive to do the best we can to follow Him, we are incredibly blessed. I know these things to be true.

Also, 2 Nephi 25:13, I loved that scripture. Perfect for Easter. Elder Rasband shared that one and testified boldly of it.

I love y'all! SO MUCH.

Xoxox,

Sister Hymas