2025(6) Faith Leap - Chapter 19: GENERAL CONFERENCE & HOLY WEEK! 💖 (Part 3)

 2025(6) Faith Leap - Chapter 19: GENERAL CONFERENCE & HOLY WEEK! 💖 (Part 3)

Christ is Risen! Truly, He lives!

Highlights:

• Bob's Hero Project reveal!
• Ministering Saturday: Egg hunt, Bob-led watercoloring youth activity, and a new favorite restaurant
• Easter Sunday: The most beautiful Easter service (with our branch's first-ever primary/youth musical number!), branch snack, a dog at church, and our symbolic Easter dinner.

Prayer Requests:

• CJ is sick again - and frustrated that he has been getting sick so often. It is so hard for me to not be there to take care of him when he feels too miserable to prepare the things that would help him to recover. Please pray for him to get well, and stay well.

Details:

Ministering Saturday

Bob's Hero Project

Ministering Saturday was supposed to begin at 4am for Richard and I as we virtually attended our Commonwealth's last parent meeting of the year. This meeting was notable because Bob and CJ were both presenting. But then, Bob did not love the idea of getting up that early, and also felt his presentation of his Hero Project would work best as a looping slideshow, so he sent his in to be presented like a wedding video while he slept blissfully through it. 😄. Then CJ got sick. 😢 We will have to have him present his Quest 2 Research Project for us when he is feeling better.

Now that Bob's project has been publicly presented, I have his permission to share! Each watercolor painting is inspired by someone he views as a hero. He chose to write on each painting the most prominent characteristic he admires in the hero. The slideshow includes each hero's name, and a description of why he chose them. I would link to the slideshow, but he has chosen to set restricted permissions. I appreciate that he is careful online. Instead, I will post pictures of the paintings below. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you David, "W" (Bob's cousin), Jesus Christ (my personal favorite Hero and painting 💗), Shauna (Bob's mentor), Elder Bednar (Bob's birthday buddy), Bob's Mom 🥰, Erin (Bob's aunt), Naaman, Captain Moroni, Bob's Hero Class and Mentors (whose involvement of Bob in class over the distance was above and beyond - I am so grateful!).

           

The Gathering

Our 3 level home with minimal belongings to take up all of the drawer and shelf space made for a pretty epic egg hunt! There were so many places to search! We don't have our Easter Baskets (and, as far as we've been able to tell, that isn't really a thing here. It is actually quite refreshing that Easter in Georgia is not commercialized at all. It is a religious holiday, solely focused on Christ). Baskets weren't needed, however. The kids discovered modeling clay, x-shot guns, and 40 individually hidden bullets, in addition to our colored eggs, and a few hidden Jesus figurines. (The Christensens recently gifted us two x-shot guns, so we now have one for each of us, plus 2 guests. CJ and Grandma - prepare for battle!)

After a traditional breakfast of "muffins" (except, we don't have a muffin tin, so it was muffin batter in a cake tin), and cubed hard-boiled eggs, we remembered the Gathering of Israel that has been enabled through Christ's Atonement, and our part in the gathering. On Saturday, Christ taught the fullness of His gospel to those in the Spirit world who had, in their mortal life, accepted and acted on the pieces of truth they had. It is our responsibility and privilege to seek Him, and to participate with Him in sharing His gospel with others on both sides of the veil.

Watercoloring with the Youth

For our Youth Activity that afternoon, Bob taught us all the watercolor techniques he's learned as he has worked on his Hero Project. He was an excellent mentor - offering lots of praise and encouragement, as well has helpful feedback and pointers.

Heart of Batumi

While we were in the city, we were scheduled to go out to dinner with President and Sister Behunin - who needed to meet with Richard about Branch business. They needed to adjust their dinner plans, so Richard met with them at the church and then, after the kids waited so patiently for over an hour, we decided we'd still treat them to dinner out. We found this funny little cafe just a little over a block away. It is called Heart of Batumi. The decor was cute and random (the kids are pointing to pants holding a shelf in the window). The food was delicious, and surprisingly well-priced, to boot! All 5 children gave it 5 stars and insisted that Richard leave a tip. (Tips aren't really a thing in Georgia). They have also decided that anyone who comes to visit us will be treated here, on us.

Easter Sunday: He is Risen!

We had the most beautiful Easter sacrament meeting! In my morning prayer, I asked Heavenly Father to help me really feel my love and gratitude for my Savior.  I also committed to doing all I could to make the sacrament hour the most joyful of my week. Truly, it was joyful and full of the spirit! About 3/4 of the way through the meeting, my face hurt from smiling and welling tears. Our missionaries (who will receive transfer news this week 😭) sang "Gethsemane" in Russian; our speakers were perfectly focused on the joy of Christ's gifts of Atonement and Resurrection; who can possibly stand and sing, "He is Risen" without joy bursting from their heart?; and our youth and primary sang "Risen" like literal angels! The words and notes of this song are beautiful, music has a powerful way of bringing the spirit, and children's voices are especially suited to this. Combine these elements with Easter Sunday, and the fact that this was an historic event: the first time the branch has ever had a children's musical number, and you had a moment that made hardened grown men admit to crying, and half of the congregation burst out in applause before they remembered we don't do that in church. 😄 The entire meeting was the perfect recipe for an unforgettable Easter service. (I captured photos and video of the children during their practice before church. Sweet 3 year old, "S" bravely stood with the group - as long as her mom was there with her 🥰)

Because most of us do not have family to celebrate holidays with, we had a branch snack of fruit and Russian Easter Bread after the 1-hour sacrament meeting. As we prepared the food, the bells of the Georgian Orthodox church were ringing out the joyful news of the Savior's Resurrection. 💗

To ensure that anyone is able to join us for church, we have been propping open the door of the building on Sundays. Twice now, this dog has wandered in and collapsed in the stairwell. The other tenants of the building will, understandably, be upset if they find this is happening, and we need to lock up the building door when we leave - so we have to get him out. The first time he came, he refused to even open his eyes - even when a chicken leg was waved in front of his nose to try to entice him to move. It wasn't until Richard and another brother physically pushed him (and almost got their legs bitten), and then ran down the stairs with him behind them, that they finally got him out. Because of this, my kids have affectionately named him Bones. And they were thrilled he showed up again. They insist that he is the branch mascot...🙄 Gratefully, this time, shaking a can of peanuts was all it took to get him out. We'll chalk that up to an Easter miracle. (And, moving forward, we will be instructing our branch members to prop the building door open only enough to prevent it from locking, rather than propping it wide open).

We wrapped up Holy Week with our symbolic Easter meal (cracking our eggs like the Russians and Europeans do: two people hit their eggs together to see whose egg is strongest), and an x-shot battle! (because, of course!)