Sister Michelle Christine North: Let Them Eat Eggs!

Happy Easter! I hope that you guys are all filled up on chocolate and egg sandwiches ..I know I am! It is so funny to me how many meals I have had this week with eggs. Literally every meal: eggs on top of my steak, eggs in my soup, eggs in my bread and chocolate shaped eggs! And all because of the celebration of Christs resurrection. What a funny combination right? Who came up with the concept of a bunny hiding eggs and bringing candy anyway? Bunnies don't hatch eggs, everyone knows that...but Hermana Fuentes and I came up with a conclusion, (because as missionaries we need to be prepared to answer questions that people may have) Christ's favorite food were eggs and chocolate! And his favorite animal was a bunny! (Or was it a lamb?) If anyone has any better explanation, we are all ears ;)

In all seriousness though, having the opportunity to teach specifically about the Pasqua (Easter) this week, or the Passover and Christ's Resurrection has been such a blessing for me! I officially have a new favorite Holiday People! (But I have yet to celebrate Christmas on my mission, we'll see if this changes). Really though, for starters, everyone here celebrates the Pasqua- so it is a really easy conversation starter and an easy way to connect with people. Also because it has aloud me to really study Christs life here on Earth more in depth. I have been able to strengthen my testimony on the Atonement- the sacrifice that Christ made for all of us, as well as what we all have to look forward to, the resurrection. To be honest I never really understood how important the Resurrection was. However, with the knowledge that we have that Christ was resurrected- his body and spirit were reunited after death, we can remember Him in that perfect and glorified form. We don't have to remember him suffering on the cross, because honestly that picture in my mind hurts. We can remember His sacrifice that he made for us and look forward to the life that we will all have in the eternities, thanks to Him. I know that Jesus lived a perfect life so that we can all return back into the presence of our Heavenly Father. I know that He loves us and that through His infinite atonement we can have happiness in all aspects of our life. He suffered every pain and feeling that we have and will feel in life. For that reason can He help us when we ask, because He has been in our shoes, He knows us and can perfectly relate to us. I know that as we study the life of Christ we will be able to come to know Him as He knows us. Something that one of the members in my ward said that I absolutely Loved was that ''The Atonement is not for us to understand, it is for us to live. As we live it, we will come to know it'' I like how it sounds even more in Spanish though (it just makes more sense...sorry if you dont speak Spanish) ''La expiacion no hay que entenderla, hay que vivir la. Cuando la vivimos, podemos conocerla.'' I love this because it is absolutely true! Faith is an action, so in order for us to really know the sacrifice that Christ made for us, we need to exercise our faith and use it in our everyday life. We can gain so much strength from it. As we pray each day asking for forgiveness or help, we will be able to see the reality of it and come to know that Christ lived and lives today. I know this is true because I have seen the effects of it in my life. It continues to change me everyday and because of the Atonement, I am Happy. I have perspective, even during the hard times.

This week was filled with so many exciting moments! For one, we met a new investigator! Hermana Fuentes and I were going around trying to contact some of the old investigators in our area, but none of them seemed to be home. After a while of no success, we started walking down a street and Hermana told me to pick a house (she calls it Greenie Power ha ha!) and that is when we met Lalo, Eduardo but all of his friends call him Lalo. It was a breath of fresh air because the minute he opened the door, he had a smile on his face and was so welcoming! He let us in once he heard that we wanted to share a special message of Christ with him. We found out that he was married for 49 years to his wonderful wife. She passed away from cancer four years ago. (A battle of 2 years) We could see the love that he had for her just by the way he talked about her. He called her his Tesoro (treasure). Hermano Lalo is very sweet and while we were teaching him we could feel the Spirit so strong! We taught him on the Plan of Salvation on Saturday and when we finished he asked when we were going to come back! It's amazing to me how ready he is to learn and how prepared he is to hear the gospel. I already love him so much, el es un amor! (How Hermana Fuentes and I describe Amazing people). We have another lesson with him tomorrow! I'll keep you updated on his progress!

Life is great here in Chile! The weather has offically dropped into winter weather. I'm already getting my winter clothes back out! CRAZY. Also I hit my 2 month mark this week! Time really does fly. My sweet companion reminded me with a note that she gave to me while we were walking to an appointment! She is just the best.

Take care! Love you guys. xoxoxox

Picture 1: Eggs at Nachita's (our investigator) house