Easter Sunday is always special, but today was a uniquely special day. We were honored to be asked to give our farewell remarks on Easter Sunday. We felt a personal responsibility to make Easter worship for our ward family a special experience and prayed for help in preparation of our remarks.
Family came from all around to support us and say farewell for a little while. We delivered our talks today and felt a special outpouring of the Spirit. Marlene spoke on the Atonement and developed a theme of witness from the scriptures on the prints in His hands and feet. I spoke on the Resurrection and shared testimonies of the prophets from scripture and latter-day statements. I also shared my personal testimony of the reality of the resurrection for all mankind. After reading, praying and preparing our Easter Sunday messages for weeks, our hearts were especially tender, so when the choir sang, "He Is Risen", that flooded my heart with emotion right before I was to speak. It all worked out. I was unprepared, but very grateful for that experience and spiritual witness of the Atonement and Resurrection anew.
Just part of the family that I was able to gather for a picture that came to support us today.
