Happy Easter and Conference!

Happy Easter and General Conference weekend!  Such a great weekend, and I hope it was for all of you as well.  What a great opportunity to remember Christ and all that He has done for us.  I loved what Elder Uchtdorf asked each of us:  What is the most important day in history?  It should be the day Christ suffered for each of us.  Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, it has opened so many doors for each and every one of us!  Most importantly, the ability to repent, and the guarantee that each of us will be resurrected, because of Him.  What a blessing this is in our lives!  I hope and pray that we can all take advantage of the Saviors Atonement.

We had a great week, nonetheless, but that was the icing on the cake!  We had a hot week this week, but it was all good.  We had a lesson with Jimmy and Anne, as usual on Monday night.  We were able to talk about what conference is and how we can follow the prophet today-the Spirit was so strong as we testified that President Nelson truly is a prophet of God.

Tuesday was brief.  We had weekly planning which generally takes a little bit of time, but also had a good lesson with Qaseem, who is getting baptized this week.  We got a call from President Henrie as well, asking if we could switch interviews to Wednesday, rather than when they were scheduled, so we took some time to get situated so it could happen.  So we had the interviews on Wednesday, and they went well as usual.  We went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch, so that was pretty bomb.

Thursday and Friday we spent some good time knocking on doors.  We talked to a lot of really cool people.  It was Passover, and where I am is a Jewish heavy community, so some people weren't thrilled with us.  There was a couple from Israel that invited us in though, to show us how "real" Passover was celebrated.  It was neat.  Great people.  We had a good lesson with our friend Ramin as well and had a good friend from the ward helping out.

THEN, Saturday!  Started the morning right with some McDonald's and then conference.  It was so good!  I loved having the opportunity to stand in solemn assembly and sustain President Russell M. Nelson as the Prophet and President of the church!  How great is it to have a living Prophet to lead and guide us?  He gave some good direction and council.  He even 'exhorted' us on Sunday afternoon, to reread and restudy, even multiple times, this conference.  The talks were great between the two days.  I loved how big of a focus there was on ministering.  I love the scripture in 3 Nephi 27:21.  "Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do."

Christ was the perfect example of ministering to the one.  I hope we can all do the same.  Follow His example, in ALL things.

I love you all, have a great week!
Elder Martin

"May we labor side by side with the Lord of the vineyard, giving the God and Father of us all a helping hand with his staggering task of answering prayers, providing comfort, drying tears and strengthening feeble knees.  If we'll do that, we will be more like the true disciples of Christ we are meant to be...may we love one another as He has loved us."  Jeffrey R. Holland