Well, this past weekend was Easter weekend and I was once again reminded why it has always been my favorite holiday. I have many reasons for loving Easter and so many of those reasons have become even stronger over the course of this Easter. One of the shallow reasons that I love Easter is the lovely weather that the holiday brings as it is in Spring and after my first Minnesota winter, I was so grateful for the sun and the light breeze. Reason number two for loving Easter is the family that surrounds you. For a long time, my family (as well as a surplus of other families around the world) gathers together to celebrate this holiday and this has come to be so special to me. This year, I was separated from my family for the first time for Easter and it was difficult but in many ways I was reminded of the harsh reality that there could be many more Easters like this one to come. While I was gone from my family, I had the amazing opportunity to join another family for Easter and celebrate with them. It was so beautiful as it was very hard but the Lord gently reminded me over and over again that family in many ways lies in the people that surround you. Being at college has really brought me to realize that while so many of us are far away from home, the people we live life with on a daily basis have become our family and in a sense our home away from home. This was so beautiful to painfully walk through this Easter as I got to experience being at home with another family and learn that celebrating the Savior of the world truly can happen with anyone and it is always a blessing to celebrate with whoever surrounds you. The biggest reason that I have come to love Easter is of course the resurrection of the Savior of the world. Each year it breaks my heart to realize what the Savior went through on the behalf of His children. It was during this time that He was betrayed by one of His followers, beaten, mocked, nailed to a cross, bearing a crown of thorns, tortured as none other before or after; and yet the worst was yet to come. As He was on the cross, Jesus experienced separation from His Father as He bore the sins of the world, and that is something that I can never fully comprehend. A Savior who loved His children so much that He took the sins of the world upon Himself, tortured beyond measure, and hurting; yet as He hung on the cross we were on His mind. It amazes me that His death brought life to many and is still bringing life to many as He loves His children and calls us home to Him. This year, something that has stood out to me is Jesus’ evangelism on the cross. As He was on the cross bearing the sins of the world one of the criminals that was hanging beside of Him asked Jesus to remember him when He went to His kingdom and Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43). This is such a beautiful moment as I picture it in my mind, I envision the criminal having the weight lifted off of him as he is no longer separated from Christ as that sin is laid on Jesus. This challenges me, Jesus died a gracious death as He was on the cross taking my sins and the sins of many yet as He was on the cross He was all the more willing to bare the sins of the criminal next to Him. I am overwhelmed by the love that the Father has for me and His desire to be with me, and my desire is to bring others to that overwhelming love and grace as the door is open for them as well. Jesus died and brought others to Himself up until His final moments of life on earth, so as His child I should be willing to serve Him in every way until the day that I die. I believe that the character of Jesus can often challenge us but I would say that today in this moment I am challenged to minister and evangelize to the very end of my life but also to consider it all joy even in the difficult situations knowing that Christ endured the worst so that I might one day have life with Him.