Email April 1, 2018

Email April 1, 2018 – Elder Jackson Kunzler Burton

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!

     I hope you all had a great Easter and conference weekend! Here in Japan they don't watch conference until the next weekend so I'll share my thoughts on it next week, I'm super excited for it though! But I heard all the announcements, I'm super excited to hear the two new apostles speak and to see what kind of an effect these changes will  have on the church! And all the new temples too! My companion is from Layton so he's excited about that. Easter was great, they don't really celebrate it in Japan but we tried using as an introduction to the gospel when talking to people yesterday and it sort of worked, not as well as Christmas did, it's a really good way to bring up Christ which is really good. I also played a few Easter hymns on the violin with one of the sister missionaries on the flute before sacrament meeting which was fun. Besides that this week's been good, we had an FHE with some members and one of the sisters' investigators and her three year old son which was way fun. He's the funniest kid, I'll send a picture haha. We also were taken out to an all you can eat shabu-shabu restaurant, it was delicious. Basically you just have this pot of boiling soup in front of you and then you order as much meat and vegetables as you want and cook them in the soup and eat them. It was awesome! We also got to eat as much ice cream as we wanted which is always a plus. The members here are so nice! We also had a game night at our Eikaiwa which was fun, we played the name game, even which is kind of hard to explain but it was fun. But the best part of the week was Easter, not because we did anything exciting but because I was able to real contemplate what Jesus did for us. Because of Him we have hope. We will live again, and if we follow Him, we will receive eternal life. None of it would be possible without Christ's suffering, death, and glorious resurrection. It's impossible to describe the gratitude and love I have for the Savior and what He did, but the hymn "I Stand All Amazed" does a pretty good job.

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,

Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.

I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,

That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.

I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine

To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine,

That he should extend his great love unto such as I,

Sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify.

I think of his hands pierced and bleeding to pay the debt!

Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget?

No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat,

Until at the glorified throne I kneel at his feet.

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me

Enough to die for me!

Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

This is the message I'm sharing to the people, of Japan, a message of hope and love and joy that they don't have. And I'd encourage all of you to share it with those around you as well. Everyone deserves this incredible message of hope, and we're the ones God has asked to bring it to them. I love you all, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Burton