Sister and Elder Hintze: 4/10/23

 

Monday, April 10, 2023

Good morning, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. What a glorious day it always

is celebrating the greatest gift ever given to mankind, the breaking of the bands of death for all

by our Lord Jesus Christ!

Last Thursday we conducted the Passover Seder that we had been so dutifully working on for

weeks. In addition to writing the Haggadah (which means story, the book that tells the story of

the Passover) and Elder Hintze creating a PowerPoint presentation, we spent the prior two weeks

visiting people’s homes with personal invitations to attend. I wrote a Haggadah last year for our

family Seder, but it was specifically written for the understanding of our four young grandkids.

It had to be greatly revised for this purpose. The version I wrote for this program was more of a

complete Seder. I told the Passover Story, opened the Seder with the blessing over the candles,

sang the Hebrew blessings over the candles and the four cups of wine while Elder Hintze read

the English portions, demonstrated all of the symbolic foods as everyone tasted them, and put a

yarmulke and a tallit on the bishop as he went to hide the Afikomen (matzah). We ended the

Seder with everyone singing a rousing rendition of the song “Dayenu.” The evening was a

smashing success. We had 86 people present. We had several people that haven’t been attending

church come to the Seder, and we had several people that are not even members of our church

attend. At the end of the Seder when everyone got up from the tables, they continued to mingle

for almost an hour, and several came to ask questions. It was very enriching for these people,

many of whom had never even heard of Passover. We had so many people tell us that they

learned so much. I’m so grateful that Elder Hintze and I could provide this enriching experience

for the people of Thomaston.

Although the Passover Seder was a great missionary tool, now it’s time to get back to the

business of our true missionary purpose of bringing souls back to Christ. We are going to be

once again filling our days with visiting people.

I love the scriptures that are covered in our Come Follow Me Lesson for this upcoming week. In

reading Matthew Chapters 15-17 and Mark Chapters 7-9 we learn how we can receive our own

testimony through personal revelation. I like to ask myself, “If I were walking the streets of

Jerusalem when Jesus was there teaching, would I have been like Peter and have easily

recognized him as the Savior? Would the miracles that he performed and his powerful teachings

be enough for me to say, “Thou art the Christ” when he asked “Whom say ye that I am? Or

would I have been like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, asking for a physical sign from heaven?

If I wasn’t ready to recognize the Lord, I would hope that I would have been like the man who

asked for his son to be healed, but realizing he lacked faith, asked of the Lord, “Help thou mine

unbelief.” I believe this is a wonderful way to self-assess our level of faith.

Have a great week!

Lots of Love,

Elder and Sister Hintze