He Is Risen!

Fourteen years ago I spent a semester studying abroad in Israel at BYU's Jerusalem Center. One of our traditions there was to spend every sabbath (we honored the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday) in the Garden Tomb, the place where we believe Christ was buried. Sometimes we would wake up early and go before church and other days we would walk there after church. I had many tender moments in this serene, peaceful garden. I return there often in my thoughts and draw strength from the things I learned about the Savior and about myself in the time I spent pondering weekly at such a holy place. It's been fourteen years but every year at Easter I revisit the last week of Christ's life through the images of Israel that are seared in my mind. At the time I felt there was no place on earth where I could draw closer to Christ than in the Holy Land. Of course the past fourteen years have taught me that nothing could be further from the truth. I have found him in the temple, through visiting teaching, through serving in my callings, in my marriage, as a mother, and most profoundly within the walls of a chinese orphanage where the "least of these" are not forsaken nor forgotten by their Lord. On this Easter Sunday I joyfully exclaim, Jesus is the Christ.