Smiles-n-Sunshine: A Walk with Christ, Faith, and Growth

This is the second year our stake has put on the "Walk with Christ". It's a huge undertaking, with months of preparation, prayers and work. They put on a "journey" through the stake center and through the life of Christ. The stake center is transformed and decorated with period details, costumes on guides and actors and the most beautiful paintings of the Savior you've ever seen. It starts with the nativity and the continues through His ministry, the Last Supper, the garden, the judgment, the crucifixion, the apostasy, the restoration and then ends with the "Reflections of Christ"slide show. Well, and of course, cookies and water in a beautifully decorated gym reminiscent of a Temple Square visitor's center afterward. It's a beautiful experience to walk through with your family and feel the Spirit and remember at Easter time what it's really about.

This year, I was asked to to serve with the Walk with Christ committee on this project, decorating the Last Supper room. The “calling” came at a time when I was overwhelmed and didn’t see how I could fulfill this assignment. Steve was working evenings on the campaign and not available, and with my children’s rigorous and rigid homework routines and their evening appointments and activities, and my calling as Stake YW president and our upcoming activities, it was a very daunting task that I almost declined, twice. I prayed and asked for help and to know if this was truly an inspired assignment for me at this time, and received a positive answer through my sleepless thoughts of how I would be able to make this work. Faces and pictures appeared in my mind. My mom and visiting teacher both volunteered to help with kids, and my amazing counselors took over the planning of our upcoming fireside. As I started talking about it, people gave me contacts, ideas, mental images, props and loaned much of their home décor to help me. So, with faith and trust in the Lord, many, many prayers, and hours of study and organizing, I went forward and accomplished a near-impossible task.

I heard Brother Winder (a good friend of ours who acted as one of my "Peters") on a couple of occasions talk about his experience in helping with this project. He said it was truly one of the most spiritual and life-changing experiences he’s ever had. No wonder I saw his face in my mind after prayer. The Lord really did use me as an instrument in His hands. Many people’s lives (in addition to my own) were touched and changed. I also got to accomplish a Faith Value Project in my Personal Progress book. My faith grew tremendously through this process and I relied on the Lord for inspiration and support, and He provided it at every turn.

In this experience, I learned that through faith and prayer anything is possible. More importantly, though, I also learned that the Lord knows what we can and can’t handle. Sometimes He places opportunities for growth in our path that may be hard, inconvenient and extremely taxing. I know that sometimes those opportunities can be turned down or passed by with little consequence. But, I learned that when we ask and the Lord makes a way possible for us to accomplish these hard, almost impossible tasks, we must continue to pray, trust, and do all in our power to do our best in what he asks of us. If we do, he really does make up the difference…. And gives us the power to make a difference.

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Here's how the "Last Supper Room" looked...