I love Easter because it is the cornerstone of my faith and what I believe. I have attended Nexus church my whole life and I think this is the first year that I have not been there to celebrate Easter. It kind of made me sad. Our creative team put hours and hours of thought and practice into making these services easily accessible and relevant to the myriad of people who attend.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what Easter would be like for me this year being so far from family and friends. It turns out, it was pretty wonderful. It went a little something like this…

First up was a delicious breakfast with our dear, dear friends Laurie and Jim. Just being around these two makes me feel like a better person. Laurie fills my heart with joy and brings a smile to my face. The few hours we spent together were so refreshing and such a wonderful gift.

Next, we all went to the 10:30am service at Bethel and miraculously we got four seats together! It was a powerful service and as per my usual Easter Sunday modus operandi, I cried through almost every song.

We said a hurried goodbye to Laurie and Jim before dashing back to have lunch/dinner with Bret and Valda Christiansen who own the little farm-house we’ve been staying in. We joined about 20 other people for a tasty lunch of turkey and a rather special passover lamb, which Tim watched being killed and prepared the day before. Amy was in heaven following or being followed by Maggie, their 3 month old Labrador x Australian cattle dog.

Lastly, we had a rather relaxed dinner with the ever energetic and encouraging Chad and Julia Dedmon. I ate Bison for the first time in my life and they shared their tips on international travel while we laughed at each other.

We crashed into bed around 10:30pm slightly exhausted, but with full hearts and stomachs. All in all, it was a great day, even if Cadbury Cream Eggs and Red Tulip chocolate bunnies were absent.

Love Jess xxoo