Second Hour Special Activity

This year our church had a strong initiative to 

focus on Jesus Christ not just at Christmas, but throughout the year,

all the way to Easter.

I am on the activities committee in our ward.

I say committee loosely, as their are only 2 of us!

We had the task of planning the ward Easter activity.

We wanted it to be Christ focused, and a little more special

than the usual to help bring home this initiative!

Our general plan seemed to be a go!

Luckily before we put too many things into motion did we realize

that a boy in our ward was having his wedding reception 

the same night as the activity! 

The general consensus of the ward council was to move the activity so ward

members could support that family.

There were zero other possible times to move the activity to.

Luckily being married to the bishop means you get

to brainstorm and have your own mini meetings 

on the spot!

We pitched a plan, and it took.

We would have our Easter activity on Palm Sunday,
durning the 2nd hour of church.

The activity would also need to change drastically to make

 it Sunday appropriate. But I also wanted it to be fun and unique,

and not like a combined 5th Sunday lesson. 

Jenny and I mulled around ideas and felt like we had

figured something out!

Not going to lie, I was worried about the logistics of it all.

So many moving parts involved.

It was out of the normal church "routine" and I needed tons of help

from the auxiliary leaders...

Who were kind of confused on how it would all go since they

weren't involved in the planning.

Setting up alone would have to take magic as we are the 2nd ward in

our building, and could not do it the night before.

I prayed and felt guided and peace on how to get this thing to work.

There are literal angels in our ward, willing and ready to step in and help

with whatever needed to happen to pull this off.
Without them, it would have been a complete mess!

First things first, decoration prepping.

I was on instagram and saw 2 girls who crafted

a garden tomb out of basically trash.

Cardboard boxes, spray foam and paint!

It was absolutely amazing!

I must have already been being blessed by prayers 

because I am NOT a DIY person!

I thought to myself, how hard could that be?
I committed myself to make this as our focal point 

in the cultural hall.

Off I went to the trash can, lol!
Spoiler alert, I had lots of help from the aisles of Home Depot:)

It was going great.

Until I got deathly sick with that terrible stomach virus.

It sat like this for a week until I absolutely had no more time left

to tackle it to be done in time.

I was also starting to question my decision to make this beast, wondering 

if it would resemble anything like a tomb!! 

The big day was here!

Go time!!

We closed off the back cultural hall from people sitting there so

we could quietly prep what we could during Sacrament meeting.

It was almost like a staging room with things ready to go in different directions

the second church let out.

After Sacrament meeting, all of primary would head to the primary room

for a special lesson geared towards their age about Holy Week.

Same for the youth.

The adults also met together.

I left it up to the presidencies to decided who would teach and what they taught.

They would be mini lessons.

The last half of the 2nd hour we would gather all together in the cultural hall.

While everyone was in their lessons, we were crazy mad people

running around turning the church building into Jerusalem the best we could!

Our building is a giant circle, which helped the flow of things.

We dismissed the adults first.

On purpose:)

They were given directions to go down the hall and through the Triumphal entry.

We had giant palm fronds against the wall and a speaker with Hosanna being shouted as they

waited in line to get in the Passover room (relief society room). 

The pictures DO NOT show how cool it looked in person.

It was breathtaking and turned out better than I could have even imagined!

In the Passover room were tables chalk full of charcuterie foods.

 

After getting their plates they would walk down another hall leading to the cultural hall

where they would visit until the other 2 groups had been dismissed.

There were tables on the floor for kids to sit at.

We gathered all of the little tables to act like cocktail tables for the adults.

Right when you walked in we wanted them to see the tomb and a picture of Christ on the projector.

The garden tomb.
Not as cute as the one on instagram, but it did the job!

And it will be the one and only tomb I ever make!

The first group was done and getting food!

I was drenched in sweat.

But the smiles on everyones faces was making it worth the effort!

But then I saw the Stake Presidency had shown up and I was sweating all over again!

In about 10 minutes we were all gathered together!

We watched a quick video from the First Presidency on the projector.

Jenny shared a few thoughts about Sunday during Holy Week.

I shared some thoughts about Christ being the light in the darkness. 

How he brought light from Gethsemane to the tomb and to each of us

each day through His resurrection. 

His light is eternal!

I had a candle activity for anyone who wanted to make one and light on Easter morning.

Just like that, the hour flew by and it was time to end!

It went so smoothy and better than I could have imagined.

I truly feel like our original plans not working out was a blessing.
Even though I wanted to crawl in a hole at times!

This is what our ward needed.

The comments and feedback were so positive.

In fact, many declared this should be a new tradition!

I didn't need these words for my own validation or praise.

But I am always humbled and grateful when I can be apart of something

that has uplifted and helped others. 

The spirit of Holy Week was felt.

I pray that this can spark interest,

and continue in the homes of each family for years to come.

It was also gentle reminder that He is always in the details, even for ward parties!