Well, another transfer has come and gone (2 down 15 more to go!). I just found out that both Elder Brown and I will be staying in Ramona Oaks! I am officially done with training which is such a relief! I thought I was going to die from repetition! haha.
I just sent dad the talk for Mason's baptism. Hopefully it is everything Mason was dreaming of! :)
Fun storytime!!!
So, this week Elder Brown and Elders Christensen and Brinkerhoff (two Elders from the Ramona Ward) had the opportunity to sing in Sacrament meeting in my ward! We were planning a song that was super difficult but then we realized a few days before that we were way in over our heads so we decided to simplify. So, after practicing Nearer My God to Thee (the hymn book version) for 15 minutes we called it good and were basically hoping for the best! haha
So Sunday came and we had no time to practice, warm up, no nothin'! We went up there and sang what I thought to be fairly well considering the time we had prepared for, but definitely nothing special by any
means. We finished up and walked back to our seats happy we didn't totally scew up and make fools of ourselves. However, the full impact of our simple song was not known to us at the time. After sacrament meeting we were showered with praise and thanked for our participation in the program by various members of the Ward. This continued all throughout the remainder of the church meetings. I honestly have never been complimented so many times for a song in my life, which was weird to me. But the biggest blessing came after church when we went to visit the Styx (our recent converts) after church. We were about to leave after our lesson when Gerry stopped us and told us he had been going through a rough time recently and that our song had helped him feel the spirit really powerfully and that it was exactly the message he needed to here at that moment. He thanked us and we left for our next appointment.
When Gerry told us that we blessed him by singing our song it really gave me a testimony that even though I'm not perfect, the Lord is making me an instrument (in this case literally. haha) in his hands to bless the lives of others. At that moment I felt so loved by my Heavenly Father that he would help me see the joy of being able to bless other's lives.
I can honestly say now that there is no other place I would want to be or any other thing I would want to do than to be here in Ramona helping others come unto Christ. Even if it is a mediocre song we put together in 15 minutes of practice, it meant something to someone else. And that's all I can ask for.
I can't wait to hear how Mason's baptism goes and how the family is doing!
Love,
Elder Ethan John Rowbury
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