This Sunday at the MCRD was eventful. I am teaching a kid named Recruit Johnson and I met him a few weeks ago. The first time we met it was on that day where we had like 4 times as many visitors show up than normal so I met with him with another recruit really briefly. He seemed interested then but we just didn't have much time to see how truly anxious he was to be baptized! haha So when I met with him the following week (2 Sundays ago) while we were talking he was just loving everything that was taught and we started talking about baptism and his face lit up. Once I noticed his face I asked him, "Do you want to be baptized?..." he replied, "Yeah! I really do. Ever since I walked through those doors I have wanted to be baptized." I was shocked! haha He had felt the Spirit so strong just by walking through the doors of the auditorium where this small branch meets that he knew that it was the true gospel of Jesus Christ. So we set a date for him to be baptized for as soon as possible. The next week, (so now we are at this past Sunday) we met again. He is still solid as ever so I literally taught him EVERYTHING! Restoration, Plan of Salvation, went over the Gospel of Jesus Christ again, Commandments like: the Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, Tithing, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, etc. ALL OF IT! He loved it! So he went straight to an interview for his baptism, meanwhile his friend Recruit Diaz was being interviewed to make sure he could perform the ordinance. When all was said and done, both were ready. The only problem is that the process of Boot Camp at the MCRD takes 13 weeks broken into 3 phases (4 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks) and for second phase they go up to Camp Pendalton and this was his final week before he went up for phase 2 so I won't be able to see him be baptized but I told him that I will be there in Spirit. It is unfortunate but the important part is that he is baptized which I am so Excited about! I can't wait to see him come back as a Priest blessing the Sacrament! So yeah... that's what I did during the Sunday Morning Session... I think my favorite talks from Conference were from the Priesthod session. Randal L Ridd gave a great talk about how this generation can be labeled "The Choice Generation" because there are so many choices to be made. We can ultimately use the technology available for great good or great harm and that we must be "where we are when we are there" and not be caught up updating facebook or texting friends (I thought of you mom when he said that haha). I also loved President Eyring's talk from Priesthood about the Heroes in his life.
My new companion's name is... Elder New... yeah he understands his name is redundant but I must admit, it still makes me chuckle a little bit inside each time someone cracks a completely unoriginal new Elder joke. He is very tall. 6'7" to be exact. Yeah, that's taller than Cameron! haha He is a stud missionary and reminds me a lot of Justin Karoly. I am really excited to have him as my companion! This past week we had a ton to do. We had our last interviews with President Clayton yesterday! It was sad! That took until 2. Then we did a few things at the mission office for a meeting we have coming up with the Stake President which took until 5. Then we went to go move a recent convert who told us he was moving that morning which took until 7. We went and got some food because we were starving and hadn't eaten all day and when it was all done and we were back in Church clothes it was 8:30 pm and we have to be in at 9. yeah, it was a crazy day. So we went to go try an investigator we hadn't been able to see for a while because he has been busy with College, Work, Football and Training, and volunteer coaching for a little league team. But when we have been able to catch him it has been awesome! So we go over to see him and before we knock on the door he is outside to open the gate. We sit down, Elder New introduces himself, and we start following up to see how he has been since last time we had seen him. He tells us that he hasn't been reading everyday but here and there he is able to open it up when he has time and apologizes for not reading more (inside I was stoked because he had the motivation to read on his own! haha) we begin teaching and we had planned to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ so I started to give a brief summary quickly going through faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and he stops me there as I was trying to quickly explaining how I feel the Spirit. And as I was struggling how to explain it, he said, "OH! I have to tell you about this! So every Mormon I have ever met is always so happy and positive and I have always really liked that, and as I was reading a few weeks ago I felt really happy and... I don't know how to explain it... like complete! and then the next day while I was at Football practice and I felt the same way! it is weird, but that's the way I felt!" Elder New and I just looked at each other like "did that really just happen?" haha So we explain to him that the Spirit prompts and speaks to us in ways that are familiar to us. We continued with the lesson, taught the principles of the Gospel focusing on baptism. At the end we invited him to be baptized and he accepted. We set a date for him to be baptized on May 17th and he was super excited!
So the work is moving forward! New companion and all! I know just the person to give the bracelets to! Her name is Jackqueline and she was recently baptized! I can't wait to get them! Thanks Leah! Know that I love you all and can't wait to hear from you next week!
love,
Elder Ethan John Rowbury
Oh and here are some fun pics from the USS midway! :)
Oh and here are some fun pics from the USS midway! :)
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| Only the captain was allowed to sit in this seat... I thought I would make some commands while I had the chance. |
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| Elder Uchtdorf's talked about Selfies!!! |
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| Um... excuse me! are we matching?! |
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