07/10/2010 (Youth Conference to Palmyra, NY- Journal Entry)
"...When we got to Palmyra, we immediately went under a tent and met Sister Stone, who was our tour guide through the printing press. She is AWESOME. It is sister's like her that make me want to be a missionary. She has such a beautiful and energetic spirit!
"Once we finished the tour she sang us her testimony, and I cried. It was beautiful. I have been having dreams recently that I am serving a mission, but I've always pressed it to the back of my mind. I mean, why would God want ME, a music therapy major of all things, to be a missionary, not just in everyday life, but for the church when I'm 21. Sister Stone's singing made the answer perfectly clear.
"Music communicates more than just words. It communicates passion, love, and testimony. It's a little early to tell, but maybe I am supposed to serve a mission. I have had this feeling for a while. I've thought about it. Prayed about it. My patriarchal blessing doesn't say anything specific about a church mission, but lots of missionary work.
"And I think back when Sister Stone said 'I had no idea that part of my mission was to serve a mission.' That hit me very hard, and impressed itself upon my mind greatly. I think I am going to talk to my parents about it, then my church leaders. I need to keep preparing and reading my scriptures and praying and strengthening my testimony..."
Sister Stone is in the corner, holding the paper...
I remember writing this.
I pulled it out today. When I got the mission call I made a note to read it.
And now, more than ever, I am beginning to realize how Heavenly Father has been preparing me all along.
It's crazy to think about! I mean seriously! Did this Sister Stone, who I knew for a very, very short amount of time (and I highly doubt that she even knows I exist, I was just another face in the crowd) know that she would touch my life like this? Did she know that her words would give me strength to start studying and preparing in-depth for a missionary calling? Probably not.
Was it a coincidence that my dad was called, just a short time later, as the ward mission leader? That I learned more about missionaries in just that short amount time than I ever did before?
Was it just by happenstance that the people that I remember most from my childhood are Elder "Hippo" and Elder "Barrel"?
My nostalgia-like sense is tingling.
Anyways, it's cool to look back and see all the connections that have brought me to this point. Seeing everything that I have decided and how it has led me down this pretty narrow path to the person that I am today. It's so neat!
Like, for instance, if I wouldn't have quit indoor guard my sophomore year of high school, I wouldn't have picked up the tuba. Ever. This blog would be non existent. I wouldn't be going on this mission, plain and simple.
If I would have pursued going to Elizabethtown College (the cutting edge music therapy school, remember?) instead of following the promptings to apply to BYU-Idaho (the school with no music therapy, heaven forbid!), I wouldn't have talked and gotten to know to my current tuba professor who suggested my name to the mission prez who called me.
There are thousands of connections that I am making, and thousands more that will be made as I continue to live in faith, I'm sure. No, none of these things happened by accident. No question, no doubt.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I totally love what you have to say....