So, this week has been a good one. The weather (while crummy this week) is going to get HOT by Wednesday. I'm mostly over a cold that I managed to get from my companion (side note: I know it's good to share, but sometimes I wish people wouldn't). Our awesome investigator came to church this week. We even got permission to go into the city to show her the International branch there. It was great to get to visit the ward where I served and know everyone. I'm likely to return there in the future as well.
A tender mercy of attending the branch this past Sunday, was that, while at the branch I had an investigator that said they wanted to join our choir. At the time, no one had even thought about a branch choir, but I didn't want to tell him we didn't have one, so I got to work talking to the branch music leader. She didn't really want to, and thought that too many people would join, but I insisted. I encouraged her nearly every week. My last week in the branch, she announced choir practice, and I kind of forgot about it. Then, while we were there, the choir performed for the first time. They sang, "Because I Have Been Given Much." I cried and cried and cried through the whole song! It was beautiful. I made sure to say thank you to Heavenly Father for allowing me to see the results, even a small one, of all the effort I put in. We work and work and work and work... and often never get to see the fruits of all the lives we touch and influence we have, but Sunday helped me to realize that no effort is wasted. Seeing the choir perform was exactly what I needed to push me forward and give me the desire to keep going forward.
Keep up the good work and keep moving forward, and I'll try to do the same!
With Love,
An Uncommon Elder
Elder Ryan