Hopefully, like a
piano, there are more good days than hard days, but I also think of the
prettiest pieces that are played, with magnificent crescendos and beautiful
melodies, and they all include the black keys! For me, that reminds me of 2
Nephi 2:11, that there, "must needs be...opposition in all things..."
How can we truly
appreciate the good days if we don't experience the bad days? Can we really say
that something is sweet if we've never tasted something that is bitter?
That is why I am
grateful for the hard days, no matter how much we don't like it in the moment.
I've also been
thinking a lot about the piano (not just because of the analogy above) but also
because I've been asked to play a musical number in our zone conference this
week! Ahhhhhh, I should've practiced more before my mission!
So I've been
spending a lot of time on the piano this week during our dinner hours, so it's
been fun!
So experiences that
I've actually had this week that are email-worthy:
We TTI'd (to Teach,
Testify and Invite someone we meet in the street) a woman named Rebecca at the
beginning of last month and she is currently looking for a church. We set up a
church tour with her, but on Saturday we thought it wouldn't hurt to invite her
to church the next morning. SHE CAME!
I was so happy to
see her there and she was able to meet a few of the members. Miracles really do
happen!
Yesterday a girl in
our congregation was getting baptized, and so we invited a family that we are
teaching to go to the baptism! Only the daughter, Elexa, was able to go but it
was such a special experience!
The girl was
actually in Elexa's class, and Elexa loved seeing her get baptized and it got
her more excited for her own baptism.
As we were at the
baptism, I found myself reflecting on my own baptism over a decade ago (CRAZY!)
and the things that I remembered about that day. Honestly...not much, but I
remember how clean I felt and how happy I was. I remember wearing the
dress and seeing my family and how proud they were of me.
As those years have
passed, I've come to understand more of what baptism actually is and what it
symbolizes as make that step in our lives:
- it's a promise to
follow Jesus Christ, and to be proud of the individuals we are as children of
God
- it symbolizes a
rebirth, and that we are being reborn with an increased dedication to be better
- it cleanses our
spirits and allows us to be worthy to receive the Holy Ghost, a constant
companion that we can
have to guide, warn and comfort us.
I am so thankful for
my baptism and the things that I do now to remember that covenant, or promise,
that I've made with my Father in Heaven. It is the best decision you could ever
make in your life and I'm so thankful that I was baptized and receive the Holy
Ghost, on that day so many years ago and even today, and forever!
I want to help
others to make that same decision I made to be baptized and to follow Jesus
Christ, because it has blessed my life in more ways than I can even count, and
I know that it can bless their lives immensely. I know that through the
Atonement of Jesus Christ and as we turn over our hearts and will to Him, He
can make far more out of us than we could on our own.
I love this work and
I love all of you! Thank you so much for all your support- it means the world
to me!
Have a great and
safe week!
Sister McCown
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