A couple weeks ago in church, the ward choir sang a "peace" medley that I thought was really cool. It was a medley of "Be Still My Soul" and "Where Can I Turn For Peace." Those two hymns have always brought a lot of comfort to me, and it was really neat to hear them together and feel the spirit of it. Missionary life is stressful and busy and sometimes tense, and it was just very comforting to just sit back and enjoy a piece like that.
I don't know if you all remember Brother C, but he was the one I gave the blessing to before his surgery and he ended up with blood clots. Well, he came to church the past two weeks! It was sweet to see him, and a testimony builder to me of faith and the priesthood.
Well, I think the biggest event was church yesterday. It was insane! We showed up at church, and it was the Ashburn primary program, which was awesome. I didn't get to see one of those last year because I was in my BYU ward, so it was way fun to see it. They have a huge primary too, so it reminded me of home a bit. haha.
After that, we showed up in Gospel essentials, and our ward mission leader had to run, so asked us to teach. We walked in, and there was only two people there! Bro. Purdon (the one who owns the piano store) and his friend, Tony. Tony is a very talented pianist who is currently staying with the Purdons, so it was great to talk to him. Because it was just the four of us, we had the opportunity to share a lesson on a more personal level. He is a very faithful Christian man who is looking for more truth, and said he really felt something wonderful when he walked into church yesterday. It was incredible to get to share our testimonies with him, and it was great because we could relate things to piano and he would GET it so well. It was a wonderful blessing.
In Belmont Ridge sacrament meeting, Dotty showed up! We didn't think we would be able to see her this week, but she made it! By the time we spotted her, it was after the sacrament, and she was across the chapel, so we didn't get to sit by her. After church, she got up and started leaving, so we went to go talk to her. Of course, that's when about every member in the ward suddenly wanted to talk to us in the foyer. Apologizing profusely, we wove through the crowd and literally followed her into the parking lot. We talked to her for a bit, and invited her to stay for the rest of church. She agreed to stay for Sunday school, but then she had to go, she said. What she wasn't expecting, was Sister Sch . the Sch family are one of the member families Bishop Lewis identified for us to visit. They are always asking: "are you teaching anyone in our neighborhood? We want to help fellowship and teach!" So, suddenly it dawned on us (or, rather, the spirit smacked us with a 2x4) "HEY!! Dotty lives around the corner from the Sch!" So, we invited sis. Sch to Gospel Essentials, not even knowing Dotty would be there. Well, they just hit it right off, and Sister Sch convinced her to stay for third hour! It was amazing. The members can be such an incredible blessing.
After church, Nate was ordained a priest, and he was so excited for it, it was great! Bro. F (S’s dad) ordained him, we were able to be in the circle, and Elders C and O even made it! It was awesome.
So, here we are! Looks like I get to finish my first six months here in Ashburn, which is sweet :) I love it here, and I sometimes wonder what it will be like leaving. This IS my mission so far.... haha. It's weird to imagine me serving anywhere else. But I don't have to worry about that until November at least... :)
Until next week!
-Matthew
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