Monday, February 13, 2017

I Have Found My Calling

I know super exciting subject heading, right? I hate to say it but you will probably be disappointed with the reasoning behind it. I will tell you of the marvelous experience I had yesterday to inspire it here in a sec. But first, it has been a great week! It has been very bittersweet. I think the odds of getting transferred are pretty high. I think the ward is expecting it too. I have really grown to love the Ames 1st ward. This area is definitely going to be one that I am excited to come back to after my mission. That is one of the great blessings of serving a mission relatively close to your home state. I will be able to visit these people pretty often. Hoorah! 

I feel like I haven't given an update on Elder Balderston's magnificent progress as a missionary for a while. He is such a stud. We have such good times. We laugh a lot while we are knocking so that helps make the endless rejection a little bit more fun. He has really grown as a missionary. The growth in his testimony is evident by the way he now is as a missionary. I am stoked to see all the good that he will do and I am so grateful that the Lord has trusted me to be his trainer. I hope that he has similar feelings towards his trainer as I do towards mine.  I am definitely going to miss him if I get transferred. I don't find out until tomorrow so you guys will have to wait in suspense until next Monday. 

One cool thing that happened this week was a dinner we had on Friday night. There is a deaf family in our ward who invited us over. Of course, I don't know any sign language so they had another family there to translate for us! It was a wild night. I am happy to announce that I can now sign, "This is good spaghetti." I am pretty much fluent.

Yesterday before church, we were doing the usual missionary stuff, you know shaking hands, talking about Trump, kissing babies, the works when one of the coaches from BYU's track team walked in followed by eight or so of BYU's team. Yes that includes a couple of the cute distance runners, but of course I didn't notice. Virtue garnishes my thoughts unceasingly. Eye single to the glory, right? There was a meet here at ISU. Immediately a wave of trunkiness flooded over me. I talked to the coach about the meet and I wanted to lay on the floor and cry for a little bit! I miss track! He was impressed that I was a high jumper and would be doing so for USU when I get home. Who knows I may end up transferring to the Y after a season or two. 

The fun started after sacrament meeting. The primary presidency was frantically running around to find a piano player for music time. Fortunately, Bishop Cannon knows I can play the piano and was more than happy to offer me up for the job. It was fun actually! I miss primary. I haven't played a lot of the primary songs for a long time so it was kind of a struggle, but I think it ended up going alright! Nephi's courage wrecked me! I would definitely enjoy it if after I am known as Elder Obray the missionary, I will be known as Brother Obray the primary pianist. I can't think of a more fulfilling calling. 

On Saturday, we went out to dinner with Q for what is most likely the last time. It was fun. Texas Roadhouse was too busy so we decided on a Chinese buffet down the street. Q got me to taste all kinds of weird stuff. I ate sushi for the first time and actually really enjoyed it. I ate a claw fish and the highlight of the night was an entire octopus (it was small), tentacles and all. It was quite the feeling chewing on the little sucky things. What an experience. It was sad to talk to Q about getting transferred. I am really going to miss him. We have become really good friends through the course of his conversion. I am sure that he is the reason that I was called to the Ames area. I will remember him forever. I am eternally grateful for the answer to my prayers that he has been. He helped get me through a rough patch on my mission. I sure hope that someday our paths will cross again. 

Not much else to report on but I will end with a cute thought. 
I heard a statistic that out of every one thousand people that missionaries talk to from knocking, only one person gets baptized. I am reluctant to say that it checks out. I counted up all of my OYM's in Ames and I have talked to nearly two thousand people about Jesus Christ. Only two people have accepted it and one of them wasn't even from knocking. I am convinced that if we labor diligently to invite others to come unto Christ, especially when we don't necessarily see the fruits of our labors, we are showing Heavenly Father that he can trust us with his elect. Serving in Ames has been a huge blessing because it has helped me to continue to work even when I don't feel like I am having success. Who knows maybe one of the one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight people who rejected us at their door step will someday get baptized because of a pass along card we gave them or from a feeling they had when we talked to them. The fruits of our labors are not always evident at the present time. We are to trust in the Lord, labor diligently with a good attitude, then will his arm be revealed. I am grateful to have been able to teach two people here in Ames who are now active members of the church. I would come on a mission over and over even if I knew that I would only teach two people who would choose to be baptized. I love this work. At the end of the day, all the rejection, all the appointments that fall through, all the stress, and all the trunkiness is worth it, because this is the Lord's work. 
D&C 18:15 says "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" 

I love you guys and I can't wait to talk to you again on Mother’s Day. Have a great week. 

The Primary Pianist,
Elder Obray






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