Dedication

What a glorious day I had today. Our little 3rd ward's new building was dedicated today. Elder M. Russell Ballard was there to give the dedicatory prayer. On his way in, he said "My, my!" in response to all the people standing up. And then he looked right at me and asked me "How are you doing?" stunned I smiled and said "Just fine thanks!" It totally pricked me to the core.


The meeting continued and we sang Hymn #3 "Now Let us Rejoice" and I cried. I don't know what it is with hymns lately, but they make me cry. And like everyone on the stand was looking at me, and a few people in the crowd saw me too. It's my O Canada day revisited, but add in the stake presidency, and an Apostle. But seriously, read the lyrics to that hymn and try not to cry. The promises in it are just awesome, and I'm so thankful for them.

Funny thing is though, we sang that same song durring our normal Sacrament Meeting, and there were no tears. I suppose it was Elder Ballard's presence that brought me to tears. He was the Toronto Misison president in 1974, so this area has a special sacredness in his heart, and we were glad to have him there. He spoke of dedication, and why some temples had more than one dedicatory prayer, and he told us that dedication isn't for the building, its for the people. So we need to dedicate, and re-dedicate our lives to the gospel. It was a very inspiring talk and prayer today.

I taught the lesson today in Young Women's as well, it was on the Plan of Salvation, and it was not your typical lesson either, not like Primary days anyway. The girls were asking the tough questions, questions I didn't exactly know the answer to. Lucky for me our Stake YW President Carol Glanfield was there, and so was our YW President Sarah, so they helped me field the tough questions. They said I did a great job though, and I was thankful for that. The spirit from that lesson must have carried over to the Dedicatory part of the day, because I surely felt my Heavenly Father's love for me today.

Speaking of Young Women's, I was released as the 2nd Counselor, and called as the 1st Counselor today. Our former 1st counselor was needed in Primary as the pianist. This should lead to all good things. Our new 2nd Counselor is Laura De Souza, someone I was hoping to be able to get to know, and now I have such a great opportunity to do so.

I'm a little bummed though, if Jon and I take that trucking job (which I'm 95% sure that we will), I'll be gone nightly from like 5pm till maybe 8am (with a 2 hour break in the middle), and I won't be able to go to the activities anymore. :( So sad. But the money is really good, and maybe I'll even be able to pay some tithing with it... I hope.

Anyway, it was a lovely day, and I feel so blessed to have been in the presence of an Apostle. He didn't stay to shake hands, because he had to get across the border ASAP to catch a flight out of Buffalo, but I feel special because he asked me how I was doing. :)