I was privileged enough to be able to go to the Singles Ward for the very first time today.
I know!
Exciting right? :)
Now to my best friends some of you thism ay come as a shock seeing as I have been anything but willing to try this out since the day I turned 18.
Frankly the thought of being hunted like a gazelle in the wilderness of return missionaries didn't quite sound like my cup o' tea.
...seriously... is that anybody's cup of tea?
Anyway, I was able to go today and luckily I did find a friend after Sacrament Meeting whcih made everything about a GAZILLION times better!
And in combined Relief Society and Priesthood (because it was the fifth Sunday) our Bishop talked only about marriage... figures I'd come on that day. :)
BUT I was able to look past that! I'm fresh out of High School, that talk won't be applicable to me for a few more years.
What I did think about that whole time though was this talk.
You see, our Bishop talked a lot about posterity and how we need to look forward to becoming the gateways to generations of saints and about how neat our legacy will be.
That took my mind, however, in the opposite direction.
Instead of looking forward I found myself relfecting backward to the legacy that my ancestors have left for me. The posterity that I belong to, the legacy of theirs that is now mine to help carry on.
One of my grandmothers (my great grandma Stevens) already has my utmost love and respect to the point where one of my future daughters is already named after her (sorry if you don't like it future husband... it's happening), but my mind went even FARTHER back to my great grandmother's great grandmother:
Ann Jewell Rowley
Now that name may not be in any history books, and she may not be famous by the world's standards, but she is one of those ancestors who's story makes me want to be a better person. Being descended from her makes me feel responsible for carrying on her faith and dedication to the Lord, and boy do I try.
And like I said, she may not be a famous actress, or politician... but she is in a movie. :)
Ever seen 17 Miracles? :)
My great-great-great-great grandmother, Sister Rowley, widowed, and with 7 children under the age of 12, crossed the ocean from England to America and traveled across the United States on foot with the Willy Handcart Company driven by nothing but her faith in Jesus Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.
I have taken an excerpt from her autobiography:
.
.
Our handcarts were not
designed for such heavy loads and we were constantly breaking down. They had
been made of green lumber and were affected by the weather. Rawhide strips was
used to wrap the iron rims to the wheels and the wood would shrink and the
rawhide would come loose. It hurt me to see my children go hungry. I watched
as they cut the loose rawhide from the cart wheels, roast off the hair and chew
the hide.
There came a time, when
there seemed to be no food at all. Some of the men left to hunt buffalo. Night
was coming and there was no food for the evening meal. I asked God's help as I
always did. I got on my knees, remembering two hard sea biscuits that were
still in my trunk. They had been left over from the sea voyage, they were not
large, and were so hard, they couldn't be broken. Surely, that was not enough
to feed 8 people, but 5 loaves and 2 fishes were not enough to feed 5000 people
either, but through a miracle, Jesus had done it. So, with God's help, nothing
is impossible. I found the biscuits and put them in a dutch oven and covered
them with water and asked for God's blessing, then I put the lid on the pan and
set it on the coals. When I took off the lid a little later, I found the pan
filled with food. I kneeled with my family and thanked God for his goodness.
That night my family had sufficient food. The men returned with buffalo meat,
and what wasn't eaten right away by the Saints, was dried into
jerky.
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