We had a pretty emotional sacrament meeting at church today. Since it's the first Sunday of the month we had sharing of testimonies, and Eric was assigned to carry a microphone to the people who stood up to speak.



Brother Kevin Knowles bore an emotional testimony about his father and the last time his father shared his testimony with Kevin. Two weeks later, his father had a heart attack and died. That was four years ago today. Several other people shared emotional testimonies; the spirit was definitely present. At the very end of the meeting, Eric was roaming the aisle making the microphone available to whomever wanted it. There was a quiet pause. I had my head down, just thinking and pondering and I heard Eric's voice over the sound system.



He said that he was touched by Bro. Knowles' testimony because three years ago from tomorrow (Feb. 2) his Grandpa Turner died. He said he was thankful that he was able to be baptized for his grandpa in the Columbia River temple. Then he expressed thanks that all the youth have the opportunity to attend the temple. As he was speaking about my dad, he was overcome with emotion and began to sob. After he regained his composure, he finished his testimony. Time was up, so Bishop Richardson closed the meeting. I looked around the chapel and several people were wiping tears from their eyes.



For the remainder of the meetings, I had several people approach me and express their love and appreciation for Eric and what a fine young man he is. It's nice to hear things like that. Elder Henry B. Eyring once said "if you want to win my heart, be kind to my children." I was very proud of him.



It was also nice to watch the deacons pass the sacrament. We've got a great group of deacons. Eric, Spencer Shoemaker, Jacob Ball, Kory Nelson, Andrew Robinson, Aaron Oakley, Avery Tagg, and Robbie Talbot are all great kids. It's strange and exciting to think that in 6 years we'll have as many as 6 young men on missions from our ward alone. What a tremendous and powerful legacy our ward family has to look forward to.



Two years ago Elder Ballard delivered the famous conference talk in which he said we need to "raise the bar" for our young men to ensure that they're spiritually prepared to serve a mission from the day they're called rather than going out and growing into the job. The Duty to God award is designed to do just that and I can see it working in the lives of my son and his friends. I'm thankful for a prophet of God and the General Authorities who are inspired by the Lord to make decisions that help us grow and progress.