Ethan is HOME!!!

Hello blog followers. Ethan has been home for almost three months now and I thought I would share a few thoughts about his home coming.
It was an honor to maintain this blog while Ethan was serving his mission. In a small way, it helped me stay connected to Ethan. I felt like I could serve him while he was gone. I always enjoyed reading Ethan's emails and I especially enjoyed the pictures he would send. At times it was very difficult not to be able to call him and hear his voice and see how he was doing. At times I knelt in earnest prayer and petitioned Heavenly Father to bless my dear younger brother and let him know that his family loved him very much and were thinking of him constantly. I see a change in Ethan and I am so proud of him.
Here are a few excerpts from my journal that should paint a picture of what his home coming entailed.

05/13/15
"Ethan is officially home and has been released from his mission. It's bizarre. He actually doesn't look any different except...his facial hair has come in.
I spent the morning at the Cook's house. I exercised, read my scriptures, did a little bit of thesis work, then went over to my mom's house and got ready. Alyssa was wonderful and did my hair and let me borrow a dress. Candyce, as per Alyssa's idea, had a huge picture of Ethan's face blown up at Walgreens. We glued it onto a poster and wrote, "Returned with Honor." The facial expression is a good one.

We Damron girls sped to the airport as nervous wrecks because we left later than expected and didn't want to mis him getting out of his terminal. We made it in plenty of time.
We had a pretty good sized group. My brother asked that it be only family at the airport so it was our immediate family, plus/including LeAnn, the entire Cook family (without husbands, but with new baby Eleanor), my Uncle Spencer, and then Kristie Godfrey to take pictures.

I was the first person to see Ethan and as soon as he came, all of us Damron girls started to sob! It literally came out of no where. I didn't think I was going to cry because I was feeling totally fine. But - I cried. So many tears.
Ethan hugged my mom first and then hugged the rest of us. Scott was hiding behind a pillar because originally Ethan was told Scott wasn't coming and it was all sorts of awkward.
Scott came out and Ethan just lit up. Their picture together was the best because they just HUGGED and looked super cheesy.

We ate lunch at Baja Joe's (immediate family, Scott, and Spencer) then went to the Mesa temple to do some family baptisms. It was pretty cool to see Ethan baptize Candyce and Scott baptize Ethan. I sat next to LeAnn and my dad as we witnessed the baptisms. LeAnn was just glowing. She reached for my dad's hand and said, "This is what it's all about." LeAnn truly has a passion for family history and I love it.

After the temple we went to my mom's stake center to have Ethan get released. Ethan and Scott actually went to the wrong church building, so we waited on them for a few minutes, then joined Ethan after his quick, private interview with the stake president.
When the stake president handed Ethan the certificate of his release, Ethan started crying. As we stood up to leave, Ethan paused at the door and just started sobbing. My dad went over and held him while he cried. Eventually we were all crying. Scott cried and [I handed my dad a tissue for Ethan.] Seeing Ethan cry like that was kind of heart breaking.
Ethan went to the bathroom and when we asked Scott if he cried, he said, 'I cried like a baby for 15 minutes.' Later on I heard Ethan say that when he was told he was released, he felts something and that really affected him. He still feels different."

I wanted to include that last part as a testament that missionaries are truly set apart by God to teach people about the gospel. It is a very special, unique, and powerful calling. I am blessed to be a member of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Duluth week 30

Last P-Day we helped a lady move that a member invited to church the previous day. At the end the lady asked us how she could get baptized. She almost got baptized a few years ago but had a problem with prophets. but she apparently got over that problem. Miracle!

So we went to a bar for Cinco De Mayo. A member took us to get some of the best burgers i have ever had. Apparently the place was a 21+ but in Wisconsin you can not only enter a bar at any age with your parents but you can drink at any age too. So the member said he would take elder goertzen on as his child. Then he said, "do you know what that means?" E Goertzen then said," im not sure i want to know what it means." Then he said, "it means im your daddy! who's yo' daddy!" soo funny

We had a pretty sweet lesson with a returning LA. Last minute i felt prompted to change the lesson plan to watch a mormon message called "Reclaimed." it was soo good. his wife turned to him and said, "now you better not dare say that was not a very inspired message by the Elders." turns out the husband has been digging up a lot of his past mistakes, in which he has already repented off, and just beating himself up about it. we read some more scriptures with him that resolved a few more concerns. he was a different man when we left. So cool :) 

So on Friday a member took us to go and listen to the Chief Scout Executive of the BSA, Wayne Brock. The member was running a breakfast in which he was speaking so we listened to him and got a picture. He talked to us about President Monson and name dropped a few other GAs that go to board meetings. It was tight

On exchanges with the ZLs we went and taught a guy that showed up to church randomly. We drove 30 minutes into the boons and this guy took us into his secret bomb shelter where he is preparing for armageddon. He also showed us how to witch for water (also known as Water Dowsing) using his copper rods. He was quite the fellow. There were a few moments where i questioned whether i would ever see the light of day again. 

After we got out of the bomb shelter Elder Winder asked me if i wanted to guess where we were going next. I jokingly threw out a random name that all the missionaries talk about because he was involved in a scandal about a year ago. I said it as a joke, but it felt right, so we went! He was sitting on his front steps and he let us right in. First time he has talked to missionaries in months. He broke down and told us that he is lost and depressed and nothing is going right in his life and he is in this fog he just cant get out of. We testified hard core of putting God first and he will help you solve those problems instead of you trying to do it all on your own. he thanked us over and over for coming and he was amazed at the perfect timing in which we showed up. it was pretty sweet :) 

Well, the mission office keeps telling me im going home or something. Despite my best efforts to prove them wrong and extend my mission, i will be flying home this wednesday, May 13th. I cannot fully put into words the gratitude I have to my Father in Heaven for the enormous amount of blessings He has poured upon my head the last two years as I have served His children in this corner of the vineyard. This mission truly has been a gift (Mor 7:2)! i may have thought i sacrificed so much when i first came out, but i have come to know that serving the Lord in any capacity is a gift and privilege. I love my Savior! i know that this is the work of the Master. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and has the power to change anyone's life and heal their souls if they will let it. God our Father loves us unconditionally and wants what is best for us. We are truly His children and once we fully understand this truth spiritually we will know of our divine potential and realize we can accomplish anything, according to God's will, if we do our best and rely upon our Savior. 

I love you all! If you wish to contact me in the future, email me at epdamron@gmail.com or facebook me

Elder Ethan P. Damron