I love this mission!

photos courtesy of the Tricketts, who saw the elders just yesterday

Date: Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 6:15 AM
Subject: Happy Spring!

Hello Everyone!

It sounds like it's been a busy week in Provo! That's exciting. It's sunny right now and the trees are starting to blossom! It looks like spring and I'm very excited. It's going to go fast though!

We have had an incredible week. The mission goal for Quality Gospel Conversations is 70 over 12 set up appointments. Last week we reached over 70 and set up 10 appointments! Twenty-one of those were in Liverpool, but we reached it anyway! We were both excited to see so much success. We were really struggling to set up appointments though, and we had none when we got back from Liverpool on Thursday evening. We asked Heavenly Father to bless us with some appointments and on Saturday we set up 7!! Prayer works. I'm excited to see these people, we're hoping and praying that these appointments don't fall through!

Our investigators are doing very well. On Saturday we saw Peter and Chris and Peter said that he wants to be Baptized! We told him to pray about a date and asked him and Christine to think about it and we'll probably be seeing them when we return from our Mission Conference. I'm so excited for him, he could be Baptized in a couple weeks if all works out well! Please pray for that to happen in the Lord's time and for Chris to get there soon.

I'm very proud of Elder Llaguno. He is such a trooper. He works so hard. He works so hard to speak with everyone, it's incredible. The other day we were street contacting and he spoke with a man from Portugal. We set up an appointment with him and on Saturday he became a new investigator! I'm so excited. This area is being blessed so much!

We haven't been able to see Wanda for a little while, but we're seeing her as soon as we return from our Mission Conference. We stopped by to see her the other day and just said hello and she seems to be doing well. Please pray for her to be ready for Baptism on May 2! She is so close. We have a lot of investigators who are so close. If we pray for them then they will receive all of Heavenly Fathers blessings from the restored Gospel. I know it!

John came to Church on Sunday! That's 3 weeks in a row that he has been! We're so proud of him. He's starting to progress faster and faster. Maybe he will be Baptized in the next few months... we'll hope and Pray. He's such a good man. He's really funny, we'll say something like "you're a good man John." to which he replies (in his Chinese accent) "no no no, you're good man, you're good man!" I love John!

We have a few investigators that we haven't been able to get a hold of recently, please pray for that to happen. They are such amazing people and we aren't sure what's happened to them. Pray for Adrian and Judy, and also Wendy and Andy. We're also hoping and praying for new investigators as well. There is so much work here to be done!

Zone Conference was amazing. It's a wonderful time to be a Missionary in the England Manchester Mission! We achieved 32 Baptisms as a mission in March! That's the second highest amount of people Baptized in one month for the past 5-6 years and maybe more. We are doubling the numbers. And President Bullock says that we can double it even more. We continue to be blessed with such amazing tools to find those souls who are prepared for the truth. Please pray for the continued success of our Mission. I love that when someone in the Mission has a Baptism it's not just that companionship that celebrates. We, as a Mission, celebrate it. I love this mission so much!

Well, the Church is true. My Testimony of it is strengthened every day. I love being a Missionary and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I know that this work is true and it is right. Never pass up an opportunity to share the Gospel, no matter how scared you may be. It's never worth it to give in to fear. I know that we will be happier as we are more faithful in speaking up to share the gospel with others. Nobody said it was easy, but it's infinitely worth it. Have Missionary experiences. Pray for them. Study how to share the Gospel. Ask the Missionaries to help you. The missionaries in the Provo Mission cannot reach their full potential without you. I'm going to challenge every single person who reads this letter to have at least one Missionary experience a week. Look for them and Pray for them and they will happen. I know that they will, even in Provo. The Lord will bless you for it. He needs our help to do this work. We are His hands. I love this great work. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. If God's spirit children who don't have the Gospel aren't invited to come unto Him then His suffering for them is nearly wasted. I love the Savior. I know that God loves us. He lives. He will help us live the Gospel. We must put Him first in our lives. Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is true and it is the keystone of my testimony. It is the way that those who don't have the Gospel will come to know that it's true. I love the Book of Mormon. I know that it will bring us closer to God as we abide by it's precepts than any other book in the world.

Anyway, have a wonderful week and next week I'll be able to tell you what it feels like to shake President Packer's hand. I'm so excited to meet him. Keep up the amazing work, Heavenly Father is proud of you for it. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Rowley