Thanksgiving and a baptism

Date: Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 6:40 AM
Subject: Hiya!

Hiya Everyone!

It sounds like thanksgiving was great! Ours was great, and it feels like we've had another thanksgiving this morning! We've been at the chapel for 4 hours, a member, Brother Kenny, and his son who served in France made us, all 6 Liverpool Missionaries, breakfast this morning! It was amazing, it was a proper English breakfast. Fried eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, crumpets, fried bread, and even pancakes (crepes in America). It was fantastic! And afterwards we all played floor hockey! It was a lot of fun and we're all exhausted now. We're also going to be making a proper thanksgiving dinner this afternoon, I'll get pictures and it'll be great!

On the actual thanksgiving day we had a mission sports day. It was a lot of fun, we played football, basketball, American Football, and even some volleyball! In American football President Bullock played quarterback and it was different to see him in sports clothes. I intercepted one of his passes and even got him down a couple times. We only played touch though. I can't even tell you how much fun it was. This mission is amazing and I love the people I work with. Oh and it's great to hear that BYU won, although it's no surprise!

Now on to the even better stuff. Ian Farley is now a member of the Church! His Baptism was amazing. The spirit was strong and event though not many came, those who were there were all close to Ian. Ian is a great man of faith and spirit. He always says that he cannot question the teachings of the Gospel. He's amazing, and he even taught with us a bit on Sunday night and did fantastic. I'm excited for the blessings he will get in the future. He's even got a new place to live and possibly a job lined up! The Lord is really blessing him right now. Oh and I got to play the piano and sing at the Baptism again. The Lord is using my talents.

Church yesterday was great, especially seeing and taking part in Ian's confirmation. The spirit is always strong when that happens. The only sad part is that we only had one investigator at Sacrament Meeting! It was Zuzeyo and he really enjoyed it, but this week we really need to work harder to get our investigators at Church! Please pray for each of our investigators to come to Church this week!

Toma and his family are doing well. A member of the ward is meeting with him to help him out with housing and some things and things should get better for them. We haven't been able to teach Toma with an interpreter since we all fasted together, so we're not sure about his answer to his prayers. He still needs our prayers and faith though. He is such an amazing man of great faith, he always amazes me when we go to see him.

Also this week we were able to teach 8 new investigators! I'll just tell you about a few of them for time sake. We taught a Family this week who I don't really have the surname for, but they are african and they are great. They all really enjoyed hearing about the First Vision, and they felt the spirit very well. Moses is one of the children in the family, he's about 20 and we originally set up the appointment with him. He actually stopped another Missionary and asked about the Church. They're good. We're excited to see them progress.

I was also able to have a great district meeting on the Christ-like attributes this week. I've learned a lot about myself while striving to become more like Christ. With knowledge this week I gained a lot more knowledge about myself personally, but also about how we can get more knowledge. I'd had some impressions that I'd forgotten to write down, and one night I decided to write them all down. As I wrote inspiration came and I felt amazing. I was taught spiritual knowledge by the Holy Ghost because I had the faith to write it down in a sacred place. It was as if I was hearing a General Conference talk and taking notes. It was evidence to me that the spirit is always willing to teach us, we just need to show that we will listen and act on the knowledge we gain by writing things down. Because of this I have been blessed with greater knowledge and a greater relationship with the spirit. That feeling is very real, and as I've served the Lord I've become better at recognizing the spirit. It really is vital to all we do in the work of the Lord, and it will strengthen our relatioship with Him. I know that's true because I've experienced it. The Gospel is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Joseph Smith was a true Prophet, he was right. I testify that God loves each of us and we are His children. Gaining this knowledge of the Spirit has changed my life for the better, and it continues to do so every single day. We are so blessed. Let's share these blessings with others.

Well, I love you all. Time is going so fast and before I know it I'll be back there in Provo with all of you. Keep up the amazing work and please pray for us to have our investigators at Sacrament meeting this week. They need to feel the spirit that's there. You are all in my prayers. Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Rowley