Teaching and tea (not real tea)

Date: Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 4:28 AM
Subject: Happy Christmas!

Hello Everyone!

The weeks are just flying by.... already it's been about a year since I was "banished" to the Isle of Man! And in just over 8 short months you'll see me again. But I'm not going to allow anyone to talk about that anymore! So stop it!

Before I forget, our thanksgiving feast last week was amazing, we were all so stuffed afterwards, and we even had a tea appointment after that! I was so sick of food that day. I'll send you some pictures.

We've had a great week with lots of miracles. Yesterday was amazing. Church was great, I think I'm finally starting to understand the Sacrament and the Atonement. But more importantly we were blessed to have 4 souls come to Sacrament meeting! Stephen Clarke came for Priesthood then had to leave, but Linda Dunn; Zuzeyo; and some newer investigators, Alice and Nigel, came as well! And the amazing part is that Alice and Nigel already know one of the ward members who was recently Baptised! It's exciting. They all really enjoyed Church and we have an exciting week ahead of us with lots of teaching and Tea appointments already set up!

After Church yesterday we were able to go with Alice and Nigel to Sam and Beryl Perrie's home (amazing members in the ward) for Tea and afterwards we watched "Joy to the World". It was great. Alice has a lot of amazing questions and the best part of the whole thing is that the conversation was about the Gospel most of the time! We're excited for them to progress.

Also yesterday we were blessed to be let into a home to teach a wonderful Czeckoslovakian family of 6! The language barrier was terrible, but they got one of the young girls to translate for us and we were able to get across what we needed to! I'm excited for them and to see them progress. The family's surname is Demeterova if you would like to pray for them.

On Saturday we had a really interesting day. We met Yoshi from Japan; Cain, a practicing athiest; and Nacho, from Spain. It was a great day though. We did a lot of finding (speaking with people in the streets) and then taught in the evening. We are so blessed to be teaching a man named Stephen Clarke, the one who came to Priesthood on Sunday. He looks similar to Dad and Grandpa Rowley to me, but my eyes are used to looking at British people. Anyway, in this lesson on Saturday Stephen said some amazing things. He's really funny. He will shake our hands in the middle of the lesson after complimenting us and he says how wonderful it would be to be in heaven with us. He even kisses the Book of Mormon! I love Stephen very much, he will be Baptised soon.

Everyone else is doing well, Toma needs our prayers right now, things are tough for him. He will get there and be Baptised, but it might take a bit of time now. That's all that matters in the end, is that he can return to God's presence. The way might be tough, but he will get there. This week we're working on bringing more members to our lessons, as you pray for this to happen I know that our investigators, and members as well, will all be blessed.

The Gospel is true. I have felt the power of the Atonement in my life as I have repented of my sins. I think that sometimes we don't rely on Christ enough, we forget the importance of His part of us getting back to Heavenly Father. I testify to you that there is no other way to get to heaven but through Jesus Christ. We need to remember Him every single day of our lives as we strive to repent. Stive means we will struggle sometimes. That doesn't matter to Him because He loves us so much He just wants all we can give plus our trust that He will make up the difference. The more we repent of our sins the happier we'll be. And the more we'll fulfull our purpose in life. God loves us so much. I testify that true and lasting happiness is only found in His presence. We can get there by repenting. So let us repent of all our sins.

Well, I love you all so much. My time is short and my heart is full. Have a great week and know that you're in my prayers. Keep up the amazing work. I couldn't do this without you. I love you!

Love,

Elder Rowley