Many, many blessings

Dinner with the Crosby Elders

Date: Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 4:15 AM
Subject: Many Many Blessings...

Hello!

I hope everyone's had a good week. Don't get sick. I've been blessed to stay well all winter season long! All it takes is vitamin C, lots of water, and lots of washing your hands. Life is good when you stay well.

We've had an amazing week with lots of miracles! But first I'm happy to tell you that the snow and ice are all gone! No more slipping and sliding and angry people. It was so nice, everyone at Church on Sunday seemed much happier to see it gone. It's still crazy to me just how much it shut everything down for that last week. They weren't prepared for it at all. We all just have to learn and live.

Also, on Monday we went to a Church of England Cathedral called "The Great Space". And it is actually near a river if you were wondering. Anyway, this building is massive, and it's got the largest set of bells in the world- 31 tons! We even got to travel up to the top of it and see all of Liverpool, it was great. And it even snowed while we were up there. I also learned a lot from being there. It was a good experience.

On Thursday we had interviews and training and it was also amazing. We learned how to commit investigators to a Baptismal date in the first lesson and that's our mission standard now. We're getting a lot more solid investigators from it as well. I learned a lot from it and the next morning we went and taught a new investigator named Chris and used what we'd learned. And it worked! I'm not surprised I just feel very blessed. And Chris is amazing by the way, he came to Church on Sunday and really got on well with the members!

Saturday we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, I got to go with Elder Newson from Vegas, he's pretty amazing. I learned a lot from him and we were able to really adjust to meet the needs of the members and investigators that we taught. We were able to really bless their lives and it was great. I love learning from other Missionaries, and I get to do it so often!

Yesterday at Church we had some amazing miracles. For one thing, Elder Kerr of the Seventy was there and he taught us and the ward a lot. It was exciting, he's from Scotland and he's very lively. Then Chris came and I told you about that. But also our Solvakian Family, the Demeterova's, came as well! It was such a miracle. We had tried by them in the morning on our way to Church and they said that they would come and they are just such honest people. It was amazing to walk out of Elder's Quorum and see them all standing there, excited and a bit nervous to be there. They didn't understand much, but they did feel something in their hearts and we all know what that is. It was such a miracle and blessing. Now it's just a matter of helping them to be Baptised!

Another great miracle this week was with Toma and his family. They are becoming more committed. We saw them 3 days in a row over the weekend and we learned a lot about what's really happening and how we can really help. Toma is now preparing to be Baptised on the 29th of January and he'll have to give up coffee today to do that, so please pray for him. So many blessings are on the way for this wonderful family, they just need to keep acting in faith to see these miracles. They really need your prayers.

Our other investigators are doing well this week but we've had to stop teaching a couple as they weren't really progressing. With some we're just teaching them a lot less until they start to progress faster. But this week were also blessed with amazing new investigators. One was Chris, and another was Donald. I think I told you about him last week. We taught the restoration and the spirit was very strong. We even had a member with us who could relate to him and taught well with us. Donald felt the spirit and accepted to be Baptised in a few weeks. He's very excited to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and it was all just so miraculous. I love miracles. This truly is a day and age of miracles.

I suppose it's time for a spiritual thought and then I need to wrap this up. This week I've been learning about what it was like for the Savior to be ridiculed and made fun of like he was. I've been studying in the book "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmage and learned a lot about this just this morning. There were some people such as the scribes and pharisees who attempted to verbally tear the Savior to pieces by calling him out on things that He had supposedly done wrong that were in conflict with the law. But the amazing attribute of the Savior that I always seem to notice in these instances is the fact that He just bounces right back and rebukes them for their hypocrisy. He didn't let it get Him down or sway Him from what He knew was right, He just kept going just as firm as before, if not more so. And really I've found two applications we can make of this in our lives. For one thing, we cannot ever be the source of making fun others of or putting others down. The Savior never did that or taught that. He did, at times, rebuke even those He loved very harshly, but He always showed an increase of love afterwards. That was righteous, but it becomes unrighteous when we are doing it to put ourselves above another person, in a "better place than them". So really for anyone who has ever been made fun of by someone else, they weren't at fault, the one pointing the finger and laughing was. And here's the other application that I found from this. We must also be like the Savior in the regard that when such vebal abuse comes we cannot let it get us down or sway us from any righteous actions. If it leads us on to do something better than we were doing before then that's okay, we need to listen and apply it because it comes from Christ, as we know that whatsoever persuades us to come unto Christ comes from Him. So lets not ever unrighteously put others down and not get down ourselves when our Priesthood leaders may harshly rebuke us for actions that aren't in harmony with the Savior's teachings. I know that these things are true. The Gospel is true. It's been restored. That restoration is absolutely necessary and real. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it has increased my faith in Jesus Christ as I have read and applied the words in it. We must all do this and thus hold on to the iron rod. Jesus is the Christ and He can make everything unfair about life right. We need His Atonement every day of our lives. We must repent, for if we do we will be happy!

I love you all. I hope you have a wonderful week and remember the Savior. Without Him you couldn't even be reading these words now. Don't forget the eternal impact that you've had on my life. Keep up the amazing work and don't be afraid to write.

Love,

Elder Rowley