Date: Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 5:29 AMHello!
It's good to be here in Preston! I just keep loving this place and the people here more and more everyday! So many great things are happening here.
First of all, yesterday was a pretty amazing day. Church was an hour and a half and we had Apostle Andrew Bolton from the Community of Christ come and speak to us. He spoke about the history here with those early Missionaries and the converts who all sacrificed so much for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His church believes in that same history as well and it was good to be reminded of it and encouraged to follow their examples of sacrifice in building the kingdom of God. We also had Elder Kerr, an Area Seventy from Scotland who is absolutely amazing, speak to us as well. It was definitely a very different experience, and I don't know if I'll have another one like it in the future. The best part was after church. We didn't have time after the meeting to go meet him and talk with him and Elder Kerr because we were so busy sorting out lifts and appointments and fellowshippers and things with members and investigators, and on the car ride back for lunch I was talking about how I really wanted to get to talk with them. Well, as Elder Chambers and I were going into the town centre here to street contact we bumped into Elder Kerr and Andrew Bolton and a few others who were going around to the church history sites here in Preston! They invited us to stay with them for the end of the tour and we did and afterwards we got a picture with Andrew Bolton. They were also excited to hear that both Elder Chambers and I are descendants of some of those first converts Baptised here in Preston. I love Preston so much, this place is amazing!
Also last week we experienced our first thunderstorm here in months... I think it's even been over a year since I last heard thunder! It was amazing, it was absolutely chucking it down with rain. Thankfully when the first wave hit we were under a sheltered shopping area and spoke with a nice woman the whole time and actually set up an appointment with her! When the second wave of the storm came we were tracting and I was just so happy and excited to be tracting in a thunderstorm. I had a feeling we would get let into a door and sure enough we did by an old man named Gordon who was very nice and allowed us to teach him about the restoration. I've learned by experience that every kind of weather is good weather for Missionary work, and that the Lord truly takes care of His servants! I really love this work.
Another amazing miracle this week has been doing a couple of chapel tours. One was with a nice man named Michael (pronounced mick-hail) who really enjoyed it. The spirit was strong as we taught him about Baptism and then the Sacrament, and he enjoyed it so much that he came to Church yesterday! He only made it for the end though, but he liked what he was there for. The other chapel tour was with an amazing man named Kaela (pronounced Kyela) who is from Zambia but moved here when he was 9. So he looks African but has a British accent. He is amazing. Anyway, Kaela was excited for the chapel tour from the minute that we spoke about it, and he really enjoyed it also. The spirit was really strong in this one as well, and when we invited him to come to church on Sunday he said yes without any hesitation! He also came yesterday and made it for the whole service and really enjoyed it. Tonight we'll see him at FHE at a members home and I'm very excited. Oh and speaking of that the members here are amazing, yesterday one came up to me and invited us to this FHE tonight and told us that they could bring our investigators and invited our recent converts as well!
I also must say that working with Elder Chambers is amazing. He is so organized and easy to get along with. He has great ideas for how to help the zone and our investigators, in fact, the chapel tours this week were his idea! It's great to serve with and learn from such amazing Missionaries.
And finally, last but not least, the greatest miracle of the week is.... Marisol (our Peruvian investigator) is getting Baptised! She's scheduled for the 14th of August which will be amazing. Unfortunately she didn't make it to church yesterday, but she's already committed to be there next week. She really enjoys reading in the Book of Mormon and is happy we gave her a Spanish copy. She's so willing to do what the Lord asks. The one thing that we need to help her with though, and your faith and prayers for this are much appreciated and needed, is a witness through prayer that the Book of Mormon is true. She feels that it's good as she reads it but she still needs that spiritual confirmation in prayer. I'm excited for her to receive the blessings of the restored Gospel.
I know that this Church and the work to invite others to Christ is true. I know that the Holy Ghost is real and that the power and authority and setting apart of a Missionary is real. And truly powerful. I've had many experiences throughout my mission that I never dreamed would happen to me, and I'm so thankful for them. I've seen the hand of the Lord in ways I didn't even know were possible. Missionary work is so amazing. It's so much fun and it makes me so happy. I sometimes just laugh with joy that I'm a Missionary and that I get to do this great work, and I wonder if it's similar to what Alma the younger and the Sons of Mosiah felt about their Missions. The Lord is truly in this work and in every work that we perform to help and serve others. I testify that He will help us. I testify that the infinite power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and that it will help us sanctify ourselves that we may be effective in serving and blessing others. Especially in inviting them to come to Christ. I testify that the Lord will help us share the Gospel as we simply open our mouths. And I can testify of that because I have experienced it for myself. All we have to do is go and do what the Lord has commanded and He will make up the rest. That's what faith means, and that's why we've seen the miracles we've seen recently. And I testify that all of us can see, and keep seeing, these same kinds of miracles daily as we continue to exercise faith in doing what the Lord asks of us.
Well, thank you again for everything. You're wonderful and don't forget I couldn't do this without you. Keep up all the amazing work you're all doing. And remember Moroni 8:3.
I love you!!
- Elder L. Rowley
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