Miracles never cease

Date: Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 6:45 AM

Hello!

It's been a miraculous week here in Preston! The miracles never cease and again I just keep loving it here more and more. I feel like I'm living the dream I always had of being a Missionary and it's incredible.

Our investigators are doing amazingly well. Unfortunately Marisol wasn't at church yesterday, but she promised to be there this coming Sunday so we'll work and hope and pray for that! She is such a great woman and really deserves to have the blessings of the Gospel in her life. She just needs a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Kaela is doing well also. I'm always impressed with him. On Monday we taught him in a members home for FHE (which was also amazing by the way, the ward here is incredible!) and the members there helped him a lot to understand a lot of things. When we saw him the next couple of days he had changed, he realized that he knows it's right to follow what we're teaching, and accepted to work towards the 21st of August to be Baptized! On Saturday another amazing member named Brother Abraham took us and Kaela to Blackpool so Kaela could see a Baptism and what it was like. He had a great experience there as well and came to church on Sunday again! He's got so much potential!

We were also blessed to start teaching a few more people this week. On Saturday evening Elder Chambers and I returned to Preston after being in Blackpool for the Baptism and started to phone and go by some former investigators. One of them named Alex, who is from China, said we could teach him right then! We quickly picked up a member and went to Alex's house and he felt the spirit as we taught about the First Vision. He even committed to church on Sunday and accepted to also be Baptized on August 21st! He also came to church yesterday and enjoyed it very much. We should be seeing him again soon.

Also yesterday at church we were standing just outside the chapel doors greeting people when we met a man named Mark. He is friends with a member and yesterday was his first time at church. He enjoyed it very much, and last night we taught him and another friend with his member friend there as well and they felt the spirit and committed to also prepare for Baptism on August 28th! We'll see him again tonight at FHE and we're very excited for him.

So someone else must be praying really hard for the people of Preston or something because this past week we went from one investigator with a Baptismal date to four. That's such a miracle to see, especially in a week! Your prayers for all these people are much appreciated, and will help them progress and receive the blessings of Baptism.

Those were the most eventful things of the week, but we did also have a great zone conference. Elder Chambers and I trained our zone on teaching the restoration and first vision, and we got to have a training on finding from Elder McKechnie and his companion Elder Stevens. Elder McKechnie is now the assistant and it was great to see him again. I feel so blessed to have served with some of the best Missionaries this mission has ever seen.

Oh and just to update you, Peter and Haiming are doing very well. They're coming to lessons with us at least once a week and they seem to be keeping the fire they had even before their Baptisms. I'm always impressed with their example and service to others.

I suppose that's about it from me this week. If I could share with you one thing I've learned on my mission it would be that the Atonement is something to be felt, and not just learned. The learning of it is necessary to be able to feel it's power. And every time we feel the spirit it's because of the Atonement in one way or another. Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we would never be able to feel the spirit, no matter how hard we tried. We would be forever separated from God with no possible way of returning. The Atonement is felt as we hear testimony of others, serve others, and repent. When Christ suffered that infinite price, He received infinite power. Think about that. Infinite power. When I think about that I think about the ocean and how big it is, and that's not even infinite. And to tap into that power and have access to it, all we must do is exercise faith to repent of our sins and make and keep covenants with our Heavenly Father. I testify that this infinite power is real. I have felt it, every day of my mission. This power is so sacred and so important. I testify that it will lead us back into the presence of God, where we can experience infinite happiness. I'm excited for that day when all of us can finally sing and make that chorus swell with "all is well"! That's why I'm doing this. Because I need that infinite power to have those infinite blessings, and every other person in the world needs it too. This is why we must repent and serve God by serving His children, specifically in sharing these restored truths with them. I testify that this work brings the greatest happiness that I've felt so far in my life and each of us can have that happiness as we share the Gospel with those around us. I know that this work is true because of the Book of Mormon, the great keystone of my testimony and knowledge of this great Gospel.

I also want you to know that I love you all so much. I would never be here without you. The world is a better place having you in it. Never forget that. Have a great week and keep up the amazing work!

Love,

Elder L. Rowley