When they come to church

Elders McKechnie and Rowley in the Meriva.

Date: Mon, May 17, 2010 at 9:49 AM
Subject: Re: Hello!

Hello Everyone!

How's your week been? Ours has been good and miraculous as always. The weather keeps warming up and right now its sunny outside and very warm here in the Library.

The greatest miracle was yesterday at Church. Peter, Naghma, Tanya, and Carla all came to Church and enjoyed it very much! The members were good to them as well and we're excited to help them all progress towards being Baptised. Thank you for your faith to pray for them to come, it worked! Faith truly does precede the miracle! The other miracle is that our zone also did well, we had 17 investigators at Sacrament meeting around the zone and that hasn't happened in nearly a year!

Tuesday we were blessed with two new investigators. One was Chinese but sadly doesn't want to learn more. She does have a copy of the Book of Mormon in Chinese though so the seed has been planted. The other one was found on the way out of that lesson. We were headed to the car and our time in the car park was up so we were in a bit of a hurry so we wouldn't get a ticket, but there was a man sitting on a bench nearby that was watching us. He got up from the bench and walked closer to where we were parked and I felt a prompting to speak with him. So I did and we ended up teaching him right there and he also accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said he would read it! It was amazing. As we listen to the promptings of the spirit, the Lord truly leads us to prepared people!

The next day we had a good interviews and training meeting, we got to train our zone on helping investigators keep commitments and it went well. That evening we went on exchanges with the AP's and it was amazing. As we were walking into our apartment complex (it's been converted from a mill into flats) Elder Ridley, who I was with, spoke to a man named Eugene who we got to walk with to his flat and teach him right there. As we taught about Joseph Smith we asked how he felt and he talked about a burning sensation in his chest. It was amazing and the spirit was very strong then and throughout the whole lesson. We're seeing him again this week and I'll update you on his progress. We also taught a Romanian woman and her son who are amazing but have already stopped taking lessons. They also have the Book of Mormon though, so the seed is planted there as well! I love giving away copies of the Book of Mormon, it's one of my favorite parts of Missionary work!

On Saturday a man named Arran McCorquodale was Baptised. Elder Griffeth and I found and taught him in Preston town centre a couple months ago and he's progressed well ever since. I'm excited for him to be a member now!

Well, it's been a great week. It feels amazing to be a Missionary. I can't even tell you how much I've come to love everything we do. From waking up at 6:30 and exercising to studying for two hours every morning to teaching and finding and Baptising and doing trainings and everything. The spirit is always here in this work. It makes me so happy. There really isn't anywhere else I'd rather be right now. It's all possible because of the Spirit and because of the truthfulness of the Gospel. This Gospel we preach is true and I know that Joseph Smith was the true Prophet of God who restored it. The Church is true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It's the iron rod that leads back to God's presence. Jesus Christ is truly our Savior and Redeemer and changes our lives as we live His Gospel. We are so blessed to have all that we have.

Thank you once again for the love and support and prayers and everything you do. I truly couldn't do this without your help.

Keep up the incredible work. Have a wonderful week!! I love you!

- Elder L. Rowley

Why I am a missionary

We had to sleep in the room with the other Elders and

Elder McKechnie got sick because we had a water leak

in our bedroom.

Date: Mon, May 10, 2010 at 5:02 AM

Subject: Re: Hi again!

Hello Everyone!

How is everything there in the States? Things here are going very well. Today we've got some clouds and some rain, but we're looking forward to hopefully being able to play some football later today! I'm excited.

We've had a pretty successful week and most of our investigators came to Church. Peter was there yesterday and he enjoyed it very much and we also were able to start teaching Naghma again recently and she came as well. Tanya and Carla didn't make it though and we'll have to teach them about the importance of Church. It was a very good day though, in Gospel Principles we had 11 different nationalities present! This area and ward is so diverse, I love it!

Also yesterday we saw a miracle in town centre. We were street contacting in the same area that President Hinckley did when he was here and I'm sure many other Missionaries have worked there before as well, but we were hoping to be able to teach a new investigator. We prayed for it and sure enough, we got into town centre and saw a man who we'd scheduled an appointment with previously sitting on a bench. We invited him to be taught right there and he accepted and became a new investigator! It's exciting to see so many miracles!

That's about it for this week. Elder McKechnie was ill earlier in the week so not much happened then. Our investigators are doing well and our zone is doing pretty well and it's just great to be a Missionary. I am so happy serving the Lord here and I know that this work is true. Jesus is the Christ. Through his Atonement we can overcome death and hell and return to live with God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and it's been restored. The Book of Mormon is true evidence of this. It is the most powerful tool in conversion, whether it be our own or the conversion of a loved one or even just someone we meet on the street. It truly is the iron rod that will lead us along the Gospel path back to ultimate peace and happiness with our families and Savior and Father in Heaven in the Celestial kingdom. This is our ultimate goal, to get there and to take as many people there as possible. This is why I am a Missionary!

Well, I love you all so much. I'm always amazed at your example and love and support and prayers and everything else you do for me and so many other people. Keep up that amazing work of the Savior. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder L. Rowley

I love the nice British rain

Hello Everyone!

I hope you've all had a great week, ours has been fantastic. The nice warm weather is holding up for the most part, but it's cooled down and rained a couple days recently. I love the nice British rain though.

First of all I'm late in writing because Monday was a Bank Holiday so we couldn't e-mail. We did get to go to the Temple though! It was amazing and I got to see some members from Liverpool as well. The Temple is great, I felt the spirit very strongly as we were there this time and I'm learning more and more that the Gospel is mostly about what we feel rather than just simply what we know or do. Although those things are very important as well.

Last week we saw a lot of miracles. On Friday and Saturday I got to work with the incredible Elder Llaguno again! It was amazing to see how much both of us have improved since this time last year. It's crazy to think that it's been exactly one year since we served together. We were also blessed with miracles greater than what we saw when we were on the Isle of Man. On Saturday morning we were doing some street contacting near town centre and got to do some service and help a man carry a couple boxes of pigeons into town square for a celebration of some sort. After a bit more street contacting we were also able to teach a man on a bench about the Restoration! It was amazing. In the afternoon the same thing happened twice, we taught two more people on steps near the place we were street contacting. It was amazing. Miracles just keep happening here.

We also had a good time at Zone Conference last week. Elder Mckechnie and I were able to train our zone on Sacrament Attendance and it was a lot of fun. I love zone trainings, we've got another one next week! I also got to see a lot of my former companions as a lot of them are still in the mission. Only 3 of my past companions are home right now. Zone Conference is always a lot of fun.

On Wednesday we got to do some service and take care of a wild garden of a sister in the ward. It looked like a jungle when we started and about half of it was cleared when we were done. It looked like a hurricane went through the part we had done, it was amazing. I loved it. Garden work is so much fun.

We're also teaching some amazing people right now. Our Hungarian investigator, Peter, is doing very well. We keep teaching him in members homes and he's coming to Church and reading and understanding the Book of Mormon and it's great. He's scheduled to be Baptised at the end of May and we're very excited for him. Pray for him to be ready for Baptism and to understand everything we teach.

Another great miracle has happened thanks to the great faith of those who have been praying with us for us to have a Baptism. On Sunday we got a ring from a member named Brother Cleaver. He has a couple of friends named Tanya and Carla that Elder Griffeth and I taught once in the past. Well, on Sunday they were with him and talking about being Baptised as soon as possible, so Brother Cleaver rang us and told us about this and we taught them that afternoon and scheduled Tanya to be Baptised on May 22nd! Now we just need to teach her everything and get her ready for her Baptism!

Well, the Church is true. I just keep learning so much about the Gospel and how much it helps us in our lives. The world is in a sad state and the people of it need what we have. We truly are a light on a hill for all those who are in spiritual darkness. The Savior Jesus Christ is the source of that light. I know He lives and loves each of us. We can feel that love and the infinitely positive effect of His Atonement in our lives as we live His Gospel of faith, repentance, keeping covenants, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The Gospel truly can be felt more powerfully than it can be known, and it's very important for us to feel the Gospel every day of our lives. The scriptures are true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and my testimony of the rest of the Gospel was planted and is nourished through reading it and praying to know of it's truth. Anyone can experience these blessings in their lives this very day, no matter how much they may have experienced them in the past.

I love you all so much. I couldn't be here without your help. Keep up the amazing work. Thank you again for all the love and letters and support and encouragement. I appreciate it so much. Our Heavenly Father is mindful of you. Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder L. Rowley

I love spring!

"I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword

sleep in my hand, till we have built Jerusalem

in England's green and pleasant land."

Date: Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 6:11 AM

Hello Everyone!

Wow that week went really fast... they all seem to just go faster and faster. The weather here has been so nice, it's been warm enough that we can take off our jackets sometimes. Right now the sun is shining but there are some clouds in the sky and it's staying pretty warm. I love the spring and I'm excited for the rest of it and for the summer as well! It makes the work go better also!

Yesterday we had a great day but no investigators came to Sacrament meeting. We're going to really work on this this week and your continued prayers and faith in our behalf are much appreciated. Anyway, after Church we went into the town centre where President Hinckley preached when he was here. We walked around the big square that's just outside where I am right now actually, and spoke with everyone that we could. Preston is just full of amazing people, I love it here!

This past week we were blessed to be able to teach a few unexpected lessons on the street and even get let into a couple doors again as well! That seems to be a re-occuring thing for us, but it's always a miracle when it happens. We've taught some wonderful people and I'll keep you updated on them as they start to progress.

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to teach a lesson with Elder Griffeth. He and his Mum were stranded here for a few days because of the volcanoe. It was great to get to work with him again, especially because Elder Griffeth was Elder McKechnie's first companion and I was Elder Griffeth's very last companion.

On Friday we made the long drive to Carlisle in the morning. We were closer to Elder McKechnie's home than we were to our flat! Anyway, we had a great district meeting with the district there and then got to work with a couple of Elders in the area. We saw so many miracles. I always ask people on the streets who they know that would be interested in what we share with them and in the afternoon I got the address of a man named Allen. In the evening we were speaking with people in a certain area and I had no idea where the street was that he lived on, I had planned to let the Elders in the area contact him after we'd left. But by divine intervention we ended up on the street that this man lived on. Well, we knocked on the door and found that he used to be a member years ago but had his name removed. He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon to read and plans to attend Church when he moves in a few weeks! It was amazing.

Then the next morning, Elder Lloyd (who I was working with, he was in my district when I was in Liverpool so I've worked with him before) had an impression to knock on a potential investigators door (we didn't even have a lesson scheduled with him or anything) and we were let in and got to teach him. It was amazing. The spirit is a very powerful thing if we just follow it's promptings.

That same day we made the long journey back to Preston and when we arrived we found ourselves without our map and needing to think of some streets to tract. We did have an appointment with a potential investigator later that evening, but without the map we didn't know where it was. Well, I felt good about a certain area we'd worked in before so we drove there and started tracting. Not too long after we started knocking on doors Elder McKechnie spotted Jerry, who we had the appointment with, walking down the street! He decided to take a different route home from work and by divine intervention we taught him and his girlfriend and they're excited to read from and pray about the Book of Mormon. It was amazing. The Lord's hand is truly in this work!

Well, I just want you to know once again that the Church is true. If it wasn't there would be no chance in the world that young men my age could do this work. I feel so inadequate every day but with the spirit being here always I am uplifted and sustained. I testify that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and powerful. Christ lives. We can know that through the power of the Holy Ghost and in no other way. I testify that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only true path to success and happiness in this life and in the life to come. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It truly is the iron rod that will lead us back into the presence of God if we will follow it daily. Families can be together forever. The Plan of Happiness is real and it works. Prayer changes things. I've seen that this week in the work that I've done and in my personal life. We are so blessed to have what we have.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy the sunshine or rain or whatever it is. Thank you again for all you do for me, prayers, letters, love, support, everything. Keep up the amazing work. The Lord is mindful of you. I love you!

Elder L. Rowley

Seed of faith

Elders Griffeth and Rowley

Date: Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 4:43 AM
Subject: Re: Happy Easter!!!

Hiya Everyone!

How's everyone's week been? It sounds like spring is coming there and things are warming up and getting busy. That's good. Here it's also warming up but today it's overcast and windy. There are flowers or leaves on most of the trees now and it's gorgeous! I love spring!

We can't see ash from the volcanoe in iceland, but when we look in the sky it isn't the clearest blue. When the sun sets it gets more and more red as it gets closer to the horizon, so we can tell that the ash is spread all over the air. The planes here are still grounded, but it's caused a small miracle for the Missionaries here. There was a group that was supposed to leave last week but they got to stay because of the planes. One Sister from Finland was actually praying very earnestly that her mission might be extended! Althought the Lord has many reasons for allowing this volcanoe to erupt, I testify that He does hear and answer prayers.

We had a good last few days. We've been working very hard amid meetings and planning sessions and things. It's been very good and I'm excited for the next 6 weeks. Elder McKechnie is amazing. He works hard and has fun. I'm wondering if the Scottish accent is starting to affect my American accent. I'm going to go days at a time without hearing another person with my same accent. I'm the only American in the fllat. We've got Elder McKechnie from Scotland, Elder Dittmer from Germany, and Elder Llaguno from Spain. If that looks familiar it's because it should be, it's the same Elder Llaguno that I trained last year on the Isle of Man! It's been great to work with him again and see how we've both changed and improved. I love Missionary work!

A Miracle we expeienced recently was last night when we were tracting. We felt good about a certain street and as we knocked on the doors a Chinese couple opened at one of the first few doors we knocked on. After a "power statement" as we call them, and a conversation, they let us in and we taught them about the Restoration. I'm excited for them to read in the Book of Mormon and pray for the first time.

We're also having more investigators coming to Sacrament meeting recently. It's exciting, but we want to become consistent with it. Yesterday we only had one at Church and we have 3 scheduled for Baptism. We want all 3 to be at Church and even more if possible. Your continued prayers and faith to ask Heavenly Father to bless us with more investigators at Sacrament meeting will make many more miracles possible! We're also working on this within our zone as well, they can use your prayers also.

That's about it for this week, it was a quick weekend. I just want to testify to you of the power of prayer. It really does change things as we utilize it. I testify that as we ask God for what we really want as we live His commandments, He will give it to us if it be right. Faith to pray for our righteous desires to be fulfilled while being obedient to God's commandments produces miracles. One example was this Chinese couple we taught yesterday. Before we started knocking on the doors of that street we prayed and asked to be able to get let into a home to teach. I pictured a nice young family in my mind. We also strived to be obedient to our Missionary standards and because of both of these things the Lord gave us that miracle. This can work for any righteous desire in our lives. The Lord wants to bless us so much, we sometimes just need to ask. All to often we're already doing all He expects of us to receive His promised blessings, the only thing missing is to ask. I testify that God lives. He love us all. Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer and as we live His Gospel we can live with God. I know these things are true because I know that the Book of Mormon is true. The tree of a large testimony begins as the small seed of faith to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. And the roots and branches of that tree are always strengthened and nourished by continual prayer and Scripture study. The Gospel is true, let us live it and be happy and blessed by our Heavenly Father!

Well, I'm always thankful for all the amazing work you all do. I couldn't be here without you. Keep up the amazing work and let me know what I can do for any of you. I love you all!!

-Elder L. Rowley

Street contacting success!

Dropping off the Isle of Man Elders

Date: Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 9:49 AM
Subject: Re: Happy Easter!!!

Hiya Everyone!

We've had another miraculous week here in Preston and I'm excited to report that my new companion is Elder McKechnie (the "ch" is different than a normal "ch"... I can't really explain it) from Scotland! He was trained by Elder Griffeth and I'm very excited to work with him!

It's been a very busy week and a half since I last wrote... so much has happened and so many blessings have come our way. I think the first is that last week were able to teach many people right on the spot. When we street contact or tract we always ask people if they have some time right at the moment that we can speak with them and we always consider it a miracle to teach someone in the street or have them let us into their home. Well, that happened multiple times last week and we feel very blessed.

On one of these occasions we were with a returned Missionary who served in Italy. We told him we were going to get let into a door and sure enough as Elder Griffeth knocked on a man named Richard's door he let us in. Richard is Chinese and just so happened to have read the 4 Gospels recently! He was very prepared to hear about the Restoration and we're excited to see him progress.

Another miracle we saw was on Sunday. Three of our investigators, Jimmy, Simon, and a Hungarian man named Peter all came to Church! They enjoyed it and we are excited to help them progress towards Baptism. Your prayers and faith have all helped so much for us to see this amazing miracle, so thank you! I'll keep you updated on their progress.

Today we've just been so busy. In the morning we were driving Missionaries and luggage to the train station and then after saying some goodbyes I took some Missionaries with me to Heysham to send one off to the Isle of Man and to pick one up that's returning from there. It was fun to talk with them about the people there. The one that will be serving there just served in Rochdale, one of my other previous areas, and it was good to get to talk about that area as well. So many amazing things are happening right now, I love it!

I'm sorry this is short, more will come on Monday. There is just so much to tell you and so little time to do it. Really the most important thing about all of it is that we feel the Holy Ghost. I learned something interesting on Sunday. We often use the word impression when speaking of spiritual experiences or receiving the Spirit's guidance. I remember the word impression by thinking of a leather sofa. If you press your hand onto the sofa you leave an impression. But it doesn't last. The sofa goes back to it's previous state after your hand moves. This is like receiving the Spirit's guidance. Sometimes we let impressions only last for a few moments and then let them go away. But if our hearts are humble enough to receive the impression and strong enough to keep the impression then we experience conversion. And through this Heavenly Father molds us into who He wants us to be so that we reach our full potential. We need to have hearts like clay which has those characteristics of being humble enough to receive impressions but strong enough to let the impression stay. As I've strived to follow the Spirit more recently I've felt happier and I've beat myself up less. I've been learning more. So many other blessings have come because of this. I testify that as we learn to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost we experience greater happiness. God lives. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. His Gospel is the only path to true and lasting happiness in this life and in the world to come. Families can be together forever. The Book of Mormon is true and I know all these things as I have read and prayed to know it's true. Reading and Praying about the Book of Mormon truly are critical for an enduring conversion. It does help our hearts become as clay. The Gospel is true, let us live it!

Well, thank you again for all you continue to do for me. The people here are blessed for it. Keep up the amazing work and I'll write more on Monday and hopefully be able to send some pictures as well. I love you all!!

-Elder L. Rowley

Time never stops

The Preston Flat: Elders Rowley, Dittmer, Johnson, and Griffeth

Date: Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 8:09 AM
Subject: Re: Happy Easter!!!

Hiya Everyone!

It's been an amazing week here in Preston and to top it all off General Conference was amazing! As if those were enough blessings from the Lord we were also able to go to the Temple this morning! It's been a very spiritually powerful week.

I learned a lot from General Conference and I hope and pray that we will all continue to learn from what was said and what we felt. We watched the sessions in the Chorley stake centre, it's right in between the Preston MTC Zack will be at (and I was at) and the Temple we went to this morning. They're all on the same beautiful grounds. Because of the time difference we watched the Saturday morning session on Saturday evening at 5:00. That was live. The Priesthood session was re-broadcast on Sunday morning at 10:00, then we saw the Saturday afternoon session at 1:00 and the Sunday morning session live at 5:00. It was all so amazing, the spirit was so strong. It reminded me of the scripture that talks about what the Apostles felt when the resurrected Lord spoke to them- how their hearts burned within them. I loved it.

Last week on Tuesday we had a great District Meeting in the morning and then we were on exchanges. It was great, we saw so many miracles and even got rained on quite a bit. In the evening the Isle of Man Elders were with us (we took them to the port in Heysham the next day) and a woman from Slovenia let us into her home! Elder Smith, who I was working with for the day, spoke to her outside her home and asked if we could teach her right then and because we had the Isle of Man Elders with us we were able to! It was amazing and she will be blessed by reading in the Book of Mormon!

Another miracle is that we started teaching a Hungarian man named Peter this week! He is amazing, he accepted to prepare for Baptism and everything. We taught him in the home of the Pyles, some members who live not too far from him, and the spirit was very strong. Brother Pyle even gave Peter a lift to the Priesthood session on Sunday morning! It was amazing!

We've also taught many other amazing new people this past week and there's so many that I don't even have time to tell about all of them. Another miracle we saw though was due to all of our combined faith for our investigators to come to Church. Even though it was general conference this weekend we had Peter and also another investigator named Jimmy come to Conference! It was amazing and I'm thankful for your faith to help us see this great miracle. We need them to come to actual Church this week, so your continued faith and prayers for our investigators to come to Church are still much needed. Thank you so much!

The weeks and days just keep coming and going so fast. Time never stops for anyone! I just want you again to know that I know that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It is central to our conversion to Jesus Christ. I know that He would tell us to read it if He were here today. I also can testify that the words of our Prophet and Apostles and others are His words. I went into Conference this weekend with specific questions and I prayed for them to be answered in the talks and they were and are. I know that this is a living Church, the only true and living Church in the world. I know that Prayer works and changes things. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of all of us. I testify that His Gospel is the only path to true and lasting happiness in this life and in the next. It's hard but it's possible. Let us live the Gospel.

Well, as always I'm so thankful for all your love and prayers and support. Keep up the amazing work. The Lord needs our strength. We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. I love you!!
-
Elder L. Rowley