friends! family! how is everyone?!?! i have so many stories that i want to share, i forget to ask how you are all doing! i want details about your lives!! and pictures too, you know how much i love pictures!
it was a great week here in maryland! there were a few hard moments, but for the most part i had a great week! i thought we would become mostly-pros sisters, but we actually have 4 shifts at the VC so we do a lot of back & forth throughout the week.
so i've written home about “P” before right? he is the one who seeks only for the facts and doesn't look or listen with his heart. i always had anxiety when we were teaching him, i had never felt the spirit in those lessons. sister mendenhall and i had one last lesson with him - it was also sister mendenhall's first lesson with him. you know the scripture that says by small and simple things you will confound the wise? (alma 37:6) we totally experienced that!!! we invited him to read the BOM multiple times, and he continued to be his usual slightly contentious self. we really really testified and told him how much we love The Book of Mormon and how we know it to be true. There came a point where the Spirit was so strong in the room. Sister Mendenhall was sharing her testimony and I just started crying. I knew that what she was teaching was true. I also shared my testimony and afterwards “P” was literally confounded by our small and simple love for such a wonderful book. He got up, said he couldn't formulate his thoughts, and said he had to go to the bathroom. He then ran out of the room, literally ran. He came back 2 seconds later - definitely not enough time to go to the bathroom - and still didn't know what to say. He wouldn't commit to read the Book of Mormon, but he felt the spirit. He knows and and we know it, but he doesn't want to acknowledge it (YET). Even if “P” didn't gain anything from that night, I did. My own testimony of the Book of Mormon grew so much that night and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father gave me that experience. When we prayed that night as a companionship, we prayed that The Holy Ghost would continue to "bother" “P” so that his heart would be softened. I was so excited about that experience, that when I next saw President Cooke I made sure to tell him the short version of the story. You know you have a good story when you get a fist bump from the mission president after telling it :]
i was asked to speak in church on Sunday. The Bishop asked me to talk about my vision of missionary work in the group and the home ward we are connected to and to share some faith building, missionary inspiring experiences. I-was-stressing. You know me and my need to quietly prepare in my room. I was really struggling, and was lucky enough to be on shift at the VC on a rather slow night. I was able to get permission from a VC trainer to work on my talk for an hour or so. MAJOR TENDER MERCY. I said a vocal prayer (something I have learned to really appreciate here as a missionary) and from that point on things worked out. Heavenly Father gave me the guidance I was looking for. I was able to actually focus and write down what I was feeling and thinking. I ended up going a different route with my talk because it's not my vision of missionary work that matters, it's the Lord's vision. So that's what I talked about! I focused on love and used the Matthew 22: (37-39ish) scripture. Even though it doesn't say missionary or work in that scripture, those verses are all about missionary work. There is no other way to do missionary work than with love, NO OTHER WAY. I just now thought about Uncle Eric's question to me in one of my letters, asking for advice on what he can do. Honestly, it doesn't matter what you do as long as it's with love. Love for your neighbors and love for the Lord. I talked about how the very first principle we teach in the first lesson of PMG is "God is our loving Heavenly Father". Think about that, that is the VERY first thing we talk to people about! I then shared my story from last week where I knew that Heavenly Father loved me because he had inspired both me and Dad to think about President Hinckley's mission experience. That was a huge testament to me that God really does know and love me. I was the last speaker, which means I didn't know how much time I would end up having, but everything worked out so great. I was even able to work in something the youth speaker said about how Lamen and Lemuel were complaining about not understanding and Nephi asks them if they had asked God. They hadn't and because of that, they hadn't received the answers and experiences that Nephi had. I invited everyone to think about that and their missionary work and now I invite YOU! Have you prayed about? Have you knelt down and asked Heavenly Father specifically how you can be a member missionary? Have you asked him who you can share the gospel with? What are you waiting for?!!? An answer is a result of a question being asked. After my talk we got a referral from one of the home ward families!!!!! BEST THING EVER! We're going to their house on Sat. for breakfast where we will meet the girl they met when they went out to dinner. Ola is her name! I'm so so so excited! I'll tell you all about it next week!
also, everyone watch this talk. WATCH/LISTEN, don't just read it.
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/the-first-great-commandment?lang=eng&query=first+great+commandment
Love you all so much! Keep writing, your letters make my day! I'm sorry I'm not very good at writing back, I don't know how my missionary friends ever had time to write me.
Love, Sister Rowley
