Aloooooooha!
3/10/14
Aloha Familia!
I can't believe it's been another
week! We have been so super busy I don't even have time to think really! We
have been seeing so many miracles though! To start, Jenny is now
baptized!!!!!!! It was such a good spiritual baptism and so many people came that
we had to use the chapel! She seems so shy at first, I had no idea she had so
many friends! She was so happy and cute and ready for this day! Leading up to
it she was super nervous and so many things happened as always to try and
change her mind, but she was strong and trusted in Heavenly Father. We were
also so excited to see a few non-members, including our investigator Tiffany,
there. Everything turned out so perfect and to top it off, we found a new
investigator because of her! Jiashan is from China and is here to play on the
basketball team. She has met with many missionaries before and had become kind
of defensive around them. However, she did agree to meet with us finally and
when we met with her, we could tell her heart had been really softened. She
told us how surprised she was at Jenny getting baptized because Jenny had been
so against it before and had been adamant and very vocal about the fact that
she was NEVER going to be baptized, and then she changed...Jiashan said that
she knew there must be a reason for that, that she must believe it now and she
wants to know why. I love miracles!
We also had a great lesson with
Jordan this week as well! It was a really random visit because we were actually
planning on visiting someone else and thought, why don't we see if Jordan is
home? Then we thought, "well, actually he will probably be at work or
school at this time but that was a random thought so, why not?" Well,
miraculously, he was home! He had a few hours in-between class and work and was
working on homework. Oh by the way, the last time we met with him we ended up
going over time and were so worried because he had an accounting midterm to
study for that he needed to take that night. We felt bad so we ended up praying
so hard that he would be able to do well on his midterm so that he could
recognize the blessings when he puts the Lord first. The first thing we asked
this time was, "how did your test go?" He smiled and said, "I
got 100%!" I think my jaw dropped on the floor! We were so excited! Especially
when he told us that he had been expecting to get a C or something. We were
like, "that's not a coincidence Jordan!! We prayed for you!!!" We
then ended up having a lesson with him that was so good! His girlfriend is
planning on going on a mission so he asked us lots of questions about what we
do and everything and then he told us how he went to missionary prep class with
her and they were talking about inviting people to be baptized. They were going
to practice when he was like, "um, I don't think I should be doing
this..." "Why not?" they asked. "Because I'm not even a
member!" Well when they found that out they spent the next few minutes
lining up as a class and practicing on HIM! haha! I asked, "So what did
you say?!" "I'll think about it?!" :) Well, we were able to talk
to him about why we invite people to be baptized and how agreeing to be
baptized doesn't mean you know everything yet or that you even have a solid
testimony yet. It's just a way for you to show your faith in your Heavenly
Father. He has such a faith in God and even shares his testimony about it to
all his friends. He is so worried though about not knowing everything yet. He
wants to have time to study it before thinking about baptism. We told him that
he doesn't need to know everything all at once. He can hold the Book of Mormon
and pray and ask God and say, "Heavenly Father, I haven't read all of this
yet, and I don't know everything about it yet, but is it true? Is it from
you?" We then said he could know it's true and then learn all he wants
about it, knowing that it's true. He said he had never thought about that
before. All truth really does come from God! We are praying so hard for him! He
is so close to receiving an answer! It's so neat to see how Heavenly Father is
working with him in so many ways!
I also had a really neat experience
in the Visitor's Center this week. I was on shift and went out when the tram
came to help take pictures when this couple came up to me and said, "I
have a question, can we go into the church?" I explained the difference
between a temple and a church and said that the temple took spiritual
preparation before going inside. He wanted to see inside though so I explained
how the VC had pictures of the inside of the temple and wanted to know if he
wanted to go see those. He said he wanted to go look inside the actual temple
so I explained that I could take him up to the doors and he could see inside
the lobby. I took him up there and he explained how they were from India and he
was Baptist and very strong in his religion, but his girlfriend was Hindu
although she did have a belief in God. She just hadn't had any miraculous,
spiritual experiences so she wasn't sure. That is why he wanted her to go into
the temple so bad because he said "I know that God is in there, I can feel
it and I want her to feel it!" We talked about the temple and how it is
the house of the Lord. He asked who the man was standing at the front desk so I
explained about recommends and he asked, "can you recommend us then?"
I told him that only a bishop could do that, but that I would love to send
missionaries to his area to share with him more about how he could someday
enter the temple. Even though I told him we have 142 temples around the world,
he was still confused and kept saying he couldn't come serve here or come back
here cause of work. He said, "i'm only interested in going in the
temple." His girlfriend understood a little bit better and explained what
I was trying to say and said the missionaries would come and share with him how
he could enter the temple and he was like, "So, we can go now?" haha!
He wanted to go in so bad! He kept saying that he could feel, and was 100% sure
that God was inside there. The tram came around then and they wanted to stay
for the next tram so I took them inside the VC and shared the Restoration and
temple pictures. They both want to know more about Heavenly Father's plan for
them and they want a copy of the Book of Mormon and missionaries! It was such a
neat experience!
This is truly the Lord's work and I
continue to see miracles each day. I may not be the perfect missionary and I
make lot's of mistakes, but I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ
that strengthens me, and consecrates my efforts, and makes up for the mistakes
that I make! I love this work so much and I know that it is true! I love you
all a ton and pray for you always!
Les quiero!
Hermana Rowley
The last picture is one of Gabriela.
She is from Xela Guatemala!!!!! She was super excited to meet me and wants me
to come visit someday:)
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