Hello from Minnesota!!!!
All is well! i cant believe that i am finally in the mission field! its pretty exciting that i have the opportunity to serve the Lord for real now! I cant wait to be a part of REAL miracles instead of the practice miracles in the MTC! My first reaction when i saw Minnesota was "wow...that is a LOT of lakes." LOL. Also when i was riding my bike along the road, it was raining pretty hard and because Minnesota is sooooooooooo green, sometimes i felt like i was in a rainforest haha Oh and my first area is Eagan, Not too far from the Twin cities! Its a great area to be tracting and serving the Lord. Overall, Minnesota is such a BEAUTIFUL place and has very nice people. of course not all the people are nice and i learned that from proselyting in the first week haha
So it was pretty crazy coming into the mission home. My mission president, President Howell, is such an amazing man and his wife is awesome too! they took us in the mission home, fed us dinner and treated us like we were their children. It was neat. Its also impressive of how in-tune they are with the Spirit. They would do anything for each missionary individually. For example, President Howell woke up at 1 in the morning to drive across the mission and to give a missionary a blessing who felt homesick and unsuccessful. There's soo much love there and he sets a great example of how we show love our fellow men. President Howell had his farewell fireside yesterday because there is a new mission president coming on Wednesday, President Clements. President Howell and his wife will be missed by so many missionaries and recent converts whom the Howells have touched their lives. President Howell is a man of God and im thankful for the example he sets for well over 200 missionaries.
So some cool facts about the mission: we have one of the highest retention rates in the stateside missions. That means that not as many people fall away from the church as soon as they are baptized. Thats sooo awesome and just says how great the missionaries are here in helping people receive an unshakable testimony of Jesus Christ and his gospel. The mission REALLLLYYYYY emphasizes the importance of having a profile at mormon.org because it is how we plant seeds. Within the mission, we have more mormon.org profiles than anywhere on earth. That is a powerful tool in converting people to the gospel. So each of you SHOULD get a mormon.org profile because it also gives you an opportunity to reflect on how you obtained a testimony of the gospel and to share it to all the internet users throughout the world. Pretty amazing right???
My new companion is Elder Baker and if any of you knew the Bills in my ward, he looks a lot like Matt Bills. He is from Tuscon, Arizona, he's a wrestler, and He's been in the mission field for about 9 months (i think he reported on the same day that Elder Gingrich entered the field). He's a pretty sweet companion! We only have a 2 Elder apartment so it is just me and him. Gets pretty quiet but thats ok. haha. He's a dedicated Elder and im already learing alot from him.
Alright so as far as the missionary work goes...i don't have a whole lot of info yet because we Elder Baker never scheduled any appointments this week so it was ALOT of tracting. So bear with me as i try to talk about the work!!! So our biggest progressing investigator is a 16 year old boy named Dylan. His mom, Tina, is a member and loves the missionaries. She is divorced and Dylan is with his dad right now but we are teaching him this Thursday. He has shown a TREMENDOUS desire to be baptized and he wants to change his life. He is on probation but his time for that is almost over. We are going to set a date for July this week. We cant wait! We received a referral from mormon.org right as I was coming in. So Elder Baker thinks that this man, Timothy, needs to hear the gospel from me. I don't know that but the Lord does so we'll see! We received 2 new investigators this week named Ravi and Monika. They are Hindu but after hearing about what they believe, I'd say they have a similar view as Christians. They have 2 little girls, 4 and 2 years old, and they are VERY open about the gospel. One thing that will make it easier to team them the gospel than with other Hindus is that they do not believe in reincarnation. I think that the Lord has prepared them well and that they are ready to recieve the gospel. Other than that we have been getting some potential investigators and doing ALOT of proselyting. So the work has been going kind of slow this week but we have a lot of lesson plans this week so ill give you more info next week on the work here in Eagan.
My scripture for the week is D&C 58:3-4. As we go about our trials and afflictions in life, let us see them in a way that our Heavenly Father sees them. We should view our trials as faith boosters and struggles only for a short time that will strengthen us and prepare us to partake of eternal life.
Before i go, I'd like to share a miracle that happened to me personally last Friday: So this whole week i have been sick with a pretty bad cold with a really bad congested throat, so bad that i could barely talk. If you know me well i sometimes use the "i cant do it because im sick" excuse. Well i decided that I know why i am out here and that i am on the Lord's time, not mine. So i still went out regardless of how sick i was. Not to mention me and Elder Baker were fasting that day. I was afraid that i wouldn't be able to talk to people. But i knew that i was on the Lords errand and because i was, I knew that he would provide a way for me to find and talk to these people that were out looking for something that they don't know they are looking for. So that whole day i was able to talk to people and we got a few potential investigators and we gave out a Book of Mormon to a man. It was an amazing day and when i came home that night i was drained but filled with the Spirit. That's what keeps me going, the Spirit. I think i am starting to understand what i must to to "lose myself in the work." I know that the Lord will bless us with even more miracles and I know that some days may not be easy but it will be worth it because the Lord is with us. I know that I am His eyes, His mouth, His feet, His ears, and His hands as i serve Him. Thank you for all your support and may the Lord continue to shower His blessings and love upon you!
Love,
Elder Mower
Hey fam!
As you can tell i am doing well!!! i do have to be honest, im trying to get over being homesick but im fighting through it and im finding a lot of joy in serving the Lord at the same time. dad i definitely see how a mission is so difficult sometimes. i know that i will be ok though because the Lord is on my side. All i have to do is pray my heart out and He will help me. I have found soooo much joy in serving the Lord and nothing can take that away from me.
Im sorry i couldnt talk alot at the airport. It was a CRAZY DAY. but i definitely look forward to calling you in christmas!!!
There are a few things that i do need: 2 Bed Liners (The stretchy sheets that go under the bed sheets), Pull up bar ofcourse, my bigger suit pants for my new suit (my smaller ones dont fit and the zipper is crooked), a tie for president howell because he is leaving (just a going away present for him), more missionary journals (not now but soon), and my RUGBY BALL for PDAY along with my ball pump PLEASE!!! hahahaha
Thank you for all of your support and love. I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I wouldnt be here if it wasnt. Jesus is the Christ and He has the enabling power to ransom us and heal us from anything that we have done in our lives if we have faith in Him. Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God and has brought forth the Book of Mormon to bless our lives and to show us the way back to our Heavenly Father. I know that through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, recieving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, we can all return to our Heavenly Father as an eternal family. im so grateful for your sweet examples that you set for me and i miss that. But i know that i am where i need to be. I love each of you sooooo much and ill talk to you soon!!! :]
Much love from your son brother and missionary,
Elder Mower
No comments:
Post a Comment