Elder Mower Letter #7

Hello all!

Another great week in Eagan!!! The work is moving along great, I am learning ALOT in personal and companion study, and the first month in the mission field have been a blast! So me and my companion, Elder Baker, started something for our studies called "the ten days of truth". It is when you read the whole Book of Mormon in ten days! Within 3 days we are almost in the Book of Alma. IT IS INTENSE!!! but its a big testimony builder. It strengthens your testimony of the Book of Mormon soooo much. However, we put it on hold for a while because it was distracting us from learning the missionary lessons. To teach with the Spirit means to "teach with understanding", as said by Elder Holland. With that understanding we need to constantly be studying the missionary lessons because that is how we understand them. I have discovered that when you have not studied that day, no matter how well you know the gospel principle, you CANNOT teach with the Spirit if you don't prepare by faithful study. I thought I had the lessons learned pretty well. So I started the ten days of truth. Not long after, I saw myself completely blank as I was attempting to teach a lesson. So Elder Baker had to bail me out quite a bit. But its a valuable lesson that i learned. you can NEVER learn enough regardless of how well you know it.

So here is the scoop on the work in Eagan and Rosemount: We finally met with Dylan. I extended the invitation to be baptized on July 30th. He accepted but was still hesitant due to probation. So I talked with President Clements about this and we came to the conclusion that because his cause of probation was only a misdemeanor, he can still go about a normal baptismal interview and be baptized on July 30th. We completed the interview and He is all set!!! We are sooooooo excited for him! We met with the Nelson family once but we never got around to a lesson. Ray Nelson (the father) is less active who really wants to come back to church. Unfortunately, because they don't want to deal with taxes, Ray does not want to get married to his girlfriend, Trudy, quite yet. But their kids are able to be baptized. So we are extending the baptismal invitation this week!!! We met with our investigator, Mary Helan last Tuesday and she LOVES the Church. She is a Roman Catholic yet she believes a lot of things that we do. We want to take her to see the St. Paul temple soon! We are working with her to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to know of its truth. We had a new less active member recently this week move into the area. Her name is Rosina O'Conner. We met with her and she has been through ALOT of things. since 1993, she was married to a drug dealer who was abusive to her. She was baptized in 1993 as well. She went on and on to tell of her stories and I cant remember them all but she said that she knew that the Lord was always there helping her press on. After 18 years of marriage, she couldn't handle the pain anymore and she left her husband and is now filing for a divorce. She now wants to come back to church! She ended up coming!!! It was a miracle! The Atonement really does work through people's lives! I know it through hearing about the experiences of Rosina. We had companion exchanges with the zone leaders on Wednesday so that we could do Dylan's baptismal interview. I was with Elder Bowen and we taught Sister Briggs about eternal marriages, temples, the plan of salvation, and about fasting. The fasting portion of the lesson was powerful. We had a special fast for her to receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith. She also committed to fast! We haven't met with her yet so we will see what happens this Wednesday!

I'd like to share my spiritual thought for the week now because I'm running out of time. In Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5, It reads: "Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—;Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life." If we exercise our faith in Jesus Christ, then he will bless us with His everlasting grace. His grace is a gift that he truly desires to bless us with. All we have to do to receive it is to have faith in Him. He will support you in all that you do in His name. I know that this church is true and I love sharing this message of happiness. Thank you all for your support, I love you, and may the Lord bless you all!!!

Love,
Elder Mower