Elder Mower Letter #16

Hello from Eagan, MN!

Something funny happened yesterday so ill share that: We knocked on a future investigators door and a girl looks through the window (the window was open so we could hear her). Then she yells to a boy saying: "ITS THE FREAKING JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!" Elder Black and I were laughing our heads off. Eventually she answered the door because she knew that we saw and heard her. We just shared a mormon.org card and invited her to check it out but that's about it. haha

So I'm not gonna lie, this week started off as one of the roughest weeks of my mission.

Mary Hellan dropped us. She was our most solid investigator but she had a huge problem with us not believing in transubstantiation. It didn't make sense because she said herself that she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. So the Book of Mormon shouldn't be a problem with her. She also didn't like that we don't use wine for the blood of Christ. She quoted that even the Book of Mormon said wine. So her question really is: "Was Joseph Smith a total fraud or was he a true prophet inspired from God?" If she believes he was a prophet, then i really don't know how else to help her. I do think that the only reason that she met with the missionaries is because she was more attached to the missionaries that started teaching her than to the gospel. Elder Baker (my last companion) was one of those elders that started teaching her. A week after he left, she dropped us. Its ok though because she said that she will still read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She told us that she will call us if she has any questions. a definite seed was planted.

We BARELY had any lessons this week. Most of our lessons fell through. It was really testing my faith. I felt like an unsuccessful missionary. Elder Black felt the same way.

We knew that we had to over come that obstacle. So for companionship study all this week, we really focused on attaining the attributes of a successful missionary. We re-evaluated our efforts and worked even harder. Then after our hard work came THE GREATEST MIRACLES I've seen on my mission.

We received a referral on Friday. Best referral yet! She flat out said that she wants to become a Mormon!!! that made me soooo happy!!! Her name is Jayme! The only problem is that she wouldn't give us her address because her mom is SUPER ANTI against the church and she doesn't want us to have to deal with that. We know that she lives in Rosemount but we only cover part of Rosemount so we don't quite know if she is in our area but there is a good chance that she is. We haven't contacted her yet but we know that she is SO READY to receive the gospel.

Elder Black and I tried new finding procedures this week. We completely went through our area book and we found 2 former investigators that said that we could come back and teach them!One of them actually told us why she stopped investigating the church (she felt rushed). So we promised her that we would take it slow with her. Now we know her needs and that is HUGE! If you see the missionaries and they are having trouble finding people, then ask them when the last time was that they checked their area book. Elder Hinckley (president Hinckleys son) came to the mission once and left us a promise that if we stop by our former investigators and do 10 x 10 tracting (10 houses left and 10 right from the former investigators house) that we WILL find someone to baptize. Awesome promise right there because it is SO TRUE!

What i am about to share is an experience that completely changed my perspective on families and even changed my mission. Because it is such a touching experience for me, i will go ahead and leave this lesson as my spiritual thought. We were able to teach the Rodriguez Family (LA) just last Friday. The Rodriguez family is sooooo AWESOME! They have 3 kids Felix Jr. (14), Calvin (11), Cassie (8). We taught them a lot about the Restoration to make sure if they know that the Church is true. When we were teaching about the Holy Ghost, we asked them if they had ever felt the Holy Ghost in their lives and invited them to share that experience. Sister Rodriguez shared that it was an amazing feeling and would do ANYTHING to get that feeling back. Brother Rodriguez shared that whenever he was on an airplane that was very shaky, he was afraid but when he would read the Book of Mormon on the plane, the fear would leave him and he wouldn't even notice the plane shaking. Their youngest daughter, Cassie, is 8 and always bugs them about her getting baptized by her dad. So Brother Rodriguez wants to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. He wants to baptize Cassie. The family made a SOLID commitment to come to church. THEY CAME!!! But here was the highlight of that lesson: Brother Rodriguez said: "I feel very close to my family, but i still feel that there is an emptiness in my home." He then asked us to bless his home. He basically asked us to dedicate his home. We said we would do it Sunday, which was yesterday. Elder Black dedicated their home and it was a powerful prayer. We talked about the prayer. Brother Rodriguez then shared a wonderful experience that he had. He had a dream not too long ago. Here is his dream: "He and his family were having some struggles and felt that emptiness in their home (the one that i just talked about). He asked his bishop to dedicate their home. He didn't do it because the bishop said that he had the authority. But Brother Rodriguez felt inadequate and unready, so it didn't happen." Brother Rodriguez started crying as he expressed his desire to get the Priesthood to bless the lives of his family. He said that this dream was a wake up call for him because he didn't feel good enough to get the Priesthood. That hurt him because he really knows that he needs it and that his family needs it. He wants the blessings of the Priesthood SO BAD for his family. But he expressed his firm commitment to work towards receiving the Priesthood. After that Sister Rodriguez started crying. Then even I started crying!!! That was the only time so far that i had ever cried in a real lesson on my mission. The Spirit really touched me that day and I truly felt the love within this amazing family. They also said that from now on, they will be attending church regularly and are making it a goal to be sealed in the temple! That touched me MORE THAN ANYTHING in my life. That opened me to to realize how much a father really loves his wife and children. I developed such a great love for this family. It also helped me better understand our Heavenly Father's love for His children. It really is something beautiful. I love this family sooooooo much! This was without a doubt the happiest moment of my mission so far and is one of my biggest mission highlights. The Spirit pretty much made my heart explode!!! (in a great way).

Keep on praying for the missionaries throughout the world! they are doing amazing things in the Lord's behalf. Thank you for all you do and may the Lord always be with you.

Love Elder Mower