Cold Yet So Happy

Well team, it's cold over here.

Thank goodness for people who will meet with us (to keep us off the streets) and fleece tights. And for church. Church was fantastic yesterday.

There was a couple there, who have some friends in the ward. He's been coaching the young men's basktetball team, and has had a lot of questions. I was teaching Gospel Principles (which probably had about 25 people in it) and the lesson was about Creation. Not one of the most exciting topics, but I had a purdy good game plan. We were going to talk about why we needed to be separated from God to fulfill His purposes for us, how His creation of the Earth shows His love for us, and then how we can show our love for Him through our treatment of His creations. I had just asked what people could do to show love for God. Some said things about not trashing the Earth. Great comments. A (the man visiting) raised his hand and talked about how the members he's met are the most loving people he's ever seen and show their love for God by how they live and have treated him. He was in tears. The spirit was strong. And that was the point. We show our love for God by loving each other. We are the crowning creation for the Earth, and everybody to be loved as though they are God's treasured child, because they are. That's how we can show God we love Him.

Relief Society was about President Uchtdorf's talk "Come Join with Us." At one point, the lady teaching asked those who were not born into the church to raise their hands. Most of the people. She shared what got her into the church--missionaries came to her and asked, "If Christ's church, as from the New Testament, was on the earth today, would you join it?" She said she would.

She asked others who'd raised their hands what got them in.

~An older lady's daughter had joined the church because the boy she was dating was a member. She saw the change in her daughter and was impressed by that.

~One lady was raised Jehovah's Witness. She asked why there were prophets in the Old Testament, but not today. Missionaries knocked on the door and shared a brief message about prophets.

~One lady's dad had become agnostic when his preacher left their congregation for a higher paying position. When missionaries came by, he asked how much they paid their preacher. When they answered that he didn't get paid, his heart was softened.

~One lady heard about the Plan of Salvation, and just knew it was real.

It was really neat to here these different experiences.

Sister Tolman's been updating me about Bloomington. J's getting baptized. She said in church, he had this awesome moment when he said, "The Church is True.  All of it is true!" When Sister Tolman and I first became companions, we met this really cool guy named S. We had talked for about an hour about geology, astronomy, God, and beliefs. We'd been trying to contact him ever since, but he hadn't been home. She said they finally caught him at home, and he said he'd been waiting for them: he'd thought a lot about what we'd said, and set an appointment with them.

It's been really great to be able to hear things like that after leaving an area. That along with the miracles happening out here have been incredible.

I've also been learning (again) that we do need the spirit to teach. I love logic, but it's not enough. The restoration of the fulness satisfies inconsistencies. One example, I tried to explain last week, was about how God loves us beyond what we could imagine, yet how baptism is necessary. This lady we were talking to believes the Bible whole-heartedly (or so she says), which clearly states that baptism is necessary for salvation. But she doesn't think that God would deny somebody on their death bed, if they were truly repentant, even if he doesn't get baptized. But then why does anybody get baptized, if it's not really necessary? And thus we see how the Lord provides a way that justice and mercy can both be satisfied--baptisms for the dead. He's purdy cool, eh?

With that thought in mind, F (our new Haitian investigator) asked us about what makes our church different from others. There's so many who think we're not into the Bible, but we believe it/follow much more thoroughly than others. That's a difference.

Anywhen, life is good, Indiana is cold, and keeping the commandments makes us happy.

Love,
Sister Bowen

P.S. Update from SIster Tolman just now: I'd just asked how R and B were doing and she said "B has been secretly reading the Book of Mormon.  We had a lesson with him last week and he told us, quote, "I don't know what kind of testament you need from me, but this is true."  He slammed his fist on the Book of Mormon repeatedly as he told us this.  We are talking with R tomorrow about moving her baptism date so that she and he may be baptized together..."

I am so happy right now :D