Whatsoever Thing Ye Ask in Faith

Sister Yellow & Sister Rowland

Hey Family!

Transfers came and went, and my new companion is Sister Yellow! She is from Utah, in West Valley. She is an incredible missionary and I'm so glad to be able to serve with her. She's been out almost nine months. Every since she got here things have been flying! We have set some pretty hefty goals for this transfer, but we feel so good about them! We have no doubt that this transfer will hold many many miracles!

These past few days, I have just felt so good about things. We have been working extra hard with the members, because obviously that's the only way to do missionary work:) We prayed, and Heavenly Father helped us come up with this Youth Missionary Challenge... did I already tell you about this last week? If so, I apologize, you are going to hear it again. But basically its a list of little things the youth can do that will help them become more missionary minded! And different things are worth different point values. Plus they can earn a few bonus points for various things. We introduced it to the youth and started it yesterday. They were so excited! One of them had already earned like 10 points before the elders had finished explaining it! Our ward mission leaders wife asked us why her son was yelling "hello" and waving to everyone he saw on the way home from church... :p Yeah, that may have been our fault... But we are super stoked! We feel like even if only a few of the youth really latch on, that at least it will help someone to become more missionary minded and be prepared for his or her mission in the future!

The other things we are working on with the members is a 90 day Book of Mormon reading challenge, inviting their friends to all of our ward activities, and sharing the church's new Easter video with someone and then inviting them to hear a message about Christ from the missionaries. (If you haven't heard about it yet, the church is coming out on March 28th with an Easter video clip called "Because He Lives". We got a sneak peak of it, and its incredible! There is so much spirit packed into those 2 1/2 minutes it like punches you in the face! Its great!) Y'all should do the same thing! Pray about someone that you can share the video with, and then ask them if they would let the missionaries come and share a message with them about Jesus Christ! The worst they can say is no, right? :) Let me know how it goes!

As far as our teaching pool, it is growing and it is growing fast! We have a baptism date set for April 18 and we need all of your prayers for this one. She is a nine year old daughter of a less-active member. We will call her J. J just turned 9 today actually! Her mom has been a member her whole life, but really hasn't been to church since she was like 13. J has been wanting to get baptized for almost a year now, but its been hard to keep her mom active enough to allow it to happen. We gave J a children's Book of Mormon and she reads it on her own every day and its so fun to listen to her tell us the stories and what she is learning. She knows that the Gospel makes her happy. And she knows that God loves her. There is so much faith in that 9 year old little package! I wish I could be more like her. But if y'all would pray that we will be able to meet with J enough, and that her mom will be supportive enough that she can be baptized on the 18th, I know that it will happen. Prayers are so powerful. J even shared a story with us about how there were some kids at school that didn't like her. So she went home one day and prayed and asked God to make it so those kids would be nice to her, and when she went to school the next day she was "the most popular kid in class". Out of the mouth of babes, my friends.

That reminds me of a cool concept that I learned in the Book of Mormon this week about how praying in faith works. We learn from Enos that "Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it." (Enos 1:15)

So why, sometimes, do we pray for things and we really really believe it can happen, but it doesn't? Well, its because we are only focusing on the first half of the verse. There's more to that promise, than just believing. God IS bound when we do what He asks. And we ARE promised in the scriptures that those prayers will be answered. BUT believing that God can do it, is only the first part.

So let's start with talking a little more about faith. The Bible Dictionary says that "Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true." It also says, that "faith is a principle of action and of power, and by it one can command the elements, heal the sick, and influence any number of circumstances." BUT it also says, "all true faith must be based upon correct knowledge or it cannot produce the desired results."

The verse in Enos mentions one very important element to this, and that is "in the name of Christ".

The Bible Dictionary, under "Prayer", says: "We pray in Christ's name when our mind is the mind of Christ, and our wishes, the wishes of Christ... Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ's name at all; they in no way represent His mind."

So we must base our prayers of faith on correct knowledge, and more specifically correct knowledge about Christ and His Gospel. And when we do that we can be assured, like the missionary Nephi that "all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will."

Nephi was given power to do pretty much anything. But he earned that power by obedience to the will of God. God knew that he would not ask anything that was contrary to His will. Nephi was EXACTLY OBEDIENT to all of the commandments of God.

I thought that was a pretty incredible concept.

About a week or two ago (and I can share this story now that its long enough past that it won't make Mom panic :p LOVE YOU MOMMY!), I had a pretty crazy allergic reaction to something. I would wake up in the morning and my face would be so swollen and puffy you would think I'd been in a terrible accident! It was gross, guys. Really gross. So for a week, I went through the routine of waking up in the morning with a swollen face, taking Benadryl, which would then knock me out for half an hour to 40 minutes, then get up and get going for the day. I have never been allergic to anything in my life! So I had NO idea what the problem was. I thought maybe I had developed a food allergy, so I pretty much stopped eating everything "just in case". But it didn't make any difference. Finally, one day, I was just fed up with this new routine. So, lying in bed, I said a quick little prayer and asked what was causing the allergic reaction. Immediately I thought of the new face lotion I had bought that Monday. It was the same stuff I've been using, only it was the generic brand of it. So I never would have thought that was the problem. I immediately got up, threw it away, and haven't had a problem since. Heavenly Father really does answer our prayers, big or small :)

We have been praying a whole heck of a lot, and seeking to do God's will, and miracles are happening. Sister Yellow and I both started a "Promptings Journal" and every time we get a prompting to do something, we write it down with a little check box next to it. And as we go throughout the day, we make sure that we are able to check off every little box. And every time we do, something amazing happens! Crazy how much God knows better than us! He is so smart!

We really have been seeing some incredible miracles the past few days. And we can feel Heavenly Father helping us and guiding us. This work is so important, guys. I hope that you all recognize that! And I hope you all know that God loves you very much:) And I love you very much!

Hope you have a glorious week!

Love always, Sister Rowland