Few are Chosen

Hey Family,

Sorry for the lack of an email last week! We had a mission-wide June Christmas party on the beach. It was so much fun:) We basically just played all day. Then as the day wound down and the sun started to set it became much more sentimental. Sister Loveridge and I just stood and cried and talked about our mission and how sacred this place is. That was most likely the last time we would be on the beach in Florida as full-time missionaries.

This place truly is sacred ground.

I have so much to tell you guys! Two weeks worth, and both jam-packed with miracles!

The first person I want to talk about is a new investigator that we have started working with. He was a referral from a member in another ward. He called us up last Friday and asked if we could visit his friend. We called this friend and he told us to come over the next morning, so we did. We really had no idea what to expect! But the man we met was so prepared for the Gospel. He was going through a lot of hard things in his life, and he was really working to change his life. He asked all the right questions! He came to church the following Sunday and loved it. We committed him to be baptized at the end of this month. It has only been a week, but you can see the change in him. He is so happy now! His boys were over at his house this weekend and we gave them a children's book of Mormon and they have already read to chapter 12! They came to church and loved it too. I wish I could describe to you how much love I have for this cute family. They are incredible. The Gospel really does change lives.

The next experience that I would like to share with you is a perfect example of how we truly do not know how much good we do.

MTC Sisters 

So, I don't know if you remember or not, but a few weeks ago, in my email, I shared with you about a Friday that was really hard: no one was outside, we were feeling unmotivated, we lacked the courage to talk to people... Well, that day, we had prayed to know where we should go. And we felt like we should go to Target. So we figured that maybe we should go and contact people in the Target parking lot. We had been talking about how we wanted to get more courage to talk to people in parking lots, because honestly that is where most people are! So we went to Target and went inside briefly to use the restroom and fill our water bottles. Then we went outside and tried to contact people walking to their cars- it was a total flop. We didn't have the courage, the few people we talked to were in too much of a hurry to listen. So we gave up on that and left to our next activity.

Fast forward to about a week after this experience. We were walking to the church, and there are two ways to walk to the church that both take about the same amount of time, but one usually has more people out and about. But for some reason we felt like we should go the way where there usually isn't too many people. But both of us felt like that was the way to go so we did!... And there was absolutely no one outside. Not a soul. And it was really, really hot. Then we see a car pull up next to us and this lady rolls down her window. She said that she had seen us in Target a week ago and loved our warm smiles, they had made her day.

We didn't remember seeing this lady at Target, she definitely wasn't anyone that we had talked to. But she had noticed our smiles, and it touched her enough that even a week later she would recognize us on the street in a totally different area of town and stop us to talk to us.

You never know how much good you do.

This week is transfers. We found out that I will be staying in Gibsonia, but Sister Loveridge will be leaving. I am honestly so sad to see her go. She has become my best friend and my sister. I have never grown so much on my mission as I have with her. She has pushed me to be my best and together we have set goals and made changes that have changed us forever. We have seen so many miracles together. I am so grateful for this transfer that I was able to spend with her.

BFE's (best friends for eternity)

She shared something this morning in companionship study that hit me really hard. She was sharing the verse in Doctrine and Covenants 121:34

"Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?"

She and I discussed for a little while what it means to be chosen. The next verse describes those who are not chosen:

"Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world and aspire to the honors of men..."

How many of us are set upon the things of this world and the honors of men? I think it is really easy to get caught up in that. Its easy to get caught up in the things of this world, or wanting to be recognized and praised by man.

 But is it worth giving up our divine inheritance?

I have learned a lot lately about what exactly these "things of the world" are. They are Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc, when these things are not used for spreading the gospel. They are movies and TV shows that make violence and immorality look normal and fun. They are movies and TV shows with humor that is crude or jokes made at another's expense. They are songs that direct our thoughts to anything but Christ and goodness.

Some of these "things of the world" aren't even necessarily bad... Or are they? I guess that is for the individual to decide. But I have decided that I can't take part in anything that does not bring me closer to Christ. Notice I said "can't" not "won't". With the knowledge that I have and the blessings I have been given I cannot go back. I cannot go back to the world. And that means giving up a lot of things that I love.

I've learned that we choose to be "chosen". God has promised glorious things to those who are chosen, and He has a great work for them to do.

As I look around at the world, I see many people who are called but they aren't chosen because they choose to set their hearts upon temporal and worldly things, they care too much about what the world thinks of them, rather than what their Father in Heaven thinks. Little do they know what they are forfeiting.

Let's read those scriptures again.

"Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men..."

Later on it tells us how we can choose to be chosen.

"Let thy bowels be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly..."

Then comes the promise; Heavenly Father never asks us to do something without promising something in return:

"Then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever."

I know that Christ is our Savior. He lived for us, he died for us, and he lived again for us. I know that the only thing that we can give back to him for all he has done for us is our will. We have to CHOOSE to do so. I know that we show our love for God and Christ through our decisions on what will do with this probationary state he has given us. How will we use His time? What will we accomplish? Who will we become? Who will we help along the way?  And will we truly be prepared to meet God?

I am so grateful for everything that I have been learning. I have been changed over the past 7 weeks and I am a new person! Its exciting! Changing and repenting is so exciting. I hope you all have or will find change exciting too.

Love always, Sister Rowland

Florida storm

And the "sky" view