Bring Them Hither and I Will Heal Them

Hey Guys!

I can't believe that August starts this week... its so crazy! I feel like I blinked and July was gone! But it has been such an incredible month. July will be one I never forget!

On Saturday, one of our investigators got baptized! It was such a neat service. (Fun story: all of our translators for her are male, so obviously when we were in the changing room with her, none of them could be in there. We had a lot of fun playing charades trying to explain everything to her since we can't communicate with words. ) She doesn't speak any English, so the entire service was entirely in Spanish. Even the songs we sang were in Spanish. It was so cool to see how the ward came and supported her even though none of them can communicate with her, and couldn't understand the service they were there and completely embraced her. And the spirit was felt there so strong. Its neat because she decided to be baptized because of the way she felt at church, even though she couldn't understand anything. And then we all got to have that same experience at her baptism, where we couldn't understand but the spirit spoke louder than words. Her husband is a member but he hasn't been very active in the church ever in his life. He has been working really hard to be able to baptize her! And the look on his face after he baptized his wife was priceless. He was so happy! I love them so much, and even though we can't talk to each other our spirits are still able to communicate. We can just look them in the eyes and they look back and words become totally unnecessary.

We also had another cool miracle this week! It has been super rainy and we no longer have a car at all. We used to have one that we could drive when the storms are really bad but at transfers this week we had to give up our car. So on Thursday, it was storming really badly and we were only able to bike. So we decided to reschedule the appointment and do something else out of the storm. As soon as we rescheduled the sky cleared up!! But we decided that since we had already rescheduled we might as well just do what we were planning to do instead and walk over to the church. As we were walking I just kept feeling like we needed to go a different way, a longer way. I kept ignoring it. But finally I told Sister Day what I was feeling and she said that we should do it. So we went the long way around, and as soon as we got to this particular street that had been on my mind, there was a guy up ahead of us. As we were walking towards him, my mind kept going back and forth... "We need to talk to him! No, he's probably not prepared for the gospel... But maybe he is... buts he's kind of scary looking... So? he's still a child of God!" This happens a lot... I have little arguments back and forth in my brain. I'm not crazy though... Finally we got to him and I just opened my mouth and started talking to him. We were able to teach him the first lesson right there on the street, give him a Book of Mormon, and commit him to be baptized. He shared with us how he was new in Lakeland, his wife had just died, and he is just trying to find what God needs him to do here. It was so powerful! He told us that from the first second we were in his view he just felt this peaceful feeling that he couldn't describe. Its so cool how God puts us in the right place to meet those who are ready for this Gospel.

This week in district meeting they committed all of us to offer to say a prayer with everyone we meet, whether it is someone on the street or someone whose door we just knocked on, so we have been doing that this week and it is so cool! Something cool about being on the bible belt is there are very few people who will say no to a prayer. And then we are able to have a powerful spiritual experience with this random stranger. That is something I am going to miss so much! There have been a few times when we have been praying with people on the street and there are noisy cars driving by, but as soon as we start praying the world gets silent. Every time! I can just imagine that if I were to open my eyes and look up that the world would be frozen in place. That's what it seems like! I love having spiritual experiences with random strangers on the street... its so neat!

So I just wanted to quickly share something from my studies this week!!

In my Book of Mormon reading I am in 3 Nephi. So I have been reading about Christ's ministry among the Nephites and it is so powerful! One thing in particular really hit me this week and it comes from chapter 17.

Christ has just finished teaching the people some of His commandments and he is about to leave for the night, but he looks around and sees the faces of the people and how badly they wanted him to stay, so he stayed a little longer.

He says,

"Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind. or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them..."

"And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner, and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto Him."

What hit me most about these verses is that the sick had to be brought to Christ by another. None of them could go by themselves. How many of us know people who are spiritually sick and need to be healed by Christ? We have to be the ones to bring them to Him.

"And they did all, both they who had been healed AND they who were whole, bow down at his feet, and did worship him."

When we do that, we will rejoice together with those that we bring.

I am so grateful for this Gospel. I am grateful for a Savior who can heal us. And I am so grateful to be a missionary, and to witness Him heal others everyday.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week:)

Sister Rowland