Miracles in Plano!

 May 19, 2014

This past week has been miraculous! We have seen an out pouring of blessings upon our area! This week we found 4 new investigators! K. was a referral from the Gladys Knight fireside. We meet with her last Monday. We had dinner with her and then answered her questions about the church which revolved mostly around polygamy and temple marriage and then gave her the gift bag. She thanked us for answering her questions and she felt that she received good answers. It seemed to us that her concerns on those topics were resolved. When we gave her the gift bag she was grateful to receive a copy of the Book of Mormon and said that she would start reading it and that we could come back in a week to have dinner again and talk to her more about the church. It was amazing and we are excited for the opportunity we have to continue teaching the Restored Gospel to her. We are going back this evening and we are excited to continue to see the Miracle of conversion take place in her life!

We also found a new investigator on an exchange with Elder Belnap. (He is a district leader in our zone for the Spanish missionaries and was my Zone leader for a time out in Longview when I was serving in Lufkin and Marshall.) I worked with him in our area. It was a great experience. As we began working the morning of the exchange we had a great story take place. We started knocking doors in a neighborhood and it's west Plano so it's a pretty nice neighborhood. A half hour into knocking a police officer pulls up next to us and gets out of his vehicle to speak to us. He was a really nice man. He told us that one of his residents had called because he saw some men in white shirts and ties going door to door and peering through windows. He asked us if we were peering through windows and we said "No sir just preaching the gospel." He then kind of did small talk for a little while about how some solicitors are really sketchy and what not. He then said "Well you can get back to your thing but no peering through windows." That was really a funny experience for us because the wording and all that and because it seamed like the cop was annoyed that one of the residents would call him out for something so lame. But He was very nice and respectful.

Elder Belnap and I were tracting in an apartment complex that evening and meet a Hispanic lady who attended church yesterday and wants to continue to attend and we also meet a very nice woman Alana who accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and scheduled a return appointment with us for the following day. When I returned with Elder Reid we were welcomed into their home which had heavy spices in the air! We all walked in and Alana and Elder Reid and I were all coughing in between our teaching because her roommate had just cooked something really spicy up. When we were teaching the Restoration we talked about the priesthood and how important it is and what it is used for and that got us on the topic of baptism. Alana told us that she had baptized herself because it was important to her. However when we were teaching her it seemed to us that she knew that her baptism was lacking priesthood authority. It was a great lesson and she said the closing prayer for us at the end! It was great!

We also taught another one of our investigators, D. about the Plan of Salvation. At the end of our lesson we got her family together and had family prayer with them. It was their first ever family prayer! It was great. Her daughter D. said it and I think that was her first prayer. At the end when we all said amen I felt the spirit. I forgot how important family prayer is! I pray with my companions all the time but something about kneeling in a circle for family prayer is powerful. I wish that I would have thought to do it with more investigators in previous areas.

I'm so grateful that our family has frequently had family prayer! It has really made us more loving and closer to each other. It's one of those small things that makes a big difference! I'm not going to forget that lesson again.

Our final miracle of the week came on Saturday when we meet K. when we knocked on her apartment door. We told her why we were there and asked if we could share our message with her and she didn't respond at first. We told her that if she was not interested than it wouldn't hurt our feelings if she said no. Her response was then, "I think I will. It feels like the right thing to do." So we got to know her a little better as we began to teach and she is sixteen years old and has tried many different belief systems ranging from Hindu to Buddhist and a little bit of Christianity. We asked her questions about what her beliefs were and how she felt about Christianity. At one point in our conversation she said "Y'all are so calm it's almost scary." I think that she is already starting to recognize the spirit. We told her of the Book of Mormon and she asked, "Does this mean that I'm going to have to go to church or can I just read?" We told her that coming to church would help her learn much faster and help her to find truth and at that moment her mom came to the door and said "My daughter needs Jesus in her. I will give her ride for free to go to church." Her mother is catholic but she seems to just want her daughter to believe in our Savior. She agreed to come to church and and then she came! It was amazing! We were really surprised and were not expecting her to actually come. The talks were focused on For the Strength of Youth. Perfect topic for a youth's first sacrament meeting. She had many familiar faces at church from high school and was immediately fellowshipped in with the young women of the ward. We have now scheduled another lesson with her at the church with one of the young women in the ward and the young woman's father. She also told us after church that she was thinking of attending seminary! We are seeing the evidences of God's work moving forward! Especially here in the Plano 9th ward! 

Miracles happen every day! Faith is a key part of missionary work! 

Well I love y'all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Love y'all!

Love your missionary, 

Elder Drew Bowen