February 20, 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

What a week!  This whole week has been a flash.  On Monday Elder McOmber and I met and returned to the area.  This past week has been one trying to help Elder McOmber get acquainted with the area, his responsibilities and all the members and investigators.  Elder McOmber is a very hard worker and it is easy to catch the spirit of missionary work around him.  I am very grateful to be his companion. He has a great knowledge of the scriptures, I think he has about 110 scriptures and their references memorized that pertain to the missionary lessons, and he is just very knowledgeable about the scriptures and the gospel.  It is great to be his companion, and it helps me to realize that I can do a whole lot better of a job at learning the scriptures.

On Wednesday we met a lady named Jackie Bottoms.  At first she didn't really want to listen to us, but as we asked various questions about her, she softened her heart.  We learned that she had had just been laid off and was just having a rough day. Elder McOmber shared with her about the plan of salvation and she invited us back so that she could learn more about it.  We had the opportunity yesterday after church to teach her and it was so touching, the Spirit was so strong.  She is a very humble person and sincere in her desire to learn more of God.

Tuesday night we taught John Wright. That was a very special experience because of why he decided to let us teach him.  He invited us to return to his home to teach him because of the example of members of the church that he knew.  There was one member in particular, someone that he works for, that he has simply watched and seen something different about him.  He said that there was just an aura about not only Brother Lowder, but about every member of our church he has met.  What John doesn't realize is that it is the Spirit of a faithful saint keeping his/her covenants.  People really do watch us and we may never know what impact it will have.  This was just one instance when the example is made known.  We must always act as if someone is watching because the chances are that someone IS watching us.  People notice us and it makes a difference what we do.

Elder Layton