Our Heavenly Father can speak to us through anyone or anything...including dish towels. Yes, dish towels.

The Lord always teaches us in the most interesting ways. We had a lesson on receiving personal revelation with one of our investigators this week, and we each shared examples from our own lives. One of the stories our investigator shared with us, actually, had to do with something very unexpected - dish towels. She has dish towels that say "Faith, Hope, Love" on them, and there was one day when seeing those towels was an answer to her prayers. I wouldn't have ever thought that dish towels could be that special and sacred for someone, but we can't limit the ways in which God will speak to us. It was a very good reminder of the answers I've received in my own life.

While on the investigator note, I want to tell Sopheak's story (pronounced so-pay-uk). He's a Cambodian man in his 20s, and is the grandson of a member of the Lowell ward. He moved to the United States from Cambodia in October, and is in the process of learning English. He's doing a great job at it, and most of the time we speak English in our lessons. He's had an interest in the Church ever since he moved in with his grandparents (who are both members), and even though it was initially an intellectual interest, all conversions start somewhere! We've taught him 3 times now, and we're taking it slow, since Christianity is vastly different from Buddhism. This last week in our lesson with him, we watched "Finding Faith in Christ" and talked about following Him as our Savior. The Spirit was so powerful, and Sopheak accepted a baptismal date! He then prayed for the first time in his life, and it was incredible to me how real it was to him. He's not sure yet if he believes, but he has real intent to find out for himself. It was an amazing lesson! I can't wait to see how he progresses.

We had the chance to go to the temple this morning. I always love going to the temple, even if I'm utterly exhausted. There's always, ALWAYS a special Spirit that permeates every inch of these sacred buildings, and each time I seem to gain some sort of personal revelation or at the very least a manifestation of my Heavenly Father's love for me. For that, I am grateful - I definitely needed it today.

A couple of days ago, the city finally starting trucking away all the snow. It's been sitting around since Nemo hit, just mounds of frozen snow everywhere. Bulldozers have been loading the snow into the beds of dump trucks, and those trucks have been taking the snow somewhere else. Good riddance! Hahaha.

We're ALMOST done with the YSA contacting project...it's been a work in progress for a couple months now, and we only have 30-something names left to contact. I'm pretty happy about that! There may not be a whole lot of reactivation that comes from that, but I know it's part of what the Lord wants us to do for this ward at this time. He's preparing people here to receive the gospel as well, and I know we'll find them as we look for them according to His will.

That's all I've got for this week, I think. I love being part of this great work! Godspeed, everyone!

Much love,
Elder DeLong