I'm a week late with Elder Towers' last email. The following email came in on Halloween last week. This week, he took a break on sending a devotional in favor of a more personal email to his mom. Sorry...you don't get to see that one. :-) I hope you enjoy this latest devotional as much as we did!

P-Day is on Halloween! WHOO! And Halloween has a missionary curfew of 6:30! You know what that means? ALL DAY P-DAY! It's going to be a great day. Elder Murphy and I are buying pizza and soda and throwing ourselves a pizza party for two, and we received about 6 pounds of cinnamon rolls on Friday, and a vanilla birthday cake for Elder Murphy's 20th birthday yesterday. I can't wait for this food coma tonight! Also I didn't buy enough food this week and I'm completely out of everything except bread and tomatoes, so yeah.

We also got to go to the Temple on Saturday, which was awesome! We did initiatories because the endowment session was full.

Last night, we got caught in a massive storm that came out of nowhere. We were in the area farthest from our apartment, on foot (my bike tire popped AGAIN), and in clothes that were in no way waterproof. It had as much rain as a typical Florida storm, except way windier, way colder, and way less fun. But we saw someone in this storm that we hadn't seen in a long time due to their work schedule! Tender mercies :).

And yes, Elder Stevens is now in my zone so I see him frequently, haha!

I have recently done some studying on the topic of baptism, but specifically on the second half of baptism that has been forgotten by many modern sects of Christianity, which is receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is vital to completing the role of baptism, as the Holy Ghost is what allows us to be cleansed of sin and of the desire to sin for the rest of our life, as opposed to just during the act of being baptised. This will cover why and how to receive this gift, as well as how to keep it and utilize it for the rest of your life.

John 3:5

We must be born of water AND of the spirit. What does this mean? It means that a baptism by water is incomplete and inadequate unless followed by a baptism of the spirit, or receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. So how does one receive this gift?

Acts 8:14-17

After the day of Pentecost (which I won't go into detail about), the gift of the Holy Ghost was available for all those who had been properly baptised through the Priesthood authority to receive. These verses document Peter and John, who had recently received this gift, giving the gift of the Holy Ghost to those who had been properly baptized before. Note that this was done by a blessing, not an automatic receival following baptism. It is a separate event following baptism in which you receive this gift. (There are a LOT of references to the Holy Ghost and the gift thereof throughout Acts, and is a great place to study if you don't believe my words and would like to seek out the answers yourselves.)

2 Nephi 31:17

The preceding verses also explain benefits of the of Holy Ghost, but this one is the most clear. After explaining how baptism is the gate to the strait and narrow path back to God, it explains that a remission of sins by fire and the Holy Ghost follows. In other words, it cleanses ALL of you. Not just your sins, but your mind and desires, too. With the gift of the Holy Ghost, you will have less of a desire to continue in your past sins, and have a true drive to follow God's commandments. With this gift, you will learn to hate all sin.

Mosiah 4:3

This is the most important part of baptism. Rather than just cleansing your sins in the moment of being baptised, the Holy Ghost allows for you to feel that same forgiveness throughout your lives, as these individuals were able to feel. By having previously received the gift, they were able to feel that cleansing of fire and true joy as they repented and changed their ways. This is one of the main roles of the Holy Ghost, to give us a continual remission of our sins. Seek after this gift always, and you will find following God's commandments to become easier and easier!

I don't have time to really go back and check my emails for spelling, grammar, or continuity errors, so hopefully this makes sense to everyone!

Here are some pictures from a long time ago that I never uploaded. They are from the City of Rocks, which is a famous rock climbing place! You can see little people in the distance in some of them.

Until next week!

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Elder Towers