Dear Sister Cawley,
My name is ____________, and your son Elder Cawley has been serving in our ward here in Franklin for the past few months where we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him.
With transfers looming soon, I wanted to take the opportunity to share a few of our family’s interactions with him. We have a son (whose name is Spencer ) currently serving in Tempe, Arizona. Getting to know Elder Cawley has been a sweet reminder of our own son as we have talked high school basketball and such at dinners. Anyway, I recently received a phone call from a ward member in the area he is serving in AZ just to tell us about how he is doing. It felt so great to know all is well, so I hope you will enjoy the same.
Just yesterday Elder Cawley spoke in sacrament meeting. He gave a wonderful talk without any notes at all using the analogy of the minors trapped in Chile to those seeking the gospel being trapped in darkness. He spoke from the heart and it was a powerful message. With the exception of making the congregation chuckle at a joke or two, it was silent as everyone sat thinking hard about his powerful message of sharing the gospel. Hopefully, that will lead to a few members helping them out with people to teach!
One of the things Elder Cawley and his companions spend A LOT of hours doing each week is contacting and visiting inactives. He is always asking us what we know about this person or that person. It is so great that he is not caught up in baptism numbers, but that he understands the importance of the rescue as well. We are so grateful for his service in not just helping to grow the church in our hometown, but to help strengthen it as well.
My husband has cancer and has had three major surgeries since Elder Cawley has been in our ward. Every time we feed the missionaries, they always ask what they can do for us. One of these times, we asked them if they would join our family and fast on a certain day for the surgery to go well. They of course said yes without hesitation. (it even happen to fall on their P-day when they likely would have liked to have not been hungry) Later that next week, we found out that Elder Cawley had gone back to the apartment that night and on his own called some of the other missionaries in the area and asked for their help in fasting as well. The surgery was a success and our family continues to be blessed. We thought it was so thoughtful he went the extra mile in pleading with the Lord on our behalf.
Lastly, on a lighter note I wanted to share what a SWEET young man Elder Cawley is. It is tradition in our ward that every summer the activity day girls (and some of their non-member friends) put on a musical that is directed by a lady in our ward and some of the young women. (They call this drama camp). Anyway, this year the play was The Little Mermaid. The missionaries came to watch and support this humble production, and afterwards the Elders went around and had all the kiddos in the play sign their programs. It made the little girls feel like superstars!
Elder Cawley loves you and misses you. He is so excited to be an Uncle, and choked up bearing testimony of seeing his grandfather again that just passed away. You must be so proud!
All the Best,
Sister _______
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