Captain George is great!

Thanks for all the information about home. I don't know if it means I'm a bad missionary but I do like to hear it all. I'm so sad about Shanae and Aaron but I know that they will have the Faith to pull through. I'm glad the letters are getting through and being well read. I feel bad that I don't write more but I like to write a lot when I do write, Lindsay expects one today so maybe I'll send her one and then put some pictures in an envelope to send home. We have stake conference next week which is gonna be a pain to get people to church because it is clear down in Sunderland so we'll see how it goes. Oh and for Talisa.........hm.....Oregon. I divn't na but that is my only guess. Well this week has been a quick one, I'm trying to work real hard but sometimes it feels like there are so many things pulling down but something happened this week for me. I'm beginning to feel that my efforts are worth something, I dunno what changed but now it feels like every time I knock on a door I am bringing someone closer Christ and being a better missionary. Sometimes I just wanna run down a street to get all the doors and talk to everyone on the street, even when we are going to appointments. Well I told Dad about our work with investigators but I feel like I should tell you about what has happened with less actives in the ward recently. We were walking down a street to a less actives house who we'd tried to meet with a couple times before and there was a van in front. We look in and say some friends from another church, (by the way they are all Africans) and I called him by named and shook his hand. His eyes got all big and he said, "You remembered my name!" It was funny because it has been a month or so, I guess I can thank dad for me being able to remember! But I asked them what they were up to and they said their friends were inside the house but I had already thought this Less-active (named Daniel) was going to another church so I thought they were leaving for church and picking him up. Well we figured we'd just go by later and went to go see some people in the area. We came back like 20 minutes ago and went to go see Daniel. He was really excited to see us and started talking about people in the ward that he remembered. Turns out he has been a member for a long time and was working on his temple marriage when he stopped coming! But then he told us that just before some people from another church had come and they had had a discussion about the bible. Daniel had "confessed" about the true church and that he knew The Book of Mormon was true and he kinda got in an argument about it all. Then we came and invited him back to church! What a miracle that he felt like he should stand up for what he believed and then we come in and confirm everything that he already knew! It was amazing. Then we invited a less active from Jamaica back to church, she had been going to the 7th day adventist church but we showed her the restoration DVD, addressed her concerns and she said she would come to church! Also there is a man from Nigeria named Frank. Now he has been a member since 1997 and at church I sat next to him. The Bishop announced a temple trip and frank turns to me and says, how do I get a temple recommend. I started talking to him about it and turns out he has never been to the temple! I got him an interview with the bishop and the bishop said that if he comes to church every week until the trip that he can have his recommend. You should have seen how excited I got and how excited Frank was! It was a miracle. This ward has gotten a lot closer to us because on Saturday we had a variety show and the missionaries did a funny skit. this ward has a lot of talent by the way, everyone can sing sooo good but no one sings at sacrament! But anyway we had the activity and did some funny thing and the next day it was just like our ward at home. They talked to us more and the investigators more and have even started approaching us about service and tea appointments. It has been a miraculous week. Well I need to go know, P-day is a wasting. but I love you so much mum and I will talk to you next week. Love you loads.

Captain George is great. We gave him a Polski Book of Mormon and he said he would read it (lets hope he does) and to come back in two weeks to play more chess. He is really funny. This week has been really good for our main two investigators Sam and Lee. Sam is going to be baptised on the 16th (this Thursday) and teaches me in lessons instead of the other way around. We hardly have to teach her anything because she reads the Gospel Principles manual and the Book of Mormon a lot. I still can't believe it all started with the movie Charlie...... But she is great and will be baptised this week! Then there is Lee who is like a Chinese sponge, everything we teach him he retains and tells us back. We took a member with us last time and he couldn't believe how much he remembered. But last time the Spirit really kicked in and we addressed one of Lee's biggest concerns, feeling an answer. He knows he feels the Spirit when he prays and reads and when we are with him but he did not understand that was his answer, even though we had explained it more than once. But the Spirit directed and he finally understood that those feelings and his faith will grow as he prays and repents. It was an amazing lesson. So hopefully those two will be baptised this month and we will continue to work hard. I still wish we could work harder, I read stories of missionaries that completely change areas through their faith and I want to make that kind of a difference here. I feel like I need to work on being Spiritually Independent, I usually rely on other people but I know that if I work hard enough and have enough faith on my own that miracles will happen around me. I guess you could say they already have, Sam will be the first person baptised in Newcastle since March. Lets just pray that it does. Well I better write Mum, I can't think of anything else too exciting that happened this week. Thanks for the pictures and I will print some off to send home today, including a picture of my ankle for the first week of the mission. It feels so long ago! Well love you loads.

Elder Rowley