Testing, 1,2,3 Leeds 4

Mum,

Thanksgiving rocked. We went to a buffet called Red Hot and they had so much food. It was a proper feast! Haha, I sent dad a picture. And yes it did snow, I sent some pictures to dad and I thought it only snowed like this in Utah? Haha, Our district leader from Florida called us and was like, "I was just calling to make sure you two are still doing good in the snow" I was like "No, we're both from Utah." It was funny. Our district in great even though there are only 2 teams and we are really really young. I went on exchange twice this week and wrote about a lot of it to dad so you'll have to read it from him but we also had some trials this week. Nobody came to church because it was stake conference and we couldn't get rides, we almost didn't have a ride either! It worked out good though, we also had 34 hours of finding this week! That is total madness! It is the most of my entire mission but it didn't feel as bad as the last couple of weeks. This next week we are going to improve our effectiveness so hopefully that number will go way down. We had a funny experience while knocking though. There is an amazing 15 year old convert named Martin McQueen (remember that name, he will be an Apostle someday) and he went knocking with us. For some reason he was the best luck ever! Usually knocking is ineffective and lame but with him it was amazing! We could tell he was getting cold though so we packed it in for him a bit early. We have also devised a massive transfer plan for what we are going to do with this area. I told Dad and Luke this but every missionary has a testing area, like a do or die of their mission and this is definitely mine. We are so young that we have to rely totally on the Lord to learn how to do things. But we have prayed about and code-named a plan for the transfer and area that I know is inspired and will help this area. It's getting pretty exciting and Elder Jensen is going to have his first baptism on the 18th of December. Our 6 month mark! Its gonna be crazy amazing! Haha, and this week I got a call from an office missionary who told me president wants me to take driving lessons, so we'll see what that means for the future. Elder Jensen is doing great mum. He has weak hearing (50 decibles or more) and when he wears a hat won't be able to talk to people on the streets so it will be up to me! Haha, oh well it is fun and he isn't bothered by it so we have a laugh about it. Oh and Sam is allowed to write elders via snail mail so let her know she can. Thanks for checking up on her for me, she is the standard for who we want to baptise now! Well I love you mum. I'll talk to you next week and hopefully we'll have even greater news to report!
Elder Rowley

Dad,

Haha, Thanksgiving!! I was so excited for it and we went to an all you can eat buffet to celebrate. We were street contacting and kept saying, "Happy Thanksgiving!" It was so funny. I don't think any of the members even knew it was thanksgiving but when us missionaries got together we talked about it a lot. Still my favourite holiday by far! Haha, well this week has been a crazy one. On Monday I got a call from my good friend Elder Swain (I used to live with him) saying that he and his companion (Elder Jensen's last companion) were going on exchange with us on Tuesday for the whole day. I was so excited and we had a blast talking about missions and life in general. He is a great guy and I'm sure you'll meet him someday. We also talked about this area, he used to serve here when it was a lot better and we got to talking. He told me that every missionary has a testing area and that this was mine. It's the chance for me to show President and the Lord what I can do in an area. It's kind of intimidating but exciting at the same time! I knelt in prayer and asked the Lord for help to know what actions to be made. Me and Elder Jensen talked about it and we are making a transfer plan to improve the area, its exciting! Its a great opportunity to figure stuff out on our own as well, our district is the youngest ever. Our district leader has been out 6 months and then there is us and then someone who has been out 3 months. The amazing thing is that we are doing great! Nobody came to church because of conference this week but next week we are planning on 23 as a district! I have never set so many high goals in my life but there is nothing stopping us from achieving them! Our goal is to baptise 2 people on the 18th of December which is the last week in the transfer and our 6 month mark. It will be a great mile marker for Elder Jensen to baptise on his 6 month mark and we might baptise like 6 as a district on that day. Crazy crazy crazy! Well you're right, it did snow this week! We got loads of snow and I'll send a lot of pictures of it. I also went on exchange with Elder Young in Leeds 2. He has been out 3 months and we had some fun times. We taught a houseful of Filipinos and then we went to the crazy Czech house. So to explain, the Leeds 4 elders are teaching a family of Czechs who don't speak any English. Two of the kids are getting baptised and the rest hopefully in time will understand what it means. The house is utter madness. Kids running, screaming, naked, in Czech and English. The dad and mum don't speak a word of English and both smoke and so does the oldest who is 31. His name is Franta and he speaks little English and when he does it is so funny. We spend like 20 minutes just trying to explain words to them. Then there is Slavik who is 12 and getting baptised. He breaks and punches everything and always asks, "You fight me Elder Rowley". It is so funny! Then there is Teresa who is equally equally Czech. When we teach the greatest teaching tool we have in Google Translator. Yes, it's that bad. It was the funnest night ever though! That was probably the craziest thing that has happened here but it was so much fun. This next week is gonna be even better and we have to bring 6 people to church to baptise them on the 18th! Haha, it will happen! Love you dad. I missed you during Thanksgiving but it will still be there when I get back. We are gonna play football in the snow today! Here are some pictures soon.