Miracle realised...

Elder Rowley, Michael, Elder Jensen


Slavik and family



Mum,

The baptism was amazing, this guy Michael is great. It was funny because I hadn't actually met him until the baptism itself but there is plenty of time for that. Transfers have come and gone and nothing has changed in pretty much the entire mission. Elder Jensen's going to have to tough it out for another 6 weeks with me and a total of 7 1/2 months in Leeds 4. But it is a great place to be. We were a bit disappointed about church on Sunday though because we had like 9 people confirmed and none of them showed up. It was frustrating and it always seems to be the little things that come back in bite you in the butt. There is so much I still don't know how to do as a missionary! Oh well, I've still got some time and the Lord wants me to figure it out too! Haha, well I wish I had some information about calling on Saturday but I really haven't planned that far ahead. We have 3 full days of work before then so I haven't even thought about it. But I'll do what I can and see if I can call sometime in the morning. Hopefully you'll all be around! Haha, it will be a surprise for all of us to find out. Our mission p-day is this Thursday though and we are going to an American Air Force Base called Harrogate and we're getting pretty excited. I don't even know what we will do but I'm ready for some rest. I didn't realise how much I needed p-days until we had a week without one! But it is good and we only have 3 more days til we get some rest. Crazy and fun things keep happening to us though, I was in the car with the Leeds 2 elders and it just broke so we've spent all day pretty much doing nothing! But I guess that's how things work out sometimes. The main person we are working with right now is a girl named Tamara from Kenya. Her mum was a less active and she wants to get baptised but she is taking things really slow. She is really just waiting for an answer to the Book of Mormon and its frustrating cause all we can do is wait. Oh well, we are receiving help from on high about how to deal with people and it is great. We have also been trying to move out of certain areas that have been worked a lot and it has been an adventure. Our area is really splotchy and thus it makes it difficult to travel without a car but we manage. Last week we went to an area called Rothwell and we had some pretty high hopes. They absolutely hated us though! We got chased off, yelled at, and cursed by all sorts of people, including a man dressed in leiter-hosen carrying a beer. It was lame! But overall funny and we still had a pretty good week. I think the main thing we are going to focus on is finding some new people to work with and progressing them for a date in January. It is exciting but difficult as I'm sure Luke will tell you. But I've better head out, we've got to scrounge together and save this day! Love you mum, talk to you soon!
Elder Rowley



Dad,
Transfers and this week have been really out of whack so I do get to e-mail today but it is not p-day. We've have some craziness so I couldn't e-mail until about 4 o-clock our time! Haha, but we've been doing really good. Elder Jensen got to baptise Michael Spear and he is amazing, the first time I met him was at his baptism! We're really excited but now we've just got to find someone that we can progress to get baptised! The Leeds 2 ward also baptised a Czech boy named Slavik and boy was it a fun night. It was really exciting and made me want to work and baptised even more now! And as far as transfers go, you were right we are both staying. Only about 10 teams in the entire mission moved so it was a little boring.... but oh well. Elder Jensen will have a 7 1/2 month area and it is just another excuse to find someone for us to baptise next month! I was a bit disappointed to look back and realise that even though our work has improved over the last month there are few people we are solidly working with. It is frustrating but it means we have to be bold and find new people to work with. We are having some adventures and going to all sorts of new areas which is really fun. This part of the mission is really really splotchy and its difficult to get around because buses only come once an hour or so, but we manage. It is a lot of fun though. Sometimes you luck out and other times it sucks though. We went to an area called Rothwell and they all hated us, then we knocked on person of another faith (that proselytizes)'s door and he said they cover the area pretty well, I guess we figured out why they hate us! Haha, but I know that we are doing our job and that the Lord is going to bless us in the end. I just hate it when my lack of knowledge as a missionary causes us to miss opportunities. I realise now that my mission has been the only thing in my life that hasn't come easy to me. Everything else I've ever tried has just been a very simple matter and I can get it under my feet in a couple of days. I am having a hard time getting everything under my feet, I keep forgetting simple things and so on. It's very humbling and it is easy to get frustrated but I can't. I just have to move on, learn, and not make the same mistakes twice. If anything else, the Lord will just work things out for me in a way I can't understand! My mission has definitely been a blast so far though! I hope the next 18 months are even better. Chances are I'll stay in Leeds 4 for 6 months total so I've really got a chance to make things work! It's really exciting and intimidating but at the same time it's why the Lord sent me here! Well we'd better get to work Dad so I'll talk to you on Saturday.
Love you
Elder Rowley