Home away from home

I'm glad you heard from Sam. I scrounged up an old letter she wrote me just before I left Newcastle and it was really good. I have to ask permission from the mission president to write to her so let her know that I might not be able too. I really liked that story you shared and it is also something I have wondered about. I can't believe Talisa is leaving!! That's so crazy. There are a couple of missionaries from Sweden here its pretty neat-o. So this last week was really great once again. Janet didn't get baptised and will take some more working with. But in time I know that she'll make it. We kind of had a slow week all around though and I felt like poo for half of it. I usually only get sick about once a year but it always seems to have to worst timing! But as they say the work must go on and we were blessed for it in the end. Yesterday we only had 2 people confirmed for church but were blessed to have 4 people there! There is a Portuguese girl name Erika who keeps bringing people to church! She brought her uncle last week and he is coming back next week and we're seeing him on Thursday. I love the people here. This ward especially. I feel like I'm at home. I just walk the halls after church and can talk to everyone about anything it is so peaceful. The best part is that it makes them all want to be a part of the missionary work we are doing! I love it. I hope I don't leave this ward in a couple of weeks! So once again our week came together in the end. I'm going to be working a lot on consistency for a personal goal. Wish me luck! I'm excited for this next week and hopefully even more people come to church!! I love so much mum. Thank you for everything, I think of you often! Love you
Elder Rowley

Ups and downs

Ya we are doing great here. Janet is scheduled for baptism on Friday and she passed her interview so things are looking good for her. The only problem is that she can't come to church very often because she works weekends but she knows its true and is ready for baptism!! Its really really exciting. Bad news though is that that guy from Afghanistan was just looking for Asylum (I'm sure Luke can explain) and wasn't as golden as we thought. I keep joking to the Leeds 2 elders that the third golden investigator we give them will actually go through since the last two haven't worked out so well... but all is well! That is really the biggest news for us right now. Our week didn't end as well as we wanted it to but I guess that just means we have to redouble our efforts for this week! Church attendance is always a struggle but hey what else is new! Things are going great over here, sorry there is not much to report! I love you mum and I'll talk to you next week!
Elder Rowley

Baptism!

Sounds like all is well back home in America! I haven't got much time so I just thought I would tell you a little about this last week. Tamara got baptised on Saturday!!! It was amazing and great and the ward took care of everything. The ward here is so amazing. I wish I had some pictures but we didn't get a chance, don't worry we're faking a photo shoot next week so I'll send some. Then while we were at the church for a meeting we came out to find a man sitting on the couch. We asked him what his name was and he said it was Izhak and that he was from Afghanistan. We asked if he was a member and he said that he wasn't but that he'd been to church before in Burmingham. Pretty much he is amazing and so prepared that he's getting baptised in 2 weeks! The bad/good news is that he lives in the other ward and there is another Persian speaker there to help him out. He is so great though, we're really excited for him. Then there is someone named Janet who is looking to get baptised on the 25th. She is great and the first time she read the plan of salvation pamphlet she was shocked because she already believed all of it! We're really excited and things are going great for us. We've been working a lot of far out areas recently and it has been a real challenge but I love it here. Take care mum. I've gotta run but I love you and I'll talk to you next week.
Elder Rowley

Gotcha!

Sounds like everything is crazy as usual back home. I wanted to tell you about my companion and our week so I'll get right into it! Well my companion is Elder David Stevenson from Orem, Utah!! You know that Stevenson Genealogy right next to Provo high? Its his Dad! Crazy crazy. He loves Lacrosse and music and we share our two favourite bands, Muse and Weezer. He is great and has been out 6 months so we've got some crazy adventures ahead of us! I decided that I haven't been doing as many pranks as I should so I planned a great big one for Elder Stevenson. One of the members we eat with is from Portugal and there are always loads of people at her house. She and all of them speak Portuguese to each other and English to us so I came up with a plan. I told everyone that was going to be there to pretend like they didn't speak any English! So we get to the appointment and everyone there (including the little kids) are going off in Portuguese the whole time! I was busting up especially because Elder Stevenson was trying to speak what little Spanish he knows the them! It was also fun because I could say whatever I wanted about the members in English and they had to pretend they didn't know what I was saying!! I was telling Elder Stevenson all sorts about their cooking and their house and their family and all they could do was stand there and pretend they had no idea what I was saying (I got an earful for it later though!). So we all sit down to eat and the mum gestures that she will say the prayer and prays in perfect English!! I was dying. We all look at Elder Stevenson after the prayer and yell, "Gotcha!!" It was perfect. He took it really well too. So that was one of the funny things that happened so far but we've also had some crazy miracles. We'd prayed that a member would bring someone to church for us cause we were having a hard time getting anyone there and we walk in on Sunday and the ward missionaries had brought there friend Susanne. She loved church and is so prepared for the gospel, she really wants to take things slow though so we'll see how that's going. It was a crazy miracle though! Also Tamara is getting baptised on Saturday!!!!! I'm stoked and it has been a long time coming but we're so excited! That was about it for the week, I'll have more stories and pictures next week! That makes me really happy to hear about Sam and I hope she visits often!! Well love you mum, better crack on with our p-day though. Ingat (take care in Cebuano!)

Elder Rowley

Baptising HEH-soos

Mum,

That's so great to hear the story about Jon. Guess what, he's gone assistant to the mission president. Who would have ever thought our Jon would be an assistant! Haha! Well transfers were yesterday night and I'm staying in Leeds 4!!! Elder Jensen is leaving to Chesterfield (no idea) and I'm getting Elder Stevenson. He's been out 6 months and I've never met him but his trainer is our new zone leader so its pretty exciting! Haha. So that has been on my mind a lot lately but I will share some of the many miracles we were blessed with this week. To answer your question Tamara has been rescheduled for next weekend which is super exciting! We also have a woman named Janet that is working for a date in February so that's equally exciting. We actually found out that Eugene has just moved into another area! Its devastating but it will all work out. Probably the biggest miracle, let down, amazingness of the week happened on Thursday night. So just before our tea appointment we stopped by a member named Erika from Portugal. We started talking to her and were planning on reading some of El Livro de Mormon with her when she said she has a friend that is interested in the gospel. We had a member coming out with us that night so we magically found another member so we could go on splits for the night. The member is 14 and speaks fluent Portuguese which is a godsend because the guy is from Angola and doesn't speak a word of English. So I went with the member and when we get back Elder Jensen is translating to this black man who is listening really intently. Elder Jensen is holding a baptismal calendar and when he catches my eye, shows me the name on the calendar. I give him a puzzled look and then go to introduce myself to this golden investigator. He stands up to shake my hand and I introduce myself as Elder Rowley. He then smiles and says, "I'm Jesus". Yup, we're baptising Jesus. He is absolutely amazing and is getting baptised on the 18th of February. Doesn't speak a word of English but it just makes it funner to try and speak Portuguese with him. But here comes the let down. On Sunday night we were talking with Erika and found out that he doesn't live in our area! Its so devastating but Leeds 2 will baptise him and it is still amazing. The upside is that there is a whole family from Brazil in that ward and the 14 year old is actually from that ward. It was just a crazy amazing miracle that we met him and were able to teach him, even if it was for so little. We were really blessed last week as well to meet so many amazing people and taught some great lessons as well. We are progressing people towards baptism which is equally exciting!! I'm excited to see what Elder Stevenson is like and find all the amazing things that he can bring to this area! I'm stoked! Love you mum, gotta run!
Elder Rowley