Small, small world

Mum.
Wow. Kyle is finally a deacon?! Crazy. I was showing a recent convert all of my pictures last night and I remembered again that Kyle got ordained a deacon. Weird. I remember what that was like. Especially because I passed the sacrament last week! Haha. I'm glad to hear that he's doing good and that he had a good birthday. Selby is crazy amazing. The ward is one of the biggest and strongest of my mission which is great. For such a little area you wouldn't think there would be so many active members but it really is the biggest ward I've served in. There is loads of diversity in the ward as far as age goes. There are loads of little kids but still a lot of old people. It makes it really fun. There is also a Brazilian family (I still get to learn Portuguese!) and our High Councilor served his mission in Brasil and is an American. So I already feel like I'm home. I just thought I'd share a crazy experience we had last week. We were knocking and we both felt like we'd been guided to this specific street and we saw this man in is back garden (that's what they call yards here). We got his attention and he came over to talk to us. When we said we were from church he threw up his hands and said, "Nope I'm Jewish". I've always been fascinated by Jews so I stuck my hand out for him to shake it and we started talking about all sorts. We were having a good little chat with him when it started to rain. He offered us a drink and to come inside so we agreed. So when we went into his house to find that his wife was a Filipina! We had some recent converts in Leeds 4 who were Filipinas and they taught we some Tagalog so I started talking to her in her language. She got a huge grin on her face and welcomed us into her house. We talked to her and found out that she couldn't find a Roman Catholic Church in Selby so she hadn't come to church in 10 years! She asked if she could come to ours and of course we said yes. We taught her a second time and she is amazed by the Restoration. She said that in all her years of church she had never read from the scriptures or learned about them. She then committed to be baptised!! We haven't set a date yet and some things came up so she couldn't come to church but it was amazing! Her name is Berna and she is so nice! She calls us 'kids' when we go to teach her! The other crazy thing is that it turns out a member cleans their chimney and they know him really well. He had shared parts of the gospel with them and sown seeds. It was so amazing to see the work that the ward has done and how the Lord sent us to the people that the Lord had prepared! It was crazy! But I'm gonna have to get going. I love you so much mum. Give Lindsay a hug for me for her birthday and tell her friends I say hi. Take care!
Elder Rowley

Dad,
That picture is almost our flat. If you look on the right side of the picture you will see an apartment complex and that's where we live. Elder Hilliard is originally from California but had lived in Springville, Utah for the last 5 or so years. We were swapping stories and he was telling me about someone he worked with who eventually got baptised. As we talked more I realise that I knew that kid and went to high school with him. Its Steve Vistaunet's niece's boyfriend/fiance I think. Steve's niece Alex is/was dating a guy named Lynn Wyberg who got baptised just before December. Turns out Elder Hilliard worked with Josh Reid as well! And do you remember Andrew Apgood from band? He worked with him as well. Small small world. So ya, that's Elder Hilliard for you. If you wanted to look his parents up I know his mom's name is Gaye. Sounds like there really is never a dull moment back home. I'm glad to here that things are going great. Especially with all the birthdays and such coming up this week. Be sure to wish Lindsay a happy birthday for me! This week has been a big improvement from last week. We're really rebuilding this area from nothing and it is amazing how much the Lord is helping us out. I already told mum about an experience where a member was working with someone to prepare them for the gospel and then how the Lord sent us to their street to teach them. She is an amazing Filipino lady named Berna and I'm really excited for her. We've been riding the bikes a lot of visiting less-actives a lot as well. There have been two times where me and Elder Hilliard have been prompted to go to a street and have found less-actives that needed to be visited. We also had a neat experience I'll share with you. We had prayed about an area and a street to knock and when we got there we looked at each other because it didnt' feel right. So we turned around and suddenly felt like a different street was better. The very first door we knock on I say, "Hello, we're sharing the book of Mormon with everyone today" The man looks at me and smiles and says. "Where do you want me to start, with Nephi? or Moroni? Or should we just skip right to the golden plates" I look over at Elder Hilliard dumbfounded and then man just smiles at us. He investigated the church a long long time ago but never joined. He still reads the Book of Mormon and loves it like Lord of the Rings. Crazy huh? Hopefully we'll be able to see him again but he said he has a really spotty work schedule. He also mentioned that the first missionary to teach him was a Daleabout! He said that Matt Daleabout was the first person to knock on his door. All I could remember was that Billy served in Scotland. I don't remember Matt though. Is he in our ward? If he served in Leeds then tell him that Kim says hi! Well I'd better take your advice and get on with our p-day. We spent this morning at Selby Abbey and it was pretty neat. We're going to go to York today though which will be loads of fun. I love you Dad. Have a good week. Talk to you next week!
Elder Rowley