Turning to God

We got an email from a missionary mom who met Elder Rowley while touring with her recently released son, the former Elder Heinrichs. She sent us a new photo of Elder Rowley, Elder Heinrichs, and Elder Thimmesch

Mum,
Eh bad news about the driving test. I failed! I was really surprised, I thought I wouldn't have any problems. Its super strict here though and most people fail it twice before they pass. I was really worried about the money bit cause it costs 60£ to take again, plus driving lessons are really expensive. I won't be able to take it for another 6 weeks so it probably won't be in Selby. I was super bummed but oh well. I'll make sure I don't spend any money so I can get my license, sorry its so expensive. Church was great yesterday but unfortunately we're still not finding new people to teach! But we've made some plans to improve and I know we'll get there. This last week has been really different though. We've had the spirit a lot more while we were finding and its helped us a lot. I had a pretty crazy experience on Thursday though. I got to go on exchange with the Zone Leaders and another missionary who both speak Chinese and boy was it great. All day was in Chinese and I wasn't able to communicate with people very well but the Spirit was like a million times stronger! It was amazing to sit in a lesson completely in Chinese and know exactly what they were saying and what was going on. I picked up on a little bit and it kind of freaked some people out when I started teaching and was on subject. Its not as hard as it sounds, I learned a couple of words and you can read body language and guess the rest. The Spirit was so strong though! It made me really want to learn another language! Oh well, the time will come for that. It was just a cool experience. I'm so glad that things worked out with *Mike. He wasn't at church yesterday and we couldn't get a hold of him so we were wondering what was up. That's really exciting though. Glad to hear that **Sam is doing so well too. It makes it easier to keep people active in the church when I've got my mom to fellowship them! Woohoo! So I'll let you know when I make plans for my driving test again. The mission will reimburse the first $100 but that is far gone. It wont' be for another month or so though so I'll keep you posted. I think that's all I have this week. Thanks for everything mom, I love you so much. Have a good week!
Elder Rowley



Dad,
Sounds like you really did have a crazy week. I can't believe all the stuff that Mike did, we didn't see him at church and we were wondering what was up. That's Mike for you. There are 3 or 4 young men that we spend a lot of time with. I hope they all go on missions, they would be so great. They all speak other languages as well! This week not much happened here. We are still struggling to find people to teach and the whole zone is having trouble as well. I hate it when this stuff happens but we'll get out of it. I told mum a neat experience I had when I was in York this week with Chinese people and boy was it fun. We're spending so much time with people who speak entirely different languages that English isn't sounding like English anymore! I didn't pass my driving test either so looks like that will be another long and costly journey, oh well. The guy who failed me was a JW so maybe that's a good excuse to fail! Haha. Well I'm sorry I don't have much else to report. Things are kind of dead here. We're keeping in good spirits and our finding is getting much better. It's neat how when things aren't going so well you turn to God a whole lot more. It's fun that way. But every time I feel like things aren't happening and that I'm not being very successful I write home and see all the crazy things that come from our work. It's really comforting to realise how far a little effort can go! Well that's all I've got for this week. Love you Dad. Take care!
Elder Rowley
ps-I can't believe that Kingfisher just sat it your hand! Did you know they are the largest hovering bird, they are just like a massive hummingbird!

*Mike is a young man in Selby who was baptised last December. He friended me on Facebook and I met him up at Temple Square when he came to the U.S. this summer. He's a great kid, the only member in his family, and working hard to prepare for a mission. Yesterday we skyped him into our Primary for sharing time, where he told us about his conversion and talked to the kids about the blessings that come from missionary work.

**Sam is a woman Zack found and taught in his first city. She was baptised a year ago last week and is doing great. She also friended me on Facebook and reports to me every time she does something new in the church (visiting teaching, giving a talk, teaching a Gospel Essentials class). She wrote something for me to share with the Primary about her conversion and the blessings that come from missionary work. She will be coming to stay with us in March and we are looking forward to taking her to visit a number of the local temples here.

Zack also wrote something up for me in his previous email. It was a great sharing time!

Baptism!

Dad,
Nila's baptism went great. She brought a lot of her family and they all had a really good time. Her sister will hopefully be baptised at the end of the month as well. Another great miracle we had happened with this kid named David. We met him on the street and gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read it. Turns out that he read the whole thing in one day! He holds the UK record for the fastest of Harry Potter number seven. Just over 2 and a half hours! He prayed about it [we assume he means Book of Mormon and not HP 7] and knows it's true as well. The only downside is that he is moving to Luke's mission on Saturday. We'll see how things go but it'll probably be a baptism for them. Other than that things in Selby have been really slow! But we're confident we can find people to teach. After we left our tea appointment last night I realise that I haven't found the family in Selby that I'm supposed to baptise yet. That's a scary feeling when you might only be in an area for another 4 weeks, but we'll see what happens. This ward is so great I don't ever want to leave. The bishop said that he is going to call President Lindley and request that I stay another transfer. I don't know if that will do any good but we'll see. Yesterday we had a mission tour and wow was it epic. A mission tour is when an area presidency travels around the mission and gives kind of like a zone conference on Monday and Tuesday. We had ours yesterday and it was great. They talked all about the miracles that come from personal and powerful prayer. There is a mission in Portugal that went from baptising 8 people in 6 months to over 100 people last month because of personal prayer. Crazy crazy. Hopefully that will help us find the person/people that we need to teach and baptise here in Selby. Jordan Steinagel got home this week! Isn't that crazy. Jon said that he has 2 months left. That means that Joe will be back before the year ends and then Jeff in February. I can't believe it. Its gone way too fast. Well this luck I've got my driving test. Wish me luck! It's going to be quite expensive. I already paid 60 but I'm taking some lessons tomorrow which will be another 50. The mission will hopefully reimburse like 100 of it but we'll see. Wish me luck. Well I love you Dad. Thanks for sending me on a mission. Best decision ever! Take care!
Elder Rowley

Mum,
Lindsay's first dance?!!? Ridiculous, I can't believe how old she is now. Nila's baptism went great on Saturday! Her whole family came and they all loved it. Sophie (her sister) is doing really well too. Hopefully she gets baptised at the beginning of next month. And as for David. He is golden. Read the whole Book of Mormon in one day and we gave him a quad that hopefully he'll finish soon. Unfortunately he is moving to the Manchester Mission on Saturday for school. I told Luke about it and he might know the missionaries but he's been home for a while so probably not. It is still amazing. I told Dad about the mission tour and how I still feel like there is a family for us here in Selby. I might get transferted soon so hopefully we can find them this next week! I think that is a great idea about Mike. I'll tell him about it today and then I'll have him Facebook you about it. And you wanted me to tell about how missionary work has blessed my life? Well I don't know exactly what you want and there's not exactly enough room to put it on here with but I'll give it a go. A mission becomes everything to you. It helps you appreciate everything you've ever been given and then gives you a desire to give it all to other people. On you mission you feel closer to Heavenly Father than at any other time in your life and you feel the love of Jesus Christ every day. You'll never work harder, cry harder, sleep better, or be happier than on your mission. More than any other time in your life, you live the covenant of your baptism to always remember Jesus Christ. Plus its a blast to go and meet a completely different kind of people! I hope that will work. Well I've got to get going. I'm taking my driving test on Thursday, I hope it goes well. I have some driving lessons tomorrow and then its show time. I think I'll do alright, I hope I just pass it the first time and don't have to worry about it any longer. Wish me luck. I love you Mum so much. Take care!
Elder Rowley
ps- Elder Thimmesch did wrestling and he told Kyle that he should definitely do it! Also, did you know it is your parents 50th anniversary on Thursday? Love you!

Eating dirt

Mum,
Our week was really good. No new people to work with and we lost a few more but we had miracles that made it all worth the while. Nila is getting baptised this Saturday and it has been so much fun teaching her. One of the lessons she brought her twin sister Sophie and now we are teaching both of them. They both came to church on Sunday and while me and Elder Thimmesch were sitting in Fast and Testimony meeting, guess who walks up to the stand. Yup, Nila bore her testimony on Sunday and boy was it good! Another amazing miracle happened with Sophie at church. She was sitting in Young Woman's and the Young Woman's president started bearing her testimony and Sophie felt the Spirit! She said, "Then when she started talking I got this really cool feeling and almost started crying." It was so amazing! Things are looking good for them but we really aren't teaching anybody else. That'll change this week though! I was looking through my camera to try and tell you some funny stories and I remember a couple of things I forgot to update you on. I dont' know if you heard about Mike but on the way to the temple two weeks ago he was in a car accident. He is fine but it was a miracle. He was with another kid named Henrique (from Brazil!) and it was a really bad accident but they were both fine. Henrique broke a tiny bone in his hand and Mike broke his sternum. But the car is totalled, there were no airbags and Henrique's head almost went through the windscreen. They are both fine though! It was a crazy miracle and they are fine. Those two are so funny and they're going to be great missionaries! But then I remembered something funny that happened to us this week. We were riding our bikes home and we decided to take a short cut through this farmer's field that we've taken before. It was pitch black but we had lights on our bikes. It didn't take us long to realise that the field had been plowed and that there was no longer a path. But we decided to keep going. Elder Thimmesch went first and he was about 30 feet in front of me when I hear him yell and see the light on his bike go down. When I caught up he had gotten stuck in the dirt and had fallen down a hill. It was hilarous. As we kept going it happened at least 3 more times. By this time I was laughing so hard and Elder Thimmesch had me go first so he could see better. The path came back and Elder Thimmesch yells from the back, "Its all smooth sailing from here!" As soon as I look back on the path both of our front wheels fall into a 2 foot hole across the path. We both ate dirt! It was great.



We're both fine, it was just funny. I'm trying to think of a story I could tell you about languages that you could share..... I guess it is a big difference in England than other places. Like for us when you speak someone else's language, if they don't speak English they are so grateful because they can actually communicate. Even speaking a second language it is difficult for people to communicate. And example would be with Miro in Leeds 4. So we spent a lot of time with the Portuguese speaking members in Leeds 4 and there was one who didn't speak very good English. She couldn't come to church very much because she worked a lot so we started visiting her and reading the Book of Mormon with her. She would read a verse in English and then I would read one is Portuguese. It was really fun for both of us and I actually learned a lot about pronunciations. After a while she started bringing people to church and letting us teach her friend. All of whom didn't speak very good English. Because we had taken the time to learn her language she trusted us with her friends and we could communicate with her and then her friends through her. It was a great experience and it got good enough that I learned the first vision and how to bear my testimony in Portuguese. I hope that works. Well I'm going to try and send some pictures but we'll see if it works. I love you mum, take care!
Elder Rowley

Dad,
Sounds like you didn't have a very good week then! I can't believe you got sick at school! That has never happened. Well sounds like things are picking up though. Things here are doing really well. We're struggling to find people to teach but the two people we are teaching are doing really well. Nila and her twin sister Sophie both came to church again and Nila is getting baptised this Saturday! She even felt the Spirit enough on Sunday that she bore her testimony is church! I couldn't believe it, I've never had that happen before! Her baptism is gonna be so good. Sophie is great as well. At church she felt the Spirit really strong when the Young Woman's President bore her testimony. It was funny that she didn't know what it was either, she said, "I got this really cool feeling and I almost started crying!" It was perfect. But ya other than that we aren't working with very many people. The Lord will provide though and things will work out. I just gotta make sure that we're doing all we can to make it happen! I told mum some funny stories that happened this last week and some spiritual stories as well. We have to go to Leeds today so I haven't got much more time to write. Sorry. Well I love you Dad. I think about you often and I'm grateful for everything you've done for me. A lot of our priesthood lessons have been on families lately and I keep realise how lucky I was. A lot of people here don't have very good family opportunities, especially our investigators. That's the great thing that the gospel has to offer us. The change for a brighter future. That's really the hope of the Atonement isn't it. Well thanks so much dad. I'll try and send some pictures as well. I love you!
Elder Rowley