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