We ate haggis

Dad,
Sounds like you have had a rough week. I've heard kidney stones
are painfull, just ask Shane Powell about them! When you said it was
your back I would have guessed kidney stones but I hope I never have
to go through them. Jeff comes home this week eh? That's pretty
crazy, I'm glad to hear he's been working really hard and such. Well this last week has been a really great blessing. A lot of
ups and downs as usual but the ups made it all worth it in the end.
We weren't able to get anyone to church and Saturday we just spent
most of our day traveling around instead of doing actual missionary
hard work! But oh the blessing we received in the end! I told mum
more in depth but we're teaching that Portuguese family again! It was
a miracle and the timing could not have been any better. I don't
think it would have worked any other way. We'd tried to see her 2 or
3 times but it never worked out and then we had some appointments
cancel and we were asking ourselves, "Why?!" But then we realised the
Lord closed one door but opened another one. It was a really great
experience. I realise something from it when I was writing to mom
about it that I'd share with you. So she had said that while she went
to her sister's church she enjoyed it and everything but she felt like
there was still something missing. Strange because it had everything
she thought she needed in a church, her language, her family, and all
sorts of things like that. She said that for the last 2 weeks though
she felt like there was something missing. We of course know its the
Spirit and when we teach her again we're gonna keep appointments
really short so she can recognise the Spirit and then we'll leave.
Eventually we figure she'll come to church and when she gets there
she'll look around and be able to name a lot of things she thinks
should be in the church that aren't but she'll feel like there isn't
anything missing. But what I remembered was when we saw her the last
time I felt prompted to say something to her. What I said was, "I
promise you that as you go to the other church you will come to feel
that something is missing" I had totally forgotten but it proved to
be prophetic in a way! Kind of neat huh? We also found a czech
family and its gonna be really fun to teach them. But unfortunatly
I'm pretty sure I'll be leaving. I really like how Jeff didn't talk
at all about coming home for the last 4 months, I think I'll try it
out! But since my days are numbered if I stay another transfer my
last area will only be a 3 month area and I don't think they'll do
that. So I'm pretty sure I'm a gonner but it has definantly been
worth it. While it has been difficult that we haven't been able to
baptise yet I know that this family will get there. The
Spirit has been working so much with them, its amazing. Well that's
about it for me. Thanks for everything Dad, I love you loads. Take
care!
Elder Rowley

Mum,
This week was really good, especially at the end. I'll just
let you know about a couple of neat things that happened. So on
Thursday we were meant to go and see a recent convert and some of our
investigators. We were going on splits with some members and I was
going with Tyler Miller, the American who speaks Portuguese. About an
hour before the appointment I had a prompting to call the recent
convert to make sure it was still okay to see her. I thought, "Tyler
set up the appointment, I don't need to call" but I did anyway. Just
as I figured she cancelled. Elder Hubbard kept asking, "Now what are
we gonna do?" But I didn't really feel worried about it. Then when
the members went on exchange and we went on splits we got a text from
the investigators saying that they were sick and they rescheduled.
Elder Hubbard had appointments with his member so they set off and me
and Tyler looked at each other and said, "Let's go see Maria" We'd
tried her on Monday but no joy and then called her on Wednesday but
again no joy. So we showed up and all the light were on and we
figured we were good but then after we knocked all the lights went
off. We looked and each other and were like, "No!" but then we
knocked one more time and Maria's 8 year old son answered the door.
Maria turns the corner and says, "Come in!" We started talking to her
about her Book of Mormon reading and things and she said when she
prayed about it she felt a burden lifted off her shoulders. It was a
really neat experience. She is still really confused though because
she doesn't see any real difference from the church she is going to.
She looked at us and said when she goes to church it has everything
needs, its in Portuguese, her family is there, its closer, and shorter
and everything but then she said it feels like there is something
missing. You should have seen the grins on mine and Tyler's faces!
So we asked her if we could come back and teach her again and she of
course said yes. Apparently her kids have been asking if we were
coming back every single day since we left and that's been about 2
weeks! It was a great miracle. Then on Sunday evening we were
walking around before tea and there was a Czech woman who said come
back and I thought we should go try and see her. Her daughter
answered the door and said, "My mum said you were coming some time but
the problem is that she doesn't speak any English" I looked at her
and shrugged and said, "Ahoy, yaksi maj!" ("Hello, how are you?" in
Czech) She shrugged and said come on in! There was a massive family
there and we made an appointment to come back and we're gonna teach
them all. There were a lot of really neat experiences like that this
week, it has been a real blessing! So all in all it was a good week.
We also had something called a Burns night where we ate haggis and did
a lot of scottish things which was a blast. Things are doing really
well here which probably means it'll be time for me to leave as usual.
Oh well, its been great. I love this ward and the work as well.
Take care mum, Love you loads!
Elder Rowley