The happiest I have ever been

Mum,
I'm glad to hear about the stuff with Grandma Jacobs going
well, though it must have been pretty interesting and all. Oh, where
do I start with Hartlepool. I feel like I could talk about it and
especially our people all day long. Oh well let's try for a start. So
my companion is Elder John Shumway from St. George Utah and he loves
to hunt. He goes home in 6 weeks and is such a great friend and
example. I love serving and teaching with him, it is a blast. We
have a car and are over 7 teams in the Billingham stake. I got to go
to a stake coordination meeting yesterday which was an interesting
experience that I enjoyed. Let me tell you about the area.
Hartlepool is a branch of the church that is quite small. There is a
senior couple here and he is the branch president but President
Lindley said that they aren't sending any more senior couples here to
be branch presidents so we have to find and baptise the new branch
president. This gets me in to the people we are teaching. I could
talk about them all day, I love them so much! So there is a pretty
ghetto area here in Hartlepool and a couple of transfers ago they
found and started teaching kind of the ring leader of it all. They are converted!
Everytime we go over there I feel like I am at home. They are so
loving and amazing and hilarious and just perfect. They are getting
married in April and then baptised a week later. He is the new branch
president. Because he is the ring leader of everything in Hartlepool
he has given us so many people to teach. It is such an amazing
experience to teach him and his friends because they have all been through so much in their lives. But when you look in
their eyes and teach them the gospel their humble and broken hearts
melt. I love teaching them so much! We have so many of them and I
could talk about them all day long. It is like every relationship we
have with every investigator is such a sacred feeling. I love it so
much. We always tell each other, "I wish my whole mission could feel
this way." It is the happiest I have ever been and I love it! Its
funny because I'm always at a loss for words with these people. When
they pray, when they keep commitments, when they accept baptism I am
just amazed and stand in wonder and awe. It's great. So that's pretty
much Hartlepool in a nutshell. I love it here. Well mum that's about
it for me. Thanks for everything. I've sorted almost everything with
BYU and such and it should be fine. I got to visit my African friends
before I left Leeds and I told one of them to add you on Facebook, I
don't know if she has yet. Her name is Ilsy D'alva or something like
that. Love you mum, take care!
Elder Rowley
ps- I gave Dad, my address and such but if you send it to the mission
office I'll be there in 2 weeks so you can decided. Take care!


Dad,
I don't know where to start this week. Things are super epic
here. My companion is John Shumway from St. George, Utah and he loves
to hunt. Elder RS. Smith my old companion is in the zone and all
three of us just talking about hunting and shooting and fishing and
everything all day long. He is such a great example and I love
serving with him. The area we live in is really close to the sea, I
can see it from my flat and it has been a great adventure so far. Let
me tell you about the people we are teaching. So in England you get
these pockets of really rough and poor places where there are a lot of
drug problems and things. The people in these areas are all really
struggling with loads of things and most of the time they are not
receptive to missionaries at all. But we are teaching them here!
There is a man and his fiance and they are the
centre of everything here. He has a rough life and is kind of
like the ring leader of all of Hartlepool, everyone we see knows him.
But they are converted, that is all I can say. I feel like
they are family. It's so amazing because of them we are teaching loads
and loads of people. They are getting married in April
and baptised a week later. I am just at a lost for words at how
amazing these people are. I feel like everyone we teach is one of the
Rowley clan. I love it here. It's amazing. Yesterday was like the
best day ever at church. Hartlepool is just a tiny little branch and
there is a senior couple here and he is the branch president. We had
some people there and one of our investigators bore her testimony at
church. Its amazing. Me and Elder Shumway just look at each other all
day and say, "I've never been this happy in my whole life." So
pretty much things here are amazing and I love it. It feels like I've
been here for like a month and a half already and I hope it stays that
way. I'll be sure to give you a picture or two next week. Dont'
worry about the BYU stuff, I've got most of it figured out. I was sad
but also happy to hear about Grandma Jacobs. I knew she was ready to
go. Well Dad, that's about it for me. I love you so much. Take
care!
Elder Rowley
ps-Did you by any chance sign me up for the draw this year for the
deer hunt? Its no problem if you didn't.

Another great adventure

Dad,
Well Saint Patrick's day was kind of funny here. We live by a
long line of pubs so almost every night we see loads of drunkards. On
weekends they dress in really funny clothes and run the whole length
of the road going from pub to pub to pub. They call it the Otley Run.
So that was my Saint Patrick's Day. But I didn't have much time to
write as usual unfortunately. I'm having to figure out courses for
school and such. But it was transfers this week! I was really
surprised the hear that I'm leaving Leeds 1! Only six weeks here, I
can't believe it. It was neat though because when I got here I had
the feeling that I would be leaving after one transfer. It's funny how
the Spirit warns you of that kind of stuff so you can prepare. I also
totally guessed what is happening to Elder Weitzel as well. He's
gonna be the District Leader here and is also gonna train a new
missionary! It's super exciting. There were loads of trainers in this
group and 6 of them have been in my district! I'm so proud of all of
them. Elder Thimmesch is training as well so I'm getting a grandson
as they say on the mission! So things are going really well. I'm
excited for this next transfer. I'll be moving to Hartlepool in the
Billingham Zone. I'll be serving with Elder Shumway from St. George I
think. He trained Elder Woodbury one of my old companions. He goes
home in 6 weeks so that will be another great adventure. And get
this, we are gonna have a car finally! I'm pretty excited to see what
missionary work is like with a car. So things should be good. Sorry
this e-mail is so short again dad. Thanks for everything, I think and
talk of you often. I'll talk to you next week. Love you!
Elder Rowley

Mum,
We had some really neat experiences with languages this week!
Yesterday we taught a Romanian family that came to church on Sunday.
They loved it and are pretty epic. It's funny because the wife speaks
no English, the husband speaks a little English, and the friend only
speaks Romanian and German. Haha. So the lesson was in English,
German, and Romanian. It was pretty fun. We also taught in
Portuguese this week as usual and French which is always exciting. I
love it here. But unfortunately my time was short here and I'm being
transfered! Who knew I would have a 6 week area! I'm moving up North
to Hartlepool in the Billingham Zone. I've never served around there
but I've got some good friends there. It's funny because Elder Weitzel
will be taking over the District and training a new missionary at the
same time. He's only been out six months. I expect great things for
him and kind of knew this was going to happen. So we'll have to see
how it all plays out but I'm excited. The missionary I trained is
training as well so as they call it I'm getting a grandson in the
mission! It was a pretty exciting transfer all in all. I feel like
there was a lot that happened this week but I don't have too much time
to write it. The mission president is fine with me looking at classes
and such during p-day. I'm looking at a lot of courses and have
talked with some people who went to BYU so I have a pretty good idea
about what I'm gonna do. I'll suprise you with it when the time
comes. But that is enough about that. Thanks for everything mom I
love you so much! Take care and have a good week!
Elder Rowley

And I thought I was going somewhere where I could only teach in English

Mum,
Wow there is a lot in that e-mail you sent! I am still
tripping out at the pictures of Sam and Kyle at all the temples. That
must be really really exciting, I'm glad she's enjoyed her visit. And
the softball tournament in St. George must have been a blast as well.
I'm glad to hear that Lindsay did a good job. I showed Elder Rosen
the pictures and asked him if he recognised it, he laughed. Did you
know his family is moving to Provo by next year. That'll be pretty
interesting. I'm so excited for Kenzie! That'll be really good for
her. The great thing is that she could go pretty much anywhere,
Spanish speaking, ASL or who knows what. Oh I have a neat story that
you should pass on to her this week if possible. So I got a letter
from her awhile ago and she said that I should try and learn some
British Sign Language which is completly different from American Sign
Language. So last time in Leeds I learned the alphabet from a member
who is from Bradford where there is a semi-large deaf community. Then
in North Shields if you remember we used to teach a girl and we also
taught her sign language with a member. From the member I learned all
sorts of usefull missionary sign language. So last week I was sitting
on a bus looking at a map and found excuse to move seats and talk to
someone. I looked over and asked him which stop I needed to get off
at to get to a specific street. He pointed to his ears and mouthed,
"I'm deaf." Haha. It was neat when I started signing to him my name
and such! He looked at me suprised and signed, "How do you know sign
language?" So I explained (or attempted to explain) that I was a
missionary and such. He said he knew the church and had some deaf
friends from Bradford who were members and he's met with them a couple
of times and has even been to church. It was neat that the only signs
I knew were things I could ask him about the church and the Gospel.
It was a pretty neat experience and just funny how the Lord uses skill
and such that I thought wouldn't have done me much good. Funny story
huh? So try and get a hold of Kenz and tell her about it, I still
smile just thinking about it! So ya as usual we had some great
experiences this week and it was a great testimony that the work is
true. I love it here and things are picking up more and more and
more. I just hope we get some baptisms soon! We met a Portuguese
woman last week and we were able to teach her with a member who
actually spoke Portuguese which is always a blast. We also had
appointments in French and Romanian. Come to think of it we taught
few lessons in English. Funny how things work! And I thought I was
going somewhere where I could only teach in English. Things are great
and I love it. Thanks for everything mum, I'll talk to you next week!
Love you.
Elder Rowley

Willing to sacrifice

Dad,
Well this week has been really good but its gone by really fast again.
I hope this doesn't stay forever, I need things to slow down a little
bit. But it was good. I told mum about the mission tour we had with
Elder Texiera from the first quorum of the seventy and the area
presidency. It was quite the experience. I've taken so much for
granted being in the church my whole life, so many amazing
opportunities. I love the church so much! But anyways. After that
we went to work and I really learned a lot this week from my companion
Elder Weitzel. He's so young on his mission but his is really good.
He teaches me lessons in diligence and in following the Spirit and
everything. I'm always worried when I see new missionaries because I
wonder what kind of hands we'll be leaving the work with but then I
realise that they are so much better than I ever was. I think that's
kind of how the church works isn't it, we help the next generation to
fulfill its task of taking forward the church. I love it! But ya so
we had some neat experiences this week, let me just think of one or
two that I could share.... So I told Luke about this one. So we are
teaching a massive Romanian family of seven and they are doing
alright. Pretty much every time we plan for them we say that we need
to drop them but every time we sit down in that house the Spirit tells
us not to. Its kind of neat. So we went yesterday and found out that
they have read 200 pages in the Book of Mormon. We hadn't been able
to see them that week but they had remembered the appointment we'd
made and get this, they invited themselves to church on Sunday! So
we've got to find a way to get them there but its gonna be good. The
other thing I learned there was a pretty powerful life lesson. So
there is like a law or something here and the Romanians aren't able to
get jobs, so what they do is play the accordian in the streets. On
weekends they make paper roses and sell them to people at the clubs.
They make like no money but they have very little. I have always
wondered why they would do this. They
move around a lot and do this pretty much everywhere they go. But
they are staying in Leeds and it was really powerful when they told us
why. The mum pointed to her 11 year old son and said, "I do it for
him." "He can go to school and go to university and have a good life,
I know I will never get a job in England but it is enough for me to
know that someday my son will have a job." It was so touching to see
how much they were willing to sacrifice for their family in the
future. I think about our ancestors and everything they did for us.
It was just a powerful thing to learn. So that was the epic story of
the week. That'll be all from me, I'm gonna go take a nap or
something. Thanks for everything dad, I love you so much. Take care!
Elder Rowley


Mum,
That is so cool to see Sam in Utah and in front of the
temple. That's epic! Tell her I say hello! I was thinking about her
this week and I thought it would be a great adventure for her to be in
Utah, tell her to enjoy it and maybe we can plan another trip sometime
in a couple of years! Well this week was really good but really short
as usual it seems. We had a neat experience in meeting with a general
authority on Wednesday. We got to meet with Elder Texiera from the
first quorum of the seventy, he's also on the area presidency for
western Europe. He's from Portugal too which was fun. He told us
loads of really amazing stories and I learned a lot. He talked about
referrals and how we need to be much better and seeking referrals. He
joined the church when he was 17 and it was because his uncle joined.
In fact his uncle had 6 brothers and sisters and all of them joined
the church in Portugal. It was just a fantastic meeting and I loved
it! The work this week was really good as well. We struggled to get
appointments with our investigators but we were blessed to find some
new people. We had a neat experience I'll tell you about. So we had
a day where every appointment canceled on us. It totally sucked and
we didn't know what to do. All of our back up plans fell through as
well which was just a pain. So we prayed about it and decided to try
and see a potential that lived by the institute building near town.
We got on the street and started walking up it when Elder Weitzel
says, "Hey, we should knock on that door" I was frustrated and notice
that sometimes I try and force spiritual promptings when I don't know
what to do so I asked him, "Is this really a prompting or are you just
upset about the night" He looked at me and said, "Now you're making
me all confused" So I looked at him and it was like the Spirit said,
"Duh, it's a prompting, go for it!" So we knocked on the door and a
man from France opened up and said, come on in! He's really good and
it was the person the Lord wanted us to see that night. Miracle
miracle miracle. It seems like there is a never ending supply of
miracles on a mission, I love it. There were some great other things
that happened this week but I think I'll just leave it at that for
now. Its been a great week and we'll be looking forward for another
great one. Well mum, I love you so much.
Thanks for everything! Talk to you next week!
Elder Rowley