Back to Leeds!

Mum,
I talked with Henrique from Selby and was planning on calling
mike at about that time. Problem is that Henrique said Mike lost his
phone is the snow! Haha. Our week was amazing! I'll tell you about
it but then I'll let you know about transfers. So is started off
really well and then I went to Newcastle for a day and a half. I was
with Elder Herlin who speaks Chinese and we taught a bunch of Chinese
people. I was really really fun to sit there and have a lesson
entirely in another language. The people who we taught this time
didn't speak as good of English so it was harder for me to keep up,
especially because we really only said like 5 words in English the
whole time. So that went really well and then I came back and found
out that they had a really good day in North Shields while I was gone!
We worked our butts off all week and were able to have 5 people at
church on Sunday!! It was so exciting. We had loads of members out
with us and everything, all it all it was a great week. Probably the
best week I could have left on. Which leads me to my next item of
business. Yes, its time for me to leave North Shields but you'll
never guess where I'm going. I'm going back to Leeds!!! I'll be
serving in Leeds 1 with Elder Weitzel who is from Germany! We are in
a 4 man flat with two people who were in my last district and my
companion just barely got to the area like 2 weeks ago so it will be
all brand new. I'll be able to see my old Portuguese friends as well
because I think I'll be in the Leeds 4 district!!! Its super
exciting. I can't believe it. I never would have guessed it and
nobody else guessed it either! I'm being replaced by like my best
friend in the mission, Elder Spratt! I'm really excited because I
know he'll pick things up right where we left off and he's gonna tear
it up! I'm so excited. So things are going really well and I'm happy
with everything! I think that's about all for me. I'm gonna buy some
things from Newcastle today to remember it and such but then we're
gonna have a good time! I love this work! Take care mum, I love you
loads! Bye!
Elder Rowley

Dad,
Jeff is home!!!!!!!! I can't believe that, it's ridiculous. Crazy
crazy crazy. I hope thinks work out with the truck and everything and
I'm glad to got to spend some time with family. This week as usual
flew by but unlike other weeks I felt like I had a good hold on this
one. I spent the first few days in Newcastle with Elder Herlin. We
were teaching people in Chinese and it was really fun. Most of the
time I just sat there and watched and tried to figure out what was
going on. It was really fun when I would know what they were talking
about and then I would say something and the person would look at me
as if to say, "Do you speak Chinese too?" It was really fun. Then I
came back and we just took off with our week. Things came together
really well and we had an amazing week! We had 5 people come to
church! It was amazing. We had quite an amazing blessing as well in
this one appointment. So we are teaching a woman who
can't be baptised right now because of her living situation but she
wants to really badly. It was so amazing to
see the way the Spirit works on people.
She has an 11 year old who is so much fun. At the
beginning of the lesson we were talking about how I always wanted to
be an uncle and she says, "Well you can be my uncle!" And for the
rest of the lesson she refered to me as uncle rowley! Even in the
closing prayer and it was so touching, the gospel is for families! So
that was great. We were also able to teach a Czech family again and
they are amazing. I love teaching people who don't speak any English,
the Spirit is so much stronger there! So our week was really good and
it was possibly the best week I could leave on. So unfortunatly
that's what's happening, I'll be leaving tomorrow. But I could not
have been more suprised or excited about what's happening. So I'll be
moving to Leeds 1. Let me tell you a little about it. It is a 4 man
flat and a 4 man area. My companion is Elder Weitzel from Germany who
was only moved to the area 2 weeks ago. The other two missionaries
were in my district in Selby. It is a massive university area and one
of my good friends from Selby is going to school there now. I'm
pretty sure that Leeds 4 (my old area) is in my district so I'll be
able to go there now. Nobody was expecting it at all but it is
possible the best transfers ever! Even better is the missionary who
is replacing me. Its Elder Spratt who served in Leeds 2 in my
district. When Elder Stevenson was about to go home we went on
exchange at least once a week. He is one of my closest friends in the
mission and is probably the best replacement I could have asked for.
I'm so suprised and excited that I can hardly stand it! I can't
believe it, I'm almost at a loss for words. So that's what's
happening here and it is super exciting! Well that's about it for me.
Love you Dad, take care. Let me know if there is anything you need!
Talk to you next week!
Elder Rowley

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

So close...

This is cool--the entire mission


Dad,
This week was really good but not a lot happened to be honest.
I spent half of the week in South Shields with a missionary named
Elder Bensberg. He's from the south of England and has been a member
for about 5 years. He's really great and him and his companion are
doing pretty well. It's fun to get into a new area for a while
and just dig into the work and such but coming back is always hard.
It seems like things always seem to go the worst the 2 days I'm not in
my area. I don't think it is ever my companions or the other
missionary's fault but something always seems to go wrong. We were
dropped by someone who was supposed to get baptised on the 28th and
had a really rough appointment with 2 of our scheduled investigators.
We then tried to get a lot of member appointments but our
investigators were too busy or things just fell through. I am
hesitant to write about people close to baptism because sometimes I
forget to update you on what really happened with them. We are going
to see Maria tonight to give it one last shot. And as far as
baptising, yes I have baptised in every area. Except here. We've
been working really hard and there are plenty of people who I know
will get baptised this year even. We're working with all these people and
they come to church on and off but its not gonna happen before the end
of the transfer it's looking. It's been kind of humbling to see
possibly the best area I've served in and not have baptisms. We've
gotten close and I've been working my hardest so I feel like I've been
successful. I just got to figure out what the Lord wants me to learn
from it all. We're gonna keep high hopes and by some mighty miracle
we will be able to baptise if we do all we can. I'm pretty sure I'm
leaving so this is really my last chance! But that's how things are
going here. I went to see the doctor and they figured my knee
problems were just resulting from the surgery and that I didn't
reinjure it. It was kind of funny when they asked me what I do and
like where I'll be living and such. The doctor looked at me and
asked, "Is there any way you can decrease the amount you walk?" She
already knew the answer from the way she asked the question! HAha, it
was funny. But I've started doing those exercises I got from the
doctor 3 times a day and it has already made a difference. Elder
Hubbard's mum is a physiotherapist and she's gonna send me some more
exercises and such. So things are going really good here. Just pray
for some miracles and pray that we recognise them! I'm glad to hear
that Lindsay's talk went well and I'd love a copy. Thanks for
everything Dad, I love it here. I was able to share with Elder
Hubbard your exerience with cancer and such and it was really good.
Thanks for everything, I love you.
Elder Rowley
Mum,
Well I wish I had more to report on this week! I spent half
of the week on the other side of the river in South Shields and then
came back over and things didn't really happen this week. Our
teaching pool is about the same size. A man was supposed
to get baptised but he dropped us for the time
being. He's been really great to teach and has come a really long way
but he is finding other things really
difficult. He'll get there eventually. That's kind of the lesson I
think the Lord has been trying to tell me since I've been here. We're
working with so many really good people who will all get baptised one
day but I don't think it will be when I'm here. We have so many
people who are so close. So things will
definitely happen here but I don't think I'll be here for it. So far
this has been the only area that I haven't baptised in. Don't worry
I'm not getting discouraged or anything, I'm mostly just thinking it
all over and seeing what I can do. Transfers is in 3 weeks so we're
gonna have to have a miracle to baptise while I'm here! I guess even
if it doesn't happen it provides an opportunity to be humbled and work
my butt off to see some great miracles happen here in the future,
that's just how I've felt about that. So like I said, not much to
report on here.
I'm excited for Sam to visit, that will be really fun for everyone.
She's doing really good I hear. I think it's really interesting that
Rachiel is working with Grandma Jacobs. She's got to get some good
stories out of her for me! Well I think that is it for me. Thanks
for everything mum, I love it here. I'm sad to think that one day
I'll have to leave it all but I will never stop baptising people!!
Love you, take care!

Elder Rowley

Ups and downs

Mum,
This has been a good week but I'll have to be brief in the
report. Luckily I've been writing in my journal so if worse comes to
worst you'll be able to read about it all later. We had a lot of ups
and downs this week. We went to teach our family home evening to our
Portuguese family only to find out that she was gonna try going to her
sister's church for a while because it was so much closer and in
Portuguese. It was really upsetting and one of the hardest
appointments of my entire mission but it ended really well. We took
our friends the Millers and taught her all about the Book of Mormon
and such. She said it was a really hard decision because she can't
see any flaws in anything that we have told her and that it has
changed her life. We all felt like this will provide her an
opportunity to recieve a very strong personal witness that its all
true. There will be no doubts and she'll be able to do everything
necessary to stay active in the church. So that was really upsetting
but we have faith it will all turn around. We had interviews this
week and I told Sister Lindley about it. She said, "She'll call you,
she has to call you. And it doesn't matter if you get that call in 10
days or in 20 years, she'll call." It was good to hear. Our other
investigators are doing really well and we had a bunch out to church
again which is always fun. This week we were even able to learn some
British Sign Language for an hour (be sure to tell McKenzie Madsen if
you get the chance). We have some members who sign and an
investigator who wanted to learn it. We had a blast. That's really
all I have to report on this week. Things are going great and I love
it all. Thanks for everything mum, sorry this is so short there's a
big queue at the library for computers. Take care, Love you!
Elder Rowley

The members are the most important

Mum,
Lima Peru!! That's ridiculous! I can't believe it! Haha,
that's pretty neat. Tell her congrats for me, that means I should
probably write her a letter.... Wow. I'm at a loss for words, that's
gonna be epic! That means that her and Mike could be in the MTC
together!!!! Hahah that would be so funny! Wow, that's pretty neat.
I wish I had something as cool as that to report! We didn't have any
baptisms planned for this week but there are a lot of people
progressing towards it. Our week flew by and was really fun. We are
teaching a bunch of people but they are all grouped together. Mostly
families but not a father, mother, and children but a combination of
those. It's pretty exciting though because I can see all of them
getting baptised soon. We had 8 people confirmed for church on
Sunday! But only 3 showed up. 3 of them had a good excuse as to why
they didn't come but there were 2 that we're still trying to figure
out. So if we play our cards right and with a little help from the
Lord we'll be able to have 8 or 9 people at church on Sunday. Here's
hoping! I just realised that it seems like when things out here
aren't going so well then things back home are going great but when
things out here really pick up there seems to be some little problems
back home. Funny how life works in'it! We had a great week with the
Portuguese family (except that they are the 2 that didn't come to
church and we don't know why! I'm guessing public transport). On
Monday we taught them how to do an FHE and the kids all loved it.
Every time we go by they are so excited to have an appointment. Maria
loves it too because it keeps her kids settled down. It is amazing
the difference the gospel makes in people's lives, especially rowdy
boys! So they are doing really well. Maria is scheduled for baptism
for the 21st of January and only has to come to church one more time
in order to get baptised. We are also teaching a couple who will
hopefully be getting married by the end of next month and baptised the
next weekend. The work is picking up loads here which probably
means I'll be leaving in 4 weeks! Doesn't that always seem to happen!
But I love it. I found out that I don't have to register until like
March or something so I'm gonna leave it alone for a while and get
some real work done out here. Sorry there isn't much else to report
on. I love the work and I wish I could stay longer! Take care mum.
Love you. Bye!
Elder Rowley

Dad,
Nobody said where Morgan is going?!? I still can't believe
Rachiel is going on her mission so soon! It's pretty crazy. I'm glad
Ryan is on his mission though, that's good. I really don't know what
to say about Rachiel's call! Haha, I figure it means I'll have to
write her a letter. Maybe I'll tell her some things that I wish I
knew when I came out. Ya the work is going really well here things
are doing good. We have a bunch of people to work with and they are
all progressing pretty well. Hopefully they will all be baptised in
the next couple of months. We'll hopefully have 2 or 3 this month.
We were really blessed to have so many people confirmed for church
though, that was a miracle. Only 3 showed up but we had 3 last week
and they were different people than this week. We just need
everything to line up properly and we should have 6 or 7 people at
church this week. That's our goal anyways. But ya the people we are
working with are great. They accept commitments and it seems like
everyone who comes to church wants to keep coming back more and more
and more. The ward is really doing everything, once again we haven't
really changed anything. We just take members with us and they do all
the teaching and the people connect with them and come to church and
hopefully get baptised! We had a neat experience I thought I'd share
with you (sorry I don't have any pictures in the suit yet). We went
by to teach about FHE to Maria and her two sons aged 9 and 4. We took
a young American couple with us to help us teach because I had no idea
how to do a family home evening for that family. It went really well
and it is amazing to see the effects the gospel has on young rowdy
boys! It seems like the only fight they get into now is over who
wants to say the prayer during the lessons! Maria is amazing and has
received such strength to live the word of wisdom. She'll be
interviewed for baptism this weekend and then hopefully baptised next
weekend. It's great. The other family we've been teaching a mother daughter. They've been
taught by a bunch of different missionaries in the past and that kind
of put her off because they just wanted to baptise her. She's 18
and can be taught properly as an individual so we're gonna do that.
We also have a member whose gonna teach her British Sign Language.
Its good because it will be probably a long term baptism with this
family and the members will do a better job than we do at it. I've
realised that's the key to success, not doing anything! Just kidding.
But the members are the most important way to help progress people.
Well I love you Dad. Thanks for everything you do. I'll talk to you
next week! Bye! Love you loads
Elder Rowley

Transfers are inspired

Mum,
Elder Hubbard just leaned over and said, "Transfers are
inspired". Its funny because we've been talking about track and stuff
and how he was applying for BYU and stuff. Neat-o. Turns out he's
really really fast at track. His 400 time was 48 seconds. Its pretty
ridiculous! The english food has got him sucking wind when he runs
now! But he'll get there. I can't believe Joe came over and that
he's home. Crazy crazy. I had a list of things planned to do before
I got home and there were somewhere along those lines but I won't tell
you how many people I'm gonna try and baptise, you'll just have to
wait and see. Ya so this last week was really good but I don't really
know where it all went. I'll tell you a few things about it though.
We had three people come to church and they are all really good. One
of them is ready to be baptised as soon as he can live the word of
wisdom! He's great and just needs some support and encouragement to do
it. The other two are a couple we've been teaching. Our amazing ward
of fellowship has been really great and they loved every minute of
church. I love when people come to church and I don't even really
need to talk to them because the ward does such a great job at
fellowshipping them! Our investigator who was in down south for a
while is coming back this weekend and we don't really know much more
about her situation or what's changed so that'll be exciting to hear
about. And Maria and her family are doing great. They weren't able
to come to church but we went over last night with The Millers (the
family from Arizona) and taught them how to do a family home evening.
Maria is so great and she understands everything we teach so
perfectly. A mother of two rowdy boys might have a hard time
understanding why FHE is important but she understood right from the
get go. She told us, "I know when they are little it won't really
make a difference but when they get older they will learn a lot and it
will help our family". She is great! The two little boys were begging
us to let them say the prayer at the end of the lesson as well.
Things are going amazing with her. So that's pretty much all there is
to report. My knee is doing fine. Like I said it doesn't really
bother me at all, I can just tell there is something wrong with it.
I'll schedule an appointment with the doctor for next week or
something and it will all be fine! Other really neat story! Do you
remember me telling you about Denise from Selby? She's the one that I
knocked on her door on July 9th and the missionaries (one of them also
named Elder Rowley) had first found and taught her on the 9th of July
1992? Did I tell you that his family is in my ward? Its pretty
crazy. Well Denise is getting baptised in Selby on the 7th and I gave
the missionaries there Elder Rowley's (the previous one) phone number.
It's neat how those kid of things all work out! Yup I think that's
everything. Oh ya, I bought a suit finally! Now that's everything.
Love you loads mum, thanks. Bye!
Elder Rowley

Dad,
Good grief! Those pictures are ridiculous! Do you remember all
the pictures we took of everyone leaving on their missions! I can't
believe they are home, it still freaks me out just thinking about it
all. I hope somebody gets assigned to sit next to Toni, that would be
ridiculous. I didn't realise all their kids were under the age of 12!
Things here have been really good. The weather has been windy windy windy! It hasn't
been that cold but it sure has been windy. We got drenched the other
day as well which was funny. But
ya so our week was really good. Elder Hubbard is really good. He's
really good at track, his 400 time is just 48 seconds. I'm sure he'll
get on to BYU's track team. He's a great missionary and works hard.
It's funand the work is going really well. We had 3 people at church
on Sunday which was great because it was New Year's and all. We had 4
more people who were going to come but I think the new year got the
best of them. One guy was Mark who is pretty much ready to be
baptised as soon as he keeps his committments. He's a
great guy and really head strong. Which is a good and a bad thing.
Whenever we get him to a member's home though things go really well,
hopefully we get him to 2 or three people's houses this week. The
other people we had a church was a couple named Leroy and Rosie. They are great. They love church and all the support they
get from the members there so they'll get baptised someday, hopefully
next month! Our other people are doing well too. Especially Maria
and her family we went with an American
couple who are great and taught them how to do a family home evening.
Maria is amazing and she understands completley why they are important.
The two kids loved it and we had a blast as well. Maria is getting
baptised on the 21st of January and hopefully her son will be soon
after. Its great. The work is going really well and I love it here.
That's probably a sign that this will be my last transfer here. Oh
well, its been great. I just want to baptise people! Haa. Well I
love you Dad. Thanks for everything. Take care!
Elder Rowley

New Comp!

Papanwa,
Well transfers were just as I predicted, for once! But
there were a couple of things that I couldn't have seen coming. So
Elder Woodbury left as we all thought he would but you will never
guess where he's gone. He moved one area to the left and is now
serving in Newcastle! His companion is Elder Vahine from Tahiti, he's
only been a member for like 2 years and he is amazing. It's so funny
that he's only moved one area over, oh well that should make the move
easier for him. I did get a new companion though and his name is
Elder Andrew Hubbard from Fort Smith, Arkansas. He came out with
Elder Stevenson so just one transfer after I did. He's served in like
5 areas though so he'll probably know more about the work than I do.
It'll be pretty fun though. I don't know much about him except that
he ran track in high school. He was pretty good as well, his 400 time
was 48 seconds. Apparently he's talked to Coach Robison from BYU. Is
that Isaac's dad or his Grandad. I couldn't remember. So ya that's
what happened with transfers. We've also got a great new zone leader
named Elder Thomas. He is amazing. I've served around him before and
he has a great story and everything, I get to talk to him every night
because I follow-up with him. I'm really excited for how things are
gonna go here for the next month or so. Hopefully we see some
baptisms, it's been a while since I was there for a baptism. There are
a couple of people I taught previously who are getting baptised in
other areas but we haven't seen one here in a while! But ya that's
really all there is to report.... I love you Dad. Thanks for sending
all the pictures and stuff, they make my day every time I read them.
Take care and I'll talk to you next monday! Love you
Elder Rowley
ps-Lindsay needs to get to bed earlier. She's e-mailing me right now
because she says the house is too cold and she's trying to get warm!
(sent at 3:38am our time)

Mum,
Ya it was really fun talking on the phone with ya'll. But I'm
gonna be honest it wasn't as weird as it was in the past. I've heard
that is true with the whole phoning home thing, after a while you just
want to get back to work. (here he mentions a few things about next summer)
I'll probably stay at home for another year as well
which will be fun. But enough of this trunky thought, back to
missionary work! Well we had our transfers on Monday night and we all
got a big surprise. Elder Woodbury has left us here in North Shields
but the surprise was that he just went to Newcastle! Haha, I couldn't
stop laughing! He's serving with a missionary from Tahiti and they
live with the Zone Leaders. We also got a new zone leader named Elder
Paris Thomas. I've served around him and know him pretty well so this
month is gonna be really exciting. If you check out mormon.org he's on
there. The church is filming his mission as well for a program about
missionaries that's gonna be on ABC sometime. That's pretty tight but
either way he is the most humble missionary I have ever seen. It's
great here. So my new companion is Elder Andrew Hubbard from Fort
Smith, Arkansas. He came out one transfer after me and has had more
areas than I have. So he'll probably be showing me a thing or two.
He just got here yesterday so I don't really know much about him... He
is from a family of 5 and his younger sister is going to BYU right now
but that's about all I know. Things are going really well here and
we're getting excited for this month. We are hoping to have 4
baptisms here. It's a very high goal but we're gonna do our best to
make it happen. Well there isn't much else to report on because we
spoke about most everything on Sunday. I'll look forward to hearing
from you on Monday though. Love you loads mum, thanks for everything.
Take care!
Elder Rowley

A little snow but not cold at all

Mum,
What?S?!?! I can't believe they are all home, I'm tripping
out. That's ridiculous. I really don't know what to say, I'm just
gonna forget about it. No regrets, they're stuck at home now! Well
this week was amazing. Our Portuguese friends came to church. She
brought her two kids and they all really enjoyed it. They are great.
The lesson was on the word of wisdom which we hadn't taught yet, but
it went well. We're seeing her later today so we'll see how it
actually went. They are so amazing. I feel so blessed that the Lord
sent me here because he knew there would be people I could teach and
baptise. Last week she told us she is quitting her job at the new year
so she can take care of her son. He's 9 and has speech problems so
when he has to go to child care while she working he gets picked on.
She told us she'll be able to come to church every week. We almost
did a backflip and then invited her to be baptised next month. She is
amazing, I hope everything goes well and that we get to teach even
more of her Portuguese friends. Also that woman who came to church
but then went down to see her mum who died last week went to church
down there. She really enjoyed it all and will be back on the second
of january. Hopefully she can get baptised next month as well. From
the looks of it there are a bunch of people who can get baptised next
month, we're really really excited about it. We just have to make
sure that we're humble and seek help from the Lord. I really want to
find more people so we don't go into a slump of baptising and then not
baptising like some areas do. I love it though. Christmas is gonna
be fun, we're spending the morning with the Bishop. That's something
they do every year here and it sounds pretty good, the bishop is
amazing in this ward. As far as weather goes, it snowed two days ago
but it was gone before we left the flat. It's not even cold. I don't
think I'll even need to wear a coat! Its sounds like Grandma Jacobs
really isn't doing well at all. I'll pray for her. I still have a
picture with her and I remember dad told me that it might be the last
time I'll see her. Oh well, she needs to be with Grandpa Jacobs.
That would be a long time to wait... Oh and yes I did get the other
Christmas stuff. It was perfect, that is everything I could have ever
wanted. The CD is amazing and the ornaments are perfect. I look
through them almost daily. I still don't know how you got some one
them like the one from Dan's mission in Brazil and such. But it
really was just what I needed this Christmas. Oh and I got a letter
from Rachiel saying that she's turning in her papers soon. Is that
the one you were talking about? It's gonna be pretty neat if they all
go on missions before I get home. I guess Christmas is gonna be a
suprise for all of you because I have no idea when I'll call. The
morning probably but we'll see, I never plan that far in advance.
Well mum I think that is everything for me. I love it here so much, I
wish I could stay forever. Tell Jon and Joe to save some fun for me
for when I get home but tell them they are already missing out on
mission fun. I love you mum, take care!
Elder Rowley
ps-Please thank Clayton and Lauren for me. That's really nice of
them, you can put it in the suit money and we'll see what happens.
Love you!

Dad,
I don't really know what to say. I can't believe that Joe is
home now too! I'm really in shock with all of
it. Sounds like Jon's talk went well though. I can't believe you
recorded it! Of course I want you to send it, send it as soon as
possible! That's probably the best Christmas present I could get
other than the stuff mum already sent me. The stuff she sent was
really really good. I hope they adjust really well, I also hope they
leave some fun for us all to do together. I can't imagine what it
will be like going home in the end. It was really strange hitting my
18 month mark but I'm gonna try my hardest. I sent my mission
president a list of things that I'm committing to do before I got
home. Hopefully he remembers and can hold me to them all before I
finish. But all it all things are going really well. Our Potuguese
friends made it to church yestereday. She brought her 2 kids and they
all really enjoyed it. The only hitch was that the lesson was on the
Word of Wisdom and he hadn't taught any of it yet. Oh well, we'll see
her today and find out how it went. Her kids did really well at
church though, I was really impressed. Another crazy miracle with her
though is that she is quiting her job. That means she can come to
church every week and hopefully get baptised next month. Its super
exciting, one of her kids will be able to get baptised as well, I'm
stoked. Another miracle came from that woman I talked about a couple
of weeks ago whose mum died. She went to church down south and really
enjoyed it. She gets back on the 2nd of January. I'm just conscious
of how much time left I have on the computer so I'll warn you I might
end abruptly. So things are going really well here, I love it. This
ward is amazing and we're looking to have a couple of baptisms next
month, its great. Christmas will be really fun, we're going to the
bishops. Dunno when I'll call but it'll be before you get to church.
Take care of grandma jacobs for me, I remember last time I saw her you
told me it might actually be the last time I'd get to see her. Oh
well, I'd be ready to be with my spouse as well if I were in her
shoes. Don't worry about me getting 'trunky' as they call it. Send
me all the pictures you want and I definitely want Jon's talk. Haha, I
still can't believe that. Well Dad I think that's all for me. I love
you so much, take care of yourself. Merry Christmas and I'll talk to
you on Sunday. Love you Bye!
Elder Rowley

Amazing!

Dad,
Happy Anniversary! Sounds like you had a good time. I'm glad you're
enjoying being a high councilor, it must be a handful sometimes. Ya I
know Elder McKay. He's a zone leader right now and his ward has
baptised 30 Slovakians this year. He's doing really really well.
That's really funny, what is the missionary's name anyways? I'll see
Elder McKay in a week so I can tell him about it. Good times. And
I'm glad Jon is staying out of trouble. I can imagine him wanting to
be back in Chile, we just barely sent off two missionaries for America
this morning. I can't believe it. That will be so weird. Speaking
of weird. Do you realise that my 18 month mark is next Sunday. I
don't know what I'm going to do. I barely made it through my year
mark, oh well. This week has been a really good one but it went
really fast and I don't have much to report on. We had an amazing
experience this last week though. We are teaching a woman from
Portugal that has 2 kids and she is amazing. She was taught like a
year ago but the elders stopped going by because she worked a really
difficult work schedule. We went by her and she has still been
reading the Book of Mormon. We took a member from Arizona who served
his mission in Brazil and it was sweet. She told us how she is amazed
that the Book of Mormon is so spiritual. She has noticed that she has
more patience with her children when she reads and also that she will
say a prayer and then read the Book of Mormon and find an answer. It was amazing and one of the most spiritual lessons, which is also amazing because we've been having loads of those recently. It was
amazing. I don't really know what else to write, the weeks seem to
just fly by. I can't believe that i only have 6 months left. Oh
well, I'm gonna stop thinking about it. Well that's about it. I love
you so much Dad. Thanks for everything, have a good week!
Elder Rowley

Mum,
This week has been a blast but it also went by really quick.
Also, I don't have much time to write sorry! I haven't gotten any of
the other stuff yet but I might have it by tomorrow or something, no
bother. Things are doing really good. We've got a couple of people
who are really really close to baptism but just need a couple of
things to work out before they can get baptised. We had a really
amazing experience with a woman from portugal!! We took a member who
speaks portuguese (served his mission in Brazil) and it was amazing.
She said that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and it was
amazing, the spirit was so strong and we took that member and his
wife. They were the same ones that fed us thanksgiving dinner. It
was such an amazing teaching appointment. She also has two kids, one
is 9 and the other is 4 or something. They are so much fun and all
they need is for her to get a job where she doesn't work weekends and
then I think she'll be baptised. It is amazing. The week really
seemed like it just flew by and I don't remember anything else we can
update you on. But I can't believe how soon Christmas is coming up,
next Sunday will be my 18 month mark. It's gonna be pretty crazy.
Well mum, I don't think there is anything else. I love you so much.
Happy anniversary! Take care!
Elder Rowley

Teaching by the spirit

Mum,
Fun fun fun. I totally want to do a road trip to see all the
family after I get home. Probably the summer after, I'll just pile
in the car with whoever wants to go and make the whole trip!! Well not
too much time to think about that one. Gavin is sooo huge though!
That's really good. And it looks like Justin is doing well with the
No Shave November! I'm glad you got to spend some time there. I got
your Christmas CD, it is really good. Thanks so much, some of the
songs I thought I was home though! Haha, it was good. This week has
been really good. It's crunch time to make the miracles happen and boy
and they coming along. We've had some really neat experiences these
last couple of days, it seems like every appointment we go into is an
outpouring of the Spirit, I love it. I'll share a couple with you and
then one with Dad. I'm sure you'll spread them around though, just use
discretion. So I was on exchange with an Elder from
England and he just served in Sheffield where they are teaching loads
of eastern europeans. There is one ward that has had 31 baptisms this
year and most of them are from Slovakia. So spending time with him
helped me catch the fire of finding the prepared people. We got in to
teach these Polish people and it was really cool. None of them spoke
any English whatsoever so we used the internet. We did our best but
the Spirit was really strong even though I had no idea half of what
they said. We're going back and I'm gonna try and pick up on how to
read in Polish but we'll see what happens. It was just fun the see
how the Spirit magnifies what we can't do. Then we had a super crazy
and weird miracle. So that woman who came to church and was really
well fellowshipped has been visiting her dying mother. She said she
wants to be baptised but we knew it would be after her mum passed away
and she still has some concerns about water. So the members have been
amazing. They organised the Branch President down there to give her
and her mum a blessing, we only found out about this on Friday and
they all felt the Spirit. I'll give you more updates on that
later but wow. I think that's all I have to report on this week.
Thanks so much for everything mum I love you. Take care and I'll talk
to you next week!
Elder Rowley

Dad,
Tanner is playing my Ukulele?!?! Well, he'd better be good at
it. Stake Conference would have been really fun, especially on the Dry Council. I hope Jon
and Chase don't get in too much trouble before I get home! Try and
get a picture of both of them for me. I'm really glad mum got to go
to Oregon over the weekend, that would have been really fun. I've
always loved it there. Maybe I'll get a master degree there someday!
Who knows! Well maybe I should tell you a little about our week here.
We're still working really really hard to reach our mission goal and
we are getting some really crazy amazing miracles. I told mum about a
couple of them so she'll have to update you on it but I'll tell you a
couple as well. I noticed something really fun about teaching. I
totally change my vocabulary and the way I talk when I teach different
people. We taught an African guy who is a preacher and I felt like a
preacher, using bible verses before everything I said. Teaching has
never been so much fun as in the last couple of weeks. I've never
felt the Spirit so much in a teaching appointment as now. We had an
experience with a woman who can't get baptised because of where she
lives. She has tried to move out in the past and has been really
close to baptism but something always goes wrong for her. Because of
this she feels really bad that she knows its all true but she can't
get baptised, she questions a lot of things now as well. So we'd
planned to go and teach her about baptism and assess the situation
further. We'd seen her earlier in the week and it was a spiritual
feast. When we sat down in the appointment with her though the Spirit
took us a completely different way, I think I only said baptism like
once. We read Alma 32 and she really enjoyed it, she's developing
such a love for the scriptures it's great. When we'd finished reading
she got a little quiet and then looked up at me and said, "Why did you
choose that scripture today" I told her that we'd been advised to
choose 10 chapters that would be good for our investigators so last
week I prayed and found 10. I had them written down and I felt the
Spirit tell me that I should choose that one. She then told us that
she had prayed before the appointment and God had told her that we
wouldn't talk about baptism when we saw her. It makes her upset cause
she can't right now so she didn't want to feel bad and God told her we
wouldn't. I'm just glad we listened to the Spirit and didn't talk
about it. She then told us that from this experience we'd just had
she knew that God loved her and that he really cared. She also knew
that this wasn't just our job but that we actually cared about her.
It was really really cool. We've had an experience like that in
almost every single appointment this week. I can't tell you how many
times an investigator has stopped us in an appointment to explain how
we've answered their prayer by what we've said. It's been really neat.
So pretty much the church is true and being a missionary rocks. I've
been reading the Ensign and that always gets me really excited to be a
normal member of the church because there is so much potential and
opportunity there but I'm still really grateful I can be a missionary
for a while. I love it. Thanks for everything Dad. Take care of
yourself. I love you!
Elder Rowley

People and places

Elder Rowley at the Selby Abby


Elder Rowley and Elder Mike


Nila's baptism



Mike and Henrique (Selby)

The youth of Selby


Elder Rowley on a bike


Elder Woodbury (North Shields)


River Tyne

PIES!

Mum,
Well it sounds like you had a good thanksgiving. I talked to
Mike on Monday and he told me that he had sent you some stuff, funny
kid. Thanksgiving here was really good. We have some members from Arizona who are here for
school and they made us thanksgiving dinner, it was proper good. And
get this, her family has a speciality on Thanksgiving. PIES!!! It was
sooo good, made me think of home. It was a good thanksgiving. The
rest of the week seemed to disappear on us. I don't know where any of
it went. I'm trying to think of any fun or interesting things I could
tell you about that happened. We found some more Portuguese speakers
that we're seeing this week. The American member served in Brazil so
he's gonna come with us. Elder Woodbury is doing really well and
things are pretty much normal. Hopefully we'll have a baptism in the
next couple of weeks, maybe 2 if we're lucky and work hard. I love
this ward a lot, I'm learning more about the church here than I've
even in my entire life. I love the whole organisation and stuff its a
blast. Well I figured because I have nothing else to say, they do say
that picture say a thousand words so I'll send a bunch with the extra
time I have! Love you mum. Thanks for everything. Maybe I'll wait
to open the Christmas stuff until Christmas but maybe not. Take care!
Elder Rowley

Dad,
I can't believe that jon is home. I really cannot believe that,
it is too crazy. Looking at that picture I just don't know what to
say, its pretty weird. Oh well, no use thinking about that. He'll
speak on my 18 months mark which will be kind of funny. I talked to
Luke about goals he set for the last 6 months of his mission to make
him work his hardest. I've been thinking about some to push forward
to the end, should be fun. Thanksgiving sounds like a proper riot. I
love thanksgiving, I'll have one soon enough though. The Thanksgiving
we had here was really fun. There is an American couple from Arizona
that are going to school here and they were sure to treat us right.
Best part is that she specializes in making pies. It was just like
mom's pies, I couldn't believe it! This week is whole was pretty good
as well. Not much happened that I can remember to report on. Just
neat as a whole. We had some people at church this week but not as
many as last. We'll hopefully be having at least one more baptism before the year
ends, this ward is so supportive that I don't think they would be
bothered if we baptised someone on Christmas. We'll see what happens!
Another really exciting thing happened. We found some more
Portuguese people! There is an American in the ward who served in
Brazil so he's gonna come with us and it will be just like old times!
I'm really excited for that. Other than that the work has been pretty
normal this last week. Funny story though, the whole mission has run
out of planners! Last week we planned on bits of paper and anything
we could get our hands on, it made it so much harder. This week we
filled our old planners with post-it notes so it shouldn't be a
problem at all. It is just funny how you get adjusted to things and
then things seem impossible without it! Things are going well in
general though and I really do love it here. I'm gonna finish here
though so I can send some pictures for all of you. I love you Dad.
Take care! Keep an eye on Jon for me! Haha
Elder Rowley

So blessed

Dad,
Another week gone is right. Things are speeding up really
quickly here in North Shields. We finally got some people to come to
church with us on Sunday and they all really enjoyed it. There was a
woman that was fellowshipped so well that I think she'll get baptised
pretty soon. She spent so much time with the members on Sunday that I
don't even know her all that well. The members just took to her in an
instant. She is deathly afraid of water though so that's the only
obstacle we're dealing with. If I remember right wasn't Jan
terrified of water as well? I'm sure she'll have it resolved sometime
soon. But it has just been so great here. I hear a lot about
missionaries who struggle with their wards and stuff and I'm really
grateful we don't have to deal with that. In all my wards the leaders
have been really supportive and caring and it's such a great thing to see. We've been getting a
lot out of our missionary coordination meetings recently. Like I said
the new WML is the just released Stake President. He puts in as much
effort and time in being the WML as he did as a Stake President. I really have found a
love for church meetings since I've been on a mission, I always
enjoyed spending extra time at church before but I just love going to
meetings. It's neat to see how everything works in the church. I bet
being the High Councilor over Missionary Work is gonna be exciting.
What all do you think you'll do? I never realised how many
opportunities I had to share the gospel before my mission.
It's funny how close you get to the missionaries you serve around.
They become like a second family. Last p-day we drove around looking
for ice cream it was pretty fun. We had an Alaskan, a South African,
and two Utah boys. I realise that if I had never come on a mission I
would have never met any of them. Great thing about it is that most
of them will end up in Utah at one point or another! Well I don't
think I have much else to report on. Sometimes as a missionary I feel
like our old friend Scott. People in England have so many problems
and previous experiences that scar their lives. There are a lot of
really messed up people here. All we really do is listen to them and
the Spirit does the rest. Well Dad, that's it for me. I love you. Have a GREAT time in Duchesne for
me. Take care!
Elder Rowley

Mum,
Our week was amazing! We finally got people at church!
Miracles all over the place. This week has been so busy and crazy and
hectic that is just flew by in an instant. I hope the rest of my
mission doesn't go that fast! Sounds like Jon's did...... So ya there
were a coule of people at church and they all really liked it. There
was this one woman who we taught once this week and took a member. We
knew this member would be really good because she served a mission
with her husband and wow we were right. The best appointment I've had
with a member ever! She came to church and was fellowshipped the
entire time, I didn't have the chance to hardly say 2 words to her. Then after church
she was invited over the another members house for dinner and things
were just on fire. I realised that we have been so blessed in this
ward. Our Ward Mission Leader is the just released stake president
and has so much stuff in plan and is really on the ball. I think it
was a blessing that we didn't get anyone at church for such a long
time because we really got to know the members and they came to love
us. They were praying for us and wanting us to succeed and then the
heavens open and everyone is ready to get to work! Hopefully that
means a couple of baptisms before the year is over. Things are going
really well here. Elder Woodbury is doing really well. This last p-day I realised as well how all
these missionaries become like a second family to you! Last week we
drove around for a while trying to find Chunky Monkey ice cream with a
South African missionary. It is just good time and good friends. I
love being a missionary. Hopefully things keep getting better and
better, it will make the work even funner! Sounds like things are
good as usual back home. Funny chickens. Tell Jon hullo from me!
Kyle said you've all been watching Doctor Who? I can't believe that!
I used to watch it a little bit before but it is huge over here!
Funny funny. I'll remember Brother Stewart in my
prayers as well. He's been such a great home teacher. And I'm
perfectly fine for the winter here. Like I said the cold doesn't
bother me much and there are always more layers you can put on. Well
mum, I think that's all for me. I love you so much! I've been taking
more pictures but somehow always forget my cord....Take care!
Elder Rowley

Lots of melting and exploding going on

Mum,
Crazy good week. We had zone conference about the temple and
it was a mind melt. I tried to take notes the whole time but at times
my notes literally say, "Then my brain exploded" We have some Zone
Conferences like that, we used to draw pictures of our heads exploding
with doctrine, good times. Well I'm e-mailing on Tuesday because
believe it or not we had transfers yesterday. Of course I'm staying
and so is Elder Woodbury so things are gonna be great. We are finding
some really prepared people and the Lord is really blessing us. We
have had some neat experiences with resolving peoples concerns early
on. There is a woman we are teaching that was almost baptised a
couple of times in the past. She was saying how bad things always
happen before she almost gets baptised and how that would be the only
thing stopping her this time. It was funny because about a month ago
I was thinking about Joseph Smith's experience and some neat things
came to mind. We turned to the Pearl of Great Price and shared how
Joseph Smith was overcome by Satan just before the first vision. Then
I shared how Joseph Smith knew 100% that that wasn't God. That's why
he had the faith to pray after that. She had felt like it was God
telling her not to join the church. After we shared that scripture
things just melted. Almost all of her concerns were resolved and she
is doing great. She just has to find a new house and then she can be
baptised! We're having lots of neat experiences like that now, crazy
crazy. Funny news about transfers, Selby got a car! I can't believe
it, Leeds 4 got a car right after I left as well. Ridiculous. Oh
well, since I finally passed my test maybe I'll luck out and get a
car. Well that's about it for me. I love you mum. I'm excited you
get to go to Oregon to see Gavin's baptism, tell them I say hello! Oh
and can you believe that Jon gets home next week! Tell him hello for
me! Well take care! Love you!
Elder Rowley

Dad,
Well have a good time with Thanksgiving. I'm sure I'll be
fine, the difficult part is almost over. President Lindley tolds us
that we're having a whole mission Christmas Party and said that it
would be his 18 month mark.....that means it's mine too! Its pretty
crazy. Driving is fun when I get the chance. I'm hoping I'll get to
drive to Leeds in the near future. How fun would that be! Sounds
like things are going really well back home. We had zone
conference last week which is always really interesting. President
likes to overwhelm us with doctrine to build up our testimonies and it
usually ends with, now don't teach this to your investigators, this is
for your benefit and testimony. So it's pretty neat. This time it was
on the Temple so of course it was mind blowing. He showed us all the
symbolisms from the Salt Lake Temple and it was mind blowing! I
really thought my mind was going to explode. It was nice though and a
great spiritual uplift. Then we went to work to make our mission goal
happen. We have seen so many miracles already. I told mum about one
that was pretty neat. We are also finding loads and loads of people
to teach. When we visit them I always have the thought, "Do I think
they'll get baptised this year?" Most of the time I don't know so I
just pray that I can say the right thing to make it all happen. So
things are going pretty well. It's getting a bit colder but not too
bad. I'm sure the snow will come pretty soon but it has to be pretty
cold for it to snow because there is so much salt in the air. I took
some pictures of the coast and stuff at night and they turned out
pretty well, I didn't bring my chord again though.... oh well.
Transfers just happened and we're staying the same so that will be
good. We have a bunch of people who are going home half-way through
next transfer so we'll see what has to happen in a couple of weeks!
Other funny news about transfers, Selby got a car! I can't believe
it, we bike for miles and miles and as soon as we leave they get a
car! Oh well. I'm gonna laugh when they drive the outskirts of the
area and meet people that knew me and Elder Thimmesch! HAha. Well
that's about all I have to report for this week. We're going to
Newcastle again as usual so that'll be fun. I love you Dad. Take
care of yourself and good luck in your new calling. Tell Jon hello
and Chase and everyone! Love ya!
Elder Rowley

Massive sense of urgency

Elder Rowley and Sam
Elder Rowley
Elder Peterson and Elder Rowley

Mum,
So much to write and so little time. First to answer some questions you asked. No we don't go to the temple but we're having a zone conference on the temple tomorrow. Yes I got Colton's e-mail and he is doing great. Traci wrote me a letter last week so I knew she was going to Thailand (amazing!). I got your package this week as
well. Thank you so much. And about Christmas package I was gonna tell you not to send decorations or any Christmasy stuff like that. We've already got loads in our flat and I'm sure there will be plenty of
surplus! I still can't believe that you got Sam Swindler to say, "zombie apocolypse" in his talk. Things are going really well here. We had halloween which is a bit lame and then Guy Fawkes night which is anything but lame! We have had some neat experiences and as a mission we are working really hard to reach our goals. We set the goal of baptising 425 people this year and we are 100 short as of last monday. It is going to be a massive miracle but we're gonna make it happen! I'll share an experience about how its changing the way we have been working. There is such a massive sense of urgency
now! We need to find these people and we need to progress the ones we have. We are teaching a family from Nigeria and they were not really bothered about joining the church. They like us to preach to them but they didn't want to get baptised. When they said that I thought about our mission goal and the kind of miracles it will take to make it
happen. I also thought about the family, they have four kids who are a blast and really crazy sometimes. Then I just told them their church wasn't getting them close enough to God and that this church was the only one that could do that. I told them that if they read and pray and come to church then they will feel and know that they will grow closer to God only in this church. It was funny because they looked at each other and then at me and said, "Are you telling us that we need to stop going to our church and go to yours?" I looked them both in the eye and said, "No, I'm telling you to ask God if you need to
join our church and then when he says yes, that you should do it" It was pretty crazy. Other news is that I saw Sam! She is doing really well. It was so good to see her. And I passed my driving test! I was driving all around Newcastle on Friday and I've really missed not being able to drive! Once again I forgot my camera cord but I'll send you pictures
next time. I love you so much mum. Thanks for everything you do, take care!
Elder Rowley

Dad,
This is the hardest time of year to be in England! I'm not too
bothered about Christmas but the Deer Hunt and Halloween and
Thanksgiving!! Oh well, I made it last year and I'll make it just find
this year! Its so crazy reading all of your e-mails! So many things
are happening back home. Sounds like the deer hunt was a blast but
nothing short of an adventure. I wish I could have helped fix the
truck but oh well. I think you shouldn't get a really new truck cause
they all look too fat. Maybe a 90s Silverado or F150. I think I'll
buy a Bronco when I get home. Speaking of which. Chase bought a
Porsche! You should try and get a picture! Halloween was good but we
couldn't really do anything here and Guy Fawkes night is always crazy.
People just have massive fires in the middle of the street and stuff.
It reminds me of the end of the world. Funny how a lot of things in
England seem like that! I passed my driving test last week as well
which was great. I got to drive all day in Newcastle on Friday and it
was a blast, so much fun. Maybe I'll get a car area to finish my
mission in! I got to see Sam too. She is doing really well and is
excited for her trip next year. I can't believe that you're on the dry council! That is gonna be a major adventure! I'm sure you'll get to know President Warner
really well. I heard from Colton and that was really good. I miss
all the Duchesne cousins and family but I realise that even if I was
home that half of them are on missions now too! We're having some
amazing miracles happening in the mission. As I told mum and Luke, the mission goal for the year is 425 baptisms and confirmations and as of
last monday we are 100 short. We're not just giving up though, we're
gonna make a miracle happen! I've never had such a fire burning in me to share the gospel with people!!! I just want to talk to everyone
and get everyone to join the church! We know that there are 100
people prepared and waiting to get baptised this year and all we have
to do is find them! Its so exciting but there is a lot of pressure.
Miracles have already happened though, in South Shields they found a
woman last week who has a friend who has tried to get her to church
for years. Everything is falling in to place and she'll be baptised
in 2 weeks. We just need to make sure we have 100 of those people!
Well dad I'm running out of time but I love you so much. I love being
a missionary and for the great examples I've had my whole life of how
to live. Thank you.
Elder Rowley

Miracle after miracle!

Mum,
Wow, there's a lot of good news in that e-mail. That picture of David and Mike is great and I'm so happy he got the Priesthood. Will you ask Mike if Henrique Moura got the Priesthood as well? That is so exciting! And I'm pretty sure that 70 was the one you were thinking of, that's pretty crazy. I wish I would have been able to talk to them a bit more, it would have been funny if he would have remembered that trip. I didn't know you got to go to the London Temple on your mission? That's crazy. I wish I would have asked for more stories from you and Dad when I was home. Well this week has been super crazy. We found loads of new people! It has been hard to keep up with all of them. We are starting to get all mixed up with names and everything so hopefully we don't forget about anyone! We also had a crazy amazing miracle at church yesterday. So we were leaving Sunday School (Sacrament meeting is last here) and the Bishop walked in and said that a man came in off the street named Mark who wanted to meet with missionaries! He was taught in Newcastle a few months ago but he now lives in North Shields and he is great. Just walked in to church and said that he wants to change his life! Haha, what a miracle! We are working on progressing our people right now. We have found a lot of new investigators but we'll see what happens with all of them, pray for the best! I don't think there is really anything else to report on this week. I haven't taken my driving test yet but it is scheduled for the 4th of November, wish me luck! I think that is everything, sorry its so short. Love you Mum! Bye!

Dad,
Wow what a week it sounds like you've been having back home! Sounds like quite the adventure with the deer hunt and all sorts of mishaps. I'm really glad to hear that Lindsay spent some time with Grandpa. I was talking about Grandpa's missions with Elder Woodbury and I wish I would have asked more questions and got to know them better. Oh well, there will be plenty of time for that in due time. I'm excited to hear and eventually see the changes in the back yard, that would be so nice! Our week was really really good. We found loads of new investigators and things are really picking up here. There are two experiences I'll share with you. On Tuesday we had an appointment flog (fall through) and we had about an hour until our next one. We didn't have enough time to see these other people so we were stuck finding in the area we were. I could tell Elder Woodbury didn't really want to work there because he really wanted to see the other people and to be honest I wasn't too in the mood as well. But we set out to go finding and I told Elder Woodbury that we should pray and choose where we should go. We prayed and then he looked up and half heartedly said the street we were already on. Now it has taken me a long time to learn even a little bit of how to follow the Spirit while finding and I really wanted Elder Woodbury to figure it out as well. It's something that can totally change the attitude someone has on their mission when they recognise they were where the Lord wanted them for a time. So I didn't accept that he had made the right decision and told him to think about it as we walked and to choose another street. As we walked I prayed that he would be able to find the right street and when he chose one I didn't really feel to good about it. But he seemed committed to it so I figured we'd give it our all. We knocked on the first door and I prayed that someone would let us in so Elder Woodbury would realise that he'd followed the Spirit and his prayer was answered. Nobody answered so we went to the next door. A kid named Johnny answered the door and let us in! We taught him a bit, invited him to church and then left after about 20 minutes. You should have seem Elder Woodbury's face for the rest of the day. It was the neatest experience! I was really grateful that he recognised and had his prayer answered. It was neat. I was gonna tell Mum but I totally forgot about the experience! The other one was when this man named Mark just walked into church on Sunday. It was amazing and he is really good! Miracle after miracle! Hahaa. Well that's about all for me. We have interviews with President Lindley tomorrow which is always fun. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks so much for everything Dad. I love you!
Elder Rowley

Hoping to turn things around

Dad,
The language up here is going great! I love it so much. The other day when we got a bus a overheard two girls speaking portuguese. I made a mental note of what they look like and there is an american guy here who served in Manaus Brazil so maybe we'll see what happens next time we see them! HAha! Well that is our little flat. It's the set of flats on the right hand side and we live on the ground floor, it's pretty podunk. Our area going north up to Ashington I believe and it's just us two here. The bishop of this ward is amazing. He is so humble and knowledgeable and willing to help, he's perfect. He came with us to a couple of appointments and he really knows how the get things done. I'm confident we can make some real miracles happen here. I'm hoping we can turn things around here because the ward deserves quality missionaries and its easiest to get those when an area baptises a lot. I can't believe its deer season again. I can't wait for next fall. Things are just going by too fast! This week has been really neat, we've been finding loads of people and the work is really going to pick up even more here. I'm super excited. I love being so close to the sea and we contact people by the coast sometimes, it's really nice. Don't worry I've been taking pictures but I just haven't sent any lately! We've got a couple of really good people we are working with now and hopefully we can get a baptism next month! Well there isn't much more to report on over here. Who else has got their mission call? And is anybody else getting married? Crazy crazy. Well I love you Dad. Thanks for everything. I never realised how lucky I was to grow up the way that I did. I think it was exactly what I needed. Love you take care!
Elder Rowley


Mum,
*David got baptised!! Woo hoo! That's super exciting. I was gonna tell you that I gave him my quad but I didn't (tell you). I use that little one you bought me before I left for everything so I thought it wasn't a big deal. Oh that's super exciting. Things are going really well over here. We have been finding so many potential investigators its been crazy. I now realise the reason. Thanks for all the prayers! Hopefully we can get back to teach all of them this next week, that would be good. We had a neat experience yesterday at Stake Conference. They re-organised the stake presidency (really really young now) and Elder Causse of the area presidency came to visit. Elder Causse is French and he came with the only of French seventy. They are the first two from France, ever and this was their first assignment together. It was really neat to hear all of their experiences at the conference. We also got to hear a little story about the Paris Temple! So Elder Causse headed the team that took the appeal to the mayor of Paris to see if they would allow a temple there. He said that he had made a power point presentation about the church and why they should allow us to build a temple there. When they got to the appointment the mayor said that he wasn't going to watch the presentation because he knew that he would hear all the good things about the church and he didn't want that. The mayor brought forward two women who were on the Paris City Council. One was a Catholic and a mother of 9 and the other had a doctorate in Theology. The mayor said that they would do an investigation of the church and in one month Elder Causse would be brought back to the mayor's office. Needless to say Elder Causse was nervous over the next month. When he got back to the mayor's office a month later the women had prepared a presentation. They said that they had been to the internet (bad idea), and done their research. But then they had gone to a sacrament meeting! They also knocked on all the doors of the members in the proposed area and asked them about their neighbors. The theologist said that it was the closest church to the original church in the bible that she had ever seen. And the mother of 9 was impressed at the members. Well you know the end of the story and that's how there is a temple going to be built in Paris! I thought that was a neat experience to share. Cool huh? Well I don't have anything else to report on this week. I'm signing up for my driving test again so watch my account please. Love you so much mum. Thanks for everything!
Elder Rowley


(*David is a young man Zack was teaching in Selby with a recent convert Mike, whom I recently met. Zack was really impressed with David. Just before Zack got transferred, David moved to Lancaster, which is in Luke's mission. Over the weekend Mike (who is waiting for his own mission call) emailed me to let me know he went to Lancaster and baptised David. He also asked me to pass on David's thanks to Zack for the scriptures. We had a feeling that Zack had possibly given him his own scriptures. Turns out he had. Good thing we sent him with two sets!)

I can do the Geordie accent!

Mum,
North Shields is great. I've missed this zone and I've missed the Geordies. And guess what, I can do the accent now! It's been pretty fun, I think I'm going to talk in a Geordie accent all the time now! My companion is Elder Austin Woodbury from Kentucky. He's been out for about 7 1/2 months or something. He reminds me a lot of Steven Markham. He's great. A really good teacher and he knows the gospel really well. I think that one of the difficult things as a missionary (especially if you've been out a while) is having so many companions! Me and Elder Thimmesch were getting to the point that I knew all of his friends and family by name and then I get transfered and have to start all over again. Oh well, I've been really lucky that I've only had 3 other areas because the ward adjustment is also different. The ward here is so neat though. They are all older and only about 40 people come to church. Funny news, there are Rowleys in the ward! I haven't had too much of a chance to talk to them but I'm gonna see if I can get some family history out of dad to see where we came from and when! So things are going well here. There are a few people to teach but needless to say, there's some work to be done! But I love it here. I was wondering when *they all got home. How is Justin doing? And Daylin! That's neat-o. Glad to hear about Mike. I hope he gets his call next week as well, that would be super exciting! I told him that he should call me and gave him my new phone number. I already miss them but the day will come when I'll get to see and talk to them all again. Well I think that's all i have to report this week. i LOVE YOU MUM, TAKE CARE! (I was typing one handed just for fun and that accidentally happened with caps lock but I'll leave it for you)
Elder Rowley


Dad,
North Shields is really great. I'm so excited to be in this zone again. All the district leaders and the zone leaders are people I know really well so there is already a great unity here. We're so far away from everyone else that its easy to be unified and it makes it really fun. I realised that North Shields and Selby are the same and that's why I'm glad I got sent here. Selby turned around a lot and we were doing quite good. North Shields is exactly the kind of area I feel best in. The ward is older and there are only about 40 or 50 who come to church. There are hardly any priesthood holders and the area hasn't had much success. There are a lot of things that's we're going to have to overcome. My companion is Elder Austin Woodbury from Kentucky and he is a lot like Steven Markham. I went from having a massive district to just having one team. The missionaries are really good there are just a couple of things we have to sort out. I hope I can do everything that needs to get done. Wish us luck, I fasted for a baptism this month yesterday so that's our goal. Here's a funny story. There is a family of Rowley's in the ward! I haven't gotten to talk to them that much but they are great! That leads me to a question. Grandma Janet gave me the family history for her side back until the dawn of time but I was wondering about the Rowley side. Do you have any information about where we came from and when it was. How long has the family been in the church as well? I dunno how much of that you'll be able to figure out but I was just curious. Well that's about all I have for this week. I love you Dad. Thank you for everything. Have a good week.
Elder Rowley

Hard to say good-bye!

Mom,
I can't believe we're getting another temple in Provo!!!! Me and Elder Thimmesch guessed right on the dot where they would be. I said there would be five, 2 in the states, one in Columbia or Bolivia, one is Western Africa, and one in Paris! Elder Thimmesch guessed the one in South Africa! Conference was really really good. We got to watch most of it but it was funny to realise how far away I am from it all. We watched the second to last session with a Brazilian member on his laptop, kinda funny. Well we got transfer calls last night and you'll never guess where I'm going. Back to the Geordies! I'm going to North Shields in the Sunderland Zone! I'll be right next to Newcastle and if things work out I'll be able to visit Sam once or twice! Can you believe it! I'm still shocked. It will be another great adventure though, not sure the last time they had a baptism there. We'll see! I'm super excited though. Its gonna be really hard to leave Selby. Tonight we are going to young mens and young womens and its gonna be pretty difficult. We got teaching with 2 of the young men every week at least. We spend so much time with them all its a blast. We're going to York with Mike today so that'll be a fun way to say goodbye. Oh well, all things must come to an end. I keep thinking about how hard it was to leave Leeds 4 but how many great adventures I had in Selby. I'm convinced that is what the Lord has in store for me in North Shields! I wish I had more to report on, those seem to be the only things on my mind right now. Elder Thimmesch is getting someone named Elder Balls and he is really good. It will be a perfect follow-up train for Elder Thimmesch. Sounds like things are going really well back home. Take care of things for me. I love you so much mum.
Elder Rowley


Dad,
A new temple in Provo! Woo hoo! I'm super excited. I couldn't believe that. The satelite wasn't working for that session so I just heard about that from a couple of missionaries but wow! Me and Elder Thimmesch guessed every one of the temples right, I couldn't believe it! Conference was really good as well. Priesthood Session was my favourite as usual. We sat will all the prospective Elders of our ward and it was great. There were about 4 of them and we all looked at each other during the conference and wow they are gonna be such great missionaries. They come teaching with us almost everyday and they are great. I'm grateful that I was here to serve around and with them. They've all grown loads since I first met them as well, I'm stoked for their missions. That leads me to the unfortunate and sad news. I'm leaving Selby after 4 1/2 months here! I'm going back to the North! Its an area called North Shields and it is right next to Newcastle. That means I'll be right next to Sam and might even be able to visit her once or twice. Crazy crazy crazy!!! I'm really sad to leave Selby, it will probably be even harder than it was to leave Leeds 4 but if North Shields holds half as many good times as Selby then it'll be worth it! The more I think about it the more I can't believe that I'll be going back North. I'm really excited. Those young men I'm leaving weren't too happy. Henrique told me he'd call me every week and come visit me! Haha! Good thing for Facebook so I can actually meet up with them again someday! Elder Thimmesch is getting a missionary named Elder Balls. He is exactly like Elder Thimmesch and was just barely a Zone Leader so they are going to tear it up in Selby! That's the thing I think I'm most happy about, I know that Selby is being left in good and capable hands! Well that's about all I have to report this time around. We're getting to the trunkiest time of the year for me, Thanksgiving! Oh well, I go through last year just fine! Just stop catching all my fish! Leave them for another year so I can catch them all! Thanks for everything Dad. I got that letter you sent me this week. I was one of the best letters I've ever gotten, it was exactly what I needed, it could not have come at a more perfect time! Then I finished the Book of Mormon again this week and then General Conference. It was just the boost I needed to get things going. I don't know how much success North Shields has had of late so it's gonna be some hard work. Good thing I like work! Love you Dad, take care!
Elder Rowley