Small, small world (redux)

Backstory: Yesterday Luke and Shane went to SLC to attend the homecoming of one of the missionaries Luke trained, Elder Burnett. As they took their seats they looked up on the stand and recognized the young man sitting next to Elder Burnett, who would be speaking with him. It was none other than Zack's first companion and trainer, Elder Thorup!

Date: Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 4:00 AM
Subject: Re: Hiya


Mum,
Well I was hoping that it would stay a secret but yes I have a new companion. His name is Elder Sam Thimmesch (pronounced Tim-ish) from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. My first non-Utah companion! He is a great guy and really funny. We've been having a blast so far. Alraedy his is really good at teaching and finding, I haven't felt like I've had to train him at all. Its just like I have another normal companion. The only thing that we'll have to work on is him taking over the area because unfortunatly I'll have to leave Selby eventually. We have been so blessed in the work though! Yesterday we had 5 people at church! There is someone getting baptised in 2 weeks and then another one at the end of August. Last week we also got a referral from a member in the North whose sister wants to learn about the church. The member has already taught the sister pretty much everything which is exciting. Then just barely I got a text from an investigator saying that she has a friend who wants to come to church and she said that if he found that it was true then he would get baptised too! The work is on fire here in Selby. I love this ward so much and I love being here. Elder Thimmesch is so much fun as well. It's really neat to train because of how much trust your companion puts in you. He listens to and does everything that I ask him to! I guess I'll just have to be careful with that trust and not abuse it. Training is difficult sometimes but I think that there are a lot worse situations to be in. So far its been really fun and rewarding. I hope that I don't jynx it by being so positive about it but oh well, the Lord will provide! I can't believe that Luke and Dad got to go to Elder Thorup's reunion and didn't even realise that it was his. Small small world. Well that's about all I have to report on this week! There is a Brazilian Elder in York and a sister in Harrogate and they are all in our district so I'm gonna be able to learn lots and lots of Portuguese!! I love you Mum. Thanks for everything. Take care!
Elder Rowley

Dad,

I hope this will be a proper e-mail. I have a little more time to write today if that's what you mean. Well the secret is out, I'm training. My new companion is Elder Samuel Thimmesch (Tim-ish) from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. His parents are converts and he went to school in Idaho for a while before his mission. He is a blast! We've been having so much fun these last couple of days. It is definatly different to be a trainer though. I think the hardest part has been study sessions. I don't really know where we need to begin because we just have to cover everything! But it has been really really good. Elder Thimmesch is really good at teaching already and its good because we've been doing a lot of it lately! It wasn't until Saturday that Elder Thimmesch did his first door approach! We just didn't have any time to find, we were too busy teaching! He's great at teaching though and he's picking up on all the mission stuff really quick. I don't feel like I'm training him at all! We've been really blessed to have so many teaching appointments and we've had all sorts. I realise that in my first transfer I didn't do much teaching and we didn't ever teach the later lessons. Elder Thimmesch has been here for 4 days and we've already taught the first 3 lessons and most of the 4 one! It's pretty crazy. We've been so blessed with church as well. We had 5 people at church on Sunday and it was great. We should be having some baptisms really soon and that is always fun. People keep coming out of the woodwork to be taught as well. I got a call from a member in the North whose sister wants to learn more about the church. She's been through some difficult times and her member sister who is a convert has shared the gospel with her. Turns out that she's already been taught most of the discussions by her sister (she even used preach my gospel). So that's amazing! There is a guy who will hopefully be baptised next weekend and a teenage girl who will be in the end of August! She just texted me now and said that she has a friend who wants to come to church. She must already be a good missionary because she said that if he found out it was true then he would be baptised as well! Isn't that amazing! So as you can see things are going really well here. I know it has nothing to do with us though, we've been working the same the whole time. Its been all the Lord's doing. I just hope we can stay humble and keep being blessed so things will stay really good here. Have a good week dad. I hope you enjoy the trip, I've always wanted to go whitewater rafting in Jackson Hole, sounds like another adventure! Welll I love you, take care.

Elder Rowley

First Portuguese prayer!

Mum,
Well to tell you first about our week. My new companion is Elder Riley Smith from Cedar Hills, Utah. He went to Lone Peak and I told him Chip Koop (the principal at Lone Peak) was in our ward which was pretty funny. Elder Smith is the exact same as Kolton Francis in almost every way, except he is on a mission! He loves jeep crawling, hunting, working on cars, fishing, and everything. It is a blast and he is great. Hopefully the work will continue to improve as well! Conference was amazing and we were blessed to have a family come with us. They are progressing pretty well and hopefully they will accept a baptismal date for sometime in May (they have to get married first), so things are going really well. This week has been super crazy though with everything that has gone on, I have hardly had time to think! But things are good and I love Elder Smith and the work is moving forward, I'm excited! Sounds like it was a good conference and birthday for dad. I didn't have a chance to send him anything last week but maybe I'll find some time today to do it. Let him know I love him and think of him often, especially now because all we talk about is trucks and hunting! Love you Mum!
Elder Rowley
ps-Miro is doing great! He came to conference and I'm going to get him a Liahona of conference in Portuguese. I also said my first Portuguese prayer this morning!! Love you!

Dad,
Let me tell you a little bit about our week, it was super crazy. I got a new companion! His name is Elder Riley Smith and he is from Cedar Hills, he went to Lone Peak. He loves rock crawling in his forerunner, hunting, fishing, working on cars, mountain biking, and pretty much everything in between. He reminds me so much like Kolton Francis that it is scary! Unfortunatly he doesn't know any of the Francis' so we were trying to think of someone we would both know. I was telling him about our trip to Moab and thought he might know Gary Pine. Turns out that he used to be in Gary's stake and talked to him about Jeeping every now and then! Crazy! He didn't know if Gary would remember him but that's still pretty crazy. So we get on great and we're excited for the work. Conference was a blast. We brought a family with us which was amazing!! Didn't get to see the last session though, I'll just have to wait for the ensign! That's an amazing story. I've often thought about all the little things we will be able to do to help other people. When it comes down to it all we have to do is be as Christlike as we can and no matter if we know it or not, we can effect people's lives. That's really exciting, I hope it goes well! I hope you had a happy birthday too, I'll try and send you off something today for it! I love you Dad. Thanks for everything. Especially all the fishing and hunting and good times. Me and Elder Smith spend a lot of time talking about that kinda stuff and I'm glad that you took the time when I was little to take me with you all those times. I love you. Talk to you next week!!!
Elder Rowley

Life Flight!

Well papa I'm moving! I'm going to the Leeds 4 ward with Elder Jensen. The Elder who came out with me who I sat next to on the plane. Its pretty crazy to think about serving with someone I came out with but I'm excited. I told mom I couldn't sleep last night and I'm already packed. I have learned from some other Elders that we live with members in Leeds 4 which is going to be a change, probably for the better! And the funny thing is I'll probably only be Elder Jensen's companion for 6 weeks because after this next transfer he will have been there for 6 months. It will be weird to have so many 6 week companions. Other exciting news is that an Elder I came out with is training this transfer so that will be pretty crazy. There are so many exciting things happening that I just can't take it! I will definitely miss Newcastle though, a lot of other areas aren't as diverse which i think is less fun. Yesterday I almost had an entire conversation with someone in Persian! We teach people from all over the world and we ever had 5 people at church last week! That is the most of my whole mission but that record isn't gonna last long. Jon Duerden said that he is gonna have to go home on a stretcher and I told him they are gonna have to take me home on life-light. It makes me so excited and I know that working hard is the key to success and happiness. Have you ever read Jesus the Christ? I have started reading it before bed and during lunch and stuff and it is really really good. I just thought I'd let you know how good it is. I'm trying to think if we had any stories to tell. It has been quite rainy recently and yesterday the rain was freezing! Don't worry I'm staying well but I don't really get bothered by the cold. Remember that one time I was up at Sundance waiting because I thought you said if I missed the bus to just wait instead of getting the next one? Every since that day I have never really been bothered by the cold. Kind of a nice advantage to cold winters huh? I have been trying to take more pictures and hopefully I can send some today but England is really pretty. Since the sun is rarely up then when it is there is a cool twilight effect. I have been trying to take advantage of it so we'll see how it works. Christmas is coming up, did you want anything? I told mum what I was planning on sending Lindsay and Kyle but I need help for everyone else. Let me know if you have any ideas. Well Dad the church is true, thank you for everything you've done for me. I wouldn't be the missionary I am now without you. Thank you so much.
Elder Rowley


Guess what mum! I'm leaving Newcastle! I'm going to the Leeds 4 ward to serve with Elder Jensen. Yes, the Elder Jensen that I sat on the plane with. Pretty crazy huh? We are going to live with members and being so close to the mission home we get to take investigators to the President's fireside on Mondays. How exciting is that? I couldn't sleep last night because I was thinking about all of the new possibilities and challenges and such. I also have a long line of members that I need to say goodbye to in Newcastle. It will be hard and lame but I pulled out those thank you cards you put in my bag and I'm going to write some to the members here and start on the ones for people back home. Well we were definitely blessed a lot this week. For my entire mission we have always had a hard time getting people to church, usually only 1 person comes every week. But this week we worked our little behinds off and lo and behold 5 people came to church! There is a funny story about one of them. So we were waiting to go to tea with a member and they were stuck in traffic so we decided to knock on some doors around their house. We were kinda doing it to kill time until the member got back but we found a family of 4. At first Steve said, "I divn't believe in nowt" (Geordie for I don't believe in anything) so we were afraid it would be a lame door. Then as we kept talking to him he said he would love his wife to be baptised and when we explained a bit more about it then he said he would bring his whole family to church. When you bring a family to church it is amazing, the ward just adopts them. We were busy picking up some other people for church but when we got there Steve was waiting with the other Elders. He had a big smile on his face and said his wife was with the women and his children were in primary. They loved church and everyone loved them and they are going to be scheduled for baptism this week. Another amazing thing that happened is with a girl named Brooke. She is Chinese and is actually an investigator to the Zone Leaders but I have met her a couple of times. When they told her to start thinking about who she wanted to baptise her she came up to me after church and said she wanted me to do it! How crazy is that! Unfortunately I'll be leaving so I can't do it, but no bother! Well I'd better get going, I think I'm gonna start doing some Christmas shopping for everyone so let me know what you want. Love you so much mum. I'll be emailing from Leeds next week!
Elder Rowley

Newcastle is going great! As far as miracles go there are far too many to write about and my mind has been really strayed these last couple days with conference and such but I will let you know. That is so great about Andy! I keep looking at that picture and smiling, I know he is doing great. How about my other missionary friends? Any news? Keep me up to date. My new companion is Jared Paul Wheeler from Bountiful Utah and he has been on his mission for about 8 months. He is great and I am learning a lot about how things work more in a mission. He is surprised at the area and wants to improve it so it will be great to work hard with him to make the area amazing. I dunno how much longer I'll stay here so we'll have to work as hard as we can for the next 6 weeks. Yes there are still four in our flat, the other missionary is Elder Ryan Best from St. George Utah. He is great and about 7ft tall. Its great to have everyone in the flat get along now and the work is going to explode in Newcastle. Its funny because Elder Christensen (the other Zone leader) trained Elder Wheeler! I send a little more information about Elder Black to dad so hopefully he can find them if he doesn't call you soon. He has our home phone number so hopefully he just calls soon. Our investigators are doing great but there are not enough! We are going to work really hard and focus on finding new investigators, sorry I'm not going into much detail but I'm just excited to find and work with a lot more people. Its really amazing to work around other missionaries and I'm becoming the kind of missionary I want to be so its great!

Oh, I was gonna tell you about Sam. She is so great and is already working on going to the temple this week. She reads church material all the time and asked me for a copy of preach my gospel yesterday! Its amazing and its made me realise that baptism isn't the last step, its really the first. I'm glad I realised this now because I'm going to teach it to people and help them realise that it is more than just a dunk in the water. It is the beginning of a lifetime of happiness. Lets hope it all works out in the end! I'm glad to hear about your pumpkins as well, how are the cats doing? I flip through my pictures and every time I get to the one of Capone it makes me smile (even though she looks so unhappy in the picture) try and see if you can send a happier one of her and Mogli as well. Well mum I've got to go, we are gonna play some football today!!!! And I might need some money out of my account for driving lessons so I can drive, I don't want to get too rusty and I might as well learn now, it will be a valuable asset in the future. Well mom I love you more than you could ever know and I'm excited to work my butt off for the next 21 months and then finally rest for a bit when I get home. I'm working on my accent as well and learning new words in all languages. Its a very exciting time to be a missionary!! Love you loads


I'm still amazed that it is already October and that conference has already come and gone. It was amazing to be able to watch it out here but it felt so different. This may sound a bit bad but the General Authorities looked really different and sounded different to me this year, it was like they weren't just talking about something unreal and unattainable. I really felt like we were equals though and worry and praying for the same things. I guess I shouldn't say equals but one in purpose, it was a pretty amazing feeling. But we are blessed to be able to watch 2 of the sessions live but it is at 5 o'clock at night and we don't get to watch the last session so we'll have to wait for the ensign. Do you think that is why President Monson usually speaks last in the Sunday Morning session? With conference and stuff it really makes me realise how short a mission is. Elder Holland always says that he loved his mission more than anyone every has since and ever will but I'm looking to give him a run for his money. It's funny to look at things from an eternal perspective and it makes everything have much more meaning and more exciting. Every day is a step closer to getting back to God and being more like him, its an exciting thing to think about. It reminds me of what you always used to tell us about taking tests, just take it one question at a time. It's like that with life! This month we are going to work really hard and I know that we will see miracles from it, and the exciting part is we may not even know what we'll get! Oh ya I haven't told you much about Elder Wheeler. He is from Bountiful and is from a family of 9. He doesn't talk much but we get along really well and both of us are frustrated with the way the work has been going in Newcastle as of late. Its great to have someone who is excited about the work and is willing to work through to the end. Interviews are tomorrow and I have a lot of questions for President Lindley. I'm taking your advice and trying to get really close to him and it is a great blessing. Its like I have another set of parents out here! I'd never thought of it like that before and it is really different than from my relationship with you but I'm sure you know what I mean. I gave Elder Black your phone number so hopefully he will call you soon. His dad's name is Paul Black and his name is Leland Paul Black and they live in Taylorsville. I hope that helps but that is all I can do for you, sorry hope you can get a hold of him soon. Our transportation is all walking and public transportation but the zone leaders have a car so we usually bum rides off them. Well I've got to get back to e-mailing.

Love you much dad. Talk to you next week!
Elder Rowley

Mum it was a miracle. We had 3 baptisms these last two weeks! I gave dad most of the details so you'll have to steal them off of him but it was so exciting. A funny thing happened though, Elder Thorup and Elder Burnham ( the original missionary who taught the family) were baptising the kids and I had to go turn on a little movie segment that we watch in between. The only problem was that in was playing in ASL, well in England they have a whole different sign language and it woudln't get off of it. So i just left in and the whole thing played with a man signing everything it was pretty funny. But I'm getting a new companion, his name is Elder Wheeler and he has been out about 8 months now. I'm really excited but nervous as well so pray for us. I'm excited for a lot of work to happen in Newcastle and I might leave next transfer so I'm gonna hit it hard for 6 weeks. It will be strange having to call the shots and take over an area but I'm really excited. I've decided to memorise a scripture from the Book of Mormon each day from a different book each day. I thought I would test myself and try and write them for you but i will take too much time. Its been good though and I am working on a lot of personal goals. Its exciting to be a missionary! I'm so excited for Talisa and Matthew as well. What great missionaries we will have! Haha, it made me so happy to hear. Also, i'm really excited for Shae to get married soon but you keep an eye on her for me. Well I got to go, sorry this is so short. Talk to you soon.
Love you loads,

Well you guessed it Dad, I'm staying in Newcastle. But Elder Thorup is moving to Billingham to be with Elder Wadsworth who came out with me. My new companion is Elder Wheeler who was trained by Elder Christensen who is one of the Zone Leaders who lives with us. It's pretty exciting to be taking over an area and we'll see how I do, I will need lots of prayers. Elder Black has said that Elder Wheeler is the kind of person that I will need to take the lead a lot of the time which both excites me and frightens me. I'm not very good at that but I have a real desire to and I think that is part of what I need to learn on my mission. We also had another miracle these last two weeks. Sam Bass was baptised on the 16th of September and she is so amazing, she has adjusted to the ward so well. Yesterday she told us she doesn't need the missionaries anymore! What a dream come true! I can see her going really far in the church. The other baptisms were Lez and Jade Smith, Lez is 13 and Jade is 10. Their mum was baptised about a year ago and she drags all four of her children to church every week even though her husband doesn't believe any of it. Her husband Andy is so great though, he really cares about his kids and is a great man. He called us one day and told us it was about time his kids got 'dunked'. So they were baptised on Friday by Elder Burnham who was the Elder who baptised their mum. How amazing would that be to be able to come back to a zone and baptised the rest of the family you taught. He was so happy. I'm trying to think if anything else exciting has happened lately but can I just say I am ready for this new transfer to begin. The last two weeks have been good because we have baptised but the other work is going so slow and there is very little motivation in the zone. Hopefully these changes are going to pump up the zone and our area. I'm really excited to work with Elder Wheeler and to see another perspective on missionary work. Keep an eye on everyone for me and keep sending photos, (i'll send all mine home with elder Black so don't worry) I'm still very sad about Brother Oldroyd but I know that he will see his family again and he was really a great man.
Love you,
Elder Rowley