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