Loving it but still looking (and praying) for some families

Date: Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 4:59 AM
Subject: Hello from the Isle of Man!

Hey!

These weeks go so fast, have I ever told you that? It's incredible. Being a Missionary is the BEST!! I'm going to miss being a full-time set apart Missionary when this is all over. I am doing well and we have had a good week.

I'm so glad to hear about Dad. We really do live in a day of miracles and it's all by our combined Prayers and Faith. Thanks to all those who have helped out in any way, I hope you're getting the blessings from the prayers I've asked for you! I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people, and now so many around the world!

On Sunday evening we got a phone call just after we did our nightly planning. It was a ward member and he referred us to one of his best friends. So on Monday we had a couple of appointments fall through and we decided to contact him. When he came to the door we were welcomed with a big smile and a nice "come in!" I can't tell you how much I love hearing those words. It is very rare for us to just get let into somebody's home like that. This man is amazing though. His name is *Ben and we love him already. He is so positive and has some incredible philosophies that are right in line with the Gospel. We talked with him and shared some scriptures with him that went along with some of his ideas and it was great, the spirit was very strong. We thought we were pretty blessed by that alone, but when we were on the way home the phone rang and it was our member who gave us Ben's contact details! The first words out of his mouth were "what have you done to my friend?" He explained that Ben gave him a ring right after we left and was in tears, Ben felt the spirit! Ben went over to the member's home that evening and the member (Brother J) printed off one of the scriptures we shared with him. Last night we had dinner with the J family (which was amazing) and Brother J told us that our impact on Ben was huge and to use the Spirit to know how to further work with him. We are so excited to see things progress with Ben, and I'll keep you updated!

Last Thursday we had dinner with the Clarke's again, I just love them. They are like our surrogate parents over here, I love it. They are always so kind and welcoming and loving to us every time we see them. We even bumped into them in town center when we were street contacting the other day! The spirit is so strong when they around, it's amazing. At dinner they told us of how John Taylor served here on the Isle of Man and he even dusted his feet off on the way out of Castletown! I don't know the full story, you'll have to look it up, but apparently after that Castletown (which used to be the capital of the Island) was pretty much ruined. The capital was moved to Douglas (where it currently is) and most of the major businesses and things in Castletown shut down. The work there is still tough, but it does move on. In 1998 (I think) Elder Holland came over here and went to the top of Snaefell Mountain (the tallest point on the Island) and rededicated it for Missionary work. And the Clarke's were there! It's amazing, this little Island has so much history, I love it! Oh and last P-day we got to go to the Manx Museum and see some of the history of this amazing place, I'll tell you more about that later. I love this Island more and more everyday!

On Saturday we had dinner with the Hymas' again, it was amazing. They are the couple from Salt Lake that we had Christmas Eve dinner with and they help us out so much. We taught them a lesson and long story short we hope to be able to contact a friend of theirs in the future. We are working better with the members here and it's great, I love it. President Hinckley was right, working with the members is always the best way to do Missionary work. And it's more fun!

In other news we contacted an inactive member who has been inactive for nearly 30 years. He shows little signs of coming back to church but he is a great man, and he showed us something pretty cool. Check out Scarlett Point sometime, he's got cameras on this lighthouse/radio tower thing. He was showing it to us and you can see live video of some of the island! Check it out.

We are really anxious to be teaching a Family, we almost had one, but it fell through. Please please keep Praying for Heavenly Father to prepare a Family for us to teach and for Him to guide us to them or to guide them to us. It will work, I know it, and this Family is going to be so blessed for it!

Well, the Church is still true. My testimony grows more and more everyday and I love it. I'm not going to sugar-coat it though, this work is tough. In no way would I every say that Missionary work is easy, anyone who says that is lying. But it is worth it. Nobody said it was easy, but it is worth it. Every single trial I go through I just have to remind myself that a few bumps and bruises here and there are good for us. Heavenly Father knows that and He is mindful of it always. He does love us. He has called another Prophet to the earth today because of that. No matter what anyone else ever says, that is true. I just love the people here--British accent and all. Being a Missionary is amazing because you get to experience just a little bit what Heavenly Father's love for all of us is like. He is our perfect Father and He does know us better than we know ourselves. Prayer is powerful and it does work. The Gospel is true. Jesus is the Christ and He does love us. He did suffer, bleed, die, and was resurrected for our sakes. I love bearing His name over my heart physically as well as spiritually, every single day. It's amazing being a Missionary, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and it is the keystone of my testimony. It does bring us closer to God. The more we give in our personal study of the scriptures the more we will get. I have experienced that. I love this Gospel, and I know that it really is the only path to true and lasting happiness in this life and Eternal Life in the next!

Anyway, have a wonderful week. You are amazing people and I love you all so much. The Lord will bless us for our efforts to serve Him, even if those efforts are imperfect. Keep up the amazing work. Keep the letters coming!! Thanks for all of the letters, love, Prayers, and support you give already. It does help. Your Prayers in behalf of those here are working, keep it up. Thanks for everything, I love you!!

Love,

Elder Rowley

*not his real name

photos from the Isle of Man

Luke's first baptism

Luke is a big fan of Elder Larson's famous curry (I might have to ask for the recipe)

Lovely photo of the Isle of Man

We came home from the hospital to find a letter with pictures this week, too (excuse the low quality--I need a scanner, no?). What a wonderful surprise!

And we finally got to meet Elder Larson's mother (or, as Luke would say, Mum). It was lovely to meet her (we are big fans of Elder Larson around here--serving with him has been the best thing for Luke) and she's wonderful. She was so kind to us. It was great!

The glass is completely full

Date: Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 4:45 AM
Subject: What a Week!

Hello!!

It has been an amazing week with many ups and downs! I love being a Missionary, have I ever told you that? It's the best, you get to learn and experience so much!

The Island is great. Saturday we had quite the storm here, they closed some of the roads because the waves were crashing up onto them! The wind over here is pretty intense and I love it. Oh and I'm still loving driving! Oh yes and I almost forgot, there is snow on the mountains! You'd be surprised at how mountainous this little island is, I love it. Compared to the mountains in Utah they are more like large hills though!


photos courtesy of Mr. Trickett


Well, I'll bet everyone's curious about our Baptism. It was amazing! Everything went so well, this ward is amazing and we love them so much. They feel like family! It felt amazing to get to perform the Baptism and I'm happy to say that I only had to do it once! It all seemed to be over way too fast though, already its been almost 4 days since that happened! Oh and the confirmation was amazing as well, the power of the Priesthood is real and I love it. Winnie is so amazing and she is already a strong member who will do great things for this ward! Baptisms are the best!

Other than that we've been having fun teaching some amazing people. We continue to teach Ben, our other African investigator and he is doing very well. We're actually seeing him tonight, I'm excited. On Sunday we got to teach the most amazing Chinese man named John. We love John!! We were teaching him about Alma 34 and the whole scales of justice and mercy thing and the arms of safety and he understood! He repeated it all back to us and it was wonderful. John is so cool. I think it's pretty funny that I come over to England and most of the people we teach are from other countries! It's great though, and we do teach a few British people. The Lord is preparing more of them for us to teach.

The Tricketts are amazing and we love them too! On Saturday evening we had dinner with them and it was great. I love mushy peas! It was a wonderful meal and after we had dessert they started asking us questions about the church. Long story short, we got to teach them a little about the Restoration and quoted JSH 1:17! The spirit was strong and we are hoping and praying that we will be able to start teaching them soon! Please Pray for that to happen! Miracles happen because of Prayers.

Yesterday we got to do a presentation at a Primary (Elementary) school assembly and it was great. It took me back to my time at Westridge, it was pretty weird to see how far I've come since then! We talked about what we do and what a typical day is for us and what we share with people, just the basics, and it was a lot of fun. British children are smart and we love them too!

Other than that the work is going well. We are hoping and praying to find a nice, prepared Family to teach and your prayers would be much appreciated with that. I know that miracles will happen by our prayers, I've seen it already so many times here on my Mission and I love it! I'll tell you more about all of the miracles I've seen when I return.

Today is the beginning of another transfer and I'm glad we're both staying here. I don't look forward to the day that I get transferred to somewhere else, but I know that the Lord knows what He is doing with these things. There are so many reasons that I've been sent to serve here at this time with those I'm serving with. It's amazing to keep finding new reasons almost every day. I love being a Missionary and I can't help but thank Heavenly Father for it every day. I can't imagine being anything else! I hope to keep learning and growing daily and become a better instrument in His hands every day. The Church is true. Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. He does live and He does love us, no matter what the world says. God does exist and He is our Father in Heaven. He does hear and answer our prayers and I'm so thankful for that. I know that we can do nothing without His help, He truly has given us everything we have. The glass is neither half full nor half empty, it is completely full. Heavenly Father has blessed us with so many things, and even the absence of some things is a blessing. He knows what he is doing, He is smarter than we are, and if we will follow Him and His Son Jesus Christ, we will make it back to His presence and be happy in this life! The power of the Priesthood is real and I'm so humbled that God would trust someone like me with His power. I know that this work is true and it is important, and it has the power to make us happy. I Love being a Missionary!!

Well, that's all for this week, I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thanks for all the letters and keep them coming! If you sent something to the Mission Office within the last month I don't have it yet, we only get to go back to the mainland about once a month. So sorry if I take a while to respond! Anyway, I love you all and keep up the amazing work! More next week!

Much Love,

Elder Rowley

A miracle a day...

Date: Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 7:12 AM
Subject: Hello!

Hey Everyone!

Wow these weeks just go so fast... I thought they went fast in Shrewsbury, they're even faster out here! I think it's just the Isle of Man. It's such an amazing place, I can't even say it enough!

Well, I think I'm going to have to take up golf when I get home. Between being on the driving range last transfer and just getting back from a good game with Mr. Trickett and a friend of his, I think I'm really loving this sport! They were teaching me how to swing and everything and I did pretty well for a beginner! The wind was crazy though, and it was pretty cold, but it was so much fun. The course we played on is right near our flat, only about a mile North, look it up on google earth. It's one of the top 100 golf courses in Great Britain!! It was exciting and Mr. Trickett is wonderful. Elder Larson's grandparents worked with Mr. and Mrs. Trickett who live here on the island. We've been to visit them a couple times and they are the nicest couple, we love them already! On Saturday we are having **dinner with them, I'll let you know about that next week. I'm excited!

Mr. Trickett, Elder Larson and Elder Rowley photo courtesy of Mr. Trickett (taken by his golf partner perhaps?)

Well it's been one incredible week. Last Saturday we taught Winnie and we were planning her Baptism and guess what? She asked me to Baptize her!! I am very humbled and excited! She is an amazing young woman (she's in her 20's) and we are very excited to see her be Baptized! She is going to make such an amazing member and it's almost as if she knows the ward better than we do! Being a Missionary is the best.

Last week our Ward Mission Leader and his wife, Brother and Sister Clarke, returned from holiday and it was great to see them again! We were able to teach another investigator, *Jenny, in their home and we committed her to be Baptized on the 20th of February! We are so excited for her as well and she is doing great, she just soaks it all up! This area here is having a great start to the year as far as Missionary work goes!

Also within the last week we were able to teach another investigator named *Kim. She is very shy and we aren't sure how well she is accepting the message, but when we taught her she had a friend there named *Calvin. We taught them in a members home and after we left the member gave us a text and told us that Calvin really felt the spirit in the lesson! He read both of the pamphlets we left for Kelsey to read, and wants to meet with us again!! It's so exciting, we have amazing things happening here and I love it!! So far on my Mission I've seen at least one miracle a day, it's incredible. This work is the best!

Well, I guess I'd better wrap this up. Oh wait, one more thing! On Monday we got to drive up to a place called Ramsey and it was gorgeous. I love this island so much, have I ever told you that? We got to speak with a lot of people in the streets and we were facing some opposition. We even ran into a few pastors and ministers of other faiths, it was pretty crazy! At one point we were talking to a pastor or minister or something or other in another church and he wasn't really getting the message. I felt that I just needed to testify to him so I slowed down and took my time and the spirit came and I think we softened his heart as Elder Larson backed up my words with his testimony, it was amazing. We weren't able to get an appointment with him or anything, but when we walked away we felt good about it. Elder Larson is great, he reminds me a lot of Alma. He reminds me a lot of a lot of Book of Mormon Missionaries really! Serving here, with Elder Larson, among these amazing people, is just incredible, I love it so much!

The Church is true. I know it with all my heart and my testimony of it increases daily. I'm becoming the Lord's convert here on my Mission and I love it. In my studies the other day I was learning about how the Lord wants for us what we want for our investigators, it's amazing. None of us are perfect in any area of the Gospel, we are all walking the same path together. And they only way we are going to get there is if we work together. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and he did see all those that he said he saw. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and there is power in it. If we will hold fast to the iron rod we will make it to eternal life and we will be happy on the way! The Book of Mormon will give us an added measure of the spirit, a strengthened resolution to be obedient, and a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ; just as President Hinckley said. It will also bring us closer to God as we abide by it's precepts than any other book just as Joseph Smith said. It is the keystone of the Church and of my testimony. I know that it testifies of Jesus Christ and brings us closer to Him. I love that book and I love this Gospel. It is true, and our brothers and sisters around the world need to know it. Jesus is the Christ. He lives! He has paid the price for our sins and because of Him we will be resurrected and we do have a chance to obtain Eternal Life if we obey His Gospel. I love representing Him, being a Missionary is the best thing I've ever done!!

Well, I love you all. Keep up the amazing work and thank you so much for all the love, prayers, support, and letters. You are amazing people, you really are the salt of the earth! I love you more than words can tell! And keep the letters coming! I'll write more next week!

Love,

Elder Rowley

**I'm told mushy peas are on the menu, I'm interested to see how it goes
*not their real names

P-day with Mr. T

I promise I'll get his letter posted soon (I need to do some editing to protect the privacy of some of the people he's teaching, but I will get to it, I promise).

In the meantime, these brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes today. They were sent to Elder Larson's parents via Mr. Trickett. I am grateful to all of them today--we enjoyed these so much!

it's a small world after all

(I promise to post Luke's letter tomorrow)

But today we learned that Luke's great great great great grandmother was born on the Isle of Man.

How cool is that?

Yesterday we learned that Luke's companion's family has acquaintances on the Isle of Man. Luke has met them and I'm sure you'll be hearing more about them.

Last week we learned that the sweet sister who drove them from the ferry to their flat on the day they arrived on the Isle of Man and who invited them to dinner on the day Luke learned about Shane's cancer (because she too has bone cancer) just four days later is also friends with family of friends of ours.

Small world indeed.

So much happiness

Date: Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 9:20 AM
Subject: Hello from the Isle of Man!!

Hello!

What a week! And it went so fast! My head is almost spinning with everything that is going on, it's incredible. And the best part is that we get to see the hand of the Lord in all of it!! I know that His hand is truly in all of our lives, whether we recognize it or not. I've learned this week more than ever just how much he loves us, but I'll tell you more about that later.

Last Wednesday after I e-mailed you we went to the home of a Family named the Johnsons for dinner. It was a lot of fun, they've got four kids and a Wii and you can only imagine what that's like. It really felt like New Years because for dinner we had a bunch of really good finger-foods, just like we always do! Elder Larson and I talked with Brother Johnson for a long time about D-Day and other things, Elder Larson is fascinated by history, it was great! The members here are just so amazing, I love them so much!!

Then on Sunday Church was amazing. Everyone here has had some form of a cold or the flu, it's awful. So there were a few people missing in Church on Sunday, and Elder Larson and I got to Bless the Sacrament! Also in the Elders Quorum they were talking about what would happen if China opened up to Missionary Work, it was really interesting. They were planning what to do if the Missionaries were removed from the Island and transferred to China. It got me thinking... and I don't think I could ever learn Chinese, but I guess if the Lord did need me to go over there I could do it!

So far this week has been incredible. We've spoken with a ton of people and set up a few appointments, and are starting to teach the massive amount of investigators the sisters had before we got here, I love it! I'm glad that the Holiday lull in the work is getting over and done with!

Yesterday was probably one of the best days of my Mission so far. In the morning we went out street contacting here in Castletown and we set up two return appointments! Then on our way to Douglas we made some phone calls and were able to teach a lesson to our investigator that our recent convert, Laurance, found. She has been in Hospital for about a week now and it was the first we'd seen her in a while and it was great! The spirit was strong in the lesson and she is just soaking it all up so well, it's amazing. Member-Missionary work is the BEST!! Speaking of which, I'm excited to hear about those Baptisms on the 17th, because that's when Winnie is getting Baptized!! I think I might have told you about her, I don't remember if I mentioned her by name yet though. She is from Africa and she is so amazing and so prepared! She is going to make a great addition to the ward! Anyway, as for my amazing day, after we taught that lesson we were able to go help another lady from Africa with her son who has cerebral palsy and some other conditions also. Essentially his brain is smaller than it should be and we are helping his brain grow. He is two and a half years old and he is amazing, I love him so much already. All we did was make picture/word cards for him to learn, but it was fun and the Spirit was there. Then in the evening we were able to teach a man named Bunmi who is also from Africa. I'm really learning to love African people! Anyway, Bunmi is Catholic and has been taught for a little while now. We went over the Restoration with him and the Spirit was really strong, it was amazing. I felt bombarded with the Spirit yesterday and that's what made it such a great day. And I think I owe it all to my study in the morning.

And now I need to start a new paragraph about my study because it is just as amazing as the day yesterday. I've felt prompted to seek the guidance of the Lord on what He needs me to study and follow through on it and the results are amazing. The other day I studied about the Atonement, yesterday I studied the Restoration, and again today my study was directed to the Atonement. The spirit is so much stronger when we study what the Lord needs us to study. He really does know so much more than we do, and we need His help. The things I've been studying were exactly what I needed to have the spirit in every part of the work. The Spirit really is the most important part of this great work. It doesn't matter if we're a called, set-apart, full-time Missionary, or a Member-Missionary, we must have the Spirit in this work. I know that the Holy Ghost is real and that His influence in our lives is real. The confirming witness of the truthfulness of the Gospel is real and is powerful, and anyone in the world can experience it. And we ourselves can experience it again and again, it's incredible. I know that the Atonement works. Immortality is given to us by grace, we do nothing to receive that. Eternal Life is something we have to earn by our works. I've learned so much about these two things recently, and I love them. God wants us to live with him and that is what Eternal Life and living the Gospel is all about. It works, I know it does. If we follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then we will return to live with our Father in Heaven and our Families forever. If we do not follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then we will not live with God and our Families forever. It's that simple. And it's true! This Church is true. Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and He really did see those that he said he saw. Just like Joseph I know it and I know that God knows it and I cannot deny it neither dare I! This is the greatest work in the world and I LOVE doing it and being a Missionary. It brings me so much happiness, it brings others so much happiness, and most importantly, it brings God happiness as we come closer and closer to Him. I love this Gospel!!

Well, I've got to go. I love you all and you are amazing people. Keep up the amazing work!! And thanks so much for the letters that have come, keep them coming!!!

Love,

Elder Rowley