Preparation and progress

Date: Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 4:28 AM
Subject: Hello Everyone!

Hey!

Wow these weeks just go by so fast, have I ever told you that? I've probably said the same thing in every e-mail, it's so true! Well, 18 months from right now I will be getting ready to get on a plane to come see you all again, that is crazy. The past 6 months have flown by and I have loved them so much! Being a Missionary is the greatest!

We've had yet another successful week! The work here is going so well and it's all the Lord preparing His children here for the truth. Plus the ward here is just so ready to have new converts, it's amazing. I never realized before just how important the ward is in Missionary work! Anyway, on Sunday Peter and Chris came to church and it was amazing. They fit right in! The ward thought that they were members visiting from somewhere else and were surprised to find out that they were our investigators! They loved church and they continue to progress very well. We're seeing them again tomorrow and hopefully we'll have a Baptismal date for them! I'm so excited for them.

As you probably saw, we had dinner with the Tricketts last Thursday and that was incredible. We went to a pub/hotel place in a city called Peel (GoogleEarth it, there is a castle there!). I got the fish and chips (surprise, surprise, I know) and it was the most massive plate of fish and chips I've ever seen! And it tasted amazing, I wish you could have some. The Tricketts are incredible and we just love them so much! We keep hoping and Praying to be able to share bits of the Gospel with them.

Also on Thursday we taught a young man named *Jared. He has been very prepared by the hand of the Lord. He told us about how he recently decided to stop drugs and turn his life around and he couldn't really figure out why. It prepared him to hear the Gospel and we taught him the Plan of Salvation! We're a bit worried about him though, we haven't been able to get a hold of him since we taught him. We're also hoping and Praying that we can see him again soon.

On Sunday we taught an amazing man from Bulgaria. He came here to work and his wife and daughter are back in Bulgaria. We love meeting so many foreign people, they work so hard and they are so kind and humble! We taught him about the Restoration and he accepted a commitment to be Baptized! We're seeing him again today in a members home and we're very excited to see him progress! The Gospel is going to bless him and his family so much!!

Thank you so much for all of your Prayers for us, they are being answered! We still continue to have a constant flow of new investigators- about 3 a week- and it's great. That's the way every area's teaching pool needs to be. Thanks for all your help in the work here, you definitely have a part in it! The people here are being blessed for all that you do for us!!

Other than the teaching and finding things are going well. We continue to work with the ward and we grow to love them more and more every day! I'm still loving driving and I keep improving on that. I still remember killing the car daily in Shrewsbury and now I haven't killed it in who knows how many days! Being a Missionary is so much fun. I think my days of driving are almost done though (for now). Transfers are next week and both of us are very curious to see what will happen. Anyway, that means it's time to start sending all the letters to the Mission Office just in case! Oh yes and Preparation Day is changing to Monday in a couple weeks, we're excited for that. Next week it will be on Wednesday and then the following week (9 March is Preparation Day) it goes to Mondays.

Well, don't ever forget the Church is true! I know by the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God. The more pressure and opposition I see against the Church the stronger my testimony gets, I love it. There are a few hard hearts here and they need to be softened, please please pray for that to happen. I love the people here though, they're amazing. Anyway, I know that God does live no matter what anyone else may say. He does love us more than we can comprehend, and our relationship with Him is more important than any other on earth. Jesus is the Christ and He is the Savior of all mankind. He did redeem us from physical and spiritual death. He does have the power to heal us physically and spiritually as we obey His Gospel. I'm so thankful for that Gospel and I know that the fulness of it has been restored. What a blessing it is to have the truth in our lives! Don't ever forget that great blessing of the Gospel. Learn it, live it, and love it. It really is the only to success and happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. We can overcome the world through Jesus Christ. He knows us. He knows our suffering and knows how to deliver us from it. I know that that is true. He loves us and that's why He went through all that suffering. It makes Him happy to see us living the Gospel for that is how we accept His great and eternal sacrifice for us. The Atonement is central to this Gospel and this church, and I love that being a Missionary has increased my knowledge of, appreciation for, and faith in that great sacrifice! Never pass up an opportunity to share your knowledge of this sacrifice and of the Restoration!

Anyway, have a wonderful week! Keep making the world the amazing place that it is! We really are the salt of the earth and the light of the world and I love it! Please please keep the letters coming!!! They help more than you know! And I will work harder at sending more out, I promise. You're amazing and I love you, never forget it.

Love,

Elder Rowley

(*names have been changed to protect privacy)

Good friends and good food: a photo essay

Short and sweet

Luke told me he had a much longer version of this all typed out and then the computer deleted it (that's the second time this has happened). This is the Reader's Digest Condensed version:

Date: Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 4:39 AM
Subject: Hello!

Hello Everyone!

We've had another great week this week and the time continues to fly by!! I love being a Missionary so much. It's crazy to think that I've been out for nearly 6 months!

We've had 3 more new investigators since I wrote last, it's incredible, the blessings just keep flowing in! The first one was *Sandra, a daughter of one of our investigators. The other week she was in on one of the lessons and we have been able to teach her the Restoration and Plan of Salvation so far, it's been great!

On Monday we began teaching an interesting man named Phil. We taught him about the Restoration and we're not sure how much more we'll teach him. But if he is willing and ready to listen then we will continue to teach him! He's a good man.

Yesterday we taught that young woman that we helped with the nasty plant in her front garden (over here it's garden, not yard). We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and she has a lot of amazing questions! We almost had to start teaching her about the Restoration she is so prepared!

On Saturday we had a run-in with people of another faith. We had an appointment to teach a promising African couple who know another African couple that was recently Baptized. We went in to teach them and they started going on about the Sabbath being on Saturday and they wouldn't let us use the Book of Mormon and it was pretty intense. Needless to say, we now know why the Sabbath was changed to Sunday! I'll tell you more about this one when I return home!

Well, the Church is true. God does live and He loves us all so much. Prayer does work and it does change things. I've seen that every day of my Mission. This work is true and it does bring us a great happiness! The Book of Mormon is the word of God and I love it so much. I love coming to understand and know it better and better. I know that the Holy Ghost is real and He blesses our lives so much. I love feeling the Spirit, it's amazing! I know that life is hard but it is worth it if we live the principles and ordinances of the Gospel!

Anyway, have a wonderful week! I love you all, thanks so much for all the love, letters, support, and prayers! It really does help so much. Especially the letters. Just kidding. But really, keep them coming!!! I love you.

Love,

Elder Rowley

*names have been changed to protect privacy

When it rains blessings, it pours

Date: Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 4:30 AM
Subject: Happy Valentines Day!

Hey!

Okay, so who over there is sending up all those Prayers for us? We have had such an incredible couple of weeks, just know that what I write here is only part of the blessings we are receiving! I love being a Missionary, and I love serving here on the Isle of Man with Elder Larson!

Well, our prayers are being answered. When it rains blessings, it pours! In the last 2 weeks we've had 9 new investigators so far and they are such incredible people, I'll tell you a bit about each of them.

The first is an amazing couple, *Peter and Chris, who seem like they were once members. Their questions are so amazing, they have really been prepared by the Lord. We're seeing them for the third time this weekend and hopefully we'll have them at Church on Sunday! We're excited to see them progress and we love them so much already. We just can't get over how prepared they are!

We've also started teaching a young man named Andy who is in his early 20's who is very prepared as well. He's had a hard past and he is looking forward to a turn-around in his life (repentance=conversion=
commitments! See PMG Ch. 11). He is very humble and we are very excited to see him progress in the Gospel! Pray for him to be able to get outside of his comfort zone.

On Monday we taught a man from Russia who is amazing. He accepted all that we taught very well but there is a bit of a language barrier. We've got him a copy of the Book of Mormon in Russian and we're excited to see him progress as well! We're seeing him again tomorrow.

Also on Monday we went to teach a young man named Larry and he had a friend there named John. They had some amazing questions for us and we got into some really deep doctrine a little bit! They seem to be accepting all we've taught them so far very well and we are seeing them again tomorrow as well!

Then yesterday... was probably another one of the best days of my Mission so far. We went to teach a lady named Wanda from Scotland (her accent is so cool!) and her two sons were there. All three of them accepted all we taught and they are excited to have us back again this weekend! We can see them being Baptised in the future!

Also yesterday we met a lot of amazing people and set up 4 pretty solid appointments! At one point we were trying by a potential and we saw a young lady trying to saw apart a pretty nasty bush. We asked her a couple times if she needed help and she politely declined. We looked at the situation (she was in no condition to be doing that kind of work) and helped her anyway, it was amazing. We were both excited to get to saw off those thick branches and move them for her. We even got to share a bit of the Plan of Salvation with her and set up a return appointment for this weekend! I LOVE doing service for people, especially when it's unplanned!

Oh yes and I'm sure you've seen by now, on Monday we visited the Tricketts, they are so amazing. We love them so much. They got us a couple of pedometers so we can see how many steps we take every day, they are so nice to us! We're praying for them.

Heavenly Father is just pouring out the blessings on us, thanks again for all of your prayers, they are being answered. Now as we have all these new investigators the next step is to get them coming to Church and reading in the Book of Mormon and Praying. If we will all pray for that to happen then these people, and this area, will be so blessed!! Miracles are happening here and I love it.

My Testimony has really been strengthened in the past couple weeks as well. I know that God does live and He does answer our prayers! The Book of Mormon really is the word of God and it does help us come closer to Him, more than any other book on the earth. Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and I know that Thomas S. Monson is the Lord's Prophet on the earth today. Jesus Christ is the head of this great Church, not President Monson. I know that Jesus Christ does live and He did suffer, bleed, die, and was resurrected to save us from physical and spiritual death. The windows of heaven are still open, God does still speak through His chosen Prophet. How blessed are we to live in this day and age? Never have a people of the Lord been as blessed as we are. We really are in the final seconds of this great war between good and evil. If we will fortify ourselves against evil, just as Captain Moroni fortified the Nephite lands and cities in the Book of Mormon, then we will win. I'm right in the middle of the war chapters in the Book of Mormon right now and I absolutely love them. I've discovered even more that what we give to our personal Scripture Study and Prayer is what we get. If we pour our whole heart and soul into these simple things then great things will be brought to pass. The Church is true and there is no other true Church on the face of the earth. We are so blessed to have the truth once again. We are so blessed to have things like the Ensign to help us do Missionary work. I recently read President Eyring's talk on Missionary work and it was amazing. Study that talk and keep praying for Missionary experiences! I'm not the only one on a Mission! Let me know about your Missionary experiences!

Anyway, have a wonderful week and please keep the letters coming!! Thanks to all those who have sent letters and packages and such, it's such a blessing! Thanks again for everything you do, all of the love and Prayers and support is much appreciated. I love being a Missionary and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! I love you!

Love,

Elder Rowley

*names have been changed to protect privacy

seascapes and sunsets

photos courtesy of Tom Trickett

I hope Luke stays on the Isle of Man for forever, because I love getting pictures via e-mail from the Tricketts.

Miracles do happen!

Date: Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 5:19 AM
Subject: Hello!

Hello Everyone!

What a week! It went so fast and so many amazing things are happening, I can't hardly wait to tell you about them all. Don't forget, anyone and everyone is more than welcome to send us mail anytime! Letters to Missionaries are worth their weight in gold!

Well, I actually have to hurry because we have an appointment soon. Zone Conference was incredible. I love Zone Conferences, they are the best! We left on Wednesday and the Ferry ride was nice and smooth, we got some studying and letter-writing done. When we got there we went to our Zone Leaders Area (we're in the Liverpool Zone) and went on exchanges with them. I got to go with Elder Crowther who was trained out on the Isle of Man! We got to teach a lesson, visit a recent convert, and try by some potential investigators, it was so much fun! I always learn so much from the other Missionaries here, I love it. We taught this lesson to a woman named Magdalena and her husband. She recognized the spirit very well, she said that when we were there it was like there was a piece of Heaven in their home, it was amazing
and very humbling.

Thursday was Zone Conference and we got some wonderful training which we are excited to apply to the work on the Isle of Man! Thanks for the letters and packages by the way, I love them!! For a part of Zone Conference we got to sing "Be Still My Soul" with a group of other Elders and some Sisters, it was amazing. President Bullock spoke about the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Codices and how they support the Book of Mormon and all the teachings of Joseph Smith, it was amazing and it really strengthened our testimonies. Sister Bullock told one of her amazing stories and related it to the work, we always learn a lot from her. At the very end of the Conference we did the questions of the soul from chapter 5 of Preach My Gospel. We all have been studying these and they drew names out of a hat to see who would go up and answer the questions based on the scripture given in Preach My Gospel. My name got called and it was pretty intimidating, but a lot of fun! It was all so amazing. That evening we were with the Preston Elders again and I got to go with the Preston Zone Leaders to do some tracting and to teach a lesson, it was a lot of fun, I love these amazing people I'm serving with here!

Yesterday we traveled home and we have been hoping and praying for a nice, calm Ferry ride for the past few days. And we sure got it. We were also praying for the strength to contact people on the Ferry and we got that too, kind of. We got some food right when we got on because we were hungry and we knew that this time we wouldn't have to worry about "donating it" to the floor of the ferry. As we sat down and began to eat the man sitting next to us said "does President Bullock know you're here?" Both of us were very surprised when the man introduced himself as GP. GP lived in Salt Lake for a while with President Jacobsen (the previous Mission President before President Bullock) and even got to meet President Hinckley. He lives on the island and President Bullock told us to get in contact with him but we haven't been able to because he has been gone until just yesterday when he was on our same ferry to come back. Miracles do happen! We got to know him really well and it was just great. As if that was amazing enough there were a couple guys who started asking us about the Church and things, it was amazing. We are still in awe of the blessings we have received over the last few days. I love being a Missionary.

Other than that the work is going very well, we've got a lot of potential investigators lined up and on Monday we actually got 3 new investigators who I'll tell you more about next week.

Well, the Church is true, never forget it! President Monson is a Prophet of God and he is guided and directed by Jesus Christ himself. I know that this Church is the only true Church on this earth. God does live and He does love us more than we can ever really understand. He does answer prayers. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and I love Him so much. The power of the Atonement is real. The power of the Priesthood is real. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it will bring us closer to God. There is power in the small and simple things of Scripture Study and Prayer, I love these two things so much.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and feel free to send loads of letters! We only go back to the mainland once every 6 weeks so please send them to the flat. We don't have transfers for another month so no need to worry about me getting transferred. I'll work on sending more letters too! Thanks for everything you do, you are all so amazing and I love you so much. Keep up the amazing work and let me know about your Missionary experiences! I love you!

Love,

Elder Rowley