In the sick ward

Date: Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 5:20 AM
Subject: Weekly Letter

Hiya Everyone!

Its's been a crazy week here in Rochdale! How has your week been? I hope the first few weeks of school go well, don't forget that I'm praying for all of you! We will all do amazing things as we trust in the Lord.

Well, for starters, we've got two new Elders in the District. Elder Wheat (who is my brother, Elder Ayers trained him!) and Elder Neilson are now living in our flat. Over the weekend Elder Nielson had an appendectomy and will be in recovery for about the next month. Elder Ayers and his companion Elder Garcia dropped these two new additions off last night. It was good to see all of them, but it sure is crazy. So I now get to care for two healing Elders as well as the rest of the District, Elder Burnett, and the Rochdale and Littleborough wards! I've never been so busy in my life. I'm quite exhausted already!

We had a good week last week though, except we only had one investigator at Sacrament Meeting! We're really struggling with that right now, we need your prayers and support. We had great Church meetings though, Elder Burnett and I got to speak in Sacrament meeting in Rochdale and it went very well. Everyone liked the "If you think you are beaten you are..." poem as I recited it. Thanks Dad.

After Church we got to go to a member Family's home, the Jacksons, for Tea (Dinner). It was delicious and they are a wonderful family who help us out a lot. Oh and another thing I feel to mention is that the Rochdale Bishop is in the Hospital right now. Please pray for him to heal. We need him back!

We got to go on two exchanges this week, one with the Zone Leaders and one with the Middleton Elders. I got to go with Elder Ridley for the first one. We came out on our missions on the same day. Elder Ridley is amazing. He has the spirit with him very much, and I'm learning a lot about how to have it more. He expects miracles, trusts in the Lord, and is doing amazing things for this zone. He's our new zone leader by the way. I learned a lot from him.

I also got to go with Elder Hall, an English Missionary in the district. He is amazing as well and has such great potential. We saw miracles as we worked together. We got to play some football and our electricity went out and we had two tea appointments! We had planned to see a member and a part-member family, and the member didn't tell us that she would be feeding us! Her name is Irene by the way, she's African. She doesn't have a television right now, and all of her family and friends are either in Africa or in her previous ward elsewhere in England. You'd think that she would get a bit bored and depressed, but she's one of the happiest and kindest people I've met since I've been here. She's an amazing example to us. And the food she made was amazing.

On Monday we saw a man named Stephen. He's interesting. He wouldn't turn off his music for us until we said a prayer just before we left. He was listening to Rush and he started talking about music and things and it didn't go very well. He even gave us back the copy of the Book of Mormon we gave him, it was sad. I did learn an interesting thing though. As we followed the spirit we were able to use analogies of music to help him understand the Restoration. Even then he wasn't interested in learning more. It was sad, but really it all comes down to those we teach to accept it. Hopefully he will receive the blessings of the Gospel in the future.

Our investigators are doing alright. Contissa didn't make it to Church on Sunday so we have to move her Baptismal date. I really wish sometimes that I was a better teacher and could help people more. Anyway, she's doing great in everything else though. She will be Baptised within the next month or so and we are very excited for her.

Harry didn't come to Church on Sunday either. He doesn't understand the importance of it and I'm not sure how to help him do that. He's a good young man who needs a lot of prayers and support.

Derek was another one that didn't make it to Church. Please pray for him, for all of these people, to come to Church on Sunday so they can feel the spirit. They need it so much. He continues to progress well though, and accepted the Word of Wisdom very well as we taught it this week.

Jolie Chiza is a recently new investigator who did come to Church this week! She's about 15, from the Congo, and we're teaching her whole family. She is especially excited about the Book of Mormon. It makes me happy to find people receiving the same happiness from the word of God that I have. Please pray for her to accept a Baptismal date this week.

Everything else seems to be going well. Just pray that we'll have a good week this week and be able to find new people to teach. That's what we really need this week as well as people we currently teach becoming more committed.

Well, I suppose that's about it. The Church is true. The evidence of it is overwhelming. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Joseph Smith was telling the truth when he said that it will bring us closer to God than any other book! It's amazing in that aspect. Every time I read it I feel closer to Him, and I know that that promise applies to all of us. Prayer does work and it does change things. I've seen that this week. In times when I've been down, I've turned to prayer for help and I've seen a massive difference in my life. I know we can all experience that. God loves each and every one of us, and He does have a plan for us. Jesus Christ is central to that plan. I testify that without Jesus Christ we are lost and fallen forever. But "Oh how great the goodness of our God..." (2 Nephi 9:10). He has prepared a way of release from everything evil that will ever occur in this life. And we can choose to follow that way! I testify that as we do, we will truely be happy. And as we help others do the same, we will find more happiness than we ever imagined. The Gospel is true!

Well, I love you all dearly. I don't know what I'd do without you. I can't imagine how Job must have felt with what he experienced. I couldn't do that. You're amazing. Keep up the great work. Pray for our investigators. The Lords investigators. Never forget that what you've done for me continues to bless the lives of those I teach and serve here. I love you!

Love,

Elder Rowley

When we expect miracles, they will come

Date: Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 4:18 AM
Subject: Lots of Work!

Hello!

How is everyone this week? I hope all is going well, we sure are keeping busy here in Rochdale!

I first have to thank you for all your Prayers and support for me. I'm experiencing amazing miracles right now and I know that it's partially due to your faith and prayers. Don't forget about that. I couldn't do this without your help!

We had a good weekend and start to the new transfer. Elder Burnett is amazing and we get along great. He works hard and is humble and has a strong testimony and is improving daily and it's just great to get to work with him. Please pray for him to overcome his fears and improve every day.

Over the weekend we had a new investigator named Jolie. She is amazing, she felt the spirit very strongly as we taught about Joseph Smith, and this week she'll be at church (with your Prayers) and have a Baptismal date! She's amazing and we're excited to see the blessings of the Gospel in her life. Please pray for her and all of our other investigators to make it to Church on Sunday and accept Baptismal dates. Miracles are happening and more are on the way!

Speaking of miracles, I learned this week that when we expect miracles, they come. We need to expect great things in our lives. As we expect answers to our prayers, they will come. I testify that this is true and I know it because I've experienced it this week.

On Sunday Kennedy passed the Sacrament! It was wonderful, he did so well and we are so proud of him. He continues to do wonderful things in his life. His face lit up the other day when we mentioned him serving a mission. His learning and understanding of the Gospel are great. I'm so glad I get to work with him!

On Friday we taught six lessons, it was a lot of fun. They all went very well and it was a miracle that they all worked out. It was because we expected them to happen! The quote of the day for Friday was "Is it really that white?" Contissa said that when we showed her a picture of the temple. It really made me realized that the house of the Lord is perfect. No other building in the world will ever exceed the whiteness and the purity of it. No other building is as close to God. We must go to the Temple every week possible. I testify that God has great blessings for us as we do.

Our investigators are doing great, they're being blessed so much. Contissa, Derek, Harry, Jolie, Violet, and many others will be at Church on Sunday. I expect this miracle to occur. And I'll ask you to prayerfully do the same. Your prayers mean so much to me and to the people here, their lives are so much more blessed when we all pray for them together!

I know that the Church is true. People oppose us every day and I love it because I know that they are wrong. I just ask somebody "who told you that?" When they make a statement against the Church or it's teachings. They never can answer me because they don't realize that those ideas come from Satan. The spirit can beat him. I testify of that, I've experienced it this week as well. The spirit is so powerful and I know that we must work to be receivers of it every single day. The Lord has a great work for us each to do and we need to make sure that it gets done by His Spirit. I know that Heavenly Father lives. He loves us. Prayer does work and it does change things for the better more than anything else. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. I love Him. It is because of Him that we can enjoy all of these blessings. He makes it possible for us to receive answers to our prayers and to feel the spirit and to live the Gospel. I testify that He wants us to come unto Him by living the Gospel. I particularly testify that genuine repentance is one of the most powerful things in this life. It makes Him happy when we repent. We need to do it so we can be happy as well. I know that that happiness will come as we repent and live the Gospel. I love this work and I know that it is true.

I love you all. I hope you have a wonderful week and keep up the great work. I hope and pray that school goes well for everyone. Just trust in the Lord and He will help all of us accomplish great things. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Rowley

PS- Thanks for the packages!

Just another day (sad)

Date: Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 3:50 AM
Subject: Oh Wow...

Hello!

How is everyone this week? It sounds like you're all staying very busy in the last few weeks of summer! I hope you keep having fun though.

Well, I apologize for no e-mail on Monday, I forgot to tell you that this week is transfer week. Elder Winward is gone. I'm training a new Missionary named Elder Burnett from Taylorsville! He is amazing already, and we get along great! He is worthy of miracles and we've already seen a lot. Yesterday we went to the chapel in Wythenshawe where I first met Elder Ayers about a year ago and where I also first met Elder Llaguno about 4 months ago. It felt strange to be there training again. And Elder Ayers gave us the training on training with his Spanish companion, Elder Garcia!

Anyway, we got back into Rochdale pretty fast yesterday and got to work. We went to try by a man and couldn't find his house for the life of us. We were walking back to go to another place when we stopped a man and it was the man we were looking for! We got his number and set up an appointment to see him on the Weekend! We also ran into many other people that we had planned to try-by or visit, the Lord placed us in their path! And we even got a chance to teach a kind woman named Lisa on her porch! Yesterday was amazing and I'm excited to see miracles today!

We've been really busy since I last e-mailed. Elder Winward's last week here was an amazing one. We had ten new investigators who are absolutely amazing. Now we have 5 people dated for Baptism! We have a Baptism every weekend in September! Here's their info:

Contissa is a young-woman that I street-contacted a couple weeks ago. She has a member friend so the teaching is pretty easy, her friend answers most of her questions when we're not there! Contissa is amazing, she just needs to come to church. She will hopefully be Baptized on the 5th of September! She needs your prayers.

Harry is in a part-member family, his sister and Mum are members and were Baptized nearly 2 years ago. Harry is great. We got to play football with him and some other young men on Friday, that was amazing by the way. Anyway, he is ready for the 12th of September, the Missionary that Baptized his Mum and sister is coming over here for holiday so he will Baptize him. He also needs your prayers.

Derek was a new investigator who I haven't seen since we first taught him, we've been on exchanges every time we've seen him since then! He needs a testimony of the Gospel. He has some struggles, so please pray for him to overcome that and gain a testimony.

Jason and Hannah were new investigators last week when I last e-mailed you. They are amazing. They love God and are very receptive to the Spirit and we're so excited for them. Hannah works on Sundays so we're praying for her to be able to get them off so they can come to church. We very much want them to have the blessings of the Gospel!

We're hoping to give Baptismal dates to many other investigators soon, there are just so many people to teach here! Miracles are happening all over the place. These people will be so blessed by all of our prayers.

My birthday was just another day. It didn't even really feel like a birthday, which I was okay with. It's strange how the older you get the less you like your birthday. The Wilson's did take us out to eat though, even if we couldn't do it on my birthday it was amazing. They are so kind!

Please pray for Kennedy, we haven't been able to see him in a little while and he didn't make it to church on Sunday. He's really busy with work, but we really really need to see him! He's a great young man and I hope to help him be ready to serve a Mission soon!

Everyone else is doing well. The district is great, they need some new investigators. The wards are great, one of the Bishops is in the hospital but should be out soon. The Mission is great, Elder Larson is now a Zone Leader and I'm very excited for him. Life is good.

Well, I thought I would be feeling very overwhelmed with all of these responsibilities, but I've decided to take it one thing at a time and remember that whom the Lord calls the Lord qualifies. He will qualify me, but I will still need many prayers. Especially that I will be able to develop even better relationships with the members here. I'm still working on becoming more confident, and your prayers are helping. Keep up the amazing work.

Anyway, the Church is true! Jesus Christ truely is our Savior. It wasn't nails that kept Him on the cross, it was love. And in the same way, it won't be the difficulty of life that keeps us going, it will be our love for those whom we serve. Love is a great key to this work, I've learned a lot about that recently. Elder Winward was good at that. Being a Missionary is the best. I love it and I know that it's a true work. We can all have Missionary experiences, we just need to ask for them and then act! I testify to you that Prayer works and changes things. Heavenly Father loves us and we are His children. He really does live and so does Jesus Christ. And because He lives we will too. Everything that is difficult about this life can be made right through Jesus Christ as we live His Gospel. We can be happier through Him as we choose to live His way. We can have comfort, peace, strength, optimism, hope, courage, confidence, and every single good thing in this world through Him. Our lives are better because of our Savior. I love Him and I love serving Him.

Well, I hope you all have a great week. I love you all so much. I couldn't do what I do without you. Keep up the amazing work. Keep looking for God's blessings in your lives, they're more present than we think. I love you!

Love,

Elder Rowley

It were easy!

Date: Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 4:08 AM
Subject: Where do the Years Go...

Hello!

How is everyone this week? Happy, healthy, going to the Temple and having Missionary experiences? I hope so! You're amazing.

Well, I've just about made it through the teen-age. I still feel way too young to be 20, but I think I'll enjoy it! Tomorrow we have District Meeting in the morning and then I'm going on exchanges to Middleton (the city just next to Rochdale, it's not too far outside Manchester). I'll be working with a Finnish Missionary named Elder Rosenberg! I'm very excited, it should be a lot of fun! It should be a quiet birthday, not many people will know about it which is good. Isn't it strange that as we get older we look forward to our own birthdays less and less. Time flies!!

We have had a great week with a lot of ups and downs. Many of our investigators are falling through the cracks, we can't seem to teach or even contact them! It's pretty crazy, but we've had some promising new investigators.

Jaime is busy with her family and wants to put the lessons on hold for now. She will still be Baptized one day though. We saw Solomon and Rita mid-week and set up an appointment with them, but it didn't work out and we still haven't been able to see them a second time. A few of our other investigators have all stopped the lessons for now as well. Its a bit depressing, but I'm excited to tell you about our new investigators.

On Monday we were with a member in a city called Heywood that we only go to about twice a week. We had a couple appointments fall through out there, so we decided to go by some potential investigators. I felt good about a certain one, and when we got there, there was a man across the street getting off his bike. As I spoke with him he kindly let us in and we got to teach him about the Restoration!! It was good, but we haven't been able to see him since. Oh and his name is Stephen by the way. I'll keep you updated on him.

Then later in the week we were with a recent convert family from the Congo. They told us at the end of the lesson that they have a friend that wanted to visit with us, and we set up an appointment with the friend for the next day. We had the opportunity the next day to teach Asabbe and Mary, two friends from Ethiopia and the Congo! They accepted everything very well and we're seeing them again tonight. If all goes well they will be dated for Baptism by this time next week! Please pray for them to come to church and to accept a Baptismal date to work towards!

Another day in the week we were back in Heywood again and we were street contacting after a couple of appointments fell through. Elder Winward spoke with a very kind man named Ian who let us teach him in his home right there and then! Heywood is a place of miracles! Anyway, he was very talkative, and we'll hopefully see him again this week. Please pray for him to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and to come to church as well. We're really hoping and praying that these people will progress and I know that miracles will happen as we ask the Lord to help these souls!

I passed my theory test! "It were easy" as they say over here. I know that the Lord was with me and He prepared me to pass. We had to travel to Oldham, another neighboring city where our Zone Leaders serve, so I could take the test. We almost arrived late, but we were blessed to be on time. I love the tender mercies of the Lord! Please pray for me to now be able to quickly get through the lessons and to pass my practical (driving) test!

District Meeting last week went well. It's a lot of work being a District Leader, but I love it very much. I trained on speaking with people on a bus, it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot just from conducting the meeting! I have an amazing district and they are doing very well right now. After district meeting we went on exchanges with our Zone Leaders, I went with Elder Eichelberger from California and it was a lot of fun. We were able to teach a Portugese man as well as many other amazing people. I learned a lot, I always learn a lot on exchanges. We have some great Missionaries in this mission!

Other than that everything is going well. Kennedy is doing well, we're hoping and praying that he will pass the Sacrament next week and come out teaching with us soon. Please pray for him to experience these things. He's a great young man. We had him reading from the Book of Mormon stories book so he could understand better, and in one of the lessons he basically told us the history of how Lehi's family get to the promised land! It was amazing, I'm always amazed with Kennedy's understanding.

Anyway, I guess that's about it for this week. I love being a Missionary and I know without a doubt that this work is true. My testimony is strengthened everyday. I want you to know that I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. The Plan of Happiness is real and true. With Adam came the fall; death, hell, spiritual homesickness, agony, pain, suffering. With Christ we become at one with our Father in Heaven again. Because of Him we can overcome every form of death. We can overcome spiritual homesickness. We can overcome the loss of loved ones as we are sealed together in the Temple. We can overcome our physical and emotional pain and agony. We can have the gift of the Holy Ghost. I testify that every good thing that we experience in this life is caused in one way or another by the Atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He did die for us. But more importantly, He lives for us. And we will live too as we live His Gospel. I testify that this is true. To experience the blessings of the Atonement we simply have to live the Gospel. If I have learned anything else on my Mission, it is this. I know all of this because I have read and Prayed about the Book of Mormon. That book is the word of God and it will bring us closer to God than any other book, because it brings us closer to Christ. It deepens our faith in Him, helps us to repent, prepares people for Baptism, gives us the spirit, and helps us endure to the end. I testify that all of this is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Well, I love you all. Don't forget that what you've done for me blesses the lives of the people here. Let me know what I can do for you. Keep up the amazing work. Thank you for all of the prayers, love, support, packages, and letters! I love you!

Love,

Elder Rowley