Where in the world is our Elder Rowley?

Date: Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 4:11 AM
Subject: Guess Where?

Hello Everyone!

How are you all this week? How's the weather? Any snow yet? I heard that there might be. We had a really warm October and from the first day of November it's been colder but not too bad yet. It'll get there though!

Well, as you can guess, I've been transferred. Can anybody guess where I am? I wish we could play that game. We did when we visited some of the ward members before I left Rochdale. Anyway, I'm currently in... LIVERPOOL!! How exciting is that? I was jumping in the air when I found out, I was so excited. This area is absolutely on fire right now!

The very best part of serving here is that we have 9 souls scheduled for Baptism in the upcoming weeks! How exciting is that? I feel so blessed to be here and I wonder what I ever did to merit this. But it's in the Lord's will, I've confirmed it in Prayer. Anyway, most of the 9 come from an amazing Romanian family, the fathers name of which is Toma. I'm still learning names and everything. I got to meet them last night and they are so amazing, I love them already! Their home is such a humble and sacred environment already. I'm excited to teach them today. Some of the others are called Linda, Steven, Zuzeyo, and Ian. I haven't met all of them yet, but I'll let you know all about them when I do meet them! I love it here already.

I'm also blessed to be serving with the amazing Elder Cowley. How cool is that, Rowley and Cowley. My names going to have to start rhyming with Cowley now. Anyway, I love Elder Cowley already. I can see him serving as an assistant to President Bullock one day. He is very humble and confident and prayerful and loving as well. I've learned so much from him and I'll let you know more about him in the future. Oh and he's from Sandy.

My last few days in Rochdale were great. We were able to go round visiting members and investigators and it was wonderful. I really love the people there and it will always have a place in my heart. I'm excited for a new area though, change is a good thing. Also, a couple days before I left Rochdale, Elder Burnett and I taught 8 lessons in one day! It was a lot of fun and we got some great work done. 5 of those were with less-actives, 4 of which struggle with smoking. It was a great day and we felt great when we got in that night. Working hard is the best.

Oh and another sad part of transfers is that I am now a Missionary orphan. Elder Ayers has gone home. He's on the plane right now. I'm expecting to hear from him soon though, he told me he would write me soon. We also saw a lot of really great Missionaries go home this transfer, it's sad to see them go.

The study of faith last week went well for me. I was able to realize more and more just how much the Gospel of Jesus Christ is one. We don't really have faith unless there is repentence, Baptism (or the Sacrament) and receiving the Holy Ghost. I love the principle of faith and I know that as we increase our faith we will become more sanctified, more like our Father in Heaven. I know that that process of becoming sanctified, or sacred as we often speak of in our mission, is possible because of Jesus Christ. A really great experience I had this past week was while we were teaching Carmen. We were teaching about the Restoration and talking about Jesus Christ and the Atonement and she started to ask some great questions about the Atonement. One of them was along the lines of:

"Why did Jesus Christ have to suffer and die?"

another was like this:

"So what happened because Jesus Christ died for us?"

I was really amazed that she asked these questions, but I was even more amazed at the answer that was given. Elder Burnett and I were able to teach her about the laws of mercy and justice and also about spiritual and physical death, it was amazing. I had forgotten I knew that much about the Atonement, and I realized that I was able to have that miracle because I first had faith. It really all started when I decided to come on a mission. That was something I couldn't see for myself, but I trusted that it was there and that it was true, that a Mission was good and it was what the Lord wanted me to do. That faith then led me to repent and align my will with my Father in Heaven's even more, which led to me feeling the Holy Ghost from partaking of the Sacrament and renewing those covenants, and now I'm here and I'm more sanctified because of it. I testify that missions turn people sacred. I testify that as we have faith in even seemingly minimal decisions that the end results will be for far more good than we ever thought possible. It's true that minor decisions can make us far off the path, but it's also true that minor decisions can keep us on the path and propel us forward. I've learned a lot this week. I testify that this is all true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, I don't care what anyone else says about it. Nobody will ever be able to really discredit that book. Because that is true then every single piece of the Restored Gospel is true. I testify of all of this. And I testify that Jesus Christ made it all possible because of His Atoning sacrifice. This is the most important thing in the world.

Well, that's about it for this week. I hope you have a great week and I'll let you know more about the wonderful people here when I write on Monday. I love you all. There's no chance in life that I could ever have done this without you. You are have been the answers to many of my prayers. Thank you for that and for everything you do for me. The people here are blessed for what you do. Keep up the amazing work. Invite others to Christ and let me know how it goes. I love you!

Love,

Elder Rowley

PS- Anybody want anything from Liverpool? I'm not sure how long I'll be here... I could be gone pretty quick!