Transferred!

Zone Leaders council at the Mission Home

Date: Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 5:24 AM
Subject: Transferred...!

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing this week? I hope well. I am doing great. I've been transferred to Preston, and I'm now serving with Elder Griffith from California. He is amazing and we are going to make some wonderful things happen this transfer! Before I forget, here is the flat address so you can all write to me:

49 Centenary Mill
Preston
PR1 5JQ

So now you can all write to me. I think I'll be here a bit longer than I was in Liverpool, so that will be nice. I love it here already and I'm excited to tell you all about it! But first I'll tell you about my last week in Liverpool.

To be honest, I was sad to leave Liverpool. Probably more sad than any of my other transfers. That area is just so amazing and the people and the Missionaries and everything. I'm going to miss it, but I've got a lot of work ahead of me here!

Since I wrote last we had a great week. We had a district meeting on Tuesday and one of the Elders tied Jonny Lingo into committing investigators to come to Church, it was great! I love those Missionaries. Afterwards we got to eat together at a nice restaurant called a carvery. It's just a traditional English Roast dinner, you've probably seen one in my pictures. I'll explain more about it if you have any questions. Anyway, after that we went on exchanges with the Elders just north of Liverpool in a town called Crosby. I worked with Elder Lloyd and he taught me a lot. He was called as a new District Leader and he replaced me there. That district is in good hands!

We were also blessed with some wonderful tea appointments with members last week, we had some great food and great people to work with. I love the members in Liverpool and I will miss them a lot.

On Friday there was a Baptism of an American girl named Mary. She was taught by our Zone Leaders, but again they needed me to play the piano for the service so we got to go. It was a wonderful service, very organized and spiritual. And Mary is going to make a wonderful member. I taught her once and she accepted everything so quickly. She's great.

Sunday we got to work with the Zone Leaders and I got to work with Elder Stacey. He taught me a lot of really good things and I'm thankful for that. Exchanges are the best. Although sadly, none of our investigators came to Church on Sunday. But since transfers there are now sisters teaching Toma and his family, so they will probably become more committed to Church. I'm thankful for that.

Since then it's been crazy seeing people and getting everything ready for transfers. It was a great last week in Liverpool and I will miss it. As for Preston, we live with another set of Elders and they are great. I'll tell you more in the future because my time is short. Also, we are teaching some amazing people as well. Oscar is Chinese and he is being Baptised on Saturday. He is very smart. And Eric is from Ghana and he will be Baptised in a couple weeks. We are very blessed here! Again, I'll tell you more on Monday.

Well, the Church is true. I've learned a lot in the past few weeks and I've changed a lot. I've really been humbled by the opportunities the Lord has given me to serve, and I need your prayers to progress to be what He needs me to be. In the Gospel we sometimes become prideful and boast of our callings or the things we've done. Sometimes we don't do things the Lord's way when we know we should. Sometimes we study the Gospel for our needs and not others. Sometimes we ask ourselves why we aren't happy at Church instead of why others aren't happy. I've learned in the past week that when we do this the Lord humbles us. As we overcome selfishness and pride through the Atonement, we will find out who we really are, and we will reach our full potential. There's a scripture in the New Testament about losing our lives for the service of others. That is true. When we truely serve, we reach great heights. When we are selfish and prideful, we wither and are miserable. I know that this is true because I've experienced both sides of this. The only true and lasting way to change from this is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I testify that it works and it changes things. God lives and loves all of us, if He didn't we wouldn't even be here. The Book of Mormon is true. It's the keystone of my testimony and the iron rod that leads us along the path back to God's presence. The Gospel is true.

Well, I love you all very much. Have a great week and keep up the amazing work. I couldn't do this without you!

Love,

Elder Rowley

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!

Thankful I'm not perfect

Date: Thu, May 21, 2009 at 5:01 AM
Subject: What a Week!!

Hello!

How is everyone this week? Excited for summer? I sure am! It's getting warmer here and I like that.

Well, my time serving on the Isle of Man is over. I'm currently in Rochdale, which is just outside of Manchester. My new companion is Elder Winward from Salt Lake City and he is great! The work here is going amazingly well, we have 3 investigators dated for Baptism this transfer, and many others we're working with. It's going to be a busy week as I get to know and start teaching all of them! I'm so excited though.

As for my last week on the Isle of Righteousness... I mean Isle of Man, it was amazing! We got to do service for some members and helped the Allen's get in and settled and in the last couple days said goodbye to everyone. It was a lot of fun, and I'm going to really miss that blessed Island. Elder and Sister Allen (from Portland, Oregon by the way) are incredible and will take good care of it as well as Elder Llaguno and his new companion, Elder Frogeley, who was the assistant up until he went out there! And Guess who the new assistant is?! My trainer, Elder Ayers!! I'm so happy and excited for him. This means that I'll get to work a lot more closely with him and the other Missionaries, especially as I'm back on the Mainland! It's an exciting time, but I sure do miss the Isle of Man!

Yesterday was one of the craziest days of my mission. I went on the ferry completely alone then had to catch some trains to Manchester where I was literally found by a member family from Rochdale who drove another Elder and me there. It felt really weird to be alone, but I know it was approved by the Lord because it was approved by President Bullock!

And last night was absolutely AMAZING!! Here's the background story: The BYU Chamber Singers have been on tour here in the U.K. for the last 3 weeks. They got to do festivals in Ireland and did a lot of concerts here in England/Wales. I was a bit sad to see that they were coming because I was going to be on the Isle of Man and would miss the times that they would be here. (President Bullock gave approval for us to go with investigators if possible, but on the Isle of Man there was just no way we'd be able to go.) But there was a bit of hope because on transfer day (yesterday) I saw that they were going to be in Oldham and I thought maybe I'd be transferred to Oldham that day. Well, Rochdale just happens to be right next to Oldham, so we got to go to see one of the BYU Singers concerts!! It just happened to be their last, and as I said before, it was AMAZING!! The spirit was so strong, and I learned a lot from all of the pieces they sang. They even did a few pieces that I sang in Chamber Singers and Provo High! It was so exciting, I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father gave me that chance to do that.

It's been a pretty crazy couple of weeks, but the Gospel is still true. I'm so thankful to have a testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. This morning in study I started a list of the blessings of the Atonement, and it's incredible the things that we can have from the Savior's sacrifice for us. I noticed though that every single one of the scriptures that I studied mentioned doing some part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, etc.). I've learned that that is true, if we want to experience all of the blessings of the Atonement in our lives then all we have to do is live the Gospel. It's that simple and it's so amazing. And it's possible as well. This week I've been more and more thankful that I'm not perfect. Every day is a new chance to learn and to grow and to improve on what we did yesterday. Being perfect without experiencing any of this would be very boring. But I'm so thankful that through Jesus Christ we can become perfect and return to live with Heavenly Father again. I love this work and I know its true!! How are your Missionary experiences going by the way? They will come if you pray for them, I promise. I know that prayer does work, Heavenly Father really does listen and answer our prayers. I know that He did answer Joseph Smith's prayer by appearing to Joseph Smith with His Son, Jesus Christ, and that they called Joseph Smith to be a Prophet. He was and is a true Prophet of God and the Book of Mormon is how we know that. I'm so thankful for the restored Gospel!

Well, you are amazing people and I love you so much. Keep up the incredible work and please please keep the letters coming! Feel more than welcome to flood the postbox with letters this week! My new address is:

Elder Rowley
7 School Lane
Rochdale
OL16 1QB
England

Please write. Don't forget it. Thanks again for everything, I love you all so much. Have a wonderful week and keep having Missionary experiences!

Love,

Elder Rowley

Farewell Isle of Bliss Man

We probably won't hear from Luke until tomorrow, but we did get an e-mail from the Tricketts, who informed us that Luke will next be serving in a little place called Rochdale. I just liked reading that

It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch.

He certainly will be a lot closer to the rest of the mission now. I hope he loves it and feels as much at home there as he has on the Isle of Man.

More news soon...

Transfer: Isle of Man

Date: Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 3:55 AM
Subject: Happy Christmas!

Hello!

How is everyone this week? I've got to hurry so this will be short. In a few minutes we're getting a ride from the assistants to Liverpool where we will take the ferry to... The ISLE OF MAN!! I'm so excited, I can't even tell you. I hope to write more either when we get there or next week. I love you all so much!!

Love,

Elder Rowley

from Dalene: Well, at least we know where he is (or will be soon). It's kind of funny, I knew we wouldn't be hearing from him yesterday but it was unsettling not to know where he was. When I woke up this morning I thought "I just need to know where he is." And now I do!

Everyone I know who has been there has told me how much they loved the Isle of Man and how great it would be if Luke could serve there. And he gets to go through Liverpool? (think the Beatles--yeah, that Liverpool.) I know he is a missionary, not a tourist, but that is still just plain cool!