Seems like serving in Africa

Date: Wed, May 27, 2009 at 8:42 AM
Subject: Hello from Rochdale!

Hello Everyone!

How are you all this week? How's Provo? Tell me everything. Rochdale is incredible and I love it already! We've had a great week and I'm excited to tell you about everything here, even though I still have a lot to learn.

Well, we do live just up the street from that Church that you were looking at on GoogleEarth, it's St. Chads - the Church of England. I've got some good pictures of it from our window that you'll have to see soon. The bells were going off last night and it sounded really amazing. Oh and we live with another companionship, Elders Hastings and Ward, both from Idaho. Elder Hastings is the District Leader and takes great care of us all! It's a lot of fun!

As for the work here, I love it. I feel like I'm serving in *Africa! Half of our investigators are African and they are just amazing people. We're even having a Baptism this weekend! Her name is Louma (pronounced Loma) Major. She is amazing and we are excited for her and her family. Then we are also teaching another African woman named Vicky who is dated for Baptism on June 13! She is so valiant, it's incredible. She won't let us leave her place without giving her something to read! And then we have Jamie McKeon who is also very valiant. It appears that his life has really turned around since he's been taught. He is dated for Baptism on the 20th of June and we are excited for him as well. We are also teaching a man named Bau who is from Fiji and is dated for Baptism on Independence Day! He is amazing as well, he told us that when he is Baptised he will probably be kicked out of his place by his friends that he is living with, but he just said that he was okay with that! It's all so amazing, that's only the tip of the iceberg. We had 8 investigators at Sacrament meeting this past Sunday and there are just so many more people I have to tell you about! We are so blessed here, it's a time of great harvest! I just hope and pray that I can remain worthy of it all!

Sorry to be so short but I've got to get going, we're almost out of time. The Church is true. There isn't any other true and living church in the world. We are the only restored Church in the world, every other Church is reformed, think about that. Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and the Book of Mormon is evidence of that. I love the Gospel, it really is the only path to true happiness in this life and Eternal Life in the next!

I love you all so much. I'll write more next week, I promise. And it will be on Monday. Thanks so much for all that you do, it makes a massive difference in my life and in the lives of those I get to teach and serve here! Keep up the amazing work and keep the letters coming! I love you!

Love,

Elder Rowley


*prior to his call Luke really wanted to serve in Africa

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...

Life is that simple!

Just a note: We had a great visit by phone with Luke on Sunday. He sounds wonderful. I appreciate his honesty that a mission is hard work and he faces opposition every day but also that he enjoys serving the Lord and he loves being a missionary. We also learned this morning that Luke will be leaving the Isle of Man on the next transfer--May 20. He has loved serving amongst the people on the Isle of Man--it feels like home to him--but he is willing to go wherever the Lord needs to send him next.--Dalene

Date: Mon, May 11, 2009 at 7:44 AM
Subject: Happy Mother's Day!

Hello!

Happy Mother's Day! How is everyone? Are you all ready for school to be done? I sure am. I mean, I'm sure glad it's done for me! Being a Missionary is better than going to school any day!

We've had a great past week. Wanda's Baptism is on hold for now, but it will happen in the near future. I'm excited for her, she just needs a little more preparation before her Baptism. She is dong great though and still remains happy and excited about everything! Last Monday we were able to have dinner and FHE with her, Luke (her son), and the Preece Family (members). It was amazing and Wilma and Luke enjoyed it very much!

Peter and Chris are doing well, they weren't at Church last week because Peter was feeling poorly on Saturday evening into Sunday morning. We saw them a couple times in the week and they are still just about ready to be Baptised! They are so close and I am so excited for them.

Our other investigators are doing well. John is working a lot of hours at his job so it's difficult to see him often. but he is recognizing the spirit better which is great! Wendy and Andy are doing well, we taught them about the Plan of Salvation last week and they agreed with it all! They are so amazing. In the middle of the week we were able to teach a kind woman named Glenis who is amazing.

We had an amazing day on Saturday. In the morning it was pouring and we were tracting and got pretty wet. The afternoon wasn't very fruitful when people wouldn't listen to us in town and when we went tracting. In the evening it got sunny and we had a new investigator from South Africa! It was incredible, he is such a kind man who has a great faith in God. Then we were able to teach some members and one of them asked for a blessing and we got to do that for him, it was incredible. I loved Saturday.

Well, my time on the computer is running out so I'm going to have to end this now. I love you all so much. The Church is true and Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. His true and living Church has been restored to the earth and we are so blessed to be a part of it. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and is true. It will bring us closer to God and help us be happy every time we read it. I'm so thankful for that great book. I know that sin causes unhappiness, but when we are obedient we are happy. Life is that simple. If we obey God we will be blessed and happy (see Mosiah 2:41), if we don't we won't. I love the Gospel and I know that it is true and that it can help us in anything and everything that we experience in this life.

Have a wonderful week! I love you so much! Keep the letters coming!

Love,

Elder Rowley

Send some letters...I mean love!

Date: Mon, May 4, 2009 at 4:31 AM
Subject: Happy May!

Hello!

Wow these weeks just go so fast, it's crazy! I love this work so much. How's everybody over there in Provo? I'm glad to hear that the weather is warming up a bit and that you are even getting some nice British weather as well! Rain is wonderful, isn't it? Just the other day we were tracting in the morning and it was rainy and cold and just no fun. We had some lunch then in the afternoon it cleared up and was nice and sunny the rest of the day! The weather is crazy over here and I love it!

Anyway, we're doing well this week. Elder Llaguno is doing well and is teaching me a whole lot. Sometimes I wonder if it's him that's training me! He's a good man and I hope that he sees a lot of success throughout his mission!

On Tuesday I had my first driving lesson with one of the members and it was great! I learned what I need to work on to take my test to get my Great Britain driving license. Driving on the left side of the road is so much fun, I think I'm going to miss it when it's over. Maybe when I return home I will drive on the left side of the road just for fun.

Our investigators are doing well and Wanda is scheduled for Baptism this weekend! I'm so excited for her, she will make a wonderful addition to the ward here. Hopefully all will go well and the service will run smoothly, we'll see. We might have to postpone it another week because of Baptismal clothes and other things, we'll see. Keep praying for Wanda to be ready for her Baptism whenever it is!

Peter and Chris weren't at church yesterday and we couldn't get a hold of them on the phone so we are a bit worried about them. I'm sure everything's fine though. They are progressing well and we are now just resolving some of their concerns in preparation for them being baptised. We still aren't sure how far off their Baptisms are, but we (and the ward members) are hoping and praying that it will be soon! Please Pray for them also, especially Chris, to be ready for baptism soon.

John is struggling at the moment with work and some other things, but he is reading and praying still. We are hoping and praying for him to start to progress towards Baptism. He's a good man and I'm sure he will be baptised one day soon.

We also had the opportunity to teach a very kind woman named Joe this week. She is very proactive and is willing to ask questions and then listen to the answer and then speak about how she feels about it. She's had a hard life and has really turned things around for herself and her two children and we are excited to see her again this week.

And we finally were able to see Andy and Wendy again! They had some wonderful questions and we took a member with us and he was great and the spirit was strong and it was just amazing. I'm excited to see them progress. Their beliefs about life and the spirit world and everything are very similar to ours which is really exciting!

I think that's about it for our investigators. On Saturday we had a really... interesting experience. We both felt really good about a certain street to tract and so we went there Saturday afternoon. After a few doors we found out why we were there when we were let in by a very kind Brazilian man! He took us into a dining room where there were a few other men and they said that they were talking about Jesus Christ. We were very excited to tell them about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, but as we did they started to explain their belief that the Bible is it. They pretty much fulfilled the Scripture in the Book of Mormon that talks about people saying "a Bible, a Bible, we have a Bible!" They were very kind though. We left with a Prayer but it was in the way that they Pray as they said. It was interesting and I'll tell you more about it later.

Well, the Church is true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it is true. I know that through the power of the Holy Ghost. I'm so thankful for the Gospel. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He has experienced every pain that we have and because of that He can help us make it through the things that we suffer. I know that repentance makes us happy. It's so hard to change. I wish I was better at it. I know that Heavenly Father helps those who try. We can't do anything without Him. We need His divine help every day of our lives, even when the sun is shining and there is food on the table and the children are happy and there is money in our pockets. As we seek His help in those moments as well as when times are tough we will feel closer to Him. The Nephites were destroyed because of their pride and so will we if we don't humble ourselves. I feel like such a prideful person. I'm so thankful for the example of Jesus Christ, that I can follow Him and become more humble and become happier and become the best person that I can be. I love the Gospel and I know that it is true!!

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful week full of Missionary experiences. Thanks again for all of the love, prayers, letters, and support in every way. I need it so much and so do the people here. Remember that they are being blessed for all that you do for me. I love you!

Love,

Elder Rowley

PS- send some letters, I mean love!

Hot water never felt so good!

Date: Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 4:56 AM
Subject: Hello!

Hey Everyone!

How was your week? You didn't get any more snow there did you? It's been nice here. The trees are starting to blossom and leaves are coming and it's beautiful! I love spring! I'm still driving and I love seeing the Island change all the time. I think I've driven from our flat in Castletown to Douglas over a hundred times now! I've been here for so long it feels like home to me! Utah will always be home home though. Oh and our boiler is fixed! I never realized before what a wonderful blessing it is to have central heating and hot water!!

Elder Llaguno is doing very well. He continues to teach me so much and I learn something new every day. He is so willing to learn and improve and he is very teachable. His testimony is strong for only being a convert of 5 years. He helps me so much. Being a trainer is pushing me to be the best Missionary I can be and I love it. Please pray for Elder Llaguno to see success here in his first few weeks!

Everything is going well though. Yesterday a Missionary couple in our Mission, Elder and Sister Davis, came over to the island. They are looking for a flat for a Missionary couple to be here! I'm excited for this new couple, they are going to love it. The only downside to having the Davis's here was that they had to take our phone! They arrived here on Saturday and when they got here their phone wouldn't work! So they have our phone until tomorrow. That's been an adventure. It was good to see them at church yesterday though!

Church was great yesterday! Last week there was a conference in Liverpool with Elder Ballard and it was re-broadcast here this week. It was amazing and I loved the talks, I learned so much. And Wanda & Luke, John, and the Portuguese man we're teaching all made it to church! I'm so happy that they got to be there for that, the spirit was so strong!

Our investigators are doing very well though. Wanda's Baptismal date had to be moved to May 9th because of a Ward Activity on the 2nd. We all feel much better about that. I'm so excited for her. She is so ready and will make such a wonderful addition to the Ward here!

Peter and Chris are doing great. They had family over yesterday so they weren't able to make it to church, but we saw them in the week and Peter is starting to think about dates for Baptism! Hopefully we'll be able to have Peter be baptised and then he can baptise Chris when she is ready! I'm excited for both of them as well. They both are also going to make such great additions to the Ward here!

Our other investigators are getting there... slowly. We hope to start seeing them progress even more over the next few weeks, and also to get some new investigators as well. I feel like we need to focus on finding the elect. We know they are out there, it's just a matter of finding, teaching, and baptising them!! Please pray for us to find the elect here on the Isle of Man.

Oh and our Mission Conference was incredible!! President Packer was amazing. Him, his wife, and President and Sister Bullock all spent some time talking about the family and how things have been, it was really interesting. Then he opened it up to questions and gave his talk. The spirit was so strong. That man is called of God and I'm so thankful for him. It's such a blessing to have living Apostles and Prophets on the earth today! After the meeting we all had the opportunity to shake his hand, then we took a mission picture with everyone, it was great. The ferry rides were calm as well! It was a wonderful trip back to Liverpool even if it was only for a couple days!

I'm curious to know about your Missionary Experiences. How are they going? Are you praying for them? I hope so. Missionary Work is the best. I love it so much, there is nothing in the world like the joy that comes from doing this great work!

Well, the Gospel is true and it has been restored. I know that and I'm so thankful for it. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it is the springboard to personal testimony of the Restored Gospel. It does bring us closer to God. Read it every single day. We must be closer and closer to God each and every day of our lives. His commandments are the one and only way to true happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. Pray to Him everyday. He has feelings too, remember. He loves us and wants to hear from us. I know that that is true. He is very literally our Father, and He really does know each and every one of us better than we know ourselves. He knows how to help us when we are down. As we seek Him first when things are difficult, and even when things aren't difficult, He will lift us up and bring us through the trials we are called to pass through. I know that The Power of the Holy Ghost is real. We need that power every day of our lives. We need to be guided by it. We've heard of and experienced too many times feeling a prompting of the Holy Ghost and not acting on it, then feeling stupid when we realize the consequence of not acting. I know that this is a Gospel of action. We must be up and doing and work hard to fortify ourselves against the adversary. What a great blessing it is to have our Savior Jesus Christ there to help us when Satan tempts us. He can and will help us. He wants to help us more than we know. He loves us. He suffered and bled and died for us. All that we can have the opportunity to return back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. I love the Gospel and I know that it's true!

Anyway, have a wonderful week, you are wonderful people who make the world a better place. Keep up that amazing work. Keep the letters coming. Please. Thanks for all of the prayers and love and support and letters and everything, it helps so much. Never forget that the people here are blessed because of all of the wonderful things that you do for me! I love you!!

Love,

Elder Rowley

I love this mission!

photos courtesy of the Tricketts, who saw the elders just yesterday

Date: Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 6:15 AM
Subject: Happy Spring!

Hello Everyone!

It sounds like it's been a busy week in Provo! That's exciting. It's sunny right now and the trees are starting to blossom! It looks like spring and I'm very excited. It's going to go fast though!

We have had an incredible week. The mission goal for Quality Gospel Conversations is 70 over 12 set up appointments. Last week we reached over 70 and set up 10 appointments! Twenty-one of those were in Liverpool, but we reached it anyway! We were both excited to see so much success. We were really struggling to set up appointments though, and we had none when we got back from Liverpool on Thursday evening. We asked Heavenly Father to bless us with some appointments and on Saturday we set up 7!! Prayer works. I'm excited to see these people, we're hoping and praying that these appointments don't fall through!

Our investigators are doing very well. On Saturday we saw Peter and Chris and Peter said that he wants to be Baptized! We told him to pray about a date and asked him and Christine to think about it and we'll probably be seeing them when we return from our Mission Conference. I'm so excited for him, he could be Baptized in a couple weeks if all works out well! Please pray for that to happen in the Lord's time and for Chris to get there soon.

I'm very proud of Elder Llaguno. He is such a trooper. He works so hard. He works so hard to speak with everyone, it's incredible. The other day we were street contacting and he spoke with a man from Portugal. We set up an appointment with him and on Saturday he became a new investigator! I'm so excited. This area is being blessed so much!

We haven't been able to see Wanda for a little while, but we're seeing her as soon as we return from our Mission Conference. We stopped by to see her the other day and just said hello and she seems to be doing well. Please pray for her to be ready for Baptism on May 2! She is so close. We have a lot of investigators who are so close. If we pray for them then they will receive all of Heavenly Fathers blessings from the restored Gospel. I know it!

John came to Church on Sunday! That's 3 weeks in a row that he has been! We're so proud of him. He's starting to progress faster and faster. Maybe he will be Baptized in the next few months... we'll hope and Pray. He's such a good man. He's really funny, we'll say something like "you're a good man John." to which he replies (in his Chinese accent) "no no no, you're good man, you're good man!" I love John!

We have a few investigators that we haven't been able to get a hold of recently, please pray for that to happen. They are such amazing people and we aren't sure what's happened to them. Pray for Adrian and Judy, and also Wendy and Andy. We're also hoping and praying for new investigators as well. There is so much work here to be done!

Zone Conference was amazing. It's a wonderful time to be a Missionary in the England Manchester Mission! We achieved 32 Baptisms as a mission in March! That's the second highest amount of people Baptized in one month for the past 5-6 years and maybe more. We are doubling the numbers. And President Bullock says that we can double it even more. We continue to be blessed with such amazing tools to find those souls who are prepared for the truth. Please pray for the continued success of our Mission. I love that when someone in the Mission has a Baptism it's not just that companionship that celebrates. We, as a Mission, celebrate it. I love this mission so much!

Well, the Church is true. My Testimony of it is strengthened every day. I love being a Missionary and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I know that this work is true and it is right. Never pass up an opportunity to share the Gospel, no matter how scared you may be. It's never worth it to give in to fear. I know that we will be happier as we are more faithful in speaking up to share the gospel with others. Nobody said it was easy, but it's infinitely worth it. Have Missionary experiences. Pray for them. Study how to share the Gospel. Ask the Missionaries to help you. The missionaries in the Provo Mission cannot reach their full potential without you. I'm going to challenge every single person who reads this letter to have at least one Missionary experience a week. Look for them and Pray for them and they will happen. I know that they will, even in Provo. The Lord will bless you for it. He needs our help to do this work. We are His hands. I love this great work. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. If God's spirit children who don't have the Gospel aren't invited to come unto Him then His suffering for them is nearly wasted. I love the Savior. I know that God loves us. He lives. He will help us live the Gospel. We must put Him first in our lives. Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is true and it is the keystone of my testimony. It is the way that those who don't have the Gospel will come to know that it's true. I love the Book of Mormon. I know that it will bring us closer to God as we abide by it's precepts than any other book in the world.

Anyway, have a wonderful week and next week I'll be able to tell you what it feels like to shake President Packer's hand. I'm so excited to meet him. Keep up the amazing work, Heavenly Father is proud of you for it. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Rowley