Friday, November 29, 2013

Everyone is going to love today, love today, love today.

    This week was really good. We had another baptism. This guy is named Gilberto. When we found him I thought to myself this guy is prepared this guy is awesome. He was always super accepting. The best thing I heard from him was when he thanked us for our testimonies of the Gospel and when he told us that he wants to serve a mission. That was right after he accepted a baptismal date. He finally got baptized and I asked him, when we were changing in the bathroom, how he felt. He told me that he felt a happiness that he couldn't describe. That is awesome. It is awesome when, through you, someone finds the happiness that the Gospel brings. That's the payoff right there.
I really enjoyed the activity that we had on Thanksgiving. We had a multizone about gratitude and we wrote thank you letters. One thing that I have learned here is to be more grateful. I really have been so filled with gratitude. I have so much. I have my family, my house, this Gospel, my country and so much more. I look at the people that I teach and I sit in there houses and I think, "What did I do to get so much?" I really cannot explain how grateful I am. As a missionary I obviously don't have the luxuries that I had before. Things that I took for granted before the mission I have learned to appreciate even little random things, like free time, the cool breeze in the summer while eating a snowcone at the local grocery store, the smell of fresh cut grass with the sound of a lawn mower, waking up to snow and drinking a cup of hot chocolate, talks with my dad about business ideas, dishwashers, mail ladies, trash services, cars, hot water, asphalt, sidewalks, a late night movie in the backyard of a friend, carpet, furniture not made from plastic, plastic furniture, not having fleas in a bed, and a ton more stuff. Those things seemed insignificant before the mission and I could go on all day about stuff that I'm grateful for. Really those things are insignificant in compared to the magnificence of the Gospel and the absolute power of the Atonement. This is really what I have to be grateful for. I have the opportunity to be able to repent from the things I do wrong. I do a lot of things wrong and the fact that I can move on and get better is an absolute miracle. The love of Christ is something that is available to anyone anywhere in any circumstance, whether they live in a castle or cottage a penthouse apartment or a pitiful dirt hut. This is the common thread that will bring the world together because charity never faileth. The lamb and the lion will lie down together in peace and harmony and the world will be a place of love. I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to share this message. To help bring this love and this hope to the people that feel no love and know no hope is an absolute privilege as well as a divine calling. Sometimes I lose sight of that when the going gets tough. But when someone finds that love and finds that happiness and takes the steps the steps necessary to change and become better, and they see the blessings start to flow, is when I realize that it is all worth it. I have received so much from my Heavenly Father to be grateful for. I cannot ever even hope to pay him back but I will do what he asks and I will feed his sheep. Thank you for all that you do for me. 
-Elder Rowberry

Saturday, November 23, 2013

One is the loneliest number.

This week was a good week. I had a really good experience on Sunday. I was not doing to well this last weekend. I got sick from the lack of rest I had. I had not had a P-day in 3 weeks and I and all the stress came down on me and I got sick and had to stay in on Saturday to rest. No se preocupe I'm fine. I felt really down. I was missing my family. I was missing my home. I didn't feel like doing anything. This were feelings that I was feeling for the first time in the mission. That day of rest on Saturday really helped me out. When I woke upSunday morning I was not looking forward to the day. Sunday morningcan be tough sometimes because get up and get out early and visit all the houses. Then people that said they were going to go tell us, "otro domingo" or "proxima semana." Sometimes this can be really frustrating and it has tried my patience a time or two. I realized that I had to step up my teaching about church. One thing about living where I live in Utah is that practically everyone is a member. I just always took it for granted or rather didn't really think about going to church. I just always did it. So for those reasons I guess I didn't have the strongest testimony of church attendance or better, I didn't understand as much as I should about the importance of church. It's like Moroni says in Ether 12:6 "...for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." I guess I didn't really have a trial of my faith.  Please don't misunderstand me, I knew that we need to go to church and I knew that it was important but I didn't really realize why it was important.  My testimony grew a lot this weekend. We left the house and trudged through El Ranchador. Every single one of our investigators shut us down. I had prayed in the morning for help and comfort. I kind of expected it right then when I prayed but it didn't come. I don't know why I felt so down but I think it was just one of the effects of being sick.  Anyways no one came to church from our all of our investigators in El Ranchador and in El Bambú. We came to the stake conference and I was just really praying that our investigator who lives in Paraíso 2 would come. His name is Gilberto. He is really positive but has issues coming to church. We went by his house in the morning and he said he was going to come. It was really important that he come because he had a baptismal date for the 24th. The meeting was about to start and he hadn't showed up yet. Thankfully he came though. The messages were good but I still wasn't feeling it. Then President Cordón spoke about repentance and he said something about taking upon us the yoke of Christ. This and some other stuff that was said hit me really hard. Then we had the baptism of Elder Draper and Elder López and President Cordón spoke again about what baptism means. I learned a lot from that as well and I felt the spirit strong while I was being a witness to the baptism. We had a good lunch of fried chicken and that night I felt amazing. I was just so happy. We had some really good lessons and I just felt great. I learned a lot about the need to be nourished by the good word of God just as Moroni says in Moroni 6:4. In Genesis 2:18 it says, "it is not good that the man should be alone." In this context Moses is talking about when God created Eve for Adam. Getting married is obviously not an option right now but, it is still not good for man to be alone. I know that we have companions and they are with us all the time but sometimes you just feel alone. And really one is always alone. Other people can sympathize and comfort but the thoughts, feelings, desires, sorrows, and burdens are to be carried alone. No other mortal can take away or really understand what someone is going through. However after being baptized we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost which is promised companion and comforter who is constant. We need to go to church every week to renew our baptismal covenants. We need to hear and be nourished by the word. We must study everyday so we can have the spirit with us so that we are not alone. Because a lone man is a volatile man. He is free game for temptations and difficulties and will not have the strength nor knowledge to resist. He will be alone to face this harsh, cold world. In the classic novel, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, the main character talks about how when she was pregnant was the only time she felt unalone. She felt a connection and a comfort from her child. When she finally had her child she became extremely depressed because she felt  alone again. These feelings eventually killed her. The sad thing is that a lot of people feel utterly alone in this world. But it need not be so. The Holy Ghost and the comfort in the Atonement can heal any wound and comfort any soul. I felt the comfort and I do not ever want to lose that. That is one of the reasons why we must go to church and we must read the scriptures. 
That is one great thing that I learned this week. I also really enjoyed the temple. I have never had such a good experience. I felt so much peace and joy. It was amazing.
Thank you for everything.
-Elder Rowberry

Oh also these last couple weeks I've been working on a Tshirt for the Christmas activity we have Attached are the designs I made. 





Friday, November 15, 2013

Takin Care of business

This week was extremely busy. This was the week of changes. The office was hectic for the whole week preparing. I had to make a bunch of presentations and get a lot of pictures and statistics of successful areas and stuff. My companion had changes and got moved out of the office. He is now my Zone Leader. My new comp is Elder Morán. He's from Ecuador. He has one more change then I do in the mission. He's the new General Secretary. I'm worried for the guy. It is a lot of work to be the General Secretary, especially for a guy that doesn't speak English and doesn't know computers that well. He's 18 like me so we're just two really young guys but we're going to work hard. He's pretty different then me. He is really serious and well...you know me. I've gotten way better at making friends here on the mission. I make friends quickly. I'm really thankful for that because it makes everything so much better when you make friends. Monday and Tuesday this week  I taught a grand total of 0 lessons. We were in the office from 7 in the morning till 9 at night. One thing that is rough about being in the office is your spirituality kind of drops. We don't hardly ever have time to study. But the Lord is blessing us with knowledge and recollection. However I'm thankful for the opportunity that I have. 
     I read Elder Nyman's letter this week and I realized that my letters are not very descriptive. I just feel like I do the same thing everyday and it's not anything special. I will try to right things more descriptively. 
    For some reason Elder López and I had a really hard time getting people to come church. It is the worst when you wake up Sunday morning go walk to all the investigators houses that said they would come and then for some reason they just say otro domingo or proxima semana. This is the most frustrating thing ever. I have been trying to up my teaching about the Sacrament and the importance of church. One thing I took for granted or didn't really understand was the importance of church and the Sacrament. I still don't think I understand it fully but that is something that I going to study more about. 
Thanks for everything.
-Elder Rowberry

Friday, November 8, 2013

Don't Stop Believing

This week was very good. We contacted some references with a member. Both of his references have turned to be really positive. One of them was with this lady, her son who is 19 years old, and a cousin. Their name's are María Magdalena, Enrique, and Mario. María is old and is constrained to her wheelchair because she cannot walk. She has problems with her throat. Despite of her sicknesses she is a very happy person. She came to church with us and she loved it. We visited her later and she couldn't stop talking about how good it was. She also told us of a very neat experience that she had during church. The days before church she couldn't sleep because of her throat. They bought really expensive medicine and that only made her worse. When she took the sacrament and drank the water she said it felt cool in her throat and her throat opened up. That night she was able to sleep well. Enrique, who was not able to come to church, was shocked by this. We invited María to be baptized and she accepted. I am amazed about how happy she is even though she is sick and crippled. She is a great example to me. We plan on putting a date with Enrique and Mario very soon. 
 I have enjoyed being in the office and all the things that I have been able to learn here. I like the responsibility. I still don't know everything about the job but I'm figuring it out. It forces me to work more efficiently and harder because I have less time to do everything. 
 One thing I worry about is the people that we baptize. I want them to continue and not fall away when we stop visiting them. Oftentimes people get a little big angry after they get baptized and we can't continue to visit them. Always help people feel welcomed in the church.
Have a good week.

-Elder Rowberry 

Friday, November 1, 2013

Carry on

Hello everybody. I hope you all enjoyed your Halloween. This week was a good one for me. It was a busy one at the office. We had multi zone conferences three days. It takes a lot of work on our part to get ready for these. On Monday my comp and I were in the office from 7:00 in the morning to 9:00 at night. We had 0 lessons taught 0 news 0 everything. That is one challenge of being the office. You get very little time to work in your area. But I enjoy it here. It's a lot of responsibility and sometimes a little stressful. I like the stress of it. I like being pushed to have to do more with less time. I swear the Lord is blessing us with good new investigators that we find easily because we work in the office. We have found quite a bit of new positive people lately just from references and talking to people. Also just a question Does anybody actually read this? Anyways we work as hard as we possibly can and I feel like we have pretty good success.
I'm learning a lot. 
Here's the story of the drunk guy. We had this investigator. When my comp and another guy found him, obviously they found him before I got there, he was drunk. He drank for the next three visits to the family. He had been drinking for 30 years. He had been living with a lady for 25 years unmarried. This last Sunday they got married and baptized. It was really awesome. Yesterday they came with us to teach this investigator named Ernesto who smokes. He doesn't really want to change, or at least he says he doesn't want to change. Noé, the convert, started talking about how he was a drunkard and all that stuff and he told him. "Look at me. Thanks to God first, and these Elders I changed and haven't drunken for three months." He talked to him for 10 minutes about how he changed and everything. It´s really awesome to see the changes in peoples lives.
I realized something this week. I thought about how tiring it is to find a new investigator that has a lot of problems, addictions and what not and then take them to baptism. They have to take all these big steps in their lives that are difficult to take. We as missionaries have to take them with them to a certain extent. It really is tiring, rewarding definitely, but tiring. We do this because we are representatives of Jesus Christ. We are only representatives he takes every step with every single person. Where we know kind of how they are feeling and kind of what they need, He knows every bit of how they are feeling and everything they need. This realization helped me understand more about the Atonement and how difficult it was. Obviously I understand a fraction of fraction of it but I understand it a little bit better now.
Thanks for reading, if you still are. Have a good week.
-Elder Rowberry