Cause you're in New York

I went to San Salvador this week for Migration. It was quite different than Nahuizalco. It actually has big buildings. Even Santa Ana have more than a four story building. It's not quite like New York though. 

This week was an interesting week. We are working really hard to try to accomplish our goals. I don't know what it is but we have been struggling in our area. I am worried about the people we have that are "supposed" to get baptized. They have been acting a little weird. I am feeling the pressure of my position in trying to reach this goal. I know that I have to be an example for them.  You can pray for J. S., S. C., Freddy, Adriana, Jessica, Mariana, and Elizabeth.

 On Saturday I went on interchanges with Elder Slack. He's from West Jordan. We were out in a cantón called Pushtan. We could see clouds coming in. It was starting to get dark and it's a 25 minute walk back to Nahuizalco. We started walking and it started raining with everything it had. It was not only rain but lighting as well. There was a ton of lighting and a couple struck real close to us. We were soaking wet and on a dark muddy road running back to Nahui screaming like little girls. I had never heard before the lightning. Everyone hears thunder but I heard the lightning whiz across the sky. It was awesome! I thought, "What is my family doing on this wonderful saturday night?" I thought well they are probably talking to the neighbors, playing basketball, and just having a good time. Meanwhile I am trudging up a dark slippery hill in the jungle in El Salvador with rain pouring down on me and lightning about strinking me. I love the mission!! 

This morning we went and saw some waterfalls here in Juayúa. They are really cool. That was the first planned zone activity that I have ever been to.

Anways I don't have much more time.

Have a great week!

-Elder Rowberry

Till I Collapse

From Monday August 11, 2014

This week was a crazy week.

On Tuesday we had the leadership meeting in Santa Ana. We had to wake up at 4 in the morning to get there. It was really good. We learned about making goals and reaching them. The next day we had to wake up at 4 again to go to the temple with investigators. Unfortunatley we didn't get on bed exactly on time. The Tacuazin finally came. I was showering and my companion yelled at me telling me not to leave the bathroom. I asked why and he told me the tacuazin was in the room. To get to the rest of the house from our bathroom you have to pass throught our bedroom. So the tacuazin was trapped in the bedroom. I opened the door a little bit and saw a tail in my closet by my clothes. It was long. Then the tacuazin left my clothes and went to the floor. Tacuazin in english in possum I believe. This rat was the size of a 2.5 L bottle of soda. We spent hours trying to catch it without getting bit. We didn't want to kill it because we would have felt bad. We finally caught it and we gave it to the neighbors. They eat those things here. I would like to eat one, one day.

I have been tired all week on beacuse of all the stuff we had to do. I had to organize transport and "herd" about 70 people take them to the temple and make sure they got back in the bus. It was kind of stressful. But it has been great. We are trying to reach a baptismal goal of 20. Right now we have 6 baptized and 16 with date. As a zone we have faith and we are working hard to acheive this goal. This week I also went on some interchanges with some elders in my zone. I two cool spiritual experiences. I went with Elder Hassard to his area. Elder Hassard is new in the mission he has around 4 weeks here. He is from Syracuse, Utah. We went and talked to some investigators that we wanted to put baptismal dates with. They had some problems so we explained the restoration. If someone has a testimony of the restoration everything else falls into place. Anyways they still had doubts so I asked them if the wanted to ask God. These were two seperate lessons. We knelt down with them and they asked if they should get baptized and they both described a burning feeling in the chest and they both accepted baptismal dates. Elder Gubernick, who used to be AP but now is home, told me once, "The knees never fail." Turns out that it's true. If you guys have a lack of testimony or doubts or questions, kneel down and ask God.

Love you all folks.

Have a great week!

-Elder Rowberry

And really bad eggs...

A couple of days ago I went to make myself some French Toast. I went to grab an egg and it broke when I touched it. That is when a smell from El Infierno came out. There was a hard black substance in the egg, which I am assuming was a dead, rotted chicken. Also a bunch of black goo oozed out. I don't believe I have ever smelled anything so bad in my life. I had to wash my hands three or four times to get the smell out.  It was bad. 

This week was a good week. We were able to baptize Susana. She is 20 years old and she is studying to be a lawyer, which is in stark contrast to other investigators that I have that are 20+ years old and can't even read. One day we were with a recent convert and he wanted to knock doors, which I hate, but we decided to do it. I am glad we did. We found Susana and her mom. Her mom had listened to missionaries before and had gone to church. We started teaching them and Susana was a fairly easy investigator. She was ready. Her mom still hasn't got baptized for some problems that we are working through but hopefully in August! In the baptismal service I saw an investigator that we have. I didn't even invite her but her neighbor, who is the Relief Society President invited her. She showed up late so I didn't see her until I left the bathroom after changing. I talked to to her and she tells me, "I want to do it on a weekday because on Sunday they get out too late." I was confused. I asked her what she was talking about. She said, "When I get baptized I want to do it on a weekday." Oh... Cool! So I put the date with her right there. We hadn't been able to teach her for maybe two weeks because she is always working. She always goes to church and that is what has converted her. Her name is Adriana. She is probably 65 years old. 

So my dear chula mother sent me a list of questions to answer.

 1)  Is it still raining a lot there?  I would have loved to have seen the thunderstorm you described! It rains a lot but not like it normally does. It's been kind of dry. 

 2)  How did your baptism of Susana go last week? Read above.

3)  Are there a lot of differences in the feel of the mission with the new mission president?President Spjut is a lot different then President Cordón. They are both great. President Cordón was more formal and more strict in a certain sense. He wanted perfection. President Spjut is also strict but in a different way. It's hard to describe if you don't know them. They focus on different things when they teach but both are fantastic.

4)  What are you cooking yourselves to eat these days? I have actually been cooking a lot lately. I generally only cook breakfast because we have someone to give us lunch and there is a lady in the ward that gives us free pupusas at night if we want. I have been cooking, pancakes, french toast, bacon and hashbrowns, eggs, breakfast burritos, cold cereal, oatmeal, yogurt with granola, crepes, and some other things. I enjoy eating well. 

5) I know Elder Solano is from Peru.  What else can you tell us about him?  Family, interests, hobbies, goals in life etc. He is the youngest kid in his family. His family is members. Before the mission he liked editing photos and videos, which is cool. 

6) Did you ever kill the rat thing in your attic?Nope its still there. We aren't really sure how to do it. We have a machete in the house and we are just waiting for it to fall through the roof. There is a roof tile that is about to fall so I think one day it will fall through and we'll get it with the machete and have the neighbors cook it up for us. 

7) Do the gang members have a lot of tattoos?The more dangerous ones do. 

8) Do parasites really go away as quickly with medicine as you made it sound? Yeah it was really good medicine.   

9) Were you ever told to drink a can of coke each day to kill the parasites? No

10) Do you take very many pictures? Yeah I've been taking more lately. I just have fear to take my camera with me a lot.

11) Will you send more pictures? Will you?

12) What do you do with your garbage? We burn it. No I'm just kidding that is what the people in the cantons do. There are some missionaries in some areas that burn their trash. There is a truck here in Nahuizalco that passes by collecting trash so we just set the bags outside and they get them.

W, W, We, wel, well thats all folks. Have a great week!

-Elder Rowberry