Earthquakey People

From Monday October 20, 2014

This week was an interesting week. On Monday we went to a place called Anal Arriba. It is a canton really far away. An investigator of one of the companionships in the zone invited us to lunch. He lives in the center of Nahuizalco but has a property in the canton. He cooked us chicken and rice and we went up there and had fun. It was way out in the jungle. Attached are some pictures from there. On Monday night I was with Elder Slack and Elder Calero. We went to an appointment and the lady we were looking for wasn't there. Her daughter was though. She was by herself. I was thinking, cool we will have a new investigator. I had a feeling though that we should not go in, but I was going to have a new investigator. We went in. We were choosing a hymn to sing. I chose a random hymn but Elder Calero chose "Let The Holy Spirit Guide" The only thought I had in my mind was "leave." I thought, we are here so we have to teach something. I started teaching but I couldn't think of anything to say. I was not planning to stay long but not being able to think of anything, I just gave her a pamphlet. We said a prayer and we bounced. I still didn't feel good though. I remembered seeing, when we entered, a group of guys in a circle farther down the road. It was dark outside. I felt like we should leave as fast as possible. We did so. Nothing happened to us. When we were waiting for the bus there were two guys, I positive they were gangsters they were walking with us but the started running away I realized it was because the cops were on the other side of the road. I don't know what could have happened but I am glad I didn't find out. I felt much better after that. We got home and we were still a little bit shaken up spiritually, you could say. We found that the door to our room in our house was locked. Which was really weird. We thought that maybe someone was in there because we didn't lock it. There is window looking into this room and so we looked in and... there was nobody there, thank goodness. So we were trying to open the door and then suddenly the ground started to shake. It shook for about 20 seconds. No damage was done. It was the first earthquake I have been in. It was an interesting day.
 have a new companion. His name is Elder Flores. He is from Honduras. I am training him to be a zone leader.  He is pretty cool. I will tell you more about him later. 
Thanks for everything. 
Follow the spirit.

-Elder Rowberry

Alone again, naturally

This week was an intersting week. On Tuesday, while I was doing sit-ups, the phone rang and I looked at it and it was President Spjut. He asked for my companion, Elder Solano, so I gave him the phone. President told Elder Solano that he should be in Santa Ana in a couple of hours so that he could be the new Migration Secretary. The assistants came a couple of hours later and took him and his suitcases. So, since that point I have been without a companion. I have just been with Elder Slack and Elder Calero. Some days I did divisions with a member. It was a challenge to try to cover their area as well as mine. It was really weird be the only Zone Leader as well. I will be getting a new companion on Wednesday. That means I am staying for another change. 

On Saturday we had a wedding and a baptism. Adriana got married and baptized. My testimony of faith-filled prayers. She said she wanted to get baptized a long time ago. Her problem was that she wasn't married. Her now-husband didn't want to get married. We found that he is a member but superismio inactive. Then all of a sudden one day she told us that he agreed to get married. She said that she had been praying a lot so that he would do it. God responds prayers. It was a great show of faith to me. We are now going to be working on the husband and the daughter. 

Thank you for everything.

Have a great week.

-Elder Rowberry

PS It also rained a lot and I forgot my umbrella. Attached is a photo that is directly taken from my front door. 

Blue Suede Shoes

From October 6, 2014 

Last P-Day, after writing my companion went to buy new shoes. In the store if you buy one pair you get another pair half off. We saw some cool blueish grey shoes which we bought. They are pretty cool if I do say so myself. They were pretty cheap. Based on how the ground is in this country I give them 2-3 months of life if I only wear them to church and to meetings. 

I have been in a lot of meetings lately. I told you about Elder Ochoa who came two fridays ago. On Tuesday I went to Santa Ana for the "Consejo de Lideres" or Leaders Council. There we learned a lot. We talked a lot about teach with the spirit. We also talked about talking with everyone. I have really been trying to overcome any fears about talking to people. Elder Ochoa challenged us to get up in the buses and share the gospel to everyone in the bus. That is kind of nerve wracking I am not going to lie. We did it though. No one wanted to hear more. This morning however we had a better experience. We got up and explained that we were missionaries and how we wanted to share a message of peace and hope and all that jazz with them. We passed around the bus with pamphlets and a lot of people took them. We sat down and talked to them and got a few references for other areas. Here a lot of people talk and sell in the buses. In the bus terminal in Santa Ana you can practically do all your weekly shopping while sitting in the bus. The people pass by selling everything from soap to pizza and socks to candy. People will get up and preach in the buses as well but they are weird and they always ask for money. That is what my biggest fear was. I am overcoming amy fears that I had. 

We all know that we had General Conference. How great was that? Every General Conference gets better and better. We watched it in our chapel via internet. There is a new missionary in our zone so I went and sacrificed and watched in a different, air conditioned, room in English with him. I like watching it in English because I get to hear the real voices of the apostles and the prophet. There were some really spectacular messages given and I am excited for the Liahona to come out so that I can study them. I really liked the talks of Elder Chistrofferson, Elder Jorg Klighbensmifferdorfensmorf (or something like that), Elder Uchtdorf, Elder Gavarret, and many others. All you who have your fancy smancy smartphones and tech devices should watch those talks over and over again and then change based on what you learn.

Thanks for everything folks. 

Have a great week.

-Elder Rowberry