Last Train to Clarksville

From April 27, 2015

This week was a good week. We got to go to the temple on Thursday. It was great. The temple is such a contrast to the rest of El Salvador. It's awesome. We had to leave super early though so we had to sleep in Ahuachapán with the ZL's. We just barely caught the last bus to Ahuachapán to get there. We had to run through the whole town of Apaneca to catch it but we got it. The temple is always a great experience. 
This week in my studies I studied about church attendance and why is it so important. I read in Exodus 31 where it talks about how if anyone broke the Sabbath Day they would die. Luckily we still don't live the Law of Moses but the warning still exists but we just won't die physically, spiritually we will be in big trouble. As the Lord states in 3 Nephi 18:12-13as we partake of the Sacrament we will be safe and we will be founded upon the Rock and we will be safe from the attacks of the Devil.

We had a much better week this week. We were able to put a baptismal date with the orphan kid named Javier. He's crazy but a good kid. A member family that lives in front of him takes him to church. Just imagine the Tasmanian Devil in church and that's pretty much how it was in Primary but we're going to help the poor kid out. 

Thanks

-Elder Rowberry

Hello.......Hello.......Hello........Is anybody in there?

From April 20, 2015

This week in my studies I learned a lot. Every time I have been feeling the spirit and learning a ton. I am thankful for the opportunity to train because I get to study more. We have an investigator whose mom just died and she is doubting if God really exists. She quoted Matthew 7 that says "Ask and ye shall recieve, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." She asked that her mom would be healed but she wasn't. So I decided to study what are the conditions on that promise. I found that we will get what we ask for if we ask what the Spirit tells us to ask. If we ask for something that is against the will of God we will not recieve it. So sometimes we will get what we want when we pray with faith but if we never ask we will never recieve anything.

This week was a difficult week for us. We had so many appointments fall it was ridiculous. It was kind of discouraging and frustrating especially in contrast to how good of a week we had last week. I felt a little bit down. On Friday morning during my personal study I listened to a conference talk by President Monson that is called "Finding Joy in the Journey." In it he talks about how we need to find the joy in the journey today. We can't be waiting for something to happen for it to make us happy. in it he quotes the musical "The Music Man." It goes like this “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.” It reminded me of when Hermana Spjut talked about choosing to be happy. I chose at that moment to be grateful and be happy, always looking at the positive side of things. Then things started going better for us. 

So here is the council for this week folks. Choose to be happy. Remember "Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25) I'm surprised that I still can remember that in English. We will have joy if we keep the commandments and we choose to be happy always.

I really love the climate where I'm at. We are literally up in the clouds. I'm am walking through the street and clouds pass by right in front of my face. Sometimes I feel like I am in Pandora from Avatar. It's awesome.

Thanks for everything

Have a great week.

Also a special shout out for Spencer Rowberry for getting his call to Florida! Also special shout out to Jaden Cutler for getting his call also to Florida.

Thanks for everything.

-Elder Rowberry

Our house, in the middle of our street.

This week was a really good week. We have been working really hard. I feel like this is my final exam of the mission to see if I really have learned how to work.  I know I mentioned this last week but I am in a struggling little branch up in the mountains. There is an attendance of 50 people more or less. We meet in a house. This week however we have been really getting to know the members and we have been working with them. They said that the members don't like to work but I found that to be false. If the members don't want to work with you it's not the members fault normally, it's the missionaries.  We have been able to find lots of new people that are positive. We have also been applying more fully initiatives that we have in the mission. The first is "Familia vista familia contactada" (Family seen family contacted). We have been talking to a lot more families in the street. That can be rough sometimes but it has resulted in more families found. Interesting huh? You talk to more families you find more families. The second is "#GraciasaqueElvive" or #BecauseofHim I think it is in English. We have been watching the little video with a lot of people along with one of the Bible videos of the Atonement. It has resulted in some really spiritual lessons. I've been reflecting a lot more on the Atonement this week and it really is marvelous and incomprehensible. I also finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in Spanish. I love El Libro de Mormón. It really is the word of God. I love the scriptures and I know that we can have spiritual experiences every day if we read them every day. How long should we study them for? President Spjut has given us a good council. Study the scriptures until you can feel the Spirit and then a little bit more. 

Thanks for everything.

-Elder Rowberry

Attached are photos of my house. It's small but nice.

There used to be two companionships in Apaneca but now there is only one so we had to move a bunch of stuff from one house to some houses in Ataco, a town that is nearby because it didn't fit in our house. Attached is the picture of the "moving truck." #Salvadoreanstyle

La Cucaracha, La Cucaracha, ya no puede caminar

From March 30, 2015

This week was a good week. They fumigated our house this week and ever since the 22nd of February we have been keeping track of how many cockroaches (cucarachas) we have killed and we added a lot the count. We now have killed about 54. Frankly, it's gross. 

We had a baptism this week as well. His name is Gustavo. We found him a little bit over 3 weeks ago. His brothers are members and I am not sure how he didn't get baptized before. He started going to seminary before he got baptized and we didn't even know. He's really cool.

 Also they told me I have changes. I finally am going to get to train! That also means I am opening an area. Ought to be interesting. We've had a good run here in Atiquizaya. I'm excited for the new things in front of me. 

-Elder Rowberry