It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This week was good. Nothing really exciting happened. My area is pretty small compared to all of my other areas. I like it a lot though. My area is struggling right now. We don't have many positive investigators. We're working on it though. The zone is also struggling right now. Also working on that. I feel like I have a huge mountain to climb to change the zone but I like challenges. My zone has 11 companionships, almost twice as much as my last zone. 

My companion is really cool. He is really patient and nice. His name is Elder Lazo. He lives in Honduras. 

We went to the leadership meeting on Tuesday and we talked about how we need to teach about the Atonement so the people can feel the need to change like King Benjamin teaches in Mosiah 2-5.

I went on two interchanges this week and walked a ton! There are some areas that work in cantons that are really far away. I also went to a place called San Lorenzo. It is right on the border of El Salvador and Guatemala. So we went to Guatemala. 

We decorated our Christmas tree that we have. It's really hot and there is a 0 percent chance of snow for Christmas. So it doesn't actually feel anything like Christmas.

Nothing else really exciting happened. Sorry. I'll have a more exciting week this week.

Thanks.

-Elder Rowberry

It's a new day. It's a new life, for me.

Well folks I am now in a new area. I am now in the ward Atiquizaya, in the stake Atiquizaya, in the zone Atiquizaya. My new companion's name is Elder Lazo. He is from Honduras. He is really cool. He has a little bit less time than I do. Atiquizaya is a bigger than Nahuizalco but my area is a lot smaller. It's going to be different working here than working in Nahui.

I was kind of sad to leave Nahuizalco. I learned a lot of things there and I grew to love a lot of people. I hope that one day I will be able to return there to visit. I feel like that is my home in the mission. I am excited however to meet new challenges here in Atiquizaya. And there are new challenges. Atiquizaya is not doing so hot right now. Elder Lazo and I have a lot of work to do to change this zone. My zone has 11 companionships now which is almost twice as many as Nahuizalco. 

Chikungunya strikes again. Elder Lazo got it as well as another Elder who lives in my house. I'm using a lot of OFF so that I don't get it. 

I don't really have much to say this week. I will fill you in more next week.

Thanks for everything.

-Elder Rowberry

Staying Alive

From Monday November 24, 2014

Well my companion didn't die this week. He's fine. But his feet hurt him still. We didn't work for half of the week almost but it was a good week. We were able to witness a great miracle. A couple of weeks ago we found a family. This family consists of the dad, the mom, and a toddler girl. The dad's name is Noé. He is Freddy's brother. I baptized Freddy in August. His wife's name is Carolina. We visited them a couple of times. The second time we visted them Noé told us that he just wanted to learn about the church and Carolina said that she was catholic and that we were wasting our time with her.  We didn't return for a week or two. We were on interchanges one day and Elder Flores was in the area and I was away. That day they went to their house. Supposedly something had changed and Noé wanted to go to church. He was doubting his wife though. He said that he wanted to get baptized and married, because they were just living togther. Anyways they went to church that sunday and they liked it. We kept teaching Noé because Carolina always works during the week in San Salvador. That following Saturday I went to visit them with the Bishop and with 22 year old convert in the ward, because Elder Flores was sick. We read The Family: A Proclamation to the World and watched the mormon message "Enduring Love." I invited them to be married the following Saturday  the 22nd. I thought they were going to say that it was way to fast but they accepted. The next day the went to church and I returned in the night with Elder Slack to visit them and we were able to put the baptismal dates with them for the 23rd. Elder Flores and I could hardly believe it. We thought there had to be something wrong. They passed their interviews and were keeping all of their commitments. They read all of the pamphlets and then could teach us what the pamphlet said. Because they did it they were able to feel the Spirit and were converted. On Saturday they got married and on Sunday they got baptized. Those are the last converts I will have here in Nahuizalco because this morning the assistants told me that I have changes. I have learned a lot here in Nahuizalco and I love it a lot. On Wednesday I will know where I am going to be. I will let you know next week.

-Elder Rowberry

Thank you for everything 

Live Like You Were Dying

Just call me John. John the baptist that is. Why? Because I just baptized Jesús. Jesús finally got baptized! He had a baptismal date when I came to Nahuizalco but he didn't get baptized that date so we put another date with him. He didn't get baptized that date so put another date with him. He didn't get baptized that date because he had a dream where Jesus (Christ) came to him and told him to be baptized on his birthday. That was in August. His birthday was yesterday. So yes, he got baptized. I am happy for him because he finally got baptized. 

That wasn't the only baptism we had this week. We also baptized a girl named Mariana. She, like Jesús, had been an investigator for a loooooooong time, more than a year actually. She was living with this one member because they had a kid. We were able to get them married this week and she got baptized. I am really happy for her because we have been teaching her for a long time. Chepe (José) is her husband. He really wanted her to get baptized after getting married to her. They are really awesome. I love being with them. 

What's with the subject line? Well my companion this week got the famous Chikungunya. This a virus transmitted through mosquito bites. On thursday and friday he had a fever of 40 degrees celcius or 104 degrees fahrenheit. The disease also gives body pain especially in the joints and the feet and hands. It also gives an allergic like rash that itches. It's pretty rough. So he still has that he is getting better now though. There isn't really any vaccine the main thing you have to do is sleep under a mosquito net and wear repellant. That is what I always do because I don't want Chikungunya nor Dengue. Chikungunya is more painful but Dengue is more dangerous. There are missionaries right now that have both. 

Anyways folks have a great week.

-Elder Rowberry

I love to see the temple.

From November 10, 2014

This week was a good week. On Tuesday I got to go to Santa Ana for the monthly leadership council. It was really good. I always like to go learn from President, the assistants, and all the other zone leaders. I always leave that meeting with a renewed work ethic. We also went to the temple this week. I hadn't been to the temple for a long time. I kind of miss being able to go every week like I could before the mission. The temple is really a wonderful place. I would challenge everyone to go at least once a month. If you aren't worthy to go, get worthy to go. If by chance you are not a member become a member. It is necessary to our salvation and the salvation of our ancestors. It is also a place where you can go to recharge the spiritual batteries even more than you can at church. It is also a place where you can go to pray and get answers to questions.

I was studying in 2 Nephi 32-33. Nephi talks about how important the sciptures are. 

 2 Nephi 32:

3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

 4 Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.

 5 For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.

I also like in chapter 33 when Nephi gives his testimony of the words which he had written

2 Nephi 33:

 10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

 11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness.

 14 And you that will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the Lamb of God, behold, I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these words shall condemn you at the last day.

 15 For what I seal on earth, shall be brought against you at the judgment bar; for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen.

READ the Book of Mormon.

Thanks for everything.

Have a great week

-Elder Rowberry

Birds flying high, you know how I feel.

This week was a good week. I guess every week is a good week even if it was a bad week. It's a good week if you are in the service of God. 

My companion Elder Flores had to go to San Salvador this week. So Ï went, again. That makes it four times in the last couple of months. Elder Flores is really cool. We get along really well, maybe too well. We sometimes get distracted during planning or study but we are trying to do better. On Friday we had a special zone meeting. We went up to Juayùa and had a zone meeting with them. President Spjut did interviews during the meeting. After the meeting President went and visited with us. I went with Elder Chigua, who is a district leader in my zone from Guatemala. We also went with President Sànchez of the Texical Branch. We went out to Carrizal in Presidents nice 2013 Toyota SUV. It was geting dark when we were teaching. Turns out that the whole canton didn't have electrity. So we were teaching in the dark. I went to read a scripture and President had to pull out his iPhone so that I could read. After we taught we left. I was a little bit nervous to be out in that canton, at that time of night with no lights, in that nice of a car but we were fine. I guess it is better to be in a nice car then walking at that time of night, which I have done. I sometimes wonder why I was ever even a little tiny bit nervous to walk outside at night at home. It was cool to be able to teach with President. Obviously he is way better than us. 

On Saturday we went to an investigators house and the kid, whose name is Eric, was out flying a homemade kite made from a newspaper and some little sticks with some sewing thread. We started to try to fly the kite with him. Elder Flores got pretty excited when he started flying it. He ran along ways and got the kite up in the sky. He also got it stuck in a tree. The string was stuck in the tree but the kite was way up high and way far away. We tried to recover the kite but we couldn't so we just left it there flying in the sky with the string attached to the tree. The kid wasn't mad that we lost his kite. I think he thought it was pretty cool that his kite was flying so high. We felt like litle kids again flying the kite. 

Thanks for everything everybody.

-Elder Rowberry

If you look real carefully up at the top left you can see the kite.

Walk this Way

From October 27, 2014

This week really was not anything special. I forgot to mention more about my companion. His name is Elder Flores. He is from Comayaguela, Honduras. He is a convert of 3 years and the only member in his family. He has one year in the mission. He's a cool guy.

 I went on interchanges twice this week. During one of them I went to two cantóns called Sabana Grande and El Carrizal. These places are far. They have transport. The transports are old trucks. The trucks are big and in the bed they have it all caged in. I'm not a huge fan of Salvadoranian public transportation. There are always way too many people and I am always hunched over because the ceiling is about as tall as where neck is. Just picture it. A tall white giant stuffed into a 1980's school bus with the ceiling at a height of 5 feet 10 inches with 200 Salvadorians. Super fun. That is one thing I will not miss when I leave the mission. Anyways on the way back from Carrizal we walked. It is a long ways. We walked for over an hour to get back to the city. 

We saw a really cool miracle this week. We left with a member to go contact a reference. The reference wasn't there. We told her that we wanted to go visit someone else that she knew. We always ask her for references but she always says there isn't anybody. But we finally got her to take us to someone. She told us that mayber her cousin would recieve us. Her cousin had listened to the missionaries before. We went and she recieved us. The second appointment was cool. We were explaining how Christ's church was lost. I asked her if she knew which was the same church that Christ set up. She said,"The Church of Jesus Christ." "Yeah I know but which church is that church," I replied. She responded, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." After I picked up my jaw off the floor I asked her how she knew that. She told us that it was because she had prayed and feels like that is the right church. So we invited her to be baptized. She accepted very enthusiastically. Honestly I am still having troubles believing that actually happened. She is going to get baptized in November. It is important to find the people that are ready and chosen. Chapter 9 of PMG talks abou that. 

Thanks so much everybody!

And a special shoutout to my sister Jane who turned 18 on Saturday! Guys, I believe she is single. 

-Elder Rowberry

Attached are a couple of pictures from a service project we did. 

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

Noah, I want you to build an ark. Right..

It rained a lot this week. A lot. The street in front of our house turned into a river. I'm not going to lie it's not the funnest thing ever to be out in the jungle with a torrential downpour but hey you do what you've gotta do. 

Another interesting thing happened this week. So a block away from our house there is a bar. In front of this bar there was always a man, dressed as a women, making tortas(long sandwiches with meat on them.) We would walk by everynight and many times he would tell his friends, whom I'm sure were gangsters and drunkards, "I try to give them free coffee but they never accept." We just say hi and keep walking. Anyways the other night we were walking home and a road a block away from our house was closed off. There were a lot of people and police standing outside. We thought somebody had been shot or something but since that's not really out of the normal we just went home. We found out that the gay man had committed suicide. He apparently took his meat cutting knife and stabbed himself in the stomach a couple of times and seeing that he didn't die he slit his throat.  He was icon from Nahuizalco. He will be missed. The people here are so hardened to these kind of things that it's really nothing out of the ordinary for them. It's becoming that way for us now. Anyways on a happier note we had some great experiences this week.

On Friday we had a baptism. We baptized a kid named Diego. His whole family are members but they went inactive so we have been reactiving them and we baptized Diego. It was a really good service. Elder Slack, Elder Solano, and I sang the song "When I am baptized" from the childrens hymn book with our ukuleles. The mom was crying and could feel the spirit. It was cool. On Saturday we had a special event as a zone. We had a "white afternoon." 9 people got baptized from the ward and the branch in our zone and there was over 100 people in attendence and about 50% were in white. President Spjut came. It is something that those converts will never forget.

Have a great week folks!

-Elder Rowberry

Big Shot

From September 22, 2014

This week was a good week. I went to San Salvador again. I went with Elder Slack, so that he didn't get lost. We went all the way there which is about 2 hours in bus. We got there and the secretary hadn't sent his stuff to the lawyer. We went back to the bus terminal and we ate a hamburger in this little restaurant by the terminal. It was horrible. I'm really miss my dad's hamburgers. They haven't learned how to make hamburgers yet in this country. So we basically went to San Salvador and back to eat a crappy hamburger that was way too expensive, but we did see two really cool movies in the bus. (Not that I was watching them).

The best part of the week was a visit from Elder Ochoa. He is in the Central American area presidency. It was a very good meeting. I learned a lot. I learned about a lot of things that I have to change. He is a fantastic teacher and he can lay out the doctrine in a really enlightening way. He obviously has the spirit with him as well. I've learned a lot about repentence lately and being humble. Repentence doesn't necessarily mean that you stop doing something bad it can also mean you stop doing something good to start doing something better. We have to make sacrifices when we repent. We have to sacrifice our will so that we can do God's will. President Cordon once said, "Leaving something bad for something good is called common sense, leaving something good for something better is called sacrifice." We all have things we need to do to repent and be better. One thing I am trying to do better is to love the people more. That is essential in missionary work. Anyways I love you all. Have a great week.

-Elder Rowberry

Photo-shoot Fresh

From September 15, 2014

Happy Independence Day everybody! Today the 15th of September is the Independence Day of El Salvador. One of the biggest things that mark this day is that all of the schools have their marching bands and they go out into the streets and have parades. They aren't quite as good as American Fork but you've got to work with what you've got. 

Nothing really exciting happened this week. We just keep on trucking here in the zone. One cool thing that happened is that we got to go eat with President Solis, the Juayúa stake president. He took us to a nice restaurant here in Juayúa to eat because we passed 15 baptisms in the month. It was pretty cool. It felt strange to sit down at a nice table with table cloths and to have a waiter. We plan on eating with him again next month. We have been working hard to find new investigators. We put a baptismal date with the kid named Diego. His whole family are members. We are working to reactivate them. They have gone to church the last two Sundays. We are trying to help them remember what they knew. I don't really have anything else to write and I am out of time but I love you all. Have a great week.

-Elder Rowberry

P.S. I recently figured out some cool features of my camera so me and my companion took some photos. Also there is a picture of Elder Slack and his companion. Ha. #glamourshotsbydeb

President Solis and the Zone

Viva La Vida

From September 8, 2014

The mission is awesome. You learn so much and grow so much. I was thinking about how valuable the mission is in experiences. It is priceless. If you are debating about going on a mission. Just do it. 

This week was a good week. Well all weeks are good weeks here in the mission, even if they're bad weeks because we are in the service of the Lord. I have lately been trying to really recognize the hand of the Lord in my work. I had an experience yesterday that showed me, again, that the Lord is directing his work. We left with a member to go contact references and visit less actives. We had visited a couple of houses and then we went to another house. We showed up and started talking to an inactive kid. His mother, who we intended on visiting, was not home. As we were talking to the kid his mom showed up. She was crying. She sat down with us and told us that her son had had a stroke and that he was probably not going to live. I had never seen this sister in my life. She is an inactive member. We were able to read the comforting words in Matthew to her, "[Él] No está aquí porque ha resucitado." We explained that we can see our loved ones after this life. We also were able to give her a blessing of comfort. I know that God put us there in that exact moment that we needed to be there. Asombra me da, really. I know that God loves His children and that He wanted us to visit His daughter and help her out.

I am excited to see how our new zone works. I have good feelings about this month. Our potential is not really high now but we brought quite a few people to church and we can put some dates this week. I felt this week like I have been in a slump. I realized what you have to do to get out of a slump in the mission. You have to find new investigators. That is key to make sure you don't fall into slump. We have been making plans and sharing Preach My Gospel with members to get references. We had a good amount of people in church this week, more than we had committed, which was a complete miracle. I can see us leaving this slump really soon. I believe the zone has been in the same slump because in August we, you could say, "wrang out the rag until we had dust coming out." We worked so hard with the people we had that we neglected finding news which later down the road came back to bite us. We make mistakes so we can learn from them.

.-Elder Rowberry

Attached is just a random photo that I found on this computer and a picture of the zone last change. Not a lot of differences huh?

Carry Lo o ogs Carry logs

From September 1, 2014

This last P day we did a service project. We woke up at 5:30 and we went to this Canton called Carrizal. We went to go help a recent convert get some fire wood for his house. I really was not that excited about going but we went anyway. Almost the whole zone went. We got there, after a 45 minute hike through the jungle, and we went to go find the recent convert. We found him and we had to go down a really steep hill to get to the tree they had cut down. He was cutting a path for us with his machete. A little comment about the machete: In Utah the main work tool is a computer. Here in Nahuizalco it is a machete. I think that says a lot about the place. Anyways they cut down the tree and cut it into little pieces. We then carried these logs, probably about 3/4 of a mile to a mile, up this steep and slippery jungle hill. The logs probably weighed 60-70 pounds. We made two trips and we were all sweating like crazy. I was already really tired before we went but I was hammered after, a great way to start off the week I should say. I recovered quickly though.

So the month of August is over. We didn't quite reach our goal but we did really well though. We had 16 baptisms as our zone of 5 companionships. We are hoping to improve in September.

On tuesday of this past week we did a zone activity in which we shined shoes in the local park. People we pretty stunned that we were doing something like that. We had a lot of positive comments. 

Yesterday we had another baptism. A lady named Silvia Cortez got baptized. This lady is a great example for me. She has had a lot of problems in her life lately. Someone stole her light receipt and used her address to take a loan out so the loan agency has been on her to pay it. Also she has a niece that is mentally challenged and some health problems. She has had all the trials but has persevered through them. I know that she will be able to use the help of the Holy Ghost to know how to leave these problems.

Thanks for everything.

-Elder Rowberry

Running down a dream

From August 25, 2014

This week has been a good week. We have been working really hard here in the zone. Everyone is exhausted but happy. We have been working hard this whole month and we don't plan on stopping. Everyone in the zone is putting in their best effort, I feel like, and I believe that helps the rest of us to keep pushing along. We have been doing interchanges a lot to help the missionaries in their areas. We are really working hard to try to reach our goal of 20. We are going to need some serious miracles if we are going to reach it. I personally feel a little bit sad that, according to the way things look right now, we aren't going to reach it but I also feel happy because we have been putting in every ounce of energy into it. Really we have acheived a lot. There is a phrase that goes, "Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss you will land among stars." 

A couple days ago I had a really cool experience. For reasons that I don't understand, a lot of our investigators that were going to get baptized have been flaking out on us. They have been having dreams and problems that are out of our control. Anyways, we were talking to a 20 year old kid named Freddy that was going to get baptized yesterday, this is all happening on Saturday. We got to his house and we taught him part of the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement and then we asked him how he was for his baptism. He told us he wanted to wait until next month so that he could get baptized with his friends little sister who is going to turn 8. We explained him that he should not procrastinate, that tempations and problems would come if he waited, and that baptism is the key. We taught him really well, I felt like, and we asked him if he was going to get baptized. He said, "Yes but the day I told you." "Ok," I told him, "We are going to see what God says alright?" Hesitantly he got down with the rest of us on our knees, we were with his member friends. I told him that he should ask God if he should get baptized tomorrow (Sunday 8/24/2014) and that he should wait in silence for an answer. He started praying and he asked and we waited. We waited for around 5 minutes I believe. He then finished. I asked him how he felt and he told us that he felt calmness. I read in Galatians 5 about the fruits of the spirit. I told him that is one of the fruits. I repeated the baptismal invitation. He said "Yes, the day I told you in September." "NO," I thought, but I told him if that is what he felt like he should do than he should do it. We left the house of the member and we continued on. I felt pretty discouraged as well as my companion. I felt like missionary Job, where everything in my area was just falling. I accepted the fact that God was trying me for some reason or another. My companion was almost in tears because Freddy was not going to get baptized and we wouldn't get close to our goal. We went to our next appointment and they gave us dinner. I didn't really feel like eating. I was trying to be happy. Then my phone rings. I pick it up and I see the name of the member whose house we were at. I wondered she wanted. Maybe we left an umbrella in her house or something. I answer and she tells me that Freddy wants to talk to me. He tells me that he was thinking about it and he really did feel in his heart and that he was going to get baptized the next day. I went from way low to way high in a matter of seconds. I really felt in that moment that God exists, and he loves us. It was a marvelous feeling. My companion almost cried again. Yesterday, Freddy got baptized. It was very nice. I love the mission.

Thanks for everything.

-Elder Rowberry

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

Thunderstruck

This week was a good week. We had changes. Changes are always on Wednesday. So on Tuesday Elder Sànchez and I went to visit all of his converts and the members. They all gave us food. I was so full after eating 3 dinners and one desert. We were in this place called Pushtan visiting some members and it was getting late and Pushtan is kind of far away and it there was a thunderstorm coming. We walked home in the dark, it was me and the five other missionaries in my district, with a really cool thunderstorm behind us. There are weird storms here where there are is a bunch of lighting but it stays in the clouds. The lighting doesn't fall and there is no noise but it looks like Thor and Harry Potter are fighting in the cloud. It was really cool. 

So I got a new companion. His name is Elder Solano. He is from Peru. This is his first change as a ZL. In our area we are doing good. We have about 10 progressing investigators and I would love to write about them all but I just don't have the time. This thursday we are going to baptize a girl named Susana and I will tell you more about her next time. I haven't had parasites for a couple of weeks so that is good. If you would like to know something more specific send me and email with the questions. 

I've been studying a lot in the Book of Mormon. I really love reading the book of Mormon it explains everything really clearly. Before the mission I loved reading it because of the wars and the stories and the people. Now I love it because of the doctrine explained. It is the word of God and we all need to study it.

Thanks for everything!

-Elder Rowberry

It's the climb

From Monday July 21, 2014

This week I went on interchanges with Elder Rosales from Guatemala. We went to a place calld Cusamaluco. It's so far away from the city and we had to walk for so long. You have to go down and up around 300 steps in the middle of the jungle then you have to climb up a hill they call Quebracho. It's super steep and long. It's also extremely hot here. I just sweat and sweat and sweat.You can´t escape the heat especially when you are walking down a long dusty road in the middle of the jungle. It's awesome. I sometimes think about my friends that have cars and ipads and houses that aren't filled with bugs and food that doesn't have parasites and say to my self, "I'm glad I got sent to a mission for men." No, I'm just kidding. I really like being here. I've learned a ton. 

    We have a lot of progressing investigators that we are teaching. We have had a pretty good amount of people in church we hope to be able to put baptismal dates with them. We have a lot of investigators with issues. We have two sisters that are our investigators. One of them has a daughter that is handicap and has a tumor and they don't have money for the treatments. Also a credit agency is going to take away their house. Their house is made of corrugated tin and it's all they've got. I feel really bad for them. I feel like Peter sometimes when he says, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee" Like I said last week the Gospel of Christ is the answer for everything. That's why we suffer the sweaty heat so we can what we have to them.

Love you all.

-Elder Rowberry

Meet me halfway

Well folks, I'm halfway done with the mission. I completed a year on the 10th of July. I can't tell you how fast the time goes.  I feel young still in the mission. It's been a great year. I've learned so much. I've had so many growing experiences. I bet I'm really different than I was when I left. I know I've made changes and I am a better person but it's kind of the frog in the frying pan idea you don't really recognize it. Anyways in my last interview with President Cordón before he left he told me that I had changed a lot, starting with my spanish. He didn't mention anything specifically but that was pretty cool. I am very convinced that the mission is one of the best things that anyone could ever do. It gives you an opportuinty to refine yourself. It is not easy at all but it is the best. You learn so many valuable things, patience, love, tolerance, hard work, self control, self sufficiency and so many other things. You also learn so much about the Gospel and how it helps people. I am also thourghly convinced that the Gospel is the answer to every problem. Doesn't matter if you're dirt poor or filthy rich, happy or sad, dumb or smart we all have problems and the answer is found in the Gospel. If you have problems in your life I invite you to study the scriptures, pray, and go to church. This will help you change. We all need to remember the 5 basic principles and ordinances of the Gospel. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentence, baptism (sacrament). The Gift of The Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end (making addition covenants in the temple regular church attendance, paying tithing, service, and priesthood). If we can all follow the Gospel and repent we will be so much happier.  2 Nephi2:21 And the days of the children of^amen were prolonged, according to the ^bwill of God, that they might^crepent while in the flesh; wherefore, their state became a state of^dprobation, and their time was lengthened, according to the commandments 21 And the days of the children of ^amen were prolonged, according to the ^bwill of God, that they might ^crepent while in the flesh; wherefore, their state became a state of ^dprobation, and their time was lengthened, according to the commandments which the Lord God gave unto the children of men. For he gave commandment that all men must repent; for he showed unto all men that they were ^elost, because of the transgression of their parents.which the Lord God gave unto the children of men. For he gave commandment that all men must repent; for he showed unto all men that they were ^elost, because of the transgression of their parents.25 ^aAdam ^bfell that men might be; and men ^care, that they might have^djoy.

 

Have a great week!

Love you all

-Elder Rowberry

It's a bugs life

This week was a good week. On Wednesday we got to go to Santa Ana for the Welcome Meeting for President Spjut and Sister Spjut (Spyut is how it is pronounced). We got to know them a little bit and to learn a little bit from what they learned at the New Mission President Seminar that they had. In that seminar all of the twelve apostles speak with them. We learned some cool stuff from that. On Friday my companion and I went back to Santa Ana for the Leaders Meeting. It was my first and the first of President Spjut as well. He was kind of nervous but it was really good. We talked about some changes that we are going to make in the mission that were taught by the apostles. 1. We are going to start teaching Lesson 5 of Preach My Gospel before and after baptism 2. We are going to start focusing more on D&C 20:37 (The requirements for baptism) 3. We are going to be in charge of teaching all of the lessons again after baptism and 4. We are going to visit the converts constantly for 3-4 months after baptism and teaching them and keep dropping by for a year to teach. All of these changes have to do with conversion and retention. We have to focus more on getting the people to the temple and not just to baptism. It's very important that they go to the temple. In the talk "Your four minutes" in General Conference by Gary Stevensonhttps://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/your-four-minutes?lang=eng he talks about something that Elder Bednar did to help his family members recieve  the essential ordinances. It's a good talk you all should read it and then think about people you know that need those essential ordinances and help them.

This week Elder Sánchez, Elder Leiva (an Elder that lives in my house) and I got sick. We all had diarrhea and I threw up in the night on friday night. We all went and took tests and turns out we all have parasites. I have E. Coli. Don't worry though because I've got pills and it's going away I feel much better. We didnt work on Saturday or on Sunday. We went to church though. I feel almost normal. It just one of those things you know?

Ha

Well have a great week!

-Elder Rowberry

Goodbye, Farewell

From June 30, 2014

This week was a really good week. We had a lot of success in our area as well in the zone. In our area we had 10 investigators in church. In our ward, Nahuizalco, we had 25 investigators. There are three companionships in my ward. The other two brought 9 and 6. So I'll tell you a little about the investigators that we have. We have the Famila Menjívar. There are four of them; Dad, Mom, and two girls that are 10 are and 13. They went to church and they liked it. They are just having doubts about leaving their old church. They live right next to some members that are really good friends with them. They are references from this member family. We are going to keep working with them so that they can get baptized. They are going to need a little bit of work but we are going to use the Book of Mormon a lot. That is the key folks. We have a mother and daughter that went to church as well. They are named Susana and Elizabeth. They are really positive. They almost accepted a baptismal date yesterday but the next time we teach them we will put the date. There is this old lady that came named Adriana. When we first talked to her she didn't seem like she was going to want anything. She has been to church twice and we hope to put the baptismal date today.  Those are a couple of them that we have. 

I am really liking Nahuizalco. We work a lot out in the jungle. I sweat a ton which means I also stink a lot. Nahuizalco is a lot different than Highland. 

This past week we had to say goodbye to President Cordón. We had a goodbye multizone which was really awesome. It is kind of sad to say goodbye but what can you do? I learned a lot from him. He was a very good president. Our mission has the reputation of being the most obedient of Central America because of him. He is now going to go work in the Quetzaltenango Temple as a administrator there.  President Spjut came and I am excited to be able to work with him.

If anyone has any question I would love to answer it. 

Thanks for everything.

-Elder Rowberry

Gold on the ceiling.

From Monday June 23, 2014

In our house we have a tacuazin in the ceiling. A tacuazin is similar to an oppossum but bigger I think. It looks like a rat the size of a small dog. It likes to run around in the ceiling at nights. Sometimes it likes to murder things and fight with things up there. Yesterday we were trying to get it to come out so we could kill it. It didn't come out but we'll get it.

This week was good. I've had better but hey what can you do? We had two baptismal dates fall. Two people were going to be baptized this last Sunday but they couldn't. One of them was a kid who is 18 named Francisco. We went to his house to make sure that he was all ready to get baptized and he tells us, "Brothers I have decided that I am going to stay at my church." That is the worst to hear that. Then we asked him if he knew that the Book of Mormon was true. He said yes. We explained to him that if that book was true that the Church was true as well. It seemed like he understood. I think he does understand but he doesn't want to give up his church. It reminded me of the young rich man in the sciptures. Matthew 19:16-26

16And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

17And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

18He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

19Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

20The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

21Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

22But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

23Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

24And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

25When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

26But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. 

Here is the link to the video https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/christ-and-the-rich-young-ruler?lang=eng

Anyways this kid, knowing that what we taught was true decided to stay with his church. The other date, named Jesus, who is an old guy was sick so he couldn't get baptized but he will don't worry. 

I invite you guys to look at your lives at look at your "riches" and see if they are getting in the way of you getting in to the kingdom of God.

Thanks for everything!

Have a great week.

-Elder Rowberry

Without Me

From June 16, 2014

Well I finally left the office and Paraíso. It'll be so empty without me. No just kidding Elder Gordon will do great.

These past ten days have been great. A lot of things have happened. 

First. We saw miracles happen. I don't know if you all remember but a couple weeks ago I mentioned that we had a baptismal date with a girl named Iris. So that date fell. She wasn't able to get baptized on the date that we put because her mom did not give her permission to do it because she only is 17 years old. We were teaching her this past week and I told her that I was going to leave the area and I wanted to see her get baptized. She said she wanted to get baptized and she wanted me to do it, because Elder Paravato and I found her months ago. So we wanted to do it before I left that left us with Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. We talked to her on Friday night and she said she didn't think it was going to happen. She really didn't think her mom was going to give her permission. We told her to talk to her mom and pray to know what to say. We also committed Kathy Gochez, her member friend, to get the signature of her mom. We even did practices with her on how to get it. We had even fasted the week before to be able to get it. Long story short, we got the signature and she got baptized on Tuesday, the day before I left. She told us in a Family Night that we had with the Gochez family that she had prayed really hard with faith that her mom would sign and give permission and she got it. It was really cool because she started crying and Brother Gochez asked her if she was sad, she responded in the negative and the he asked her if she had felt like that before. She, once again responded the same. He explained to her that it was the spirit. It was a really neat experience. Her mom even came to the baptism. It was a really neat experience. That is when missionary work vale la pena. 

Second. On Wednesday we had changes. I got my new area and my new companion. It was a really cool surprise. Before I left President called me into his office and thanked me for the great job that I did. It was really cool.  I got called to go to the Nahuizalco Ward. I also had a change of assignment. I am now a Zone Leader in the Nahuizalco Zone. Our zone is the smallest. There are only six companionships in the whole zone. Nahuizalco is pretty cool. Now I'm sure none of you remember but my first area in the mission was Texical. It is also located in the city of Nahuizalco. It's cool because I get to talk to all the members and converts I had in Texical. My companion is Elder Sánchez from Mexico. He's really cool. He trained Elder Thorpe my comp from the CCM. I am really excited about this new assignment and ward. I'm back in the Jungle. 

-Elder Rowberry

Angels

This week was just a normal week. We are preparing for changes in the office. I am preparing to leave and I'm finishing up training Elder Gordon. But that's all boring stuff that you've been reading about for the last eight months. Yes I completed eight months here in the office four days ago. Feels like yesteday that it started. 

About two weeks ago Elder Hoagland, who is in the office with me, told me about a family that he had met in his area. It was a wife and a husband that came up to them and started talking to them. They were inebriated to say the least. They started talking to Elder Hoagland and Elder Tecun and telling them, through tears and obvious sorrow, that they were never going to make it to the Celestial Kingdom. They told them that they were trying to prepare to go to the temple to get sealed but that they would never make it. I imagine it had something to do the alcohol. They told Elder Hoagland that they lived in Paraíso but he couldn't get their names or where they lived. He told me that that family made him extremely sad and he just wanted to help him. About a week later we saw a family in our ward and we went and talked to them. We asked them for a reference of someone that we could visit. They told us they didn't have any investigators for us but they had some less actives. We said all right and they took us to their house. We arrive at the house and we taught them for probably 10-15 minutes about how to find new investigators in Chapter 9 of Preach My Gospel. We set up a Family Home Evening with them for the next week. We also said we would pass by during the week to see how everything was going in finding the people to teach. So we went by later, and we shared a scripture with them or asked them if they found some people. I don't really remember what but then the wife started telling us how we were angels sent from God to help them. They said that after we had came their week was completley different they had started to change and we helped them. We later found out that it was the same family that Elder Hoagland had found. The cool thing is that they invited like six people to the family night. We are still trying to help them out. 

Hearing stuff like that makes the mission all worth it. 

Right after that we went to a house to teach an investigator mom with a less active daughter and her aunt was there and the evangelical aunt totally chewed us out. We then promptly went and bought them cookies and left it on their door step saying we were sorry for bothering them. They felt pretty bad after that and wanted us to come back but it was too late at night. Fight meaness with kindess kids. 

Anyways love you all. Cuídense

-Elder Rowberry

P.S. Thats a picture of me in front of a really big tree.