We didn't start the fire

We were walking to an investigators house the other day and their neighbors yard was on fire. They had cut down a big tree and had a bunch of shavings. This was the 1st. People had been throwing fireworks the day before and had lit it on fire. When we got there it was a lot of smoke. We carried buckets and buckets of water for almost two hours to put it out. Then we found out later that the fire was still burning underneath the shavings even though it looked like we put it out. That was the good deed for the day. Thet puts me at two fires put out in my mission. 

I can't believe it is already 2015. that's crazy. I spent all of 2014 in El Salvador. That's crazy. 2015 will bring some big things in my life. I will finish the mission and I will start college and... that's it actually. I am thankful for this new opportunity that I have to make changes in my life and be better. Speaking of changes, my companion has changes so I will have a new companion this Wednesday. 
  They celebrate the New Year hard here in El Salvador. They blow up some crazy fireworks. I'm not kidding you it sounds like if you were playing Call of Duty or something with things blowing up everywhere and with little rockets zinging past you. It's pretty cool.
Also last Monday we had the opportunity to go to some Mayan ruins called Tazumal. It was cool. Pretty small but cool. It is in Chalchuapa. Elder Williams, cousin of the Bangeters (my cousins), is zone leader there. We also had the leadership council for January. We talked about using the Book of Mormon more in our teaching. 

Thanks for everything. 

-Elder Rowberry

Año nuevo vida nueva

From December 29, 2014

One year older and wiser too... I hope. I actually had a pretty good Christmas this year. A lot of people will say, "Oh Christmas is so great on the mission!" It's lies. It's better than normal days on the mission but compared to Christmas at home, two thumbs way down. In spite of that I enjoyed Christmas. We were invited to eat at a lot of places on the 24th. I felt sick to finish the night. Here they celebrate more the 24th then the 25th. On the 25th the Afane family invited us over to eat. They invited 8 more missionaries as well. They are really cool. It was also a lot better to live with 4 people in the house than just 2 like last Christmas. 

 The zone is doing better. My area is still struggling. We are trying to get people to go to church but we are not having the best of luck. We hope to have more when the new year starts. 

 I was studying this week about prayer. It is really important to pray. Especially when it comes to missionary work. I think sometimes we get kind of casual when it comes to praying. I think we get into a habit of vain repetition. When need to make sure are prayers are efficient and meaningful.  

Thanks for everything!

Happy New Year!

-Elder  Rowberry

FELIZ NAVIDAD

From December 22, 2014

Well folks. It's coming around again. Christmas is almost here. This week we had a cool christmas activity. We went to the office and had a cool gift exchange and some games it was fun. We as a zone prepared a musical number. Elder Long (Oklahoma), Elder Smart (Riverton, UT) and I played our Ukuleles and the zone sang. Nothing really new happened this week. We are still struggling a bit. It will get better though. I'm not discouraged but I'm excited for the challenge. It's hot here, like always, chance of snow....-100% It doesnt feel like christmas it feels like every other time of the year. Which is fine by me. I'm used to the daily grind of a missionary. That's why I'm running out of things to write. When something cool happens I'll let you know.

I hope you all have a wonderful christmas. 

Love you all.

-Elder Rowberry

It's always a good time

From December 15, 2014

This week... Hmmm... wasn't that good of a time really. We are kind of struggling. I kind of miss Nahuizalco where we were banging on all cylinders. Here I feel like we can barely get the car to start. As a zone leader that is stressful. You don't only have to worry about your area but also the zone. My parents have asked what does a zone leader do in this mission. I don't know if its the same in other missions. 

We go on interchanges to train and help other missionaries. We do about two a week. We give trainings every week in zone meeting. Every night we take all of the key indicators of all of the areas in the zone and we need to give followup so that the zone knows what to do. We have to make sure the missionaries are well phyiscally and spiritually. We have to make sure everyone is following the rules. We watch all the missionaries as they write their families. We also have to pass the information from President to the missionaries. If the zone isn't working it's our fault. It's fun I like it. It's definitley a challenge. 

Thanks for everything.

-Elder Rowberry

Attachged is a picture of my christmas tree.

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