I'm Freeeee Free-falling

-From Friday Jan. 24

I'm back.

I'm glad to be back in the office as well as in the field. It made me antsy to just sit in the house all day and think of my investigators. We have been working with a man named Ernesto. When we found him he seemed super positive. We found him on a Saturday and he went to church the next Sunday. He has been going to church pretty much since then. He believes that the Book of Mormon is true and he believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. The man is very faithful and very god-fearing. He is really scared to get baptized in our church because he was baptized in another church and he doesn't want to offend God. And it says in the bible that there is one God, one faith, and one baptism. He told us that  if he didn't get baptized in another church he would have easily been baptized in ours. Obviously he doesn't understand the authority and the apostasy. I feel that we have taught it to him clearly and concisely many times. I honestly feel a little stumped about what to teach him. We had a real powerful experience in which we knelt down with him and told him to pray and ask if he should get baptize. We knelt there on the ground for about 15 minutes. Then he got up and said I feel this comfort and warmth. Then we asked him to get baptized. I was so sure that he was going to say yes. He didn't however. He said I'm going to keep praying.  We told him that he got his answer and I think he knew it too. I think he was just too scared to take the step. Ernesto knows the Bible really well and he will be a great leader when he gets baptized because he will get baptized. 

I am happy to be back out working and I it was a really cool experience to hear Elder Cook and see all the missionaries united as one when we had a special meeting with him. He talked all about the process of mission calls and the inspiration. He also talked about the hastening of the work. It was really cool and I learned alot.

Thanks for everything.

-Elder Rowberry

It's 9 O' Clock on a Saturday

and I'm in my house studying my scriptures. 

This week was a good one. President told me that I had to stay in the house for another week to recover fully. I felt good last week and I was ready to work but he said I had to rest more. I've been feeling good this whole week.  I'm used to just working through sickness and pain. It probably is better that I had some time to rest though.  I am grateful for the time that I have had to rest and recuperate.  I gets kind of boring sitting in the house all day but I have been able to read a lot and study the scriptures as well as Preach My Gospel. I have been working on my lesson plans. I have been getting healthier and healthier everyday and I will be able to hit the ground running on Monday. I am excited to be able to get back into things and get back to teaching. I've realized lately the importance of teaching well and how there is a lack of good teaching in the mission field as well as in the church in general. I need to be able to teach the best I can so that I can give the investigators the best chance to accept the message and feel the spirit. The desire to become a great teacher has been growing in me lately and I am going to study to make that happen. I want to be a master of the doctrine and the scriptures as well as be a master of how to deliver it in the manner that the investigator, less active, member, missionary, or whoever needs it.  That's why studying is so important.  D&C11:21 Seek not to ^adeclare my word, but first seek to ^bobtain my^cword, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my ^dSpirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the ^econvincing of men.

Thanks for everything. 

-Elder Rowberry

6 Months

Well today is the 1/4 way mark of my mission. It has gone by so fast I've learned so much but I still have an immense amount to learn.

This week was a different week. On Sunday after church I felt terrible. My head felt like it was going to explode. So I called the nurse and she told me to rest. Which I did. Then on Monday I felt the same pressure in my head. Same thing on Tuesday. On Tuesday I had the opportunity to go to the doctor. He told me I had bronchitis and sinusitis he got me squared away with some medicines then I began resting. I rested all day on Wednesday and Thursday. I have another appointment with him today and I hope things will be all good so I can go out and work. I don't have the pressure in my head anymore which is really good. I had a cool experience while I was eating lunch. I was with a member. This man is very poor and very very humble. On occasions he comes by our house on Sunday nights and knocks on the door. He tells us that he just wants to say hi and see how we're doing. Then he'll almost always ask us for something to eat for dinner. So I give him some crackers and bread. I believe this man was born with a cleft-lip and he had a surgery to fix it but it definitely left it's scars. He is generally rejected by the people here. So here I was sharing my lunch with this man and the words to the hymn "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" came to my mind. 

1. A poor, wayfaring Man of grief

Hath often crossed me on my way,

Who sued so humbly for relief

That I could never answer nay.

I had not pow'r to ask his name,

Whereto he went, or whence he came;

Yet there was something in his eye

That won my love; I knew not why.

2. Once, when my scanty meal was spread,

He entered; not a word he spake,

Just perishing for want of bread.

I gave him all; he blessed it, brake,

And ate, but gave me part again.

Mine was an angel's portion then,

For while I fed with eager haste,

The crust was manna to my taste.

And when this came to my mind I felt a great love for this man who is so often rejected by the world. I felt something special and I thought of the last verse of the hymn.

7. Then in a moment to my view

The stranger started from disguise.

The tokens in his hands I knew;

The Savior stood before mine eyes.

He spake, and my poor name he named,

"Of me thou hast not been ashamed.

These deeds shall thy memorial be;

Fear not, thou didst them unto me."

With that I felt like it was a great honor to be sharing my "scanty meal" with this man. I believe I felt a portion of the Saviors love that he has for that man.

Thank you for everything.

-Elder Rowberry

Then I got Bronchitis. Ain't nobody got time for that.

I don't know if I actually have Bronchitis but I have got something nasty. I've got a pretty bad cough and I feel tired all the time, but I went to the Doctor and she gave me some medicine so I'm on the track to recovery, hopefully. She looked into my nose, my mouth, and my ears. When she looked into my ears she said, "tranquilo." Then she reached something down into my ear and took out a ball of earwax the size of a marble. She did it to the other ear as well. It was pretty nasty. Once she did that my hearing increased by 200%. I could hear the slightest of sounds. It was crazy. Anyways...

This week was a good week. We had a finding activity here at the chapel. We were hoping to bring a ton of people. There were quite a few that came to play soccer. We were able to get a bunch of names and numbers. What was really good was this guy and his three kids came. His name is Nestor and his children are named Jairo, Gerson, and Ezequiel. We found him in a bus stop and we set up a visit with him in the chapel and we also invited him to the activity we had. He didn't come to the vist. At that point I kind of dismissed him as a potential investigator. But he came to the activity and we invited him to come to church with us the next day. We weren't able to pass by his house in the morning because we didn't know where he lived. We were sitting in sacrament meeting and he hadn't come. Then half way through he came with his kids. He said he really liked the meetings and he really liked everything. We have been visiting him and teaching him. He is super positive as well as his three sons. He loves them very much and in our first visit with him he told us that his sons are going to be the future Elders, sharing the gospel. That was pretty awesome. 

President Cordón invited us to go to his house for dinner on New Years Eve. We had some really good turkey and salad and tons of good stuff. I also got the chance to meet his son Oscar, who came back from Taiwan. He showed us a bunch of stuff from Taiwan and told us all about it. If you think learning Spanish is hard Mandarin looks a million times harder. Here New Years is a bigger deal than Christmas. They like to blow up stuff.  I was walking in my area and these guys and these kids started running towards us. I could see some sparks off in the distance. They told us to not go any farther because of the firework. So we waited a couple of seconds and then it blew up. It was box about the size of a small trashcan just full of gunpowder. The explosion was huge and loud. They were blowing up things all night long. Once again it sounded like a war zone. 

Thanks for everything, your emails, your letters, and everything, have a great New Year and a great week.

-Elder Rowberry

Joy to the World

Well this week was a good week. It was Christmas. I got the opportunity to do some fun things. On Christmas Eve we as an office got the opportunity to go to President's house and have dinner. That was really nice. We got presents. Also we made cool ties as an office. I apologize for this letter and the fact that is poorly written. We had a Christmas activity today and I've been trying to write the whole day but I've had to do a bunch of stuff. After the dinner we went out and sang some Christmas carols and gave out little stockings with some little things for kids. That was fun. My companion then talked to his family. On Christmas I brought my presents that I got to the office and I opened them with some other missionaries. Then I made pancakes. I got the opportunity to talk to my family which was cool. Later that day we worked like it was a normal day. One thing that was interesting is that here everybody likes to use fireworks. They are basically firecrackers but they are huge. It sounded like a war zone. 

    In the time of Christmas we have the opportunity to remember our Savior and we are more willing to do things that we might not have done before like serve at a homeless shelter or something. We should keep that attitude throughout the year. We also are coming up to the new year. Lets make a goal to be better, to be nicer, to be more loving, to be more like Christ. To bring Joy to the World. 

Thanks for all your emails. I may not have had time to answer all of them but I will do it in the coming weeks. 

-Elder Rowberry  

Also random funny story

So here in El Salvador there are a million dogs. They all are malnourished, skinny, and filthy. It's actually quite sad. Anyways one of these dogs got into the area of the chapel that the office is in. All of the chapel's here are surrounded by gates and fences and this dog got in. I guess it was trying to get out through a hole in the gate. A hole that was very very too small for it. Anyways with the help of two random dudes that happened to be right there, water, and a lot of lotion we helped it get out. I guess that story isn't really that funny. You had to be there. But yeah... So have a great week and don't get your head stuck in a gate.

I'll be home for Christmas

if only in my dreams.

What's up everybody? I hope you all had a good week. I want to thank everyone for everything that has been sent to me. A special shoutout this week to Grandpa Kent and Annette for the big box of candy and beef jerkey. That was really nice and I was really happy to get that. The week before I had been thinking, I could really go for some chocolate. They don't sell a ton of that here. And then I got a box full of it. Thanks very much. Also another shoutout to the Highland 13th ward and all the nice notes that they wrote me and the Christmas banner that they made. It's hanging up in my room. Also to Sister Nyman for that awesome Christmas book. That was really special to read that.

This week was a good week. We were having some troubles with our investigators. It felt as if they were slipping out of our hands. But we were able to teach them again and help them feel good. Alma who has a date but didn't want to get married now wants to get married. We have this exact same problem with three investigators. We could put three more real dates if they said they wanted to get married. Patricia is another of them. She is struggling with the idea of marriage. She told us that she wants to change and she wants to get baptized. Daniel is another. His "wife" wants to get married. For some reason he still doesn't want to. But if he can understand the doctrine behind it he will get married and baptized. He has been coming to church for months now. This seems to be a very big problem in this country and this culture. The people just live together for years and have kids and everything but they just don't want to get married because they are afraid that they will fight with their spouse or that everything won't go well or something like that. Alma has been living with her "husband" for 13 years now and has two kids. Patricia has two kids as well and has been living with her "husband" for eight years. It's the same with Daniel.  They obviously don't understand the fact that when someone gets married their relationship is stronger and much less likely to fall apart. They also fear that their companion is not the right one. Which then brings us to the root problem which is the lack of personal responsibility and commitment. People here fear to make commitments. I've heard "No puedo decir sí porque si no puedo entonces no quiero ser mentiroso." It's good that they don't want to go back on their word or fail a commitment but the problem with that is that they end up not committing to do anything and they end up not doing anything. I'm going to try to start teaching this principle more. We learn from Preach My Gospel that the only way for people to progress and repent is to keep the commitments which we extend to them. Here is a talk that is about our personal commitment and I invite all of you to look at yourselves and see how your personal commitment and responsibility is. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1979/04/a-personal-commitment?lang=eng&query=commitment#watch=video I am going to continue to work as hard as I can so that I can bring souls unto Christ. Thanks for everything. 

-Elder Rowberry