I can't believe it's finally come, and in 7 days I'm heading in to the MTC. Wish me love.
Prepared? Of course I don't feel prepared! And at the same time, I do. It's really bizarre. But whom God calls He qualifies, right?
I have to warn you. If you want to hear play-by-play about the progress of investigators I get to teach, or ugly details about the weather in San Antonio, or what we busied ourselves with on P-day, this won't be the blog for you. I spent 3 1/2 years blogging EVERY DAY about all of the nitty-gritty details of my life in college for my family, and I need a change in blogging scene. It was a great experience, but it was hard to write, and probably hard to read. That's what journals are for, not blogs.
So I've thought long and hard about what I want to send home each week. I don't want my mission to be about me. College was about me. Now I want this stage in my life to be about Christ.
Of course it'll be personal, and of course you'll still get a view of what I'm doing. But I'll save some kick-butt stories to share at home when I'm Melissa again, not Sister Rowley. And I want to honor my future friends investigating the gospel with a little privacy in their growth towards Christ, so I'll save their personal stories for a space not so public as the internet. But we do want to testify of Christ and let people know that other people are investigating this gospel! So here are three things I'll share each week:
1-- The attribute of Christ I'm working on that week with what I've learned so far about that quality.
2-- One or two of my favorite missionary experiences of the week. (That's why you visit missionary blogs, right?)
3-- A challenge for my family/readers. A returned Sister missionary told me she wished she'd been challenging her family all along so that this mission experience could be their mission experience too. #sharewisdom
We'll see what happens to the blog as it evolves. So if you want to follow along, I'd be so happy to have you here! As a missionary my job will be to reach out and seek those who don't yet know Christ. Every day will be rewarding and hard and exhausting, so I've been told. And sometimes it will be nice to hear from people already on the path with Christ, showing support and mutual faith.
"For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me." -- Romans 1:11-12
I miss you already! So I'll share my growing faith with you here on this blog as I try to follow my Savior all the way to Texas. And you can share your faith with me if you so feel the desire. Mutual faith! <3
Anyway, I've got some studying to do.
And we've both got some faith to develop.
Cheerfully yours,
Sister Rowley
P.S. If the journey gets hard and you don't have time to follow yet another blog, but would still like something to take away and uplift your life, I've spent a ridiculous amount of hours compiling a collection of 555 inspirational, motivational quotes for myself -- a few more than one-per-mission-day in little fortune cookie form to get myself started in the morning. (yeah, I know you can buy quote books for like $10, but sometimes I'm kinda cheap and also probably too much of an over-achiever... also, maybe I only learned of these books after I compiled... ahahaha :) These are obviously not a replacement for scriptures when it comes to true motivation, but sometimes you need motivation to seek motivation. Haha, so if you would like a copy of this, shoot me an email saying "Hey, soul Sister, send me those quotes or something," and I'll forward it straight to you for your printing and enjoying use.
melissa . rowley (at) my lds mail . net
(There are no spaces, and the parenthesis at is an @ sign, but I want to elude automatic computer spammers... is that how spamming works? No? Ok, so whatever, I'm crazy, but we already knew this... :) As long as you are not a spammer, feel free to contact me through this same email any time during my mission's duration. I'll be checking it weekly and I've heard missionaries love mail. *not hinting* *not hinting* haha, again, so much love. - Sister Rowley)
