How is your investigator?

Sister Ann still proves herself as wonderfully sweet as ever; she gave us more homemade soap -- this kind is an oatmeal face soap. (Maybe all this soap is a hint? ;) She wasn't at church this week, which made us sad. She's been coming every week. We're planning to see her so we can follow up on what happened. Church is so important to help us get through the week.

Last week we found 7 new investigators! New investigators are people you've had a lesson with and they accept a specific return appointment. This week we want to help them start progressing, so we're pouring over Preach My Gospel to help them the best we can. It should be great! Thank you for all of your prayers. We are doing our best to find the people God has prepared. We don't want anyone to be left out or forgotten, and we know your prayers are helping.

Some things I'm looking forward to this coming week are helping two of our new investigators get their shelter dogs ready for a dog show. We're also helping one woman with family history. And Sister Record's birthday is this Friday!

What was your favorite teaching moment this week?

When we taught the restoration to one of our new investigators, the spirit was so strong. She asked a question, and as I opened my mouth the answer came out smoothly; so much more than I could ever say on my own. Then she asked why we're so happy, and do we ever get stressed? Sister Record and I chuckled a little, because we had actually been a bit grouchy earlier that morning. We told her we are most definitely human, but the joy we feel while talking about the gospel is real and wonderful. She came to church the next day, and it was humbling and heart-warming to see the radiating smile, joy we hadn't yet seen on her face before, as she spoke with new friends in the hallway. She has a beautiful smile, and we feel priviledged to see that.

Those experiences feel sufficient for sharing purposes, so I hope you feel the same, but in case you were wondering, this weekend we saw three flat roadside skunks, a belly-up armadillo, a living roadrunner, a herd of dangerous cows (the sign said, "For cattle emergencies, call this number...") a stag who almost approached our car, and a huge herd of deer. Sister Record thinks the only thing missing is a kangaroo. I don't want to burst her bubble.

Thank you again for your love and support!

Sister Rowley

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Rekindled Blog

I was inspired by a relative of mine (specifically, the father of my new companion -- being related to my companion is one of the most fun revelations I've received this transfer, especially since we hadn't even met before the mission :) to bring my blog back up! I'm so grateful to be serving with Sister Record, and to soak in everything I can learn from her. She truly radiates love and enthusiasm and a joy for the gospel. It is a delight to work and laugh and study with her.

I'll just forward my family email here to let y'all know how things are going, because a testimony is important to share! Each week I just respond to questions my mother asks, because she is so amazing and helps guide my emails like that. Otherwise, without questions, I don't share too much, unfortunately. ;)

Tell us about the people you are working with right now.

Sister Ann (name changed) She's delightful! We asked if we could call her Sister G., but she said, "Oh, I really wish you'd call me Sister Ann..." We're undecided if that's kosher to use her first name, but it might be too late to insist otherwise, because 'Sister Ann' is starting to stick with me. In any case, it's easy to see the hand of the Lord when we see how instantly and easily we connected with her; the Lord intended for Sisters to come in and finish her teaching before baptism. He loves her and wants her to feel comfortable with this decision.

I felt inspired by my missionary cousin's email this week. He wants to make sure people know what they're turning down. I've felt that impression too; once we were contacting a media referral (someone who puts their info in online) and he said, "Oh, no, I'm not interested, that must have been my daughter who put my info in. Sorry." And he was about to close the door. I said, "Oh, you know why she probably did that?" And testified to him about his daughter's love for him, and about the temple and eternal families. He looked so touched, and let us set up an appointment after that. That was not me. That was the Spirit. I'm so grateful I have the example of my cousins to set me straight, because I'd forgotten that experience, and we're letting people turn us down for a game of Monopoly. How ridiculous! They need this message more than they know.

Therefore, our teaching pool is currently small, but with our new organization, and with the recent visit of Elder Nelson to inspire us to new heights, we have high hopes and desires for growing that pool. The focus on teaching by the spirit and teaching with love is opening new doors. Sister Record is loving and respectful and people can't help but smile when they meet us.

How did the visit with Elder Nelson go??

(I know you didn't ask that, but I know you would have if you'd known to ;)

Elder Russel M. Nelson wanted to shake each of our hands before the meeting began, so President Slaughter pointed to my row -- me specifically -- to be the first to shake the apostle's hand. What a Polar Express moment! The crowd went silent and I couldn't believe I got the first gift of Christmas (or in this case, the first handshake of the meeting). Elder Nelson radiates love and gratitude. I never want to let my testimony -- my sleigh bell, if you will -- go silent because I stopped believing in prophets. That man is a special witness of Jesus Christ.

He encouraged us to gain a greater command of the English language -- we want our message to be clear and understandable so people know what they're turning down. He used the example of President Hinckley, who would practice and re-practice what he would say before any important speech. The rest of the apostles would bring him their public addresses, and he would edit for them -- "put a little Hinckley polish" on it, as Elder Nelson says. I love that, and really want to help people understand what I say.

Do you have weekly service hours you are supposed to accomplish? What do you do for service? 

We are in an experiment area for the new church website 'Just Serve.' However, without iPads, we haven't made much use of it. Our ward mission leader, who would typically be the one to look online and find opportunities off the site for us, was also released this week without a new one called. These are just road bumps and excuses, however, and we're eager to learn more about this new website! 

Also, website or no, we're always on the lookout for new service opportunities, and I'm eager to learn from people around me about noticing opportunities and acting on them.

For example, after we left Elder Nelson, five of us joined in the car -- us and a trio of sisters who serve in a nearby area. The driver, our Sister Training Leader, immediately and humbly requested for a prayer of gratitude that we could hear an apostle of the Lord. Instantly I felt the truth that she had taken the gratitude Elder Nelson exuded and brought it into her life and heart.

Because of that prayer of gratitude, God blessed her with an opportunity to serve. When we stopped for dinner at a sandwich shop (we had been trying to find Chinese) she began speaking to the unhappy looking woman behind us in line. We ordered our sandwiches, and sat down, and then I watched as our young sister leader purchased not only her own food, but also the sandwich for the woman. The joy and love radiated off of those two as they parted ways, a sandwich and a pass-along card tucked in her arms.

Apparently, this woman had recently encountered a serious medical problem, restricting her diet. Her family was trying to be supportive and patient, but it was very hard, and they had gone out to eat. She couldn't go with them, and her heart was breaking. She forced herself to get out of the house and go get something to eat, leading her to this sandwich shop. The entire drive there she prayed from sorrow.

I think when we pray, the loose ends of our prayers float up to God, and He ties the ends of two people's prayers together, and if we remember our prayer, and remember to be humble, we can follow the end of our string to the person he's connected it to, and find either the answer to our prayer, or the chance to be someone's answer. The sister leader's prayer of gratitude was tied to that woman's prayer of desperation, and I'm crying now to think of how beautiful it was to see that knot unfold. Now I don't ever want to let go of the ends of my prayers.

I bubble with joy every time I get to talk to anyone about my amazing family, my breathtaking examples of siblings, my beautiful mother, my incredible father, and my stellar grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles, (including the family of my companion Sister Record ;) and I keep my fan chart ready to show -- haven't shown it yet, but we're on the lookout for people who need a whiff of genealogy in their life. I feel so blessed to be of such good stock!! :)

Keep being the incredible examples you are to me, whether you're family or not!

Keep praying for missionaries and missionary opportunities like I know you're doing!

Keep the faith!

Love, love, love,

Sister Rowley

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