Week 29-Transfer 4

Hey familia! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHELSEA!!!!!!!!!!! So I totally had a card ready to go but didn't get it out in time...again. So don't worry, it is on it's way:) I was thinking about you yesterday though:) Thanks for the pictures of Tyson's play! I wish I could be there to watch! It looks so fun! Alexa's surgery sure sounds super painful! I don't understand everything you write about what she is getting surgery on (I swear you could be a doctor now with all that you know), but it sounds like they found something. Was her DVD as exciting as Chelsea's ear surgery...? What would the next step be now? People here are still praying hard for her! Including me:). Congrats on Scott's job! That is so exciting! 

So Tony is baptized now! So cool! He's probably almost done with the Book of Mormon by now too. This week has been full of ups and downs. I do LOVE Sister Bonrostro. I love to laugh at (I mean with) her mostly:) If she wasn't Asian she would be blonde and she knows it:) I say that with all the love in my heart:) It's kind of weird for me to be the senior companion. She just barely finished her training and she still asks me lot of questions and stuff when I don't feel like I know anything either:) She is so sweet though and we get along great! She did get to really meet Brandon for the first time the other day. He is about to leave home to "bring the gospel to his family!" You know I thought it would wear off after a while, but he really is still soooo happy about being a Mormon:) He told us how one day he was walking to the beach and he was just so happy because he is "a Mormon" and things were great that he started singing "Zippady Dooda, Zippady ay, my oh my what a wonderful day...etc". He said he was singing it over and over when the person walking about 20 ahead of him finally turned around and said, "Shut up!" and he just laughed and thought "Wow, i'm one of those guys:)" We decided though we need to be that joyful more often. We are Mormons! We have the Gospel! No matter what happens, we know we have a loving Heavenly Father and a Savior who will be with us every step of the way. We all have reason to sing Zippady Dooda! 

I love being an online sister. I'm not sure if I like it more or less than having another area, it's just different. It is super frustrating though, when you have people who want to be taught so bad face to face, but the missionaries won't get to them! Or also, if you have someone that is ready to be baptized but you can't really do much with it unless the local missionaries set it up! So, do you remember Chris? The really awesome, golden investigator that came to the VC and wasn't being taught by his local missionaries and so he said that he wanted to be taught by us? So Sister Patlingrao and I taught him pretty much all the lessons and had a baptism date set for him and everything. And then transfers happened. Well, we decided that that was ok cause we got special permission to keep teaching him together cause it was from the VC and everything. Well, something happened and we lost contact with him. No matter how many times we called and left messages we couldn't get a hold of him! So the day of his scheduled baptism arrived. This was March 26. I decided to call the Zone Leaders in his area to find out what was going on. Well the Zone Leaders told me that his local elders had dropped him cause "he wasn't keeping commitments" A bit frustrated, I told the Zone Leaders the whole situation and how awesome and ready he was for baptism. They then decided that they would contact Chris and find out what was going on. So they called me later that evening and said that they had called him and now had an appt. scheduled for the next Tues  to teach him. A little confused why I still was unable to contact him, I was happy that the Zone Leaders were on top of it now. I had met Elder Ludevico before and had heard he was an amazing missionary so it was all good. Well they reset his baptism date to be April 6th. Right around General Conference:) I was so excited! Also, I finally was able to reach him and found out that he had lost all his contacts on his phone and he also hadn't been getting my calls! So weird! Well anyways, April 6th comes and the Elders call me and say that because of scheduling conflicts, it had to be moved to Sunday, April 7th. But they were thrilled at how ready and prepared Chris was for baptism! Well, the morning of April 7th comes and I get a call from the elders saying that the baptism had been postponed again! Apparently the person who Chris wanted to baptize him couldn't do it so he decided to wait till he could, which would mean it was postponed until after his grandma's birthday which would be April 27th. I was so sad and even called Chris later and talked to him about it. He told me that he regretted not being baptized that weekend, but he just felt like the elders were trying to rush things and he wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to be there. Well, that was that, so we waited until the 27th. Chris got home from his grandma's the 21st and called me to let me know that everything was good with his baptism and he told me he was going to talk to the elders the next day to set things up and let me know how it goes. Well I ended up talking to Chris twice that week and the elders twice but for some reason they were not able to contact each other  It doesn't help that since we just had transfers there are now new elders over Chris. So story goes, the evening of the 26th comes around and I call the elders to see how things are coming. They still hadn't talked to Chris at all and said they didn't even know if he was still planning on being baptized! I told them that I had just talked to him and he was still planning on it and we had also talked to his little sister and she was planning on going! Well long story a bit shorter;), the baptism is now postponed again...they were supposed to pick a new date on Monday. Chris actually called me Monday but I missed the call and haven't been able to get a hold of him again! This kid is one of the most prepared investigators ever, he was supposed to be baptized on March 23th! Sorry this is such a long story, it's just been such a frustrating process. I know that Satan is really trying so hard to keep him from being baptized! I know that he is elect, I know that he will get baptized eventually, but being apart of this and knowing the blessings that come from baptism, knowing how much he does want it, yet having every obstacle thrown in front of it just hurts my heart so much! At the same time, I know that it is all in the Lords timing. No matter what happens, I think we all are definitely learning so much of the Savior and His love. We just need to continue in patience:). 

So as an online sister, we don't have a ward, so we get to go to any ward we want really. So this Sunday we went to the Sister Trainer's ward cause they were speaking that day. Well, they have a very friendly bishop that noticed the 4 online sisters in the back and at the end of the meeting called Sister Mckinney and I up to bear our testimonies. Wow, I hadn't spoken in Sacrament since I gave my farewell talk! It was so cool though to have a whole program filled with 4 sister missionaries! The spirit was so strong and so it was not difficult to know what to say. I was able to catch a glimpse though of how much my testimony has grown since I left. I really do love this gospel so much and have reason to sing Zippady Dooda all day long!:) 

I love you all so much! I can't wait to talk to you in 2 more weeks:) Yes I knew that:) Unfortunately, we cannot use the computers for that, just phone. I don't know how connecting everybody works but if it is easier I could give you the number and you could call me in or we could just do like we did at Christmas. Which ever one is easier. I love you all and I pray so much for each of you! I am so lucky to have the best family ever:) 

Les Quiero!

Hermana Rowley (Shayla)

so in the Pics. I have introduced Recess Puffs to my companion (Even though she grew up in San Francisco, she is still full filipino and didn't eat much American food). I also introduced something other than instant mashed potatoes to her:) The other two are of us and our area:) so fun huh:)