Week 36-Transfer 5

 6/17/13

Aloooooha!

Hola familia!

What a week! I'm so glad dad got his present in time:) I thought it was pretty funny:) I can't believe Tyson is going to dances now! How fun! I can't believe it is my birthday already! Can you believe that this time last year I was getting my surgery done?! It seems like such a short period of time! I can use guitar chords on an Ukulele, as long as they are simple:) I can't put music on my ipod but I can listen to the CD. I'm sorry Tiff didn't ever get my card! I promise I sent one! I will have to find another one. Did you ever get my Mother's day present mom? Did you like the sticker? I'm glad you are enjoying my recordings. I had a lot of fun doing them. I thought it was really funny when Brandon first called us his "elephants" then he told us the story and it was just cute:) I just realized though that I should have kept the recorder a little longer because my companion and I are singing in church this week. Sis. Hoskins has never sung in public before. She has a good voice but she has been really self conscious about it so she doesn't sing very much. I have changed that for her;) We have been singing hymns together at members houses and such and I do the alto part and she does the soprano and the members always say how good we sound together. So I was able to convince her that we need to sing in church and I even got her to agree to do a little solo:). I am so proud:)  She is super nervous about it though. We decided to do it this next week because that is when our mission president, President and Sister Dalton are giving their farewell talks. We are lucky enough to be serving in the ward they are in so we can be there for that. It is going to be so sad though. Our new mission president and his wife, the Warners, will arrive July 1st and get right to work. Apparently Sister Warner has been in the Tabernacle Choir and has a beautiful singing voice so that will be fun. 

I'm doing great here in the Kahala ward. There are so many interesting people here it is so fun! One of the members here is really good friends with Bill Cosby and says that she is waiting for the right moment to give him a copy of the Book of Mormon:). Wouldn't that be cool:) I really do love the ward. This fourth of July is going to be so awesome! Our ward mission leader, Brother Cloward, is having a huge BBQ party in the backyard of his mansion. He has the most beautiful backyard that has his own private entrance to the beach. I will for sure take pictures. We get to man the name tag table so that we can see if any people we don't know show up. Hopefully we can get all our investigators to go too. We have 5 progressing investigators as of right now and they are each so very different. We have one Japanese girl who has had a date set a few times and is totally ready to be baptized but wants things with her family and everything to go smoothly so she has postponed it again. We have another Japanese girl who is so super sweet and comes to church and sat by me in the ward choir last week. She is very interested but has no background or knowledge of God at all. We are taking it slowly with her. We have another lady who loves God but doesn't believe in evil at all. Another guy who doesn't understand why he has to quit smoking before he is baptized. And my favorite is someone who has been talking the missionary lessons off and on since 2005. He is so funny and crazy but I also know that his testimony is growing. He even said that he wants to go to church, but the problem is that his wife is super less active and he doesn't want to grow apart in religion with her so he said that he will only go if she goes with him and she doesn't want to go. He said he might go if he could bring his dog with him...haha, yeah. We are praying so hard for him. His lessons are always fun because he is so very honest and doesn't always have a filter. hahaha. I'm not sure if I could even explain some of the things that he has said:) I think that he will get there eventually. Heavenly Father has definitely been working with him. 

Tracting this week has been a bit rough with a lot of non interested people. We did meet a few interesting people:) So every house we go to we ask if we can say a prayer with them. Well it is always fun when they say yes and then start offering their own prayer. After we ask if we can say the prayer next and then they say, "yes, mmhm, thank you God" all through our prayer:) People also have the funniest excuses. I now understand Chelsea's feelings about dogs... I think I have met 2 friendly dogs this whole time and I'm pretty sure they are at every house we go to. The work does go on though. 

My testimony continues to grow everyday. It is very humbling to be training someone else and realize that you don't know everything. I am learning so much though and I am so grateful for this opportunity. I also worked it out and I should be able to finish the Spanish Book of Mormon by July 10th, my 9 month mark...eek! I have not met a single person out here in Honolulu who understands a word I say if I say it in Spanish (unless you count the elders who find it hilarious to say hola to me) but I still enjoy my language study. There truly is power in el Libro de Mormon. 

I love you all so much and I love this work. I have a strong testimony in prayer and scripture study  and in the love Heavenly Father has for each of us individually. I love you all so much!  I miss you all and pray for you always! 

Les Qiero,

Hermana Rowley (Shayla)

PS. Next week I will have to put pictures of the awesome hike that we did today through the jungle:)!

Week 35-Transfer 5

 6/10/13

Aloooooha!

Hola Familia! 

This week has been super busy with all the changes and everything but it has been so good! My new companion's name is Sister Hoskins and...I'm training her! I didn't find that out until I met her at transfer meeting on Wednesday. This is actually her second transfer so I'm her second trainer which makes it interesting at times and kind of daunting but with communication things are going great:). She is 19 years old (almost 20 as she told me;) and is so sweet. She is from Colorado Springs and is so excited to be here on her mission. We have been having a great time just geting to know eachother and doing the work. 

So I found out as I got here that Kahala is the richest zip code in America. It is funny however the diversity. There are some streets that have multi million dollar houses and others that live in little run down places. I swear some of them are professional pack rats! One of the houses we had dinner at was like Noah's ark! They had 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 ducks, and i'm pretty sure I saw at least 2 cockroaches. It was such a crazy house with the animals crawling all over the place and random objects in the most random places around the house and the couple were so funny! They fed us...fish. You know how much I like that stuff...We did get a new investigator out of it so I guess it was worth it:) It is so fun and interesting though. 

I am loving tracting:) It is fun to see the other side of things. You know, at the Visitor Center we got a lot of people who would argue with us or get mad at us for silly things or practically run from us when we saw them, but there were also people who we would have a really good spiritual lesson with and then they would tell us how they have seen the missionaries around and have shut the door on a few of them as well. So the first time I had a door slammed in my face I just started laughing and Sister Hoskins just looked at me like I was crazy. :) It is just so funny to me to be on this side of things:P We go out tracting alot here. We do what we call the "Prayer Approach" which is something that I have been practicing since I got to Hawaii, we just didn't use it as much in Laie. Anyways, we just go door to door offering to leave the Saviors peace and blessing with them and thier families through prayer and then we ask them how they feel afterwards and invite them to be baptized. It's amazing the miracles we see from that. We found a few new invesigators doing it. It's also quite amusing the responses some people give. One super rich guy said, "No thanks, we definitely have plenty of blessings." (with a smug look on his face I might add) and onother lady said, "No, I'm Japanese" and then slammed the door. As if that is some kind of an excuse;)

We are teaching some really awesome people though. We have a baptism schedualed for this Saturday for a Japanese girl named Rio. Hopefully that will go well. We also did have a baptism schedualed for a guy named Keoni who we had to push back for but he is getting there. Today we are going to teach a new investigator Mika who is also Japanese and is so cute! She went to church with a friend and sang in the chior just becasue she likes to sing. I was lucky enough to be sitting right next to her:) Before the choir sang, I had been asked to give a "missionary moment" so I got to get up and bear my testimony about coming closer to Christ so others will see that in you and you will be able to share the gospel with power and conviction. When I finished and went to sit down I noticed that Mika was crying. She later told me that she really enjoyed the talk I gave. After Relief Society we talked to her again and I asked if she would be interested in learning more. She said yes! that she really wanted to learn more about the church and about Christ. I am so excited to teach her! She is so sweet! 

I love this work more and more each day! So did Tiffany ever get my card? Did you ever get my mother's day present? Did you move or something? I hope not cause I just sent Dad's father's day present in the mail;) It also contains the little recorder with plenty of recordings to keep you busy for a while. I didn't really get a chance to listen to them again so hopefully it's ok. Hopefully Tiffany will find a way to put them on the computer in the right format cause there are things on there that I don't want to lose! Can't wait to hear more from all of you:P. I love you all so much! You are all the best! As always, I continue to pray for you each day! I love you!

Te Quiero,

Hermana Rowley (Shayla)

Here is some of me and mi companera nueva. All that food is what the ward gave us after the fireside. I have to admit, the ward here makes sure we get fet a lot better than the YSA wards;) I guess that's to be expected:) I love this ward so much all ready though! They are all so fun with such interesting stories! Love you all!

Week 34-Transfer 4

6/4/2013

Alooooohaaa!

Aloha familia!

What a horse for Alexa???!!! That is the best prescription ever!!!!! So fun! And I'm so excited for Tonya and Kyle to move to Utah! By the way, I was never told...am I having a niece or a nephew?? I can't believe it is already June! So crazy! I really feel like it was just barely December!

So news for transfers......................................I'm going out full proselyting! I was not expecting it at all and am kinda overwhelmed now. I will be going to the Kahala area which is in Honolulu. Hermana Rodriguez should be excited cause that's the area that she was in! I guess that's turned into the "Hermana" area;). I don't know who my companion will be but I will find out in transfer meeting on Wednesday. It is going to be so strange because we are getting 7 new sisters here at the VC and I won't know any of them when I come back! I am kinda sad because Sister Jones and I only got to be in this area for 3 weeks! I was just saying yesterday how much I LOVE our wards and the people here! I love teaching the Marshallese so much! Tom finally set a date to get baptized on June 15th and Nercy is soooo close! I am really sad that I will miss their baptisms and I won't be able to teach them any longer but I am so grateful to have had the chance to teach them! They are all so humble and fun and it has been so fun to learn bits of Marshallese:) They all get big smiles and shout "Iakwe!" When they see us. Yesterday we got to tell them the story of Ammon and King Lamoni and Aaron and King Lamoni's father because that is what they are learning about in their Book of Mormon class that they are taking. They all decided that they really like Ammon a lot and were really in to the story. It was so cute:) 

It's amazing how the Lord works and blesses us. I am so grateful that I got to be with Sister Jones for this short period of time. I have been learning so much more about relying on the Lord. It was hard because of me being sick for those few days and then Sister Jones injured her neck at the beginning of this week and she could not move for 3 or 4 days. I got the privilege of helping her the way you helped me mom, after my surgery last year;) It was difficult being stuck in the apartment for that long and Satan tried really hard to discourage us. However, as soon as we could we went right back to work and received so many blessings and miracles! People we had been trying to get a hold of for days were finally home and we were able to make several appts. And then there are the wonderful Marshallese who are all growing in the gospel and so ready to learn. Heavenly Father has really strengthened me this transfer so much! I am a bit nervous for the big changes but I am excited as well. I know that is where the Lord wants me and that is all that is important. 

So just so everyone knows, don't send anything to the Visitor Center any more. Send it to the Mission Office and it will get to me. That address is:

1500 S Beretania St Ste 416

Honolulu, HI 96826

I love you all so much! I know I say it all the time but you are the best family ever! I still pray for you every day and I will pray harder this week for Alexa. Sounds like she is going to be having a rough time of it. 

Thank you so much! I love you all! 

Les Quiero!

Hermana Rowley

So this is me and Sister Jones and the food is fish that the Marshellese men caught and the women cooked and fed to us...yes it is still looking at us and yes I ate it and told them that I loved it...it was...fishy...

Week 33-Transfer 4

 5/27/13

Aloooooooohhhhhhhhhaaaaa!

Aloha familia! 

This week has seemed pretty long for me too. I love all the pics you send!!!!! Alex is sooooo cute and I brag about him to everyone! I want so bad to be able to cuddle him! Make sure to give him a big kiss from me ok?! That picture of Alexa and Chelsea is so cute as well! What beautiful sisters I have! I love and miss you all so much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIFFANY!!!!!!! Did you get my card that I sent? I thought it was pretty cute and all the little girls made me think of you for some reason:) So excited to hear about Tonya and Kyle! That will be sooooo fun!!! So, thanks for the offer for sunscreen:) I think I will be ok now though. The other day sister Mark looked at me and said, "oh Hermana, why are you so red?!" I told her that that is what happens when they take me out of a cubicle and make me walk all over Laie in the blazing sun:) It is turning into a tan now though:) I'll have to take a picture of my "mission tattoo" the tan that comes from the sandals that they give us here:) Only in Hawaii:) 

This week has been full of trying to contact people and teaching lessons. We literally have been running from appointment to appointment. There are a few people that we haven't been able to meet cause we cannot catch them at home or they don't show up to their appointments but we are still trying. We have been teaching the Marshallese the most. Tom and Nercy in particular. It is pulling teeth to get them to show up at church! Not because they don't want to go, but because it is at 8 in the morning and they have such a hard time getting up that early. We got Nercy there by arranging a ride and then calling her in the morning to make sure she was ready. She said she enjoyed it so we will see how this pans out. 

We did find out that they LOVE "I am a child of God" I was on exchanges with sister Ogawa and we decided to sing that for them the other day because they were so busy with midterms and we didn't want to interrupt them too much so we just sang and prayed and they just went on and on about how amazing that song was! Funny how a little primary song can make such an impact. 

That day with sister Ogawa was really great too cause we got to use her car and we visited so many more people! We went to this one house with this less active and as we were walking out it started raining really hard. A member nearby asked if we needed a ride and I turned and said, "no that's ok, our cow is down the road. Well, car! I mean car!" haha, we were laughing so hard and the member just looked at us weird and said "ok, have a good day." Sister Ogawa was like, "ok Sister Rowley, let's go get in our cow now so we don't get wet!" :D 

Sister Jones and I are really getting along so well and it has been so good working in this area where we have so much to do. Thankfully my sickness only lasted those two or three days. Things at the visitor center are going well also. Problem is, since I am no longer an online sister, I don't have as much time to contact all our investigators! We definitely need more hours in the day! I did find out that Kishore, one of the investigators from India that Sister Mckeever and I had found on chat, was just baptized on Tiffany's birthday! The 25th! So exciting! He also got the call as a Sunday School teacher and he is so happy to be a member of the church! I also just received an email from Brandon. He is in New Jersey now with his family and was asked by the Stake President to speak at there Stake conference! He said that he got to bear his testimony with his whole family there and it was such a good experience! 

I am still loving this work! It is amazing to me how I can still be learning so much! I got a chance to kind of use my Spanish this week since they have been doing construction on our pad and all the workers are Spanish. I was doing my language study one of the days, reading out of the Book of Mormon when one of the workers said, "Sister, your speaking Spanish...Why?" After that all of them started speaking to us:) A lot of them were not members so it was kinda fun to be able to talk to them a bit. 

I love you all so much! You are all such great examples to me and I am so grateful! I miss you all an continue to pray for you always! 

Les Quiero,

Hermana Rowley (Shayla)

Thanks so much for telling me about Alexa's blessing! I can't wait to hear more! That is so cool! As for food that I miss, I really miss your enchaladas but don't send those it just won't be the same:) I'll wait till I get home for those:) The sandals I have are just fine so no need for those. I honestly don't know what to ask for my bday! If P90X is not too expensive, that's the only thing I could think of that I would like. I am going to return half of those close cause I really don't need them and the skirt is slightly tight and I don't feel good about spending that much on something that is too small. Hopefully I will be able to go to Ross soon! I do have a bunch of warts that I am getting sick of. I am going to look at foodland to see if they have a remover that would be affordable but I don't know. I just want to get rid of them. I would love any of the pictures that you have been sending me! I put them in my book that I have here and show them off to everyone. I love you so much mom! I miss you so much as well! Thank you for being the best mom ever! 

love, Shayla