Week 49-Transfer 7

Alooooha!

9/17/13

Hola familia!

This week has been quite the week. Sounds like it has for you as well. Mom, you really should look into becoming a doctor now, I have a hard time understanding all the medical stuff you say:) Mom's make the best doctors anyways:) I could have used you the past few weeks. The good news is though that i'm almost better. Sister Shin and others kept trying to get me to go to the doctors to see if it was allergies but I knew from what has happened with everyone else that has gone is that they would pass it off as that anyways and give me the medicine, when I already new it was just a bad cold virus. It took forever to get rid of though! No worries though I'm pretty much back to normal. I am out of acute, flora, wheatgrass and only have 1 1/2 bottles of digestives left. I'll be ok till I get sick again though:) 

I can't believe how fast this transfer is flying by! It doesn't help that everyone at the visitor center asks me how long I have been out and when I tell them they say, "oh you don't have much longer," or, "wow, your on the downhill now." Speaking of people at the visitor center, you should be getting a visit from a family that is in Uncle Lin's ward. They found out that I was from Highland and she gave me a big hug, then we discovered that Uncle Lin was my uncle and that he was their bishop! I don't remember their names but she was one of Aunt Debbie's counselors in the Young Women Presidency. Haha, it was kind of fun to see them. I didn't remember ever hearing that Uncle Lin was a Bishop either so that was a shock too:) You may have told me and I just forgot:). I also have been seeing Michelle Mitchell, my first roommate here at BYUH alot. She just got back from her mission in Taiwan and she keeps freaking me out cause she keeps calling my by my first name every time she sees me! That is seriously the weirdest feeling! I am going to be so awkward when I come home...It's ok though. I love being here more and more each day, and as difficult as it gets, I'm so grateful for all the trials that continue to humble me and keep me on my toes to become more like my Heavenly Father. 

This week we have been working alot with Beth and Angelina. Both of them would be baptized were it not for these concerns that they just don't have the courage to face right now. Chelsea, I liked your comparison with Lehi wandering in the wilderness for so long missing out on so many blessings because of their own disobedience. Maybe that is something they need to hear. We will definitely pray about that one. We did get Nina (Angelina) to fast with us on Sunday. She says that she wants that desire back but right now she just doesn't have it like she used to. She has some big changes and difficult decisions to make that she definitely has been putting off so we will continue to fast and pray and see how that one goes. Chelsea, we need you here to befriend her too cause she really won't click with anyone here in the ward so that is a hard thing as well. There is a new young couple that just moved in though who maybe we will ask to see if they can befriend her a bit.

This week we have also been trying to get to know the ward a bit better to find more people whom we can go visit and teach. One family we found who, according to the ward, we visited at just the right time. They had been struggling to be active for a while now but never really agreed to have the missionaries over to teach them, but just recently, they had a tragic death in the family that has been really hard for them so when we showed up on their doorstep on Sunday, they welcomed us in, fed us, and agreed to have us come back and share a message with the family. They actually said, "yeah, I think it would be really good for our family to hear some messages, we need that." Our Ward Mission Leader was surprised and said we must have come at just the right time. Our Heavenly Father certainly knows us so personally! 

In the Visitor Center, we continue to see more and more miracles. One lady came in, Roxanne, the other day and got her own "private tour" on the tram. When we first entered the Visitor Center, she was so impressed with the Christus so we played the narration for her and then asked her a few questions about it. Well she ended up telling us how her husband had passed away four months ago and how this was the first vacation she has gone on without him, and yet she didn't really feel alone. We were able to talk to her about the Book of Mormon and talk a bit about the Restoration and how because of the Restoration we have the ordinances in the temple that can seal a family together forever. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and invited her to read and pray about it. She said she would and although she wasn't comfortable with having the missionaries come visit her, she agreed to allow us to keep in contact with her and even took a picture with us:) She told us how she can feel her husband looking out for her all the time and I just know that he was on the other side, telling her to get on that tram at that time and to take the Book of Mormon when we offered it. I'm so excited for her to have the gospel in her life! I wish I had time to share all the other miracles we have seen as well! It's so fun to be a missionary:) 

This week is also going to be a full week. Tonight, my baby (sister Cavalcante:) is going to see the night show at the Polynesian Cultural Center, so I get to team up with Sister Peterson and teach some YSA investigators:) I miss doing that so that will be fun. Tomorrow we are doing service at Pearl Harbor again which Sister Cavalcante is super excited about since it is her first time. And Saturday is when Elder Holland comes! That is the meeting I'm saying the opening prayer for mom, not Elder Nelson's. I'm pretty sure we will all get to meet him since it is only the missionaries on this Island who are coming. I wish it was broadcast so you could all see it too but I will for sure take good notes:) I'm so excited! 

As far as my Spanish goes, it is still a work in progress. The more I work, the more I progress...jeje:) I do love being able to talk with Sister Cavalcante though. She is really good at putting sentences together and she has enough confidence to talk even if it is wrong. She adds Portuguese every once in a while but they are so similar that it is right a lot of the time anyways. She has given me more confidence too and for language study we spend a lot of time role playing in Spanish or just talking as much as we can. It has been so good for me even though I still struggle a lot, I can understand, and express myself a bit better. I just wish we had more opportunities to speak to others. We haven't really seen any real Spanish speakers since we got hear. Maybe only 2 or 3. Oh well, we just keep going. I know I am going to look back on this someday and everything will be clear to me why I was put in this situation. I am still so grateful though. I love the opportunities I have here. PS. I do have my Guatemalan flag now. I'll take a picture one of these days so you can see it :)

Well I love you all so much and continue to pray for you each and every day. Always remember that it is those times where it is impossible to see a light at the end of the tunnel when we just put our hand in the hand of the Lords and continue to walk. It's ok to stop and cry every once in a while. I know that He cries with us when that happens, but there will always be a way to take another step, simply because we have to. How grateful I am for the Atonement that provides us the comfort and strength we need as we do so. He truly has "borne our griefs and carried our sorrows" so that he can help us when we ask him and need it. I love you all so much and continue to pray for you always! This Gospel is true, the Atonement is real, prayer works and the Book of Mormon is so powerful! 

Les Quiero Mucho,

Hemana Rowley (Shayla)

Week 48-Transfer 7

9/10/13

Aloooooha!

Aloha Familia!

This week has been a good one. The down side is that I have been sick all week! Lots of people have been sick around here so it's something going around, but I feel so bad because I am supposed to be training! I only stayed home for a few hours one day to sleep and the rest I have been pushing through. I'm really sick of being sick though! Yes mom, I drank pineapple juice and actually finished off my wheat-grass. Despite being sick though, this week has been one full of miracles:) It's so fun to be back here with all the sisters again and to relearn the way things run around here. I can't believe I’ve been here for a few weeks already! Time goes by so fast! 

This week was a busy one with the 50th anniversary of the Polynesian Cultural Center going on. This was a big ordeal here in the community of Laie. It was mostly for Alumni so it didn't really affect us much except for Saturday when we got to be in the parade! All 28 of us sisters dressed up in our tram mumus and rode our tram near the start of the big parade:) We waved and sang hymns throughout the community of Laie and seemed to be a big hit with everyone trying to find "their" missionaries:) The best part was at the end when we were headed towards BUYH and on the corner there were a bunch of chairs set up and we saw Elder Nelson and his wife! We just happened to be singing "We thank thee oh God for a Prophet" at the time and we all sang and waved with much more gusto:) He was here for a few days and got to see many of the PCC activities and even went to the temple but we were never able to meet him because he had such a busy schedule. We did get to go to a fireside with Sister Nelson though that was just for the Relief Society. It was amazing and one of our investigators even came which I think was really good for her! 

So the investigator that came to the fireside, Beth, has been investigating the church for about 22 years now. She is a wonderful Filipino lady who just has a few unknown concerns as to why she won't agree to baptism. She does have a testimony though and her son is an active 15 year old member who goes to early morning seminary each day and is planning on going on a mission. She comes to church, watches General Conference, fully supports her son, and even held a calling for a few years. We will for sure continue to work with her and answer her questions so that she can be baptized, cause she does want to! It's interesting to see how the Lord works to prepare people. This is truly His work and I just feel happy being a part of it:) 

So both of the investigators that we have right now really are former investigators who have been meeting with the missionaries for a while. So while we will for sure work with them to help strengthen their faith and resolve their concerns, we are working on finding more people to teach. It's an interesting process when the ward boundaries consist of two blocks of houses, which we share with another set of missionaries. We will definitely need to get a little creative:) 

As far as the Visitor Center goes, I am slowly getting back into the swing of things. We have found some really great new investigators and seen some great miracles. One day a girl came in with her two friends. They just barely got to Hawaii for their first semester of BUYH. They all looked like members so I was telling them about how they could come in to the VC any time and watch movies or anything and that they could bring their non-member friends there as well. That is when one of them, Ellie, was like, "I'm not a member." "oh!" I said, "cool!" haha, kinda awkward, but it ended well don't worry:) I asked her if she knew anything about the church and she said no. She hadn't even realized she was going to a "Mormon" school:) She just came cause it was in Hawaii:). I asked if she was interested in learning more from the missionaries and she said she was. So I got her information and then said that we could show them around. We showed them the original copy of the Book of Mormon in Hawaiian and explained the importance of the Book and the power of conversion that it has. We offered her a copy and she said that she wanted one and would read and pray about it. After that, we told her there were many other displays such as the temple corner, prophets corner and the 15 min presentation of "God's Plan for the Family." We asked her what she would like to do and she said everything! So we showed her everything and were able to invite her to be baptized. She had never been baptized in her own church because she never felt ready so she said if she found out that this was true she would be baptized! So cool! Sister Peterson and I will be teaching her and we will get to keep tabs so we are pretty excited:) She is so awesome! 

Well Familia, I love you all so much! I will for sure be praying extra hard this week for you. I am so grateful for this gospel and for how my testimony grows each day. His hand is in this work and in all our lives. I love the gospel and I love you all so much and pray for you always!

Les Quiero Mucho!

Hermana Rowley (Shayla)

 here is Sister Flores, Cavalcante and I:)

Pictures of us at the parade etc.:) The three of us are me and the two spanish sisters, The one with captain America...haha, all the super heros were at the parade and they saw that we wanted to get pictures but had to get on our tram so they all jumped on the tram so we could get pics:) Sometimes I love being a missionary:) the one with the horse was Sister Marks first time ever touching a horse:) Apparently they don't have horses in the part of Micronesia where she lives.

 

Week 47-Transfer 7

Aloooooha!

9/3/13

I'm so glad everything worked out with Tonya and the baby and everything! Baby Sadie is sooo cute! I guess I won't be using that name for one of my kids as I had hoped:) How did you get that bow on her? She hardly has any hair! Haha, she is adorable though:) Can't wait to meet her! 

So I am back at the Visitor Center with my new mission baby:) Sister Cavalcante (Kav-al-kan-chee) is her name. She is 19, was born and raised in Brazil but lived in Provo for the last 5 or 6 years and called Spanish speaking! She has a fun personality and a strong desire to be a great missionary. She asks lots of questions and bears a powerful testimony:) She is great and I am so excited for this transfer. She has been doing really well in the tours and everything and was even able to give a tour all by herself in Portugese! We were pretty excited about that:) Since Portuguese is so close to Spanish, she understands everything and speaks better than I do so I am excited to learn! 

Coming back has been kind of difficult because so much has changed in Laie as far as the areas go. And it doesn't help that I came back to 11 new sisters who came out while I was gone so I didn't know any of them. It was a shock to walk back in the VC and I only knew 1 sister in there! I am getting to know all of them now and just love them! They have brought in so much personality and culture. We now have sisters from Russia, Samoa, Mexico (Hermana Flores is also called Spanish but never spoke it growing up cause she grew up in the states. But she does make delicious authentic Mexican food!!!!), Korea, Japan, Micronesia, Philippines, Ukraine, Brazil, China, Canada, and all over the United States! (If you caught that, there are now 3 Spanish speaking sisters here who don't speak Spanish. Haha! That is super rare but kinda fun now that we can practice together:) One cool thing though is that with all the different languages here they finally decided that I could have a Spanish flag to go on my mumu, so guess which one I chose, Guatemala! I figured that since my first name comes from there and also since my trainer was from there, that would be a good country to represent. So now people will actually know that i'm Spanish speaking!:) 

So as far as areas go, there are now two companionships of sisters covering one area which consists of two different wards. We are on opposite shifts at the Visitor Center so now I guess we can have both wards covered pretty much all day. I don't know if that makes sense, but it is super different and confusing and has a lot of kinks to work out but I think it will all be good in the end:) Sister Cavalcante and I are in the same area, and same pad as Sister Moyes and Sister Eaton (one of the sisters I didn't know, who is Russian:) We have a lot to work out but things are beginning to settle into place now. 

It is clear to me that Heavenly Father still has so much to teach me. I know that it will for sure take a lifetime to get it right, but I am slowly learning to put my trust in Him. I know that prayer works! I know that He is always listening and that more than anything, I need to talk to Him, cause I need His Atonement! The Savior lives and is so patient, so loving, and so merciful and long-suffering! I read a quote recently that Elder Holland said, "God cheers on every runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other." That is so true! Knowing that makes me so grateful for the Atonement and so much more patient with mine and others shortcomings. We are all trying to be like Jesus:) 

Speaking of Elder Holland, come September 21, the Island of Oahu is going to have a special missionary conference for all the missionaries on Oahu and guess who is going to be the speaker?!... Elder Holland! And guess who is singing in a choir for him and also giving the opening prayer?! Yep! Yours truly:)! Everyone here is pretty excited about that. There is also excitement about how Elder Nelson is going to be here for the CES fireside at BUYH. Hopefully we can get some investigators to go to that one:) 

One exciting thing about being back is that I get to see people in my old wards such as Brandon:) He just got back from New Jersey and I can tell how much his testimony has been growing. As I talked with him, I asked him about serving a mission and he said he wanted to but probably after he finishes school. I told him he would never regret going as soon and possible and made sure he knew to pray about it. Well a few days later he saw me again and said that he had received an undeniable prompting and he was going to fill out his mission papers ASAP.  I am so excited for him! A mission will be so good for him and he will be able to touch so many lives! 

Well, I am so happy to be on a mission here in Hawaii. I love it here and I love the gospel so much! Thank you as always for being such an amazing example for me. I am so grateful for your love and support and testimonies. I love you and I pray for you always. 

Les Quiero mucho!

Hermana Rowley