Week 57-Transfer 8

Alooooha!

11/12/13

I'm so sorry to hear that you got sick too! I seem to have passed it on to everybody. The sisters here are getting it one by one. They all have the same exact symptoms so I tell them just go to bed and sleep for 3 days. I am all better now. I even have started working out again. I hope you all get all better soon!

This week has been so good other than me being sick:) We met with Alex every day before her baptism to help her stay strong. She really was having a hard time with all the opposition she was receiving from her non-member friends at school and her family. Thursday night we had a meeting with her at the VC and she came and was joking around as usual, but then she was like, "I told Ethan (her friend who ended up baptizing her) today that maybe I just shouldn't get baptized cause it's just getting pretty hard and he gave me a lecture and told me to come to the temple and pray today so can you two go outside?" We all then went out and prayed together and then watched some Mormon messages and then spent the rest of the time just talking. I guess it helped cause she was all excited again for her baptism. She had gone all out and handed out invitations to everyone and had her program planned like a week in advance. 

The day of the baptism came and I have to say that it's definitely up there with my favorite baptisms! The turnout was unreal! The entire chapel was filled. More people came to this than went to church! Beth and her husband came because their son Brigham was speaking and another investigator in the ward that the other sisters are teaching, Kalani, came and later told Alex that she was such an inspiration to him and makes him want to be baptized. She also had some non-members from school come to "support" her and even her grandma and little sister came! Apparently there was a lot of drama with that one and she almost didn't have anyone from her family come but her little sister Taylor wanted to come so bad so the grandma brought her. Alex looked so beautiful! She was sooo nervous at the beginning. After the baptism she kept saying, "wow, I feel so clean!" Even after the confirmation the next day she was like, "It's kind of eerie how clean I feel even now!" She bore her testimony after and just glowed of happiness. The line to give her leis afterwards was so long it was more like a graduation or a farewell rather than a baptism. Why can't every baptism be like that! Why can't everyone receive that much support and love from the ward and community? She is definitely more outgoing than most, but she needs that love and support so much and it was so great to see that. I think it was really great for her grandma to see as well. Her grandma was even smiling by the end! 

It was such a great experience, but I wish that a few of the people that we had invited had been able to make it. A giant storm and flood was the excuse of many for not being able to come, including Nina. The storm was pretty crazy though. We had been getting flood warnings for the past few days and the rain really hit that night. One of the poles for the power lines near the PCC was actually struck by lightning and fell down, causing the power to go out along that road for 5 hours (including our pad) and people driving back to Laie from town had to stay on that side or drive around the whole Island to get back home. It was pretty insane. I'm so glad that things could work out for her special day regardless of the weather. 

This week is the last week of transfers. It goes by so fast! Sister Cavalcante is finishing her training now and is all grown up;) I hope one of us gets to stay in this area at least. I love this ward and the people we are teaching so much! Nina and Beth have progressed so much from the time we first got here and I know that they could be baptized within the next few months for different reasons. There is always so much work to be done and I'm so grateful to be a part of it! I am so grateful for the scriptures and prayer and the power of the priesthood and for so many blessings that Heavenly Father has given me! My heart is full and I love my Savior so much! He truly is always there for us and blesses us with miracles continuously! 

As for Christmas, I do still have the decorations from last Christmas and am excited to put them up this next transfer (can you believe Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years is all in next transfer?!). I'm not sure what to ask for except maybe that recorder, and the CD of the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert last year;) (apparently one of the missionaries serving here was a dancer in the show last year). I honestly don't know what else to tell you though. I do definitely want a lot of love in it:) I will love anything that is sent. You are the best family in the whole wide world! I love you and miss you all and pray for you always! Thank you for all of your prayers and love.

Les Quiero Mucho,

Hermana Rowley (Shayla)

Here are some pics from the Baptism. The last on is with her lil sister and grandma and Ethan

This is a common occurrence bless her heart:)

The effects of cockroaches...

Week 56-Transfer 8

Alooooha!

11/5/13

What a week! It has been pretty fun and exciting with Halloween and getting Alex ready for her baptism and everything. She is soooo excited! She says she feels like it is her sweet 16:) The best part was when she bore her testimony in church on Sunday! As the meeting started we were joking around with her saying that she should go up and share her testimony and she was like, "no way! I'm not ready for that yet!" When it was time for people to start going up, Sister Cavalcante lead the way. Alex was freaking out and she leaned over and said, "can anyone go up there?" "Yes!" I replied. "Will you go up if I do?" She asked. "Of course!" I said. The next time there was a pause
she reached over and said, "No, stay sitting!!!" Haha:) She kept squirming in her seat like she was still deciding so finally I got up to go bear mine. "Whoa!" She said, "do you want me to go with you!?"
"If you want." I replied. I was so happy to see her and Alana (her fellow shipper) get up while I was speaking and make their way to the stand. After I was done, she then proceeded to give the best testimony ever! She said, "Hi, I'm Alex, and I'm not a member yet so I don't
really know how to do this but I'm getting baptized on Saturday." She then told how she had been wanting to get baptized for the past 3 years but her family had told her they would disown her if she were to
be baptized, but since she has been meeting with the missionaries for the past few weeks she has decided that she knows its true and so she wants to be baptized anyways. She said how she had been told that she would be getting a ton of opposition for these few weeks before her baptism and she has seen that, especially with one of her classmates getting almost killed at the basketball game the day before, but that
just confirmed for her that God really does have a plan for us and that she knows even more that it is true from it. She has been such a neat example for all around her! She still gets so much opposition from her family and her preacher (who texts her all the time trying to dissuade her) but she still is so excited to go forward! She showed us the post she put on Facebook saying how she is going to be baptized and it will be so fun and the spirit will be so strong and so forth and so many people have commented and liked her post. I'm thinking we may have to use the chapel for this one:). One thing that I thought was really cool was that when we taught her the law of Chastity, she was like, "whoa, you don't even need to teach me this lesson! I'm going to keep this till the day I die! That's just gross! Can I get more of these pamphlets? I wanna give them out to people at school!" That is just the kind of person she is. She is going to do so much good! Even more than she already has:).

Well for Halloween I wore the same exact costume that I did last year:) Except this year I got to dress up in a mumu for half the day and be a Brazilian Sister Cavalcante:) That night we were not allowed to be out proselyting after 5 so our zone got together and played a ton of games. We were even allowed to stay out till 9:30 instead of 9! Missionary late night! It was so fun. We carved pineapples and played hard all night. We still got to bed on time but for some reason we
were all soooo exhausted the next day! Missionary parties are pretty intense for us...

Yesterday and today are our interviews with President Warner so it has been pretty interesting. Especially since the strangest thing happened to me Monday morning. Sunday night I was feeling just fine and things were going great, but then on Monday morning I was feeling slightly ill. I went to our Visitor Center Training Meeting, but while there for some reason things escalated. I felt so achy and sick! I don't
remember ever getting so sick so fast! I had shift that morning but when sister Adamson saw me she told me I needed to go home. She took my temperature and I had a fever. I guess that's why I was shivering like crazy. I wanted to stay for my interview so Elder Adamson gave me a blessing which calmed my shivers and I took some medicine. I was able to stay for the interview but after that I went home and slept all day and night waking up only to take some more medicine. I really do hate being sick away from home. I think I even called out for you a couple times mom. I am still feeling pretty sick but a little better than yesterday. I am just so grateful for the priesthood! It really was a miracle how my body calmed down after that blessing and I was able to have my interview. It was also a blessing of comfort saying how Heavenly Father was pleased with how I was serving and how I needed to be wise and rest for these next few days. As long as I get
better enough to get everything ready in time for Alex's baptism I'll be ok:) I am so grateful for the power of prayer and for a loving Heavenly Father who is watching over me.

I love this gospel so much! I love this work more and more! The gospel is true! It is real! Heavenly Father has such a plan for each of us that we can't even comprehend right now. Thank you so much for all the
pictures mom! Tyson and Alexa's costumes were so perfect:) Tyson looks like he could be Superman! A really tall superman! What's Chelsea trying to say by being the devil?...All the grand kids look so big! Is
that random little boy you keep sending me pictures of Alex?! It doesn't look anything like the other pictures I have of him! He is so cute and so big!  Be sure and let me know what happens with the
bishopric! Kylie actually came in Sunday and told me about Bishop Lyman and she also told me about her mission call to Australia! I am so happy for her and it was so good to talk to her for a while. Well I love you all so much and pray for you always! The Church is true!

Les Quiero,
Hermana Rowley (Shayla)

Week 55-Transfer 8

Alooooha! y feliz dia de los muertos!

10/29/13

Aloha querido familia:)
All around us pumpkins are appearing and witches and ghosts are
peaking out of the windows. Here they don't have many fall
decorations, (I'm not sure if they know what fall is like) but the
Hawaiians LOVE Halloween! At least here in Laie. Apparently in our
ward they close off all of Moana St. and people from all over the
Island come to go trick or treating. People say that thousands of kids
trick or treat on that one street. I think this year I will be the
same that I was last year...a sister missionary. I think I look more
and more like one each day:)

This week has been pretty great. First off, Alex is getting
baptized!!!!!! So the first couple times we met with her she was
saying that she would just wait until she moved to Utah for school
till she got baptized so she wouldn't have to deal with the strong
opposition of her family, but then one day we said, "so you wanted to
wait to get baptized in Utah then?" and she replied, "Actually, no. I
think I want to get baptized here." So we set a date for November 9th
and everything is pretty much planned out. She is super excited and is
inviting the whole world. (She is like Brandon in that sense, very
popular). Just as expected, she is getting opposition from her family
that she lives with (her dad is in Rhode Island, her step-mom lives in
town, and her mom died when she was young). Her Grandma just told her, "fine, it's your soul" and her cousins have been a bit more forceful
than that even. She just told them, "if God didn't want me to be
baptized than He wouldn't have put me in this situation." I told her,
"wow, that's good reasoning." and she said, "yeah, isn't it
missionary?!:)" She is so funny and fun to teach and always seems to
have a positive outlook, which is so good in her situation. It was a
miracle and tender mercy when on Sunday she called her dad and told him and, after asking a ton of questions about it, he said that he
loves her no matter what she is and he supports her. She just started
bawling and was so happy that day. Especially since right after that
she texted her step-mom who says that she supports her as well and she will be at the baptism! I think that really helped her a lot to hear
that. Today she is going "Mormon shopping" (her words not mine:)) with the Millers (her fellow-shippers) to find some good church clothes.
Did I tell  you she used to be a model for Teenage Hollister modeling

jackets and t-shirts? She is just super awesome and I feel so lucky to

be able to teach her. I love her so much!

As far as Nina goes, we are taking it easy on her for a while now. The

decisions she has to make in order to move on seem too insurmountable for her right now so we are just going to go over and share messages of the Restoration and read from the Book of Mormon to help strengthen her faith. That is so important to have that strong solid foundation. Maybe that is what Heavenly Father is waiting for before he prepares the way. She needs to grow her faith. We love her so much though and have told her that we won't give up on her and she needs to not give up on herself and get too frustrated. I think she will get there with time.

Well that's about all as far as teaching in the area goes. We have a
few less actives we are working with on and off and we continue to ask for referrals and strengthen the members as best we can. And of course we are always looking for ways to improve. I feel like for me at
least, I don't really need to look for ways, they find me easy enough.
I feel so inadequate so much of the time. But then I guess if I didn't
feel that way than I would be prideful. The trick is to trust in
Heavenly Father. Right now, among other things, I'm reading the
Doctrine and Covenants. I think it's the first time other than that
time we read it for family scripture study a while back that I have
actually sat down and read it cover to cover. It really is quite
amazing! I love the way the Savior talks of Missionary work. He tells

the missionaries over and over to "fear not, for I am in your midst"

"be of good cheer" and other such uplifting phrases. I am so grateful
for my Savior, and for the power of prayer and the comfort and
direction that comes with it! This gospel is so real and the Atonement
is real! How grateful I am that this is the Lord's work and not mine:)

Well, time sure does fly and I am striving to not waste any minute of
it! I love you all so much and I pray for you siempre!

Les Quiero!
Hermana Rowley