Week 72-Transfer 11

Aloooooha!

2/24/14

Hey family! 

Another great week here in Hawaii:) Actually it's been an interesting one. Satan really is working hard on me trying to make me discouraged and all when really things are going great! Jenny (one of our investigators with a baptism date) is really progressing so much. She is a Korean student and she had taken the lessons for a while now and just barely agreed to be baptized right before I got put in the area. Satan is working on her as well and she seems to be riding an emotional roller coaster. She ended up moving her date for the 8th instead of the 1st with no real good excuse. We warned her that it would just get harder and advised her to keep it on the first but she moved it anyways and later felt bad when she read in the scriptures about not procrastinating the day of your repentance (Alma 34:33). She is doing well now and reading and praying daily. She has a strong testimony that we can see growing the more we meet with her.

We also got a new investigator this week. Her name is Tiffany and she is from Lehi, Utah. She has two brothers who have joined the church. One of them is about to finish his mission in Texas and the other is about to be married in the Temple. Tiffany has never met with missionaries because of an interesting background but she really is searching for truth right now. She is so sweet and wants to do what is right. She has been praying a lot about it but as we talked with her we thought maybe she should make her prayers a little more specific. So she should be trying that in the next few days and said she wants to be baptized if she gets her answer. It really is a blessing to be able to teach her! 

The other investigators we have are so close to progressing but not quite because it is just so hard to find a time to visit with them! Students have such busy schedules! Jordan and Maria are the closest though. Maria wants to be baptized and had a date set but seems to be too busy to meet with in the past few weeks and Jordan was progressing and he goes to church and is dating a member preparing for her mission, but once again, he is too busy to meet with. Mom, you asked why I have so many Sunday meetings to go to compared to before. Well, this new area I'm in covers all the on-campus student wards and we need to go to as many as we can plus all the ward correlations (we don't usually get to these as much) and a stake correlation each Sunday. Not to mention the fact that Sunday's are when most Students have time to meet with us! Needless to say, Sundays can be quite taxing. It's all good though. I love being able to see so many people all day long! 

I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father. I am learning more and more each day that this is really His work. I thought I knew that already but somehow I guess not:). I'm not sure how I expected to feel at this point of my mission. I guess I figured from what others have told me, that it would be easier or something. I figured I would be better at it all and just reap the rewards. I do for sure feel sooo many blessings, but I feel just as inadequate as ever. My Spanish is certainly not where I had hoped, and I am continually being humbled, in every aspect it seems. Even though it is not expected, I can truly say that I am sooo grateful. When I was in Kahala ward in Honolulu with Sister Gleason, we went through so much together and as we were talking I mentioned, "I don't ever want an "easy" transfer, because when it's hard, that's when you change the most and get to know the Savior more then ever." I think I cursed and blessed myself at the same time:) It's so true though. I am so grateful for these times as hard as it may feel, these are the times when prayer becomes real and the Savior is the one I rely on. I am so grateful for prayer, the scriptures, the Atonement, family, and tender mercies of the Lord. I am so grateful for being able to serve and to lose myself in the service of others like never before. I am so grateful for the Savior! This gospel is so true! There is NO possible way any of us missionaries could do the things we are doing if it wasn't the Lords work! His hand is lifting us up and we feel the prayers of our families and there are angels all around us! 

I love you all so much! I can not believe you already have my room ready! I really don't feel like I am going home that soon! Thank you so much Chelsea for praying for me not to be weary or weird:) I need that a lot! haha, I'm excited to take care of all of you when I get home mom! I don't think I have mentioned this before, but my entire mission I have never been to the doctor for myself, but I have for almost every one of my companions! Yes, I have had to help take care of some medical issue with almost every companion:) For example, Sister Yoo has back problems and so we get to go to the Chiropractor once a week. I just tell people that I was being prepared for when I got home and could take care of all the sickies at home:) haha. I do hope you all feel better though! Remember that I love you and pray for you ALWAYS! 

Les Quiero Muchisimo!

Hermana Rowley (Shayla)

PS. I still haven't finished applying for EFY counselor...I think my Essay writing skills have decreased like 99% on my mission so it is taking me a while, but I was wondering if you happen to know more, the dates that we will be busy over the summer so I make sure to get those ones off. 

Week 71-Transfer 11

Aloooooha!

2/17/14

Aloha familia! Happy Valentines Day and Happy President's Day!

For Valentines Day we got to go share a message at a Senior Citizen's complex in Kahuku. It was a crazy day but turned out pretty good in the end. I LOVED the package! Thanks so much for the letter Dad! Happy Valentines Day! I will give you a hug and kiss for it when I get home:) We actually had no idea it was President's Day till this morning from the Senior Couples. It doesn't make too much of a difference to us except that we get no mail. Haha, not like that's too much different for me anyways....:) It did give me a chance to talk about my missionary work to a man at the grocery store when we were checking out. I asked him what he was doing for the holiday, which le​d​

to him asking me what I was doing, which led to my missionary work and the church! He had to leave quickly but it's always fun to talk to random people in the store about what we do:) 

Anyways, this week has been pretty crazy. Transfer weeks always are. I am loving being in the Young Single Adult wards! There is so much work to be done here and I really love teaching people around that age group! We have 2 with dates for baptism and 4 progressing investigators and a really solid Potential investigator who we will probably set a date with this week. It is so exciting! I think this is the perfect area to finish up in. The only thing I'm not super excited about i​s​ Sundays. I love sacrament meeting and church and everything, but going to 5 or 6 sacrament meetings, plus ward counsel meetings and Stake correlation meetings all day long is something I'm not too used to. I think dad, that I understand what you meant. I admit, I was fighting to stay awake the whole time. I did love the chance I got to meet so many new people from the wards though! 

So as a mission we are reading the Book of Mormon in 80 days together. We have been doing it since January first and we are half way through Alma now. It's amazing to me how much I have grown to LOVE the Book of Mormon! It truly is a book inspired of God. Every time I read it I learn so much more than the time before. I love reading about Alma and Amulek and Ammon and his brothers especially. I feel like I can learn so much more from them now, since I'm a missionary and they are like the greatest missionaries ever! 

Something that I have been thinking about lately, because of transfers, and watching the sisters react to where they have been put, is that Heavenly Father truly does love us so much. There is a parable that Jesus Christ gives in the New Testament. He says, "if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:11-13)  If we needed bread, fish, or eggs; stones, serpents or scorpions would be useless and harmful right. I think one thing that the Savior was trying to teach is that Heavenly Father does not give us useless or harmful things

​.​

There are some situations in transfers or in life that simply seem unfair. I have felt it a lot in my life and am just beginning to realize that truly, nothing is "unfair." Heavenly Father truly can make all things be for our good. He can "consecrate [our] afflictions for [our] gain." (2 Nephi 2:2) I have been working so much on my mission, on counting my blessings. It's amazing the difference it has made in my perspective. When I find myself thinking about all the reasons my mission is hard or things that I lack spiritually, or even comparing myself with others, it's amazing how quickly my attitude can change when I begin to count my blessings, forget myself, and get to work. Just like Nephi did in 2 Nephi 4:) 

Sorry this has been a little random, this week really has been just as random:). This transfer we are working on getting the area book in order since a lot of things have changed recently and the area book is kind of a mess, and we are just going to share the gospel with everyone and help them come closer to Jesus Christ through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End (the most important part:)! I love this work and am doing my best to be the kind of missionary Heavenly Father expects of me. There are a lot of mistakes I make and a lot of things I need to work on, but that just makes me all the more grateful for the Atonement in my life! I love you all so much and have been and will be praying for you always! You are the best!

Les Quiero,

Hermana Rowley (Shayla)

That's me and Alex before I left the area, and then me and my new companion, Sister Yoo:)

Week 70-Transfer 10

Alooooooha!

2/10/14

Aloooooha familia!!!! 

So that time has come again...the news of transfers...This is the time that I got to find out who my last companion will be and my last area. And the verdict is...Sister Yoo in the YSA wards! Sister Yoo just happens to be another Korean too:) I'm super excited. I am going to miss the Laie 5th ward since I was there for 6 months, but I love working with the YSA students! And we already have 2 with a baptism date coming up! Sister Yoo is such a hard worker and such a great missionary so I know I will end my mission strong:) And another perk is that I get to be padmates with Sister Takatsu and Mark again! Both who have the same release date as me! I am so excited for this next transfer! Also, Sister Kim found out that she is going to be training a new full on American sister, which she is nervous about, but she will be so great! 

This Tuesday, we got to go to the Temple! I LOVE going so much! I wish that we could go more than once every other month, but I know we are lucky to be able to go as much as we do. I feel like my week is that much better when I get to go attend the temple. Just like you said mom, it really puts things more into perspective.

Something really neat happened the other day. So we went into the distribution center across from the Visitor Center for something and as we walked out, we saw these two guys sitting on the floor using the outlets on either side of the doors to charge their phones. Well we thought nothing of it really because it was something a student or local would do, so we just said "aloha" and kept walking. Well about 5 or 10 steps away I got that now familiar feeling, "I need to talk to them." I hate getting that feeling when I'm so far away but that's usually when it comes. I of course have to think about it for a second but finally I said, "Should we go talk to them?" Sister Kim of course smiled and said, "Sure!" So we retraced our steps and attempted to begin a conversation with them. "Oh," the older one replied with a laugh, "he won't understand unless you know Spanish." What are the odds...I happen to know a little bit of Spanish! I can't tell you everything that was said in that conversation, mainly because I couldn't understand very much due to the echoes in the courtyard and the soft and fast manner in which they talked in Spanish, and I'm not sure they even understood everything I was trying to say. But I do know that I needed to talk to them for one reason or another, and I know that Heavenly Father truly does know and love EACH and every one of us! It is amazing to work in the Visitor's Center and see little miracles like that where a certain guest will arrive at a certain time and talk to a certain sister that is able to share a certain experience that touches them the most. Heavenly Father really is in the details of this work! How fun to be a part of that! 

Another neat experience I had was on tram day. One of our trams around 5:40 or so, we had only a family of 3 join us (most are at dinner at that time). There was a mom and her 10 year old daughter and then the grandma. The grandma had been to Salt Lake and so knew a little about the church. Sister Kim talked mostly to her. The mom knew a little bit simply because she had been looking into different religions and had a Book of Mormon (I love people like that!). Anyways, usually when we stop the tram at the VC, we let them take pictures and then show them into the VC. This time however, the grandma pointed over at the courtyard opposite and said, "What’s that?" So we decided to show them that. Now in the courtyard is a statue of Lehi blessing his son Joseph from the Book of Mormon, as well as miniatures of the friezes that are around the top of the actual temple. Does that make sense? Anyway, so there are 4 different sections: Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Latter days. I will include a picture we have of the Latter day one. Anyhow, so every section has people from that time and kind of tells the story. Well I had never used these in teaching, but I did discover at this moment how easy it makes to tell the story of the Restoration of the church! So I began at the Old Testament and talked about how all the prophets then testified of Jesus Christ, and then moved to the New Testament and talked about the life of Christ. It was neat because they could see the figurines of Christ performing the miracles and everything. I then moved to the Book of Mormon and talked about how it went right along with the bible in testifying of Jesus Christ. I then talked about the apostasy and restoration, leading strait into the Joseph Smith story and latter-days. The spirit was so strong and the mom even commented and said, "it feels so good here! There is a warm feeling inside that just expands. It's different, so good!" I was able to testify of the Spirit and of Heavenly Father's love for her and how the Book of Mormon can help her find answers. Her daughter said, "Mom, can we look at the book right when we get home!" "Yes!" she replied, "I'll get the other religious books out too, but the Book of Mormon will be number one!" She has been searching a lot in her life and I believe that she will finally be able to find her answer, because it is true!!!!!! I love this gospel so much! 

This week we had special training from the superintendent of communications in the church, meaning he is over Visitor Centers, Historical sites, and anything media related. It was so good and I learned so much! I really am so blessed to be a part of something so big! The church is just incredible in how it finds ways to help people feel the spirit and want to learn more! The gospel is certainly rolling forth! 

You should send a picture of Alexa without her braces! Congrats! That would be neat to be able to work at girl’s camp, but I would have to see with EFY as well. Go ahead and send me the letter though if you can! I love you so much and continue to pray for you always! This work is the Lords work and it will never be finished till the end!:) Love you so much!

Les Quiero!

Hermana Rowley

PS I did take that picture of the temple last week. You don't need to be a good photographer to catch an image like that! It was an amazing sunset! 

Here is a picture of the "latter-day" frieze on top of the temple. Miniatures are in the courtyard across from the Visitor center so people can see them up close. 

Week 69-Transfer 10

Aloooooohaaaa!

2/3/14

Aloha Familia!

Can you believe it is February already?! As Sister Kim reminds me every day..."Time flies!" I have continued to see so many miracles here! So Wednesday night was our "girls night" with Beth. Yes mom, I guess it is a little different for a missionary:) Basically it was a sneaky way to get her out of her house and teach her. It turned out to be so good! We went to this new little place called, "Rindes and Grindes" and ate Acai bowls together with Sister Feagai. She opened up a lot with us and we were able to teach her some gospel principles along with it. Sister Feagai is such a perfect fellow-shipper for her because they are such good friends already and their situations are so similar. The only difference between their situations really is that Sister Feagai has the Gospel and Beth does not right now. Beth even said that she wished that she could be as strong as Sister Feagai. It was really neat because she was telling us of the experience that she had when Brigham got his Patriarchal Blessing. She said she just kept crying and she didn't know why and there were so many things that were going through her head and she still can't explain what was going on. We got to testify to her that that was the spirit!!!! That's exactly how it works! I think she really does know and she is getting closer. She said she would be fine to meet with us like that again. I think she just doesn't want to be at her house. We are hoping to do something at least once a week. We talked to Sister Feagai about it but we will have to see. It was really neat to see Brigham get up and bear his testimony yesterday. We weren't able to hear the entire thing cause he was crying too hard, but the spirit was strong and we heard "turning 16 this month," "priesthood," "baptize," "working hard to be worthy" and "mom." I know that he has been hoping that his mom would be ready by the time he became old enough to baptize her. He is such a good kid and definitely was sent to her for many reasons. I know that she has definitely been thinking about it a lot. The next step for her though is to get her to church again! We are still praying hard for her! 

Another miracle was that we got a new investigator this week! On Saturday we were just visiting members in the ward, getting to know them and such, when we walked past the Pasi's house. We know them really well so we weren't planning on stopping, but their door was open and we could see both of them sitting inside, which was unusual because usually Brother Pasi is at work. Anyways, we decided to stop and say hi and when we got to the door Sister Pasi pointed across the room and said, "oh sisters! Come in! She's a non-member, she wants to learn more and she's coming to church tomorrow!" At first we thought she was joking because that just doesn't happen, especially in Laie. But sure enough, Brother Pasi's cousin, Louise was sitting there...and she was exactly as described:) We sat down next to her and got to talk to her a bit. She is actually from Washington and just here for a visit. She will most likely be leaving tomorrow (Tuesday) night but she is interested in learning more while she is here. We told her a little about the Book of Mormon and talked about her religious background and such. We gave her a copy of the BOM with our testimony in it the next day and she said that she would read it! She came to all 3 hours of church and wrote down questions to anything she didn't understand that she asked us later. We then were able to teach her a lesson at the Visitor Center that day and gave her all the pamphlets. It was so good how Brother and Sister Pasi shared their testimonies about the Restoration and how much it blesses their life. It was really good for Brother Pasi as well because he was baptized only 2 or so years ago after investigating for many years. Hopefully we will be able to teach her one more time tomorrow before she leaves and then send the missionaries in Washington to her after that. We also get to keep in contact with her because of the Visitor Center! So neat yeah?!

We also had a really interesting experience last night at our dinner appointment. The Miller's uncle was there who was not a member but they have been trying to convert him for years and he has been so stubborn. For our dinner message, we shared about the Book of Mormon and how it is another testament of Jesus Christ. It was really good and the spirit was strong. It was interesting though because just as we were pretty much finishing up, his sister spoke up and asked "What would be your fear that's holding you back from joining the church?" Some of the family members gave their input on what they think it would be and then he spoke up with some doctrine that was taught in his church (which taught strait from the bible) that wasn't taught in our church. That got it all started. There of course was an answer to every concern he had, but he kept repeating himself and trying to go around the questions we asked him. At one point I asked, "do you believe the Book of Mormon could be the word of God?" He went off on how the bible was sufficient and some other stuff and then looked at me like he answered my question..."So do you believe the Book of Mormon could be the word of God?" I asked again. He kept retorting back with doctrine that really didn't make sense and finally had to admit that he hadn't ever sincerely prayed about the Book of Mormon. We testified that it was the word of God and that if he would pray about it, then he would receive an answer! Thankfully the spirit was there the entire time and we know that he felt it! Hopefully someday his heart will be softened and he will embrace the gospel! It's amazing how much Satan works to confuse people! God is definitely NOT a God of confusion though, and this church is His church on earth! It's so simple and so true!!!!! 

I have had quite a few intense experiences like that so far on my mission and it amazes me how much my testimony has grown from them! I truly am so grateful for the Atonement and the knowledge that we have and that I have learned on my mission! I cannot believe you already got my itinerary! We don't get it till a week or two before we leave. Guess they want you to be prepared:) I love you so much and I continue work hard so the blessings can be sent home:) I love you all and pray for you always!

Les Quiero Mucho! 

Hermana Rowley (Shayla)

Look what I taught everybody!!!! WOW MOM!!!!!