Our first Email :)

Hey family!!

Thanks everyone for the emails.I dont have enough time to write each of you back individually but i promise i read them and loved them! and i love hearing what is going on with everyone. still havent heard from preston though... you stinker! or ethan! i guess JC is my only brother that loves me.... :)

 

Well wow... where to begin? So ya'll saw pictures! I am in florida! It was so crazy running into steve at the airport. I saw him right as i was boarding, it was super sureal to see someone that i actually knew, it took me a second to remember how i knew him! but it was great to talk to him and i was glad he was able to tell you guys because i knew i wasnt going to be able to talk for awhile. Did you get the letter i wrote the first night here? it was kind of quick and that night was super stressful so i dont remember what i wrote. But so the next day we had meeting after meeting and then we got assigned to our companions and our areas. my companion is sister chadwick, she is 22 years old from idaho (my second companion from idaho, i must just be way compatible with idahoians :p) she has only been out for 3 months!! so basically she finished her training and now she is training me. she is a super great missionary though and we are working really hard to make some changes in this area. which brings me to my area... i am in the tampa 4th ward!! so i'm in tampa but its like a subcity of it called town and country. It actually super ghetto... like mostly trailor parks and apartment buildings. except for a small section of houses comparable to amy nash's neighborhood. so our ward is pretty diverse. i like it though because honestly poor people are more humble, and they realize that they need christ. alot of people will listen to us, just because they love jesus christ, even if they dont want to be a part of our church they commend us for what we do! its really great:) its crazy how poor people here are though. ive never seen so many homeless people in my life, and even the people with homes dont have much. there's not povertly like this in salt lake really. it makes me really sad, but it motivates me more to share our message of hope with anyone who will listen!

 

wednesday was our only real day in our area and it was mostly a day of trying to find people. we didnt have any progressing investigators when i came out, now we have two... lets hope they keep progressing! then the next day they sent us to downtown tampa to do a training. they basically just let us loose and we have to pass out as many pass along cards as we can. people in downtown are too busy to really listen to the message, so missioanry work there is basically just planting seeds. we were on the bus most of the time so we were able to teach a few lessons. you meet so many interesting people!! and its surprising how nice and friendly people can be... and also how rude:) it was really different though. on thursday night we went to a hockey game and stood outside passing out cards. i honestly hated it and i pray i dont get called to that area:) but i learned alot!

 

Then we got back to our area and got back to work. oh i forgot to mention, my first night here we went out contacting ( we arent allowed to knock doors so we just go walk and find peole on the street), and we met this lady named april. she was super interested in our message and we had an appoinment with her saturday and sunday! she is honestly golden, she has been through so much and she came to tampa searching for god. she talks to him, she has a testimony of everything we teach, she loves the book of mormon and the way she feels reading it. we invited her to be baptized and she said she has to think about it, she just really wants to make sure she is committed to this, because she is the kind of person that wont back out of promises. I love her so much! and she really was prepared to meet us. we also taught an... interesting lesson to this man that my companion and her previous companion had found. we met him and the library and he was sooooooo drunk! it was honestly the funniest thing ever. so instead of teaching him the plan of salvation like we had intended, we taught him the word of wisdom :p he spit out his tobacco right there! which was great! but discusting... he has a baptismal date set so we are really working on helping him be ready for it! and word of wisdom is really the only issue.

 

our ward is really great! there are some people who are super involved in the work but there are alot who i think are tired of being told to be involved. they have kind of lost interest i guess. so we have our work cut out for us so we can get them excited about this again! we also have alot of less actives that we have been working with. this area has a ton of potential and we are really trying to figure out where to invest our time and efforts that will bring the most return in the long run (if that makes sense). our mission has been given a goal to be teaching 20 lessons a week per companionship. and honestly we just arent there right now. we are being left to find people, and its just not as effective as it would be if the members were really involved in getting there friends and family to meet with us. this past week we only taught 7 lessons. mind you, we were out of our area for two and a half days. but its still not where it needs to be. i think we are almost there though:) the ward just needs a little push. they need to see that missionary work is fun, but not only that, its important.

 

umm... i cant really think of anything else to say. oh mom, that picture works fine:) and can you send me a twin size blanket for my bed? it doesnt ahve to be super thick, but i just need like a quilt or something out of the closet. that would be super great!! i miss you guys so much but honestly i love it here. i really want to be here, and i think that surprised me. i expected to get out here and want to go home, but i dont! i want to be here:) heavenly father is really helping me to be the person i need to to be an effective missionary. i used to be so shy! and i used to get major anxiety over anything new or any change of plans, but now i'm not shy! i can talk to anyone:) and plans change all the time, and things come up that werent expected and i can just go with it. i dont feel stressed or nervous or worried. and that was about all i ever used to feel. heavenly father truly does make weak things strong. i'm so glad you guys are reading scriptures!! keep doing it:) it will truly bless us as a family. the closer we get to god the closer we will get to each other as well. i love you all sooooo much!! i'm glad to be able to call you my family:) also, with the blanket could you send some pictures that i can put up in our apartment and show people when we visit. just some family pictures. also, dad, that other email never got to me. just so that you know:) well i have to go! i love you! thanks for everything that you do for me:)

 

love forever and always, sister rowland:)

And her address is:

6706 Camden Bay Dr. #103

Tampa, Florida 33635