4 Months!!

Hey family!

Wow have i really been out four months? it kind of blows my mind... but in a good way:) This will probably be a pretty short email because this was a pretty slow week:)

We had just about EVERY lesson fall through this week so we did a whole heck of a lot of walking and sweating:) we decided that either heavenly father has someone really special in store that he wants us to find and we havent found them yet, or hes just keeping us humble:) maybe a little bit of both! But even though its been slow, it has been a really good week. even though we only taught five lessons this whole week, we went home feeling fulfilled! being fulfilled is a good feeling and its one that i wish i had worked harder to feel before my mission. but because we have been showing our faith by walking and walking and walking... and a little bit of knocking, heavenly father lets us know hes proud and he appreciates the effort! the other sisters serving in our ward made up a little jingle about our experince (i wish i could sing it for you) but it goes like this: "everything be falling through, fallin through.. we be knocking doors, DOORS! they're empty houses!" its pretty fun and its been our theme song this week:)

we did have some fun things this week though! on saturday we went to a luau that our complex put on and it was SO effective! We did the cupid shuffle and afterwards everyone was coming up to us and asking who we were! and then we got attention because we were walking around drinking capri suns while everyone else had beers and margaritas:) we didnt even think about it! but we stood out:) who knew that we could be an example of the believers by drinking capri suns!

oh and we have this one investigator who is totally awesome! he is fifteen years old and he was watching the south park that talks about mormons and he got curious so he looked us up! and then he requested a book of mormon so we took one over to him and he told us he really likes our church! and he came on sunday and loved it! his mom isnt too interested but she totally and completely supports him in whatever he wants to do! So thats fun:) we have a few other investigators that could be really solid we have just been having trouble seeing them, so hopefully that will turn around a little this week!

so i just wanted to share some of the changes that have been taking place in our mission and many others, because these things are such a testimony that this work is really hastening! So first of all we have been told to introduce ourselves and missionaries whose purpose is to help people prepare to be baptized.. like on the street, right when we meet them, that is the first thing that comes out of our mouths! second, we have been instructed not to set baptism dates more than two months out. so if they cant be prepared for baptism in within 2 months, we have to stop meeting with them. (the ogden utah mission has said within 3 weeks). And if we are teaching people and they arent progressing, meaning they arent keeping commitments, we have to stop meeting with them. If members arent keeping commitments, we have to stop going over there. If less actives arent keeping commitments, we have to stop meeting with them. It seems harsh, but its an exercise of our faith. if they arent progressing, they arent prepared, and we need to be spending our time out finding those who are prepared! and if these are what we have been asked to do, it must mean that there ARE people who are so prepared that they can be baptized in a month! We have to keep our lessons under 30 minutes and we should wherever possible meet with people 3 times a week. people, this is urgent! This work is speeding up and taking off, are you on board? This is such an exciting time:)

well i love you all so much! and hope you have an awesome week:)

love always, sister rowland