WHAT A WEEK!! :):)

We both got packages on the same day!!

Hey family:)

I've been super excited all morning to be able to email! this week has been so amazing! seriously, the best week of my mission so far:) Its hotter 'n hades, but who cares! On tuesday, last week, we had a zone conference training thing and it changed my life! Elder Clark of the seventy came and did the training and it was so awesome! We learned so much, and we went home and cleaned up our act and the miracles have been pouring out ever since!

First change we made: we cut out dinner and lunch. We grab and go, and pack a dinner (so pretty much we have sandwiches for dinner every day.. but its still good!). That adds almost two hours to our proselyting time. and now we are making an effort to be "9:30 Missionaries". We have to be in at 9 every night unless we are teaching a lesson, so we have been making an effort to have a lesson at nine every night! so that adds another half hour. You think we'd be left with a bunch of free time, right? NO! because Heavenly Father blesses us when we try. and we have been so busy the last few days that we dont even have time to ride our bikes! we have had to take the car every day so that we can see everyone that we need to!

Second change: we changed our perspective. We decided to have faith and believe that Heavenly Father really is preparing people. I came into this area and saw that there hadn't been a baptism in months. Tampa is supposedly the hardest area in the mission, and gets the fewest baptism. When they told me that, I believed them! and what a mistake that was! Because once i accepted that, it became truth. Because i settled, I wasnt excercizing my faith! so we decided that tampa is now the easiest area in the mission, and will soon have the most baptisms. And we currently have six investigators with a baptism date set, and hopefully, eight more by the end of this week! So the mission average for baptism per missionary per year is 2.2... and its been that way for over 20 years!! why? because we just accept that! and if we get three baptisms, we see ourselves as over achievers and quit trying! we are SO living below our potential!

Third change: we decided to rely more on Heavenly Father to lead us. If ever we have a spare minute, we stop and pray and ask where he would have us go, and EVERY TIME we have found someone who is super prepared! We got 8 new investigators this week! and met plenty more people that we get to go follow up with this week.

Fourth change: we have been asking everyone for referrals! For every person that we forget to ask, we have to do five pushups at the end of the night! My arms are pretty sore... but now, everytime i wave goodbye to someone my sore muscles remind me to ask for referrals so it works! :) and we have been getting referrals left and right! sometimes from other people that we havent even asked yet!

and there are plenty more changes and the miracles are showering!

Elder Clark also said something that changed me, he asked everyone to stand up who has someone in their family who is inactive or is not a member. EVERY missionary in the room stood up. He then went around the room and asked everyone (over 200 missionaries) who it was and what they would do to have them accept the gospel. And we all agreed that we would do anything to have our family members accept it. Why? Because we want them to be with us in Heaven. Then he said "Every person that you pass on the street is someones brother/sister/father/mother/etc. What will you do for them?" Tears broke out around the room! i realized how selfish it is of me to walk past someone on the street because I'm afraid or it feels like an awkward situation. What if that was my family member? Wouldnt i want someone to say something! wouldnt i want someone to at least try! of course i would, and i hope and pray every day that someone IS trying to help my family to become part of our eternal family! So now, I try to never walk past anyone without invited them to do something.

You guys, Heavenly Father truly has come through for us this week and my heart is just overflowing with joy! I feel like Ammon! "There never were [sisters] that had so great reason to rejoice as we... and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God...now if this is boasting, even so will a boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation... blessed be the name of my God!"

I love you all so much:) and i hope you have an incredible week!!

Love always and forever, Sister Rowland