Hey mommy :)
Things were up and down this week! The week was off to a pretty rough
start, after I talked to president Cusick I just felt embarrassed and
dumb as well as the depressed feelings I already felt:/ And I haven't
been sleeping very well, so on top of everything else I have been
exhausted. Then about Friday-ish things began to pick up and get a
little bit better.Thursday we went on exchanges with he STLs. One of
them is going home this transfer and she is an awesome missionary. It
was really good to be able to talk to her and she told me that she had
very similar experiences as mine at the beginning of her mission. She
remembers countless times of just wanting to go home, but now that
she's going home in three weeks she doesn't want it to end. She
promised me I'd get to that point too:) that made me feel better! Then
on Friday we went over to see one of our investigators that was
supposed to be baptized last month but didn't make it to his date. We
ended up just dropping him because he was so depressed and stressed
and just wasn't ready for baptism. But we went to check on him and he
told us about how he is planning on going to college and work on
getting a real job and just started talking about all of these goals
that he has. We mostly just listened. Then at the end he said a prayer
and in the prayer he asked Heavenly Father to help him take these
final steps to be baptized and get the Holy Ghost. After the prayer we
asked him if he was ready to set a date, and he asked if he could be
baptized three weeks from now. we said no. Haha jk obviously we were
ecstatic!

Oh I forgot, on Thursday we also set a baptism date with the cute 80
year old woman I mentioned whose husband recently passed away! Then on
the bike ride home on Friday we stopped and invited this lady to
church, and as she was walking away she turned back and said, "do you
guys to baptisms? I have a friend who wants to get baptized!" What a
miracle! We haven't been able to get back in contact with her but we
are working on it:) Saturday was a good day too! We were able to help
a man move into his new house and he came to church Sunday!

Sunday was rough again though:/ I just woke up feeling sad and then on
top of all that, none of the five investigators that were supposed to
come to church showed up! None. So Sunday night I texted one of the
senior couples serving in our ward, ( they are like our ward
grandparents) and asked if he would give me a blessing. He said he
would love to, and then somehow word made it to the bishop that I was
struggling and had asked for a blessing. So he called me and told me
"I love you, I love you, I love you, and I don't want any of my girls
to feel sad." :) he said that I could come and talk to him or his wife
any time and that all I had to do was call and he would drop
everything.

So Elder Severinson came and gave me a blessing. It was exactly what I
needed! I didn't even tell him that I hadn't slept well for weeks and
he blessed me that I would get a good nights rest and wake up in the
morning refreshed. In the blessing he also assured me that God knew
the desires of my heart, but despite those desires I am right where I
need to be. I needed to hear that so badly. He and his wife then gave
me some wise grandma and grandpa advice, hugged and kissed me and told
me they loved me. I by this point am bawling my eyes out:)

And today they are going to pick us up and take us to a lake! So I
will try and send pictures if I get a chance! If not I will send them
next week :)

But anyways, now I am doing a lot better! I know that I'm where I need
to be, and I know that things aren't going to be easy, but I know that
Heavenly Father is aware of me, and he loves me and will help me.

I love you mommy!! And you can just post this as my weekly update, and
you are welcome to share any background info with anyone that may be
confused as to where all this is coming from. Thanks for the love and
the prayers, I am truly blessed to have such a great family!

Also two requests: could you send me my insanity DVDs and my pink
curling iron? Apparently I'm not coming home early so I better settle
in:) 

Love you!!! Sister Rowland
Sent from my iPad