I Will Make You Fishers of Men

Hey Family!

This week has been... crazy. That is the only word that can describe it. I have never had a week that produced such a variety of emotions! It was full of miracles and tragedies. Can those two things go together? I guess so. 

So we will start with the miracles:

Miracle 1: we didn't get locked out of the church! I have a history of forgetting the keys INSIDE the church building, you know, the keys to our house, car, and church. "perhaps [her] head wasn't screwed on just right..." probably. BUT this week we were about to walk out the door (about ten minutes before curfew) and then the thought came "turn around". And i did, and there on the table were the keys I was about to forget! 

Miracle 2: We taught 25 lessons this week!! 16 of them were to investigators. That is the most I have ever gotten my entire mission!

Miracle 3: We didn't die on the bikes. Week two of pure bikes was exhausting, especially with how many lessons we were teaching. We had to bike SO FAST! I have never smelled so unpleasant in my life! Its been pretty hot here too- in the 90s. But we ain't seen nothin yet! Summer is still on it's way. And from the sound of it, this whole biking thing might become a lot more permanent. But Heavenly Father has mercifully held the thunderstorms until we were safely in a lesson or a members car. 

Miracle 4: Coasting a car... uphill? Yupp! We were with some members, they had just taken us to one of our appointments and on the way back to the church where our bikes were, their car just died! Everything- it just all shut off. And somehow the member was able to coast the car uphill and safely into a parking lot. There were no cars around us! And we weren't quite on the busy highway yet, although we were close. Additional miracle: right when we pulled in and we were trying to figure out who we needed to call, the branch president, whose branch also meets in our building, called us! And we were able to tell him what happened and he came to our rescue!

Miracle 5: We didn't starve! Having so many appointments, and having to bike to every one of them left us with little or no time to eat. BUT every day we managed to get something. Whether one of our appointments offered us food, or something fell through allowing us time to stop somewhere to eat. We were always well fed and watered! 

Miracle 6: The nine year old that is set to be baptized on April 18th made it to church! Her baptism hinged on whether or not she was able to come this week. 

There were so many more miracles, and even more tender mercies! It has been a truly incredible week! 

Now for the tragedy:( Remember the 93 year old that was supposed to be baptized? The day he was supposed to be baptized he was admitted into the hospital. He is going downhill, very very quickly. They are basically just trying to make him comfortable until he passes. But even wrapped up in that tragedy there are some miracles. His daughter was able to make it down from Indiana. And he isn't in any pain. It's sad because we love him so much, he's like a grandfather figure to us. But we know that his wife is waiting for him. And he has found peace in the Gospel. Even though he wasn't able to be baptized.

So in district meeting this week, we learned something really cool. It comes from Matt 4: 18-19.

Now these are pretty familiar scriptures, especially when talking about missionary work. 

18. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.  

So what do we learn about Peter and Andrew? They are fishers. Its their lifestyle, its something they are good at, something they probably enjoy. Its part of who they are! You could possibly say fishing is their passion. They love it! 

So...

19. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

So he asks them to leave everything behind right? Leave your lifestyle, your passion, your talent. Leave it behind and follow me! Right? 

WRONG! He says, "follow me and i will make you fishers of men." 

He says follow me; bring your passion and your talents, bring what you love and apply it to MY passion, MY work, what I love. 

He needed them for who they were. Because of the skills, knowledge, passion, talents that they had. He needed those for His work. 

Christ needs each of us for His work. He needs our specific abilities and talents and passions. He doesn't ask us to give up who we are in order to follow Him, in order to serve Him. He says bring those things and apply them to my work! Sometimes, as missionaries, we feel like we can't be ourselves. We become robotic. We feel like the things we used to love, the talents we used to have are things of the past and all we can be now is a missionary. But God called us to this place and this time because of who we are. 

You, too, are where you are because of who you are. YOU, as yourself, can do an incredible work for our Father in Heaven where you are because of who you are. 

In district meeting we all went around and shared our passion, then applied it to missionary work. 

Someone mentioned how he had been a Student Body Officer in high school and he loves rallying groups of people together and getting them excited! Imagine the miracles this elder can do as he rallies the ward members together and gets them excited about missionary work. 

Another elder loves basketball. He loves working as a team to make things happen. As members and missionaries we are on Christ's team to move the work forward. 

One of the sisters loves shooting guns. She did it all the time! She learned that if you aim small, you miss small. She is focused on her work, she is focused on the most important things so that she can accomplish her goal! 

My passion is children, families and motherhood. I shared how in an interview for Sterling Scholar in Family and Consumer Science classes (the mommy classes ;p)  I was told that she could tell that I was going to be a great advocate for motherhood throughout my life, and that this world needed that. Families are central to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and God's Plan for us. As a missionary, I have the opportunity to advocate for families and righteous motherhood and fatherhood, and show families the peace and joy that comes from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God has given us our talents and our passions so that we can use them in His work. What are you passionate about? How does that passion help you as you serve God? 

I know that Heavenly Father loves us, and He wants us to be happy. And I know that families are eternal. We are eternal and divine beings, with an incredible potential. There is so much good to be done in this world, and we are more than capable of doing it if we just "put our shoulder to the wheel" and rely on God.

I love you all so much! Have an incredible week!

Love always, Sister Rowland 

My Grace is Sufficient

Hey Guys! 

This week has been... crazy. That's about the only way to describe it. Its been up. Its been down. Its pretty much been all around and back again! Goodness. :)

Well first big news, our entire mission is on full bike for the entire month of April! I get that this is common in a lot of missions around the world. But this is weird for us. For my entire mission, pretty much every companionship has had a car, with a few exceptions. Its also starting to get very hot... which makes it even more fun. I pity every person that has to talk to us... sweat dripping down our face, mascara running, let's not even talk about what we smell like! Plus, it really isn't all that cute to ride bikes in a skirt. I promise, its not like in the movies. (Funny story, aboutThursday, day 3 of all biking, I asked one of the members to take a look at my bike because the break is broken. He knows a lot about bikes and so he takes a look at it and he's like, "you are going to be mad. How long has your break been broken?" Since Monday. And he laughed and said, "Your back break has been closed since Monday! You have been riding the break the entire time." I didn't find it as funny as he did. He also pumped up my practically flat tire. It was SO much easier to bike after that! Its like running on cement after running through sand!) 

Anyway, the reasoning behind this is that when we are on bikes, we are able to talk to more people on the street. We are always out with the people. So its a trial to see if bikes are more effective than cars. So this may or may not be a permanent thing! Only one more summer... :/ 

Also this week, we had interviews with President Cusick. Normally I leave interview feeling pumped and uplifted. But not this time. I'll spare you the details, but I don't think I've cried so much my entire mission! But I did get a priesthood blessing from my ward mission leader. And another member took us out to ice cream. (Ice cream fixes everything). And I got through it. I'm much much better now! 

Well, our work load doubled this week because the elders were transferred out. So we took over their teaching pool. So we have our teaching pool and theirs to cover on bikes... This week is going to be crazy!!! Our investigators are still progressing wonderfully to baptism. Hopefully the 93 year old will be dunked this week! We just have to convince the chaplain at the rehabilitation center he is at that just "sprinkling" him isn't enough... Prayers would be wonderful! The 9 year old is concerned about being able to live the word of wisdom... yeah our entire district got a kick of out that. And our other investigator is SOAKING it all in! He is loving everything he has learned and he is absolutely committed to this. We will probably end up moving his baptism date up a week. The elders also had a family that is working towards baptism but we haven't been able to get in touch with them yet. 

So about General Conference! It was great, right? We got to watch it at the church. It was so wonderful. I loved the focus on eternal families. I felt like every talk was meant just for me! I learned so much that is going to benefit me now and also for the future. I came to conference with the question in mind, "What do I need to do here on my mission, to better prepare me to be a good wife and mom?" And that question was answered over and over again, in many different ways. That is something that is so important to me, and has become even more important to me on my mission! I hope that I can today and always be an advocate for families and the sacred callings of motherhood and fatherhood. 

I also loved Elder Hollands talk. He is ALWAYS my favorite. I would love to shake that man's hand someday. The image of the younger brother holding the older brother as he dangled over the cliff, put the plan of salvation in perfect perspective for me. We really are dangling off a cliff. We cannot pull ourselves up on our own no matter how strong we are, or how much adrenaline is pumping in our blood, and without help we will eventually fall. But our loving Savior is holding on tight, and if we let Him, He will pull us up to safety. He will bring us safely Home. 

I know that this Gospel is true. I know that Thomas S Monson is a prophet of God, and I'm so grateful to have a prophet on the earth today to guide us. I know that Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, repentance is real, and His grace is sufficient when we humble ourselves and turn to Him. God is SO good. He loves us so much. Even when we screw up:) I would even say, ESPECIALLY when we screw up. 

I love you all, and hope you have an incredible week! 

Love always, Sister Rowland