The Weak Things of the World

Hey Family!

Can you believe it is July 20th already? This month is flying by... its honestly really scary. Transfers are this week, but I am staying put and so is Sister Day. So here goes my last six weeks! I'm sure for family and friends back home its really exciting and happy when your missionary comes home, but from the missionary's perspective. Its very bitter-sweet. I have really been appreciating the small things this week. Those things that I will never experience the same way again. I cry a lot about it. Its a good cry, its a grateful cry. Everything that happens on a mission is truly miraculous.

There is a poem that one of the missionaries shared in district meeting a few weeks ago. It makes me cry every time! Enjoy:

As I stare out the widow,

Tears still in y eyes,

I see the vision of those I love,

As we said our last good-byes.

The flight was long and tiring,

As two questions plagued my mind:

Do I want the life that's ahead of me,

or the one I left behind?

You see eighteen months is such a long time,

For going door to door;

In my reflection, I thought,

There must be something more.

I struggled off the plane,

looking for a friendly face;

When a man called President said,

"You've come to the right place!"

.....

I sit reflecting once again,

As this day is my last,

Please, Lord, it isn't fair,

The time went way too fast..

As I stare out the window,

Tears still in my eyes,

I see the visions of those I love,

As we said our last goodbyes

The flight was long and tiring,

As two questions plagued my mind;

Do I want the life that's ahead of me,

Or the one I left behind?

I don't know who the author is but I love it so much! The mission experience is indescribable.. and it does go by way too fast.

So pretty much this week has been incredible, and I want to share with you all a few miraculous experiences we had this week.

The first maybe wasn't so miraculous, but it was one of those experiences that I will probably never get again. On Saturday we were knocking doors in this neighborhood. Then randomly it started looking like it was going to rain (Florida has the most bi-polar weather ever!). But sometimes it just looks like its going to rain and then never does... and we really wanted to finish knocking this street. So we just kept going. Then it started to sprinkle... but we kept going. Then all of the sudden we hear this wall of rain coming up behind us and in seconds we are soaked through! There was nowhere to take cover except this very Twilight-esque forest. So we went to take cover in the trees. They helped a little but not very much. The rain just kept coming with little sign of it clearing up soon, we were already soaked so we just decided to walk in the rain to the church where our next lesson was going to be. We were a mess! Our clothes were soaked, our make-up a distant memory, but we were so happy. It was just so pathetically hilarious:) So we made our way to the church and rung ourselves out in the bathroom and taught our lesson and attended a meeting with our ward mission leader looking like wet cats and freezing our tails off!

The next experience... so you know how we walk and bike everywhere? And sometimes there is no one out on the street so it feels like we are getting hot, sweaty and exhausted for no good reason? Well, this week we had four different people come up to us in our apartment complex and say, "What do you guys do? We see you walking and biking everywhere, all day long?"

So we tell them what we do!

The third: So about three weeks ago we were tracting this street and we see in one of the drive-ways a car with a Utah license plate! That is a rare sight here in Florida. We were so excited to knock on that door but nobody answered! :( So a few days later we were in that same neighborhood to see an investigator and we decided to try that same door again. And there was a mom and daughter living there who, indeed, had just moved from Utah! We could tell that they knew who we were, but we couldn't tell if they were members or not so we just asked them if they ran into missionaries a lot in Utah. And then they told us that they are members but they don't go to church anymore. They had a bad experience and had absolutely no interest in ever coming back. We asked them if we could at least let the ward know that they were here and they said no. So we left them the church address and our phone number if they ever needed anything...

Then yesterday at church, the person who said the closing prayer said, obviously by the prompting of the spirit, that there was someone there today who was giving it one last try and he prayed that whoever it is would feel God's love and want to come back again. It was such a powerful prayer! Afterward I turned and started looking around to see if I could tell who it was. I saw through the chapel doors out into the entryway and on the couch I could see two people. I couldn't see who it was, but I had a pretty good idea. I asked my companion if she could see who it was and she couldn't. And we couldn't get out of the chapel because everyone was talking and visiting. Finally, we made it out and it was them! IT WAS THEM! THEY CAME. They came to give it one last try. And I honestly don't know what their experience was, and I don't know if they will come back. But I hope and pray that they will. And I hope that they did feel God's love for them.

And the fourth experience, to show that God really is aware of us. Yesterday at church, one of the members pulled us aside and began criticizing the way we had taught one of our investigators. He was honestly quite rude about it and Sister Day and I left church feeling absolutely no confidence in our ability to do anything. We went home and prayed really hard that Heavenly Father would help us through the day.

Last night we had a lesson with some recent converts, her non-member daughter, and some members, including two recently returned missionaries. We had dinner and played some family home evening games and then we taught a lesson. We taught the message of the Restoration because of the one non-member who was there. Family and friends, the spirit in that room was suffocating. I have never felt the spirit so strong, or felt so much love for one person my entire mission. Everyone in the room felt it! And it had nothing to do with Sister Day's and mine ability or inability to teach. But it had everything to do with the love that Heavenly Father had for this individual, and His love for my companion and I, and his joy at our efforts. Afterward, one of the returned missionaries came up to my companion and I and said, "That was a great lesson, you two teach really well together." Little did he know that was exactly what we needed to hear. Heavenly Father provided us with a perfect situation to teach us a few things

• the spirit is the true teacher
• we have been called by a prophet of God because of who we are, not because we are perfect teachers
• when you truly love the person you are teaching the spirit will be there and they will feel it
• we never need to worry about our inadequacies, because lets face it: we are all completely inadequate, but Heavenly Father loves us anyway and He will help us to get His work done.

The happiness, peace, and joy that we felt after that lesson was overwhelming. I am so grateful for our Father in Heaven's love.

There was a scripture that I came across in my studies earlier this week, before all of this happened. But it was perfect.

Doctrine and Covenants 35:13-14

"Wherefore, I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thresh the nations by the power of my Spirit. And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and their buckler; and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me..."

I know that I am weak, I know that I'm imperfect. But I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ make up for that, if we are humble and rely on them.

I read this story in a conference talk last week:

"There was a young piano student and his mother, wishing to encourage him, 'bought tickets for a performance of the great Polish pianist, Paderewski. The night of the concert arrived and the mother and son found their seats near the front of the concert hall. while the mother visited with friends, the boy slipped quietly away.

Suddenly, it was time for the performance to begin and a single spotlight cut through the darkness of the concert hall to illuminate the grand piano on stage. Only then did the audience notice the little boy on the bench, innocently picking out twinkle twinkle little star.

His mother gasped, but before she could move, Paderewski appeared on stage and quickly moved to the keyboard. He whispered to the boy, 'Don't quit. Keep playing.' And then, leaning over, the master reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.

In our lives, unpolished though we may be, it is the Master who surrounds us and whispers in our ear, time and time again, "Don't quit, keep playing." And as we do, He augments and supplements until a work of amazing beauty is created. He is right there with all of us, telling us over and over, "Keep playing." "

Keep playing, y'all :) You are who you are and where you are for a reason!

Love you!

Sister Rowland