Pics:) to make you happy! .. And jealous

Exchanges and LIFE CHANGES!

Hey Family:)

I hope everything is going great! Is it snowing yet? Not here:) Its been sunny and warm! We did have a few chilly days, but it warmed right back up! I'm still loving it here!

As far as miracles go, there have been plenty:) There have been some struggles too.

Miracles first though! So Sister Johnson and I have been figuring out that we really really need to rely on God more because His understanding exceeds ours. He knows better and that's the simple truth. He also knows where the people are that are prepared to here this message. He also knows exactly what we need to say to them to touch their hearts. He also knows exactly what their needs are. And we have been spending far too much time trying to figure out those things for ourselves. So on Thursday everything had fallen through... like usual (story of my mission!) And we found ourselves with two hours until our next appointment. We don't spend time with non-progressing people so no former investigator visits, no visits with less actives that have no interest in coming back to church, and no visits with members who are not interested in helping with missionary work. So whats left? Finding. Two hours worth of finding? UGH. So we did something that we don't normally do. We prayed, and we prayed with the faith that God was going to direct us to someone who is prepared to accept this gospel. So we prayed and we sat and listened to the spirit. Then in my mind came the image of a bus stop in front of a home depot. I knew exactly where that was, so we quickly went there! There was no one in sight.... I was thinking to myself, "Come on Heavenly Father that was too clear to not be a prompting!" Then the time 3:30 came to my mind. It was about 3:26. So we got out of the car and started walking toward the bench and we saw a guy walking up the street!! RIGHT TOWARD US! We waited and by the time he got to the bench it was exactly 3:30. We got his contact information and set a return appointment!

Awesome, so lets try that again. Pray. Ponder. BAM another image pops into my head. And I said, "Okay heavenly Father, we will be there at 3:37!" And right at 3:37 a FAMILY runs across the street and ends up right in front of us. They didn't live in our area, but they were interested in going to church near them!

Okay what about this time? Pray. Ponder. Sister Johnson says. "Burger King!" Okay, we will be there in ten minutes. About nine minutes in we were still stuck and a stoplight and it wasn't our turn for awhile. We were going to miss it!! But I had forgotten that God is able to all things and anything. So all of the sudden the fire truck in front of us gets an emergency call and turns our light green! We were right on time and met a really neat guy.

We did that again two more times, both with the same results. It was incredible!

Now for the hard things... Our super awesome investigator that bore his testimony in sacrament meeting and knows that the church is true, was kicked out of his house and had to move in with a friend in Ocala:(

But anyways! Transfers were this week, obviously nothing happened with me. But there is one less set of missionaries in our ward. Sister Chadwick was transferred and now we have sister Takaki here with us! She is adorable, she's from Brazil! But since we lost a set of elders we have inherited a few of their investigators so hopefully all will go well with that!

We also had stake conference this week! It was ALL ABOUT MISSIONARY WORK!! It was great:) There was a recently returned sister missionary that spoke and her talk was incredible. She spoke of the blessings that have come to her family as they have worked together to share the gospel with others. The whole time I was thinking, "I want to be just like her!" Afterward she pulled me aside to talk to me and she said some things that I really needed to hear.

Oh I almost forgot to tell you about Bobby! So, the morning of all of our praying and pondering we were also doing some finding and we met some awesome guys. Then we were heading back to the church to eat our lunch and right as we came around the corner this guy on a skateboard almost takes us out! We, of course, take the opportunity to invite him to church because that's what missionaries do:) Then he tells us that he is already LDS. He had tattoos all over and piercings! His appearance definitely did not give off the impression of a member of the church:) But the light in his eyes did. We asked him if he had been to church recently and he said not in the last ten years or so. Then he told us how he just came out here from Vegas to stay with his dad. A month ago he was on life-support and almost died, but he knew God saved his life for a reason. So we found him! Got his number! And he came to stake conference!

 It was such and ordeal to get him there! He was willing to just walk the three miles from his house to the church, but then it started raining. So he texted us and said he wasn't going to make it. And we said no way is rain going to keep you from church, we will find you a ride! So we went down to the clubhouse in our apartment complex to use the Wi-Fi and map his address so we could see which members lived near him. The map app didn't work.... so we did it the old fashioned way and just looked on a map and found it. So we called the members that lived near him. NO ONE ANSWERED! There was one more family we could try but we couldn't find their number anywhere... So we went back up to the apartment to ask the other sisters if they had it, just to find that they had already left and, not knowing that we were going to be right back, locked the door with our keys and shoes still inside... What else could go wrong?! So we called the other sisters and they had to drive back and let us in, we finally found the number of this family and caught them right as they were heading out the door and they said they would pick him up! And he came, and he loved it. It was insane!

The other exciting thing that happened this week is we had exchanges. It was a very unique exchange. These Sisters were supposed to go home this transfer, so like last week. But they opted to extend so that they can train all the sisters in the mission on planning. So they don't even have a permanent home! Every night they are in another area with another set of sisters. They trained us on obedience, planning, and relying on God. And their training really was life changing. We, and all the other sisters that have had the opportunity to do this exchange, have seen miracles happen!

Well I think that was about all the excitement for this week:) I love you all so much!

Love, Sister Rowland

How great the WISDOM and the LOVE!

Hey Family!

I just want to let you know that God knows best, and He loves us.

This week was CRAZY hard and CRAZY amazing!

You know how when you plan to go to the temple and EVERYTHING goes wrong? Well that happens a lot in the mission field! Whenever something really good is about to happen, the adversary goes in full force against it! He works overtime on missionaries, and its rough sometimes. This week was one of those times. Satan knows that I have my wonderful fathers temper:) (love you daddy!) And he knows that if he wants to get me, that's the way to go! It just seemed like anything and everything that my companion did this week just got under my skin and I just got so mad at her! For no good reason. And this lasted ALL WEEK LONG. It wasn't until last night that Heavenly Father smacked me over the head and reminded me of a talk from the priesthood session of conference, "Lord, Is it I?". (ITs an awesome talk! If you don't remember it or haven't heard it, go read it!) And so I prayed and basically said, "Heavenly Father, I really want to be mad right now! BUT I know that I'm in the wrong. Please help me to cowgirl up and get over it, because I can't get over it without your help." And I went to bed, still feeling angry and miserable. But when I woke up this morning, I was happy as a clam. And I loved my companion SOO much! I know that God is helping me!

So why was the adversary working so hard?

Well, first because of David. I think I mentioned David before... he's the guy that we met on the street that randomly showed up to church a few weeks ago! After he came to church, he went out of town for a week and a half and we were unable to get in contact with him. But Friday, we were finally able to teach him a lesson! He is incredible, and incredibly prepared! God saved his life from suicide and helped him overcome all of his addictions and he has been doing Gods will ever since! He has a ton of faith, and he told us that he is sincerely looking to find what God wants him to do. So the lesson went well and we committed him to baptism. THEN he came to church on Sunday. He shared with me how he had prayed to know if this is true and he got a very powerful answer, but the answer didn't come from God. But he knew then that this must be good if the adversary would take time out of his busy schedule to try and convince him otherwise. Then the meeting started. There were two people that were confirmed in sacrament meeting that day and he said that both times it was like he could feel a light coming down. I smiled and said, "This is the truth, and Gods power is here." And he agreed. He leaned over to me a few moments later and said, "Thanks for finding me." I broke down and bawled right there!!! You guys, I have been praying and praying. I knew that there were people here that I promised in the Premortal World that I would find. And I have been praying and praying to find them! What a powerful answer to my prayers. Towards the end of the meeting he asked if he could go up and bear his testimony. Now if any of you have served missions, you know how nerve-wracking that can be! Who knows what they are going to say! But I told him he could. And he got up there and bore powerful testimony that this must be true. After church we met with him and did a brief Book of Mormon intro and committed him to baptism on November 23.

The next reason is Greg. Greg is someone that we met out in front of his house. We went up and introduced ourselves and he was like oh I know who you are! You talked to my boss yesterday and he gave me your card! And he pulled out of his pocket our Mormon.org card! So we started talking to him and his friend about Christ and what they believe. His friend is atheist but he was very kind. Just a little lost. But Greg has a ton of faith in Christ. He has been attending the church around the corner for 10 years. But he readily accepted our invitation to take the lessons and be baptized. He has a light in his eyes that I recognized right away. Sometimes when we are street contacting if people already go to church or seem solid in their faith I tend to get scared and back off a little and give them a card and take the easy way out. But something in his eyes said, "Don't give up on me! I need this, I want this, even if I don't know it yet." So I was persistent. We taught him the first lesson the next day and he said that he knew that it was all true. He couldn't explain it but he could feel that it was all true.

The third reason is the Seminole Ward. Somethin's a-stirrin here! The members are beginning to get really excited about missionary work. There is one family that gave the elders FIVE FULL FAMILY REFERRALS that they had carefully prayed about. One man gave us the names of six of his good friends that he would like to share the Gospel with. Another lady, who is pretty severely handicapped, gave us the business card of one of the ladies that helps care for her and asked us to call her. She said she really wanted to help out with missionary work. It was incredible! We taught the lesson in YW about how to find solutions to the challenges they face. Once we came up with some of the tools that we as members have to overcome challenges we asked them to think of someone they know that doesn't have these tools. The look in their eyes told me that it clicked, the reason for missionary work clicked in their minds. We are going to follow up with them this week!

Miracles are happening in Gods time. And sometimes He takes a little longer than we would like, but He knows best. He loves us, He loves all His children and He will do what's best for us. I know that's true! 

I love you all so much! Hope you have a fantastic week:)

Love always, Sister Rowland

Miracles!!

Hey Family!!

Hope everyone is doing well:) This week was awesome! The weather is still gorgeous. Its perfect scarf and cardigan weather. We are having a blast! The Sister Training Leaders did a training in district meeting this week all about just loving our mission. Apparently there has been a lot of problems with sister missionaries being too hard on themselves. The elders don't seem to have that problem. BUT because its been such a big problem we are having a Sisters Conference tomorrow morning ON THE BEACH! And we get to wear normal person clothes. The topics being discussed are: stress management, health and wellness, medical and dental, proper eating, exercise, sister oriented finding skills, companionship relations, safety, preach my gospel, adjusting to missionary life, and working with elders and male members and non members. So I'm pretty stoked about it:) But anyways they did that training, and Sister Johnson and I have really been focusing on loving every part of the mission- good and bad! And what a difference it has made! I have finally overcome Countdown Syndrome. As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to be here doing missionary work for the rest of my life! Its really changed so much:)

 

Anyways, the title of this email is MIRACLES! Because, boy, are we seeing miracles here in this mission! I've been keeping you all updated on the adjustments to missionary work that are taking place here. One thing i'm not sure that i've mentioned yet is a little something we like to call Sunday Game Day. Basically the principle is that on sundays we have our entire team in one building for three hours! So what are we doing with that time? well the full time missionaries are no longer to attend sunday school and relief society. We instead are sitting in a small classroom having 4 minute long visits with members on a one-on-one basis. Basically what happens is we coordinate with the various auxiliaries and classes to give a two minute announcement at the beginning of class. We stand up and say something along the lines of:

"We are so grateful to be serving in this ward. We have been called by a prophet of God and assigned to serve here in this ward with you. We know we are here for a reason, and so are you! Missionary work is all about helping our friends, and we all have family and friends that need what we have. We want to help you help them! So today we will be in room 14 and having one on one visits with you guys. Today we would specifically like to see Sister Smith at 1205, Sister Harmon at 1215 and Sister Joe at 1225. These visits will only take four minutes and we will just sit down with you and make a game plan for how we can help you with your missionary work! See you in a few!"

Then in the visits, we talk about family members, friends, neighbors, people at work and we pick specific names and make specific plans and set specific days. We are not to leave any visit without a name and a game plan. This is bold! and we are having a lot of push back from some of the bishops in the mission. Its a huge change! and its weird. BUT its working... Our mission, on average, receives about 30 referrals from members per week, IN THE ENTIRE MISSION! This last sunday alone, our mission received more than 765 referrals. So you can see that there is a slight increase... NOT! the results are HUGE! Our area seventy was shocked when he received those numbers! Hes never seen anything like that EVER!

I've mentioned before that on average missionaries in our mission could expect about 2.2 baptisms per missionary for their entire mission. In zone conference a week ago president Cusick said that we should expect a baptism every month in every companionship. So for sisters the average just jumped from 2 to 18. 24 for elders. Family and friends, miracles are happening! Its so neat to be a part of this. That's the tricky part though, making sure that I'm a part of it. Making sure that I'm on the train as it leaves the station. Because it is taking off! missionary work is changing. People are changing. and the work is hastening. ITS GLORIOUS!

Some other fun things this week:

I got to go on exchanges with a cute sister from west valley, utah. Her name is sister Yellow! She is so awesome and has such a courageous story. I was able to go with her to her area in Hudson. We had a blast! We got a referral from a man in provo to go see his dad and step mom because his dad has been really sick and is waiting for the results to see if he has cancer. They are also raising their 15 year old grandson who, on top of down syndrome, has been battling leukemia since january. I wish you all could have felt that special spirit that was in that home. As soon as i walked through that door, I knew I was on holy ground. The faith was tangible, and the love of God and each other was crippling. The elders and the ward mission leader came and gave him a very powerful blessing. I was really grateful to have been a part of that.

We also had our ward Trunk or Treat on friday and it was so much fun! I felt like i was really able to get to know the members! I made friends with this cute little 7 year old named Anna who asked me if i would be her best friend. She was glued to my side the entire night! She asked me if she could be pen pals after i went home from my mission. It made me happy:) it reminded my of all my cute primary friends from back home that i miss so much!

This week really has been spectacular! Oh, transfer calls are this sunday! I doubt that I'll be transferred.. but I will let you know if something crazy happens! And yes, this transfer did seem really fast because its only a five week transfer:)

Well I love you guys oh so very much! have an awesome week! And make sure you jump on the Hastening the Work of Salvation Train or else you are going to miss alot!

Love you!

Love always, Sister Rowland

PS there is a lady in my ward whose maiden name is Rowland! We are going to compare geneology lines next week to see if we are related!

8 months????

Hey Fam Bam!

How is everyone doing? This week was beautiful. I wish you could all be here enjoying a Florida Fall on the Gulf. It truly is the most beautiful weather. During the summer I was questioning the sanity of anyone who would choose to live here, but now I understand! BTW I cant believe that its already halfway through October...

We had some fun activities this week! First off we were able to volunteer at a 5K and Walk for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. And get this, the race was on the beach!!! So we got to hang out on the beach and watch the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico. My area has some of the best beaches in Florida! Sadly, we aren't allowed to go hang out there on P-days. Something about Elders and swimsuits... I guess it just wasn't the best environment :) Darn Elders! But we did get special permission to volunteer at the Beach and it was beautiful!

We also got to go on exchanges. So Sister Chadwick has been given permission to conduct exchanges at any point. So she takes my companion and I take hers. So I got to go out with sister Rhodes for a day and teach all of their investigators! I had forgotten what it was like to actually teach lesson.. ;p She is a hoot! Shes from southern California and I love her to death. So that was pretty exciting. While we were on exchanges we met this guy. We talked to him for a little while and He obviously has a very close relationship to God. But he wasn't really interested in anything we had to say. So we gave him a card and moved on. Come Sunday, there he was sitting on the first row in the chapel in a hideous green Hawaiian shirt and Khaki shorts! He loved the service and now he wants to meet with us! I cant wait to have that conversation with him and ask him what made him come to church:)

That was something that the Sisters and I were talking about last night. Is how the truly prepared people just find the church. They would find it with or without us, but this mission is for us. We are being trained to be like Christ. But Heavenly Father doesn't need us. He could get this work done a lot faster without us getting in the way. But our salvation is just as important to Him as anyone else. And he knows what we need to be like His Son.

We still don't really have any investigators, but we haven't stopped searching for our friends. Sister Rhodes shared a funny analogy with me that really put missionary work into perspective, especially the new way that we are doing it now. We have to be SO BOLD. We ask people to be baptized when we first meet them, and if they don't want to, we move on. It seems a little harsh at first but this analogy helps:

 So I've never been a SpongeBob fan but apparently there is an episode where Squidward gets so tired of SpongeBob and Patrick's shenanigans that he moves into a community of only squids. And everyone of them looks just like him and acts like him; they aren't distinguishable from each other at all. And after awhile he gets tired of it, he decides that he wants SpongeBob and Patrick to find him, because that's his only way out. About the same time SpongBob and Patrick really start to miss him so they decide to go looking for him. They quickly realize that this is going to be a much more difficult task than they had anticipated. But they devise a plan, a question that they can ask that will help them know, without a doubt, which one is Squidward. So they go up one by one and begin asking them, "Are you Squidward?" To which the reply would come, "No." So they were able to quickly move to the next "Are you Squidward?" and so on until they found him. We are, in essence, going up to people on the streets and asking them, "Are you prepared?" If they reply that they are not, then we need to quickly move on to find the one who is Prepared. Because they want to be found!

So that is what we are going to do this week. We are going to find the prepared!

President Cusick emailed us this quote this morning from Elder Holland and I absolutely love it:

“When somebody is coming down to the wire, how much do you want him to have left at the end of a race? Nothing. We don't want anything left. When you hit the tape, you collapse. If you’ve got anything else left, you ran it wrong. If you take anything home from this mission, you haven't done it right. We want to carry you off the airplane. We want an ambulance to meet you at the train station. But you can't have anything left.”

I'm determined to have nothing left. In ten months, you guys better be prepared to carry me off that plane:) Because Heavenly Father and Christ deserve my ALL! And I would challenge you to make this your philosophy in life too.

I love you all so much!!!

Love always, Sister Rowland

Zone Conference

Hey Family!!

 

This week has been really good! I love this area a lot, especially now that i know where I'm going and I don't get super lost everywhere we go! In my last ward, my bishop gave me a blessing right before I left and blessed me that I would have a good memory and I would be able to learn people and places quickly, and I've definitely seen that! Its nothing short of a miracle how quickly I've been able to learn the area, the members, and our potential investigators. I'm grateful for the gifts of the spirit! This ward is so different from my last one... this one is just so... normal! I don't know how to handle it. I'm starting to see more and more how quirky Tampa 4 is! and I love them for it:) i fit right in there! I've actually found myself feeling homesick for Tampa 4 quite a few times. Seminole looks just like salt lake except take away the mountains and add palm trees:) Its really easy to forget that i'm in Florida! My companion is great! We are really, really, really different. like really different. But I love her and that helps us to get along:)

 

Sister Johnson and Sister Rowland

We don't really have any investigators right now. We had one lady drop us, and another man that we found and had to drop in less than a week. Our other investigators we haven't really been able to see. We have been doing so much finding, but we haven't really found. Its weird because everyone that we talk to ends up really liking us and trusting us, but they have no desire to learn more about the Gospel. We have been more bold, and a little more persistent, but nothing is coming of it. We aren't really sure what to do now... just keep trying I guess!

 

We are working with a really awesome guy! we found him because he lives next door to one of sister Chadwick's former investigators. He is actually a member. He was baptized when he was eight by his grandfather, but he never was really a part of the church. Teaching him is like teaching an investigator. But he is so sincere and he is seriously seeking to do God's will. Its funny because it seems like right after we found him, his life starting falling apart. His girlfriend cheated on him, his daughter was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, then his girlfriend tried to commit suicide. He has lived a really hard life. hes been successful. Hes sold his success for pills and alcohol. Hes pretty much at the bottom. But his heart is so prepared for this gospel, and he needs it so badly.

 

Sister Chadwick, Bishop Hodges(Tampa 4thWard), Sister Rowland &?

We had zone conference last week! We got to watch Meet the Mormons! By the way, I don't know where or for how long that is playing in the theaters near you, but i definitely recommend it! And I recommend inviting a non-member friend to it. A lady in the ward said that she has been trying to get her best friend to come to church with her for 16 YEARS and nothing has happened. This last saturday she took her to meet the mormons, and on sunday she came to church. That film is powerful! We were also trained in zone conference about not fearing what man can do, and about being bold. President Cusick told us that he'd rather us be too bold with members, and offend someone than not be bold enough. He said that if the ward hates us and runs us out, he has no problem moving us somewhere else and he would be proud to do it. He also said that if we are thrown in prison for being too bold, he will bail us out:) So thats something I'm really working on. Boldness has never been in my vocabulary, let alone my nature. But i'm trying really hard not to fear man!

 

I forgot to ask last week, but what were your favorite conference talks and why?

 

Sister Rowland, Sister Chadwick, Tampa 4th Ward Mission Leaders, and ?

Yesterday Sister Chadwick and I went on exchanges for a few hours and left our trainees to fend for themselves so that we could attend the funeral of a member in Tampa 4. Remember the gay guy that baptized one of our investigators? He passed away unexpectedly last week. I really love him, everyone does. It was so crazy and unexpected. He was supposed to go to the temple this month to receive his endowments.

 

It was a sad occasion, but it was also really nice to see all of my Tampa 4th ward family!

 

Well I've got to go finish preparing for the week so I can baptize nations! (By the way, Sister Johnson and I have a goal of 9 baptisms by Christmas) 

 

I love you all like crazy!! and i hope you have a fantastic week:)

 

Love always, Sister Rowland :)

Transfers!

Sister Johnson and Sister Rowland 

Hey Mommy!!

Soooo.... I'm in Seminole!! Its about thirty minutes from Tampa, so they didn't send me too far:) My companion is Sister Johnson. She is from Grantsville, UT and shes my age. She has actually already been out for six weeks so I'm finishing her training. Which is a unique challenge in and of itself just because she has already been trained a certain way for six weeks... so its a lot of figuring out the way she has been taught to do things and trying to match my training to that. I'm her third trainer, which I'm sure has got to be quite a challenge for her! I'm not sure what happened with the first one, but the second one was already training someone else and was just too overwhelmed trying to train two people! She is an awesome missionary though! She has a powerful testimony and she is fearless. She is also beyond obedient, which was irritating at first, but its good:) I need someone who keeps me on my toes with obedience!

We are re-opening an area in the Seminole ward. So we are basically starting from scratch. We are doing a lot of finding! We bike a  lot just because neither of us know the area so we don't want to waste our miles getting lost, we just exhaust ourselves instead! The first few days were a lot of getting lost... Our ward is HUGE!! there are eight missionaries in this ward. A set of english elders, a set of spanish elders, and two sets of sisters. The English elders are actually missionaries who served the first part of their mission in Sierra Leone but had to be pulled out because of that sickness! Our ward mission leader is awesome! And because of conference I haven't met too many of the members but the ones that I have met are really nice! We live in an apartment with the other sisters. and guess what.... The other sisters here are Sister Chadwick and her trainee, Sister Rhodes (who apparently for the last two months has been called Sister Rowland) !!!!! Isn't that so crazy? she and I about died when they told us that. Its really weird living with an old companion again but I love it. We can reminisce (that's not how you spell it) about old times. Its really fun living with other sisters too!!

Sister Johnson, Sister Rowland, Sister Chadwick, and Sister Rhodes 

We have about three investigators. One is one that the other sisters haven't had much luck with so they passed her off to us. and they other two are neighbors of one of Sister Chadwick and Rhodes investigators. They dad is actually a member. He was baptized when he was eight but hasn't really been to church since. And the wife is Catholic but she is really open to what we have to say. She says she is ready for some changes in her life. They have a six month old baby. They are so awesome! The work here is BOOMING! Its nothing like Tampa! In the last month the sisters here alone had 5 baptisms and I don't even know how many the elders have. I don't really know what the difference is, but I'm glad:)

I hope you all enjoyed conference! I loved it! I had like five or six questions that i wanted answered and all of them were, clear as day!! And there were many other talks that I felt were just for me. It was really great!

I've really learned these past few days how to rely on Heavenly Father. Its really cool, because you can ask him a specific question and he will give you a specific answer. My prayers really have become a conversation between the two of us and I keep my notebook near to write down impressions i receive and answers to my questions. During studies I'm constantly praying about what this person needs, what scriptures we can share, and a strengthened testimony of this or that. And He answers. I feel like I have been trying to missionary work alone all my mission, and how silly is that!! Its so much easier to rely on Him who knows everything! At night when I pray I keep my scriptures nearby and open so that He can answer through the scriptures. Its really cool:) you all should try relying on Him more! He will help you!

Well I hope you all have had a fantastic week! I love you so much!! And I'm glad you had a good birthday, mommy:) LOVE YOU!!

 Love always, Sister Rowland

Kaitlin's New Address:

Sister Kaitlin Rowland 
3306 Columns Cir
Seminole, FL 33772