27/28 November 2011

Elder Rowe at one of his many Thanksgiving lunches. Notice especially the bottle of homemade Ranch dressing in his hand, "The first one in a long, long time,"  he noted.

Another Thanksgiving feast, thanks to another senior missionary couple. The sisters were sick and missed out on the food.

It’s been a wonderful week.  As always.

I was in the tiny town of Hawera again at the start of the week, where I was able to do some delicious hours of door-knocking with Elder Robins. Elder Robins is from California, somewhere in the Mojave Desert that I’ve never heard of. We were in the same district in Christchurch, so it was fun to be able to go on exchanges with him. We were informed of a little shop that sold A&W Rootbeer for $2.50 a can and Elder Robins got way excited because he hasn’t had it for a year and a half. I’ve had the magical nectar a few times on my mission, but I think I was just as excited.  So we bought some on Monday and then went back on Tuesday to buy some Shasta rootbeer, which wasn’t as good, but it was only a dollar. They also had Tiki Punch and Black Cherry, so we splurged.

On Wednesday, Elder Tukuafu and I met back up and we went to the Taranaki district meeting/Thanksgiving feast. It was amazing! Elder Robins was way excited for Thanksgiving, probably more than any other American missionary. He was able to arrange an actual turkey for the lunch because the Branch President worked for the poultry company or something. Turkeys are about 50 bucks here for like a 6 pound one. But I think he got it for much cheaper than that. But the lunch was definitely more than I could ask for, being in New Zealand and all, a place where they weren't lucky enough to have their white and Maori ancestors get together for a feed. For the meal, we had homemade rolls and stuffing, and homemade ranch dressing, and Elder Robins and I made mashed potatoes and candied yams. Superb! All thanks to the Hirschi's, the senior couple from Brigham City.

On Thursday we had our own district meeting, and had another Thanksgiving. I have to admit, it wasn't as amazing, but delicious nonetheless. Maybe it's because we were at the church rather than in a home like we were the day before, so it wasn't as Thanksgiving-ish. And maybe because Elder Kim brought spaghetti as one of the dishes. But it was still awesome! I had more Thanksgivings than you, can you believe that?

We've had a lot of success this week (not just eating a lot), with a lot of really good new investigators we're working closely with. The Taukapos are doing good still, we've been seeing them a lot, and are mainly trying to work on the dad in coming back to church so that he can baptize his kids.

We were pretty gutted yesterday when out of the 13 people were expecting at Church, only two made it. But that was Anthony and Kitirangi, so they're pretty much our main focus right now, so that's what matters. We had our Primary program yesterday, which is always a treat. 

Thanks for all you do! I love you ! bye!

-Elder Rowe



20/21 November 2011

Hello my family,

Well, It's been a good week. I had a great time while I was in Levin from Monday to Thursday, and was able to learn a lot from Elder Kaumavae and his Tongan flavor of doing things. It was really fun for me to be able to be back in Levin and see a few familiar faces. I realized, however, that members aren't very good at remembering missionaries' names, or maybe it's just mine that they had forgotten. I was able to see the Huavi's really quickly and was glad to hear that they're still coming to church and praying. It was also weird for me to back in a small town again, where you could say Hi to anyone and they'd at least acknowledge you if not greet you warmly with a G'day.

I always enjoy exchanges because I always enjoy a little bit of change in my life, but only good change. The best part about exchanges is the "exchange" of ideas that happens. I always love learning new ways of teaching, finding, and talking with people. Especially from enthusiastic, and sometimes crazy, new missionaries. And it's always great to come back to your area to see what miracles had taken place while I was away/ share with your companion what miracles had happened while he was away. So it's great. In fact, I'm going up to Hawera again today for another exchange!

In other news, the Taukapos are doing really well. Yesterday, we drove up to their Tongan church which finishes at 12 and talked to Sis Taukapo about her daughters coming to church. She agreed to drive them and she would follow us. We were hoping she would just stay, and when she got there, I don't know what it was, but she did. It was probably because the Tongan sister in the ward that she knows was outside waiting when we drove up. That was really great and she felt really welcome. So the whole Taukapo family was at church yesterday, expect for the dad who was still at his other church. It's okay, he'll come eventually!

It's always great going to the Taukapos, as of yesterday, I think I've officially become Kolipoki. Sis Taukapo was telling us that she and her husband watche "The Other Side of Heaven" all of the time, because they love it so much. And since I'm usually the only white boy in that house, and am even more so when the other two missionaries come over there, I'm quite honored to have become Kolipoki. Though I think that means I'll shortly have to learn the language.

Well I gotta go, Thank you for all you do!

I love you

Just remember:
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay
Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night!
Have a wonderful week!
I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe

November 13/14, 2011

It's another lovely day in Levin. Yes, Levin, I'm back once again! This time I'm with Elder Kaumavae, my Tongan toko. I'm here for exchanges for a couple of days and will get to see a few of my favorite people as I'm here. My main concern however is if people will actually be able to understand the two of us. Elder Kaumavae has only been speaking English for a few months since he started his mission (I can understand his English just fine but others seem to have more of a difficult time) and I've got something wrong with my voice because of a cold, so it'll be an interesting couple of days as we attempt to share the Gospel in our unique way.

We had Zone Leader Council yesterday in Wellington, which is always a treat. Whenever I go there, I'm always so weirded out by it's hillyness and narrow roads. I just can't imagine living there and being in fear of dropping a basketball or skateboard and never seeing it again because it's rolled down a hill and you can't chase after it in time! But yeah.

Elder Tukuafu and I had a really good week and saw a lot of success with our investigators. It was a good week for the two of us before the never ending exchanges begin and we get split up each week. The Gibbs/Anthony and Kitirangi (whichever you know them better as) are doing really well and always seem to have more of an enthusiasm for the Gospel everytime we see them.

On Saturday, as an Elder's Quorum activity, we played a game of "touch rugby" with the other Palmy ward and we were able to have a good few investigators come, including Anthony, and Kitirangi's brother, and a few less active members. Rugby is the secret to get every male Kiwi to come to church. Sort of.

The Taukapos are also doing really well. The two daughters were able to come to church on Sunday after we picked them up with some members outside of their Tongan church which had just finished. They loved it and hopefully they will be joined by their parents next week. We've finally figured out however that the mom is a member of the church and she didn't really know for sure. But she is, so I wonder what her reaction will be when Elder Tukuafu tells her.

Give Parker my biggest congratulations and please give me his address ASAP when he's out of the mtc.

bye!

6/7 November 2011

Elder Rowe and Elder Tukuafu modeling their love for Palmerston North

Well hello there! It's been a good one alright. It started off with a bang (a good bang) and ended quite nicely.

To answer your question, New Zealand does have daylight savings time, but it's of course, opposite. It was a couple of weeks ago, and it gets brighter and brighter every night. And that makes missionary work so much easier! It doesn't get dark until 8 and eventually won't get dark until 9:30 later in the summer. Or at least that how it was in Christchurch, but that's a lot farther south. It's pretty funny because in the winter, people start getting mad at you for knocking on their door at like 5 because it's "too late," but in the summer we can knock until 9 and no one says anything about it.

Last Monday (Halloween) we had a wonderful night after our P-day, but not because it was Halloween. Elder Tukuafu went down to Wellington with one of the Assistants and the other one, Elder Lekias (whose Dad is actually the Mission President in Auckland) came up here with me. That night we went over to the Taukapo's, our amazing Tongan family, and taught them a bit about the first half of the Plan of Salvation, leading up to Our Life on Earth and it turned into the importance of baptism. It was a pretty powerful lesson and were able to set a date for baptism with the mom, the two daughters (13 &11) and the son (9)! They committed to setting a date for November 29th, which is the birthday that two of them share. So it's great!

We then saw them again on Friday and had a Family Home Evening with them. We sang an opening and closing song, which we made copies of from our Tongan hymn book (which I've been diligently savoring). However, the closing hymn, Love at Home, was two pages long, but we failed to copy both pages...But it was ok! For the lesson we taught the rest of the beautiful Plan of Salvation that Heavenly Father has for us. They really enjoyed it, to say the least. Afterwards we played a really fun game, which I'll have to be sure and teach you all when I get home, if you don't know it already. It's called Musical Instruments, though I don't know if it will be as fun without any Islanders there. They get really into FHE games, and I just think I might waste you guys at it. We'll see.

Anyway, the Gibbs are also doing great. Anthony and Kitirangi both came to church with the Brother and Sister Gibb, but we weren't quite able to talk with them afterwards, but I'm sure they loved it of course. We've had a really good week with them. We taught them the Atonement, answered some personal questions they had, and then taught the Plan of Salvation on Saturday with beautiful simplicity. They both really want to do the right thing and just need to work on getting married so that they can get baptized. We're aiming for December.

Elder Tukuafu is great. We get along really well and have a lot of laughs. Mainly because of my dorkiness, but that's expected. It's funny because 4 of the missionaries in my district of 8 speak Tongan. 3 are Tongans and the other Elder Kim from South Korea who is almost trilingual.

Well I gotta go! But thanks for everything you do!

Just remember:
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay
Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night!
Have a wonderful week!
I love you all so very much!

Love,  

Elder David John Rowe

October 30/31 2011

Hellos to the Rowes!

It's been one of those weeks. You know, being a missionary, one of those great weeks.

Happy Halloween by the way! I think Halloween is a lot less of a big deal here than it was in Christchurch, but that's not saying much. I'm sure tonight some kids might go trick or treating, but that's about all that really happens. We're going to an FHE tonight with our investigator family and will probably have a feed. But it won't have anything to do with Halloween. ha ha

Speaking of them, we've been teaching the Taukapo family for the past couple weeks and we're so close to finally setting that baptismal date with them. Hopefully it will be tonight. The Taukapos are a part-member Tongan family. Brother Taukapo has been less-active for awhile and him and his family have been going to a Tongan church. But the mom and two teenage daughters both want to get baptized in the "Mormon Church." It's all just a matter of having more support from the Dad and having him get back to Church to help his family. But they're great and will most likely be coming to church this Sunday.

My new companion, Elder Tukuafu is straight from Tonga, but learned English at Liahona High School, so he speaks English better than me. He's really awesome, for lack of a better term, and we get along quite well. It's kind of funny because he's Tongan and all, but I wouldn't be suprised if he told me he grew up in New Orleans and played the trumpet. If you know what I mean. Let's just say.. he's a Groovy Brotha.

It's also really wonderful that I now have a Tongan companion so that things will be able to happen more quickly with the Taukapos. It's not that they don't speak English well, it's just that having him testify in Tongan to the parents will be a lot more powerful and meaningful to them. So it was definite inspiration in having Elder Tukuafu come here.

It's pretty crazy for me to be the "senior" Zone leader, I'm definitely so lost. Well, not really, it's just a lot for me to handle. I'm not stressing, just slightly overwhelmed with it all. Gratefully, Elder Tukuafu has been out for 18 months and so he's more experienced in that category and he is helping me a lot. So no worries.

I got to go to Wellington again last week and that was fun again. Except, for some reason, it was before the transfer and so Elder Tukuafu didn't get to hear any of the things that I'm supposed to share with the District Leaders. Have you guys ever been on the Kezerian's blog? It's pretty cool, and I'm on it recently, so that makes it even cooler!

Thank you for all you do for me and your love and support. Keep being wonderful!

Just remember:
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay
Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night!
Have a wonderful week!
I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe  

Oct 24/25 2011 - The All Blacks Won!

Elder Rowe and Elder Strattford, Taking a Break

Greetings from Aotearoa!

The Rugby World Cup is finally over. And with a close final game, the All Blacks beat France 8-7. So missionary work can now go back to normal and we can now continue to door-knock after 6 pm. It's been pretty fun though, being able to see all the excitement that everyone had and all of the flags that were put up--from all the different countries, not just New Zealand. No one dared to put up Aussie flags, but there were plenty of Tongan and Samoan flags, so it always made it easy to tell what nationality the people whose door we were knocking on were.

I'm writing today because yesterday was NZ's Labor Day and so we were able to move P-day to today so that we could do our emails (because most places were closed yesterday). And I'm writing so late because we had district meeting today so that we could have our special feast of Pig head, lu, and otai. However, Elder Kim failed to defrost the pig, so we ended up getting Domino's pizza to tide us over until the pig finished cooking an hour or so later than we planned.

It's been a good week. I was in Waitara for a few days last week and had an amazing time with a greenie, Elder Strasser. It's amazing how much one can learn from a new missionary. It's also awesome, because just a few months ago, hardly anything was happening in that area and now it's booming. I think it really just shows how important attitude and diligence are. So learned a lot. I also experienced the oddities of being in the rain one minute, then sweating the next, then being freezing cold and wet soon after. Waitara is an interesting place.

Last Tuesday, we had Zone Training. Luckily, I didn't have much to do as a Zone Leader, though I'm going to regret it next transfer when I'll have to do it all by myself and not just follow my companion's lead. Because this Thursday Elder Stratford is going to Paraparaumu and leaving me to train Elder Tukuafu as a Zone Leader. I don't even know what to do as a Zone Leader! Oh man!

Elder Christensen is going to my hometown, Christchurch, and he's even serving in the same ward/area, so it makes me wonder how many people are going to think that he's me. Everybody in Levin and Palmy seem to think we're twins.

Palmerston North is still doing really great and our families that we're teaching are doing fantastic. Baptisms to come!

Gotta go! Love you! Bye!

The pig head, apparently not on Elder Rowe's list of favorite meals

October 16/17, 2011



Elder Rowe and his very cool companions

Hello my family!

First of all, Happy Anniversary in Hawaii! I expect heaps of pictures next week. OK?

It's been a good one here in Palmerston.

The biggest news of the week was yesterday when Keoni was confirmed a member of the church and received the Holy Ghost. After church he was given the priesthood and ordained a Deacon. I think him getting the Priesthood yesterday was the biggest spiritual highlight of all that we've done with Keoni. I thought about what you said Dad, of how he looks like a future stake president, and just thought how awesome it will be to see where he is in 20 years. And to see how much he has done for others as a member of the church. I hope particularly, for his less-active and non-member family. He is doing great and his mom was so happy on Sunday. He's just kind of sad that he won't be able to pass the sacrament for 2 weeks because next week is Stake Conference. Haha

In other exciting news of the week, I tried an avocado popsicle last Monday. So now I'm just as cool as Robby. We were given them from our Fijian/Filipino family that we're teaching, and I must say it was quite good! I think it was basically just blended milk and avocado frozen together, but it's much better than it sounds.

Also this week we had some really great lessons with the Gibbs. The Gibbs have recently returned from less-activity and now we're working closely with their daughter and her partner Anthony. Anthony is really keen to learn more about the Gospel and after we gave them the Book of Mormon on Friday, they started reading it that night. We planned to teach them about the Book of Mormon and they got all excited when I mentioned Nephi and they told us all they had learned about Nephi and Lehi and the two rebellious brothers. So their doing great and will definitely be setting a baptism date this week with Anthony.

Our other really keen investigator is a guy named Shane who recently got out of jail. He is already making changes to his life by taking different courses like anger management and other things. He really feels the Spirit when we come over and really wants to get baptized and be the best he can.

On Saturday we had a really interesting conversation with a Muslim guy from Somalia in his home. This was the second time we had talked to him. We found out yesterday that he really isn't interested in learning about the Church, but instead hopes to convert us to Islam. So we testified of the Book of Mormon and told him to pray and ask God if it's true and then there would be no need for debate. So I hope he does, because it will bless his life immensely when he comes to learn the truth.

Basically, Elder Stratford and I teach a lot of very different people from such a variety of different backgrounds. But the Church is true! and it's for everyone, no matter their circumstance. So that's why I'm here, and I love every minute of it.

I will be going to Waitara this week for exchanges and will get a good long look at Mount Taranaki. It's even more magnificent than the pictures.

Thank you for your love, prayers, and support,

Happy anniversary again. Please eat a shaved ice for me.

Just remember:
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay
Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night!
Have a wonderful week!
I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe



October 9/10, 2011

Elder Rowe on his favorite street ever

It's been a wonderful week, though a different one, as always. Different is beginning to seem normal lately.

Well, first of all, Keoni got baptized on Saturday afternoon by the young men's leader of the ward. So that made it really special for him. It went wonderfully and he was smiling the whole time. His whole less-active/non-member family came and hopefully they felt something. We think his younger sister is starting to show an interest, so hopefully she'll sit in as we continue to visit Keoni.

At the start of the week I went on exchanges up to Hawera, a small quiet town up by Mount Taranaki. I was with Elder Lammi, who is the District leader up there. I worked with Elder Lammi a lot while I was in Napier, so it was fun to be working with him again for a few days. Hawera is a funny old-fashioned little town with American flags hanging in the main square. I was really confused but then Elder Lammi told me that the American rugby team stayed in a hotel in Hawera during their games, so it was just a welcoming rather than the town's desire to be Americans. There was also a really big sign saying "Welcome to Hawera" With a Kiwi-bird on one side with their flag in the background and a bald eagle on the other with the stars and stripes. Yeah, big fans of America. I wish I got a picture, it felt like the Fourth of July or something. Also in Hawera, I finally finished my year-long search for "Rowe Street." When Elder Lammi and I were looking on a map for a street to go knock, we discovered Rowe Street and knew there had to be at least one person who would become a new investigator because of the awesome name-sake. We walked there in the pouring rain and discovered, to our dismay, that it was a tiny street connecting to long ones (like an H) and there was only ONE house on it. Across from the house was Pak-n-Save. So we knocked on the door of this Golden opportunity, I introduced myself as Elder ROWE and then... she said she wasn't interested. Haha.

On Wednesday when we exchanged back, Elder Stratford then went on exchanges to Fielding and I was left in Palmy with Elder Kaufusi, a "greeny." So I was kind of worried about being left in an area I didn't know too well with someone who probably didn't know too much. But where was my faith? Elder Kaufusi is the man, and he taught me some great door knocking skills. We were able to find 4 new investigators in like half an hour, whereas it normally takes a whole day to do so. So it was great, and I was able to learn a lot about finding, teaching, and my own area, in just a few days that I was with a missionary who's only been out for a month.

Wasn't Conference amazing?! I just wish the whole world would watch Conference, and then repent and get baptized. It's too wonderful. I think my favorite, because I face so much opposition of it as a missionary, was Elder Tad R. Callister's talk about the Book of Mormon. The Church is truuuue! And it can't be argued.

Well I gotta go again! I love you all and all you do for me!

Just remember:
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay
Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night!
Have a wonderful week!
I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe

October 2/3, 2011

Elder Rowe and Elder Kim - "Best Day so far in the mission"

My dear whanau,

Hello! How are you?! It's great to hear from you and all the exciting news that's been happening. Except the fact that you were sick... But glad that you're better.

Conference weekend! Isn't it the best? I haven't even watched it yet, but I'm way excited. That's awesome about the temples! Especially the Provo one. When will it be done? Because maybe I can get married there. Just kidding! I don't have any such thoughts. This weekend we'll be able to watch Conference at the chapel. So we're totally excited. And yes, we hope to invite everyone we can to hear a Prophet of the Lord speak to the world. So that will be great.

I've been exercising a lot since being here in Palmy. Elder Stratford and I play basketball with the other Elders in the mornings and it's much more effective then my attempts at jump roping that I did in Levin. Also, today, and almost every P-day, before emails, the four of us go to a "gym" with one of the members of the ward and do boxing training. As a work out of course, not as self-defense training. But it's definitely the most exercise I've done my whole mission, or even in the past few years. So hopefully it will turn all this excess baggage into the muscle I once had.

From Monday to Thursday morning this week I was back in Levin with Elder Kim, my replacement. He's Korean, from Hamilton, and he is "crack-up" (which means he's hilarious). We had an amazing exchange! I loved being back in Levin and seeing some familiar faces such as Levi, Hemi, and the Huavi's. The best thing about the exchange was Wednesday. Elder Kim and I both agreed that it was the very best day of our whole mission so far! And he and I came out at the same time, so it was a great celebration of our year mark for us. What made it such a wonderful day was the fact that we were so busy. It seemed like we never stopped. In fact, in the evening we had to run to our appointments. We taught two lessons on our same street, and then ran to the car to get to the final appointment at 8:30 (half an hour late). It's hard to describe how wonderful it all was, but overall what made it so great was all that we were able to accomplish. Our lunch and dinner breaks were only about 20 minutes each, because we just didn't have the time. So, yeah, it was awesome. And I sent those pictures as just a taste of how happy we were.

This Saturday, will be Keoni's baptism! So he's totally excited and all will be working out great! I'll let you know how that goes next week!

Something else really cool that I found out recently, was that there are now Kiwis on Mormon.org! Have you been on the website? We use it quite often actually to help people with an interest in the Church to have more of an interest in the Church. The best thing about it is the videos. If you go under the OUR PEOPLE headline at the top, and then to "I'm a Mormon", there are a bunch of videos of members of the church and their stories. But the best thing about it is that recently they put up videos of Kiwi's. And I know one of them. His name is Paora, and he was in my ward in Christchurch. He plays for the national basketball team, the Tall Blacks (a poor spin off of the All Blacks' name) but I hope you can find that video, because I've totally been in their house. So check it out!

gotta go!

Bye

I love you

25/26 September 2011

Elder Rowe, celebrating a full year in the mission

Dear Family,

It is beautiful outside today! I hope you're jealous.

It's been an interesting week as I've done many new different things as a zone leader. Elder Stratford and I did a fair amount of traveling this week for meetings. We went to Wellington on Thursday for Zone Leader Council, which was pretty neat. I got to see a couple of Elders who I haven't seen for awhile and that was fun. I was able to learn a lot of different things that I never really thought of as being a part of missionary work. I went away from the meeting with a strong and anxious desire to accomplish all I can and make our the Palmerston North Zone the best in the world! Which will soon happen of course.

Then on Friday, Elder Stratford and I drove up to Wanganui with the District Leaders to teach them everything we learned from Zone Leader Council. Then I got more "pumped up" as we "counseled" and discussed what we planned and hoped to do this transfer. The weird thing is, I still don't feel like a zone leader. Even though I've been doing heaps of zone leader things, like meetings and phone calls and such, I still feel like I'm just the zone leader's companion. (But that's not because I'm letting him do all of the work.) Hopefully it will hit me soon enough. I'm going on exchanges to Levin with Elder Kim this week, so that will be awesome to see a few familiar faces.

Zone leader life, however, seems much different than what I'm used to as a missionary. We seem to have to do so many other things than just teaching and finding, and there often seems like we don't have much time for those things. But the Lord is still blessing us in different ways with wonderful people that are put in our path to teach.

We've been teaching a 12-year old kid named Keoni who really wants to get baptized. He's been coming to church by himself for a while now and we've been teaching him and he's getting baptized on the 8th of October. His family all went less active a few years ago, but for whatever reason he's come to church and his mom is really excited for him to get baptized. She'll hopefully be getting active again soon. Keoni's older brother, who is on home detention has been sitting in on the lessons, and of course, he's become interested in the gospel as well. He'll be taking a bit longer to work towards baptism, but it's just been amazing to see the change in his attitude towards the gospel as he has listened and participated in the lessons. I mean, c'mon, how could anyone NOT be interested in getting baptized? Keoni's mom is working on getting her 3 other kids interested in the lessons. I'm sure all they'll need is one lesson with us and they'll want to get baptized. Not because of Elder Stratford and I, but because of the Holy Ghost--the Comforter and Testifier of the truth.

I burned my shirt on Friday night to celebrate my year mark. It was the shirt I brought from home that I wore for too many years and that I never planned on wearing as a missionary, so that worked out fine. I'll try to send a picture, but the USB doesn't seem to be working.

One year doesn't seem right. I feel like I've been out so much longer than that, yet only one year left seems like way too short of a time. It's not enough to accomplish all I want to.

Happy Birthday again Dad. I'm glad it went well.

Gotta go! I love you!

Just remember:

"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay 

Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night! 

Have a wonderful week!

I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe

Happy Birthday, Dad - 9/18-19/2011



Elder Rowe with his new companion, Elder Stratford, who is the red head on his left.

Hello family!

It's been an interesting week as I'm sure you could assume. I'm now in Palmerston North with Elder Sratford. I've been wondering for awhile about where Palmerston South is. Neither Elder Stratford or I could believe that I got called to be his companion. He was my District Leader in Napier, and then both of us moved at the same time and he became my Zone Leader. And now we're companions. Elder Stratford is from Ogden, which he thinks is the real O-town. Not true. He's going home in February, so he's pretty old and wise. Him and I have been good friends since January when we met, so I'm pretty excited to be working with him. Though I'm not sure he feels the same way. Just kidding. I don't know if you can notice from the picture, but, yes dad, he has red hair, and is proud of it. In NZ redheads are called "ranga's", just so you know.

I've truly loved being in Levin/Otaki and will truly miss it and its small-town comfort. Palmerston is much much different and people don't like saying Hi to the missionaries as much as Levinites did. But I'm excited for the opportunities ahead. I'm also really glad that it's so close to Levin, because it'll mean I might be able to go to Hemi's or Mike's baptism, whenever it is that they happen. I've been to Palmy quite a few times on exchanges so I already know most of the investigators that are now "mine." Though I still kind of feel like I'm just on exchanges and that I'm not really Here nor especially not a Zone Leader. Hopefully it will hit me soon that I'm actually a Zone Leader. It probably will when we go down to Wellington during the week for Zone Leader Council.

I've enjoyed training Elder Christensen and learned a lot from him. Hopefully he feels the same. His new companion, Elder Kim, is from my intake, so he has been out as long as I have. They're both awesome missionaries, so I know Levin is in good hands. And I'll be hearing from them every week so I'll be able to check on their progress when ever I want! But it's very true as you said, I always seem to leave right before the Golden investigators get baptized. But that's okay, all that matters is that they get baptized.

And Happy Birthday Dad! Oh my, you seem to get younger every year don't you? I hope you have a wonderful day on Thursday as you turn 1, and I'll have a wonderful time burning a shirt as I celebrate 50 years of being a missionary! Ha ha You should be expecting something in the mail sometime soon, and so you know, it's for both you and Kathy (a combined "gift", even though it's extremely late).

 

Just remember:
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay
Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night!
Have a wonderful week!
I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe

Here's Some News for Ya, Mate! 9/11/2011-9/12/2011

Kia Ora Loved Ones,

 It's been quite an amazing week. Wonderful in fact.

We'll start with Hemi, and his awesomeness--to say the least. We saw Hemi on Monday and taught about the Plan of Salvation. He invited his 13-year-old sister along because he knows she needs the Gospel. Hemi loved the lesson and he bore testimony to his sister of how he knew the Gospel would bless her life and would give her true happiness in life (as opposed to the alcohol/party scene that he's afraid she'll get into).

On Wednesday, we went over to Hemi's with a member from the ward around his age and we taught the Law of Chastity. Focusing of course, on how he needs to get married before he's baptised. Brother Fitz testified of the joys of marriage and why it's so important and wonderful. I don't think the lesson would have worked without him there. As we discussed it, I could tell Hemi felt the Spirit and his desire to do what is right was growing--even enough to go out and get married. He told his partner Karen (who's not really interested in having the lessons) has always wanted to get married, but that he himself never really considered it. But that night, he had a talk with Karen and about what he wants to do, and he later told us it went great!

And then on Sunday, Hemi walked to church with one of his daughters and was greeted warmly by the ward. Halfway through sacrament meeting, Karen walked in with their other daughter and she came and sat down with him! We couldn't believe it! Prayers are indeed answered!

We've also seen Mr. Mike a few times this week and he has improved a lot. He's been cutting down on all Word of Wisdom problems and says that this is the week to quit entirely! The lessons we've had this week have also improved a lot as he has opened up more and it has become more of a discussion than us just teaching him and the Spirit has been guiding us fully.

However, the sad fact is about these two wonderful gospel brothers is that I'll be leaving them and not be able to see them baptized because I'm being transferred this week! Luckily, it's only up to Palmerston North (30 minutes away) but I;ll be a Zone Leader with Elder Stratford and someone else will be traingin Elder Christenesen.

 gotta go bye!

September 4/5, 2011

Elder Rowe after two dinner appointments in one evening

Kia Ora Rowe Whanau!

Spring has sprung indeed! It's a beautiful day today and I might just be wearing short sleeves. Everyone is bustling about in their shorts and sweaters (yes, the combination of being warm on top but cool on bottom, is very common) and everyone is getting more and more excited as shops are decorating for the Rugby World Cup that starts this Friday. So that should be exciting...for everyone else. There aren't any games held in Levin, so we'll miss out on a lot of the tourism, but hopefully some good will come from such an event. 

Wasn't the Soccer World cup on during Robby's mission? What was that like? (he should email me about it)

It has been a marvelous week and much good has happened. Especially compared to last week. To start off the week, we had an amazing extra Zone Conference for this transfer last Tuesday with special guest Elder F. Michael Watson of the Area Presidency. He is doing a tour of the our mission and is going to each of the Zones to talk. So it was great! President and Sister Kezerian spoke, but then Elder Watson and Sister Watson took the rest of the time sharing a lot of new ideas for improving our missionary work. Elder Watson talked about working with the ward and the leaders more closely and Sister Watson spoke of the Articles of Faith. 

After the conference, I went on exchanges with my zone Leader, Elder Lemalu, until Thursday. I always enjoy going on exchanges and being able to learn so much from another missionary. One particular note worth mentioning was the two dinners we had on Wednesday night. They were both with part-member families and so Elder Lemalu didn't want to cancel either. I was already too full to finish my plate after the first house, and then we arrive at the next house to see a feast on the table. Yeah, we died. (see attached picture)

We taught Mike the Word of Wisdom this week. His first step was to quit tea and coffee, which he worked on over the weekend and then yesterday we saw him and he committed this week to quitting smoking. He is still excited to work towards baptism. He just has the big smoking problem that's really stopping him. So please keep him in your prayers.

We also popped by to see Hemi this week and he gave us the wonderful news of how he's doing his own missionary work! The man! He's been telling his friend, who's been pretty down lately, about what he's been learning and doing and the friend wants us to come teach him as well. Hemi's little sister is also going to be staying with him for a while and so he's hoping that we can teach her as well because he knows she--being a teenager--is in need of it. He wants her to be able to find true happiness in life and not in the way that most teenagers do with alcohol. He's also trying to share what he can with his "future wife' (I refuse to use the word "partner" as everyone else does) and wants us to be able to teach her as well so that his whole family (including his young daughters) can all be in it together. So Hemi is great! We just need to get him married. But first, he's looking forward to coming to church this Sunday.

We've also had a great lesson with a less-active member named John (one of the 5 Johns that we have on our list) and his partner Jodine. He was raised in the Church but went less active when he was 14 (he's in his 40's now) and got into a lot of trouble in his life. But being in jail he gained great faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement and so he's taught that to his girls. We had a surprise lesson with him and Jodine on Saturday and talked a bit about the Plan of Salvation. Near the end of the discussion he mentioned that he knows he needs to do the right thing and go to Heavenly Father's church. Jodine asked "well what Church is that?" He said "This one." as he pointed at us. "I always knew what my mother has taught me was true." So that was fantastic! We're having dinner with them on Tuesday and they're hoping to come to church this Sunday as well. 

Answers to questions I somehow seemed to miss:

Elder Christensen said he doesn't know the Rowley's but probably knows someone from their ward. He said there are about 5 wards in Redlands alone.

Yes, Dad, you're very old. Kathy, you're not at all. Just kidding, about Dad, I can't believe you're turning 50, but in many ways I can. ;)

Thank you for everything you do!

Just remember:

"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay 

Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night! 

Have a wonderful week!

I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe

August 28/29, 2011

Hello from Levin!

 It's been an interesting week. Very busy, but nothing much seemed to happen. It was one of those weeks that allows a lot of room for improvement. 

Something new about this week is the success that Elder Christensen and I find from door-knocking between 6 and 8. I've always been scared about knocking at that time, mainly because it's dark and a few people get mad and ask "what are you doing at this time of night?!" But that's when everyone is home! So we've been trying to use that time slot as much as possible to find all of those wonderful families looking for the gospel truth! So whenever you guys are having dinner or whatever in the evenings, you can imagine Elder Christensen and I knocking on the doors of all of those lucky people of Levin and Otaki.

Ana was able to recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday and her and her family are doing wonderful. Mike, our elderly friend, was able to come to church yesterday and really enjoyed it. The ward gave him a great welcome and I was glad to see that. We've moved his baptismal date to the end of September because of his problem with smoking. But all should be fine, once he quits.

Something that I've been thinking about a lot lately is "what kind of member missionary was I back home?" And so, I have that same quesiton for you. What are you doing as a member missionary? And how are you sharing the gospel whenever you can? I've realized what an extreme need investigators have to feel of the love of the ward. So share the gospel with all yo can!

Thank you for the photos! The girls are all way too grown up looking! Perhaps it's their hair. I think you need to lock them inside after school and not let them talk to any more boys.

 I'm sorry it's so short! I gottaa go!  I love you Bye! Just remember:.......

August 21/22, 2011

My Dear Whanau,
It's been a wonderful week in the neighborhood. A wonderful week for a baptism! Yesterday we were able to have a wonderful baptism for Ana. And next week in sacrament meeting she will be confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. So it was great! Her teenage uncle was able to come with his friends and so it gave him more of a reason to want to talk to us when we see him around town or at Ana's house, rather than just saying what's up or a cheeky comment about whether or not we're keeping the 10 Commandments.

On Monday as we were sitting in our flat writing letters, we saw snow starting to fall and we got way excited. But then half an hour later after we had taken some pictures of the tiny snowflakes it started to dump and soon enough we were in a winter wonderland! So we had to go play in it! It's the first time it's snowed in Levin for 40 years or so. So everyone was going crazy! In a good way though. I was surprised to see how many snowmen there were the next morning, but then they were all melted by 3:00 in the afternoon. I was also surprised to see that most people even knew how to make snowmen even though they had never been in the snow before. But I guess that's what watching enough American TV can teach you. I think it snowed over almost the whole country and everyone was talking about it the whole week. Being in the snow was a real treat for me since winter 2010. I didn't think I would ever get to throw a snowball on my mission. But I did, so mission accomplished. Well, my snow mission, not my Church mission.

Can you believe it's been 11 months!? I can but can't. I feel like I just started still, yet luckily I have the knowledge needed. Despite the added stress and responsibility, I love being a trainer and District Leader, particularly because while I'm training and leading I'm being taught as well. I'm taught better than I would be otherwise if I wasn't. I don't know if that makes sense. But I love being a missionary more and more every week!

I hope the Girls have a wonderful week at school! Where did your summer go? Good luck and have fun! And don't be scared!

Thank you for all you do for me,

Just remember:

"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay 

Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night! 

Have a wonderful week!

I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe

August 14/15, - It Snowed This Morning

Querido mi familia,

G'day! How are ya? How is it that summer is already over for you? I feel like you guys just started your holidays, but you're already going back to school? But I guess that means winter is almost over for me. Yes! This morning it was snowing! It was awesome! But then ten minutes later, it stopped and the sun came out, but it's still freezing. But it seems like it has been snowing in all of the other areas, so I feel pretty ripped off. Hopefully tomorrow there's supposed to be a big storm. Hopefully that means a SNOW storm. 

This week has been good and exciting things have happened. But that's no surprise is it? Elder Christensen and I set two baptismal dates this week! One is with a young Maori guy named Hemi who lives with his partner and two kids. He's looking for more of a purpose in life and for the joy that he's seen his friends have as they've "found God." So he's taking small steps, but is looking forward to being baptized near the end of September. 

Also, last week, we found a funny old English man named Mike, who at first turned us down because he's been seeing Jehovah's Witnesses. But after we talked to him for a bit on his doorstep and gave him a Book of Mormon, he said we could come back. When we went back, he said he hadn't "been able to read much of the Book of Mormon, just the first 12 chapters" but we were ecstatic! We taught him the Restoration and committed him to baptism for the beginning of September. I was surprised that he seems so excited about it! Yesterday we saw him and taught the Plan of Salvation, which all made perfect sense to him. So, he's an awesome "elderly gentleman."

This week we're going to be finishing all of the preparations for Anna's baptism next Sunday. So that will be great! We're also continuing to work with Cruze so that he can be prepared to be baptized at the end of the month. Also this week we'll hopefully be able to see half of our investigators who have been busy for the past couple weeks with family things (Ace, Jaky, Levi, and others) so things will be picking up! Again. 

I'm glad that all is well with you and that you're having lots of fun.

Thank you so much for all of the support and prayers you have for me.

 Just remember:

"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay 

Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night! 

Have a wonderful week!

I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe

August 7-8, 2011

Ants!

Elder Rowe and his very new companion, Elder Christensen of California

District photo before transfers

Elder Rowe studying diligently atop "Trig," the "mountain" outside Levin.

Another Trig photo, this time he's just being cool.



Dear Whamily,

It's been one of those weeks! Crazy! But crazy good!

So first thing, because I'm sure you're dying to know, my companion's name is Elder Christensen. He's from Yucaipa, California and he's 6'3. I've never felt short as a missionary before. Now I suffer from the low self-esteem that many short people have. Just kidding, but it is weird for me to feel short, especially after being with Elder Cerros. Elder Nacho Libre, by the way, has moved up to New Plymouth. So he's still in the same zone, so I'll be seeing him on Thursday for Zone Conference and I'll be able to give him all of the things he left behind in the flat.

I still find it hard to believe that I'm training a brand new missionary. I often still feel that I need more training for myself. But perhaps that's exactly why I have been assigned to train. As I teach him, he always teaches me. So I'm grateful for all that I have been able to learn in just these past few days as I've been trying to teach this "baby how to walk." That's a big exaggeration. Elder Christensen knows his stuff and I can see what a powerful missionary he will be already. It makes me think back to when I first started (which was almost a year ago, can you believe it?) and how "green" I must have been. In fact I was thinking the other day how much I want to see Elder MacTavish again, so he can see how much less of a dweeb I've become. If that makes any sense.

Anyway, it's been a good week. Some of our investigators have been pretty busy lately, so we haven't been able to teach them much. Anna is doing good though and is still excited for her baptism. We'll probably have to move her baptism to the following Sunday though because of things. But it happens.

Thanks for all you do and all of your prayers!

I love you very much!

Gotta go bye!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe