What's Valentine's Day? 2/13 - 2/14/2011



Elder Rowe says New Zealand reminds him of southern California. Now we see why.



Sneak peak of Elder Rowe



Omahu, Elder Rowe's current area in the city of Napier

Napier Beach

Hello my wonderful family!

It's been an interesting week. But then again, every week is an interesting one. Napier is still hot, and I'm still sweating more than I have in my entire life, and most people don't want to talk to us, but everything is great, the work is progressing and I love being a missionary!

First of all, Matt and Jenny are doing great. They love having us come over and teaching them and their six children. I always love going over to teach them because I always feel so uplifted after sharing the gospel with them. I'm always so happy everytime we go over and I leave with a renewed sense of energy and determination and love for missionary work. We had a really wonderful lesson with just the two of them on Wednesday night after the kids were in bed. We read with them The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and of course they caught on to our subtle hint that they need to get married. They've been planning on getting married for a few years actually but part of it is a money issue--they'd like to have a big fancy wedding. But we talked about temple marriage and the blessings and joy that comes from that. So we're working on it. They still have the desire to be baptized, they still haven't recieved that divine witness that the Church is true. When that comes, I think their desire to be married sooner will come, so that they can get baptized!

The two of them came to a baptismal service on Saturday! We invited them to come with us to the baptism of a girl the zone leaders have been teaching. They had wanted to see what a baptism was like and so they (as well as Elder Triantafillakos and I) were really glad they went. They were planning on coming to church yesterday, but they didn't . We don't know what happened, so we 're hoping to see them tonight.

In other news, Elder Triantafillakos and I were ecstatic to see Sharlene and her daughter Jessica at Church yesterday. Sharlene also brought her mom and her foster daughter Brodie. Sharlene and Jessica have been less active for a couple years, but we've been visiting them the past couple of weeks. With the encouragement and an invitiation from us,(as well as the Spirit) and the resassurance from Bishop Tohiariki, Sharlene felt loved and welcomed to come back to Church. She's also getting another foster son that she wants us to start teaching.

Elder Triantafillakos and I are also teaching a Chinese woman named Rebecca. She's a nursing student at the university and is learning English . She actually speaks English very well (she doesn't think so) but has a hard time understanding certain things, like God. She's been getting taught the lessons  for a couple of months now and I think has heard everything, but it hasn't really made sense to her or stuck. So we've basically started over with her and just teach her about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and who they are and what they' ve done for us. Because she grew up in China, she was never taught about such wonderful things. It's so rewarding to me to see the joy it brings her when she understands a principle we've taught or when she reads from the scriptures. For example, on Saturday, we read Matthew 11:28-30 with her. She'll read the verses three times and then ask what certain words mean. So we explain what it means to take Christ's yoke upon us and we explained how a yoke works with oxen and that Christ offers His help and makes whatever burdens we have so much lighter because He is there pulling with us. She loved it and I loved seeing the joy it brought to her. That's what this gospel is all about! Happiness. So I hope you realized how much I love being a missionary and sharing happiness with others.

 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

I'm so sorry I have to go! We're now only allowed one single hour for emails and I'm way to slow at writing. I'm starting to write my emails on paper before hand and just copy them. Next week I will answer the questions I can.