Kia Ora! Ke te pehia
koe?
I'm out of adjectives to describe how my week has been. But it was...good. It
went by so fast, yet the things I did on Tuesday and Wednesday seem like they
were weeks ago.
Tuesday was a bit of an interesting one. I now claim myself to
be a certified carpenter and roofer. Our ward mission leader, Bro Ure (who is
also our landlord), is quite the handy man. Cars, houses, plumbing, electrical
things, you name it, he can probably fix it. Or at least he'll attempt to. But
always being prepared to fix something or replace something for
someone requires the storage of parts and pieces of everything that you can
ever imagine breaking. But to keep the story of Bro Ure short, on Tuesday we
went to his house to help him finish the lean-to/shed we started helping him
with last week--doing the final supports and putting the metal and plastic
sheets on for the roof. This shed is to put all of the stuff (or at least some
it) from the side of his house and backyard into it. So I felt like more of a
man that day as we finished it, and my hammering skills increased tenfold.
Anyway. Because our water heater had been leaking the night before, after
we had finished the shed, we got in the van to go back home. Next thing we saw
was Bro Ure rolling a massive spare water-heater tank that he had somewhere in
his backyard. We put it in the van. So then we spent the next couple
of hours doing service for our own house. I've never realized how little I know
about repairing and building things until I came on my mission. "You mean
you can actually do that yourself?!"
Wainui is doing well, and it's amazing how many wonderful families we're
teaching here. Look forward to me preparing the best games for FHE when I get
home.
Time's going by way too fast! Transfers are in three weeks, and then I'm on my last
one! That's terrifying. Every morning when I wake up and say my prayers, I
realize that time is disappearing and my goals are getting farther from being
reached. So I appreciate your love and support and reminders of diligence.
The story about the birds is way cool. That's the best way to have a pet--one
that lives outside and takes care of itself, but whose beauty you still get to
enjoy. ;)
I love you all, and miss hearing about from the girls, but as we know, there
are consequences to our actions. I re-learn that everyday! Just make you write
in your journals so that you can tell me what you did all of these weeks that i
don't get to hear what you did!
I gotta go! But I love you so,
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
Sunday, September 2, 2012
The Storms Won't Cease July 15/16, 2012
Hello Family
I feel like Paikea the whale rider with all of this rain that's happening here. And no, I haven't seen The Whale Rider. I've just heard plenty about it, particularly when I meet someone named Paikea. We'll have to put on my list of 100 movies to watch when I get home. Of course it will be near the top of the list, with Harry Potter 7 being the first and second.
But anyway, back to the rain. It's been pouring here! And what makes it worse is the wind which blows it sideways. We usually hold our umbrellas almost horizontally to keep our heads dry. I hope imagining that gives you a laugh.
When it rains, continuously that is, Elder Maas and I tend to just walk around with umbrellas rather than biking and getting soaked. Our pants still get soaked, but at least our heads are slightly drier than they would be otherwise. Walking slows us down quite a bit compared to a bike, but Wainui is small enough that if we plan accordingly (like working in one area) then we're still able to get a lot done. Actually the funny thing is that we actually seemed to accomplish a lot more on the days we walk and can only visit a few people than on the days we bike from house to house to see who's home. This happened a few days this week. A mission is strange like that. However one reason for that might be is that when walking, we ponder a bit longer before we decide to go somewhere because it will take so much longer, whereas on bikes, if we think about seeing someone, we'll just go for it. So in the words of President Uchtdorf, we can benefit a lot by slowing down our lives a little!
That's awesome to hear about the information you found about the Jeters. The family history library is even more amazing than I thought! It's funny how some non-members know more about the Library in Salt lake than I do. Will you be able to find out if we're related to Derek Jeter?! ;) Family History is one thing that I really hope to get into more once I get home. I didn't realize it's importance before my mission as much as I do now.
Sorry for the lame email, ans sorry I can't say more. Thanks for all you do for me. I'm still loving the mission and I realize more and more everyday how little time I have. So I work harder!
gotta go
love,
dave
I feel like Paikea the whale rider with all of this rain that's happening here. And no, I haven't seen The Whale Rider. I've just heard plenty about it, particularly when I meet someone named Paikea. We'll have to put on my list of 100 movies to watch when I get home. Of course it will be near the top of the list, with Harry Potter 7 being the first and second.
But anyway, back to the rain. It's been pouring here! And what makes it worse is the wind which blows it sideways. We usually hold our umbrellas almost horizontally to keep our heads dry. I hope imagining that gives you a laugh.
When it rains, continuously that is, Elder Maas and I tend to just walk around with umbrellas rather than biking and getting soaked. Our pants still get soaked, but at least our heads are slightly drier than they would be otherwise. Walking slows us down quite a bit compared to a bike, but Wainui is small enough that if we plan accordingly (like working in one area) then we're still able to get a lot done. Actually the funny thing is that we actually seemed to accomplish a lot more on the days we walk and can only visit a few people than on the days we bike from house to house to see who's home. This happened a few days this week. A mission is strange like that. However one reason for that might be is that when walking, we ponder a bit longer before we decide to go somewhere because it will take so much longer, whereas on bikes, if we think about seeing someone, we'll just go for it. So in the words of President Uchtdorf, we can benefit a lot by slowing down our lives a little!
That's awesome to hear about the information you found about the Jeters. The family history library is even more amazing than I thought! It's funny how some non-members know more about the Library in Salt lake than I do. Will you be able to find out if we're related to Derek Jeter?! ;) Family History is one thing that I really hope to get into more once I get home. I didn't realize it's importance before my mission as much as I do now.
Sorry for the lame email, ans sorry I can't say more. Thanks for all you do for me. I'm still loving the mission and I realize more and more everyday how little time I have. So I work harder!
gotta go
love,
dave
The Start of July - July 9/10, 2012
G'day Rowe family!
Things are...happening in Wainui. Though I can't say I have half as many exciting things going on in my neck of the woods (and I do feel like I live in the woods) as there are happening in Utah.
There was an earthquake, though. I guess that was pretty exciting, but it just seems like a normal occurence to me, even though I haven't felt one in a while. I almost forgot about it, actually. Elder Maas and I were just getting ready for bed when it happened. It was pretty funny, because before it happened, I was finishing coloring the paper flag Elder Maas made for the 4th of July the next day. As I was vigorously coloring, Elder Maas was in the other room when he saw things rattling on his dresser, and he shouted "Elder Rowe, stop coloring for a second!" I asked him why, and then my whole desk started to shake. So I shouted, "What are you doing?!" --thinking he was causing it. Then he ran into the room and the earthquake finished with a big rumble. Then we looked at each other with a "what-just-happened?" type of face. And then I went to sleep. No biggie. But yeah, my heart was beating a bit faster than normal.
The next morning we woke up to celebrate Independence day. Because we're such noble patriots, we hopped out of our beds and said the Pledge of Allegiance. We later sang all three verses (which I didn't even realize existed) of the Star Spangled Banner to start off our companionship study. We kept trying to think of 4th of July things to do all day but we couldn't come up with any good ideas besides eating hamburgers and hotdogs. Since we have "patties and sausages" all the time, it didn't sound that great, mainly because they don't taste very good unless you're really hungry or they're free. Then at the end of the day we realized we should have celebrated it on the 5th because that's when you would be celebrating it back home.
Our investigators are doing great! It's so great to see the joy they all have as each of them progress in the Gospel in different ways (reading the Book of Mormon, coming to church, or even saying a prayer out loud with us). One boy we're teaching has been going to Primary for years but his dad won't let him get baptized. He conducted a whole Primary activity we were invited to on Friday. That was awesome to see. Another amazing thing about Wainui is that we seem to find a new part-member family every week! its great!
gotts go bye!~
i love you!
Things are...happening in Wainui. Though I can't say I have half as many exciting things going on in my neck of the woods (and I do feel like I live in the woods) as there are happening in Utah.
There was an earthquake, though. I guess that was pretty exciting, but it just seems like a normal occurence to me, even though I haven't felt one in a while. I almost forgot about it, actually. Elder Maas and I were just getting ready for bed when it happened. It was pretty funny, because before it happened, I was finishing coloring the paper flag Elder Maas made for the 4th of July the next day. As I was vigorously coloring, Elder Maas was in the other room when he saw things rattling on his dresser, and he shouted "Elder Rowe, stop coloring for a second!" I asked him why, and then my whole desk started to shake. So I shouted, "What are you doing?!" --thinking he was causing it. Then he ran into the room and the earthquake finished with a big rumble. Then we looked at each other with a "what-just-happened?" type of face. And then I went to sleep. No biggie. But yeah, my heart was beating a bit faster than normal.
The next morning we woke up to celebrate Independence day. Because we're such noble patriots, we hopped out of our beds and said the Pledge of Allegiance. We later sang all three verses (which I didn't even realize existed) of the Star Spangled Banner to start off our companionship study. We kept trying to think of 4th of July things to do all day but we couldn't come up with any good ideas besides eating hamburgers and hotdogs. Since we have "patties and sausages" all the time, it didn't sound that great, mainly because they don't taste very good unless you're really hungry or they're free. Then at the end of the day we realized we should have celebrated it on the 5th because that's when you would be celebrating it back home.
Our investigators are doing great! It's so great to see the joy they all have as each of them progress in the Gospel in different ways (reading the Book of Mormon, coming to church, or even saying a prayer out loud with us). One boy we're teaching has been going to Primary for years but his dad won't let him get baptized. He conducted a whole Primary activity we were invited to on Friday. That was awesome to see. Another amazing thing about Wainui is that we seem to find a new part-member family every week! its great!
gotts go bye!~
i love you!
July 1/2, 2012 - Wonderful Wainui
Helloooo! (I'm
running out of clever things to greet you with)
Transfers are this week! I'm staying of course. It's weird seeing the names of the missionaries who are going home, it makes me feel super old. Especially because no one goes home in the August transfer, which means I'm on the following list of missionaries going home. But luckily I've still got 3 months to accomplish my goals. It's seems long sometimes, but other times, too short.
Crazily enough, Elder Maas is also staying for yet another transfer here. It will be 9 months by the time he leaves here. Which is especially rare to stay in your first area for so long. But luckily Wainui is on fire, so there's no reason for him to want to leave. And by "on fire" I mean in a very different than the way it is for you in Utah.
I can't believe all of that is happening. I heard from some stranger about the fires going on in "Colorado or something" but he didn't mention Utah. I'm glad to hear you're all okay.
It's been a great week here in the Promised Land and our investigators are continually progressing. We had seven investigators at Church yesterday. Hopefully next week will be like ten. It's quite amazing how many great families/couples we are actually teaching, it's almost hard to keep track of them all.
One spiritual experience of the week was on Wednesday, when I went to go see Tom (the guy who gave us groceries). I was on exchanges with Elder Ebel (he's from the Marshall Islands) and we were able to see Tom and his family last thing for the night. During dinner he mentioned his desire to come back to church, but that he's trying to sort things out first before he comes back, (like quitting smoking and drinking). He asked us the most humble question I think I've heard: "I really want to know, what do YOU think about that idea? I want an honest answer." So what I related to him was how coming to church is like going to the hospital. We don't go to the hospital when we're healthy, but we go when we're sick. Same with church, we're all spiritually sick, and so we shouldn't wait until we're healthy again until we go back. He really liked that idea. After dinner he asked some other similar questions and I tried to explain to him how the Lord helps us overcome weaknesses, but it didn't seem to stick as my other response did. I then turned to Elder Ebel who pretty much hadn't said anything. I asked him What he thought. Elder Ebel then told Tom about his own conversion experience a few years ago and how he had to overcome similar temptations. He said when the missionaries were teaching him he would go to church on Sunday and then a few days later would be tempted to smoke. But as he was about to do it he would think about Sunday and feel guilty and would then be able to not smoke. It was exactly what Tom needed to hear.
Well i gotta go! Happy Birthday again! Thanks for the pictures. Are my sisters getting older or going back in time? They've got some groovy threads and shades.
I love you bye!
Transfers are this week! I'm staying of course. It's weird seeing the names of the missionaries who are going home, it makes me feel super old. Especially because no one goes home in the August transfer, which means I'm on the following list of missionaries going home. But luckily I've still got 3 months to accomplish my goals. It's seems long sometimes, but other times, too short.
Crazily enough, Elder Maas is also staying for yet another transfer here. It will be 9 months by the time he leaves here. Which is especially rare to stay in your first area for so long. But luckily Wainui is on fire, so there's no reason for him to want to leave. And by "on fire" I mean in a very different than the way it is for you in Utah.
I can't believe all of that is happening. I heard from some stranger about the fires going on in "Colorado or something" but he didn't mention Utah. I'm glad to hear you're all okay.
It's been a great week here in the Promised Land and our investigators are continually progressing. We had seven investigators at Church yesterday. Hopefully next week will be like ten. It's quite amazing how many great families/couples we are actually teaching, it's almost hard to keep track of them all.
One spiritual experience of the week was on Wednesday, when I went to go see Tom (the guy who gave us groceries). I was on exchanges with Elder Ebel (he's from the Marshall Islands) and we were able to see Tom and his family last thing for the night. During dinner he mentioned his desire to come back to church, but that he's trying to sort things out first before he comes back, (like quitting smoking and drinking). He asked us the most humble question I think I've heard: "I really want to know, what do YOU think about that idea? I want an honest answer." So what I related to him was how coming to church is like going to the hospital. We don't go to the hospital when we're healthy, but we go when we're sick. Same with church, we're all spiritually sick, and so we shouldn't wait until we're healthy again until we go back. He really liked that idea. After dinner he asked some other similar questions and I tried to explain to him how the Lord helps us overcome weaknesses, but it didn't seem to stick as my other response did. I then turned to Elder Ebel who pretty much hadn't said anything. I asked him What he thought. Elder Ebel then told Tom about his own conversion experience a few years ago and how he had to overcome similar temptations. He said when the missionaries were teaching him he would go to church on Sunday and then a few days later would be tempted to smoke. But as he was about to do it he would think about Sunday and feel guilty and would then be able to not smoke. It was exactly what Tom needed to hear.
Well i gotta go! Happy Birthday again! Thanks for the pictures. Are my sisters getting older or going back in time? They've got some groovy threads and shades.
I love you bye!
Saturday, September 1, 2012
June 24/25, 2012
Greetings from the Bowl! To answer your
question Dad, Wellington is visible from across the bay, down in the Hutt, but
we're at the top of a hill, down in a pit, so all we can see is the hills
surrounding us on every side. Which is really quite scenic, but it gets cold
and dark really fast. And it's a magnet for rain and winds. But it's the best, of
course. The view at the top of the bowl to go down to the Hutt is awesome
because you can see the bay and both Hutt Valley and Wellington. But the only
time we see it is when we're riding the bus into town for P-day or District
Meeting.
Happy Birthday to Kaffs and Sare-bear!
Camping on you birthday sounds pretty fun! Enjoy some mud cake or some
Sparkling Rain in a tin can. I'll be sure to eat some real cake for you. I do
hope you have a great one!
Throughout my mission, I never thought I
could get sick of eating meat pies. But because Elder Maas and get fed quite
well here for dinners, our freezer is pretty full of frozen delicacies and
we've been eating a lot of them the past couple of weeks. Meat pies are amazing
(as long as you don't have too many of them). It's simply just a pie crust and
top, with minced meat and melted cheese substance all floating in a gooey
gravy. My favorite are the ones with steak chunks inside instead of mince. (And
by steak i mean roast beef or something). You just pull one or two from the
package in your freezer, microwave for 3 minutes, and then if I'm feeling fancy
I'll put it in the oven to crisp it up. And then you dip it in sauce. Usually
some ketchup and mayo (fry sauce). It's definitely on our menu for when you
come over.
This has been a really productive week.
Great things are afoot. We've found some wonderful part-member families who love
us, but more importantly, love the Lord. It's strange how sometimes during the
day, it seems we don't know what to do, but in the evenings when everyone is
home, we don't have enough time to see everyone we need to! It's wonderful
being busy. I lose my mind when I don't have anything to do. Sorry I don't have
to much to say today, but I'll keep you updated more next week about the
progress of these wonderful people. And sorry I can't send pictures. It;s
really complicated and slow, Ill try again next week to send at least one.
"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
Sunday, June 17, 2012
17/18 June 2012 - Happy Father's Day
Hello Hello!
Tena Kotou Whanau means in Maori (Hello (to you all) Family) maybe...
There's a reason why I don't always send the translation: because I'm not always entirely sure if I'm writing it correctly. So I'll just let you pretend I'm fluent in all Island languages. Our Elder's Quorum President is Fijian, so Bula Vinaka!
Wet Greetings from Rain-ewy-no-mata! Or something like that. It rains so much here. Luckily it's not today, at least it isn't hasn't started yet. But we're strong and we carry on.
I've thought about playing rugby when I go home, only for fun, of course. But it requires a lot of skill, which I still haven't mastered yet, so I don't plan on giving any lessons, just hoping to find some islanders in Utah who I can "have a run" with. As for the Haka, I shamefully haven't even learned it yet. At least not as well as I should have, but I will be perfecting it before my return. That way I can do it down the escalator at the airport. :) I know some other Utah missionaries have talked about doing that when they get off the plane in SLC. But that would be a lot cooler as a group of studly Elders doing the Haka together than for one odd looking missionary doing it by himself. I would probably get tackled by Security for being a mad man.
Thanks for your funny emails. I'm glad to hear you miss my constant desire for a cobweb-free front porch. My habit for outside cleanliness has carried with me and I always get a slight twitch when I go door-knocking because so many people have cobwebs all over their front door. One investigator of ours has spiderwebs all over her door and you can see the spiders crawling around. Elder Maas (who hates spiders) commented on it, and she says she likes them there, and would feel to cruel to kill them. So Elder Maas always makes me be the one to knock on the door so he can stand as far away as possible from any arachnids above us.
Elder Maas and I had a neat experience this weekend. We have a lot of names, given from different people or found in the area book that we're going through, and so we spent Saturday evening trying to find them and set up appointments. There was a name of a ten-year-old boy in my planner that we had met the first week I got to Wainui. He said, "Hi Missionaries!" as we were biking down the street and told us his name was Antonio and a last name I couldn't understand. Elder Maas didn't know who he was so we asked if we could come by and meet his family. He gave us his address, which I also couldn't understand so I wrote down what I thought it sounded like.
So that bring us to earlier in the week, when I was looking through my planner, found his name and made a mental note to try and see him sometime. To make a long story short. On Saturday night, we biked to the top of town to a small little cul-de-sac and down a long driveway in the dark and found this address. So it turned out that this boy's father was a former member of the Church. He seemed a bit drunk but was happy to see us and set up a time to "give us a feed" on Wednesday night. But we walked away wondering if he would remember.
Before we left for church yesterday morning, we got a knock on our door, and there stood Tom (the formerly drunk guy) who said, "Remember me?" He then ran back to his car and brought in heaps of groceries for us. He said, "If there's one thing my mother taught me, it was to take care of the missionaries." We were shocked, one that he would do that for us, two that he even knew where we lived (but then again I think everyone in Wainui knows where we live). We thanked him again and again. And then ten minutes later he came back with some meat pies from the bakery. He said "make sure you say a good prayer on those because I bought them on a Sunday."
We then walked to church with a smile of gratitude/confusion on our faces.
Well, Igotta go! I love you so! happy Father's day Dad!,
Love,
Elder Rowe
Tena Kotou Whanau means in Maori (Hello (to you all) Family) maybe...
There's a reason why I don't always send the translation: because I'm not always entirely sure if I'm writing it correctly. So I'll just let you pretend I'm fluent in all Island languages. Our Elder's Quorum President is Fijian, so Bula Vinaka!
Wet Greetings from Rain-ewy-no-mata! Or something like that. It rains so much here. Luckily it's not today, at least it isn't hasn't started yet. But we're strong and we carry on.
I've thought about playing rugby when I go home, only for fun, of course. But it requires a lot of skill, which I still haven't mastered yet, so I don't plan on giving any lessons, just hoping to find some islanders in Utah who I can "have a run" with. As for the Haka, I shamefully haven't even learned it yet. At least not as well as I should have, but I will be perfecting it before my return. That way I can do it down the escalator at the airport. :) I know some other Utah missionaries have talked about doing that when they get off the plane in SLC. But that would be a lot cooler as a group of studly Elders doing the Haka together than for one odd looking missionary doing it by himself. I would probably get tackled by Security for being a mad man.
Thanks for your funny emails. I'm glad to hear you miss my constant desire for a cobweb-free front porch. My habit for outside cleanliness has carried with me and I always get a slight twitch when I go door-knocking because so many people have cobwebs all over their front door. One investigator of ours has spiderwebs all over her door and you can see the spiders crawling around. Elder Maas (who hates spiders) commented on it, and she says she likes them there, and would feel to cruel to kill them. So Elder Maas always makes me be the one to knock on the door so he can stand as far away as possible from any arachnids above us.
Elder Maas and I had a neat experience this weekend. We have a lot of names, given from different people or found in the area book that we're going through, and so we spent Saturday evening trying to find them and set up appointments. There was a name of a ten-year-old boy in my planner that we had met the first week I got to Wainui. He said, "Hi Missionaries!" as we were biking down the street and told us his name was Antonio and a last name I couldn't understand. Elder Maas didn't know who he was so we asked if we could come by and meet his family. He gave us his address, which I also couldn't understand so I wrote down what I thought it sounded like.
So that bring us to earlier in the week, when I was looking through my planner, found his name and made a mental note to try and see him sometime. To make a long story short. On Saturday night, we biked to the top of town to a small little cul-de-sac and down a long driveway in the dark and found this address. So it turned out that this boy's father was a former member of the Church. He seemed a bit drunk but was happy to see us and set up a time to "give us a feed" on Wednesday night. But we walked away wondering if he would remember.
Before we left for church yesterday morning, we got a knock on our door, and there stood Tom (the formerly drunk guy) who said, "Remember me?" He then ran back to his car and brought in heaps of groceries for us. He said, "If there's one thing my mother taught me, it was to take care of the missionaries." We were shocked, one that he would do that for us, two that he even knew where we lived (but then again I think everyone in Wainui knows where we live). We thanked him again and again. And then ten minutes later he came back with some meat pies from the bakery. He said "make sure you say a good prayer on those because I bought them on a Sunday."
We then walked to church with a smile of gratitude/confusion on our faces.
Well, Igotta go! I love you so! happy Father's day Dad!,
Love,
Elder Rowe
10/11June 2012
Tena Kotou Whanau!
Things are good in the 'hood of Wainui!
We'll begin with the most exciting news. We had a baptism on Saturday for a man named Peter! His wife has been a member for a while, and his son got baptized last year, and now he's finally made the decision for himself. So it was great, and they're already talking about going to the temple next year! I, of course, didn't do anything to make it all happen, but it's definitely a great start to boost me for the rest of my time here. He was so happy on Saturday and Sunday, and it will be wonderful to see the impact it will have on his family.
We also had our zone conference on Friday. Fantastic as expected! Zone conferences are always a Spiritual treat, especially when you no longer are in charge of organizing them. Actually, it was really weird, but wonderfully relaxing not having to be responsible for anyone or anything but yourself. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy being responsible. The Kezerians put a picture of my zone on their blog. See if you can spot me and my special haircut.
The Wainuiomata ward is great. I feel like I know everyone already. Sort of. Hopefully by next week, I'll know everyone's names. That's because one, I'm really good with remembering people's names, and two, the ward isn't that big--about 70 active members. There are a lot more Maori's in my ward than in Palmy, and like most small towns in NZ, all of them seem to be related. Just like in Levin, most of the sisters in the ward are referred to as Auntie and then their first name. So it's hard to find out their last names.
One hard thing about trying to get to know the members better, is that a lot of the members all live near the end of a really long street, which is slightly uphill and is always windy, with the wind blowing the wrong way, of course. I'm still getting used to biking everywhere. I think my bike has shrunken over the past few months because I have to put my seat real high, and sit far back on it, otherwise I'm leaning over the handlebars farther than desirable. You can picture that in your head if you wish.
I really enjoy working with Elder Maas, sorry i haven't sent any pictures yet, the computers here are special. Elder Maas and I get along really well, and always have something to talk about with the other. I think that comes with being American, and not understanding Rugby (because that's what other missionaries talk about). But I don't know if I told you, but Elder Maas is a musical genius. Seriously. Name any song that he's heard before, and he can play it on the piano. Anything! But the funny thing is that he can't read music, so playing for church or meetings is a bit of a challenge.
gotta go bye!
Things are good in the 'hood of Wainui!
We'll begin with the most exciting news. We had a baptism on Saturday for a man named Peter! His wife has been a member for a while, and his son got baptized last year, and now he's finally made the decision for himself. So it was great, and they're already talking about going to the temple next year! I, of course, didn't do anything to make it all happen, but it's definitely a great start to boost me for the rest of my time here. He was so happy on Saturday and Sunday, and it will be wonderful to see the impact it will have on his family.
We also had our zone conference on Friday. Fantastic as expected! Zone conferences are always a Spiritual treat, especially when you no longer are in charge of organizing them. Actually, it was really weird, but wonderfully relaxing not having to be responsible for anyone or anything but yourself. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy being responsible. The Kezerians put a picture of my zone on their blog. See if you can spot me and my special haircut.
The Wainuiomata ward is great. I feel like I know everyone already. Sort of. Hopefully by next week, I'll know everyone's names. That's because one, I'm really good with remembering people's names, and two, the ward isn't that big--about 70 active members. There are a lot more Maori's in my ward than in Palmy, and like most small towns in NZ, all of them seem to be related. Just like in Levin, most of the sisters in the ward are referred to as Auntie and then their first name. So it's hard to find out their last names.
One hard thing about trying to get to know the members better, is that a lot of the members all live near the end of a really long street, which is slightly uphill and is always windy, with the wind blowing the wrong way, of course. I'm still getting used to biking everywhere. I think my bike has shrunken over the past few months because I have to put my seat real high, and sit far back on it, otherwise I'm leaning over the handlebars farther than desirable. You can picture that in your head if you wish.
I really enjoy working with Elder Maas, sorry i haven't sent any pictures yet, the computers here are special. Elder Maas and I get along really well, and always have something to talk about with the other. I think that comes with being American, and not understanding Rugby (because that's what other missionaries talk about). But I don't know if I told you, but Elder Maas is a musical genius. Seriously. Name any song that he's heard before, and he can play it on the piano. Anything! But the funny thing is that he can't read music, so playing for church or meetings is a bit of a challenge.
gotta go bye!
5/6 June 2012
Kia Ora, Kia ora!
Greetings from the Pit of Despair. I mean the Pit of Prosper-ity. Wainui is great! We've been seeing a lot of great success. Even though we just got dropped today by our recently found golden Investigator. But these things happen, and we carry on.
Sorry, by the way, for not writing yesterday. It was "The Queen's Birthday" so it's a holiday they have every year and they close everything down. I used to think that New Zealand had so many random holidays just so they could take a day off of work. But then I realized we do the same thing in America, but just with different names for the Holiday.a The week has been good though. I had the opportunity to go to Wellington for what was probably the last time, but it was cool to be able to go even though I'm not a zone leader. Elder Finlinson, one of the Assistants who's going home July, started his mission here, so he pulled some strings and did an exchange with us, and I got to enjoy the hills and views of Wellington again. I've decided, when I get a new home for the first time, I've got to live on a hill. With a great view of the city. Preferably of the ocean, but that's not much of a possibility in Utah.
Wainuiomata is a great place, and it's a lot more exciting being in an area when you actually know your way around. I feel a lot less like a little child following around his dad, and more like a missionary companionship endowed with power. I was in Palmy way too long that I still feel sometimes like I'm just on exchanges rather than actually being in a new area. Though I already know my way fairly well around the place, so that just shows how small it really is.
The ward here is really good. Everyone loves us and is happy to feed us. I hear a lot of missionaries gain a lot of weight in this area. I'm determined to fight that though. Elder Maas and I have been going running in the mornings. He runs a lot faster than one might expect, but I beat him on the hills.
We had a really great night last night as we taught the grandkids of a sister in the ward. The kids' parents are less active, so none of them have been baptized, but all six of the kids usually come to church. We taught the Plan of Salvation, though they already seemed to know quite a bit about some of the parts of it. We had each of the kids draw a different part of it on their own sheet of paper, which was basically just to color in a circle. And then we laid them all out in order and taught them about the picture they drew. Eleven-year-old Wairere drew a pretty detailed picture of the spirit paradise and the spirit prison. We had to explain to them afterwards that people won't really be burning or on fire if they go to spirit prison. The best part of the lesson though was after we had taught about the resurrection. The kids were all really excited about the idea of Resurrection, and getting a perfect body, and what we'll look like. We then said, "After we get resurrected we then get judged." Right away, nine-year-old Renee asked, "Are they going to judge us on our looks?!" So we had a good laugh about that. I hope that sounds as funny as it really was, because she seemed really concerned about it.
Well I gotta go. I love you so much and hope you have a wonderful week!
How is school already over?! Time is flying!
Love,
Elder David John Rowe
Greetings from the Pit of Despair. I mean the Pit of Prosper-ity. Wainui is great! We've been seeing a lot of great success. Even though we just got dropped today by our recently found golden Investigator. But these things happen, and we carry on.
Sorry, by the way, for not writing yesterday. It was "The Queen's Birthday" so it's a holiday they have every year and they close everything down. I used to think that New Zealand had so many random holidays just so they could take a day off of work. But then I realized we do the same thing in America, but just with different names for the Holiday.a The week has been good though. I had the opportunity to go to Wellington for what was probably the last time, but it was cool to be able to go even though I'm not a zone leader. Elder Finlinson, one of the Assistants who's going home July, started his mission here, so he pulled some strings and did an exchange with us, and I got to enjoy the hills and views of Wellington again. I've decided, when I get a new home for the first time, I've got to live on a hill. With a great view of the city. Preferably of the ocean, but that's not much of a possibility in Utah.
Wainuiomata is a great place, and it's a lot more exciting being in an area when you actually know your way around. I feel a lot less like a little child following around his dad, and more like a missionary companionship endowed with power. I was in Palmy way too long that I still feel sometimes like I'm just on exchanges rather than actually being in a new area. Though I already know my way fairly well around the place, so that just shows how small it really is.
The ward here is really good. Everyone loves us and is happy to feed us. I hear a lot of missionaries gain a lot of weight in this area. I'm determined to fight that though. Elder Maas and I have been going running in the mornings. He runs a lot faster than one might expect, but I beat him on the hills.
We had a really great night last night as we taught the grandkids of a sister in the ward. The kids' parents are less active, so none of them have been baptized, but all six of the kids usually come to church. We taught the Plan of Salvation, though they already seemed to know quite a bit about some of the parts of it. We had each of the kids draw a different part of it on their own sheet of paper, which was basically just to color in a circle. And then we laid them all out in order and taught them about the picture they drew. Eleven-year-old Wairere drew a pretty detailed picture of the spirit paradise and the spirit prison. We had to explain to them afterwards that people won't really be burning or on fire if they go to spirit prison. The best part of the lesson though was after we had taught about the resurrection. The kids were all really excited about the idea of Resurrection, and getting a perfect body, and what we'll look like. We then said, "After we get resurrected we then get judged." Right away, nine-year-old Renee asked, "Are they going to judge us on our looks?!" So we had a good laugh about that. I hope that sounds as funny as it really was, because she seemed really concerned about it.
Well I gotta go. I love you so much and hope you have a wonderful week!
How is school already over?! Time is flying!
Love,
Elder David John Rowe
Sunday, June 3, 2012
An Actual Letter
Editor's note: Elder Rowe sent us a copy of his journal entry from sometime in January. Here it is, trasncribed as closely as we are able.
2 January - 6 January 2012
This has been an amazing week. Truly amazing. I can't even list all the great things I learned or that happened. I had two more exchanges, first with Elder Finlinson in Wellington and then with Elder Metusela in Palmy. My exchange in Wellington with Elder Finlinson (from Delta, Utah) who is one of the assistants was the biggest learning experience for me. Elder Finlinson is an amazing missionary, and not because he's got a great personality or is really funny. He does everything by the Spirit and he is more diligent and organized than any missionary I've met. And so I had an amazing time in Wellington. We (well, mostly Elder Finlinson) talked with everybody we came across. The only reason someone wouldn't get talked to would be because we were already talking to someone and they snuck past as we were occupied. And what's even greater about that is considering how busy Wellington is. I think another reason I particularly loved being in Wellington is the never-ending diligence that Elder Finlinson had. We never stopped. It's not that we were at a frantic pace all day, but we were missionaries every second of the day. There was never a time to feel lazy or bored because there was always something to do, even though we were driving the whole day. (Speaking of which, it was in the Mission big beefy van van which I can't fathom how he manages to pilot and/or park around Wellington City). Every time we got out of the van and to an appointment, we managed to talk and teach some passerby about the Gospel.
As my thoughts continue to randomly spill out of my head: Wellington is full of just the most random places to live. I don't know how these people were found! There was one guy who lived among a bunch of flats about a library, and then others who lived crammed on the side of a hill with a cracked, zig-zaggy sidewalk heading down to each flat. I've never been in any place like it. It's especially weird compared to the small farming areas that other missionaries are in. But to sum up my time in Wellys, I never felt more like a missionary than on those two days. So I'm working on bringing the same feeling to Palmy.
On Wednesday and Thursday I was back in Palmy on another exchanges while Elder Tukuafu went to Wanganui. In fact, I didn't even see him between because of the traveling that took place. Elder Metusela, the most sophisticatedly hilarious Samoan missionar ever (from Melbourne) came down to teach me a few magical things. Overall, one thing I really learned from Elder Metusela is how to love everyone. Everyone said hello to him and immediately became his best friend. It's a skill I'll continually be working on.
We were able to find some really golden investigators on our exchange. One in particular is a less active lady with a non-member husband and kids. In fact this past Sunday after we found them the 15-year-old daughter and a niece of the lady (named Elly) came to Church, even though they were late. And they stayed for all three hours! So things are going great!
2 January - 6 January 2012
This has been an amazing week. Truly amazing. I can't even list all the great things I learned or that happened. I had two more exchanges, first with Elder Finlinson in Wellington and then with Elder Metusela in Palmy. My exchange in Wellington with Elder Finlinson (from Delta, Utah) who is one of the assistants was the biggest learning experience for me. Elder Finlinson is an amazing missionary, and not because he's got a great personality or is really funny. He does everything by the Spirit and he is more diligent and organized than any missionary I've met. And so I had an amazing time in Wellington. We (well, mostly Elder Finlinson) talked with everybody we came across. The only reason someone wouldn't get talked to would be because we were already talking to someone and they snuck past as we were occupied. And what's even greater about that is considering how busy Wellington is. I think another reason I particularly loved being in Wellington is the never-ending diligence that Elder Finlinson had. We never stopped. It's not that we were at a frantic pace all day, but we were missionaries every second of the day. There was never a time to feel lazy or bored because there was always something to do, even though we were driving the whole day. (Speaking of which, it was in the Mission big beefy van van which I can't fathom how he manages to pilot and/or park around Wellington City). Every time we got out of the van and to an appointment, we managed to talk and teach some passerby about the Gospel.
As my thoughts continue to randomly spill out of my head: Wellington is full of just the most random places to live. I don't know how these people were found! There was one guy who lived among a bunch of flats about a library, and then others who lived crammed on the side of a hill with a cracked, zig-zaggy sidewalk heading down to each flat. I've never been in any place like it. It's especially weird compared to the small farming areas that other missionaries are in. But to sum up my time in Wellys, I never felt more like a missionary than on those two days. So I'm working on bringing the same feeling to Palmy.
On Wednesday and Thursday I was back in Palmy on another exchanges while Elder Tukuafu went to Wanganui. In fact, I didn't even see him between because of the traveling that took place. Elder Metusela, the most sophisticatedly hilarious Samoan missionar ever (from Melbourne) came down to teach me a few magical things. Overall, one thing I really learned from Elder Metusela is how to love everyone. Everyone said hello to him and immediately became his best friend. It's a skill I'll continually be working on.
We were able to find some really golden investigators on our exchange. One in particular is a less active lady with a non-member husband and kids. In fact this past Sunday after we found them the 15-year-old daughter and a niece of the lady (named Elly) came to Church, even though they were late. And they stayed for all three hours! So things are going great!
Monday, May 28, 2012
From the Wind and Hills of Wainuiomata - 5/27-28/2012
Greeting from the Wainui Hills!
Oh man, it is cold here. It's really windy and rainy. But it's a pretty awesome place. Wainuiomata is pretty much a town built in a valley at the top of a hill, like in a big bowl. I think it used to be a swamp. So we're surrounded by hills, though I think the kiwis call them mountains. The only way (maybe) out of Wainui is one road down the massive hill that leads back into Lower Hutt. And yes, Dad, you can pretend it's Hobbit-like if you want. But it's a fairly big city. Actually, i'm pretty sure they're filming The new Hobbit movie somewhere nearby. We'll see.
But this place is great. My companion is Elder Maas, from Rexburg, Idaho (somewhere around there). He's been on his mission 6 months and has been here the entire time. But he's still not sick of it, of course. The ward is really great. They were suprised to see my name because there's been and Elder Rowell and an Elder Rawle who served here last year, but hopefully that will just make it easier for them to remember my name.
There's just one ward here with about 60 people attending on average. There are hundreds more less-active members, of course. But yesterday I got to speak in Sacrament meeting, and then we had to help in Primary for the third hour of church because all of the teachers had something else to attend. I haven't been in Primary for a long time. I don't know how those people do it. Luckily, there were only like a dozen kids in the whole group.
I had a bit of a shocker yesterday after church as it started to pour down. We biked home to change out of our suits and into less-fancy church clothes. And then biked to our lunch appointment (we get fed a lot here, extra bonus!) about 10 minutes away. We were soaked before we even got halfway there. But it was definitely worth it because they made some amazing pizza! We carried along our way the rest of the day in the wind and rain trying to find someone who would actually let us in or even be brave enough to get out of their bed and answer the door. Let's just say it was a long afternoon. But for some reason, I discovered that I'm really good at doing wheelies on my bike in the rain.
Life as a missionary is very different now that I'm not a zone leader anymore. I have so much more time at nights that I don't know what to do with it. Hopefully this will give me more of a chance to write more in my journal. But just like you were saying Dad, that's how I feel, and that's why I was so excited to get out of Palmy. I feel like a brand new missionary, but with the experienced missionary skills. So it's a lot of fun.
I tried to send some pictures, but I'm not sure how to do it on these computers. So next time sorry.
Thanks for all of your love,
gotta go,
Love,
Elder Rowe
Oh man, it is cold here. It's really windy and rainy. But it's a pretty awesome place. Wainuiomata is pretty much a town built in a valley at the top of a hill, like in a big bowl. I think it used to be a swamp. So we're surrounded by hills, though I think the kiwis call them mountains. The only way (maybe) out of Wainui is one road down the massive hill that leads back into Lower Hutt. And yes, Dad, you can pretend it's Hobbit-like if you want. But it's a fairly big city. Actually, i'm pretty sure they're filming The new Hobbit movie somewhere nearby. We'll see.
But this place is great. My companion is Elder Maas, from Rexburg, Idaho (somewhere around there). He's been on his mission 6 months and has been here the entire time. But he's still not sick of it, of course. The ward is really great. They were suprised to see my name because there's been and Elder Rowell and an Elder Rawle who served here last year, but hopefully that will just make it easier for them to remember my name.
There's just one ward here with about 60 people attending on average. There are hundreds more less-active members, of course. But yesterday I got to speak in Sacrament meeting, and then we had to help in Primary for the third hour of church because all of the teachers had something else to attend. I haven't been in Primary for a long time. I don't know how those people do it. Luckily, there were only like a dozen kids in the whole group.
I had a bit of a shocker yesterday after church as it started to pour down. We biked home to change out of our suits and into less-fancy church clothes. And then biked to our lunch appointment (we get fed a lot here, extra bonus!) about 10 minutes away. We were soaked before we even got halfway there. But it was definitely worth it because they made some amazing pizza! We carried along our way the rest of the day in the wind and rain trying to find someone who would actually let us in or even be brave enough to get out of their bed and answer the door. Let's just say it was a long afternoon. But for some reason, I discovered that I'm really good at doing wheelies on my bike in the rain.
Life as a missionary is very different now that I'm not a zone leader anymore. I have so much more time at nights that I don't know what to do with it. Hopefully this will give me more of a chance to write more in my journal. But just like you were saying Dad, that's how I feel, and that's why I was so excited to get out of Palmy. I feel like a brand new missionary, but with the experienced missionary skills. So it's a lot of fun.
I tried to send some pictures, but I'm not sure how to do it on these computers. So next time sorry.
Thanks for all of your love,
gotta go,
Love,
Elder Rowe
Farewell to Palmy - 5/20-21/2012
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| Various photos of zone leader travels in the Palmerston North Zone |
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| All taken at appropriate times and in appropriate places, of course |
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| Or so he says . . . |
Final Greetings from the Great Palmerston North! The time
has come, and I can't believe it, but I'm leaving Palmy. Transfers are this
Thursday and I'm off on a new adventure in the magical land of
....Wainuiomata! Down in "the Hutt." A place full of excitement and
wonder, unlike any other! Or at least we can pretend. For all you pakehas out
there, it's pronounced "Why-newy-o-mahta." And I'm excited!
Though it will be really weird leaving here. I feel
like I've been here my entire mission. I don't know what it's like to be
in a new area. I guess you could say I'm nervous but excited. It'll be
great.
The week has been a crazy one! Especially since for my last
week in Palmy, I wasn't even here for most of it. On Monday Elder Niutua and
I drove up to meet the New Plymouth Elders in Hawera to start our exchange. I
then drove farther up with Elder Fifita back to New Plymouth. Now
that is a magical place! It definitely gives Laguna Beach a run for it's money.
Just with more modest looking homes. But it's also a really great place for
missionary work and Elder Fifita and I were able to have a lot of success!
And I was able to learn a lot of great lessons. It's amazing to see how some
missionaries can talk to a stranger and right away become their best friend.
Many times during the exchange when we would see someone on the street or
go to an investigators house I would afterwards say, "They seem really
cool, how often do you go visit them?" He would usually respond "I've
never met them before," or "this is only my second time coming
here." But the person he was talking to seemed as if they'd known each
other for years. So that's my new skill I'm working on.While still being myself,
of course. I guess the secret is really loving people as Christ would, or talking
with them as President Monson might.
Also, Elder Niutua and I had another amazing adventure on
Friday. As part of our zone, we traveled up to visit the Waiouru Branch as well
as Taihape where the branch president lives. No missionaries cover that area,
so we're trying to figure out for President Kezerian what work is available
up there in the two small towns. We got to sleep in a caravan! Though I guess
you'd call it a camping trailer or something. But yeah, we stayed at the
branch president's home, in his trailer, and did some visits around the two
areas. It was swell
bye!
Happy Mother's Day - May 12/13 2012
Talofa lava! Manuia le asosa o tina! (Happy Mother's Day!)
Once again, it's been another interesting week. I think I've
finally realized that it's fairly difficult to have a "normal week"
as a zone leader. However,I guess there's probably no such thing as a normal
week for any missionary. But that's a good thing I think.
This week, somewhat unintentionally, we've been
visiting with a lot of less-active members of the Church. I remember I used to
always think of less-active lessons were us trying to befriend these people
who've "gone astray" and we, as missionaries try to gently inspire
them to come back to church by sharing a quick little scripture at the end of
our random conversation. But now I realize there's such a great difference in it.
The people we've been seeing this week and the past few weeks are those
members who've gone less-active but actually want to come back. They just want
to learn the important truths of the Gospel that they seem to have forgotten
along the way. So it's always cool to see the great faith that they have in
knowing that the Church is true, but just have a few setbacks keeping them from
being fully active. So I always learn a lot from the less-active members of
the Church. One thing in particular that I've always believed is that life is so much better and perfect when we keep the
commandments. Nothing that the world offers us can make us happier than the
things that Heavenly Father has to offer us.
I learned another great principle this week while on exchanges
with Elder Windhausen here in Palmy. (He's one of the Assistants from
Wellington). He wanted to do some powerful finding, so I decided to take him
door-knocking to somewhere I've never been. We decided to go to the "rich
" part of my area where all the fancy houses are. But more importantly,
it's where all the families are, families who are already keeping the
commandments and the parents are married! The only reason that most
missionaries, including myself, don't normally go visit those places is because
we aren't usually warmly welcomed. Mainly these people think that they have
everything they need in life. They don't realize they're missing the most
important part, the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!
We did get a pretty good reception, however. Almost everyone
was nice to us. But no one actually was willing to have us back for a
legitimate lesson though. But we gave all three of our Books of Mormon away.It was
cool.
bye
5/6 May 2012 - Hey! It's May Already!
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| Elder Rowe and his latest weta find in Levin |
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| Elder Rowe and his mission twin, Elder Cook, eating huge carrots in the back yard |
Hey Hey! I can't believe it's May!
Sorry about last week's letter, I don't know why, but they
seem to keep getting shorter.
A lady in my ward was telling me about the moon thing. I
noticed it seemed a bit brighter, but not bigger. I thought she was crazy
or something, but I guess she was sharing facts.
My weeks been good! I was able to go to Levin, for what I'm
absolutely convinced was the last time, on exchanges. It was good to go back
though. Last transfer when I went I wasn't able to see a lot of the people I
wanted to see, but this time I was able to, so it was good. I was with Elder Cook
from Providence, Utah. He just got transferred here from my old area in Napier.
He and I have so much in common. Not in the longboarding, trampoline jumping,
sno-cone eating, dancing eyebrows kind of way (is that how you'd describe
me?), but in our lives and circumstances. For example, he has 5 sisters and 1
brother. (They're older however). I can't think of any other things, but trust
me, there was a lot. And he looks like me, in a little boy sort of way. I
remember seeing him at Christmas time and thinking "man he looks like me!
Did I look that young and green when I first started my
mission?" So it was a good few days in lovely Levin.
I was also able to do an "emergency" exchange with
the Feilding elders, so Elder Brown from Melbourne came with me to Palmy. I'm
always amazed at how good some brand new missionaries are at...being
missionaries. I remember I was horrible at everything when I first started my
mission. And I'm still struggling! But Elder Brown, who's been out about a
month, is already set to become the assistant to the President! Powerful guy!
Well I gotta go but I love you so! ttyl
28/29 April 2012
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| Patea Beach. The scrunchy face is due to the sun. |
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| Presumably also Patea Beach, on zone leader travels |
Hello hello!
Sorry if this is really short, I don't know what's happened to the time.
It's been a ___ week in Palmy. I'm not sure what adjective
to put there in front of "week."
I was blessed to go to Hawera for the 5th time this week. I thought that last time would be my last, but I'm sure that this one definitely was. But i'm glad I was able to. go I learned a lot. Hawera has always been a really slow, less-than-successful area. But I was there with Elder Tukukino, who just got there last week. And everything that I thought about Hawera completely changed. We had an amazing exchange with some amazing lessons and amazing new investigators. That place is so full of people to teach, you just need the attitude and the love for tall people. We visited some former investigators whom I met the first time I was there, but hadn't really been taught since. We had a really simple-but-spiritual lesson with them Monday night. And then they texted us Tuesday morning to see if we could come over again for a "feed" (to have a big dinner with them). We had dinner already planned with a member family, but we couldn't turn down either. So we got stuffed! But it was a really good night we were able to have with Nigel and his family. And afterwards, the parents and two sons sang us a Maori song with the guitar. It was cool, to say the least.
Well I gotta go! I love you! I wish i had more time! have a wonderufl week!
21/22 April 2012
Happy Autumn!
The mornings and nights are getting colder and colder. But
that's mainly because the sky has been really clear, making it nice and toasty
during the day, but all of that heat isn't being held in, so Elder Niutua is
always in need of a coat. Because he's not as manly when it comes to cold
weather like I am. After all, I'm from Utah. Just kidding, I'm always in need
of a coat too, and wear more clothes to bed than he does, so I think we're both
cold in different ways. Speaking of toast, our toaster broke and I've been
struggling these past couple of days, because I'm no longer able to go and
"have some toast in my quarters."
Anyway, Elder Niutua is a fitness king, it's probably the
Aucklander in him. We've been going running almost every morning, and it's
great! So, I'll be back to my slim and trim self soon. Probably not, but I do
feel a lot better during the day because of it.
To answer your question, Elder
Niutua grew up in Samoa, but, then moved to New Zealand when he was about 10
maybe? So he speaks Samoan fluently, but also speaks English like a regular
Kiwi.
Well it’s been a really
interesting week in the land of North Palmers Town. I never had a full real day
of regular missionary work. Monday was P-day, Tuesday was Wellington for
Zone Leader Council, Wednesday we went to Wanganui to relay all the previous
day’s information to the District leaders, Thursday was interviews with
President Kezerian as part of our District meeting, and then Friday was our
weekly planning. And then Saturday comes along, a whole day to see everyone,
and no one seemed to be at home. I blame the beautiful weather.
So this transfer is starting
off interesting. I need to find a better word than interesting. Peculiar? We
have a lot of great people with a lot of potential we’re working with, we just
need to do some better planning to see everyone! I think one of the problems
with being here so long is that I know too many people. There seem to be too
many options of who I can go visit in a day. So we’ll be doing a bit of sorting
out the wheat from the tares. I hope that doesn’t sound harsh. It’s a tough thing
to do, but I guess it’s all a part of picking the ripe, low hanging apples off
the tree. Rather than aiming for those high up ones that aren’t ripe yet.
Do you need some more analogies?
Among the heaps of different
cultures here in Zealand, I've recently grown a great love for Indian people.
We teach a group of students all from India who are all flatting in nearby
flats. I think they're all Hindu, but some of them have some Christian beliefs
as well. It's just been really cool to see their interest and enthusiasm in
learning about the Gospel. They're always excited to see us and ask questions,
or have us say a prayer for them. And they're always fascinated or confused
about some of our beliefs or rules as missionaries. They also make really good
Nan bread. Of course.
Well
thanks for everything. I always love hearing from you and what's happening in
life. Even the silliest little things. And thanks for forwarding Matt's email. He sounds
the same, but different in a wonderful, wonderful way.
Have
an amazing week!
New
quote:
"The most important mission that I have in this life is: First, to keep
the commandments of God as they have been to taught to me. Next, to teach them
to my Father's children who do not understand them."
-George
Albert Smith
Just remember:
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay
"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
April 15/16, 2012
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| Elder Rowe and his new companion |
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| Elder Rowe and his former companion |
Malo soifua!
It's been an interesting week with transfers and all, but
all is settled now. I sent off Elder Segi down to Wellington on Thursday, and
Elder Niutua came up from Christchurch. In fact, he was serving in my beloved
Riccarton Ward and often visited the Mapurangas. I say this with modesty, and
I've heard it from a few missionaries who've served in Christchurch, but Violah
is still talking about me. I heard that Elder Segi and I are her favorite
missionaries. (If you remember, he was the one who replaced me and then
baptized Kaibos and Rudo. So Elder Segi and I sent a picture of the two of us
to them with some words on the back. And our autographs. But yeah I would love
to see them again.
Elder Niutua (new-too-uh) is a Samoan from Auckland. So he's
The Man, as we say, and it's going to be an amazing transfer. I guess it
didn't start off very amazing though. And I tell you this not so you think I'm
struggling or unhappy, but because I learned a great lesson just in these past
couple of days. Thursday and Friday were pretty rough days, without the level
of success I was expecting. We had a lot of lessons lined up for those two
days, but everything seemed to keep falling through. We were able to have two
really powerful lessons on both Thursday and Friday night. Both of which
strengthened my testimony of one, the Book of Mormon, and two of the power of
the Atonement. But what I'm trying to say with all of this is... that after all
of the bad comes something great. After the trials come the miracles and the
blessings. (If you can call a slow day a trial). And then Saturday came! It was
what we call "Chockers" or "chock-a-block" with busyness,
our schedule was so full on Saturday with some really great lessons, and it all
made up for thursday and Friday. I came to another conclusion, that for us
to truly appreciate the good things in life, we must experience the bad things.
On Saturday, one of our lessons was with a university
student named Taylor who is friends with some members. She has come to church
a few times, including the last two General Conference broadcasts. We were
finally able to have a real lesson with her, to ask and answer questions, and
to see where's she at in preparedness... She's golden! She loves everything
about the gospel and is totally ready to be baptized, once we teach her of coures. So
we're excited!
Also, in other exciting news, there was a baptism yesterday.
I wouldn't say "we had a baptism" but we were a part of it. A 9 year
girl from a less-active family was baptized yesterday by her father. We've been
visiting with them for a while to help the rest of the family join the
dad at church, and to help Ngawai finally get baptized. It went wonderfully,
and it was so great to see the joy in her family's eyes.
That's exciting about all the changes in the Sharon 4h Ward,
I think I'll be very confused when I get home. Especially when I see who's on
the stand, and seeing Dad teaching sunday school. Who's elder's quorum pres?
Well I gotta go!
Just remember:
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay
Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night!
"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
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
8/9 April 2012 - 'appy Easta!
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| Elder Rowe in the jungle |
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| Either it was very windy, or Elder Rowe has acquired a very odd tie. Outside Levin. |
Hello Hello! And Happy Easter Autumn!
Things are doing just swell in the promised land of Palmy, and will continue to be so. Transfers are this Thursday, and guess what! I'm staying, of course! So it's going to be a total of at least nine months now by the time I leave here. And a total of about 13 in this District. Luckily I'm not sick of it. Elder Segi is going off to "die" in his final area before he goes home, and I'll be getting another Samoan companion. "Seki a!"
Easter is definitely different here. Same sort of secular principles like bunnies and eggs and chocolate, but I realized that "Easter eggs" aren't as cool as they are in America. An Easter egg is simply just a hollow chocolate egg wrapped in foil. No colorful plastic eggs, full of jelly beans or skittles. People were confused when I asked about it. So we've been eating a lot of chocolate marshmallow eggs, and other less-than-delicious things this weekend. Hot Cross Buns are also really popular and pretty okay tasting. But I don't think a big Easter dinner is part of easter here, just chocolate. But then again, NZ chocolate (particularly Cadbury) is way better than anything Hershey has to offer. No offense of course.
Also,on Good Friday and Easter Sunday all of the stores close. So Friday was really quiet and ghost town-like. And today many people still have work off for "Easter Monday," whatever that means. Kiwis love their holidays!
Wasn't General Conference fantastic!? Awesomely super-duper shall we say? Or maybe wonderfully uplifting is a better phrase. Elder Segi thought he was funny when he pointed out it was his last Conference on his mission. Then I told him it was mine too. Crazy eh?
One of my favorite talks, most likely because I'm a missionary, was David F. Evans' talk about member missionary work. "Was it worth it?" Yes! It's always worth it to share the gospel with someone. You can never know whether they will say yes or no, so we must share it with everyone. But of course it should be a natural and normal way, not like the way Elder Segi and I do it by stopping in front of someone as we're biking and asking them if they believe in God. That's normal for us, but not for members of the Church like you. Share what you love about the gospel and how it will bless their lives, and they will want that same joy you have. So that's my challenge for you. Share the gospel. There is someone somewhere in Orem who isn't a member of the church. You just have to find the remaining few.
Earlier this week, I got to return to lovely Levin for an exchange with Elder Greer. It was good see some familiar faces again, but also kind of funny how some people who you assume know you just think you're another missionary who's visiting for the first time.Or even people who you don't think know or remember you are happy to see you again. It was really fun and interesting to see how much a place and it's people can change in just a few months.
Well I gotta go, but I hope you have a wonderful week full of Spring time fun!
way home. That usually means that Thursday that you go home around 3pm. You will still need to wear your missionary attire, nametag and be careful not to visit other missionaries. It gets them trunky! You can then tour and get back safely. We will need to know your actual departure date and time to coordinate that with your family. Keep up the good work."
Just remember:
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay
Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night!
"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 April! April 1/2, 2012
Hello, Hello to every Rowe!
It's been...an interesting week. As I go through my handy planner to reflect on my week, I can't think of much to report. Perhaps it's because I'm getting so old in missionary age and everything all just seems the same. But that's not true. Every day is uniquely wonderful as a missionary, even when you've been biking up and down the same streets for 7 months. Actually, just yesterday Elder Segi and I went in search of a referral we had been given and I discovered a whole new part of town that seemed like a whole new world to me. So we plan to go back. I keep thinking I know everything there is to know about our side of Palmerston North, but there is so much to still discover! So I'm still glad to stay here another six months. Though I can be pretty sure that I'll be leaving next week.
In fact, I bore my testimony yesterday in Sacrament Meeting, and apparently it sounded like a farewell because everyone kept asking when I was leaving. But I don't even know for sure if I will be. It's quite fretful not knowing, but good as well, so I don't start dreaming about serving in some magical place down South. But I also keep dreaming of how great it will be to stay, usually whenever I think of new investigators and what potential they have, it's all very exciting. I definitely think this has been the most exciting time of my mission, here with Elder Segi. There is just so much to do and opportunities available to us to share the Gospel.
Sorry about last weeks email and it's short undescriptiveness. I sometimes don't get into writing mode until the last 30 minutes of my computer time, and then it's always rushed. And so I forget things. Like commenting on the new Bishopric! Woooow! That's cool. Hopefully that doesn't sound sarcastic, because it really is cool. And surprising, but not. But give them my congratulations. And sustaining vote.
One particularly interesting day we had this week was our service day. Right at 10:00 we drove over to the home of a single sister who has five daughters. The oldest is nine and they're all crazy. But you know, crazy in a different than my sisters are. We had volunteered to mow her massively junglish lawn, and were able to finish the beast in two hours, with Elder Segi using the Whipper Snipper and me with the less-than-competent mower that I emptied every two minutes. I have gained a great love for conquering the jungles of Kiwi backyards. It's going to be really boring mowing lawns back home. At noon we booked it to a less-active sister's home to help her put together a bunk bed for her "mokos"(grandchildren). And then at 1:00 we headed over to visit our investigators, Bryan and Ozzy, to help them with the roof of their garage they're building in the backyard. We really didn't help much with that one because you can only construct so much at one time, and I'm definitely incompetent when it comes to construction. Real construction is nothing like Legos. So three service projects in one day was pretty exciting.
Although yesterday was April Fool's day, I failed to do or say any good jokes. I kept thinking of dumb things to do or to say to other missionaries, like telling them they are now allowed to go to the movies on P-day. But then I remembered I wasn't funny. So I kind of forgot about the whole thing until last night when Elder Segi and I were at a members house for dinner. The Sister missionaries who live an hour outside Palmy called and told us they were at the hospital here in town because Sister Posala got attacked by a dog. So because dinner wasn't quite ready, we decided to go to the hospital right away. As Elder Segi and I drove to the hospital, I was thinking, if this is an April Fool's joke, it's definitely not a good one. (I was mainly upset because we were fasting all day, and still hadn't been able to eat yet). So we got there to the Emergency waiting room, which I've always felt was a bit of an ironic place to see people sitting around waiting to be helped. Sister Posala was sitting there with her companion with a blanket over her legs and smiling, happy to see us. Then she showed us the wrapped bandage on her leg. I still didn't believe her until she unwrapped it and showed us the massive gash in her calf where the dog chomped her. It was .... bad! Nasty as can be! But you know, cool at the same time. But she was fine, despite the gore, she just needed some stitches and stuff. Hopefully the investigators whose dog it was get baptized, that would definitely make up for it.
I can't wait for Conference next week!
I just got an email from President Kezerian. It says I'm going to become his Assistant next transfer. I'll be down in Wellington for the rest of my mission.
Hah! April Fools.
Well anyway, I gotta go, But thank you for all you do for me!
The Elders quorum president and his wife just got back from a trip to the south island, so I'll talk to them and maybe they can email you about some ideas.
"Lots of love!"
Elder Rowe
March 24/25, 2012
Malo soifua i lo tatou aiga!
It has been an amazing week, with an amazing Spirit. I was able to do two exhanges this week, while Elder Segi got kicked over to Wanganui and down to Wellington. I used to always want to be the one to leave for the exchange, but now I always want to stay in my beloved Palmy.
On Monday and Tuesday I was with Elder ilai, a Samoan missionary who is brand new. I made a rather cheeky comment when I was with him, of which I've since repented. Someone asked how long I've been on my mission. I replied "about 18 months." Then they asked him . I replied for him "about 18 days." He forgave me for it though.
When I first got to Palmy, I met a university student named Anton who invited us to come back after our initial contact with him and answer some questions. We were able to share a bit with him about the Book of Mormon and the restoration, but then he got really busy and we couldn't catch up with him until last month. He still had interest but seems too busy to talk with us. But we kept going back and trying to teach his flatmates along the way. Anyway, we've been teaching his flatmates Justin and Alisha for the past couple of weeks, and every week the lessons just get more and more spiritual. On Monday we taught them the cup lesson about theRestoration, and they were able to get a much greater understanding even though i had taught it to justin before. Geing Uni students, they ask amazing questions and will always ask if they don't understand something. On Wednesday with Elder Finlinson, the AP from Wellington, we watched the Restoration DVD. I have never felt the Spirit so strong of the 50 times I've watched that as I did that night with them. And Justin is someone who still doesn't even know if God is real. But I know they felt the Spirit that night. We discussed with them how they feel when we come over, and they both said they notice something different, but they couldn't describe why or what it was. I think it was perhaps one of the most spiritual experiences I've had on my entire mission. And it was simply just watching that marvelous DVD. It was an amazing bonus to my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Things are going great . . .
I got to go! I love you!
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