January 24/25, 2012

Talofa lava!

Sorry I'm so late. I'm a very busy man nowadays. On Monday we had our usual Zone Leader Council down in Wellington for the start of the transfer. Yesterday we were busy planning and preparing for our District Leader Council (which we had today) and were busy with lots of lessons. So here I am.

Thank you for the lovely birthday wishes. And Happy Birthday again to the two grown-up monkeys. (Anna and Jenny)

Are you as shocked as I am that I'm 21 years old? I don't remember birthday celebrations of certain years being all that big of a deal (or maybe I just didn't go to enough parties), but here in New Zealand, and Australia as well, a 21st birthday is the biggest thing ever. People plan the party for weeks and invite everyone they've ever met to the event. There's also a big foot-long "key" that they get, usually carved out of wood, and shows that they now have freedom to do whatever they want or something. I don't know, but people are usually suprises when they find out we don't have a drinking fest on our 21st birthday. And of course, I didn't, though now I'm legal to (though the age is actually 18 in NZ.) It was a pretty good birthday yesterday, as I'm sure you're wondering what I did. Not much really. It was Sunday so that made it really nice, because it was a really good day at Church. I wasn't planning on telling my companion Elder Segi, but he found out Saturday that it was my birthday when I got a card in the mail from the Kezerians. But it was a good birhday, to say the least.

It's been a very interesting week though. On Thursday, we said our goodbyes to the legendary Elder Kava, who is now back in Sydney and probably at the beach. He's going to Orem in June to visit his trainer Elder Oldham (who lives near Mountain View) and he plans on going to visit you all while he's there and tell you how awesome I am. Or maybe tell you how much I got on his case. We're good friends. But Make sure he plays the piano for you. And the guitar.

It's great to back with Elder Segi. Did you remember I was with him in a threesome for two weeks  before I left Christchurch? So now we get to be real companions, and we are already tearing it up. Well, i'm just following his lead. We have a lot of really great people we are teaching, and many wonderful things will be happening. We are teaching some people whom the Lord has truly prepared to recieve the Gospel,all we have to do is teach them the things they've been searching for. Just hopefully they'll get baptized before i leave the area. You know how that works.

Well I gotta go, but I will send some pictures next week, I seem to have misplaced my backpack between here and Wanganui.

Thank you for everything you do for me! And I look forward to admiring your artistic abilities once they arrive.

Well I gotta go! I love you so much!

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