Time Never Works Out - May 22, 2017

I am again without time to write you all, and I am sorry for that. Let me give you the rundown:

I am being transferred to Gonzalo, which is out by my first area, Sabana Grande de Boyá. I will be with a Costa Rican named Elder V****. Elder W*****, my secondborn, will be one of my zone leaders, along with Elder A**** from my Provo MTC group. More details on the zone and area later.

Jessica--The scripture I've probably come to appreciate most is Alma 7:11-15 (for the importance of the Atonement). More on that next week.

I emailed on Wednesday because we changed out p-day because the aquarium is not open Mondays.

I will respond to the rest of the stuff next week.

I love you guys!

Élder Rowe

Some Stuff - May 17, 2017

We got to skype with Jacob for about an hour on Mother's Day.  We had a few technical difficulties but overall it was Great!  

Hey, I TOTALLY forgot to say HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! I don't know--holidays have next to no meaning for me anymore because being a missionary you don't do anything too special to celebrate them, and nothing is there to remind you what day it is. XD

This week has been great--we've found TONS of new investigators, especially youth and young single adults, who have been progressing impressively. We are going to take a bunch on a temple trip on Saturday and put baptismal dates with ALL OF THEM!! XD

Have some pictures of the sea we took outside the national aquarium today (because frankly they are cooler than the aquarium was haha).

Love you all!

Élder Rowe

Not Much Is New - May 8, 2017

Yep. Not much is new. We had our first baptism since January here in Primavera on Saturday (as an area, not as a zone or mission). He is a guy named J****, has been visiting with the missionaries for around 6 months now, and up to recently been what dominicans call a "charlatán" or maybe even a "charlatanazo." However, he has made a lot of changes in his life. He is a single father (unusual for the DR...usually it's the dads and not the moms that abandon their kids), and really wants to be able to preach the gospel. We are going to do everything we can to get him to visit people with us, and we are also making sure he gets the Priesthood and a calling here soon. 

We met a ton of great new people this week. We met a blind lady who has been to Church in another town around here, is the friend of a blind Church member in that town, and who, even without being able to see us, told us as soon as we showed up that she had been waiting for us. The sisters in Consuelo (the town) sent us the reference, but because she lives a little far away it took us a couple of days to get to her. We are super glad we did. We also met a lady who gave us lunch in our first visit with her, and expressed a big desire to know for herself if the Book of Mormon is true. We talked this week to the manager of a TV company office when we received her as a reference, had a short visit, left her the Book of Mormon, and are going to try to visit her again this week.

We talked on public radio as usual. Although you wouldn't understand hardly anything, it is available to listen to via internet. Jessica could practice a bit of that spanish of hers that has been gathering dust. ;) The radio is called Radio Dial 670 AM "EL PODER NOTICIOSO DEL ESTE."

This week I said goodbye to Elder K**** from New Mexico. He went home early for school this Thursday. I'm going to miss him--we became pretty good friends in our time in the same zones. In two weeks I will have to say goodbye to Elder F*****, which will be really hard. We have become SUPER close. The good thing is that it'll only be 3 months before I see him again; he's doing BYU evening classes, and suffice it to say that we will be spending WAY too much time together being nerdy and stuff. He already set me up with a friend of his for a double-date Lord of the Rings marathon in October. HAHA XD That will be interesting.

Anyhow, not much else is itching my brain right now. I love you all so much, and hope that all goes well this week now that things have calmed down. As far as my call, I can't say exactly when it will be, because the other missionaries I live with haven't told me the times they've set. From my estimates I will call around 5 or 6pm dominican time, but be ready just in case I call earlier. I'm pretty sure I remember all my skype info. I should hope so--this is the last call I'm going to make. Wow. How odd.

Take care, and best of luck (er, blessings--there is no such thing as luck)! :)

Élder Rowe

It's No Longer April - May 1, 2017

Wow, it's May. I only have 4 months left as a missionary. That is RIDICULOUS (don't remind me--one of my housemates already does WAY too much). I don't have much time this week, again, but I have more than last week, so...here goes.

First things first, last week.

Yes, of COURSE I remember who Ansel is. HELLO! I hope he's doing well. He is going to graduate with you, right Jessica? Now THAT is weird. I'm going to miss your graduation! WAAAAT?!?!

Say hi to Mr. McDonald for me as well. I wanted to congratulate him on taking a few more teams to state in his last few years as coach, and also I wanted to let him know that the DR has some GREAT history and historical sites--seeing as he does Europe trips, I think he might also like a DR trip. Just be ready to not have ALL of the conveniences. There will be many, but, one gets used to what's lacking.

Mom and Dad, I printed off your letter last week and read through it A TON. Thank you both so very much--it has really been exactly what I've needed.  This week some of my housemates have been slacking off on the obedience thing, and for the first time in my mission I have given in to the temptation a few times. I have always striven to be EXACTLY obedient in the little things, but this week I slipped into starting study a few minutes late or leaving a few minutes late. It has been a big booster for me to hear from both of you. In particular, I want to thank you, Dad, for giving me a window into your mission. I feel like we've never really talked about your mission or how it was or what you did. It is probably a lot on my end for not asking, and for not reading your journals like you offered. I am sorry for not being so interested in the mission before the mission. I didn't really understand what it was or why I was going--I just knew I was going. I realize now that I could have been SO much more prepared to be here had I asked around. I just saw it as a future thing that I would deal with when I got to it. Oh well, though--you learn from your mistakes and you move on, not making them again, right? 

SHOOT time is up. I love you guys! Remind me what day is mother's day so I can set a time and not put appointments at that time. 

PEACE

Elder Rowe

PS

Here is a zone pic at our last zone conference, and hereis a family photo (I'm a GRANDPA!!). From right to left, my sons (Elders R****, C****, and W****, all district leaders) and my grandson, Elder S**** (via Elder W****).