Fruits of his labors - May 30, 2016

Hey guys!

Thanks for all the love notes! Really appreciate it out here.

Sounds like you guys had a great Memorial Day weekend! You know what Memorial Day weekend has meant for me? Apoyo (monthly allotment of money from the mission) still hasn't gotten here! So... I've definitely pulled out like $50 in personal money, because there is no money left. I'm already developing a budget for the next apoyo, and I plan to take my time with it, since it'll be the one I use the whole rest of the mission.

So, remember how I told you about É**** C*****, the guy whose wife lives in NJ? He got baptized Sunday. Guess who did it? THIS GUY! He asked me to come back and baptize him, and President Corbitt gave me permission! It was awesome! The service was really special. His family was there, as well as most of the ward leadership. His father called in to give a talk (I'm not sure where he was). So, that was the first time I have physically baptized someone in my nearly nine months out here (NINE MONTHS? Goodness, how time flies).

We have two families we are working super hard with right now, and a third has just entered the picture. The first is the Familia M****-V****--J***, L***, A*** (18), and C*** (13ish). They are fixing an error in one of the birth certificates which didn't exist before (GAAH--that is a problem in almost every complete family I've met), but they are within two weeks of being able to get baptized. We have them set for the 11th of June. Also, we are visiting the Familia M***-- W****, J****, and J**** (15). They need to get married, too, but the issue there is having them pay a portion, since they are poor (not dirt-poor, but poor-finances-debt-and-credit poor). As soon as they get together a few hundred pesos, they are set. Finally, this week we found the Familia D****--M**** (they call him B***), his wife (can't remember her name), Y**** (8), and S**** (3). They are SUPER nice. The parents are Haitian, but are both legal citizens here in the DR. They love our visits, and we are going to start visiting them more often.

Pics next week--time is up for me here.

Élder Rowe

Our Mission is Going Places (His title) - May 23, 2016

WEY! you guys saw CIVIL WAR!?! You can't tell me anything! ;)

Mom, I really like that bit from President Packer. (I teach Sunday School and shared with him part of a talk from 1991 I told him... "One of the things he said is that when countries are at war one of the best tactics is to jam communications.  President Packer said that Satan works to jam our communication with the Lord through loud music, distractions, tv shows, etc.")   That really is true: Satan jams our sensors with everything he can, and we have to actively block out the noise to hear the Spirit whispering through. In my study this week, I noted that repent comes from the Latin re (again) and pen (think); in other words, repentance is just thinking again--fixing things right away when they're wrong, and thinking twice before making a mistake as well. That has really had an impact on me this week. The two are rather related; if we see our communications being jammed, even if we like what might be coming through, we need to get it out right away.

This week we have been SUPER busy--I am just exhausted. Our area is tiny, but I feel more tired at the end of every day. We are exercising now! Our gym owner is lazy (doesn't open until 7:30) so we just go do some ab workouts, push-ups, and we run sprints (Elder Sm**** wants to lose some weight). Our baptismal dates have been falling through this month, but we still have one for sure. We are working with two families at once, the familia M*** (who need money to get married--they need to put forth a portion, and we and the ward will cover the rest) and the familia M****-V**** (who need to fix a daughter's birth certificate to get married). Apart from the aforementioned issues, all goes well with them. We have been working hard recently on contacting more, and talking with everyone (not just rushing from appointment to appointment). There are really a lot more people open to listening out there than one might think. We met a guy on a bus today who lived in NY 25 years (starting from age 6) and was pretty interested in the Plan of Salvation. He is super busy and lives alone, but accepted a pamphlet and the invitation to study on his own time and to call missionaries over when he's free. Thanks to my companion pushing me to overcome my fear and talk to someone, even our bus ride to Megacentro had an evangelical purpose.

Not much time left, and not much else to report yet. Elder Sm**** and I are great friends, and we've been having a splendid time together. I've been learning a TON from him. We sing together; we play recorder together; he's going to get a guitar so we can guitar and piano together; etc.

Our mission had the goal in April to have every companionship baptize, and over 95% of the 91 companionships did so. Unfortunately, it was because of disobedience in a few that we couldn't do it, but now we have the goal of 2 people per companionship in June and 3 in July, and so long as we continue with Exact Obedience, Extraordinary Faith, and True Unity, we will see the miracles flow even more than we've been seeing them up until now.

Love you guys! More updates on the mission as a whole as well as the area next week.

Élder Rowe

Transferred! - May 16, 2016

Cordial Salutations!

My new area is AWESOME. Our internet center has A/C, newish computers, fast internet, and nice keyboards! The area is the perfect mix of city and campo. Slow-and-easy lifestyle, but closeness to city conveniences and district meetings. Colmados don't make a ton of noise playing dembow except on weekends. We have an investigator who owns a candy-and-cookie distribution shop, and when I first met him he gave us a pack of vanilla wafer cookies on the house. We have another family of investigators whose dad is a taxi driver, and has been our means of getting around during transfers and other meetings at the office. My old companion is now training, and my new one just finished doing so. Elder S**** is a total Star Wars geek and the two of us have very similar personalities. He has almost 16 months in the mission, and is from Syracuse, UT. Yeah, we get along great.

When I was going to be with Elder S****, President Corbitt told me two things: first, that I was going to be his help for Spanish because he still struggles a bit, and second, that he is one of the most family-focused and family-baptizing missionaries out there. I have been trying to put together some spanish study activities to do together. The second statement I have found to be super true. He really knows how to bring families together for lessons. He also is very humble. He recognizes that his spanish is lacking, and thus depends on the Lord to carry his message to the hearts of investigators by the Spirit. He is a great example for me, and I am already learning a lot from him. He has had a rough life, but he is a shining person in spite of it.

Well, David (a young man from our ward just returned from his mission to Mexico City) has lost 25 pounds? I've gained 30 (it's the rice and the being lazy with exercise; that's been fixed already, since Elder S**** wants to lose weight and we're going to focus on exercise and a healthier diet). It shows in my face.

I dunno that there's much else at the moment. More updates as they come!

Love you guys,

Elder Rowe

Ozama Zone (in their zone shirts) from his previous area Los Tres Brazos

Jacob and his new comp eating pineapple

Making passion fruit juice which he says is DELICIOUS!

No Time To Share All of the Great Experiences! - May 2, 2016

Last weeks letter said "Time running out because of ridiculously slow internet. Tons of exciting news, but I cant share until next week, because no time. 

Bye! Love you all!

Elder Rowe"

It also said he didn't have any specifics about skyping on Mother's Day...

No time again. GAAH.

cut/paste pres. letter:

We have truly been blessed as a mission this month, and I know that we can, together, reach 200 baptisms in May. Among the miracles I've seen, we may include:

Sister R*** A***(mother of Bishop A***** ) received the impression in a stake conference near the end of March that, nearly 18 years after her son´s baptism, she was ready to be baptized. She struggled with coffee until the last week before her baptismal date, when she was able to drop it and has not looked back since. Her son was able to baptize and confirm her, and their eyes were full of tears of joy in both moments.

R****, a youth we´ve been working with (and have put 2 baptismal dates already), somehow has a habit of disappearing on us without warning, then showing up a week later saying he'd gone to work with his father. He now has a steady job, 8am to 7pm with only Sundays free, and on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays he has school starting at 7. Thus, it´s been difficult for us to find him. I had almost lost hope that we´d see him again. Then, one Monday evening, we felt the impression to go check on his house. It was 6 o'clock, and he shouldn't have been home by our reckoning, but we went anyway, with faith that we'd find him. Sure enough, there he was, taking care of his younger brother, who'd been sent home from school that morning because of the rain, forcing R**** to stay home from work. We sat down to talk with him about preparation for baptism before the end of the month, but then his mom got home. She shouted a few bad words at R****, then told us we were losing our time, that he was a hablador, etc. However, we felt the impression to call her back and share with her, too. We were able to share the good traits R**** has, that he's neither in the street nor drinking nor chasing girls, and that he has desires to be baptized. Her heart was softened--she said we could come back Sunday to talk with them as a family. Unfortunately, we were coordinating a baptismal interview with R*** A*** so she could enter the temple today to do baptisms, and we couldn´t make it to their house. However, Elder d**** and I are agreed that they can be baptized together this month; we just need to get the mom going to church and get some appointments in at 8pm when they are both home.

As we helped with the baptisms in Sabana Larga the night of the 30th, we came out late, around 8:45 pm. Being a Saturday night, we couldn't go directly to the Venezuela (the area not the country :) ) to catch the only gua-gua (bus) route that goes to our area. We managed to get over to a lower part of the Venezuela, away from the nightclubs, and suddenly a carrito passed by going to Los Tres Brazos. There are no routes that pass by there normally, but by that miracle we got home before 9:30.

I have also seen lots of little things in the day-by-day. We'd be walking to go catch a gua-gua and decide to take an alternate route. We received 2 references that way. We also found out that one of our investigators, Y**** C*****, is a friend of both M**** E**** and M***** R*****, two returned missionaries with whom we are most often able to go out. We also got to introduce one of our investigators to our Relief Society president, and in the process found out that the husband of that investigator was a progressing investigator, with a baptismal date and everything. We're not sure what happened, but we will keep looking into that. 

love you guys, look forward to seeing you next Sunday. I will be calling from a members laptop.

I want to send photos and tell stories, but no time. GAAH.

Élder Rowe

Goat meat gives you energy?? - April 18, 2016

Hi there guys! Love you!

This week wasn´t all that out-of-the-ordinary. We helped an Adventist teen write a talk for the celebration of a year from his aunt´s or grandmother´s passing, went to a cosecha (all the missionaries go to one area and either go contacting, looking for old investigators, and/or looking for less actives--we did the first two) in Alma Rosa, went to the temple gardens with C**** and family, E**** and M****, and a kid named C****, met a new investigator, picked up C****´s birth certificate so he and A**** can get married this week (we´re still waiting for approval from A****, though), and had a dinner lesson with all the extended family of one of our less actives, E****. That extended family included various people who were visiting from Italy, and they kept calling us Ancianos (ancients), because that´s what the missionaries are called there XD. We ate goat burgers, which were actually really good. We didn´t sleep well that night, but not from indigestion or anything. Apparently goat meat has a reputation for giving people a lot of energy. I woke up at least 6 times that night, but even with that I didn´t feel tired the next day. Elder d****  saved one for the next night to test the theory, and while I slept fine, having not eaten one, he had trouble sleeping. Case ·probably· closed?

I don´t have much time left, nor do I have too much to say. I love reading these letters every week, I really do. Jessica--I´ve been to the temple 4 times--twice just to the gardens with investigators, and twice through sessions (we go as a mission every three months). Also, it is super crazy to say I almost have seven months out here. The time goes by WAY to fast. Also Emma, yeah, it is actually a little odd to read English, and I´m TERRIBLE at speaking it right now, because there are so many spanish phrases that simplify things or because I forget how to say something in English. I do still remember a lot of vocab, though :) funny enough, even at district meetings most of the gringo elders speak spanish to each other, even if their accent isn´t the best.

Anyway gotta go. I love you guys! 

Élder Rowe

Optimism about the future - April 11, 2016

Hey there guys!

Quick insert of letter to Pres. Corbitt...

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  We came across tons of new people this week. And most of them were references! We met P*** and G*****, who are some of the "children" of Hna. G**** in our ward (she calls all her friends who are younger than her "children," and is continually offering company, food, etc.). P**** seems really interested, and asked to borrow the copy of the Book of Mormon my companion had in his hand. While we shared with Hna. G**** and her actual son, M*** (with whom we´re working towards putting a baptismal date in May), P*** was leafing through the Book of Mormon. By the end of the lesson, she wanted us to come visit and explain more about the Book of Mormon. She´d heard of it before, but noted that it was NOT a Bible. We have her phone number, and we have tentatively an appointment Tuesday.

  We also met a chorus of children in and near the home of Hna. N***, one of the more recent converts in the ward. Specifically, we are focusing on C****, who already has a Christian background and loves to go to Church in any form. He is around 10 years old. We aren´t sure why neither he nor Hna. N*** made it to church Sunday with the huge group of children, but we plan to find out here in a day or two. The bad part is that we´re out of minutes. Well, worse than that is that neither his mom nor Hna. N*** has a phone--the only number we have is that of the neighbors, and if they´re not there, then we have no contact. However, we have high hopes with regard to C**** and his brother, whose name slips my mind.

  As of yet we have six baptismal dates for the coming 24th of April. R**** (who´s going to start working all week long but will still be able to come to church Sundays), R*** A**** (who is progressing rapidly with leaving coffee behind), C*** and A**** (with whom we´re working through birth certificates to get them married), and K*** and A**** (the daughter and grandson of C*** and A****). We also potentially have E*** C***, who is only waiting to hear about a date when he needs to go get his visa (since he´s moving to New Jersey to live with his wife, N****), so that his wife can come down for that appointment and thus be there for his baptism (she´s a member). He will receive that notice before May 15th, so he will be baptized soon.

  My testimony of the power of fasting has also grown. The same Sunday as we were fasting, in Priesthood Executive Council we were talking about the situation with C*** and family, how one son had not been declared and they´d been working through that process 5 years already, and how one of the daughters had been declared by a grandparent and thus carried neither last name of the family. We were worried that all the children had to be included, but as it turns out those two children can be added into the matrimony legally later on because they are still considered undeclared. The Lord is clearing the way for this family to be baptized, especially since now one of the other daughters, M****, is showing a lot of promise and progress. We are going to extend a date this week with her as well.

  We also found a less active member, D***(24), who is niece of Hna. M*** J***, wife of the bishop´s first counselor. We found her by means of her cousin, E*** J***, who often goes out with us. She is well, but overworked--she is working like crazy organizing wedding ceremonies, waiting until the summer to write her collegiate thesis and graduate from college. She said that in her two years living in Los Tres Brazos missionaries had never visited her, and that she was saddened by that fact. She also (as we found out by way of her aunt) sealed but divorced. We don´t know what went down there, but she just calls it a "personal problem" and moves on. When she showed up to Church Sunday, it seemed like the whole world knew and missed her. She still hasn´t had an interview with the bishop, but by the looks of things she will be our first reactivation for this month. We will keep visiting her whenever she isn´t working.

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Yeah, life is pretty good right now. That Little Sambo´s place (a resturant in Lincoln City, OR that we have seen in the past and decided to try out over Spring Break.  The theme is based on a children's book that Grammy used to read to Brad and we have also read to our kids.  It was not very good!)  looks and sounds meh, but I can tell you I have eaten in much-worse-looking places here and have had some of the best food on my mission. XD You never know.

Because Elder d***** and I already know how to cook a lot of dominican cuisine, we´ve been asking around for local recipes. We´re going to try Arepas probably this week, and today we did a "púdin de guineo" (which is the name here for banana bread). It turned out alright, but we put in too much milk and it came out with the consistency and flavor of flan with a little bit of banana. Forgot to take a picture... darn. We´re also going to try a bread pudding this week, we think.

There isn´t too much else of note this week. We continue pushing forward with faith, and working so that our fast that the mission can have every companionship baptize and reactivate every month can be brought to pass, at very least, here in Los Tres Brazos.

I love and miss you all. Have fun starting school again! I´ll just stick to studying scriptures for now... :)

Élder Rowe

Conference Insights - April 4, 2016

Hi there everyone!

This week DRAGGED. Not because it was a bad week, but rather because it was interrupted by meetings and filled with appointments falling through. I kinda feel like we didn't work hard this week, and that we really could have done better. At the same time, Conference was a huge spiritual pick-me-up, and I have a lot of insights about the future and present. If I had time, I would share them all, but I don't have that kind of time. Here are a few:

President Eyring--If I'm not receiving the word of God by the Spirit, but rather by some other means (ex. logic or book learning), I'm not receiving it into my heart, and am merely learning with my head like anything else.

Elder Renlund--The closer we get to the Lord, the more we realize hes always at our side.

Elder Arnold--Working with less actives is just as important as working with investigators, and the Lords promise of joy upon bringing them into the Good Shepherds fold applies to them, too.

Elder Ballard--FAMILY COUNCIL. Enough said. Definitely putting that into practice in my future family; touched me to the core.

President Uchtdorf--The point of the family is that it lasts into the eternities; its not just something to enjoy until it gets old and then start a new one.

President Uchtdorf--Obedience is how we discover what we are really made of and what we can really handle.

Elder Oaks--The simplest, most important questions I could answer as a missionary are the ones I cannot answer for anyone else; that answer comes SOLELY from the Spirit.

Other than that, I don't have too much to say. Today we went to Sambil, ate, and bumped into another elder from my group. We sat talking and eating Krispy Kreme for a good half hour or so--that was nice. This week is looking to be a lot better as far as going out with members and having firm appointments. I got recipes this week for Arepas, Bread Pudding estilo Dominicano, and Habichuela con Dulce--I'm going to see what happens with each this week.

Love you guys!

Elder Rowe