Ramona Oaks: First MTE

I am pleased to report that I am adjusting well to the area! :) But in all seriousness, it is kinda ridiculous how fast I am getting to know how to get around! I guess it comes with being a missionary. And let me tell you, the members out here are freaking awesome! I swear the monthly dinner schedule gets passed around in Relief Society and it is filled quicker than a Justin Bieber concert! But yeah, I'm doing fine on hangers. No need to panic.  Ramona is basically the coolest place... EVER! I'll have to take some pictures and send them home to show you all.

So we had some really cool things happen this week! First, we had MTEs (Mission Training Exchanges) so Elder Whitrod and I had a "third wheel" named Elder Jessee.  He was pretty sick (awesome).  We had a lesson with an investigator at the temple which was pretty cool and got five guys after.  Later that night we decided to try stopping by a very promising potential family investigator's house.  We had been told that the father of the family didn't seem to want to have any part with it.  So when we knocked on the door we were lucky enough to find the entire family home basically waiting for us to come teach them. haha. So before we even started, the Father says, "I have always admired how all the members of your church are so grounded and I really love the way that your church focuses on families. So, I would say the chances of us joining your church are pretty high."  So that was pretty shocking! We went on teaching about the Restoration and by the time we were through both the father and the mother were crying and the Spirit was SO strong. The parents and their 10 year old daughter all committed to be baptized so that was pretty awesome! We teach them again tonight so hopefully it continues they progress. 

But yeah, I don't have a whole lot of time and I've got to go, but forward this to dad so he can read it too.  I love you all!

Love,

Elder Ethan John Rowbury

Ramona Oaks: Good Times in San Diego

Yeah... It was an awkward subject to bring up that i didn't know my own address... haha So yeah! good times in San Diego. 

But I am serving in the Poway Stake in the Ramona Oaks Ward.  It is pretty far inland and reminds me a bit of Shingle Springs... just more populated.  I guess I am kinda in the "mountains" which are more of just hills with a ton of boulders sprinkled all over the place.  It is beautiful though.  The ward is AWESOME! Apparently we get enough referrals that there is no need for tracting which is pretty sick! 

Amber Turnbow would be happy to know that Ramona is said to have the largest population of horses per capita in the nation. Yeah, there are a TON of horses and other various animals.  We also cover a large portion of the Barona Indian Reservation which is pretty awesome too.  

My companion is Elder Whitrod and he is from Adelaide, Australia (yes, he has an accent).  This is his last transfer so he says that the only reason he has any motivation is so that I can be ready to take over the area in 4 weeks.  Which brings up another subject of this transfer being a week shorter that normal so that puts on a little more pressure.  So yeah, I have to be prepared to basically take the area in a few weeks which is pretty crazy. 

Today is the first day that I have even seen a cloud in the sky here.  But before today, it has been like mid 70s. 

Anyway, so the investigators here have recently stopped progressing the past few weeks.  However!!! We got word from one of the ward members that Sister Styx (their next door neighbor/one of our investigators) was sick. So we went to their house and asked if she wanted to have a blessing and she said yes.  So yeah, she was pretty happy when her fever broke by the time we got to the door. HAHA other than that though, everyone (all of our investigators) was sick so we literally haven't taught ANY investigators until last night when we taught the Styx (because she was healed! haha! awesome!)... so uhhh yeah! pretty sweet here in Ramona!  

Also, tell Ryan he can email me now that I am in the field. 

I remembered what I wanted for my birthday! I might want a watch so I can keep track of time... and fast food gift cards are a bad Idea because there is nothing fast food in my area so... but yeah, Elder Polatis survived the MTC and is going to be an amazing missionary... and he is in Imperial Valley (death valley).

Love 

Elder Ethan John Rowbury

MTC: Last Week in the MTC

Mom,

I did get the cookies and they are delicious.  However, Elder Polatis has seriously gotten like at least 1 package a day for the past 2 weeks all with candy and other junk food. so there is no shortage in junk food in our dorm. 

As far as a mission scripture for my plaque goes, Alma 36: 24-25 is a scripture i used in my farewell out in Utah and it has kinda just stuck with me.  

Today we got some new missionaries and I actually ran into Jesse Pyne on my way here to write this email so that was pretty cool.  I have seen a few other people but no one that I am terribly close with.  I did get a picture with Jake Peterson from Chamber though.  

I was sad when i heard about the Super Bowl from the Janitors... yeah, the Janitors... But at least Kaepernick has Super Bowl experience now! I bet they get back there soon.  

I am sorry to hear about the Allred's. I sort of remember them but that is just tragic news.  

As far as the Provo temple goes, we get to go every P-day at 9:00 as a zone.  I really is the best part of Pday (sorry, but trying to fit everything into a 30 minute window  for this email is really stressful). 

Provo UTAH Temple

On now with the stories! I saw Brother Gibbons today! No worries, it wasn't in his office so it is all good.  It is great to see a familiar face now and then.  For our devotional we had Elder Clark of the seventy come in and what he said was really cool.  He said, "If you worry about somebody else's less-active friends and family members, then God will be sure to have someone else worry about yours".  I thought this was really cool because I have already seen this in action.  

You see, I was pretty sick the past week (oops, did i forget to tell? :] ).  so I had to go to the urgent care across the street and get an antibiotic.  Unfortunately the doctor on duty didn't believe me when I said if I didn't get an antibiotic in me then I would have an Ear infection within 24 hours.  So 24 hours later I had to go back and show the next doctor that I really did get an ear infection. When we went back I found a familiar looking guy that I knew I had seen somewhere before.  It ended up being a guy who's son plays on the LP basketball team (Zack Frampton) who knows Cameron.  He expressed to me that He was concerned for him too and that the people on the team were trying to help Cam as much as possible.  It was just amazing to see that maybe this was the reason I didn't get my antibiotic right away, so I could see this man and know that my friends would be helped while I am here just as Elder Clark said.  Oh, and by the way, after a few blessings and a small miracle, I am feeling COMPLETELY better after just 3 days.  That is the quickest I have ever recovered from a sickness like that.

Here in the MTC we have investigators we teach as companionships.  We have 2 that are our teachers (Chris and Sipunu) and one that is part of the MTC Staff (Belinda).  They act to be investigators from their mission and as we meet with them, we get to see their progression and teach them as a companionship.  It is great experience and is by far the best way to be preparing us for the field.  

This week we were meeting with Sipunu for the 4th time and we had been having trouble getting him to pray to know if the BoM was true.  So we didn't know exactly how we were going to go about it but we were going to have a whole 10 or so minute lesson all based on getting him to pray by the end of the lesson. So, as Elder Polatis and I walked in and sat down I kinda did some follow up on the past commitments we had left with him, we said a little prayer to help invite the spirit, then Elder Polatis just caught fire.  Every question he asked was the perfect question.  I just kinda sat back and let him do the talking because he was on a roll. Normally we work great going back and forth but whenever I would go to add something the Spirit would stop me. Anyway, We got him to kneel and pray with us there and we sat there for a little while and just let the Spirit witness to Sipunu.  Our teachers are really good actors but even our teacher (Sipunu) started to cry.  He couldn't deny that the church was true and he commited to baptism!  

Even though it is just a fake scenario, it is so incredible to see how powerful 2 teenagers with the help of the Spirit can be.  It was amazing. afterwards in feedback, our teacher said that we did amazing and didn't have much to add. 

Just a reminder, I leave on the 12th and so I was going to call you around 6 or so in the morning (your time) from the airport.  In closing I would really appreciate it if I could get some pictures of you guys and some of my friends from school.  I miss you all a lot so some pictures would really help.  Other than that, things are going GREAT.  I love the constant Spirit that is here and can't wait to teach real investigators in San Diego! 

I love you all!

Elder Ethan Rowbury

MTC: Letter Numbero Uno

Well, here it is! My first letter home.  First, I just want to say that all of you need to use this email (my "MyLDSMail") if you want to email me.  But even better, send me mail through dearelder.com.  I only get 30 minutes to read and send an email on Pdays (Wednesdays)  and dear elder will print them up and mail it to me here at the MTC that day.  That way I can read it any time.  All you will need is my MTC address which I'll put at the end of the email.  Anyway, it is pretty good here at the MTC. 

It is SO different here because every single person is wearing a name tag and going on a mission.  At first it was pretty rough trying to adjust to the new schedule but now that I have gotten used to the lifestyle a bit more it isn't so bad.  It is weird because I already feel like I have been here for like a few months even though it has only been a week. That might be because I am learning and growing so much.

My companion is Elder Polatis (Poh-late-is).  He is from South Jordan.  He is a real outdoorsy kind of guy and likes to work on cars and go hunting and that kind of stuff. He struggled initially with some homesickness but he is getting better.  On the second night we were here he asked me to give him a blessing.  Giving that blessing, I had never felt the Spirit like I did then.  It was crazy how strong it was.  We make a pretty good tag team in our practice investigators here in the MTC.  We are both 18 so we are kind of the young guns of the district.

My District is seriously amazing! We are all going to San Diego so it really helps us bond.  We have 8 Elders and 4 Sisters.  I am so glad we have he sisters in our district.  They really help bring in the Spirit. 

MTC District

Our Teachers are Brother Godfey and Brother Usevitch.  They are both GREAT guys.  Brother Godfrey Served in Boston which makes me wonder if he knew Jarom but when I asked him he didn't seem to recognize the name.  They are seriously so helpful in teaching us how to be great missionaries.  We have class for at least 6 hours a day, not counting the 3 or so hours to planning and studying. it is just so different here than back home.  We have had some devotionals from the MTC presidency and from a general authority named L. Whitney Clayton. 

Seriously, it was a bit of a culture shock coming here but it is getting better everyday.  I have already grown SO much spiritually and I am excited to see how far I can go.  My time is about up so I am going to wrap it up here.  I miss you all and be sure to put up on Facebook that it would be great to hear from all of you on dearelder.com.  I love you all so much and can't wait to hear from you throughout the week. here is my MTC address if you don't already have it.

Elder Ethan John Rowbury

MTC Mailbox #319

CA-SD 0212

Provo, UT 84604

United States

Love you all!!!

Elder Rowbury