Ramona Oaks: Turkey

haha. I love Brother and Sister Sepos! They are the bomb! The lived in the ward previous to me coming but moved out to Idaho a few weeks before I got here.  Then, like 6 weeks after I came into the field they moved back into the ward. haha They missed Ramona I guess.

Yeah... I gave a talk a few weeks ago.  We are basically the fall back in case someone can't make it that week to give their talk.  haha and actually the Sepos son, Scott, was the youth speaker.  My talk was
on "Being guided by modern revelation".  I basically told random stories from when I should have listened to the spirit a little better. haha :)

As far as the fourth of July parade goes, I haven't heard anything about being a part of it this year.  I know missionaries have in the past but nothing has come up yet... :(
 
This week was interesting.  To start off, we have wild turkeys just roaming around our area.  And it has been rumored for the past few months that there is a turkey around that had been shot by an arrow. So as the months went by we kind of assumed that they turkey had been caught and taken care of.  However, as we were walking to the home of one of the people we were teaching, we see a group of turkeys and one of them had an arrow straight through it! So I whipped out my camera and took a picture of it! haha. It kinda made my day to find the legendary turkey with an arrow through it!
 
Ummm... Oh! other cooler mission related story! So we have this investigator named Garrett, and I haven't been able to see him since being here.  Reason being, that his parents are very against him being in contact with anyone from the church.  Especially Missionaries. Everything I had heard though from Elder Whitrod (my first companion) was that he was super solid and wanted to be baptized no matter what once he turned 18.  So,  we had just gotten done with a bit of a bummer day where all of our appointments had cancelled and we weren't able to see anyone we were hoping to see, when we get a text from Garrett.  He said, "hey guys, I would like to meet with you again soon and set a baptismal date."  Let me tell you, if there is one thing that will get a missionary excited it is a text like that.  haha! So we are planning to see him tomorrow and I am super excited to see what has changed and finally get to meet him.
 
Anyway, I love you guys and can't wait to hear back!

Love,
Elder Ethan John Rowbury

Ramona Oaks: I Am

I am crazy about Soccer
I am addicted to sushi
I never tire of hearing from family
I can consume ANYTHING!
I wear a nametag
I love to sing
I like to move it move it
I like hearing cool stories

No transfers for me!... or my companion so here goes round three with Elder Brown!  I wonder what near death experiences await us! :) haha Our entire district is actually staying the same which is really weird.
We have a baptism this weekend which I am super excited about! Grace is so excited and had everything all picked out the way she wanted it which made life easy.  Pictures will come soon.  I can't think of any cool stories that have happened this week but last night I got to go to the Barona Casino Buffet which is like the best buffet in all of San Diego area! it was so good and I ate a TON of crab! I am still full... :)

That is so cool that Ryan was able to do the half iron man! I loved the pictures! I was actually telling a family who meets with us about him and how we played Soccer and Baseball.  Their kids play Pony league baseball as well so they really enjoyed hearing about him.  I don't have much time but I love you all and can't wait to hear about the family reunion!

Love,
Elder Ethan John Rowbury

Ramona Oaks: Baptism

You know what is funny?  I just sent her a letter right before I came to the library today! So consider it done!

I am super jealous about the family reunion! I'll be honest though... you guys missed out on an awesome baptism! hahaha

We finished up the Styx family (baptized March 16 a little over a month after I came out)  with the baptism of their 9 year old daughter.  It was so sweet to see the father perform his first priesthood ordinance.  And to have it be the baptism of his 9 daughter was awesome! I can't wait to see them get sealed in the temple in a year.  They are super solid and stories like them keep us missionaries going.

STYX Family
June 15th Baptism

We had an AMAZING week as well where I set my new record for lessons in a week (25). we usually shoot for 20 but hey, the more the merrier! Add that with the baptism and you could say it was one awesome week! :)

I got a boat load of emails today which was a nice surprise! Today had been kinda rough because not having a clean car finally caught up to us and we finally cleaned it today which took forever!  But good news is is that the ticket still hasn't come in so I am pretty sure nothing will happen... I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

So quick funny story! My companion had recently hiccuped and burped at the same time.  He thought it was the weirdest thing ever.  So we are having dinner with some of our members and he brings up the fact that this had happened... the only problem was the way he said it. He said, "So, I have been having some issues with the Hurps (hiccup burps) recently" not realizing that Hurps and Herps sound identical! After he had proclaimed his recent troubles, the room fell silent... that is until his trusty companion (me :D )  busted up into laughter completely embarrassing him! it was seriously one of the funniest things I think I have ever heard!

Anyway, I can't wait to hear from you all next week!


Love,
Elder Ethan John Rowbury

Ramona Oaks: I Miss Sundays Back Home

I'll be honest, I miss Sundays back home.  But to make up for it, we had an investigator feed us a roast (per my request haha)  but it wasn't quite as good as yours.  I'll be on the look out for some more signs of the second coming because I never thought dad would ever play hand and foot.  

I have noticed the smoke from a fire recently.  This area in particular is really afraid of fires and such because it has been hit by 2 really bad ones in the last ten years.  The first one actually burned down our bishop's house in 2003.

Not too much has changed in the past week to be honest.  We have a lot of investigators going out of town right now for summer so that is a major bummer.  We do have a baptism coming up though on the 15th which is super exciting! Her name is Grace and she is the 9 year old daughter of 2 of the Recent Converts we had in March.  She is a lot of fun and I am loving being out here.  The people here are really awesome! With transfers coming up again next week I get more and more afraid I might get transferred.  I really hope I don't but we will have to wait until next week to see.

We are going to play soccer today which I am really excited about.  I got myself a soccer ball which has helped me stay sane.  Anyway, I better get going.  I love and miss you all and I can't wait to hear back!

Love,
Elder Ethan John Rowbury

Ramona Oaks: BBQ

That was super fun to have everyone say hi! I really appreciate it! 

I'll be honest, things are going fantastic out here! I mean, the ward members are super engaged in missionary work, we are adding a ton of investigators, teaching a good amount of lessons (we could always have more though:P), the weather is great (it should start heating up here pretty soon though), and we have a baptism in a few weeks! :) All systems are a go and our Zone is going to Sunset Cliffs today, which is always a ton of fun!
       

Our Memorial day was interesting... we basically worked as normal.  Our dinner appointment was a BBQ which was to be expected (what's Memorial day without a BBQ?) but the best part of the day was later in the evening!  We went over to check up on another Less-active family in the ward who love having us over but typically don't enjoy us teaching a lesson (the mom usually just gets up and leaves whenever we start... haha).  So we get in and we could tell that they were all just pooped from a busy day.  We were just chatting and what not when Elder Brown gets the idea to have a sing-along, which we have been doing more because it is something unique and just different.  We sang "Be Still My Soul" (my new favorite) and kinda just sight read the harmonies and what not (THANK YOU MAMA J!!!).  It was a great experience and I am pretty sure that it is the first time that the Mom has felt the Spirit in a long time.
       

We have been finding more and more opportunities to use our talents as we have been together for longer which is awesome! I'll always remember some advice I got a few months ago right when I entered the field from one of the Assistants to the President when he said, "You don't need to be the best, you just need to be different."
       

We have been doing a lot of service recently which is always fun! Tonight we are moving in a new family to the ward! Funny thing is, their last name is Elders! haha yeah, he served a mission and his name was indeed Elder Elder (we asked! :D)

I got a letter from Kyle last week and he gave me his email so I am good to go for that. The next email I would really like is Mama J's! I want to know how I can get my hands on some sheet music so we can sing a song or two at a fireside sometime.  Anyway, it was so nice to hear from you all again and I can't wait to tell you about what crazy things happen this week!

Love,
Elder Ethan John Rowbury

PS: sorry for the crazy amount of parenthesis! :)