SDSU YSA: Halloween

So... If you can't tell, I am Kohor from the Testaments movie and Elder Nichols is a Pharisee... We aren't dorks I swear!

SDSU YSA: The Work Was Still Amazing!

Mom,

     

My area literally has every store you could think of.  Because we work in the YSA Ward, we cover the whole stake and that includes downtown San Diego, the SDSU campus and everything in between.  We get fed really well for a YSA ward... Except for this week... It's midterms so everyone is freaking out. haha but it is ok! I think it takes like 3 days for packages to get to the Mission Office.  So if your were to send a package I would send it on Thursday or Friday.  We don't get mail at our apartment. All mail needs to go through the office at 7404 Armstrong Pl. San Diego CA 92111.  Quick question though, who all do you send my emails to?

     

This week has been weird.  We had probably a dozen appointments fall through last minute which doesn't normally happen.  It was pretty crazy.  But, oddly enough the Work was still amazing! We had two of our Investigators be confirmed this last Sunday (it was Stake Conference last week).  One of them Dari (short for Darian) asked me to confirm her!  It was my first time confirming someone but it was amazing to feel the guidance of the Spirit in that moment.  Also, later that day, we had a few things to do in this big apartment complex which is notorious for being a party complex. Luckily we had Alisha, our Recent Convert there to help us find our way.  It was early in the afternoon and none of the people we were hoping to see were home so we were on our way down to the front to have a quick lesson with Alisha before we left when we got a little bit lost.  So we went out this side door and this guy wearing a 49ers jersey comes walking down the street. So being missionaries we asked how his day was and he said, "Great! the 49ers won!" So we talked about that briefly and then he said he was from Folsom 1st ward and that his mom had been bugging him to find the missionaries to see where he could go to church down here.  He hadn't been active recently but was searching for a way back when we found him.  It is so crazy how often this stuff happens to us! Things seem to not work out and then we are led to someone who needs us. 

There is so much happening right now and it is incredible to be a part of the hastening of the Lord's work.  I love you and can't wait to hear from you next week!

Love,

Elder Ethan John Rowbury

Elder Rowbury and Elder Nichols

SDSU YSA: Where in the world is Elder Ethan Rowbury?

Dear Mother,

There goes Sister Sepos stealing the thunder again! haha It is true! I am in San Diego Zone/Stake now in the YSA 2nd Ward! It is so fun! We cover the whole Stake so we have a few of the most interesting portions in the mission all in one.  We cover the gay capital of the San Diego county in Hillcrest, San Diego State University Campus (where we do most of our work), the ghetto gang run area of Logan Heights (we don't go there after dark...), Downtown San Diego,  Point Loma, and City Heights.  It is literally the opposite of Ramona.

My new Companion is Elder Chris Nichols.  To summarize Elder Nichols he is a Soul food eatin', Kitten hatin', Fast talkin', music lovin' Elder from Centerville UT with the attitude of a black woman.  We have so much fun together! He has been out for about 14 Months and we are killing it in the YSA 2nd ward!  We have 3 or 4 Investigators who are going to be getting baptized in the next month! It is way fun to be working with people my age 100% of the time.  I have noticed that Ramona made me speak slower though... so I am trying to readjust to city life.  

     

Being a Zone Leader just means we work with the Stake on how we can improve the work there.  Usually the missionary "zones" correspond with the Stakes (except for Ramona).  We also do training with the missionaries in our zone.  So right now Elder Nichols and I are over the English Missionaries in the San Diego Zone/Stake.  It is really fun! I am still new to it but hopefully I can adapt quickly.

     

This week has been crazy! We are always super busy (which I love) trying to fit in as much time seeing people. We got a text on Saturday night from one of the members saying that she got the stuff to make Chicken and waffles... If there are two things in this world that Elder Nichols loves they are Gumbo (tonight's dinner) and Chicken and Waffles (Sunday's Dinner).  So I thought I would take a picture of him and his waffles! We also went to my first ever YSA FHE activity! We did Pumpkin Carving!!! we had the random inspiration of doing an UP! house for our pumpkin.  It was a ton of fun.

Elder Nichols and his "Chicken n' Waffles"

Pumpkin Carving: The UP! House

     

But anyway that was our week! Just killin' it in the heart of the city of San Diego!

Love, 

Elder Ethan John Rowbury

SDSU YSA: Transferred 10/16/13

Called to serve as the Zone Leader for the SDSU YSA Zone.

Ramona: I'm Moving!

It's official. I am leaving Ramona tomorrow!  6 of the 9 members of my district are being transferred so
tomorrow should be exciting.  I do miss the seasons... a little bit... but not too much. It is pretty nice to have
80 degree weather still.

    

But at least I was able to get some sweet pictures in preparation! These first two are of me with 30+ goats in a small pen.  We had to herd them into a trailer and take them to their new home along with about 8 sheep. Gaining those cowboy points have finally added up! I took some fun pictures to commemorate my time here in Ramona.  I will send them in a little bit, but on with my email.

    

This past week has been FULL of miracles! The Ramona Ward has really made a turn around recently.  Probably the most exciting thing is that we are beginning to focus on a new family of 3 and they are making amazing
progress.  It is interesting because their story begins in Ramona Oaks like 8 months ago.  One day (8 months ago), brand new Elder Rowbury was looking through the Ramona Oaks Area book and he sees the Demmi family.  I asked my trainer, "Who are these people?"  He replied, "Not too sure.  I think they moved..." So that was the end of that, but they kept coming to mind. We were eventually asked by the bishop in the Ramona Oaks ward to see if they were at the old address we had.  We found an empty home.  A few weeks later, I was Emergency transferred over to the Ramona ward and 3 days later the bishop found where their address and new phone number.  They had moved to the Ramona ward! We have been trying to get in touch with the wife with minimal success but we kept finding Bobby her husband.  Eventually Bobby invited us in and talked with us about his beliefs and his desire to get to church.  We talked with him and he was really really happy to hear that we could help him.  He came to church last week and loved it! He said, "Well, I'll be here next week! Will I see you boys Thursday night?"  I responded, "Heck Yeah!" haha He and his family have been such a great miracle this past week or so and they keep coming!

As far as things I might need.... hmmm... I'm not too sure! A SD card reader to plug into computers would be nice. I've just been using other missionaries.  I'm doing pretty good on ties.  A good slim tie would be sweet.... uhhhmmm... a few more pictures of friends and family?.... ummm.... I have spent like 20 minutes on this paragraph... haha OH I need some replacement blades for my electric razor.  And Blue Zebra pens (metal
barrel with blue finger grip probably 0.7 thickness).  I still need to send you my two pairs of pants that need to be re hemmed. The Grey ones are manageable but the black ones were hopeless from the beginning.  They just
need to be made to 34" waists. I will send those sometime... maybe...

I love you and I can't wait to hear from you next week!
   

Love
Elder Ethan John Rowbury

One Last Jelly Fish Dance...Good Bye Ramona!

Ramona: Still killing it in Ramona

This week has been a blast! Still killing it in Ramona.  Not much has changed but there have been some pretty funny times along the way!

I guess I'll go in chronological order for this week's story time! haha So, First off we ran into Bobby again! He is that guy we added a few weeks ago and was super open with us and wanted to talk to us more.  We were able to set up a weekly time when we can stop by and help him in his understanding of the Savior.  He is super genuine and hopefully we will run into his wife one of these times... we are still looking for her. :)

Next we went and contacted a referral from the Spanish missionaries.  They weren't too sure how solid the contact was but figured it was worth a shot.  Anyway, we go and meet Cindy and she opens the door and right away tells us to sit down on the porch and talk to us.  She was definitely a little tipsy but she was super cool still.  She gave Elder Stowe a jacket (he didn't bring one) which was pretty awesome! In the end she ended up revealing that she had already been baptized Mormon a long time ago.  We weren't too sure whether to take her seriously but it was pretty convincing when she started talking about Relief Society.  It was pretty cool and hopefully we will see her again soon and sort out her story and help her come back to church!

    

We were watching conference with a active member family Sunday morning when the power went out! Luckily thanks to our nearby magic phone we were able to listen to it over the radio and we hooked it up to a speaker.  It was pretty sweet listening to conference over the radio.  My favorite talk was Randy D Funk's talk during Priesthood Session.  I loved it when he showed the sequence of "broken things" (ground wheat bread) which lead to the broken heart of a person worthily partaking of the sacrament.  I also loved how he said that Spiritual Strength is acquired through Humility, Obedience, and Following the Spirit.  I think there it was during the Saturday Afternoon session when someone said to pray for the missionaries and their investigators by name everyday.  It was really sweet when at the end of conference the member we were watching it with made us list our investigators so she could pray for them and she put the list on the door of her fridge. 

     

Finally, last night we were getting ready to head out again to work when we realized we couldn't open our door.  The door knob wouldn't open! Eventually, we were able to jimmy it open but when we went to the office to get it fixed they had already closed.  So for the night we needed a temporary fix to keep the door open but be able to close it using the dead bolt.  We frantically looked for tape but after some time the only thing we could find with any sticky properties were band-aids... So we fixed our door's boo boo with some band-aids from the first aid box! haha

Fixing the Door's Boo-Boo

  

Elder Stowe is probably the pickiest eater I have EVER met! He mentioned that his favorite food is pizza to one of our members and they ended up taking us out to dinner to get what ever kind of pizza we wanted.  So I took a picture of him with the best meal he had ever eaten... I shake my head but it made him so happy, haha!

Elder Stowe's Best Meal EVER Eaten!!! haha!

Anyway, that there has been my week of Ramona Missionary work.  I'm trying to get in anything that I may miss from Ramona before my imminent departure. In about a week.  We don't know "for sure" yet but it is pretty certain that I am going to be leaving this transfer which makes me sad but that is ok.  I am sure there are tons of cool members and investigators outside of Ramona but I am going to miss this place for sure! I love you all and can't wait to hear from you next week!

Love

Elder Ethan John Rowbury

Ramona: Conference Coming

Mom,

Well transfers are coming up soon again. For the time being though I am still in Ramona.  It is nearly certain that I will be getting transferred in two weeks.  I will miss Ramona, but until then I will be working really hard here!

Speaking of which, I don't know what has happened but all of a sudden Ramona wanted to start getting us super busy, which for a missionary is a really good thing! We set another record for lessons last week with 27 which I haven't heard of in Ramona.  Our Bishop has recently jumped on board to get us some work.  We have been going around to a few members of the Ward with the Bishop and helping people feel the Spirit of Missionary Work and give them the tools they need to share the Gospel effectively.  It has been way fun!  You know how I like to always be busy, so the past few weeks have been great!

Miracle for the week time!!! So, we were in the middle of Weekly Planning (a 2-3 hour process dreaded by missionaries around the world) and we were talking about one of the people we had talked to in the store a several weeks prior.  He was really friendly and seemed like he really wanted to meet with us, however, when we called him a few weeks ago he couldn't meet because he was going into surgery the next morning so he needed to rest.  We ultimately decided to call him again to see how he was feeling.  When we did we had a great conversation with him where he told us he had been doing well and wanted to meet with us the next day! After that, we resumed our planning when we get another call from him just a few minutes after we had hung up.  We answered and he asked us if we had time to meet with him right then.  Excited to further procrastinate our planning we jumped on the opportunity.  We met with him and had a great lesson and felt the Spirit.  It was another one of those opportunities where we felt just the slightest prompting from the Spirit and saw the blessings from following that prompting.

This past week was seriously amazing.  It is amazing how much better the work goes with the support of the Ward.  I have come to really love the people in the Ramona Ward.  We were in a combined meeting with the Relief Society this past week and the subject was preparing the youth for missions, which has been a huge focus for me recently.  One of the mothers in the class who we have seen fairly regularly recently along with her family of teenagers said that her kids now think that the missionaries are cool and think a mission is something they can do.  First off, mission accomplished on tricking them to think we are cool and second it made me really happy to know that we were making an impact with the youth.

Elder Stowe and I are working a lot better together now.  This week is "Senior Week" in the training program, which is where the trainee takes over as if the trainer were a brand new missionary for the week. So I'm going to be having fun this week sitting back and watching.  Luckily, the area is on fire right now so we actually have a ton of stuff to do which helps.  He is opening up little by little and now that he has to step up he is making me proud.  haha

I'm loving it out here and can't wait to watch general conference!  Conference is always amazing as a missionary.  I love you all and can't wait to here from you next week!

Love,
Elder Ethan John Rowbury