SDSU YSA: Picture Update

I LOVE my Area!!!

We went Bowling!!!

Can I keep it?!?

I LOVE knowing Mexicans!

Sweet Truck we see every once and a while.

SDSU YSA: 1 Year Anniversary

No tie burning for this missionary! haha As missionaries we are supposed to be as "wise and mature" as our 18-21 year old minds can handle.  Dumb things still happen but not if we have any say in it. As far as a celebration goes I think I'll celebrate with an awesome day of teaching.  Honestly though the further into the mission I get I learn more and more how impossible it is to be happy in this work unless you are dedicating yourself to it.  Once you lose yourself and stop worrying about the little things of life is when you really begin to have fun.  

     

So, quick story. We just got back from the laundromat and there a group of missionaries got hustled hard core! it was kinda comical so here it is! So we are sitting at a wifi table just waiting for our laundry and this old lady comes up to us who is deaf. She communicates with us that she would like to sit where we were and charge her phone. So one of the missionaries kindly gets up and lets her have his seat.  So, we keep talking with her and she says that she was just baptized last week in the deaf branch. Meanwhile, Elder Reece (my companion) and I started to try and remember how to sign the alphabet. But we keep talking with her and she eventually gathers her stuff and is getting ready to go when she pulls out all these cards and gives a card to each of the 8 missionaries there.  The card had the alphabet with the pictures showing how to sign the alphabet.  and we are all looking at the card when she says, "No, flip it over!" and so we do.  When we flip it over it says, "Hello! I am a deaf person. I am selling this Deaf Education System card to make my living.  Will you kindly buy one? Pay any price you wish!"  Thus the inner struggle begins! What do we do? this supposed Recent Convert basically starts panhandling us for money.  I go through my mental note of what cash I have in my wallet... a 10 and two 5s... So I get the bright Idea to pull out my laundry money.  I had just counted out that after next weeks loads I would have 2 extra quarters after.  Perfect! so I go and take my offering to her and OH! did that make her mad! She threw a fit explaining that, "she isn't cheap!" but if we remember, this Deaf Education System was a printed on a tan index card from the 90s that just said pay any price! So all the missionaries pull out their dollar bills for this lady! One of them gave a ten dollar bill! Once she got her money she peaced out and got the heck out of there with 20 bucks from the missionaries, never to be seen again.  goooooooood times! haha but we all learned a valuable lesson today... Don't trust everybody. Even if they are a nice old deaf lady posing as a Recent Convert! hahaha but hey, now I know how to sign the alphabet in sign!

     
This past week has been full of miracles! Last Tuesday we met this guy named Christopher and he is really cool! His story is that he wanted to be closer to God this year as part of his New Year resolutions.  The missionaries met him the next day on the bus and taught him a little bit before giving him to us.  At the end of our lesson with us, we invited him to be baptized and he was all sorts of excited about it! haha It was almost too good to be true! haha We set his baptismal date for the same day as Juan's which also happens to be Elder Reece's Birthday!  

     

This past week we had a really cool "Regional Stake Conference" which basically means that we had Stake conference transmitted to all the Stakes in Southern California and we all had stake conference at the same time! With it being broadcast from Salt Lake we were able to have some amazing speakers including Elder Neil A Anderson and President Eyring! And what made it even better was that it was all about missionary work! Something that stood out to me actually came from the Adult Session the night before.  A sister missionary from the stake was speaking and she said, "As members, it is not your role to convert. The Spirit is the one that does that. Rather, our role is to invite those around us to come closer to Christ."  I thought she was so right with that! No where in our missionary purpose does it say that our role is to convert.  It says that we are to invite.

     

I realized that I haven't sent many pictures recently so I will be sure to send some this time! I love you and can't wait to hear about what is going on with you next week! 

Love,

Elder Ethan John Rowbury

SDSU YSA: "Splashing" explained

So the background on "splashing"...  Originally I heard it from a dude on the internet referring to making a 3 pointer in basketball...  But as a missionary it means baptism! haha Therefore it was a long distance "splash".  Sorta like the kind Jimmer would have done if he were to have gone on a mission... :) 

The solo went alright.  It was fun to try and sing again.  It had been a while... so it was a little nerve racking at first. haha 

And yes, we do have a proselyting card.  Every missionary gets theirs in the MTC and we are told to always have it on us.  I keep mine in my missionary handbook cover in my shirt pocket.  It says:

This certifies that the bearer, Elder Ethan John Rowbury who is in full faith and fellowship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is a duly ordained minister of the gospel and as such has authority to preach the principles of the gospel and to administer the ordinances thereof.  We invite all people to heed his message.

then it is signed by President Monson, has the date I entered the MTC, my signature, and -- yes -- an expiration date.  

That is actually a funny story because I kinda screwed mine up and made it look like a 5 year old signed it.  I didn't have a good pen for the kind of paper it is printed on so I have like a spotty printed Ethan Rowbury with a terrible signature (yeah, I still haven't figured out the whole signature thing...) next to it in a different pen. haha 

Juan is doing great! he has been sick so we couldn't see him this week but we should see him again soon.  Now the plan is Feb 22nd for his baptism.  We are super excited for him.  He is a ton of fun to teach.  

Mileena is still in Colorado for a week but she will be coming back soon to be confirmed.

We continue to see tons of miracles here! We have a new investigator who is really sincere.  He was raised Jewish so we are moving really slow with him to help him understand the basic principles of the gospel.  He came to church a week ago and really enjoyed it.  As he was walking around the institute (where we have church) he mentioned to one of the members, "This is really interesting, I've never seen art of Christ before." So we are starting at ground zero. Luckily with him being Jewish he has a good understanding of the beginning of the Old Testament.  Like the other day, he asked us, "What is a baptism?" and, "What is the Holy Spirit?" This last time we were teaching him it was fun to see him start fitting it all together.  We were talking about why Christ came and he would pause and get this look like he just had a really good idea and start talking about how that makes sense because in the Old Testament this obscure occurrence happened a certain way and how that helped him understand what we were teaching. But he is really fun as well. 

Those reminders were inspired this week.  We had interviews this past week with President Clayton and Elder Reece and I had to stay the whole time.  So, while everyone was getting their interviews we had time to sit in the waiting room and chat it up with Sister Clayton.  It was a neat experience because I realized more and more that President and Sister Clayton are normal people doing an incredible work.  The more I spend time around them the more I look up to them.  They are amazing.  

We found out some information about the Mission President that will be coming in July.  He is really young from what we have heard (maybe 40... if that...) and has 4 kids all under like 14 years old.  It is super exciting.  Also for the reminders, Elder Reece and I have been trying to eat healthier.  We have been eating like spinach salads and a chicken breast for dinners whenever the members don't take us out.  I am going to be drop dead gorgeous in no time! 

So yeah! That's my week! I love you and can't wait to hear back from you next week! :)

Love, 

Elder Ethan John Rowbury

ps: Thanks for sending my pants back!!! They were needed!

SDSU YSA: Long Distance "Splashing"

It's a New years Miracle! I got sick this past week and my ears didn't freak out! but I am starting to feel much better.  That is so good to hear about Ryan being called into the Elders Quorum presidency.  It will be fun to see how the Lord uses him and his talents to bless the lives of others in his calling. I also was told by Elder Gundred that Nathan was just called to be the Assistant Ward Mission Leader! So Elder Gundred should be seeing a lot more of Nathan.  

Today was the day when we found out who was being transferred.  Elder Reece and I are staying together for another 6 weeks.  

This past week has been awesome! We were getting ready for a meeting with President Clayton and a few of us were waiting in the parking lot and the Assistants come up to us telling us that our minds are going to be blown.  A few minutes go by when we see President drive up and there are 4 people in the car and the person in the passenger seat is an Apostle! Elder Ballard just decided to come down and visit our mission while he was doing a mini vacation to catch up on some reading and spend time with family.  So Elder Reece and I sat front and center (meanwhile I was sick as a dog).  Luckily I took some notes so I could remember what he said! It was really cool to have him with us. He ended up talking for about an hour and 15 minutes.  He talked about an interesting concept he introduced in this last conference of praying for missionary opportunities.  He told us that if we didn't see any that day, that we should "bother Heaven" about it in our evening prayers that night and ask for an opportunity the next day.  Both times he has come now, it has increased my testimony in the reality of his calling.  He really is a man called of God.  

We also had a baptism. The only down side is that it was held in Colorado so I don't have any pictures... :'(  It was actually a really stressful thing to deal with because for whatever reason it was difficult to get the missionaries to understand that she was still our investigator and that she was to be baptized out there but not confirmed into that ward because she still lives in San Diego and her records need to be here.  It was funny starting to see their wheels begin to turn and start making sense to them. haha but all ended up going smoothly.

Colorado Baptism of Mileena

So our week was really good! We are having a blast with the YSA ward! 

Love,

Elder Ethan John Rowbury