SDSU YSA: Covers My Week

Hey Mom!

     

So I guess I will start by answer questions! haha my lowest 5 crowns score was 23.  I think Ryan did end up beating it once with like 17 or 18.  I just asked the missionaries surrounding me and they said that Sister Clayton runs a blog or something.  I guess there are a TON of pictures on there.  She does always have her camera on her so that would make sense.  :)  I'm not sure if I got your package or not... we switch getting mail from the Mission Office between us and a set of Spanish Elders.  As for the birthday goes, we have a Dinner and a Lunch appointment as of right now (we will see if that stays, YSA schedules change around so much! haha) This Ward is really fun though and is very missionary minded which makes it that much better.  As a Missionary we of course don't watch TV so we are always a bit out of the loop on things like the Olympics.  We were thinking about it a few weeks ago and said, "Aren't the Olympics starting soon?" come to find out that they had started a few days earlier! haha  

     

This last week has been full of some really cool miracles.  We were going to dinner with Mitch.  He is now a Ward Missionary so rather than him just always hanging around the missionaries he is fulfilling a calling! Blessings right? haha He is really fun to have around and his Recent Convert fire is just incredible.  He is always so excited and open about inviting people to do church things with him.  This last Wednesday he brought a friend of his from one of his classes to dinner with us! It is actually kinda funny because the first day of classes he was looking for some Mormons he could be friends with and when he saw this girl who was Tongan he thought he might meet her and try his chances. Turns out she wasn't a member but that she has a ton of family who are.  Anyway, back to us having dinner with them, we just had light conversation and the whole time we would mention the church and kinda see what she believes.  turns out she was totally looking for a church to go to so we invited her to church and she accepted.  When we were done we went back to the Institute and when we got there we asked her if she would like a tour of the building and she said she would.  So we were showing her around and we get to the chapel and the Spirit was very strong.  We told her about the sacrament and that as we take it we renew our promises with God that we made at baptism.  She really liked it and as we walked out we walked past a picture of the First Vision which gave us a perfect opportunity to introduce her to the Restoration.  We told her about Joseph Smith's experience and she really enjoyed it.  She came o church a few days ago and thought it was really cool as well and we have an appointment to teach her tonight!

     

Last week I mentioned that we added a Chinese investigator.  We met with her again and had a really cool lesson.  We talked a lot about the Godhead.  We were talking about Christ and what he did for us  when she asked, "So when Jesus died, it was for his group of followers right?" It was so sweet as we explained to her that it was not only for his followers but everyone including her.  She gave us a really big eyed look and said, "Really?! That's so cool!" haha I love teaching people without a Christian Background.  I used to be afraid that it would be really difficult but I have come to love the opportunities I've been given to teach them about Christ and help them see how incredible the Gospel really is.  I love being able to tell them about Jesus and see the Spirit begin to work with them and help it click for them and have them go, "OOOOOOOHHH!" haha the only feeling I can think of that would rival it for best feeling ever is the finding out that we were an answer to someones prayer.  

     

That pretty well covers my week.  Time is going way too fast and I don't like it.  I wish it would just slow down so I could have some more time to be here! but I guess I only get to be here for a limited amount of time so might as well make the best of it! I miss you and can't wait to hear from you next week!

Love,

     Elder Ethan John Rowbury

SDSU YSA: Valentine's Day and Other Happenings

I'm Surprised that Ryan and Anna were able to convince you to go out into the cold snow! And I don't think that doubling the bread recipe was a mistake.  Garlic Knots and Cinnamon balls are never a bad thing! haha Ryan sent me a picture of his homemade sushi and I got super jealous! 

     

Our Valentines Day was... interesting... We didn't do a whole lot different or anything.  It was another day to preach the gospel. As I have gotten further on my mission I realize more and more how I have lost touch with holidays and things.  However, in our case we typically try to avoid SDSU campus around Friday nights and any holiday that may involve alcohol and or drug use... haha for example: on New Years we had to be home early.  nah but we had a lesson with Mitch and he bought us a huge thing of chocolates so we ate that while we had a lesson.  It is fun that we get to see him so often.  

     

We didn't end up having either of the 2 scheduled baptisms on Elder Reece's birthday.  We are still working with Juan but things got a bit rocky there for a little. However, the work goes on and the Lord provided us with another really cool investigator who is ready to be baptized.  Her name is Jackqueline.  She has a date for March 8th and is REALLY excited to be baptized.  We are meeting with her again tonight.  

     

We also added a girl from China! I need Kevin to tell me something I can say to her in Chinese! She is really cool! Her name is Xiao and she has been living here for about 2 years now and is going to school at SDSU.  It was funny how we met her because about a week ago we go into the institute and the director of the institute comes up to us and says, "I found your next baptism" which really caught our attention.  Apparently what had happened was that Xiao had come into the Institute wanting to learn more about God and Jesus.  She came to the right place! Of all of the religious buildings near campus she walked into the Institute.  While we were meeting with her we were establishing who God and Jesus were in our office (yeah, we got an office... :D ) and we pointed to a picture of Jesus and she looked at it for a moment and then just started busting up.  We were all confused for a moment and she said, "Sorry, He just looks a little like Tom Cruise!"  It was so funny! but it all ended on a spiritual note when we were ending with a prayer and we invited her to pray.  She didn't know how so we taught her.  She looked a little discouraged afterwards and she asked us if God would be able to understand her prayer if it were in Chinese.  We told her that God would understand even if us who were in the room didn't. She was really excited and then closed our meeting with a prayer.  

     

Also, Yesterday we presided over a funeral....... yyyup... a funeral.  It was a last minute thing where the mother in law of a member from LA passed away and she was being placed next to her Husband in the military cemetery.  There were only about 8 people and only one member of the church there.  We said a few words of comfort and said a couple of prayers and that was about it. Nothing too big but it was definitely a different experience than anything I had ever had in my life so far.  

     

Anyway! That's about it for me! Know that I miss you and can't wait to hear from you next week! 

Love,

    Elder Ethan John Rowbury

SDSU YSA: Miracles fo' DAYS!

The first week in every month is always an interesting one in this area.  We spend little time in our area because we are in a lot of meetings. Today is no different.  We have a really cool opportunity to have a special mission conference with Brother Christensen who wrote the book "The
Power of the Everyday Missionary" (really good book from what I hear, you should read it sometime!)  In preparation he asked if each of us could read this case study about this ward in Boston and how it was able to see success.  It was a really interesting article and I am really excited to be able to hear what he has to teach us tonight!

Oh, and if there are any parts of the email that are missing any Ts or Os or something just know that the Keyboard isn't the best. haha Good luck!!!

This past week was really cool because, while we didn't get to spend much time in our area, we saw some of the craziest miracles I have seen yet on my mission.  Okay ready for some story time? cool.   

So, it was raining and we had just finished a lesson over on SDSU campus with one of our Recent Converts and were heading out of the Institute parking lot.  Our original plans had all fallen through so we were at the point where we start seeing someone who we feel like we need to see.  A few people were named but no strong decision was made.  Then Elder Reece says, "We could go see how the Mormon Frat is doing." (referring to a home in our ward where 5 of our YSA members live who are all active and strong members thinking we could go talk to them and see if they have anyone that we could help them work with).  We both were like "heck yeah that sounds awesome!"

So we head over, and there is a bit of construction so we go on a small detour and
eventually pull up to their house behind a white Fusion.  As we start to get out of the car we see Cameron, one of their friends, who several weeks earlier, we met with and gave him a Book of Mormon and was SUPER interested. He lives in a different mission though so we referred his information literally 5 times over a period of like a month because he kept bugging our member that no one had come to see him since we met with him.  He really waned to meet with the missionaries. Eventually, he was contacted and we were told things were going well.  

But here he was parked right in front of us and he gets out and says, "Hey! Did you get Ben's (his friend) text? I asked if he could get me your information so we could meet up tonight and it looks like he just sent you over! haha"

With surprise we said back looking through our phone, "No man... We didn't get any texts from Ben..." and showed him our phone.  

He looked back at us in shock and said, "What are you doing here then?"

"Because we felt like we needed to come here..." we replied.  

He went on to explain that he was here going to get some more military training and that Ben wasn't home but said that he could crash there for the night and that he hadn't been there 4 seconds when he saw our head lights behind him.

We went to the door with this soldier who was in full uniform and another one of our members opened the door and you could see he was very confused and his confusion only increased when he saw us follow in behind him. He was about to head out but he sat down with us as we talked with Cameron.  

We caught up on his life and found out that he was engaged to a devout Christian girl who went to church twice each Sunday because her parents were really high up in their respective programs. He had been reading the Book of Mormon, the Bible, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, and the Doctrine and Covenants truly searching to find the truth. He talked about the Book of Mormon better than most of our members do. We talked about several points of confusion that many people have about the Church and how he came to learn of the truthfulness.  

It was funny, we were talking about how Nephi killed Laban and how people freak out about it but that they forget that God commanded David in the Old Testament to do the same thing.  He admitted that the reason he is researching so in depth is so that when he has to introduce the Gospel to his fiancee he will be able to help her learn it and be able to counter her arguments. haha

It was amazing to see his faith and strength.  We were talking to him about what was holding him back from being baptized and he said that he hasn't told his fiancee, her family or his family.  He doesn't have time to go to church because he goes with her to her church twice each Sunday.  He told us that at one point he told the missionaries that were teaching him that if they came to his church then he would go to theirs. When they accepted he decided against it fearing to have them sit next to him.  

He wants to go to church so bad that he contemplated telling his fiancee that he was going to see family and go to church but decided against lying about it. So.... he is kinda in a pickle until he talks to his future family.... He knows it won't go well and asked us, "is it okay if I believe without ever joining the church?"  We then went over the parable of the Pearl of Great Price in the New Testament and talked about that he could, but he wouldn't want to because he knows the blessings that come from the fullness of the Gospel.

Long story short, it was awesome! The Spirit was definitely leading us there.

Well, that took about all of my time... haha but it was a really cool miracle that I thought I would tell y'all about! Have a good week! Oh, and here is a picture of me and a member in our ward who looks like a dude from a show called Duck Dynasty! :)

Love,
    Elder Ethan John Rowbury

SDSU YSA: Jews don't pray to Jesus

This week has been a pretty regular week.  We had another training with President Clayton where I went to another area with Elder Stowe (yeah, my old companion!) and his new companion.  It was a ton of fun being back with him.  Also, a few weeks ago our Stake President asked us to fast for rain in February because there is a pretty serious drought in California. So we fasted and we woke up Monday to a lot of rain.  So we had the faith, now we just need to somehow get the water from San Diego to wherever the drought is! 

     

We saw a really cool Miracle this past week.  We had Mitch (our Recent Convert from Vegas) come with us to a lesson with an investigator we recently added named Mike.  Mike is a really cool guy who was really good friends with a member of the Church in High School.  Before she left to College, she left him a copy of the Book of Mormon.  And referred him to us.  We went over the Plan of Salvation with him and it was cool and stuff but then he turned to us and said, "So I have some questions, but I'm really happy you brought Mitch because I want to ask him.  What was it like to be baptized?"  Mitch just lit up again and talked about his baptism and how it was the best day ever and how he really hopes that Mike chooses to be baptized.  Mike didn't end up setting a date to be baptized but the miracle in it all is that Mike felt comfortable enough to be able to ask Mitch that kind of question.  That is why we bring members to lessons.  So that they can be the person to answer questions and be a friend.  There is a special effect on an investigator when a member shares an experience of how they learned a principle for themselves that the missionaries can't provide.  

     

We saw our Jewish friend again this past week! His name is Knox. This weeks revelation was that we don't want him to pray to Jesus.  It was a funny experience actually.  We were talking about his progression and the cool things he has learned when he confessed that it was going to be hard for him to get used to praying to Jesus rather than God.  Elder Reece and I looked at each other and realized that we had neglected to help him understand that he is to pray to God and do so in the name of Jesus Christ.  We had explained it but I guess it never sank in.  When we explained that we pray to Heavenly Father you could tell a weight was lifted from him and he was so relieved.  We also challenged him to begin reading the Book of Mormon.  I am really excited to see how much he learns, especially in the first and second books of Nephi. I bet he loves it.

     

We went to the MCRD (Marine Corp Recruiting Depot) again! We go there with 3 other sets of missionaries along with a few Senior couples who are over Military Relations.  This last week Elder Nichols (another previous companion) found a Recruit came in who, no joke, RAN away from his family who were part of a polygamist cult in West Valley to join the Marines with the sole purpose to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  After Elder Nichols was taught the Restoration by this young man and told his story and how he knows he was part of a false church and wants to be baptized into the True Church,  he was speechless.  Needless to say, the Recruit will be baptized 2 weeks from now (as soon as he can).  

     

Elder Reece's Birthday isn't until the 15th.  We haven't been able to contact Christopher for the past few weeks but Juan is still set and solid for the 15th.  Miracles are happening everyday which is my favorite part of being a missionary.  I love you and miss you! 

Love,

     Elder Ethan John Rowbury