Smiling beautiful pic

How we normally are: laughing and weird, lol

Last pics with Hermana's _____ y ______. They are now in Nicaragua, preaching the Gospel

November 11, 2015

 I have a challenge for you. Read "Our Search for Happiness." It is simple and inspiring.

So much has happened! We taught out investigator, Rosi, how to pray. It was powerful! We are teaching her that our Heavenly Father is a loving father. She grew up Catholic and always thought of God as strict rather than loving. We had her pray to feel God's love for her. It was beautiful! I have felt God's love for me asking the same question. But watching someone else feel God's love for the first time was life changing. I am so blessed to be a missionary! We challenged Rosi to read the intro to the Book of Mormon after giving her a lesson on the Restoration. The next lesson she had a whole bunch of questions! Keep in mind that this is entirely in Spanish. It was the hardest thing because not only were they more difficult Q's to answer in the first place, but we had to find out how to answer her in Spanish. I have never relied on the spirit as much as I did at that time. I had no idea what to say but prayed that I could know how to answer. The spirit brought scriptures and thoughts into me and my companion's minds. It was amazing. They were not scriptures or thoughts we had never known, but it was things we had studied previously. The Lord gets His work done. I always thought the gift of tongues was when in a specific moment of need you would just speak Spanish not knowing what you said. Although this may be true, more often this isn't the case. It's more often the spirit touching the heart of your investigator as you testify, no matter how broken your Spanish is. Or it's the ability to learn more than you could ever imagine possible within three weeks. Or it's the recollection of something you had read before hand. I love being a vessel for God's work! It is something else! 

Sister Sharie Rowley

November 4, 2015

Thank you for the package! Having a package felt like christmas. It made me so happy. :) It is so good hearing from you!! I have never been happier!! I love serving the Lord! I also love being a sister training leader. I had a chance to get to know each of the girls and I love them! I learned to never judge someone because you have no idea what they are going through!! So many amazing events have happened. Its such a blessing being a missionary. I feel the spirit so much. I learned that you have to make everything simple. Simple enough for a child to understand. I love you so much! Tell everyone I love them! I'm so blessed to have you guys for my family!

- Hermana Rowley

Room mates at the MTC

Me and my companions

All of us in front of the Provo Temple

This is my district, plus my companion, Hermana ____

All of the girls in our zone before half of them left for the field

Familia!

There is so much to say I can't type it all. I love being here! It has been hard but amazing at the same time. Can I just say that I love my Hermanas! I am so lucky! Hermana ______ and ______ are both from California. Hermana _____is super out going and determined. Hermana ______ is sweet and spiritual! We really do help each other grow. And they will work out with me! We run, do ab workouts, push ups, and squats each day. Everyday they load a whole lot of information on us, especially Spanish. Me and my Hermana have been teaching our investigator, Maria. I love teaching about this gospel!! The spirit was so strong the last time we taught her. We have taught her three times now (all in Spanish!). IT IS HARD! Half the time I don't think she even understands what we are saying. haha. But the gift of tongues is real! Even if she doesn't understand, the spirit confirms to her the truthfulness of what is being spoken. She told our teacher that sometimes she can't understand what we are saying but she can feel the love we have for her. We can already bear our testimony, say our purpose, pray, invite, speak many words, and conjugate some things. Just in seven days. But I still feel like I know nothing! There is so much to learn. In our discussions with our investigators we have a little red book that saves us. It has lesson and gospel words in Spanish that we refer to throughout the lesson. I love the moments I don't have to refer to the book at all. Like when I bear my testimony to her. The spirit is unbelievable. I feel so much love for Maria!

In the MTC they have videos from apostles who have spoken here before. We watched Bednard's talk, which was powerful! He put it in the most straight forward way possible that this is not our mission. This is the Lord's mission. He said to never let the natural man let you be selfish and want to reach in; but rather reach out, especially in difficult times. I have learned that during this mission I need to loose myself and completely stop thinking about myself, and think of others. 

I have the coolest district. My district is everyone in my beginning Spanish class. One of my Hermanas (I have two) is in the intermediate Spanish class, meaning that she is sadly not in my district. But the elders in my district are like my brothers. We went to this seminar that motivated us to become better prepared for the field. We made a goal together to drop English the fourth week in the MTC and speak only Spanish! Hard, but if we do it right we can do it. I got assigned to be the sister training leader, which is similar to a zone leader. I get to meet all the new hermanas and elders coming in today and show them around with my hermana's and my elders who are the zone leaders. Like I said before, I love my district. 

Neil L. Anderson came to speak to us last night!!! It was amazing. Afterward I wanted nothing more than to change the way I am as a missionary. I didn't want to waste any second. I just wanted to roll up my sleeves and work! We had a district meeting yesterday where we discussed the devotional. The testimony of each person was so strong. We were almost all in tears. It was powerful feeling the spirit so intensely from each elder and from my hermana. I love being a missionary. I feel the spirit all the time. It is hard work. Being a missionary has made me happier than anything ever has! 

If I could tell you what a full day was like here at the MTC. you would be surprised how much we accomplish in a day. We teach, have at least three hrs of study time (believe me, there is so much to study that there is never extra time), we have class, and meals, and more class. In class we learn about Spanish and spiritual things. Plus I have the best teacher. I have never felt the love of Christ so strong from someone. He was so exited about our district goal and told us he had faith in us. Except it was all in spanish. But he teaches us so much. 

 I love you all!

Hermana Rowley

First e-mail from the MTC

Everything is going great. I love my first day already and my companions! I have two companions both going to Toronto, Canada. I only have five minutes to email so sorry I have to make it brief. I have already learned so much from the classes. We taught some invetigators as a group of missionaries. I learned to listen, and speak with the spirit according to their needs.  My first investigator I teach with my companions will be on Friday!! And I have to teach them in Spanish!!! Almost everyone in my Spanish class has already taken some classes, so I am so lost. The teachers are starting off easy, but they  hardly ever speak in English. Love you guys! 

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Sister Sharie Rowley