Elder Dallas Rowley
Ohio Columbus Mission
May 2008 - 2010
Hello everybody!
Things are going great here in Gahanna, Ohio. I just got back from transfers, and I went from a threesome to a twosome. So I am really excited for my first "normal" transfer. We've really been having alot of new investigators lately. It's been awesome. Some cool things about Gahanna, well we have a way sweet new apartment. We have a vine behind our apartment, a 30' vine like the vines you would see on Tarzan. Ohio has some pretty great storms. A couple weeks ago we had the wind caused by the hurricane, and it was pretty brutal. There were power lines and trees down EVERYWHERE, and trees were crashed into houses here & there. Leaves and sticks lined the streets. We didn't have power for a little over 3 days. There was a huge tree in the local cemetery that was uprooted by the storm, and it's roots flung a bunch of coffins and dead bodies all over the graveyard. It was pretty gruesome, but it wasn't all that bad since it didn't actually happen. But a big tree in the cemetery did fall down by the storm. Anyways, a guy in our ward, Brother Hartzell, works for the city's electricity, and he had to work a week's worth of 15 hour days until all the power in the city was back. He was way exhausted, but he got the power back! Our district sang today at transfers. A samoan in our district played his ukelalie as we sang "how can I be?" it's a song about the book of mormon characters. it went really well. There's a lesson you can all learn from the samoan(elder Afatasi)'s companion, Elder Brown. Their bikes got stolen, and they tried to get them back, so when they found the thieves, they got out of the member's car and tried to get them back. Elder Afatasi got his because of his size, and Elder Brown got out to "support" his companion, and he got his jaw broken in 2 places. He's fine now, he has 2 disks in his jaw. So if your bikes get stolen, or if you are being robbed, let it happen. Well, I am out of time. I love my mission. Time is flying faster and faster each day. I'm more and more excited for the rest of my mission each day. I hope you all recognize the "greatness of your calling" on your mission. Keep it up! Elder Dallas Rowley
Elder Garrett Jones
Hey everybody,It has been another good week here in New Rochelle. Elder Miranda and I have been working hard and praying for our investigators and zone and things are looking pretty good for us right now. We keep finding good people to teach, people who are interested and have questions for us, so its been really fun lately going out and teaching. One of the elders in our apartment went home and guess who his replacement is! Elder (Cameron) Hardy! It was weird seeing him coming through the door with all his luggage. Probably the craziest thing that has happened recently is Elder Billings' incident. He is a crazy Aussie that I live with. Apparently, Elder Billings thought he would be tough and eat a mushroom off the side of the road that looked tasty. He did it in Australlia occasionally and so he thought it would be fine to do here. Elder Mook told him not to, but Elder Billings assured him that he knew what he was doing. Yup, it turned out that he didn't know what he was doing, and had to spend the night and almost the next night in the hospital after puking out blood and some crazy diarrhea! We have an investigator who owns a bodega (a hispanic mini-mart/liquor store), and we go teach him right there in the bodega, which is a different =0 Ateaching environment. He is an awesome investigator. I hope everything is going well and that you're having some cool experiences as well. Don't go eating any shrooms! Love you all tons, Garrett
Elder Chase Judd
Time is flying by so fast, I already have 6 months!! Holy cow I'm scared, I hope I don't have an accent.. We have transfers tomorrow, and my comp is leaving for Mina 3 hours south, and I am getting a white companion woof! He is only a month older then me, and he will be senior companion. I am kind of nervous but we will see, his name is Elder Wray. It should be exciting!!!Conference was really good, I got to watch it in English and the room had air conditioning it was awesome!! We had one baptism last night, our other one fell through on Friday, her husband wouldn't let her. I love being a missionary!!! I love you all, I love my area, I love this church, I know its very true from all I have seen down here. I hope you all have a testimony of this Church if you don't read Ether 12:6 and then pray love ya all!!
Elder Judd
Elder Gary Chambers
Hey there Gentlemen and Ladies! I just got transferred.... today :) kinda sucks to be honest... I didn't really want to go, but that's the name of the game, right? Yeah my comp Elder Yack got a kid this transfer, so I got shipped out to a cute lil place called La Vega (nothing like Las Vegas). It's actually a pretty big city, the only problem is that it is FULL of ricos... meaning big Iron/steel gates to knock on... and still nobody hears you. Yeah that doesn't work... Luckily my new companion Elder ****** (did anyone ever watch Gargoyles as a kid?... just wondering) is saying that they do pretty ok with references from members... so I'm going to assume he isn't lying and hope for the best! As I said, today is day one, and a P-Day at that, so all I know is the house is roomy, the toilet works fine (very important), and the fridge has a cool little ice box in it where I put my nifty "UPHILL" water bottle (a missionary must). I couldn't really tell you all about my new comp... because we haven't had a lot of time to talk, we came over to use the internet right after I finished unpacking... during which time he talked to all the other missionaries in the house (4 man house). In the small lil conversation we had on the way over here, however, I did learn that him and another missionary in the house have a steady membership at a nearby gym which he says is a good gym... So I just might join them, who knows..... Either way, this room is way too cold, I think Dominicans should take classes on how to use an AC unit, because I don't think they know. Well, sorry I don't have any cute stories... maybe next time. K love you bye!
Love, always, Elder Chambers
Elder Logan Wells
Hello...Well another month came and gone its not long before the time will be up and we will be going from one homecoming to the next and well its cool. well i am still here in tortola it is really awesome i love it so much. Well i have found a secret lover her name is reggae its a pretty cool type of music you cant really go anywhere without hearing it. its pretty cool, well let me see funny story of the month well lets see we had a couple of Elders come over for a night so that we could take a boat over to St. Thomas for a zone conference well we decided to do a little companion exchange well they decided that we could take the truck becasue we had a couple of appts so well me and Elder Jones took the truck of the which is my first time driving without my companion so that was a first he has to watch me so I don't make any mistakes well as you would know we passed our place that we were suppose to be going by about 5 miles and Istarted to look around and wonder why it did not ever seem to be that far away well I turned around and the instincts of american driving kicked on so i started driving and i am looking ahead and i see these light coming at me well they just kept coming and me and Elder Jones are just like what the heck is going on and well I just remembered that its not him making the mistake its me I was driving on the wrong side of the road, its pretty crazy. Its been a little hard getting used to but the driving on the other side of the road can be a little much sometimes but its all good. I really love it here though a bit of a cultural shock but what really isn't when you are serving a mission? Well I love you guys go forward and baptize the whole world!
Peace, LOGANDREWELLS
Elder Grant Huish
hello fellow missionaries all is well in oregon. i would like you all to know that i am not lazy(stupid chase). i actually work if you can believe it. i know its kind of crazy seeing as how i was darn near one of the laziest people on the face of the earth back home, but its true. i guess i just never really had anything to work towards back hom. well the story i would like to tell you now has nothing to do with missionary work it is about how evil tongans are. so last pday we were playing ultimate frisbee. and when the girls highschool soccer team showed up to use the fields we decided to leave. sadly i forgot to pick up my wallet. i realised this a couple hours later. i told elder ***** what had happened and he told me he would go back and get it for $500, i said now of course and went back myself to get it. i asked the soccer coaches and the parents and no one had seen anything. i though all hope was lost. i went back home and went out to work for the evening. i called the mission office to have them cancel my jp morgan card and to have them contact my parents to have them cancel my card as well. at about 10:15 that night i get a call from elder ******. he asks me if i found my wallet to which i replied no. he then asked me what i was doing the next day. i told him our plans to which he replied. you should come pick up your wallet. so the moral of the story is that tongans are evil, and girls soccer teams are absolutely no help. the end. love grant
Elder Max Crandall
Gentlemen – Things are going okay here in Bellingham. It is absolutely gorgeous up here; green as far as the eye can see. We had a dinner with some members a while ago who said Bellingham was supposed to be the Chicago of the Northwest, but they didn’t finish the train rails all the way up here. Since the rails didn’t make it this far north, Seattle became the Chicago of the Northwest – so they say. Bellingham is a neat little city; nothing like Seattle. There are a ton of hippies up here! Hippies and college students. We live next to this hippie guy who is just about fried out of his mind every time we talk to him. Then when we say we have to go, he bows to us and wishes us well. He’s great. The people here are really friendly and it seems like Bellingham is one of the more family-oriented cities here in my mission. I am no longer on a bike here in Bellingham, which is going right to my hips. Just kidding. I’m trying to run a little bit in the mornings, although I am very, very glad to be in a car now that the rain’s a-comin’. I think summer has finally called it quits up here, and although that means murky, cloudy, dreary days, we are still blessed beyond what we deserve. I’m serving as a district leader now and it is a seriously humbling experience. I’ve been a district leader’s companion through most of my mission so I thought I knew all the ins and outs. I knew it would be hard but I figured I had a leg up given my experience. Well, turns out all of my “experience” is worth bupkiss. I have a really good district though. I don‘t really have to do much to make sure they’re working. They are all great missionaries. I am so happy to be out here serving the Lord as a missionary. It is the oddest, greatest, and most rewarding thing I’ve done yet. I’m not really looking forward to coming home in a year. It has been a really weird experience hitting the year mark. I don’t feel any more experienced than the first day Elder Rammell held me in his arms and said, “I hope you’re ready to work.” This recent anniversary has left me in a constant state of ponderment and wonder. It seems to me that the Lord would have had a much more effective two years if he had called someone older, wiser, and more mature but I’m thankful the Lord didn’t do that and He called me. I know this church has the complete, eternal gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I know that He died for each of us so we could return to our Father, with clean hands and pure hearts. I am so grateful I have been blessed to live in a time where I can enjoy the blessings of the gospel and share them with everyone. –Elder Crandall
Anziano Scott Ball
Ciao!I have been transferred to Modena. It is amazing! We have been totally busy everyday since I got here. I haven*t had any time to do finding work here which I have been doing in the past few cities. We have had a appointment after appointment. I*m really glad to be here. Anziano Hatch has been in the mission just 3 more months than I have and he is really amazing. He is from Aztec, New Mexico which is just 30 minutes from Durango, Colorado. He speaks Italian just fine and we get along very nicely. We both had companions this last transfer who were a little bit mad, but now we are both happy to be free of them. Modena has a beautiful meeting house! It*s pretty much just like the one we go to in Mesa. We have a huge ward too! Our ward is about 80 members. The amazing thing here is that they pay their tithing and fully. We (as missionaries) see how the ward was blessed* with an amazing meeting house. I will actually tell a funny story that just happened. Our bishop here at Modena is a really famous blood doctor, but other than that I wanted to tell a story. He was asking the missionaries if the ward could by us (the missionaries) a car. So this is how this ward works.. since they pay their tithing*they have a lot of money and we also have a member who owns part of a insurance company and one who sells cars. So they all got together and set up a plan of getting a *ward* car and the missionaries would use it only when they had to go out of the city (which would be a lot cheaper for us). The ward would use the car for going on trips to the Switzerland Temple. I have to say that would be a great idea. Anyways, we talked to our president and he said that we could have only one provided by the mission(which are limited to two cars in our mission). We were kind of sad, because we were so excited to get a car instead of a bike. This ward is amazing though! They give the missionaries a lot of referrals and there are already a few baptisms planned in the future. We have one coming up next month and should have another 2 that same month. One baptismaldate we will be setting tonight for a couple. They already accepted to be baptized, we just have to set a date. I*m so out of energy everyday when we come home because we head from one appointment to the next. We have a lot of work right now because there is only one companionship here and there used to be two here. Our guess is that president will be splitting our companionship up after this transfer and both Anziano Hatch and I will be training new missionaries which will make two companionships. The sisters are pretty cool here. They are having a hard time with the work here, but they are seeing amazing changes and we saw a miracle during district meeting (our meeting that we do one a week for correlation for us and the sisters). While we were having district meeting, 2 women rang the doorbell of the church and so we let them in. Turns out that one of them just came here from Brazil and is a member. She talked to her friend so much about the church that her friend wants to come to church also. The sisters set a appointment with them and I*m sure that the sisters will have that woman baptized. Yeah, the people of Treviso were hard to talk to or rather even stop on the street. Here in Modena, it is much more relaxed and there are many people who are from Southern Italy who are always friendly. I*d have to say that here and Genoa are equal in how nice the people are. I can say that I can start a conversation with anyone on the street here* it seems like heaven compared to Treviso. Ciao Ciao, Anziano Ball
Elder Jeff Stoker
Dear BFFs,
Things are going good over on this side of the world. Me and Scott have got it taken care of. So I think that my mission call should have read, "you will be serving in the World Mission". We just found out that the Visa renewal trips will now be changed to Sweden. Which means that I will be able to attend the TEMPLE! I am so excited about that. I am not telling you this to brag...(ok maybe a little bit), But Just letting you know how crazy every single day is on a mission. It is amazing how you can get one single phone call and it will change everything. Things have been really good this cycle though. I am still in the same area with the same companion, which is really good, because my area is the "ghetto" of saratov. I love it too, although some times it gets a little scary. If i can be friends with all of you this long, than i can easily make it in the ghetto right? So the work is going amazingly. It is so great that God CHOOSES to work through immature, unprepared 19 year olds. It is so great to see the way that the gospel changes peoples lives. Thanks for all your examples. I love you all. Have a great month. and remember...Keep on keeping on.
Elder Jeff Stoker
Elder Mike Kleinman
Hey everyone! Well another month blown by! It sure does go really fast. I hope everyone is doing well in their various missions. We just got transfers and I will be officially leaving the office. ¡Por fin! It is a little sad though as I have been learning a whole lot of really funny slang from my latin comp. I still don't know where I will be getting sent though seeing that I still have to train my replacement. Elder Nelson will be coming down to visit our mission the friday after general conference. So I gotta put on my spiffy tie! We baptized a woman this past week names Sonia Sosa, shes 26 and is super cool. The mission overall is improving exponentially, seeing real miracles, in trying to complete with the challenge from Pres. Hinckley to double the baptismal rate. Really exciting times! Well, remember that as some of us are now on the downhill, (Brock I'm looking at you!) we really need to make the best out of the time we have remaining. The mission is great with too many awesome experiences to tell in a short letter. But I guess there'll be plenty of time for that when we are all back. Well, until next month! Chau Chau
Elder Kleinman
Elder Brock Smith
Wow another month gone. I am back in Hilo, me and my new comp whitewashed into an area Yep again I whitwashed into a place where no work has been done for about 21/2 months. The mission pres calls me up on Mon and says Elder Smith the Lord wants you to serve once again as a District Leader on this Isand.The Lord is trusting to do your best and this is a tough area, and usually I do not like to have to finish your mission with such pressure, But this is the Lords call not mine. By the way your whitewashing also, oh great thats just great, I'll do it Pres I cant say no but its not exactly the best way to end my mission with way flippin hard trials.Next transfer we get 25 greenies so I hope that I will get to train Jessie Browns nephew. that would be awesome. I know what the best medicine is though, work work, work there is no substitute. Well I hope you all are doing good out there Its a great time to be a missionary since the America is being humbled and may soon be in a depression I mean heck the stock market could crash today, and we dont have to worry cuz the work of the Lord will always continue to go forward nothing can stop it. I really envy you who have more time then me left mission life takes away many cares and sorrows of the world cherish your time it will fly by soon you will only have four months left too, so make it count! Peace out! Elder B Smith
