the week i legitimately felt happy to be here

yesterday i really learned that heavenly father loves me so much. last monday, december 30th, i was having a really rough day. sister mendenhall and i ended up going to red robin to de-stress and just "have fun" (one of sister rowley's biggest challenges while being a missionary). i ended up writing a letter home that day and as i was writing a thought popped into my head. it's a story we've all heard before, where president hinckley talks about his experience as a new missionary and not wanting to be there. he writes home and tells his dad that he should just come home and stop wasting his dad's money. his dad writes home "forget yourself and go to work". i have always focused on the "forget yourself and go to work" part of the story, but on that monday i was struggling heavenly father helped me see that everyone struggles! even someone who became a prophet of the church struggled on his mission! i felt so comforted to know that and decided to share those thoughts in my letter home. mail was dropped off at the VC yesterday, so last night i was reading a letter from dad. the letter was written on december 30th, the VERY same day! at the end of his letter he mentioned that exact same story and pointed out the exact same things i did! of course i started crying. HEAVENLY FATHER IS SO AWARE OF ME AND LOVES ME SO MUCH! He gave me and Dad the very same prompting and spiritual guidance. my testimony of God's love for me grew so much. my testimony of personal revelation also grew. and then my testimony of a father's ability to receive revelation for his children grew too. IT WAS JUST SOOOOO AMAZING! i can't get over it! as i was saying my prayers last night my heart felt like it was going to burst. i felt so much love for my family, for heavenly father, and i felt his love for me. best prayer in a long time.
sis. mendenhall and i gave an amazing tour at the VC saturday night. it was for joseph, a 35 year old guy how has been investigating since about February. the tour was originally supposed to happen on friday, but it was cancelled. it was later rescheduled for saturday and then cancelled again that night. we had half joked that what we had planned was obviously not what heavenly father wanted us to share. what happens is the missionaries currently teaching the investigator call the VC and tell them what they want the lesson to be about and if they have a specific video they want to see they also tell us that. they wanted us to talk to joseph about coming to church, wanted us to re-teach him the first lesson (the restoration) and also wanted us to extend a conditional baptismal invitation, meaning we invite him to be baptized WHEN he comes to know that what we are teaching him is true. we had this nice lesson that focused a lot on the restoration. and then it was cancelled for the second time. we ran downstairs into the sisters lounge to grab something, and passed a guy sitting in a chair in the corner. when we came back upstairs we decided we were going to talk with him. he was walking toward us (perfect!) so we said hi and found out his name... JOSEPH! it was the very same guy who we were supposed to teach!!!! he ran to the bathroom, we called the sisters who called in the tour who then said they could be there in 10 minutes! MIRACLE! so we're getting to know joseph while we wait for the other sisters and while we're talking we discover that he works with motorcycles and then he says something like, "i wouldn't make a good mormon". sis mendenhall listened to the spirit and took him over to the "i'm a mormon" wall and showed him the video about jeff -http://youtu.be/xgyx20W9qY4  we told joseph that there was no cookie-cutter way to be a mormon. the other sisters had shown up halfway through and then we took joseph to the 8 stories room (i'm so excited to show you that when you get here - watch the district 2 before you come!). the story about jon is what the sisters wanted us to share with joseph. we had previously planned this great lesson that allowed us to really lead into the movie we were about to show. i started to worry that we wouldn't know how to introduce the movie and relate it to joseph. and then the spirit helped me out! i told him that even though there is no cookie-cutter way to be a mormon, there are certain things that we are all asked to do ie] pray, read scriptures, go to church, etc. i focused on church and bore testimony of church. sister mendnehall also bore strong testimony of church. long story short, we watched the movie, the spirit was so strong, and then his sisters invited him to come to church and i also invited him to be baptized once he knows this church is true!! it was just a really really great lesson and i knew i was being lead by the spirit.
transfers happen on wednesday and good news, sis mendenhall and i are staying together and staying in the seneca singles!!!!!!!!!! proof that prays are heard and answered. i'm excited to continue working here with the YSA group and also excited to stay w/ sis mendenhall. she has helped me so much. i feel like i owe a lot of this new found happiness to her. i feel like for the first time i had a really really good week where i was legitimately happy to be here. there are some changes being made though. salt lake has asked us to make some areas for the sisters full proselyting. you know how the temple square sisters get sent out into the field for 3 months or so so they have the opportunity to not just to a VC but also fully proselyte? well, they really want to send some of their sisters here. i've been told that this mission is one of the best missions ever. one of the most obedient, and one that really makes a difference for all missions (ambassador and diplomat night - these people are hugely important to letting us send missionaries all over the world. we have to be on our best behavior always so people see how great missionaries are). so they are sending some sisters to be full-pros and also asking some of us current sisters to be full-pros. we aren't sure yet who that will be, but some of it will depend on the area they are in. it's possible that ours will become a full-pros or at least a mostly-pros. so there will be 2 comps. in full and 6 others in mostly-pros (they will only have like 1 shift at the VC per week) and then the rest will continue the usual schedule with 3-4 shifts at the VC and also time in the area. i think we'll at least become a mostly-pros, but that's just my guess. we will find out soon!
when festival ended, the cooke's invited us over for a pajama party! all the sisters got to spend 9am-3pm in pajamas relaxing. BEST THING EVER! they fed us breakfast, fed us lunch, let us watch it's a wonderful life (made me think of you dad - and yes i cried). and also let us watch brave. i played harry potter clue with some of the other sisters. loved my life! you should probably buy some HP stamps and send them my way - i feel HP deprived.
time is up! i'll write again next week!
LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!
thank you for praying for me and thinking of me. i miss you, but i also know this is where i'm supposed to be and what i'm supposed to be doing. missionary work is the hardest/best thing in the world.
love, Sister Rowley