New area!

Well, since i’m in a new area, i guess i should try to describe what it looks like, right now i think rainy season is coming up because lately it has rained everyday!  I’m not complaining because surabaya is the hottest city in Indonesia, it’s also the second largest city!  Sometimes i stop and look at my life and say to myself, “i’m in the 4th largest populated country in the world, in the second largest city, and me and a few other missionaries are in charge of the salvation of the souls here. O.O”  that’s intense, but it’s such a priveldge, thank goodness it’s the holy ghost that does the converting and not us young missionaries right?

Surabaya is so cool, you still have the kampung’s here(cute little neighborhoods) where most of the houses are cementy and everyone lives close together, but then you make one turn and BOOM you’re on a big road and it’s like you’re biking through down town salt lake!  I love surabaya at night, the traffic, the lights, i love the city, this makes me miss jakarta.  So yes we ride bikes here, in jakarta we walk and take buses.

the house in surabaya is SOOOO NICE so much nicer than the one in malang so that's great. but there are more cockroaches...

my diet hasnt gotten so bad here, i'm getting fat again, we just dont have time in the morning to cook good breakfasts and when we go out and preach like, we only take 15 minutes or so to eat whatever is on the street cuz were go go GOING. which is fine but my rice chin says otherwise.

we're trying to go visit more members, but President rowley doesn't want us to just go to members houses just to eat. NGGA BOLEH

This week has been absolutely BLAZING. bLAZING. Hot.  I am literally 12 shades blacker than before goodness gracious.  But this week was also full of miracles!

Sister Hyde and I made a goal to find 10 new investigators this week, that’s a lot, and we worked SO. HARD. This week, we talked to EVERYONE. Asked EVERYONE for referals, in the blazing sun, in the rain, we kept going.  WE FOUND 11! WOO!

We have miracle investigators too,  #1 Ibu E,  she’s so great, the other night she strengthened mine and sister Hyde’s faith.  Her family is so so SO. Against our church, but she compares our church to food, she’s like, “Hey, if i have this cookie and i say it’s the sweetest thing ever and yall have never tried it, how do you konw it’s sweet for yourself without eating it first??” its the smae with the book of mormon and our church, she is so awesome, now her daughter i think is softening her heart, she’s actually talking to us now.  We brought up baptism for her, and she’s all for it, but she jsut has to come to church and pray for strength that her family will let her come.

#2 Kak F, she is from PAPUA!!!  My sister!!  I’ve always wanted to teach a papuan, she’s actually the Zone Leader’s investigator cuz she’s not in our area, but on Saturday we watched the General Women’s session (WHICH WAS AMAZING AND I DIDNT EVEN UNDERSTAND ALL OF IT CUZ IT WAS IN BAHASA BUT I SURE HOPE YOU SISTERS WATCHED IT AND HAVE MADE GOALS TO BECOME MORE RIGHTEOUS I AM PUMPED!)  Anyways, SHE CAME!! And she LOVED LOVED IT1!! She lives so close to the Timur church (me and sisiter Hyde are in the Barat church) and she opened up to us and was like, “I just feel like i cant speak openly with the elders cuz theyre boys..”(oh and she speaks perfect english ((thank you heavenly father))) so we asked President Rowley (who surprised us with his visit) and he gave us permission to teach her!(: we will be teaching her at the other church, it’s hard cuuz we cant go to church iwth her rcuz it’s not our area, but we will ifnd good members to fellowship her. (:

Heavenly Father is just so good,  right before I started writing this email, I was reading the scriptures.  This may sound weird but this week I was kinda slacking on my scripture study,  sister H and i are still trying to figure out our morning schedules together cuz you know every companionship does it differently and we take TWELVE years to plan and we leave early in the morning to get to appointments so therer’s literally been no time to study. So i’ve felt off this whole week, usually i read when i get home at night, but i just wanted to read talks which are great. But i still felt off, i finally said this morning, sister, get yo life together and open up the book of mormon, I started reading from Mosiah 3(which is amazing)  and while we were personal studyng adn before cleaning the house we had conference of last year playing so we could listen.. while I was reading the book of mormon my heart was just full of warmth and happiness and I felt the spirit testifying to me what i was reading was true.  So my testimony has been strengthened again, it is so so important to read our scriptures everyday, even if it’s jsut for 5 minutes. 

I’ve been trying to ponder about my relationship with heavenly father lately. Sometimes in lessons i feel like i say these things, but am i really saying wahts in my heart or is it just another lesson... i’ve been trying to find God, I’ve been trying to learn more about my Savior so I can really have a true testimony about him. Our living prophets and apostles have told us that we can come to know God through sincere pray, through daily scripture study, through service, through purifying yourself and becoming like the Savior and for the past couple of weeks, i have felt like Enos, having a wrestle with the lord in my heart, seeing if i’m out here for the right reasons.

I am so grateful for the mission.  I know this is what I need in my life to become converted to the Lord Jesus Christ.  The General Women’s conference literally was an answer to my prayers and the next morning i had to teach gospel principles about Our Heavenly Father.  I really can say for myself that I know that Heavenly Father lives, and that he loves us, and He is patient with us.  I always beat myself up bc i’m not a perfect missionary, or perfect person, or daughter/friend/sister..  but I know that I have worth and always will. I am so grateful for repentance, that everyday I can become a new person.

Man i just feel good inside ya know! Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us so much!  And I really hope you all can find that out for yourself, for me i had to have that wrestle, I had to act, I had to make my prayers more meaningful, I had to open up the scriptures, and I had to give my will to the Lord and work harder than i ever have to find God’s children who are ready to accept the true and living gospel.

This gospel is true, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Lord’s church, the ONLY church that has His priesthood authority, the ONLY gospel that allows us to unlock the blessings of repentance, forgiveness and the Atonement in our lives. I know that He lives, and I know that President Monson is his living prophet today. I hope we will all heed to the prophets words, they are from God, what the prophet says is so important and it’s what Heavenly Father needs us to do.  I know the restoration is true, i know joseph smith saw god the father and his son that spring morning and I am so grateful that I was able to be raised with this glorious knowledge. 

God is good, Life is good, even though it’s hard sometimes I know we can get through anything because we have Lord on our side!  Please watch conference and ask yourself what you can do to become more true to the faith.  I love you all, I love this work, and I love my Savior. 

Stay classy yall <3 sister rowntree

sorry yall i'm really bad at taking pics throughout the week, my cmaera's too big, and sister hyde forgot to bring her camera too haha.  i'm trying to load a video of us singing, but it might not load in time lol. sorry. next week aja ya.

1) me being fabulous

2) rain rain go away