Tyler's email

Thanks so much for all the wonderful emails you guys sent me. I will be sending you a package with elder Carter, who is going home this weekend. He said that it sould get to you around the 15 of april.

  Well we had one more transfer, and my companion will stay the same. I Am so excited , elder Mattos is one of the best that i have ever had. We are kicking butt and taking names together.

  We had something really neat happen in or little area this week. We have been teaching a young man named Helio. He is 22 years old, and just looking at him you would think he was on of those little punk gansters that smokes and drinks... and actually he was. He started to hear our lessons, and read what we left for him. And one day he told us that he wanted to be babtised. We set some goals and helped him out the best we could and it payed off. This saturday he was babtised. Being that he was a little wild before, all of his friends and even some of the church members cannot beleive that he was this Helio that they remember. His old nick name was "Fly" I know that the lord worked in his life to help him to change. He knows so much about the gosple and wants to serve a mission. I know that the lord herd our many prayers.

  We had another babtism this saturday of a woman that did not join our church before just because she had never known what it was like. After her first visit, she no longer had the desire to attend her other religion.

  There are so many Tender mercies that the lord has givin me. You know that feeling when you just know that everything is so perfect and it seems that you have a great understanding. I felt that and feel it now. I sure love you all so much and i thank you so much for the prayers and the love

  I laughed so hard when logan told me that he drew on my face....What a guy! And that jesse got a bloody nose in such an untimly moment. Russ.. Great talk buddy, I am so amazed by your great wisdom! I wanted to ask if someone knew what nacho says when he is talking with the nun in those tight clothes.. Behind the clothes is a man, and behind the man... there is ...WHAT????

   I love you all

   Elder Rowland

Ashley's email

Shoot! You guys are awesome! I just want you to know that I am so blessed to have you guys! I hope you know that I pray for you everyday. When I have a challenge ahead of me or a problem to solve I think of you. I think, how would Russell talk to this person? What would he say? What would Mom do in this situation? Dad told me a story once that will help this person. Maddy is a perfect example of how I want this person to be. Jesse once said this to me when I was having a hard time. How would Logan talk to all of these people? I wonder how Tyler is doing? Maybe he is having the same problem down south. You all are huge examples for me and for the people here. I talk about you all day long! I promise people blessings that I have seen in our lives. I hope you know that you are close by me always. You are always helping me even though you aren´t here. 

I can´t believe that general conference is here already! I remember watching it on the BIG SCREEN. hahahaha I have played that weekend over and over in my mind this week. I love you all so much! I am so thankful for my family. For prophets and for this church. Please keep working hard. Keep being yourselves and keep sharing your testimonies. Your laughs and smiles alone work wonders. I hope you know I am doing good. I miss you all so much, but I know you are doing good!

Here are some pictures of the week. These people are so special to me. It is so cool how quickly you become connected to people. I will be close to them forever.

I love you all so much. We are teaching lots of great people! The area is new, but So many people are ready to accept the gospel. This work is directed by Heavenly Father. I know that Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and through him we are made whole. Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. I know this church is true. The Lord has never let me down. I know that when we are obedient we recieve everything and more than we need and ask for.

Love you all so much!

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Sister Ash!

Ashleys Pictures

Tylers pictures

Just sending a few pictures of some of my companions that will be going home in about 10 days,  Elder Prins who was my first companion in the field.. remember the one that i thought was way hard on me... But now my thoughts have changed and i think he was a great trainer!

  And of course elder Piccin who trained me as a zone leader. They are the best!

Tylers email

Hey there Dad

  How are things going now a days? I hope all is well Dad. I wanted to tell you a quick experiance .. well neat thing that i received. I got Cards and letters from Grandma Rowland and Grandma and Grandpa Madsen on the same day and they sure were great. I was so touched. How i love my grandparents and i consider myself extremly blessed to have had them. I will be writing you a little letter along with the bishop. Love you dad

   Elder Rowland

Ashley email

This week really is going to be awesome! Obedience is definitely the key in this work. I miss you guys like crazy. I cant believe school is almost over for the boys and that i have been on the mission 5 months already. How time flies.

Thanks for your sweet spirit and strong testimony mom! You are awesome!

Dad what a great email. Thanks so much. I have so many people that need to hear these things. I always loved activities like youth conference. Reminded me of all of the great activities i had with the ward. Tell everyone I miss them. You know what I would love??!?! Someone in the family or in the ward to send me a ward newsletter every month. The missionaries of the ward need to know what is happening in the ward too!!! It will be fun!  Tell the ward I miss them. I was thinking about all the ward activities we have had. This week another ward will be having a dessert festival! How fun huh! I served in that ward for 3 weeks but now i am in the other area. wish i could try all the delicious brazilian desserts!!! My ward is going to have a special activity dedicated to the first vision. It is going to be incredible. I already know that IT will be a very spiritually strengthening activity for everyone who attends! You would not believe how good these activities are for the investigators we have. Our ward back home always had a great turn out. I miss those days. Wont be long before i will be back there again eating dutch oven and funeral potatoes. hahaha Keep up the good work dad. thanks for the updates about the missionaries returning! his picture is of our neighbor! Silene is great. I hope one day I can be as good a neighbor as she is! Her family is awesome. It was her birthday! We made her cookies. And i cut a flower to make it all pretty! She is the relief society president. I am strengthened everytime i talk to her! What a blessing it is to have good friends and neighbors in the church!!!!

Keep up the good work little brothers!!! And send me pictures!!! I miss seeing your beautiful smiling teasing faces...I am proud of all of my family and I talk to everyone about you!!! Hope the best for all of you this week!! Love you tons!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!!!! I had more letters than everyone else in zone conference and everyone was jealous! haha Thisngs are great! Thanks so much

email March 15

Dear Family

   Where do i start, there is so much to say. I'm doing well in health and in spirit, and teeth wise, you can tell Dr. Tyler that i will be needing a bit of help when i get back... That is neat to hear that Matt Corey is going to serve a mission too! there is so much work to do and everyone counts. This week has been wonderful, we have a little zone but because of team work and one eye fixed on the glory of god , we are seeing many miracles. There are quite a few zones with many missionaries, but our little zone ... which is the smallest of them all is doing quit well. And i am not saying this because I'm Really a Great Zone leader... Not at all!  but its because everyone is unified in this cause. I love being here because even with our trails and things like that, we are being able to win our challenges together, and its very enjoyable. My companion and i are great friends, he is going to rock this mission because of his great attitude. Jesse that's a good question buddy. A get' um Jess. would be" Vai lá guri"

Its kinda this, not in the same sense but its as close as i can get...some good work out drills... one thing that i always wanted to do is do the box drills. You know those black boxes that they have in the high school. Its always good to do those box drills to learn how to jump with both legs..and just make a goal Jess, but don't forget to make the plans too. Because to be a great basketball player, you have to have certain qualities that all good players have. so plan on how you are going to get those qualities.Tell big Russ Congratulations on the great basketball seasons! That's My team mate!  I had forgotten about the BIG BAD BOMBER! That's really neat that you guys finished it . Dad I wanted to thank you for the great story you told me and ash, our mountain is a huge climb, but i know that when i get home and i look back i will see that i have only just begun the climb up mount Everest! But i know the best way up that mountain now, i know what tools i must use to get there safe and sound. I love you all so much, i am praying for you all!

  Love Elder Rowland

March 15 email

Hey guys! Thanks for the email! Sorry for the Typos in advance - This keyboard really is one of the first invented! I was thinking about something this week. I realized that any time we experience the atonement in our lives we cannot help but have a concern for the welfare of others. a great indicator of ones personal conviction is the desire to share the gospel with others. You are all great examples to me of this. You all have a desire to help other people. If at times you feel like you are suffering- it is because you are forgetting that the Atonement is there. Be strong, rely on the savior, and know he is always there for you. All things are possible when we rely on the lord. This week was the first week on our own. The area is huge. We don't know directions or streets. I will tell you a cool story next week when I have a better keyboard. I don't have enough time today. I love you all more than anything. Keep Moving Forward!

Love you !

xoxoxoxoxo

Sister Ash

Hey Rowland Family    Thanks so much for the great email that you guys sent me! your guys are the best. This week was really interresting and very humbling as well. But first thanks for the wonderful words of encouragement! Your all so very great. Well russ we have a lot of Investigators right now but the are only about 5 that are really intererested for now. I cant beleive how fast the time flies! basketball season is already over, thats incredible. I always loved to play church ball , i bet jesse boy is enjoying that. It was neat to hear that jesse went and stayed with grandma. When you told me that she took you shopping, and that she still has that great personality made me so happy. I keep thinking of grandma and she is honestly one of my great heros. She makes the grey skies blue just like always!  Logan, thanks so much for the testemony that you bore to me, its was really strong and i know that you are telling something that you know from the heart. good luck with all of the practice and stuff like that buddie. I really liked what you wrote for this months ward news letter dad, I surly needed it. And i dont think i will deny bother lymans list of probabilities... I laughed pretty hard about that. And mom, i am really missing your cooking, i dont know why i cant cook anything! 
. But i want everyone to know that im doing welll , loving the mission and learning so much. Especially to have a positive attitude when something bad happens, because its tough.. and things only get better when we keep that smile on our face. I love you all so much and wish you all a good week

   Um Grande Abraço!!!

Email

Ashley's email

hey fam! thanks for the email. i will take a picture and send it next monday...

so this is the 3rd transfer and today i found out that Sister Assuncao and i will be opening a new area. I have been asked to be senior companion. Sister Assuncao doesnt speak much english...we will be relying completely on the lord. It is going to be awesome. We both are really excited for the challenge. This past week we had a baptism of one of the neatest girls i have ever met. She got married and was baptized on saturday! It was so great!!! She has so much faith. I will send some picitures if i have time. I have been thinking a lot about you guys this week. I have so much I want to tell you but dont have time or words. Thank you for your emails. Every word of each persons email means so much to me. I love you all! Have a great week!!!

Tylers email

Hey families!

    No worries , I did not have a building fall on me breaking every bone in my body in the last earthquake....

   I actually didnt even feel it or know about it. was it really bad? I hope that things are going great with everyone. Thanks so much for the wonderful emails you guys send every week. I love each and everyone of you for you great force! you guys are helping me along wonderfully. Well this week was great we had some neat experiances and babtised a young man named davis who wants to serve a mission. It was kind of tough because there is not much support in this ward, and are bishop will be excomunicated in a little while , so we are basically leading the ward and our zone, and yesterday was so stressful, but i went into one of my favorite places ( a bathroom stall) and said a quick prayer. i felt and always feel so much better when i do that because the lord wants to bless me , but i have to seek him out before he can do that. I beleive that Santan is giving it his all. because there are so many that arent being able to stand  it . I know that the church is true and i love to learn everyday that it is true. and not why other churches arent.  We have been playing a bit of soccer on our pdays and a bit of basketball as weel and i am loving it. and we are going much closer together. all in all we have a great zone will great missionaries. and another one sent a card to maddy today. so she will not have any excuse not to marry a return missionary!

 Lots of Love

  Elder Rowland

Ashley's latest Email

I didnt know there was an earthquake!!! hahaha - apparently i didn't feel it.

So this week was really great! we baptized twins this week, Rachel and Isaque. They are super cute. Their family are all members. This week in church a sister gave an invitation to everyone to think about someone they know who could use some help through the gospel.

I found myself thinkin about all of the times at home i was invited to do this. NUMEROUS times. Almost every sunday. Everytime I had a face of someone come to mind. And almost every time I said - oh she wouldn't like it, he would think i was weird...things like that. For some reason we decide they aren't ready before we even ask them. I am really ashamed i passed up so many opportunities to share what i had with the people that came to my mind. Perhaps it was a lack of testimony. I wanted the easy road. It would be hard to exit my comfort zone and invite them to be a closer friend and come back to church. Thoughts of doubts always filled my mind. I am certain that this was Satan. My heart is aching because those people who came to mind through all those years and moments are still lost. Those people STILL are waiting for someone to help them. They still havens been invited back as far as i know. I am here thinking about them, and they are at home, still struggling...They have agency of course. But it is hard to return alone.

I know that each of us have people placed in our minds for a reason. I know that we each havve DIFFERENT people placed in each of our minds- because the lord knows everything. He knows what they need. He knows who can help them best. Do not make the same mistake I made. Do not let doubts get in your way. Pray for help to know what to say. When someone comes to your mind -you can be sure that it is a prompting from the lord. If you ask for his help to act on it, i promise, he will bless you with courage, wisdom, and the opportunity you need to help them. You have the potential. I know it. Heavenly Father knows it, and you know it. Deep down you know you should help them. Let go of your fears, push Satan aside. Dont let him hold you down with doubts. Think of the big picture. Imagine life after this and the joy you will have when you look into their eyes and shake their hand.

I miss the office! I miss my home! I miss my beautiful family! But the reality is - I love it here. It is so fulfilling to bear your testimony and help someone else gain their own of the power and divinity of this life. -Last Sunday i was at a new ward members house and they asked me how much time i had. I said 2 months and they said oh what a pity you leave in 2 months. and i said no, i only have been here 2 months. and they couldn't believe it! They were so amazed with my language skills hahahahaha. they thought id been here over a year. so that's goood! woo hooo people understand me!

I love you all so much. pictures are coming.

take care this week! keep up the good work!!!