11/5/12 precious truths

Holy cow!!! :) today was awesome! so i just got to the library to email yall and before we got here we had 2 appointments set up that we went to this morning, ironically they both cancelled on us so we went to a ladies house that we tracted into the other night just to see if she was home, we weren't able to talk to her before because her husband wasn't home so we tried again just an hour ago and they all were home and we came in and sat down and had the most incredible experience ever!! :) she had a million and 10 questions for us and we were able to answer them and explain things about how god has revealed the fullness of his gospel back on the earth! :) i will tell you what we talked about everything, the restoration, plan of salvation, and everything in between! what was really cool for me is i got a letter from dad last night telling me to not be afraid to tell people that we have the answers that other peoples pastors or leaders cant give answers for! so as she was asking us all these questions we were able to connect them all with the bible and the book of Mormon and help her understand some simple and precious truths that have been lost through out time! it was amazing! :) and yall are probably thinking well good laws why isn't Jesse and his companion relaxing, cause its P-day, haha well, i dont know why but today we needed to teach this lady about our church and there are no accidents or coincidences! oh how i love the tender mercies of the lord that come as we serve diligently! :) I love being on a mission! :) this week went so great!!! we worked hard all week and saw great success because of it! :) so how is everyone doing back home! :) 

No one knows about our own personal struggles and trials, except Jesus Christ, 10/29/2012

hello my wonderful amazing family!!! :D its so great to hear from yall! :) so haha i got a lot of explaining to do about my new area huh! haha well i am in Plano Texas! me and elder Merrill are covering 3 large wards and we are doing so on bikes!!! :) so im use to the 3 wards thing because i had 3 wards in McKinney i was over, but i am not use to the biking haha! but im getting some good leg muscles from biking to and fro the city of Plano! haha! it is quite a challenge but i have seen my friends and family go through harder challenges and come out on top so im not to worried about the challenges of a mission, rather ive decided to always have a good attitude and smile! :) i feel the spirit so much great as i do so and everything goes so much smoother! :) Plano Texas is very diverse.. there are tons and tons of different cultures living in Plano. i will tell you guys another cool experience i had this week, me and elder Merrill were out tracking and we came upon a black lady sitting in her car. we stopped and asked her if everything was okay, and she replied that she was going through some tough trials in her life so we began to talk to her about some of the trials in life we face. and i shared some of the trials that Maddy has gone through in these past couple weeks and Candice (the black lady) really opened up and we talked about how no one knows about our own personal struggles and trials, except Jesus Christ, he is the only person ever to feel of every single sin and experience all of our trails and hardships we face in our life. i told Candice about how Maddy is a wonderful woman and through gods help and turning to Jesus Christ. Maddy has been able to get strength and be able to endure through the tough things put into her path. i then told Candice that she can find that same comfort and help from Jesus Christ through reading the book of Mormon! so we gave her a book of Mormon and testified how life may not always be easy but through the love of Jesus Christ we can be comforted in those times of trial and tribulation! it was a wonderful testimony builder for me! :) i love being on a mission and sharing the happiness ive received from my family and from the Gospel of Jesus Christ! :) isn't it absolutely amazing! :) well i hope you all have a wonderful week! im so grateful for all the love and support yall have given me through my mission! :)

10/22/12

well i have so crazy news dad!!!! im getting TRANSFERRED TOMORROW! so don't send any cards or anything cause i wont be in Mckinney to get them haha! im going to PLANO Texas! :) my new companion will be Elder Merrill, (one of the missionaries from the MTC with me!) crazy huh! im just starting out and they are putting two greenies together! we must be doing something wrong haha no just kidding! :) but i must say i am truly soooooooooooo sad that im leaving Mckinney.... i have come to love all the people here in the wards and everyone i came in contact with!! i love it here in Mckinney and Elder White has truly been the best companion ever, even though we have only been companions for 2 weeks! we worked like crazy in these past two weeks though! and yesterday we finally saw some of the fruits of our efforts!!! :D yesterday we were talking to an investigator named alex and we taught him the plan of salvation, and at the end of the lesson we asked him that once he knew these things we taught him were true would you be baptized and he said YES! and he wants to go on a mission!!!! it was amazing! my heart was so full of joy at that moment! :) i couldn't of had a better ending to leaving this area than with that experience i had last night! :) and i was talking to elder white afterwards and he told me, Elder Rowland: you can hold you head up high because you are leaving this area 100 times better than how you found it! :) Elder white is getting a new greenie from the MTC tommorrow and will be training him in Mckinney! i am so grateful for the short time i spent with him and all the success we had together here in Mckinney! :) i love this gospel so much! i know without a certainty that this work i am in is good and it is true! it brings everything into perspective! i love it so much! :) now all i gotta do is continue to work hard in my next areas and give it my all as me and elder white have and i know i shall see success for the rest of my mission! :) I love you all so much! thank you for all you do for me and all the love and support you have given me on my endeavors! :) i love Y'all! so much! haha speaking of yall! i bore my testimony in all the wards this Sunday and i said yall and then everyone came up to me afterwards and complemented me on getting the accent so quickly haha ! i love the people here.. im gonna miss them! well i love yall and i hope everyone is have a magnificent week! :) i will let yall know what my address is in plano texas as soon as i can! :)

10/15/12

hey everyone! it was so great to hear from yall! :) thank you so much for the emails you send me every week! :) i love reading them and hearing about all the great stuff happening back home! : i was able to get a new companion! Elder White and we are both excited to work and to get the missionary efforts in this area moving along in the right direction! :) in fact this week has been the most productive of my mission and we have seen a lot of success because of our efforts! :) its so great! :) we did a ton of tracting!!! and not very many people would listen, but i'll tell you what, the people that do listen they are amazing! and im so grateful for those few opportunities we had to teach them! :) those few experiences make it all worth it out here! i love just simply talking with people about the gospel! :) we taught about 5 people on their doorsteps about the restoration of the gospel and we places 2 book of mormons.. books of mormon haha! :) HODA DACH MOO FROW... mm..MANIER.. haha! oh gotta love the best two years! such a awesome movie! :) ive actually had a couple awkward experiences like that this week hahaha! :) on one door contact a retired golfer answered the door and we of course told him that we were missionaries sharing a message about jesus christ and he told us thanks but i already have a relationship with jesus christ and so he began to shut the door on us.. so i kinda panicked and just blurted out .. " KEEP LOVIN' JESUS!" hahaha my companion lost it!! hahaha he said i totally sounded like some black baptist dude hahaha! gotta love those awkward moment on the mission though! its good stuff! :) well i love you all and i am so grateful for all you love and support! :) LOVE YALL! 

ELDER ROWLAND

10/8/12

picture # 1- my old companion Elder Edlund..... but i took this picture today! so that is what i be looking like currently! :D