Well I am in Des Moines, Iowa now. It's an amazing place and I really love it- the people in my area are so great.
I am in the Des Moines 2nd Wards area, so I'm in West Des Moines and it is awesome. The people are super nice, and I haven't had really any bad experiences!
So here's how it's been-
Wednesday morning my MTC district and I woke up at about 5:00 AM to head to the airport. We showered, packed what we needed to pack last, cleaned the dorm and boarded the buses. We then drove from the MTC to the airport which didn't take that long actually- we talked alot so time flew. We arrived at the airport at about 6:30 and checked in, went through security and baggage check and all that stuff- and we finally were just waiting to board. I got the opportunity to call my dad, and home to talk for a bit and let him know how I was doing- my family was already off at work and school and stuff so it was too late. I did get to speak to my sister Jackie however, which was great!
We boarded at 8 AM our plane and flew to Minneapolis, Minnesota- we arrived at about 12 PM Central Time. By the way, the guy next to me was a jerk. After we arrived we had hardly anytime to do anything so it was either call my dad and let him know I was ok, and about to fly to Des Moines, or it was go get food. I prefered to call my dad so I did (It was a good choice). At 12:25 we then boarded the plane and flew to Des Moines.
We arrived in Des Moines at about 2 PM, and there we met President Jergenson, his wife Sister Jergenson and his assistants. We took pictures got our bags and headed to the mission office. There Pres. Jergenson showed us the boundaries for my mission- which goes from the border of Minnesota-ish down to Nauvoo, Illinois (Yes Nauvoo is in my mission now) and It expands out into Missouri. So I have about 3/4 or Iowa in my mission, 1/4 of Missouri I'd say and about 1/2 of Illinois- maybe less. So it's a big mission, and I'm loving it!
We then drove out to the Mission home where President Jergenson lives- and we went through a training meeting thing and a testimonial meeting, and then we had dinner. Which was sooooooo good! I normally hate Roast Beef- but this Roast Beef was how Roast Beef should be made. Not dry and bleh, moist and juicy and mmm. And homemade rolls- I'm just gonna stop talking about it cause I'm drooling all over the keyboard.
After dinner we had interviews with President Jergenson, he talked to the new missionaries as a group and we were off to bed by 8:30- which was soooo nice! We were EXHAUSTED.
The next day were up at 5 again got ready for the day, had breakfast (yogurt and fruit and cinnamon rolls) at 6:30 and headed off to Iowa City for the transfer meeting.
The transfer meeting was awesome- I found out Scott Nay who I went to elementary school is in this mission, and so it Joseph Reid who I went to high school with- and Nathaniel Gates. And there might be more, which is odd, but ok!
I had to separate from Elder Knight that day, which was sad :( I love Elder Knight and we were way close- in fact I was close to the whole district 7A who got separated! And that's sad! I miss those guys!
My new companion is Elder Sonderegger- he's a way cool guy and his nickname is the Hero of Time (He really likes the Legend of Zelda- he's knitting a tunic and cap) He's really cool, funny and I have a great feeling we're going to see a lot of success here.
I then got driven home in Des Moines and we had to figure out where I'm going to live because nobody told us... so it was a mess. But! We found it, and it's a nice place. We live with the Stahle family (Stay-Lee) and they are super nice people, I just got to stay on his good side apparently or else he will rebuke us- but so far so good! He's been way nice and even one night when our dinner appointment fell through he bought us pizza! nice guy that Stahle guy.
We've been doing ALOT of tracting- BTW we have a car share area, so one week we use a car, then we trade off and us bikes.- We do alot of tracting and it's awesome! The people are way nice, and while there is the occasional jerk, we have been have a great experience. There was one guy who came to the door in his towell and we asked him if he'd heard of the BofM and he was like "yeah, I read it cover to cover!" and we were like "what did you think?" He paused with this calm look on his face, then as if he woke up from something was like "I'm not dressed to entertain goodbye!" and he shut the door in our face. It was pretty funny. The house next door was even better! It was a J-Dub (Jehovah's Witness) and he was a pretty arrogant man. He started rambling about how we're not supposed to believe in Jesus Christ and teach of Jesus Christ, but we're supposed to teach about Salvation (which we achieve through Jesus Christ) and he ranted about how the Bible says "don't go door to door preaching!" (What happened to 'feed my sheep?' And J-Dubs do it too!) and he ranted about how we're not faithful Christians cause we worshipped Christmas and the bible doesn't say 'celebrate Christ's birthday!' (Where does it say not to?) and how we don't worship the Holy Days, and the sabbath is supposedly on Saturday and not sunday and apparently pass over is how we're supposed to remember Christ's death and the ONLY WAY. It boggled me how arrogant he was, I mean he was very intelligent- he knew more about the Bible than I do for sure, but he based every argument he had off the 7 Holy Days in the Bible. He was just so annoying to talk to, cause he wouldn't let you talk and stuff. But it was super funny, cause he came out and talked to us. And we ended up bearing our testimonies and stuff to him and he listened. What was the best for me was when he was sitting there ranting about repentance and how the Book of Mormon is supposedly man made cause it doesn't talk about repentance and I whipped out a scripture and showed him it does and he was like "oh... well cool. But you don't need that cause the Bible says enough." He was super arrogant. But hey, can't convert those who aren't willing to listen. Just have to keep your chin up and keep going- because I know the truth, I have a testimony of it.
The next cool experience we had was tracting on Saturday and we bumped into a Lutheran lady named Babette, or Grandma Babs. She's way cool and amazing! I see so much potential with this woman and here is why. We knocked on her door and she opens it and says she knows who we are and we've come several times and that she's Lutheran and has faith in Christ. She then went on to pretty much bear her flat out testimony on Jesus Christ- which was really powerful, this woman has FAITH! She invited us in and sat us down and we just discussed the gospel, whether in be Lutheran, Catholic or Mormon we just talked the gospel. We then noticed a little statue on her desk, it was Jesus at Gethsemane- and it was LDS statue! Apparently a Sister who tried to teach her sent her it, and she really treasures it! We talked for a while about what she knows about our church and it turns out she read the Book of Mormon and she says she learned alot- but she wouldn't say what... but we got on the subject of the after life. We asked her what she believes happens after death and she pretty much laid out the Plan of Salvation or the Plan of Happiness in front of us! She even mention PARADISE! Which she called Paradise! CRAZY! And we were smiling with the biggest smiles ever by now and we asked "so is this something your church teaches?" and she was like "nope!" and we were like "how'd you learn it then?" and she said she figured it out in the Bible, and that it's all there. You just gotta look! SMART WOMAN! And we were like "well that's what we teach!" anyways long story short, she's not interested in being baptized, but we're invited to go back anytime so Elder Sonderegger and I are gonna take advantage of that. She's totally ready, has a testimony of the Atonement, Jesus Christ, the Lord and Gospel and everything- just not Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon. She even went to the open house for the Nauvoo Temple! And she went to the Manti Pageant, and the Nauvoo Pageant and the San Diego temple, and the winter quarters and salt lake and ALL OVER! She loves the Mormon history! So she's so ready in my eyes, just needs to realize it, and gain those testimonies she needs!
We also taught the first lesson at a dinner meeting to another Lutheran yesterday. One of the members invited her best friend over to have tacos (they sucked) with us and she started asking us question about the church. So we left her a card and she said she's gonna get a Book of Mormon and start reading it! We got some of her info too I think, so yeah we're crossing our fingers with her!
Anyways, like I said I see a lot of success in this area. I feel like Elder Sonderegger and I are gonna do great- I'm super excited! Besides having an Area Book not up to date, and completely White washing this area I feel we are gonna have success.
OH! Story before I go!
So Elder Sonderegger and I needed to grab something at home real quick, and so we passed the church and noticed fire engines and police cars and paramedics at the Stake Center- the one I go to. We were like Wha??? But went home- when we got home we ate a quick snack grabbed our stuff and got a phone call the church had been vandalized and we were needed to go help clean up. So we changed into service clothes and headed over- we could afford putting off some tracting ;)
So apparently in Iowa they feel it's safe enough to leave the Church unlocked all the time, cause all the doors were open, and some suicidal guy went on this rampage in our church. He took a painting of Joseph Smith and burnt it in the halls, lit some pictures on the billboards on fire, smashed all the picture frames he could find, smashed the glass to the fire extinguisher cases, dragged the broken glass around so it was in the carpet, threw a chair through a window, smashed a piano stool, tore off the front of a piano, smashed lamps in the foyers, threw the decorations in the chapel every where, drunk some cleaner and threw it up, and cut himself and bled all over the place. It was pleasant to clean up I must say! But they caught him and he was taken away, so that was good- he was actually caught in the act so yeah. But the ward took action and cleaned up the Stake Center best we could so it would be ready for the sabbath. Fun stuff!
Anyways on that note I'm gonna wrap up. I'm super excited about being out here, it's super fun and I really am learning alot. Iowa is BEAUTIFUL! I hear stories about how difficult it is to take off your name tag when you finally get home- I AM NOT EXCITED FOR THAT! I really love doing this work, and I don't know how I'll go back. I really really wish I could do this forever. It's kind of sad that I'm more homesick for the MTC than I am actually at home. I do miss people on occasion, but I really am enjoying my mission so much it doesn't matter- I've got my focus, and I know what I'm doing. I'm on the Lord's time, and I don't plan to waste it. Des Moines 2nd has been having a rough time with the missionaries lately, the ones before me and Elder Sonderegger apparently didn't work very hard. Well guess what everyone?! The missionary work here is about to change!
In 2 years Iowa is gonna have more Mormons than Utah!
YEE HAW!
with love (for this gospel and work),
Elder Prows
