Week 23 - I Believe in God, Just not His Crazy Fan Club

Well here i am once again sitting in the library writing my long lost family and friends haha. Turns out i've had another roller coaster of a week and a lot more coming my way! We spent a lot of time street contacting and doing whatever we could to find some new investigators and i can honestly say it's probably the most frustrating thing trying to find people to teach. Trust me i try to get creative but people these days are hard to crack:] i just keep hoping and praying that one time someone's just gonna start listening and say "Oh wow, this actually sounds really nice i'd love to hear more!"  

I wanna talk about the really good moments of this week though, so there is an elder in our district that is hilarious, he's the newest one out here and i asked him if he could give me a blessing this past week just because i had a lot going on and i felt like getting a blessing could clear some things up for me. Honestly, i'm so glad that i did.  Elder Rios was SO nervous and as he placed his hands on my head i could feel him shaking, but i have never had an experience like that with the priesthood. I just sincerely felt the spirit take over and i knew the things he said were directly from Heavenly Father. 

 Every Friday we have a district or zone meeting and this past week's was the one of the best ones for our district so far. Sister Daniel shared her thoughts out of the little white handbook and she felt the need to talk about companionship. She discussed how the relationship between you and your companion not only affects you but it affects your ward, your investigators, and the other missionaries as well. "If you treat a man as he is he will remain as he is but if you treat him as if he were what he ought and could be, he will become what he ought and could be." I feel that that is seriously so true. She also went on to say that sometimes Prez puts companions together and in certain places not necessarily for the ward, but for us, so that we can learn. I know that this has been a HUGE learning phase for me. While i know i probably haven't handled it with love and sensitivity i really have been trying to put forth the effort and make things work. When we got home later that afternoon we were out and about biking and it started down pouring on us! Side note: Texas rainstorms are basically the greatest thing ever:]. We biked home and took some time cleaning and what not when all of a sudden Possin said "Bowden can i ask you something?" I say of course! And secretly you know when a girl asks that question it can't be good. She then says "Do i annoy you?" Time froze i swear and i was debating ok do i tell her the truth or do i just say oh no you're so great! Well.. i chose to be honest. i said yep yeah at times you do tend to get on my nerves. and then came the tears... The conversation that followed though, was really, really good. I got to understand possin a little bit better, and i think she's starting to understand me as well. Now will we be the best of friends and wanna hang out after this is over? I'm not 100% sure on that one, but i do appreciate her and the big heart she does have.

My golden child David got baptized this Saturday!!!! It was probably one of the greatest things i have yet to be a part of.  He asked me to speak at it the night before and i felt truly humbled to have been given that opportunity.  I hope that everyone gets to have at least 1 investigator like David. Someone who is just so ready and so committed. I appreciate his example to me and after the baptism me and him were discussing how he's gonna go on a mission in about a year! haha he's so solid, i'm just so proud of who he is and everything he stands for. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That night we went over to the day girls to make sure there were set to come to church! The mom told us that she had shaved her legs and everything so i felt that ya know... that's a pretty big commitment! But... once again they didn't come. It was the primary program as well so instead of being able to just enjoy the program and love the kids all i could think the whole time was Keep it Together Macall, just keep it together. But come on let's be honest! What parent is so gosh dang lazy that they can't bring their daughters to church? What parent is so selfish that they are standing in the way of their children getting baptized?? I seriously do not understand it. at all. I'm not really sure what will happen now because of general conference and everything it's gonna be like another 3 weeks til they can even have that opportunity.. woof. parents these days! 

Craziest thing happened at church though! so i'm not sure if i ever mentioned Rob Speranza, but he's this referral that we got from church headquarters in July haha and he's kinda crazy but we love him anyways! He has a couple hold ups the biggest one being he firmly believes incest is wrong, therefore he does not believe in Adam and Eve.... haha i have no answers for that so if anyone is having some divine revelation on what to say.. please let me know asap! but anyways as we were finishing up in relief society low and behold Rob shows up! haha he walks in with our ward mission leader and says i was driving by today and i just felt like i needed to stop by and see what things were like annnnd he basically loved it.  He loved how things were so organized and the sense of community that he felt there. We're gonna go over to his house this coming tuesday and start up the discussions again! So let's all pray that Mr. Rob, my ex-New York police man will have an open heart and mind!
I really am so grateful for all the miracles that happen each week, the small moments when i feel the spirit as i teach and the frustrating moments when i just wanna throw in the towel. If i'm learning anything it's that change is a good thing. Not necessarily easy, but it is good and it is required. All my stubborness must be left at the door or i'm never gonna make it through. I'm grateful for Sister Possin and all the things that i am learning from her. We are definitely on opposite ends of the spectrum. hahaha oh so very opposite, but we're both trying and learning and growing together.  The other set of sisters in our district had to spend the night with us last night because there is black mold in their apartment. When they came over they were super excited because they had set their first baptism. Sister Daniel was stoked because she has been out 8 months and this is going to be her first one. When she told me that i was shocked. It made me realize just how different everybody's mission is. She's been in the same mission as me and this is going to be her first one.  I came out and i was able to experience one within my first 3 weeks. Crazy. I'm just really proud of her for not getting discouraged and for sticking to the reasons that she came out here, but then you go on to think in some missions they are lucky if they even get to see one of their investigators enter the waters of baptism. Ah. I think i would cry, while we're not in Mexico or Brazil where basically you baptize 5 a week i'm grateful that i have at least gotten to experience a few. The work is moving forward and i hope that i can do as much as i can to help it progress. 

This coming week should be pretty crazy we have interviews with Prez tomorrow and then exchanges and yada yada! But we're just gonna keep on going:] It's crazy to think i've been out for just about 6 months! How did that happen? I'm excited to see how much more i will learn and grow in the coming year:] 

I love ya and miss you all the days!

Love, Sister Bowden