Hey
my family!
ok so i just wanna say this right at the beginning a LOT
happened this past week so if you're not in the mood to read a novel
about how much i love being a missionary and yada yada yada just skim on
through and read the end of this:]
So
we got to be on the radio!!! and it was honestly probably one the
coolest things i have ever done! haha i loved it, in fact i loved it so
much i think it would be so fun to study public media when i get home.
The lady started it off and seriously all i had to do was talk and laugh
and it just went really well! She said she was going to email us the
finished product so when i hear it i'll send it on by:] but really it
was so sweet.
We
had specialized training this week which because we have such a great
mission president it was exactly what i needed to hear. He talked a lot
about gratitude and internalizing our purpose as missionaries which was
pretty spot on because the night before me and combs were having a
little talk about why she is out here. i asked combs why are you out on
a mission? and she said i have no idea.. haha i then asked her ok well
what are you wanting to gain by serving a mission, she once again said
she had no clue. BUT after specialized training i think she felt better
about why she is out here. I know that the longer she stays out the more
she will come to understand why she is needed out here. I know that
honestly i have needed her. She has been an answer to my prayers and has
made serving in this area SO much fun.. and you'll understand how a
little later:]
The
alzheimer's place had their christmas party this past week and we were
asked to come help get things ready for it. While we were there one of
the employees came up and started asking combs if we were really sisters
or not.. haha i busted out laughing and told her to start talking to
him. She ended up inviting him to church which he was so stoked about
but right as she invited him another employee walked up and said "oh
trust me you don't wanna go to their church" aahhh! why? haha why can't
we just have a golden moment? We were also put in their monthly
newsletter which was awesome! i feel that even though maybe we aren't
having a crap load of lessons coming our way we still our finding ways
to share the gospel.. haha whether that's through the radio or
newsletters, i know that we are being noticed in the community and hey,
i'll take whatever i can get. In Alma 24:27 it talks about how the Lord
works in many ways to bring out the salvation of his people and i just
know that that is true. He'll work with what he can get and so will i:]
After we finished up we headed over for mission correlation. Me and
combs had decided that this week instead of just sitting in a circle
talking about a list of people where nothing ever changes we were gonna
make the ward missionaries go out and try to visit these people. at
first only 3 other people showed up and my frustration starting rising
but as we were getting ready to leave more came and things actually
ended up working really well! i was so excited to see that we did have
some support in our efforts to reach out to the less actives in our
ward.
On
Thursday we had the relief society ornament exchange which ended up
being hilarious. We of course were walking to the party and when we
finally got to the neighborhood low and behold it was another gated
community and mmm shocker the gate was closed. There was no walk in gate
and i'm sure we could have called someone for the code but then i
realized hey there's like a foot gap between the ground and the bottom
of the gate hahaha so yes we army crawled our way into the neighborhood
and it was stinkin hilarious:] only me and combs would do that. So we
don't really have a lot of money to go blow on christmas ornaments so we
had decided to buy these little felt penguin frames and stick that
super cute christmas picture (the one of me and combs with the tree you
sent me) in it haha as the people started choosing their present i got
pretty nervous.. what if a nonmember opened ours and thought it was so
weird? what if the stingy president opened it and didn't think it was
too funny?? well luckily the 2 ladies who picked ours were super funny
and everyone thought we were hilarious:] which.. we are. it was just a
really funny night and we definitely have had some requests for a copy
of that picture.
We
were supposed to do exchanges this past week but our bathroom has been
invaded by ants!!! I woke up to get in the shower one morning and bam!
ants were everywhere! it was nasty and when we told our apartment people
they just said oh yeah we'll have someone come spray next week... wait
next week? what am i supposed to do til then? just hang out with all my
ant buddies?? haha good news though, did you know that ants won't cross
chalk?? yeah well we found that out and fortunately for us we had some
sidewalk chalk in our apartment:] we have managed to contain most of
them!
Saturday
morning we went over to the church to help start getting things set up
for the christmas party.. mmm we ended up being there ALL day! it was so
hectic and so many last minute things and la la la but hey good side is
that if i'm ever put in charge of one of those bad boys i'll kinda know
what to do! Haha me and combs had made thee cutest turtleneck sweaters i
have ever seen. We took a stocking that our zone leaders had given us,
and the ornaments we won at the party and wa-la sewed those bad boys
onto our shirts and it was a christmas treasure! haha i think the ward
is starting to understand how dorky me and combs are:] we got a lot of
comments... and a lot of stares.. haha but we were also told we looked
like super models so hey can't fight that!
The members brought a lot of
their friends to the party which i was so excited about! when people
were finishing up eating they put on this short video about the birth of
the savior as it started no one was really paying attention and all the
kids were going buck wild.. i started saying a prayer in my head that
the spirit would come in and soften some hearts. There was a really neat
moment when everything seemed quiet in the cultural hall. I hope that
it had some impact on the people that attended:]
And
to top it off last night i got to sing in a catholic church! Our stake
and the catholic church that is right across the street tag team every
year a christmas concert. They put together a choir and have an
orchestra and it really seems to be quite a big deal in katy! So a bunch
of missionaries serving here decided we would do it haha well it was
awesome.. not as good as dancing in front of a huge crowd but hey i'll
take what i can get:] it was a really neat experience to see 2 different
faiths come together to worship our savior. I will never forget this
christmas because for once in my life it has all been focused on the
Savior.
I
really do love this ward. It has been so neat to see them start to see
that me and combs are working hard but we are also enjoying it along the
way. It's been awesome to see how now they are excited when they see us
and they almost all fight over who we should come and visit. Haha it's
almost starting to get hard because they just want me and combs to come
hang out with them. It's hard being so cool sometimes:] hahaha i'm
kidding. But seriously, i love this gospel so much. I know that as we
serve all those around us it helps us to forget about ourselves and feel
the happiness that the Savior wants us to have. As i was sitting in
sacrament meeting this past week it hit me that i never want this to
end. Can i just stay out here and keep doing this? Even though it
definitely is hard i just love being a missionary:] It's the best
decision i think i have ever made i will forever be grateful for all the
people who guided me to make this choice.
I
love you all and i hope you have an awesome week!! Do you even realize
next Wednesday we will be skyping!!! AH! oh ps my next p-day is gonna be
on Tuesday instead of Monday because we have our mission conference
going on. so i'll be able to throw down the details on when and where
and what then:] Love you and miss you all the days!
Love Sister Bowden
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