Week 10 - The Church is True, the Book is Blue, and Joseph Smith is... a Pamphlet.

ell Hola Familia!!

This week has just been so great and i'm so glad i get some time to write ya a little something something!! Well i guess i'll back track to Tuesday. Tuesday was probably one of the hardest days of my life.  We had 0 luck, and i mean 0. Every person we tried to contact was just not feeling it, it felt like 102973894728937 degrees outside, and i could see Sister Tau was getting pretty disappointed. As we were walking to go see a less active sister i started saying a little prayer "Please just give Sister Tau a miracle" and i kept repeating that over and over again. Sister Tau looked at a house and said hey let's try that one. So we go and knock and a super nice lady named Monica comes out of her garage. She grew up methodist and la la la.. she loves the book of mormon. absolutely loves it, I was so happy i couldn't even handle it. We're gonna start teaching her this week and i can't wait:] I'm so grateful for a heavenly father who answers my prayers, they may not always be immediate, but he does answer.

Before we got here a 12 year old boy named Nick was baptized and he has a little brother named Colin, Colin is 8 and is wanting to be baptized. But i fear for my life when we are around these kids. I guess one time they poured gas all around their house and were asking the neighbors for matches or lighters. THEY WANTED TO BURN THEIR HOUSE DOWN! so i'm thinking there might be some psychological issues at hand... haha we'll see.

I'm so grateful for Elder Vought and Elder Hardy. They have seriously taught me that you can still be a good missionary and be yourself and have fun. At district meeting on friday we were telling why we decided to go on missions and both of them had similar stories to me. They had sports and all these other things going on, but, they chose a mission. They have seriously become like my best friends haha we've even made our own "secret district" called RLF aka real life friends. They both plan on going to uvu so all the time we'll talk about what's gonna happen when i finally get home. Hardy leaves in August and Vought leaves in October. haha i'm 87% sure they will be at the airport when i get to come back to the promised land. But yeah, they're great and have just really helped me become the missionary i want to be.

Oh! Chivaras family aka Rocky and Stephanie. So these hardcore 7th day advantists are probably the nicest people i have ever met, just super set in their religion. So me and Sister Tau decided ok there has to be a way for us to teach them annndd haha i came up with a great idea. We went over to their house and they were asking so how are you guys? what's been going on? and I had sister Tau say oh man... not so good this week has been pretty rough. We go on to tell them that Sister Tau gets really nervous when she has to teach new people, and because she feels comfortable around them, we were hoping she could practice with you guys so that when she goes out there she will be better prepared. ahaha they totally bought and we taught them the first discussion. It was awesome and there was a point in the lesson where they started to sincerely ask questions. I loved it, maybe a little deceiving but hey i gotta preach somehow!

ok so story time. There is a road in fairfield that connects one section of it to the other and everytime we ride our bikes down this road there has been this guy outside doing yard work. He always waves and whatever, well finally one day I said sister Tau we need to talk to that guy. we go up introduce ourselves and he asks what we're doing and why we're riding our bikes everyday. He says he's not too interested so we go on our way. haha 2 nights later we were walking down that same street and he yells to us "have you converted anybody yet?" and i just yell "were trying to convert you dang it!" he started laughing and told us to come over and talk to him.. well we start talking and all of the sudden he asks can missionaries go out.. like on dates? I busted out laughing and said no we don't do that right now, it's against the rules, we've been on dates but right now we are just here to serve the lord. He then says "well i think the lord would be willing to make an exception this time" oh woof. no way homeboy. well we actually ended up having a pretty deep conversation about the gospel. He's pretty atheist, and has had a bad relationship with his parents. We gave him a book of mormon and i'm excited to see what he thinks of it. I guess we'll see, it's my one and only chance to flirt and convert!

On Saturday Sister Mendiola got baptized!! wooo wooo! i was super happy, me and Sister Tau sang come thou fount in english/tongan and it was just a neat experience to feel of the spirit! Mama Blattman took us up to College Station, and it was a good experience getting to know her even better. She herself is a convert to the church and i just love her non-judgemental attitude towards everyone. She's the best.

But yes the broadcast last night was life changing! i'm SO glad to be a missionary right now! so much work is starting to happen and just people are ready! ... i just gotta find them:] I hope my husband realizes though that i plan on being a missionary the rest of my life. we're going to raise our family around missionary work because it's just so great. haha hope he's on the same page as me!

Well that's been my week, i love you all so much and pray for you daily! heck i pray for a lot of people daily. But i know this church is true. I know the book of mormon is the greatest book, that will seriously bring you closer to God. If your searching, you'll find him:] Much love, preach on!

-Sister Bowden
 

Week 10 - Bug Bites, Sunburns and Broken Fingers...

whell my dear family!

I'm not even sure where to start. This past week has been super hard, but super great! I have a mission mother out here named Mama Blattman and i love this woman so much. She's a ward missionary and seriously a lifesaver for me. She took us out to eat this past week at The Shack. and can i just tell you what i ate? haha a cheeseburger stuffed between 2 grilled cheese sandwiches! and it was divine:] ah loved it. definitely feeling that texas vibe!

 

We also had Elder Golden here doing a mission tour this past week, he's a 70. Lucky me i was sitting next to my two besties elder vought and elder hardy right in the front. I felt like he was peering into my soul the entire time. That man is incredible though.He talked a lot about the savior, and that we need to be careful with how we talk about him. Some people say things like Oh yeah jesus is my friend, but if we truly knew Christ and knew his suffering for us I don't know if we would have this casual friendship with him.   He also talked a lot about us raising our expectations. He also gave a little extra talk to the trainers of the mission, which in my situation i definitely needed. He gave a fireside for all those investigating the church currently and we could only attend if we had an investigator there. Much to my surprise we had a whole row a people show up! It felt awesome to walk in there and actually be able to see hey, clearly i'm doing something right in Fairfield. Which fairfield by the way is like a scene out of desperate housewives. It's like this little neighborhood of paradise, but secretly everybody doesn't really live the perfect life they seem to put on display. One of our goals whiled we're here is to unite the ward.
 

There is a lot of Anti-mormon literature here. I actually had a less active lady warn me that she would destroy my testimony if i continued visiting here. I'm not really sure if i should be more inspired to continue going over there or if i should take her advice and let it go.

 

We went to visit a less active family named the Bondoc's. We were just catching up with them and starting to share when all of the sudden Sister Tau burst into tears. She had her first little breakdown and i had no idea what to do, haha especially because it was in front of this family. We later went knocking and we met a lady named Denise. As we were sharing with her about the Restoration i suddenly felt something on my feet, i looked down and fire ants were covering my legs! ok you betcha they bit me. My feet look ridiculous and everybody always asks what happened. I was sharing the gospel that's what happened! everytime we go over to Denise's i think of Hot Rod and wanna say,, oh hey denise. haha but i don't think anyone would realize how dang funny i am.
 

Being on the bike isn't too bad. haha i actually would enjoy it if it weren't for Texas's blistering sun at 3 in the afternoon. Things have been pretty slow getting started, but we got out everyday and do the best we can.

I see Vivint boys everywhere i go, and it's so great because the first time i saw one i was riding my bike and yelled at him HEY HEY I USED TO LIVE IN OREM. hahaha well... he was from Florida and not a member of the church. But in me assuming he was we became quick friends and i was actually able to give him a book of mormon. So maybe just assuming people are already members is the way to go...

 

 We had to teach the adult sunday school class yesterday in church! I felt so inadequate.. i'm a teeny baby i can't be teaching these people! But i think it went pretty well, all of them seemed to enjoy it at least haha, We also had a family give us a whole list of referrals. Which honestly was an answer to my prayers. It's been really hard starting from nothing, I came from college station where we were just busting things out and then I came to fairfield.. with 0 investigators. That list is gonna at least give us something to work with so i'm happy! When we got home last night Me and Sister Tau were getting out of the car. I shut my door and she shuts here right after... well she actually shut my finger in the door as well.  It seriously hurt so bad.. It's all bruised and swollen and it's slightly making it difficult to type to you all today. but hey, i guess i don't really need that finger:]

 

Things are slow, but we're getting there. i know that as i keep being obedient and just doing my best the Lord is going to provide for us. I'm grateful to be here, no one ever complain to me again about how hot Utah is, because it has nothing on Texas heat. I'm not quitting, missions are hard but i know that it's going to be worth it. Each time i share my testimony with someone i feel it get stronger and stronger. I just want to be rock solid, I want to know that if Heavenly Father ever asks me Did you love me, I can answer wholeheartedly yes i did. I gave everything i could and even though it's hard, sacrifice brings blessings. He's only going to ask us to do things to bring us closer to him. I know it's true. I love you all and i love hearing about all your adventures! Keep up all the hard work and know i'm thinking about ya:] Much love fam bam!

-Sister Bowden

Week 9 - My Current Mountain To Climb

My Family!!

well... my life has changed quite dramatically since we last spoke.. i am

TRAINING.

OPENING A NEW AREA.

and BIKING.

 

I seriously had no idea what to say when President Pingree called Wednesday morning. So my life went from complete bliss and awesomeness... to what it is now. Which is a whole lot of uncertainty and me trying to just be a good example to my new companion!

 

The night before i left though i got to say goodbye to the Mendiola family, Sharlynn started crying, they made me a cake and went all out for me. I really am so sad that i got moved but I'll do whatever they ask me these days:]

 

So I am in Fairfield Texas! and they LOVE sister missionaries. The Elders a couple times before us weren't the most dedicated of missionaries and it caused a lot of bad feelings to come towards them. Fortunately for me, we set things off to a good start and the members know that we are here to get some work done. The first couple days have been actually really hard though, when we got to transfers the assistants handed me a new phone and a box and said here call this number and get a ride to your new area... awesome. We are living with members of ward, the Grovers! haha but actually they left on vacation so we're living with their dog zoey! When we finally found a way there I started calling the Bishop and Ward mission leader trying to figure things out, lucky me everyone seemed to be out of town. So did i feel completely left in the dark? yes. I've only been out fetchin 6 weeks! I have no idea why President didn't ask a more seasoned missionary! But i really have just been trying my best, constantly praying and really the Lord has provided. My new comp is Sister Tau! She's the coolest most loving girl i have ever met! She was born in Tonga but has spent the last couple years in New Zealand! hahah she talks just like Alex! It's been way sweet hearing about her life and family. She grew up in a "tonga hut" whatever the heck that is:] but she really is super great. She's new and a little nervous but she trusts me and i can't even express how much i appreciate that. The past couple days we've just been trying to find all the less active and part member families which honestly in a car would be much easier! haha We've gotten in touch with a few of them, had some doors slammed in our faces, but the highlight is we have 2 boys that are ready to be baptized! they are both 9 years old, there families are less active but they both have told their parents they are ready to be baptized. I honestly am so grateful for that, I have felt kind of bad for sister tau and i'll pray all the time, heavenly father please just give us a miracle so that Sister Tau doesn't get discouraged. I feel that the first 2 weeks are kinda critical for a new missionary to feel that they are making a significant difference. So let's just hope everything goes as planned!

 

Yesterday was a really good sunday! We were asked to say the prayers in Sacrament meeting just to make the ward aware that we were there. Afterwards a little girl named reese came up and handed me a picture. haha during the meeting she drew me and on the back it said "thank you for coming and inspiring me" melted my heart.

 

The District and zone that i'm currently i guess has been having lots of drama... I don't really understand how some of the sisters and elders have energy for it but whatever. I think a reason i was put down here was to kinda break that crap up and just bring our zone together. One of my Zone Leaders is Elder Hardy. aka Colton Hardy haha he's a wrestler from box elder and we know all the same people. He was really good friends with Trae Bennett and Ronnie, which i thought was pretty funny, but yeah so i already have a little bestie down here:]

 

On Saturday we went and did some service for a member of our ward, she has a ranch and recently was trampled by one of her horses. Just guess what i did.. haha i cleaned out stalls ALL DAY LONG. aka i cleaned out horse crap all day long, but i loved it. One of the girls there is training to be a jockey so we got to watch her race for a little bit... freak it was probably one of the coolest things i have ever seen!

But yeah that's somewhat been my past week.. crazy, crazy. Everything got turned upside down on me and i'm starting from scratch. But life is good, i'm walking by faith and just letting Heavenly Father lead things. all i can say is try riding a bike in a skirt. JUST TRY IT. haha it's definitely a new skill i'm learning, I'm also learning to just let others serve me. It's hard for me and i really hate feeling like a burden to people but in this situation, i'm having to ask others for help. I'm so grateful for the trust Heavenly Father has in me. I know that as i'm trying my best he's going to help me and Sister Tau. I'm really excited to see what Fairfield has in store for us:]

 

I love you and miss you all. seriously.

-Sister Bowden

Week 8 - Hit the Ground Runnin'

Well my dear family:]

This week has been well, interesting with a lot of ups and downs! We taught Coach Graves for the last time (at least for now) we went to visit him and he hadn't read 2 nephi 29, so after talking a little bit we decided to read it with him. I think it actually kind of hurt his feelings a little bit, he loves the bible and our intent wasn't to hurt his feelings, but goodness when the man condemns us to hell we kinda gotta bring out our big guns as well! So for now he's on the back burner.

We had to bump back Sharlynn's baptism which kinda sucks! She's soo ready to be baptized but most of this week she's gonna be in arkansas and we haven't taught her everything yet so the date is now June 22! It's gonna be so great! We went to Lulu's kindergarten graduation on friday and we actually came in contact with another investigator so that was sweet!

Oh my lanta. We had dinner at Barbara Moore's house this week and can i just say never again!! haha she made us catfish and oysters. I wanted to gag it smelled so bad with every bite i just had to psych myself out and say it's just slimy chicken it's just slimy chicken. haha SO GROSS. A member called us later that night and while she was moving out she had hired a lady to help her clean. She ended up bearing her testimony to here and sending us over to see her. Marta is awesome. As i was handing her a book of mormon i looked into her eyes and said I know this book can bring you so much peace and comfort into your life. I seriously felt the spirit so strongly. She later told us that her daughter had passed away 5 years ago and she still wasn't really over it. She came to church yesterday and it was perfect! We're gonna start teaching her this week and i'm so stoked! By the way, WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME HOW GREAT THE BOOK OF MORMON IS? haha i'm serious. I know you guys told us to read it and la la la, but seriously there's some dang good stuff in this book. During study time i seriously am blown away by all the things that i learn. I know that it really can change a person's life and help them come closer to him.

I was reading Eyring's talk Mountains to Climb earlier this week and was just blown away.  After reading it felt somewhat inspired to ask Heavenly Father to send me a mountain. haha i'm only waiting to see what he throws my way. It is soooo dang hot and humid here. On Saturday basically everyone and their dog flaked out on us, so we ended up spending a lot of time tracting, can i mention it was 103 with who knows what % of humidity. hahaha as we were standing on people's porches and doorsteps i was literally dripping sweat. Haha it was a rough day. We went over to Shimshack's to help her clean again and that ended up being awful. She wasn't in the mood to clean so we shared a thought with her, after we shared it was bearing my testimony to her about the temple and la la la. All of the sudden she said, there's something i haven't told you guys. It turns out Shimshack drinks coffee and alcohol, and that's what's keeping her from the temple. As we were walking home that night i can not tell you just how disappointed i was. I wasn't mad it just hurt my heart that she had kept that from us, that we thought everything was golden and then wham! While walking i thought to myself man,, is this how i've made my parents feel? When i had those extra piercings in my ears, or stayed out later than i should, or was just being my dumb rebellious self, is this what they felt like? Cuz if so, i am so so sorry. I just felt a little betrayed, hey i'm here to help you and you kept this huge thing from me? Man. Well anyways she's getting a blessing tonight and things should start rolling again.

After church yesterday we met up with Brother Mader! He's come to church 3 weeks in a row and is doing soo good! I don't know if i've mentioned this before but Mades has a HUGE smoking problem. but anyways we decided that yesterday was the day to talk about the word of wisdom. As we got talking he started putting up a fight, finally i just asked him, Mader would you die for the Lord if he asked you to? He said yes. Then i asked, Mader if the Lord asked you to quit smoking would you? He said no. And then quickly added well he's never asked me too. (Powerhouse moment for Sister Bowden) I then said Well Mader He's asking you today right now. Will you stop smoking? Boom, there's the spirit. He got a little fidgety and said ah, crap. haha he said he's going to stop, but we have to remind him everyday. He actually started crying and said he didn't want to let us down so everytime he's about to smoke he's gonna either call us or a member that he's pretty close to! We're praying for him and i hope so badly he sticks it out. I know that miracles can happen and this will be so awesome if he does it!

This week i really have come to love the time we have to study, there is just so much to study and learn. I love it! I feel like i have made huge leaps from where i started. I am a lot more confident in teaching and just letting the spirit take the lead. When i got set apart President Christensen said Just hit the ground running don't waste a minute of it. I'm trying my best to do just that, i have hit the ground running and everyday i want to keep that pace. I love this gospel. I know that if we face our daily challenges and make the most out of what we are given we're going to be so pleased with what we have accomplished. In Alma 26 there's a verse that says I can not say the smallest part to which i feel, and man that's how i am. I'm so grateful to be here in Sweaty Station. I'm so grateful for this opportunity i have to help others find Christ in their life.

I miss you guys so much! I pray for ya every night and can't thank you enough for all the support ya give me! Transfers are Wednesday! I'll let ya know how they go:] Love ya all! Stay strong, preach on!

-Sister Bowden

Week 7 - The Ups and Downs of Sweaty Station!

Well hello fam bam!

The library was closed yesterday so we're taking a little time today to write everyone!

This week was crazy good to say the least:]

We entered into Sister Shimshack's house!! haha and i have to say it wasn't nearly as bad as i thought it was going to be. I think that woman has saved every piece of paper she has received since the 5th grade, so we've done a lot of sorting and throwing away. She just likes junk... but i think slowly we'll be able to clean out all her boxes.  By the end of the night you could kind of see some floor space so that was good!

OH something else pretty neat happened, we have been teaching this less active family the Condons, we went over there and in the middle of the lesson the mom turned to me and said "so i heard something about you at church yesterday". I was just like oh great what did you hear? All of the sudden this lady starts crying and says "I heard you were a pretty good dancer but kinda gave it up to come out here, I just wanna thank you because i think that says a lot about the type of person you are".  I really had no idea what to say or anything especially now because this lady was crying haha but it was just a neat experience to think that i really am an instrument in the lord's hands.  He has put me through certain things maybe not even for myself but for other people as well.

Alright so last Wednesday i was having a rough day, to sum it up i really just didn't want to be a missionary that day. I was super frustrated with Priddis, i just wanted to fetchin take a nap, or sit under that tree, or i don't know.... breathe. So most of the day i was being a little punk, but it's fine.  Well we went to go follow up on Mark Jones, we left this firefighter with a book of mormon about a month ago and he accepted it. Well we went back and he's read over half of it, he was so excited to see us and just kept saying thank you for changing my life forever, this book doesn't take away from anything that i already believe it just adds more.  I seriously had to pinch myself to make sure i wasn't dreaming. He then goes on to say that a couple days before we had showed up he had been praying, a lot of his close friends (firefighters) have passed away recently and in his prayer he said 'Lord if i am missing something please just let me know" and dun dun dun! a couple days later we showed up:] After talking to him and sharing our testimonies i felt like the worst person ever. Haha all day i had been being a brat and not wanting to be a missionary, and this incredible man ends up thanking me for changing his life. I realized that night that I only have 18.. well now almost 16 months to be Sister Bowden, after that it just goes back to who knows what. So i'm trying every day to make the most out of where i am. I know this gospel can change peoples lives.

We're also teaching Coach Graves, this man gives me a headache every time we enter his house. He is very set on his bible and basically condemned me and Priddis to hell last time for perverting the ways of the lord. haha i laugh because I left him with a chapter of the Book of Mormon to read. 2 Nephi 29..... and if you don't know what that one talks about i invite you to read it. We're going back this afternoon and i'm nervous/excited to see what happens.

The Mendiola family is doing so great! Her kids everytime they see me will run up and say Sister! Sister! and give me a huge hug. Her daughter Luleisha always grabs my face and says i love you sister. I can't even tell you guys how much i love this family. Her baptismal date is set for June 8th and I can't wait:] We've also started teaching her son Jayvon so he might be getting baptized soon as well! Everytime we go over there her kids ask what my real name is and I told them that when i leave I'll tell them, transfers are next week and i'm crossing my fingers that they keep me here. I'm 87% sure they will unless President feels the need to put me on a bike. And actually i just found out that Priddis is getting transferred.... so it looks like i'll be training... haha oh woof. MAKE SURE TO PRAY EXTRA HARD FOR ME.

Church on Sunday was AWESOME! we had a lot of less active members and investigators come.  I ended up sitting in the back row crammed between an asian man with super bad b.o. and 2 ex- drug dealers. As weird as this sounds i loved it. The whole time i couldn't stop smiling because how neat is our church! Anyone and everyone is invited to come join, regardless of your background, race, gender, we just want everybody to come be a part of it. It was actually a privilege to be crammed in the back row of the College Station 2nd ward.

Oh woof, i actually have another story haha i know i have a lot but everyday SO much happens, so we finally got a hold of a less active member Connie Colley, and her actual name is consuelo haha sweet huh. Well we went into her apartment and i kid you not i thought i was going to throw up with how terrible it smelled. She has like 7 cats, 4 turtles, and a plethora of fish. I'm not sure if she realizes that it smells like someone is dying in there, but man she needs some lysol or something. To make it better she had a fan blowing right at me and Priddis so every 20 seconds i would just get this great wonderful wiff of kitty litter. She's actually a pretty solid woman though, she has a super strong testimony it's just hard to come to church because of her work schedule. That's the thing that i think people take for granted in Utah, in utah everything kind of shuts down on sundays, but in other states that isn't necessarily the case. And it's kinda hard to tell someone to find another job so they can come to church. Hopefully we find some way to help her!

It's getting pretty dang hot here in texas. Actually though we had some huge storms this past week, and when it rains here it pours. We're actually going to ask President today if we can go help Oklahoma for a day or two i guess things are looking pretty bad over there? haha you guys probably know better than me though, i'm pretty isolated from the world as of lately. But yes it's hot, and i have decided College Station's new name is Sweaty Station. I'm constantly disgusting, and i think people are constantly taking pity on me haha but hey we sure do get into a lot of houses this way!

One day between appointments we went knocking and we knocked into a college student named Austin.  He's single so of course we have to give him to the Elders to teach, but i guess when the Elders went back they knocked on his door and said hey we're missionaries la la la. Basically Austin wasn't interested in the gospel so much as he was interested in me and Priddis. hahaha hey flirt to convert ya know?! He seemed way interested when we were there, but i guess he told the elders he was catholic, not interested, and shut the door in their faces.

Well that was basically the jist of my week! It's been so great and i'm learning so much all the time! I love what i'm doing out here and the blessings that i get to witness on a daily basis! The church is true people, the church is true:] I love you all and love hearing about the craziness of things back home! Keep doing what you're doing, i know the lord is mindful of each of us.

-Sister Bowden

Picture so you won't forget my face!!

Week 6 - They really expect me to just go back to dating after this??

FAMILIA!!!

Ok so this week has just been so great i'm not even sure where to begin! So on Monday we went to the Blue bell creamery, if you didn't know this Texas LOVES their ice cream and blue bell is like their pride and joy so that was neat and i felt like a fatty afterwards but whatevs. (and no i have not gained ANY weight) haha.

 

 

 

Tuesday we had exchanges and oh my heck. It was probably the funniest experience of my life! So i got to sent to Magnolia with Sister Merrill, at the mtc me and this girl didn't really hit it off so well, so i was not looking forward to it at all.  Well i get in their car and we start driving, find out she went to bonneville and la la la. Her best friend was Jaclyn's husband!! Weird right? so we had all these crazy connections and it was awesome! she's actually gone to UVU for the past 3 years so i don't know how the heck we haven't been friends. Well anyways we get out there and they are whitewashing the area, so we decide to go to the Relief Society activity and meet ward members.  We rode with the Relief Society president and after like a half hour we kinda felt worthless, so i turn to merrill and say let's go knock some doors or something.  We tell the president were gonna leave but we'd be back when she was ready to go. So we go knock and everybody's turning us down well finally we get in this older couples house and we start teaching them the restoration, it's sweet we're feelin the spirit everything's golden. So we get out and it's like 9:05 and it's dark outside. haha Merrill checks her phone and the relief society president had tried calling her like 20 times. We start walking back to the house we were at for the activity when all of the sudden a truck starts pulling up to us, he gets pretty close and starts flashing his lights haha it was a police officer. So turns out the relief society had a panic attack, they called the cops and all the male presidencies of the ward and sent a out a man search for us. hahahahaha oh my gosh. let me remind you it was 9:05... so me and merrill get in the presidents car and she is still just having her anxiety attack. I was dying trying not to laugh. I feel like if it had been elders no one would have even said anything until they needed someone to clean up the chairs. haha but we're sisters so everyone is super concerned about our well being.

We were teaching a less active family on wednesday night and we decided to share the mormon message with them called the Will of God. well during it there were 2 quotes that really stood out to me. "I know what i want you to be" and "thank you lord for loving me enough to cut me down" In my interview with Pres. Pingree he had told me he really like my initiative and confidence. I told him that i just had sacrificed way too much not to give this everything i got. and he said Ya know sister bowden the cool thing about that is that one day they won't seem like they were sacrifices at all.  I thought it was kinda funny but anyways, these 2 quotes were said and it just hit me.  Heavenly father loves me so much. He knows what i am capable of, he sees my FULL potential, and he knows what he wants me to do.  That's why things happened the way they did. If i had stayed home i never would have a testimony of the book of mormon, while i wasn't necessarily doing bad things or living a bad life, he knew there was so much more in me. and that's why he asked me to serve a mission. He loves me enough to cut me down and lead me in the right path. I'm so grateful for that.

We had lunch with a member on friday named Eva Beasly, she's from the phillipines and lived in Jordan for 24 years. She now lives in an RV in texas and has lived quite a life.  She told us that a church she doesn't have many friends because once people find out she lives in an RV they think she's trash.  I cried when she told us of how hurt some members have made her feel, but the coolest thing was what she said after.  She said I don't go to church because of the people, i go to church because of God. I would hope that more people would strive to be like her, don't let others get in the way of your feelings towards the church.

Robert was baptized on saturday!! It was awesome, man the spirit was so strong. Afterwards we went to a youth stake dance for special needs, I can't tell you how great of an experience it was to see really pretty girls asking boys with special needs to dance. My heart was softened and i could only wish that i had been more like that in high school. unfortunately, i was more worried about dance and what boy i was going to hanging out with to think about others. The people here blow me away at how selfless they are. We went over to see Sister Shimshack and we got her to pay her tithing!! That means she is one step closer to getting back to the temple! we made it a goal that before we left we would go do a session with her and i know that if she continues what she's doing it will happen!! i love that woman so much.

Oh Sharlynn Mendiola!! She's doing so great! We've been teaching her and she asked if her kids could start getting the lessons as well! Which duh! we would only love that!! Last night we went over to the Kema's house because they had invited her and her family over for dinner. She brought all of her kids and her husband James! At first James was really awkward and you could tell he felt out of place being there, but after dinner brother kema shared some thoughts, we watched Moments that matter most and at the end he asked James his thoughts.  James said I feel like this is fate. He could feel the spirit and we're gonna start teaching him too! THEIR WHOLE FAMILY is going to start coming to church:] i couldn't be more excited for them.

So that's exactly my thoughts... how can they even expect me to go back to dating after this? My weekends out here are so much more gratifying than any date i've ever been on.  Life is busy, overwhelming, stressful, but so good:] I'm grateful to be in college station texas.

 

-Sister Bowden

 

 

Week 5 - God Has Given Me the Ability to Do What I Set Out to Do



Barbara Moore's Baptism

Well Hey fam!

Long time no talk.. haha oh wait. Yesterday was so good getting to see you guys!! You're just so great and i miss you guys mucho! Brother Teetor was asking me all sorts of questions afterwards, he's the "tough" guy that likes to joke and tease but I guarantee before i leave he's gonna tell me i'm the coolest sister missionary he's ever met! He's the man and his family is just awesome! Ok so this week was kinda crazy but I loved it.

On monday we were teaching Robert, when we teach guys we usually have to do it outside just for safety purposes but anyways, we were sitting out on the stairs of his apartment and things just started off wrong. He was shaking really bad from his withdrawals from smoking and then his neighbors upstairs decided to start smoking weed above us. It was kinda a weird feeling and I didn't know how to really handle it, but then Priddis asked Robert why he wants to get baptized. He said I don't know just something's got a hold of me and he started clutching his heart. It really hit me how strong he is. I'm so excited for this saturday! Just cross your fingers that i'll do alright singing! In the middle of his lesson a guy walked up to us and said I need Jesus in my life. So we got his info and went and saw him later in the week, when we got to his house we knocked on his door and he invited us in. We told him that we actually needed to stay outside and that we could talk on the porch, he got super offended and said if we didn't trust him there was no way he could trust us. I was just kinda surprised by how angry he was, I looked behind him and there was porn just covering his walls. I'm SOO glad we have that rule, if we had walked into his apartment i would have felt so uncomfortable. anyways yeah he didn't really want us to come over and i was kinda bummed but hey it's his salvation!

We also knocked into a guy named Kay Graves! He's pretty dang old and man i had my first bible bashing experience. haha i guess it wasn't really bashing just more of discussing. There was one cool thing though, he believes that there was no life before earth, that we just are born and that's the beginning. When he said that i showed him Jerimiah 1:5 and it was so sweet! he just sat there and was said hmm.. i guess i have some things to think about! YES YOU DO!! it's so hard to teach people down here because they are so set with their bible. And everytime they say it's all i need i just wanna whip out 2 Nephi 29..? i think that's the one, but I think it might be a little harsh.

We're also teaching a girl named Sarah and I have no idea what to do about her. She doesn't believe in Christ, she compares him to Santa Claus and says that it's just something we tell ourselves to feel better about life. How do you help someone realize just how real christ is? We'll see what happens there cuz as of right now, i have no idea. Oh and I'm not sure if i've told you guys about Pat Shimshack, but i love this lady! she's less active and she's a hoarder. and i mean she's a real life hoarder!! She has had a really rough life and has a hard time with the word "love" she hates saying, using it, reading it. BUT she came to church yesterday and i sat next to her, then last night we called her to see how she liked it and she told us she loved us! hahaha i don't know if i have ever been happier to hear someone say they love me! Tonight we're going to go over there and help her start clearing out her house! I'm pretty excited/disgusted by what we're going to find.

On friday night we went over to an old rest home to do some service. They were having a mother's day tea party and there was quite the turn out. I don't know if this was wrong of me, but i ended up serving old ladies tea for an hour and half.. haha is that against the rules? It felt pretty dang ironic, but hey whatever helps. It's so funny because like i said yesterday we'll be so busy then all of the sudden it hits me Oh yeah it's friday night.. So this is how i spend my friday nights now:] Pretty dang cool if ya ask me!

We have interviews with the President tomorrow and i'm not really sure what to expect! I really am praying that he keeps me and Priddis together for at least another transfer here. Things have just been solid, we're working hard, and just doing our best. But i feel like because i have a good thing going it's about to be taken and i'll probably be put in a rough place or something. haha i guess we'll see. This i know, God has given me the ability to do what i set out to do. I set out to go on a mission, to be obedient but still be myself. I set out to find those that need the gospel in their lives, and to not quit searching until they are found. I set out to forget about myself and for once think of those around me. I set out to help others come unto Christ and while doing so come closer also. I feel so blessed and i know Heavenly Father is going to help me achieve these things, for they really are the desires of my heart.

I love you guys so much. You have no idea how incredibly blessed i feel to have you as a family. I pray for you each night and hope only the best for you. OH and if you have a minute seriously send some "uplifting" cd's to houston! haha uplifting as in: Justin Timberlake, the lumineers, mumford and sons. haha ok just kidding. send some efy or christian ish music, cuz as of lately that's what i jam too:] I love you guys, have a good week!