July 15, 2013

Hey Momma!!

So, we have a new companion!! It's Hermana Mellor. She's from Manti, and she's awesome. She's super hilarious, and also a great missionary. But she makes missionary work really fun too :-) Hermana Canova went to a neighboring area, so she's just in the other ward that meets in the same building. So I still see her a lot :-) haha I'll try and attach a few pictures...let me know if it works...

It actually hasn't been too rainy...it's pretty overcast right now, but nothing has come down really. But it is a little cooler, which is nice. No...I don't use a rain coat. Umbrella - Yes. It's a little too hot to put on another layer...and muggy. But I still love this weather :-) It's wonderful!! Sounds like you have a great week planned!! I'm only slightly jealous ;-) haha Just give everyone big hugs from me!!

What a great week. Really, fantastic though. We had a baptism yesterday!! It was for Luis Gutierrez, our 14 year old. He finally made it to the baptismal font. And what a wonderful night. He's been taught for about 7 months now, and it wasn't until recently that he actually started taking it seriously, and he showed more effort on his part, which has been so amazing to see. I think the best part of it all, however, was that his whole family came!! His mother, and his aunt, who are very inactive members, his grandma, his other aunt (who is pretty active) and her whole family - it was so great. I was really worried at first because the baptism had started and only his aunt had showed up. But after 5 minutes, the finally arrived, and it was great to finally see her being interested in her son's baptism. It was so great. We plan on following up with them this week, and seeing if we can commit them to come to his confirmation as well.

I just love our new companionship. I really do. Hermana Mellor (our new companion) is so fantastic, and she has brought so many great ideas to help us work this area. I think before we were just in such a routine that it was getting hard to find new investigators and to not fall back into the same old habits. But now, we're trying out some new finding ideas, and it's working! For example, we teach this English class everyWednesday at the library. The people we teach know that we're missionaries, but none of them have really shown interest in learning more about what we teach. But, we were knocking on a street the other day, and we were about to walk back to our car when we saw one of our students! We ran over really quick and said hi. She was with her husband and her daughter, and they were about to go have a picnic in the park. We asked them if the had a few minutes and if we could share something with them, and they accepted. We got a return appointment with them for this next week as well!

This week I'm continuing to work on charity. Reading the section in Preach My Gospel, it really talks a lot about service. So, as a companionship, we decided that we want to serve people more, and specifically the ward members. We're trying to build more of a trust relationship with them, and so we decided that our commitments to them when we have dinner this week are going to be about service. Asking them what we can do to serve them, and then asking them to pass it along

Anyways, I hope you have a fantastic week!! I love you mucho!!

Hermana Bowerman

June 24, 2013

This week has been a major improvement from the last. I'm not quite sure what happened last week, but our companionship unity was out of balance. But now we are back on track and ready to work. I think the zone conference really helped us to center our focus on the same things. I really liked the broadcast from last night as well. It really helped to motivate me to work even harder, especially after seeing the success in other missions in the world. One of the things that really stood out to me was how everything comes back to the bishop and the ward mission leader. Right now, we are struggling with both of those people. The bishop is still really sick. Our Stake President did come to our ward yesterday and gave the ward a challenge to pray for him as a ward. He promised us that if we have the faith, then our bishop will be healed. I sincerely hope that our ward follows through with this because if they do, then it will be a great blessing. I think it will help with ward unity, especially if they see how when they all come together they can bring to pass miracles. I'm not quite sure when we will start using the technology that they mentioned...we'll have to see! Our mission president sent us a letter this morning saying that he knows as much as we do at this point, but he thinks it will be soon.

Things in our area are going really well. We taught quite a few lessons this week, and we really put our faith into it. One of my favorite examples was when we passed by to see an investigator. She wasn't home, but we decided not to get back into our car until we taught a lesson. We knew of a less active that lived across the street, so we decided to knock on her door. She didn't answer, so we just decided to knock on her neighbor's doors. Nobody really answered, but then we saw the husband and daughter of our less active come home. So, we decided to go up and ask him if he needed help taking in their groceries. He said no, but told us that his wife was home. So, we went in and saw her. We were able to teach a really great lesson about the Restoration. The Spirit was so strong in that lesson - something we have been lacking in previous lessons with her. It was such a miracle that we were able to be there at the right time to see her. We also went by and saw our recent convert Jaime. (Pronounced Hi-may, just in case you were wondering...) we weren't quite sure what we wanted to teach him when we went into the lesson. All we had in mind was talking about agency. So, we went in and started, and the Spirit really took over. It ended up kind of being a mini testimony meeting (we had a member with us, and he kind of initiated it) and it was so great. Jaime has such a strong testimony, and he has seen so many blessings since he joined the church. One of those blessings includes a better relationship with his family. He went and visited his dad for the first time in a long time on Father's day, which was super great. He has a better relationship with his daughter, and even his ex-wife ( just as the mother of his daughter) and he went on and on about tons of other blessings that he has seen. I know that this gospel blesses families.

Something that I am personally working on this week is being a bigger part of the teaching process. Whether it be contacting, How to begin teaching lessons, or other lessons, I decided to not be afraid to speak Spanish and just go for it. I've noticed that when we teach in English, it is so much easier for me to speak through the spirit, but when it's in Spanish I usually get really afraid and back off a little bit. But I really took the promise in D&C 100 to heart. I've really noticed a difference. I still stumble a lot and I'm pretty sure I sound like a caveman when I speak Spanish, but I am able to get my point across. I really like the story told by Brigham Young about the man who could do no more than bear a simple testimony, but that testimony was so strong in his eyes. Right now, all I have is a simple testimony. So I am going to be better about sharing it more frequently.

Sorry for the lack of pictures...for some reason it never seems to work, but I'll try and figure something out. I'll get something to you soon!! Something that I am going to start doing though is a video journal. Sometimes it's kind of  hard to sit down and write about everything in my journal, but lots of times, we get stuck waiting for trains, so it's the perfect time to do a quick video :-) haha I'm going to try it soon...I'll let you know how it goes. (This was an idea from another missionary) 

There's nothing super exciting going on this week...just the norm, but we are getting close to transfers! It'll be interesting to see if I stay or go...I've heard that there are 9 new hermanas coming in, so that will be interesting. I hope everything is going well back home!! I love you dearly and I hope you have a fantastic week!!

Love,

Hermana Bowerman

June 18

Well...this past week. To be honest, probably one of the hardest yet. We just didn't have the most successful week ever, and that was really hard for me. We didn't get to see a lot of people, and I kind of took it personally, I just kept wondering what I was doing wrong, and what I needed to change. Also, sometimes my companions don't get along too well (They're super similar, and so they annoy each other a lot) So I usually end up being in the middle of it all. But yesterday we had a zone conference with Elder Christoffel Golden Jr. (Not sure if you guys remember him from conference...) But the conference really helped change my perspective. Elder Golden talked a lot about faith. He said faith = personal righteousness. I really liked that analogy because in the end, I can't change my companions. I can't change our investigator's minds, But I can have personal righteousness and increase my own faith by doing that. He also talked a lot about Faith, Hope, and Charity as well. He showed us how faith and hope really just go in a cycle, but in the middle of that cycle is charity. When we have charity for every one, we have the pure love of Christ, and we can increase our personal righteousness, thereby increasing our faith, and that goes into the cycle of faith and hope.

It was really just such a great conference. Something else that helped a whole lot, was we had exchanges this past week as well. Hermana Canova went to a different area for a day and Hermana Pitts, another Hermana close by, came here. We had such a wonderful day. There were so many miracles that happened. We saw tons of people that we haven't been able to see for weeks. Also, super random miracle that happened, we were walking up to an investigator's home when this guy who was driving by in a car called out to us. He said, "where's the other one?" We turned around, super confused, and he repeated his question.  We realized that he was talking about Hermana Canova, and so we explained that she was in a different area for the day (Mind you, we had no idea who this guy was) And so, we just talked to the guy for a minute, and he told us that we had come by like 2 weeks earlier and said we would come back, but we never did ( we kind of assumed he talked to Jehovah's Witness or something...). So, we set up another appointment with him for this week! Super random. We'll see how that one turns out.

Nothing else super eventful has happened this week...We did set a baptismal date with our 14 year old investigator, so we'll see if he can get there in time. We weren't able to see Karina and Reynaldo this week because Reynaldo was traveling, and when we went by Karina, she was sick. So that didn't work out too well...hopefully this week we can go by and see them.

Anyways. I hope everything is going well back there!! I love you so very much, and I hope you have a fantastic week!!

Hermana Bowerman

***

One more quick story...

Funny experience that we had last week though...we got this referral from some English elders for a lady named Gladys. We went by, and met her, went in and had a quick lesson with her. She's a baker, and she LOVES to talk. And she talks very fast. So we had the lesson, and then afterwards we asked her if we could leave with a prayer, she says of course, and she stands up. We decided to pray her way this time then teach her our way the next. So we stand up, hold hands, and ask who she would like to offer the prayer. She was kind of confused at first, so we asked if she would like to say it, or us. She said, " Oh, me of course, I'm the host here!" And so we bow our heads and wait for her to start. And we wait. And wait. And waited some more. About 20 minutes later, she lifts up her head and says okay. And that was it. Holy. cow. The most bizarre thing ever. That whole time I kept checking my watch ( mind you it was almost curfew...) and we had absolutely no idea what to do. So we just stood there. Hahaha So hilarious. Anyways. She seems super promising though, we have a return appointment with her this next week.

June 10

Hey there!! Sounds like a great Stake Conference. That's kind of cool that both the old and the new Stake President's were part of my setting apart :-) haha I'm so excited to hear about the piano!! When you get it you should take a video and send it to me. I miss that piano so much!! I love the new chair though!! Super pretty. Is that in the craft room or in the living room? There really hasn't been anything super eventful this week. We've been really focusing on getting new investigators though because our pool was dwindling a little bit. Our most eventful lesson was with the couple that we are teaching, Karina and Reynaldo. We have extended a baptismal invitation before, and they do really want to be baptized, but they wouldn't accept a date. Their previous answer was that there were a lot of things they still needed to work out. We knew that they weren't married, but we weren't sure what else still was a problem. Turns out, Reynaldo is still not divorced from his ex-wife. He is, however, headed to Georgia this week to see his kids and her, so hopefully they can get it worked out. They have such a strong desire to be baptized. They can see the changes the gospel has made in their lives already, and they are practically members. They come to church every week, participate in the activities, buy plates for the Boy Scout fundraisers, and everything. They just need to baptized now! Our recent convert is doing well also. He still doesn't have the priesthood because there have been a lot of problems with our bishop being sick, and so he hasn't been there for a while. He's supposed to come back this next Sunday hopefully, so then Jaime can get the priesthood and start exercising it. There are a lot of problems with the leadership in our ward though. A lot of people either don't show up on Sundays, or only show up for part of it. And a lot of the times those people are the leaders, like the bishop, Young Men's, Primary, etc. We have never had a ward council since we've been here, and a lot of the presidents don't have councilors either, so if they don't show up, then there's nobody there to help out. It's kind of a problem. We're teaching a 14 year old boy right now, and we've been teaching him for a long time, and I don't think he's ever met the Young Men's president. Mom - I got the package on Wednesday. Super fast!! And I LOVE all the clothes :-) They fit perfectly!! And the rolls were super delicious :-) Thank you so much for everything!!! You're the best :-) I love you so very much!! Con mucho amor, Hermana Bowerman

June 3

This week has been really good. We had really good numbers for seeing less actives/recent converts this week, and it showed in church attendance! We had a lot of our less actives come. We also had the confirmation of Jaime who got baptized last week. It was super great, and he was the talk of the ward for the rest of the classes and such. Everyone was asking him how he felt and everything, it was pretty funny. But it was super great. We also extended a baptismal invitation to another couple, who have been consistently coming to church for about 5 weeks now. They didn't give a definite yes or no to the invitation (we've given it several times...) but they did go on and on about how they can already see how much this church has blessed their lives. They communicate with each other better, they feel more peace in their home, they have more patience with their kids, it was so awesome to hear them talk about their blessings. We gave them a goal of July 7, and they said they will try to prepare, so we'll see how these next few weeks go. Oh, and they also love us so much, that they signed up on the ward list to feed us this Saturday :-) haha Super great. We talked as a companionship a lot this week about charity. We made it one of our goals to have more charity for everyone. Another goal is to see everyone as being someone with potential. We tend to play favorites with our investigators sometimes, and so we put a little more thought into their lessons or whatnot, but if we can see everyone as having that potential of being baptized, then we'll want to put just as much effort into their lessons as someone with a baptismal date. Personally this week in my reading, I read a lot about the Atonement. It was interesting to me to see that even people like Alma, and the sons of Mosiah, and all of these great people that we read about in the Book of Mormon, they all had a past. Before Alma was struck down, he went about destroying the church. It was just comforting to know that even though we all make mistakes, we can all also be forgiven completely. We can all turn our lives around, start over, and become the person that Heavenly Father wants us to become. All of our investigators are doing well...still trying to figure out how to help a lot of them go from being just an investigator to progressing to having a baptismal date. Some of them are just frustrating. Quick question though...is there more than one church building in Katy? We met a guy from there and he asked where it was...I could only remember the one down in Old Katy...is there one on Fry? He said he thought he saw one there right across from Walmart? I'm not quite sure. But it was kind of cool to be able to remember the streets over there a little bit :-) Anyways. This week is going to be a great one!! I hope yours is as well :-) Love always, Hermana Bowerman

May 27, 2013

Hi momma...Thank you so much!!! Wearing the same thing every single day gets kind of monotonous...and if you find any skirts too, feel free to send them my way :-) haha Where does Pam Steenhoek live? Still in Katy? Or did they move? Our ward is trying to be bilingual...they do the Sacrament prayers in English and Spanish, and we sing our intermediate hymn in English. And this past Sunday, we had an English speaker with a translator. It's pretty windy here today as well...not really sure if there's a storm coming or not...we'll find out!! I still go play tennis every morning though :-) We have a racketball racket too, so sometimes one of my companions comes and plays with me :-) haha Normally to email we go to a nearby college, but they were closed, and we're on bikes today, so we came to the Library. The library just has very limited hours, so we can't always come here. Biking is good :-) haha we haven't riden in a while, because my bike tire popped (again) so we had to wait to get a new tire before we could go again. But I got it fixed up, and back in working order!! Dad would be so proud. Especially since the whole tire kind of fell off when I was putting the new tire on, so I had to put it back on the chain and everything. I felt like a pro. haha :-) But it is quite hot today...about 90 I think is the forecast. We have a weather service we call in the mornings for our forecast :-) And not to mention, we have the occasional "splash and dash" as our weather man called it, or a few quick showers here and there. Dinner calendar...it's usually pretty full. They pass one around for each coming week because there are 3 companionships in our ward, and having 3 separate calendars would get kind of hectic. But usually it's not too bad. We have I think 4 appointments for the rest of the week. The food is almost always delicious...I think I've decided hispanic food is just my favorite. A member took us to a buffet this past week, and what did I first choose to eat? Mexican food. Geez. (See pictures in dad's email...) So, the first picture is of our baptism that we had on Sunday!! All went according to plan, and it was so perfect. Well, almost according to plan at least...there was supposed to be another girl getting baptized as well, but she backed out at the last minute, which also meant that her family wasn't coming either. So we had to make a quick emergency stop at Walmart the night before to get some refreshments for all the other people that came...haha good thing we did, because a lot of people came. Manuel, the guy who baptized Jaime, brought his entire family. So we probably had about 30 people come to support Jaime. Super awesome. Jaime cried, and the Spirit was so strong. It was just perfect!! The other picture is our district...minus 2 more sisters. Their area is really far away from ours, however, so they couldn't make it for our picture. Our district leader was Elder McConnell, the brown haired one. He was super great, but he just got made a zone leader for this next transfer, so he's leaving our district now. Can you believe I've already been here for a transfer?? Craziness. This past week we also had zone conference. It was really great, and we learned a whole lot about how to teach the Book of Mormon effectively. We did a lot of role plays :-) And then, after we came back from lunch, President Crawford asked me to sing a solo in front of everyone!! Holy cow. So nerve racking. He asked me like 2 minutes before I got up and did it too. I sang Savior Redeemer of my soul...don't know if you know that song or not...but it was fun. Believe it or not. Haha AND...I was talking to one of the assistants, and he was just asking me what I was studying in college...talked about flute...and he asked me to do a musical number this transfer for a conference that we are going to have with one of the people who came to conference...Christoffel somebody I think...But yeah. So I told him if he could find me a flute, I'd be happy to :-) haha I really do love sharing my talents. So, besides that, nothing new has happened. We are still teaching all of our investigators, and they're doing great. This past Sunday the theme of the day was Temples I guess, so everyone was talking about that, and I think (hope) it kind of hit home for some of our investigators. Especially Karina and Reynaldo. They know it's true, and they really want to make this change in their lives, but they're hesitating for some reason. But they really want to get involved with the ward, which is so great. I guess our ward goes to the peanut butter factory (remember that??) like every other week or something, and Karina and Reynaldo went!! We didn't even know about it. They just told us that they went, and they loved it!! They didn't know a whole lot of people, but we're working on that. Anyways. So what else is going on back there? Are you getting more moved in? Space wise, how is looking? Better than Katy, I hope :-) haha How are my siblings? I haven't heard from them in a while...and the puppies?? I hope all is well. I love you all and miss you dearly!! Have a fantastic week, Hermana Bowerman

May 20, 2013

Haha that's so great that you had such a good time with your sisters. I'm glad that everything was able to work out!! And pretty sure based on that picture that your hair is way longer than mine now...haha :-) Let's see what happened this past week...We are teaching a lot of people, but we have also lost a couple this week. One was Margarita...she let us in only because I think she thought that we were just sharing a message about Jesus Christ, but she didn't ever really want to hear about the Book of Mormon or anything like that. It makes me so sad when people say they don't want to even try to read it, because I have gained such a great love for this book. The other people we lost actually happened last night. We were teaching Julio and Marta ( Son and mother) They've been taught for a while actually, by other missionaries, so we tried to just have a first lesson with them last night again. They were never really paying attention, and then at the end when we asked Marta to pray and see if what we were teaching was true, she just refused to even try. So unfortunately we have to drop them as well. But we are teaching a lot of other people, and always looking for new investigators. Our most promising investigators right now are Lupita y Leslie...a part member family ( her husband and son are members, but super inactive) But she is actually progressing and I think she has a desire to learn more and eventually be baptized. She does have a problem with coming to church because she works every Sunday, but hopefully if we can get her husband to start coming, then that will give her motivation to start coming as well. Also we are teaching Juaquin, who is from Cuba. He really loves learning about the gospel. He reads the Book of Mormon, prays, goes to church, but he is still hung up on learning everything. He also has a girlfriend in San Antonio that he goes to see every weekend now, so he doesn't come to church with us, but he did start going there, which is super great. We're still teaching Jaime, and he is getting baptized this Sunday!! So exciting. He is definitely one of those people who has been prepared, and he even recognizes that. He knows that people have been placed in his life for a reason, and that this is the path that he is supposed to take. I am so excited for his baptism!!! Also we are still teaching Karina y Reynaldo. They are such a cute couple. They also both know that the Libro de Mormon is the word of God, that this is the true church, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and everything. However, when we tried to give them a specific date to be baptized, they said no because they didn't feel ready. We're slightly confused by that, but they are starting to open up to us way more, which is super awesome. Karina doesn't really have any friends in this area, which is really awesome, because we're going to introduce her to a lot of people in the church, which will be even more motivation for them to come, and so it's going to be awesome. One of the other problems that we find a lot here is that people like going to Lakewood, which I don't know if you guys have heard of it before, but it's that giant "church" service they have at Reliant Stadium here. I think the teacher person is named Joel Olsteen or something like that? Not sure. But a lot of people here like going to that. I think it's just more of a motivational speaker kind of thing, instead of an actual church though...not super sure. Anyways. Those are some of the investigators that we're teaching right now :-) I will keep you updated!! I hope everything is going well with you guys...Miss you muchisimo!! Con Amor, Hermana Bowerman

May 6, 2013 -- emailing with Lindsay

Hi Sarah!!

How's it going???

I totally spaced that your p-day is now on mondays! are you at the computer right now??

Yes I am :-) How's it going?

YAY! I figured you'd be close by!

I totally spaced that your p-day is monday, and not tuesday. so i missed writing last week, and got back from St. George last night, and meant to get an email out this morning before work. 

How are you?? Hanging in there? :) 

We were in St. George to go see Brian Regan...that comedian guy. You know him? 

haha it's all good :-) I'm hanging in there :-) Doing great actually!! We have a really solid baptismal date for a guy named Jaime on June 2nd, so that's super exciting :-)

I've heard of Brian Regan...was he pretty funny?

Yay for baptisms!!! That's AWESOME!! How old is he? Is he married with a family? Is this the guy you found that day that it was pouring rain and your tire popped?

I had heard a lot of hype about Brian Regan being suuuper funny. I thought he was...ok. The funniest part was when he came out for the encore, and people started yelling out skits that they wanted him to do, whereas the main portion of the show was him trying out new material that just wasn't as polished and the timing on his jokes weren't as good, if that makes sense.

What else are you guys up to today?

That's funny. Haha He's like 40ish...we don't know his exact age. But he has a 17 year old daughter. I guess him and his wife just got a divorce, and so he was struggling with that a whole bunch. We haven't met his 17 year daughter, but hopefully one day we will. Yeah, this is that guy. Super exciting though :-) We have plans to have 5 people with a baptismal date by the end of this week. Keep us in your prayers :-) haha

Hahaha That's awkward. That's good that he was at least a little funny though. A good chuckle at least :-)

We're not doing too much...after this we go to Walmart and get groceries and whatnot and then we go to the church and hang out with some of the other missionaries in our zone. We usually play volleyball or something. It's pretty fun. What are you up to this week?

I started working with a lady in Rhode Island on that BYU-Idaho pathways program. Did I tell you about that around Christmas time? 

That's cool :-) No you didn't tell me about it! What is it? I think one of my old roommates did that for a while...but I don't remember.

Basically it's a program that gets people up-to-speed with their English skills so they can start taking on-line courses through BYU-Idaho. So I Skype twice a week with this lady, Betzy, who lives in Rhode Island, but originally from Guatemala. She's taking like an English 101 class, and her verbal english skills are ok, but it's her writing that is needing a lot of help. We've been working on vocab and writing...turns out English is a hard language to teach! And I have no english teaching skills! And BYUI has given no training on how or what you're supposed to do in these skype meetings! So it's been interesting. I was trying to explain what "although" and "though" mean, so I told her it's kind of like "but"...well, she thought that "but" = what you sit on, not but as in "yes, but no"! I couldn't stop giggling. :)

hahahaha that's great :-) We teach an english class here too, every wednesday. Like you, we have absolutely no training. We just have to go and teach...it's actually really fun. None of our students and super fluent, but they probably sound like I do with Spanish. They can get their point across, but don't exactly sound perfect or anything. Haha we taught them about verbs in the past last week. Turns out, it's really hard, and there are a lot of irregular verbs. Like a whole lot. But they're catching on, so that's super awesome. Anyways, I have to get off now, pero, te amo mucho!!!

Can't wait to talk to you on Sunday :-)

Hermana Bowerman

Yay! See you Sunday! Loves.

April 29, 2013

Hola Madre!!!

The house looks amazing!!!!! The floors are way lighter than I thought they'd be, but I love it. Geez you saw a lot of friends this week...Fun for you :-) Funny you should mention the rain...haha So on Saturday, was the first day I actually felt like a missionary. We started in the morning, and it seemed like a pretty nice day, so we decided to ride our bikes. While in transit to the apartment complex we were going to, it started to sprinkle. That should've been my first sign that it was going to be a long day. We get to the complex and our first appointment fell through. But we have a lot of people that we are teaching there, so we decided to try and see if anyone else was home. They weren't. And it started to pour down rain. And then, my tire on my bike popped. So, we had one other scheduled appointment with that family that I told you about, so we went and taught them, and it was way good. We had another appointment with a lady and her daughter, and they only live like a few minutes away, or so we thought, so we decided to start walking. And guess what? It started to rain harder. And we were walking, and it started flooding. So, we are walking through ankle deep water to get to this appointment, only to find out that they weren't even there. Awesome. (And even though this story sound really negative, we were laughing the whole time. And there's a happy ending, just wait) So, fortunatlely we have another set of Hermanas in our district who have a car, so we called them and they were able to come pick us up. We get home, and we had about an hour to change out of our sopping wet clothes grab dinner and get our car and go to our last appointment of the day. We get there, and he lives by himself, but we had a member come, and he just happened to bring his wife (thank goodness, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to go inside, and it was still pouring...tender mercies!!) So we had the lesson, it was amazing!! And we committed him to be baptized. And he said yes!!! We have a baptism date set for June 2nd. We were so beside ourselves. Such an amazing feeling. Going through the rest of the day was so worth it because of that lesson. Love it.

Anyways. Also this past Tuesday, we got to go to the temple with our zone. Super fun. The rooms are just way smaller there...so it was funny trying to get like 50+ people in there. But it worked :-) And then, I got to the veil, and who was there to bring me through? President Crawford!! It was a really cool experience to see them there. Then afterwards we went to a mormon book store that I remembered that my friend Caitlin used to work at. I asked the lady working there if she knew her, and she told me that on facebook it said that she was engaged!! So that was really exciting to hear about.

Nothing else too terribly exciting happened this week...we have a lot of investigators, which is great, but not all of them are good at keeping commitments, so that's something that we need to work on.

Something I wanted to ask for...CD's are awesome. We drive a little bit more than I thought we would, and it's always nice to have something to listen to while in transit, instead of listening to the same thing every time...just saying :-)

Anyways, I gotta run, but I love you mucho!!! I hope you have an awesome week, and have fun moving in!!

Hermana Bowerman

April 22, 2013

Hey momma!!

So I'm in an area call Jacinto City. I think it's actually fairly close to Houston, so definitely still in Texas. The weather here is beautiful right now!!! Mid 70s humidity...not too shabby!! The first few days were pretty dark and dreary...lots of clouds and rain. But it was definitely needed!! They've been in a drought for a while I guess.

So, Jacinto City is pretty cool. Tons of people to talk to, and most people are at least willing to have a little chat, so that's super awesome. We are teaching currently about 10 people regularly, with more and more people who are interested. I love this work so much!!! It can be frustrating at times, especially when people forget their appointments, aren't home, don't come to church, or whatever the reason may be, but once something clicks, it's so awesome to see the changes that they make in their lives.

So last week...we got to the mission home on monday at about 1 or 2. we ate, had some training, met with President Crawford (super awesome, BTW...oh and good thing I didn't bring my flute...he said no...) and then we went to bed. Sister Daines (who Grandma Jenny told me about) was actually my temporary companion for a couple days until we met our actual companions. Then we got up in the morning, had a little bit more training, and then went and met our companions!! I'm actually in a trio...Sister Canova is our trainer. She's super awesome, really funny, and really sweet. I'm learning so much from her!! Then my other companion is Sister Lockhart. She's also from Utah, and she's super awesome too. We have a cute little apartment...some cockroach friends too...but it's pretty cozy. It's nice :-) I'll send you pics next week...I haven't been too good about taking them this week. whoops. We have a car, but we try to ride our bikes as much as possible, because our miles are limited. So we only drive when we have to go somewhere that's at the top of our area or something.

We have a few investigators...we started teaching a new family yesterday...mom and dad and two kids, 7 years old and 6 months. Super cute family though, and I think there's a lot of potential. I'm really excited to keep teaching them. We teach a few lessons every day, we contact people, and we knock doors sometimes. Long days, but they're always full of great experiences. Funny ones too :-) I've been told that I was in someones dream (they recognized my boots...not my face, but my boots) And I have been in a little prayer circle in someone's yard that I didn't know...and all sorts of other fun things. One guy that we taught yesterday pulled out this book and proceded to tell us what we believed. It was great fun.

Anyways, sort of limited on time here, but I love you so much!!! I'm still waiting for pictures, by the way... :-)

Hermana Bowerman

April 22, 2013

Hey papa!!!

Hahaha No, I'm not in Louisiana. I'm actually in a place called Jacinto City, which is fairly close to Houston. But, my first time at a member's house for dinner, and what did I eat? Fish. Yep. You Jinxed me. But fortunately, it was breaded and stuff, so you couldn't really even taste the fish. So I made it through without wanting to vomit.

Sounds like a fun time!! Tell Marsh that I love him, and have an awesome companion here who is from Utah :-) haha She gets home in like 9 months. Anyways. So, the work is good!! There's a lot of work to be done, that's for sure. Our ward has about 150 members I think, but only half of them usually come. So lots of reactivation and whatnot. We have about 10 investigators or so....we just started teaching a new family of 4 yesterday, and there's a lot of potential there, so that's exciting. We have one baptismal date with a 14 year old boy, but we have to change it because he didn't come to church yesterday...so we'll see. He's an interesting kid...14, covered in tattoos, he used to do drugs and drink...we get to help him out a lot :-) hahaha I have absolutely no idea how many hours we taught....we taught a lot though. It's pretty awesome :-)

So I'm actually in a trio right now. My trainer is Hermana Canova. She's super cool, from South Jordan, She's an RN...yep. ANd then there's Hermana Lockhart. We came on the same day, so we're both being trained right now.

Anyways...I still have to write a couple more emails, but how's everything going there? Are you guys moving in this week? Next? PICTURES?!?!

Hermana Bowerman

P.S. Te Amo Muchisimo!!! :-)

Arrived in Texas!

All the new missionaries serving in the THE (Texas Houston East) Mission

Yay for THE Mission!

Sarah with President and Sister Crawford

With Sister Lockhart, their trainer, and Sarah

Dear Families,

Your Missionary has arrived safely to T.H.E. Mission!  Upon arrival we met your missionary at the airport and took them directly to the mission home where they were feed Texas Bar-b-que and met the office staff.  An orientation by the office staff followed lunch while individual interviews were conducted by President Crawford.  That evening they were invited to share their testimonies.  The following morning was focused on training after which they met their new companion and were transported to their area of service.  They are now out diligently searching for our Heavenly Father's children and doing the work of the Lord. Thank you for sending your daughters and sons to us, they have added great strength to our small army here in the Texas Houston East Mission. We love them and are so grateful to have them with us. You will find attached a picture of  your newly arrived missionary with Sister Crawford and myself as well as their arriving group. 

Sincerely, President and Sister Crawford

Sunday Afternoon Walk to the Temple

(Left to Right) With Sis. Claspell, Sarah, Sis. Bloxham (Sarah's MTC companion), Sis. Whitney. (Claspell and Whitney are companions.)

With some of the Elders in her district.

With Sis. Whitney, who is in Sarah's district and her roommate.

April 9

Papa Bear!!! ¡¡Estoy muy bien!! haha All the computers here have tons of languages on them...anyways... Gosh. I feel like I have learned more here in 6 weeks than I did in all the years that I took Spanish. Es muy loco!!

SOO...I got my travel plans this past week!! I have to be at the travel office at 3 a.m. on Monday morning, and then my flight is at 6. I have a short layover and change planes in Dallas, and then I should arrive in Houston at around 12 30. I´m going to buy a phone card here so that I can just call you guys from the airport sometime...Be ready :-) haha It'll probably be in the morning though. But I'm not sure...

Conference was absolutely amazing!! It's so cool being a missionary and watching conference. It's cool because I have investigators, and there were so many things that I could pull out that would apply to them specifically. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I think I have to go with President Uchtdorf's talk on Sunday morning. It brought me so much peace and comfort, and I am so grateful for that. I also really liked Elder Kapishka(? sp) talk about how the only acceptance we need is Heavenly Father's. So awesome. And of course Elder Holland's talk. Apparenly Elder Holland is in one of the Elders in my district ward in Midway. Oh, and did you watch the thing inbetween sessions on Sunday (?) About the MTC and missionaries? If you did, the guy who had 3 little brothers from Sandy, he's in my district, and he's one of our zone leaders :-) haha

I feel so blessed to be here right now. The Lord truly is hastening his work, and I am so excited to be part of it!

I can't wait to see some pictures of the house!! Please send some :-) haha

So, I was looking for Arena on Wednesday, and couldn't find her anywhere, then finally on thursday morning she found me at breakfast!! I missed her so very much. Pretty sure everyone in the cafeteria were like who are those crazy girls screaming at the top of their lungs...haha But it was so awesome to be able to see her again. I see her every day because we have meals at the same time and her classroom is in the same building as me. She's apparently having some issues with her companion however...her comp isn't fully convinced that she should be here, and so she's constantly going to the bathroom to sob her eyes out, or looking for ways that she can go home, or whatever. So keep her in your prayers that everything will work out okay :-)

As far as my plaque scripture goes, I would like Alma 26:12 on there :-) I have found more than ever that that scripture is so true. Love it!!

Anyways...so little time, and so much to do!!

Love you forever :-)

Hermana Bowerman

April 9

Momma bear!!

Umm....as far as things I need...the blouses would be great!! and there's a skirt in my closet that is really flowy and it's striped...that would be a really nice skirt to have in Houston :-) Umm....other things... whatever you want to send me I suppose?? I don't really know. I feel like my clothes are so limited, so clothes are awesome...

California sounds amazing!! Especially since it's snowing right now...

Conference was AMAZING. President Uchtdorf's on Sunday morning was probably my favorite. I love how he is able to talk with so much love for everyone. It's really amazing. Have you been able to watch the General Young Women's meeting?? That's so amazing too. We watched it Saturday night while the elders were at priesthood meeting. It was really great. Then the Sunday night we had a devotional with VOCAL POINT!! It was so cool. They came and sang some songs and shared thoughts...it was so awesome.

I'm probably forgetting something...and If I remeber, I'll send you a letter...but I love you tons!!

Hermana Bowerman

April 2

Surprisingly, no April Fools jokes. Which was slightly freaky...haha I was just waiting for something to happen. But those sound pretty funny :-)

You got a designer?!!? So crazy :-) But I'm really excited for you!! I need some pics!!! Feel free to send me some...That sounds like an awesome Easter. Ours was FANTASTIC. We heard from Bishop Causse, presiding bishop of the church, and his wife in the morning. They're from France, and the whole time the spoke I was reminded of dad and his funny french man accent. haha But the really cool part was having a sacrament meeting with the WHOLE MTC. I was thinking that this was almost what it felt like to be with Christ when He fed the 5,000. We only had 3,000, but it's probably the closest I'm ever going to get to that again. Such a cool experience though. Then that night for our sunday devotional, Sheri Dew came and spoke. She was awesome too :-) She talked about the enabling power of the Atonement. I feel like that was sort of the theme from this week. It was really cool to think about. Jesus Christ is truly our ONLY way to be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father. OH. Before I forget...we have a little bit of time each week to watch mormon messages and such. And one of my favorites is called the Will of God. You should really go watch it. SO POWERFUL. I'm sure there's some way that you can apply it to your class...It's from Elder Christofferson (sp?) No joke, it makes me want to cry every time.

So, I've mentioned before about TRC....it's kind of my favorite thing. The people that come in that we get to teach...they have such powerful testimonies of the gospel. And they can share some of the most amazing experiences. We taught a really old man last night. He served his mission in Uruguay like 50 years ago I think is what he said. But he told us some amazing experiences. Some of the other elders taught a guy from the Congo, who knew 6 languages. He was so awesome. Someone just told him about Joseph Smith, and he knew from that moment that this church was true. Talk about being prepared, right? So amazing. But for real, Dad should totally come do it for the French people. I think they do it every night...I'm sure there's some info about it somewhere.

Anyways...Anything else exciting going on this week? Make sure and give Claire and Bubba and Evie lots of luf from me. I miss them so much...I can't believe I'm missing Evie's first birthday. Boo. Oh well. I'll be able to call you guys for a little bit in a couple of weeks!! Apparently, I just have to get a calling card from the Bookstore here...And then I'm assuming I call from the airport? I'm not exactly sure. But I'm really excited :-) I can't wait to see Arena!!! Gosh. It'll be nice to have a friendly face. Although I have seen one of my old roommates here, Natilee Allen, and a couple other people, so that was cool. OH. And I finally met the girl that Grandma jenny told me about!! Turns out she's staying a couple doors down from me :-) haha There are a couple other girls in her room going to my mission too, so that was really cool to finally meet girls going to my mission. haha

I'll have to keep a look out for Perry...And you should tell Marshall about TRC too. I'm sure he would love it :-) And who knows, maybe Arena will teach him :-) haha I don't know if you've already planned on it or not...but that stuff that I had for Arena, could you give it to her tonight? Thanks :-) I won't be able to be her host when she gets here, But I will for sure keep a look out for her. Anyways...I'll send some pics later today. But I love you so much!! Thanks for everything that you do :-) For real, the best mom a girl could ask for :-)

Anyways...I gotta get going. Love you So much!! And miss you terribly :-)

Hermana Bowerman

And p.s. I was looking more for like normal socks...I only brought like 3 pairs...haha I might send you a letter today with a couple more things...But thanks so much for the last package!! Maren and I are working on the arrangement of Come Thou Fount...it's so pretty!!

March 26, 2013

Hey daddy!!

Good to hear Rusty's doing well :-) haha when I get back (if she's still running...) can I still take some spray paint to her? I think it'll really help her self esteem. That's really good to hear about Chris...I didn't know he got a Beemer!!!!! That's awesome. Is it an SUV? That's awesome. Send me some pics!! Haha These doorknobs are giving you a run for your money :-) Hope they work out eventually...And I'm pretty sure in ChaCha's mind it's been over for a while...but don't tell Marshall I said that...As for the ipad...I don't really know. I haven't ever tried the retina display... haha I miss technology... we do this thing called TRC, which is where members come in and the Missionaries teach them a quick lesson, sort of like what they do after we eat dinner. Anyways, we wanted to read a scripture during one, and we were about to hand one of them our scriptures, but before we could do that, they both whipped out their iphones. I was a little jealous. Haha But about the TRC, you should really come do it!! They always need volunteers. And you could come work on your french :-) I met some sisters here that are going to Paris, and they thought it was really cool that I had a dad that went there :-)

Anyways...the rest of my week has been good. Nothing too terribly exciting. But I'm really excited for Sunday. Apparently the whole MTC gets together for sacrament meeting and a whole bunch of General Authorities come. I'll have to let you know how it goes!! Spanish is going really well...I can pretty much understand everything that people are saying. Unless they have an accent. Then it's a little bit harder... Anyways...So another cool experience from TRC, we taught this guy that came all the way from Chile to visit for General Conference. He has a wife and 3 niños. Anyways, we were teaching about prayer, and we asked him if he had any significant experiences with it, and he told an amazing story. Apparently a few years ago he was pretty inactive and he and his wife were having difficulties and they were about to get divorced, but he decided to get on his knees and pray to see if there was something that he could do to change. Turns out there was, and so he literally changed his life from that one prayer. Him and his wife are better now, one year after this experience he became the bishop in his branch. Then, the really cool part was that at first, his branch only had like 40 members or something. But now, there´s over 300!!! Isn´t that crazy!!! So he´s here now to go to General Conference and then he's going to take back what he learned to his family and teach them and the rest of the congregation. Such a cool experience to get to meet him. I'm pretty sure I learned some much more from him about faith and the power of prayer than we were able to teach him.

Anyways, I'm running out of time, so I'll talk to you later. Love you papa!!!

Week #2

Family Letter

Oh good :-) Just wanted to make sure everyone got them...I don't know addresses, and I thought it would save a bit of money just to have you give them out...haha

Oh my gosh!!!! That's exciting/crazy about Heather!! Wow. Kirstin is gonna have a rough time... haha is she excited to go? Send her my love if you ever have a minute...

About the other missionaries going to my mission....So, because I'm in an intermediate class noone else in my district or zone is going to the same mission that I am. I have met some of the girls that I was friends with on facebook that I recognized, and there are a whole bunch of others that are going there that are in the same district, but I haven't really been able to talk to them or anything. But I'm sure I'll see them when we get to Houston or when we leave to go on a plane.

Hahahahah Your deer story totally made me laugh....and my companion. hahaha It's her birthday today!!! I bought her breakfast at the temple :-) haha So we went and did initiatories this morning...we usually go at about 7. So that's pretty awesome to be able to get away from the MTC.

I'm so sorry to hear about Jennifer's brother!! That's rough. But awesome that she has a wonderful friend like you to give her comfort. Goodness. Ever since I've been here I just feel like a giant crying machine. Like seriously, everything makes me cry. Usually they're good tears though :-) or tears from laughing so hard that we cry....haha we do that a lot :-) I love my companion and the other two hermanas in our district so much. I am so blessed to have them here. The elders are really awesome too. They're so funny, and I feel like they're my brothers away from home. We are really one big happy family :-) A lot of other districts are not nearly as close as we are. Which is sad for them. Then again, it's kind of hard not to be close to them when you spend like 16 hours a day with them stuck in a classroom...

So wonderful to hear about dad's new calling!! And that blessing sounds wonderful. Wish I could've been there :-) But know now more than ever that I'm supposed to be here. We watch Music and the Spoken word every sunday, and I feel like this sunday was especially meant for me. They sang my favorite song (Come thou fount) and Called To Serve. It was so amazing. We also heard from the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency on Sunday. We got to go meet her afterwards too. So cool :-) I mean where else do you get to have these opportunities every week?!

Haha a Do nothing day sounds wonderful right now...I'm so exhausted!! But P-days are the best. It's my day to sort of relax. Sort of. haha

And no chance to leave early, I don't think. I got a little card that said my estimated leaving day is April 15th. It might be the 16th, but I'm not sure...

And the dearelder worked great!! I got it on Saturday, so that was perfect timing for me. Such good news about Chris...Heavenly Father truly has his hand in everything. I see that more and more every day. I am here to be an instrument in his hands and to teach the people of Houston, and I am so excited. I got the letter from Bryan, thanks :-) And I definitely agree, this past week was BEAUTIFUL. We got to go outside and study for personal study. It was amazing...One rule that kind of drives me nuts is that we aren't allowed to listen to listen to music in our residence halls. BUT. We have something called TALL time which is like a language training thing on the computer. Ande if we get done early we can watch Mormon messages or whatnot. Anyways, I figured out how to get to the MoTab page on Youtube. So now we can listen to music while we email :-) It's nice. haha

Anyways, As far as things I left at home, I will send you a list in the mail of everything that I need...which is a lot...haha boots, watch, skirt, etc. I'll let you know :-) I love you so very much!!! And I really love letters. They're the best. Feel free to just tell everyone you know to send me letters or dear elders or whatever. Deor has sent me a couple letters...she's so funny. Anyways...I love you mucho, and miss you tons!!!

Hermana Bowerman

Letter to Lindsay

Haha oh auto correct...it's all good though :-) I can't wait for your letter!! P.S. it's kind of a status thing to get letter, so feel free to send me one whenever :-) even if it really doesn't say much, hey it's pretty cool to get letters :-) 

And...as far as food goes, the food isn't too bad. But it's all 19 year old boy food. A really good cafe rio pork salad sounds so amazing...if you can figure out how to send it to me, that would be awesome :-) just be cautious because security is super tight, and they sometimes throw it away if they think it's food. But you can also go to dearelder.com and apparently they have a bunch of stuff that can be sent through them...

 

Gosh, music and the spoken word was so amazing this past sunday!!! We get to watch it with all the sisters in the MTC every sunday. I totally felt like it was tailored for me. First it was a John Rutter song, which I love. Then Called to Serve and Come Thou Fount. It was seriously so good. And exactly what I needed to hear. Sometimes it's really hard to stay focused here. I mean, we sit in a classroom from 7 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. Only breaking for meals and gym time.  But music and the spoken word was a good reminder of my purpose here.

 

So we have like an hour a day to do something call TALL...not exactly sure what it means, but it's like a language study tool. Anyways. One of the rules here is that we are not allowed to listen to music in our residence halls. But while we are on tall we have access to watch mormon messages and stuff if we get done early, and I may or may not have figured out how to get onto youtube through that.... don't worry, I only watch MoTab, but it makes the days a little easier.

 

So every sunday we go on a temple walk. We just walk up to the temple and enjoy time away from the MTC for a bit. But that's at like 4:30 every sunday. I'm not technically supposed to "meet up" with anyone, but if you just so happened to be up walking around the temple...just saying... :-) haha

 

Anways, time is running out, so I gotta run, but I love you mucho!!!

 

Hermana Bowerman

Week #1

MOMMA!!!!! I miss you so very much. That's so cool about the temple!!! And I will keep Chris in my prayers. Sorry I can't write too much, but I want to tell you I love you, and I'm so grateful for you and for this opportunity.

This week, Send me letters on Dearelder.com That way I can read your letter during the week and write you on Tuesday. I think you should just be able to look up my name...but they do like same day delivery of your letters for me. It's pretty cool!!! Love you so much!!! And thanks for the story from Elder Bednar!!!

Love you, Hermana Bowerman

March 12, 2013

It sounds like you've had a fun couple of days!!! It's so cool that your friend was able to come over - he sounds like a great guy.  Who are you home teaching? Someone that I know?  Probably not...I don't know a lot of people....oh well. I'm only slightly jealous about the spa....haha please enjoy while I'm gone though :-) I bet it's awesome!! Haha that's super funny about the carpet :-)  Does Chris have another appointment with a doctor yet? That's kinda scary...But I remember in the blessing you gave him that he will be able to recover from this. But I will for sure keep him in my prayers.

Anyways...about my few days here. They have been amazing!!! The first few days felt super long, but I can't believe that I've already been here for almost a week. They do this simulation sort of thing here where they bring in people who are members of the church, but they act like investigators. It's interesting because even though you know that they aren't real investigators, we are still able to teach them as though they were. (P.S. all of our lessons are being done in Español) Anyways, our investigator is Rolando. ( I keep messing up his name and calling him Ronaldo...whoops) And we taught him our 3rd lesson the other day. IT WAS SO AMAZING. I have never felt anything like it before. Rolando's parents died when he was 9, so we were talking about baptism and how that's the first step to be able to return to live with our Father in Heaven. I was able to share about Amy and how even though she has returned to heaven already, I know that my family has been sealed in the temple and that one day we will all be together again. I cried. haha, but seriously one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

My schedule every day is pretty  much the same. We have 3 hours of class in the morning with our teacher, Hermana Collier. She served in Paraguay for her mission. It is so amazing how much I have progressed with the language since I've been here. I mean, I'm teaching whole discussions in SPANISH. With like little to no help. Its crazy. So then after class, we have a whole bunch of study time. Like 4 hours total. Then at night we teach our investigator. We also have about an hour for gym time.

 My companion is so awesome...we are alike in a lot of ways, which is nice. We get along really well and we are both pretty relaxed and easy to get along with. She's really athletic - she played volleyball and basketball in high school. She's from South Jordan, which is pretty cool too. We are along both on the same page when it comes to teaching which is good.

Anyways, I still have to respond to mom, and I only have 30 minutes total for everyone, but I love you so much, and I'm glad you're doing well. Thank you so much for everything you do!!!

Love, Hermana Bowerman