Two Wonderful Companions :)

The past week was purdy cool. We were teaching a man named P about prophets. We asked what makes a prophet a prophet. He said that what he (a prophet) says has to come true...or else he's not a prophet. Makes sense, I s'pose. 

But then I thought about Isaiah, who prophesied about things that wouldn't happen for a long time. By P's logic, how could anybody know he was a prophet? But then I thought about the Bible in general. If the prophecies in the Bible don't happen, then it's not true. And then I thought about how some of the prophecies in the Bible only come true through things that have happened because of this gospel, and because of Joseph Smith. Like how Isaiah foretells a "sealed book" and how it speaks of an apostasy in Amos, and how Elijah would come to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers. If this isn't the true church, then the Bible isn't true either. I'd never realized that before.

We had a lot of other really great experiences, one of which was when we were meeting with a wonderful man named R. A lot of times, when I'm talking about how the spirit testifies of truth I'll say something like, "resonates with my soul." I'd never described that to Randy before, but he used that exact phrase when he was talking about reading the Book of Mormon. Kinda crazy, eh?

I probably don't say enough about my companions. They are wonderful. Sister Howard is always happy and very bold. She'll go up and talk to anybody. She is willing to make any difference in her life (and ours, naturally) if she thinks it will make us better missionaries. Sister Saunders is amazing. She is hard working, motivated, and obedient. She also has perfect pitch, which is purdy cool. One of my favorite parts of our companionship is that we sing a hymn to kick off our companionship study every morning. And we do awesome three part harmonies. What a wonderful thing to enjoy everyday! Sister Saunders has also found me a husband for when I return. It's her brother. Needless to say, I'm purdy excited. It'll be nice that I wont have to go man hunting when I get home ;)

It's really cool to be out here when the missions are changing so much. Purdy soon we'll be using Facebook and email and stuff instead of tracting. It was one of my goals to learn to love tracting...but now I'm not super concerned about that, although I don't know how quickly we'll be switching over yet. 

Something I've been learning is that other people don't see a purpose or need for the Priesthood. So naturally they don't understand the apostasy, or prophets. Oh, the blessings they are missing out on!

Another thing I experienced was that sacrifice really does bring forth the blessings of Heaven. Yesterday we really wanted to get in 3 lessons with a member present, which was kinda crazy considering that we had 4ish hours of church, 3 hours of study, and a two hour broadcast to attend. We cut our lunch really short and skipped dinner so that we could fit them all in. And all of them were really great. We felt the spirit, the people learning about the good word felt the spirit, and we all moved a little closer to our Heavenly Father. That's purdy cool, eh?

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes

Love,

Sister Allie Bowen

Classic Missionary Frustration

Gah, so much to say, and so little time.

One little story I forgot to mention last week: we were at dinner at a member's home, and we were role playing sharing the gospel with the kids. One of the boys was said something about the "heavenly skull"...for which he meant "godhead." I'm still laughing about that one.

We had a whole day in which all our appointments fell through. I learned one of the classic missionary frustrations that day. But it wasn't so bad, because it lead us to talk to other people in the area, and sometimes we just have really great conversations, but sometimes they want to know more.

My favorite part of missionary work so far is learning that the truths we offer are something that people crave. They'll say things like, "It's like all the religions have a piece of the puzzle, and I just have to go around trying to put them all together," or "I believe that all you have to do is follow Christ," or "how could a loving God condemn anybody to hell?" or "I hate when people say they're religious, you know, come to church on Sunday, but do bad things every other day," or "well the Bible has been translated and re translated so many times, how can anybody know if it's true?"

I wish I could just show them what this gospel has to offer them--that there is a bigger picture, that Christ is the supreme example and that knowing Him and following Him is the key, that Heavenly Father does not condemn people to hell, but there is some degree of glory for everybody, and that we are just spiritual being having an earthly experience.

And I can tell them that. But Satan works hard. He makes people believe they cannot overcome their personal challenges. He counterfeits cheaply the effects of the spirit. He lets tradition reign in hearts above truth and love. He lets simple truths still found in the Bible (and clarified in the Book of Mormon) get overlooked. And he has somehow convinced people that God has changed: that He doesn't still communicate with us, that He does not have a propeht today, and that the Heavens are sealed.

I'm learning everyday how to love the work, although I still do get daunted by the longevity of it. But I do really miss being at school still. It's like my life is on pause while everybody else's keeps going. It's kinda crazy though--I see this as a huge sacrifice to be out here right now, yet at the same time, there is nothing I could ever do to repay Heavenly Father for what I am experiencing here.

And I love Indiana. It's so grassy. And I talk about it everyday. Everybody has a front lawn without even trying! They're so spoiled in that regard. And EVERYBODY has dogs and/or cats. At least two, but often more. And everybody smokes. One lady we're teaching (that I actually haven't met yet) smokes so much that her dog has emphazema (or however that's spelled). Kinda crazy. And there are a lot of bird baths. Why do people care so much about birds staying clean?

And I still haven't taken any pictures here, so I'm attaching a few more from the MTC

~The Indiana folks from our District, Sisters Roundy, me, Sister McKendrick, and Sister Colton. I'm glad I didn't get called any further north, 'cause then I wouldn't have been able to reach it. They probably took that into consideration when they called me ;)

~Our district with our teacher SIster Lamplugh: Elders Allred, Fredette, Matangi, and Udall, Sisters Colton, McKendrick, Lamplugh, Roundy, Coons, Roseman, and me

~Arkansas folks from our district, plus the Elders from another district in our zone: Elders Fredette, Wohlgemuth, Udall, Sisters Roseman and Coons, Elders Allred and Hadlock, with Elders Parker and Matangi in front. Love those people :D

I might get a picture here someday soon...but not yet.

Life is good and the work is sweet.

Love,

Sister Allie Bowen

She Really Is in Indiana!

Greetings from Bloomington Indiana!

I will be surviving the great divide in July. (aka I will be staying in the Indianapolis mission versus getting switched to the new Cincinnati mission). I actually have two wonderful companions: Sister Saunders from Ogden, Utah (she's been out for 5 months) and Sister Howard from Parker, Idaho (she's been out for 2 months). They are fun, hard-working, and obedient, which is purdy much perfect for me. I really love them :D

I have SO MANY STORIES! I can barely remember all of them, even though I've only been here for like 5 days.

First of all it's crazy how small the Mormon world is. Last night we enjoyed dinner with the wonderful W family. Brother W teaches Spanish Linguistics at IU, so when I told him what I studied he asked my if I knew a certain professor from BYU. I had never taken a class from her, but I had heard of her. Then he mentioned something about visiting Professor Eddington recently. That's who I took Psycholinguistics from last semester. Kinda crazy, eh?

But it gets crazier! Yesterday I went to church (don't worry, that's not the crazy part) and after Sacrament meeting a man came up to me and asked me what part of northern Nevada I was from ('cause somebody told him that's where I was from) when I told him, he said that he grew up in Carson City and asked me if I knew the Halls. I told him they were in my ward! He said he grew up with Brother Hall and that they were best friends then. His parents, who still live in Carson were there visiting him too. They asked me if I knew the Maxwells and the Petersons :D That made me so happy! It's just so great to find connections out here. Then after Relief Society, the man's mom told me that she realized that she knew my Mom! When we had confirmed it was the right person, I started crying, which was super awkward, but they were tears of happiness. I'm so grateful for the Andersons of the Lone Mountain ward. (And Mom, she said she transfer my hug to you, so you better make sure you get it when you see her at the temple next ;) Heavenly Father does indeed bless his servants :)

One of my fears in coming on a mission was that I wouldn't be able to answer people's questions. But Heavenly Father gave me opportunities to make me realize that I do know more than I realized, within my first evening of being in my area. We had a dinner appointment with this beautiful part member family, the 12 year old boy ( who is not a member) was excited to recite one of the sacrament prayers for us. So we talked about the Priesthood for a little bit. The question was brought up why girls don't get the Priesthood. And I gave an answer that seemed to satisfy them. Later that evening, when we were a teaching a man outside, another man came up and started talking to us. At one point he said apologetically (because he didn't want to undermine our faith) that the Bible didn't say anything about the Book of Mormon. I was able to show him Isaiah 29:11 and was going to show him Joseph Smith History 1:63-65 (or somethin' like that) but he didn't really want to have evidence. I realize that facts and proof can only take some people so far in learning spiritual truths, but the situation was nice for myself to ease that worry.

Another notable moment was when we were visiting with an awesome man named W. He has 8 dogs. It was kinda funny when we came to his door, 'cause different dogs kept poking their heads through the blinds. He let us in and there were six dachshunds running around our feet (and two bigger dogs). So many dogs! He put them all in the garage (except for the one that climbed under the couch and stayed there the whole time we were there) and then we talked to him for awhile. At the end of the lesson, he said he had something to put me at ease ('cause we'd talked about how I was new and nervous). Then he brought out the puppies. He had 6 six-week-old dachshund puppies. And he let us hold them. It was purdy great. Even better, though, is that he told us we could come back to teach him more :)

This is really hard though. I've been sick since Thursday, but I'm almost better (just a cold, don't worry Mom :) And sometime I'm as sad as I can ever remember being, but things are looking up. Sunday seemed to be a turnaround, and made me feel like I do have a home here. I'm learning to love the work, and beginning to accept this as my life, which is a good thing, because it makes me significantly more optimistic. And the more I come to understand exactly what I'm doing and why I'm here, and the closer I get to my companions, the ward, our investigators, and Heavenly Father the happier I get. Life is good, and I am learning to let the peace of God reign in my heart :)

But it is worth it. We have some really great investigators, recent converts, and other people we meet that help me remember why I'm here. The ward missionaries are really great too. They really love coming to lessons with us, and are really good at making sure needs are met. The field is indeed white, and the Lord is indeed hastening his work.

Also, this week The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is coming to Indianapolis, so we get to go and bring four of our investigators :D That should be a great adventure.

And I got pictures this time! I haven't taken any in Indiana yet, so they're all from the MTC

~Me and Sister Roundy

~Me and Sister Roundy at the temple

~Our district with the Branch Presidency: from the back: Elder Fredette, Elder Udall, Sister Colton, Sister McKendrick, Elder Matangi, Elder Allred, Sister Coons, Sister Roseman, Sister Roundy, Me, Brother Harris (and yes, he is that short), President Connors, and Brother Peck

~Sister Roundy and I with two of our teachers: Brother Heaton and Brother Balzer

If you would like to write to me you are welcome to email me or send stuff here:

(see address to the side)

And also, there are a lot of people that I would really like to talk to, but I don't have a way to reach them, so I'd love short email, if only to get your email address.

Love,

Sister  Bowen

Jill--if you are reading this, you should email me. There is a lady in the ward here that is a Psych professor and trains and uses therapy dogs. And she said you could come up on the week ends ;)

Courtney--thanks so much for the letters! I should be getting one in the mail to you later today :D