It's a Small World After All

Well it's transfer season. And I'm staying in Bloomington in the Clear Creek Ward!! But Sister Howard is leaving, so in 2 days I'll get a new best friend. But I'll really miss Sister Howard. And I'm training somebody. Which is weird 'cause I have no idea what I'm doing. Usually we don't find out anything about our new companion, but President Cleveland told me she's a visa waiter headed to Australia. And she spent five years in China, so she speaks fluent Mandarin. Kinda crazy that my failings could spread to the people in Australia, eh? So that's kinda daunting, but I'm excited to see Heavenly Father support me in new ways. Pray for me.

And the Mormon world is tiny. Yesterday after sacrament meeting, I stood up, turned around and saw Hayden (Jensen) Hamner. What?! Yeah, that's what I said too. Her husband is starting at IU, so they just moved into the ward. What are the chances somebody from my home stake would move into the ward I'm serving in?! O_o

This past week was excellent, yet a bit discouraging, but that's missionary work, I s'pose. Sometimes it's really hard to keep going, especially when I think about how long I'm going to be doing this without weekends off or vacations, so sometimes I secretly pray to get sick just to have a break from going out to talk to people. However, those feelings usually don't last very long in the morning, and when I start talking to people it gets better.  They need the gospel, and I have it. And I realize the great blessings that are promised for bringing people to Christ, and helping them realize their full potential. And that's exciting.

We had some experiences to remember on Saturday. We were tracting for a little while, when we can across an old man working on a house that he was renting out. The door was open, and he saw us through the screen door. He came out and asked me if I was ready to go to Heaven. I said, "I sure hope so," which probably wasn't quite the right thing to say, considering the tremendous confidence I have in our message. He commenced to preach to us very loudly about Christ, and how we (people in general) need to come unto him to be saved. It lasted for about 20+ minutes and he was so passionate there were tears in his eyes. He didn't let us teach him at all, but it was really great to be with somebody who had such great passion for the reality of God, and a passion for following Christ. At the end he held our hands (very tightly, which I felt was kind of unexpected for a 94 year old man) and prayed for us. It was really sweet.

Right after that, we had an appointment fall through, so we brought a member (Sister W) to try a few potential investigators with us. We ran into a "woman" who was 71 years old and had a lot to say. She talked to us for about a 1/2 hour, and near the end he looked at Sister W's arms and said it looks like she works out. We saw her eyes go to my arms and Sister Howard's arms, and she didn't say anything. She was purdy muscular, but she had kind of cheated. Because she used to be a man. She didn't tell us that, but we knew from another source (and other observational reasons) which makes the whole situation that much more...memorable.

But old people are frustrating. Because they like to talk a lot. And they think they have a lot to offer us. And they do, but it never seems to cross their minds that what we have might be something of greater importance. But that's purdy natural. I'd be the same way if I were old, I'd imagine. But they are really sweet.

That's all I have for today. Thanks Dallin for the letter it made me ridiculously happy! I will write back, but it does take me forever to write letters.

Hope life is wonderful! Well, life is always wonderful, so I hope everybody is seeing it that way...

Live long and prosper,

and look both ways before you cross the street.

Love,

Sister Bowen

Inspiration

One of the things that I knew would be hard about being on a mission is that you don't get a ton of positive feed-back, which is something I've always needed especially when it comes to gospel type stuff. After I give a talk in sacrament meeting, or give a lesson in Relief Society, I always feel super vulnerable until a few people have convinced me that I've done a good job. And that's just not something you get out here. Nobody ever tells you "I really appreciate the way described the spirit world.. I've never thought about it like that before" or "thanks for sharing your testimony with me. It really helped me get through"... That's just not something investigators are ever going to tell you.

But it something I need. The gospel is so personal to me that often times I can't share some points effectively without handing the person a piece of my soul as well. And often they don't realize what's in their hands and throw it away. It doesn't hurt, but it does wear me down.

But sometimes that piece of my soul inspires people. Sometimes our work does do more than I realized. Sometimes we share our knowledge of the reality of the grace offered to us and people let it change them.

And we experienced some of that this past week.

On Monday, we met a man named J. We were in the area to meet somebody else that we had an appointment with, but he didn't show up. We were heading out when a man called for us to come over to see what we had to offer him. The man was probably drunk, but we still began talking and he told us we needed to meet his friend next door. He got him to come out and we had a good gospel discussion. He asked to hear our testimonies before the night was over and we set a time to come back. A quick bio--J is a former Apostolic preacher who was pushed out of his own ministry by his partner earlier in the year.

On Thursday, we went back over to see him again. He'd told us when we'd found him, he'd been in "a back-slidden condition" and not living the way he knew he should be. He said that our testimonies inspired him and that after we left and recommitted himself to God. He said that he wasn't looking to join the Mormon church, but if Spirit testified that it was true, he would drop everything and join. (We really appreciate that attitude, because there are way too many people who are "comfortable" in their religion and are much more likely to listen to their pastor, or whoever (that's being paid for his work) rather than to the spirit) We shared Joseph Smith's account of the first vision with him. He felt the spirit and knew what it was, which was also exciting. We left him with a Book of Mormon and he was really excited about it.

We went back on Saturday, and he'd read all the intro/testimonies, parts of Mosiah, and all of Moroni. He had some good questions and said he wanted to come to church. And he did come to church. We think he had a great experience, but we haven't gotten to talk with him much since. We look forward to see where that goes.

We've been told that there is power in our testimonies, but I'm not sure if I truly believed that before. 

I'm tremendously grateful for a Heavenly Father who does answer our righteous petitions, for the Holy Ghost which does bear testimony of our testimonies, for people who truly desire the spirit to lead their lives rather than let their comfort zones dictate their ability to progress--because there truly is little growth in our comfort zones, and little comfort in our growth zones. It's amazing how we can still feel so much peace when we do have the gravity of souls on our shoulders--the gospel is purdy great like that.

And I apologize that this letter is probably super boring to anybody aside from my Mom, but here is my simple testimony to conclude: I know that we have a loving Father in Heaven. I know that His plan and His laws are for our good AND for our happiness.  I know that, because He loves us, He continues to speak to His children today through a prophet. I know that Joseph Smith did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and that through him the true church and the "dispensation of the fullness of times" (Ephesians 1:10) has been brought to the earth again. And I know that He will prevail, that the scriptures are real, that the work is indeed hastening, and that there will never be a better time than the present for ALL (myself included) to repent--turn toward God--and do their best to be led by the Holy Ghost. And most of all that love is the motor--the power behind the Atonement and the only motivation strong enough for us to do what is required of us. And I close this part of my testimony today in the name of Jesus Christ, in hopes that its power my uplift and inspire individuals to take a step closer to their Heavenly Father, be a little better, and have a little more hope (1 Peter 3:15/Moroni 7:41).

Much love,

Sister Bowen

Leben ist gut

Mission life continues to be awesome, although nothing in particular to report from the past week.

I had been in something of a slump for most of the week: I'd wake up every morning not wanting to be a missionary, but wishing I could be in Provo with Reginald and human friends too. Some of the people we'd run into say something about how they thought it was great that we got to do what we loved doing. I'd think about how that isn't true. There so much that we do that I will never love doing. I will never love knocking on doors to talk to strangers. I will never love making billions of phone calls. I will never love pouring out my soul to people who are so closed off. I will never love trying to teach people who claim to believe in Christ, yet aren't willing to take the smallest of steps to come closer to him.

And it's undeniable--that's a huge part of what we do, and although I will never love doing these things, I will never regret it either.

And there are some parts that I do love. I love the ward members, especially the ward missionaries. I love the people that sincerely do want to change, and are willing to. I love sharing my experiences with people who sincerely appreciate them. I love when people accept our invitations to come closer to Christ and begin to apply the Atonement in their lives. I love learning how the spirit works with me. I love learning how Heavenly Father works with me. I love witnessing the miracles in our lives everyday. And I love seeing direct and consistent answers to my prayers daily.

We got to go on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, and Sister Howard and I both learned a ton. We are excited about the changes we've made in our planning, studying, and goal setting, and they've already had a profound effect on the progress of our investigators.

And there's always the humor of the week. P's been out of town for a good chunk of the week. At one point in the week he called us to tell us he was at Bosley looking into hair transplants...but decided not to go for it 'cause it's too expensive. I wish we could take videos of the people we experience out here...some experience, whether they be humorous or spiritual, are so far beyond words or pictures.

But the work is good, and we're are blessed with a huge teaching pool and an awesome ward. Leben ist gut.

Sister Bowen 

Two Months in Bloomington!

Well, the highlight of this past week, I got to sing the Nevada State Song when we had dinner with the Andersons! Okay, actually that wasn't the highlight, but it was a great adventure. There's something about ridiculously singing a song with two other people while their 4 kids, two visitors, and your companion are just laughing because they don't appreciate the majesty of the great state of Nevada. I hope I'm still in the ward for Nevada Day, although that might get a little out of control ;)

The real highlight was, of course, P's baptism!! He was sooo happy! He lined up the entire program, complete with The Star Spangled Banner as the closing hymn. He had requested Sister C (this wonderful lady who's a professional opera singer) to sing Amazing Grace. Her son accompanied her on his guitar, and they really did a fabulous job. Brother M, Brother M, and Bishop F gave really great talks. And there was much rejoicing.

Other good moments of the week included reconnecting with a couple former investigators who seem very interested in the gospel, and finding M. We tracted into her. She was in the last house on the street that we almost skipped because it didn't look like anybody was home. We asked her if she was interested in family history. And she was! So we set an appointment with her to work on family history. Before we left, we asked her if she knew anybody who would like a message about Christ. She said, "me!" And then we met with her later and taught the whole Plan of Salvation. And she loved it! She might just be "golden" ;)

P at his baptism. And Brother T who baptized him. P is pretending to put his arms around us 'cause he's not allowed to for real ;)

Sister Howard, Sister Saunders, and me at transfers before we said good-bye.

Missionary work continues to be terrifying and wonderful. And I think I get better every week. And I've been in Bloomington for exactly two months today!  

All is well! Kinda funny how that phrase was used in a time of intense trial huh...I think I'm beginning to understand more fully how that works ;)

Love,

Sister Allie Bowen