Thousands of Crows

Time is short today, so I'll be brief. Today is a partial preparation day, so we'll doing missionary things this afternoon/evening, and then on thanksgiving, we'll do our two hours of study, and our three hour planning session, and be left to finish our preparations and do other Thanksgiving type things.

 

We had several wonderful lessons this past week. President Cleveland has instructed us to try to have lessons with investigators in members homes. It's been extremely productive to people's progression. So, that's always really nice and exciting.

 

J's being goofy again. He stopped reading the Book of Mormon, and started going back to a church that he used to preach at. Several weeks ago we'd suggested that if he writes down all the times he's received a distinct spiritual "prick" (as he calls them), and then the way Heavenly Father wants him to go might be more clear. When we saw him on Saturday, we asked about the list and he said that he hadn't felt anything like that in a while. "The last time was...when I was reading the Book of Mormon." We told him sincerely that we want to help him on his spiritual journey to discover what God would have him do. We read scriptures about the Liahona...and they describe his situation perfectly. It's so obvious to us (not that we're biased or anything) what God would have him do. But he'll come around sometime. 

 

And L is funny as well. He'll bike several miles to meet with us...but he won't come to church. But it's tricky 'cause of work. He'll come around too. We hope :)

On Tuesday, we were in the car before a lesson, and there were thousands of crows flying around everywhere! I've never seen anything like it in my life! And they pooped all over our car that we'd washed the day before. It was super eerie.

 

And another story. We're really encouraged to do role-plays as part of our companion study, but it's usually really hard to get motivated to do that. We role-played talking to R about his weird method of finding answers. It wasTuesday, and R's lesson wasn't 'til Friday, but I felt like we should go over it anyway. The role-play was really good. I asked R/Sister Tolman if she trusted the internet or her brothers more than she trusted God, and some other inspired things. Right after we finished the role-play, R called to cancel his appointment, but we were prepared with what to say to him. The spirit's purdy cool like that. And role-plays might be cool, too. I haven't made up my mind about that.

 

Because our ward is close to a University, there's a lot of young couples who leave to go be with family over the holidays. So I taught Gospel Principles, and Sister Tolman and I taught Relief Society yesterday. Both of which we were asked to do yesterday. It was fun. I like being able to talk about the gospel with people who already know it.

 

Along those lines, however, nobody wants to meet with us this next week, because of Thanksgiving. So we'll probably wander the streets ('cause we're without a car again) looking for people to talk to and service to do. It'll be a grand adventure :)

 

Hope everybody has a happy Thanksgiving :D

 

Love,

 

Sister Bowen 

A Litte Wind Can't Stop Us!

Well, I've survived transfers once again. I will be in Bloomington 'til the end of the year! Which is great for a multitude of reasons. 

1.) I love the ward (they're probably tired of me, though) 

2.) I love Sister Tolman--she's a great missionary and is like the first person ever who seems to really appreciate that I have a lot of thought behind the things I say (most of the time). She is also much more people friendly than I am, which makes me feel like a terrible person 'cause going around hugging everybody is something that is not part of my nature, but it's definitely a great addition to the effectiveness of our companionship. You win some, you lose some...but mostly win. She's wonderful. 

3.) I love the people that we're teaching, although I do get tired of constantly thinking about how to solve their problems.

 4.) We just met a handful of really cool new/potential investigators, who would be a pleasure to teach.

B and R (pronounced R) are my favorite new people. We met R on Tuesday. We talked for awhile outside, and then she let us in so we could tell her about where she came from and why she's here. Her husband B came home. His spiritual side is very "personal" to him, so she/we didn't expect him to join us. But he couldn't stay away--he tried, it was kinda funny.

They both served in the military--he for 30 years. He explained to us that when you're assigned to learn Arabic on a 20 hour flight, and then dumped into a war-zone with 350 infantryman whose lives you're responsible for, there is only one God, and it doesn't matter how you make it back to him.

He talked about the terrible things he had to do, and a little about guilt that plagues him every day. We talked about how the Atonement can and does relieve feelings of guilt. He's having a hard time believing us. And that's understandable--we are young gals, who know nothing of the world--but if we know anything, it's that the power of the Atonement is real.

We had to run at the end of the lesson 'cause we were cuttin' it really close with curfew, but he really wanted a Book of Mormon. She followed us out to the car so he could get one. We're excited for him and R, who also has a great interest in such things.

In other news, J is still doing well. The A family invited him to dinner with us. We had to leave after a short lesson, but they had him over for another 1 1/2 hours. He asked about home-teaching, so he is now going home teaching with Brother A. He asked him to prepare a 2-3 minute thought about faith. I wonder if he realized how much of a preacher J still is, and that he'll never be able to stop there.

There was also a great tornado adventure yesterday. I've never seen winds quite like it. I'm not quite sure if the tornado ever actually formed, but the sirens were going off, and some tree branches fell. Huzzah for being cut off from the news. On that note, sometimes people ask us why we're not allowed to read the newspaper as missionaries. I dunno about everybody else, but we're far to busy too! It's purdy fantastic stuff we get to do. and time sure does fly. Friday will be 6 months since I went into the MTC O_o

And I remembered picture stuff.

A surprising successful selfie after District meeting: Elder Brown, Elder Zeyer, Elder Rasmussen, and Sister Me.

 

Here's our district: Me, Sister Tolman, Elder Rasmussen, Elder Brown, Sister Fullmer, Sister Astle, Elder Zeyer, and Elder Esplin

 

Elder Rasmussen, Elder Brown, Sister Me, Sister Tolman, Sister Fullmer, Sister Astle, Elder Zeyer, and Elder Esplin

Crystal Meth and the Bird

Greetings!

 

Nothin' new to report really, other than it's been an uncharacteristic uneventful week. Weird.

 

Oh, except for the crystal meth and the bird. 

Saturday was going to be a finding day, 'cause we didn't have any set appointments. We'd made a list of former investigators to stalk, potentials to stop by, and streets to tract. In the morning I felt like maybe we should go see J. We'd already had lessons with him Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday though, so I kinda fought the idea for a while, especially 'cause I was thinkin' that I only wanted to see him, because it's nice seeing people who like to talk to you rather than looking for people who will--but we really need to be finding new people. But eventually I caved. And it was a good thing I did.

 

We knocked on his door, and a girl (I'm assuming his sister) opened the door. We asked for J, and we heard him call "just a minute!" So we waited outside. We wandered a few feet away to look at the stairs that lead to apartments right above his. There was stuff that looked like rock salt all over them. Buuut my companion knows more than I do and recognized it to be crystal meth. The things you learn on a mission.

 

Then we heard screams from J's apartment and one of his other sisters ran out. There was a bird that somehow got in their apartment, and they couldn't get it out. Eventually it flew out, J came out, and things settled down. J was really sad 'cause he's got an addiction problem (not to crystal meth) that makes him feel like a terrible person. He said really need to talk to somebody about the Lord today, and that he had been planning on talking to his pastor from before, but was glad we had come instead. And we were glad too. Pastors don't seem to like Mormons generally. Yet people seem to trust them more than they trust Heavenly Father. Weird. 

 

And then J came to church the next day and got some of his questions/concerns resolved. Revelation through church attendance for the win. J's fantastic. And so is Heavenly Father.

 

Also we had interviews with President Cleveland on Tuesday. Every time he sees me he tells me that I've been in my area too long, and that we'll have to get me out of there. Buuut then he told me that I would be finishing Sister Tolman's training there, but then I would need to leave. So I should be in Bloomington until New Years. But by next week I'll know if that's really what will happen.

 

The rest of the day, we did splits with the IU sisters, 'cause SIster Allen was sick. That was probably my fault because I asked her the week before if she ever had to take a sick day before. She hadn't until Tuesday--and she's only got like 3 months left. Oops.

 

That's all for this time!

 

Much love,

 

Sister Bowen

What is Normal Anyway?

Greetings world!

So good things never last--excect all things Gospel. We got a call Wednesday morning from President Cleveland. He said there was sister up north who was really struggling. So they were giving me her companion the next day. The 3 of us were SOO sad!

So I'm back in a normal companionship. My companion is Sister Tolman. She is from Brigham City, Utah, and she has been on a mission for about a month now. She is 23 and graduated from Utah State in Music and Broadcasting, or somethin' like that. Needless to say, she is a wonderful singer and piano player. But most importantly, she is ready and excited to get to work. Things were a struggle for her first 3 weeks,. But she is excited to be here, and I am excited to have her as my companion. Many of her strengths are my weaknesses, so we should be a good mix, I hope.

And this transfer has been crazy. In the past 3 weeks I've had 4 different official companions (Sisters Goldrup, Allen, Clark, and Tolman), taught lessons with 11 different sisters (Sisters Fullmer, Astle, Hansen, Knight, Niemann, Hales, and McKendrick + plus companions), and moved 3 times. The rest of my mission will seem so mellow now.

J's doing fantastic. We had a lesson with him on Tuesday, he came to a ward chili cook-off/Halloween party on Wednesday, a baptism on Saturday (for (another) J, an awesome kid the IU sisters were teaching, that I got to know), church and a lesson on Sunday. The spirit is melting away all his doctrinal concerns. It's cool--we'd been talking about sealing/eternal marriage/temples, which is something he wasn't sure about because of Matthew 22, but then he stopped talking for a sec, and a verse from Genesis came to his mind that instantly resolved his concern. So cool! We had a lesson scheduled for him on Thursday at the Bishop's house, but he couldn't wait that long. So we scheduled another lesson at the Elders Quorum President's home for Tuesday. J is so excited. And so funny. He'll ask about who would be allowed to baptize him, and if Sister Howard would be able to come to his baptism. He asks if he would be able to serve a mission, and how soon he could go to the temple. What an all-star.

There is so much power in doctrine. And so much truth in doctrine. and so much spirit in truth. And I've been learning that the spirit does testify of specific things--we've got to pay attention to what's being said, or what we're thinking about when we feel an increase in the spirit. If Heavenly Father loves us (which he does) He would not leave us directionless. He would, however, guide us with commandments, laws, promises, and the spirit, to find happiness, to find success (even in matters that don't seem "spiritual") to find our way back to Him. I love in Alma 34 when Amulek talks about prayer. Cry unto the Lord over your crops--yes, He cares about your corn, because you care about your corn.

I have been learning that Heavenly Father always loves us. Every trial has a purpose. He gives us His spirit to prompt us for our good, and the good of others. I've been realizing how often He gives us all divine guidance/inspiration, and how often we all dismiss it--like hitting the snooze button while we're only semi-conscious. Wouldn't it be something if we all decided to cling to those promptings--those seemingly random ideas that we can't always see a purpose to--and just do them? Or just do one. And work from there. There would be many more miracles. And we would be the instruments through which he works them. That's purdy cool.

And here's a challenge for all: be converted to the Lord and Savior rather than to our denominations. There would be more love, more service, and strangely enough, more Mormons--the sincere kind, not the I'm-a-Mormon-because-I-know-it's-true-but-you-wouldn't-know-by-the-way-I-live kind. And revelation through prayer is real. Ask Heavenly Father. If the Book of Mormon is true, he'd want you to know, because the implications and blessings are tremendous.

That's all

Love,

Sister Bowen

Us at the IU Institute building with Sister McClellen

us having the craziest planning session ever just before Sister Goldrup left