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-
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
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