Humilty . . . . oh and Transferred!

Well, it's finally happening. I'm leaving the Clear Creek ward O_o People joke a lot about how long I've been here, so it's weird that I'm leaving. It's weird because my trainee has technically been in more areas than I have. 

We usually get the call Sunday night about whether we're staying or going, but they started late, and we didn't get called 'til early this morning. I had dreams about it. So Sister Tolman will be staying and training a new missionary. And I will be a Sister Training Leader--which is kinda like a zone leader for sisters. Because I've been here so long, the missionaries are joking that I'll get sent to IU campus, which is still in Bloomington. I kinda hope that it really happens. So, I'll either be there, Purdue, Indy, Logansport (Rochester), or Carmel, I think.

In other news, M got baptized on Saturday! He's so wonderful. In sacrament meeting he played "Silent Night" on the piano. Way to go 13-year old basketball stars that can play the piano!

In district meeting on Friday, I got to do a training on Humility. As a mission, we've been focusing a lot on Christlike Attributes. And I've been thinking a lot about complacency in the Gospel and as a missionary. These are some of my thoughts that I shared in my training: Humility is an attribute of power. Christ was powerful because He was humble. Because His will was swallowed up by the will of the Father, He did what God would've done had he been in the flesh. Similarly, if we do what God would have us do, we can be much more powerful than we could be on our own.

How do we know what He'd have us do? He's given us commandments, and leaders that are inspired by revelation. Obey them. Obey the personal revelation you receive. Our sole task in life is to keep the commandments and apply the Atonement when we mess up (redeeming power), and to help us keep them better (enabling power).  We are promised that if we come unto Christ, He will show unto us our weaknesses (Ether 12:27) If we can't think of anything we can do better, then we are not coming unto Christ. My purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ, but I cannot do that successfully, if I'm not coming unto Him myself.

As a missionary, I have a more comprehensive list of commandments and counsel than normal people. When I regularly and earnestly repent for the things I do not do as well as I should, or for neglecting the rules I know I should keep, then I am enabled to do better. What an awesome process He's given us. The same way we've been given to cleanse ourselves because of our weaknesses (inability to keep commandments) is the same process which enables us to become more like Him--faith, repentance, baptism/sacrament, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and doing all over and over again. And it all starts with being humble enough to accept His ways and thoughts as higher than our own, and reflecting that acceptance in our actions. Keep the commandments. Live the standards and counsel that we are given from scripture and leaders that have been ordained by God. (For missionaries, this includes "Preach My Gospel" and the white handbook)

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas :) I sure did

And here's some pictures :)

Saying good-bye to P. He's too funny.

A district picture: It's not bad considering it was sitting on the stage on a timer: Elder Esplin, Elder Zeyer, Elder Brown, Elder Rasmussen, me, Sister Tolman, Sister Astle, and Sister Jones. We've got a great district.

And me with the Andersons. I sure do love them :)

Our district "touching all the lines"

and Elder Rasmussen "touching all the lines" 

Love,

Sister Bowen

Christmas and Meekness

Merry Christmas!

I don't have a ton of time today, which is fitting I s'pose, 'cause I don't really have a lot to say.

Other than I've been learning about Jesus, and about meekness. I was thinking of how he was the ultimate example of meekness, and how there was no pride or entitlement in his character. Elder Bednar tells a story of a woman who's actions demonstrate such character. I don't remember the story as well as I'd like to, but the gist is that this woman, who was serving as a Relief Society President in her ward, had a daughter that got in a nasty car accident with two of her friends. Her daughter died, but the other two survived. This woman took care of everything though. She helped the families of the other girls. The day of her daughters funeral, there was a woman in the ward (who had no knowledge of the situation) complaining because she was sick, and nobody had visited her or anything. On the way to the funeral, this woman dropped food off for this other lady. At the funeral she apologized to Elder Bednar (who she had called on to identify the girls at the hospital) for having to see her daughter in that way. In essence, she, and Christ turned outward, when most of us would have turned inward. Unfortunately I don't remember the story well enough to describe the other wonderful things she did and her incredible dignity and selflessness, but I hope the spirit of her actions is still apparent.  That is meekness.

I've been thinking also about how there is a lot of talk within the church's youth about being a "chosen generation." That is the attitude that a lot of young missionaries have. But they are remembering that you have to do things to be chosen. Kinda like how John that Baptist told the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were descendants of Abraham, that God could raise children to Abraham from the stones of the river bank. We need to deserve to be chosen. Like D&C 121:34-35 talk about.

That's all I've got time for,

Happy Christmas!

Love,

Sister Bowen

You Can't Take "The Muppet Christmas Carol" Out of the Missionary

Christmas time is magical. Last night we had a stake Christmas concert. We are spoiled because IU has a great music program. There was a marimba medley, organ magic, Spanish carols, and many great solo and choir numbers. So fantastic. Yesterday was also the Christmas program in sacrament meeting, because a lot of the ward will probably be gone. And that was fantastic, as well. There is just so much talent in the ward, and it's a wonderful way for people to use their talents in such a way to catalyze the presence of the spirit.

Progress of investigators is difficult over the holidays, but we're doing what we can. We did have a great lesson with J. We've been meeting with her on and off since July. And she used to be a member, but then had her name removed. So she's always been back and forth, but her desires are good. She's almost 70, she's had a terrible life, and she has mental problems. She just wants to be happy. It's just really hard to try to help people to change their mindsets--you have to do the things that make you happy to be happy. And Heavenly Father has told us what we need to do.

She believes what we tell her when we're there, but forgets when we leave. For example, we talked to her about faith and experimenting on the word to try to get her to come to church. (She plans on going once the time changes from 9 am to 1 pm, but we'd really like her to go sooner to see if she's serious about getting baptized again). Sister F, who is the wonderful Bishop's wonderful wife, talked about how 9 am church is hard for her, because she has 5 kids (10 and under) that she has to get ready for church, but she is blessed for going. We asked Jane if she thought that was true. She said, "Well yeah! I don't think she would lie!"  So she agreed to come to church. But then she called us Saturday to tell us that she didn't want to go anymore because it was icy, and she might fall and break her leg, and then have to live in a nursing home.

I wanted to tell her to imagine the dedication to Heavenly Father that would demonstrate, but then she would probably go on about this church that wanted her to break her leg for the Lord. Oh, teaching people with mental problems. In the past she threatened to take legal action against us if we come to her apartment again. She thought we were going to force her to pay tithing. But we do love her.

We also got to visit a lady who has been less active for a long time. I've never seen somebody so genuinely annoyed to see us on their door-step. She said things like "I've got to talk to the bishop, because these visitations have to stop." But then she invited us in. We shared a message about Christ, and the spirit came in. She apologized for being how she was at first, and said she was glad she let us in.

The spirit softens hearts.

We also went to see J. We hadn't seen him for about 2 weeks. He said he was really content where he was. I didn't know what to say. I prayed to know how to help him. We asked him about his studies. He talked about studying firm foundations, and how sometimes we build wrong and have to start over, and how that can be very painful because we get so comfortable where we were. At the very end, we asked what had changed from when he was so excited about the Book of Mormon and God's pure theology. He said he didn't really know. Just that he wanted to go back to his roots. I said, "well, we've all got a lot to think about in regards to building firm foundations" And then we left. We'll see where his ponderings took him.

The spirit brings to mind what we need to say.

Yesterday, we were leaving a neighborhood when we felt like we should go back to see a lady who lives there. We turned around and went back. We told her we missed her at church that day. She said she didn't know if she'd ever be back. We sat and just listened to her talk about her problems (which are numerous) We had nothing to say, but had a lot of thoughts. About how the gospel isn't just for fair weather, but it's especially for those stormy times. At the end, she said "I should probably start reading again." It's amazing how those simple things really do make a big difference. "I'll read again tonight"

The spirit directs us physically and spiritually.

And here's a Christmas thought. We got to teach an Asian student on campus. He asked us why Christ is called a lamb all the time. We explained the creditor and the debtor, and how a 3rd party that was completely innocent was needed. He asked why anybody would do that--take upon himself something like that when it wasn't even his fault. We were quiet for a second. "Love"

"It's true wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas"

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Sister Bowen

Share Your Cookies!

So much snow!! It dumped all day Friday. And all our appointments canceled. We were at a bit of a loss for what to do, because it really wasn't safe to drive around a ton. So we were able to shovel a driveway and be helpful. So that was good.

We had some really wonderful lessons too. We got to teach D. He'd been taught the restoration over two years ago, so we've been reviewing it. I always love recounting the first vision, because the spirit always testifies. Which is a great tool for helping people to recognize the spirit.

This is our zone! Last transfer we doubled the number of zones in the mission, so it's a lot smaller than it used to be.

Back row: Elders Zeyer, Hallstrom, Syrett, Loveless, Clifton, Brown, Rasmussen, Draper, Greenburg, Park, Lawrence, Litster, Smith, Clapier, Anderson, Anderson, Esplin, and Adams

Front row: Sister Astle's chair, Sisters Jones, Bowen, Tolman, McKendrick, and Allen

I've been thinking about how logical the gospel is. I always do, actually, but here's a few thoughts.

There is natural cause and effect. We get blessings for keeping the commandments, and don't receive those blessings for not keeping the commandments. For a lot of commandments, it's true regardless of whether God exists or not: for example, if you keep the law of Chastity, you are significantly more likely to sidestep negative consequences like STDs, child support, parenthood tests, unwanted pregnancy/abortion, and have a more secure family situation (which leads to innumerable positive effects for individuals and society.) On the other hand there are commandments that are only logical if there is a God, like tithing. If there is no God, than there would be no good reason to give money to a church, especially when in financial straits. But that's where experimentation comes in. We pay tithing and look for the blessings. If we receive blessings, there is probably a God.

But they say that science and religion are aiming for the same thing, but religion gets there faster.

People tend to treat their denominations like political parties. "Nobody agrees with everything in their religion." But we do. We all have exactly the same testimony. We all know God lives and loves us. We all know that Jesus provided the way back to Him. We all know Joseph Smith was the prophet called to bring in the dispensation of the fulness of times. But we all know because we've learned for ourselves. Not because our parents told us, or because our pastor told us. It's always scary when people trust their parents, pastor or preacher more than they trust God.

And things are wonderful here. we've got a lot of people to teach, a lot of snow to trudge through (no car this week O_o), a lot of character to build, a lot of souls to save, and a lot of blessings to go around.

Merriest of Christmas to all! Give the gift of eternal life and eternal families: share the gospel. And cookies--share those too.

Love,

Sister Bowen

Wonderful in a Different Way

Hello World!

 

Thanksgiving was wonderful, but the rest of the week was...less wonderful. Or maybe just wonderful in a different way.

 

Nobody wanted to meet with us, so we went into the week with only one set appointment that fell through. So that was a little depressing.. Not to mention we didn't have a car, and we were wandering around on days were it didn't get above 32º. But life goes on, and so do missionaries.

 

For Thanksgiving, we visited one of our ward members who's been struggling a little bit. So we made a dessert to share with her. Then we went to the A's house. We played Ping-Pong, and feasted. It was fantastic, and just the mental break we needed.

 

On Saturday, we spent the day wandering around the far side of town from where we live, and were able to reconnect with some former and some sort-of investigators, who we were able to set appointments with this week. So that was awesome.

 

We visited J too. He's being a little ridiculous. He didn't read what he said he'd read, and asked us to tell Brother M (the member who offered him the challenge, and is doing it with him) that he wouldn't be able to keep his promise to read the Book of Mormon by Christmas. We're thinkin' he should probably tell him, himself. But things will be good. He'll come around again, sometime. In the meantime, we've got a good handful of other people to teach. I'll probably talk more about them some other time. :)

 

We'd been worried about P for a while. He was still meeting with us, but had only been to church once in the past seven weeks. He doesn't really process much of what we say, we really need to rely on the spirit for him to "get" things. We'd tried telling him plainly. We tried teaching about Sabbath Day observance and taking the sacrament. But this time we talked about baptism and renewing those promises we make through baptism. And then he got it. He said he never knew he was supposed to go every week, but he now understood that he needed to for taking the sacrament. So that was good. He came to church yesterday. :D

 

Also, I come home exactly a year from today, I believe. So to celebrate, I'm wearing a skirt as a dress. Is that weird? I meant to send a picture, but I didn't take one...but I look good.

 

That's all for today, but I hope everybody had a lovely Thanksgiving, and happiest of holidays to all :)

 

Love,

 

Sister Bowen

 

PS. In honor of Thanksgiving, y'all should show your gratitude for our Savior, by allowing him to Atone for more of Heavenly Father's children, that they too may return to live with Him and engage more actively in the work of salvation within their lifetime. Share the gospel, eh?