Final Mission Post!

Well. I'll be home tomorrow. So I s'pose this is my final mission post. Kinda crazy.

We had a good week. We invited T's daughter to be baptized on Dec 13th along with her mom. She seemed a little hesitant, and then said, "Could we do it sooner?" I think that's the only time we've said no--'cause we've got too much to teach before then!

Thanksgiving was wonderful. People in Columbus are brilliant. In addition to the turkey bowl, they also had a good soccer game going on. It was so nice to play again! After that, we went over to a member's house for feasting and games. Then we went home and watched "17 Miracles." We ended the night by playing Volleyball with the elders.

Well...I didn't bring my planner with me today, so I don't remember what else happened this week.

I was reflecting a little bit yesterday on the things I've learned on my mission. Here's some thoughts:

Prayer: If we are communicating--really communicating--with our Father in Heaven, including expressing gratitude, accounting to Him, and seeking His guidance, we will not go astray (as long as we act according to that guidance)

Scripture study: The word of God truly is the Iron Rod. As we wedge in the time to study the scriptures in our busy lives, it is reflective of our priorities, and helps us change accordingly. It improves our clarity, focus, and family life.

Church attendance: There is nothing greater we can do to decrease the disparity between what we know and what we do, than to take the sacrament sincerely every week.

These are things I knew to be true before my mission--but I know them much better now after seeing the differences they have made in the lives of others, as well as in my own life.

Throughout the Book of Mormon, the phrase, "inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments, ye shall prosper in the land" pops up all over the place. I learned that to be true, too. When I was doing my best to do what I was supposed to be doing, we had success and miracles. When I didn't do my best, we didn't have success or miracles. Obedience is real.

That is all for today. I am so grateful I came on a mission. My thoughts are probably best expressed throughout Alma 26:

"I do not boast in my own strength nor in my own widsom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God."

"I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things."

"I cannot say the smallest part which I feel. Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful"

"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: God...and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

"And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul."

"God is mindful of every people"

Okay. That's it for real.

Much love,

Sister Bowen

Adventures and Miracles

It's been another week of adventures here in Columbus.

The adventures began shortly after I emailed last week. We went to wash our car. One of the ladies working there stopped to talk to us. She has some family members that are Mormon, and asked if she could meet with us to learn more. We'd never used that car wash before. Inspiration? Definitely.

Other adventures of the week include teaching N the 10 commandments. The lesson itself was not particularly exciting--like most folks, he's purdy familiar with the 10 commandments. The exciting part is that we talked while he was removing the skin from the deer he'd shot the night before. The deer was hanging from a tree by it's ankles. Also exciting is that N went his first full day without smoking :D

'Nother miracle was on Friday. There was a blood-drive at the church, so a  handful of the missionaries went over to donate. I was also planning to. They checked my left arm: "Did you remember to bring your veins today?" They checked my right arm. And then my left. And then settled for my right. My phlebotomist said, "I dunno about this, but I can try". I told the Sister Carpenter and Elder Broadhead to pray. And she got it right in--probably the most successful, pleasant experience I've ever had donating blood. Small miracles.

Another miracle: We were teaching T (who is getting baptized next month) about the Word of Wisdom. She's all good to go, 'cause it turns out she stopped smoking the day she met us, three weeks ago. Purdy crazy!

We also taught a lady named T. She doesn't really believe in God, but is looking for happiness in her life. She'd noticed that her religious friends seemed to be happier, so she wants to look into it. Two weeks ago we'd taught her about prayer. We checked back with her last night. She'd prayed once, but said it felt a little weird. "Usually I don't intentionally talk to myself" :) We invited her to say the prayer for the close of our lesson, and she did! It's a cool thing to help people begin to communicate with their Heavenly Father. 

Elder Dunnigan, an area seventy, came to our sacrament meeting yesterday--so that was kinda cool, too.

On Saturday, I got to go to the temple! There is a wonderful family in our ward that took me and Sister Shaw, who is serving in the North Vernon ward. Sister Roundy (my MTC companion) was also there, as well as a couple from the Clear Creek ward--so it was really good to see all of them :)

Pictures!

N's buck from last year--that's the contraption he was hanging his new dear from O_o

Our grossly awkward district picture

~Elders Halverson, Shirley, Ercek, Mathias, Sisters Shaw, Odermott, Carpenter, and me 

Bed Bugs are on Satan's Team

Well this week was not as adventurous as in weeks past, but we did have some good moments.

We got to share the message of the restoration with a wonderful man named R.. He is a friend of one of the ladies in the ward, and she invited us to come teach him. You can tell by the way he lives and the way he works (he is a therapist) that he is close to the Savior, and committed to following Him. He was very excited about what we shared. Our message went along with things that he's thought for years. He said that he will read the Book of Mormon, and he will pray about it...and we are confident that will come around. After all, everybody who reads it and prays about it with real intent does.

We also had interviews with President Cleveland. He told me, "Sister Bowen, I have a new word to describe you. I got it from your mom: sassy." So mom, I'm sorry if you felt the need to apologize for my behavior. I'll try to be better O_o.

There's a sweet older lady we've started to work with a bit--her name is B. We came by to see her at the scheduled time, but she couldn't let us in 'cause she has bed bugs :( and she was super sad 'cause she was super excited to meet with us--but we'll be back in a few weeks. I'm convinced bed bugs are on Satan's team. Jerks. But no unhallowed hand nor bug can stop the work from progressing. I just shared this instance 'cause it's kinda how the week went--although there weren't any more bedbugs...as far as we know.

We had zone training. It is tradition at the end of zone training for all the departing missionaries to share their testimony. That was kinda weird, 'cause I don't feel like I'm leaving soon. But I've only got a few more days than my companion has months left O_o

The lady who came to church last week with her kids is now preparing for baptism in the middle of December--so that's purdy exciting as well :D

Also we had stake conference this weekend. The messages shared were fantastic. I also go to see a handful of people from Franklin, which was cool. The Saturday evening session about "Hastening the work of salvation" was geared toward family history. The mission is having us (missionaries) work on family history for two hours a week so that we can be ready to be useful so we will that be comfortable with the family history websites when the mission gets iPads in January. 

That's all I've got for this week. I hope everybody is doing fantastically.

Much love,

Sister Bowen

Pictures :D

~Elder Mathias really liked my horrible sweatshirt (an old lady in Bloomington gave it to me. She said it was "beautiful")

~Some of my mission "posterity" Sister Castillo (my great-granddaughter) and Sister Goodstein (my granddaughter)

Mostly

Hello team.

It's been a good week here in Columbus. We got to meet with a lady named R, who we met our first week here. She from India, which turns out, is a little different than Indiana. She was raised Hindi, but is "open to new ideas." We compared our idea about God. She really liked the idea of a loving Heavenly Father. We showed her the Mormon Message "Heavenly Father, Earthly Father" and she said she was going to share it with her husband 'cause he'd really like it. We're excited to see where that goes.

We stopped by the home of a man the elders had been teaching, and met his wife, T, who they had said was not at all interested. We talked to her for a little while. She expressed that she had not really been raised in church, and didn't really know whether or not God was real. She had three little kids, and is extremely frustrated with her husband--we could tell she was frustrated with her life. We talked about how our life is what it is--we are not free to choose consequences to our choices or even the choices of others. Our message--Heavenly Father's message--teaches us how to find happiness with the way life is, and how to make decisions that are going to make us happy. She agreed to meet again. When we went back we talked about God and about prayer. We asked if she'd ever prayed before. She said, "Well, I sorta said amen at the end of the prayer you just said." But she is going to try praying this week. That was purdy cool.

We also taught a lady named T. We taught her the whole Plan of Salvation. And she came to church yesterday (which was particularly impressive, 'cause she lives about 1/2 hour away, it's at 8 am, and she had her three kids with her.) She (and her kids) really enjoyed it.

A slightly crazy man that we've been working with, who was told in a vision that he should be Mormon came to church as well.

We also had exchanges in Franklin this past week. That was exciting 'cause I got to see a handful of people from before :) I went with Sister Goodstein, who is my "grand-daughter" who was also "born" in Clear Creek. She is quite literally following in my footsteps O_o

This is an excerpt from my letter to President Cleveland which summarizes some of what I've been thinking about lately:

"I feel like this phase of my mission must be something like what it feels like to be near the end of one's life. For one--my "mission mortality" seems so much more real than ever before. Second, nobody cares much about my personal progression anymore: nobody cares if I become a better teacher, leader, or whatever else. Third, I feel like I have a significant pool of experience and knowledge that I've gained through my experience and study that could be of great benefit to those around me and similarly--nobody cares. Fourth, I'm grumpy, prideful, unwilling to learn from those with less "experience" and unchangeable in my ways. Just joking about that last one. Mostly. 

But it has given me a new perspective on what it really means to endure to the end. Because--for perhaps the first time in my life--nobody cares if I continue to learn and develop, I have to take greater responsibility for that part of my life. The only way I can find success in the last few weeks of my mission is if I continue coming unto Christ; or simply repent, change, and do better, He will show me what I can work on and allow me to be better. I'll have to remember this in a few decades."

And some good news from Lebanon: M--who has not been baptized yet because her husband had not wanted her to be--is getting baptized on the 29th and her husband "wouldn't miss it for the world."

I hope e'rybody has a most excellent week

Sister Bowen

Heavenly Father's Favorite Missionaries!

This area is indeed a challenge, but we're Heavenly Father's favorite missionaries, so that makes things easier ;)

The guy who was going to make squirrel for us (N) is now preparing to be baptized at the end of the month. He had a great time at church yesterday, and seems to just love everything he's been learning.

I don't have a lot to say about this past week--things just seemed to line up well. People kept their appointments for the most part, and we were able to meet most of the people the elders had been teaching. Things are looking good.

Just about everybody we meet out here is exceptionally nice. Even if they aren't particularly interested they will wish us luck and be very polite. What a great bonus that is!

The ward here is purdy great--it's just so big, that I'll probably never even meet everybody O_o

I apologize that this probably isn't the most interesting email ever, but that's okay 'cause e'rybody probably has better things to do than read this anyway ;)

A final thought: I've been thinking about how people don't use prayer as a source of revelation often enough. Sometimes people will encounter a principle, commandment, or fact that they don't agree with. Instead of asking God about it, they just run the other way. What a sad thing--to limit God to our personal understanding. 

I was thinking about how Lehi had the vision with the tree of life (1 Nephi 8), and Nephi didn't really get it. So he asked to understand it, and it was explained to him (1 Nephi 11.) Later, his brothers are having a dispute about what it could mean, and tell Nephi that they received no such clarification. He responds simply: "Have ye inquired of the Lord?" (1 Nephi 15:8) 

This is something I feel like I've gotten to experience. The first half of my mission I didn't really understand (or really like) the way we have been taught to do missionary work (in regards to key indicators and reporting numbers 'n stuff.) Several months ago, I began to pray to understand the vision--and that clarity was granted! 

Moral of the story: Ask God for clarification. James 1:5. Nephi did, and it helped us understand one of the most important principles to guide us in our lives. Joseph Smith did, and it changed the world. I did, and it significantly improved my mission. Knowledge is power, and is something God will help us attain, especially if we ask.

I hope everybody has a fantastic week.

Love,

Sister Bowen

Last Area!

Hello World!

I am now in Columbus, Indiana, serving in the 4th ward. And the ward is huge. I dunno if I'll be able to meet everybody in just 6 weeks O_o We are the first sisters ever to serve in the 4th ward, but that's not as big of a deal as it was in Lebanon, 'cause the ward was just formed at the beginning of this year. Columbus is just south of Franklin, so that's kinda cool, 'cause I've met some of the people here before. Bishop Shoaf served his mission in Nevada, and his last area was Minden/Gardnerville, so that's kinda exciting, too.

Yesterday we had the craziest day. First we went to church (at 8:00 am 'cause 4 wards meet in the building). Then after studies and lunch we headed out for the day. We stopped in on a part member couple. They were super nice--she was raised Amish, which was interesting. They aren't super interested in coming back to church but they love when the missionaries come by.

Then we went to drop off a Bible for somebody who'd requested one on Mormon.org. We taught most of the family about the Restoration right there. We'll be seeing them again later this week.

Then we met a lady that the previous elders had been teaching. They'd been teaching her for months, but told us she wasn't super interested 'cause she loves her church--but she agreed to go on a church tour this evening. We'll see where that goes.

Then we walked to the other end of the street where another investigator lives. We caught him outside skinning the squirrel he was about to have for dinner. He's going to cook up some squirrel for us when we come back tomorrow O_o

Aaaand then that evening, we stopped in on a family that the elders had been teaching. They had never met the father 'cause he was off being a sniper for the UN, or somethin'. We didn't really believe that was true. But when went by, they welcomed us in, and he was home too! She was raised in a Mormon community in Mexico, where she went to seminary and everything. And he was super cool. The way he looks and carries himself reminded us of Captain VonTrapp. We asked him about his occupation, and he said he works for the UN for personal security. One of his daughters was asking about what a spirit is, and talked a little about how when people die, there's like a kinda snapping noise when their spirits leave their bodies--something he's witnessed many times O_o The two daughters are very interested in learning more, and the parents seem pretty interested as well. We'll be taking them on a church tour this evening as well :)

The rest of the week was also adventurous, but in other ways.

Monday, we celebrated preparation day in Fishers, 'cause we had to take Sister Hansen there so she could go home. We got to play with like 30 missionaries instead of the usual 6. I got to see Sister Howard before she went home as well, so that was really nice.

Tuesday, we taught lessons with and I said good-bye to M and T. I got to say farewell to several others as well--one of the nice things about the day before transfers is that it's really easy to stay busy.

Wednesday was transfer meeting, where I said good-bye to a few a my missionary buddies that I won't see again on my mission, and met my new best friend, Sister Carpenter. She's purdy cool. She's from Rupert, Idaho, and went to BYU-I for a year before coming on her mission. This is her fourth transfer, and she is a hard worker, so that's fantastic.

On Friday, we had set up a member lesson, and were hoping to be able to find somebody to talk to right before it started. So we drove up, started wandering through the neighborhood a little, and then decided to knock on a door. A very friendly lady answered and knew who we were,  At first we thought she might be a member. But she wasn't--her daughter was good friends with a gal from the ward who is currently on a mission. She had given her friend a Book of Mormon, and the lady we were now talking to had leafed through it a bit. We asked if we could give her a little more context, and she happily agreed to let us teach the Restoration right there. She said she would definitely have to read it. Not sure if that will go anywhere right now, but it was an answer to prayers.

On Saturday we went out to Nashville, Indiana to help a member take out her carpets. 'Cause we are limited on miles, we decided to spend the day out there. Who knew that it was a very touristy time of year for Nashville (Brown County)? We sure didn't. But we do now.

So, we've had lots of adventures thus far. Coming here was a little overwhelming 'cause there are just so many members to meet, and we have a tricky area to work in. The concentrated part of Columbus is in the other wards, so our area is mostly comprised of high-end neighborhoods spread out through the country. Finding and budgeting miles are going to be more challenging than ever. I don't know how to do this. But Heavenly Father does, so I guess I just need to follow his guidance. It's been working so far.

I hope everybody has a fantastic week,

Sister Bowen

Pictures!

Missionaries I will probably never see again :'(

~Me with the sketchy Crawfordsville elders: Elders Park and Williams

~My farewell to Sister Howard. May she rest in peace

~My favorite elder, Elder Twitchell

A few more.

~Story behind this one: In Franklin, a lady in the ward that she loved the way I crinkled my nose--it would be something my husband would love about me. My companion and I thought that was funny, and I didn't know what she was talking about. I didn't think much about it 'til a few weeks ago, a lady from the Lebanon branch mentioned how my husband would love the way I crinkled my nose. I still didn't know what she was talking about. And then like two weeks ago, another lady from the branch mentioned that she liked the way I crinkled my nose. Sister Hivner took this shot while I was talking with somebody--I didn't even know she was taking it. But I figured this must be what the ladies were talking about. Scary.

~Sister Taylor, me, M, and Sister Mercer

A Humorous Rejection

Well team, for my last transfer I'm headed to a new area.

This week was quite the adventure. 

On Monday, we got to email and shop, but then it was back to work 'cause we were planning to go to the temple on Saturday (which takes the place of our preparation day. This is always hard 1) 'cause you're just uber tired without much of a break,and 2) because you miss playing with the other missionaries. We taught some good lessons, and then just before 5:00, we found out that we would not be able to go to the temple on Saturday anymore. That was really sad. But on the bright side, while we were visiting a member that afternoon, her apartment manager came by. She invited him on a church tour, and he seemed purdy interested. Hopefully that will go down sometime this week :)

On Tuesday we taught T about the Word of Wisdom. That's gonna be hard for her 'cause she smokes. But she said, "I really love smoking, and don't really want to stop, but I want this so bad that I will." Or something close to that :) That was purdy cool.

We were uber worn out, and a little discouraged by Wednesday. I just wanted to skip the whole day. Our one appointment we had set up canceled before we even started studies. I was praying and trying hard to be motivated to find people to teach...and after a while it worked! It was a long, cold, very wet day, but  I was able to head out with a good attitude to conquer the day. Sometimes these small miracles are the most miraculous.

On Saturday we were having a branch activity, so we spent Thursday evening inviting people. We stopped by a less active family. The obviously American man of the house, opened to door slightly, and said, "We don't speak English!" And then closed the door. It was one of the more humorous rejections I've ever experienced.

On Friday, we had our last district meeting of the transfer, which was an adventure. Our appointments for that day fell through as well, but one of the ladies (who we haven't started teaching yet) apologized that she really didn't have time that day, and gave us a plate of cookies. A sweet rejection (although, she does want to meet, she was legitimately busy that day). We also stumbled across a man who we had taught a couple times, but then lost track of. He apologized for not coming to church again, but didn't want to come under false pretenses. He then told me that I was very pretty and that he had "been wanting to get flirtatious," which was flattering, but true to my character I pushed it aside and continued on about how I thought he'd really enjoy King Benjamin's sermon. Thank goodness that kind of obtuse behavior is a skill on a mission ;)

Saturday we took a little time to clean our apartment, and went out for the day. We knocked on a door for a lady that had been referred to us by a neighbor several week previous. She opened the door, asked if we were there to pray with her, and invited us in. She was slightly crazy, but very pleasant. That night was the ward activity. M came with her husband S!! He had a fantastic time, and expressed interest to her later about coming to church with her sometime. They are coming to dinner with us at a member's house this evening. That is another miracle.

It was something of a slow week, but we were still made very aware of Heavenly Father's love for us.

I'm a little nervous for my last six weeks. It'll be hard to invest a lot of energy in an area that I know I won't be staying in for very long, especially as it's starting to get colder. It'll be a good adventure for sure, though.

Hope e'rybody has a fantastic week,

Much love,

Sister Bowen

More pictures!

Me, Sister Mercer, and Elder Foster

Sister Mercer and I in two of the huge coats left in our apartment.

The best shot of our district we managed to capture

Sister Hivner, Sister Mercer, me, Elder Cronin, Elder Williams, Elder Park, Elder Bullock, and Sister Hansen

Me and Sister Mercer

Me, Elder Lawrence, Sister Mercer

The Only Thing That Will Matter

Well it's been yet another week of adventure.

M continues to be awesome. She passed her baptismal interview on Saturday. Earlier in the day she finally allowed us to do some service for her--we helped clean up her garden. Her husband seems to really respond to that. He continues to be unsupportive, but she is determined. She told him that she will be baptized on November 29 (to give him some time to come around). If he really doesn't want her to join, then she won't, but we are pretty confident that it'll work out.

T and J were also able to make it to church. She also came to the relief society activity on Thursday, so it was nice she was able to meet some people. Earlier in the week we were able to have a lesson with them in the home of a member of the stake presidency--that was really nice. T is just so excited to be baptized next month.

H also continues to do well. She loved general conference, her family has been doing family home evening, and her little first grade boy loved coming to church (he had been kinda nervous). She is looking forward to getting baptized in December :)

Another miracle of the week: a member of the branch told us she met a man who is on our roster, but hadn't been involved with the church since he was a kid. She said they had a nice family and were looking for a church. We stopped by and met his wife, who seemed happy to see us. They have been living there for three years and missionaries have never stopped by (which is kinda crazy 'cause Lebanon is such a small town, and e'rybody knows the missionaries. In fact, earlier in the week a nice looking lady offered us a ride home while we were walking in the rain. We hopped in the car and she asked, "It's the house on Jameson, right?") We texted her later in the week to invite her to church and she said that she couldn't make it that week, but requested we keep her in the loop. Good things to come :)

On Tuesday we had a mini zone conference at which we watched "Meet the Mormons" It was very good. It highlighted the lives of 6 individuals with their families. It was cool to see evidence of the Atonement active in their lives, and just a really good movie if you want to feel good.

It is the last week of the transfer, and we're gettin' a little nervous 'cause anything could happen. On Tuesday I asked President Cleveland what was happening. He told me it'd be good for me. So I'll probably have some sort of terrifying adventure for my last transfer O_o

But it was kinda cool: he talked about a talk that a current general authority had given to his missionaries when he was a mission president. It was about the difference between missionaries who let themselves be changed by their missions, and those who stay the same. Both types of missionaries might be obedient and have lots of success, but the one will be putting off happiness for success, while the other will find happiness through success. The first type will likely find more satisfaction from measurable success and leadership positions, while the other will know their success comes from willfully doing what Heavenly Father would have them do. That doesn't mean it comes without struggle. But when we use our stumbling blocks as stepping stones, we find the greatest progression. When all is said and done, it is just us and God. It won't matter what we've done, what positions we've had, the only thing that will matter is what we've become.

So I really liked those thoughts.

I hope e'rybody has the most fantastic of weeks. It's going to be a rough one over here 'cause we only get a partial preparation day today, 'cause Sister Mercer and I are going to the temple on Saturday. That part will be great, it'll just be hard until then O_o

Picture! The only decent picture I've taken in like the last two months...Last Monday was a day the elders had been looking forward for awhile 'cause I agreed to do the gallon challenge. Even the zone leaders came down for this grand event--they even provided the milk for me. For those who don't know what the gallon challenge is...I'm not going to say.

Here are the participants after the grand event: Elder Cronin, Elder Foster, and me.

A Cool Guy From My Home Ward . . .AND. . . . A Sermon For the Week

It's been a fairly uneventful week in comparison to some of the crazy adventurous weeks we've been having.

M asked us about tithing--which is what we'd been planning to teach that day. I have never seen anybody get so excited about tithing. She had originally been planning to get baptized this next weekend, but we'll be backing it up to give her husband more time to become supportive. We're prayin' hard!

On Wednesday we had exchanges on Purdue campus, which was exciting. There is a endless supply of people to talk to (vastly different than Lebanon) and I got to see Andy (a cool guy from my home ward) who is doing a psych study involving the effects of religion on people dealing with ostracism (or something close to that). As part of the study he has the missionaries teach a 20 minute message to some of the people doing the study. Purdy cool!

For district meeting, we were supposed to come prepared with a story from Christ's life and talk about how that describes our relationship with Him. I talked about when he was with his apostles and told them, among other things: "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you" John 15:14     I'd come across that scripture a day or two before and thought it was purdy funny. A good example for conditions of friendship, right? One of the less active ladies we've been working with asked why--if God loves everybody--does he not bless everybody regardless of their keeping the commandments. It's not that Christ withholds himself from being our friends if we don't keep his commandments, but we withhold ourselves. We cannot really learn of His love for us if we don't obey Him (1 John 3:2) One of the greatest blessings we receive from obedience is what we become because of our obedience. We will not develop the character that comes from forgiving everybody, if we don't forgive everybody. We will not develop the courage that integrity brings, if we don't do what we believe we should. We will not develop the self-mastery that it takes to live the Word of Wisdom, if we don't live the Word of Wisdom. And we will not develop the focused vision and understanding that comes from daily scripture study if we do not study our scriptures daily. 

I love the beginning of Mosiah 2, in which King Benjamin tells how Christ suffered the Atonement that we may be saved--something we will forever be indebted to Him for--and only asks in return that we keep the commandments, which gives us more happiness, and thus we are more fully indebted. Thus we truly love Him and are His friends if we keep His commandments.

Thought from General Conference this weekend: If we are not excited to share the gospel, then we probably do not know it well enough. Knowing it comes from living it. What does it mean to live the gospel? Simply repent: align your actions with Christ a little bit more, strive intentionally to be more obedient to specific commands, counsel, or promptings.

This is something I struggle with regularly. "If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" (Alma 5:26). When we truly experience the redeeming love, we are excited to share it. This is when I am excited 'stead of scared to talk with everybody. And this comes from accountability to the covenants we have made with our Heavenly Father. When we honestly assess 1) how we've been doing in regards to keeping our promises to God (keeping His commandments, consecrating our lives, etc.), 2) what we can change to do/be better 3)how we've been blessed inspite of our imperfections as we've striven to do our best, we will feel of His redeeming love. And there is no gift greater, and "it [is] desirable above all other fruit" (1 Nephi 8:12)

Phew. That's my sermon for the week. We've got some good things coming up this week. Tomorrow we are watching, "Meet the Mormons" with all the missionaries in the stake. That should be exciting. Aaaand today I have exactly 10% of my mission left. I got a "thank you for you service/keep working hard 'til the end" letter. It's like their trying to make me think about it. Jerks.

Hope e'rybody has a great week.

Sister Bowen

Missionary Work is Wonderfully Exhausting.

Phew. Missionary work is wonderfully exhausting.

M is just doing so well. Last Sunday she had expressed that it might be her last time at church 'cause her husband didn't want her to come. She was really sad. When we saw her later in the week, he had told her that he wanted to take her to some other churches before she made any big decisions. She told him she would go with him if he was up and ready (which is rare--he has a lot of health problems that make it hard for early church services), and if he chose a church that starts later in the day, she would come to ours first. She finished the Book of Mormon, and just loves it and wants to share it with everybody. She has her heart set on being baptized October 11th.

C and C (who came to church last week) are aiming to be baptized in December, but still aren't sure if we are Christ's church on the earth today. But they are excited to read the Book of Mormon, and that's how you find out, so they should be good, eh? Unfortunately, her grandma died last week, so she was out of town this weekend. We'll be checkin' up with them tomorrow.

And then we've been teaching H, who is thinking she also would like to be baptized in December. She recently married a man in the branch, and they've been coming to church every week. She is just a sweetheart, and we're excited for her to discover just how exciting the gospel is :)

And then Ti is just really excited to get baptized in November. We met with her and J this morning (we must love them--we've been teaching them on our day off O_o) and she is just so excited to "be right with God" and to move on from the bad things that have happened in her life.

One of the greatest things about working with these people is the opportunity we have to bring members with us. A wonderful lady has been a great friend for M, and they've really been helping each other in so many ways--the lady from church just has some crazy things she has to deal with in her life right now, and she and M have been a great support to each other. She told us that when we first asked her to join us for a lesson, she didn't think she was worth asking anything. And now she has a great purpose :)

Another lady that's been struggling came to H's lesson with us. She bore powerful testimony of the Word of Wisdom and the sacrament. She is so excited to be preparing to go to the temple to be sealed to her husband, and shared that excitement with H. That was really cool.

Although we've got a good amount going on, we've still been striving to find more people to teach, which has been hard. We found 6 new people to teach this last week, and they all decided they didn't care to learn more before the end of the week. It's hard when you know people have felt the spirit directing their paths, but they choose to do things their own way. But I'm probably guilty of doing that everyday, so I don't really have room to complain.

Anywhen, the general women's conference was fabulous. I especially appreciated Sister Marriott's and President Uchtdorf's thoughts. This week we've got exchange on Purdue campus this Wednesday, so that should be exciting. 

I hope e'rybody has a fantastic week.

Much love,

Sister Bowen

An Incredible Week!

Well team, it's been an incredible week.

Tuesday evening, M was texting us about how excited she was. She said she had been smiling, laughing, praying, and crying all day. She wanted to sing, but was sad 'cause she didn't know our hymns yet. When we saw her on Tuesday, she had already read most of the Gospel Principles manual she had gotten on Sunday. She showed us the remains of her cigarettes she had torn up when she read about the Word of Wisdom (we hadn't even talked to her about it yet.) She set a date with us by which she will be prepared to be baptized. She will be ready either way, but may or may not be baptized, because her husband doesn't want her to get baptized. So now we are praying really hard. If anybody needs something to fast for this next Sunday, that would be a great option.

Later in the week, we had an appointment with a gal named P. We'd scheduled on with her before, but she missed it 'cause she was in Lafayette with her Grandma who was in the hospital 'cause of cancer. We'd stopped by one evening two weeks ago--she wasn't home, but her dad was waiting for her in his car in the driveway, so we told him about the Restoration. This time when we went back for our appointment, she was not home, but her fiance R was. We taught him about the Restoration. When we were discussing the situation later that evening, we were wondering if she was dodging us. Then we got a text from her saying that she and R were sincerely considering coming to church this Sunday. We set an appointment with them for Saturday, but they missed it 'cause her uncle died earlier that day. Satan must be working overtime.

Saturday, we met these people who invited us in and allowed us to teach the Restoration. And then they came to church on Sunday. They really wanted a Book of Mormon, so the elders brought one to them after church. We're meeting with them again tonight.

Earlier last week we met an old man named D. He told us we could talk to him whenever, but he didn't know when his wife would be home. We didn't think much of it. We saw him again on Sunday, and set an appointment with him and his wife for last night. His wife wasn't there, but his daughter and two of her teenage kids were there. We had an awesome and hilarious lesson. The three younger folks were listening intently. I would say something like, "The most important thing is---" and then D would interrupt: "where'd you say you lived?", and the three others would yell at him. Then we'd try again, and at the climax of the statement he'd interrupt. Without fail. Soooo funny. But the lesson went really well. The mom and the teenagers were intently focused the whole time (which was really something for the 16 year old boy who was uber surprised to see us sitting on the couch when he came out of his room.) All three of them committed to be baptized if they came to know the message was true.

Also yesterday, we had a zone conference with Elder Perkins, of the Seventy. It was a great meeting. But one of the greatest parts was talking to the missionaries in South Bend who told me that K (a lady who we'd been teaching) got baptized on Sunday :D

On Sunday, we had 5 people (that we are teaching) come to church, and it was purdy exciting. Good things are on the rise in Lebanon.

Hope everybody has a great week.

Sister Bowen

5 Minutes Messages . . . Not Massages

Another week of adventure! 

We'll start with the not as spiritual stuff. On Monday we met this crazy guy named R. We were teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he asked us if we believed pot was a drug. 'Cause he has to be on it all the time to function. Then we walked over to his friend's house, where he was helping them move. And we helped too. And the place was quite exciting in a very gross sort of way. Is this real life?!

On Wednesday morning, our appointment fell through, so we went for a walk. We came across a man named D, who's finally turning his life around after years of alcohol abuse. He was very intrigued and excited about the Book of Mormon.

On Thursday, we went for an evening wander ('cause our appointment fell through) and happened across two men who were talking. Turns out one of them is the fiance of the mother of a young man who got baptized about a year ago, but has been off in Boot Camp. The other was the man's brother. And they were also very interested 

On Saturday, we tried something out of the box. There was a  festival downtown on Saturday. We took our whiteboard, wrote some questions of the soul on it and offered 5 minute messages (not massages) and sat over there. We shared some good messages (again, not massages) and found some sincere seekers.

We had to rearrange our schedule a little bit today to accommodate the part-member couple we found a few weeks ago while 224ing. They work 12 hour night shifts, and were eager to go on a church tour. And it was probably one of the best experiences of my mission. They were both very tired 'cause they'd come straight from work. 

T (the nonmember) was very aware of the feelings of peace in the church building. J (the member) hasn't been very active for the past few years, but would like to be. His testimonies of sacrament and baptism were heartfelt and perfect. They both stared for a long time at the picture of Christ in the Americas. When we walked into the Relief Society room, she just stared at the font, and asked at the end if she would be able to be baptized again. Near the end of the Restoration lesson, he turned to her and said, "If you come to know this is true and are baptized, I would like to be sealed to you." 

It was a tremendous experience to see her desire to put her past behind her and commit to follow Christ. 

Another miracle--M, a wonderful woman we are teaching was hoping her controlling husband would allow her to come to church, but didn't think it would happen anytime soon. We, along with a few members that had met her fasted for his heart to be softened. And by His grace, she was able to attend yesterday and had a wonderful time.

Next week, Elder Perkins is coming to the mission, and he's meeting with the missionaries here and in South Bend on Monday...so I won't be emailing 'til Tuesday.

It seems like things are finally starting to pull together a li'l bit, so it's been purdy exciting.

Hope everybody has a fantastic week.

(note: The 224ing is this: they have an appt at a certain house & they are not home. So they knock on 2 doors to the left, then 2 doors to the right, then the 4 houses across the street from these houses)

Angry Prayers

Well team, it's been another frustrating, yet somehow inspiring week. 

Sometimes I feel like divine intervention is working against us. We've been doing absolutely everything to have lessons with investigators with members there. Normally this isn't super hard. But here it is. I've never had so many instances in which we set an appointment with somebody for the next day, confirm it two hours before, and they still forget. Or when they actually keep the appointment  then the member doesn't show up. Weird. And insanely annoying.

But the inspiring part is that Heavenly Father still blesses us in unexpected ways. To take a step back, we have key indicators which help us to focus on what we need to do to help things progress--these make it easy to pray specifically for things to find success: for example, we may have a goal to teach two lessons to investigators with members. If it is an inspired goal, and if we do everything in our power to make it happen (which includes praying for it to happen), it usually happens. 

But that is a simple truth we have been neglecting lately. So we recommitted to praying to reach these goals. And somehow we did. Even though it's been super hard to get lessons to investigators with a member (I think this week we had 10 set up that all fell through) Heavenly Father still enabled us to reach our goal--usually through nonmembers being in places where we had appointments to teach members, and allowing us to direct the message toward them. 

I dunno if my description makes any sense, but it was a good reminder that this is God's work. And I should probably let Him help me more than I have been.

Also, I feel like I have found the value of angry prayers. It sounds strange, but it's real. I think God would much rather have us say an angry prayer than to not pray because we're angry. I feel like the ideal attitude we should have in prayer involves more reverence, respect, humility, etc. But life is rarely ever ideal, and I've been learning the necessity of doing what you're supposed to be doing regardless of the ideal situation. In many circumstances, it may not be graceful, smooth, or pleasant, but doing what we're supposed to be doing will always be better than refraining--whether it's because of anger, apathy, awkwardness, or anything else.

That's all for today, and I hope everybody has a fantastic week!

Sister Bowen

How to Teach a Drunk Guy . . .

Phew!

I won't lie, I'm super glad last week is over. But we did have some great adventures.

 . . .Like walking 40 minutes to the church for an 8 am meeting...in the rain. Aaand the church building was purdy cold...for the next 5 hours.

. . . Or heading in for the night and meeting a trio of drunk people. We told them exciting things about the gospel. The man of the group insisted on escorting us home for the evening ('cause it was dark out by then) but for some reason we felt safer without him O_o Before we left, his girl friend grabbed my arm and pulled me in and asked me to talk to him about fornication on the way home. I told him about how keeping the commandments makes us happy. Close enough, right? And thank goodness we managed to let him off before we got to where we actually 

live.

But one of the drunk ladies did agree to meet with us again...we'll have to check back when she's sober 

But everybody in town knows where we live--and people randomly drop vegetables off on our doorstep weekly. And anonymously. If only I super liked cucumbers and could eat tomatoes faster. Not to mention the pumpkin and watermelon still sitting on our counter.

We also had a fantastic district meeting--it wasn't particularly spiritual, but it was hilarious. We were all super sick--lots of coughing, sneezing, nose blowing. We couldn't hear each other 'cause our ears were plugged up, and everything was super funny. And then we made biscuits and gravy for lunch afterwards.

And we reached the highest temperatures for the year so far...our apartment was not at all a pleasant place to be those days.

It was a rough week--all but one of our appointments fell through for the whole week. But it's over now, and things are looking better.

We did have several miracles of note. The member we had lined up to come to our one lesson that did not fall through--had fallen through. We prayed to somehow be able to find somebody to come. We started walking over (it's just a few blocks away) and right before we got there, a member drove by and stopped to ask us if we needed a ride anywhere. We invited her to join us for the lesson, and she did! It was a great lesson with a lady named M. She is loving the Book of Mormon.

Another miracle happened as well. We'd had a rather unsuccessful Tuesday, and spirits were low beginning on Wednesday. We headed out for our first appointment--which fell through, and decided to meet some people in the area. The first lady we talked to invited us in, and we told her about the Restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon. The next person allowed us to share the Restoration with her as well and set a return appointment.

We were ready to head in for lunch when we decided to talk to another lady outside. She was excited to see us and told us her husband was Mormon. They moved here in March, and didn't know there was a branch in Lebanon! He wants to get back into church and she said, "I wanna join the church and everything." So that was purdy cool.

Also, after church on Sunday, a man who got baptized about 4 years ago got married. We met his wife and she wants to take the discussions :)

Good things are coming. And we've got specialized training for new missionaries and their trainers tomorrow, so that'll be something exciting.

But the most exciting thing is that J got baptized on Saturday in South Bend! It was a great pleasure to teach him and see the change take place in his life the 3 months I was there :D

Hope e'rrybody has an excellent week!

Sister Bowen

Our super sick district + and then - zone leaders. (who were also super sick.)

~Elders Sneddon, Lawrence, Cronin, Foster, me, Elder Park, Sister Mercer, and Elder Bullock squattin' in front

~Elders Bullock, Cronin, Park, me, Elder Sneddon, and Sister Mercer in the cart.

PJ's in the Fridge!

Greetings world!

It's been another grueling week of sweat, lotsa walking, and miracles.

Tuesday we had zone conference, which is always wonderful :) and then we took our branch president's family for a church tour :) That was an adventure 'cause they have 4 kids ages 8 and under. One of them was running around without his pants.

Wednesday we met with this lady named M, who we met briefly last week. She had met with missionaries before, but when we talked a little bit more about the Book of Mormon and what the truth of it entails, she got purdy excited. Other than that, it was mostly a day of walking and appointments falling through. But we met a handful of very nice people.

Thursday we had exchanges. The Sister Training Leaders both came down here. I went with Sister Jones. We ran into a sassy guy named R that we'd met a couple weeks ago. When we first met him, he sorta listened to what we said, and teased us a bit. This time he said that we'd really intrigued him, and that he would really like to read the Book of Mormon, but he'd be too busy to meet for the next 30 days or so. He said, "Don't worry, though. I will call you, I'm persistent." I said, "Great! So are we!" 

Then we met with L, our deaf friend. His wife doesn't want to sit in on lessons unless we can get an interpreter, but we watched the Restoration with subtitles, and she sat in :) L told us he'd finish the Book of Mormon in two weeks. And I've been making a bazillion phone calls to try to find somebody who could come to lessons. Apparently Fishers has a good handful of LDS folks who know ASL, so it's just been a matter of finding one who'd be able to make it out. The good news is that our deaf couple is moving to Fishers purdy soon, so they'll have better resources to help them.

Then we met with our friend A who is from the Dominican Republic. We taught her more about Christ's Atonement. She described to us how she believed that the Fall of Adam and Eve was on purpose 'cause God knows what he's doing. We had her read a chunk of 2 Nephi 2, which she really liked.

Friday, we did a church tour with L (who is a few years older than me, and was baptized about 2 years ago) and her mom, who hasn't been super interested in learning more. We had a great experience and she agreed to meet again to talk about the Plan of Salvation. L's dad is not religious at all, but is a great guy, so L's mom has a hard time believing that he'd end up in the same place as Hitler after this life. I love that the restored gospel has such a simple response to such concerns :D

Saturday we met with D, the lady we'd met last week. And she was ready for us. She'd done some research, and had great questions (which I think we satisfied) She seems purdy open, and the spirit was strong. She felt it too. Later we walked the mile home in the pouring rain. My notebook is still wet.

It's getting a little warmer than it has been, which is rough 'cause there's no AC in our upstairs apartment. This morning, I put my PJs in the fridge, so hopefully that'll help :D

If anybody would like to join me, I'm trying to read the Book of Mormon through one last time as a missionary. But you'd have to play some catch up. If I read 2 chapters a day (starting tomorrow with 2 Nephi 22) I'll finish Dec. 1. Kinda cool.

~Picture from exchanges

Sister Mercer, Sister Cutler, and Sister Jones

Zone training: Elders Malan, Scribner, Bullock, Park, Sneddon, Cronin, Foster, Lawrence, Bush, Halverson, Hollinger, Hentish, Mortenson, Gurney, and Wolverton

Sister Mercer, me, Sister Woodhouse, Elder Woodhouse, Sister Barker, Sister Bradshaw, and Elder Van Shaar