Happy Easter!

Greetings world!

It's been another week full of adventure.

Monday we had our basketball clinic with President Coach Cleveland. It was super fun/ny. I think we all a good time--not sure if we got any better at basketball though O_o

On Tuesday we had training on how to give church tours. It's a kinda cool thing. The tour isn't for the purpose of showing the church to people, per say, but we sorta teach the restoration lesson as we go along. It's super cool. And spiritual. And President is purdy serious about it. We've tacked a 1/2 hour on to study everyday to practice it. It's gotta be good.

Wednesday was the specialized training for all the sisters in the mission. In the morning we learned a lot of cool things: President Connelly shared some very enlightening thoughts about women and the priesthood. Sister Clark gave an inspired training on finding joy in the work through giving it your all. Sister Cleveland gave a presentation about what God expects of us. Sister Tolman did a musical number that was absolutely fantastic. It was a great morning.  

In the afternoon we were taught by some ladies about eating healthy and managing stress. And then they taught us some exercise  stuff that we can do to not be bums. Aaand that's where the adventure started. The lady was showing us how to do lunge jumps. And then there was a lot of screaming. One poor sister in the back was laying on the ground. While the appropriate people tended to her, they told us to keep doing what we were doing...while she was still laying on the ground screaming. Can you say uncomfortable? The lady instructing us felt super bad. She said, "Oh, I broke a sister missionary" And because we're all girls and are compassionate (except those of us who don't have hearts anymore) we all felt suuper bad. Her knee was sticking out at an uncomfortable angle. She tore her meniscus and may have to go home for surgery. She one of the sisters in my stewardship, but unfortunately I don't really know her yet--our exchange had to be postponed 'cause she was sick. Aaand  she's not coming back to that area this transfer 'cause their apartment is up three flights of stairs. But other than that, it was a fantastic day.

On Thursday we met with a really interesting man. Every time we talk about him, all we can say is "he's so interesting!" He's the one from two weeks ago who blew up cocaine plants. When we were leaving, he told us two quick stories. On about how he put up two big boulders on his property to stop snow-mobilers--and how if people hit the rocks, there would be a cap on how much they could sue--or something like that. Then he told us about when his daughter was in an unpleasant situation with a guy in his car. I think he said he arranged for the car (a jaguar) to be taken to a chop shop. And then offered to let the guy's father pay him $10,000 to forget the whole thing. The guy's dad did some research on our friend, and paid up. He said, long story short, that he would be that kind of insurance for us. It was almost like having somebody like Liam Neeson from Taken watching out for us. Except for the fact that he's 70, and seems much more mellow. And we don't even know what his real name is. You meet the most interesting people. And he wants to learn more and introduce us to some young friends. We'll see where it goes O_o

Friday to Saturday I was on an exchange with Sister Allred who is a new missionary serving in Columbus. We had some great appointments set up, but they all fell through. That was okay because we met a lot of people.

Sometimes we talk about what kind of investigators we tend to teach. Sister Mumford tends to teach kids. Her previous companion tended to attract old ladies. My investigators seem to be middle-age to older men. That's who we taught in Bloomington, and that's who we've been finding a lot here. So that was everybody we talked to. Kinda funny.

So for Easter, I've been thinking a lot about the Atonement, and what that means for us as individuals (watch mormon.org/becauseofhim if you haven't already) Because of what Christ did is the only reason that life has any meaning at all. It truly is the greatest gift and greatest manifestation of love ever. John 3:16. So how do we repay him? The last two versus in Matthew talk about the apostles commission to teach and baptize. That's our role too. I was thinking about that in reference to Helaman 10:4-5. It's hard to do it without weariness, but we are blessed tremendously. I was also thinking about Isaiah 6:5-8. He volunteered without hesitation to serve. And because of that he was purified. What another great blessing. I've been thinking a lot about the gospel in reference to happiness. Living the gospel (faith, repentance, making covenants, the holy ghost) is supposed to make us happy. Was Christ happy? I think he must've been, but it doesn't really talk about that in the scriptures.

I think one of the blessings about striving for righteousness, is that when we do sorrow, it's not for our sakes, but for others.  

Yesterday, Sister Mumford taught gospel principles which was about how we are a covenant people. One part of it said something about how it is hard for mortals to fully comprehend the significance of the promises we make. And I think that's really where faith comes into play. Much of the faith we exercise is to keep commandments, and we can see the positive effects of that in our lives through experimenting on the word, and evaluating the results. But when it comes to determining whether or not consecrating our lives to our Heavenly Father will bring us the most satisfying form of happiness attainable, we can't know for sure in this life.

Well that was quite a novel. I hope everybody had a great Easter. What a great time it was to reflect what the Savior has done for us, and what we can do better for Him.

~Sister Bowen