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