HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I hope that everything is going well and that you are enjoying your day.  It has been a great week and we have had pretty good weather! It surprised us by being really warm this week.  It was up to 65 degrees the other day!  Today is sunny and in the high 40s.  We met with President this morning and worked on transfers and will be having Thanksgiving with them and the office staff at a member’s house at 2:00.  We have another meal at 5:00 and then a quick visit with the family we are teaching.  They are still planning on being baptized on Saturday and they are really excited!

Last week we drove back through the Gorge from Vancouver and hit up some waterfalls on the way back.  I was able to take some pictures so I will attach them in the email:)

Another Busy Week!

A picture of me and elder Gudjenov at the highschool that twilight was filmed at...We had dinner at a house right close by to it last week while we were on exchanges in Longview. 

 

Last night we had a cool experience.  I think it was God kind of giving me a slap in the face:)  ha ha... It was about 7:00 and we had just gotten out of dinner and we had tried a few people but no one was home that we were trying to visit.  We tried this guy who was inactive and he told us he wasnt interested in coming back to church despite us trying to tell him that it would help with the stresses of his life.  After we left his house we decided to knock a few doors.  Since the time change it is darker now and I had never really had much luck tracting after dark so I wasnt really in the mood.  I was thinking that maybe it would be more effective to try some potential investigators or to go by some part-member-families or something.  I was having this battle in my mind when I remembered that we had found a family prepared to hear the gospel about this time of night by knocking on their door.  That thought gave me the modivation to start knocking but then as we were walking up to the first door I got to thinking "so what are the chances that we find someone else like that family?... its not going to happen, there is no way... i dont realy want to go tracting right now..." but I knocked on the door and a 23 year old answered and I introduced ourselves and before I could say anything besides that we were missionaries he said come on in:)  Im sittin there thinking that its a joke because everyone is smiling and im ready for them all to say they are in the YSA or something! we even asked them if they were members thinking that they were but they werent. So we go in and it turns out it wasnt even his house but it was his sisters and brother in laws house so they were a little confused at why there were two missionaries in their home but turns out that they were very open minded and participated in the discussion.  I wish I could tell you all that happend but just in summary we were there till 9:20.  Jesse (the one who let us in) told us things like: I have been praying to have some one to talk to about God and Christ, I have been hoping to get my hands on a Book of Mormon, You two coming by are like an answer to my prayers... It was an amazing lesson even though it was rough at times.  He has a lot of questions from all the anti-mormon material he has received but he also wants to learn what we really beleive and why.  His sister and brother in law were very open and participated.  We all read out of the Bible and Book of Mormon and talked about a variety of topics. Now  I definitely have faith now that God is preparing people to hear the Gosple!

 

The family we have been working with is still doing great! they are planning on getting baptized on the 26th which they were pushing to set a date before we even asked them! Their daughter was getting some flack from her friends at school but now she is already sharing the gosple with them and telling them that she is Mormon!  they are great:)

 

The Elder Christensen Conference is this friday and then next monday as well!  I will let you know how that goes!

 

Have a good week!

 

-Elder Bowen

 

November Already!

Happy November to all!
It sounds like the party was a lot of fun last night!!  It made me think back to past years and the great gatherings we have had in the past.  Last night we went in early at 6:00 to avoid the Halloween festivities and did our weekly planning.  Also I thought it would be a good Idea to make a temple wall to go along with the Jesus Wall so we worked on that for a while before bed.  This morning we were able to go to the temple! I learned a lot and really tried to pay attention.  I was also able to receive some impressions on how to help the mission but more specifically how to best handle some sticky situations that we are dealing with right now.  Things have been pretty stressful but I am learning a lot and hopefully being a positive influence on the lives of others.

The family that I told you about the other week is doing great! we will most likely be seeing them tonight.  They came to church Sunday and they enjoyed it a TON!  I am excited to be able to teach them some more. 

I will most likely still be emailing on Tuesdays but there are some weeks that will be different but I have no way of knowing before hand.  P-day will switch to Monday starting in December though...Shhhh...that's a secret till Thursday when we tell the rest of the mission:)

We are busy preparing for Elder Christensen of the 1st Quorum of the 70 coming on the 11th and 14th.  I will be interviewed by him which will be cool:)  We have a lot of things to get coordinated for his arrival and the conference schedule.

I have had the opportunity to do several trainings and I will be presenting at ZLC Thursday as well.

I continue to enjoy the package that you sent to me Mom! Thank you again for that and everything else!

The weather here isn't too bad yet.  It stays in the high 50s to low 60s the past few days but it probably wont be long till it gets cold! 

I haven't taken any more pictures this week but I will be headed over to Vancouver Friday - Sunday so I will probably have some to share next week!

Love You all soooo Much!

-Elder Matt Bowen

                                 Walking on Water? :)

                                    Abandoned Boat on Lost Lake

   Windmills (they are all over driving down the Gorge)        

                              A cool Shot of the river and Falls