Winter is finally here!

January 23, 2012

Dear Family, 

Than you for your emails! It sounds like winter finally came to Utah.  We had the same thing up here but just a little sooner than you.  It was probably the same storm... now thats one thing that connects us I guess:)  We traveled up to Yakima, (the first of 5 zone conferences we are doing throughout the mission) the day that it first snowed.  We saw probably 20+ people who had slid off the highway or gotten in wrecks along with a lot of people who had gotten stuck.  It was probably a combination of the fact that no one can drive in the snow out here and that they didn't plow the roads.  We were able to get there fine though because we had 4 wheel drive (we are driving a Chevy Silverado) and we went slow.  We were able to pull off and help some people get out of snowbanks and back onto the freeway.  We had a great zone conference and then traveled back down.  The zone conference scheduled for the next day got postponed because of road conditions.  We had freexing rain that night.  It was weird that it froze as soon as it hit the ground but didn't turn into snow or hail in the air.  We were told to park our cars that night and werent able to do any work.  We ordered pizza and watched the Testaments since we had to cancel our dinners.

The Snow in our back yard when we woke up last Wednesday

 We had about 10 inches of snow (The drive back from Yakima)

 After Zone Conference today President Greer decides we should build a Zone Snowman for the Samoan Elders Who had never build one before so we all went out and made a... well its kindof a snowman:)  Elder Lualemaga and Elder Malifa are the Elders in the picture.  Elder Malifa Served with Elder gardner in Hawaii before he came to our mission

The Kingdom of God continues to roll forth and I am happy to be a part of it.

I have been working on some letters for all of you and I am working on a surprise for all of you too.... hopefully I”ll have the time to get it done:)

I love you all and miss you!

-Elder Bowen

Happy New Year 2012

Happy new year!

2012 is already here! I still cant figure out what happened to Last Month it went too quickly :)

I really enjoyed Skyping with you all on Christmas! it was a lot of fun to see you.  You all look so good and things seem like they are going well.  I can see all of the blessings of the Lord in our Family.  Serving my mission has shown me all that I have been blessed with.  There are so many people who are living below their potential who could be so much happier if they would live the principles and participate in the ordinances of the Gospel. 

As I'm sure you guessed from the lack of my emails, things have been pretty busy with the new year:)

Transfers are next week and we have recently finished determining the assignments for the next 6 weeks.  It is a very inspired process.  We get to pray and seek inspiration on where people should serve and who they should serve with.  I have learned so much from being around President Greer on a more regular basis.  Elder Williams and I are working hard to make sure that everything goes smoothly this next week. 

I wanted to share some pictures from our recent trips across the WKM

           The Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks, Oregon

                  Overlooking the Gorge From Goldendale, WA

          The Stonehenge WWII Memorial in Goldendale, WA

                        One of the wider points in the Columbia

P-DAY LUNCH at the Pierces! Your Elders are doing GREAT!!! They had lunch at our house today!!  Love Sister Pierce

  

Things continue to run smoothly in the WKM... for the most part:) Not everything is perfect but we are getting along really well out here.  The past groups of missionaries that we received are good and transfers went well.  We got everyone where they were assigned and everyone has a companion!:) 

It is getting a bit colder up here and we hear we are going to finally get snow.  It will actually feel like it is winter now (I still feel like it is back in October or November) but its not so good since we will be traveling a lot this next month.  We have zone conferences coming up and we are going to be going to interviews now as well. 

I love each of you and think of you often!  I hope your new year is continuing to go well:)

-Elder Matt Bowen