Monday, March 26, 2012

Ready for April Showers?

March 26, 2012

Hi Everyone!

Can you believe Sunday is April?  I will be out 20 months but it sure doesn’t feel like it has come already.  I remember looking at the past missionaries and how they seemed to be home so soon after they hit 18 and how some days it felt like I would never be out that long.  Because of all the time I have had to observe missionaries going home I feel like I am prepared to be able to work hard and sprint to the end!:)

We started working on transfers and it looks like this one will be a big one:) I have tenitively been assigned to my new area and companion and I am very excited for it but my assignment could change in the upcoming week... you never know till transfer day.

This past week I had a Unique and cool experience.  Spencer Larsen (FB for the Denver Broncos before this week, now going to play for the New England Patriots) came to our mission to speak to us.  He is President and Sister Greer’s Nephew and they were able to talk him into coming up even though he was in the middle of negotiations with New England.  Elder Williams and I went around the mission with him and the Greer’s and so we were able to have a lot of time to talk to him and hear his thoughts on many things. We had a lot of interactions with him with other missionaries but also things like eating lunch together and traveling.  He shared a lot of experiences from his mission and how they have affected his life since.  He talked about his trials and how they were meant to guide his life to where he is now.  One of the main points he made is that God will grant us our desires whether they be good or evil (Alma 29: 4-5) although the may not grant them to us the way that we envision it happening.  He had a good perspective on life and I gained a lot from it.  Its good to see someone who could so easily be distracted from the gospel, choosing to remain strong in their faith. 

I also was able to take some pictures of the mission and I will attach a couple. 

I will let you know next week when it is finalized where I will be headed!

LOVE YOU TONS!!!!
-Elder Bowen





Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Hello from Kelso Washington

March 12, 2012

Hi all,

Today has been a rainy one but the past few days have been amazing!

We don’t have a lot of time here at the public library but I thought that I would send a quick email to let you know how I was doing and I will be sure to send more detailed info at a later time. We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Nelson of the quorum of the 12 Apostles this weekend.  Saturday we had a missionary meeting where each of us got to shake his hand and hear him speak for an hour. Saturday night we attended the adult session of the Longview stake conference where he spoke again and also the Sunday morning general session of stake conference.  I took many notes and learned a lot from him as well as the other speakers.  At the end of the missionary meeting Elder Nelson pronounced an Apostolic blessing upon us and that included the following:

1.      Come to love Jesus Christ and His Atonement for us.
2.      Be a true disciple.
3.      Feast upon the word and always apply those teachings in your lives.
4.      Have health, strength and safety on your missions.
5.      Continue in a lifetime of service to the Lord
6.      Love our families and bear testimony to them to bring them closer together.
7.      Have a shield of protection and to avoid accident and injury.
8.      Be a force for good.
9.      Be completely obedient
10.    Know God lives.
11.    Finally, he blessed us with his testimony as a special witness of the Lord, Jesus Christ.


I will let you know some of the other things that I was able to learn and write down when I email you next.

We weren’t able to get to Mt. St. Helens because of snowpack still being there but we thought we would try to get to some waterfalls instead so this morning we drove up the Lewis River and were trying to get to some waterfalls but as we got higher up in elevation the downpour of rain turned to snow.  We still got a few good pictures so ill send you a couple.

I am glad that you are having such a fun time celebrating and I hope that the rest of Elizabeth’s birthday goes well.

I love you Tons!!!
-Elder Bowen