Mothers Day Week!

May 9, 2012

Dear Family,

This week was another busy one that had some fun things that happened.  We had ZLC and exchanges in the Tri-Cities.  I was able to meet up with the Manderscheids again and see how they were doing as well as some other past families I had taught.  We ate dinner at Texas Road House which was a lot of fun.  Some of the Servers and Hosteses are members and they are always happy to see the white shirts come in;)  I can't remember if I had told you or not but back around the new year we went there for lunch somewhat often. 

 

Elder Fletcher and I had a cool, out of the ordinary, teaching experience this past week.  We were asked to go the the Seventh-Day-Adventist Academy in College Place, WA and teach a World Religion class for a professor.  It was a lot of fun and the students there asked a lot of good questions.  I think we represented the church well and adequately presented our main doctrines.  

 

Elder Fletcher goes home next week and he is heading up to the Tri-Cities on Sunday so he wont be there when I skype but I will be with Elder Bush and Elder Torgeson who are also serving here in Pendleton.  I also found out that the begining of June we will be moving out of the members home we are living with and we will be going to an apartment.  

 

I am happy to hear (but not suprised) that the dance concerts went well and that as usual each involved were amazing.  I will enjoy attending those when I return home.

 

I found a member that has offered to let me skype at there home on sunday.  They are able to do it at 6:00 our time so that would make it 7:00 for you. I hope that is ok.  If not you can send me an email and I will check it tomorrow just in case:)  I am sure excied to see you all!

 

 

LOVE YOU!

 

-ELDER BOWEN

 Last night we found a cool little lake in the Indian reservation in our area

The temple last week

99 Days!!!!!

Dear Family,

Happy May to you as well! 

This past week was a good one!  We had a day of service for the Walla Walla Stake up past the small town of Dayton at a place called Teancum Timbers.  It is a church owned recreation site that is used for girls camps, ward activities and such.  The YSA's of the stake were assigned to clear a mile and a half of trail and we went up with them.  It was a pretty cool experience but it was super hard too.  Most of the missionaries in the stake were there to help as well.  

We also are now teaching a new investigator who is a family friend of the Branch President  We had a really good lesson last night and she had a lot of really good questions.  She has a good knowledge of the bible from her past religious background.  It is nice to teach an investigator who is truly searching for truth and has knowledge to work with as we teach.  The Perks family is actually heading down to Utah on Sunday and will be there for a while.  They said that they were going to look my family up.

Tyler and his friends were in a school play this week so we weren't able to meet with them but hopefully this next week:)   We found another new investigator this week named John and he is on date to be baptized on the 12 of may.

I am excited to be skyping with you in two weeks! it is crazy this this will be my last time!  I will let you know the details as soon as I get them:)

Good luck with the concerts upcoming! I will make sure to pray for you! I'm sure you each will do well as always!

Love you TONS!!!!

-Elder Matt Bowen

PS: 99 days till August 7th!

Teancum timbers

The trail from a distance

Another lightning storm we had

Another Week Goes By...

April 23, 2012

Dear Family,

Pendleton is still treating me well. We were able to put three people on date this week for next month which was awesome.  We went up to Walla Walla for p-day this past week but we are staying in town this week and checking out some of the things around town.  

We had a cool experience in a little town called Ukiah that is in the middle of nowhere!  There are probably 250 people in the town at most and we teach one recent convert up there each week.  We have been trying to teach her son Tyler for a while and he had some questions about the Three Kingdoms of Glory so we were planning on teaching him that last Friday.  Our usual ride canceled on us so we drove down there and got there a little early.  We tried to find something to eat but the one diner in town closes at six so we were out of luck:(  We stopped by the ridiculously over-priced grocery store... I just bought a soda seeing how i didn't feel comfortable eating the other food since it had dust on it:)  We went out and tried some former investigators but no luck.  We saw Tyler playing basketball with his friends and so we went over and joined them.  We invited them afterwards to come to the lesson and one of them came and we will start teaching him as well.  Were hoping to get the rest of the boys over too and get the young men of the ward to come out to Ukiah and do some kind of activity.  

I love you all so much!!  Thank you!!! 

-Elder Bowen

                                                Tracting in Ukiah:)

                                      The Gravel Track they have there

                                          Lightning Storm last night

April Showers

April 16, 2012

Dear Family,

This past week we had some good weather but today we woke up to lots

of rain and there is more on the way but after serving in Vancouver for so long I don't really look at rain the same anymore cause it is nothing compared to what I had there:)

I'm glad to hear that you all enjoyed your vacation to St. George.

That is cool that Grandma Abegg is being home taught by Brother Hovorka.  I was able to meet Maddison when she came in to the mission. She is serving over in Vancouver though so I wont be able to let her know that.  Small world.

Thank you for sending the pictures.  You all look good and happy. I'm looking forward to being able to Skype and see you all on Mothers Day. I am still enjoying serving with Elder Fletcher and Serving in Pendleton.  We cover a few other small towns such as Ukiah and Pilotrock.  We will be driving up to Walla Walla today for P-day with the rest of the zone.  Walla Walla is a cool place. A place so nice they named it twice:)  I miss the office some but it feels right to be here and I am having a lot of fun.  It is definitely an adjustment though:)We are working with some good people right now and there are 4 of them that are close to baptism.  We will keep working with them and I will let you know how they progress.  We have done a lot of service as well which has been fun. The Pictures that I attached are of a spring field on the way to Walla Walla.

Love you all!

-Elder Matt Bowen

Happy April :)

April 2, 2012

Good Morning,

I hope that all is well for each of you! I am doing well and staying busy as usual.  The transfer is a big one this time and there are a lot of details we are still working out but mostly it is ready for wednesday. 

On wednesday I am being transfred to Pendleton in the Makay Creek and Pendleton YSA wards.  I will be serving with Elder Nathan Fletcher from Provo.  He and I have talked about people that each of us knew and we have a lot of mutual friends.  He goes home next transfer and will be the 6th missionary I have "killed off" (been their last companion).  I am excited for the opportunity to go back into the regular swing of things.  The area and Zone will be a challenge though I hear.  It has a reputation for being a slow area but that can change:)

This past week we had ZLC wich went well.  I also enjoyed General Conference a lot as I'm sure you all did as well. I took a lot of good notes and I am looking foreward to getting the ensign next month and reading them all again. 

I love you all.  Thank you for the emails and letters that you constantly send me and all the other countless things that you do and have done on my behalf!

I love you!

-Elder Matt Bowen

                                              Keeping Bees!

                                      A goat trying to eat my camera!

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

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