It's awesome out here I love it!!

Wow Elder Holland, Christensen, and Causse all came to speak on your day...yeah that is righteous, your'e just their favorite person!!  Oh did our stake change names or presidents or anything cuz if they did I have to report it!  Happy "birf" days to you guys by the way!!!...  Ahh Gma made Danish dinner and cake!...send me some danish stuff! :)   Oh while I am saying that, can I have the recipe for danish pancakes because the bishops wife wants to make it for us! :) 

I don't get the hour of study time that normal missionaries get who have to learn a language.  I have to pick it up on my free time, but I am going on splits tomorrow with an Elder who is Brazilian so I will have fun speaking Portuguese and Spanish (he is a Spanish missionary). This week twas sweet, we met a member in the ward who is a boss and he is pretty prepared for the coming days and he speaks to random people like this " Ye sinners have ye not the desire to REPENT!!!" It is awesome that he is so missionary minded... cant wait to go tracting with him and help channel his energy!!!  We are trying to excite all the members of the ward so we can have a strong base to help our investigators!! Fellow shipping is what we need! The work is moving, we just need to push it along faster and get the work going in the ward as well! 

I don't know how I would use any mountain biking skills because I don't get the chance to dodge things much and my bike is sort of broken.  I am in 3rd gear on the left side all day so going uphill is way fun... but it helps me overcome challenges with sheer will power its sweet!!!  It's a mission bike so its old and full of stories but pretty light, so its all good.  Oh I also eat so much food at members houses, it amazes me sometimes... and awesome side fact is I have had icecream for like 10 days straight... living up to the Bowden legacy!!!  If you get a chance could you send the biggest bag of skittles you can find (not original) because we ran out of snacks! :)

Love the Work and the Lord and will strive to do my best with both! Keep rocking it and don't hurt yourselves!!! :) It's awesome out here I love it!!

Com Muito Amo!!

Elder Bowden

Oh Dad, read Alma 38 (Shiblon) have the young men read that chapter and talk about it/apply it to your life or how you want your life to be... it is sweet!!! 

Cali weather is so nice! We are in short sleeves and it is the winter...

MY comp is Elder McCalister, he is an oldie!  He has 2 transfers left so I will probably "kill" him! (Missionary lingo for being his last comp)  He is smart and a good worker but he is on the down hill slide of his mission and getting a little trunky.  I need to get him to finish strong! Pretty pumped to go and fulfill all our appointments!  Oh so Ryan Faimalo served in this mission apparently before he got his visa and there are a bunch of people here who know him! 

Cali weather is so nice!  We are in short sleeves and it is the winter... We are biking everywhere and it is sort of fun but I miss cars, they are so much faster!  We are working on finding more investigators and we might have a baptism this month.  We are working on one who has taken all the lessons and he is ready, he just has to get the desire! Oh its awesome... I have had ice cream for dessert for like 5 days in a row!  It doesn't help that the last Elders left ice cream in the fridge for us! 

So this week was nuts! I figured out I wont really have any time to study my language so I have to practice when ever I get a chance.  I don't get the extra hour other people do to study their language! So I found a Spanish elder who can speak Portuguese and he will practice with me, which will help a lot! 

Oh by the way my address is: 
6541 Woodruff Place
Rancho Cucamonga, 
California 91701 

The ward I am in is Upland 1st,  It was just white washed by us(two new missionaries who don't know the area or the people) and it is a very strange experience.  I am pulling a mom and TALKING WITH EVERYONE! :)  But I am rocking it out here, serving as well as I can!  Hope everything goes well... have fun without me! :)

Com amo,

Elder Bowden

I got some more pics but I will send them next time!

I got my reassignment!

Ótimo!!!!!

I got my reassignment!  Eu vou para a Missão California Rancho Cucamonga!! Com 4 de mim Companhierhos! 1 recebe sua vista e o outro dois vai servir em Salt Lake City West! Eu mais Animado!!!! (I"m going to the California Rancho Cucamonga Mission with 4 of my Companions!  Another Elder received his visa and the other two will serve in Salt Lake City West!  I am very Excited !!!!)

This week was way long but pretty sweet!  The temple was awesome!  I learn sweet stuff every time I am there.  I am gonna miss being able to go every week! This week was one of the hardest for me to focus but we all fasted and prayed and we put in the effort to stay on task, it was sweet!   I found a ton of sweet scriptures, one is Alma 17:13.  It's a great scripture that I applied to myself right now as I separate from my district to all of our new areas! We will go "trusting in the Lord", its gonna be awesome!   I have learned so much here and cant wait to help people in the field!!  I love Fasting!!!!! The Lord helps me so much when I do! 

Oh fun fact... I can play basketball decently again!  Just shows how much a little bit of effort almost everyday helps you recover and become better then you used to be!  It is pretty hard to give up something in order to become closer to the Lord, but I can see the blessings from it!  

My companions and I are excited to rock it in Cali!!!  We leave tomorrow and I am soooo pumped!!!! I'll talk to you soon when I call home before I fly out!  Hope you guys are doing fine and I'll try and send more pictures!

Com amo,

Elder Bowden

This week was awesome!!!

This week was awesome!!!  Last P-day I was in the temple getting some sweet revelation! God is helping me realize how much this is His work and that I need to focus on doing everything He needs instead of what I want to do! Temple was probably the highlight of my week... its just so awesome... I love it! The best thing I have learned is how awesome God's tender mercies are and my goal is to try and realize as many of them as I can!  My advice to the young men and what I wish I had done is try and see if they can find the tender mercies God has given them so they grow to love and appreciate Him more. 

Oh this language is cake when a non native is speaking! haha We had our first Skype with a Brazilian and it was awesome!  I understood a lot until she went off for like 2 mins of nonstop Portuguese! Then I just nodded and said yes... it was awesome!  My comp and I are like family now, its sweet!  Oh, I am right there with you, I think I am on Alma 13, but its hard to get the time to read, we are so busy everyday here! And yes you can use my computer for your youth class, but my laptop is stupid, you might want to nuke it! 

All of the packages got here, thanks a bunch!!! I never wear my sweater, it's really nice weather up here! It hasn't snowed since right before we got here!  Yeah they have converters here and I will get one this week. Oh get Mom skittles for her bday that way she can practice her charity and give them to me!!! haha jk give her as much love from me as you can (meaning a huge hug)! :)

 Com amo,

Elder Bowden

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