We worked hard everyday atè o pó!!! (Until the end)!

The last week with Elder Benitez was good!  We worked hard everyday atè o pó!!! (Until the end)!  He will arrive at his house Wednesday.  He has one day of flying and one day of missionary tests. We taught a lot but didn't get many new investigators.  This week we will I will have a new comp named Elder Guilherme.  I haven't met him yet and the only thing I know is he is Brazilian.  I will meet him tomorrow, so next week Ill tell you about him! 

Oh, Erica will be baptized this Thursday! It will be awesome!  She is way excited and so are we!  She is a my first good member referral in the mission and she is solid!  She will be a good member! I will have to drop some investigators who don't want to go to church yet, hopefully someone else will be able to help them in the future! 
Well anyways, some of the mission probs are that not a lot of people want to be married. They just like living together, like they are married because marrying is expensive.  Also not many of them like going to church if the church is not on the same street as their house... Brazil is full of different churches!  Its nuts, but it's life!  Everyone has challenges, just got to learn and surpass them!

We said a lot of goodbyes this last week because we thought I would leave also.  I will leave next transfer, so I can teach my comp about the area... its gonna be sweet!  I am excited!  It will be great!  We are gonna work hard and I will learn tons of Portuguese! 

This week we had a delish shrimp pizza... twas fantastic! Ahh bad news, the lan house we went to today has terrible internet so the pictures aren't wanting to load. I wont have lots of time for pics but Ill send what I can. I am really jealous of the lake with the dogs... sounds way fun!  I'll have to put that on my bucket list!  The time is passing really fast and I am enjoying learning and growing here with tons of people! Ill be sure to write more about me week next week.

Te amo muito,

Elder Bowden

It's awesome working hard!

I took a lot of sweet pics but I didn´t bring the camera this week, so it's gonna have to wait till next week! Today was a bit rough.  We got a good lecture by Pres. today as a zone.  It's very hard to know what to do sometimes, but we can always pray for an answer! 

This week we didnt have our baptism, but she will be baptized soon, so its ok!   We are trying to find more and we have a bunch progressing!  It's awesome working hard!  We are trying to do all we can to help those we can! This is the last week with my comp till he goes home!  We are gonna work way hard this week!  Yeah, we have been getting food and a bunch of stuff  for him to take home.

Sorry this week was short!  Today was really busy and I don't have a lot of time to email, but next week I'll try and send one with a lot of pics! 
Say hello and welcome home to Grandma and Grandpa Bowden for me!

Love you guys!
Elder Bowden

So this week was great!

So your week sounds really awesome full of crazy things happening!  Ethan looks so old! Whats happening???  I haven't even been gone that long! Oh I sent dad an email about Wells Fargo. and I am gonna try and use it tomorrow.  Hopefully you'll get the email and figured it out by then, but if not, ohh well!

So this week was great! Its getting hard to look for others to teach because we are focused on teaching the people we have and not doing a lot of contacts. Mas eu sei nos podemos fazer mais, e encontrar mais pessoas quem é precisando o evangelho em a vidas deles. Eu tinha um muito bom experiência esta semana com jejuando! (but I know we can do more and find more people who are in need the gospel in their lives. I had a very good experience this week with fasting!) My Portuguese is coming, not perfect, but understanding teaching and creating friendships is a lot easier now that I can understand more.  I still have a lot to learn and gotta try and be more humble so I can constantly ask the Lord for help. I had a great testimony builder with fasting this week and am gonna continue to see the miracles God is sending me when I do my best. 

We found a person (very golden) and hopefully everything will work out and have her baptism this week!! Oh also we are gonna have a mission conference this week with one of the 70... its will be awesome! But they wont serve us food so it will be a little sad :P haha  Everything is working, everything is growing, and I am way excited to work and grow this week! Hopefully everything vai dar certo!

Oh yeah we went shopping for souvenirs this week since my comp is going home in 2 weeks!! We went in the giant Catholic church next to Mercado Central (a huge flee market thing, Brit will know) We took some awesome pics and the other pic is of a family that is always helping us and giving us food, they are really awesome! And they like sour stuff! :)

The baptism was great and all went well!

08-10-15

The baptism was great and all went well!  Caio brought his family to watch and support him, which was awesome.  It has been a great experience to watch him grow in confidence.  At the beginning, he was really shy and had concerns about being in front of everyone to get confirmed. He has been solid conquering his fears. Also he was not very excited about the idea of serving a mission, but when I was sitting next to him in Elders Quorum he said that he had the desire to serve a mission! It was awesome!  The Lord is always teaching and molding us to change us into someone better.  The only thing we need to do is let Him guide us to those who he has been preparing.

The Lord is just blessing us tons right now!  We got a referral to a Moça (young woman) who is eager for baptism.  One of the few families in our area, who actually seeks to bless lives through sharing the gospel, gave us this referral and said she had others prepared to receive the missionaries... so awesome. The Lord will bless those who try and diligently seek Him. As with anything, only a handful will be prompted to talk with us.  We need to put in our effort to receive all the blessings the Lord has for us. This week was awesome helping everybody and hopefully they can continue seeking the happiness they found.  

A funny story that happened this week was a 9 year old little boys pants fell in the toilet, so he went around church without his pants... aww he was awesome. Oh and I made a mistake.  I had to pay for the package Brit sent, not the one you sent. Thank you both for the stuff, it was awesome! All the candy is almost gone already... it made for good presents. Mas obrigado for everything, it was so good!

I miss you!  The pics are awesome! Ill send some good pics this week!

Love you all com meu Coração! 

Elder Bowden

Oh my comp in the U.S wants to return my suit I think he will call you this week?

Here are pictures with Caio and family

Cashew soda!

Here is the Brazilian version of
Grandpa Arroyo... he has tons of plants and vegetable and fruit trees and animals!.... and some of his kids are crazy so it fits perfectly! haha

This is the bridge of death that is really sketchy and looks like it will break every time we cross it! 

a picture from the doors of the church.

Everyone deserves the chance to become who God knows we can be!

Oh Mom I am gonna try and use some money in like 2 weeks for my comp who will be going home in one month!  It's nuts!  We are gonna be working hard to finish strong and it is his birthday tomorrow so I might give him my package. Oh it came in last week, but I need to pay like 90 reis (30dollars) to pick it up tomorrow when we go to the mission office.

Oh and this week was awesome!  We are working with an 18 year old who is just rocking the gospel!  He is way focused on doing things right and he will be baptized this Saturday! It's gonna be awesome! sorry mom, I didn't take a lot of pics this week.  I left the camera at home but next week I'll send more pictures!! Speaking of pictures, that picture of gramps is awe inspiring! Just makes my day! 

This week was a little different.  We didn't have as many lessons with investigators but with recent converts and less actives. It's surprising to me to see how often people are so focused on the new that they forget about what they already had. There are a lot of members who are less active or inactive entirely and are often times forgotten or deemed less important. But if anything, I am learning that everyone is a child of God, that EVERYONE is a priority. How great shall be your joy if you bring save one soul unto me. The feeling is awesome of helping the one like Jesus so often did. Always looking for that next friend to find and help. We have an investigator that is longing to go to church with her child but wont go without her neighbor who became inactive. The opportunities we receive here to grow in faith seem to be endless, always another person to help, to reactivate, to teach, but what is more important is to befriend and love everyone. I have found a way to help me desire to help everyone. I try and think of the person who first shared the gospel with my family and how grateful I am for that person, and how much I want to give everyone else that chance. Everyone deserves the chance to become who God knows we can be! 

Keep trying to help others! Its freaking awesome what your doing!!!

Love you more then E-mails can express! Thanks for all you do for me!!

Com tudo meu coração!

Elder Bowden