Rough week!

Rough week!  I got a differnent sickness!  My comp isnt happy with me for not understanding the plans he had that he forgot to explain. But its all good because I am learning how to be a better companion for him.  Its really hard for me to understand conversations that are not about the gospel and its hard because no one explains it.  So I am sort of solo for now at learning conversations (not gospel related).  Gospel related conversations and lessons are a lot easier because I have the Spirit to help me understand and convey what I need to say! 

We have a baptism with this awesome investigator this week! She is super solid bearing her testimony to all her family and working towards baptism! She is super stoked... its Pretty Fantastic!

I dont really think there are food rules besides only drinking water that says Mineral on it.  We eat whatever, so I will probably have a few new freinds inside me when I return... but I am not worried about that now. 

Here, almost everyone will listen to you, but few will act on it.  We are trying to find some more golden investigators and I am trying to adapt my teaching that I learned in the states.  My comp likes to remind me that Brazil is not America and things are different here, but its hard for me to not try and help everyone through their problems. Ill try and find a balance. 

Here are a few pictures, 1st is what the coins look like.

 part of a sketchy bridge I failed to take a good picture of

Pics of my sweet life here!

Brazil is crazy!

So I got sick right after our phone call and have been sick for like half of last week, but with different sicknesses each day. "But aint nobody got time to stop workin" so we have been going non stop this last week!  We work hard everyday and sometimes have to run home because we spend so much time teaching lessons. Brazil is crazy!  The language is really hard, especially since everyone has a wierd accent and they pronounce things all wierd!  I am getting the hang of it, learning as I go!  They say you dont get fluent and understand everything till you have been here for 3 months, but I plan to cut that in half! I am just greatful I dont need to make perfect sense for the spirit to touch their hearts.  I got a good chastisement from my companions about taking pictures.  It is too dangerous, so I'll need to be more stealthy I guess or just stop... we will see. 

Oh, I bought a couple apples, a bunch of grapes, and a cantaloupe for like 3 bucks.  It was pretty cool.  Everything is way cheap here. I couldnt find a convertor.  I talked with another missionary who had one and figured out it is best to just buy a razor that can handle both voltages.  If you could look for one because shaving takes way long for me and I want to have as much time as I can reading my sciptures... so if you could please, that would be fantastic! 

I am glad to hear of all the things still moving towards the glory of God!  Keep working and helping! Enjoy the pics!  Oh and as a side note, I get limited time here so my emails might not be as long!   That address is right I think! 

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Fortaleza is just like Mexico

I am fine mom, Fortaleza is just like Mexico except I understand a little more now and I feel totally safe here! The Lord has my back as I obey His rules, so I am not worried... though I would appreciate not being sick :) 

My comp is great!  His name is Elder Torrico.  Ele e muito legal porque ele é aprendendo Inglês, entao eu vou ajudar ele e ele vai ajudar me para estar fluente! (He is really cool because he's learning English, so I'll help him and he will help me to be fluent!)  He is really nice and has a lot of patience with me, so I will be fine. It's hard to get pictures for you since people might rob me if they see me with a camera.  I will continue to have stealth and not look like a tourist, and will get more pics this week if I can :D

My feet are definitely missing my bike, but my feet hurting is a good sign that I am not lazy :P mais ou menos (more or less)  Sorry for speaking Portuguese but I need to practice whenever I get the chance!  I'll try to write my emails with things that are easy to understand if I can. My comp in California, Elder McCalister, is home now in Utah.  Eu vou tentar para receber ele endereço. (I'll try to get his address).  You can pick up my things I sent home with him while you are up there.

Oh you are cutting down trees in Cloudcroft for Father and Sons..... haha I miss cutting trees... sorta... anyways I hope you don't let them do what you did last time and totally miss a turn into the bushes because that was nuts but awesome, for me at least.  

Oh wish the cousins good luck for me and tell Austin he smells like a fish :D

I did a front flip (with style I might add) over my bike onto the asphalt!

So I really don't know too much about my flight plans except I am supposed to fly into Sao Paulo Tuesday night.  My Mission President said that "I think your going straight to your mission" so my Portuguese is gonna be a little rusty!  I guess the power of prayer is gonna be something I need to work on, because I am gonna be saying some long prayers for help! I know that the gift of tongues is real, and I have already had a sweet experience with that.   I just need to pray for it a lot and strive to study the language as hard as I can when I can.  I am praying for a native comp so I can learn and adapt as fast as I can, since I am already behind every one of my companions!

So my comp and I were biking.  I was on the street and he was on the curb going down hill gaining speed.  I looked ahead and saw that my comp was gonna need as much room to make the turn ahead because he was on the left side of the street curb and we were about to take a left. So I in my awesome planning skills I gave him plenty of time and space and waited till the end to start turning.  But lo and behold my comp didn't know we were turning and commenced in taking a sweet jump off the curb right into my back tire, causing me to try and do a front flip (with style I might add) over my bike onto the asphalt, while he commenced in executing a perfect barrel role (with extreme skill) right on his head! I proceeded to laugh at our awesome display of manliness as he laid prostrated in the street!  I helped him up and we went through our day teaching investigators, because nobody has time to stop and recover until the adrenaline wears off.... Later we were told to take it easy and stay inside for a few days.     It really was a crazy experience... I was fine, but my comp is the one who got the bad side of that adventure! 

 I already went to the store to stock up on goods but I will try and score some peanut butter before I leave. Its sucks to say goodbye to all the people here, but I cant be selfish, so I will go where the Lord wants me to go! Way to be a member missionary!!!! You 2 are awesome, way to be keep up that missionary work! ok and remind me next email about the 2 things you asked because I am sure this week is gonna be crazy!  

Oh and I hope I get to call!  It will probably be at night if I am able to but if not I will try and call from the airport if I can!

Te amo muito!!!!

Elder Bowden

My comp was very sensitive to the light after the accident!

Our district came over to say good bye!  We had a little concussion party!  Notice my comp in the back with a cover over his eyes... still sensitive to the light.

Bro Townsend and his swords!

Our tearful goodbyes!

Oh yeah, tons of crazy opportunities to serve and some good memories here with my comp!

Oh yeah, tons of crazy opportunities to serve and some good memories here with my comp! This is his last week on the mission so we are gonna stay super busy and work hard to the last day! yeah!!!  My comp has his birthday tomorrow and goes home May 3? so this is our last P-day. :o Everyone is finding out my comp is leaving so we are getting invited everywhere!  Oh we got some sweet Polish sausage just like at gramps house, it was awesome! 

We have some less active members who we were able to do some service for... we sort of made them let us pull weeds! I am super grateful that I always had to pull weeds at Grandpas all the time... ha-ha!  You realize that some of the hard/not fun things in life prepare you to be a better missionary... only after you get on your mission! 

Oh, I had ice cream with our "homeboy" Brother Cook.  He is super funny and tells all these awkward stories, but hes a good man and helps out when he can.  He invited me to come back and live with him when I am done with my mission.  I dont think he realizes I have a lot of work left to do :)  He has some funny stories, but I'll have to save those for when I get back home.    

Cicis..... aww how I miss that place!  Well at least I know our record for eating pizza slices is safe because we were like at 300-400 slices as a priest quorum that one time... that was nuts! 

We have a couple investigators that we are working with and hopefully they keep progressing and get baptized! This week was awesome hope your week goes well!!

Te amo,

Elder Bowden

Well all the other squirrels that thought they could mess with us... we fed to this really tiny snake :P This snake belongs to a member in the ward we are working with.  He has tons of awesome creatures...(turtles, tortoise, and Nemo!).

Never give up because the Savior never gave up on you!

Oh gosh that is awesome that Grandma Carmen will teach me some steps of Latin American dancing like Brazilian Zambia!  Thank her for me! 

That was a lot of $$$ you made for scouts and high adventure...So can you have an auction for my homecoming fund?? That would be really nice to have some sweet cash! You should have tried to auction off Grandpa, that would have been awesome! Oh and that is great... long distance high adventures are the best and the most memorable.

For seminary, this might be a good idea to do the hand signs with the scripture mastery or have the class compete as teams against each other in putting the words of each scripture in the right older or where each team has to say it from memory one word at a time, sort of like hot potato?  

Oh so this week we had an awesome experience. I was biking down the sidewalk and I look over and there is this creature staring into my eyes for at least a second... then it realizes I am just too macho for him and terror fills his eyes and he turns around....right into my companions bike! Poor squirrel, might have made it but he was no where to be seen... 

Yeah I am learning all I can on my mission, where ever I am, so I can be prepared for everything else this life has to send at me. Diligence is what I need right now, because my comp is about to leave and we need to get as much done as we can and stay busy till the end! Never give up because the Savior never gave up on you!

Te amo,

Elder Bowden

Oh it was so tasty!

This is our massive 4 by 4 at In-n-Out

I just broke it somehow???

Giant chess set I was given by an investigator!

My comp with "Mr. Pain"

My comp after he got his going home phone call

Old people are the best!

So I have decided to share some of the funny experiences I forgot to write about... 1st story: So we were doing service at this place for old people who cant care for themselves.  We were helping out and one of the senior citizen ladies started hitting on my companion, it was awesome! Later we had to dance for them to like 60's music, so it was really strange but hilarious, cuz we both just did a bunch of random stuff! Afterwards one of the old ladies tells me "You didn't learn those moves at church!"  Old people are the best! 

This week was a good learning week for me.  I got to spend time with an Elder who has a lot of love for people and is a super charitable old man! It just helped me focus on helping other people instead of myself!  We need to remember every soul is important in the sight of God, not just the Investigators! We bike in the rain and get all cold, but we know that our comforts are far less important than helping the people we teach!  I need to fix so much to make myself a great missionary, but the Lord works with us day by day to make us who He needs us to be :) The mission is hard, but it reminds me of a conference talk where Elder Holland asks us why should we complain about our trials when Christ suffered so much more than we ever will! 

Everything is going well!  I gave an awesome training lesson with the Spirit.  I learn so much when I teach, so I finally understand how awesome it is to teach smart people! I hope your having a good time without me!  It's hard to believe I have been on my mission for over 100 days now... time flies! Have a beautiful week for me!

Com meu amo,

Elder Bowden