I am just gonna spend a lot of time on my knees and it will work out!

July 25, 2016
Opa!!!

Another family was partly baptized this week... Diego and Diogo (twins but not identical) We are working with their mom.... but I am confident that her sons will help her! This week was crazy! We had lots of people who didn't want to go to church and put the world first... but it will get better! We talked with everyone and they realized the blessings they missed out on! We also have Daniele who is legit!  She went to church and liked it a lot and hopefully it will work out. She takes the Livro de Mormon to work and reads it when she can there!!! The fam of 12 is really hard to focus all at once so we are trying to work with the older ones and then the younger.  It's really crazy to teach them all at once.... haha!

 I stayed with my comp for another transfer but almost every dupla changed in our zone!  We lost a lot of good missionaries, so this transfer is gonna be a hard one. We are gonna have to train a lot of missionaries..... but I am just gonna spend a lot of time on my knees and it will work out!  I'll have interviews with my president this transfer and I'll ask him about coming one week ahead, but I'll pray about it and let you know! We are gonna play some crazy basketball today. It's gonna be legit, except for the fact that no one else knows how to play... haha!  

Estou doido e feliz!!

Love ya lots!!

Elder Bowden

Erica (mom) Diego, Diogo, and Edwardo!!

Time is going fast and I have tons to do!

Essa semana foi bom por nos mas.... não pela zona....(this week was good for us but .... not the area) We had the baptism this week of Jessica and she has only..... 11 siblings! It's awesome to teach afamily of this size! We are working on trying to get all of them to church, but the mother prefers to take them to the beach, so its a little hard but it will work out!! We have another family that is working on being baptized this week. It's just a little hard for the youth because here they have so many bad influences... but it will work out. We will have them go to church for activities all this week if we can. The zone is a lot better and we have a lot of dates for this week. Hopefully we can make up for these past 2 weeks!

This last week I was thinking a lot about Helaman 5:44,49 About the spiritual experiences we have and how the Lord knows that satan will attack those spiritual experiences and will cause us to doubt.We had a very long conference this last week that spoke about spirituality. It was sad to see how many missionaries are lacking this..but I have time to help everyone get better with this trait!! I will be the oldest LZ (Zone Leader) in the mission after next week!! :O haha time is going fast and I have tons to do!

Oh also I wanted you to take out money to pay for the last 5 months of my mission. I keep forgetting to ask, but this week I remembered :) Dad I'll save the crazy experiences for when I get home. Velveeta is gold here! All the missionaries love it and skittles!! They work miracles!!

Love ya lots, thanks a ton!
Elder Bowden

I was almost American and ate hot dogs for the 4th!

Oh snap this week was a hard one! We had lots of problems this week... lots of dates falling through and we are way short of our goals...but we are gonna work hard -ate o pó- this week and hopefully have some good results. I am in need of some prayers! We need to work a lot so we can have success. I was almost American and ate hot dogs for the 4th! and I ate açai... it was awesome!! I didn't plan my hour of email really well so my email wont be too long this week, sorry! But I am happy and working, trying to become better! I'll try and read the FHE you sent next week if I have time... :O
but Love ya lots!!

Elder Bowden

Oh we will have zone conference this week! :O

I took a rock as a souvenir of the temple grounds

So this last week I have eaten very very unhealthy... eating cheese, and then more cheese, then açai, then ice cream, then more cheese, and then more ice cream...... and lets just say that my soul has been rejuvenated by the jam and cheese, but my belly has been growing.... but it was totally worth it!!! Thanks, that cheese is super good! haha

We are taking care of a huge zone and having to spend like 1/3 of our money on only buses.... its crazy. We had to do lots of interviews this last week. Almost our whole Saturday was just going to interview people and it was really cool.We had an experience with a woman who had a addiction to cigarettes and she didn't have a great desire to be baptized. By the end, the Spirit gave her the desire to stop and set her own goal for this week! It was awesome! Also I went to Novo Aldeota to help some missionaries who work in a huge area. I got to go look at the construction of the temple there and I took a rock as a souvenir of the temple grounds :p I'll send the pictures if I can. We went to a crazy internet house....

But it was awesome... there was a 18 year old preparing for baptism and he read a scripture and interpreted the scripture wrong.  I was a little nervous but when we started teaching, and I had no idea how to explain, but the Spirit did and taught us all. As we were leaving, the elder who was with me looked at me and said "I am glad you explained that scripture so well" And I said, "It wasn't me." It was really cool.  This area is a lot easier to get people to the church. What is hard is keeping them there. But Elder Christensen spoke about why we need to help them recognize the experience they are having! We have more or less 3 families that we are trying to help have these experiences, but we need more ideas for FHE.  If you can help that would be great!

It was an awesome week! I'll try and do something American today... maybe eat ice cream or a hot dog!! woot woot!! Love ya guys lots! The package has been awesome!!!  but I miss my old shoes with their holes... they had air conditioning :D

Elder Bowden

The dirt is the ground of the temple, the others are part of my zone  

Ground work for the temple!

A flying roach attacked my comp!

So my package showed up without the shoes........ but the candy, cheese and shorts arrived! It was awesome... we are all eating them! I think I'll make some mac and cheese today!!! It's gonna rock!!! Oh last p-day we played some sports.... and lets just say its been a long while since I have played! I felt like I was really old and needed a walker because I was so sore....

Oh we have a family that is preparing for their baptism this week!!! Erica (mãe) Diego, Diogo (sons/twins) and maybe some of the neighbors that are going with them to church!!! We are having more success with the leaders in our zone. The normal missionaries are having some problems so we will probably have to give a special training to just the leaders as well the normal missionaries next week. Our sacrament had Arab bread, and there was a missionary who took it and just stared at it for like 10 seconds, like something was wrong with it, and  my comp and I had to try not to laugh. We were teaching a RC (recent convert) this week when a flying roach attacked my comp and he freaked out doing a dance because it was climbing up his leg. Then, because I was laughing at him, it attacked me for a bit then took off out the door! It was a very crazy lesson!

We are working with lots of people and we have a bunch that are going to church and are progressing. It's awesome!  Elder Santos and I are gonna have lots of success! He's a little crazy, like me, and he creates friends easily. This week has been crazy...we have a few families that are needing food, and the only thing we had in the house was cookies and chips... missionaries don't eat very healthy here! :P

I got to pass by the road of the temple this week! They started building last month and it is planned to finish in 2018!  I'll try and get some pictures!! Oh I found a Sams and thought of Mom. Another missionary received a package from the US as well, so we have lots of candy :D  Thanks for the package, it was awesome, full of great stuff!!! Oh and I was joking!!! I got the new shoes!!! My bishop was so happy when he saw that I had new shoes that he gave me a hug! He is a good bishop just a little crazy :) I am realizing that I am forgetting how to tie knots :( Every time I have a chance I try to remember how it works.

 

Love ya lots!!

Elder Bowden

 

 

He saw my shoes and felt sorry and tried to buy shoes for me!

This week was awesome! My new comp is from São Paulo. He is really cool and really nice. We are gonna have a great transfer! haha Everyone who lives with me loves CocaCola. It's crazy.... they drink it almost everyday! My zone is huge, so I am gonna have to use lots of buses this transfer. I have 20 missionaries to take care of in the center of the city! Its really crazy.We have lots of good missionaries in the zone so we should have a lot of success! My mission, I think, has 95% missionaries who have less time than me left, so we are trying to train them a lot but many are getting the hang of it and having success! Oh and we have the secretários in our zone, so all will know when my shoes arrive! haha I had a member talk to me because he saw my shoes and felt sorry and tried to buy shoes for me! I'll send some pics!

We had a baptism this week. It was awesome because she was taught everything but didn't want to be baptized, so we did a district fast and the next day she said that she wanted to be baptized! Liliana is her name. She is a friend of a member. It was a really cool week! We are teaching a family and they love the church, the only problem is that it is a bit distant from their house... but it will work out!!! Was an awesome week... I am way excited for this next one!! Tell dad happy late Fathers day! :)

Love ya lots!!!

Elder Bowden

We had a conference with Elder Christensen!

This week was awesome we had a conference with Elder Christensen and his wife they talked a lot about the importance of "writing our spiritual plates". It was way cool to hear speakers in English. I got the chance to hear his talk 2 weeks. I took a lot of notes, but its transfers and I forgot my notes in the house.... but I got to see my comp from the MTC! I took photos with him. He is crazy, but really awesome! I didn't see the son of Dad's companion, they didn't give us time to mingle.... but it was awesome! haha I talked with a sister from the MTC who is going home tomorrow. She will go to BYU and I think she and Meag would be good friends!

 Josuel baptized his wife this week!! It was really awesome... he is the man!! It is gonna be sad to leave them and go to the other side of the mission.... but it will work out. I should have a hard working Brazilian comp! I am going to have a big zone but its gonna be fun... haha  The baptism was legit but what was crazy was we didn't have water in the chapel, so we had to spend like 5 hours hauling buckets of water to fill the font.... we had to pull water from like a well in a small bucket to fill a bigger bucket to take to the font.... but it worked out, so I am happy!!

Oh we also had lots of lunches cancel so I had to go buy stuff to make a lunch for everyone because no one had money... it was crazy... This week was good, I read lots of conference talks and read again the epistles of Alma to his son. They are some of my favorite chapters!! It was an awesome week and I'll have a crazy new week in my new area and hopefully I'll get my package there!!

Thanks a lot! Love you lots and have a good week!!!!
Elder Bowden

Pic of my MTC comp