DUDE, I'M A MISSIONARY

BUEEENAS tardes familia y amigos. (Good afternoon family and friends)

RICHARD!!!!!! Love this child.

Monday- Our bus broke down hahaha. The driver was shifting gears and

straight up pulled the gear shifter thing out. Sooooo, we had to get off
and walk alll the way back to our sector. And they didn´t even give us our
money back! hahah. Even though it was only 25 centavos (cents). We have friends all
over Peguche and Quinchuqui and and Monday, the pizza friends hooked us up
with free pizza hehehe! They aren´t technically in our sector because they
live in Otavalo, but we still teach them. They have so many questions! We
have taught the Plan of Salvation a couple times and they always ask about
Jose Smith (Josepsh Smith) and Palabra de Sabiduria (Word of Wisdom) aaaand a ton of English- they're so fun.

(I think it would be so dope to come back her post-mish and teach English.
That would be sweet. ORRRRR a little birdie told me that BYU-Idaho is
supposedly opening a branch here in Otavalo summer '15.... aka right when I
get home. GO VIKINGS!! I think thats BYU-I´s mascot.. hhahha) ANYWAYS, I love
them. They heard cambios (transfers) are next Monday and almost cried hahahha. This
place is awesome. 

Alvaro C. left for the Missionary Training Center in Peru on Monday so we
went and said bye to him and ate cow stomach again. We also had a really
cool uplifting family home evening with the M.G. fambam. We are
tryna activate the husband, Luis. We go over every Sunday and sing hymns at
the top of our lungs at 6am... It´s fun. BRILLLLLLLLAAAAN RAAAAAAYOS DE
CLEMEEEEENCIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Tuko Tuesday was fun. We went contacting in a neighborhood we haven't been
to in a while and found lots of way incredible people. The sun was setting
and there were those flauta (flute) things (idk what they are in English but I
think that its the thing Mr. Tumnus plays in Narnia. IDK HOW ELSE TO
DESCRIBE, DON'T JUDGE hahaha) off in the distance and I´m like, DUDE I'M A
MISSIONARY. I have been having those moments often this week. I love eeeet.

Wednesday we helped a very very veeeery drunk ñañagu up the giant hill that
leads the Quinchuqui. She was fallin backwards, bless her heart. We knew
her from a week ago, she´s a sweetheart, like 67 years old... Well I was
thankful I had previous experience with drunk people (heh) because it made
it a tad easier to help her up the mountain to her grandkid´s house. We
went back to teach her like 3 times but shes MIA. So wa, becuase I love
her. We gave her a picture of Jesus and she kissed it like 93,084 times and
kept looking up to the heavens. People are so special. We taught ley de
castidad (law of chastity) like 748 times this week. (okay, 4 times) But I really have a
testimony of it! God loves us and wants to stay clean morally and
spiritually! It truly makes you happier.

Thursday we helped weed and mover la tierra (move dirt) in the big terreno donde
sembramos unos papas hace uuuuuu full tiempo (earth where we planted potatoes and it took a long time). Era como hace unos 11 semanas, la verdad (It was like 11 weeks ago, truthfully.)  Pero fue super lindo poder ver que estan creciendo. (But it was really great to see how they've grown.) Pero me hizo recordar acerca de Alma y (But I remembered about Alma and) the seed that he talks about.  The seed of faith. We can all nourish and strengthen that seed of faith that we have and make sure that it grows by giving it the necessary things. Primary 

answers, church, prayer, scriptures. 

I was studying the New Testament and had such a breakthrough. Christ taught through parables and so can we. Sometimes the language barrier with Kichwa can be a tad frustrating but are using lots of examples and videos and pictures and hands on activities and just applying the Gospel directly to their lives. Which is totally what we should have been doing all along, but it was really cool to relacionar it with the way that Christ taught.

On Friday we cleaned the chapel! So that was way fun. I loved cleaning the baptismal font. I also superglued my fingers together. Not a clue how that happened.  We gave Alfonzo, a Libro De Mormon (Book of Mormon) for his b-day, he was really happy for the picture of us in it, but not for the actual Book Of Mormon. We are workin' on it. Elena prays everyday for Heavenly Father to iluminar (enlighten) him and help him open his heart.

Friday WAS AWEOSME BECAUSE ALFONZO PRAAAAYEDDDDDDDDD FOR THE FIRST TIMEEEE AHHHHHHHHHHH AFTER 3 MONTHS!!!!!!!! We were so so so so so happy and proud of him.

Sunday, FASTING BRINGS MIRACLES. We had 6 people show up to church ON THEIR OWN, which is unheard of here. It's usually like 3 max. I was so thankful. We also were able to have consejo de barrio (ward counsel) which was a blessing and we got to set up citas (appointments) with members to acompañarnos esta semana que viene (accompany us in the week that is coming up). We had a really great lesson with a member´s family on Saturday just to strengthen them a bit since they were going through a rough patch, and set some goals. Melanie, a very shy 12 year old, set the goal to better herself in saying her personal prayers and work towards saying them in public... Well guess who gave the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting yesterday? Melanie. My companion and I had tears in our eyes.

I truly love the people here in Quinchuqui. We are working on helping Maria and Luis get married since theyre conviviendo, and they have such desires to be baptised. They both came to church yesterday. Miracles happened! Rocio, an investigator, the mom of Willian, a recent convert who we taught a bit, reappeared! After dissappearing for like a week and a half. It was awesome, we got to teach her about ley de castidad. Yuli, Maria´s daughter literally asked us to teach her- we had been teaching Diana, her sister, and she wasn´t really home all that often, but she´s been in a couple lessons we have had and now she pasars more tiempo en casa (spends more time at home) and wants to know more, and her own Book of Mormon. So happy. Jessica, a lesser active recent convert from about 7 months ago came to church! Elena and her daughter Wuary who is preparing for baptism came on their own as well.  

Heavenly Father is amazing. I am just happy that I have the opportunity to brighten someone´s day a little more with the light of Christ and this amazing Gospel. That is what it´s all about.

Miss you alllllllllllllllll.

I'm really really sorry but we are in a ghetto internet cafe and NONE OF THE PICS ARE SENDING AND I HAD LIKE 5480049 BILLION. So, I'm sorry. 

BUT you will be able to see my sunburnt, bug-bitten, beautiful face on the 11th FOR SKYPEEEEEE FOR MUDDERS DAY! Wooo. The president hasn't specified the specifics, so it might not be on the 11th, but I shall let y'all know. 

Say your prayers and go to choichhhhhhh,

Con amor (with love), 

Hermana Bowman

PS  CONGRATS TO RACH AND JASE FOR Y'ALLS LITTLE BUNDLE OF JOY, KLOE BAIR!!!!! What a cute little angel from heaven. I love y'all. 

WAVE AT THE MISSIONARIES IF YOU SEE THEM :)))))

Herro. This week was awesome. For some reason I was in extra awe of where I´m at. I know with all my heart, that God wants me exactly where I´m at. I know that it's so divine that I´m here. These people are literal CHILDREN OF GOD. And they all deserve the opportunity to know and come unto Christ. It was very special because this past weekend, we remembered the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He lives. I know He died for us, but that He has RISEN.

Hahhahaha for my hood friends............... this was today like 49 mins ago hehehhahah, I love Otavalo.

Us with the cutest little hood kids that were out playing at like 9 at night. We had a whistling competition after we taught them how to pray. We talked a lot about Jesus since it was Easter this week, and semana santa (Holy Week). They loved talking about Him and looked at us like their heros. We have talked to one of their Mom's a couple of times and she´s pretty interested in the Church as well.

So thankful for this Gospel! I love it so much. 

We got to have the Mission President Richardson come and have a reunion (meeting) with us on Thursday where we learned how to teach the message of the Restoration a little better. It was awesome. What a great afternoon. And then we got to go out and apply it! 

Me and my compcomp, Hna Rojas chilling by our favorite bushes after the zone conference on Thursday.

Here´s our zona along with some of the Otavalo Sur zona (South Zone). We had a greeeeat capacitacion (inservice training). I love when President comes and visits us. :) "Eeets de beeeehst!" (Nacho Libre voice)

We also got to listen to the Conferencia de Area (Area Conference) which was directed to all of Ecuador. The conferencia de areas was absolutely incredible. I love capacitaciones (inservice trainings) and conferencias. I feel so refreshed! It's great to be able to go home and actually presently apply what is learned. And I had no IDEA that Elder Richard G Scott knew how to speak such flawless Spanish! The Spirit was so incredibly strong. Also, we got to hear Elder Jeffry R Holland speak. He spoke in Spanish for a second at the beginning and then gave the most powerful testimony at the end in Spanish. I love this message of hope and love that is for the whole world. Listen, listen!

We are making lots of plans for the rama (branch). The Presidente really trusts us now, and we are planning activities and trying to get activities going for at least every other Tuesday night, so that investigators can be hermanados (member companions). We have lots of great ideas. We really are praying for a lider missional (mission leader), and maybe someone that could come out on visits with us. This rama has a LOTTTT of potential -- they just need a little push. We are also going to have a little intro to PME(Predicando Mi Evangelio) (PMG - Preach My Gospel), and make sure that every family gets one for their homes. I really do love Quinchuqui. There's so much to do here.

Well, the rest of my week can be explained in pictures. 

Me with Johnny! So cute - this was after the fanesca activity on Thursday.

Obviously, he's my favorite little stinker. He always says his prayers now and we have talked about the Book of Mormon and he's so stoked. He´s the only person in his whole family who has desires to listen to us. But he is always so determined and shows up to church all by himself every Sunday morning. He´s the best.

Love this kid. :D

Me last night after I fell in the street for the 8,953th time this week. My companion finds my clumbsiness hilarious. It's great. But I find it quite funny too, heheh.

Love you all,

Smile at someone and invite a friend to church this Sunday!! AND WAVE AT THE MISSIONARIES IF YOU SEE THEM :)))))

Hugs and slugs,

Hermana (Sister) Bowman

PS. Q&A TIME!!!!! (Questions from my Momma and Answers from Me.)

Q: Have you eaten anything else strange (besides guinea pig)?
A:  Not that I can remember. Just lots of cow stomach. They have something called fanesca (soup) that they eat during semana santa (Holy Week) here and we had a sweet rama (branch) activity where we made it in two giant witch brew pots and also made colada morada (SO GOOD). Fanesca is tipico de (typical or indigenous to) Ecuador and it has like 12 granos. It's like a soup served with aguacate (avocado), tomate (tomato), queso (cheese), and little bread balls. It was good except we ate like 5 bowls in one day and almost exploded. It was difficult to move.

Q: How did you kill the chicken? Swing it around or wring it's neck?
A:  We put the chicken on the step with its little neck hanging off and then cut it with a kitchen knife. You have to hold it down or else it jumps up and does flips without its head on. It was quite the experiece. We killed 6 with Elder Bacab, Elder Gonzalez, me, the sister I trained Hermana (Sister) Rojas, and Hermana (Sister) Cajas. 

Q: What do most members wear to church on Sundays? Like Costa Rica where men might wear a t-shirt with a design or lettering on it under their white shirt? Women in flip flops and a t-shirt and skirt?
A:  Everyone wears the typical anaco (dress). The guys wear a blue or black poncho, white pants, and white alpargates (the cool shoes that I literally wear daily... they're the closest to flip flops). Because our Stake is all indigenous, it's just all the indigenous wear. We wear anaco like every other week. They say we look prettier and they like us more -- hahaha. 

Q: Have you worn out any shoes yet?
A:  I have worn out like 3 pairs. I wear alpargates most the time, they're light, and easy.  They actually have good support -- and they're always under 5 bucks. Woo woo.

Q: How much does a taxi cost?
A:  Taxis try and cobrarnos (charge us) like 6 dollars because of my skin and hair but then I speak to them in Spanish and they're all surprised and then they charge us at the most like $2. We have ridden free a bunch of times too. 

Q: Where do you keep your money? Do you use the Kanga Pack?
A:  I keep it in a little monedero, a pouch. You always have to have it handy because we take the bus way more than taxis. The bus is always 25 cents. They use dollar coins here a LOT. We hardly ever handle bills. We don't use Kanga Packs, those are for nerds. Hahaha. But we usually never leave the house with more than 5 bucks. 

Q: How much of your day would you say is spent speaking Kichwa and how much is in Spanish?
A:  45% Kichwa (it's not Quechwa, thats a different dialect.) and the other 55% Spanish. And some English. Hermana Rojas knows "The Eeensy Weensy Spider" and "I Love to Look for Rainbows" now. So proud of her. :)


PPS. Surprise epilogue MORE PICTURES :)

                               THE CUTEST LITTLE NOTES I HAVE EVER RECEIVED:

The one on the left is from Johnny. It says:

"Hermanita Woumer (that's what he calls me because the last name Bowman is literally impossible for people to say here - hahah) por favor no se vaya de aqui. (Sister Bowman please don´t leave from here). On the other side he drew and colored the Libro de Mormon (Book of Mormon).

And then the two other ones are from the kiddos in the other picture. They were so cute, they like slipped them into my backpack. Aw aw aw.

("You are my best friend in the whole world.")

("I hope that tomorrow you come again and tell us more stuff about God, but make sure you come after one pm.")

SO CUTE THEY MELT MY HEART.

seeeeeelfieeeeeeeee

Short and sweet...

Hola (hello) fambam. 

the dance outfeeeeeeet (outfit)

QUITO ECUADOR BEBEEEEEEEEEE. We stay reppin´. (This is in downtown Otavalo approximately 47 minutes ago.)

Our zona (zone) at a service project on Saturday.  It was way fun and we got to wear the cool vests. I wanted to keep the cool vest. The vest was very cool. I suggested that they even send this pic in to the Liahona magazine due to the coolness of the vest.

Here I am modeling the cool vest.

The gringo (American) fambam, the Marlows (who frequently email my momma, and are from the GREAT STATE OF TEXAS... sent my momma a video of us all saying hi. 

Short and sweet...

This week was great! I love Quinchuqui (it's way special) and being a missionary.  This is truly a wonderful time to be able to serve God!

I know that this gospel is true! It changes lives. I have seen it happen.

Don't worry about me, I am happy and healthy (FINALLY). Thank you for all y'alls emails this week. There's a ton of pics this time since I didn´t really have time to write a novel this week. 

We didn't have mamitas (members who feed us) all week, so we cooked erry day. It was delicious.

Mormon helping hands swag swag

cutest wittol puppies in the woiiiiild

Pablito´s b-day! The big 15.

BABY COWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

Fave fambam (Elena, Alfonzo, Wuary, Jean Pierre, Mayra) last night at a fun noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) we had.

Us with the two Dianas at their open house this morning. They were doing a cool dance with these sweet fluffy skirts.

Me and my favorite little man, Johnny. He´s 9 and he used to be super travieso (mischievous), but now he´s being better and better behaved.

Say your prayers and go to church!

Love you all,

Hermana (Sister) Bowman

Our new mission cell phone, CHECK IT OUTTTTTTTTTTT.

(JK!!!!!) (Look closely.  It's a"Blackberry" water game.)

I'M BASICALLY FLUENT IN KICHWA NOW

Alillachu kankichi! Kankunata nanda yuyani! Tukuy shunkuwan kuyani. :) (Hello dearest fambam, I miss y'all! and I love y'all with all my heart.)

I'M BASICALLY FLUENT IN KICHWA NOW.  Be jealous.  I am now trilingual.  Here's the most important phrase: yarkajun mikuna ishan! (pronounced yar-ha-hoon, me coona, ee shan...which means I'M HUNGRY AND HAVE NOT EATEN!) Hahaha.  I love learning new languages!

Well WOW.

What an amaaaaaaazing week this has been! SO much inspiration and guidance directly from our Heavenly Father! If you missed any of General Conference, I totally reccommend that y'all catch up on it. lds.org.

We had leccion (lesson) 2 with Elena and Wuary this past week -The Plan of Salvation- and it was so incredible. Before, Elena would always always always cry at the thought of her son, but after bringing this Plan back to her rememberance (we talk about it like every day we go over, but we had the official lesson again this past Tuesday), she has been enlightened and she remembers him with happiness now. 

She knows that he is in a good place and that he would want her to be happy where she's at. It's really cool because she really has desires for Wuary to be baptized.  We were able to find her records of baptism from like the 1970´s (Thanks to Hermana Allred, the senior missionary who works in the offices WHO IS FROM SHERMAN TEXAS, like wait what!? We were totes in the same Stake back home. I love her, she's like my mission Gma. She's such a sweetheart.) and also with the knowledge that the necessary ordinances of baptism have been efectuados aquí en la tierra en el santo templo de Dios for her son, Victor. She also now has the vision of going to the temple herself. I am so thankful everyt day for all the miracles we have seen with this family. I know that they are one of the reasons why I am here. To be an instrument in God´s hands. She gave her testimony on how prayer is so powerful and that she knows just how much her Heavenly Father loves her and how pendiente and aware He is of her situation. Yall, God HEARS AND ANSWERS our prayers. A Child´s Prayer, the primary song, is absolutely SO true and SO powerful. Just like how Pres. Eyring was talking about how hymns and scriptures are the things that stick the longest, it is so true. Personally, I totally think that we all sang Armies of Helaman before we came down to this earth, its suuuuuuuuuch a great song that truly brings the missionary spirit. MMM, LOVE THE GOSPEL, LOVE IT!!

                                      

Us with one of our FAVORITE FAMILIES! The daughters have been coming to church for a couple weeks now. They´re way special. The oldest, Ñusta (which means reina, osea or queen) was saliebdo como madrina (i have no idea how the heck to say that in english, sowee) which is basically like she was nominated for princess of fine arts or sweetheart (omg, remember when I was sweetheart nom?! Ahhh the glory days hahahha jkjkjkjk) and so we were taking pics with her whole fambam. The mom, Maruja, is SO sweet. They are so special and they are truly seeeing a change poco a poco en sus vidas (little by little in their lives).

We have been working with both Luis and Marison and the both of them truly opened up to us this week. I don´t know what it was about Wednesday, but everyone was just telling us their life story. We used preguntas inspiradas (heaven sent questions) and we were able to figure out truly what their needs were, and teach accordingly. I love that no matter who you are, what you´ve been through, where you come from... There is ALWAYS a facet of the Gospel, a principle, something, that applies directly to your situation.

But one encompasses all, as we were reminded this past weekend in Conf, GOD. LOVES. YOU. You are so precious to Him. The Plan of Happiness is for you. Especially for you. Christ loves you SO much that He came to this Earth, and walked these difficult and often dark, seemingly lonely roads, so that He could know how to help you when you pass through those times. He knows exactly how you feel. He has gone through it, for you, out of His infinite love.  You are never, NEVER, alone.

                                       

MY FAVORITE GRAFFITTTTTTTI! This is on the way to Otavalo and we pass by it all the time. It says, la preparación es la base del éxito. Which means, preparation is the basis (or base, or prerequirement, or is necessary) for success! And it´s too true. This quote has always motivated me to ¨get ´er done¨ whenever it comes to studying and preparing for the day. Like Doctrine & Covenants 11:21 says :) WOO

A dog bit my hand last night, so that was cool. I hope it didn´t have rabies. But I did get to check something off my mission bucket list. Heh.

SOMEONE BROKE INTO OUR HOUSE. It was scary, we had pepper spray and scissors to defend ourselves... We called a member who lived nearby to save us. It was really intense. But then later we found out it was just the owner who was supposed to be in Spain... (lame... we felt reaaaaaallllly dumb for overreacting but whaaaaaatevaaaaaa) It was actually cool because my testimony grew even more about how much our Padre Celestial nos esta cuidando (Heavenly Father is watching over us). :)

K so did something happen at like 8am last week Thursday? Because we were studying all chill and whatnot and then all of the sudden I got really nervous and my stomach dropped and I started to cry. It was odd. But then we said a prayer and I felt better. But I hope all is well with all y'all.

HAHAHA Hermana Hancey is SUCH a sweetheart, she just got here from the Mexico MTC like a week ago, and we were practicing memorizing the articulos de fe en español (Articles of Faith in Spanish), and we were doing number dos (two), which is Nosotros creemos que los hombres serán castigados por sus propios pecados y no por la transgresión de Adán (We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression). But she said, all men must be punished for sus propios pescados (their own fish) hehehe jejeje jijiji. Pescados (fish) it was so cute and so funny. She's a little ray of sunshine and I am way thankful we are in the same area.

Aw conf was really great. All the gringos (white folk) were in a teeny room together and we brought a tonnnnn of food and basically just laid on the floor (because there weren't enough chairs) and took notes (I have 30 pages. I was acutally gonna take pics and send them to y'all pero me cogió la pereza [but I forgot] jejej) but then we got macheted (talked to, or in trouble) for the food. But then we explained its part of the American culture to eat a lot. We had banana pancakes, oreo truffles, cinnammon twists, mozzarella sticks, no bake cookes (all home made...) OH and canguil! (popcorn) It was glorious.

It was so funny because in the first sesh when They announced that Elder Holland was going first, we literally all freeeeeeaked out like woo hoo yayayayay! And every time they would announce a speaker we would all just do the Napoleon Dynamite ¨Yessssssssssssssssssss¨. I love love love love love love love love love love lvoe lveolveovleovelvoe LOVE love love lvoe General Conference. It was incredible So much personal revelation and answers to questions and just AH! I love it. I can´t wait until the Liahona comes out!

I was so stoked because now that I have been studying the scriptures more (I WISH I COULD REPEAT SEMSEM NOW!!!! I MISS SEMINARY AHHHHH. Sorry Sister Summerhayes for not listening better. You were the bomb.com and I love you and all your litle rhymes for the Scrip mastery! I have them written in my quad! "Revelation is great! Don´t sleep late! Prayer conquers Satan. Testimonies stick! Converts awaiting." I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! You´re the best. Do you have those catchphrases for the other books!? And not just Doctrine & Covenants?!) I was totally able to pinpoint any phrase (okay, not any, but a majority) that had a scriptural backbone - it was so sweet. I would put a little s with a circle hehe, I like note taking systems. There were also a couple scriptures, phrases, and general ideas that were repeated a ton of times, and I know that when the Lord repeats stuff in the scriptures O REMEMBER REMEMBER! aka remember, heh.

Here we are with the best fambam ever! María, Diana, and Tati. Who came to confconf! THEY LOVED IT!!! And they came to the sesh where our beloved prophet spoke. When they shared their feelings of excitement and testimony, and expressed that they wanted to take some pics in front of church (usually it's my idea, hashtag selfies) I wanted to cry! They are awesome. :) Love it.

It was really good. I think the biggest themes were: family, just how much our heavenly father loves us, enduring to the end, and being the best you can be. You should read it on lds.org. Or just re-watch it. There's such power in hearing the words of our Prophet. And the music was positively glorious. I know that we can have the courage and faith to apply all that we heard and learned and be able to build upon the foundation. We can go out and do. Act upon the feelings we have felt as we have listened to these inspiring messages. I loved thinking that so much of the world was singing a hymn at the same time, or saying "amen" at the same time. We were all truly more united as a grandiose (large) fambam in this wonderful Gospel!

When we were leaving there were some guys who wanted to kiss me (I hope I have this problem when I get off my mish and go to BYU hahahahahahaha) and then Elder Bacab stepped between us because the guy was pretty dang persistent (musta heard Elder Ballard´s talk, lolololol jk he wasnt a member or anything, he was a hippie that was juggling stuff at the stoplight.) and he said, "No, dude back off..." and then the guy gets on one knee and tries proposing (this is now the third time in 5 months, mind you) and then Elder Bacab goes, "NO SHES ENGAGED ALREADY... IN THE LORD'S WORK!"  Hahahahaha. It was so funny. But it's so true doe.

Does it feel like I have been gone five months!? I can't believe it. On one hand it feels like a century. On the other, it feels like 3 weeks.

CON AMOR (WITH LOVE),

Hermana (Sister) Bowman

HAHAHAHHA MCGEE/BOWMAN INSIDER. Meeting point. Meeeeeting point. MEETING POINT. I died, I thought it was so funny. It was at a restaurant on Saturday in between confconf sessions. I miss all y'all. Let's go on a cruise when I get home please and thanks. (Even though that is 13 months away heh heh... Plus, I am never gonna leave Ecuador since I love it here... And good luck with trying to get me to take my placa (missionary badge) off......... yep)

“Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not an effort of once a week or once a day. It is an effort of once and for all.”

PS. Fax me some fruit leather. :) heh heh

I love serving here

Hola HELLO FAMILY

Well this week seemed reeeeeaaaallllllllllly lllllloooooooooooong. But Monday came fast. Time is so odd out here on the mish.

Chillin' with the village children.

Highlights:

-We pulled a passed out drunk turi (hermano, aka dude or guy) our of the road so he wouldn´t get run over. Hashtag, the good Samaritan.

-Rosa L (the CUTEST old lady who we love to visit, whose husband refuses to give her permission to go to church, saaaad) gave us a puppy last night. Her name was Sofia and we were trying to think of every excuse and justification in the BOOK to take her home (she was freshly bathed and like a month old) BUT the missionary handbook prohibits pets of any kind, (even cui hehehe) and then we gave Sofi to Tatiana, who is one of our investigators and she was overcome with glee and I´m pretty sure that was the key to her heart and now she´s gonna get baptized.

 This morning as the sun rose, we washed our clothes in buckets -- woooo.

-SO STOKED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think that now since there are 7 gringos (americans) in our zone, we will be able to watch it in MY LOVELY, BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS NATIVE TONGUE OF ENGLISH. But we shall see. (remember when I was the token white gurl? those days are over, wa)

DO NOT ENTER at the Cascada de Peguche this morning. muahahha, me and Elder Gonzales, the Chilean from Talca (part of Elder McGee's mish in Rancagua Chile!)

-Elena and Wary are the best people in the world. I love them, they are so special. 

-I KILLED A CHICKEN WITH MY OWN HANDS aHHHHHHhhhhhhhHHHHHHHH. It's on video.

yep

Sorry, I ran out of time again because I was looking up general conerencef talks. Meh. 2 hours a week on the compooper is just not enough.

I know that we are here in Quinchuqui for a true purpose. We found an amazing family this past week, the Salazars. They're great. They know a family in our rama (branch) and two of their daughters, Tania and Samia came to church on Sunday! We also found a great family: Luis, Maria, and Diana. Diana read the Book of Mormon! I was blown away because she took such an initiative and then was asking about Joseph Smith and everything.

As for Hermana Rojas, she is doing great. She is so amazing with the people. Such a giant heart. She is truly converted to the Gospel. We both want to make our Dads' proud - so that's one of our motivations.

I read a really cool talk that a returned missionary in the Peguche Ward gave me this week. It was about adversity, and how it is necessary to progress - so true. It helps us grow and progress. Si se puede. (Yes, we can.)

                                       REPPIN THE GREAT COUNTRY OF USA FOR BEDDIE BYE.
                                                 (Some sweet jammies that an investigator gave us) 

I am SO thankful to be here. I love being a missionary, espeically here in Imbabura. There is something very very very special about these people. I love serving here, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE feeling the Spirit, and then teaching in accordance to it's whisperings. It's incredible what a difference it makes.

Remember 1 Corinthians 10:13 He won't take away the problem, but He willl give us the strength to be able to overcome it... 
13 There hath no temptation ^ataken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the ^ctemptation also make a way to ^descape, that ye may be able to ^ebear it.

Whatever you set your mind to, You can do it! Si se puede. (Yes, we can.) Love y'all fambam! 

Con amor, (With love,)

Hermana (Sister) Bowman

                                                     

Texas pride