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Jun 16, 2014

Life's good.


Life's good.
The Gospel is great. 


Cute children with a dog...

We had the Tango Awards this last week of the tansfer and apparently I´m most likely to be assistant.... ok. 

Nelly´s fambam!!! I love them, she´s a recent convert and her little sis is investigating the church.

Today we had changes/transfers! But not usssssssss, nononono. YAY. I´m so happy to stay in El Edén another transfer with my compcomp Hna. Velasquez.  We are seeeing miracles in relation to our obedience, diligence, 
and faith. 
ALCOHOL BAD. NO DRINK IT. 


Reference thingie I made for our ward. Hehe.


Chillin' with a recent convert picking ortiga (no idea what it is in English, but I think it's poison ivy... and we made tea out of it and drank it.) Thought I was gonna die, but here I am. Chunkin up the deuces. 


God is so present in our lives. Father´s Day was aight... I guess. Can´t believe that this is the 5th father´s day without my Dad present here on Earth, but it´s all good. I can feel him close LOTS of the time I´ve been out here on the mish, and I´m trying really hard to make him proud! God has a plan for each one of us, and I trust His plan for meeeeee! Even though it's totally different than what I have in mind, but isn't it that way for us all?!  Heh. 

We went to McDonalds today and were stoked about the crowns. HAHAHA. Fist time in 8 months. It was delicious. It was also US prices, aka pricey. Stuff here is usually way inexpensive.



TOTES JUST FIGURED OUT THAT THE EMBASSY IS LIKE RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO OUR HOUSE. 6 weeks later, hahahah yes. If you look closely, theres the US flag. AAAAAAMERRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIICAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. So either we live in a very safe, oooor a very unsafe area, ha. 

It´s really incredible how if we go to church with a bucket instead of a cup, we can get SOOO much personal revelation and hear messages He wants us to hear. Sooooo, IF YOU SCARED GO TO CHURCH.  (Sorry, I can´t leave my gangster roots behind.) No but really, go to church. :) And LIIISTEN. 
Cutest little kiddo - look in the background - his name is Douglas and he's literally the craziest little monkey ever. He got baptized - woooooo!!!!
Ecuador SI SE PUEDEEEE!  (YES WE CAN!) (Even though we lost in the Mundial (World Cup) on Sunday..... oops.) 

One of my favies this week... from a talk of Elder Holland´s: 

¨However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or distance from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.¨

 Hermana Aravena, the cutest little missionary ever. Today in the offices.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT THESE ARE IN ENGLISH! But I ate them. Our investigator, Marlene gave them to us.


Hope all y'all are well.
Count your blessings!

MAKE GOOD CHOICES. The things we do in this life determine what will be of us in the next! :) 

Con amor (with love),

Hermana (Sister) Bowman
This child, Luna, she´s a hoot.



Jun 9, 2014

Prepared peeps

WWWWWWHAT A WEEK!

I´m just gonna keep doing that nifty little highlights list. (It´s easier.)

-Saw Daniel aka Elder Bowman (my first cousin who is serving in the neighboring mission of Quito) in the offices, so fun. He wants me to hook him up with more Ghiradelli brownies (I sent him one for his b-day hahaha) And he´s chubbier. But so am I -- so whatever. Hashtag mish liiiiiiiiife, represent.
SAW DANIEL IN THE OFFICES!!!!!!!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEE. 

Bowman and Bowman.  What's up, what's uppp?!



-We went to visit Erlinda. She lives in like a favella-type area, and we were going up the stairs, and yelled, BUUUEEEENAS NOOOCHES (GOOD EVENING), and then we hear her go, ¨Dígales que no estoy!¨ ("Tell them that I'm not here!") and her nephew came out to deliver the message, it was really funny because then we poked our head in and said, ¨Le escuchaaaamos, hermanita!¨ ("We heard you, little sister.") Hehehe. Tryna pull a fast one on the missionaries, impossible

COOKING!!! Que milagro (what a miracle) with María. She taught me how to make morrocho. YUM.


-I WAS DYING THIS WHOLE WEEEEEK. I think it's because I was making fun of Daniel for being sick last week. Well, then I got nausea, throwing up, fever, and DIAHRREA! Which here, is nicknamed ¨la bicicleta¨ jejej. Yeah, but I think I finished that whole entire bottle of pepto in those 3 days, so please send another one to a sistaaaaaaaaa, thanks. (upset stomache siaaahrea, is my theme song) BUT, we went out and worked those days, didn´t even come home early. And we found 19 new investigators. There were prepared people looking for us, and I´m glad that CAN´T NOTHIN' STOP HERMANA BOWMAN FROM WORKING. 
My bestest friend this week..... 


-A man we contacted only believes in the church of the UFO´s.... He said that in the Bible where it talks about the shadow that covered them (with the Ark of Covenant or something)  by day, and the light that covered them by night were UFOs............. okay Bro. 

-We were doing divisions this week with the Sister Training Leaders and I just think it's the coolest thing in the world when people contact us before we even get a chance to contact them. We were walking along the street, lalala, when a little old grandma says, HERMANITAS!!! (SISTERS) ¨Si, si, hermana, que pasó.¨ ("yes, yes, Sister, how are you.")  ¨Hola.¨ ("Hi.") And then we started to talk, and she said, I trust y'all. I think you are the ones that could help my son. His name is Alonso, and is 40 something going through a divorce. And then lo and behold, out comes Alsonso. We start talkin' to him and he shared that he was just reading the Bible and didn't get anything and was wondering what the point of Life was and where we are going after this life, and was praying for sometone to come and help him. BAM LECCION DOS (LESSON TWO). Plan of Salvation. And now he´s preparing to be baptized. The Lord truly prepares people. 

Why do all my pics have to do with food...? Silly rabbit, Trix are for MISSIONARIES IN ECUADOR! (Shoutout to the Edwards family for always supplying us with the best cereal, ever. Love that fambam so much. Thank you.)


-We gave a lesson to a 14-year-old, and his heart was really touched about the First Vision, and when we asked him if he was attending any church at the end of the lesson (weird because usually we use that when we determine how to begin teaching) and he said, nope, ¨pero ahora sí¨ (but now yes) as he held up his new copy of the Book of Mormon as he beamed ear to ear.
Hanging out with William, one of our investigators at a ward activity on Sat


-I GOT WORD THAT DIANA AND YULISA GOT BAPTIZED IN QUINCHUQUI!!!!!!!!!! I read the letter in KFC today (where they serve rice and beans, what is that….) and I was bawling. I am SO SO SO happy. I love being a missionary. I am so glad that Diana and Yuli were able to make such a priceless covenant with our Father in Heaven! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

Cooking with the Lopez fam, members in Nayon who own a restaurant. They are suuch a dope family, super strong in the gospel, and they really like to feed the missionaries hehehe, free food errday (COME GRATIIIIS!) (EAT FREEEE!)


-We played a really fun trivia game with the zone after Zone Conference. Some member in Quito made it up, It's called Luz y Verdad (Light  & Truth). It was really fun. Where you had to answer questions about the góspel (luz) or the world (verdad) and it was in teams and it got really intense hahahha, I love missionaries. We got really competitive. Remember that one game "And It Came To Pass"? Such fun FHE games. Mormons like games. And JELLO. 

-We were walking along the street going to a cita (appointment) and then boom, ¨Hey Dennis! Whats up?¨ (he´s an investigator that totally fell of the map like 4 weeks ago) and he was smoking a cigarette, so I grabbed it and then I threw it on the groooound (please tell me someone got that snl reference) No, but really, I threw it on the ground and put it out,¨ C'mon Dennis, you know better than that!¨

-I read Our Search for Happiness this week, (by M. Russel Ballard) Even if you´re not a member, IT'S A WONDERFUL BOOK. It´s actually directed towards the non-member audience. I encourage everyone to read it! It was a wonderful book and explains the simple doctrines in such a clear and simple way. Go get it. 


                                       BEHOLD THE TREE OF LIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE (Bonsai garden in Nayón.) 


-SHOUTOUT TO KELLY AND THE FRY FAM FOR A WONDERFUL PACKAGE. I love you all SOOSOSOSOSOO much. Thank you so much. So happy with the beef jerky, soap, BUG SPRAY, amongst other goodies. THANK YOU.

-This week I found out that one of my friends passed away.  I was really shocked at first, but then felt comforted. It´s something I teach every single day. God loves us, and when we pass on, it´s not the end. I am so thankful to know that it´s all gonna be okay.  The Lord is accelerating His obra (work), both here on earth, and up there... I know that the Plan of Salvation is SO perfect. We are just here for a little blip in the time of eternity.  His whole entire Gospel is just so good. There is so much love involved in it all. I am so grateful to teach these truths, and also see how they apply in my own existence. Death is not the end. It´s just passing on to the next phase of our existance. We are here for a purpose on earth, and we are most definitely not alone, ever. And there´s this perfect plan set into place for us. Let us look beyond just the now, and be thankful for our Heavenly Father and how much He loves us, and celebrate the incredible lives of those who have helped here, and will comtinue to help even more up there. Rest in Peace, Jordan Needham. 

-The scriptures are so great. Read them. 

SAY YOUR PRAYERSSSSS AND MAKE GOOD CHOICESSSSS.


Con amor, 

Hermana Bowman

                              Cute little 5 year old, Saraí, whose fambam we are teaching... with Sparky.

Jun 2, 2014

My bunrella broke.


Well, this week Jordan (I mean Elder McGee -- see eldermcgee.blogspot.com) went to the beach and I went to the montañaaaaaa (mountains)! We got to go to Cayambe (google it) for Elder Tirado (our District Leader's) last preparation day. I can´t believe it´s already cambios (transfers) again. 

Anyways, we just BARELY got back to Quito, so I have like literally 12 minutes to write. We left the house at 6:15am, and didn't get the chance to do anything but freeze our buns off. BUT IT WAS SO FUNNNN. I was like, hey, deja-vu, BYU-Idaho all over again! Hahaha. Anyways.


Woop, woop.

My bunrella broke.
Highlights:
-We gave a lesson and at the end the guy, Luis, said, ¨What time is church and when can I go?¨ It was sweet.

-We met a dog named 'Mr. Gringo'.

-The elders are dumb and called us at 10pm to bring them our set of keys for the chapel because earlier that day, they locked their pair in the chapel.... and they barely realized once they got home and tried to open their apartment. Hahhaha, SMH. Typical Elders.

-We went over to eat at a lesser active´s house on Saturday and I shared Alma 38:5, but placed her name in it instead of Shiblon´s. "And now my (daughter),________, I would that ye should remember, that in as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up a the the last day." And she started to cry and said that she had been praying for help from Heavenly Father and that that was the exact answer she was waiting for. I am so grateful that the Spirit can speak through missionaries.

-I learned what Pico y Placa is. It´s something that Correa (the Ecuadorian President here) has implemented. The cars whose liscense plates end in 1-2 can´t be on the streets from 6am-9am and 5-9pm on Mondays, and the ones with 3-4, Tues, etc. It's to diminish the amount of traffic here in Quito. I doubt that any American would follow it, but the Quiteños do!

-We were walking down a street one night and there were a bunch of chairs set up and a big tent [usually used for matrimonios (marriages), or fiestas (parties) or something] and so I yell, "OOOH FIESTA!" and turns out it was a funeral. Oops, I got some dirty looks.

-Bore my testimony this Sunday. It was really nice to have Testimony meeting in SPANISH, it was the first time. All the other times it had been in puro Quichua. Español (Spanish) feels like Inglés (English) now, haha.

-So this week 3 investigators came to church and they were way pilas (quick, smart, intelligent), they answered lots of questions in the principios de evangelio (Gospel Principles) class. They came with one of the members, but they live in the centro (center) of Quito momentarily and will be moving to our sector soon, we are trying to keep an eye out for places for arriendo (rent) for them! They're awesome.  Manna from heaven.

-I am really thankful for the hard times and hard days on the mish, because that's how we truly grow. This is something bigger than just me, this is The Lord´s work. I know why I am here. 

-GUESS WHO HAS 7 MONTHS ON HER MISH.... me

Who knew there was snow in Ecuador?

-I ate snails and chicken liver. Yay - Ecaudorian cuisine.

Make sure that we do something DAILY to help give sunlight or water to our little seed of faith that we all have within us. It can grow and it will grow! 

                                                          Love ALLLLLLLL Y'ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

I pray and think of y'all daily. Take care, always! 

Con amor (with love),

Hna (Sis) Bowmannananananannn

Our district in Cayambe today.