Sometimes I look around and it´s hard for me to believe that I live in Ecuador.

Hi Family.

This week was probably one of the FASTEST WEEKS that have flown by. I love working with Hermana (Sister) Stephensen. The work is great. Today we had transfers and a lot of the mission moved around. Elder Rubisch, our Zone Leader, gave us the cambios (transfers) last night at like 12.30 am, and then he made it sound like I was gonna have changes! 

It was really nervewracking because I really LOVE this ward, and the people we are working with, and our sector, and my companion, basically everything (obviously it´s hard, but that's what makes it worth it! weeee) ANYWAYS he said, ¨Hermana Bowman, Usted se va aaaa.....(Sister Bowman, you are going..........long dramatic pause as if he were looking at his notes to see what sector Pres was gonna send me)..... quedar con la Hermana Stephensen (to stay with Sister Stephensen).¨ We both about died. Ha. But we get to be in a trio for the next week because one of the misioneras (missionaries) is waiting for her "daughter" (or trainee) who is getting here on Thursday.

Well, I have my new agenda with me for this next transfer so I don´t remember too much of what happened this week, but I DO KNOW that this is definitely the Lord´s work and that I am very privileged to be a part of it. 

So we had a cool thing happen, we were contacting in Zámbiza, and there was a baptism at church in like 30 minutes, and we reeeally wanted to go watch it, but there's a rule that we can't go unless we have an investigator with us... So we contact this lady washing her dishes outside and start helping her, explain who we are, etc, and then just BOOM invite her to the baptism, and within the 2 minutes of meeting her, she´s like, ¨Sure! Will you wait for me to change?¨ Crazy awesome. Then we went to the baptism together, and she loved it and asked when she could be baptized. Awesome. 

We are working a lot with a really cool lesser active fambam, and they have a tamale and humita business, so that is always fun. The son is an Atheist (we have come in contact with tons of them lately, so I´ve been studying the Bible extra hard, hahaha), and the dad and daughter were baptized 2 years ago, but they aren´t so sure about the church anymore. But they´re super open to reading and discussing, which is what we do and then let the Spirit take care of the rest! They´re a loooot more open than before. It´s crazy how much the Lord softens people´s hearts. 

My companion is suffering from a cold. So a really angelic member brought us literally 30 oranges this morning, NO LIE. I love this ward. Tender mercies. It´s so fun to look for God´s hand in everything. I know that He is constantly guiding us... and also guiding others. Never postpone a prompting! Service makes you happy. 

Our Zone Leader and District Leader are going home tomorrow, so they gave their ¨farewell¨ talks in the ward this past Sunday, wow. I am so immensely grateful for the time that we have to serve the Lord FULL TIME. So many blessings and miracles, and happy times, and hard times, and incredibly amazing times. Life is so fun, isn´t it? It was way cool to reflect with them about the past 2 years of their life and hear all of their cool experiences. Something that the both of them said was that the biggest convert they got, was themselves. I can testify of that, I know that these past nine months have truly shaped and molded me in inexplicable ways. Never before have I felt SO close to my Savior. 

HOLY MOLY, I can´t believe I´m at my halfway point in the mish. ¨It's all downhill from heerrreee. (Matt Farmer)¨ I can´t believe it and I don´t wanna accept it. Deniaaaaal! I have been having nine month nightmares. Not fun. I wanna stay here forever. 

Sometimes I look around and it´s hard for me to believe that I live in Ecuador. 

Well, make sure that you pray and read the scriptures. Lemme know if y'all need anything, I´m heeeeeere for yaaaaa. 

MAKE GOOD CHOICES, REMEMBER WHO Y'ALL ARE!!!

Con amor (with love),

Hermana (Sister) Bowman

We´re pooped. But beaming with happiness.

Dear Family and Friends, 

So this week we had some VERY unexpected cambios (transfers). They came on a Tuesday night at like 11 pm something, during semana (week) 5 (usually we have cambios (transfers) every 6 weeeks, so that was odd). Anyways, Hermana Velasquez, my comp of 11 weeks, got transferred to Otavalo, and I got to STAY! Praise the Lord. I love my sector, it's incredible. Anyways, I got a GRINGA comp. Totally unheard of. The first one. It has been really fun. Her name is Hermana Stephensen from California - woooo. 

Anyways, we have had SUCH a great week. We literally saw at least one miracle a day, I am not exaggerating. It was so awesome. I love working with her. We contacted really awesome families, and we have had some super super super spirit filled lessons. There´s other really cool stuff that has happened but I have no time to describe (as per usual). But it's all in my journal so someday I shall inform y'all.  

I lost my agenda on Thursday night and fell into a deep depression. A missionary is NOTHING without her agenda. It´s so sad. All the citas (appointments), numeros (numbers), contactos (contacts), basically MY LIFE is in there. But anyways, it´ll turn up, con fe (with faith). And I´m way grateful for the Carpeta de Area, and the fact that we keep up with it, because I was able to get all the numbers from that. 

We went to the teleferico which is like this big gondola thing that overlooks all of Quito. It´s way similar to the one I went on in Brazil... I think it was like, Sugarloaf Mountain or something? Idk, that was like 5 years ago. It was way fun, and actually pretty chilly up there. We ran into four elders from (the neighboring) Mision Quito up there, who of course, knew Elder Bowman (my first cousin).

A really cool misionero (missionary) came home from Paraguay this week (Elder Cuases... yeah, his actual birthname is actually Elder... and he´s a convert, hahaha, so cool). We have been working with his dad (who is not a member) and his little brother, (23, inactive, Edi... who is like, a record manager or something and wants me to come back and record with him). And so we just ADORE that fam, they're awesome. Anyways, he was companions with Chandler Brown from Allen! Small world. The Mormon worls is freaky small though. I like it, heh. 

So anyways, we had a reallllly super spiritual lesson with them... at the beginning it kinda reminded me of interventions like in the TV show "How I Met Your Mother" because that´s really what it was, an intervention for Edi. Blanca, the mom was praying and praying that the missionaries (us) could speak to Edison´s heart (no pressure, dang... but it´s what the Spirit does, so long as we trust in God, the answers that the people need to hear basically just flow out of our mouths. We are truly instruments in His hands. It´s the coolest feeling.) 

Anyways, we had a reaaallly spiritual filled discussion, and there were also four returned missionaries there as well, who were visiting for Elder´s (heh) welcome home-ness. AND then, Edi came to church on Saturday (for an activity) AND CHURCH YESTERDAY, INCLUDING ELDER´S DAD, WHO HADN'T BEEN IN LIKE 2 YEARS. So poderosísimo (very powerful). Then, at the end of the discussion, Elder told us that the message that we had shared was truly inspired and that we were angels. :D

We have walked everywhere. We stopped taking buses. Ha! And we are working in ALL THREE of our sectors, practically daily. We try to sectorize (is that a word?), but there are so many people we need to visit and so little time! We get home and like, fall asleep praying before the planning session. We´re pooped. But beaming with happiness. 

We found a menos activo (less-active) we had been looking for for the past eleven weeks, and he was all excited to meet us and even gave us tamales and humitas (people tend to show their love through food). He called us angels (2nd time this week) and it was so incredible because THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE GOD PREPARES.

We found Snapple and Kit Kats, I died. We contacted a really cool guy (the one who owned the store) who's Ecuatoriano, but lived in NYC, so he has a Spanish New York accent when he talks in English, it's waaay weird. Anyways, he was way stoked to finally find the missionaries. So he's way awesome and has a TON of faith in God. 

We went to a converso reciente (recent convert) this week, and she has basically always hated us and I had no idea why. She would slam the door in our face, and we were just like, whaaaaaaaa? WELL, I went with Hna Stephensen, and then she accepted us with happiness and a big giant smile, and even offered to pray (which was crazy because one time we waited at her and her husbands door for literally 20 mins and neither wanted to pray), and we sang and she was even like, can I have y'all over for lunch? (YES, WE LOVE MAMITAS!) And the lesson was waaaay spiritual. And then we got to her iceberg which was that she disliked my former companion - which was awkward, we didn't really know what to say. And now she is all happy and active and even gave us two references, her parents, so we are going to have a cita (appointment) with them tonight at her house. 

On Sunday night, last night, we went home to the States for an hour. Aka, the Edwards' house. They had Charmin toilet paper. Never in my life have I been so grateful for toilet paper. We are brats in the states, like we take a lot for granted there. 

We worked a lot with members this week. WORKING HAND IN HAND WITH THEM IS INCERDIBLE. It helps the investigators, it helps the lesser actives, it helps the recent converts, it helps the actual members, it helps the missionaries. IT HELPS EVERYONE. :) Blessings, blessings! 

I didn´t take many pics this week. (Note from the parental keeper of the blog: the photos were incompatible and would not load again this week.) We´ve been working waaaaaay hard. Like insanely hard. And studying like beasts as well. I would LOVE to send home all my notebooks full of studies. I love the scriptures, they are literally the word of God. 

HOW IS IT ALREADY ALMOST AUGUST? WHERE IS MY LIFE GOING!? THE TIME FLIES SO SO SO QUICKLY. I love being a missionary. 

LOVE Y'ALLLLLL

Hermana Bowman

(I´m really sorry for how ADD I am in my emails.)

It just feels like we are in a bubble

-Well today we went and explored Wawa Pichincha today, and it was awesome. We were supposed to go to Mindo, some little touristy town, but President didn't give us permiso (permission).  Also, we all are chiros (no money) so we just decided to drive to the end of the road of the giant mountain close by.... We were just walking through the forest exploring. I have no idea how we got home because we were like 3 zonas (zones) away from home. We were joking that we made it to Peru. But yeah, it was tight. Then we found a volley cancha and played Ecua volley and kickball. And ate the best picnic of my life. Tuna and Ritz crackers. Yeaaaaa, we are chiras! (WITHOUT FUNDS)

-We had divisions this week and I went to Hermana Muir's sector, San Carlos, and it was TIGHT because I got to teach a lesson in ENGLISH. It was insane. It was actually semi-difficult. I felt so... formal, I guess you could say?! I was like, "so........... brother". It was just weird. We taught a Nigerian named Brown (hilarious) and we taught Word of Wisdom, and he brought out all his teas and whatnot and when he found out that black tea was against it, he takes the box and crushes it whilst saying, "I trash it". And got up to throw it in the trash. It was pretty sweet. Something I reaaaally love doing outchea on the mish is testifying about the blessings of the Word Of Wisdom in my life. Experiences that have helped my testimony grow and hopefully help others. 

-SPEAKING OF WORD OF WISDOM, my companion and I are dumb little sheep because someone we have been teaching offered us chicha, one of the native drinks here in Ecuador. WELL, it was literally a drink because after the first sip we figured out it was fermented, aka alcohol. So that was awkward. Picture us spewing it all over the street and then pouring it down the drain. Yeah, oops. 

-WE CONTACTED AN ENTIRE BUSSSSSSS, talk about a high. It was incredible. And so many people were receptive. It was pretty cool. We did it on a dare because Alonso needs a white shirt and tie, and since Elder Santos and Elder Acevedo are "dying" (finishing their missions) in 2 weeks, they said they'd give them to us if we contacted the bus, thinking we wouldn´t.... Ha. It was sweet. I love being a missionary. 

-Our little Family Home Evening on Wednesday nights has grown into a thing. We had 40 in attendance. It was real fun. My companion and I taught HOLA (HELLO) with an enfoque (focus) on the L.

Hay que (we need to...)

Orar (pray)

Leer (read)

Asistir (go to church)

Aaaand then we played some fun games. Woo!

-Totally got kicked out of a house yesterday. Check that off the bucket list for the third time. At least she didn't follow after us with boiling water like the last time!

-We went out with some real awesome members this week.  Members rock.  I love members. Go out with the missionaries in your ward. And give them brownies too. They will LOVE YOU. 

-A random gave me and my companion roses this week. I could get used to this whole flower thing. Hahah. But then we contacted him and actually have a cita (appointment) for tomorrow. For the record, we always keep a professional distance with the people we interact with, please don´t think badly. 

-ALEMANIA GANO (GERMANY WON), I totally called it. In our group chat of the MTC missionaries, I called it. I called it. For the record, I called it. :)

-President gave us the challenge to talk to E.V.E.R.Y. family we see, since our mission is tryna focus more on FAMILIES. So we have done it. And oh maaaan, the results are incredible. 

-So I really hoped and prayed that I wouldn´t be weird when I got back from the mission, but today two other hermanas (sisters) and I were talking about how we are literally like SOOO out of it here. It´s like being in the world and not of the world. I heard Tyga [a popular rapper] and almost fainted - hahahhaha. But yeah, tenganme paciencia (have patience with me) when I get home. Even though that's approximately 10 months away... So, no worries. 

-Like 90% of the time that it's time to give the First Vision in lección uno (Lesson One), the street gets quiet, or the sun comes out at that precise moment, or it just feels like we are in a bubble. I love reciting the First Vision. 'Tis my fave. The Spirit is SO present in this work. I mean, we cannot teach without it, so it needs to be there. But daily, it is continually confirmed that this is TRULY God´s work, He guides it from nearby. It is all in His timing. We just need to always trust in Him, His timing, and His purposes - for our lives. He knows us better than we even know ourselves! It's awesome! And how incredible to have Someone who has already been through exaaaclty what we go through, someone who UNDERSTANDS us, someone who is always always always by our side, without fail. Our Big Brother, Christ. Let us lean on Him, let Him take charge of our lives and just look for the little things. I promise that as yall look for the tender mercies that our Heavenly Father is continually placing in our lives, y'all will have more gratitude, more happiness, and even more blessings! Put it to the test :) 

-I just love sharing anything about the gospel. It totally applies to anyone. I just love being able to help people remember that they truly chose to come here, and that they choooooseeeee the plan of our Savior. All they hafta do is remember a bit. It´s crazy because so many people have told us that this message is so familiar. It´s because it is waking up something deep inside their soul. We all have the potential to achieve eternal life. The Atonement applies to each and every one of us, doesn´t matter your monetary state, your gender, your nationality, YOUR PAST, it simply doesn´t matter. Just let it in. Let your heart heal and feel the infinite love of your Father in Heaven and your Big Brother, Jesus Christ. It is a truly incredible change and shift you will experience, and I can personally testify of this, because I have lived it. And I have seen people apply it to their lives. This Gospel is perfect. 

Con amor (with love), 

Hermana (Sister) Bowman

PS   Oh yeah, and there was no one in sacrament meeting yesterday (July 13th) because the (soccer) game was right at 2 pm, when church starts. And the guy speaking even told us the score from the pulpit, which was hilarious. Ohhh, Latin America.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1999/10/feed-my-sheep?lang=eng

"DO YOU LOVE ME?

then feed my sheep."

We´re goin´after the one. All day.

WHAT A WEEK.

HI FAMILY!

Happy B-day America.

WHAT A WEEK.

Hi, I turned 8 months old yesterday.

We have our investigator: Alonso P.  He´s one of the coolest people I have ever met. His testimony is so big. I am so happy that he is progressing. He is separated from his wife and he trusts SO much that if he changes, if he lets God change him, that would be the first step in the right direction. He came to church and was five minutes early! He has his own hymn book and LOVES the songs, he came to two noche de hogars (Family Home Evenings), and he's been to two baptisms. He´s incredible. I am so grateful to be a part of his progress!!

ALONSO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Lucrecia, his momma.

The super sweet testimony text we got from Alonso, my favey, last night. He's such the BOMB. I thought it was the cutest that he put his testimony (Yesterday at church it was Fast and Testimony Meeting so he probably was inspired. Actually, I'm 100% sure that he was.) 

Bautismo (baptism) of Lucia, Isabel, y Sebas. LOVE THEM. 

We went out with a lot of different members this week, and that was way great. A member´s testimony is so powerful. We have been branching out and using recent converts, jovenes (youth) that are prepping for the mish, etc.

We made little visiting teaching wheels like the ones my Momma sent!!! The Visiting Teaching coordinator was stoked, and so was the 1st counselor of the Sociedad de Soccorro (Relief Society). Shanks for ze ideaaaaaa.

Me and H-dawg (Hna. Henderson... the one who has followed me to three different sectors now......) are in the same ward. Watch out world. I love her. Only because she's Texan though. (:

All four missionaries in El Edén got up to bear our testimonies. It was a reaaaally spiritual Sacrament meeting yesterday. J Share your testimony!

"R" fam are moving to Miami. It was their last Sunday. The mom said that they're still talking about that time that we came over to teach them Plan of Salvation and played games. How cute. 

Playing ninja with the children.

Plan of Slavation thingie.

Bowling today. I lost. Wa. But our district is really fun. Daniel (Elder Bowman) bowls here too. HA. So cool. 

We have been praying for the escogidos (hidden) to find us, and they sure did! We met Henry J. also known as Billetes, aka Stacks or dolla bills. He's a thug. But he's so excited to learn. He already has a big testimony . We had a cita (appointment) with him the other day, and he wasn't at home. We knew from previous experiences that he´s usually at the volley courts, and there we found him! He walked out with his head held high, which was awesome because all his friends were making fun of him saying stuff like, “hermaniiiiiiiito, vamos hermaniiiitooooooooo”.  ("little brother, come on little brotherrrrr") But he said, “No, I want to learn more. What they think doesn´t matter.” It was real cool. 

Looking off into the distance. How pensive. 

I LOVE BEEIENG A MIIIIISSSSIONARYYYYYYYY. You can see El Edén and Zámbiza in this pic. And where I'm standing is Monteserrín. 

At our service project last Tuesday where we got blisters the size of circus peanuts. Pegando trigo, aka hitting wheat. It was for a recent convert, Martha A. Then she almost gave us coffee. Oops. Someone skipped Word of Wisdom...... 

Playing our fave game, Luz y Verdad (Light & Truth) in a district meeting.

We have this thing where we have a noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) at the chapel on Wednesdays, BUT the difference is that we do it with AFTER PARRTYYYYY. It's becoming a really popular thing.

Our ward mission lider (leader) reppin' Benji's baseball team. He's a thug. His son is serving in Peru.

Our zona (zone) wanted to see miracles this month so I suggested we read the Book of Mormon before the 24^th. Soooo basically we have like 2 weeks. Flash flash!

WAAAAAAAAAA THE NELSONS ARE LEAVING ON THURSDAY :(((((((((  Literally the bee's knees. The best office missionaries in the world. I'm gonna miss them. 

The Situation from Jersey shore was our taxi driver two nights ago and didn't charge us anything. Wooo. CABS ARE HERE!

Familia C's DARLING PUPPY, Lola.

The mission is hard and stretching at times, but all in all, it is LITERALLY the best thing I could have ever done to completely change my life and heart. I know that Heavenly Father is shaping me into the person and missionary He knows I can be. It´s just up to us to let Him.

A REALLY AWESOME FAM we are reactivating. They have started to come back to church. There is NO better feeling than to see your lesser actives and investigators and recent converts all in the audience as you share your testimony. (I started to cry Sunday as I bore mine) I LOVE THIS WORK! It's truly the Lord's. How fortunate I am to be an instrument. 

Love and miss y'all. Hope all is well in the USA! Correa, the Ecuadorian president here, DESPISES AMERICA. Soooooooo... maybe I will get kidnapped and killed. But probably not. Well, let´s hope not. 

Watching Costa Rica lose (sad) while we were sacando copias (making copies) of the informe de progreso (progress report) for consejo de barrio (ward council).

PERFECT LOVE DRIVES OUT FEAR 1 John 4:18

"We are blessed from our efforts of trying, not perfection." -Al Fox

This was last Monday when we had a BBQ but it was windy so we had a BBQ EN LOS BAÑOS (in the bathrooms)! Hahaha, just to light the carbón (briquettes) though. :) 

We are really poor so the Elders were innovative and we made a net out of some string. Hahaha. Obviously, we really wanted to play Ecuavolley.

LOVE LOVE LOVE 

Con amor, (with love)

Hermana (Sister) Bowman 

The rose that some random on the bus gave me. 

Map of our misssssssion. Idk if y'all can find Zambiza, Nayon, and Montesserrrrin. They're like the bottom right. 

Cotopaxi one beautiful morning at 6:15 am.

We went to "Mexico" this week. 

YOU MAY NOT EAT IN THE CHAPEL

Wellllllll hi family. 

Me and le compcomp, aka my other half. HAHA she was eating at church because we were dying of starvation and the awesome members had brought us a little morsel of food (rice and chicken, delish) and then a Returned Missionary, Hermano (Brother) Samuel was jokingly like, ¨HERMAANA BOWMAN NO SE COME EN LA CAPILLA.¨ ("SISTER BOWMAN, YOU MAY NOT EAT IN THE CHAPEL.")

¨Pero oye, hermano, yo no estuve comiendo!¨

("But listen, brother, it wasn't me eating!")

¨Pero su compañera sí. Son uno.¨

("But your companion was.  You are one.")

Which is so true. We are one, we stand, heartache to heartache. No but really we are unidas (united) and happy about it. Comps are a divine thing. There´s a reason why we preach the gospel two by two. (Also, the reason why Returned Missionaries get married so fast when they get home, because they´re used to someone by their side for 24/7 for 18-24 months, lol) 

Monday: We went to an English class in Nayón because the teacher (someone we had contacted) wanted a ¨real life English speaker¨, aka me. We also talked to Alonso and helped him differenciate between the negative thoughts and the positive promptings... 

Oh, hey. Costa Rica in Nayón. Random. 

Tuesday: We visited Stephanie, Nelly´s daughter (a recent convert) and Stephanie is super stoked to get baptized but her Dad is crazy and even though he isn´t even really a part of her life, nor supports her or her 3 other siblings, and is basically always just drunk.... he wants her to do the first communion and confirmacion (confirmation) in the Catholic church before she get´s baptized in the LDS church. Which is sad because she´s way pilas (smart) and knows all the answers to all our questions. She´s 9. We also had consejo de barrio (ward counsel) which is always fun. I love our ward, everyone is so willing to help and work hard.

YAY, CORN FIELDS.

Wednesday: We met a reaaaal big atheist. He has really good questions and a ton of knowledge. It was really interesting talking to him because for every. single. question. he had, we could BAM back it up with the Book of Mormon. It was awesome. We left him a copy with like 394 little post-its marking answers. We also went over to the R's house (gringos who were packing to move to Miami) and we entertained their six kids for a while by playing "Mother, May I", "Ninja", and everyone made their own little Plan of Salvation coloring page thing where they cut it out for a future fam home evening lesson. It was fun because we ate American rolls and I got to speak English for a bit. We visited some of our investigators and talked to a lesser active, Alison, and she described allllll the blessings she´s seen as being a member. It was awesome to hear her testimony.

Ecuador also got kicked out of the world cup. Sorry. BUT COSTA RICA IS WINNINGGGGG. Yeah budddddy. Go Ticos.

Mundial. FIFA World Cup.

Thursday: We had our district and zone meeting. It was fun. We talked about how June went and set more goals for July. I am SUCH a goal oriented person now, hahah, like dang. But our leaders are bomb. It was fun because then they gave us cake. Just for kicks and giggles. Yay. Then we did ¨invasions¨ in Bella Aurora, where all the missionaries in the district go out and contact in a specific sector. We visited Alonso and the little punk was drunk so we just went into his house and threw shoes at him until he woke up and then we taught him a lesson on the Word of Wisdom and then he chose to throw all his stash of alcohol down the toilet. We have a vid, it was cool because it was his decision. Then the next day, he remembered everything (we´re not really supposed to teach people when they're drunk) and thanked us. So that was awesome. 

BEST ZONA, Quito Este (east). Notice how I think every zone I´m in, I think is the best zone, hahah. 

Positivity problems. (:

Friday: There was a baptism! And we gave a really awesome spritual tour of the chapel to Alonso, he stayed for baptism and is stoked for his now too. 

This is ROSA. She´s an interesting one. She´s Doulgas and Steven´s momma. And she´s literally an ETERNAL investigator. And finally this week she said, You know what hermanas (sisters)? "Thank you, I´m going to get baptized (YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS) ............... in the other church that I visited once like 6 years ago. (WWWWWWWWHAAAAAAAAAT). So that´s an interesting situation. But it´s all good. She'll come around soon. We explained sacerdocio (priesthood) and how THIS church is the only one that has the true and complete authority to baptize and confirm here on the Earth, and we explained the Restauracion (Restoration) and what not but we shall see what happens with that. We have been praying and fasting for her. Cuz her two kids are baptized and one got the sacerdocio (Priesthood). 

My multiple failed attempts of taking a cool nametag pic.... yeah it never worked.

Sunday: I spoke in Sacrament meeting, it was nice. And then we taught the third hour lesson about...drumrollllllll, missionaries and members working together! Haha -- what a surprise! It was really fun because we got people involved and did practices and what not.

Today (Monday) we had a really fun BBQ with our zone. We also played Ecuavolley, which was waaay fun. It´s more intense and it´s with a soccer ball? I think I bruised my forearms indefinitely. 

I am so grateful for my Savior and Redeemer Christ. I am grateful for the Atonement in my life, and my favorite time of the week is la Santa Cena (the Sacrament). It´s my favorite part to teach too. How awesome that weekly, we get to renew our covenants. I´m just happy for this Gospel in general. I can´t imagine what life would have been like without the Gospel, nor do I want to. And that motivates me to share with others yayyyyyyyyyyyy.

Love y'all.

MAKE GOOD CHOICES

Con amor (with love), Hermana Bowman

Quichua language.

I miss Quinchuqui.

I never wanna go home

WELL this week has been cray cray. 

Our electricity got cut off because ssssoooooooomebodddyyy forgot to pay (heeh us). And so we had really nice candlelight planning sessions and had to get creative with cooking for half the week. But it was fun, haha. 

I was proposed to for like the 4th time. By some gypsies from Guayaquil... who are doing a circus in Nayón.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARYYYY, I never wanna go home. Sharing such incredible messages of life every day is possibly my favorite thing in the world. 

ME AND MY SOUL SISTA REUNITED, HNA QUIZHPE. YEEEEEEEEEE!!! We both wore yellow since Ecuador BEAT Honduras, muahah. Yay Mundial (FIFA World Cup). We play France on Weds. 

FOOOD at a really awesome member's house. Familia G. S., they're the bomb dot com and we ate THE BEST FOOD ON TUESDAY NIGHT. 

I love Tuesdays because its Tuko Tuesday (where we work wayyyyyy extra super strong and hard to fill our agendas with appointments, contacts, and new investigators.) We eat at this awesome fambam´s casa (house), and CONSEJO DE BARRIO (Ward Counsel)!!!!! Eet´s de behest. 

Alonso is the coolest person in the whole wide world and possibly my best friend. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and he read it and said that he already got his answer that it is the most correct of all books, and that it truly helps him understand the Bible better. Then he asked, ¨Why does everything become clear when y'all explain things? Why do I understand everything so much better?¨  Then we talked again about the Holy Ghost and the promise in Moroni 10:5 that by the Holy Ghost you can know ALL things. He really wants to change his life and has complete trust in Jesus and Heavenly Father. Which is too true. They are ALWAYS there for us.  

We cracked open 3 cocos (coconuts) for Blanca Garrido, our mamita for Saturdays. T'was an adventure.

We found this axe just laying around. Hahah, yep. YAY SERVICIO. (SERVICE)

I want to buy a cell phone for every single for every single investigator, seriously. It´s like we have to play hide and go seek. But any and every time we pray and have faith, they just walk right into us. This is TOTALLY God´s work. The scripture in Moses 1:39 is SO true this is HIS work and HIS glory. 

HAPPY 7 MESES (MONTHS) TO MEEEEEEEEEEEE.

12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

 13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.
 14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.
 15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.
 16 And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.  ---Mosiah 24:12-16

Notice that Heavenly Father didn´t just poof, magically take away all of their trials, afflictions, burdens, tests, and hard times. But He STRENGTHENED them to know that they could deal, and could keep going. 

ALSO, we don´t have to be alone in this life, ever. Christ has already felt and gone through, what we are experiencing. TRUST in Him. TRUST in the cleansing and renewing power of the Atonement. I know that its the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. 

And now that I look back on all the trials, I am so grateful for them because Heavenly Father helps us grow, and learn in ways that we couldn´t unless we went through those experiences. One of the reasons why we are here is to live by faith. (2 Cor. 5:7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:), look theres even a smiley face.) 

We can develop that faith only through trusting in a higher power to help us, guide us, relieve us, and love us. I know that God makes certain things happen in our lives so we can learn, progress, and grow. Something that I do know is that the Atonement helps us do good, and be better! :)
For more, view Bednar´s talk from this past conference: 
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/bear-up-their-burdens-with-ease?lang=eng

I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL 

Remember who you are, make good choices! ;)

CON AMORRRRRRRR (with love),

Hermana Bowman

HAHAHA FLASHBACK FRIDAY, at the Panecillo in like, January 2014.