sista b: ...but their son is named Nephi...

How is it already SEPTEMBER!? The year is almost gone! No! Come back! And we are already in week 6 of the transfer. Slow down, time.

Hahahhaaha, our reenactment of Captain Moroni.

Well dang, this week has been a rollacoastaaaaaa. You´d think the mish would get easier as it progresses, nope. We´re constantly being probados (tested). But it´s good because those build character and help us learn and progress. Yay.

We contacted full this week. I love contacting. We found this family who apparently listened to the missionaries like 40 years ago. They´re WAY Catholic now, buuuut, their son is named Nephi, hahhaha. Pretty neat. I heart contacting.

Found a kitty cat named Gringo. It´s white, ha.

Remember when I could run 5 miles no prob? Those days are gone, long gooooneeeeee. We did less than a mile and were gasping for air. I´m just telling myself it´s the elevation. Also, my comp and I had a pushup and situp competition and now I´m sore. We also work on our handstands. Holler at the intense physical shape we are in. Swolllll sistas.

EDISON IS OFFICIALLY RESCATADO! (He´s not counted as a less active member, he is now an active member) I am SO incredibly grateful that I was able to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands and witness the GRAND change that Edi made in his life. It´s been real. We walked into church about 20 mins early and LO AND BEHOLD, there is Edison, not only at church, but CLEANING IT. He was vacuuming and just beaming. His mom said that she caught him watching General Conference that morning and that he´s been reading his scriptures regularly. It´s literally a miracle, y´all. So yesterday we were sharing a little bit about the Plan of Salvation after church, and we reaaally focused on the Atonement. Something Edison really likes is hope. The fact that there is a brighter tomorrow and that no matter how far off the path we may have gone, we aren´t even too far. So I was flipping through my scriptures and bam, Alma 22:16 (lessons are incredible when guided by the Spirit), and had him read it. The Spirit was SO dang strong. He talked to the Bishop and afterwards, he was just glowing. The Atonement is so powerful.

Storytime. So we were waiting in the Río Coca bus terminal for the Elders, and as usual, they were insanely late... It was inspired though, because as we were sitting in our usual little spot, people watching and kinda contacting... out of nowhere appears YULI! I WAS SO EXCITED TO SEE HER!!!!! She´s my investigator from Quinchuquí who got baptized with her sister Diana! We screamed and hugged and I´ll admit, I cried. I honestly never thought I would see her again! She told me that the last week, she WENT TO THE TEMPLE! And did baptisms! It is absolutely indescribable to see people you love SO much so happy! Mah, it was great.

YULIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Saturday, I think I ate something bad because I was literally dying. It was horrendous. We were at our mamita's house and she said, "NO NO NO PUEDEN SALIR A LA CALLE ASÍ!" (No, no, no you may not go out in the street like that!) And was about to like, lock us in her house. But we had a cita (appointment) and I was determined. Well, we made it like two blocks and I was full on sprinting to the first bathroom I could find. My poor companion. It was really inspired though (lol) because my compa contacted the owner of the restaraunt I ran into and she was SUPER receptive and really wanted to know more. So ha. I guess good things happen when I´m sick.

So there´s this investigator named Nancy. She´s been learning about the Church for like more than 4 months now, but her son, Mickey (who is a member), told us yesterday that she said out of the blue, ¨I wanna get baptized¨. So that´s a miracle! Woooo.

Estefa came to choich (that's church said with a pretend Jersey accent). We were super stoked she came. Her fellowshipper is the Relief Society President, Hermana (Sister) Richardson (who is from Costa Rica! WOO) and she went and picked her up. MISSIONARIES LOVE MEMBERS WHO PICK UP THEIR INVESTIGATORS, offer to pick up the missionary´s peeps... and give them brownies too. She really liked Sacrament meeting and has a crush on the Gospel Principles teacher. So she´ll definitely be back next week, hahah. I love her.

Elder Mora is home, he´s the Bishop´s son. He got back from Brasil (Brazil) and shared his testimony yesterday. You can totally tell he spoke Portugese for 2 years because he has a total accent. I want to learn Portuguese. It was really spiritual, and it made me re-think about how grateful I am to be here on a mission. This time is very unique and you can´t really ever experience something like this again, so I´m just soaking up every minute of it. Sharing the Gospel has really made me a better person. I´ve been able to begin to comprehend the Atonement better, and just the immense love that our Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ have for us.

Well I love each and every one of y´all. I´m grateful for the role that y´all play in my life. I know that this church is true and that Christ is our Savior and THAT HE LOVES US!

Until next weeeeek.

Con amor (With love),

Hermana Sister Bowman