We got soaked.

Hello fambam and amigos!

How's life!? 

Well, this week has been great! I love being a missionary. Pusuquí is a good place. Yes, it is. 

We got soaked. 

Our district, Barrio Pusuquí.  Holler.

Hahaha, soooo our Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. The owners of our house are kinda mean and don't like Mormons... Anyways, we were praying to be more Christlike and love them more. Well, on Saturday it rained cats and dogs. It was insane. We had to run home really quickly to call someone, and when we walked into the patio, it was compleeeeeeetely flooded because the drains weren´t functioning properly. So we rolled up our sleeves and got to work in de-clogging and wading through muddy, rocky, water, shoveling mud into a wheelbarrow and just helping out. Halfway through helping our owners, I had a light-bulb moment, "Oh my gosh, we are serving them" and chuckled to myself. It was the funniest thing. If you wanna develop more love for someone, serve them. There was a reason why it downpoured that day... 

CHOCOLATE RIVER. Holy rainstorms here! It´s definitely the beginning of ¨winter¨here. Aka, rainy season. 

In front of our house....... woop!

Knee deep in the water somewhere......

Joselyn and Leonela are so cute. We went over and as we sat down on the couch, they said, ¨SE ACERCA NUESTRO BAUTISMO!!!!¨  (WE'RE GETTING CLOSE TO OUR BAPTISM!) All excited and whatnot. They are SO darling! I´m really grateful that their parents are always so involved. This Sunday they beat us to the chapel! Their mom, Bertha came. She has desires to be baptized but still isn´t married yet.  Her "husband", Ramón, likes to listen and always really gets the message. He even helps his daughters and family live it. Their daughters are so great. Espeically Joselyn. Whenever we go over to teach, everyone listens. She helps those who don´t really know how to pray by whispering into their ears and them repeating. It´s so tender. 

The two little darlings who will be baptized on Saturday!! Leonela and Joselyn :) 

We taught them about modesty along with the Law of Chastity on Saturday and they really like wearing tank tops and short shorts and stuff cuz they're from the coast... But when we explained why we need to respect our bodies and whatnot, they had a light-bulb moment. Their Dad, Ramón was even like, ¨so y'all can´t wear what you're wearing right now...¨ when they came to church on Sunday, they were wearing sweaters and long pants.  Hahahaha - it was so cute. Modest is hottest! Woooooooooooo (literally). 

The M fambam.

So we had a meeting with the Pres and his wife on Friday, a capacitación especializada (special training) and it was SO GOOD. Dang, I feel so much love from them! I know that there´s a ¨why¨ to why I was sent to this specific mission with them as my Presidents! I love them so much! Anyways, to begin we sang Hark All Ye Nations as the opening hymn and I directed. Anyways, there were about 60 missionaries there and WOW. I felt the Spirit SO strongly! It was like, whoosh! As I stood in front of that "Army of Helaman," the impression that angels were singing along with us came to my mind very strongly. I got chills and just a reconfirmation that I´m in the exact right place at the exact right time. Then President´s wife got up later and said that she was sure that there were angels there. How awesome! I love the power of music! We begin our lessons with hymns for a reason, to invite the Spirit. I love that more than pretty lyrics, they are beautiful truths! 

The Zona Ofelia (Ofelia Zone) at our Capacitación especializada (Special Training) on viernes (Friday).

Reunited with the old comp. Missed her! We had a meeting together. Yay for meetings!

We visited Maribel, Christian´s momma (Christian is getting baptized on Saturday too along with Leonela and Joselyn). She´s had a really really REALLY hard life. We just did preguntas inspiradas (inspired questions). She´s actually a really amazing woman. I feel like sometimes I learn more than I teach. She said that for a long time in her life, she would renegar whenever a prueba or trouble would come her way. Now, en cambia (in change), she thanks God. She is grateful and has a ¨come what may and love it¨ attitude about it all. It was incredible to see that metamorphosis in her. It reminded me of Sister Richardson, that she always teaches us to be grateful! :) The progress with Maribel is slow, but steady. I feel like we are truly applying all the principles of the Gospel with her, it's not just bambambam, lesson, assistances, baptism. It´s way deeper than that. 

A really sweet member gave us handmade scarves! 

Sprirtually, I feel closer and closer to God all the time. I really feel like He hears me and I know that we are friends. The best of friends. I´ve had lots of lightbulb moments this week. Personal revelation is great.

I wanna be a teacher like Abinadi like Alma. I love reading the Book of Mormon because I learn a lot from their examples and then go out and try to apply it. I like in Mosiah 12:27 where Abinadi is like, ¨y'all need to apply y'all's hearts to understanding¨ and that´s exactly what we should do as members and missionaries. Truly make the Gospel into our lifestyle, not just something pretty and nice we hear on Sundays. 

Nothing else new, just full rain. Yay, Ecuador.
I'm happy! I hope y'all are happy too!
I miss you and pray for you alll ze time:)
I love all y'all a lot. :)

HEY, since General Conference is coming up, think of a friend to take with y'all to watch ittttttttt, yeah? Yeah. 

Con amor (with love), 
Hermana (Sister) Bowman