Aren't we a couple of hotties!?

HOLAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (HIIIIIIIIIIIIII)

Hi, this is going to be ADD and short. Like me. Even though I think my height is average. 5´6.5´´

Weeeeeeeeeeee - Quiiiiitoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Well anyways, the giant missionary conference was awesome. The following zones were there: Quito Este (us woo, represent), Quito Oeste, San Rafael, Esmeraldas, Ofelia, Calderon, and the Oriente (the jungle). Our mission is dope because we have all four; costa, selva, campo, and sierra. Yayyyyy.

Elder Waddell taught us some incredible things. I have like a whole notebook full of apuntes (points). I loved it. His wife spoke and he translated for her. She spoke on how we need to have a firm foundation for our lives and that the mish is a wonderful time to develop all the qualities we need to combat this world with increasing dangers and temptations - it was really good. She shared the story about how the foundation of the Salt Lake City Temple couldn´t be sandstone, but (needed to be) granite. It was great.

Hna (Sis) Richardson taught up how to have our CAPAS (capes) to be superheroes. (She loves the letter things. What are those called? I know there's a word, and it's not onomonopia. Ugh, idk. My brain is going to explode when I go back to college hahahah I can´t think in English anymore.) C stands for "creer" (to believe). A stands for "aprender" (to learn). P is for "pedir" (to ask). A is for "actuar" (to act). It doesn't really work in English. BLAA. hahahahha blaaaaaaaaaaaa. Yyyeah, nope. 

We learned a ton of other cool stuff. And then in the middle, Hna (Sis) Deveraux and I sang our duet. We did the first verse acapella just the melody together, then we split into harmony with the piano for the next two, and then the last verse we did acapellllla again, harmonizing in English (the Spirit was WAY strong). It turned out alright considering it was like the first time I met her about 10 mins before the meeting. Hna (Sis) Waddell cried. So either it was reaaaallly good or reeeeeallly bad, hehe. 

Aren't we a couple of hotties!?

Our ward mission leader asked me last minute to teach the Principios de Evangelio (Gospel Essentials) class for all the investigators and recent converts. Luckily, I am always walking around with a dry erase marker and was quite prepared. Also, it was on chapter 17 ( https://www.lds.org/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-17-the-church-of-jesus-christ-today?lang=eng ) LUCKKKKKKKKY FOR MEEEEEeeeee, we share this message various times every day. It was a really good lesson, and the class was giant. Like 12 people. 

I am so grateful for the restoration of the fulness of the Gospel in our day. It truly is the best thing ever. I am grateful that as a result of that, we have the Book of Mormon, which contains the precious truths that will truly lead us to eternal life. HOW COOL THAT WE LIVE IN THE TIMES WHERE ITS ALLLL in FRONT OF US. How blessed we are :)

                                        

Me and my comp comp.

Well, I´m stuck in all the war chapters of Alma currently. This time reading through I am learning a lot of really cool stuff I never before noticed.

NANCY CAME TO CHURCH. It was wonderful. The speakers in Sacrament said just what she needed to hear. We gave her a tour of the chapel and when we got to the baptismal font, she got excited for her baptism. It was really cool. She received her answer that this is the true church. So happy for her! Weee.

We also had a lot of lesser active people at church. It's just as important to help the lesser actives to return to the light as sharing the Gospel with people who have never heard it before. WOOO OBRA DE SALVACION. (WORK OF SALVATION)

Hanging out with Nelly (a recent convert's) kiddos and some random doggie.

I love contacting, it's my favorite thing to do. It's so fun talking to strangers about this awesome message, because instantly we have a connection and it's just so awesome to learn about other people's lives. Also, rejection doesn´t ever hurt anymore hahaha, yay. I´m prepared to do summer sales now. I joke, I joke, I kid, I kid. But I really do love contacting. It´s such a blast. 

What else cool happened this week............ hmmmmmm. I dunno. But next week I might be able to see Elder Bowman in the offices wooo wooo. It's almost been a year and we´re like miles apart, yet we haven´t seen each other. I sent him a brownie for his bday -  hahaha. 

Well, y'all have a great week. Make good choicessss.

CON AMORRRRSHHHHHHHHHHHHH-

Hermana (Sister) Bowman

Attitude is 85% of everything and anything. 

How we respond to life is the part we CAN control. 

¨The problem is not the problem, the problem is your attitude about the problem.¨ -my man Captain Jack Sparrow

Attachments area

"Lord, I Would Follow Thee" :)

Hi family, how goes it?!

We love Libros de Mormon! And being Misioneras! Woo woo.

So we got the General Conference Liahona and I almost peed my pants out of excitement. I LOVE THE GEN CONF ISSUES OF THE LIAHONAAAAAAA.  Wooo!!!  Well, this week was crazy fun. I love being a missionary. It's hard, but hey, that's how we grow. The time is positively flying by and I want it to stop.

Me and my comp comp. I taught her to love selfies and mirror pix. She´s a pro at them now. 

Our district, group pic.

We went bowling as a district today at Quicentro, this really nice mall. T'was fun, we went with our district. We are all from different countries: Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Honduras, Chile, and USA -- WOOOO. Guess who won? USA!!!  Which is weird because there weren´t bumpers or anything. Hah. Then we went to the offices to pick up Liahonas and more folletos (pamphlets) and whatnot. It´s way cool to be so close to the offices now. And now we are here, writing y'all.

I´m almost at 7 months!!!!! hahahah joke joke joke. This was bowling today.

WUT WUT BOWMAN with 115 puntos (points)!!!! I wonnnnnn. Without bumpers.

Hey, remember the drunk guys that almost threw up on us the other night? Lo and BEHOLD, my companion and I were waiting for the last bus of the night from Rio Coca to El Eden, and out of nowhere, appears Issaaac! One of the guys. We sat next to him on the bus and asked if he remembered us, "faintly," he said. But he was actually REALLY interested in the message! He was actually LOOKING for the missionaries. I was blown away. God works in mysterious ways. We have a cita (appointment) with him tomorrow.

We have been working with hermanadores (member missionaries), we even had them go pick up our investigators this Sunday, but no one came. However, their testimonies truly are so valuable. Members are the best. It's SO NICE to have a lider missional (ward mission leader) and misioners del barrio (ward missionaries). It's great. So this week was pretty great. We are working more with the members and this ward is amazing, I LOVE IT! When we put the efforts of members and missionaries together, there is success.

My english class, I love them. They've learned how to pray in English, and introduce themselves; and they know all the numbers and colors. I love Saturdays at 4 pm.

So there are two jovenes (young teenager boys) that are brothers who are investigating the church. Dennis and Bryan. We had the opportunity to go out with our mission leader and the leader of Jovenes Adultos Singles (Young Single Adults) to go visit them, and that was awesome. They love reading The Book of Mormon. Bryan said that 3 days before we contacted him, he was thinking really hard about how he needed a change in his life, and then he said that we showed up on his doorstep! It's so awesome how God works. I love it. 

Elder Waddell ( https://www.lds.org/church/leader/w-christopher-waddell?lang=eng ) is coming on a mission tour this Thursday and guess who got a phone call last night from President asking her to sing in front of the WHOLE MISSION!? Yes, me. "Lord, I would Follow Thee." LOVE LOVE LOVE that song, I am stoked. Yay. Just call me Hermana Archuleta. Haha, jk, please don´t.

He asked us to read this great talk https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/converted-unto-the-lord?lang=eng to prepare ourselves for the allll dayyyyy workshop (I LOVE THESE THINGS) and it's really amazing. I love the part about CONVERSION.

¨Conversion is an enlarging, a deepening, and a broadening of the undergirding base of testimony. It is the result of revelation from God, accompanied by individual repentance, obedience, and diligence. Any honest seeker of truth can become converted by experiencing the mighty change of heart and being spiritually born of God (see Alma 5:12–14). As we honor the ordinances and covenants of salvation and exaltation (see D&C 20:25), “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ” (2 Nephi 31:20), and endure in faith to the end (seeD&C 14:7), we become new creatures in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Conversion is an offering of self, of love, and of loyalty we give to God.¨

 I invite all y'all to become a little bit more converted :) 

I´ve been reading The Book of Mormon more this past week and have really been able to see a difference in everything. I am thankful for the precious truths that were saved specifically for our day, and I know with allllllll my mind, heart, might, and soul that this is the TRUTH, and am so happy for the oppportunity to share it with everyone daily, but also recharge and prepare myself spiritually daily. There is such power from reading and pondering! And praying! :) Y'ALL CAN FEEL THIS TOO. Just pick up The Book or Mormon and read. It will change your life, I can promise you that. Also, watch this, it's really cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dNYpXZIN_c

Love y'all so much, hope that all is wellllllllll.

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND MAKE GOOD CHOICESSSSSSSS!

Con muchísimo amor (With a whole lot of love), 

Hermana Bowman

'Like the intense fire that transforms iron into steel, as we remain faithful during the fiery trial of our faith, we are spiritually refined and strengthened. These fiery trials are designed to make you stronger.'

No esperes los buenos tiempos para ser feliz, sencillamente sé feliz y los buenos tiempos vendrán. 

Transferred to Quito!

Mudders day selfie.

It was great to talk to the fambam yesterday on Skype.  Love y'all and hope y'all are well.  Let's seeee, I had to do some paperwork online for President today so I´m gonna make this short and sweet. 

Monday we had changes/transfers. I got here, was received with rain, rain, and more rain. We went over to a gringo (American) fambam´s house for dinner and ate MUFFINS AND STEPHEN´S HOT CHOCOLATE. I almost died, then they gave us KRAFT MAC AND CHEESE to take home. They said it had just come in from Amazon that day hahaha. 

Our ward has like 3 gringo (American) families because one of our sectors has the US Embassy in its boundaries. So that's fun. We work in 3 GIANT sectors, I bet y'all could googlemaps it. It's Nayón, Zambiza, and Monteserrín. It's way fun. We take buses everywhere. It's incredible because everyone understands what we teach and the questions and the lectura del Libro de Mormon (lesson on The Book of Mormon). It's like a whole different world here in Quito. 

On Tuesday we had consejo de barrio (ward counsel) and it was awesome because everyone was in attendance, and all of the members had their iPads whipped out, taking notes, scheduling firesides about same sex marriage -- basically saving the world in consejo de barrio. Our Bishop is the former Stake President from Quito, and he is totally on the ball. 

LET ME TELL Y'ALL, it is so much easier (well, not easier, but there are less complications) when the members work WITH the missionaries in the Obra de Salvacion (Work of Salvation), it truly is a big work, and accelerating quickly. 

On Wednesday we almost got thrown up on in the bus on the way home while getting hit on by some drunk dudes, which is always fun (NOT). We had a really good District and Zone meeting too. Our zone is a lot tinier than Zona Imbabura, but it's really nice. 

Thursday we went and dropped off Hna. (Sis.) Obendorf to get her 'hija' ('daughter' or new trainee in actuality). (She's training and was in a trio with us for a bit.) So we were in Quito centro (downtown Quito) for a bit. 

Then we visited Nancy who is progressing nicely. :) She´s awesome, but she won't come to church because she works. IT'S IMPORTANT TO GO TO CHURCH Y'ALL! She loves The Book of Mormon, and really likes our visits but it's hard for her to keep progressing if she doesn´t go to church. Meh. 

We went out with the Bishop's wife for a bit and then we also went out with the Lider Misonal's (Ward Mission Leader's) wife. It's fun to do visits with members, their testimonies are SO amazing and important for the investigators to hear. 

On Friday we had interviews with President and learned more about how to use The Book Of Mormon more effectively in our lessons. 

IDK what happened on Saturday but I´m sure it was magical. 

My favey hymns so y'all can practice them...

Sunday we had church at 2 pm and ate at a Costa Rican´s house. She's from Heredia, which is relatively close to where we used to live (Escazu and Santa Ana). Anyways that was cool. 

Then after church, we went over to the member family and I got to Skype my fambam on this giant flatscreen (SO MUCH BETTER THAN CHRISTMAS where it was like the gangster-est internet cafe and it was frozen and whatnot.) 

Kinda bummed I didn´t get to see the Bybee´s though. But its alright, there is always Christmas! Well, after I hung up I was crying a wittol bit, but I walked out and lo and behold... 

STEAKKKKKKKKKK complete with A1 sauce. It was so awesome - hahaha. Then we had Ghirardelli brownies. I didn´t know I was so obsessed with American food until I came on my mission --hahahahhah. But it was great. 

And here we are again, another Monday. I am really excited to see what this week will bring. Always remember to read The Book of Mormon, it contains the plenitud del evangelio restaurado (fulness o fthe restored Gospel). 

I love all y'all and send you BIGIIGIGIIGGGG HUGS!!!!

Con amor (with love),

Hermana (Sister) Bowman

Hello world!

ch ch ch chaaaaaanges

So, hi. I'm in the city now.... soooooooooo oddddd. Something even more extraordinary is that tomorrow, I will have been out in the field as a missionary for S I X MONTHS. Eets craaayzee.

IT IS GOING ROCKINNNNNN'. I got tranfserred a couple of hours ago to QUITO -- THE ACTUAL CITY! My zone is Quito Este (East)... so stoked, but it's like a whole other mission and I have to get used to everything all over again... I almost got hit by a car because I'm just so used to walking in the street and saying "hi" to cows. Hahaha. My compcomp is from Bolivia, Hermana (Sister) Velasquez [this is now my 3rd comp who is Bolivian] and the sector is called El Eden. And it's actually the Mission President's ward so it should be reallllllly great. {Also I am told that there are gringos (Americans) here?????? WHAT?? What's a gringo? Haven't seen one in six months.}

I´m kinda nervous because I´m used to teaching people with big pauses, lots of visual aids, and lots of questions, aaaaaand predominantly in Kichwa.... and here the people are lots different than out in the campo (countryside), and it is definitely going to be a change. But I also know that God has sent me exactly where I´m supposed to be, and I´m excited and thankful for that, and I know that through fe (faith) and diligence, as well as the awesome 1 Nefi 3:7 (1 Nephi 3:7) scripture, He will always provide a way. :)

7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I ^awill go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no ^bcommandments unto the children of men, save he shall ^cprepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

I was bummmmed though, because Diana and Wuary are getting baptized this and next week. I am so proud of them. They are truly applying the Gospel to their lives, it's such a cool transformation to watch. But even though I won´t be there, I am SO grateful that they are making this important covenant and taking this step closer to eternal life.

It was way hard to leave Imababura. There are so many people there I love too much for words. Everyone is so special in their own individual ways. I will really miss the members and everyone, dang. A handful of people actually came to the bus terminal in Otavalo to say "bye" before I got on the bus to Quito. It was real cool. Ecuador is awesome. I love how the gospel unites ussssss, it's sweet. 

May looks like its going to be a great month. We have interviews with the President later this week. Elder Waddell is coming (I think he´s like an Area Seventy or something. It's a big dealio.) I´m in a brand new sector, and it´s just a happy month. I firmly believe that there are people waiting to hear this incredible message here in El Eden, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to share it!

I enjoyed my time out in Imbabura, and I am sure that there will be lots of tests and trials as well as happiness and success here in Quito, I am ecstatic to see what it will bring. I love fresh starts. Woo woo. 

The Atonement is truly for you. Specifically and completely. God knows you inside and out. This Gospel is amazing. It encompasses anything and everything we need here. Christ is truly our big brother, our Redeemer, our Savior. Heavenly Father is truly our Father. The Plan of Salvation is SO real. We can really get back to our heavenly home. Families are absolutely so important here on Earth, treasure them. Feast upon the word of God, the scriptures help us.

Pray sincerely and frequently to your Father in Heaven, He LOVES you and WANTS to hear from you. :) My favorite thing is that there are so many imperfect people, like myself, who are all constantly striving to be more & more like Christ. This Gospel is about progress, change, & it is completely centered on Christ & His love.

I echo our Prophet´s invitation for us all to become more dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ... to strive to live better. Try a little harder to be a little better. :) Stand a little taller. Go the extra mile! :)

"We will all face fear, experience ridicule, and meet opposition. Let us—all of us—have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God’s approval. Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully but also as the determination to live decently. As we move forward, striving to live as we should, we will surely receive help from the Lord and can find comfort in His words. I love His promise recorded in the book of Joshua:
“I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. …
“… Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
My beloved brethren, with the courage of our convictions, may we declare, with the Apostle Paul, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” And then, with that same courage, may we follow Paul’s counsel: “Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

THANK YOU for all your prayers. Know that yall are always in mine as well.

Read the Book of Mormon for 5 minutes today! And tomorrow! And the next day! Aaaand the next!

Hey, SUNDAY, I shall see y'all. :)

Con amor (With love),

Hermana Bowman

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.)