Love,

              Elder Bowman

                                       January 13th

 Hey Everybody!

      So today is cambios (transfers). We had a lot of cambios in our house. Hermana Basad and I are training, which means we will be having two completely new people in the same house. Hermana Franseca is going to Temuco, and Hermana Porter, my companion, is going up north to Los Huertos, which is where I was, except she's going to the richer side of the sector.

My fun companion, Hermana Porter

   We are all excited - packing, organizing, and doing all sorts of things. 

   I am so excited to train. We will see how that goes. I know that every new missionary is different, and every trainer is different. I know that it's going to be fun. The most important part is to teach her to follow the rules of the mission, so everything goes well her entire mission.

   We did a lot of service this week. We've been cleaning a lot. I cleaned this house in de Salta de Laja.

See that window behind me? That is what I spent the whole time doing -  washing these windows for these little cabins that they rent out. What was maddening is that they never looked clean even after I washed them. Oh well.

It's more like apartment buildings for one of the hermanas in the ward next to our ward.  She hadn't used them for three years. They are really cute. They reminded something out of an eighties movie. I can't remember the movie, but they are like little cabins. They have nothing more than a bed and a tiny staircase that is so narrow that if you're fat, you couldn't go up them.

Yep, this staircase is about as wide as my skinny companion. Big people could not vacation here!

This type of a fly is called a calliwacho. They bite and not small bites. There was lots of screaming and running away anytime they got close.

   Hermana Porter and I have been doing lots of things. I'm really going to miss her. She taught me so much - much more than she knows. We laugh all of the time. She is so much fun.

We helped clean Lilian's house too.

   Her birthday is coming up tomorrow, and since we have cambios, we've been preparing for it all week for her family. They have a tradition of celebrating the whole birthday month in her family, but we've been doing birth week.

Hermana Porter's Pre-Birthday Celebration

Anyway, we've been taking photos of her everywhere with the letter A for Alison Porter, so she can send them home to her family. It's been fun.

We hiked to La Salta de Laja Falls

   We've seen so many miracles this week. I know we have them every week, but seeing people change and become happy - and  knowing that something doesn't seem to be working then does - is what makes being a missionary so amazing and even fun. 

   One family needed us, and the miracle is that we found them right when they needed us - in the exact moment.

 

Twinsies

   One funny story that happened this week- Hermana Porter has this habit of stashing food, like under her shoes or in a pantleg or anywhere. She's tiny - a tiny, little girl - who can't eat that much. We are always given way too much food.

     One day we were eating at the table of one of the hermanas, and the hermana said, "Oh, please, just stay here longer." We were sitting at the table, and she went to prepare even more food.

    Hermana Porter asked me, "Can I have your napkin?" So she stashed this giant pile of noodles in our two napkins. The hermana comes to us and says, "Wah? I must have forgotten to put napkins on the table!" and then left to get more napkins.

     My shoulders were shaking, because I couldn't help but laugh about it. Hermana Porter tells me, "I can't help it, I can only eat so much, and then I get hungry in thirty minutes." It was so funny.

   I have so little time left on my mission. I am making more plans and trying to accomplish everything that I had planned for my mission. I guess it's crunch time, you could say.

Picking Raspberries

La familia Gonzalez - Love them

Evidence that it's summer! (Hermana Porter doesn't really tan.)

   I'm looking forward to this cambios, and I'm really hoping it will be just as much fun as with Hermana Porter. I'm hoping also that I can find something new I can bring and do to this ward and to this sector, so that we can keep progressing.

Jake - your story about the mountain lion - CRAZY! CRAZY! - What were you thinking, dude??? That type of experience - DONE. You know, it doesn't have to be a life or death experience to write to me. I know that's totally within your abilities. I like hearing things like you building gym equipment with PVC pipes. That sounds like fun. I never tried to do that before. Tell me about everything that's going on in your life. How everyone is doing. Tell me about Mission Prep - what are you doing to prepare for your mission? I don't really have any advice for you. Stay worthy. Stay good. Do good things. Be happy. Those are all good things. I also want to hear about your work. Tell me exactly what you're doing with it.

Spiritual Thought: Don't give up! We've been teaching people this week who were not praying, so they weren't understanding. We were so confused as to why they weren't really trying. We said prayers and fasted. People that were shut off with their hearts closed not listening, they totally changed their perspectives. We had to have patience. We had to wait for God to touch their hearts and have them listen to the Spirit. We prayed and received answers. 

Pablo, one of our investigators, is seventeen. We gave him to the elders and was baptized this week. He has a lot going on in his life, partially with his family. I hope that the church and the gospel can really help him out. He's really great.

PS I still didn't get my Christmas box. Boooo