June 16, 2014

Hi Everyone,

   Don't worry, I am doing fine. I am hoping to go back to Chinese before I head back, but there's still time. 

It's an interesting area and you have a lot of weird moments. 

     For instance, while contacting a person around my age on the street last week, we asked him what he was interested in, trying to make conversation. He said he was learning about computers, so we asked him what he wanted to go into. He said criminal hacking...typical career choice.

  Or another investigator we invited to church and started to give him directions how to get there. He recognized the street and said it was right by his aunt's house.



     She used to live over there until she was caught selling fake IDs. He, personally, had been caught selling guns to an FBI agent, although there hadn't been enough evidence to convict him.


     You meet a lot of different situations here and, although it can be difficult to deal with, sometimes when you're trying to find people to teach and baptize, it also keeps things from becoming rote or routine. It still is a pretty safe area, so long as you not outside past midnight.

     Regardless of time of day, it seems like there are always people outside.

Like I said last time, it can be pretty noisy. Having a lesson outside is always a little difficult.

     You have the noise of a plane flying by every few minutes, people yelling, ghetto birds flying by overhead, loud music being played a few houses down, and the drone of cars who constantly pass by honking their horns.

     Sometimes they honk because the person in front is too slow, or did something illegal, or because they see someone they know, or maybe because another car honked, and even occasionally just for fun honk out rhythms with their horns. and add the random sound of an explosion, which is usually a firework, and go off periodically throughout the day and into the night.

     And of course tons of dogs barking, ice cream trucks jingle's and street peddlers honking their horns or yelling out Tamale's! and that's just the normal noise.

     On occasion, we have also had the disruptive sound of a noisy rooster. And, if you are near the tracks, add the noise and rattling of the Metro going by every 15 minutes.

     The noise can be a little distracting when you're trying to teach, but for the most part everyone is used to ignoring it and just pausing mid-sentence until the plane or ghetto bird has passed by.

                                                        June 9, 2014

 

Hi, 

 

I'm sorry, but I'm short on time...so this is a quick letter.

 

Thanks for the photo of Jordan. Sounds like he's going to have an interesting summer at that camp. Hah!

 

 

Also, thank the Webbs for me for the letter they sent. It was really caught me by surprise. 

 

This week was pretty quiet as well. We've been looking for new investigators most of the week. It was a little slow at first, but we managed to find some people to follow up with. 

 

Transfers are tomorrow. Elder Davey and I are both staying. Elder Davey's bike broke apparently beyond repair, so he's had to borrow another elders these past couple of days. 

 

It's been has been pretty quiet here, at least as quiet as it ever is. Every weekend there is loud music and the sound of explosions in the evening. We're pretty sure they're all just fireworks. It will be interesting come July 4.

 

Everything's pretty calm here - not too much change. We have three companionships in the ward and only one person is leaving for transfers. I'll try to take some pictures this week. Sorry there aren't any for this week.

 

Love,

              Elder Bowman

What is happiness? We had a whole conference about it the other day. In the end I decided it was to live to be the best person that you can be. Also, to live so that you let the Holy Ghost help you work at making changes in your day to day actions.


This better person will better their surroundings and lift those around them.

     Thanks for the emails. Not too much going on this week. As far as the service, it was the walk for cancer. The missionaries pretty much just helped out where needed. We helped people register and  handed out stuff to the participants. And we got a free pink t-shirt.

It has been pretty normal here, finding and teaching and baptizing. We meet some pretty interesting people here. LA is really diverse. We have had a lot of people argue with us lately. It is a little fun and kind of interesting. 

     There are a lot of different beliefs and crazy conspiracy theories. You can have a completely normal conversation with someone and then they suddenly throw in tears in spacetime and wormholes or something.

     Or a somewhat intimidating gangster turns out to study the Bible in three languages and has theories about aliens, the Bible, and Transformers or whatever the latest movie they've seen is.

     I didn't realize how many people think that movies are actually real. I think it has to do with the close proximity to Hollywood.

Let me know how the Preach My Gospel study goes. Unfortunately, I'm out of time.

Love,

               Elder Bowman

                               May 12, 2014

Hi Everyone,

 It was great talking to you all. Next time might be in person!  (I'm still not sure when my actual departure date will be).  It doesn't look like we will be able to send those pictures today, but maybe next week. Most of them were of the service we did. It was fun service and the USC Coliseum is pretty neat to see.

     One of the focuses was planning and goal setting, an idea that has been pounded into me again and again on the mission. I think it is starting to get through a little.

      President Weidman explained simply the process to achieve our goals: Set a goal, plan how to meet your goal, execute your plans = achieve your goals, then set another goal. Sounds fairly obvious and straight forward, but something I've not always done on my mission.

     It's been going great out here, although getting a little hot. The ward has been really friendly and have been feeding us almost every day. The people are usually friendly and polite.

     I just heard Elder Ballard's talk again about following up this morning. Read through it again.


 I know Jake and I talked about Preach My Gospel  study a little yesterday, but I was just wondering if you have had a chance to look at it, Mother. Hopefully, you guys have had a chance to read through it at least once.

              Elder Bowman