Hermana Mollie, Elder Riley and Elder Jake Bowman

Monday, May 26, 2014

May 12, 2014

Hey Everyone,

First off, about going to Michele's, I´d rather go sooner to be perfectly honest.

Here's what I've been up to this past week:

Internet Pub- This is where you can find large collections of missionaries every Monday

Walking in the morning I like the colors in the morning.

I told you that Chile runs off of different colors.

This week I have spent a loooot of time on the bus - over 20 hours in total.

I dozed the whole time, otherwise I just feel sick.


Construction and houses- Almost all of Chile is under some type of construction or another.

     This is in part due to the large amount of poorly constructed box houses that are always thrown up after earthquakes.

     Chile also has a lot of foreigners. I think it is almost 20 percent of the population here, but you should look it up. Chile has a very stable economy, and so it is expanding well.

    So the other day we were visiting Leslie, and she showed us this stove that her boyfriend's grandfather made.

It is a solid copper, wood burning water heater. I had never seen one before, so I had to take a picture. Copper is really common here in Chile. It is used to make everything. It was especially used in old things.

SO you see this window here. It has an excellent story.

We pushed my very small 90 lb companion through that bathroom window to break into a house the other day. It was a family of investigators. They were all locked out, and we had an appointment. It was freezing cold! Needless to say, we had quite a bit of fun. We were all laughing afterward. We went to a Family Home Evening at the family Malileo.

Here my companion is modeling.

So my companion had brought some dresses on the mission that she needed to add slips to. A less-active member that is living with her boyfriend- altered them for her.

Here is my companion with the person who added slips to her dresses.

The grandparents of her boyfriend gave her this house. She has big remodeling plans. She is really great.

Spiritual thought

The doing changes the being. We had a whole conference about it. Pay attention what you are doing. Where is your time spent? What goals have you set? Is your time spent on your priorities? Where are your spiritual goals lying in your life?

Elder Aidukaitis said,

"... If we are sincerely seeking the truth, we will do all in our power to find it, which can include reading the scriptures, going to church, and doing our best to keep the commandments of God. It also means that we are willing to do God’s will when we find it."

I invite you to think about the things you are doing,

and how that affect who you are.

Love,

Hermana Bowman

2:25 PM Posted by Sequoia 0

Friday, May 23, 2014

May 5, 2014

Hey Everyone,

I think 3:00 should be fine. We'll aim for that. I think we should be able to use Skype as well.

Thanks for the news. Happy 50th birthday Father. Mother, its funny to hear that you were in Boye's video. I've seen his other videos before, and it's a little scary to think how many people will see that video.

I didn't really take pictures this week, but I do have those from Inglewood the week earlier.

Riding with Elder Kpainay

My first week in the new area has gone pretty well. My companion, Elder Davey, is from Lindon, Utah. There are a lot of Spanish speakers in the area and contacting people has been a little difficult when they only speak Spanish.

Lots of Africans in Inglewood. This is the Ghanan food I wrote about.

Fortunately for me, Elder Davey can get by with, so it works out. There are 3 companionships assigned to the ward as the ward boundaries are fairly large. The area I cover is smaller than the last area and only takes around 15 minutes to bike across.

We've been doing a lot of finding lately, looking for people to teach. It really is different speaking English and most of our finding is talking to everyone we meet. We've seem some success, but hopefully other opportunities will make themselves available to us.

Love,

Elder Bowman

6:58 PM Posted by Sequoia 0

Saturday, May 10, 2014

April 28, 2014

Hey all,

Wow, Matt! How cool! Chile - Rancagua Mission. You are going to love it. You will have a lot of fun.

Hermana Martinez and Me back in Van Obispo (March)

I forgot to take a lot of pictures this week mostly due to lots of kind of awkward and failed moments, but hey - we keep moving forward.

The center of our week was odd. We spent three days in house, because my companion was sick and vomiting and didn´t keep anything down for three days.

The Relief Society president's house burned down, so there has been a lot going on in the ward to help out the family. They are all fine, but the house burned to the base, so everyone has been pitching in to help out. The mom is in the hospital with the severest injuries. She was in a coma but woke up the other day, but she couldn´t talk. She should be sent to Santiago this week.

Here's some photos of my new place.

The ward had an event planned this week called 'The Porotada.' It was a day to eat beans together for lunch, but everyone had been helping out with Hermana Tatiana's house, and no one came. We felt really bad for the hermano that had it all planned, but we are sure the next activity is going to be a hit.

I loved the fotos and letters from Michele and Riley. Tell Riley that I will get on 3 o clock Chile time for Mother's Day, so that he can do the arrangements.

Not a lot of time to talk.

We are looking to find new people to teach this week.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!
Have fun talking to people (it's what I do all day!)

Love you!

Love you all a lot!

Hermana Bowman

11:15 PM Posted by Sequoia 0

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

April 28, 2014

Hi,

Thanks for the emails. Michele's blogs were great. I loved the picture of Madeleine in bed and protecting her basket.

Congrats to Matt for his mission call to Chile. Can't wait to hear about when Jake's comes.

Just the one picture today of the district I'm in, courtesy of Elder Kpainay.

District

So, tomorrow is transfer day. I am going to be transferred to a different English area tomorrow. It is in a region called Huntington Park, although I am not sure if that is the actual city I'll be in. From the sound of it, it is mostly Hispanic over there and about the same social class as Inglewood. I should still be on a bike.

I am going to miss some of the people in Inglewood. It definitely is different than any place I had been to before, and the people here were generally friendly.

The ward here has been awesome and I know I will never forget some of the people here. Also, the people we taught here were truly amazing. Their experiences and testimonies are truly precious. Still, I look forward to see what new experiences the next area will bring.

     The Bishop in here shared a great talk yesterday. A purpose of the gospel that can sometimes be overlooked is happiness. Not eventual happiness, but even happiness now during life. That was the central focus of his talk.

     In working with people, one of the question he often asks is "Are you willing to do what it takes to be happy?" Most people seeks for it, and yet many aren't willing to do what it takes to become happy.

     He mentioned President Monson's talk "Finding Joy in the Journey." In it is a story of a man, taken captive in war, only being able to send his family 25 words. The Bishop mentioned discussing with his wife what their words would be.

They talked about the happiest times they had in their life.

The wife's was her mission, marriage, and kids birth. His were his conversion to the church, and outing he once had as a kid, marriage, and kids. In these times, none of their focus was on them, but outward.

It made me think about what happiness really is.

When we teach people, we often tell them about the happiness found in the gospel, through following Christ.

Many people think they know what it is they need to be happy,

but really the only things that last are found through the gospel.

Out of time, but take a look at the talk if you haven't.

Love,
Elder Bowman

8:55 AM Posted by Sequoia 0

Sunday, May 4, 2014

April 21, 2014


San Ramon a Campo - part of our sector- hunting down a reference we received

Hey all,

These cuties here have a fantastic little love story that I want to share with you, Mimi (Michele). When Yuri the girl was sharing this story with us, she had one hand holding his under the table while the other was subconsciously swirling curls in her hair.

Yuri and Sergio are university students in Temuco.

They are studying Nutricion.

The first time she saw him, he was wearing jeans and a long dark draping down- to-the-knee coat that smelled of cigarette smoke. He had long hair that hung past his shoulders and covered and hid his face.

The first thing she thought is that he was beautiful and caring, and she wanted to give him a hug. It is in fact the first thing that she said to him when she first saw him.

Would you mind if I gave you a hug every time I see you?

He said he wouldn´t mind and she gave him a hug.

Yuri: I just had this feeling in my heart and when I feel something like that I just have to follow it.

Hermana Paiva (My companion of the day) - I´ve heard that you changed a lot. This last week at church you gave your testimony... that afternoon we had lunch with Hermano Sepulveda, and he was talking about how pure your faith is and how much you have changed. I´ve only really known the Saintly Sergio, (she said to me.)

Sergio-Yeah, I've changed a lot (he looked at Yuri)

Yuri- When I first knew Sergio he was alone and sad. That is one of the reasons I invited him to church with me.

Sergio- I have learned to have a lot more hope in my life, more purpose and direction.

Me- You quit smoking and changed and decided that you wanted to follow Christ?

Sergio: I believed in Christ before. I just didn´t understand about the atonement.

Yuri: I really think that God gave me this perspective of him. From the first time I saw him, I could just see how caring he was and could see what he could become.

Loved it. You had to be there, but they were super cute.

The other hermanas got up at 6 am to make me a crepe breakfast and this little poster.

23 years old - Boy, am I getting old

Other than that it was a nice normal day.

Correlation for Obra Missional looks really productive.
Notice the brother being strangled in the back.

You can see that we are distant Argentine relatives, no?


There are dogs everywhere here too.

San Ramon a Campo

One of my favorite plants here in Chile spans three walls of the house

These are the perilous stairs in our house that I have fallen down several times, because they are only half the size of my foot!

Intercambio with Hermana Peiva. She is a sweety from Argentina.

Kind of really love this street of triangle houses. This is where Elisabeth lives.

8:56 AM Posted by Sequoia 1

Saturday, May 3, 2014

April 21, 2014

Hey!

   Thanks for the emails and pictures.

      My companion Elder Kpainay went to SVU. I showed him the photo of the Santoses at Easter, and he said he had met Nina before.

     Good to hear Nathan's doing well, I hadn't heard anything about him in awhile.

      Also, especially thank the Jolleys for the box they sent. It was great! I really wasn't expecting anything. My companion and I enjoyed the snacks, and I really loved the letter. I still have to try out the tie. I can't say I've worn one like that before.

This week was a little slow. We met a lot of people and had some people to visit, but many of them weren't home when we visited or hard to contact. We still have people we are teaching though, and they are doing well.

We have been meeting with a person from Ghana. They are very hospitable and always give us some food. I haven't really had African food before, so it has been neat to try a little. Apparently, something called fufu (as in little bunny fufu) is pretty good. Elder Kpainay, of course, is familiar with the food from growing up.

We met again with the person who came last Sunday. She again told us how much she loved it. After having not been to a church in over 20 years, she was surprised that she enjoyed it. Again, she mentioned the sincerity that she felt there. She noted how noticeably moved the people who shared their testimonies were, even teary-eyed. She could tell that they were sharing their experiences not to exalt themselves, but in thanks and praise.

Also, she mentioned that she could feel that people were there for the right reason. Unlike other churches she'd been to,] when she heard people talk, it wasn't gossip, or about sports or other matters, but it was centered around church and the Savior. It was more than social; people were there to worship.

It is funny how things like that are easy to overlook when you've grown up in the church.

Love,

Elder Bowman

4:51 PM Posted by Sequoia 0

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

April 14

Hey all,

So I am in the sector or ward called Maquehue, in the city called Padre las Casas. It is in the hills. The ward is very big, but so is the sector. The ward has eight missionaries four hermanas y four elderes. We will see how things go.

Here we are on the escalator in the mall

I have high hopes - aka there is lots of work to do here, which is good I like to stay busy. I have lots of personal goals.

My companion is also great. She is from San Salvador, has 3 months on the mission, and is a great missionary- obedient, hard-worker, etc.

We currently don´t have anybody in the church - in that we are to build a new ward in addition to the one they have. The one progressing is 21years old with a 3 year wild child. She affectionately calls him her 'savage from the jungle' - an apt title.

The eight of us. We have a ward building, but it is a really big sector with 150 people in the ward. They want to divide the ward so they sent a bunch of missionaries to help build it up, so that it can be divided into two wards.

It is cold, but we have only been hit by one heavy shower storm this week- Streets turn to rivers and the world goes foggy. It is about the same as Florida rain, big drops and lots of them, but it is cold. A good used sweater here costs about 14 dollars. New is about $30-$40. I am fine sleeping.

Staining Easter eggs activity in the mission zone. We will be doing something similar that we have organized with the ward this Friday. Easter egg hunt and dying Easter eggs.

You have to love Easter. It testifies of the fact that life is eternal that we will all dye :p but we will also all be reborn or resurrected.

In the morning, we have a thick fog, which makes it hard to go running. You can't see more than about six feet in front of you. Hermana Ferrell and I are still trying to run. We will see how long we are willing to do so in this weather.

I will try and take more shots for you guys. We are going to the outskirts of the sector this week, and I will try to get you guys some good pictures.

Fun fact: I am in the house with Hermana Ferrell. My companion from the MTC. It is really nice to already have a good friend here.

Love you lots,

Hermana Bowman

10:59 AM Posted by Sequoia 0

Sunday, April 27, 2014

April 14, 2014

Hey Everyone,

     Yes, I got the box Friday. Thanks for the goodies and camera, as well as the letters and blog from Mollie and Michele.

     You will be happy to know that I am carrying my camera with me now, but I am still getting used to remembering to use it. I also forgot to bring something to move the pictures onto the computer, so you will have to wait for more next week.

     This week we had a lot of exchanges. Elder Kpainay is District leader, so he had 3 exchanges this week, each time with me going to the other area. So I only spent about half the week in the area this week, but I was able to see some other areas. One was directly south of our area, which covers Inglewood and part of a city called Hawthorne. The other area I went to was on the border of two cities called Compton and Watts. Their areas weren't a lot different than ours, but it is always a positive experience to spend a day with another missionary and see another area.

Sunday, there was a baby blessing in our ward. It was a Tongan family, so they had relatives from Utah come out and a big dinner afterwards. There was a lot of food and cake, by far the largest celebration I've seen for a baby blessing. However, even it was outstripped by a missionary farewell in the Tongan ward that also happened yesterday.

There were tons of tables out for that and even more food, including 3 roasted pigs. One of the Tongan missionaries told me that he was going to turn vegetarian when he returned home.

It is impossible to not gain weight as a Tongan missionary.

With Mission President and Sister Weidman

     We also had an investigator at church yesterday. She really enjoyed the experience. She's been to a lot of other churches and had been deterred from organized religion due to negative experiences. However, she has loved coming here.

     She loves the simplicity and calmness of it, contrasting with the glamorous services of some other churches she's been to.

     She also liked the sincerity. She loved how those who bore their testimonies really expressed what they felt, it didn't feel rote or without feeling. The feeling of sincerity she felt she hadn't felt at other churches; the sincerity that comes from making the teachings a part of your life.

     She said the same thing about General Conference. It was much more calm than what she was used to and she loved the expressions of emotions, which she feels is rare to see especially from men. It felt more like people sharing precious experiences with you and not so much someone preaching at you.

Thanks again for the box.

Love,

Elder Bowman

3:56 PM Posted by Sequoia 0

April 7, 2014

Dear Family,

Conference was fantastic - all of it! I really can't say I had a favorite talk, because there are many that I will be using to make goals in my life.

Our district:

Elder Cruz, Long, Douglas,
Lopez, Hermana Bazan, Palma,
My Companion and me

My favorite session was the first - Saturday morning. I liked the talk about gratitude, our potential, and our need to take a stand. One expression that I liked was when they talked about looking for and caring for our dead.

Not just the dead, but our dead. We can clearly see from the extensive lists of genealogy in the scriptures that ancestry and family ties are incredibly important to God. I know lots of our family stories, but I want to know even more.

      For my birthday, it is probably better for Daddy to put money in my account for clothes than you having to send them. I have found a handful of shops that are really cheap.

     My classes are good. I used ratemyprofessor. I will rearrange them when I get home.

     One thing that will surprise you is that here in Chile, I have learned to eat a little bit of spicy food. (You can't say no to some of their hermanas that were up at 4 in the morning, and took their lunch break, so the food would be ready for you.)

     Here I am eating a bell pepper raw - something I never could do.

Here we are with two little girls, teaching them about the gospel - faith, repentance, etc.

Our little investigators

We used a game we made up where they had to jump from step to step without getting caught by the devil (me) when they weren't on one of the steps.

They are super cute. I gave them and their sister Bowman's headbands she sent me. They loved them.

------------

My companion did 104 push-ups for the zone. They weren't pretty pushups or at all middle school qualifiable push-ups, but she did them with her little arms shaking. The next day, she was unable to lift her arms to put on her mascara.

This is an exercise we do in zone conference sometimes that helps us realize the power of the atonement. Push-ups are done for every person in the zone, so that each of us can receive a treat. Whether or not we want or accept the treat is not so important, as long as the pushups are done by one person.

     Usually, the boys do them. It was different for me to see a girl do this. I don't know why, but the entire time I was thinking really one of the elders should be doing this.

I think the elders thought the same,

as they stared with avid attention at their shoes and scriptures.

It made me think of all of the single mothers I know who are made to carry the load and how it shouldn't be that way.

     It also made me think about our society in which it is expected that a woman is treated the same as a man, which often leads her to carrying her own load and his too.

     It is sad how the men don't understand their value and recognize what their potential is for themselves and their families. Blessings would occur if they did.

In reality, each have designed roles created by God. Sometimes like when a 110 lb girl works hard at 104 pushups, it is really obvious.

It is not that we can't do all of the work,

it's that we shouldn't have to.

And perhaps Christ shouldn't have had to either.

------------

I will be moving down to Temuco - the farthest southern city in my mission and most dreaded for its cold and rain in the winter. The sector is called Michaeue or something like that.


Packing. Yep, a disaster.

I will be with the MTC companion of my current companion. Her name is Hermana Martiz.....I know! Version 2.0! She is from Ecuador, and she is like half of my size.

Love you guys,

Hermana Bowman

10:15 AM Posted by Sequoia 0

Sunday, April 20, 2014

April 7, 2014

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the email and pictures. I'm glad to know the Conference tradition (going to our friends' house for waffles and ice cream after Priesthood Conference session) lives on. I really like Michele's blog posts on grad school. It's interesting to see what it takes to prepare. The conference post was also enlightening.

Conference was good for us as well. Saturday we pretty much were at the church all day. We had to be at the Stake Center to watch it, and it was too far from our area to do much in between sessions. I spent a lot of the time studying Chinese. We are only on bikes, but there is a companionship that helps drive us places when we need to go farther, like Conference. It is pretty safe here, so we don't need to worry too much.

(click to enlarge)

As far as Conference goes, my favorite session was Priesthood. The talks were all really great. As usual, I will need to read them again afterward to understand some of the concepts they talked about, especially Elder Oak's. The Saturday morning session was also really good.

It was noticeable how the central messages of the talks were similar. I liked how they talked about not segmenting yourself. Know who you are and then always be who you are, regardless of the circumstances. When persecution comes, rely on God and be loyal to him. Standing for what is right often means standing against what is popular and although you may feel you stand alone, you never are truly alone.

Have integrity and live true to what you believe. Your actions often reflect your thoughts and desires and these, in turn, your character. I really loved how much of it focused on developing a stronger and better person, developing integrity and character which isn't swayed or defined by other people.

One of the people we've been teaching came and watched the Saturday sessions with us. While he liked the conference, he seemed to really enjoy the World Report after Conference.

He is well-known in the faith community in Inglewood and has often worked with our church and others in interfaith efforts. He was amazed and touched to see what the Church was doing around the world, also to see that they were willing to work with others to do it. It really surprised him how what was taught was similar to other churches, messages of hope and testimonies of Christ, messages that no Christian church could disagree with.

Despite the common, negative feelings other churches have toward us, the differences in what we believe are not as deep as he had been made to believe. He told us his member friend, the person who had led him to investigate the church, told him that she thinks the Church is the most misunderstood of any religion.

He told us he thinks the Church is the best kept secret.

As he has encountered more and more of the church, he has been continually impressed not just with the message which the church shares, but also with how they share that message. As we've showed him videos and the Visitor Center, and as he personally has perused the Church website, he has again and again marveled at the way the videos and the presentation of the message is designed to speak to the people of today, in such a way that they can understand it.

As he said Saturday, everything is run just the way it should be.

He has already begun to see the greater vision of the church and its purpose. We not only have the desire to spread the message of the gospel, or to help lift those in need, but we are doing it successfully, on a scale and in a manner which he, for all his experience working with churches and communities, has never seen done. But he feels this is how it should be done.

It has helped me appreciate that the way the church is run is simply miraculous. All the obstacles and challenges that others face in doing this work are obviated simply because it is not man who leads this church. It is lead by revelation and it is Christ's Church. As I listened to conference, I was once again reminded of that.

We were teaching a person from Egypt the other day who grew up in Islam. He was fascinated in the idea of a living prophet, as Islam claims Muhammad as the last of the prophets.

One of the largest differences between us and other religions is continuing revelation. Many of the people we talk to believe in a story that has already been written, a tale that's been told, that all is complete.

In contrast, we believe that God's plan is continuing to unfold before us, and we still have a part to play in that plan, under the direction and guidance of Christ.

Love,
Elder Bowman

7:57 AM Posted by Sequoia 0

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Monday, May 26, 2014

Mollie #78 - Padres Las Casas, Chile - The doing changes the being

Friday, May 23, 2014

Riley #66 - Huntington Park, CA - Teaching the Spanish

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Mollie #77 - Padres Las Casas, Chile - Hard Week = Sick companion, Burned house

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Riley #65 - Inglewood, CA - Finding Joy in the Journey, Off to Huntington Park

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Mollie #76 - Padres Las Casas, Chile - A Love Story, My Birthday!

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Riley #64 - Inglewood, CA - Ate Fufu, Church after 20 years

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Mollie #75 - Padres las Casas, Chile - Eight missionaries, Creating a new ward

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Riley #63 - Inglewood, CA - Three Pigs, Simplicity/Calmness/Sincerity

Mollie #74 - Van Obispo, Chile - Conference, Understanding Sacrifice, Heading South

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Riley #62 - Inglewood, CA - The best kept secret

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