May 20

Hey, Everyone!

    All right, this week was a little crazy! To start it, Elder Casey and I went on splits with Elder DiPaolo, our Zone Leader, who is in an English Area. While I love learning Chinese, it is nice to be able to use English now and then.

    While with him, we stopped by a "half-way house." Everyone there was dealing with a problem of some kind, but all were also willing to listen. Most probably they were just glad to have someone to talk to, but there were some that seemed like they were genuinely interested in the church. They all knew who we were and were happy to talk to us. 

    The biggest event that happened this week was that I was transferred. Friday afternoon. The Mission President called us and told me that I was going to be transferred to be with in an English Area for the rest of the transfer, for about a week. I needed to be packed up and ready to go the next morning! We had a devotional that morning with the entire mission, so I would be able to switch companions then. 

     The devotional was with Elder Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve. He spoke on how the Lord will help us find those who are prepared to hear and open the hearts of those we meet. He also spoke about how important it is to work with the ward in missionary work. The ward plays an important part in finding those who are interested in hearing and in welcoming those we are already teaching. 

Elder Quentin Cook and his wife, Mary, with President and Sister Baker

     After the devotional, I went with my new companion Elder Moore. He is a Spanish Elder assigned to an English area and also is a Zone Leader. His companion, Elder Black, was made the new AP (Assistant to the President), so he was transferred early to make the transition when one of the current AP goes home at transfers.   

     

      Transfers are just in a week or so, and I don't expect to be with Elder Moore very long. I expect that I will be back in a Chinese area after transfers, because there will only be four Chinese missionaries left, including me. In other words, two possible companionships. 

       It is a really different experience being in an English area. Compared to the Chinese Branch, the ward is enormous. It is weird to go from knowing everyone at church to not knowing anyone. 

    Considering the size of the ward, I probably wouldn't know everyone even after attending church every week for a month. Still, we now have people feeding us every night and plenty of work to do. In the Chinese area, we had to fill our time with activites to find new people. Here, we could keep busy just by following referrals, visiting less-actives, and meeting with people who have met with the missionaries before. There is always some work that needs to be done. 

     I attached some English class files. The last outline is outdated. It was the outline we were planning to use for the class before we collaborated with the Taizhong mission.  Our current class, for a large part, adopted the organization of the Taizhong English class. The learning is serious and the documents are our own, so we came up with a logo for our program materials and posters.

Different logos we drafted. We picked the first one on the second row.	.

     This week or so will be a good experience. Very different! I'm looking forward to the new experiences I'll have.

     Love,

                   Elder Bowman

                                                                                          May 13

Hi,

   I am at a Staples right now typing this on one of their display computers, so I don't know how long I have. We had to go to the mission office this morning and the power was out there, so we don't really have a computer to use. We have a lesson up in UCLA this evening, so we weren't planning on returning to Torrance until late.

   English class is going well. We got some of the material they use in the Taiwan, Taizhong mission for their English class, which has been a great help in deciding how we are going to organize ours. We are hoping to finish all the preparation for it this transfer, so we can start another class in Culver City by next transfer. Elder Casey did some graphic design before his mission, so he is going to help us in designing material for the class. 

    As part of service this week, we helped out at Chinese school. They were having a festival this week, so there were lots of Chinese people and Chinese food. We tasted a sausage that tasted sweet and some stinky tofu. The sausage was great, the stinky tofu all right. We were told it is an acquired taste. 

                                                                                        Sorry so short!
                                                                                         Elder Bowman
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                                                                    May 13

                                                                                   May 6

Not sure how these cambios go exactly - being my first one - but I am hoping things will settle quickly. I think it will help me with my Spanish a lot faster. It is hard not to be understood or understand sometimes. Patience and faith, of course, no mas ;)

    Hermana Nelson will be my new trainer. She is a Grienga, but her Spanish is almost, if not, perfect because she lived several years in El Salvador. Her father was a mission president there. She is one of the two sisters that represent all of the sister missionaries here for conferences and such. So that is all good.

   This week has been crazy saying goodbye to all the people leaving sectors, conferences, etc... so many people that I have worked with and bonded with, making some incredible friendships.

All of the missionaries in our zone

    Your advice about possibly feeding the members as an activity is something I've thought about, but almost everyone works. It is just that time. Food is nice, but the members have to walk to the church and many just don´t have the energy to do so even for food. IF they don´t walk it is a taxi and that costs money, and they could be working. I think I just need to plan a specific activity and go all out with invitations, music, and everything.

    Life is a search for truth, and faith is necessary for us to actually move in our search - spiritually AND physically.

On my mission, I have grown, because I have chosen to. Spiritually, I make choices to pray, read my scriptures, teach what I know, and to serve others. On cold mornings, my companion helps me to always get up on time, physically beginning my day with faith that I will go to the people who I can help. In return my testimony grows, which strengthens my love for them and my Heavenly Father each day. There is strength that comes from having this truth and faith in my life each day. There is happiness, too.

Love this family! So fun to spend time with all of them!

   As I get to know the people better here, I am more aware of their personal struggles and problems that have fallen into their life, such as the sick baby due to a hospital error. I can't explain why problems occur, but I can explain that no one is alone, that their prayers are listened to, and their faith will help strengthen them and pull them through. 

The truth that Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ, both exist and are there for every single one of us, should be shared. It something that is eternal, so they will always be there - to talk to, to lean on, to ask for help, to feel support from.

One of the families we teach

     Our everyday relationships are so important, because they help define our life. If this is the thing most precious to us, then we should express it. One thing that my companion taught me is this ~ When something or someone is important to you, make sure they can see it in your actions, not just by words or by assuming "they just know."

     Of course, this goes for our Heavenly Father, too. I pray to Him, serve Him, and try to be as Christ teaches us to be as my expression that He is important to me. I wish others here could feel His love for them, could understand that money or hurt feelings are not what should drive our actions in life.

    I have been thinking how Faith is the basis of all of this. That to move both spiritually and physically, there must first be Faith. As my companion helps me on cold days get up on time, so I can do serve with faith, I hope I can help the people we teach to get up and exercise faith.

PS Skype is for one hour. Can't wait to see and hear from everyone. I hope the Skype works.

And one with my eye open - creepy- aka what you look like in your sleep :) (Her father sleeps with one eye open due to a scar left from a childhood car accident.)

(Click to Enlarge)

    So this past week we visited many people. Through the visits, we learned all sorts of terrible drama that is going on in the families of the ward. I am not sure exactly what to do for each family, but apparently some of the problems are pretty normal here.


       For a Spiritual Thought, I've been thinking about (and sharing with those we teach) what Elder Packer shared at General Conference:

Hope you have a Happy Birthday, Daddy-note! I'll be talking to you all on Mother's Day. More information on that will come next week.

Hi,
    I don't have too long to write, so I will make it quick.

    Transfers are coming, but I am probably not going to move out of Torrance soon, which I am pretty glad about. Our apartment is one of the nicer ones and doesn't have cockroaches like the last one. It is very spacious and is close by a church building and not too far from most of the mission.
     We go all over the place and need to live somewhat close to the center of the mission, without being too far away from the Chinese Branch in Palos Verdes.

    Yes, I am now a trainer, alongside Elder Hsiao. A lot of our time this week was spent going with Elder Casey to the trainings. His Chinese is about the same as mine 6 weeks ago. He is from Layton.

This photo shows all of the LA Missionary Trainers. I'm in the back row. (Click to enlarge)

(Larger view)

Elder Casey is on the left.

     Our mission normally has around four elders, which is how many there will be after this transfer. After November, Elder Casey and I will be the oldest Chinese missionaries out here. We are hoping to get another native Chinese speaker before then.

     English class has been going well as far as getting new people to come, but it is still hard to get them to come back. They always seem to like it. We have even had people come referred to us by people who came and said they liked it.

     Even still, our number of regulars are few. Do you have any ideas about games or activities we can use to teach English? Apart from that, we are having a five or so people come each week who seem as though they might be interested in church.

               Elder Bowman

Hey all,

                                                                                                 April 16

Hi Everyone, 

     Today was busy, because we had to move another bed into our apartment and are planning to visit a Chinese museum.

      Tomorrow is the first day of my second transfer, so Pday was on Tuesday this week. Since I can only write on Pday, your letter is a day later than normal.

We are both going to be trainers for our new Chinese missionary.

        It turns out Elder Hsiao and I are going to be training the new Chinese missionary together. With so many new missionaries coming in and a lot of the old ones leaving, I think they are having a hard time finding enough missionaries to train. It will be really different with three of us again, but I think it will be a great experience.

       My Chinese really needs to start improving faster. I have been making more of an effort to talk to members only in Chinese when we are over. We think we will start practicing the lessons with them to get more practice. The members are very helpful and considerate of my poor Chinese. They are usually willing to help me learn as well. Even though it takes me some time to understand them, they are willing to repeat themselves in Chinese rather than just switching to English.

     We are starting to find more people to teach. We are getting more referrals from other missionaries, especially the Visitor's Center and UCLA missionaries. Also, more people are coming to English class; last week was a record for us.

Referrals are coming from the LA Temple missionaries

     We are still trying to progress with more finding activities and improving the ones we do now. We have a fireside at the end of the month through which we hope to pique the interest of some Chinese nonmembers.

       We have spent a lot of time preparing and should have finished the planning for it this evening.

Love,

                Elder Bowman

 April 15

   I first want to share something with you.  I love this spiritual thought and shared it with our two new sisters. It is something that helped me.

(Click to Enlarge)

    Sometimes, it is hard to see how much you´ve grown. All you see is everything that is in the way and the daily sun and rain that occurs. Your view of your shortcomings get in the way seeing how much you´ve grown. I know I am progressing here, but sometimes it is frustrating.

    For example - :  When I listened and listened and listened to a single mother's story, but I couldn´t seem to really understand, and knowing every word is so important, because she is so important.

     The thing that is hard to understand is that you are one of the "they." They are important and you are important. They are growing and don't always see it, and you are growing and not always seeing it. The people in this ward are wonderful people. Many of them served missions in the past, but sometimes I think they don´t see how good they are. They like me are not perfect, but as shared at General Conference - all God has are imperfect people.

  To answer your questions about the bird that comes only to me, evidently my hair is the color of the momma bird...that's what I've been told.

   We hiked up to a waterfall today. Our guide, a member of our ward, found this tarantula-looking spider. Cool, right?!

 Not to my companion, who is super afraid of spiders

I bought this cool Chile hat to protect myself from the sun. My scalp burns sometimes, so I really need it.

Two of my investigators. The cat , Martin, loves me.

     Give Mema some tulips for me. They should be coming up around now. If not, some forsythia. 

Happy Birthday Rayne!

and 

Lots of Love,

       Hermana Bowman

                                                                                             April 8

     All right, where to start? This week was kind of blah.

    My companion was sick for the first half, and I was sick for the second half- still recovering. We worked everyday but it was kind of blah.

  When I am sick my head is kind of like a bowl of mashed potatoes. I am unable to think very clearly. Combine this with Spanish and a need to look for culture differences and suddenly my ability to communicate effectively is greatly decreased. Boo...

      Everyone in the ward was very supportive and helpful. I received several different types of herbal drinks and had no idea what was in any of them - nix that - one was lemon water, honey, and a mint mixture. Another one was something like 'a running cats claw' from what I understood of the name. I didn't ask.

    They were concerned, and so medicine was thoughtfully given and a lot of prayers. I love the Chilean people. I really was touched by one of the members, Vivian, who baked something specifically for me. You know what I look like when I am sick - Rudolph nose and watery eyes with dark shadows under them. I'm feeling better now.

    I am sending you several photos this week. There's so much I want to share, and it's easier to send photos than describe everything. I really love Chile. I'm learning so much about the culture and history of this area.

   The rooms in Chile are always brightly colored. Here is an example for you. I love how they use the colors on the walls. In another photo, you'll see bright pink walls.

          These in my photo are the faces of my companion and me. Thanks again for the sticky notes Bowman - that is what made this possible.

Love,

                      Hermana Bowman