Christmas

So yesterday was Christmas, it was pretty fun.  We opened up a lot of ties and we also got some nice other things.  Thank you all so much for being so thoughtful and thinking of me this Christmas.  This week was really cool.  We had a trip up to Fort Lauderdale, where we got to see all the missionaries.  For Thursday we had to ride up on Wednesday, and come back Friday, so it was a real trip.  It was awesome to see all the missionaries, and to recieve some training.  We also got to play white elephant.  It was fun.  I brought up a gorilla head made out of a coconut.  It was cool.  Elder Badillo brought up a sling shot that said Ammon on it, so it was legit.  I had to steal everytime in the game because no one else was stealing, so I had to get it going.  It was fun, but I ended up with 4 cans of Tuna.  It was pretty funny, and we also got to sing songs.  Our Zone sang, Oh Holy Night in Espanol.  It was super cool and spiritual.  The other zones were good too, but Im pretty sure we were the best.  So we got back safely, and I was able to talk to my family on Skype yesterday.  It was pretty exciting, but short.   Now I feel pretty focused on the work now that I done that and have some good work to do.  Thankyou all so much for your love and support and for all you do for me.  I know this church is true and that the Lord blesses each and everyone of us according to our obedience.  He is watching us and waiting for us to call upon him.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and he suffered the atonement that we can return and live in the Kingdom of God.  Thank you all so much, and I love you.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

A Great Week!

This has been a really awesome week for us.  We were able to have al lot of fun things happen and had a lot of good lessons.  We are really excited about the work down here and cannot wait to keep it going here.  There is this one family we are teaching.  The daughter is the one interested in Christ, and she is 6.  But the parents want to learn too because of her.  It is really cool, and we have no idea where she found out about Jesus, but she really likes him, and the lessons we have are pretty fun with them.  We also have been able to meet with some other really cool families, and have some really awesome lessons coming up.  This one lady said we could come back last Tuesday, and we did, and she said that she didnt expect us back(second time we came back and she didnt expect it), but she said she didnt have time to really talk much.  So we talked for a little bit about how she has a crazy life, and then we asked if we could leave her with a prayer.  She said yes of course, and then she talk to us about her church and whatnot.  Then I asked if she would take a book, she said yes, until she saw it was the Book of Mormon.  She siad she wouldnt ever read it or touch it, but then we brought out some of her concerns and weird misconceptions about us, and she took the book and should be reading 3 Nephi 11 this week.  We will be back there tomorrow.  She was a lot more receptive after we resolved her concerns.  It has been a good week.  We are also going up to Fort Lauderdale this week.  It is good but sad at the same time, because we will be gone for 2 and a half days, and 2 of the days are the most productive days of the week for us usually.  But it will be god to recieve some new training and to see some missionaries again.  Really excited.  Should have pictures next week.  I love you guys.  I know this church is true, and that Chrsit died for our sins, that we could be saved from our sins, but not in our sins.  He loves us, and will comfort us when we need it.  Thankyou all so much for your support and love

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS,

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Finally!

This week is Kelly's Birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!  How could I forget?  Kelly should repent for not having full faith in me :P So this week started out as a continuation of last week.  We had very little success with lots of hours of knocking.  We were putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to do good, but we were having so much trouble finding anyone to talk to that we were getting frustrated with ourselves.  After a full week of not getting into a single new home, we Finally started finding people on Thursday.  We had an appointment up like 3 Keys, so we designated that day to be the day that we would go and work in the slightly higher keys.  We were able to get into one new home, and we also were able to talk to a man we had met the last week.  He is super cool.  This time we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and were able to talk for a short while about it.  After a short spiritual discussion he asked us about what we do and whatnot.  We told him we knocked doors all day, we werent paid, we love this gospel basically.  He said since we put so much effort into what we do, he would put some effort into reading and praying.  He is a really funny guy, and we are really excited for him in the future.  We know he will have his prayers answered.  Friday we went down to some areas we hadnt knocked in Key West.  It was slim pickings again, but we were able to get a return appointment with this one lady.  We came back the next day and we knocked first for a little bit, and we had some good success and will be meeting with some new people down there now.  We then went and knocked the ladies door, and she said that there wasnt any man (we told her the day before about the man rule).  I asked her what she could do so we could come in, maybe a neighbor or someone.  Her eyes opened wide and she went and asked a neighbor like 3 doors down if he would come and sit with us.  We were brief but felt the spirit pretty strong.  The man had to leave quickly so thats why we were quick, but she told us as we were leaving that God works in mysterious ways, and this time since we came back she knew that we had been sent there and she couldn't see us leave.  It was pretty cool.  Yesterday we were able to get 6 new investigators also.  One from a recent convert, and a family of 5 we met knocking.  It was really cool.  We were able to set the family with dates, so that was really cool.  We are so excited for the work going on down here.  I know the church is true and that the gospel is very important all our lives.  I know that Christ was born humbly, but lived divinely.  He taught us all the things we need, and he also suffered for us in our infirmities and our sins, our pains and our afflictions.  I know he loves us and that this special time of year we get to celebrate his birth.  I know I can't celebrate his birth and life better than telling people about him and inviting them to come unto him.  I love this work and am so grateful to be out here.  Thank you all so much for your love and support.  I love you all and want to you to remember the reason we celebrate Christmas.  I'm so grateful for all you do.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

PS I got the two packages.  It was fun getting all them, cannot wait to open them.  So christmas will be 30-35 minutes of a call.  We can use skype. We were invited to 2 members house that day, one for lunch, the other for dinner and a lesson with some nonmembers.  We will ask them if we can use one of their computers for skype.  If not we will be on the phone.  Do you have a Skype account?  Elder Voges still in the Provo MTC?  I'm glad Elder Grant and Elder Carlson met.  It would be cool if they were companions, they would probably get along well.  Hopefully I'll hear from them soon.  I wrote Jack last week too. Thankyou so much for everything you do.  I hope you have a good week.  Love you all

Trying to Find the Key to Success

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEEK CHELSIE!!!!  This week we have been doing a lot of knocking again, with minimal success.  It was a bummer, but we are going to continue on in diligence.  We are trying to find the Key to Success.  We are trying to find little adjustments that we can do to get more people interested in what we are doing.  The problem is people close the door a lot before we can say anything.  We have knocked almost all of the newtown half of Key West since I got here, and a lot of the Old Town.  So one of the Keys to Success that we came up with is to use another Key.  We have mostly worked in Key West, Stock Island, and Key Haven since I got here, the lowest three keys.  We had an appointment in a higher key, so when we went up we knocked.  2/3 people that answered in the hour or so of knocking were interested and said we can come back.  We are pretty excited to go back.  So we are seeing if there is some success that can be found in the other Keys.  We are going to continue to  explore the higher keys.  The problem with Key West is that it has all been knocked a bunch.  We bring members to knock with us sometimes, and they will sometimes comment about how they remember knocking the same complex like 8 months ago.  Just in a short transfer we were able to knock out a good portion, so most people know what we are doing when they see us at the door.  But the upper keys have had less attention, so hopefully we can find some gold in them keys.  We are working pretty hard, and trying to use Christmas now since people should be thinking of Christ more.  We have a good portion of people that said we can come visit them, so we are continually passing by, but since no one wants to set appointments we have a hard time catching them at the right time.  We are looking forward to the coming weeks though.  We should start seeing some more success as we go.  I'm so greatful for all your support and love.  I know this church is true and that there is no greater work than missionary work.  I know I'm called to be here by the Lord, and I know that Jesus Christ lives.  I am so excited to celebrate his birth at this time of the year now, and cannot think of a better way than to be sharing his gospel.  I love this gospel so much.  I love you all too.  Thankyou for what you all do for me, and the love you show me.

 

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Thanksgiving

The week of Thanksgiving.  So this was a pretty cool week.  To start off we recieved the commitment to go through all the finding techniques and see how we can improve in some areas.  We decided that we should go through the former investigators and try and get back into contact with them.  We had some problems meeting most of the people we picked out, but we did see some blessings.  We have been able to get back into contact with one of our Haitian friends, a former investigator who was coming to church all the time.  He started working so he stopped coming.  Now he is getting off the time to come to church and we were able to sit down with him and his girlfriend and she agreed finally to get married.  It was pretty hard to get it all going because he speaks spanish and creole, and she only speaks creole.  It was really awesome.  We tried to see by what date so we could set a date with him, but that is still to be determined, but the whole family came to church yesterday, and they were talking to the Branch President about getting married.  We are super excited for them.  A lot of people that we have knocked and set appointments with have been hard to get into contact the second time.  No one here likes to set appointments, but we always try to, and when we pass by when we told them we would, they often dont answer.  But this week we were able to see more of them than we have in weeks past.  We had some good lessons and are really excited for what is going on down here.  And we have also gotten into contact with some less actives.  We had three less actives at church yesterday too, so that was awesome to see them making efforts to come to church again.  So it has been exciting this week.  This week is transfers, but because we are down in Key West we were able to recieve the transfer info on Thanksgiving so we could plan for travelling.  We are both staying.  Everyone else will find out tonight.  Thanksgiving was pretty cool.  We found out early in the morning that we were staying and then that day we went to work.  We knocked some doors.  We got some food from one house that we knocked on so that was pretty cool.  After we worked we were able to have dinner at any time on Thanksgiving and at 2 different houses.  That was the rule for Thanksgiving.  It was nice, and we felt very well fed and had some leftovers, which was awesome.  So that was our cool week.  Cannot wait to here from you all.  I love you all so much.  I know this church is true, and I know that there is a living prophet in the world today who leads and guides the church in the manner  god would want it to run.  I love this gospel and the work I am doing now.  So excited to continue the work down here in beautiful Key West.  I love you all and am so grateful to hear from you all and so greatful for you support.

 

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Island Time

This week was kind of a weird week.  We had to go up to Miami for a zone conference, so that took up all of Thursday and Friday.  The meeting was really good and we felt pretty good afterwards and were really excited for the work.  We were able to have a few really good lessons this week and we met with a lot of members this week.  It was a pretty good week.  We knocked a lot of doors this week but didnt really have much success, especially compared to last week.  But we tried getting into contact with all those that we had gotten into before.  We were able to get back into contact with a lot of them, but not back in this time, and are hoping the next time we will be able to.  Everyone here is on Island time, and doesnt really like setting up appointments.  They always say whenever is good, but they never seem to be there.  So we decided we were going to start contacting some less actives too.  We set apart some time to go knock their doors and all the doors around them.  One we went to with a member and at first had some trouble with the family, but after the prayer at the end, the patriarch of the home stood up and said that he really felt like he needed to come to church.  It was a pretty cool expierience, we hope to see him soon, and will be back there this week hopefully.  Another day we were knocking around this less actives house, and when we got to the house no one answered, so Elder Bo left his favorite pass along card on the door.  We got a call later that day from the member.  She called around to get our number so she could call and tell us she was coming to church and that she wanted us to stop by some time soon.  We will be going back again really soon and her husband isnt a member, so we are hopefully going to teach him too.  we are pretty excited for what is going on down here, and cannot wait for the place to start booming.  If we can start meeting more often with investigators, we will be set, so we are finding ways to be better at that.  This week is Thanksgiving, and there will be no TurkeyBowl.  Most of the people who wanted it are going out of town, so that is kind of a bummer, but we will be having a good dinner.  I'm pretty sure for Christmas it will be skype, so that is pretty cool too.  I am so grateful for my opportunity to serve a mission and for the love you all show for me.  I know that this church is the true church on the earth today, and that we have a living prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson, who leads and guides us as the Lord wants him too, and I love this work.  thank you all so much for the support you give me and the love you show me.  I love you all and am very grateful for all of you.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th St Suite 110

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33324

Knock, Knock, who's there? Missionaries!

So this week has been an amazing blend of knocking doors!!!  We knocked a lot of doors, it was pretty impressive how fast we have been getting through complexes.  It isnt to bad though.  We do a lot of it down here so we are getting pretty good at it I think.  Always focusing on bringing the spirit into the homes.  We were able to have a nice referral this week too.  We were able to go on one of the bases and have dinner with this family, and they invited some neighbors.  After dinner and a getting to know each other we shared the first lesson with them and left a Book of Mormon.  They said they would give it a shot and read it.  When the member family asked if they could have dinner again they said that would be great.  They then asked if we could come again and they said that would be awesome as well, so we are really excited to keep teaching this family.  We also had this week the church open house, because the building here is brand new.  It got dedicated this Sunday.  The Saturday before was the open house, and we had some great member participation and were able to get a decent amount of people to come into the church and they said they were going to come back some time.  We were not able however to get any addresses, which was kind of a bummer, but hopefully they will come to church sometime and we will be able to get into their homes later.  So that was all pretty exciting, and we were able to have some great lessons with members and get them excited for missionary work.  We have a few members that are waiting to see when they can get their friend over for dinner so we can teach them with them and whatnot.  It is pretty awesome.  For anythig on the bases though we have to depend on the members because we have to get escorted while we are on them, and we cant go knocking or anything, so anything with people in the navy we have to depend on the members to help us out, but they are really willing and always trying to help us out.  It is great when members are quoting Elder Bednars talk about how members are the finders and missionaries are the teachers, and how if at all possible neither should do the others job.  It makes us really excited when we have so many members like that.  So food wise we havnt been able to really eat anything to crazy yet.  It is pretty  American down here, and in Miami we ate  alot of ropa vieja(pork in some sweet sauce) rice, and beans.  Or some other meat, nothign crazy though.  The weirdest thing was probably this squash we had about a week ago.  It was good, it had beans and chesse and greens in it, but other than that, I dont think I have really had anything that I havnt had before.  There is a member in the ward that is a high ranking navy chef, and he said he has these Inferno Wings, but that we arent ready for them yet.  We keep telling him that we want him to get us ready, so I think we might try some before this transfer ends.  He said that my mom would be able to feel it when I ate it.  He is pretty awesome, maybe when when we go over to meet his friend.  I havnt done any baptisms yet, if I could go my whole mission though and have members baptizing everytime I would be much happier because then that relationship will always be there.  As far us bugs, there are mosquitos, but a lot less now that the rainy season is over.  so thats my fun here in the Keys.  Thankyou all so much for your support.  I was suprised to get a poster from the castaic ward this week.  That was awesome.  I love this gospel and the work that I am doing know.  I know that it is the Lords work and this is where I am supposed to be.  I know the Book of Mormon is the Work of God, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Lords Kingdom on the Earth and I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that he loves me and all of us, and he watches out for us.  I know these thing are true adn I love you all.  Thankyou

 

 

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Fulltime Paradise

So we have finally made it a full week in Key West, now that the transfer is basically halfway over.  Kind of weird, but its all good.  We are super excited for the area here.  The members are amazing, and we should start teaching a lot of people down here.  There are around 90 active members right now in the  branch, and we are in a brand new building.  It hasnt even been dedicated yet.  This week we spent a lot of time with members and trying to get ourselves acquainted down here.  It has been a little difficult leaving the area for 2 weeks, and then jumping back in it.  We got a new phone because our last phone broke, and so we spent some time transferring the numbers over, and were ended up calling any number that we didnt know if it still existed or who it was.  We were able to clean up the phone a bit, and also get some new appointments set up.  So coming back we ended up doing a lot of knocking, and really trying to find new people to teach.  We have also been able to go on the bases lately, so that has been fun.  A lot of the members live on the bases, and Elder Bo's last companion here wasn't from the U.S. so they couldnt go on the base, but now we just have to make sure someone can escort us around.  The members all love having us down here and are really excited to help us out, and to share the gospel with their friends.  It is fantasmic.  We are super excited for this coming week with some referrals to go and see, and some return appointments that we set up last week.  We also decided to change up our workouts to be a little more exciting.  Some days we are going to be waking up half an hour early and playing basketball at the courts near our house.  We started on this past Saturday, and we both agreed that it was great.  It helps get our blood pumping early in the morning so we are less groggy during our studies, and we feel ready to work.  The other days we do push ups and situps and whatnot.  Yesterday at church I got to meet a lot of our members.  We are really excited to be working with them, and they started a missionary food calendar again, so we are excited for that.  All the members here are really excited for everything about missionary work and are always willing to help out when they can.  This past Sunday just really made me super excited for everything that we are going to be doing in the coming week and how we are going to improve our area.  This week in Key West is the speed boat competitions.  Which is pretty cool because we have seen a lot of boats out here, and they are really cool.  They ride by where we bike alot.  We also have an open house of the church since it is so new.  We cannot wait for that.  There should be a lot of people going and we should be able to talk to a lot of people.  As the missionaries we will be the guides in the open house.  We have to get going.  I forgot my camera in my other backpack, so I'll have to share pictures next week, but just know that it is awesome down here, and that it is not freezing cold, but there is always a nice ocean breeze and good weather.  I'm so very grateful to be here, and sharing my testimony with everyone I meet.  I know this church is true, and that we live in the last days, and we are here now to prepare to meet our Heavenly Father.  I know that since our Heavenly Father loves us, he has sent us a way to get back to him, and created a perfect plan for us.  His Son, Jesus Christ died for us, so we could be clean, and he has reestablished his church again on the earth, and it is organized perfectly.  He has also sent us the scriptures, so we can learn and grow, and always have his word with us.  I know that through these things we can return to our Heavenly Father, and live in his presence once again.  I thank you all so much for your love and support, and everything you do for me.  I love getting your letters and hearing about how you are all doing, and the love you share with me.  Thank you so much.  I love you all, and am so excited to be here!

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th St Suite 110

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33324

Back in the Keys

WES SENT PICTURES!!!!

Top left was his last companion, Elder B

Bottom left is his current companion, Elder Bo

Blurry but it doesn't matter, it still makes Mom happy!

This young man sent us a nice note about Wes!  He helps the missionaries out alot!

Elder Bowen looks happy!

So nothing to crazy has happened in the past week.  We spent most of the week in Sunset North helping them out there.  It was a lot of fun.  We were able to see a lot of the ward members and were able to have some goodbyes.  On Tuesday we did a lot of riding around and visiting people, and then on Wednesday I was with Elder R because Elder B had to go and do some blood work.  It was pretty exciting.  We had some good plans and were able to pick up a new investigator and meet some really awesome people.  Then on Thursday me and Elder Bo did a lot of running around.  We went from one corner to the next to the next.  Only missed one corner.  It was a lot of riding, but it was good.  Then Friday we were able to see some investigators we had picked up the week that I left so that was really cool.  Then Saturday we got soaked in the rain.  The streets in some parts were flooded so we had to find new ways to go around.  It was a very interesting day.  We got pretty wet and when we got home we had to change really fast because the water is starting to finally get cold here.  Then Sunday we went were able to see some investigators and some families in the ward.  It was really great.  We were also able to take some pictures on Sunday.  I took some pictures of the Island and stuff, I'll probably send those later when I remember to bring my camera.  These are all off of Elder Bo's camera.  Yesterday we tried to email in the morning, but the library computers were shut down, so then we just got picked up by our District Leader Elder S, who dropped us off at the bus stop where we headed back down to Key West.  On Saturday, our phone broke, so we are waiting on a new one, hopefully we get it tomorrow, but so we called soem members to pick us up from Marathon where the bus stops and then we left all the other missionaries.  So when we got to Marathon, we didnt know what we should be expeacting.  It all ended up ok, there was a member that just got there right when we arrived too.  So hopefully we get our phone tomorrow.  Also on Sunday President Anderson and his wife spoke in sacrament in Sunset.  They both gave great talks and are really excited for us here in Key West.  They said they will be visiting us soon.  So thats about all that has happened.  We are back into exilation.  We call it that because we dont probably wont get to see missionaries for the next month, but we are really excited.  It isnt realy that bad.  This transfer is already going really fast.  Almost two weeks in, and it seems like it just started.  Really crazy.  Well I hope you enjoy the pictures.  Thankyou all very much for the support you give me, I really enjoy hearing from all the time.  I am super excited for my time down here in the Keys.  I love you all and I know this church is true.  I know that.  Thankyou all again for everything you do for me and the love you show me.  You all mean so much to me and I am really excited to be doing this now.  I love you all

Con Amor,

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

I can see Cuba from my house!

So transfers came and now I am with Elder Bo down in Key West.  We cover almost all the keys.  Except for Key Largo.  It is amazing.  We live in a trailer of one of the members, but it is super nice.  We can't actually see Cuba from out home, but at night if you go to the South side you can see the lights from Cuba.  We are closer to Cuba than continental U.S.  I didnt take any pictures because I left my camera and suit in the Homestead Elders apartment, which is where we leave everyone and take a bus down.  I forgot it there, but have it again now.  I will take pictures soon.  I feel great down here and am super excited for teh work here.  It is cooling down a lot now, and it feels less humid.  The salt air is a lot nicer too here, I love the smell and feel of it.  There isnt to much Spanish but there is some.  My companion is Mexican and is fluent in both English and Spanish, so he is helping me out alot.  He is from Arizona.  But so we got there the first night at around 7:30 and went and visited a recent convert right away.  The members there are really strong and love the missionaries.  I'm really excited for what is going on down there.  Then Thursday we had a full day.  As we were heading out we were in a neighborhood and Elder Bo says, "this is where I park my car."  I looked over and there was a Lamborghini parked in a garage.  It was awesome.  So we did some contacting, had some good lessons, and were back home.  The next day we were out knocking doors in downtown Key West, and someone said yeah comeback, but right now I'm super busy.  Goombay starts really soon.  Well Goombay is a Bohemian holiday celebrated down here and it has a lot of food and whatnot.  But it also starts off what is called Fantasy Fest(dont look up what it is), which we thought started today, not last Friday.  So we quickly called and got directions to knock contact anymore and start heading back to pack.  We had some lessons that day, but were not able to do near as much as we wanted.  So we packed up and came back up to Homestead on Saturday.  So we spent the past two days with the Homestead Elders split apart, one of us in the East, the other in the West.  I went in the West because there is more Spanish there and one of the companions is from Peru and is only learning English now.  Elder S.  So I went with them and we worked the area for two days.  It was really exciting to see how they work together.  Homestead West was closed last transfer and just reopened, so they have to do a lot of contacting and whatnot.  But so I worked with them and then this morning we got the call to come back up to Sunset, my last area.  We are all still in the same zone.  So I'm back in the same library emailing with Elder B and Elder S and their new trainees.  So this week we will be up here, and hopefully get to really help out.  Maybe I will see some of those baptisms after all.  But so until next Monday we will be out of the Keys, so I wont get to send any Key pictures until the next next Pday.  But it is beautiful down there and is really exciting.  We say they are training us to go to Cuba or Bahamas.  Which ever opens sooner for our mission  But so we are really excited for what is going to happen.  While we are gone we are having an investigator get baptized.  She is great, and has a great desire to be baptized.  We call daily and the members are helping her out.  We are super excited to be back down in the Keys.  So that has been my crazy week, cant wait to get back to working.  Love you all and thank you so much for your support.  I know this gospel is true and cannot wait to share it down in Key West.  I have seen how the Book of Mormon really helps people and know that it has brought innumerable blessings to my life.  I love you all and thank you so very much, cant wait to hear from you!

 

Con Amor,

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

A little late....

Well sorry last week I wasn't able to write a letter, but I am really excited to write now.  So I'll start off with last week.  It was a crazy week filled with miracles.  I dont really remember days any more though, but I'll say the two coolest things that happened.  First we went to go see C, who is a Media Referrals aunt in the same house.  We dropped off the Bible that was ordered a little while ago and C really wanted us to come back. It took us a little while because we would knock and she wouldnt be there, or she wouldnt have time.  Well this time we went and no one answered again.  We were pretty discouraged because she is so great.  We started walking away and we started talking about the coconuts in the trees above.  I said something about how I never had had one here in Florida.  Well the member we brought with us is with us a lot.  He is a recent convert and is awesome.  He is from Venezuela and really cool.  But so he said well lets get one.  He took off some of the dead palm fronds so he could climb it.  Usually we would have just gone away, but we were walking because Jose, the member, his bike was broken.  So we were walking with him.  He started to climb the tree after the fronds were out of the way.  Well after a minute this lady walks out crying.  We then realized it was C.  She said she came out because she saw Jose in the tree, and remembered him from the 2 times we had stopped by before and talked with her.  Well apparently the night before she was praying about that someone could help her take down the dead palm fronds because she was going to have to pay a lot of money.  The tree wasnt even on her property, but because she is where she is, she has to take care of the trees.  She never expected us to come.  We cleaned up all the trees and she expressed what a miricle it was for her.  We were then able to teach her the First lesson finally, and before I could invite her to be baptized, she said, well I will finish this book in about 3 weeks then I need to be baptized.  So we set her for this upcoming Sunday.  Well so later we go back and she had already read to Mormon, and it was like 3 days later.  We didnt have much time with her but left the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet.  We came back and she had completely filled it out and we reviewed it with her and then went over the commandments.  She said the study with the pamphlet was the best read yet.  She is super prepared and we are really excited for her.  Another family we are teaching had an interview with one great brother in the ward.  In the interview he invited them all to be baptized the 21st.  They accepted.  On Tuesday we had a FHE with both of them and it went great.  We talked about what needed to happen for the baptism and really got it set up for the 28th.  But they are already coming to church and they picked that day who is baptizing them. It was really exciting.  Now that brings us to this week.  Alot of that is from this past week to, but so we have been walking all week because Elder B's back tire is destroyed.  The catch doesnt catch anymore.  So we walked.  It was alright, but made it a little frustrating at times when members would cancell because we were really depending on them. It all worked out in the end though, and have had some great lessons this week, like some of the ones listed above.  Yesterday we had exchanges and I went out with the district leader Elder H.  He is awesome.  We had appointments with the family of 6 with dates, and C.  They both fell through, but we worked through it.  We went to go see a referral the Bishop gave us and were able to finally get in.  We werent knocking loud enough before apparently because it took some loud knocking for the dog to hear, and for the lady to get to the door.  Well we got in yesterday and had the first lesson.  It was exciting.  It was a spiritual lesson and we were able to extend baptism to her and her mom.  She wouldn't accept a date yet, but she is really excited and said she will pray and get an answer.  She has a lot of faith, we are excited for her.  So that brings us to today.  So I am being transferred.  We will find out tomorrow.  Everyone is the zone is changing companions.  Pretty crazy.  Cannot wait to see what happens.  But so next week I will be somewhere else having fun.  Well I Love you all and thank you for your support and everything you do for me.  I am so very grateful for your prayers and letters.  I can feel your strength.  Thank you all so much.  I love this work and this gospel.  I know that it is true, and that we are here on this earth to prepare to meet God.  I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and cant wait to bless us.  I can see so much of his love here, for me, and for all those that I am able to really get in contact with.  Love you all

 

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

No longer a Columbus Day fan!

This is all I got from Elder Bowen today:

I dont know if im going to be able to type later, the library was closed, and we only have 1 computer at the church.  The zone leaders took most of the time and left me and Elder B about 10 minutes each to write, and we have to write president first.  We have an appointment now with a family that has baptismal dates, so I need to head out.  I love you all, and really hope I can write later, but I dont know if I will be able to.  

Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for Columbus but so sad that the library was not open today!  Makes for a long week. 

Tonight, I'm going to talk to you candidly!

It sounds like Elder Holland's talk was one of Elder Bowen's favorites from his title! 

Elder Bowen could use some letters this week, if you find time to write him, I know he would appreciate it!

Wow what a powerful weekend!  As missionaries, General Conference was like Christmas to us.  My only regret is none of our investigators came to the church to see it.  Hopefully they were able to at least catch a little bit of it at home.  Some of the messages we felt were made for our investigators and are really going to try and encourage them to see it.  The temple announcements were very exciting.  Provo temple #2 sounds amazing, and all the others sound really exciting.  This week has been an interesting week.  Elder B suffers from Chronic headaches, which can get really bad during the day.  So this past week he had an appointment at with a doctor on Tuesday, and then he had an EEG on Thursday, which is really cool.  Today he will get an MRI and is doing a sleep study tonight.  So that has kept us a little bit off the street.  But we continue to do everything we are committed to do.  We invited someone to be baptized everyday except  Saturday and yesterday, due to obvious reasons.  We are up to 3 dates now, whereas just a week and a day ago, we had 0.  The invitations have really been spiritual experiences.  We also spend at least an hour every day knocking doors.  So besides the doctor on Tuesday, we only were able to have one more appointment.  Then Wednesday was a day of dropped appointments.  We went to go see a member referral we hadn't seen in a week or so.  Her place is really hard to get into because there are 3 security guards and gated all the way around, so we can only get in with an appointment.  Well we didn't have one, but decided we needed to try.  Somehow the security guards phone wasn't working and since we had the address he let us go in.  When we got there she had just walked in the door.  We couldn't come in because there was no man there, but we sang a song and set a solid appointment for Friday.  After that we stopped by a few houses and no one let us in.  Then we got a call from this awesome investigator saying she was toooooo busy.  AHHH man that killed.  We ended up going to a former investigator instead and had a great lesson.  He had always been saying we are all on the same team before and just let us in because he liked our company kind of thing.  But so we went in with 2 Nephi 28 in mind, and read it.  It isn't the nicest chapter, but he really responded to the not so feel good message.  We boldly expressed the difference and invited him to be baptized, he said that he needs to pray more to receive an answer about the  Book of Mormon.  It was really powerful and exciting because we left and he was now considering getting baptized for real.  This week we have also been getting dumped on.  My planner is destroyed.  It has been fun though.  Thursday we went to the EEG which is where they put all these crazy electrode things on your head and tell you your brain activity.  It was really fun to watch.  Then everyone that said they would meet with us Thursday, didn't pick up their phones.  We did get into a house for knocking though, so that was cool.  Then Friday President Anderson and his wife came and inspected our apartment and had interviews with us.  They went well and Sister Anderson really expressed her gratefulness for our area books.  We then went to the member referral we had set up on Wednesday, and her daughter, who referred us to her, was there.  We had an awesome lesson about the Plan of Salvation, which ended in talking about the temple.  The daughter bore powerful testimony of her love of the Gospel and how she knows she will see her Father some day again.  She then accepted a date and is going pray to make sure it is the right time.  She is so ready, and she has a lot of support.  Saturday we were stuck at the chapel all day for General Conference because it was out of our area.  Then yesterday was great because we had general conference and had a great house that we had knocked on a couple weeks ago.  We visited with him, and he really felt the spirit.  We are coming back in  a couple days and he said that he really cares for us now.  We met a lot of amazing people this week.  One day we talked to a guy who worked for the CIA for years.  Later that day we talked to a man who had been the best teacher in Cuba.  He had all these Soviet Union diplomas and stuff.  He was kicked out of Cuba though for writing books about how his students needed more resources in Cuba.  Then at the EEG the doctor was 75.  She was just about as good at technology as someone at her age can be.  She was quite good with her touch screen phone and really enjoyed the usefulness of her computer.  She was from Venezuela, and she came here when her brother flew her over because he was in the MLB.  Now he is the only Venezuelan player in the Hall of Fame.  There really are some amazing people here.  Today Elder B is getting his MRI.  We told him that he should bring some kind of animal with him and have it bite him while he is getting it done, so that was he can get its powers.  It started out being a Spider, since Spider Man is where we got the idea, but then we told him he should bring a Cheetah to be super fast.  It was pretty funny.  So that has been our week, pretty fun.  It is crazy that we are almost on week 5 of this transfer.  Time can really fly here.  Thank you all for your support and love.  I love you all and the gospel.  I know the words of the prophets and apostles are true. They are very powerful and exciting.  I know that bringing souls to Christ is very important and how we can feel some of the greatest joys.  I know Heavenly Father loves us, and cares even about little quarters on the ground for us.  I'm grateful for this gospel and all the love I can feel from my Heavenly Father.  I know this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is a testament to that.  Thank you all again, and I hope to hear from you soon

Con Amor,
Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th St Suite 110

     

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33324

Trying to Find a Date for the Weekend! Baptismal Date!

Well this week has been another great week.  Our mission president told us that October, we are going to have 100 baptisms, but to do so, we really need to focus in our efforts.  To do so statistically, we have to have 300 dates.  And we should have most of those before October starts.  As a mission we are well on our way, but Elder B and I are really trying to do as much as we can.  We didn't have any dates set prior to the call for more activity, so we are really trying to focus in teaching to peoples needs and bringing them closer to Heavenly Father.  It has really resulted in some amazingly spiritual lessons.  The invitation to be baptized has great power, and if they don't tell us to never come back, they show that they still have some kind of interest even if they don't accept the first time. But so Tuesday is when we really started focusing in on this goal as a Zone.  We had our district training that day, and we all got really fired up to do it.  We made plans as a zone as to how we would accomplish our goals.  So Tuesday we went out with a lot of excitement.  Sadly, most of our appointments fell through that day.  Satan knew our goal, and is trying to get us down by distracting our investigators. Tuesday we were able to meet some new people, but we didn't have any full lessons that day. Wednesday we were able to see this lady that we had contacted knocking 2 weeks before. The week before she really liked the Restoration, and we invited her to be baptized.  She said that she would if she gets an answer.  We were able to get some of her needs out with the invitation, and maybe had the most spiritual lesson I have been in yet.  she is so prepared, and is reading the Book of Mormon.  Thursday we were only able to have one solid lesson that day. It was a lady that had contacted us on the street and asked if we could come by and share our message with her.  It was a powerful lesson and we are able to meet with her often.  Friday all of our plans fell through.  It was a long day.  We thought we had some good lessons planned, but they completely fell through.  The whole day was spent on the bike.  This week we have been riding a lot more than usual because we have been getting some referrals in the far parts of our area.  Some days we have had to go from one corner to the other.  Saturday for some odd reason, Elder B wanted to go from our most Northeastern corner, to our most South Western house.  We didn't end up doing it, but for some odd reason he really wanted to.  Saturday we were able to have a few good lessons, and get into contact with some people and make return appointments.  It really set us up for the rest of this month.  Sunday was an amazing day.  We forgot it was fast Sunday until 10pm Saturday night, so we had to ask our dinner appointment to bag the food so we could eat right before we went to bed.  I felt really bad, but everyone was really understanding, and we had a great day on Sunday.  We set a date, and we knocked on a door.  The people that answered the door said that they are aware of so many false people out there, but when they saw us, our faces were like angels.  We had a short discussion with them after they let us in and we will be going back later this week.  The wife said that usually she is working when we came by, but she had today off.  It was really cool.  So many amazing things happened that day.  This week we are really hoping for more miracles and know that if we are persistent in our work, the Lord will bless us.  We are really excited about the coming week.  I love you all very much and am so very thankful for your support.  I'm so very grateful that you all spend time to write me and tell me about your lives and I can feel your love.  It means a lot to me.  I know this work is God's work and that I have been called by a prophet to be doing it now.  I love this gospel and I know that it is true.  I'm so excited for this weekend to hear the prophet and his apostles talk to us.  It really is a special time for us all.  It is really amazing that we can receive guidance in such an amazing way.  I know that they are all called to speak and be apostles.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that it is “the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” Thank you all so very much.  I love you all.

Elder Wesley Bowen

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th St Suite 110

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33324

A Pirate's Life for Me

Arrggg it be talkin' like a pirate day again ayyy!!!

Atleast that be what me parents be tellin' me in.  I hope t' Davie Jones Locker it be so, o' else errebody be thinkin' tha' ol' Elder Bowen be talkin' strange. 

An' t' answer some o' those questions ye be havin' for me.  We mostly be havin' arroz con pollo, it be a favrite down here.  Good ol' Saturday we had somethin' that be called Bobo.  It be a Brazillian dish.  I thinkin' it be made out o' Yuka.  Atleast that be what I thinkin', the lasse told us it was.  It was a kind o' soup thingymabobber with shrimp inside.  Ever had that in Brazil papa?

 A lot o' families here be great, they all be treatin' us, with a lot o' food. 

I be really bad at pictcha takin', so these be my only ones.  For P-days we be buyin some food, writing letters, and usually we be playin' some basketball.  I have learned a ton out here.  Especially about being bold.  If the spirit be there, it be time to be bold.  This week I think I been followin the spirit well.  But so that is making today kind of fun, I hope you liked the pictures that I sent with that. 

So today Elder B is officially 8 months old.  He is having a midlife crises kind of deal.  We figured it out, and mission wise, he is probably in his 30's now, so it is a little early, but he cant believe where the time has gone.   He keeps hearing people say (mainly me), supposedly the second half of the mission goals by 3 times faster.  It is really disconcerning for him.  But so with his 8 months, he is experienced, and together we are working well together.  We had some really great lessons this week, and cannot wait for the return appointments.  Tuesday we got to meet with our new district.  There were quite a few changes.  Not really to our side, but our zone is now one district so that is the biggest change, and a new zone leader and district leader.  It was a pretty good meeting and I am really excited for this transfer.  Wednesday was a great day.  We knocked doors and got some solid return appointments.  After we had knocked for an hour, we went to a return appointment we had made the week before.  The last week we had left a Book of Mormon and just described it.  Thats what we did when we knocked the door.  Then on Wednesday we had the full first lesson.  That was powerful.  The lady had family in Utah that are lds, and had been to temple square.  She seemed pretty ready.  On Wednesday she told us, she really only wanted to learn, and if we needed to we shouldnt waste our time because she is happy as a Catholic now.  During the lesson Elder B did a great job pointing out the spirit, we tried to point out authority and how it works well, had the spirit, and were switching off speaking it felt like every minute.  We just really flowed really well together.  I think that is the best lesson we have had without a member present.  After we taught her to pray, she accepted to pray, but said she was to busy for church this Sunday.  This Wednesday we should be back and teaching another great lesson.  She had a lot of questions afterwards and is reading in the Book of Mormon.  If she keeps up the reading, she will defnately make it and be prepared.  Thursday was planning then we had an appointment with someone who we hadnt been able to teach for a while.  It was alright, but afterwards we agreed that we should have read out of the Book of Mormon instead because she hadnt been doing so, and that is what we are planning the next time most likely.  Friday Elder B had a meeting in Miami with all the ZL's DL's and other trainers.  So I had the District leaders companion with me most of that day.  His name is Elder P, he is from Hondurus, but lived in Las Vegas for like the past 10 years or so.  He was a great help because all of our plans that day were for Spanish appointments.  We also brought along a recent convert who is about 20 and we are pushing him to go on a mission.  He has a great understanding of the gospel, and he loves coming out with us.  His family isnt interested in the church though, so that is what is holding him back.  But so he is from Venezuela, so with the two of them, all we needed was someone that knew where the appointments were.  That was me.  We had some interesting lessons, and one fell through.  I decided that I wanted to change the back up to go see this referal we recieved.  When we got there, the mom answered the door, and let us in.  She gave us lemonade and gave us a return time the next day.  She said that she had a chance to join the churc in her country, but lost that, but now she wont miss her chance now.  She said that there is just something different about us and that we brought such a great spirit.  We left her with a hymn and prayer and she said she would come to church.  Nope. We never saw her though.  But afterwards Elder P said he wanted to trade places with Elder B because he really loved this area already.  It was a great day.  So we are excited for this week because we have some good appointments and hopefully they dont fall through like others have been lately.  We love this area.  They really like feeding us food.  Yesterday we had 3 food appoinments, that was a lot.  Thank you all for your support, and I love you all.  I hope to hear from you all soon.  I love my family and all their support for me.  Thankyou for everything. I know this church is true, and this week I have really felt the spirit guiding our work.  So many little things have happened that became bigger things.  Kind of like the scripture says.  I know the Book of Mormon is true, and by reading it we can come closer to God.  I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that we have a prophet today.  Thomas S. Monson.  I really cant wait for General Conference.  I love you all and tahnk you for my support.

Love,
Elder Wesley Bowen

Transfer #2

This week was the start of transfer #2.  We are really excited here and are really working hard.  We have a new missionary in our apartment now.  Instead of Elder F, it is now Elder Fi.  Elder Fi has been out for over a year, and he was actually called to Mexico, served in Salt Lake while he waited for his visa, got to Mexico and found out he couldn't get his medicine fast enough there, and now is serving here.  So he has experiences from all over.  Tuesday night we were able to visit a member a referral and have a return appointment for tomorrow.  They said they would read the Book of Mormon as a family.  We were able to start off transfers really good this week.  We went to knock doors on Wednesday, the first day of it, and we got into some awesome houses.  One, the lady was super prepared to listen to us.  We were able to give her a Book of Mormon, and she was really excited to read it, and to learn more about our church.  She had been to Salt Lake Before and took a temple tour, so she knows a little bit and is really interested.  Later we were able to see some great members.  Thursday was planning, and we had some great lessons planned, well they all fell through that day.  Every single one of them.  It was disappointing, but we went to go see a potential investigator and he wasn't home.  So we decided we would knock there since all other plans had fallen through.  The first door that opened we were let in.  We met a wonderful couple, who has his mom staying with them because she is sick.  We got to know them and then got a return appointment for Saturday.  Later we were knocking and met some other really cool people.  No one else let us in, but we were able to set some return appointments.  One guy said his name was Coach J and that we could come back in a couple weeks when he has organized all the sports teams he is in charge of.  We are really excited to go see him soon and teach him.  Friday we were able to do some service with some older investigators in the morning and have an appointment set up for tomorrow night for dinner and a lesson.  She is a gourmet chef, so first we will excellent food, then we will have an excellent lesson.  She had asked some questions about our beliefs on after this life, and now we are going to be able to go back and teach her the Plan of Salvation and really answer some of those questions for her.  Later we went to a return appointment we had gotten from knocking doors.  The person we had talked to wasn't there, but his dad let us in right away because it was pouring rain and was really excited to talk about God.  He really knew how to talk fast and we had trouble being able to say anything to him without being cut off, but hopefully we will be able to stop by again and share more what we believe because last time was all about what he believes.  We then got to teach the English class at the church and more people showed up than usual.  It is really fun to teach English and have everyone speak as much English as they can.  Teaching it is helping me understand Spanish a little bit more.  When we have words like Spirit or some they always say espirit or esome, so that is one of the little things I'm picking up that is helping my Spanish sound more natural, there are a couple other things too.  Saturday the Ward Mission Leader came out with us and all 3 people we had hoped on seeing were not there, and he had mentioned something earlier about a less active family.  We ended up visiting that family and we had a great talk.  We will be going back more often now to continually strengthen them.  Then we were able to go back to the couple and the mom and teach the Plan of Salvation.  They really enjoyed it and had some good questions.  We gave them the pamphlet and they said they would read it over and pray about it.  They are a really solid family.  Later that night we went to a less active members house, and when they had us come in, the BYU game was on.  We saw that BYU was up 13-3 and then that's all we saw.  We were really excited, but it is to bad we found out they lost.  Sounded like it was a good game, just the offense imploded on itself at one point.  BYU sounds like they can do pretty well, since they were competing well with Texas.  I heard they play U of U soon at BYU.  Cant wait to hear how BYU crushes them! haha.  But so back to the work.  Yesterday was Stake Conference and President and Sister Anderson spoke.  they had all the missionaries stand up and give the purpose in Spanish and English.  We found out that the purpose in Spanish changed at the beginning of 2011, so at one point we all were saying different words.  It was pretty funny, but I think the point got across.  He said that we know our purpose and we want to help the best we can.  Everyone really enjoyed conference.  A lot of the talks were also about how baptism is only the first step and how the temple is the real goal, and the blessings we have from the temple.  I think for the investigators that were there, it was a really good thing to hear.  So Stake Conference went well, and it has been a really good week overall.  Really excited for this transfer, we should be seeing some real progression with our investigators.  I love this gospel and I know that we are blessed for living the standards of it.  This week we saw the benefits of setting goals for each activity we do, and what we want to strive for.  I know that Jesus Christ died for us, so that we can return to live with him someday, have perfect bodies, and be forgiven of our sins if we follow the steps he has given us.  I know Heavenly Father is watching over us and wants to grant us our righteous desires.  He knows us and sees our potential. I'm so grateful for this gospel and the hope it brings to individuals and families.  We are here for a purpose, and really our greatest desire of our heart is to fulfill it, and we can only do that with an understanding of the gospel.  I know this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true and that it is here for us now to provide security for our souls.  When it seems hard, it will get better, The night is always darkest before the dawn.  I love you all and thank you so much for your support and strength you give me.  I couldn't do it without you!

Love 

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen 

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW St Suite 110

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33324

It all stays the same...

Yesterday we received transfer info, and both me and Elder B are staying, so we will be here for another 6 weeks at least!  This is a great area and we really enjoy the people here.  This week was a pretty good week.  We got in some really good lessons and have some more good ones scheduled this week.  Last week, Monday was a lot member visiting and we had a Noche de Hogar.(Family Home Evening)  Then Tuesday we had an appointment with this lady S.  We had taught her the Restoration the week before and she had seemed very excited about the Book of Mormon.  When we came back on Tuesday, she had her Nephew there.  He had lived in Idaho and Utah for a year or two and really wanted to know more about our church.  He said he loved how welcoming they were there to him.  So we ended up reviewing the Restoration again instead of teaching the Plan of Salvation like we had planned, and it was great.  S added in her few parts of testimony she could and helped us teach her nephew.  It was great to see the excitement in her and her nephew and see her progression.  She had read everything before 1 Nephi, so this week she is reading in that book now.  It was a great lesson and just the great progression we saw really gave us a boost.  Wednesday we got to say good bye to our friends who were leaving.  One of them was the kid that was baptized since I got here.  We had talked to him a lot and he is really excited for a mission, but they moved away that night, so hopefully we hear from them soon.  The next day we planned and were able to meet with an investigator we hadn't seen in a few weeks.  We are excited to start work with him again, and we are trying all we can to help him progress.  He is really nice and says he believes that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, so it is great to see his progression there.  Friday we were able to do some service in the morning for more investigators by helping them with taking care of their yard, and then we had breakfast with them.  We will be going back tonight to have a lesson with them.  Then later we had another lesson with another great investigator.  Fridays always seem to be one of our most productive days.  We saw some people we hadn't planned on seeing but it all worked out great.  Then we helped teach the English Class again the ward offers.  Then on Saturday in the afternoon we visited a less active family.  She said she had been praying for guidance and then we came the next day.  It was a really cool experience, and we should be able to help them out.  The other Elders had a baptism that day, so we were able to go and watch that, and welcome the new member.  It was awesome.  Then Sunday we had great plans after church and were really excited to go and preach.  While at church we got messages from all of our appointments that they couldn't have us over.  We were really excited, but all of them falling through really put us out of order.  We had backup plans, but nothing really worked.  Sunday was a harder Sunday for that reason for us.  Then yesterday  was a pretty good day, we had some good lessons, but weren't able to see everyone we hoped on seeing, but everything should be fine.  This week we were also able to have a great recent convert come out with us.  He was baptized with Elder B's last companion and he is amazing.  He really wants to bring his family to church, but they have been a little reluctant, we are trying to help out.  But he is coming out with us almost 4 times a week and he has a powerful testimony and he really understands the gospel well.  He wants to go on a mission, and we know he would be a great missionary and we always encourage him.  He really helps us out a lot and we have become pretty good friends.  So that has been our week.  I heard there were more Hurricanes, but most likely neither of them will hit us.  We don't really know to much about it, but we aren't really worried now about it.  We are really excited for this next transfer and hope that we can really make some progression together and with our investigators and with the ward.  We are becoming more unified with the ward every week and we see the benefits, it is great.  I know this church is true, and I love the work that I have the opportunity to do.  It is the best work possible.  Thank you all for your support and love, it means a lot to me.  I wish I could respond to mail fast enough, but we don't have much time to write, because we are busy getting other things ready for the week.  I love you and am very grateful for all you do for me.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th St Suite 110

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33324

Only the Edge of the Hurricane

Wow, this has been a really good week.  Thought we were going to get hit pretty hard by the Hurricane, but we barely felt the edges of it hit us on Thursday.  We have been doing pretty well out here in the field.  We started out the week doing a lot of finding again. We were talking to so many people everyday.  School snuck up on a lot of people I think, so some appointments we had earlier in the week got cancelled.  I really have a hard time remembering exactly what happened then, but I do know we did a little more contacting than we usually do.  It was good though.  Thursday we had the follow up training meeting.  That was pretty interesting to try and get to.  The ZL's didnt need to go up, so we had to find another way to get up there.  They agreed to take us to H where there were some other Elders going to the meeting that took us.  We left like 40 minutes earlier than we thought we needed to, just to be safe.  Well we started our trip and got stuck in heavy traffic going to H.  There were so many cars, no matter what road we took.  Probably because the only freeway like thing takes a toll, so everyone stays off of it.  But so we got up there like 35 minutes after we expected to.  So that was crazy getting up there.  And then from H to Fort Lauderdale, thats when we felt the little effects of the Hurricane.  So there was a lot of rain heading up the road, so we were going pretty slow.  So we ended up getting there like 6 minutes late.  5 out of 8 companionships showed up when we did, or after us.  It was just crazy weather and traffic.  But so the meeting was good, we talked a lot about how we use How to Begin Teaching from PMG with the AP's, while the Mission President talked to the Trainers.  It was pretty good meeting, then we came back and we were supposed to go to this referral appointment that had been set up for us at 3 after we got back.  On the way, it started pouring, we got wet really fast.  The place had a security gaurd, and he couldnt reach the room for us to go to, so we werent alowed in.  We couldnt meet with the referral until the next day.  The next day we planned and then were able to go the referral with a recent convert.  We had a great lesson, and she was really excited for the Book of Mormon.   Afterwards we were able to see another recent convert.  He is now moving back to Peru, so that was really sad to find out for us.  He was hard to get to know at first, but we have been seeing him a lot and we have really gotten close.  He has a great love for the Book of Mormon and has already finished the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, and he has only been a member for 2 or 3 weeks, I forget time.  He is really great but is leaving this week. The next day, our plans went perfectly.  We saw everyone we planned on seeing, and actually overachieved some of our goals.  We had some great lessons, and J , the recent convert that had come out with us before came out with us again.  He has a powerful testimony and really helps in our lessons.  It was probably planning and goal wise our best day.  We met some great people and really got some amazing lessons that day.  Yesterday we went to an FHE, where the girls in the two of the families had invited their friends to come.  One of the them seemed very interested, and we are going to be talking more to him hopefully this week.  We didnt have much of a chance because the two of them left pretty quickly once it ended.  We are really excited that members are helpiong us out, and looking for opportunities to share the gospel.  One of the biggest thing we are always asking from the ward is to help us fellowship our investigators.  When the ward is involved, everything just seems more natural.  The people here are great.  I am very grateful for the opportunity I have to be here, and hope I get to stay longer in this area.  Transfers are a week from Wednesday, so we will find out then.  Thanks for all of your support and for al you do for me.  I love you all and I love this gospel, it is God's work.

Please keep Elder Bowen in your prayers this week as Hurricane Irene is headed for Florida!http://www.weather.com/

Becoming Master Teachers

This has been a really great week.  As you know we started off this week with Elder Ballard talking to us.  That helped us have more energy than we already had.  This week we have really tried to use his advice and become master teachers.  After my last email we had an appointment with someone that we had knocked on their door.  They had forgotten the day before, so we had set up to come back.  This time when we came back they were ready to hear us.  We gave the Restoration, and really tried to make it make sense to them, so the Holy Ghost could bear witness of the truth with more power.  The two guys really seemed like they understood the Apostacy, and saw how it could make sense to have a prophet now.  They are really cool, but they start college again today, so meeting with them is going to get harder.  We left them with a Book of Mormon and they both said that they are going to read, and they wanted to know if we had anymore resources.  We gave them a pass along card, with www.Mormon.org on it before and referred them back to that.  They said they really wanted to study it out and know if this what we said was true.  It was awesome.  Later in the week we went to a members house for dinner, and the wife's brother was staying with them, so we were able to set a later appointment with them.  We had a  great dinner and afterwards we taught the Restoration again.  The brother seemed a little resistant at first, but as we continued to teach he opened up more and more.  His brother in law(the member we went to visit) is a very powerful teacher.  He was able to understand so well the Apostacy that he saw the importance of Joseph Smith.  There was such a great spirit there when we were teaching him.  He said the closing prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for us, for his sister and brother in law, and for this truth that he had recieved.  He had a beautiful prayer and was very greatful for the Book of Mormon.  He Afterwards he told us how he just couldn't believe Joseph Smith, but because he understood why prophets were so important and why they had been taken off the earth, he knew Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.  It was awesome.  Later in the week Elder B saw him again while I was on exchange with one of the Zone Leaders we live with.  We taught him again yesterday, and this time he accepted to be baptized.  He is going back to California today, but he is going with a testimony of Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and wanting to fully repent.  I'm sure the Californian Elders will enjoy this referral we give them.  He took some pictures with him and we will get them later from the members in the ward.  He was great to teach and I know he will be a strong member.  But while I was on exchange we had some really cool appointments.  We went to a less active members house and gave them a picture of teh temple being built and they were excited about that and said they would come to church this week because their son is preparing for the Aaronic priesthood now.  I didn't see them though, so I think the other Elders are going to go back and talk again with them.  Afterwards we had an appointment with this kid that a high school student had reffered.  We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he was really receptive to it.  He was really cool and really easy to get along with.  Later that night we had an appointment with a part member family.  She is a Peruvian Gourmet Chef, so to say the least, the food was delicous.  We also were able to have her husband talk to us more than he usually does.  We were able to explain a little better the Word of Wisdom, and I was able to pick up on some new Spanish words I had never heard before about food.  It was a really cool exchange.  We are continually seeing the blessing of hard work, and continue to try more.  Yesterday we learned about a Tropical Storm out in the Caribean that if it does hit us it will be around Thursday.  We are really prepared so we should be fine.  Elder B had a pretty nasty crash while I was gone on exchange.  Both times I have been on exchange he has been in a crash.  These other Elders are just bad luck for him.  That has been our week in a nutshell.  It was a pretty good week.  I am becoming more and more active  in what we do, and I do a lot of the contacting now, like 70%.  Sometimes Elder B has to help me, especially if it is in Spanish, but it is all going well.  Thank you all for your support and love.  I love you all and I know this church is true and that I am doing what God would have me do.  I love doing this work.  Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, and through him all can be saved.  I love this Gospel and this church.  Again thank you all so much for what you do.

Elder Wes Bowen

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street Suite 110

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33324

I'm late because of Elder Ballard :) 8/16/11

So to start off I am sorry I was not able to write yesterday, we had a mission conference I found out about the day after pday last week so I didn't tell you. But it was great, we got there and we were told not to bring phones in, so we sat down, President Anderson got up and said we will be having Elder Ballard coming so get ready. It was great. He gave a great talk about missionary work and he talked alot about being bold and how we people often listen to our message because of who we are, and we need to be personable with them, teach with structure, but never have it memorized. It was awesome to have him and our Area General get up and talk to us. This was Elder Ballard's unassigned weekend and he visited 3 missions and traveled through Florida and Georgia. It was so cool that he came to talk to us as his last stop, then he was off back to Salt Lake City. We all also got to shake his hand, and he said that his wife's maiden name is Bowen when I shook his hand, so that was pretty cool. It was also cool because the area authority was supposed to go first, but Elder Ballard got up and said, "the nice thing about being a general authority is I have general authority, I couldn't do this thought if President Monson were here." But so he proceeded to introduce the area general and expressed his friendship he has with him. Both told some really great stories. Elder Ballard also talked about reading the scriptures and how every time he reads he will be reading and say "How long has this been in here?" because we always get something new from them, even the apostles do. We were able to use that in a short lesson with a recent convert, it was pretty cool. But now to answer some general questions: Our apartment is nice and we are able to do whatever we need to in there. We get mail just as if you were sending mail straight to me, it just takes an extra day. As long as you send it with United States Postal Service, if it come through UPS or FedEx I have to wait until there is a mission conference to get it. I'm not totally sure how big our ward is, but it is decently sized. The chapel is probably 3/4 the size of the Stake Center we went to in California. It gets mostly filled up. I'm doing fine riding my bike, yesterday I fell because of the rain, and that's how my pants got a little ripped, but overall well. We get fed really well. Members can only feed us after 6 or 5 I cant remember which if there is a non member or an inactive member is there for us to teach a little. Members are pretty good about either doing that or feeding us earlier. The other Elders in our ward do not eat as well as us, but they are doing well. I cannot think of anything I really need. Um as far as fast food, the only few I know we have for sure are McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Subway. We are able to do laundry in our apartment so we can do it anytime we need to over the week. We didn't see anything but rain, but that's pretty normal, so I don't think Hurricane Emily ever got to us. So that is the general questions I think. As for my week, I don't remember anything special from Tuesday except we ate a lot of food. Wednesday we had exchanges, I went to the Coral Reef area with our District Leader Elder M. It was fun, he had a lot of appointments set up for us, and the whole time we were in a car, haha what a different experience that is. It was pretty interesting getting to see a whole new area. Thursday we had a baptism interview so Elder M drove me back to my area, and gave the interview. Then on Friday we did service in the morning and I cant remember what else really happened. But then on Saturday we had a BAPTISM. He had heard the lessons like 2 or 3 times before and he had a pretty strong testimony. Most of his family was baptized a little while ago, but he said he wanted to finish the Book of Mormon first. He knew it really well, I was surprised because we asked him questions and he would bring up stories from the Book of Mormon, so that was exciting. We had to teach him quick though because I didn't know him until Tuesday, but since he knew it all, he agreed to everything and really knew most of what we were going to say. We had to clean out the font though because there was an 8 year old baptized like a week ago, and apparently the drain doesn't work anymore, so we had to pale it out and clean it out, so Saturday was a lot of work for the Baptism. Elder B baptized him. The other Elders have pictures from it, I will send some later. While Elder B and F were changing afterwards, F opened up and said he felt weird, then expressed desires to serve a mission. He is 15 so he was disappointed when he found out he has to wait 4 years. We told him its a good thing and he can get focused on it now and get to know the scriptures and whatnot even better. It was a really cool experience. We went home that night and called some people and committed I think 7-9 people to come to church the next day, I cant remember for sure if all said yes. But so church was about to start and we got a call from one that he couldn't come because work had called him in and he was behind because of the rain. Then church started and no one showed up. We were disappointed, but then a family walked in that has been hard to get in contact with again. They said they would come. So we sat with them and they really enjoyed church. Yesterday their son went to basic training so it was good he finally came. They all talked about a peacefulness they felt. They clapped for the Musical number, and some members started clapping too. the kids were embarrassed but it was ok. Alot of people came and greeted them because they clapped and people knew they were investigators then, so it all worked out great. Later that day, we got some great referrals from a late lunch appointment we had, so we are going to go and check them out pretty soon. Then yesterday was the Elder Ballard talk so that was pretty cool, and then we accidently forgot the phone in the car, so we had to get it because we needed to reach some members to come with us out to teach. Most of our lessons fell through though because we were not able to get a member to come with us. So we visited some recent converts and gave them a short message, then we had an FHE thing yesterday with some less actives, that went well. But so today I don't know what we are going to do. We haven't really done anything exciting on Pday yet. Last week we ended Pday really early to meet F, the kid that got baptized. So maybe we will do something fun today, we talked about playing soccer with a recent convert. So hopefully we get to do something fun. I have some more time now so I will try and send some more pictures. Thank you for everything, I love you all. sound like you are all doing well there. Stay strong in the Gospel. I love it so much and I know that this is Jesus Christ's church here on the earth.

Elder Wes Bowen

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th St Suite 110

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33324