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