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