Christmas!

It was super good to see you this Tuesday. It made my week, and all the presents. Thank you for all that you do. This week in Okeechobee we had some great success. We started off a little rough, but we wanted to make sure we did work. We made sure that we harvested on Christmas, and it sure blessed us. I'm sure that the blessings we received were due to the obedience that we had throughout the week. We had some great spiritual experiences throughout the week. As a district we were focused super hard on setting people with dates to be baptized, and we went out with faith and did it. It gave us a lot of people to follow up with, it was awesome. We were able to find a lot of people to set us up really well for this month. We are extremely excited for the month of January. We have also been able to bring some more members out with us this week. A lot of the appointments that we set up fell through when the members came, but that is okay, we were able to see some great enthusiasm from the members, and they are really rallying to help us, and it is helping us a lot, and I am sure we will see lots of progress this week as the members continue to come with us. I love you all and I am grateful for what you do for me. I am grateful for all the support and gifts you gave me, they really were fantastic. Thank you all so much, I love you. I know that this gospel is true, and I know that Jesus Christ was born, lived, died, and raised up so that we may all receive life eternal. I am grateful for him and all that he did for me. I love you all!

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Barren to Bountious

This week was a great week for us here in Okeechobee. A lot went on, and we were able to see some miracles. At the beginning of the week, we felt that we had basically baptized or dropped all but 1 investigator, and we were getting close to dropping her too, so we felt a little apprehensive to start the week, but we some great miracles happened as we put our shoulder to the wheel. At the beginning of the week I went on an exchange to Fort Pierce to see what was going on there, and while I was there Elder D did a great job taking over once again. He and Elder Bu were able to find some who would say yes to baptism, which helped set the week up well, and they were also able to go and teach the one investigator we were thinking of dropping soon. There they were able to firm her up and help her feel closer to baptism. Then throughout the week we were able to return to those yes's and we were able to find a lot of people. A decent number of whom accepted dates, but then fell through by not coming to church, for a different reasons, and we were able to get the work going well again this week. We had a lot of success that is really going to start setting up for the next week and the next month, we are very excited for what is going on here. We had a lot of fun teaching all the new people, and we were able to really find some good prospects, that we did not have at the beginning of the week. Christmas is going to be crazy for us, because we have to have district training that day, which got thrown onto us kind of last minute, but it is also exciting, and pretty good because we will have it on one of the, well, less productive days. I know it says that holidays should be good times to proselyte, but I am still trying to find that part in those days, but we will be looking for miracles tomorrow, the Lord will bless us for the work we do. I love this work, and I am so grateful for the blessings we receive. I know that God is helping us and he loves each and everyone of us, and this is why he sent his son. I love this work, and I love all you

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Week 2 of training

This week has been a crazy week. We had 3 meetings, one of which was in Fort Lauderdale, so we lost a few hours, haha, like an entire day with meetings, but it was fun, and I learned a lot in a very short amount of time. We have been doing some good work up here in Okeechobee as well. We were able to have 2 baptisms this week, which were awesome. One was on Friday. She was a member's sister that had changed her life around, and very quickly with the Lords help, leaving behind smoking and coffee very quickly. The other was an African American, which happened on Sunday after church, who sadly will not be with us for too much longer because he is heading back to Georgia at the beginning of the year, but he is super awesome, already prepared by the Lord to live the commandments and receive the blessings that the restored gospel had for him. Elder D was able to baptize him as well, and that was very special for him, his first baptism! This week within the 3 meetings we also had 2 exchanges, one with the Zone Leaders, and the other with one of the members of the District. With the Zone Leaders I went to Stuart with Elder Bj, and Elder D took over our area. He did a great job, and was able to navigate himself very well. I didn't have to take over the area for the first time, until after the first transfer was completly over. Elder D did it before his first week was completly over, crazy! With Elder Bj I had tons of fun. It was like bringing back the past, but both of us better at Spanish and at teaching. We saw some great success in their area. The next day I took my area back over, but with Elder De, so it was crazy because I was not totally sure what had happened the day before, but we went back and followed up on some people that Elder D told me about. Overall it was just a crazy week which we were able to have a lot of fun in. Elder D and I are doing great together, and cannot wait to see the successes and experiences we are going to have together. I know that the Lord is working here in Okeechobee, and in Florida, and is preparing people throughout all the world to feel and receive the restored gospel. I know that he cares for his children, and is always creating opportunities for us to succeed and receive more blessings and love. I know that we can all be instruments in the Lord's hands and change peoples lives. I know that Christ was born, lived, and sacrificed his life, so that we may receive life ourselves. I love this gospel so much, and I love you all so much, and appreciate all that you do for me. I hope to hear from you soon

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

I have a son!

So this was an exciting transfer meeting. I am now training Elder D, who is from Spanish Fork, Utah. He is an amazing Elder with lots of heart and is looking forward to his mission. He loves what he does, and is making a lot of progress very quickly. Not only that though, but I am now District Leader here in Okeechobee, never been done since Okeechobee was opened to work like 3 years ago, and for good reason. We had a baptismal interview this Saturday, which fell through when we got there, and we spent 70 miles to go to the middle and back, and they spent 70 miles to pick us up and bring us back. It was a little crazy, but we will get it all worked out. It is going to be a lot of fun here. We had some really cool experiences. This Friday Elder D should have his first baptism, so he is very excited. He is a very good Elder. The first day he invited 3 people to be baptized, and is always working to be better at what he does. He also is not afraid to talk in the lessons, so he will learn fast the things to say and what not to say. We had some powerful lessons, and I am very grateful that he was there to back me up. We had some disappointing things happen, but we will be able to continue onward I believe. We are really excited for this month and all that we are going to be able to do together, and for these 12 weeks coming up. We have 2 hour companionship studies again, so it is a little weird, but we have a lot to do in that short amount of time, so we are working hard. We have had some really good spiritual experiences together. One day we finished a street of harvesting, and we decided we needed to do a little bit more, so we started biking down to another place, and we saw a man on the other side of the road, we stopped by, and left a blessing with him. He accepted baptism, and also came to church this Sunday, it was really awesome, and Elder D is really excited about it. We are just working really hard here, and I am so grateful to the strength that my Savior gives me. We have felt it a ton, and seen it change so many peoples lives down here, and I know that he is always watching out for us. He knows us, and loves us more that we can possibly know, and I know he will support through anything that we do that is righteous. i love this gospel so much, and I love you all. Hope to hear from you sooon

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Greenie in Okeechobee

So another transfer has come and gone, and a crazy awesome one at that. We had a lot of fun, and had a lot of success. We worked super hard and the branch is super excited about missionary work. We have been able to be apart of a lot here. We were able to start someone on the 7 days to quit smoking program the other day, and she is now on day 6, and is doing awesome. She said she woke up and didn't even think about cigarettes until several hours later, when she realized that she did not want any. It is super cool. We are seeing a lot of potential for this month, and we think that we will be able to continue onward and upwards and hopefully make this branch a ward soon enough. Elder L is leaving now, he is a little upset, but he has been here for 6 months now so he has just about knocked the whole place. At least everything that is permitted by our miles to be knocked and followed up with. I will be getting a greenie here and training him for probably the next 3 months, so I should be here a while. It is pretty exciting, he most likely isn't even in the mission yet, and if he is he is probably getting off the plane right now. Nothing else is really that new, we had a good week with the members helping us out a ton, which is really helping the work.I do not have to much more to say, but I love you all, and I thank you for all that you do. I know that this is the Lord's work, and he always has a plan for everyone. I know that I am doing what he would have me do, and I know that he is here for me all of the time, to strengthen me, and to uplift me, and to guide me. I love you all. I hope to hear form you soon.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Thanksgiving

This has been a super good week for us. We were a little worried it being Thanksgiving and all, but it ended up working really well. We were able to have a lot of success really. We also had Thanksgiving 3 times, haha. Once on Thursday, on Friday, and Sunday. All three times it was their only time having it, so it was a lot of fun. We had a little trouble early in the week, but the end was just amazing. On Friday we had 4 baptisms, which was awesome. There were a lot of tears there. Their family from up north came down and baptized them. It was a really special service, and we were even able to have some investigators there. One we had not taught yet, but she was touched so much, that when we went over to her sisters house the next day she kept talking about it, and asked why she would need to be baptized again. We explained to her everything that it would do for her, and how she could receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (which she saw 4 people receive on Sunday), and what that really means. She was so excited for it and is planning on getting baptized real soon here. She came to church and said that she had given up drinking coffee now, and she is really working hard for her baptism. We also found an awesome family earlier in this week that have been talking about coming to a church for a while now, but just have not done it. We brought a member with us, because they both expressed to us that they are shy, and the member was able to help them feel great desires to come, and understand that really the church is a hospital for those of us that are not perfect (everyone), and we are not expected to be perfect, but the do our best to be better everyday. They all loved church, and said they will be back for sure the next week. We were so blessed this week, and I am so Thankful for everything that I receive. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and I am grateful that he suffered and died for me, that I will rise again one day, and have the opportunity to live with my family forever. I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who guides us thruogh his prophet, and us personally daily, and is helping me become better and better every day. I love this gospel, and I love all that God has given us. I love you all and I am grateful for all you do for me. Hope to hear from you soon.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

2 weddings and a baptism

This week has been crazy week in Okeechobee. Probably the craziest there has been and ever will be, haha. It started out with an exchange with our Zone Leaders, which I stayed and had a great exchange with Elder E. We worked super hard, and he helped me figure out some things and how to improve the way I teach. While he was here, we were also able to teach one investigator about the Law of Chastity, and she committed to be married on Saturday, and be baptized the next day. It was crazy! Her boyfriend had been asking her for a while, so she decided it was time for it. It was a crazy lesson, and she was so excited for her wedding and baptism. The next day we went over and helped her and her boyfriend get the marriage license, and then we started planning a wedding. Neither of us had any idea what to do, but we had some members inform us the way that weddings work, and luckily for us, the bride was not to picky, and actually wanted it to be a small gathering at the church. It turned out super well. On Friday we had an early morning as we brought the Elders from Vero Beach down with us West Palm for a meeting. It was an excellent meeting that helped us focus more on the repenting side of the commandments, than on the commandments themselves, and a couple other things. It was super far away though, so by the time we got back it was almost dark. Then Saturday we had 2 weddings. Thankfully the first one we did not have to plan, but had been planned for by our investigators who had been taught the Law of Chastity a couple weeks back, and planned it all out. They were so happy at their wedding, and they are all progressing towards baptism as well. That one started at 3:30, and then the wedding that we planned started at 6. It was crazy getting everything ready, but it turned out beautiful, and the couple were so happy as well. They were of Spanish descent so we had some great Mexican food afterwards. They were so happy with the decisions they had made, both of the families, even though at first they saw marriage as just a piece of paper, their hearts and minds had been changed. Then we had the baptism the next day after church. It was exciting. First person that I have baptized personally in the mission, because the fellowship that she had went out of town unexpectedly, so it was left to us, and Elder L has done a few, so he had me do it. It was awesome. Overall it was an amazing week, and we are looking forward to more success here as well. The branch is still growing, and they are getting more and more excited to go and do it. We are seeing so many blessings here, and we are so grateful for everything that we receive. I know that Jesus Christ has provided a way for all of us, and that there is a plan to help us come unto Him. I know that as President Monson summed up by quoting an experience that he heard of, “You should know that leopards don’t change their spots!' Replied Warden Duffy, 'You should know I don’t work with leopards. I work with men, and men change every day," and that men and women will change if they have the desire, and are shown the way through Christ. I know that repentance is that change that will help us, and is finished off with baptism, or the sacrament for those who have been baptized. I know that Jesus Christ lives and loves us, and I am so grateful for this work that I can do, and also for all the love and care you show me. I love you and cannot wait to hear from you.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Double Date

This was a good week for us. We had an exchange this week, where I went to Fort Pierce with the district leader, and we had a good time. We did a lot of good work, and found some really nice people over there, that from what I know are preparing to be baptized now. After the exchange we had a lot of fire, and went out and did some monster work. We were able to get a decent number of members out with us this week, and they helped us do a lot of things. A lot of them testified of the enabling power that the Atonement gives us to become better and and better, and they were able to relate a lot better to some of our investigators because a lot of them were converts. Afterwards a lot of them asked when they could help us again, and they are excited to be doing this work along with us. We had one member brings his wife as well, so they joked about it being a double date. We also thought that we were going to have a lot of investigators at church, which was going to be great because we had the primary program, but we still only were able to get 4 there. We always seem to have something happen so some of them who are more solid on coming, but then they have to go to hospital or something that day, and then we are able to get others that replace them, and somehow we just keep the same amount of people. We were joking about it though, we bring more kids under the age of 8, than we do adults, so we are still helping the branch grow well. The building has been full the past few weeks, with only a couple chairs left, so we are going to have to get a new building soon. That will be awesome. We had one primary age come for the first time, and she went right up into the primary program, and they even imporvised a speaking part for her, it was great. We were really happy with this week, and are excited for the coming week. We have another exchange tomorrow, with the Zone Leaders, which will be fun I'm sure, this time I will be staying. I love you all so much, and I love this work so much. It is so satisfying, and rewarding, and I love it. I love my Savior, I know that He lives, and that he has a plan for each and everyone one of us, and if we just follow him, He will guide us, and help us become strong. I love you all nad thankyou for your support.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Rough week

This week was a little rough for us. We were both sick the entire week, but we worked full days everyday except Monday, because that was a really bad day. But Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven. We were able to find some cool people this week, and the branch is getting more excited about the work, especially after our last baptism. We found family last Saturday and they said they were going to come to church last week, but they couldnt make it because the underestimated the kids, but they made it this week. they loved the church and we are really excited for them to start progressing. They have some tough challenges to start overcoming, but they are excited and they really want to get to know more. We also found some other people this week that were related to people Elder L was teaching before I got here. They were really interested in the Book of Mormon, and getting to know the message that it contains and just how baptism can help their lives. We also found some exciting news after having a lesson about marriage a week ago, this one family we are teaching decided to take that step. It was a big decision for them, and it is getting them even closer to the waters of baptism, and they are growing closer together, and even more excited about the church. We are working hard, and excited for what is coming this month, a lot of success. i cannot say that to much is happening though, it still kind of seems like the grind sometimes here in Okeechobee just doing the same things over and over again, but we are seeing progress with diligence, and I know that the Lord is blessing us. I love you all so much, and I am so grateful for all you do for me. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that he will guide us and bless us, and keep us on the straight and narrow as we look to him and put our trust in him. He has provided a way back to him, and many ways to feel his peace and love now, and as we do the basics, read, pray, go to church, fulfill our callings, and extend our hands to those that need us, we will be blessed and helped on our way back to Him. I love this work, and I love you all so much.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Thanks for the pictures. I feel really sick, and this is going to be a short email because I cannot stay here to long. This Sunday President Anderson came to church and we also had a baptism of a pure bread Lamanite, from the Seminole tribe. It was an amazing baptism, and he is already inviting others to follow him and read in the Book of Mormon and see what it has for them. The Larry Echo Hawk talk about the Book of Mormon is what set him over. We also got to ride through the hurricane on our bikes because we are running low on miles. It wasnt bad. It was super cool to watch though because it was the outer edge that hit us, so we could see the could come from the north and last 5 minutes and keep going south. We are teaching a lot of families so that is super cool, but I have to go now, sorry for the short letter, I love you all.

Another Transfer

We had an excellent week this week, and we also got news that we are both staying in Okeechobee for another 6 weeks. It is going to be a great one. We have some amazing prospects, and we are so excited to see people coming unto Christ in our area. We also got news that the highest baptizing mission in the USA and Canada is outside of Utah, and its the Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission!!! It has been super fun being apart of a mission that has grown so much. We have been so blessed with the opportunity to bring souls unto Christ and feel his Atoning sacrifice. This week we were able to find some really awesome people as well. We left a blessing with this one lady, and she was crying afterwards, and she accepted to be baptized right there. We went back later in the week and she was not there, but her brother was, and he said that she had been in a hard situation, crying and praying for something to happen, and then we showed up. Since we had left the blessing, he had seen a huge change in her, where she was now always smiling and talking about her baptism coming up. He said that he is not a churchy person, but because of the amazing change, he knows we are representatives of Jesus Christ and he too now wants to be baptized. It was an awesome experience, and they are doing super well now. We also had some other great experiences with people taking steps to get closer to Jesus Christ in their lives. We were also able to set some other dates coming up, so we are super excited to see the branch growing here. Elder Larsen thought for sure he was going since he has been here a while now, and was sad that he was going to miss everything that is coming up this transfer, but is now excited beyond belief to know that he is staying and that he will get to see all of it happen. We have been so blessed, and I am so grateful for all that God gives us. I know that he cares for us, and that he will send help when we need it. he knows the exact time and place, and will always be there as long as we are willing to give our burdens and strong wills to him. I love this work and I know that it is the work of Jesus Christ. I love you all and am grateful for your help and support.

Love Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Crazy Week

This week was a crazy week for us. We had some good fun. We had a lot of meetings, really far away, since everything is so far away from us, and with those combined with General Conference we were out fully pumped and fully excited to do missionary work. We focused on seeing everyone not as they are, but as they may become. We were seriously trying to help everyone, no matter their situation, come unto Christ and feel his love, strength, and healing power. We were having a particularly hard day as we were knocking on Wednesday, with a lot of opposition. We just kept going, and we turned a corner and saw a Spanish family getting home, we went up and talked to them, and we were able to pray with them, and the daughter that spoke English she might be baptized. We came back Friday and were able to help her see all the blessings of baptism, with the peace and healing that she would feel. She was not able to make it to church, but we have high hopes for her. We also showed a lot of people the parts of General Conference that they had not seen. We showed this one Seminole the Larry Echo Hawk talk about the Native Americans and the Book of Mormon, and he later called one of the members of the Branch Presidency and told him that he is now going to be preparing to be baptized because all his questions and concerns have been answered, and knows that this is what God wants him to do. He is so much fun, and we have been able to see a lot of progress with him and we are super excited to go out and visit with him again. So we have seen a lot of progress, and we also had a lot of great talks from the Stake this week about the Holy Ghost. It has been really great to see what is going on here at this time, and I am so grateful that I am grateful to be apart of the great work that the Lord is commencing here. I know that He loves his children here, and that He loves them everywhere, and that if we strive to see them as they may become through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we may be able to inspire, uplift, comfort, guide, strengthen, and love our brethren and sisters in a greater manner, with more inspiration to us as to what they may do for the Lord. I know this is His work, and that he wants to best for all of us. I love doing it so much, and I love you all so much. I hope to hear from you soon

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

General Conference

What an amazing General Conference, it is always just the boost that we need after a long wait. We really enjoyed it and have been talking about ways to apply what we learned now. We were not able to get anyone to come to the church and watch the conference, but we did help a lot of them watch it at home, which was exciting. They all enjoyed it, of course, no one better you can trust than the Prophet and Apostles of God right? We had an interesting week. We worked pretty hard to get people to conference, and we also almost had a baptism, but due to some health problems, it will be delayed until the following Sunday, which is okay. We also had a family tell us they are going to be baptized on the day after Thanksgiving because they are going to have their family down in town to see. Sad that it will take so long to join the Kingdom of God, but I guess better then than never. We have been able to start sifting through our investigators now to see who is really dedicated and who is just kind of allowing us to come by, so that has been good because we know where to focus our energies now and to start looking even harder now. Again i do not know really what to say, everything here in Okeechobee kind of always stays the same. It is going by really fast though, especially since this is a short transfer for us. I do wonder with the change in the stay in the MTC if that will affect our transfer cycles again because we had to move a week so the Creole program would come in on time into our mission, but now it might be like 3 weeks off again, so hopefully that does not cut my mission off by another 3 weeks, that would be a huge bummer. We are doing good here in Okeechobee though, sometimes lonely, so it is always nice to get mail, which I have gotten a decent amount of being here which has been a huge booster. I love this work, and I am grateful that I get to be a part of it, and that I can serve these people here in Okeechobee. I have learned so much, especially about loving people, and I am grateful for every minute that I have been given to serve my God. I love this gospel so much, and I know the hope it gives us is true, and that we all will be able to feel strengthened throughout our days as we ask for the Lords help, and that some day we will all be able to live in our families forever in happiness and glory. I love you all, and am thankful for all you do.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Big Things in a Small Town

This has been a pretty good week for us here in the middle of no where. I really am getting to know where I am at now. It isnt to hard on a count that everything is either way far away and we take one of the highways to it, or it is really close inside this little town. It has been fun though. We worked really hard this week and we saw a lot of blessings from our efforts, we just need to keep on pushing so we can have the success that the Lord wants here. We were really blessed. We had a family at church and two more, and they all loved it. We have a lot of people lined up to come to conference as well this weekend. We had like a million people that said they were going to come this weekend to church, but we just were not able to get them all there, so we will be continually working with them to get them to take that step of faith. We have a lot of hope for growth here, and we are already seeing it. We have already quadrupled our teaching pool, and we have a lot of people that are excited to come and be baptized, we just need to help them do the rest as well. We had one guy come to church that doesnt speak much english, but we paired him with our cuban, and they got along together super well, and originally the man had told us he was only going to come every other week because he wanted to go to his church as well, but he loved it and said he will be back next week, so we will be working hard with him to make sure he is able to feel all the blessings our Savior has for him. I dont know why, i just dont have much to say today, except that I am doing pretty well even in the middle of no where. I know that God is blessing us so much, and I am grateful to be apart of this branch at a time of such sucess. I know that God loves each and every one of his children, and that when we turn to him, and follow the counsel we are given and he has provided from leaders and the scriptures, we are able to feel his love even greater and overcome any difficulty that we may have. I love this work so much, and I love you all, always stay strong in the faith, and I cannot wait to hear from you soon.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Okeechobee

Well last week I thought I was going to be leaving the Great White North, but instead I made it to the real Great White North, Okeechobee. I am as far north as it gets in our mission, and as far West(besides Key West) as it gets here. They just keep sending me to the farthest reaches of the mission, just a year later this time. It is nice though. A little more rural than I expected when I came to this mission, but it is good, a nice change. All the homes here are further apart and have a lot of land, so knocking takes a little bit longer. That and the fact that this place has been knocked over like crazy makes it an odd mix. It is nice though, I like it. One of the families here is related to one of the families down in Key West. They were amazing down there, they helped us out so much. The K family. They called each other and told them that I made it up here now, it would be cool if they came on vacation up here, I know they do it a lot. So far we have had some success. Suprisingly enough most of the people that we have met this week have been Spanish, which is great because I can still speak with them and I love teaching Spanish people, but there is not to much Spanish in the branch so it will be a little hard integrating them, and I have to teach them everything because my companion is an English missionary. His name is Elder L. He was origanally in the Oralando mission, but got switched when our mission took over one of their zones. He goes home in February, so he still has a little bit of time left. He has been here in Okeechobee for a while, but he is excited to get the work rolling here. We did a lot of things that really changed the dynamic of the work here this past week. With our new investigators we should start seeing progress pretty quickly here. We also have some families that have just been floating around waiting to be taught and baptized, so we are excited to get working with them, we talked to them yesterday and are planning on meeting with them all this week. We have also met some really nice people that have been helpful to us. That is basically all that is going on here though. I love you all, and I am thankful for all that you do for me. I love this this gospel and I know that it is true, and that no matter where we are, even in the middle of an ocea, or a farm town, or a big city, or the suburbs (been to them all now), there are people waiting for us. I know Jesus Christ knows us and cares for us, and he wants the best for us. I love this work and I love you all

Love,

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Goodbye Great White North

So this week I am being transferred, I will find out tomorrow where and who is my companion. I is a bummer because I only was able to be here 2 transfers, and the ward here is amazing, and the area is just so much fun. I will miss a lot of the amazing members here, but where ever I go I guess that is where I will be needed of the Lord. I grew a lot here, and am excited the upcoming challenges and the things to come. This past week we had an excellent week. We received a new part to our area, basically doubling it in area, which made it tons of fun to explore. We found a lot of Spanish, and were also able to double basically every single one of our Key Indicators as well. We went from 0-3 dates for the thirtieth since the last email, so it was going pretty well. My companion Elder G will be able to take care of it though, so I am not to worried, and I am excited to be watching what goes on in it while I am gone. Yesterday was a crazy day that I wanted to share a little bit about. We were in an exchange in the new part of my area. We went down and saw some other missionaries down there that told us about someone who is basically ready to be baptized, but is a little stubborn, so we went over and talked to him. He almost accepted a date for this weekend, said it sounded super tempting, but we just were not able to get past it, the new Elders will be stopping by this week and they should be able to get him there, he is really just playing hard to get. Then afterwards we went to see some less actives, which was good, and on the way to go knocking we were contacting and we contacted some crazy people. We tried to help the people as much as we could, and we stopped to talk to them for a while. This one guy was far from home trying to get back, and we got him into a good path, but most of what we did was talk to him. Afterwards we went and found some people we had blessed on Saturday with our Recent Convert and we were able to help them see the blessings of Baptism, and even this one girl that said she didn't believe in God was excited to learn more the next time because she is looking for something different, and really a relationship with God, so it was super fun. I guess talking about it doesnt seem so different, but being with the actual people, something was different yesterday, and we felt tons of Love for everyone we met. I love the people here so much, and I love the gospel. I guess that is why I am leaving because whenever I love the people so much, that is when President Anderson sends me somewhere else to grow even more love there. I love my mission and I know that it is what God wants from me, and that he is looking out for me. I love you all and I pray for you, Thankyou for your support

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Nightless

This week we had a difficult time. We spent only 2 nights in our area because we had a lot to do. Monday I had to do an interview at 7, Tuesday we spent the day helping someone move, Wednesday we had our correlation meeting, Thursday we had a meeting with a family, Friday we worked our area, Saturday we had an interview, and Sunday we worked our area. It was kind of a bummer being out of the area always at night, but we know that we will be blessed. The other Elders had 2 baptisms last week, and one tomorrow with all the interviews so we are super excited about what is going down. Since we have been having trouble finding Spanish in our area, we got approval to start moving a little bit outside of our area, and they will be changing the borders shortly. It will give us some new room to work, and to not have to work the same few Spanish areas that are worked by every companionship in this area daily. We have been working hard and we are super excited for this last week of the transfer to get some work done. We have some good potential baptisms, we just need to meet with them and get them to church this weekend. We also went through our dropped files and found some people that have some good potential, so we will be stopping by soon to see how they are doing. We should have some more time in our area this week so we are super excited. We have to get some work done because next week is a 5 week transfer and we want that to be a successful one too. It seems like every single transfer gets shorter, and next one it really will, hopefully it will make the ones after it seem longer so the mission will seem like it is lasting longer. Today we have been playing volleyball so it has been fun being able to do so. I am so happy that I am able to do this, and am grateful that God has put me here in this part of his vineyard, the greatest mission in the world. I love this gospel and I love all that I get to do now to help others. I know this is His true work, and I know that God will always guide us and help us as we put him first. He will get us through and situation that we have if we just turn to him and search his help. I love you all and all that you do for me. Thankyou so much

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Picking up the Pieces

So this week we did a lot of work, and didnt see as many results from it as we had hoped. We started out the week super strong, but then finding wise we had a hard time the rest of the week. The weekend was killer due to everyone being out for Labor Day. We did still see a lot of indirect blessings from our work. We went to a dinner appointment and we got 4 referrals, and we also had a referral from 2 weeks ago, that we havent been able to set another appointment with come to church. He really enjoyed it and said he is definatley coming next week, and we are still trying to set up another time for this week. He already has some good fellowship, and is enjoying church. We are excited to get back to him. We also had another FHE with an investigator that went out of town and came back. We started teaching the new way that we do in the mission, but then the member (who was a missionary a long time ago kind of took over). I like teaching that we because it is fun, and I love using the Bible so much to open up interests to the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, but we were not able to teach to her needs as much as we could have. She said she would be baptized, but she wants to take a lot of time, but the next time we are going to be super focused on her needs and make sure she understands the blessings she can have. We were super blessed in that way with members being there for us a lot of the week even though we were not able to get into as many homes as we were hoping to for the week, especially with a super strong start. We also did this crazy exchange thing on Friday called a white wash exchange. I went with a companionship in another district, and the other district leader went with the Elders in my district, and the Zone Leaders took the rest. We did some training, and were able to see more how the companionships interact. Usually on exchanges it is like a new companionship, but we were there doing a lot of observing so we could help them understand the things they can improve together. It was super fun, and we had some super powerful experiences. We blessed these 2 homes where people accepted right away to be baptized, and to come to church and everything. It was super cool, and they were really awesome people. Then later in the day we helped move someone, and when we did that we blessed their home. They spoke better spanish, so I did the blessing, and they were crying afterwards. They said they felt super relieved after being stressed, and they committed to be baptized as well. It was super fun, and I am excited to see the progress with those Elders. It kind of reminded me of being in Key West again too because they are on all bikes right on the sea shore, and there are lots of boats, and they are kind of secluded from the rest of the Zone, just not as much as I was in Key West. We were super blessed this week, and I know that God is looking out for all of us, and that if we put our load on him, he will take it and help us overcome our trials and challenges. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that he loves us. I am so grateful for you all and love you all, and hope to hear from you soon.

The Storm

This week was a pretty fun week. It went by a lot better than last week. We were able to find some cool New Investigators and we also were able to pick up a good amount of referrals. We are pretty excited about the work we did and are excited to go and pick up even more people. The storm did put a dent into a lot of plans. We went only to church on Sunday, and spent the entire day inside, then we left finally yesterday at 5. It was good to go out and work. We were able to leave a lot of good blessings and have some awesome families to go back and visit now, some who even accepted to be baptized.

Nothing besides the storm happened to crazy this week. I went on an exchange with the Zone Leaders this week, and I did some interviews for some people. They were expecting 3 to be baptized this weekend but with the storm and some other weird circumstances they all fell through. Nothing really happened with the storm though. I'm not even sure we even were touched by the actually storm because it was never that windy. It was rainy for sure, but I think it was just the edge of it that wasn't that dangerous. I heard the storm went straight over Key West though, I hope it didn't do anything to bad, it was only a tropical storm though, so besides flooding I doubt to much happened.

We are all happy that it is over now and that we can go and get back to the work. This week is going to be a crazy week, because one of our district members is injured and bed ridden, so we are going to be up there a lot trying to get work done with them, but it will be minimum, and we are going to have to sacrifce a little bit for ourselves to do it, but it should work out pretty well, and we know that the Lord will bless us and we try and serve our fellow man the best way possible and will guide us and help us use our time most efficiently while we are in the area. I love this work and am so happy that I get to be a part of it, and that I can be here in south florida with so many amazing people. I am so grateful for what I have been given and know that the Lord cares for us, and knows the best way, and will guide us through any trouble that we have. I love you all so much and cannot wait to hear from you.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Rough Week

This week was really rough for us. We did have the confirmation of the baptism last week so that was good, and we did meet and bless more members homes this week, but other than that we didn't do much but bike around in the sun or rain and knock doors. No one seemed to be home this week, but it wasn't too bad, we were able to feel good while working for some reason. Even though it was hard, we knew we were trying our best, and we know that we are going to see the blessings this week for it. It is nice to have a new start every week, especially after the sacrament. We were able to see a lot of blessings in the district though. Last month we were only able to have 2 baptisms during the month, and this month we are already at 7. We have already exceeded our goal and are doing some of the best work in the mission, which is super exciting. One of the areas had not baptized since April, and this month has baptized every week, which has been really cool to see the progress and the faith of those missionaires. We also had a great conference about working with the members, and how we can go to the next level and beyond anything we have already done in the mission as we work with the members even more. We now have a goal to have more member present lessons than other lessons, which is going to be a big change. A super good thing, but it is going to take a lot more scheduled appointments and bringing members out when we dont have the most solid lessons set to be able to do that. It is for the best I know, it is just going to take a lto fo faith, and a lot of planning ahead of time very carefully to make sure we are not just wasting members time when we are taking them out, because I know that would not be good for those members and us. That is all I really have for the week, nothing too exciting, but it was a fun week. I know that Jesus Christ is my and all of ours Savior, and that he can help support us through anything. As we pray to overcome the challenges we have and to have the strength we need, he will bless us so we can overcome anything. I know that we can find comfort and strength in him always. I know that he loves us and guides us. I love you all and thankyou for all you do for me

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Rollercoaster Transfer

Elder j and Elder Bowen

Elder G and Elder Bowen

This week was a pretty exciting week. Elder J and I started off the week pretty rough with some bike problems, and trying to get into the area with all the bike troubles, but we still used our tijme the best we could. We had some highs and some lows, like this whole transfer for us. This one investigator that keeps disapearing and reappearing was teh subject of a lot of it. Last week we set him with a date for next Sunday, and we went back and his mom told us he was in the hospital, so then we tried 3 days later and he was back, and had a little problem remembering things because he had been knocked out.
But we went in to teach the end of the Restoration, and when we talked in the beginning about there needing to be prophets he said "yeah, for someone to guide us in God's path. There were not many of them because the people rejected them right?" And through a couple short sentences explained the first half of the Restoration that we felt prompted not to share. He then accepted Joseph Smith as a prophet right away because he had been reading the Book of Mormon since we gave it to him and he loves it. We went to round him up at 10, so make sure he was ready and up, and he was, and we had a member that he knew come and pick him up, but he wasnt there, and we haven't had contact since. It was kind of a bummer, but he is super excited to be baptized, he is just hard to get in contact with. We had a lot of fun though. It may not have been as successful as we were hoping, but it was spiritual and fun. We also had tons of other things happen with other investigators, and we found some new exciting families. This area is pretty cool because we keep finding famlies! Something that was hard to do in my past areas. The district also had some super exciting baptisms this week to start the month off right, so we are super excited to get to work this new transfer that is coming. Elder J is heading out though, which is a bummer because he was tons of fun. Super intelligent and obedient missionary as well. I am super excited to see who is my next companion in this wonderful area.
I love this work and I love all that I am able to be apart of. I
know this gospel is true and that God really cares about us, and that he has a plan ready, and if we are willing to follow the small impressions we get, not always knowing what they will lead to, we will be guided to success and happiness. Heavenly Father knows what is best, and he will help us get there. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that through his Atonement we can feel the cleansing affects of sin and come closer to God. I love this and I love you all, thankyou all so much for what you do.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

141

This month has been crazy for our mission. Our general goal for a month is 100, and last week we had 102, which was the best we had ever done in 4 weeks, and this week we broke a week record, getting 39, making it a grand total of 141. We then got a txt saying that only the Salt Lake City mission baptized more than we did this month in all of the the US and Canada, which was super cool to hear. This week was such a rollarcoaster for us all. Everyone basically in the mission was going crazy. We all spent a little more time with top investigators trying to get them ready and excited for baptism. There were so many miracles and so many disappointments it was crazy. In our distict we had so many things happen. So many baptismal interviews and so many random things pop up. It was a lot of fun, but a very tiring week, but as a mission we saw the results and are super happy with all the has been done here. Personally Elder J and I had so many crazy things, I can't tell them all. The family that came to church last week, and was super excited for baptism, we couldn't teach because they worked almost the entire week, up until Saturday. We were supposed to have an FHE with them just down the road, but when the member invited them, they sent the wrong city as a adress, and it came up like 17 minutes away, and the mom didn't feel comfortable going far with her 4 children without her husband, so they couldn't make it. Then we taught the commandments Saturday, and they accepted them all, they just need to be married. They said they would this week, but the next day one of them expressed concerns, and now it might take a little bit longer. Then we also got in contact with an almost dropped investigator. We decided to stop by for the last time, and he said he was so happy to see us. He was leaving for work so we said we would come back later, but we just missed him when we came back. Then on Sunday we stopped by to invite him to church, and he let us in. He said that he would come next week and that he had been praying and reading the Book of Mormon! He accepted to be baptized August 12, and really only needs to come to church. It was super cool, but we had trouble getting back in contact with him again, so we are not sure now when to go back, especially since only his sister has a phone. In the district I went on an exchange, and met some cool peopel in Boca Raton, and 1 should get baptized this week, which is awesome because they have been struggling a little bit lately. Then there has been so much more that has happened, and it has all been up and down up and down, but tons of fun. I am so grateful that I get the opportunity to be a missionary and to serve the Lord. Through our faith this month we have seen so many miracles, and I love this work so much. I know that Jesus Christ is really our Savior and Redeemer, and that through faith we may all be healed of anything as we come unto him. I love you all so much and thankyou all for all you do!

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

(next week is transfers so I will email on Tuesday, not sure exactly what will happen, but hopefully I stay)

A kind ward member posted these pictures!

Familes

So this week was a great week for us. We didn't get to do as much teaching as we were hoping for, but we were blessed with those we did get to teach. We have a commitment to have a baptismal interview weekly, which means a lot of traveling for me, since I do the interviews for Lauderhill North(which covers the entire zone), Coral Springs, and Boca Raton(which is way far North). All the traveling we did for it kind of cut down on our time in our area but we still had lots of success. On Tuesday we were able to find this awesome family of 7(4 baptism age) which after leaving the blessing they accepted dates. We came back on Thursday, a little late, and the mom was the only one there and said she thought we weren't going to come. So we taught her about the Atonement, and solidified her for her date and coming to church. On Saturday we were able to bring a member out with us to teach them the Restoration. They liked it and committed to read, pray, come to church, and be baptized. The member committed them to everything but baptism, which was awesome. Then yesterday they actually came to church. We were a little bummed because it was about to start, and we hadn't seen them, then the memebrs sister came and said that they had gotten there, so we went in and sat by them. They were also able to stay for the 2nd our, which made them super solid. They loved the gospel principles class, and all their girls loved primary, and tonight we are hopefully having a Family Home Evening with them, and they are super excited. It was a huge blessing to us, because we were mostly in our area during some of the less productive ours for the end of the week, but we were still able to be blessed beyond measure. Our ward is super awesome at bringing everyone in. They have one of the highest retainment and baptisms in the mission, which is super awesome. Everyone that has just been baptized here just seems like normal members now, and are just as excited about the work. As a mission we were also able to reach 102 baptisms for the month, which is awesome since the month isnt over. It is crazy because 1 year ago when I got to the mission field, we averaged around 30, and this week we are hoping to go over and above. We are super excited for this week, and all the blessings we recieve. I am so grateful I am able to be apart of the work here, and to help souls come unto Christ and feel the power of his Atonement. I know that God has a plan for each one of us, and as we follow his counsel and are obedient, we are able to recieve blessings untold. I love this work, and I love you all, thank you all so much for what you do for me and the love you show.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Continual Growth

So Elder J and I had another great week. We did some good work, and were able to have a lot of fun. We also went on some fun exchanges. I had Elder O with me on Wednesday, and I learned a lot about using peoples strengths and keeping people super happy, even when they are going through some hard learning processes. Then we also had some other really great experiences. We had some really spiritual experiences, especially on Saturday. We spent the beginning of the day going to return appointments, but nothing was going our way, which was strange because we had planned probably the best day of the transfer. After much dissapointment we decided to turn everything to the Lord. We prayed about if someone needed a baptismal interview that day, where we should go, and some other things, and we were blessed tremendously. After we received an answer, Elder J turned and said, we need to visit that house, so we did, and blessed N and her daughter, who had just moved in, and they accepted baptism and we will be seeing them today to firm them up. Then we also felt like seeing this one person we had blessed that wasn't responsive. When we got there he asked if he could say the opening prayer(he rufused to say any prayer last time), we taught the atonement and he committed to church and baptism, and was crying after the closing prayer and said he felt relieved, we told him it was an assurance from God that this is the path for him, and the feelings he will have. Now we just need to work with his mom, because she kind of prevented the coming to church. Then we did have a baptismal interview, it was a long one, but afterwards they were committed, and would have been baptized yesterday if some few complications didnt come up, but they said they are not going to let the enemy get in the way this week, so we are super excited for them next week. We are super happy for all the success that the Lord is giving us. We were also able to do a lot of work with the district, and it is really growing. The only main Key Indicator we are missing basically is investigators at sacrament, so we are super excited to see the progress that goes along with that this week. We are super focused on being obedient to recieve blessings, and to teach using the atonement always. We have seen some amazing results so far, so we know it works. It is super cool too, because as a mission we are up to 76 baptisms, and we have two weeks left, so we should be able to beat our record of 106, we are so close, and have so much lined up for these last few weeks. We have really seen a ton of blessings from the Lord, and know more are to come. We had an awesome specialized training last week as well, which is really going to keep us going. We have seen blessings already from doing the things we learned there, and they can only get better. I am so grateful to be here, and to be apart of the Lord's service. I know that God loves each and everyone of us, and he is just waiting for us to trust in him. He has a plan, and if we humble ourselves now we will see the blessings that he has poured out upon our heads, and we will not have to be humbled by him. I know that this is his gospel and that through Jesus Christ we can all receive salvation. I am grateful for all these things and grateful for all you do for me. I love you all

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Weekend Success

This week was an excellent week. I was able to do a lot of fun things. We had a lot of cool experiences and were able to improve in almost every aspect of the work. I was super tired the entire week, but also super happy, which for some reason always seems to be synonymns in the mission. We just went out and did work the entire week without end. Last week we struggled to find New Investigators becuase we were not able to find Spanish people to teach, but this week we were super blessed in that. Out of all the people we really got to talk to that were Spanish we probably made like 80% of them New Investigators, which was a giant blessing that we were able to do that, and have all these people to go back and teach now. I also went on an exchange into Boca Raton, which is in the North of our zone. It is a pretty nice area, I went with Elder D, who has been there for almost 11 months now, which is crazy because President A almost never leaves anyone somewhere longer than 4. He will probably finish there too because he only has one transfer after this one too. It was a pretty fun exchange, I got to see what it is like up there, and we talked about a lot of the trainings we have had, and how we can use them and why we do things. This week we had a goal as a district to get 21 New Investigators, and on Saturday night we had 10 as a district, 6 coming from our area, which was a little scary, but the Lord blessed each companionship to be able to do awesome work on Sunday, we ended with 19, which was awesome, especially when I talked to each one of the companionships on hwo it all happened. The sisters had a member randomly bring a friend and the girl said she wants to come every week now. In our area Elder J had a cool experience while I was gone. He foudn this one guy while knocking, and at the end he was able to set a date with him to be baptized, then he gave the man a card for Mormon.org. Then the man said look what I have been reading, he pulled out a Book of Mormon and said that his Grandmother had just given it to him and he loved it. We are going over today and are super excited to see him and get to know him better, and help him come unto Christ. This week my favorite experience came from an interview I gave, The interviewee was a little nervous abou the baptism still, but we had an excellent interview. At the end I asked how he felt, and he said he thinks this what God wants of him. I then read with him Alma 42:30, and after reading it he said, "Wait a minute Elder, is that Alma 42:... 27 or 30?" I confirmed and he said, "There's no way! This is definately what God wants me to do! I was praying to God and I said just lead me somewhere in the Book of Mormon so I can know if this is what you want, and I opened up to that scripture. That's the reason I decided in the first place! This is definately what He wants, WOW! Thankyou!" It was a super cool experience, and it helped me grow my faith in God will give us the words we need in the moment, because I had not thought of that scripture until I opened the scriptures to share something with him. It was super awesome. I know this work is the work of God, and that we all have a part that we can play in it. I know this is the Church Jesus Christ established on the earth, and that through his gospel we can receive eternal life. I love this work and i love this gospel, and everything that has been given me. I love you all and thank you so much!

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Lauderhill South

So I got transferred up to the North now, it is a little different, there are a lot more english speakers up here. I'm in Luaderhill South, which is in North Lauderdale. It is a pretty nice area, but there are some Spanish pockets that we have to go and find. I am super excited to be here and I am now with Elder J, who just got finished being trained, and his trainer finished his mission. Elder J is from Kaysville, UT, and is a super good missionary, he is always looking for ways to improve and has no problem going out and inviting, I am super grateful to have him as a companion now. I came in and took over as district leader. I understand a little bit better what that love is that leaders always say they have when they dont know people. The Lord has blessed me with a great love for each missionary in my district that keeps them always in my mind, and always thinking of ways to help theirs and ours investigators. It has been a crazy first few days in the area. We have been struggling to find spanish, we only got into 2 spanish homes since I have been here to leave a blessing, but we are looking for new areas to go. We have miles again, so we will be smart with how we use them. WE have to drive 5 miles to get into our area though, so it makes it a little difficult. Our district is really awesome, we have some really faithful missionaries, and the sisters were able to have a baptism yesterday, which was a great start to the month and transfer. We have an awesome ward. It is the only Spanish ward in the zone, so between us and the zoneleaders, we cover the whole zone for spanish, they have most of it though. The ward really knows how to do missionary work, we get a referral basically every week, and all the meetings are awesome. I have never been in a ward that is so efficient at the missionary meetings. There are a decent amount of RM's too which is exciting. this week with our miles we are going down to the bottom of our area where we have a referral, a former investigator, and a few potentials to visit, so we hope that there will be a decent amount of Spanish down there. I am super excited for this transfer and month, and know that there are blessings in store for us. I know this gospel is true and that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and if we come unto him in faith and do the small and simple things he asks us to do, we will be blessed beyond measure. I love this work, and I love you all and thank you for the support you give me.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Crazy ET

So this week was a good week. We started out the week super pumped after having an excellent week last week. We did not have as much success in the beginning though. We were just not able to find people at home, or get into their homes. We were still really excited because we were hoping for a baptism at the end of the week, and we also had interviews on Thursday. Well Thursday came around, and we were doing alright, but definately not as good as the week before. After the main part of the interview on the area, and if I had any questions, President told me I was getting emergency transferred and going to the South part of the ward with Elder Bj(trainer). So I moved down, then Elder W moved to Riverside, and Elder R(previous companion) received a missionary from the Homestead zone, Elder B. It was pretty crazy. Me and Elder Bj have done some good work this weekend though. It has been a lot of fun. We were able to get into a lot of homes, and a lot of people were accepting baptism, and coming to church. It was looking really good, and we were able to set up some good days this week, but we didnt have the turn out at sacrament that we wanted. The North's baptism fell through too, she had to work, so she is going to take an extra week or so, kind of a bummer, but hopefully it happens soon, she was so excited to be baptized the last few times I had been over there. Hopefully it happens. Our baptisms fell through too because they are teenagers, in a divorced family, and since it was Father's day they went with their dad, even thought it wasn't his turn. So next week is his turn, so we will have to wait 2 weeks for them, but they are super solid, and tons of fun. Over all it has been a really good week and I am really excited to for this last week of the transfer, next week I'll be on on Tuesday again because its transfers. I'm so grateful for the many blessings I receive and all the things my Heavenly Father gives me. I love this gospel so much, and am so grateful I can share it. I know this is all true and that through Jesus Christ we can all receive a remission of our sins and be saved. I love you all so much and am grateful for all you do for me

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

This was a pretty good week for us. It flew by. We had some goals as a mission that we conquered almost completely as a mission. We had tons of fun doing it. We just had a lot of fire during the beginning of the week, and we got a lot of good work done really fast. The end of the week wasn't as good, we burned through all the people we knew by Friday so we were kind of scraping the barrell, but we still did good. We grew in almost every area. We also felt like we were being guided a lot of the time. We were truley blessed. We were able to get this awesome family to church this Sunday as well. It was super exciting when they showed up. They are preparing and progressing towards baptism super fast, they loved church. It was funny because we didn't think they were going to come during the lesson becuase she told us she couldn't. We had decided to teach the Word of Wisdom because we had taught about church a lot and we wanted them to prepare in other ways as well, so we did, and the spirit was pretty strong, and she said that she had to go, so she cancelled an appointment that she had set up so that way she could go to church with her family. It is cool how the spirit can really change people. This week I feel like we had a lot of success because of the love that we showed to everyone. Sometimes we can get into a rut where we forget exactly why we do this, but we were focused all week on those we are teaching, and it really brought the spirit into their homes even more. I know this church is true, and I am so grateful for the many blessings that I have recieved. I know that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us, and wants the best for us. He has provided the Plan of Salvation so that way we can return to live with him someday. I am so grateful for everything. I am also grateful for all that you all do for me. I love you all, Thankyou so much

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Zombies

So this week has been a pretty fun week. I'm sure you all have heard that we have zombies here in Miami. Everyone is calling it Zombieland now, it is pretty funny. It is the first week that we havent heard a ton about Mitt Romney or the playoffs, because everyone is talking about Zombies. We did a lot of good work this week. We were able to improve in basically every area which is really exciting. We just need to get more people to sacrament, that is always our downfall, soon though we should have a lot. We have some really good progressing investigators, and we are really excited for some of them. This one kid we gave a Book of Mormon to he read all of 1 Nephi 1 the first night and got his answer. He is super excited. He also loved the videos on Mormon.org about Brandon Flowers and Alex Boye because he is super interested in music. It is such an awesome website that we are learning how to use better and better now as a mission. We are super excited to go out and keep helping people here. The hardest part about where we are now is it feels like we have basically knocked everywhere there is Spanish, because we knock 1-2 hours everyday, and after 2 1/2 transfers, we have covered a lot of area. So now we are running into a lot of English which is good for the other Elders, but kind of a bummer. For some reason when you pass people it just never turns out as well for the next companionship. We have passed a ton of awesome people to them, then they can never get a hold of them, and sometimes viseversa, which is a super bummer. Here we have just had a huge problem with reuniting with people so it just makes it even harder with passing them. But it is all good, the Lord knows who is prepared, and we will always be guided to them. I know this church is true and that the Lord guides it through his prophet Thomas S. Monson. I know that we can all live in eternal families and live with Heavenly Father some day. I love this work, and I love you all. Thank you all so much for what you do.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Rain!

So the rain is back, which is fun. Different being in a car this
time, but we do a lot of biking now so its all good. I also cant
write to much because I hurt my left wrist yesterday, and it doesnt
quite work yet for typing. We have met some pretty funny people this
week so ut has been fun. We also had a good training on Mormon.org,
and how we can use it as another companion. It is pretty cool, but it
is not all the way in Spanish. It doesnt have the videos about people
in Spanish yet but they will in August have it, so it will be really
fun. We also talked about declaring repentance, and how we can
fulfill our purpose all the way, and using the Book of Mormon even
better. It is pretty funny now because there are a lot of people that
talk about Mitt Romney with us and we just have to steer it towards
the church. This one kid walked into thbe church after our training
talking about him, and he came to church for the English Elders, which
is really cool. Nothing else really crazy happened this week, sorry I
couldn't write more, but I'm running out of time, and one hand is much
slower, haha. I love you and thank you all so much

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Mangos!!!

So this week we had a little bit of trouble, but we also had a good amount of mangos, haha. It was a fun week. Success wise, we didn't do so well, but it is all good. We will be doing better this week, I can just feel it. Transfers was fun, Elder N left our apartment, and Elder Bj is now our District Leader in our apartment. It is pretty fun to have him back again in the apartment, we get to talk a lot about all the experiences that we had together, it is so much fun. Finally here the mangos are ripe, so we have had so many lately, it is awesome. Elder Bj showed us this way to eat them, basically we mash them up, then we open a whole, and suck out of it. It is like have a mango drink, and it isnt as messy as cutting it. This week we just havent been able to get people to open the door for us, I dont know why. We have also been finding a lot of English too, which makes it hard for us, because we just have to pass them. Where we are, there is one area of really concentrated Spanish, and we have knocked it all, and missionaries in the past have really worked it too, so we have been trying to spread out, but it has lead to a lot of English passing. We might have to go a little bit more back to the complete Spanish area, but hopefully we will start finding more success where we are working, becuase we feel really good about actually branching out and working these areas that have not been touched for a while. We are pretty excited for this transfer, it is definately going to be a fun one. I will try and be better at sending more pictures. I thank you so much for what you do for me. I love this gospel, and I love this work. I know that it is the work of the Lord, and that he has called us to go and preach his gospel. I know that with Jesus Christ we can conquer all of our challenges, and have eternal life. I love you all so much, and am grateful for your support and letters.

it has been raining so I took some cool pictues with my camera, I only sent one of the rainy clouds, but there are some really cool pictures.  We got pretty wet this week, we did a lot of bike riding and there was plenty of rain,Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Mother's Day

Fun week for us. We didn't have all the success that we were really hoping for, but it was still fun, and we found some awesome people that we are really excited to get back and teach now. So for transfers, everyone in the district is changing, but me and Elder R. We were all kind of off on our predictions. There was one companionship we all said one stayed the other went, and it was the other way around. The one that is staying is a Spanish missionary in an English area, and his trainee, whos an English missionary is going.

We were stumped. But we are excited to have a new Elder in the apartment. This was definately a fun transfer, and I really hope that it sets us up for a lot of success this transfer. We did a lot of knocking this transfer, and finding, and now we have a pretty big pool of people to go check up on, but it is still going to be a lot of knocking to start this next transfer. We just have not been able to get into a groove of teaching a ton yet. But I'm sure it will come now, the Lord know's who is prepared, and he will lead us there.

After talking on mothers day, we went knocking some more, and we met a Spanish family, that all accepted baptism right away. We are super excited to get back and teach them, it was cool, because it was another, one more story kind of thing, and we had already had 2 experiences like that that day. Another one we were talking about how we always need to go one more, street, or house, or whatever, but sometimes nothing happens, and we just know that we will get indirect blessings. Well as we were walking away from the "one mores" that we did(which was like 5 or 6 houses) we were talking about that, and how we just need to trust in those indirect blessings, and then this guy came out and told us his family was mormon and that he wants to talk to us, so we should be seeing him soon. It is funny how the Lord works though, because if we hadnt done the few more, we would have walked another way back to our car, and he wouldn't have seen us, but it all was timed and placed perfectly. So another 6 weeks here though, it will be fun, we have some good plans. I know that this gospel is true, and that God has restored it fully again on the earth so that we may recieve all the many blessings he has for us. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and he wants us to come unto him and take upon us, his yoke. I love this gospel so much, and I thank you so much for your support, Love you all

　

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Baptism

This was a pretty fun week for us. We had a challenge in the district that we completed at like 8:51 pm last night. It was fun because everyone would text in as they completed part of it, and we just kept on going and going until the last minute basically. It was tons of fun. We also had a 2 baptisms in the ward, one for us and one for the other Elders. It was cool, we had one service early and one late on Saturday, both were super spiritual, even though the one at night, the other Elders was during a youth dance. It was cool, we couldnt hear it though during the actually baptism, spirit blocked it out for us, haha. But it was awesome. Ours was a 10 year old kid, that came with some reactivation that has been going on for a while, and we did it on his birthday. The other Elders guy showed up at church like 2 weeks ago and said he wanted to get sealed to his wife in Peru, and they said they could help him. It was really cool, she sang a song for us over the phone "Asombro me da" or "Oh How Wonderful it is" in English.

We spent a lot of time contacting and knocking doors this week (it had to do with our challenge) and we had a lot of fun doing it, we made it a super priority to complete our goal so we really worked hard and were focused on what we were doing. We also had an exchange this week so we took some good pictures, hopefully I can get most the computers sent over. Thank you all so much for your support, and for remembering me, it doesnt seem like I am really 20, it just feels like time should be completely stopped and I'll come back and be 19 like before, but I guess not. I love this gospel so much, and I know through Jesus Christ we can all be redeemed from our sins and be able to make it to the Celestial Kingdom with our families. He sent us here to gain and learn experience, and he has given us the preisthood here on the earth to preform all the saving ordinances that we need.

I love it so much, and I love you all.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Awesome Week

Awesome week this week. We had some really cool experiences. At the end of last week we met this guy as we were knocking doors, and he said he had to go but that he really needed to talk to us and that we could come the next day, well he wasnt there so we were pretty bummed, but this past Monday we were able to get a hold of him and taught him

3 times this past week, and he came to church, super cool. He is progressing super fast, and he accepted a date right away, he was waiting for us to invite him after the first lesson. He loved church (who doesn't the first time they come and feel the great spirit) and we will see him again this week, and he will also come to our English class, so he is a pretty cool guy that we are teaching now. This past week we also were trained on a new teaching style, which has been pretty fun learning. It is a little hard to get used to, and we still havent quite figured out how to apply it in every lesson that we give (especially the restoration), but when we have used it it has been pretty cool. It is really focused on peaking the desires of people first, getting them to feel the spirit, and promising blessings, then telling them what it is that provokes such blessings, and then telling them how they can do it(usually with an invite). It isnt like to far off from what we have been doing, but it is a little different. We have seen some success with it, and it has been fun practicing it. It really has helped a lot of people feel the spirit more, and we were able to have more investigators in sacrament than I have ever had here before, which is what we focused most of our invitations on with the different lessons. It has definately been a fun week, and we are super excited to see how the next week goes. I will have pictures next week I promise. Thanks for all that you all do for me, I love you all so much, and I love this Gospel as well. I know that we can all live with our Father in Heaven again fi we follow his commandemnts and try our best each and everyday to improve and to use the Atonement in our lives. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he helps us everyday. I am so grateful for all the blessings I have in my life.

I love you all and thank you so much



Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

another week

So nothing crazy happened again this week. There were some funny experiences, but nothing to crazy. We have been dropping everyone that we were teaching like crazy thought this week. It seemed like most the week we were in a trio too, because one day we had another Elder with us, and one day we had a kid preparing to go on his mission, and another day, we had a member come to a few houses with us, so we had a lot of experiences with others, but our getting into the homes was a little weird this week. This week we are looking for a lot of improvement, so we are really excited to start this new week, so that way we can really get moving and get this area rolling again.

We keep getting trained on new things, so hopefully we can perfect the new things we are doing, so that way we can be super powerful missionareis. Also for this next week, our zone leaders gave us a challenge, that if we can complete, as a zone we will get to have a zone olympics next preperation day, which will be lots of fun. Today we are playing lazer tag in the church gym because one of the members bought some cool guns, and they want to do it for an activity, and we are getting to try it out. It should be pretty cool. Thank you all so much for all the love that you show me, and all the support you give me. I know that this church is true, and that God cares about each and every one of us, and all he wants is us to be happy, and sometimes that happiness comes through our trials, and us overcoming things. I love this gospelm and all that it has for us. I love you all, and love hearing from you.

Love

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

So I got my new companion this week, his name is Elder R.  He is a cool Elder, he is from Arizona, and has been in the mission for like a year and 4 months, maybe a little bit more.  We have been doing alright, doing a lot of finding lately, it has been pretty good.

Elder R actually started his mission in this area, so we are seeing some of the poeple that he knew.  He knew about some les actives that we didnt have any records for and a couple other things, which has been pretty cool.  There must be someone that he was supposed to get the first time, so president had to send him back.

Nothing to crazy has happened in the last week though, but we are enjoying our time here.  This month we should be getting some baptisms which is really exciting, we have some really awesome people that we are teaching, and there some really awesome potentials that we are going to be seeing this week.  I dont know why, but for some reason I havent had near as many crazy experiences in this area though, all the areas I have been in have been relatively wealthy compared to the other parts of the mission, and this area isnt really any different, but for some reason it has been pretty different.  I'm sure there will be some to tell soon though.  I'm greatful for my calling to be a missionary for the Lord and the time that I am allowed to dedicate to him, and show my love for him.  I know this chuch is true, and that Jesus Christ lives.  That he rose the 3rd day from teh tomb, as a resurrected glorified being.  I know that he cares for us, and wants the best for us.  I'm so greatful for all that we are given and have in our lives.  Thankyou all so much for what you do for me and for the support you give me.  I love  you all

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Transfers again

We had a good week, we finally were able to get people to church. I
guess the varied amount of times helped. General Conference was so
good this time, man I get so pumped hearing it. We have a recent
convert going through some rough times, and she said that every single
talked applied to her and she has renewed strength now to continue
onward. Super cool to see the testimony of recent converts be
strengthened as they hear the voice of the prophet. It is super cool
that we have apostles and prophets again in the earth who are able to
recieve revelation literally for everyone in the world, if we just
listen to the spirit as they talk. But this is the end of the
transfer now, and Elder T is heading out, so I'll find out who my
new companion is tomorrow, pretty excited. So what happens in this
mission is a little bit different than other missions I guess, no one
know who their companion is until they go to this giant transfer
meeting, but we get a call Monday night telling us who needs to pack,
and if you are training they tell you that too. The other Elders in
our apartment kept saying that I was going to train, but then the call
came, and nope, haha it was funny though because they asked the zone
leaders if they forgot anything, like if Elder Bowen is training, and
they were like pshh no, over half the zone is training already.
Everyone in our zone that is not training though is transferring. But
this month we were also able to reach our mission goal of 100 baptisms
for the first time. We actually got 106, and we are aiming to do it
again this transfer. Started the goal in October, and six months
later we finally got it. Never has been done in the Florida Fort
Lauderdale missino, so that is pretty cool. When I got here too we
were only getting about 30-50 a month, but since October we have been
anywhere from 76-106. Pretty cool, and this month in this area we
should really be able to contribute to that, we have some solid
investigators and some good potentials we think, so hopefully we are
able to pull those through. That has been basically the focus of my
week so far, so thats about it. I love this work, and I am so
grateful for all the many blessings that I have in my life. I am so
very grateful that can serve in this mission and see the Lord's hand
in his work. I know this gospel is true and that we can all know it.
I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that he is the head of
this church, with the prophet as his mouthpeice. I know that we can
live in families forever with Gods eternal plan, if we follow the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love you all so much, and am grateful for
all you do for me, and the support you give me.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen