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)