Me Voy

This week was a crazy week to end in Okeechobee. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I received to serve in this branch, and learn so many things here. It was definitely an adventure here, it was really hard at first, but I loved it, and saw the blessings come come as I pushed forwards, and I love the people here so much. I know they are in good hands with Elder D, and this branch will continue to progress. This week we had some good things happen. We solidified a family to be baptized next week so next transfer and month will start out strong for Okeechobee. We also have a bunch of other people lined up for the next week, so Okeechobee should be a big producer here in March, I am excited for whoever comes here. We had some spiritual strong lessons this week as well. One of our investigators,who lost her Aunt on Friday, called and asked if we could come over that day and talk to her. We shared with her the plan, and it was one of the sweetest times that I have ever shared the plan with someone. She said that she knew that it all has to be true, and she was so grateful that we were able to be there so quickly to support her and give her the comfort that she needed at that time. We were able to build great confidence in her, and she is excited to baptized on March 10 with her 2 sons as well. She just has to make it to church. It was an awesome experience. We also went knocking everywhere this past week, and people in every direction asked us to pray for someone who had died in their family Friday morning, and we found out that our one investigator is apparently related to people all over Okeechobee because it was all for the same person. It was cool how the Lord led us to be able to comfort those people as well, and give them the opportunity to experience the gospel in their lives as well. Elder D and I had a lot of fun, and worked really hard this week to see if we could have any miracles happen. No baptism miracles this week, but we were able to prepare a lot of people for their own baptisms in the coming weeks, and I know that the Lord is really blessing this area. It will be really good for another missionary to be here and keep the fire going. I know that the Lord loves me and he is going to keep helping me as I do my best and keep pushing forward so I may be able to help others come unto Christ. I know that he has a plan for us, and a lot of the time it is not what we expect (i.e. coming to Okeechobee), but he has his reasons for it and he will always teach us something as we humble ourselves before him and follow him. I know that God and Christ live. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and that as we push forward in faith in Christ, repent, keep our covenants, listen to the promptings of the spirit, and push forward through adversity, we will receive the grace and strength that we need, and we will all be with our Father once again. I love you all, and I am grateful for all that you do.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Miracle Week

This week was a super good week. We had a ton of miracles happen here. We had a super amazing training this Thursday where Elder O. Vincent Haleck came and spoke to us with his wife. At it President A had us all sign a piece of paper that quoted Doctrine and Covenants 4 as being our promise and Mosiah 5:15 as the Lords promise. Right before he had us all sign it, he said that it is going to be placed inside the Florida Fort Lauderdale Temple cornerstone, so our names will be inside the temple with that promise he said until the coming of Christ. It was an amazingly spiritual moment. We were really trying to do everything we could to do to fulfill our purpose this week. One amazing thing that happened is we were driving down the road back to Okeechobee after a baptismal interview, and I had a feeling to see this one lady. We had seen her before, and it had just been a giant struggle about the Book of Mormon being in the Bible or not, so I had o go back because she did not show any desires to do anything before, but felt it again, and I asked my companion if he though we should, and he said sure, so I flipped around and we went and saw her. It started out just about the same way, and then at the end, Elder D started to reason with her about the Book of Mormon and she ended up crying saying that she knew it was the word of God, and I know that it would not have happened if it was not for following that impression. Yesterday I was on an exchange with Elder B in Fort Pierce, and we knocked for a short while, and the first floor we knocked we had no success, and everyone was screaming and cussing, so we decided to move to the next hall over, and we contacted a lady outside that said yes to baptism, and then we met another amazing lady. She was so awesome. She opened up, and it started out the exact same as a role play we had had earlier that day with Elder S, where there was baby crying and she couldn't really talk to us much, but the we prayed with her finally, and she said that she had prayed earlier that morning to hear God's messengers, and we showed up and she knew it was of God and committed to be baptized the 3rd of March. It was a sweet experience. We had so many other amazing things happen, and it was really awesome to see the Lord blessing us this week. I know that the Lord cares for us and loves us. I know he has a plan for each on of us, and wants us to be able to have success in our lives. I know that he will do provide the way as we seek his will. I love you all and thank you all for what you all do, it is really amazing.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

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Lots of Knocking

This week has been a really good week. We had a big push in the zone to get 300 blessings as a zone to break all records here, and it really gave us a lot of fire. We went out and harvested with a lot of fire, and a lot of enthusiasm, and we saw some super awesome miracles come from it. By Saturday we already had 28 in Okeechobee, which was more than was required per companionship, but we knew as we harvested for at least an hour like we do everyday, that the Lord would bless us for continuing on in faith. The first door we knocked was awesome. When she came out we gave her the approach, and she asked us that we pray for her family, and as my companion said the prayer, we could hear her sobbing. The spirit got super strong. As soon as we ended she said she didnt know why she was crying, she just felt so good. I testified of the spirit to her and how she can receive it through baptism on the 24th, and she said she would be there for sure. She is so excited for us to come back so she can learn more. We also had an amazing experience teaching another family. Elder D and I taught the husband of the family that we had not met yet, and he is even more desirous than his wife. We came back the next Thursday and we were able to teach the entire family, and the spirit was so strong there as well. They both expressed that they knew the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, and could understand more than they ever had before. The awesome thing is they are married, which seems to be extremely rare here in Okeechobee. We are so excited for them. We were also able to have some fun exchanges here where I was able to bring one Elder here, and go and visit another area. We have had a lot of exchanges here in the past 3 months and it has been a lot of fun. I love the work that I am able to do here, and the things that the Lord does here. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and he has given us and will give us many opportunities to come unto him. I am so grateful that I am able to see so many miracles and learn how to lean upon the Lord in my life as I am here. I am so grateful for all the love you all show me, I love you all for everything you do.

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Faith February

We had a few really awesome experiences knocking doors this week. On Wednesday we were harvesting, and no one was really responding very well, and then it came time to go see someone, and there were 3 more houses on the other side of the street that we had not done yet, and we decided to do them, and of course the very last one of them we met a man, who was very excited to be baptized. Then on Friday we were knocking another street where we met a few really awesome people. One lady told us that we could not come in because her mother was having therapy treatment(and there was not a man there anyways) so we said a prayer with her at the door, and she started crying during the prayer. We identified the spirit, which was so strong, and we invited her to be baptized, and she said, "well, that sounds good, but I am Catholic and was baptized as a baby." and we testified to her how she could take this step now, and receive the strength she needs at this time to get through her trials, and she accepted very quickly. We were also able to have a lot of new youth come to mutual, and one came to church this week. It was super exciting, and we are seeing a lot of progress here. We definately had a different week than what we had expected, but it was still a good week with a lot of things going on. We have also been able to go on a lot of exchanges, and we will be able to have more exchanges coming in the next few weeks, so we are having a lot of fun, and working all over the place. We are also having Elder O. Vincent Haleck of the Seventy come and visit our mission next week. I think that he is the new Elder that covers our area, I'm not totally sure, but that is what I think. It should be pretty exciting though when he come to visit us. Our mission is still doing really well, and I am sure that we are only going to be getting better and better as a mission. I am so grateful for the time that I have been blessed to be here, and for the strength and guidance that Heavenly Father gives us. I am so grateful for His love and all the experiences He lets me have. I know that He loves each and every one of us, and is always providing opportunities for us to learn and come closer to Him. I love this gospel, and I know that it is true. I love my mission, and I love you all. Thank you for all you do

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen