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