Easy Come, Easy Go

This week has been a weird week. I told you all about Elder S, and then we got a call that night that he was going back to his previous area the next day, so he was only with us for 4 days, it was fun to have him with us. This week we really struggled though. We had the commitemtn to only count new investigators if we extended a baptismal date in the lesson, and well we planned on it in every lesson but we had some weird experiences with that. This one lady we were teaching her on her stairs, and like 3 minutes before we were going to invite her, she stands up, says "I hate masquitos, and my food is burned," so she ran inside and said "that we will have to continue another time," and then shut the door. Weirdly enough that wasnt the only time. Weirdest things happened to us this week. We also had some solid dates for the 31st, that fell through at the last  minute. It has been just a werid week for us. We joked around and said that it was post departing depression from Elder S leaving. Hopefully from the lack of success we had this week it will roll over into the next week, and we can start preparing everyone for  April now. This is the last week of transfers, next wednesday, I  believe April 4th is transfers. I dont know what will happen, but I guess I'll know by next week, which by the way we have a proselyte-monday next week because of transfers, so my letter will be on Tuesday next week. This week everything has just seemed easy come easy go for us, so many people told us we could come back, but we just  couldnt get back in the next time. This week we will be better, I know that we will be blessed for our efforts though, and that we will start seeing results soon. Super excited for General Conference this weekend, hopefully we can get our investigators equally pumped to hear the prophets voice. I know that we have a prophet here on the earth, and that he is called by God to lead and guide us, so that way we can  know God's will for us. I know that our Heavenly Father works through revelation to each of us personally, and we need to strive to have it. I love this gospel so much, and I am so grateful for all that you do  for me. Thankyou so much, I love you all.

 Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Breaking the Chain

So we got a new companion Thursday night, and he is Spanish which is good. We are greenie breaking him, since it is his third transfer still. I found out why though, apparently my MTC companion went home due to health problems, and returned that day, adn took our new Elders spot. So Elder S is now with us. He is pretty cool, really trying to learn spanish really hard. He breaks my chain of companions. First companion(for any amount of time, so including Elder H who I was with for 4 days) that was not in the MTC with all my other companions. He is pretty fun though. Our biggest problem is getting him into lessons more. We had really started getting our companionship unity down this week, and had some really great lessons for me and Elder T, but now we have to divide between the three of us. Elder S has had some powerful moments, and did make one of people we have set for next weekend cry.
It was pretty cool. This week as well, we had Elder Gonzalez from the seventy come and visit us. It was pretty good. He would go off in Spanish some, and told some good jokes, and we really learned a lot.
We are really working on applying a lot of the things that he shared with us. So in a weeks time here I got a wedding invitation and a notice of a propasal that was going to happen, that I guess happened.
The other elders in the apartment were like, dang everybody is gonna be married when you get back. They havent recieved any yet so those were cool things to hear about. The Key West Elders came up for Elder Gonzalez, and informed me the 3 baptisms they were going to have on Saturday( which happened) was this awesome family that we had just started teaching when I was leaving. Super cool to hear about them, they keep rocking it down there. We are super excited for all the people that wer are teaching right now. We also have this other investigator that wants us to come to Cuba with him. He has a problem with work because he doesnt get off work until after church starts, but he is already sharing the gospel. He was like the book is good, so I know my friends will love it too. He told us that he was going to try and get more people to church this week than us. We definately are going to try to do our best to beat him, but I wouldn't be too
upset if he wins, haha. Especially since this has been the hardest
area for my investigators to get to church. Key West has been the best about investigators at sacrament for a few transfers now, and Sunset we were able to walk outside and get some of our investigators to walk to sacrament with us, but here we are working pretty far from the church, so it is a little bit harder. Well that has been my week in a wrap, pretty good week. Thankyou all so much for your support, and everything you send me, it really means a lot, and it always makes for a good night. I love you all so much for everything you do for me. I also love this Gospel, and my Savior Jesus Christ, and my Heavenly Father. I know that they love me and that is why I am here on this earth, apart of the great Plan of Salvation. I know that if we all do our best to obey the words of God, we will be able to achieve eternal life. I know that we are all brothers and sisters, and we need to help each other out in as many ways as we possibly can.
Thank you all so much for all that you do. Love you all
Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Continued Push for Excellence

So this past week was an alright week. Not the best teaching week we have had, but it was alright. We found an awesome family this week that we are super excited to be teaching. Totally thought that they would be coming to church, but they didn't, which has kind of been our biggest fall out here since I've been here. We are always out inviting and committing, and trying to get people to church, but we just keep falling short. This week we really tried to get our members involved, because we have been a little bit bad about that, so we really tried, but almost all of our appointments fell through, it was kind of a bummer bringing people out with us, and not being able to teach. We found a lot of new people though, so we should be improving in how much we are teaching. This week we got trained on this little black box that is in our cars, that is called TIWI. It tracks all of our driving and it tells us when we are doing stuff wrong, it is kind of weird, but I guess it will help some drivers be safer. Whenever we get cut off (happens alot here in Miami) we have to slow down a bit, and we are always saying "TIWI dont get mad!!!" It is funny. So we also have this one investigator that keeps telling us that he is going to bring us back to CUBA with him so we can share the gospel with all of his friends. He is super solid, and wants to get baptised, but we works until basically the beginning of church, and doesnt usually get home until a while later, so he is working on his license now, so hopefully he will be able to get to church that way, and then he said he is also going to drive us around to all his friends so we can convert them too. He is a pretty funny Cuban guy, he speaks SUPER fast though, so some times I still dont understand him. My Spanish is starting to get better too. I am finally back to basically being able to understand anything that people say, and I am getting better at talking more fluidly too. Elder T is good at Spanish so he helps me a lot. He has been told before he is better some natives. It is pretty cool. Well thats our week in a wrap I guess, it was a fun week, went by super fast. Oh yeah, we got a call last night saying that we are getting a new companion this week, on Tuesday. The only weird thing is if we are training him, then he was most likely not assigned to this mission at first, or he is a Creole Elder, which would be weird since there is not very much of that around here. So some exciting news, but super psyched for it. Thank you all so much for your support, and everything you do for me, I love hearing from you all. I know this gospel is true and I love it so much, I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and that he loves us so much and wants each and every one of us to come to him and take upon us his yoke. I know that God prepares people for us, and if we watch and try, and we can all share the gospel with those around us and always give them a chance to feel the full affects of the Atonement in their lives as well. We have an awesome recent convert for that here. She gives away a pass along card every week, and is always sharing what she has found. I know that the gospel is for everyone, and it is the only way to recieve all the blessings God has for us. I love you all, and cant wait to hear from you, and hope to hear about experiences
Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Settling In

Well I'm settling in a little bit now here in Miami. Getting used to being closer to a Walmart instead of Cuba. It is weird again to be surrounded by so many people, but it is pretty fun as well. We have been doing a pretty good job at finding lately. We just need to start converting these people into progressing investigators. We have a few that are really excited for baptism, but getting them to church has been a little hard. This week we are pretty excited though because we think that we are solving that problem a little bit. One of our investigators that we actually set with a date last night tried to go to church. He just misread the directions and went like 10 miles past the church. We told him instead next week we will get him a ride so that way he will know how to get there from now on. Another investigator that really wants to be baptized (and then bring us to Cuba to spread the gospel there) got stuck at work. He works the night shift, so if he gets off a little late at all, the 9 o clock church is kind of hard. The only other ward in our building too is an english ward, so he cant just go late to that one occasionally to still get to go to church. We are having fun here though, it is still weird not riding a bike all the time now. I'm not a huge fan of it, but I guess its ok. If I had a time to be stuck in a car though I wish it was over summer when the humidity is crazy instead of winter when it is pretty nice outside. Well I love this work, and I'm so greatful that I am a part of it, I love this gospel and I am excited for General Conference coming again. I know that we have a prophet who leads and guides this church under the direction of Jesus Chrsit, and I know that we are watched after by a loving Heavenly Father who does everything he can to help us get back to him. I know that this church is true, I'm so grateful for all you do, and all the love you show me. I love you all
Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Back in Dade

After a confusing week of not knowing where I was going, I am finally at my new area. I'm now serving in the Miami Lakes North area.  Super pumped to be here. Elder T is my new companion. He was Elder Bj 's(my trainer) MTC companion.
Basically everyone I've served with now were all in the MTC together and go home the same day. It is a pretty big area we are in. We have a car. Not sure how much I like it. We have biked almost none, which is really a bummer when you get fed everyday. It is my first all Spanish area. There are a lot of English people here, but we have to pass them to the English Elders in the area when we find them. It is a little different but good, I should finally be able to learn Spanish better. It definately needs some practice. I have already improved in my listening since I got here so that is good. I had to give a talk in Spanish yesterday, that was pretty fun. It was all about why we should invite our friends to come to church and that through the ordinances is the only way we can fully experience the atonement. It was aight I think. We have already had some success knocking doors, so we are excited for what we are going to be doing this transfer.
Basically all the investigators though from before just got baptized.
We were supposed to have one Saturday, but they moved it up to Tuesday. We have been doing a lot of knocking because of that. It is nice though. Knocking here so far has been a lot easier than Key West. Still havent had to knock as much as we did there either, so it is really cool. We have already had some really funny experiences with some of the people down here, so dont be suprised if I have some good stories to tell about this area. It is a little weird though now not being in the Homestead zone anymore, but I'm really excited for the work we will be doing down here. That's all I really have for now, Thank you all so much for your love and support, and for everything you do for me. I love you and I love this gospel. I know that it is the true gospel and that through the ordinances of the priesthood, one can feel the atonement more in their life. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that we are doing his will serving down here. I love this church and I know that it is true.
Thank you all so much
Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Crazy weekend.

Crazy weekend. Everything was way different than what I thought it was going to be. We were having a pretty good week down in Key West, and I figured we were staying because we had some of the best success.

We had to go to the meeting on Saturday though, so we had to get everything ready and stuff, but nothing to major. Well we got our transfer info Thursday night(the night before we had to be in Miami) and they told us I was transferring this weekend, and that Elder Br would be coming down with a car(just missed the car). Well I had to pack everything really fast, and we had to find a quick ride to Marathon, then we made it up. We went on splits which was fun and I learned a lot from the District Leader. We then had to wake up early to get to the meeting by 7:40 in Miami Lakes. We got there and I still had no idea who my new companion was going to be. Everyone else is transferring this Wednesday, so I was like great this is going to be weird. We had a great conference with Elder G, and I really learned a lot. Then I was trying to ask the assistants who my next companion was, and they wouldnt tell me. Then I talked to President for a little bit about Key West, and then I said something about when will I find out, and he said, Wednesday. So then I asked well what do I do now. He said, your going and staying with Elder H, didnt they tell you. Nope. Well then I found out that Elder F, the other Zoneleader, was taking my spot in Key West, and I've been here with Elder H for the past few days, tearing it up down here. It has been a lot of fun. We sort of thought I might stay, but we got the call last night, and I am definately going to transfer meeting tomorrow, so I'm definately going somewhere else. This transfer is going to be crazy, because we are getting a new Assistant(I've had the same 2 my whole mission), atleast 3 new Zoneleaders, and my whole zone is going to transfer meetings basically. Super excited, I have no idea where I am going though, it should be fun. I had a lot of fun in Key West and I really loved it, but I guess it is time to move on.

The four days with Elder H have been nice because he is an awesome missionary, and I learned a lot from him. Thank you all so much for everything you all do. I love you and really appreciate it. I know this church is true, and that it is guided by a prophet of the Lord who recieves revelation from our Heavenly Father. I know that we have the authority to act in the name of Jesus Christ, and that we have been called to do so. I know Jesus Christ is my Savior and that he lives. I love you all so much, and love hearing from all of you

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen

Early Dunks

So this week we had 2 baptisms.  Super awesome.  They were supposed to be this Saturday, but we will not be here, so we bumped them up to yesterday. They were both excited and ready for it.  One person we had been teaching for a while, the other we found like 3 weeks ago.  They were both super pumped and ready for their baptisms.  It was so awesome.  We had a lot of fun teaching them, and are excited to see them keep growing in the gospel.  This week we had the assistants down with us for Monday night and Tuesday till the evening.  It was awesome.  We got a lot of the trainings that we had been missing out on because of the fact of us being down here with no one else.  We really learned a lot.  We met a lot of people.  Never have had so much sucess knocking doors before. We are really excited about what is going on down here.  The area is really growing.  I love it down here so much.  Transfers are next week, I'm getting nervous.  We find out if we are leaving this Thursday.  We also have a zone conference on Saturday, so if anyone is getting transferred then we will go up, come back down, then go back up.  Could be pretty crazy.  If it is that crazy you might not hear from me for a couple weeks.  Hopefully I'm staying down for one more, because I love it down here and it is really growing.  We have had a lot of fun down here.  I am definately going to have to take many many pictures this week.  Such a good week though with the assistants, we had a lot of fun.  We are super excited to go up to Miami this weekend too and see the missionaries.  This will probably be a crazy transfer because we will have a new assistant, first time since I've been in the mission, so I'm not sure whats going to happen, but I do know that they have been working on this transfer for a long time.  well I have to go now.  i love you all and am so grateful for everything you all do for me.  I know this church is true and that it is Gods kingdom once again established on the earth.  I know that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God on the earth today, and that Jesus Christ leads his church through the prophet.  I love you all so much

Elder Wesley Christopher Bowen