Baptism

This last week was amazing! I was able to see 3 of the people I have been helping teach get baptized! It was amazing! Samantha's baptism was great. A little crazy because of how crazy a day it was but it all worked out. That day we had scheduled a baptismal interview for Anna and her daughter Natalie so we did that and ran over to the church and the missionaries who were going to fill up the font for us didn't have a key so we were running late on that, but it got filled in time and it was beautiful to see Samantha finally get baptized. She had been investigating the Church for a few months but she did it. I also gave a talk at her baptism which went great and I spoke on baptism and Mosiah 18. Also after the baptism Pres. Durrant said congrats and that I gave a good talk so that was nice on top of everything else as well.

 

I got transferred to Frisco and its been a little crazy. I am not running around all over the place with the assistants like I used to be, but now I'm on a bike and for the most part I really enjoy biking. We got double transferred in so we have had to meet the bishops and the ward mission leaders and members and we have had to spend a lot of time figuring out the area. But we have it down now. We have one investigator up here. He's nine and wants to be baptized because he read about it in the Book of Mormon. We have taught him once now. 

 

Also General Conference was amazing. I loved how much they talked about missionary work and that so many things related to me. I really enjoyed the talk about how the Lord wants to forgive. He wants to so bad. I loved that because it relates so perfectly to the people I meet. I also loved Elder Holland's and Pres. Monson's on Obedience. 

 

Yesterday I was able to go back down to Richardson to baptize Natalie ( Anna's daughter) and also attend the baptism. It was so Amazing! It felt so peaceful and I felt the spirit very strong. Natalie was a little nervous to have to bend back wards for the ordinance but she did perfect and on her first time too. I love Anna and Natalie so much! It was so good to see them make that first covenant with the Lord. I want to have a baptism every week! I'm going to try as hard as I can to reach that mission wide goal. 

 

Well there are people waiting to use this computer so I better go but I love y'all and pray for y'all!

I'll send a letter talking a little more about the baptism.

 

Your Missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen

 

PART II

 

So the people behind me aren't waiting for a computer so I'll write more.

 

At Anna's and Natalie's baptism there was great support from everyone who had reached out to Anna. Anna was baptized by a priest in the ward. I think his name was Jose or Jesus - something of that sort. The first 2 times she wasn't immersed completely but the third time was the charm. It was Jesus's first baptism! We had brought him with us for one of the lessons because we needed another man so we called him up and brought him and that was the night we talked about how Anna and Natalie should start thinking about their baptismal program and Elder Weatherford had suggested that people we had brought with us to the lessons could baptize them including Jesus but suggested me. Elder Weatherford is crazy nice and thoughtful. He really wanted me to baptize one of them so he suggested it. The next lesson we asked Anna if she had thought about it and she said "ya I want Jesus to baptize me and Natalie wants Elder Bowen to baptize her. I want Jesus to do it because he said he hadn't done it before and because he didn't really think I would actually ask him to."  I love Anna!

After the baptism Anna bore her testimony and it was so beautiful. She spoke of how she had been to many other churches but there was always something that pushed her away from them. She also said that she wanted a church that would help her bring up her kids right and that she knew that the LDS church would help her do that and that it is the true church.

She was so touched that she teared up a little and I did too. (I get that from mommy.) After the baptism Anna said thanks and that she didn't think Natalie would have gotten baptized by anyone else. That made me feel really good. It was so nice to be dressed in white again! It reminded me of the temple and how badly I love the Lord's house! I hope that Anna and her family go there in a year. (first attachment picture of Dallas temple).

 

I am excited to start things up here in Frisco. This last week was hard for reaching our goals and teaching because we only have Connor and not too many other people. We are almost starting from ground zero it feels but I haven't gotten discouraged and now that we have our pocket maps that we made and know what some of the names on the board mean we are going to get things going. Elder Degn is great! He has only ever been double transferred to places so he knows what to do so we aren't completely deer in the head lights. 

 

Conference was amazing!  In between Sunday sessions we had lunch with a member of the 6th ward because they invited us over after we accidentally knocked into them before Sunday morning's session. It was a tender mercy because I enjoyed their yummy fajitas (tacos) much better than my planned lunch. And we got to meet members! I haven't seen the Bohn's up here in Frisco and I'm afraid I'm not in the same building as them but I don't know because here in Frisco is like Utah-size wards. The building gets packed in on Sunday. (From what I hear. I've never been here for a regular Sunday yet.) But the good news is that we have a potential investigator from our first day here. We knocked into him. His name is Titus and he texted us saying he was watching conference like we invited him to. So hopefully we will get to teach him. 

 

So I already got a flat tire. I think it was due to something messing up the stem to my inner tube and not a thorn because it was at the very base of the stem. But I was prepared with a spare tube. and the Tender Mercy part of it is that my tire went flat right in front of the FC Dallas soccer teams stadium so I was able to change it there which was cool because I really wanted to see the stadium up close. And it's in my area so it was bound to happen eventually. At the stadium when we walked up to the gate to throw away my bad tire there was this sign which was cool. (Second attachment.) Just put Texas in front of Dallas and Missionary after Dallas. It was neat. 

 

So Frisco is like Alpine in that every house is big and everyone seems to have money. The sad trade off is that nobody loves their job. But it pays their bills as they say. But still, good happy people here. And a member family has the last name of Bowmen. They are a very nice family. Also we had dinner with the Day family and their son is a ward missionary and I'm excited to start working with him more. The Day family are very fun and funny to. They reminded me of our family a little.

 

Also to skip back a few weeks I had a great Easter! The Easter bunny came to my apartment with the assistants and that made me super happy. Thanks y'all!

 

Also yesterday I made my personal mission plan because I realized that I hadn't done that yet. And now after Samantha's and Anna's and Natalie's baptism I want to have another one here in Frisco with Elder Degn (said Dane)! We are going to make it happen! 

 

I loved the Conference talk where they talked about how faith is a literal power and not just a declaration of belief. That is really important to know. Because our future is only as bright as our faith and because we have to have faith to get anywhere in this life. I am excited to use that power to find and save more of Gods children!

 

Well I love Y'all! I hope y'all are doing good! 

 

Love your missionary,
Elder Drew Bowen