Mission of Miracles

This past week has proven that the Texas Dallas Mission is " The Mission of Miracles"! We have seen the Lord work in our area this past week as He has carried on his work. After Mission Leadership Council, Elder Reid and I decided that we would increase our faith as invited by our fellow missionaries. Miracles have followed! 

Wednesday we stumbled upon a miracle that the Lord placed in our path. As we were coming into an apartment complex to knock doors we met a very nice woman named B. She was replacing the alternator in her vehicle and we offered to help. We tucked in the ties and did our best to figure things out with her. As we served her we got to know each other a little and she mentioned that she was looking for a church. She moved here a few months ago from New Orleans, Louisiana and hadn't found a church that she felt comfortable with. We told her that she was more than welcome to come to ours. After helping her to the best of our ability, she thanked us with tears! She spoke of how God sent us there and how she had been stressed and overwhelmed. She said that she would be willing to have us come by and share our message anytime and so we exchanged phone numbers.

We called and texted her the next day and she scheduled an appointment with us for that Saturday! When we brought a member friend on that Saturday, she spoke of the church as if it was already her own. It was beautifull! We taught B. and her boyfriend M., the Restoration starting with the Book of Mormon. It was very incredible to see the lesson fall into place perfictly. M. told us that he was thinking of being baptized a second time. We invited them both to be baptized on the 12th of July and they both commited to prepare to be baptized on that day. It is truly incredible to see the Lord working His wonders! He knows His Children and is preparing them to receive His servants. It is our responsibility to act in faith nothing doubting. I feel that the Lord will continue to bring about His purposes here in the Plano 9th ward! 

Thursday we had an amazing lesson with K. at the home of Bishop H. We taught the pre-existance and creation. She has been learning the gospel at a rapid rate! The Spirit teaches her and she understands. Her baptismal date has been moved up to the 28th of June and she is on track to be baptized on that day. She has now been to church three Sundays in a row. She has parental permission to be taught and continues to impress us with how in tune she is with the Holy Ghost.

Sunday was also an incredible day! It was one of the best fast and testimony meetings I have ever participated in! We bore our testimonies and many others in the ward did as well. The spirit was felt so strongly it moved K. to tears. Towards the end, members of the ward spoke of missionary work and thanked us for the work we have been doing. I feel that the members trust us in the 9th ward and that with that trust the Lord will hasten His work in this part of His vineyard! We also learned after church that K. will be going to girls camp with the young women this month! 

The Lord carries out His purposes and we just have some really great seats! We love the investigators we have been blessed to teach. Things just keep getting better and it brings a joy to my heart that is so fullfilling! God is a God of Miracles! If they ever cease then it's due to our unbelief.

But here in the Texas Dallas Mission they continue on! I love being able to be a part of it! Thanks to having a great family and people who love me I am able to be here and witness all of it! I just wish we could all see it from God's view it must be something beautiful! If we did I think it would change everyone's attitude and atmosphere about the Work of Salvation!

I love y'all so much! Don't forget to look for the Miracles! They are there!

Love your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen

Elder Bowen & Elder Reid

Funny Drew!

Sacrament Meeting with Investigators!

May 26, 2014

There is nothing in the world like having investigators at church! K. came to church again! 2 weeks in a row! We met with her last Thursday and taught her about the holy ghost and she said that she gets a good vibe from early morning seminary and church and is nicer to people and that she gets a bubbly feeling. We talked about how that was the holy ghost and invited her to be baptized! She said yes! She is working towards the 12 of July and that may move up sooner at the rate she is going!

I don't have to much time to email because of the holiday and we are at a members home but this week has been fabulous! Transfers just passed and I'm staying in Plano with Elder Reid! 

We taught K. and had dinner with her and that was great as always! We are going to be teaching her again this Friday! She hasn't come to church yet but we feel that she will come really soon. We are going to be teaching her the plan of salvation because that seems to be where all of her questions end up going to! So I'll let y'all know how it goes!

Well I love y'all a ton and hope y'all have a great Memorial Day! Love y'all!

Love your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen

Miracles in Plano!

 May 19, 2014

This past week has been miraculous! We have seen an out pouring of blessings upon our area! This week we found 4 new investigators! K. was a referral from the Gladys Knight fireside. We meet with her last Monday. We had dinner with her and then answered her questions about the church which revolved mostly around polygamy and temple marriage and then gave her the gift bag. She thanked us for answering her questions and she felt that she received good answers. It seemed to us that her concerns on those topics were resolved. When we gave her the gift bag she was grateful to receive a copy of the Book of Mormon and said that she would start reading it and that we could come back in a week to have dinner again and talk to her more about the church. It was amazing and we are excited for the opportunity we have to continue teaching the Restored Gospel to her. We are going back this evening and we are excited to continue to see the Miracle of conversion take place in her life!

We also found a new investigator on an exchange with Elder Belnap. (He is a district leader in our zone for the Spanish missionaries and was my Zone leader for a time out in Longview when I was serving in Lufkin and Marshall.) I worked with him in our area. It was a great experience. As we began working the morning of the exchange we had a great story take place. We started knocking doors in a neighborhood and it's west Plano so it's a pretty nice neighborhood. A half hour into knocking a police officer pulls up next to us and gets out of his vehicle to speak to us. He was a really nice man. He told us that one of his residents had called because he saw some men in white shirts and ties going door to door and peering through windows. He asked us if we were peering through windows and we said "No sir just preaching the gospel." He then kind of did small talk for a little while about how some solicitors are really sketchy and what not. He then said "Well you can get back to your thing but no peering through windows." That was really a funny experience for us because the wording and all that and because it seamed like the cop was annoyed that one of the residents would call him out for something so lame. But He was very nice and respectful.

Elder Belnap and I were tracting in an apartment complex that evening and meet a Hispanic lady who attended church yesterday and wants to continue to attend and we also meet a very nice woman Alana who accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and scheduled a return appointment with us for the following day. When I returned with Elder Reid we were welcomed into their home which had heavy spices in the air! We all walked in and Alana and Elder Reid and I were all coughing in between our teaching because her roommate had just cooked something really spicy up. When we were teaching the Restoration we talked about the priesthood and how important it is and what it is used for and that got us on the topic of baptism. Alana told us that she had baptized herself because it was important to her. However when we were teaching her it seemed to us that she knew that her baptism was lacking priesthood authority. It was a great lesson and she said the closing prayer for us at the end! It was great!

We also taught another one of our investigators, D. about the Plan of Salvation. At the end of our lesson we got her family together and had family prayer with them. It was their first ever family prayer! It was great. Her daughter D. said it and I think that was her first prayer. At the end when we all said amen I felt the spirit. I forgot how important family prayer is! I pray with my companions all the time but something about kneeling in a circle for family prayer is powerful. I wish that I would have thought to do it with more investigators in previous areas.

I'm so grateful that our family has frequently had family prayer! It has really made us more loving and closer to each other. It's one of those small things that makes a big difference! I'm not going to forget that lesson again.

Our final miracle of the week came on Saturday when we meet K. when we knocked on her apartment door. We told her why we were there and asked if we could share our message with her and she didn't respond at first. We told her that if she was not interested than it wouldn't hurt our feelings if she said no. Her response was then, "I think I will. It feels like the right thing to do." So we got to know her a little better as we began to teach and she is sixteen years old and has tried many different belief systems ranging from Hindu to Buddhist and a little bit of Christianity. We asked her questions about what her beliefs were and how she felt about Christianity. At one point in our conversation she said "Y'all are so calm it's almost scary." I think that she is already starting to recognize the spirit. We told her of the Book of Mormon and she asked, "Does this mean that I'm going to have to go to church or can I just read?" We told her that coming to church would help her learn much faster and help her to find truth and at that moment her mom came to the door and said "My daughter needs Jesus in her. I will give her ride for free to go to church." Her mother is catholic but she seems to just want her daughter to believe in our Savior. She agreed to come to church and and then she came! It was amazing! We were really surprised and were not expecting her to actually come. The talks were focused on For the Strength of Youth. Perfect topic for a youth's first sacrament meeting. She had many familiar faces at church from high school and was immediately fellowshipped in with the young women of the ward. We have now scheduled another lesson with her at the church with one of the young women in the ward and the young woman's father. She also told us after church that she was thinking of attending seminary! We are seeing the evidences of God's work moving forward! Especially here in the Plano 9th ward! 

Miracles happen every day! Faith is a key part of missionary work! 

Well I love y'all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Love y'all!

Love your missionary, 

Elder Drew Bowen

Great and Busy Week!

May 12, 2014

This past week I have had the opportunity to go on exchanges with three of our wonderful missionaries in the Plano Zone. First was with Elder Fackrell, who is from West Jordan. It's a small world when you meet someone and they live next to some one I knew in my ASL class. I went to the Plano 7th Ward with him and was thoroughly impressed with the excellent missionary he is! As we biked from place to place I was impressed that he was not afraid to talk to everyone! We spoke to many people and knocked doors to find three potential investigators. We were also blessed to have an unplanned opportunity of service. We helped some older men move large pieces of wood to the curb side. Which here pews for a non denominational church. They were very kind and invited us in to have otter pops with them after helping them out. It was fun to give service like Christ would. As I spoke with Elder Fackrell I was very appreciative of the testimony that he has and for his humility. I love Elder Fackrell, he is awesome!

We also went on exchange with Elder Hudson and Elder Schatt. I served with Elder Hudson in the Plano 3rd ward. Things went well. We meet with one of their investigators and taught her the Restoration. We also tracted and contacted at a park in their area. We then worked on contacting the Gladys Knight referrals in their area and they were not home.

As for the Plano 9th and Elder Reid. Things are going great here! We didn't teach as much as we would have liked to this past week but we still feel blessed. We found some new potential investigators when we were on exchanges. We have been teaching E. He is progressing very slowly and is having a hard time over coming some of his new found concerns. We trust that the Lord will continue to guide him to the answers he is seeking. He did tell us yesterday that he no longer has the desire to smoke and that God has taken it away form him.

Elder Reid and I are getting along very well. He is the kindest person ever! I feel so blessed to have him as my companion! He constantly gives me complements and lifts, encourages and inspires me! If only every missionary could have a companion like Elder Reid! I feel that I'm still learning and growing and that each day there is something new to experience!

 

It was great seeing y'all yeasterday and being able to talk to y'all as well! It was great! I love y'all and will keep y'all posted on how our dinner goes tonight! Love y'all!

Love your missionary,
Elder Drew Bowen

Crazy Week but Great!

May 5, 2014

This past week has been so crazy! We were all over the place!

Our mission held a fireside for the members to invite friends and family to this past weekend. It was done by Gladys Knight and it was amazing! We went with one of our investigators on Saturday and it was fantastic. D. ( our invest.) loved it. It was my first time meeting her. She has a daughter who is getting ready to get married in a temple in California so she has been busy and stressed out of her mind so we haven't been able to meet with her at all for a while. She was really nice and had a great sense of humor. The fireside was with a choir that Gladys Knight directs and it's unlike any kind of choir I have ever heard before. Their music was so up beat and the epitome of "Gospel". It was beautiful though and she bore her testimony how she came in contact with the church and how she then joined it. I wish everyone in our mission boundaries would have had the opportunity to see it! It taught that we are all God's children no matter our color, that we do things we don't like some times simply to be obedient, and that we can give ourselves to Christ today and it doesn't have to be tomorrow. (in other words - don't procrastinate the day of your repentance:) Our stake generated 935 tickets for the event. Hopefully we will get a lot of referrals from it all too.

We had our last interviews with President Durrant. I can't believe that we will be having a new mission president in just a couple of months.

Our prep day is almost over and I don't have any time left. It's been a crazy day trying to get everything done. I'm excited to see y'all on Sunday via Skype. Sorry this is so short but just know that I love y'all! I'll tell y'all all bout life here in Texas on Mothers Day. 

Love y'all! 

Love,

Elder Drew Bowen

Plano Joys!

April 28, 2014

 

This past week was awesome!

We taught 5 lessons with members present! It was awesome. We went out with a member in another ward who is temporarily home from his mission in Madagascar for surgery and we went tracting with him and taught 2 lessons with him to our investigators. It was awesome! 

 

We met a really nice family that attends the Preston Wood Baptist church which has the nick name "the bapti dome"  and "six flags over Jesus" because it is a huge church! It's like the Delta Center but a church. I hear it has a mall inside it too. But anyway, they were a great family that invited us in and talked to us. After we had taught them they wanted to invite us to their church. And they asked if they could give us money and we said no and then they asked if they could take us out to eat or have us over for dinner and we said yes to that! So they have our number and I hope they call us to have dinner with their family this week. 

 

Also we started teaching E's wife D! We are teaching them separately and we will then combine their lessons once we catch her up. We asked if she would be baptized and she said that she never has been baptized and that she would like to! So we are going to scheduale a baptismal date with her this week if all works out! It was sad as we were teaching her we asked if she prayed much and she said not really every now and then. We then asked another question and I don't remember what it was but she told us that she has never felt like she has ever gotten a answer to her prayers. We are going to change that! 

 

So we have a lot of meetings coming up this week and we have been preparing to train for them during our lunches and companionship studies. I don't know if I have ever been more busy than Elder Reid and I have been. We are always on the go to tract or teach. It's the best feeling ever! Even though it's exhausting it just feels so good! I love being a missionary! 

 

So we got threatened to be thrown in jail from a cop for knocking doors in an apartment complex so we had to leave. I don't think we could but he just wanted to scare us off. People here don't know what the difference between proselyting and soliciting. But we left, no big deal, even though he was pretty rude about it. But good news is there are lots of places to find people to teach! 

 

So life is great and busy in Plano and it's a Joy! 

 

I love y'all and I'm excited to see y'all in a few weeks! Love y'all! 

 

Love your missionary,

Elder Bowen