Christmas in Marshall!

December 30, 2013

This week has been an amazing week! So many blessings and miracles! So after talking to y'all on Christmas (which was a huge blessing) Elder Johnson and I drove back to Marshall and gave Christmas cards out to families we were teaching and it made it the close of a really great day! 

Then on the day after Christmas we received an outpouring of blessings from the Lord! I got a package in the mail with numerous gifts in it from all y'all! Thank you so much! They are much appreciated! I love y'all so much! It was great! And then when we were out and about that day and as our plans fell through we received a miracle from Mormon.org. It was a referral for someone named E. who lived up in Jefferson by a big lake about a half hour drive one way. Since our plans were open we figured we would go and contact the referral. We got up to the red neck part of town where his home was and got out and knocked on his door and a man opens the door and Elder Johnson says "Hi, are you E.?" and he replied, "Yes I am. Y'all cut right to the chase and get your mail really fast!" We then introduced ourselves and he invited us in and we talked to him about his family and how he found out about mormon.org. He said that his brother is a member of the Mormon church and that he has not really been the most active but that he is starting to get back into it and was talking to him about the church and talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and he had never heard about it before and was curious to know more. His brother had told him about mormon.org so he went on because he wanted a Book of Mormon. He is also a Baptist minister! He said that he had some different beliefs though from the baptists and that he is open, very open minded. So we taught him about the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read it ponder it and pray about it. He said that he would and we scheduled a return appointment with him and his wife and we are going to be seeing them on the 5th. We asked him to say the closing prayer and he said it and it was a beautiful prayer! It was a Miracle in every way! I am excited to meet with E. and his wife again this Sunday and I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for him and his family! There is nothing like being the Lord's Servants and being able to take part in His work. The Spirit that is in missionary work is so fulfilling and amazing! I'm so blessed to be able to be serving here in Marshall with Elder Johnson! In just the past few days I feel like we have grown closer together then we have all the time we have been serving together! It's been great! 

We spoke in sacrament meeting about member missionary work and it was a great blessing! Elder Johnson gave a great talk about a member missionary experience he had with a friend of his back home and how it changed his friend's life and how it changed his life and got him on a mission and on the path he needed to be on. It was really good! Then I spoke on inviting and doing it as a friend does out of love for our brothers and sisters! It went well. Then Bro. A. spoke on using family search in our member missionary work! It was great and really exciting! 

Funny thing is we had a really neat experience with using family search to reach out to someone. It was Christmas Eve and we were knocking doors and came to a yard that was full of crosses and scriptures on the cars and on the house and signs saying I'm a believer and the whole 9 yards. So we knock on the door and they invited us in. A black lady comes around the corner once we are in and she said SO y'all have a message to share? And we said yes its about the gospel being restored through a prophet. She then went on to how she was already saved and how she already knew about it and Elder Johnson was trying to help her understand but wasn't getting anywhere and things were getting kinda heated and I hadn't even said much. Then she said why aren't you out sharing it with the people who really need it who don't know Jesus. I replied then who do you know who would be interested in or benefit from our message? then she seemed to soften and talked about her neighbor and how she didn't know Jesus and then she started asking about what we do as missionaries and where we were from. When the conversation was getting to an end we were saying goodbye then Elder Johnson asked them if they were interested in family history and then we got invited back into their home and told them about the web site and invited them to visit it.  They were not as interested in family history at first but once we started talking to them more about it they became more and more interested and excited about it too. It was an amazing lesson about the spirit of Elijah! It is really true that it does turn the hearts and it is a great tool in helping others learn more about the gospel too. Out of all the people I have talked to when we have started to talk about family history and the family search website they have all been very nice. It's an amazing tool that we should all use more in our missionary work.

Then on Sunday we had a Tender Mercy from the Lord! We were knocking doors and a really nice lady answered the door and said "I've met with missionaries from y'alls church but can I give y'all something really quick?" she then left into her house and Elder Johnson leaned over to me and said she's probably going to grab a pamphlet from her church or anti material. I then replied well then we will take it and then throw it away. To our great surprise she came out with a Christmas gift that was in a small tin. She wished us a merry Christmas and happy new year and said that she needed to go because someone was working on her computer at the moment. It was amazing! Inside then tin were muddy buddies and some other treats which were delicious! 

I love y'all so much and thank y'all and everyone in the ward who have reached out and made this Christmas so wonderful it truly has been amazing and I'm so grateful for the love that has been shown to me from so many people! I love y'all so much and hope y'all have a fantastic week and New Years! 

 

Love,

Elder Bowen

 

Here are some pictures of Christmas and the day after! Thanks for the gifts! Y'all are the best ever!

Christmas is Here!

December 23, 2013

I can't believe Christmas is already here! It's crazy but it's great! This past week was a good one! We saw the T. family (we had thanksgiving with them) and we had hot apple cider with whipped cream with Sis. T. and visited with them. I love their family! We are still working on getting them to church and on the path that leads to the temple. 

 

This is weird. I don't really know what to write because I'm going to be talking to y'all on Christmas!! So I don't know what to share now and what to share then. This Christmas is going to be one of the best ever! I might get some sleep Christmas eve night! (Probably not like usual but that's how it goes! I'll be in bed though and I'll be trying to.) We had dinner out in Wascom with the G. family and I wondered if we were related to them in some way. They are a really nice family! 

We also meet with the M. family and that was great! They are a great family. 

And we meet with D. Twice. 

I'll get to talk to y'all about it more on Christmas! 

Love y'all tons!

Elder Drew Bowen

P.S. President Durrant wanted us to let our families know that he loves us and that we were raised right.

PPS Y'all should be getting a package today from Texas its coming UPS ground. Hopefully it's today. I sent it a little later than I wanted to but it'll get there eventually! 

(Note from the Mommy:  So we hadn't expected to get any kind of package from Drew for Christmas but we did and it came on the Monday before Christmas just as he said.  The sad part is that I had sent a pre-Christmas package to Drew several weeks ago that he got and had been enjoying, but the package that was for Christmas day with his presents and stocking in it didn't arrive before we talked with him on Christmas day!!!  I felt terrible about it, but he enjoyed getting it late - you'll read about it in the next post.)

Tender Mercy

This past week was great! 

Our zone has set a goal to contact 24 people a day as a companionship till Christmas and it is more difficult than I thought it would be. But we have been diligent and done all it takes to invite 24 people everyday to learn more about the gospel. We have been knocking a lot of doors and we found 4 new investigators! We are hoping that they will continue to desire to learn more about the gospel and make covenants at a time in the future.

One family we taught we are unsure of how much real intent they have. They invited us back though and we scheduled an appointment for tonight so we are hoping to help them gain a testimony. 

We had a specialized meeting and we got to get together with Pres. Durrant and had some trainings and a gift exchange. It was great! We also did a little skit to a song that we made up as a district to the song "Deep in the Heart of Texas" or something like that. It was a country song and it was really fun.  Our district is the largest one out east. I didn't realize that until then. After the meeting President Durrant let us all choose one of 4 movies to watch. He did it in place of letting us watch a movie on Christmas. Elder Johnson and I watched Where the Red Fern Grows. It was good! First time I had seen it. It was nice to be able to watch a movie. 

It rained on our way back and when I say rain, I mean Poured!! It was like buckets of rain! And we hadn't talked to 24 people yet but we had to reach our goal so what did we do? We went to a parking lot and gave people pass along cards as they ran to their cars. We had bundled up for it but me being silly as I was I wasn't wearing my hood because I felt like I was like a dark hooded figure on a movie and people already avoid missionaries so I didn't use it. And I didn't want to have to fumble with an umbrella so I didn't take that either but left it in the car. I thought we would talk to more people sooner but it was taking a little longer than I thought so I looked drenched. Well we asked a nice lady if we could give her a card from our church and she said yes and said "No disrespect but you are crazy for being out here. And what are you thinking about being out here with out an umbrella! You're going to get pneumonia! I bet if your mother were here right now she would slap you! Can I walk you to your car under my umbrella. Really please so that you can get out of this." I said ok, I have an umbrella in the car. So we started talking to her and it turns out her brother is a convert to the church. We talked to her about some of our basic beliefs and she was super nice! ( obviously she walked us to our car under her umbrella!) We had a great conversation under our umbrellas and invited her to visit mormon.org and also asked if we could come by and share more with her. She was very nice and said that she appreciated it but that she was ok with her religion. (or something to that effect) In parting she said "Always take your umbrella with you when its raining. Texas weather can kill you! If I were your mother I would slap you! But I really respect and appreciate what you are doing even in the rain! Y'all have a good night and a Merry Christmas." Having a nice person talk to us and take interest in us was a tender mercy! It made me really feel that 1. I should be a little smarter at times but 2. that people do notice the sacrifices we are making and that God loves us so much! And He will show that love in so many ways! Don't worry.  Neither one of us got sick and I had a great cup of hot cocoa bundled up in my PJ's that evening.

We meet with D. (S. She goes by both and we all call her by both) this week! She wasn't able to meet with us for almost the whole week because she had to go to the ER because she had a tooth that was hurting her so much! She has an infection but is on antibiotics now and has an appointment to get it pulled out soon. When we met with her she was so happy to see us and apologized for having to cancel on us so many times and that her life was so crazy. She is over coming smoking and is still preparing for her baptism. She is so excited for it. We did have to move her date back a week though so that she can be taught all the lessons and get her tooth pulled before her baptism so that she will be able to go under water without extreme pain. I know that y'alls prayers have helped. 

It's such a blessing to be a missionary and to be surrounded with amazing people! I love y'all so much and hope that y'all have an awesome week! Love y'all tons!

Your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen   

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Well this week was great! 

On Saturday we had a tiny bit of snow. E. Johnson said it was frost, but I liked to think of it as snow.  :) Its gotten pretty cold from this cold front! It's crazy one day it was really warm and you wore a short sleeve shirt.  Then you are bundling up in the big jacket! We have stayed as warm as possible with our beanies (people here call them tabagans?!) and scarves and gloves. It's not as fun to work in the cold because people are in such a rush to get inside or stay inside but that's ok because the Lord's work will go on! We got the package from home and it's been so nice to have that hot cocoa and hot cider when we come back in from the cold. It was funny, yesterday we were knocking doors and someone said "It looks like you boys are from the south bundled up like y'all are." We replied "We are from Utah but its dry there - here it's humid!" Weird thing is, it does not feel as cold when its 34 rather than when it was 41 because the humidity gets out of the air when it's a little lower. Or I'm just getting used to the cold again ....I'm doubtful there because I was never all that great with it in Utah. 

So we made personal invitations for the Christmas Devotional and gave it to people and no one came. It was kinda sad but we had some big technical difficulties so it was also kind of a good thing that no non-members came because we didn't get to see too much of it. Something with our building's satellite receiver got unplugged when we were setting up. We tried everything to fix it and had to call a number to figure how to get the plugs in the right place and on the right channel. We saw Elder Nelson's talk at the end and a few songs and some other things. I think this is the first time I have missed watching the president of the Church speak at it though. It was good to be able to hear the part we did though! 

We went on an exchange with the elders in Henderson in our district and it was a great experience! How an exchange works is we swap companions and we both go back to our areas and work there for 24 hrs and then swap back. So we exchanged companions after our zone meeting and then went to work. We went by an investigator of theirs and he was not himself. It was sad because he was out of it. He has something that gives him episodes at times. I don't know what it's called but we kind of think he was having one because he was just totally out of it. But we then went to visit a less active member and we started knocking his RV park afterwards. That was a first. I had never done that before on my mission but it was a rewarding experience. I didn't know that some people actually lived in RVs like a trailer home but smaller but people do. We were about to go and then Elder Adams said, "Let's knock this one too." and I said "Ok let's do it." We met a really nice guy named L. and taught him the first lesson. It was amazing.  He is really prepared. We got a return appointment and then went and looked for the next ready person.  After we exchanged back about a day later the Henderson Elders taught him again and set a baptismal date with him and he came to church this week! If he continues to progress in the gospel then there is a posibility that I could be doing his baptismal interview. That would be really amazing. 

We taught D. this week and she came to our ward's Christmas dinner! It was really good BBQ and they sent us home with some too. It's amazing to see the change taking place in D.'s life! When we first taught her in her home it was kind of messy and dark but over time it has gotten cleaner and cleaner and also brighter. The gospel changes our lives in every aspect and improves the quality of our living. She kind of lives in the ghetto of Marshall but she doesn't want to live there any more.  She wants to get to a better place and until she can she is making her home as clean as she can under her circumstances. Her baptismal date is for the 28th of December and as long as she continues to keep commitments and quits smoking then she will be ready for that day! 

It's great being in Marshall  and being able to serve the Lord even when it gets cold or hot! It's not as bad as Russia or Alaska. ;) I miss y'all so much - especially with it being Christmas time! But I love y'all and I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be and that this Christmas is going  to be one of the best ones ever for our family as we all think of the Savior's birth and remember what He has done for us. 

I love y'all so much!

 

Love your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen 

There are these amazing lights we saw in Marshall and there's this huge Believe light decoration and I loved it and had to get a picture of it!

My little Christmas tree I have on my Desk that y'all sent me! It's pretty much beautiful and I light it up every time I'm at my desk!

Elder Johnson and I bundling up for the cold.

The snow we got.

Thanksgiving in the Field

This past week was great!

We had an awesome thanksgiving! Lots of food!And even more left overs! It's crazy how full our fridge is right now! We had some really good duck at the T house! They didn't make beer can chicken which I was ok with. It was funny Bro. T brought in the chicken and said well it's alcohol free and it has no beer in it - all the beer is in me. Then Sis T said you're a walking beer can. It's weird because Bro. T always has a beer in his hand but he never appears to be drunk. Doesn't make any sense. They are such a nice family though. Sis. T gave us some Christmas presents early too. It was some fleece gloves and a beanie and scarf. It was so nice of her. They were very useful when we were tracting that evening.

It was funny. Tracting in the evening was 1 of 3 responses. 1- people really annoyed. Normal. 2 - people not answering the door. Also normal and 3- people really impressed! Not as common.  It was great to be able to invite others to come unto Christ on Thanksgiving. It was a really good experience. Also Christmas lights are coming up!! It's so exciting! And it's so pretty! I love Christmas and am really excited to be able to help everyone feel of the Christmas spirit by sharing the gospel with our brothers and sisters!

So a funny story from tracting on Sunday night! We knocked on a door and a man answered. We asked how his night was. He said oh pretty good I'm just watching the football game. We asked who was playing and he said the Giants and Patriots or something like that and we then asked which one he was cheering for and he said not really either, I'm just watching the game. So how can I help y'all. We then said we are missionaries and we are sharing a message about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through a prophet of God and we would like to share this message with you and your family. Can we do that? He said no I'm just visiting my mom and we have company over and what not. He wasn't really interested so I asked Well can we leave you with a card for a really good website sir? In a kind of energetic tone of voice and he replied, "Yes you can leave me with a card for a really good website." Kind of in a monotone voice. I then said alright the website is called mormon.org where you can go online and view profiles and find answers to frequently asked questions and it's a great website - I'd take a look at it. He then said ya I will I'll look up the question why are these guys knocking doors on a perfectly good football night. I then said, "It's on there you have a great night!" It was hilarious to me and totally made me laugh after we walked away!

So the members of the Marshall ward have a missionary Christmas tree for us and we already started setting it up. Its fake and I have never set one of them up so Elder Johnson has taken the spear head on it but we are going to be putting lights on it and everything. It's still in the works but it will be amazing!! Tender Mercy!

We went on an exchange on Friday with the Zone leaders. We swapped companions and worked in each others area for training purposes. And they are Spanish missionaries and I got to go to their area. It was awesome. Spanish missionaries do work a little different than English missionaries do. They don't knock on every door, they just knock on the Spanish looking ones and then they are always asking people if they know where the Spanish speakers live. It was great though and I learned a lot from it too.

Our investigator S came to church with her boyfriend. It was great! They really enjoyed it and he bore his testimony in sacrament meeting. I'll tell you what. We were kind of nervous for him being at church because we had heard some stories and then him getting up to bear his testimony, when we had never meet him till then other than just in passing, was really nerve racking because we had no idea what he was going to say and it could be less than accurate doctrine. He kept it all pretty much centered on Jesus Christ though which was really good! After the meeting one of bishop's councilors came up to me and said, "When I saw him coming up I thought - this is going to be interesting. But it wasn't too bad this time. Better than others in the past."

So all in all this past week has been great! I'm so blessed! It's an amazing time to be a missionary! I love y'all and pray for y'all often! 

Love your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen

PS.  There have been some comments about me looking taller. Well with the help of Bro. T we found out that I am 5'8 1/2" so I might have grown a half inch. But I'm good with that. Love y'all! 

Here's a picture of some zebras we found on our way to help some members move. Who knew that they had zebras in Texas and not in a zoo! Just on a ranch!

Elder Johnson and me with the Thankful Turkey we made on Thanksgiving that y'all sent us!

The hot dog toaster a member gave to us early for Christmas. It's really sweet! And it's made by good old Coke!

Me and Elder Johnson with the hot dog toaster.

Elder Johnson working on the tree.

 

An Amazing Week in Marshall

November 25, 2013

Well it's gotten cold here! I'm really glad I have a nice big coat! I'm also very thankful that I'm not in Alaska right now because I don't know if I could survive. So we worked really hard and we were blessed so much! So we had a really good district meeting on contacting/reaching out to others to invite them to learn more about the gospel. It was really all based off of Elder Ballard's talk from conference. The District is great! It's got six companionships in it and they are all awesome! We set a district goal to reach out to 2000 people by the end of this transfer. It's going to take a lot of work but we are going to see miracles come from it because we already have! Elder Johnson and I have talked to 111 people this week which exceeded our goal of 100! It was great! its been a while since I had talked to 100 people in a week! 

We also set a baptismal date with one of our investigators! Its set for December 28th! I really hope things will all work out for it to happen. S (our investigator with a date) was sick yesterday so she couldn't come to church but she really wanted to. She loved coming last week! We had a lesson with her this week completely on the restoration of the priesthood and it all came about because she had questions about it! It was amazing! 

We also found three new investigators this week! We knocked on a lot of doors and got 8 or so return appointments and only 2 of them worked out but that's how it works. And the good people who were honest and let us share a message with them are now in the process of repenting and coming unto the Savior. We met a lady named L who scheduled a time for us to come back and she was there and let us in! She has 3 kids and her husband is currently out of work. He stayed in the back room working out but we were able to teach his wife and kids. It was amazing. As we were teaching there was a time when Elder Johnson was speaking and I really felt that God was reaching out to His children through us. We are His servants and He will and has given us the words we are to speak. 

Missionaries are promised so much from the Lord! It's amazing! "Whom the Lord calls, He qualifies" is so true! We have all been called to be missionaries and the Lord will give us the experiences to be able to fulfill that calling! In the past few months I was invited by my district leader to go through Preach My Gospel and mark every single promise in it! I was amazed at the promises contained! It built my faith. We have all been promised so much. Preach My Gospel applies to every member of the church and is written by prophets and apostles to assist us in fulfilling our responsibility to share the gospel! 

Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm excited for it. We are having dinner with a less active part member family that is really nice and red neck. We are apparently having duck and beer can chicken. I guess that's why they are a part member family:) That's also why they are red neck. So we will stick to the duck. But it'll be good because the sick need a physician and hopefully we will be the tools in the hands of the Master Physician. 

I'm really excited for Christmas already though! To totally skip Thanksgiving. I've just really caught the Christmas spirit early this year .... as always! It is such a blessing to be able to share what I cherish most during this holiday season. I am excited to see miracles continue to come and bless the lives of people here in Texas. I hope that y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and share something that you have been blessed with, with a friend! I love y'all so much and I feel so blessed to be a missionary!  Love y'all tons!

 

Your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen

Moved to Marshall

So I got transferred to Marshall and arrived here Friday morning around 10:30 am! I love it here. It's still in east Texas and it is on the border of Louisiana. Its about an hour north of Lufkin and a little east. The transfer was unexpected. We found out about it Wednesday night at 7:30 from the assistants to the president. They said I was coming to Marshall and what not and that it was happening on Friday morning. I love it here and I got to say good bye to a lot of people in Lufkin on Thursday! My New companion is Elder Johnson who is from West Jordan Utah. He is great! We have one progressing investigator here so far! Her name is S. but she goes by D. (or how ever you spell it). She is in her 50s and came to church with her 3 grandchildren this past Sunday! It was awesome! The ward here is smaller than it was in Lufkin. It's great though! We have about 80-90 people come to church on average ...I think that's what I have been told. It's a great ward! I love the Bishop and everyone I have met so far! We have already gone out and talked to a good amount of people too. We have some potential investigators from our own finding efforts and hopefully they will allow us to come and teach them the gospel more. I'm really excited to be able to help the ward grow here! They haven't had a baptism in a year or year and a half so it's been awhile and now it's going to have one. 

D. really enjoyed church which is such a relief! It is really hard for some black people because often they are the only ones in the congregation. But she and the 3 grandchildren she brought with her really enjoyed it and so we are really excited to keep working with them. I'm thinking that her daughter (the mother of two of the grandchildren) needs an invitation to learn more and come to church because she missed out! I'm hoping to be able to do that this week! So one thing I have really learned from being a missionary is that when some one comes to church that people don't know it is the member's responsibility to make them feel welcome. Thankfully I have never had to worry too much about people not feeling welcomed but I have seen how easy it is to get caught in a click and miss the opportunity. But the Marshall ward passed the test with flying colors! There were multiple people who introduced themselves to Demitrise and it made me want to have even more people at church! I'm going to do everything I can to help people here and the ward is going to grow because I know there are people here who God has prepared to receive the gospel at this time. Now we just need to find them! 

SO I'm in a new district but I'm still the District leader. Talk about a lot of trust from the Lord through Pres. Durrant. The Longview District is twice the size of Lufkin's. It has 6 wards in it each with a set of missionaries. I know some of them and they are awesome! When they sent in numbers this week they also sent a little message saying how much they loved me! That was amazing and made me so happy. I really feel like this is where I need to be now and that I can help people here in Marshall! I'm hoping to help the district as well. 

Things here are going to be great! I'm excited, and feel so blessed to be able to be a missionary! It's amazing to just go forward with enthusiasm and love for the Lord and His children! I know that I am doing the Lord's work and that this is His church restored in these latter days. I know that there is a prophet of God on the earth who is the Lord's mouth piece just as prophets of old were! I know its all true!

Love y'all tons!

Love your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen 

Elder Bowen with Bro. B.

Elder Bowen with his new companion Elder Johnson.

Elder Bowen with D.

Elders in the Lufkin District.

Lufkin ward Bishop and his sons.