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

Plano!

So I got to Plano and I love it!

We have been crazy busy this past week and I have an awesome companion! Elder Reid is super solid and way on top of things! I'm back in the city! It's weird. Everything is so big! Especially the houses! I think I serve in one of he most wealthy areas in the Mission! For example, we were tracting in a crazy nice neighborhood with really big houses and we were talking and what not as we walk up to this house. I look up to see if they have a no trespassing sign and I see an Austin Martin sitting in the drive way. The fist thought was I have only seen that car in video games and movies and the second was hey James Bond dives that car. Well, the house had a sign for no trespassers so we didn't knock on their door but it's just crazy how wealthy people are in Plano. But we have been teaching a lot. Every single day. We taught four lessons with members present to our investigators and have found new investigators as well.

 

We are teaching a man named E. and he is a really nice guy the sisters met and referred to us. Then there is F. and V. who are both Hindu who we are teaching. I love them they are great. They gave us cookies after our lesson and it was a great lesson. Also we are teaching a man who is Jewish and a lot of other people who I haven't met yet.

My fist day here I dropped off my bags and went right back out the door to go to work. We tracted for a while and then we taught a lesson with a member from my first area! He was in the YSA and we are teaching an investigator that we found in our area and we are going to get him into the YSA but we get to teach him still. It's awesome. His name is B. (our investigator) and he is starting to believe a little more for himself. 

 

So this past week a new video came out on Mormon.org called "Because of Him"! It is awesome! We have watched it a million times and every time it gives me the chills. We have shared it with members and investigators and people we have met on the street. We showed E. and he then posted it on Facebook to his 500 friends saying "This is what the Mormons believe." It was awesome! We told F. and V. about it and they said oh ya I already saw it. It came up as an add but it's good. It made me happy! It's gotten about 3 million views - something like that.

 

So Elder Reid is awesome! He is such a good teacher. I'm learning a lot from him and I feel like my teaching is starting to improve a lot as well. We teach asking more questions and answering more as well. So pretty much I love Plano and I love the ward even though I just barely started meeting people and  I love that we have a workout room at our apartment! It is so nice to have something to use to work out! 

 

I had an amazing Easter! I even got an Easter package from home on Saturday night and that was a huge surprise to me! Thanks!

 

So the work is good and I'm excited to keep on doing it. Miracles are about to take place in the City of Dallas!

 

I love y'all and want to share one last thing with you. My testimony of Jesus Christ. This Easter we commemorated His resurrection. What a wonderful time of year. I know that He lived, and died and rose again the third day. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He provided us with an infinite and eternal atonement. He knows and feels all that we do and have and ever will feel. He gave us the blessing of being able to overcome Death and Sin. All will live again and we all can become like Him. He invites us to have faith in Him and to repent, to live His gospel by enduring in the covenants we make at baptism to the very end. Repentance is the process of becoming and what we experience as we turn to him and change our lives so that they are in harmony with His teachings.  We can Become like Him. Even Perfect in the life after this. I love Him.

Love your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen

Leaving the Home of Marshall

April 14, 2014

This past Saturday night I got a phone call from President Durrant. He asked me if I would serve as a zone leader for him. I told him I would. Later that night I got a call from his assistants giving me more details. I leave for my new area today at 2:30 pm. I have been called to serve in the Plano 9th ward in Dallas. I don't know my new address so I will get it to y'all as soon as I get it. 

There was a huge miracle that happened this past week. We got a call from our bishop's counselor asking us to fill in for a speaking assignment this Sunday because he had an unexpected opening. We of course said yes and at the time we didn't know I was getting transferred so we said well who ever gets transferred will give the talk. I spoke yesterday and it was an amazing experience for me. I was the last speaker and right before I got up to speak Bro. Y. (our bishop's counselor who called us for the talk) got up and asked me if it would be ok if he could let everyone know that I was leaving. I said of course and he then told the ward that I had been in their ward for a while and that I was getting transferred. He also told the ward how much he had appreciated my service in the ward and how they were all going to miss me. I wanted to cry as he was talking. G. C. was sitting next to me and he is my best friend in the young men's and he looked shocked and sad to hear that I was going to be leaving. I then got up and spoke on the most important thing ever. The Atonement of Jesus Christ. I got to bear my testimony to the ward family that I have become a part of and share with them the things that I felt moved to say. What a blessing it was! I realized that I said y'all more times over the pulpit than I ever have in a talk! It was just natural and that's how they talk here anyways. 

I felt like it was my farewell all over again.  Saying goodbye to the people I love. Investigators, members and my companion. I'm going to miss Marshall! I already do even though I'm emailing at the Marshall library computer right now. I'm going to always remember the people here and love them forever! My investigators are in good hands with Elder Kidd and the friends they have in the ward. C. is going to get baptized in a couple of weeks and I'm excited to hear about it and get pictures. We said good bye to B. this morning and he told me to be safe and stay in touch and that he loved me. I will always remember Marshall! 

To my little brothers Christopher and Jared and anyone else who is getting ready to serve a mission. When you serve a mission one day in the future act in faith and work hard! Put your Trust in the Lord and do everything you possibly can to bring about His work. Love the areas you serve in and Love the People you serve. Love from the bottom of your heart and people will see the love of Christ in your eyes! Love an area and it will love you! Try to leave every area better than you found it! When you leave make it feel like you are leaving home all over again because home is where you heart lies. Give them your heart! 

I love y'all so much and I miss y'all! But this work is the work of the Lord and it is the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life. Is it hard? Yes. Absolutely. But we do hard things and it is in the difficulty that we bring forth the most good. It is in the difficulty of seeking for truth that one gains a testimony. It is in the difficulty of living the gospel that one becomes converted and it was in the difficulty that Jesus Christ went through for us that we can Become! 

I love y'all!

 

Love your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen   

Oh How Joyful Referrals Are!

April 7, 2014

It's incredible to think that another week has passed by! Last week feels like it was forever ago and yet just like it was yesterday! I can't believe that General Conference has already come and passed. I barely had time to get excited about it before it was already over! But I loved conference! As always. It's hard not to when you get to hear from the Lord's prophet and His apostles! So many people don't realize just how nice the structure of Christ's Church is. No other church claims to be organized under priesthood authority with a prophet and Apostles. Only one. The true and living church of Jesus Christ. The world today has a weird look on the Savior's church. So many people think that well it doesn't matter what church you go to as long as it serves God (or claims to at least) and that you like it. Many don't think there is only one true church but that all churches are in some way combined simply because they serve God. All Christian churches are combined in one way. They all profess Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the world. But Christ only established one church and it had structure to it. That structure and authority is only found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This is His church restored through Him appearing to Joseph Smith and sending His servants with Priesthood Keys to bring the fullness of His Gospel once again to the earth.

Did any of y'all notice that you sustained my mission president in his soon to be new calling as a counselor in the General Sunday School presidency? He gets to serve with Elder Tad R. Callister in a few months! It's just another evidence that I have one of the best mission presidents ever!

We watched part of General Conference with a part member family. It was great! The entire family watched almost all of conference for Saturday. It was great. I love the spirit that comes from conference and how each talk is meant for us. It was amazing to see this year as in years past. It applied to the T. family who we watched the Saturday sessions with as well. You always learn something new when you listen and are sincere. We even took the T.'s son to the priesthood session with us. That brought back good memories of going with Daddy and Christopher and Jared. Those were always great memories. 

This past week Elder Kidd and I went on an exchange with the Henderson Elders Hendry and Smith. I worked with Elder Smith in Marshall and it was a great experience. We worked in a neighborhood and met a very kind lady who was in her 80's and visited with her. She was more open to our message than I thought she would be. We also met a man who had lived in Utah who asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon so he could read it. He was a very nice man even though he reminded me of how long I have been out on my mission. When he heard I had been out for 15 months he said, "Oh wow you'll be home in no time!" He was really nice though and visited with us for a little while.

At the end of this week I learned a really important lesson. We had an appointment fall through on Friday and so we knocked in the trailer park we were at. We met a very nice lady who said she was attending a church here in town and that she wasn't interested in our message at this time. Elder Kidd asked if we could leave her with a card in case she changed her mind and she said ok but I wont really use it. Well Sunday afternoon we got a referral for a lady named Karen who lived in the same trailer park. You can imagine how surprised we were that her address was that of the lady who said she was not interested. What a miracle! The spirit has such an influencing power upon the Lord's children! 

 

Just this morning we received another referral from church headquarters for some one on a street that I knocked with Elder Johnson months ago. Elder Johnson and I got in a good habit of leaving a pass along card on the door if no one answered and it sure did pay off. Someone looked at the card and then used it. The Lord uses our efforts and then turns them into something. This is the fifth referral that I have received in Marshall that came directly from leaving a card on a door or giving it to someone after talking to them. The Lord helps us in His work every single day in small and simple ways. We just have to be patient to see how He will use our efforts to bring about His purposes! That's why we are only tools in His hands but what a blessing it is to be able to take part in His work in whatever way He sees fit. 

Doing our part brings a fullness of joy even in the hard times and makes every seeming failure worth every effort. We don't have to do everything we just have to do what the Lord would have us do in moving His work forward. We just have to do our best at our part in His work and He makes up the rest! 

I love y'all so much! Always remember that! I think of y'all often and how much I love y'all! I'm excited to be able to talk to y'all again on mother's day and to see y'alls faces once again. I hope that y'all apply the things that you learned in conference and that you do what you felt was specifically directed to you! I love y'all tons!

 

Love your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen

 

First Baptist Church in Marshall

Elder Bowen with B.

Elder Bowen and Elder Kidd being funny in their hats.

The lake they had to drive through to get to an appointment!

 

Marshall Rain!

This week was awesome! 

 

I think I had one of the funnest moments in my entire life and it should have been one of the worst ever! So this week I went on an exchange with Elder Koenen! It was awesome! So on the exchange we had zero appointments scheduled which can make for a really long day. Well it went by way faster than it should have. That morning we went out and started tracting and it felt like we were in a rain forest because it was crazy Humid! It reminded me of how hot it was last summer and how I need to brace myself for the heat because it's around the corner! We knocked on someone's door and they said they were sick and we asked if there was a better time for us to come back and then they asked well who are you? are y'all Jehovah's witnesses? and we said no. Then she asked if we were with Longview Baptist temple and we said no. She then said ok I will talk to y'all then because I'm actually looking for a church home. She came out and we told her where the church was and she said that she would like to come some time. We are going to stop by again some time soon and see if we can start teaching them. But that was neat. Then for the rest of the day Elder Koenen and I knocked doors all day long and didn't get to teach a single lesson. It was hard to keep on knocking when you are tired but it's always easier when you have a great missionary who helps you keep going. Well at the end of the day we had about an hour left and it started to rain! It poured! It was incredible! There was lightning in the sky and rolling thunder but that just made it one of the best experiences ever! We went to an apartment complex. We parked and then decided which building we were running to and took off! We ran to the nearest door and when we got there we were laughing because of how wet we had gotten just from being in the rain for 5 seconds! We started knocking and running door to door and just having the time of our lives! People thought we were crazy but we thought they were crazy for not wanting to hear the gospel. Elder Koenen and I at the end of the night said "This could have been the worst day ever but it was the best!" It's all about your perspective, attitude and love for the Lord! That's what makes things amazing or horrid. 

Also B. came to church again on Sunday! It was Amazing! And he stayed for the youth baptism afterwards! It was great! He is progressing so much more in the gospel now that he has started to come to church. It's crazy but people can only get so far with only meeting with the missionaries. Then its like they meet a wall that they need to get over with their faith and they do that by coming to church. Then they are on the fast track! I'm hoping to be able to see B. make the covenant of baptism before I leave Marshall! He is on course for it! 

We got in touch with our investigator C. and she is still home bound from going to the hospital as she recovers. She still has the desire to learn and be baptized and as long as her health improves for her to be able to be immersed then she will be baptized. She is one of the most incredible people ever! She is 19 and has the best attitude toward life ever! It is incredible to see how prepared she really is for having the gospel in her life!

Last night I learned something really awesome. It's a visual aid lesson where you make a paper cross by tearing a piece of paper once and it tells an awesome story about a missionary who goes to an island far away and teaches the gospel to the people there. We taught it to a part member family and the spirit came in really strong and everyone listened to it too. It was amazing! Talk about a Miracle!  

I love being able to be a missionary! It is such a privilege and a blessing! Thanks to having an amazing family who love and support me, I'm able to be here in Marshall fulfilling a calling from the Lord to preach His gospel! This work truly is one of the greatest works ever! It's changing lives, saving souls and making families eternal! Sweet is the peace the gospel brings to all who love the Savior and live His teachings! And everyone can have it! It's just up to them if they want all the blessings that God has in store for them.

I love y'all so much!

 

Love your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen

Elder Bowen/Koenen exchange.  Best day ever!

Marshall Texas Sunset

 

Sundays are the Best with Friends

March 24, 2014

We had another wonderful week here in Marshall! Yesterday concluded the week in one of the best ways ever! Sundays are always long with meetings and and it's the end of the week so you are really tired but I love them all the same! Yesterday B. came to church! It was awesome having him there! He got a ride to church with a member in the ward and he looked so good at church in his suit, tie and cane. His favorite part of church was gospel principles 2nd hour. 3rd hour we had to teach the mission prep. class. I would have liked to stay with him the entire time but a brother in the ward sat next to him and others introduced themselves. We didn't get to talk to him after church about how he felt about it but we had dinner with the family who gave him a ride and they said that he really enjoyed it and that he was really nice. That made me really happy. 

We meet with B. this morning and he said that he enjoyed church and that he wanted to come back next week! He said that he learned a lot that he didn't know before! It's so easy to take things for granted! I'm reminded of that all the time. We have been blessed with so much! Having the gospel in the home and being active in the church makes life so much easier! I don't know how people make it through the challenges of this life with out the light that comes from the gospel! It brings peace and joy unlike anything else. Solves problems, brings understanding and gives us direction. 

This past week we weren't able to meet with C. She was in the hospital more than usual this week. She really wants to get baptized and will be as soon as her health permits her to be able too. 

We were unable to meet with T. or A. However, A. was invited to a Relief Society dinner on Friday evening and she loved it! She was invited to go from a member in the ward who we introduced her to. Friends for investigators are so important! They really need a true friend to help them feel comfortable at church and answer their questions.

So on Tuesday I witnessed a few miracles!! I was on an exchange with our zone leaders and was working with Elder Vasquez here in Marshall. We went to one of our appointment's and it fell through. So we had a completely open day. For some reason I thought of some Spanish speaking people I had spoken to over my course of time here in Marshall and felt like we may as well stop by and see in the zone leaders can start teaching them. We went by one and no one was home then I thought of another who I had spoken to before Christmas with Elder Johnson. I remembered speaking to one lady who we met knocking doors. When she answered the door months ago she was crying. She didn't know any English and all I know in Spanish is "Hi we are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We share a message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are the English missionaries but can I give you a card." So I said what I knew in Spanish and wished her a Merry Christmas. I remember leaving her with a Faith in Christ pass along card. When we went by she wasn't home so we moved on to the next person I remembered talking too and they were home and Elder Vasquez scheduled a time for them to come and teach them. Then he mentioned that they had a referral in our area who requested a Finding Faith in Christ DVD. We looked up the address and found out that she is the same person I spoke to who was crying. We went by again at the end of the night and she was home and wanted to meet with the Spanish missionaries. It's amazing to see how the Lord uses the small and simple things. One card that was left with someone months ago with a website on it. I can't imagine what would have happened if my companion and I weren't being diligent. She may have never been able to meet with missionaries. 

I'm so grateful for the Holy Ghost! Having the gift of the Holy Ghost is so important! We need that continual guidance and direction! It is absolutely necessary in the Lord's Work! We should never take it for granted and always strive to follow the promptings we receive from it. That's when we see miracles take place in our lives! 

I love y'all so much! 

 

Love your missionary,

Elder Drew Bowen

Marshall

March 17, 2014

Well this past week has been great! We have seen a lot of good things happen this week. We met with B. a couple of times this week. He had a family member pass and his funeral was this past week. It's been hard on him. We visited him the evening after the funeral just to help him out and let him know that we love him. On Saturday we went over the baptismal interview questions with him to see where we need to focus our teaching to help him continue to increase his faith. As we were going over the questions his brother interrupted us and started talking to us. He was really hard to understand. He kinda mumbled and was kinda rambling on about religion and didn't really make any sense. I looked over at B. as he was talking and B. gave me this look like "He doesn't know what he is talking about and is crazy." After a while B. interrupted his brother and said "They grew up with this stuff. They already know about all the things you are talking about. Ok so just let us get back to our study."  After his brother left B. told us that his brother has some difficulty mentally and that he was just in town for the funeral but usually stays in the mental hospital. B. is really trying to learn and grow. This morning we watched the Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration DVD and he really enjoyed it. After the movie ended he said, "This really showed how Christlike he was in helping people and even healing people too." I think it really helped him to understand much more about what a Prophet is and does. It's such a blessing to have a DVD that is completely accurate in telling his story.

On Saturday we met with A. again. We went over with T. and shared the restoration lesson with her. It was amazing! We were a little late to our appointment but she was waiting outside for us. When we pulled up she had a big beer can next to her which was a surprise to me because I didn't think she would be a person who would like beer. She invited us in though and trashed the beer can and started asking questions like crazy! She asked about why churches meet on Sunday and how she read that it was because of the Roman Catholic church and then she asked about why there were other books left out of the Bible like the Book of Enoch. We asked if we could share what we came to share with her and told her that the lesson would answer many of her questions. She agreed to let us teach but kept asking. It was funny because we would say things like I'll answer that in one minute. And then we would move on to the next point in the lesson and we would answer her question and then move on. The most amazing thing though was when we talked about Joseph Smith. I told her about his back ground and she said he sounds just like me. I'm faced with the same thing. It's amazing that so many people feel just as Joseph Smith did when he was seeking for truth. I told her that I wanted to share his experience in his own words. As I was quoting the first vision to her she started to cry. It really touched her. She is the first person I have taught who cried when they heard his words. After I was finished quoting his experience to her there was just quite as we all took it in. She apologized for crying and said, "It's just so beautiful. The way he described it with his words. Just imagine it." We bore testimony to her of how the church was restored through God and Jesus Christ answering the prayer of Joseph Smith and giving him instructions and then later on, the priesthood. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and pray to know it's true. It was amazing to see how the spirit touched her. 

Also this week we were knocking on doors in a neighborhood that we found and no one was answering or home. Then we knocked on an apartment home's screen door. The door behind it was open so we could see into the home and we watched a man walk really fast to the door and hit it open very forcefully as he said "What the Heck do you want!" With a little more color that that. Elder Kidd tried as hard as he could to not laugh which made me want to laugh because this is a grown man who is acting like a child. Elder Kidd then started to speak and the man then turned around and slamed the door behind him. A year ago that would have really startled me and made me feel really uncomfortable. We then went to the next door and a teenage girl answered and Elder Kidd said that we were out sharing a message about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon and she invited us in. We talked to her for a little while and got her phone number and gave her a Book of Mormon. They had just moved into that apartment just that morning because her patents got a divorce and they had just found it the day before. Her name was T. and we are going to be going back this week hopefully. It's amazing to see Gods timing. He will get those who are ready for the gospel to the places where they will find it. We just have to do our part as tools in His hands.

We had a specialized training and it was awesome. I learned a lot from it. There was a portion of the meeting where we could get up and share a lesson we learned from another missionary. There were so many who had learned something from another missionary. Elder Hoopes got up and shared that he learned kindness in Lufkin when he was my companion. He shared how every night we would finish our prayers and then I'd give him a hug, tell him I love him and say good night. I love Elder Hoopes! I learned something from him when he shared that. When you're a missionary you can go your entire mission and not see any success and yet you are still successful. You could go without a baptism but could have touched a missionary. You could have done something small that helped them to be a better missionary. Their success then kind of becomes yours. All the good that they then go and do is effected by what you did to them. I'm so grateful to all the people who have taken part in helping me become a better missionary! Every companion I have had has had a significant impact on me and helped me be a better missionary! It's great being on the Lord's team! And its amazing to see how He molds our lives!

Love y'all tons! Be soft clay and look for Tender Mercies. They are there every day!

Love your missionary,

Elder Bowen    

Elder Bowen & Elder Kidd