Hunter Week 11: Become Truly Converted

Happy Memorial Day Weekend y'all! I just want to give thanks to all those who have served in the military and have fought for our country and our freedoms. Thank you so much! This past week has been fantastic! We talked in two wards (congregations) this week which was enlightening! I gave my testimony in the Oxford Ward about missionary work and how the ward could help us and how my mission has changed me. So that was awesome! There were four speakers, so I only had to talk for ten minutes which was nice! Haha! Then in the Heritage Ward we gave talks on being converted to the Gospel which was fun! I got a quote from President Hinckley that my Papa Ault shared for his Sunday spiritual thought that went in really well with my talk! President Hinckley has stated:  "Growth comes with correction. Strength comes with repentance. Wise is the man or woman who, committing mistakes pointed out by others, changes his or her course... Let our faith replace our fears."

So I shared that quote, and it tied in well about how we can become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ! I spoke for about 15 minutes in that ward which fun as well! Elder Muse did really well too at talking, so I was proud of him! I took a picture of him talking. haha! (Not sure if that's allowed, but oh well.)

We had a good week, and we met with Abbi again this week. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and it was awesome. He really enjoyed it! He had a lot of deep questions that we answered and discussed with him, so that a great experience! He told us he is one step closer to baptism, and he really wants to! So I can't wait!

We also are helping some people moving out soon this week. One is an investigator named Brittany and she is getting kicked out of renting a basement and is currently not sure where to go. She is a single mom. She has to move out by June 1st, so we are helping with that situation with the best of our abilities. Then the other one is the Cababas family, and they are moving up to the Ogden area and will need help moving furniture. So lots of service.

But ya, it was a great week and we are trying out a new method of working in our wards and so far it has been going great. We have been doing good! I love this area and working here. Hard to believe it's almost transfers again on June 6th! It goes by too fast! But I love all y'all! I hope you have a great week! Thank you so much for all your support!

Elder Bowie
Hunter and Granger South Stakes
Salt Lake City West Mission

We just got back from a hike we did to lake on the east side of the valley so that's why my email is so late. I will send hiking pictures soon!

Hunter Week 10: Service, Splits, and Snow

This past week has been great! We have been doing good and have been trying to get more members to go out contacting with us which has been going well! We had a few priest in the our wards come out with us, and it is great not only for us but for them too! That way they can get some experience before they go on their missions! So it has been ballin!

We did get some snow this week!! Haha! I guess here in Utah it snows in May which seems a little weird, but it was great! We just got a little bit and it melted within a day, so that was nice. But it was still pretty crazy to wake up to snow everywhere! But now it's warming back up to the 70s and 80s, so it will be good weather hopefully from here on out.

We also did a lot of service this week which has been great! We helped out our stake with setting up for their women's conference which was fun. We put up decorations and set up chairs, and then we were the lunch ladies for them too. haha! So that was fun! We had a blast at that! We also helped someone move a ton of stuff and boxes out of their house into their garage which was fun. So that was fun, and they gave us a coke afterwards so it was all good. Then we helped an elderly lady move some firewood, but there wasn't much, so it took like 10 minutes. So, it was ballin to help all these people out, and to make someone's day! So I love it!

I hope all y'all had a great week, as well and thank y'all for everything! Thanks for the letters and emails! I love seeing those! It's hard to believe that's it's almost been a year, but it's been ballin! Transfers are almost over as well, and it will be the first week in June. So we will see soon, if I stay or leave here. But thanks again! I love all y'all!

Elder Bowie
Hunter and Granger South Stakes
Salt Lake City West Mission

Hunter Week 9: Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mothers Day! I hope all y'all mothers out there had a great Mother's Day! I got to call home yesterday which was ballin! It's one of two calls I get a Year! (Christmas and Mother’s Day) So, it was really good to talk to my family again! It feels like Christmas was just yesterday! Time flies by way too fast! But it was great to talk to them and to see everyone!

This week has been pretty good besides calling home! We did a lot of service this week again! We helped a elderly couple chop up some wood Saturday and throw some stuff in the dumpster. So that was a good! We worked from 10 to 2 in the afternoon! So it was a lot of work and they made us hamburgers afterwards! So it was great! We also went on splits a lot his week in the wards that we cover. So that was really good as well, and we found a new less active family to work with! It's too bad we don't report that anymore though. haha!  We have been doing really good though and have been helping a lot of people recently with service. We also helped out one of our less actives that we have been working with move Sunday after church. His name is Shawn, and he lives by himself so he needed some help. We got a few people from the ward to help, too.

So ya, it's been a good week and I made something for my mom for Mother's Day but it hasn't gotten there yet, so I can't tell you what it is yet haha!  But it is awesome! But it's been great, and we have been good and have been doing good here in West Valley. But thank y'all for everything again! I hope everyone had a great Mothers Day! I know that my mom is awesome, and she has taught me well! A scripture that I think ties in well about her is the story of the stripling warriors in The Book of Mormon. In Alma 56 where it says, "...they had ​​been taught by their ​​​mothers​, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their ​​​mothers​, saying: We ​​​do​ not doubt our mothers knew it." I can definitely bear my testimony that what I'm doing is what the Lord and my mom wants for me. A mission is a constant reminder to me about what my parents taught me and how I can live my life in the future. I love every second. I love all of y'all who have been involved in my life. I have learn so much. I wish y'all a great week and thank you for your support!

Elder Bowie
Hunter and Granger South Stakes
Salt Lake City West Mission

Hunter Week 8: Testimony of Service

This week was a week of service. We did a lot of service this week, and we helped a few folks by doing a lot of lawn care. We mowed and trimmed a few bushes for a widow that we have been working with. She lives alone, and it was great to help her out and we hope to help her out more on a regular basis! She is Catholic, but is investigating the LDS Church. She has lots of health problems and smokes, but she has been trying to stop. So it's been great to help her out and to make her life easier. We also shoveled dirt and made a flower bed for one of the members in our area that needed some extra hands. So it was really fun to do all that. We also had dumpsters come through our area. It's basically a program that Salt Lake does to help people clean up neighborhoods and what not. So we moved some tree limbs that had fallen down in the last few storms. So that good to help them out as well.

Beside service, we have been working a lot more with the members in our two stakes as well. We are trying to met all the different leaders in the wards we cover. So it has been really good, and we have seen many fruits from it. We have met with Young Men leaders so we can know which youth we can help out, as well as the Elder Quorum and Relief Society presidents to know who they think we can swing by. We have recently been meeting with more of the less active youth, and it's great to find these people with their help and to help them come back to the fold. Also, on fast Sunday I bore my testimony about the miracle that happen with Elder Blatter’s family and my Mema and the sisters in her ward. I talked about it last week in my email. But anyways, I bore my testimony about that in the wards that I went to and it was a great spiritual experience and a lot of people talked to me afterwards about it which I thought was really cool. So it was a great spiritual experience!

We are biking today to Ensign Peak. So that's why I will probably not answer emails as fast. It's a 16 mile bike ride, and we are going with some other Elders, as well as Elder Blatter, and an investigator they are teaching is coming. So it's going to be a few hours that we will be biking, so I'll be sure to send some pictures from that later when I get back! I'm pumped to go on this biking trip for P-Day.

I love all of y'all! And thank you so much for all the support you give me everyday! I hope all of y'all are having a great day, and I hope you keep your heart open to what the Lord has in store for you!

Elder Bowie
Hunter and Granger South Stakes
Salt Lake City West Mission

Hunter Week 7: Save it for a rainy day!

Well, I think Utah almost decided to become spring now. We did have snow last Friday, so I still think winter isn't done yet! This week has been cold and wet with some cold freezing rain, and also we had our car go to a set of sisters. So we have been walking and biking through it now! So perfect timing right. haha! But it has been good, and it feels good to be back on my feet again! We recently updated our ward maps and  we have been tracting all the doors we don't have records on. We actually found some potential new investigators by doing so! We have been doing that mostly this week when we don't have lessons. So it has been really fun and very good for our area as well!

We also had a miracle happen last week that I felt like I should put here in my email. So our District Leader, Elder Blatter, had some family in Nacogdoches, Texas and since, as some of y'all know, I have lots of family in Nacogdoches. So I told him that. I got his relative's address (who isn't a member) and gave it to my Mema. She is a ward missionary and works often with the sister missionaries in her ward. So, she went out with them to find them! And guess what, they did! They let them in and talked with them. They are Baptist, and she gave them a Book of Mormon and a pass along card with 3 Nephi 11, where Jesus Christ comes to America after his resurrection. They invited the sisters to come back, and it was a great experience to know that they allowed them to come in! It was a great miracle to witness! It's something that only a mission could bring to pass. So I'm glad I was out here at this point in my life. It gives a witness to me that I'm doing the right thing and that Heavenly Father is looking out for our family.

So yes, I'm enjoying every day of my mission. It has been great to witness so many miracles on almost a daily basis here and to meet many people from different backgrounds. Utah truly is a gathering place for the world and everyday I met people from outside of the United States (For example, this week I have met folks from India, Colombia, Mexico, and China.)  It is even better working with these people to come to the gospel and find that it works for everyone no matter the background of the person. By just coming to church, reading the scriptures, and saying personal prayers, you see a visible changes in their families and in how they do their dealings in secular things in a positive way. It is a miracle to witness that.

Everyone has been great and thank you again for your prayers and support! It's awesome to be here and it's been great. It's the best feeling in the world is when you knock on a door and the person who answers says something like we just prayed for you to be here. Miracles do happen and it great to be here for the ones that I see and those I don't see. I love all of y'all and hope your week has been good! Thanks again for the support, and I hope all of y'all have a ballin week!

Elder Bowie
Hunter and Granger South Stakes
Salt Lake City West Mission