Samoan Week 10: SLC Temple or Bust

Talofa Brothers and Sisters! This past week here in Utah has been a chilly, and it’s beginning to look a lot like fall! It’s awesome to be here, and this week we had interviews with President Palmer, my mission president, which was great. It’s always great to talk to President, and we mainly talked about my area, here in the Samoan wards, and how I was doing on my mission since now I’m out over a year. Basically how to continue to serve strong. Don’t want to spill the beans, but lets just say they’re going to make some changes to my area, so I probably will most likely get transferred this next transfers (which is coming up soon in 2 weeks!!!).

Besides that, we haven’t done too much. Tuesday we went to Mutual and hung out with the youth and invited them to come to a fireside that is happening Saturday in the Mapasaga Ward. President Palmer will be speaking at that. So we asked them to bring friends and family so that hopefully a lot of people will come to it! We also got a new investigator which is great! Some south missionaries found them at a restaurant and referred them to us. Sunday we contacted them and now we are teaching them! It’s a less active couple with an unbaptized son, so it’s going to be great to work with them!

This morning we went to the SLC Temple downtown, and it was awesome! We had a great time, and we went as a zone and got some awesome pictures during the sunrise. So that was a lot fun! Besides that, didn’t do too much this week! I hope that all of y’all had a great week and have been doing well! I love all of y’all!

Elder Bowie
Samoan Wards
Salt Lake City West Mission

Samoan Week 9: Member Missionary Work

Brothers and Sisters Malo! (informal hello)

This week has been great! This Tuesday we had Zone Conference in our new Redwood Zone! That was a lot of fun and it is always wonderful to hear counsel from President Palmer! We talked a lot about member missionary work, and it was just a great overall Zone Conference! Plus, we also had Olive Garden for lunch which is always good! Also, we got some exciting news that will be happening to our mission probably next month. Our mission will be getting Facebook! So that's going to be interesting. I don't know all the details yet, but I'm super excited for that and to see how it works.

Wednesday I had a little bit of a surprise! Somebody dropped off a care package bag at our front door. It turned out to be from my mom and dad. They had a business trip here in Salt Lake, so they dropped off some things for me which was awesome! That was awesome! It meant a lot to me, and it helped me a lot! So that was definitely an awesome thing that happen this week! We also went to mutual (Wednesday youth activity), and that was a lot of fun! We did Jeopardy with them and a just had a lot of fun activities. We are also now in a youth choir in that ward and we sang this Sunday with them! So that was a lot of fun to participate in that!

Friday we had district meeting, and we talked mainly about Christ like attributes and serving others. So that was a lot of fun as well. Our District is pretty good and it's fun to do stuff with them. It's also been getting pretty cold here in Utah since Friday! And our house doesn't have any good heating, so we definitely felt the effects of the weather when we woke up Saturday morning. It was 40 degrees, so that was fun. haha! So I took out the sweaters this week. We had this cultural celebration in the Hunter Stake with the Mapasaga Ward. That was fun. I saw Elder Nunez and Tuley which was awesome! They are both from my previous districts. So we had a lot of fun, and we dropped them off at home afterwards.

So ya, this week was really awesome! I'm very happy to be serving here. The work is a little slow but the members are awesome and they are really fun to hang around with. Right now we are focusing on the youth and it's been great to work with young men and women in the six wards we have to cover. I love all of y'all! Thank you for everything and put Jesus Christ first and everything will work out. Have a great week, and stay safe! Love y'all!

Elder Bowie
Samoan Wards
Salt Lake City West Mission

Samoan Week 8: Salt Lake or Bust

Brothers and Sisters Talofa!

This week has been awesome! I had two exchanges this week! Which was super fun! First one was with Elder Knudsen again (he's the one from Branson), and he came to my area this time. We had a good day together, and we went contacting over in Manga which is fun to go out there, but we didn't have too much success. Nevertheless, it was still really fun to be with him and to see how each other was doing. Then again on Friday, we had exchanges and this time I went with Elder Crowther! He's from Flagstaff and he used to be in my district in Kearns, and it was great to catch up with him since we haven't been together in almost a year! I also saw Elder Mayor whom I met when I was with the Spanish Elders who lived there with Elder Crowther. So it was good to see him too! It was great! We had to take an elder to Temple Square to the family services and while he was in a meeting & since we had nothing to do, we went around Temple Square and toured around! Haha! It was really good, and we met a lot people from a lot of places. One of the senior couples that worked at the Joseph Smith building were the grandparents of my trainer, Elder Dunham! So that was great to see them and to talk with them for a bit!

I'm very grateful to be serving here in Salt Lake City. It's truly the place where the Lord needs me. To be able to go to Temple Square and to have these great resources here that we can use for missionary work is awesome. Remember to kept those that are affected by the earthquake and the floods in your prayers! Lots of crazy stuff going on in the world! It's makes me grateful for the Gospel knowing that Heavenly Father is here for all of us. By turning to him we can have that peace he promises us. Also, another great thing  happened yesterday! My youngest brother, Cole, got baptized! I'm so proud of him and for his decision to be baptized! I couldn't go, but I'm very happy for him! I love all y'all! And I hope everyone had a great week! Stay safe and live the gospel!

Elder Bowie
Samoan Wards
Salt Lake City West Mission

Samoan Week 7: Great and Marvelous Work

Brothers and Sisters, Talofa! I hope all y'all had an amazing week! My week has been very good! We now have another set of missionaries living with us since we had a spare bedroom, so that's been great! We have Elder Maldarizzi, from Italy, and his greenie, Elder Keith, whose from North Carolina! So it's been great to have roommates! It's been great serving with the Samoan people here in the valley with Elder Bingham! We have been trying new ways to find people to teach. Contacting the young men to get them involved in missionary work is the main thing we have been doing this week as well as this next week as well.

I also had a baptism in one my pervious areas, out in Tooele, and I had the opportunity to be able to go which was awesome! It was someone named Ace that I met with Elder Lane. Ace, used to do a lot of drugs and stuff and he changed his life around through the church's addiction recovery program. He now runs and leads those himself helping other people with that trial. He was on parole, and so he was waiting approval from the First Presidency to be baptized. So it was awesome to see him finally make it! I was really grateful to be able to go!

This week has been fantastic and I love the mission! Hard to believe it's already September again! Time goes by too fast! Thank y'all for everything again and for your support! I'm very glad to be serving here as well as to be learning and growing everyday! Remember to pray for those that are affected by the hurricane down in the Houston area! I'm sure they could use a lot of help right now! Thank y'all again! I love all y'all! Stay safe and chose the right!

Elder Bowie
Samoan Wards
Salt Lake City West Mission