December 16, 2013

Well this week was a good/frustrating week. I guess I could label all the weeks like that but for sure this week fits that description perfectly. Well this week started off with our zone meeting which was good. I really went away from there thinking of things I could do better as a missionary, so this week we have been trying to plan a little bit better for our investigators and it has really been helping. Well on Tuesday we went and seen Winston. He is the one who has been having a hard time giving up alcohol so we made him his 6 week plan. Well on Tuesday he told us that he just wanted to give it all up from that point on because he wanted to be baptized by the end of the year so he could start the new year off right. Well so far I think he is doing good on the no drinking part but he didn’t show up to church so we will have to push his Baptism to January 4^th. That was a little frustrating but I guess nothing you can do. Well on Wednesday we had a sweet experience in the middle of a lesson. We were teaching this guy that we had contacted the week before and we were having a good lesson with him. He was asking a lot of questions about the church and things were good. Well towards the end of the lesson, out of no where the member who was with us yelled out “snake”. In a split second our investigator took off and got his shovel and started chasing the snake. I was right behind him but I didn’t have anything to club the snake with but we eventually got it. I guess the snake was what they call a yellow snake. It was about 4 feet long and I guess they are pretty poisonous so that was freakin awesome.  I didn’t have my camera with me so I don’t have a picture of it which sucks but it was sweet. After that we finished our lesson and everything was good. Well this week is week 6 of the transfer so its technically the last week of the transfer but since the end of the transfer falls on dec. 22 they decided to extend it one more week so that it didn’t interfere with Christmas. So this transfer will be 7 weeks and next transfer will be 5 weeks. BUT, we have an Elder in my apartment Elder Inyang who is going home on the 19^th so that will leave his companion Elder Enwukarwi companionless for a week so I am guessing that they take Brother Freeman on the 19^th as well and me and Elder Enwukarwi will be companions for one week. It will be interesting to see but we will still get transfer news this week anyways so we will know whats up.  So I am not even sure what we will be doing on Christmas but I hope we can do something fun. Well on Friday I got bombarded with packages, I got 4. I got one from Gpa &Gma Lovell, one from Mom and Dad, One from the Shumways, and One from Ashly so Friday was a fantastic day. Thank you all for the packages and letters in the packages (Thank you Palmers). They were so sweet, I felt like it was already Christmas. I was almost overwhelmed with everything I got haha. The Shumways sent some Tinsle in there package so me and Brother Freeman decorated our room and strung it up everywhere so we are all festive now and Gpa &Gma Lovell sent two chirstmas hats so we have been wearing those every night to. Well on Saturday I was expecting to just have a fantastic day because we had a baptism planned for that morning. Well we told him to be there at 9 and when we showed up he wasn’t there but I wasn’t to worried because most Liberians run on there own time anyways and are always late. Well the Baptism started at 10 and by 9:30 he still wasn’t there so I was starting to get a little stressed out so I started trying to call him but of course his phone was off and I couldn’t get a hold of him. Finally I got a hold of member and he went and checked his house and he was just chillin at his house. He said he had no money for transportation so he wasn’t going to make it. I was so mad. Liberians seriously don’t have much cooth when it comes to informing people about things and its so frustrating. I guess it isn’t uncommon here to have the investigator not have any transport but he didn’t even let us know and he wasn’t going to let us know either. Well we are hoping that we will be able to get him baptized this week. We also have another man, Brother William who we are planning to baptize so if things go right we will have 2 baptisms this week. Also on Saturday we had a Christmas Devotional that president Kirkham put on for us. We really went deep into the birth of Christ and the importance and meaning of it. It was so awesome and I loved it. I honestly learn so much more from somebody teaching me than I do from reading things by my self, sometime I have a hard understanding the scriptures and what not but I really did learn a lot. It really made me think and appreciate the birth of Christ and really just how important Christ is to all of us. Jesus Christ, the god who created the world and numerous worlds, loved us so much that he was willing to be born into a mortal world, totally defenseless as a baby and go through mortality. That means so much to me, he is literally a god and he was willing to come down and serve us all by ultimately dying for us all so that we can repent and live him again one day. Its so sweet so I hope that all of you don’t forget the true meaning of Christmas and that you enjoy it all with your family’s and to just be greatful for everything that we do have. For me I thought I would just list of few of the things I am greatful for. I am so beyond greatful for all of my Family and my friends who have supported me my whole life in everything I do, I am so greatful for this gospel and the peace and comfort it brings into our lives by knowing why we are here on earth and by knowing the things we need to do to get back to our heavenly father, I am greatful for temples and the everlasting effect they have on all of us and I am so greatful to be serving a mission and helping these people here in Liberia. These are just a few of the things I am greatful for so I just  thought I would let you all know that. I love you all and I hope you have a Fantastic week.

Love Elder Bowring

O ya i almost forgot, I finally got my First mice kill this week. Im pretty stoked about it!!

Dear Grandpa and Grandma Lovell,

Thank you so much for all the prayers and everything. I really wish i could just take a video camera around with me so you could all see what i do everyday. That is probably one of the hardest things is not being able to really show you guys everything i do. Any ways awnser to your questions. They do celebrate christmas here but its not really a big holiday, it doesnt even feel like christmas. It is still just hot over here so that is also wierd because its decemeber. I dont think that logan town has found a church building yet. For us our church is only like a 5 minute walk away from our compound so its really nice. The mission home is a different story though. It is way in town and we are pretty far out of town so we dont go there often. i did get you chirstmas package so thank you so much i loved it :) Well love you guys and i hope your having a great chirstmas season.
 Love Elder Bowring