Merry Christmas!!!

At Christmas Zone Conference.  Elder Bowring is under the green R in Merry with his Santa Hat with the Santa ears on it!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Dear Family,

Well MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! I had an awesome week this week. It started with our 2 day zone conference that we had on Tuesday and Wednesday.Tuesday was our fun day I guess you could say and it was actually pretty fun. We played a few games and then we got to watch “The restoration, the Joseph Smith story” It was sweet, I loved it and it was nice to just be able to kick back and relax to. After that they fed us a nice lunch, Ham and cheese sandwiches (that’s rare around here) And then we had a talent show. Our zone just sang called to serve with some  added verses we made up so it was ok. It was cool though,one of the couple missionary’s knows how to play the bagpipes so he played them for the talent show it was sweet. It was nice to just have a day to not worry about things. On Wednesday was our normal zone conference and it was good to. We got instruction on a bunch of things but one that I liked was given by Elder and Sister Berrett. Elder Berrett talked about how his grandson is getting quarterback coached  one on one with some guy and one of the things that his coach always tells him is “Eyes up, do the work” He related that to we need to keep our eyes up to Our heavenly father and rely on him while we are doing his work.  It was really good. The last day I got 5 packages to.  2 of them were the ones that you sent me full of things to make stockings for everyone in  my complex. Then one was my pre- Christmas package and the others were from Bryan’s Family and From gpa and gma bowring so thank you guys so much J I got those things to fill up the stocking for the other elders and I couldn’t wait until Christmas to give it to them so I put them together that night and went and delivered them to them. It was so fun and it was sweet to see how excited everyone was to get them. They all loved their ties and the Africans especially appreciated it so thank you mom for sending those things. They all wanted me to tell you thank you also. Well Thursday we had another service project. What we did was clear out a field for our 1st counselor. It was full of brush and just vegetation. Some of it was taller than I was and we had to clear it out with machetes so that was a new experience. It was hard work and took us about 3 hours to do but it was worth it. I love doing service projects. My hands didn’t enjoy it as much as I did though, my hands got tore up but it was all worth it. Well Thursday was the day that our district leader Elder Inyang and my son Brother Freeman went home. It was so crazy to see someone finish their mission. So since they both left my prediction came  true and me and Elder Enwukwari are companions and are covering both of our areas just for one week until the transfer ends. He is from Nigeria and is a lot different than any companion I have had. He can talk, like he seriously talks my ear off haha he is a funny guy though. He gets so set on things though,   he is one of the most set guys I know, but anyways it will be good. We are still trying to decide what we are going to do for Christmas. I don’t think we are going to do to much, probably just go and  spend most of it with our members and make some good treats and things to eat. It’s a lot different celebrating Christmas with an African because they don’t really celebrate it or put as much emphasize on Christmas as we do. Anyways this week we had 2 baptisms, Brother Mendella and Brother William. It was so sweet. Brother Freeman came back down and baptized one of them and I baptized brother William.  The spirit at the baptism was so strong, you could just feel that what we were doing was right. I was just so happy to see these guys be baptized. Got 5 baptisms now so I am starting to rack them up haha. Well yesterday we had a Christmas devotional at our District Presidents house. It was so awesome and it was honestly like the first time I have really felt like its Christmas time. I was asked to talk on the true meaning of Christmas and I talked a lot about how at Christmas, the best way we can feel the spirit of Christmas is by giving of ourselves and our time and always remembering Jesus Christ. I told the story about the times we would do the 12 days of Christmas to people who were in need. Man I miss those times, those memories are the best, the ones where we would make up a Christmas box and take them to a needy family on Christmas eve and just always having people giving and giving at Christmas. Anyways the whole devotional was just sweet and I FINALLY felt the Christmas spirit. Well that was about it for this week. I want to wish you ALL a MERRY CHRISTMAS. I hope you all enjoy the time you have with each other and the special spirit that Christmas brings. I miss you all and I hope this Christmas is one of your best yet. 

Love you all

Elder Bowring

Dear Mom And dad

Well I found the USB key in the curry box so thank you very much. Well the only thing I have to talk about is that I will be calling home around  6 or 7 o clock PM. So that means it will be around 11-12 ish. What phone should I call you guys on? You have no idea how excited I am to talk to you guys. It will be the best Christmas present I could ever think of. I love you guys very much and I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas. 
Love your son