Elder Cottrell & Elder Bowring

 Spreading the Gospel!!!

 Bowring, Humphrey's & Elder Zaugg

Elder Bowring & Elder Humphreys

Attacked by fireants while doing a service project!!

Everything swelled up and got hives everywhere, nothing a shot and medication wouldn't take care of.
Went tracking that afternoon!!  

Elder Bowring and Elder Humphreys

Elder Cottrell & Elder Bowring

Look Out West Africa!!  Elder Tolar and Elder Bowring

June 2, 2014

Dear Family,
This week was good as they always are. Had some pretty sweet stuff
happen, Tuesday was just  a really regular day.  We had another guy
that day just show up to the church saying that he wanted to be
taught, he had been taught by missionarys before in Ivory Coast and
saw the church so he just stopped on by, so we taught him and he ended
up just being really sweet. That was probably the high light of the
day on Tuesday.  Wednesday I had the opportunity to go on Exchange
with Elder Jensen, and that was really good. He conducted the exchange
because he is my District leader so that was good. We went and saw
some sweet familys in his area and were able to have a good day. I
enjoy Elder Jensen. At the end of the day is probably when the
craziest thing of the week happened. We were closing and I heard the
phone ring in the other room and 10 minutes later Elder Tolar came in
and told us that there was emergency transfer news going on. At first
I was thinking, o my gosh I just got here if I get moved I will be
pissed. Anyways the transfer news was that on Friday Elder
Jensen would be going to down to Thinker Village and be companions
with Elder Cooper and then Elder coopers Branch missionary would be
coming up to Elder Khasiahi. That left us with out a District leader ,
so I got assigned to be the District leader until next week when we
have transfers so I guess right now I am a District/Zone leader. Its
not really to much though, the only thing that is going to really
change for me is that I am in charge of the district funds now and
that isn’t bad at all. So that was crazy.  On Thursday we had quite the
adventure trying to pull money out of the bank, every 28th is when we
get money out. Well the ATM we usually go to get money was out of
money and there wasn’t really any other ones close. TO add onto that
me and Elder Tolar had a total of 85 LD on us (like 1 U.S dollar) and
that wasn’t going to do much. Well a strait miracle happened and one
of the guys who fixes apartments for missinoarys showed up and he owns
a truck, so he was able to give us a lift to an ATM that had money. It
was sweet. From there though the rest of the day was very frustrating,
we hit bounce city. It has honestly been a long time since I have had
a frustrating day so I wasn’t used to it at all.  Friday was a lot
better though, we had 8 lessons that day and they were all really
solid. Right now me and Elder Tolar and trying to really just restock
our teaching pool with serious investigators so we have turned into
contacting machines, we contact about everyone and their brother haha.
We have found some really good people though and a few potential
families so I guess only time will tell on how they will turn out.
Also we received news from the AP’s that there was going to
be even more changes in our zone for this upcoming transfer. They are
going to be splitting the other Paynesville area and adding
missionarys there so that means that we will now have 6 missinoarys in
our apartment. Plus they will be opening up 2 new areas in Thinker
Village. So in all we are going to be adding 6 missionarys to our zone
so now I have to be a zone leader over 18 missionarys so that will be
something new for this next transfer. Anyways, this Saturday was
awesome. We had 2 more baptisms this week. Darlington Taylor, and
another Guy named Edward. It was such an awesome baptism and they were
both pumped about it. Especially Darlington, he has been ready for
like 3 weeks (which is when we started teaching him).  He bore his
testimony after the baptism and he said something that really stood
out to me. He got up there and he said “ I am just so Proud to be up
here today and I am just proud to become a member of this true church”
His whole family are Baptist but he found the truth and he is proud to
follow Christ. Just makes me think that I should also be a little more
proud of my membership in the church, and we all should be able to
stand up in front of people and tell them how proud we are to be able
to have the truth in our lifes and just how much it means to us.
Honestly, I have come to realize that if I didn’t have this gospel, I
really wouldn’t have anything to stand for. This gospel means so much
to Darlington that he has already dropped out of college (which it is
very hard to be able to get into college here in Liberia) just so he
can start to prepare for a mission. So in short, Darlington is a
strait up stud. IT was just a really good solid week and a great way
to end it with our baptisms. This week is the last week of the
Transfer so we will be having some big changes next week when I email
so I will be excited to tell you about what goes down this week. I
love you guys very much I hope you all have a very wonderful week.
Till next week,
Elder Bowring

May 26, 2014

Dear family,
This week was a pretty crazy and eventful week. We had a lot of stuff
on the schedule. First off, I went on exchange with one of our
district leaders. His name is Elder Manqana. His name is crazy to
pronounce, its got like a click in it. He is from south Africa. He is
an awesome Elder, I have always had a lot of respect for him ever
since I have came out on my mission. We went out into his area so it
was good. I kind of don’t like exchanges for the fact that when we go
on exchange, its my duty to train the missionary and I just feel like
I get really annoying when I do it haha but its all good, something
that I am learning to do on my mission for sure. We had a sweet day.
Funny story about it, the night before the exchange , Elder Tolar
wasn’t feeling to good, we thought it was constipation so he took some
constipation pills that we had and then I got dared to take them with
him so of course I did haha. Well nothing happened that night so we
were a little disappointed. Well the next day on the exchange, right
when we were in the middle of a lesson , the pills hit. And they hit
hard. I did a good job fending it off for about 30 minutes but then I
finally had to stand up and do all I could to hold it in and then
finally I asked the member who was with us where the crap I could go
to the bathroom at. Most people here don’t have toleits and there is
no such thing as a public bathroom. Well I got lucky, against all
odds, there was a community toilet so I ran there and barley made it
in time. I had to go so bad I was prepared to go behind a tree. I felt
like the one guy off of dumb and dumber haha.  So I learned that
before you go on exchanges, to not take constipation pills haha. It
was a good exchange though. On Wednesday, we had zone conference and
it was good. One thing that really stood out to me was we talked about
really how important Jesus Christ is and how because of his atonement,
he is able to bear our burdens and that this this the message that we
are telling the world now. How we are bringing people to Christ so
that there burdens can be made light and that no matter what life
throws at them , they can handle it and know that everything  will be
ok. I really thought that was cool and really put a perspective on
being a missionary and the impact it can have on somebody. Thursday we
finally had a normal day which was nice because on Friday we had
another exchange. I was able to go with Elder Khasiahi again but this
time he came into my area and we had a really good day. This Saturday
was the first Saturday in about a month that we haven’t had baptisms
but it was a good rest, I was getting a little worn out from dunking
people in the water any ways haha ;) This Sunday we had district
conference all the way in town and it was really good. It was
completely packed in the district center. It was really cool, before
the actual conference president Kirkham had a short meeting with all
investigators and Recent Converts.  Me and Elder Tolar strait showed
up and stole the show, he had all the converts stand up at one point
and then he had a microphone and was asking them who the missionarys
were that taught  them and the things that they learned and by the
time he got to the 3rd one of our converts President Kirkham said “
Alright we need to hear from somebody who hasn’t been baptized by
Elder Tolar and Bowring”. It was pretty funny. It was so awesome to
see though, The Desmond Family came and the Husband, and all the kids
were wearing White shirt and  Ties, it was the sickest thing ever. I
was strait up pumped. Conference was really good, talked a lot about
the importance of families and how we can have happy families and how
the center of a happy family is the gospel. I thought it was really
good and definetly something great for our family to hear. This next up
coming week we will be awesome. We have 2 baptisms coming up, and one
is that Darlington kid. He is so excited for his baptism. It is so
sweet how much the gospel can just bring instant happiness and joy to
your life and I have really seen it in his life. It was pretty funny,
we were asking him about his uncle, Charles Taylor (evil guy) and so
the next time we saw him he brought some pictures of Charles Taylor
and he gave them to us, so I now have a picture of Charles Taylor him
self sitting on my desk haha.  Well any ways, things out here are
great as ever, I cant believe that we are in the last week of May
already, defintely the fastest month of my mission so far. I hope
everyone has a fantastic week. I love you all.
Elder Bowring
Dear dad and mom,
Just wanted to drop a quick note off telling you how much I love and
appreciate you guys. I hope you had a good week this week, I still
haven’t looked at any of the pictures or anything yet but I am sure
you guys had a good bike trip. I sure do love you guys and appreciate
you guys very much. Just know that I am very happy right now and I
know it is because I have a such a great parents that made it possible
for me to serve a mission. You guys are awesome. I hope you have a
great week. Love your African son, Elder Bowring.
P.S I got one of your cards this week mom so thanks still no package
though, don’t know what is happening haha.

May 19, 2014

Elder Tolar, LeRoy, Elder Bowring

Baptism Day!!!!  Happy Day!!

Dear Family,
This week was a great week. Definintly had a lot of interesting things
happen. To start off this week, we found out that we have a really
serious investigator that we didn’t expect. He was calling us all
morning on Tuesday, so we decided to go and see him to the church. His
name is Darlington Taylor. (He is Charles Taylors nephew we found out
yesterday, Charles Taylor is that crazy wicked guy that I was telling
you about in phone calls, we are really just involved with him in a
couple of different ways, its weird) anyways, we had taught Darlington
only twice before Tuesday and when we got to the church for his
lesson, he was all decked out in priesthood attire and said that he
wanted to come and work with us today. This is our investigator who we
have taught twice and has came to church one time haha, so we took him
out with us for the day and he was just bearing strong testimony that
the church is true. It was awesome. He is 20 years old, and already
wants to serve a mission so bad so we are planning to baptize him on
the 31st so that will be cool because I might be able to see him leave
for his mission by the time I go home. We would honestly baptize him
this week, but we have district conference this week so we have to
push it back. We have so many awesome investigators. Friday this week
we had a zone service project and that was very Eventful. We went down
to Thinker village and we had a huge thing of land that we had to
brush, (chop the weeds and grass all down) Things were all going good,
we were all just having a good time working and making progress. While
I was brushing I ran into a big pile of fire ants though and they got
all over me and started biting the crap out of me. They were all over
my arms and my legs. I finally got them all off and I just kept
working but I just started getting ichy all over the place, like my
head was itching bad and I could not satisfy my itch. Then Elder
Jensen came over and he asked me if the ants got on my face and bit me
there because it looked like it. Well long story short I had a sweet
allergic reaction to the ants and busted out in hives and got all
swollen up. My face was seriously huge, my nose was huge, I fit right
in the culture here haha. So my companion called sister Kirkham and we
just had to run the nearest hospital and they took me in and gave me a
nice shot in the butt , that felt just wonderful haha. After the shot,
the Couple missionarys came and bought some pill for me to take so I
went home, took the pill and then went proselyting and by the time I
got home all my hives were gone so that was good. It was just an
awesome experience haha. Well the high light of my week was defintly
the baptism that we were able to have this week. We were able to soak
5 people in the water on Saturday and 4 of them were our family. There
name is the Desmond family and they are the sweetest family. The other
man we baptized was Leroy and he is just as sweet as the family. It
was just such an awesome, spiritual baptism. There is just something
about bringing a whole family into the gospel, it is just more
satisfying than just baptizing one person because we know how
important the family is and how important it is to not leave anyone
behind. I was just beaming in sacrament meeting yesterday when we were
up front confirming them all. The whole family was so happy and so was
Leroy, it was literally one of the happiest days on my mission so far.
Me and Elder Tolar and just working so we can go out and baptize
another family. We have one family that we are working on right now,
there names are Archie and Evagenline and they are doing great and we
also just received another referral from the AP’s this morning for
another family so I am just happy. The work is just moving on so
sweet. The gospel is just awesome and I am just so happy and thankful
to be able to share it every single day. I Hope you all have an
awesome week this week. I love all of you and thank you all for your
love and support. Love , Elder Bowring

Desmond family

May 12, 2014

Dear Family
Well this is kind of weird since I was on the phone with you like 12
hours ago. I honestly don’t know what to say beause I feel like I said
most of it yesterday so if I repeat anything I am sorry.  This week
was fantastic as you already know. Wendsay we had to go into town
because we had leader ship training and I thought it was really good.
President Kirkham used to train people as one of his professions so I
always love the things he tells us. He really said something that
stood out me. We talked a lot about being a good example and that is
something we should be as a leader . He had us write down 3 people who
have really influenced us in our life and then he had us write down
something that these three people said that you could remember and I
honestly I couldn’t do it. But then he brought out a good point saying
that for the people who influence us, they influence us by who they
are, not by the things that they say or anything like that but they
influence us because of the great example they have been in our lifes
and I really liked that and it really is making me strive hard to be
somebody that people can look up to and learn something from. So that
was sweet. Like I said in the phone call yesterday, we are just having
miracles always here. I told you all about our amazing Sunday we had
yesterday with 15 investigators coming to church, and all of them are
just serious. We are now teaching 2 family’s and almost three. The
work here is just going so great and I am just enjoying my time in
Liberia. IT was so great to hear from all of you guys yesterday. It
just really reminds me how great family are friends are. IT just
reminds me of how much the lord has blessed me in my life for the
people he has surrounded me with and with the love that I have around
me so I just want to tell you guys how much I love you and appreciate
your support that you are to me on my mission and have been through my
whole life. I am sorry this weeks email is short but I basically told
you everything else in our call yesterday, so next week will be a lot
better I promise. I love you guys so much. Good luck up at track this
week brittain and I hope you all have a sweet week this week. Love
Elder Bowring

May 5, 2014

Dear family, This week was a good week but frustrating week at the
same time. We were so busy this week, we didn’t have one regular day
of proselyting. Tuesday morning we got a call from Elder Cooper
telling us that his companion was sick with malaria, so they were
going into town to get that checked out. This week, another Elder,
Elder Kaiser was in a three some with them because Elder Kaiser is
training this transfer and his new companion hadn’t come yet. So we
decided that it would be best for Elder Kaiser To come with Me and
Elder Tolar and actually do missionary work instead of just tag along
to the hospital so we got that all worked out and he came out with us
on Tuesday. It is so weird trying to teach with 3 people but we were
able to do it. We had the 3 some until Thursday. Thursday was a
freakin fun day though. We had about 2 lessons planned for to go and
hit in the morning and then we were going to take Elder Kaiser back
down to Thinker village at about 1. Right before we went out, it
started to pour, so we hurried to the church (its like a minute walk
from our compound) Our first lesson was supposed to be at the church
but because of the rain, our appointment fell through. The rain just
kept getting even harder but we called one of our investigators named
Leroy and he said he was home so me and Tolar were on the same page
and we just went for it in the pouring rain. At first I think Elder
Kaiser was taken back a bit and thought we were crazy. Me and Tolar
just took off down the road. Within like 15 minutes we were drenched
from head to toe. It was hilarious, we were just running down the
middle of the road ,I think I busted out a cartwheel and we were
holding up the #1 finger and everything. I am pretty sure some people
thought we were stupid haha, it was a blast though. It was about a two
mile walk to Leroys house and we had to do half of it on a dirt road
that was basically a river by the time we got to it. At a point the
water was up to our knees (we didn’t have our rain boots on just our
sandles) Needless to say, Leroy was pretty surprised to see us. We had
an awesome lesson on tithing and it was sweet. So we headed to thinker
village and I was able to go out on an exchange with Elder Cooper. It
was really fun, me and Elder Cooper are really good friends so we just
had a good time. Well Friday and Saturday we had to go all the way
into town for meetings. The first one was mission council. We go there
and the mission President and AP’s just tell us things they want us to
help our zone with so that was good. IT was sweet to be able to see
Elder Zaugg to , haven’t seen that guy in a while it seems like. Well
Friday after mission council me and my companion got into a bike
crash. We were just going down a dirt road and hit some loose gravel
and went. I am completely fine but Tolar got some road rash but its
all good. The reason why im fine is because I strait body surfed him
so he took it all. I felt bad but we are both doing fine haha.  Well
Saturday we had 2 baptisms and they were awesome. They were two girls,
Phephe and Kuku. They are both super sweet and I was able to baptize
them both. Sunday we got a really big disappointment. We have been
meeting with Daniel all week trying to get things figured out with his
housing situation so he can be baptized this week and me and Tolar
fasted for him yesterday so that things could work out the way they
need to. Well out fast was awnsered but in a totally different way
than we anticipated. We met Daniel to the church in the morning to
basically have him tell us that he was just going to stay to his
church and worship at the church he was staying. We got talking to him
and from talking to him he basically was Denying everything we ever
taught him, Denying that we are the only true church and everything. I
was honestly shell shocked. SO basically in short we feel like he was
only listening to us and participating with us so that we could just
help him out temporally so basically just using us and he wasn’t
getting what he wanted so he backed out. Not going to lie, it hurt
pretty bad, for one my pride was hurt just because I got fooled but I
was hurt to because I had really come to love this guy and for him to
just lie to us like that just sucked. I really came to care for him
and to see him Deny the thing that was going to bring him the most
happiness and joy just really sucked. For us we know the Eternal
consequences of Denying the gospel and also the blessings that it
brings to us and to have someone you have come to love and care about
to just deny those things just really sucks. Me and Tolar figured that
Daniel came to us for the wrong reasons but through our teachings he
did feel the truthfulness of our message but then he just decided to
back out or something. But I guess our fast was answered because we
were able to figure these things out before his baptism so that is why
I say that the lord awsnered our fast this week. The lord works in
many mysterious ways that’s for sure. Its alright though, CANT NOTHING
HOLD US BACK (me and tolar always just shout that like idiots haha) We
have a sweet baptism coming up this week though. Guys name Is Abraham
and is strait converted to the gospel. Things this week are going to
be good. Well family I hope you all have a great week, I hope you all
know that the lord is always watching over us and that he is always
there to answer our prayers. He loves us so much. I love you all so
much to, have a fantastic week. Love
Elder Bowring

Dear Mom and Dad,
 This week was really good with small downs but things out here are
still just great as ever. I am loving my companion, we get along great
and have the same sence of humor so we just enjoy haha. I am so
excited to be able to call home this week. We will be calling on
Sunday and i am not 100 % positive but i will probably be calling home
around 7 or 8 at night here so i am not sure what time that is for you
guys. Are we going to be doing the skype thing again and have you call
me back, i feel like that will be best. Anyways, i am excited to read
this weeks emails, sounds like an eventful week from what i have seen.
Sure do love you guys to death, hope you have a great week. Love you
favorite african son ,
Elder Bowring