September 22, 2014

Dear Family,
This week has been a very successful week. We are just getting back
from playing a Soccer match against our branch. It was fun, we got the
missionaries in our zone to come and to play our Elders Quorum. It was
pretty serious but we ended up winning in penalty kicks so I am pretty
jacked up about that right now.  Anyways, this week we have been
working super hard and we have had a really good week. I think we
ended up with about 39 lessons this week so I was pretty happy about
that. The only thing that sucked this week was we have been having a
lot of light outs.Tuesday and Wednesday night we were in the dark and
it just sucks haha. They have just been switching it on and off so
much I don’t understand why. Anyways, other than that Tuesday and 
Wednesday were normal. But then we get to Thursday.  Thursday I got
a flash back of being back in Liberia. It seriously rained so hard for
the entire day.  Of course we still proselyted in it but
the rain beat us so bad that day, and on top of that we got bounced so
many times. It was honestly just a day of endurance and just a day of
trying to keep a positive attitude. I was really happy when we were
able to come in that night and I was just able to plop down on my bed
haha. Anyways I am really excited, we are teaching our two guys that
came to church last week, Joshua and Alex and honestly they are so
sweet. We have been teaching Joshua for a while and Alex is Joshua’s
friend who he brought with him last week. They are honestly just like
my bro s now instead of an investigator I am teaching. I have seen
such a big difference in Joshua especially since he came to church.
Revelation through Church attendance right there (missionary
fundamental). Just shows me why its so important to come to church and
what it can do for you. We had some really good lessons with them this
week though. On Friday we went by and saw Alex for the 2nd this week
and we asked him if he was able to pray to know if the church was true
and he told us that yes he was able to and that god was able to answer
his prayer. He said that after he prayed he fell asleep and had a
dream and then he woke up and he read the Book of Mormon and then he
fell asleep again and then had the same dream and he said he knows
that the church is true. He said that the entire day before (the day
after we saw him) that he was just so happy and he just couldn’t stop
smiling. He is really sweet. He even joined us today and the branch to
play some Soccer and he is already acting like a member. WE have a
family home Evening planned with them tonight. This week, our deaf guy
was also able to come to church again so I was excited about that. We
are still trying to figure out what we need to do with him because if
he is going to become a member we need to have something set up for
him to learn when he comes to church. He has a friend who is a member
who speaks Sign language but the friend never comes so that is a
problem. I guess we will just pray and see what the lord has in store
for him. Well we are still trying to make some progress with our
Investigator Brother Malik. He is the one I told you about last week
who used to be a weed head. Anyways, this week we had some really good
lessons with him, he has stopped smoking weed, he is getting rid of
bad influneces in his life and you can really see how god is working
in his life. Well come yesterday, we didn’t see him at church so we
were wondering what happened so we grabbed some members to come with
us and we visited him after church. We got to the house and he wasn’t
in the house but he was out back and we could hear some yelling. We
went back there and Malik was looking pretty fired up and his uncle
was also there fired up. We had no idea what the fight was all about
because they were yelling in Hausa (Muslim language) but out of no
where his uncle just started swinging at Malik and he actually caught
him across the jaw pretty good.  Now malik is kind of a fiery guy so I
was fully expecting him to come strait back at him but instead he
totally surprised me and he just turned his back and walked away, then
his uncle started to come at him again and this happened a few more
time. So we were just there chilling and watching a full out street
brawl but everytime that the uncle came at Malik and punched him,
Malik would just leave it. Finally we got in and stepped in (along
with neibors) and tore them apart. Of course Malik was still yelling
and screaming and stuff and we finally got him calmed down and in his
own apartment and he just started bawling. He felt so bad. We were
basically just there to show love. We were able to talk to Malik
though and he told us thank you so much for coming because he said it
would have been so much worse if we weren’t there. He said he didn’t
know what happened either. He said usually that in a situation like
that he would have came right back and basically sent the guy to the
hospital but he said that he just somehow had the strenghth to not
fight back and he said he knew it was because of the gospel. I belive
it to because he has told us some stories of things that have happened
in the past and its not in his nature to just walk away from a fight
like that.  It is crazy to see how the gospel can literally transform
lives. Just keep this guy in your prayers. He has a rough family life
and he is just trying his hardest to live the gospel but he is really
going through some trials of his faith but I know that one day he will
get over these trials and he will be healed by the gospel. Anyways, I
think that is enough for this week. I hope that you all have a great
week this week and just know that I love you all. Love
Elder Bowring