October 6, 2014

Dear Family,
Well this week has been good just like any other week. This week we
were faced with a few more bounces  so that made it a little tougher
but it was still a really good week. Honestly right now I am just
drawing a blank on what happened this week haha. Ok I rmember
something that happened this week . So we have been working with this
guy , his name is brother Bright. He came to church 2 weeks ago and
really has a desire to be baptised. Well we went by on Friday to go by
and see him. He works at a barber shop and so we came to the barber
shop and there was a member sitting out side and I just kind of waved
and walked in started slappin peoples hands and stuff and then I
realized that bright was in the middle of a discusion with somebody .
Then the member who was sitting out side called me and then he told me
that the guy bright was talking with ahd been in there for about an
hour and he was basically in there telling bright everything that we
have been teaching him was false. Right after that bright called me
inside and so we just sat down and started off like it was any other
lesson.  The guy who was talking with bright was there as well and I
recognized him. He was in the shop on Wedsnesday when we were talking
about the BOM with Bright. Anyways, I guess from what he heard, he
totally went home and like prepared a bunch of scriptures from the
bible to disprove us. The scriptures he used were so garbage to , I
just shot them right back at him but he was so hard headed he just
kept moving on when I would confound him. Anyways, the lesson just
turned out to be us going back and forth with this other guy who was
there. I hate “bible bashing” Its such a waste of time. No matter what
you say they will never listen. Finally after about 20 minutes of this
the member came in (he is an RM) and he had had enough so he just
basically came in and started argueing with this guy so me and Elder
Taylor just left. We didn’t want to be a part of this contention. We
just went behind the barber shop to find bright again because he had
left in the course of us bible bashing. After we left, things got
heated in the shop, we just heard them going at eachothers throats.
Anyways, we got to talk to bright a little bit and he said that he did
have some questions for us but that he was giong to be coming to
church (he didn’t) but I am really hoping to go by and to see him this
week. Its just so frustrating sometimes. I just wish everyone around
me knew what I knew and knew the importance of it, it sure would make
missionary work a lot easier haha. Anyways, we were pretty glad to get
out of there. This week, me and elder Taylor set a goal to have 2
baptisms for sure on the 22nd of october. We have Alex who we are
basically 99 % sure he will baptize on that day.  The only thing that
might hold him back is that he is living with his women but she is
leaving for school either this week or the next week, so we are
praying that she will leave in time for Alex to be baptized. He came
to church again this week, that is 4 weeks in a row and he is acting
just like a member. I am really excited for him. Then we had about 3
others who had the potential to be baptized on the 22nd depending if
they  came to church this week or not. So this week we fasted for the
goal that we had set, and lo and behold at least one of the 3
potentials came this week and that was Joshua (alexs friend) I was so
pumped, we have been working with Joshua for a while and he is such a
sweet guy, he is the one who actually brought Alex to the church. He
made it to church again this week and says that he really wants to be
baptized on the 22nd.  I am so pumped that our fast was awsnered.
Doesn’t mean that the work is done for us , but we got the help that
we needed from the lord to keep moving forward. Just reminds me of
something you always used to say dad, “Work as if it all depends on
you, and pray as if it all depends on the lord” Ive really seen that
bless me so much on my mission. There are times (like this week) When
I feel I have done all I can do and sometimes I forget that I can turn
to my father in heaven , but it seems like everytime I do , everything
just works out. I am just so greatful for the help that he constantly
gives us and all it takes it a simple humble prayer to ask for his
help and he is ready to give it to you.  I am really excited for this
week to see how we progress with Alex and Joshua . Anyways, that is
about it for this week.  I freakin cant belive its already my birthday
on Saturday. Im giong to be 20 , how is that even possible. Freakin
crazy, anyways, I love you all very much and I hope that you have a
wonderful week this week. Love ,
Elder Bowring

September 29, 2014

Dear Family,
Well this week went by very fast and it was just another week of
working hard.  That always makes time just go by fast when you are
just going all out from the time you wake up to the time you are in at
night but it is good, I enjoy it. Well I guess I will just start from
the top of the week.  Tuesday I would label as the day of blown out
tires haha. I went out in the morning to leave and my back tire was
completely flat , so I pumped it up and it just went flat within 5
minutes so I took it to a bike shop (they have a bunch of little bike
repair shops) and there was a huge slice in my tube so we waited for
about 30 min to get that fixed. Finally we got it all fixed and we
started riding out to our first area and about half way there I hear
Elder Taylor calling my name and turns out that his back tire blew out
on him , so we ended up walking the bikes to the area we were going.
We ended up teaching some good lessons when we got there and before we
left we took his bike to go and get fixed. Turns out he needed a new
back tire so we waited for that. After that we road to a further area
and had some more slammin lessons. It was about 9 when we left our
last area and it was about a 30 minute bike ride home so we took off.
The entire way home  Elder Taylor was a ways behind me and I didn’t
know why but I just kept going and then we got about half way I
decided to wait for him and when he caught up he told me that his back
tire had blown out again and he had been riding on it most of the way,
I felt so bad that I didn’t realize it sooner. So we ended up walking
our bikes all the way back and we didn’t get home until like 10 haha,
so it was a fun day. A little miracle happened though. At about 6 that
day, it looked like it was going to rain and it stayed like that the
entire night with out it raining until we reached home. About 2
minutes after we got home it started pouring. Count your many
blessings haha.  Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Mybia and
it was good. Its always a little different going with him because he
doesn’t speak English very well yet so we worked with what we could.
We have a pretty good relationship so that was fun.  Friday was a fun
day, we had a really good day and toward the end of the day it started
to rain. We had a member with us named Sammuel and usually when it
rains the members don’t want to go out in it but this guy was game so
it was dark about 7 and just pouring and the 3 of us went out and
proselyted in the rain. We got soaked but it was really fun. This week
we made some really good progress with some of our investigators. Alex
is a stud, I am to the point that I don’t even worry if he is coming
to church or not.  It was funny, yesterday at church we didn’t have
anybody there for the longest time and I was just thinking to my self,
where the crap is atleast Alex. Well about 9:40 we had a new
investigator show up and while I saw him, I just saw Alex sitting in
the congregation just intently listening just like a member. I talked
to him and I guess he was there before the sacrament so that was a
great relive. He is defintly about ready to baptize, the only problem
is that he is living with his girl friend but she is leaving to school
soon so depending on when she leaves he will either be baptized on the
8th or the 22nd. I am pretty excited , it will be my first baptism
here in Ghana. His friend Joshua is doing good as well, he just kind
of  doesn’t understand the importance of church so we are going to
talk with him about that this week so I hope he will be right behind
alex. Malik is disappointing us, we found out this week that he is
still smoking weed and stuff like that so if he doesn’t come to church
this week we will just drop him.  We have a few others who we are
working with that are just so close. I guess one of our investigators
has some neibors around him telling him all this false stuff about the
church that is kind of scaring him off. Its really frustrating. You
can see that the devil is working just as hard as we are working out
here. There are so many just false churches out here, so many false
rumors about the church and things that go on that prevent people from
finding the truth. It is so weird to just look around at every one and
just see the amount of work we still have to do to bring all our
brothers and sisters to the truth but I guess we will just go out and
and do it one soul at a time Sure do love you all, I hope everyone
has a great week this. Love
Elder Bowring

Elder Bowring & Elder Tolar

 

Loves the service projects
and gettin' dirty!!

Haircut day!!  

Lovin' Some Soccer!!! 

Looks like serious business!! 

Glad to see Elder Bowring wearing a helmet!!

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

September 15, 2014

Dear family,
Well we had another good week here in Ghana, It was so hot this week,
not sure how I feel about dry season coming up. I might come back
black.  Anyways, we had a really successful week this week. Elder
Taylor is really coming along in his training and I am really enjoying
being able to train him. Its nice to have a companion who wants to
work hard and is just here to work.  Nothing real special popped up
this week but it was just a really good week of hard work. This week
we had a lot of member help which was very nice, it is always so nice
when the members are willing to come out and proselyte with us. I
finally feel like we are getting some good solid people who we can go
and see twice a week and are really ready for the gospel. It sure took
a lot of work and disappointment but I finally am seeing a little bit
of success in the work this week. A lot of problems we have been
having in the past since I have been here in Ghana is that people just
look at us somebody bringing a good message but not really somebody
who is there to change there lives so what we did this week is we just
went around to some of our investigators who were kind of on the fence
and we were just bold with them and told them that we are basically
here to baptize them haha. Some took it well and some not so much haha
but its all just a part of the work. It especially worked with one guy
named Joshua. He told us that he has wanted to be baptized for a while
but he just hasn’t in his church yet so we told him that he had to
come to church if he wanted to be baptized and for some reason he was
a little bit skeptical. Anyways,  on Sunday, we were about half way
finished with sacrament meeting and we had no body at church and I was
just wondering where the crap everybody was. Well then I get a call
and its from Joshua and he told me that he was outside the church so I
went out there and he also had a friend with him as well.  I was so
excited and happy and I just hope that he comes this next week. For
some reason we just cant get somebody to come to church back to back
weeks so I hope he will break that streak from us. Anyways what I
learned from all that is that we should never be scared to share what
we know and share our beliefs. Also just do what you know is right and
be bold , some people might not take it well but the ones who are
supposed to will and you will be able to help them.  Out here in Ghana
I have just had some really interesting experiences I guess you could
say. Just last week I saw an old women just walking down the street
shirtless ( not the most pleasant thing ive ever seen, still trying to
block that one out of my head) anyways, we met this really interesting
guy this week named Malik. Missionaries have met with him before and
he wanted us to come buy.  The second I walked into his apartment I
could just smell the weed haha so I wasn’t sure what I was getting
into. Anyways he really seems interested in changing his life and
improving his life. This week while we were teaching a lesson we had a
weird/cool experience with him. We were teaching the book of Mormon
and out of no where he just started to grab his ribs in pain.  I asked
if he was ok and he said to me that he thought it was a spiritual
attack and he wanted me to pray for him. Well I didn’t know what the
crap to do so I just prayed really hard for him and instantly after
the prayer he started feeling better.  I don’t know if it was because
of the Weed or what but it was kind of a cool experience and even we
talked with him about smoking weed and he said that he is going to
stop.  Didn’t come to church this week but he is reading the BOM and
stuff so I hope that things will turn out good. This week, Thursday we
had a Zone Conference at the temple sight which was pretty good. I got
to see Tolar again so that was really good. It is still just so weird
to me how different things are done here but it was good to go the
temple sight and stuff. I think that we have a temple trip scheduled
for November coming up so I am excited about that. Well that is really
all I can think about for this last week. We are really hoping for
some baptisms in October so we are praying towards that. I hope that
you all have a wonderful week and that things back homea re great.
Love ya all ,
Elder Bowring

A surprise picture from one of Elder Bowring's Mission Mothers! Thanks Sister Berrett

Elder Tolar-Elder Bowring-Sister Karngar

Dear Sister Tolar and Sister Bowring - It was soooo great to see your Elders today at the Accra Temple square.  Especially fun to see this 'dynamic duo' together again.  We love your boys and think they are great missionaries.  Ghana is lucky to have such great young men serving here.  They were trained well in Liberia!  We took their picture to send to you.  Also in the picture is Sister Karngar who is from Logan Town in Liberia and now serving in Ghana.  It was fun to hear them all talking 'Liberian' to each other.  We have also been reassigned to Ghana but the Accra  mission.  We are living in a small apartment right next to the temple until they can find us housing in our assigned area which is about 1 1/2 hours away from Accra.  Seeing your boys made our day.  Hopefully it will make you day, too.  Here they are -----   

~Sister Berrett

They look good, don't they!  Still smiling  :)

September 8, 2014

Dear Family,
Well this week has been pretty eventful and full of changes. It was a
really good week though. I guess I will just start from the top and go
day by day. Tuesday nothing really special happened but something that
was cool is that we were able to sit down with our deaf guy and teach
him again. He met us to the church so we had a good idea to use the
Family history center and to go and use the computer there so that we
could get online and show him some videos and vizuales about the
restoration but the internet ended up being down so we decided to just
get on Word and then I just typed everything that I wanted to say out
and then if he had questions he would write them down and it was a
really cool lesson.  Wednesday was Transfer day, they do Transfers so

Elder Bowring & Elder Taylor

different over here. For transfers , who ever is being transferred
just goes to a stake Center in Accra and every body just meets up
there and then they get there new companions and then they go from
there. So there was a ton a missionarys there and I didn’t know about
7/8 of them all haha, but it was cool to get to know some of them. I
met an Elder Jensen from Richfield and we totally played Basketball
and baseball together. He was a senior when I was a junior so that was
fun to run into him and then we even just got back from playing
basketball with him and some other guys so that was fun. Well at the stake center is where If found out who my new companion and who I was going to be training. We got there and they had all of the new missionarys on one side and put all of the trainers on the other side.
I was able to get a cheap littler jersey and with duck tape put NSAWAM on the back so we held it up for our photo, I thought it was hilarious but my companion didn’t really get it haha. My new companion aka my sons name is Elder Taylor, he is from Las Vegas. His original call was to Liberia but got reassigned here as well so that is really cool. I am still getting to know him and we don’t have a lot of the same interst but he is a really sweet guy and I am going to enjoy our time together for sure. One thing that I love about him is that he is here to work and that is all I could ask for. So from Wednesday on we had some really good days. Its kind of funny to be a new missionary because I totally remember being in his shoes.  Not being able to understand the people and trying to communicate with them and stuff, so its been fun being able to help him with things like that and also to be able to just help him with missionary work. Hes a champ though, he is really not having a hard time adjusting to the culture or anything like that.  This week I was really excited, we had 3 people show up to church and they were all actually people who we had been teaching and people who are now progessing. Ones name is Sammuel and
he is so stoked for his baptism. I think in every class he was in he asked when he could be baptized, he is about 23 years old so I am really excited to finally start getting some people who are serious and are just ready to except the gospel. We had another man named Sammuel come who is planning on bringing his family also so I am happy for that and hope that things there will go great and then we had a Girl named Joyce who came who is the sister of a member so it was really sweet to see them all to church on Sunday and I was just jacked to have them there. After church though, Elder Taylor was really sick, I think it was dehydration so he was in some pain so we didn’t have a chance to go out after church but it was a really good week.  I am really looking forward to this next week to see our new progressing investigators progress and also to see how well Elder Taylor
progresses. One thing that I have noticed by getting a new missionary is just really how much I have learned and grown on my mission. I never thought I would be in a position to teach somebody how to be a missionary and to help them do these things but now that I am here I am able to do it and I know it is because of just how much my mission has blessed me and how much I have enjoyed my mission and that is just one thing that I want to be able to help Elder Taylor with is to help him be able to enjoy his mission and get the blessing that come from
it. Well, family, I hope you all have a fantastic week and I hope that things back home are just great. I love you all so very much, love
Elder Bowring