Dear family ,
Well I hope that you all had a good week. We had a pretty solid week
again this week. Honestly its just about the same stuff every week so
I will try and keep it interesting. Every week just seems like a blur
of the same stuff. Anyways, we did a good job this week again
teaching. I can tell that my companion hasn’t worked this hard his
whole mission, but he is really being a trooper and doing good. The
other day we watched the Joseph smith movie for a lesson and both me
and my companion fell asleep haha it was funny. This week there is
the African cup going on which is just all the African nations playing
soccer against each other. Like a mini version of the world cup. I
have an investigator who is die hard soccer and so we taught him a
lesson at the half of the Ghana game on Tuesday and ended up watching
the second half with him haha, it was pretty sweet though, we just
watched out side in one of the small shops and there was a bunch of
people gathered together and Ghana ended up scoring two goals and
winning. When they scored my investigator just came up and gave me a
big old hug and we were going crazy so that was pretty fun. This
Friday I had an exchange with my ZL Elder Fairwell , he came to my
area. It was pretty good, it was nice to get back to the Liberian way
of doing things haha, we talked a lot about Liberia and just all that
stuff, so it was a pretty good exchange. Made me miss Liberia. This
week Sunday was pretty good, we ended up only have one person come
again, it was Ayuba. He was pretty pumped about church again and we
are going to baptize him next week. He is really excited. It was
funny, at the first of the week we were talking to him about his
baptism how it is in two weeks and he just kept telling us how far
away it is. He is really anxious. I love the guy though. He is about
21 but he isn’t two mature for his age, he is kind of like a small
child at mind a bit and I really love the guy. Also he doesn’t know
how to read so on Saturday we just devoted a whole lesson to teach him
the basics of reading. I have met a lot of people on my mission who
didn’t know how to read, but I have never really taken the time to sit
with them and teach them how to read. I think we are going to keep it
up and keep teaching him how to read maybe like 2 times a week to see
if we can help him out. Even though we had only 1 person at church on
Sunday , we have a lot of people who are really good and who seem
promising. They all have the desire to be baptized we are just really
trying hard to get them to take a few more steps of faith by coming to
church regularly and being able to gain that testimony of the gospel.
We are going to keep up the hard work though. Also on Saturday we just
randomly decided to buy a chicken at the market and kill it and give
it to one of Elder Forrest Investigators to cook for us so we had some
pretty good chicken on Saturday I was pumped about that. Another thing
that happened this week was that ECG (electrical company ) Decided to
start a new pattern to give light. We now only have like for 12 hours
and then they take it for 24 and then give it to us for 12 again.
Freakin sucks, but I guess that is just the mission. Anyways, I love you
all so much and I hope you have an incredible week.
Love
Elder Bowring
Monday, March 9, 2015
January 26, 2015
Dear Family,
Well this week has been a really good week like last week. We really
worked hard again this week and me and my companion were able to get
our goal of 40 lessons this week so we were pretty pumped about that.
Well I guess I will just start with today what we did. Today we went
to a place called Budum Burum aka the Liberian refugee camp they have
here in Ghana to play some basketball with some elders. First off it
was sweet because playing basketball is the best thing to do on P-day
but we played against a bunch of Liberians and they were all speaking
the Liberian Pigeon English Coloqa and just hearing that pumped me up
and made me miss Liberia. I talked to them all and I knew all the
places where they lived and even served in a few of the places to , it
was really sweet and to top it off afterwards we went and ate some
Liberian food. It was dope, I am pretty geeked about all haha. Well
this week on Tuesday we had our district meeting and the Office Elders
Joined us for that and it was good. They brought me 2 packages one
long awaited one from Ashly and then another from the Andersons so
thank you so much for that, you guys are making sure I am well taken
care of out here. I am just trying to think about what high lights we
had this week, I would say that one of the high lights that we had was
on Wednesday we taught 11 lessons in a day , so that was pretty sweet
teaching wise. This week though we have had a lot of lights off. From
the beginning of the week they were having problems with it all and we
were in darkness for like 3 days and then when we finally got light
back our water tank was empty and we didn’t get any water for about 2
days, and now that our tank is full our water pump went out haha, we
just cant seem to get it all right. Hopefully that will all be better
this week. This week at church was a good week. We missed out on the
two who came last week but I guess they had some things come up so we
are still working with them on it all. We did have our confirmation
this week which is always nice, I always get nervous about the
confirmation whether they will show up or not. Because it's happened
it the past. We did also have one new investigator to church named
Isaac. He was pretty pumped about all of church and was really
enjoying him self. He said he can’t wait to baptize this month and he
even showed us to his brother after church on Sunday. We are hoping
for about 3-4 baptisms this month so I really pray that we will be
able to get them. I am really starting to settle in here, even for me
and Elder Forrest we have been doing some good lifting in the mornings
and had a bench made so we can do some good work outs with the
dumbbells that he has. I am hoping that I can stay here for a while,
atleast until March but I guess we will just see what the lord has
planned for me. I am sorry this week is a little dull, not to much
exciting happened just a lot of teaching and a lot of working just like
every other week. I heard that Grandpa Lovells surgery went well, hang
in there G-pa im praying for you. Well I love you all very much and I
hope that you have a wonderful week this week. Love ,
Elder Bowring
Well this week has been a really good week like last week. We really
worked hard again this week and me and my companion were able to get
our goal of 40 lessons this week so we were pretty pumped about that.
Well I guess I will just start with today what we did. Today we went
to a place called Budum Burum aka the Liberian refugee camp they have
here in Ghana to play some basketball with some elders. First off it
was sweet because playing basketball is the best thing to do on P-day
but we played against a bunch of Liberians and they were all speaking
the Liberian Pigeon English Coloqa and just hearing that pumped me up
and made me miss Liberia. I talked to them all and I knew all the
places where they lived and even served in a few of the places to , it
was really sweet and to top it off afterwards we went and ate some
Liberian food. It was dope, I am pretty geeked about all haha. Well
this week on Tuesday we had our district meeting and the Office Elders
Joined us for that and it was good. They brought me 2 packages one
long awaited one from Ashly and then another from the Andersons so
thank you so much for that, you guys are making sure I am well taken
care of out here. I am just trying to think about what high lights we
had this week, I would say that one of the high lights that we had was
on Wednesday we taught 11 lessons in a day , so that was pretty sweet
teaching wise. This week though we have had a lot of lights off. From
the beginning of the week they were having problems with it all and we
were in darkness for like 3 days and then when we finally got light
back our water tank was empty and we didn’t get any water for about 2
days, and now that our tank is full our water pump went out haha, we
just cant seem to get it all right. Hopefully that will all be better
this week. This week at church was a good week. We missed out on the
two who came last week but I guess they had some things come up so we
are still working with them on it all. We did have our confirmation
this week which is always nice, I always get nervous about the
confirmation whether they will show up or not. Because it's happened
it the past. We did also have one new investigator to church named
Isaac. He was pretty pumped about all of church and was really
enjoying him self. He said he can’t wait to baptize this month and he
even showed us to his brother after church on Sunday. We are hoping
for about 3-4 baptisms this month so I really pray that we will be
able to get them. I am really starting to settle in here, even for me
and Elder Forrest we have been doing some good lifting in the mornings
and had a bench made so we can do some good work outs with the
dumbbells that he has. I am hoping that I can stay here for a while,
atleast until March but I guess we will just see what the lord has
planned for me. I am sorry this week is a little dull, not to much
exciting happened just a lot of teaching and a lot of working just like
every other week. I heard that Grandpa Lovells surgery went well, hang
in there G-pa im praying for you. Well I love you all very much and I
hope that you have a wonderful week this week. Love ,
Elder Bowring
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
January 19, 2015
Dear Family,
Well this week was actually a pretty good week. I guess it started off
crazy though,Tuesday was Tolars last day and I was able to talk with
him before he left, just blows my mind that he is done. Also on
Tuesday we had Zone meeting at the Kaneshie stake center. IF I am
being completely honest with you Zone meetings are just so different
from Liberia. Elder Fairwell is my zone leader so it was good to hear his
instruction, good old fashion Liberian instruction but other than that It just
makes me miss my old mission more. I was pumped though, I got 2
packages that day, one from Gpa and Gma Lovell and one from the
Asburys. Thank you guys so much, you guys are making sure you are
taking good care of me out here. Gpa, that jerky is slammin, everyone
in the apartment is enjoying and its almost finished haha. The rest
of the week was a blur, we honestly just worked our butts off this
week, I think we ended up having 37 lessons or something like that.
The highlight of the week was Definilty Sunday. Sunday we had baptisms
for our branch. Our companionship had one and One of the sisters had 6
(a family) and then we had some children of record baptized as well.
The family that the sitsters baptized was pretty sweet, it was a
mother and her 2 grown up children and then the grandchild. I was able
to perform the baptism and it was really sweet. The Mother is 70 years
old and the day before her leg started to give her problems. She
couldn’t bend her knee and was just hobbling along. She said that she
stayed up all night long the night before because she just didn’t know
how she was going to be able to be baptized. She is a little bigger
to so she wanted to make sure that somebody could do it, and she
looked at me and I don’t think she had the full confidence in my
smallness haha. But I told her that it would be ok that that god would
help. WE got down into the water and she was still very nervous but as
I was telling her that god would help us, I just got an over whelming
feeling that it was going to be good and that things would work. I
finished the prayer and went to put her down and she didn’t want to go
but I told her to just straiten her leg and I would take care of the
rest. Well it happened pretty fast but I got her down and up and
looked to the witnesses to make sure it was good, and they said that
everything went perfect. For sure a miracle that we were able to
baptize her. I was standing out side the changing room when she came
out and I went to shake her hand and she said no and just came up and
gave me such a big hug and thanked me. It was a pretty awesome moment
, one that I wont forget. God definitely helps us when we need his help
and when we are doing his work. Our baptism went well as well. Her
name is Patricia and she is going to be a strong member. Another high
light that we had on Sunday is we had 2 other investigators there, one
Bro George (he came last week) and after he told us that he made up
his mind to be baptized, which is a miracle. This guy has been
searching for the truth for so long. When I first met him he called
him self a church prostitute because he has been to so many churches
haha. So hopefully in a few weeks that will go down and then our other
was bro Ayuba (Muslim name ) We met with him after church and he told
us he was going to baptize next week haha but we told him we have to
go over a few other things with him before so we will do it in two
weeks. The work is picking up here and I am definitely seeing the
blessings of Dilligence and relying on the lord. Also another sweet
miracle that happened yesterday was that I was sitting in sacrament
meeting and I looked out the window and I got a faint glimpse at
somebody walking in. I thought to my self he looks a lot like my BML
Richard Yansey from Paynesville in Liberia. Well he came in after
sacrament and sure enough, it was Richard Yansey. It was so sweet to
see him, like a sweet reunion. I can only imagine what it will be like
on the other side when I meet all the people I have met on my mission,
especially the ones in Liberia. Overall it was a good week and I am
anxious to see how things go this week, hopefully they will be even
better. I love you all and I hope you have an awesome week. Love
Elder Bowring
Well this week was actually a pretty good week. I guess it started off
crazy though,Tuesday was Tolars last day and I was able to talk with
him before he left, just blows my mind that he is done. Also on
Tuesday we had Zone meeting at the Kaneshie stake center. IF I am
being completely honest with you Zone meetings are just so different
from Liberia. Elder Fairwell is my zone leader so it was good to hear his
instruction, good old fashion Liberian instruction but other than that It just
makes me miss my old mission more. I was pumped though, I got 2
packages that day, one from Gpa and Gma Lovell and one from the
Asburys. Thank you guys so much, you guys are making sure you are
taking good care of me out here. Gpa, that jerky is slammin, everyone
in the apartment is enjoying and its almost finished haha. The rest
of the week was a blur, we honestly just worked our butts off this
week, I think we ended up having 37 lessons or something like that.
The highlight of the week was Definilty Sunday. Sunday we had baptisms
for our branch. Our companionship had one and One of the sisters had 6
(a family) and then we had some children of record baptized as well.
The family that the sitsters baptized was pretty sweet, it was a
mother and her 2 grown up children and then the grandchild. I was able
to perform the baptism and it was really sweet. The Mother is 70 years
old and the day before her leg started to give her problems. She
couldn’t bend her knee and was just hobbling along. She said that she
stayed up all night long the night before because she just didn’t know
how she was going to be able to be baptized. She is a little bigger
to so she wanted to make sure that somebody could do it, and she
looked at me and I don’t think she had the full confidence in my
smallness haha. But I told her that it would be ok that that god would
help. WE got down into the water and she was still very nervous but as
I was telling her that god would help us, I just got an over whelming
feeling that it was going to be good and that things would work. I
finished the prayer and went to put her down and she didn’t want to go
but I told her to just straiten her leg and I would take care of the
rest. Well it happened pretty fast but I got her down and up and
looked to the witnesses to make sure it was good, and they said that
everything went perfect. For sure a miracle that we were able to
baptize her. I was standing out side the changing room when she came
out and I went to shake her hand and she said no and just came up and
gave me such a big hug and thanked me. It was a pretty awesome moment
, one that I wont forget. God definitely helps us when we need his help
and when we are doing his work. Our baptism went well as well. Her
name is Patricia and she is going to be a strong member. Another high
light that we had on Sunday is we had 2 other investigators there, one
Bro George (he came last week) and after he told us that he made up
his mind to be baptized, which is a miracle. This guy has been
searching for the truth for so long. When I first met him he called
him self a church prostitute because he has been to so many churches
haha. So hopefully in a few weeks that will go down and then our other
was bro Ayuba (Muslim name ) We met with him after church and he told
us he was going to baptize next week haha but we told him we have to
go over a few other things with him before so we will do it in two
weeks. The work is picking up here and I am definitely seeing the
blessings of Dilligence and relying on the lord. Also another sweet
miracle that happened yesterday was that I was sitting in sacrament
meeting and I looked out the window and I got a faint glimpse at
somebody walking in. I thought to my self he looks a lot like my BML
Richard Yansey from Paynesville in Liberia. Well he came in after
sacrament and sure enough, it was Richard Yansey. It was so sweet to
see him, like a sweet reunion. I can only imagine what it will be like
on the other side when I meet all the people I have met on my mission,
especially the ones in Liberia. Overall it was a good week and I am
anxious to see how things go this week, hopefully they will be even
better. I love you all and I hope you have an awesome week. Love
Elder Bowring
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
January 12, 2015
Dear family ,
This week was a good busy week that is for sure. Tuesday was mind and
Elder Langi’s last day together, we went around and said goodbye to a
bunch of people and so that made the day a littler longer but it was
really good. Wednesday was the day of transfers . That morning me and
Elder Langi decided to go get hair cuts , so he went first and the guy
did a really good job so I told the barber to just do the same thing
with mine as he did with Elder Langi, well some how he didn’t get what
I was saying I ended up with a shaved head haha, I seriously have the
worst luck with hair cuts out here but o wells what can ya do. Usually
for transfers we all go to Tesano so we can pick up our new companions
and drop off our old ones but my new companion was coming from an area
really close to mine, so that morning we just went to the other
missionarys apartment and I dropped off Elder Langi there and I picked
up my new companion. When I first met my new companion I didn’t know
that it was him, I looked at his tag and it said Tshibangu and I was
looking for something starting with a CH because that is how it is
pronounced. So ya I figured out that you spell my new companions name
Tshibangu but it is pronounced Chibangu haha. Like I said last week he
is from the DR congo and has been out for about 8 months now. He was a
little bit quite the first few days but he is warming up. He is a
really chill guy and I like him a lot and I think we will get along
just fine. Thursday was another not normal day as well ha. Every
month they have MLC (Misison leader Council) but it is usually just
for the ZL’s to go to meet with president and what not, but since It
was the beginning of the year they invited all the DL’s to come that
day to, so me and Elder Forrest went to that together. It was at the
temple sight, the thing that I was most pumped about is that I was
going to see Tolar for the last time. I seriously can not believe that
he is going home. It is weird because we have done so much together
and he is one of my best friends now and he is going to be home on
Wednesday, dude is just leaving me to dry out here haha. I’m happy for
him but sure am going to miss him, we had a lot of good times together
but its chill because when I get back we will have some more. MLC was
ok, honestly its meetings like those that make me miss my mission back
in Liberia. Things are just done so differently here and I am still
trying to adjust to them and the way that things are run. I guess its
what ever though. Quick side note, right now here in Ghana we are
going to a season called Homaton or something like that , and its
basically a bunch of dust and crap coming from the north part of
Africa is being blown down here, anyways, it sucks. IT has been so
dusty and like , its so bad you can hardly see the moon at nights
because of how much dust is in the air, it was really bad on Thursday that is what made me think of it. I think it is supposed to last all
month to. Anyways that literally took like all day for us on Thursday . Friday was finally back to normal and so was Saturday. This Sunday was 100x times better than my last 2 Sundays have been. We finally had
4 people come to church this Sunday. I was really excited, and one of
them is scheduled to baptize next week , so we will have a baptism
next week that will be really sweet. It defiantly helps with the
transition of areas. I have been here for almost 1 month now though
and I am starting to get used to things here. Things are looking up
though so I am excited, still got a lot of work to do. Its crazy, no
matter how much you do or how much you work , there is always more to
do. Just so many people out there who don’t have the gospel, it blows
my mind how lucky I am to have it, out of all the people in the world
I am a part of the small percent that gets to have to gospel.
Anyways, I hope that you all have a great week and that you are all
doing well. Love you all,
Elder Bowring
This week was a good busy week that is for sure. Tuesday was mind and
Elder Langi’s last day together, we went around and said goodbye to a
bunch of people and so that made the day a littler longer but it was
really good. Wednesday was the day of transfers . That morning me and
Elder Langi decided to go get hair cuts , so he went first and the guy
did a really good job so I told the barber to just do the same thing
with mine as he did with Elder Langi, well some how he didn’t get what
I was saying I ended up with a shaved head haha, I seriously have the
worst luck with hair cuts out here but o wells what can ya do. Usually
for transfers we all go to Tesano so we can pick up our new companions
and drop off our old ones but my new companion was coming from an area
really close to mine, so that morning we just went to the other
missionarys apartment and I dropped off Elder Langi there and I picked
up my new companion. When I first met my new companion I didn’t know
that it was him, I looked at his tag and it said Tshibangu and I was
looking for something starting with a CH because that is how it is
pronounced. So ya I figured out that you spell my new companions name
Tshibangu but it is pronounced Chibangu haha. Like I said last week he
is from the DR congo and has been out for about 8 months now. He was a
little bit quite the first few days but he is warming up. He is a
really chill guy and I like him a lot and I think we will get along
just fine. Thursday was another not normal day as well ha. Every
month they have MLC (Misison leader Council) but it is usually just
for the ZL’s to go to meet with president and what not, but since It
was the beginning of the year they invited all the DL’s to come that
day to, so me and Elder Forrest went to that together. It was at the
temple sight, the thing that I was most pumped about is that I was
going to see Tolar for the last time. I seriously can not believe that
he is going home. It is weird because we have done so much together
and he is one of my best friends now and he is going to be home on
Wednesday, dude is just leaving me to dry out here haha. I’m happy for
him but sure am going to miss him, we had a lot of good times together
but its chill because when I get back we will have some more. MLC was
ok, honestly its meetings like those that make me miss my mission back
in Liberia. Things are just done so differently here and I am still
trying to adjust to them and the way that things are run. I guess its
what ever though. Quick side note, right now here in Ghana we are
going to a season called Homaton or something like that , and its
basically a bunch of dust and crap coming from the north part of
Africa is being blown down here, anyways, it sucks. IT has been so
dusty and like , its so bad you can hardly see the moon at nights
because of how much dust is in the air, it was really bad on Thursday that is what made me think of it. I think it is supposed to last all
month to. Anyways that literally took like all day for us on Thursday . Friday was finally back to normal and so was Saturday. This Sunday was 100x times better than my last 2 Sundays have been. We finally had
4 people come to church this Sunday. I was really excited, and one of
them is scheduled to baptize next week , so we will have a baptism
next week that will be really sweet. It defiantly helps with the
transition of areas. I have been here for almost 1 month now though
and I am starting to get used to things here. Things are looking up
though so I am excited, still got a lot of work to do. Its crazy, no
matter how much you do or how much you work , there is always more to
do. Just so many people out there who don’t have the gospel, it blows
my mind how lucky I am to have it, out of all the people in the world
I am a part of the small percent that gets to have to gospel.
Anyways, I hope that you all have a great week and that you are all
doing well. Love you all,
Elder Bowring
January 5, 2015
Dear family,
Well happy new year, I cant believe that it is 2015 already, its so
crazy. Well this week has been pretty eventful, forone, we had
transfer news, and my companion is leaving me, I am a little
disappointed about that one. I have only been with him for 3 weeks
and they are taking him and I am getting a new compa nion , his name
is elder chibagu, he is from congo, so that should be pretty
interesting, I don’t know him at all but it will be chill iguess, just
keep the changes coming . Me and my companion have been working out
butts off this week and we didn’t really get the result we wanted.
This week was the first week I haven’t had any investigators at
church back to back weeks, it s tough some times. The city is a lot
harder that where I was at and people are just must stubborn I guess
but jit is teaching me a lot of patience and a lot of diligence. New
years was good this year, we had a ward party on new y ears eve that
started at 6 but people run on Ghanaian time so it didn’t get
started till about 8 haha. It was fun though, they just got a bunch
of big speakers and put them out in the parking lot and had a bunch of
food and stuff so we just went there. Also , we left the party for a
bit of time and went to a p izza place in our area with the other el
ders in our apartment so that was really good and nice, the party
lasted all night long at the church but we had to be in our apartments
at 9:30 so we just stayed up and chatted until 12 in the apartment to
usher in the new year, wasn’t to fancy though, just a few people s
hooting off fireworks. WE had a lot of success at the party though,
we had a few investigators and a less active family that showed up so
I was pumped about that, but none showed up to c hurch. This week I
got a good taste at what its like to be a district leader over the
sisters, me and Elder Forrest (o ther DL over the sisters, he has 4
and I have 4 but they all stay together) were over at their apartment
last night for 1 ½ hours sorting out some stuff, it was ridiculous
but I will just leave it at that, its de f intly a new experience that
I am not used to , that is for sure. Im sorry, this week is just a
blur, like I said, we just worked really hard this we ek but didn’t
get any success. We do have a lot ho have alo of potential though.
Esp elly we found a LAfamily who is really sweet , the mothe r and 2
of her 3 children are baptized but her husband is not a member and
her younger dau ghter who is 9 is also not baptized so we are
working with them and are hopefully going to baptize the daughter
this month. I am excited fo r them because we even found a good
investigator who stays with them so I have my hopes up for them. My
mind is still blown that it is 2015 , 2014 was really a good year
and I learned so much, I cant believe that it has come and gone so
fast, I am excited for the new year, its crazy to think of all the
things that are going to be happening this year but it srue will be ex
iting, Definly a lot of changes going to take place but we will see
what happens. Sorry this is shorter than usual but not to mu ch else
w ent down this week. Th is next week will be pretty event ful though.
This keyboard that I am using sucks to so I am just going to end here.
LOove you all very much and hope you have a wonder 2015 .
Love Elder Bowring
Well happy new year, I cant believe that it is 2015 already, its so
crazy. Well this week has been pretty eventful, forone, we had
transfer news, and my companion is leaving me, I am a little
disappointed about that one. I have only been with him for 3 weeks
and they are taking him and I am getting a new compa nion , his name
is elder chibagu, he is from congo, so that should be pretty
interesting, I don’t know him at all but it will be chill iguess, just
keep the changes coming . Me and my companion have been working out
butts off this week and we didn’t really get the result we wanted.
This week was the first week I haven’t had any investigators at
church back to back weeks, it s tough some times. The city is a lot
harder that where I was at and people are just must stubborn I guess
but jit is teaching me a lot of patience and a lot of diligence. New
years was good this year, we had a ward party on new y ears eve that
started at 6 but people run on Ghanaian time so it didn’t get
started till about 8 haha. It was fun though, they just got a bunch
of big speakers and put them out in the parking lot and had a bunch of
food and stuff so we just went there. Also , we left the party for a
bit of time and went to a p izza place in our area with the other el
ders in our apartment so that was really good and nice, the party
lasted all night long at the church but we had to be in our apartments
at 9:30 so we just stayed up and chatted until 12 in the apartment to
usher in the new year, wasn’t to fancy though, just a few people s
hooting off fireworks. WE had a lot of success at the party though,
we had a few investigators and a less active family that showed up so
I was pumped about that, but none showed up to c hurch. This week I
got a good taste at what its like to be a district leader over the
sisters, me and Elder Forrest (o ther DL over the sisters, he has 4
and I have 4 but they all stay together) were over at their apartment
last night for 1 ½ hours sorting out some stuff, it was ridiculous
but I will just leave it at that, its de f intly a new experience that
I am not used to , that is for sure. Im sorry, this week is just a
blur, like I said, we just worked really hard this we ek but didn’t
get any success. We do have a lot ho have alo of potential though.
Esp elly we found a LAfamily who is really sweet , the mothe r and 2
of her 3 children are baptized but her husband is not a member and
her younger dau ghter who is 9 is also not baptized so we are
working with them and are hopefully going to baptize the daughter
this month. I am excited fo r them because we even found a good
investigator who stays with them so I have my hopes up for them. My
mind is still blown that it is 2015 , 2014 was really a good year
and I learned so much, I cant believe that it has come and gone so
fast, I am excited for the new year, its crazy to think of all the
things that are going to be happening this year but it srue will be ex
iting, Definly a lot of changes going to take place but we will see
what happens. Sorry this is shorter than usual but not to mu ch else
w ent down this week. Th is next week will be pretty event ful though.
This keyboard that I am using sucks to so I am just going to end here.
LOove you all very much and hope you have a wonder 2015 .
Love Elder Bowring
December 29, 2014
Dear family,
Well this week was great, it was awesome to be able to talk to you guys on Thursday , that was definitely the high light of my week for sure and I am just debating on ending my email there since I told you most on Thursday haha but for those who weren’t on the call I will give ya a nice update. Well things in our area are coming along nicely and we are still meeting some really sweet people and getting to know members and people better. It honestly didn’t even feel like Christmas until Christmas eve at like 7. We decided to go Christmas caroling as
a district , so it was me and my companion with 4 sister missionaries all caroling. Africans don’t really know what Christmas caroling is all about haha , Christmas eve was just like a regular night here, not to many people doing anything out of the normal, just a few more
people buying some fire works and shooting them off. We went in the sisters area and did our caroling and visited some members and some of there investigators. WE also stopped into a pharmacy on the side of the road and sang some carols there, it was funny because we went in
there and some people were just looking at us weird but we started
singing and they enjoyed it and it was nice. That is one thing,
Ghanians are all just so nice. When we visited the members homes, they
didn’t know what was going on either, they would invited us in and
they would get there hymn books and join us haha but it was still all
good. I thought it was a good way to feel the Christmas spirit.
Christmas day was good, I had some presents to unwrap and then I was
able to give 2 stockings to everyone in the apartment so we all got to
gether in the morning and we were able to open up some Christmas
presents so it was really cool and felt like Christmas. Grandma and
Grandpa B, thanks for the wood tie, its sick haha everyone loved it, I
wore it on Saturday and people thought it was the coolest thing ever,
they kept asking if I made it my self. We just then got fed on
Christmas and I was full as could be, then we called home which was
awesome. The next day was a little hard, still had you guys on my mind
a lot but it was still a good day. It was a little rougher this week
at church, we didn’t have any investigators come to church but we did
get 2 LA guys to come so I was excited about that and then the sisters
had a baptism after church on Sunday which was really good. The guys
name is Emmanuel and he is an awesome guy, got to interview him and
all. The service was pretty disorganized so I just got tossed up there
to conduct the whole thing and do it all but it went pretty well. I
literally don’t really have anything else to say except we are
enjoying here. Today we went to a new mall that they built here in
accra and holy crap it was so nice. Just like a mall back home. I
haven’t been some wehre that nice my entire mission. I was like
uncomfortable there , I am screwed when I get back home because I
don’t know how to handle my self in a nice area like that and I don’t
know how to spend money any more either haha. It was nice though, I
cant believe that 2014 is over and that we will be in 2015 this year,
that means I am coming home this year, just blows my mind. I hope that
you all have a wonderful new year and that you all had a merry
Christmas , I love you all and wish you the best,
Elder Bowring
December 22, 2014
Dear family,
This week has been quite the crazy week and a lot of stuff going on,
so I guess I will just start from the start of the week. Tuesday was
the last day in my area in Nsawam so we went around and we had some
lessons with everyone and just basically went around and said good bye
to everyone. It is always weird to do that, I really hate goodbyes ha
but its just all a part of being a missionary. I am really going to
miss all of those people in Nsawam. For Christmas I gave Joshua one of
my Niners shirts so they will be well repped over here in Africa. Well
Wednesday was transfer days. I was lucky and I had the Berretts come
and get me and take me to Transfers. We went to Tesano to get our new
companions and there wasn’t that many missionarys there. Usually there
is just a ton of missionary but it was a really small transfer. I met
my new companion there Elder Langi. He is from Tonga and has been out
for about 7 months now. He didn’t know any English when he first came
but now he speaks really well. I am pumped to because I actually have
2 other Elders in the apartment with me . Elder Forrest (we came
together to Africa and were in the MTC at the same time so its cool )
and Elder Crandall from Utah. Anyways, we went strait to our new area
and apartment and my new apartment is a lot nicer than my last one but
it was trashed when I get there so we have been cleaning up a bunch
today. Anyways, things here in Dansoman are a lot different that is
for sure. One big thing is that it is hotter here than it was in
Nsawam. Nsawam was a really green area with a lot of rain and
vegetation but here is just dusty and hot. Its killing my white shirts
haha. Its more of a city area here to , Nsawam was like a little more
Rural but here there is a lot of people crammed into our area and is a
lot more city. Anyways, as soon as we got here me and Elder Langi sat
down and started talking about the area and what not. Well he told me
a bunch of stories of the Elder that I came to replace and from the
stories that I have heard he is the most unserious missionary I have
heard of. I wont go into detail but I will just say that his mind
isn’t really focused on missionary work and that just frustrates me.
It just pisses me off to see missionarys not take there missions
serious, and because he was so unserious our area is crap. Honestly I
feel like am just starting a new area. Not many people at first to
teach and see so this week me and Elder Langi have been working our
butts off. I love Elder Langi, he is just ready to work hard and do
work especially after his last companion. I feel bad because he really
tried with the last guy but the last guy just didn’t listen and wanted
to do his own thing. We have really been working hard on just finding
new people but also trying to get to know the members more and use
them more. Dansoman is actually a ward here, its my first ward that I
have served in so its weird calling our bishop , bishop. I am used to
branch president haha. The members seem like they are more than
willing to help us though, we just need to put our effort forth. There
is a lot of potential in this area and I think me and Elder Langi are
going to turn things around here. Its amazing to see the small little
miracles that god blesses us with though when we do our part and try
our hardest. I have seen so many this past week in him helping us find
people to teach. For instance yesterday we had a lot of bounces so we
were walking to go and try to follow up with somebody and we ran into
another member from another ward going to visit his Uncle and so he
told us he wanted us to teach his uncle so we went there and contacted
the uncle and his wife and his kids. It was a miracle that we just
randomly ran into that guy. I have seen a lot of little things like
that happen this week. So we defiantly have our work cut out for us
here but we are up for the challenge for sure. One thing that sucks
about the area though is that there is so many fetching Muslims in our
area. I swear more than half of the people we contact just tell us
they are muslim which means leave I don’t care for your message haha.
Anyways things here are going to be good. We have a some good work our
equipment here in the apartment to so I have been loving using that. I
cant believe that it is Christmas this week already. Doesn’t feel like
it at all. They just don’t get pumped for Christmas here like we do
back home. We honestly don’t have anything planned for Christmas this
year so I don’t how it will be. A member invited us to come chop
(eat) fufu with them so we will be doing that. I hope that all of you
have a great week though and that you all enjoy your Christmas . I
love you all so much.
Elder Bowring
This week has been quite the crazy week and a lot of stuff going on,
so I guess I will just start from the start of the week. Tuesday was
the last day in my area in Nsawam so we went around and we had some
lessons with everyone and just basically went around and said good bye
to everyone. It is always weird to do that, I really hate goodbyes ha
but its just all a part of being a missionary. I am really going to
miss all of those people in Nsawam. For Christmas I gave Joshua one of
my Niners shirts so they will be well repped over here in Africa. Well
Wednesday was transfer days. I was lucky and I had the Berretts come
and get me and take me to Transfers. We went to Tesano to get our new
companions and there wasn’t that many missionarys there. Usually there
is just a ton of missionary but it was a really small transfer. I met
my new companion there Elder Langi. He is from Tonga and has been out
for about 7 months now. He didn’t know any English when he first came
but now he speaks really well. I am pumped to because I actually have
2 other Elders in the apartment with me . Elder Forrest (we came
together to Africa and were in the MTC at the same time so its cool )
and Elder Crandall from Utah. Anyways, we went strait to our new area
and apartment and my new apartment is a lot nicer than my last one but
it was trashed when I get there so we have been cleaning up a bunch
today. Anyways, things here in Dansoman are a lot different that is
for sure. One big thing is that it is hotter here than it was in
Nsawam. Nsawam was a really green area with a lot of rain and
vegetation but here is just dusty and hot. Its killing my white shirts
haha. Its more of a city area here to , Nsawam was like a little more
Rural but here there is a lot of people crammed into our area and is a
lot more city. Anyways, as soon as we got here me and Elder Langi sat
down and started talking about the area and what not. Well he told me
a bunch of stories of the Elder that I came to replace and from the
stories that I have heard he is the most unserious missionary I have
heard of. I wont go into detail but I will just say that his mind
isn’t really focused on missionary work and that just frustrates me.
It just pisses me off to see missionarys not take there missions
serious, and because he was so unserious our area is crap. Honestly I
feel like am just starting a new area. Not many people at first to
teach and see so this week me and Elder Langi have been working our
butts off. I love Elder Langi, he is just ready to work hard and do
work especially after his last companion. I feel bad because he really
tried with the last guy but the last guy just didn’t listen and wanted
to do his own thing. We have really been working hard on just finding
new people but also trying to get to know the members more and use
them more. Dansoman is actually a ward here, its my first ward that I
have served in so its weird calling our bishop , bishop. I am used to
branch president haha. The members seem like they are more than
willing to help us though, we just need to put our effort forth. There
is a lot of potential in this area and I think me and Elder Langi are
going to turn things around here. Its amazing to see the small little
miracles that god blesses us with though when we do our part and try
our hardest. I have seen so many this past week in him helping us find
people to teach. For instance yesterday we had a lot of bounces so we
were walking to go and try to follow up with somebody and we ran into
another member from another ward going to visit his Uncle and so he
told us he wanted us to teach his uncle so we went there and contacted
the uncle and his wife and his kids. It was a miracle that we just
randomly ran into that guy. I have seen a lot of little things like
that happen this week. So we defiantly have our work cut out for us
here but we are up for the challenge for sure. One thing that sucks
about the area though is that there is so many fetching Muslims in our
area. I swear more than half of the people we contact just tell us
they are muslim which means leave I don’t care for your message haha.
Anyways things here are going to be good. We have a some good work our
equipment here in the apartment to so I have been loving using that. I
cant believe that it is Christmas this week already. Doesn’t feel like
it at all. They just don’t get pumped for Christmas here like we do
back home. We honestly don’t have anything planned for Christmas this
year so I don’t how it will be. A member invited us to come chop
(eat) fufu with them so we will be doing that. I hope that all of you
have a great week though and that you all enjoy your Christmas . I
love you all so much.
Elder Bowring
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