{week 13}

Good day family and friends! 

I hope you're all doing as good as I am! So, I finally got a new companion but to my surprise, I actually was a little sad to see Elder Barnes leave just because we have been together for 2+ months! But anyways, my new companion is Elder Gilman and he is from Yakima, Washington and his name is also Greyson! He loves to play soccer like me, he's the oldest in his family, and we have a bunch of other things in common. He loves to talk.... A lot. Pretty opposite from elder Barnes so it's taken a little bit to get used to but I'm doin my best! We also cover the whole Bennion East stake now so we cover 6 WARDS!! It is ridiculous how busy we have been and are going to be. The crazy thing that has happened is that we received 18 referrals last week and me and Barnes barely received like 15 the whole 9 weeks! People have definitely seen that Elder Gilman and I get along great and that we're happy so people like to talk to us and refer us to their friends! It's great! So as you can tell, we are staying pretty busy with work and the days are flying by! It's crazy! I actually found out another thing that was pretty interesting. So we lost 8 missionaries last transfer so some areas had to close down and that is why we cover the whole stake now. Anyways, Brother Bricko (Stake mission leader) apparently had a talk with my mission President and my mission President was telling him about how they were going to pull a set of elders out of the stake and Brother Bricko told our mission President that he wanted me to stay rather than any of the others. My mission president wanted to take me out of the stake because I have been here for longer than any of the others but Brother Bricko told president Moffat that he wanted me to stay and they had a big discussion about it and it turns out that I stayed hahaha. Brother Bricko was excited to see me  on Sunday morning  for our meeting and he told me all that had happened and it really made me feel great to know that I'm doing something right! And people are noticing! It is a huge confidence booster for sure! So, this past weekend Elder Gilman had a family member pass away and it's been pretty hard on him but he's still staying focused on the work and pushing forward which is a huge testimony builder to me because it really has made me think of how LUCKY we are to have the plan of salvation and that knowledge that we can see our family again and that there is life after our time on earth. "This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God" (Alma 34:32) We really need to do all we can to prepare to meet God in the next life which means scripture study, prayer, and just living good righteous lives. I love this gospel and the knowledge we have from it! This tough time for Elder Gilman has really made me think of Marie Wilson and she is the only close person that I've known that has passed away and that was so long ago but I remember that it was so tough. Yes, death is very tough but we will see our family and friends again in Heaven because of the atonement of Jesus Christ and that great plan of Happiness that Father in Heaven has blessed us with! "If we have faith in Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing" Love that quote! I hope you all have a great week and know that I am doing great and I love all the emails, pictures, and letters! I still have the same address so don't be afraid to send those letters!  6088 S. Shirl St. Taylorsville, Utah 84123  (:

Love Elder Bowler

{week 12}

This week has been another good week! So Wednesday I got all new stuff for my bike because the stuff was already wearing out! A member from one of the wards saw that I needed new tires, pedals, and grips and he gave me $100 to get whatever I needed for my bike so I got new grips, tires, batteries for my lights, and new pedals. So thankful for so many kind and generous members out here. Me and my companion have been given probably around $200 together just from members paying for our dinners randomly and giving us money at grocery stores and stuff haha. So thankful for the members out here! On Tuesday nights we have stake coordination with all of the ward mission leaders and the stake mission leader and his name is Brother Bricko. It is crazy how much he reminds me of Jay Wilson! He's such a cool guy! Anyways,  on Wednesday night , he was talking to the sister missionaries in our district and we didn't really know what they were talking about until afterwards they came up to me and told me that Brother Bricko like loves me and he talked about how im a very caresmatic and how I'm gonna be an A.P some day and he loves having me as a stake missionary! And that was great to hear from someone like him! On Thursday, me and elder Barnes got into a disagreement about basketball because he tried to tell me the magic franchise was better than the lakers and I was like oh heck no haha. That day was a pretty good day! We've been having a lot of success with less-actives this week and focusing on reactivating them because we are struggling to find new people but my faith is strong!! April is really flying by so fast already! My mission is flying by too! Already been out 3 months and it doesn't feel even close to that! Elder Barnes and I have really come a long way since we've been companions. I've learned a lot in the 9 weeks we've been together and although we started off kinda rough, we got it together and had a good time together! I'm thankful for the time we had together to really help me to grow in many ways! Even though it's been very tough at times... No growth occurs in the comfort zone! On Sunday, we went to church and we had a great church day! We had 5 people at church that we were working with so it was obviously a great day! (: Then on Monday, we get transfer calls that night so throughout most of the day we were just talking about what we think is gonna happen and we made predictions but we were all way wrong! My whole district got transferred and I am the only one staying and instead of covering 3 wards, I now cover 6 wards and my new companion is Elder Gilman. From what I hear, he seems like a pretty cool guy and he loves sports so that's always a plus! Im really loving the iPad's we have too! They make everything so much better and they make teaching easier and even more spiritual! They really make missionary life a lot easier and better! Unfortunately we don't have anyone on date right now :( but I love reading your guys' emails and pictures! Keep em comin (: 

Love Elder Bowler

{week 11}

Today marks 3 months in the mission field! It's already flying by!!
This week has been another solid week here in Taylorsville, Utah! So
this week there's been some ups and downs as usual but definitely more
ups! Sadly there was no real April fools jokes played this year because my companion would have got super mad at me if I did so I just chose not to haha but anyways, on Wednesday 

we had a zone training meeting which is basically when our zone gathers together to have a meeting on how we are doing as a zone and what we could do better! We have 10 

companionships in our zone. The topic of the zone conference was chapel tours and how 

important they are. One part of zone training is that we do role plays and the zone 

leaders were going to go through a full chapel tour and basically show us "How it's done." Haha so they needed an investigator and they called on me to be that and it went really 

great! And my mission president was also there and I'm pretty sure the zone leaders really like me which usually means they'll put in a good word in with president Moffat which is 

good because he likes me but bad because I could possibly be put in to leadership... Hope not! Haha then on Thursday we had a really good first 12-week follow up meeting which is 

just a meeting for trainers and missionaries in the first 12 weeks of their mission which I'll only be in for one more week! Haha but anyways that meeting went great and my mission 

president is really coming around! He's been super awesome and fun recently and it really makes it a lot better here! Every Friday, we play dodge ball with a bunch of less-actives and non-members and that is always super fun because we get huge crowds out there and we 

usually teach them a lesson and it's always fun pegging teenagers (; hahaha Saturday was 

an awesome day! I prayed really hard that I would be able to really get something out of 

conference and I totally did! All the Saturday sessions were so great! A lot of reference to families and the atonement. Great conference! Our prophet didn't look like he was in 

the best health though /: Then Sunday came along and we went over to the Binghams home to watch the morning session and then afterwards, sister Bingham made us Waffles with home 

made jams and it was SOOO good!! Then we headed off to Trax and we went to the Sunday 

afternoon session of conference which was super awesome to be there in person. Funny story... So getting in to the conference center, you have to go through security and take out 

all the metal you have so I did and for some reason I kept getting detected like I had 

metal on and I couldn't figure it out! And the people were like come on elder! And then I 

finally realized I had my big silver watch on I forgot to take off haha I felt so dumb! 

But anyways, conference was great! So good to hear general authorities talk in person! So lately, I've really been trying to be exactly obedient and it's been working out great! 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, and 50 crunches every morning! So on Monday night, we had an 

appointment with a less-active guy whose name is Rick and we've been really trying to get Rick to come to church and he just never does because he really has trouble getting along with the members in his ward so we decided to go out and buy the Meet The Mormons dvd and watch it with him and we weren't really sure how it was going to go but we watched it and the spirit was so strong with him and afterwards, he was crying and he told me "Thank you for always being so consistent and not giving up on me. You guys have really made me want to change my life so I will commit to come to church this week. I love you   guys." I was crying with him. Me and him have really gotten to become very close since I've been 

meeting with him and we finished that night off with a big hug and then we left. Seriously one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had. I know this gospel changes lives. I challenge all of you to do as the apostles have told us and conduct nightly scripture study

 and prayer and weekly FHE in your families. I know it can be tough at times but I know 

your families will be blessed for it and it will help your kids develop those scripture 

study habits that will bless them throughout their lives! Plant it in their minds now!  I love you guys! Thanks for all the love and support! Life is good! (:
Love, Elder Chase Bowler

Sent from my iPad