{week 34 Miracles!!!}

Hello, 

This week has been an awesome week! So to start off, Elder Brumbaugh
got transferred out of the area and I am now with my 6th companion and
he is a greenie. He's been out just over 3 months and he is as green
as they come hahaha but we still have a ton of fun and I'm doing my
best to help him work hard and have fun. So last week, me and elder
Brumbaugh went to one of our favorite members house so elder Brumbaugh
could say bye and tell them he was leaving. And we went over there and
we got to be really good friends with some of their kids and their
daughter came up to us and told us that she needed to talk to us.
She's about Chloe's age... She told us about all her struggles and
challenges in her life and I'm not gonna say because they were pretty 

personal to her but this girl has gone through more than any teenager
I have ever met. And she came to us and said that she was on the brink
of choosing to stay in the gospel or not because she wasn't sure if it
was true because of all things she had been through in her life. So we
asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon and she told us she
hadn't so we told her to read 3 Nephi and Mark scriptures that stuck
out to her and we bore testimony and then we left. Afterwards, elder
Brumbaugh and I just didn't feel like we said what we needed to
because she didn't seem too thrilled about it but we said a prayer
and went on with our p-day. Later that night, we came back and she opened
the door and she had the biggest smile on her face. We were so
surprised but she told us she read like 15 chapters and her day just
went great and the thing that stuck out to her the most was prayer and
it turns out that 3 Nephi talks a lot about prayer and me and elder
Brumbaugh had no idea it was all about prayer, we just knew 3 Nephi is
when Christ came and she told us she didn't want to pray but she did
it anyway and she had the greatest experience. It was such a huge
testimony builder to me about studying the scriptures and how they
do give us guidance in our lives. She is now happier than ever and doing
so great! Definitely One of the best/coolest/most spiritual moments on
my mission. So as of today, Elder Blatter and I have 2 people on date
for baptism with 1 soon to be. We're doin work and having fun! Life is
good. If any of you are having a tough time back home, I promise that
Heavenly Father will help you if you come to him with a sincere heart
and pray for help. I've seen it so many times with myself and so many
times with others. Love you guys! Keep writing. 

I love the weekly emails (:

Love Elder Bowler

{week 33, 8 months}

Transfersssss & 8 months out! 

Well, once again the time has come to transfers. And once again, I am getting another new companion. If you lost count, this will be my 6th companion in 6 transfers.. Hahaha. Elder Brumbaugh is leaving the area and I'm definitely gonna miss the great times we've had and all the fun times. He is headed to West Jordan and it will be his first time outside of Tooele Valley which I think will be a big culture shock for him. We're definitely gonna keep in touch because we're both from Texas and we might be rooming together at BYU-I so we'll see! I will be staying in the area and I will be getting a new companion named Elder Blatter and he has been out on his mission for 3 months. So I'll be his greenie-breaker and it will be my first comp that I've been out longer than! Hahaha I'm pumped because I love this area and it will be cool to kinda show a greenie the ropes. Seems like I was just there! So anyways, this week we had the opportunity to go to the Salt Lake Temple with our stake and a few of the people were teaching and I got the opportunity to do initiatories for the first time after my own endowment which was super cool. I love the temple! After we were done, the people we rode with decided to take us out to dinner at a place called Rodizio Grill and it was SOOOO good. I got to eat chicken heart which was kinda weird but hey I did it! So one of the coolest things happened yesterday during the ward we were in. It was fast and testimony meeting and there was a kid that had got up and his name was Garrett and he had been in a bad snow-mobile accident in the last few years which paralyzed him and gave him pretty bad brain damage but with the help of his mom, he got up to the stand and he stood up there and gave his testimony about how we are all given trials for specific reasons and we may not know why but they're all for a reason. And the spirit was so strong. It brought me to tears because I often think that I have it pretty rough out here and it really just humbled me and made me remember my purpose out here. I'm not out here for me; I'm here to be an example to my siblings (Especially my 2 brothers), invite others to come unto Christ, strengthen my family members back home, and to show gratitude to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for all they have done for me. I love this gospel. I love my mission. If any of you youth are questioning going on a mission, DO IT! It's the best thing I ever did in my life. I love you guys! 

Elder Bowler

{week 32}

This week has been really good!! The Sturgell's were baptized this week! The baptism went really well and also the confirmation. Elder Brumbaugh and I had the opportunity to baptize brother and sister Sturgell. It was an awesome experience! Sister Sturgell grew up Jehovah's Witness and she was actually ordained by one of her priests as one of the 144,000 who are going to be saved. (Jehovah's witness believe only 144,000 people will be saved into heaven) but she still ended up converting to LDS which is just so cool to me. She was crying the whole time during the baptism and confirmation! It was so cool. Elder Brumbaugh and I are still getting along super well and having a ton of fun and working hard! We have 2 more people on date and we're working with another family named the Moore's and they are an active family but the father has some w.o.w issues he's trying to work out so we go over there and teach him and check up on them quite often. So anyways, we went over to their house last night because we didn't have a dinner appointment and they told us that we should come over anytime that we didn't have dinner so we took them up on the offer hahaha and we went over there and they made this super good BBQ and they grow their own Jalapeños so if you know me, you know I love hot stuff and I had to go and try some. They were super hot but really good! But anyways, after we had got done eating, we went outside and shot the bow and arrow for a little bit and we played "Horse" with it which was pretty cool since I'd never shot a bow! Then after that, we took it inside and the mom gave us a message about the atonement and we bore our testimonies about the atonement and then the husband told us that he payed his tithing for the first time in a long time and he ended up finding ply-wood the next week for 85% off the original price and that is what he does for a living so he Recieved a huge blessing for paying tithing and that was just a big testimony builder on its own for me! It was an awesome night and we gained a ton of trust with their family. It was such a fun and good week this week! I'm writing this a little early because I'm headed off golfing with brother Bingham!

Love, Elder Bowler

{week 31}

Really good week this week! Not much of anything new really though... Just doing the same old, same old! Teaching, baptizing, saving souls, and enjoying every minute of it!! Haha so this week, as a mission we had a "Mission tour" which is basically a hype up meeting to get us going on missionary work. We had elder Ringwood from the first chorum of the 70 come and talk to us which was crazy because he spoke at the last general conference!! And then we had an area 70 named Elder Keech come as well. It was an awesome meeting. Then on Wednesday, Elder Brumbaugh was sick all night with the Flu so we had to stay in which is never fun because there's really not much to do as a missionary but a day with a nap isn't too bad every once in a while. Haha So the Sturgills are still progressing really well and they are getting baptized this weekend! I'm excited for them. The area is doing really great right now. There is so much potential here and so many people that could be ready to be baptized if they would just commit! It's hard knowing that the gospel can change these people's lives and they won't even take the steps to get there. But we've gotta be patient and everyone does have their agency. I've realized how important agency is on my mission because we have to let people choose for themselves because if we do everything for them, they won't truly have a testimony and they will most likely fall away when things get tough. Agency is crucial to proving our way back to our father in heaven. Then on Saturday of this past week, we had exchanges with another companionship in the district because elder Brumbaugh is the district leader so he has to go on exchanges with each companionship in the district. I went with Elder Blaylock in his area and it was an awesome day! Elder Blaylock goes home in like 2 weeks so he is pretty ready to go home but it was still a cool day! I met a lot of awesome people over in that area so hopefully someday, I'll be able to serve over there! I love it out here in Grantsville and I love my mission! If any of you young men out there who are reading this letter are questioning about going on a mission... DO IT! It's the best thing you could be doing in your life! I love you guys and hope you're all doing well (: 

Love Elder Bowler