{i hate snow}

Good morning!!! 

So for the past like month or so, there has been snow
on the ground 24/7. Like every time it gets close to melting, we have
another snow storm and I freakin hate it! Hahaha I miss having a 60°
Christmas where you can go play golf for free after you finish opening
up presents! Luckily, I have some snow gear which will be pointless
when I get home hahaha. But anyways, this week has been a pretty good
week overall. We had a lot of lessons cancel on us this week which was
rough but we also had some really good lessons so it was all good! I
hit my 11 months left this coming week which is crazyyyy. We had a
lesson with a less-active lady that we've been working with for a few
weeks and some of the ward members came with us to the lesson and we
talked a lot about faith and after we had left, I was just thinking
how crazy it is that we as missionaries can meet someone and then like
a few weeks later, we can become super close with them and become
lifelong friends. Just from a few visits with them. I've gotten closer
to more people out here from being in areas a few months than I did
when I was in Texas for like a year and a half which is crazy but I
love it out here. Sometimes, I'll just look down at my name tag and
think to myself like wow I can't believe I'm here. Before my mission,
nobody (including myself) thought I would come out on a mission. Even
when I left, there was some kids in the ward that just thought I
stopped coming to church! Hahaha I was never really a church person
and I just didn't have it on my mind but that is the magic of the
gospel. It can change who we are and make us into the person that were
meant to be. I've made so many close friends and I've had experiences
that I know I was meant to be here for because I was able to connect
to people that needed my testimony. I know I was sent out here to Utah
for a reason and I know that there are no accidents with who is put
into our lives and the things that happen in our lives. So that's my
challenge to you guys. Look for opportunities to be a light to those
around you. Because if it wasn't for Jake Frandsen and my family I
wouldn't be on a mission or where I am today. You never know the
effect you have on people and you never know who's watching you. I've
realized that a ton on my mission. Most of the people we teach are
interested because of a friend or because they saw that people in our
church are just happy people or they saw the missionaries and saw how
happy they were so they wanted to know what they had! Always be an
example.
Love, Elder Bowler

{transfers}

So for the first time in my whole mission, I am staying with my
companion for another 6 weeks! I'm not getting transferred! Elder Ball
and I will also be staying in our area so no packing! Yessssss. I'm
pretty excited about it. Me and my comp get along real well and we're
just starting to pick up the work in the area so we're excited. Not
too much going on this week... We found a new less active member that
were working with to help bring back to church and she has a
non-member son that were hoping to start teaching so I'll keep you all
posted! The mission is really starting to fly by... Like I would
always say "im going home next December" when members would ask and
now I can say I go home this year in December and instead of them
saying that I have a while left; they say you're on the downhill now
elder bowler haha. It's crazy to think about. But I love my mission.
Those first 6 months were tough but ever since then, time has really
started flying by like crazy. I haven't regretted coming out on a
mission once. For all you youth that are deciding if a mission is for
you or not, I can promise you that it is for you. I'm not gonna lie to
you, it will be tough and you will be pushed to the limits sometimes
but you'll never be given more than you can handle and it will be the
time that you spiritually grow the most in your life. So if you're
thinking of a mission, do it (:
Well that's about it this week. I'll have more next week!

Elder Chase Bowler
Salt Lake City West Mission

{2016}

Happy New Years! I hope you all made some good New Years resolutions!
Mine is to make the next year of my mission better than the first! So
for those of you who freaked out last week because there was no weekly
email... Don't worry, I'm fine. You can stop crying now hahaha. But
the real excuse for not emailing last week is because.... Well I can't
really think of one. It was just a pretty busy day and a lazy day too.
Playing sports and going shopping always seems to outweigh emailing
haha but I'll get better at it.
So anyways, these last few weeks have been great. I can't complain at
all! Christmas was great getting able to have the whole day off and
getting to skype home and talk to my family. Everyone is getting so
much older (Especially pops and my dad) hopefully their golf score
doesn't go up too much like their age hahaha. Serving in Utah
definitely has it's perks around Christmas time. The members out here
are so generous. We had our groceries paid for 3 times in the month of
December. And I can't even count the times we got our meals paid for
at restaurants which is good and bad because since we got paid for, it
just gave us more money to go out and eat fast food and junk food
Hahaha. We also put another lady on date for re-activation this last
week that we have been teaching for months and she is doing great now.
I admire her so much. She's come from such a tough situation and a
tough life that she had no control over and yet she still comes back
to church with the faith and hope that it will help her out in her
life and she is starting to see the blessings of the gospel and she
even has a calling now and she loves it! She's an example to me in so
many ways. When life gets tough, always turn to our savior, Jesus
Christ and he will get you through it. I have a huge testimony of it.
As most of you know, I really struggled at the beginning of my mission
with a certain companion and just feeling inadequate to be a
missionary and that is the hardest I've ever prayed in my whole life
and that is when I truly gained a testimony of the saviors power and
great love for each of us. So if any of you are having similar
struggles with feeling inadequate or depressed or frustrated with
anything, my challenge for you going into this new year is to turn to
Christ and just lay it all out there and tell him everything; good or
bad. And I can promise as a representative of him, you will feel the
difference in your life. You will feel the fruits of the spirit
(Galatians 5:22-23). The atoning sacrifice of Christ not only covers
our sins if we repent but he also suffered for all of our infirmities
and struggles we go through. He went through it all so that he could
know what we go through in this life so that he could help us out.
You're never alone. If you're feeling like nobody knows what you're
going through, he does. I promise. Tell him all about it. Talk to him
like he's your best friend. The gospel is true ladies and gents. I
love it. I love being out here. Love you guys. (:

{Hump Day}

This week has been real good! So for those of you who aren't on my
photo sharing, I hit my half way point! So as missionaries, it's a
tradition to burn something at every 6 month mark throughout your
mission... 6 months is a tie, 12 months is a shirt, 18 months is
pants, and 24 months is a suit. So I burned my shirt last night and it
was freakin legit! It's crazy to think that I've been out a year
already. Time is really flying by and it's only down hill from here.
This last year has been full of good and bad but I definitely wouldn't
trade it for nothin. I remember at the beginning of my mission, I
honestly thought that I was never gonna make it to the end. I thought
I was either going to just die out here or that I would end up just
going home (Dramatic) hahaha. And I did come close to going home but
there was always something that was just saying "stick it out a little
longer and I promise it gets better." So I did and it has been totally
worth it. I've grown so much in the last year. Unfortunately, not in
height but in my testimony and just growing up. I've really learned
how to be a hard worker and to love people. It's the best 2 years for
your life. So anyway, we finally got someone on date for baptism!! His
name is Raistlin Yadeski and he is 10 years old and his family asked
us to teach him and his parents are less-active just because they work
on Sunday's but they want him to grow up with a church background, and
an understanding of God and Jesus Christ so we started teaching him
and he is on date for the 30th of January!! We're super pumped to be
teaching him! So on Saturday, we went out to cafe rio with one of our
former bishops in the area and the Utah vs BYU game was on and he is a
bug Utes fan. (I've decided if I'm gonna have a Utah team, it's gonna
be the Utes. Not a huge fan of BYU haha) but anyways, during the
dinner he started to bash on Texas and if you know me, you know I'm
not one to back down from a good little bash hahaha so I started
telling him about Utah and it was all fun and games and we laughed
about it but Texas definitely beats Utah.. Duh. Well, life is good out
here! I love the emails and photos. You guys are great. Have a very
merry Christmas and always remember the reason for the season!