{Happy Easter}

HAPPY EASTER!!! Since being on a mission, I've really come to
appreciate the true meaning behind holidays and just to appreciate
Christ and what he did for us more and more. As we know on this day
2,000+ years ago, Christ rose from the grave and made it possible for
all of us to be resurrected and get our bodies back in a perfect
state. I've got this picture of Jesus above my study desk that I like
so much. It's my favorite picture of him that I've ever seen. The look
on his face just shows this love and this compassion that just sticks
out to me more than any other picture of him I've seen. Because that
is how I picture our savior looking down upon us as he watches down on
us and that's how I believe he will be when we see him again. His arms
are always open and extended towards us inviting us to follow him!
Anyways... This week has been great. Well, mostly... So we had 21
appointments set up at the beginning of this week and we were pumped
because we were gonna have such a good week but it turns out that 10
of them cancelled.. Roughhh. But you gotta remember that everyone has
their free choice and we can't change that so no reason to get upset
over something you can't control! And the lessons we were able to
teach this week went great! As for investigators... We're not doing
too great. We have a few but they just don't come to church but our
work with less-actives is going great!! We have a bunch were working
with to get re-activated. It's not all about baptisms. Heavenly Father
loves all his children. His arms are extended to all! Oh and something
that brought back some memories this week... We went to Costco with a
member to grab some pizza for lunch because it's such a good price and
while we were there, I just remember going on Costco trips with my
parents and my dad would just have to touch everything and then
breaking candy in the bags just to do it and then mom just looking and
shaking her head laughing. Hahahaha man I love my parents! And since
we had so many appointments cancel this week, we ended up having to
walk so freakin much because our area is pretty big so we calculated
it up and we probably walked around 50+ miles this week which results
in a tired freakin missionary hahaha. Well that's all for this week!
Love and miss you guys!!

Elder Bowler

{15 months}

Week 4 here in the kingdom of West Valley! Hahaa So to start off,
crazy thing that happened this week... So we had decided to go down to
Temple square and the family history library with one of our recent
converts to teach him about family history and getting him involved in
it. So anyways, we get there and he forgets his temple recommend in
the car so we had to go out and get it and on your way back, we were
walking by the conference center and I hear someone yell "Oh my gosh,
CHASE!!" and I turn and see Emily Lambert!! She was a girl I knew
pretty well back in California. Hahaha it was crazyyy!! Turns out
she's engaged! It was crazy cool to see her. The rest of the week has
been pretty good! We are struggling to find new investigators but we
are finding a ton of new less actives to work with every week so it's
cool that we have some people to teach. Oh and this week after p-day
was over, I started to feel like I was getting real sick so I told my
companion I needed to go in early and then I fell asleep at 10 and
then didn't wake up until 4 in the afternoon the next day. And I felt
like crap so we ended up staying in again and then we also stayed in
on Wednesday too... It freakin sucked because as a missionary, we
can't hardly do anything when we're inside and I hardly ever get sick
so that sucked too. Life is good out here. Can't complain!

Elder Bowler

{life of Chase}

Good morning family! Sorry for not writing last week... I wasn't
around wifi most of the day so it was tough to send off emails. But
anyways, so what's been going on the last 2 weeks... I FOUND MY
WALLET! Here's the story: So me and my companion were walking home
from a lesson for dinner and my comp was like "hey man I'm thirsty..
Let's go to sonic" so I was like alright. Then on our way there, we
see these 2 chicks on the side of the sidewalk and they stop us and
ask what church we go to and so I take off my sunglasses to talk to
them and then she's like "DUDE I FOUND YOUR WALLET IN MY APARTMENT
COMPLEX" and so I got it back from her. #Miracles #Blessings. It was a
super cool experience. I prayed so hard for it. This last week was
really good too. We had like 25 lessons set up from teach but
unfortunately we had 12 cancel which is one of the toughest things
about missionary work. But the lessons we were able to have went
really well. Me and my companion are getting along pretty well. We
definitely do have some differences in how to do missionary work and
were pretty different in personalities too but it's all a learning
experience. We both love to play soccer so that's usually what we do
on p-days. Oh and this last week I got to go to a freakin JAZZ GAME!
It was so cool because it was my first NBA game. One of the members I
worked with in my second area called us on Friday morning and asked if
we wanted to go and me and my comp were like heck yeah, that'd be
dope. So we called our mission president to ask if it'd be okay and he
was down with it! We had to wear our missionary clothes which was way
weird but still an awesome experience. We definitely got judged and we
got tons of looks while we were there from the members but it was
still a good night haha. Oh and another thing, last week we had a zone
meeting just like normal but in this zone meeting, we talked a lot
about Rutts... So what are Rutts? Basically it's when you get into
this groove and you're just doin the same thing day by day and just
going through the motions. Basically, you're really comfortable with
where you're at... And if any of you know me, you know I love to be
comfortable so it was a really good meeting for me. Why is it bad to
be comfortable? Because if we're comfortable, it stops us from growing
and progressing. So that's probably been my biggest struggle out here
on a mission.. Like leaving areas that I love so much and then trying
to adjust to a new one so that's kinda my challenge to you guys.. Look
for ways to reach out to those around you... It might be a little
uncomfortable but no growth occurs in the comfort zone! Well that's
all for today!

Elder Bowler

{west valley}

This week has been pretty cool out here in west valley! Definitely
much different than Taylorsville haha! We actually got to teach about
15 lessons this week which was awesome. And the people out here seem
to be a little more genuine because they don't have that much stuff
and they're truly looking to better their lives so that's definitely a
plus. My new comp elder Erdman is a pretty cool guy too. He's real
quiet but he just loves what he does out here. He truly loves being a
missionary and helping these people out which is so cool. When I'm
struggling to find motivation to work, he just says alright let's go
to another house hahaha. I got a lot of respect for him. So a few
things that happened this week... We went to visit someone this week
and we go up to the door and this older lady is like "the bishops are
here!!" And then our dinner on Tuesday.. Oh man I had to say a prayer
that I wouldn't get sick from it. So we're just sitting down getting
ready to eat and then I taste the soda and the salad dressing and they
taste a little funky but not like bad but just a little weird so I
look at the label on them and they were like years out of date. And
then I started to look around at the other stuff on the table and it
was ALL out of date by like 6 months - 2 years! Hahahaha so
sketchyyyyy. Afterwards, I told my comp and he didn't even notice. He
was just like oh my gosh... Haha! Then on Thursday, my comp and I went
on splits with a few guys from one of he wards and I was like what the
heck... Because I had just gotten into the area and I didn't know any
of these people and I didn't even know how to get around but we did it
anyways and it went awesome! I went to a couples house and we had to
guess which house it was because it was a fourplex and my comp didn't
tell me the number so we guessed and we got it right on the first try!
But anyways... I went into the lesson with a little bit of a lesson
plan but not really much to work off. So I got in there and just
started talking to them and it turns out that they are trying to get
back to church but the biggest reason for it is because of their 5
year old who pushes them to go to church every week and they go
because they said they will do anything for their daughter. And then
the lesson got a little more intense when she told me as to why she
stopped coming to church in the first place and I'm not gonna say the
reason but wow... This lady has been through so much. After she laid
it all out on the table, I was just kinda sitting there and I was
kinda tearing up and I told her just how much respect I had for her
and how I knew that the lord would bless her if she did her best to
come back to church and she was just in tears. Such a cool experience.
I truly learned that you always have to follow the spirit in what to
do and say because if you don't, you won't know what they truly need
to hear and you won't figure out what they need. On a different note,
I lost my freakin wallet this week... It sucks. So as of now, I'm
trying to figure out how to get a new drivers license and I've got to
get all me cards and stuff. Well, that's all for this week! Keep it
real.

Elder Bowler