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. (:
Monday, January 4, 2016
{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!
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!
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
{week 47}
Well good afternoon ladies and gents. So for those of you who are
thinking I didn't put you in my weekly email last week, I didn't write
one... Life is busy as a missionary! So anyways, life is good. It's
been 2 good solid weeks with my new comp elder Ball. He's an awesome
dude. And he is actually from riverside California which is crazy
cool. We know a couple mutual friends back home and he even DJ'd the
Redlands dances I went to! Crazy small world. Missionary work is kinda
slow right now in the bennion west stake but we're really tryin our
best to pick it up. So some news on when my release date is... It got
changed again. It will be moved back one week because the church has
decided that missionaries need to stay in the MTC for 3 weeks instead
of 2 so now I will be coming home December 20th so I hit my year mark
THIS WEEK!! I'm pumped. 1 year down, 1 to go. Life as a missionary is
great. The best decision I've made in my life up to this point. I'm so
thankful for all of you who helped me to get to this point. The love
and support from you guys has been huge. Not too much to write this
week but Christmas is coming up and it will be my first and last one
on my mission! If you're wondering, I love jackets, ties, and socks (;
haha. I hope you all have a merry Christmas and remember the real
reason for the season. Love you guys!
Elder Chase Bowler
Salt Lake City West Mission
thinking I didn't put you in my weekly email last week, I didn't write
one... Life is busy as a missionary! So anyways, life is good. It's
been 2 good solid weeks with my new comp elder Ball. He's an awesome
dude. And he is actually from riverside California which is crazy
cool. We know a couple mutual friends back home and he even DJ'd the
Redlands dances I went to! Crazy small world. Missionary work is kinda
slow right now in the bennion west stake but we're really tryin our
best to pick it up. So some news on when my release date is... It got
changed again. It will be moved back one week because the church has
decided that missionaries need to stay in the MTC for 3 weeks instead
of 2 so now I will be coming home December 20th so I hit my year mark
THIS WEEK!! I'm pumped. 1 year down, 1 to go. Life as a missionary is
great. The best decision I've made in my life up to this point. I'm so
thankful for all of you who helped me to get to this point. The love
and support from you guys has been huge. Not too much to write this
week but Christmas is coming up and it will be my first and last one
on my mission! If you're wondering, I love jackets, ties, and socks (;
haha. I hope you all have a merry Christmas and remember the real
reason for the season. Love you guys!
Elder Chase Bowler
Salt Lake City West Mission
Monday, November 30, 2015
{week 45 Happy Thanksgiving}
Lots of new news this week! So once agin, it's that time for
transfers... Can you believe it's already been 6 weeks?! Crazy. But
anyways, My comp Elder Jones is headed out to Tooele and I'll be
staying in the area (Bennion West) and getting a new companion named
elder Ball. So if you lost count, this will be my 10th companion. Lol
He's been out about 9 months so pretty close to me and I've heard
nothing but good things about him and he's from California so we're
gonna be best friends obviously haha. And we'll be elder bowler and
elder ball (Bowl 'n' Ball) hahahaha. It's gonna be a fun transfer! And
I will be hitting my year mark here in the next couple weeks so it'll
be HUMP DAYYYYYYYY! So anyways thanksgiving was freakin awesome. It
was an all day p-day for us but we couldn't email or nothing so we
just partied all day. We got up, went to the park to play some turkey
bowl but it turned out that nobody was there but luckily we brought a
soccer ball and there was some goals with nets so we played some
"hit-the-crossbar" and some soccer version of horse. And then we
called some youth and other missionaries to come out and play and we
ended up getting 12 people out there and we played 6v6 soccer and
football. It was super fun. We did that from about 9-1:30. Then after,
we rode home and ate a quick snack and showered and then we had one of
our families in the area come pick us up and they took us to their
thanksgiving dinner with all of their family. There was like 20 people
there. And just the way they did thanksgiving reminded me so much of
how my own family did thanksgiving so it was awesome for me! I loved
it. It consisted of eating, playing games (spoons, uno, war, and
another Australian game that one of the people taught us), and even a
little bit of football because they said they weren't gonna turn it
off so we couldn't do anything about it hahaha and then we came back
from their families house and hung out with that family until the rest
of the night. It was such a fun day to just relaxe and enjoy the
holiday! We also had our first snow this week and it's a love/hate
relationship with snow. I hate that it is so cold and that I have to
wear such big coats and stuff! But I love watching my companions crash
on their bikes in the snow hahahaha. So we were riding to one of our
appt's on Saturday and I was drifting in the snow on the way and just
having a good time and then my comp decided to try it and he thought
it would be a good idea to put on both brakes and slide so he did it
going pretty good speed and he totally ate it in the middle of the
road!!! Hahahaha I laughed for a good 5 minutes. He was just real
embarrassed about the whole thing and then asked me why I didn't crash
and I told him not to use the front brake hahaha. Oh man, that was the
highlight of the day. Life is going good! Oh and I had a baptism this
week out in Grantsville for a guy that I started teaching and put on
date while I was there and that was awesome to get to see him baptized
and I got to see some of my favorite people while I was out there!
We're teaching a lot more than when I first got to the area so we're
doing our best to pick it up. Patience and diligence is key with slow
areas. If you haven't joined my photo sharing, join it for more pics
throughout the week to see what I'm up to! Just send me your email if
you have an apple device! Love you guys. Thank you for all the love
and support!
Love, Elder Bowler
transfers... Can you believe it's already been 6 weeks?! Crazy. But
anyways, My comp Elder Jones is headed out to Tooele and I'll be
staying in the area (Bennion West) and getting a new companion named
elder Ball. So if you lost count, this will be my 10th companion. Lol
He's been out about 9 months so pretty close to me and I've heard
nothing but good things about him and he's from California so we're
gonna be best friends obviously haha. And we'll be elder bowler and
elder ball (Bowl 'n' Ball) hahahaha. It's gonna be a fun transfer! And
I will be hitting my year mark here in the next couple weeks so it'll
be HUMP DAYYYYYYYY! So anyways thanksgiving was freakin awesome. It
was an all day p-day for us but we couldn't email or nothing so we
just partied all day. We got up, went to the park to play some turkey
bowl but it turned out that nobody was there but luckily we brought a
soccer ball and there was some goals with nets so we played some
"hit-the-crossbar" and some soccer version of horse. And then we
called some youth and other missionaries to come out and play and we
ended up getting 12 people out there and we played 6v6 soccer and
football. It was super fun. We did that from about 9-1:30. Then after,
we rode home and ate a quick snack and showered and then we had one of
our families in the area come pick us up and they took us to their
thanksgiving dinner with all of their family. There was like 20 people
there. And just the way they did thanksgiving reminded me so much of
how my own family did thanksgiving so it was awesome for me! I loved
it. It consisted of eating, playing games (spoons, uno, war, and
another Australian game that one of the people taught us), and even a
little bit of football because they said they weren't gonna turn it
off so we couldn't do anything about it hahaha and then we came back
from their families house and hung out with that family until the rest
of the night. It was such a fun day to just relaxe and enjoy the
holiday! We also had our first snow this week and it's a love/hate
relationship with snow. I hate that it is so cold and that I have to
wear such big coats and stuff! But I love watching my companions crash
on their bikes in the snow hahahaha. So we were riding to one of our
appt's on Saturday and I was drifting in the snow on the way and just
having a good time and then my comp decided to try it and he thought
it would be a good idea to put on both brakes and slide so he did it
going pretty good speed and he totally ate it in the middle of the
road!!! Hahahaha I laughed for a good 5 minutes. He was just real
embarrassed about the whole thing and then asked me why I didn't crash
and I told him not to use the front brake hahaha. Oh man, that was the
highlight of the day. Life is going good! Oh and I had a baptism this
week out in Grantsville for a guy that I started teaching and put on
date while I was there and that was awesome to get to see him baptized
and I got to see some of my favorite people while I was out there!
We're teaching a lot more than when I first got to the area so we're
doing our best to pick it up. Patience and diligence is key with slow
areas. If you haven't joined my photo sharing, join it for more pics
throughout the week to see what I'm up to! Just send me your email if
you have an apple device! Love you guys. Thank you for all the love
and support!
Love, Elder Bowler
{week 44}
It's been a great week this week! I got some crazy cool stories and
some crazy funny stories and just crazy stories haha. So this week on
Friday, we were able to finally find some new investigators!!! And one
of our other investigators started reading and he came to church so
he's progressing. Much better news this week than last week. Like I'm
not really a numbers guy, but I love having work to do and teaching
lessons rather than just knocking doors all day. Finding is just
really not that fun tbh.. So I'm pumped we have cool people to work
with now. Oh my gosh, this week during our 3rd sacrament meeting on
Sunday, the sacrament was coming around and they were passing around
the water and I grabbed a cup off the tray and then I dropped the cup
and it totally got everywhere on me and the floor. I'm pretty sure
everyone in the congregation saw... It was terrible. Hahahahaha then
later on in that sacrament, the choir was going up to sing and there
was this middle-aged woman who was going up the stairs and she just
totally ate it on the last step. She tripped and fell hard on the
stage. She got up fine and everything was okay but you could tell she
was really embarrassed so I think she beat me in the prize for most
embarrassing moment in sacrament meeting. What a crazy Sunday hahaha.
Then last night we had a mission musical fireside and our mission
created a mission choir and we use it to bring people together and to
get the to feel the spirit through music and they are always so good.
My companion is in the choir so I get to go to every fireside. It's
awesome! I Also had the opportunity to go back to the Tongan stake for
a baptism. I worked with the guy while I was there and we put him on
date for baptism while I was there and he went through with it! So
awesome. Oh and a few weeks ago, I was at my interview with my mission
president and after I was done, the mission secretary asked me to come
to his computer and he finalized my release date and so it's official
now that I will be coming home December 13th, 2016. So just a little
over a year left. Time is really flying by. It's crazy. Well, that's
all I have for this week. deuces!
Love, Elder Bowler
some crazy funny stories and just crazy stories haha. So this week on
Friday, we were able to finally find some new investigators!!! And one
of our other investigators started reading and he came to church so
he's progressing. Much better news this week than last week. Like I'm
not really a numbers guy, but I love having work to do and teaching
lessons rather than just knocking doors all day. Finding is just
really not that fun tbh.. So I'm pumped we have cool people to work
with now. Oh my gosh, this week during our 3rd sacrament meeting on
Sunday, the sacrament was coming around and they were passing around
the water and I grabbed a cup off the tray and then I dropped the cup
and it totally got everywhere on me and the floor. I'm pretty sure
everyone in the congregation saw... It was terrible. Hahahahaha then
later on in that sacrament, the choir was going up to sing and there
was this middle-aged woman who was going up the stairs and she just
totally ate it on the last step. She tripped and fell hard on the
stage. She got up fine and everything was okay but you could tell she
was really embarrassed so I think she beat me in the prize for most
embarrassing moment in sacrament meeting. What a crazy Sunday hahaha.
Then last night we had a mission musical fireside and our mission
created a mission choir and we use it to bring people together and to
get the to feel the spirit through music and they are always so good.
My companion is in the choir so I get to go to every fireside. It's
awesome! I Also had the opportunity to go back to the Tongan stake for
a baptism. I worked with the guy while I was there and we put him on
date for baptism while I was there and he went through with it! So
awesome. Oh and a few weeks ago, I was at my interview with my mission
president and after I was done, the mission secretary asked me to come
to his computer and he finalized my release date and so it's official
now that I will be coming home December 13th, 2016. So just a little
over a year left. Time is really flying by. It's crazy. Well, that's
all I have for this week. deuces!
Love, Elder Bowler
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
{week 43 Birthday Boii}
Afternoon friends and family.
So p-day got changed to today and I had the opportunity to go to the salt lake temple today! My 2nd favorite temple. Luckily, I got the package that my mom sent me just in time to take the names she threw in there. I got the chance to go through the temple for one of my ancestors and provide that saving ordinance for them because they never got the chance! Going through the temple for someone related to you is so cool because often times, you can feel their spirit there with you and just knowing that you helped them to gain access to the highest degree of glory is truly amazing. And what better way to spend your birthday as a missionary than at the temple?! On a funnier note, there's a guy in my area named brother summers and he is kind of a fashion guy but he is like 45 and he gives us rides places when we need to get somewhere and this week we got into his car and he knows I'm big into fashion because of my skinny ties and skinny pants and everything slim fit and he was like "Elder bowler, ever since you've been in this area, you've made me feel insecure about my fashion and the way I dress because I'm always wondering if you'll think it looks good or not so I got dressed early this morning to make sure I matched and looked my best today." Hahahahahahahaha it's always good to hear that you're making people look better for you! Me and my comp just about died when he told us that. It's been an awesome birthday so far and I'm so thankful for all of the birthday wishes. You guys are honestly the best! Not too much to write this week... If you ever have questions for me about anything, just shoot me an email. I love to hear from you guys!
Love Elder Bowler
Monday, November 16, 2015
(week 42)
¡Hola!
Well this was my first full week in my new area in the Bennion Utah WestStake! This area is going kinda slow but elder jones and I are workin our butts off to get more teaching going on here. I left Grantsville with 7 progressing investigators which are all on date for baptism now so that's my goal in this stake. To get that much work to keep us busy because when you're busy, time flies and it's much more fun teaching rather than just knocking doors! We were able to set several appointments this week so it's a start. Just gotta get them to progress! On Tuesday of this week, I was on exchanges with Elder Stevenson again because our companions do choir and we're both just like screw that, let's go work so we go on exchanges every Tuesday and Wednesday in my area and in his area which is my first area so I love it. But anyways, this Tuesday we were in my area and I had no idea what to do because I had just got into the area so we decided to try to contact some former investigators but elder Stevenson forgot his shoes with the Zone leaders so they asked us if they could bring them to us so we went to the nearest church building which is about a minute away in either direction because we're in Utah... Lol. But anyways, we get the shoes and then head back to the apartment to drop them off and we go walking back to contact some formers and then out of nowhere this guy pops out of his garage and is like "Elders!! Are you the missionaries for the bennion west stake?" and I said yes. And he said he's been wanting to get in contact with us and he wanted a priesthood blessing because he was going through a really tough time in his life and I had the opportunity to give him that blessing and then afterward he asked us if we could teach him the stop smoking program and if we could start teaching him the discussions. He's a less-active member of he church but he wants to get back into church and quit smoking because he has a baby that is due on my birthday!! So we are teaching him now! Such a crazy cool experience. The lord really does have a plan for everything. If elder Stevenson hadn't forgot his shoes, we never would have found him! THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES! Thank you for all the love and support. Remember, if you want to see what I'm up to I have an iCloud photo sharing album so just email me your phone number or your Apple ID and I'll add you to the album! Oh and most likely next week, I will be writing on Tuesday because we have a temple trip which means p-day will be changed to Tuesday the 17th. What better way to spend your birthday as a missionary than having a temple trip and p-day on your birthday. The only thing that would make it better is some letters (or packages) from you guys! (;
Address: 5565 south 3580 west Taylorsville, Utah 84129
~ Stay classy my friends.
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