{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

{week 10}

Good afternoon friends and family! This week has been a pretty great
week for the most part! So we got iPads on wednesday and i love it! We
get to read emails from home every single day but we can only respond
on Tuesdays. There is some really great and helpful stuff we can do on
LDS library as well. We now have access to so many mormon messages.
Its so great and it really helps the work progress! There is an app we
have that has a interactive pamphlet for each of the 5 Lessons we
teach with videos and paragraphs really explaining what everything is
and we just summarize those. I don't have to carry around scriptures
anymore either! Just my ipad and a few copies of the book of mormon to
hand out. Another cool thing is that I can save all the pictures you
guys send to me straight on to my ipad so send tons of pics! I love to
see them and look at them during the week and the members love seeing
pics of my family too! They think piper is the cutest baby ever. Most
of my pics on here are of piper and syd hahaha. On wednesday of last
week, we had exchanges with the zone leaders which i thought was
really going to be rough but it was the exact opposite! I had a great
day with Elder Nielson and he really taught me a lot! He told me I
would baptize a lot on my mission because I'm so good with people and
I'm always in a good mood. That was great to hear from someone in
leadership! He also said that I have been handling the whole situation
with elder Barnes great and he also had him as a companion so he knows
what it's like haha. Some funny stuff that happened this week... The
sister missionaries in our district thought it would be funny to play
a joke on elder Barnes so they took our helmets and left theirs for us
to wear. Elder Barnes was so mad oh my gosh seriously so funny. I'm
pretty sure he also used my toothbrush this week... Awkward. I used my
new one instead haha. We finally found a new investigator!!! Her name
is Jessica and she is 18! She isn't on date for baptism yet but
that'll be coming soon! That night when we found Jessica, we came back
to the apartment and Elder Barnes told me "This transfer is going by
really quick!" And earlier in the week he said "How fast your transfer
goes depends on how much you like your companion." HE DOES LIKE ME!!!
Hahaha that was great to hear. One Friday, we have dodgeball with a
bunch of members and non-members and we bring everyone together and
teach a lesson and play some dodgeball; anyways, on Friday night, one
of the guys plying dodgeball came up to us elders and asked us for a
blessing and he asked me to do it. It was such a great experience to
help him out with what he was going through. After the blessing he
told me thank you and then he said, "Dang Elder Bowler, do you work
out a lot?!" I was like not really, just 50 push-ups, 50 crunches, and
50 sit-ups a day! I guess it's paying off! On Sunday, we go to 3
sacrament meetings and elder Barnes falls asleep in every single one.  Then Sunday night we came back to the apartment and someone was
waiting outside for us and he gave me $100 bill and said "I noticed
your bike tires are kind of worn down. Take this money and go get new
tubes, tires, lights, and batteries" I was shocked! He said he loves
me and all I do and he knows what I'm going through is tough but he
said just stick through it and you'll be rewarded! Love that guy. Last
night was an awesome night too! We had a pretty great day and then to
finish off the night one of our appointments fell through so we went
over to the binghams and played games with them! And we're going
golfing with brother Bingham today! Pumped for that! I'm in Alma 55 in
my Book of Mormon reading! Hope you guys are reading every day! Have a
Great week! (:

Love, Elder Chase Bowler

Sent from my iPad

{week 9}

This week has been a pretty solid week overall! On Thursday, I had exchanges with a guy named Elder Corless and he is from Oklahoma and he loves country music and he is totally a redneck so we got along great! He is a pretty fun guy and its so nice to interact with other missionaries for a day to see what a good companion can be like and me not having to do all the talking! haha Usually about twice a month, we have dinner with a family named the Ottisons and they are so great and so funny. Their family is a lot like ours because they all have so much fun together and are total goofs and i love it! Eating with them makes me feel right at home! On friday, I had my first real "bible bash" haha. My  companion is very very smart in the scriptures; like he knows most of the bible, book of mormon, doctrine and covenants and pearl of great price. He doesnt have much social skills but he is very smart and we had an appointment with a jehovahs witness and they kept trying to tell us how wrong our religion was and that was the first time on my whole mission i was so fired up! I told him at the end, "we can argue all we want but until you read the book of mormon sincerely, you will never know if it is true or not and i know that if you do read it with a sincere heart, god will reveal to you that it is true." and he shut up after that hahaha. In my book of mormon reading, i am in Alma chapter 44. Ive been reading quite a bit lately! Scripture study in the morning is seriously the best way to start your day! SO much knowledge comes from the scriptures! Then on saturday, me and elder barnes were having a pretty good day until about 8 that night because we didnt know who else to go and visit so we talked about it and then went to a few more places but by 830, we were out of ideas. I suggested tracting but elder barnes decided it was a better idea to just ride around the block to waste time like what the heck!!! I was so mad. He said he thought he dropped something over there and he was going to look for it but still who does that?! Anyways, on a better note... This sunday was honestly the most spiritual day of church ive had in probably my whole life! In our first ward we go to there was a missionary farewell and he was going to australia for his mission ( i was jealous) haha but anyways, he gave such a great talk about how even though studying the scriptures seems like its so boring and seems like were just reading the same things over and over... It pays off to practice because practice makes perfect and by reading the scriptures, our testimonies are strengthened every time we read and if we keep feeding our testimony, it will just grow and grow and grow until satan will have no power over us! Then in our second ward, The stake presidency all gave talks and they were all super great and there was a special musical number with 5 people playing 2 violins, 1 cello, 1 piano, and a flute. It was the most beautiful song ive ever heard played at a sacrament meeting! The work is kind of slow right now unfortunately... we are struggling to find new investigators right now but i know that through hard work, we will find one soon!! Im still staying really positive about everything and really learning to appreciate the little things and to be so happy that it makes others happy because nobody is going to want to hear this gospel if we arent happy to share it. Elder barnes and i have been getting along much better. we talk about basketball most of the day because he loves the orlando magic and i love the lakers. He hates dwight howard too haha. He thinks the magic are better than the lakers... yeah right!! haha Oh and i almost forgot, WERE GETTING IPADS THIS WEEK!! Hope youre all doing great! Keep up the book of mormon reading! Love, Elder Bowler 

{week 8}

Great week this week!! Had another baptism and confirmation! His name is Hayden Richards! His grandpa baptized and confirmed him and we were able to stand in the confirmation circle. I gave a talk and it went pretty good! He was my first 100% baptism like i was here when we found him, i taught him every lesson and i was able to see him be baptized and confirmed! We are teaching another guy right now who is a less-active. He is a very strange guy but i love talking to him because he has so many crazy stories and its so funny! He loves me because i like talking to him and we could talk for hours haha unfortunately Elder Barnes doesnt really like going over there because he doesnt really like to talk much but i stay usually about 30 minutes or so and talk to him and teach him a little bit. In my book of mormon reading, i am in Alma 28 and its so interesting like the book of mormon is really interesting once you really get into it! In elders chorum this past week, there was a great lesson given. He gave the lesson about how we need to be able to make ourselves happy and it felt like he was talking to me personally the whole time! It was exactly what i needed to hear! i really took it to heart and really decided that only i control my happiness and i really dont have anything to be upset about... sure my companion isnt the best missionary and is very quiet and different from me but being with him has taught me to be more independent and learn to do things on my own. The guy giving the lesson said that if you can trick yourself into thinking that youre super happy; eventually you will be happy. You need to appreciate the little things. Like ive got the best family, the best grandparents, the best parents and such a great ward and great friends like dorian and dawsen cook and especially Jake Frandsen. Without all those people, i really dont know if id be out here but im so grateful for all of them! I really dont have anything to be upset about... and everything to be grateful for! AFter church on sunday, we were biking across a street and we saw an orange Bentley!!!! Like it was probably worth a million dollars at least. It was the coolest car ive ever seen!! In my mission district, we have a lot of guys who love playing with nerf guns so i decided to get a new nerf gun and it is sweet!! So much fun playing zombie nerf wars!! hahaha. This past week, i was able to have exchanges with 2 other elders in our district and theyve both been companions with elder barnes and they both said he is probably the toughest companion theyve ever had! So it only gets better from here! We go through tougyh times so we can appreciate the good even more! Being happy and praying has been a huge help in teaching and finding. Id just like to add my testimony and say that i know this church is true and i know that heavenly father restored the true gospel on to the earth through the prophet joseph smith and i know that by reading the scriptures and praying daily, we can receive help for any sort of struggles we are going through! Have a great week!! Love, Elder Bowler

{week 7}

Much better week this week than last week! Ive found out that ive just got to have fun with everything. I've gotta keep busy and not let my companion determine how i feel and act. Yes, he is still super tough to get along with and yes I want to punch him most of the time but I'm learning how to be independent and make the most out of a tough situation. Prayer is still playing the key role in me getting through this whole thing. Realizing that my investigators come before myself has really helped as well. We have another 9 year old boy being baptized this saturday and we asked him who he wants to baptize him because his dad is a non-member but his grandpa could baptize him so we thought that is what he would say but he told me he wanted me to do it and he said he already talked to his mom and grandpa about it and they said it would be just fine. The mom and dad really like me and so does he. His name is Hayden and he loves to play sports; especially soccer and basketball which is great because whenever we finish a lesson up with him, we go play basketball down at the church because its so close! Brother and sister bingham are still being like my mission grandparents/parents. They are seriously so awesome. We go over to their house usually about 2 times a week or so and play a board game called aggravation. Brother bingham loves playing with us and he loves having me over. Turns out that they have a grandson whose name is also chase! hahaha She said me and him would get along great if we met. on wednesday of last week, brother bingham knew i was having a tough time being with elder barnes another transfer so when he dropped us off after giving us a ride, he waited for elder barnes to get out and told me to stay in for a sec. He told me to just make the best out of everything and dont take any s***. i didnt expect him to say that but it worked! Ive been working on being exactly obedient and it is really paying off! So much blessings. My comp however doesnt like to get up on time but im working on him! We have some pretty good potentials and hopefully more people to baptize! Ill keep ya posted! My talk on sunday went surprisingly well! A ton of members from the ward came up to me afterwards and said it was a great talk! I was super relived it was good because i was super nervous. The people in the wards really love my personality too. Ive made quite a few friends out here! One older lady came up to me after sacrament and she told me i gave a great talk and she said "Aw elder Bowler, you looked so cute up there. Aw so handsome elder bowler." Shes a 55 year old spanish lady. Shes super nice and funny! Good week this week! Keep up the book of mormon reading! im in alma 14! Tell all the kids i love them and give them lots of love! Love, Elder Chase Bowler