Week 5!

Dear Family,
Wow! Thanks for all the updates! I it sounds like things are going really well for you! I am glad to hear all the progress that is going on with family and the temple. Yes you can send pictures, and I can send some but only the last week I am in the MTC. It is crazy that everyone is growing up! My cousin is getting married and my brothers a priest, its all so crazy to think about! Time is flying so far, I find the more I focus on the work and serving others the faster and better it goes. This gospel is amazing and the way we learn, progress, and grow is definitely the way God planned it! It truly is amazing to be receiving revelation almost everyday. It isn't really anything huge, but it always enlightens my mind and strengthens my spirit. Sorry about all the spelling and grammar errors, it's hard cause the Spanish is exactly opposite of English. In addition to being opposite, the computers have spanish keyboards, which are similar but not exactly the same, and all my words are underlined in red because the computer only recognizes Spanish vocabulary. It's so crazy, I only have 19 more days here in the CCM. I told my president of the CCM that I was excited to leave and I received a response with mixed emotions. He said "The MTC is paradise and out in the field is the lone and dreary world.´´ I am definitely enjoying my time here but am still going to want to leave. I am sure that as soon as I get out I will want to come back. I heard from other missionaries that it only takes about 3 months in the field and you are fluent. I can't wait for that day! Hopefully when I call home you will recognize me, my goal is to have a Spanish accent by then! The proselyting experiences are going good, but not super awesome. I just wish that people knew what they were missing and how happy they could be with this wonderful gospel! I am still having some up and down days but they are getting tons better! I am really trying to focus and serve with all my heart, might, mind, and strength! I love you all and look forward to hearing from you every week, you guys are one of the many motivations I have to keep going! I know this church is true and always will be! I know that God knows each of us individually and can help us with our thoughts, desires, and trials. I know that Joesph Smith was a true prophet and there was no better man then him to restore this gospel. I know that I have been called of God to a specific place and for a specific reason. I know God answers prayers, I see it everyday. I know the scriptures are true, especially the Book of Mormon and that we can become closer to God be reading, studying, and living its teachings! Love you all so much!
Love your son and brother!
Elder Bowden

Families are Forever!

Dear family,
I often think of you while pondering meaningful things and would like to share some meaningful things with you. First off, I would like to thank you for all your love and support. You are a great blessing in my life. Second, I will talk about my badge. Elder Bentschieder talked to us about our name tags and the two most important things, my name (Bowden) and our Savior's name (Jesus Christo). I am a representative of both while I am on my mission and I hope I can be a leader/example for my family and my savior. Third, I thought of a phrase yesterday in our district that really hit me about my purpose. It goes "I have temporarily left my forever family, so I can temporarily help make forever families." I am grateful to have shared all of my experiences with you. I want others to have the same joy that we have, therefore I must leave for a short but very important time. I was studying the Abrahamic Covenant and my patriarchal blessing and found that in order to do this we must serve. We have been given glorious gospel and knowledge and are obligated to share it with others. I am excited to teach all the people I can in Uruguay and hope you will strive to teach others at home. The spirit here in the CCM is so strong and my testimony and understanding have probably doubled since I have been here. The people here are so nice for the most part. Sometimes you will get a bad egg but that happens everywhere. Even if they don't want to hear our message, most of the time they will talk and listen. Everything is going very well and the time has flown by so far, and I know it will continue to. Thanks again for everything. Keep up the good work.
Love,
Elder Bowden

Week 4...1 Month Mark!

Hola mi familia! Como esta?
Things here continue to go well. It is very different every day but yet the same. Some days it seems like they last forever and other days they seem so short. I cant believe I have been out a month! Kinda crazy. Thanks for the wrestling update that is very exciting news. Elder Bendtschneider and I had a hard time proselyting last week. None of our appointments went through and it seemed that now one really wanted to talk to us. It was kinda discouraging but at the same time it makes you appreciate the good days. I am anxious to get to Uruguay, but at the same time don't want to leave this great place. Sounds like you had a great time at FHE. I definitely miss Sunday nights, but am still having a great time here. It is kinda scary to see all the drivers here in Argentina, they are crazy! I don't actually think there are any laws, its basically common courtesy and honk before you go. There are a ton of motorcycles and those drivers are even crazier, I would never ride one here. It was really funny because last week during proselyting we saw a big truck that tried to drive under an overpass and the top of it caught and got stuck. I am definitely glad I am on foot here. Its hard work on this roller coaster of emotion, I have never been so happy or sad in my whole life. It's cool to stop at the local stores after we are done proselyting and buy some food. The food is pretty cheap here and actually really good. The candy and snacks are really good. I weighed myself on Heraman Georges scale today...I don't know if it accurate or not but it said I weigh 99 kilograms. Which is about 218 if I calculated it right. That means I have gained about 10 lbs, hopefully I lose it in the field. Then again it doesn't really matter. To close I will share a scripture with you from D&C 84:103. I am not getting any money for you but I know that the blessings will come! Thanks for all your love and support! Love you all so much!
Love Elder Bowden

Week 3...getting better!

Thanks for all the updates at home! I'm sure everything is going well. I pray for you guys every day just as you do for me. I got mail today and got my valentines day card from Grandma Bowden. Tell her thanks for everything, she is the greatest grandma anyone could ask for. The last two days here have been pretty lonely. All the other latinos and the oldest group of North Americans left. It was just the 2 remaining North American groups. It has been fun speaking English, but I miss some of the other missionaries and miss practicing Spanish with them. Tell Michael Happy Birthday and that Green Bay got lucky. haha. Yesterday was President Georges b-day he is our mission president here in the CCM. He gave us all cake and it was really good. The weather here is still pretty hot but not too bad. The air conditioners kinda broke down a couple days ago and I woke up in the morning sweaty....I guess I'll get use to it. Today all the new Gringos (North Americans) got here. It's funny because we have only spoke Spanish to them and they don't know that much. All the North American elders also parted their hair....Aaron Braithwaite style. It looks good, I will send you pictures when I can. You can tell Charlie that there is no rule about the part here so it's all good. The language continues to get better everyday and the more I try to use Spanish, the better I know and understand it. It is exciting to hear from everyone. I don't know if it's good or bad, but 90 percent of my Spanish vocabulary is gospel words. I just hope I can learn lots more. Proselyting on Saturday went great again. The couple of appointments we had to go back to were not there so we are going again this Saturday. It's sad because we only have 3 weeks in one area and then change, so this is our last one in this area. We also found two new investigators and I think they are good. One of the ladies names is Mirium and she is Christian already, but goes to another church. She also said she believes in the Holy Ghost too. So we asked her to read the B of M and pray and she said she would. We are going back to talk to her about it this Saturday. Things are going well, it's still hard, but well. I am starting to get use to being a missionary and doing all the Lord wants me to do. I am so grateful to be raised of goodly parents and have an awesome family! Your all are so great. I am grateful to have the wonderful comfort of this gospel in my life, I don't know where I would be without it. I am grateful to have the opportunity to share it with everyone I can in Argentina and Uruguay. I am so excited to get into the field, I know it will be much easier! Love you all so much, thanks for all the support. Keep working hard as always and choose the right. I know the Savior lives and loves us each individually. I know He died so we can be happy, have comfort and return to Him someday. Love you all again, best wishes, talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Bowden

Week 2 In Review at the CCM!!

Hola Familia!
The days here in the CCM are long but definetly getting better. The more I focus on the work the less I worry. I often think to myself that it would just be easier to go home, but no one really wants me to be there, so I will just stay here. haha. I am learning spanish pretty fast, mostly the gospel words. I hope when I get into the field I will pick up on the other words. We get to practice teaching lessons in spanish everynight to all the latinos. It is very good because they help you pronuciate all the words correctly. My roomate s are very good and one of them speaks really good english. They are Elder Pastul, Elder Herrera, Elder Martinez, and Elder Caicedo. Two of them are from Columbia, then Salvador, and then Chile. I wrestled Elder Martinez just for fun, it was funny to see him try. The proselyting experience on Saturday went very well. I was very very nervous when we rode the bus to our area. After about ten prayers by myself, one with the group on the bus, and one with Elder Bentscheider. I felt a little better after that. No one would talk to us for the first 15 min but then we turned to walk up a street and a car pulled up. It was a man delivering groceries to a house and we told him about the church and he wanted to know more! It is the small moments when you talk to someone for 20 min and dont hardly know spanish that make it all worth it. After that we were super motivated and gave all our pamphlets and Books of Mormon out before lunch. Then we just testified to a bunch of other people after that. It went very well. We have two maybe three appoiontments for this saturday and are going to teach the first lesson. I hope it goes well and know if we have the spirit it will. It is hard to be here but the less I think about myself and the more I think about others it goes a lot better and I am alot happier. I hope everything at home is going ok. I know that this is the best place for me to be right now and know you will be blessed because of it. I love you all and wish you all the best. I dont know if I would rather be here in 90 degree weather or at home in the cold. Either way I am not complaining. The food is still good as always and I think I might be packing on the pounds. haha. I am learning so much everyday and have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. Sundays here are great. I have so many spiritual impressions and learn so many good things about the gospel that I cant remember them all! Its ok though cause the spirit will bring them to my rememberance when I need them. This is hard but I still know it what I need to do. Yes we had a member of the seventy come and speak to us. He was from Brazil, sorry cant remember his name its really hard. It starts with an "A" and it pretty long. It was cool though, he told us a lot of stuff in spanish and then they translated it. He said we had been waiting not only the 19 years in this life for our missions but thousands of years before. We were forordained to serve in the specific places at this specific time. It made me want to serve more. We also listen to Elder Holland on different broadcasts. He is really motivating and pushes missionaries to do their best. Sorry got to go, thanks for all your love and support. Will look for the package in the mail. Thanks again, tell everyone hi.
Love,
Elder Bowden