1. Thanksgiving! My first BIG holiday away from home was a
success! We had a zone activity in the morning with lunch and then we cut out
turkeys and hearts to decorate some members doors during the day. (We only got
caught once, haha.) We went to a steak house for dinner with a couple in our
ward and some of their friends who are actually less active members of the
church and part member families. They served a traditional Thanksgiving dinner
and then afterwards we went to a members house and played games :)
2. We found a new investigator this week! His name is Samuel and he is SO prepared. We taught him the first lesson and then he came to a baptism with us on Saturday. Hopefully we will get him on date at our appointment this week! His first language is Spanish so it's been fun to practice a little bit again, haha.
3. We had a lesson with Tati this week that also went super
well! It is seriously an answer to our prayers that her mom is letting her meet
with us. We aren't sure we will see her baptized while we are here but it's
going to happen eventually and we are privileged to prepare her for it!
4. Yesterday we met a lady named Hilda while we were
tracting. She broke down in tears because she recently lost a granddaughter and
her husband has cancer. She is a Catholic but has been questioning everything
and agreed to let us come back a teach her about how our message can strengthen
her in this time of difficulty. Pray for her!
5. We went on exchanges with
Alvarado Park this week! Hermana Marzo came to Eldorado with me and we had a
lot of fun :)
Down Low, 2 Slow.
1. Roy dropped us.
2. We didn't get to teach much
this week with so many people out of town for the holiday.
Happy December! I am so excited for this Christmas season, especially as a missionary! If you haven't watched the new video yet, "A Savior is Born", I encourage it!
This week my thoughts come from
Elder Maynes talk from General Conference. A member in our ward spoke on it in
sacrament meeting this week so it really got me thinking! He talks about the
importance of centering our lives on Jesus Christ and standing in holy places.
He promises us that, "If our lives are centered in Jesus Christ, He can
successfully mold us into who we need to be in order to return to His and Heavenly
Father's presence in the celestial kingdom." May I add the opposite
outcome, that when our lives are not centered on Christ, we are allowing the
worldly voices to influence and mold us into who it wants us to be. How can we
be sure our lives are centered on Christ? It comes down to being converted
rather than just convinced. Mosiah 5:2 illustrates the steps of gaining a true
testimony. First, you HOPE it's true, then you THINK it's true, then you
BELIEVE it's true, then you KNOW it's true. True and lasting conversion comes
when we take one step further, however, which is CHANGING. We need to live what
we know. President Hinckley said, "Get the gospel out of their minds and
into their hearts. Get the scriptures out of their hands and into their souls."
I hope that we can allow the Atonement of Jesus Christ to change our nature,
not just our behavior; so we can become truly converted to this gospel and make
any place we stand a holy place.
I love you all! God speed!
Love, Sister Bowen
PS. We have a conference next Tuesday so I am not sure when P-Day will be...probably Monday!
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