We Are His Hands!

High 5!

1. We found a new investigator this week! Her name is Misty and she has 2 little boys. She is super solid and we are excited to continue teaching her this week :)

2. We got to go caroling with the youth for their mutual activity!

3. We went to the Relief Society activity this week and it was really nice! We sang a bunch of Christmas songs and read the Christmas story :) I love this time of year!

4. Yesterday, we did a special fast for investigators because the ones we have are really inconsistent and only want to meet with us every 3 weeks and a NEW investigator showed up to church yesterday! His name is Jay and he said he has just been visiting a bunch of churches, googled us, and decided to come! We talked to him after and he said he really liked it and felt something different and would definitely be back! Miracle! We were also really amazed at the simplicity of the testimonies that were borne yesterday, which we know touched Jay's heart.

5. Last night we had dinner and watched the Christmas devotional with a family in our ward as well as their non-member friend! She really felt the spirit and her 9 year old little boy asked if they could go to church with us sometime. It was awesome :)

Down Low, 2 Slow.

1. We are struggling to teach investigator lessons right now :(

2. Yesterday a new stake was built, which is a good thing, but they took our district leader area which causes the ratio of elders to sisters to be off, so it is most likely our last week in Eldorado and they are probably getting elders back. At least we will be able to say we were the only sisters that ever served in Eldorado, haha!

We run into a lot of people who "don't believe in organized religion" and who claim to practice on their own, with out attending a specific church. I've been thinking about this "excuse" a lot and came across Elder Christofferson's talk from General Conference. He compares the church to the body of Christ. "We are the eyes, hands, head, feet, and other members of the body of Christ [...]" I love the scripture in D&C 81:5. "[...] succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees." This is part of our baptismal covenant! Elder Christofferson says, "Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. Uniting ourselves to the body of Christ-the church- is an important part of taking His name upon us." As we come together as members of the church we can accomplish so much more and lift each other up. For example, he talks about repentance. "Repentance is individual, but fellowship on that sometimes painful path is the church." I am grateful for the examples I have of faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who assist me in getting through good times and bad. I hope that we can give special attention to those who need strengthening and lifting up this holiday season. You will see great blessings as you do so. D&C 115:6 explains to us that "[...] the gathering together upon the land of Zion, [...], may be for a defense and for a refuge from the storm [...]" that the world throws at us. 

I love you all! Thank you for the continued support! God speed!

Love, Sister Bowen

PS. P-Day will be Monday again next week because of transfers!