Noble and Great Ones!

High 5!

1. 4th of July! Yesterday was pretty good, considering I'm on a mission for my favorite holiday for the 2nd time! Valencia ward had a breakfast and Joseph and Steve came and brought their neighbor family! The mom came with her 5 kids. Her name is Emily and she really warmed up to us. She has seen us over at Joseph's so we were pretty excited! They invited us to sit with them for the parade afterwards too so we were there long enough to watch Jennifer, Warren, Ervin and Lenzy go by :) Later in the day we went to a BBQ at the Taylors and Wendy was there and then that night we helped Sue with some things for her new calling! We got to see a few fireworks on our drive home :)

2. This week we got to meet our new mission president and his wife! What a spiritual feast! Oh my, we were blown away! It was fun getting to know them and we look forward to seeing them at MLC on Thursday :)

3. Exchanges! Sister Kelso and I spent a day together in Albuquerque! It was fun! She goes home in 3 weeks so SOON! The Ladera sisters are awesome missionaries :) Manzano also got a new investigator from it! His name is Joey, from LAS VEGAS! Him and his girl friend just moved here and she is already a member! He has a baptism date for August 27th!

4. This week, Frankie dropped into our laps! We were at the Young Single Adult Program on Thursday night and a member had invited him. We taught him right then and there and he is SO elect! We will teach him the 2nd discussion tonight!

5. Regina and Daniel are NEWS! They are the couple who visited SLC. It was fun to teach them and find out how many members they know! Daniel is actually from GERMANY and I LOVE his accent because it reminds me of my Oma! Pray for them!

Down Low, 2 Slow.

1. Marion had a baptism date and dropped us all in the same week :( We will get to see her one more time so keep her and us in your prayers!

2. NO ONE came to church in Valencia this week :(

President Guffey talked a lot about foreordination in our meeting this week. The spirit was SO incredibly strong. He shared some of it in his weekly e-mail to us and I am SO glad because he said it much better than I could. 

"Several prophets, apostles and other church leaders have said that we are part of a special group of strong spirits who were reserved to come forth in this day. This is not because of things you have done in mortality, but because of what you did before this life. John speaks of this in Revelations 12:11 (your testimony), and Alma in Alma 13:3 (your faith)."

"You were confronted by Satan and his followers in our pre-earthly life. They tried to convince you that Jehovah was not able to carry out the Atonement, that it would only take one small mistake on His part, and the whole Plan of Salvation would collapse. But you were valiant in your testimony of Jehovah. You bore strong witness to Satan’s followers that Jehovah would carry out the Plan, because you knew Him, and the Holy Ghost bore witness to you that He would. And then you put your arm on the shoulder of many of those who were not sure what to think, and bore strong witness to them as well, and helped them to follow Jehovah."

One of my favorite scriptures is found in the Pearl of Great Price in Abraham chapter 3...

22. Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;
23. And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham [insert your name], thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

Remember your roots and where you came from. Do as you did before you came to earth and reach out to those who don't know. 

I love you all! God speed!

Love, Sister Bowen