Aloha from the beautiful place we call a Mission field

Just in response to those who I want at the airport I most definitely want Nana and Papa at the airport for my homecomings well as the Pidcocks, Madison and them. 😊

This week was busy with exchanges, there are 3 sets of Kaneohe sisters but I only went to their area once, the other times I stayed in Honolulu with the new greenies to train them. I couldnt believe the house that 4 of the sisters get to stay in Kaneohe, I was in heaven, it was cabin style in the middle of what felt like Jurassic Park, give or take a few dinosaurs. I fell asleep listening to a river running nearby and could help but feel so much overwhelming gratitude for all that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with, boy am I blessed.

But there was also a lot of time to for me and Sister Paletasala to enjoy each other and visit people. We were just yesterday at one of the giant housing complexes trying to knock doors to find people interested in our message. The kids here in Hawaii are taught to lie to missionaries so every time we ask if a certain person is home they always give us a confused face and say "who is that? Nobody with that name lives here." Well we went to a door where we know two girls, Norma and Alma lives. We asked the little kid who answered the door if they were home and we could hear them inside talking very loudly. He goes "Whos that? They dont live here." Then Sister Paletasala just stands there and looks at the kid for a real long time and says, "then who's that in there?" The kid stands there silent for a few seconds and then he darts inside and Alma comes to the door a few seconds later. I cant even tell you how frustrating that is. 😬 But for the most part the kids here love us and we are constantly teaching impromptu lessons on the sidewalks, hallways of apartments, and in the parks to big groups of kids. It's a dream for me. 😁 I think thats why it makes me so sad when kids are taught to lie and avoid us 😔 BUT the work goes on, rapidly I might add. We have 2 more with dates this week, Brizelle (Lucys daughter) and Clairence!! Clairence is awesome, he still loves his pamphlets and its actually because of them that he now is preparing to be baptized! We went for a lesson and right when we started he said, "On the back of my pamphlets it always says "What Should I Do Now?" And it says I need to repent, go to church, and be baptized, so I guess I better do those things in order to change. We then had a great discussion about how being baptized now by someone holding the priesthood authority of God is what God wants, even if hes been baptized before. Im excited for him and all of those that have baptism dates to start their path to church membership, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and eventually going to the temple.  😊

Speaking of those with a baptism date, the Thomas family is doing great. We had a lesson on Saturday with them and played Gospel Jeopardy, and they are so smart, it makes me so proud. We are still trying to get their parents more involved (we want the whole family ti be baptized not just all the siblings) and this last lesson the mom and grandma sat in and Facebook Lived the whole game haha. Im famous now. Sister Plaetasala was also so sweet and took some pictures while we were playing. 😊 We have 2 - 3 lessons with them a week and at one of our other lessons the 6 year old, Daverlyn, was sitting next to me and staring at me for a while as I was teaching so after I finished what I was saying I turned and looked at her and she says in all seriousness, "You are so white." Then I just sat and looked at her and she looked at me and everybody just sat and stared at us and nobody said anything for a good 20 seconds, then her older sister Atsy reaches over and slaps her arms "Daverlyn you cant just say that!" Hahahaha I thought it was so funny. I really dont blame her, there are hardly any white people where she lives in Palolo. 😂

Sister Paletasala also cracked me up this week when her Samoan came out and she pointed to a big group of houses on a mountain and says, "whats the name of that village?" Haha so Samoan 😂❤ She is also teaching me how to hula and we Hula for morning excersize,kinda funny.

I love this work and all that I am learning. I love you all and would love to share with you a quote that Nana and Papa sent to me this week: "If you think you've blown God's plan for your life, rest assured my friend, you are not that powerful." Repentance is real, Jesus Christ is our Savior and missionary work is the greatest work for me and for you at home 😊

Aloha,

Sister Bowen

Sis Lee, a greenie, on exchanges

A drawing from a little kid

Jeopardy with the thomas family

Honolulu

1 Sis Paletasala has family everywhere that just buys us food haha

MISSIONARY WORK 

Astonished Beyond All Measure

Ran Allim Dad!!

Wolfcreek sounds great and Im glad everybody still likes the golfballs 😊🤙I cant believe the car died like that, that must have been so stressful, glad its fixed and glad all those kids werent stranded hahaha. 

Also so glad to hear Jordan misses me haha, Im going to be home so soon...

But I want to jump right into 3 major miracles that happened this week. Tender Mercies happen everyday, every hour even, but the miracles we experienced this week were unbelievable.

Tuesday night Sister Paletasala and I were trying to visit one more person before going home at a huge house complex called KPT. It's full of Chuukese and Samoans and it takes about 15 minutes to get to the top of the building in the elevator because there are so many people constantly getting on and off. While we were waiting at the ground level for the elevator with 10+ other people, the elevator arrived and out pored at least 10 more people. It was hectic and as we were pushing through to get in, Sister Paletasala steps right in front of an older Aunty in the mids of all these people. She spoke to her in Samoan for a moments then Aunty looked at her name tag and they grabbed eachother in the biggest hug imaginable. I didnt know what was happening because I dont speak Samoan but it seemed kindof important so I took a picture (See Below). Turns out it was her grandmas sister! She hasent seen her since she was a baby! Sister Paletasala had asked if she knew her grandma because she said they look exactly alike. They talked for a few minutes in Samoan and then we set up a lunch appointment for Sunday and left "astonished beyond all measure." There is NO WAY that was just a conscience. The buildings are MASSIVE, theres 2 of them, I couldnt even find my own companion amids all the chaos let alone someone that looks like me grandma. From day 1 Sister Paletasala has been looking for her family here, and miraculously they were found. 😊 Their entire family is very strong Catholic and we were pretty nervous when we went for lunch Sunday afternoon. The first greeting we got when we walked up to the house was a dirty look from a younger Samoan lady and her husband, along with rolled eyes when we asked if Aunty was home. Everyone was much morr cordial once they found out she was family but they all left before we could share a message. One of the ladies (standing in the picture with us) opened up after our quick message on the plan of salvation. She told us the elders use to come around and teach all the little kids in the neighborhood where she grew up but stopped coming one day and she really missed them. She gave us her number (we didnt even have to ask her for it) and she told us they would be back from vacation on Aug. 8th and she wanted us to come back. DOUBLE MIRACLE. It was such an amazing experience. Im so grateful that Sister Paletasala was so in tune lwith the spirit that prompted her to ask Aunty if she knew her grandma. :)

Miracle 2 this week is WE SET ANOTHER PERSON WITH A BAPTISMAL DATE! The work here is amazing, we currently have 6 people with baptism dates, but this individual was particularly special. About 3 months ago I was on exchanges with one of the Honolulu West Zone sisters and we stopped by Clairences (The Uncle who loves his pamphlets) house to have a lesson with him. A 25-30 year old girl answered and said he wasnt home but she would love to learn from us. We sat right down and shared one of the most powerful Restoration lessons of my mission. She loved what we shared and even more loved the Kosrae Book of Mormon we gave her. After that lesson we never saw her again, until last Saturday! We were shocked to have her answer the door but she had us come right in and she went on and on about how thr Book of Mormon helps her when she is sad and how much her kids want to learn more from us too and how excited she was that the church was right down the street and she could walk. It was awesome! We talked about what the Book of Mormon is again with her and extended the baptismal date. She happily accepted. :)

Third miracle of the week begins with the story of two sad, broke sister missionaries. We were at the store Trying to figure out how we were going to buy everything we needed for this last week until we get money on our cards again, and a couple stopped us and introduced themselves as members from Kauai. They talked with us for a while about how they were on Oahu because their daughter was in the hospital. About 10 minutes after we had parted ways, they found us and gave us $30! We told them we couldnt take it, but they insisted. We couldnt believe it, that couple was heaven sent. Keep them in your prayers because they were an answer to ours.

Miracle 4 (1 extra because there were so many this week). Elder Wills use to serve in this branch and he is now serving in the Honolulu West Zone. There is also a family we have been trying to contact for MONTHS because Elder Wills said they were almost baptized, and he saw them at the store! He asked them when we could stop by and introduce ourselves and he set up an appointment for us. We visited her and she is amazing! She was happy to see us and its a miracle Elder Wills was the one to see her at the store because he is the only one who knows what she looks like. The Lord is so involved with this work it amazes me, Im so grateful to have experiences like these everyday.

Another lesson we had this week while on exchanges had me laughing for days. We are currently teaching a 9 year old boy named Sibo, hes an only child and very lonely, but loves when we teach him in a little play area by his apartment. Everytime we go he has a new little friend with him to learn and its always so funny to try to have a productive lesson with two 9 year olds. This last one Sibo starts by yelling across the park "See Curtis over there hes my best friend RIGHT WERE BEST FRIENDS??" and "Curtis go ask your mom if you can learn (*Curtis turns around and starts running home*) WAIT NO COME BACK THAT WILL TAKE TOO LONG." Then he scared us pretty bad when he tried to impress us by saying "I taught Curtis how to pray and we pray to Joseph Smith together." Of course we quickly cleared that up and then very simply retaught prophets.

We also had a great time at Pearl Harbor this week. 😁 

I love teaching the Chuukese people because they are so humble and willing to listen. I am also so grateful to experience so many miracles.

Have a good week I love you❤

Sister Bowen 

Laugh till Ya Cry

Aloha😙

Wolfcreek sounds like a blast as usual, I cant believe its been a year since I remember emailing about missing Wolfcreek, time flies and I still miss golf course walks, raquet ball, the pool with the yellow slide and the little valley market. :) Natalie is so cute, oh my goodness I think that is great. Who knows maybe she'll end up in Pittsburgh someday 😉

Yesterday we had dinner at the Bendixens (best senior missionary couple😍😭❤) with the APs: Elder Porter and Elder Fanene, and it was hands down the best dinner of my mission. As Elder Porter said as we left that night, "I literally have a headache because Ive been laughing so hard." I really enjoyed having dinner and just talking with some of the greatest people I know. We shared our most embarrasing stories from our mission. I will have to tell them (or have Elder Porter tell them because he is such a great story teller) when I return home but it was honestly one of the best memories of my mission, not to mention Sister Bendixen's cooking is A1.

We set two new people with baptism dates for August and I cant wait to see them and the Thomas family baptized. Mermi and her brother are in their early 20s and are working so hard to also activate their inactive family and the Thomas kids are still so smart, I love teaching them.

(( *UPDATE* Our missionary housing guy, Elder Williams, is really great and he has been taking care of some ridiculous problems with our apartment owner and paperwork for us. He just walked into where we are emailing and told us the owner "likened us to drug dealers" because "you just never know with two girls like them" hahahaha Elder Williams was so mad. ))

We had a lesson with one of our recent converts, Mercy, and I was trying so hard not to laugh/cry because as we were reading, her 4 year old grandkids were trying to open a jammed door behind us with a butter knife and cockroaches were crawling up the wall behind us. Their life here is so different then the kind I grew up with. But thank goodness for the gospel Because thats what we both have in common and its what really matters.

We had another exchange last week, Pearl Harbor service this week, another exchange on Friday, and gave talks in sacrament on scripture study. I testified that although family scripture study may require a lot of patience, IT WORKS. Thanks for your examples of that. :)

Well despite the busy week, bipolar weather, skipping dinners, and angry apartment guy, I never want to leave 😊

Aloha Nui Loa for all you sacrifice for me, and I Tong Ngenuk (I love you) ❤

Sister Bowen 

1) Dropped off some clothes for Hansen and Harrison and Linsel ❤

2) Exchanges 

3) Branch Corrilation Counsil

4) Staying dry under the umbrella

5) FREE slurpies given to us by some cute girls on 7/11 day while we were out proselyting. 😁

Life is crazy😉

Aloha! This letter is going to be kind of lame, today is our P-day because we had MLC yesterday and so we also have district council, stuff with the Assistants, Etc. Etc. Life is crazy😉 

MLC was wonderful and we talked a lot about Vision and I loved it because I had been prompted to reread a talk by Elder O. Vincent Haleck called "Having the Vision to do" and It went perfectly with the training. If we dont see a vision for ourselves, families, and people learning about the gospel, nothing is going to happen. We create the cultures in our homes and if we have a culture of hard work and spirituallity that whats going to happen, thanks for raising me that way, I still doing know how you did it with me but it definitley worked. 😉😊

Nana sent me some pictures too from the BBQ, looked like fun! Be sure to tell Nana and Papa I love them and when i dont have time to email them back it makes me so sad, I think about the pray for them every night. I also love the Turkey!!! It looks PERFECT haha wish I could actually try it, its alright Ill be home soon enough...if not too soon. 

My friends are home and I have a green dot (green means 3 more transfers) on my transfer board picture. I have never felt more urgency for this work than ever before. It went by so quickly and I dont want to waste a single minute. We had an amazing time street contacting Friday when I wore my Chuukese skirt and talked to so many Chuukese and Pohnpeians who were so impressed I was wearing their skirt. May have gotten a few catcalls because of it too but it was worth the conversations we had. We also had an amazing lesson with a pohnpeian named Norma. It was our first time teaching her and after a few minutes when we were talking about the restoration she suddenly says, "Okay so I have a question...what happens after we die?" She was so genuine and she had just told us how she was active in another church but that church had never answered that question for her. It makes me so happy to know I have the fullness of the gospel and can share it with others. I take knowing so much for granted too often.

My new companion, Sister Paletasala, is great.😊 She is humble and works hard, she reminds me a lot of Sister Soga and I have to talk to her in more simple terms because she is learning English. 

We are still teaching the Thomas kids who know SO MUCH about the gospel now, it makes me so happy, and they have a date to be baptized! They are planning to be baptized on August 4th, the day before the next transfer, and I am so excited for them. We also had one person we are teaching come to church on Sunday, tell us she has a cousin she brought to church and wants us to teach and tell us she wants to be baptized! The Lord is amazing.
We were really busy this week with random things like having a Sister from the Visitor Center up in Laie sleepover so we could take her to an English test the next day, dropping off clothes from another ward to our Chuukese families, driving SO MANY people to the airport for different reasons etc. It took a lot of work and planning to fit everything in everyday, but I love it like that😊 Its going to be hard coming home and not being busy from the moment I wake up with Volleyball or Ultimate Frisbee, to driving home as fast as our GPS Speed tracker will allow to be in by 9:00. I love this work and these people, I never imagined myself where I am right now and I am so grateful for all I have learned and that I have this time to genuinly give of my time and talents to people that need it so much, yet at the same time they have given me an eternity of memories and spiritual understanding. It really is the Miracle of a Mission.

I am excited to hear all about the craziness of next week with Wolfcreek and camps and I cant stop looking at pictures of my whole family and how great you all look. I caught myself showing other missionaries pictures of you all and raving about how handsome you all are like a grandma haha. Im just proud to be a Bowen😊❤

Love you and Sipwap Chu,
Sister Bowen 

Aloha and sipwap chu

Aloha Dad :)

You know, after living on my own for a while I appreciate all you did around the house and everything you fixed more. I tried to fix a single broken blind in our apartment with super glue and lets just say I just really miss all your smarts when it comes to being a Jack of All Trades hahahaha. Yes the blind is still broken, but it's a work in progress ;)

DONT GIVE UP ON SMOKING!!!! (Never thought I'd say that as a missionary...;)) I want to smoke things with you when I get home! You'll just keep getting better and better, besides the turkey legs at Disneyland are probably fake. I haven't really heard about all the things you have tried, I think that is awesome that we tried it. I know a lot of great Hawaiian recipes that would work great in there. Maybe try a pineapple, you can never go wrong with pineapple. ;)  Keep doing it, I want to smoke with you, don't worry you have lots of practice time.

Today is Sister Eberhard last day as a missionary, we got transfer news on Saturday and I will be staying in Honolulu (#blessed) and training a new STL, Sister Paletesala. She is Samoan and straight from Samoa, Elder Lidang said she is awesome and she has only be baptized for I think a year! She was trained on Big Island and this will be her first time coming to Oahu. We also are downsizing A LOT because so many missionaries are leaving. By the end of the summer we will have -9 from before and a lot of missionaries have been going home early. We are now STLs over 3 zones instead of 2 and so we now have 6 companionships to exchange with this transfer. It'll be very busy but that's just how I like it. :) They also opened up the island of Kauai to Sisters!!!!! They have been talking about sending sisters to Kauai for 4 years! I am happy for the sisters going and hope they don't have any problems, they are the only sisters on the whole island. They will be well taken care of though, the members have been wanting sisters on island for a long time ;)

This week I saw that Elder Jacob Reading came home from his mission and I am so proud of him. He is such a good example to me.😊

One of the highlights of this past week is our investigator Mercy was baptized! She is Chuukese and very smart. We have been teaching her for about 3 months and she made amazing progress and was reading the Book of Mormon (which is very rare even for our active micronesian members)! She kept saying how happy she was and genuinley understands how important the gospel and baptism is for her life. She is amazing.😄

The other noteable highlight of this week was when the Bendixens tooks us to Breakfast at Liliha Bakery which is A*M*A*Z*I*N*G. I had the best french toast Ive ever had in my life there and I cant wait for you to try it someday❤😋.

The ending of this last transfer has been very different from all the other transfers I have had so far because now all the missionaries leaving are friends I know very well and love. All of the pictures in the 'A Hui ho' (Goodbye Newsletter) are friends of mine, not just missionaries that have been out forever that Ive never met. Its made me sad to hear their dying testimonies and realize that after we end our missions, the mission keeps moving along without us. What I have right now is priceless and will never be the same again. Ive noticed and loved the little things more because of it all. I loved spontaneously playing volleyball with some kids on the road, and I loved when one of the missionaries said over the phone in the middle of our conversation, "...Oh its a person, Im going to talk to them" *hangs up*. I loved being invited to a Tongan feast, pig and all, and then walking 30 minutes to our 2nd dinner appointment on 'Car Fast Friday'. I loved seeing how proud Mercy was to wear stacks of leis after her baptism and I loved sitting on the floor making those homemade plumeria leis with the Bendixens and eating pizza. I loved listening to a 60 year old Kosraen Man sing a 20 minute song to Sister Eberhard because she was leaving, and I loved laughing with Elder Lidang about EVERYTHING. I loved listening to talks by Elder Holland in the car, I loved how perfect the sky was last night, and above all I loved watching our 5 little Palolo kids recite the 10 commandments and describe the vision of the tree of life with so much excitement about what they have learned. Everyday is a day given to us by God to love life and eachother. Men truly are so they might have joy. I am beyond grateful for my mission, my family, every single day, and for my Savior who has given me the chance to be happy and experience the blessings of a righteous, obedient life, despite how many times I have fallen short.

I love you so much Dad, thanks for all you have always done for me
Aloha and sipwap chu,
Sister Bowen

1 - ❤

2 - Liliha bakery 

3 - making leis 

4 - Done leis 

5 - Mercys Baptism 

6 - Our recent converts the Ansers 

7 - The sky ❤

8 - Queen Liliokalanis Palace, King Kamehamehas Courthouse, and rolled ice cream 😊😊