Baptism x2

Ran Allim! 🌺

This week is a hard one to describe. Ive never felt so much joy and heartache at the same time. Joy, yes. Heartache, absolutley. But they dont usually happen within a day of eachother. Lets start with the joy :)

Wednesday our whole zone went to Pearl Harbor for service and got a tour of the ship (NOT a boat, I was corrected by one of the Navy gals haha) "The Missouri" and for our service we did yardwork and cut down a bunch of Papaya trees. I had a moment while I was picking up some fallen coconuts and stepping around pineapple plants where I felt so much gratitude for where I serve. I don't usually focus on the place where I'm serving in my emails home because that isnt whats as important, but I feel so much gratitude to my Heavenly Father for sending me to such an incredible mission! I work in perfect weather and see the ocean everyday. I am so lucky and I'm excited to someday be able to show you all that I'm experiencing 😊

Thursday JUSTINO AND JAYANN WERE BAPTIZED AND I HAVE NEVER FELT SO PROUD!!! They were so excited to wear their baptism suits and I have never felt so happy at a baptism. These kids have become my kids and I am going to miss them so much. The baptism went very smoothly and Sister Eberhard and I gave the talks on Baptism and The Holy Ghost. I gave them a picture frame with a picture of all of us at the temple and Kit Kats to remember their baptism covenants. K - Keep the Commandments, A - Always remember him, T - Take his name upon us. The spirit was strong and I loved how proud they were to have gotten baptized afterwards. 😊

Friday we went on another exchange and I spent the day in Aiea with a newer Sister, Sister Fitisemanu. Shes the one that wrote the 10 commandments song and she is a really hard worker, I loved spending the day with her. Their area is starting from scratch so we tracted thr whole day. I got very sunburned and lots of great quotes for my journal. My favorites include: "Don't come to my house!... Honey its the Mormons. We need to get a sign for the front door." And, Me: "Hi!" Guy: "Bye!" Guys Wife: "That was so mean!" We also ran into a 7th Day Adventist and ended up talking to him for 45 minutes on the sidewalk. Hot, but I'm glad he has now had a good experinec with missionaries he can think about until his next encounter. Overall we placed 5 Book of Mormons and had a great time together, I love going on exchanges and experiencing different areas. 😊


This week we also set our investigator Mercy with a baptismal date for June 30th and we are SO excited!! She wasnt sure for a few weeks if her husband would be okay with her being baptized but she finally got a yes from him and shes really excited to be baptized. Mercy is basically a member and comes to church every Sunday but now she gets the blessings of having the Holy Ghost so we are super excited! At her lesson last week her grandaughter was playing with toys on the floor and Mercy says, "Hey Marciann." Then she held up 1 finger and Marciann says, "Only 1 God." Then Mercy holds up 2 fingers and Marciann says, "Only pray to God" etc. etc. Hahahaha It was amazing! This 5 year old can name the whole 10 commandments in order because of the song we showed them and it made me so happy.

Last but not least, we had 6 investigators at sacrament meeting this week and Justino and Jayann were confirmed. A great end to a great week. 😊

This week we also lost 2 Elders in our zone, Elder Faalava'au had to go home for heart surgery and Elder Castagno, our district leader and one of my really close friends, left without telling anyone. Me and Sister Eberhard along with everyone in the zone are really really sad that hes gone. Elder Castagno was so fun and always told us how awesome we were and he taught us how to play pool and made us laugh and now hes gone. I saw him change so much and right when we thought he was changing and maturing and becoming so much more than he was before, he left without telling anybody but the zone leaders and his companion. I know hes doing whats right but we still miss him a lot. 

Sister Iino, my trainer, was also in town this past week and we got to go to breakfast with her! She is getting married next month and is still her sassy self. She told me she was talking to one of the Ewa Beach Sisters, Sister Barber, about me and Sister Barber goes, "Sister Bowen is still on her mission? Sister Bowen has been a missionary FOREVER." Haha feels that way sometimes Sister Barber but I wouldnt want it any other way. I'm going to miss being a missionary more than I can say. I think that may be why seeing Elder Castagno go home and watching Sister Chappel and Sister Eberhard prepare to pau their missions has been so hard for me. I'm realizing that my mission is going to end eventually and I'll never have this experience again. Andy from The Office once said, "I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them." Im living in the good old days and preparing for the end, but I'm lucky to be realizing that now and doing my best to make everyday count. 😊❤

I love this gospel and I have such a strong testimony of Love and Sacrifice and Forgivness. How lucky I am to do those same things that my Savior did for me, he is my best friend and I know hes watching out for me and my family, we have nowhere to turn but to him. My favorite scripture is John 6:68, "To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." Mahalo Nui Loa for all you sacrifice for me to be out here, my mission has been the best experince of my whole life and I owe coming and staying out here to my amazing parents who raised me to trust that my Savior will help me wherever I go as long as I trust in and follow him in return.

Love you so much ❤😚😄👍🌺
Sister Bowen