Ran Allim!
This weeks theme for Bowens in Hawaii and Bowens in Utah:
CHILDREN. ❤😉
Sorry I failed to mention last week that yesterday was MLC so our P-day was moved today! I am so grateful to be apart of such an amazing mission with such an inspired Mission President. I was talking to one of the Assisstance to the President, Elder Dushku, and he said that the revelation that President Bekker recieves for every missionary individually is miraculous and there is no way that he is leading this mission without the help of our Heavenly Father and Savior right by him. His words, righteous playfulness, and spirit strengthen my testimony so much in the organization of the church and power of being set apart in a calling in this church. Whatever we are called to do comes with promises and help. I have also seen that in my own calling another week as a missionary here in good old Honolulu 😊
Sorry I failed to mention last week that yesterday was MLC so our P-day was moved today! I am so grateful to be apart of such an amazing mission with such an inspired Mission President. I was talking to one of the Assisstance to the President, Elder Dushku, and he said that the revelation that President Bekker recieves for every missionary individually is miraculous and there is no way that he is leading this mission without the help of our Heavenly Father and Savior right by him. His words, righteous playfulness, and spirit strengthen my testimony so much in the organization of the church and power of being set apart in a calling in this church. Whatever we are called to do comes with promises and help. I have also seen that in my own calling another week as a missionary here in good old Honolulu 😊
I cant believe
a whole family is staying with you!!! Thats A*M*A*Z*I*N*G that you are letting
them stay, wow you are great 😍😊 Im glad all is well and I still cant
believe Amber is married! Lets just say for now a mission is exactly where I
need to be 😉
This week was a special week, especially for our Chuukese famini.❤ So first, some bullet pointed blessings:
1) Our with-dates, Jayann and Justino Anser are getting baptized this Thursday, June 7th, and we are SO PWAPWA about it!!
2) Also, their grandma recently moved in with them but only speaks Chuukese -- and yet, she is always so happy when we come and shows so much interest in learning too! We have felt bad that we haven't been able to communicate/teach her much, so we asked about her reading in the Book of Mormon. We came to find out that she has poor eyesight and the words on the page were hard for her to read. Sister Eberhard remembered some cheap reading glasses she left behind in her last area, so we called up those sisters and got them! When we took them back to auntie, she put them on, with the biggest smile on her face, and could not put down her Book of Mormon after that. She was amazed, and so grateful. I find it pretty amazing that we could tell how much that simple act of service meant, without the use of words ❤ She's been reading everything we've given her since!
3) We had plans to set Mercy with a baptism date, and we had forgotten that we had assigned a specific chapter for Mercy to read in our previous visit, so when we followed up on her reading, we were pleasantly surprised to hear about the story of Alma, teaching and baptizing at the waters of Mormon. It led perfectly into our discussion about baptism. We re-read some of the verses in that chapter, and used some other scriptures to answer her other questions. The Spirit was very powerful, and I felt prompted to have her recall the feelings she felt when we took her to the Temple. We once again extended the invitation to follow Jesus Christ through baptism, but this time she said "Yes." ❤ She still wants to make sure her husband is okay with it before setting a specific date, but aaaahhhhhhh we are so happy for her!
4) Another cool story with Mercy: We went back for a lesson on Friday, and inquired about her asking her husband for permission. Her husband's health has been declining pretty rapidly recently, so he isn't very coherent or responsive. However, Mercy is determined to make sure he agrees with her decision before she does anything. She told us that when she had explained her desire to be baptized, she asked him to say "yes or no". The first time she did this, he didn't do anything -- almost like he hadn't heard her. But this time she said that he smiled at her, and nodded his head slowly. So she asked again, and said "Yes or No?" And again, he simply smiled at her and nodded his head once. She is so determined to ask until he physically says "yes", but Sister Eberhard and I knew that his response was an answer from our Heavenly Father.
This week was a special week, especially for our Chuukese famini.❤ So first, some bullet pointed blessings:
1) Our with-dates, Jayann and Justino Anser are getting baptized this Thursday, June 7th, and we are SO PWAPWA about it!!
2) Also, their grandma recently moved in with them but only speaks Chuukese -- and yet, she is always so happy when we come and shows so much interest in learning too! We have felt bad that we haven't been able to communicate/teach her much, so we asked about her reading in the Book of Mormon. We came to find out that she has poor eyesight and the words on the page were hard for her to read. Sister Eberhard remembered some cheap reading glasses she left behind in her last area, so we called up those sisters and got them! When we took them back to auntie, she put them on, with the biggest smile on her face, and could not put down her Book of Mormon after that. She was amazed, and so grateful. I find it pretty amazing that we could tell how much that simple act of service meant, without the use of words ❤ She's been reading everything we've given her since!
3) We had plans to set Mercy with a baptism date, and we had forgotten that we had assigned a specific chapter for Mercy to read in our previous visit, so when we followed up on her reading, we were pleasantly surprised to hear about the story of Alma, teaching and baptizing at the waters of Mormon. It led perfectly into our discussion about baptism. We re-read some of the verses in that chapter, and used some other scriptures to answer her other questions. The Spirit was very powerful, and I felt prompted to have her recall the feelings she felt when we took her to the Temple. We once again extended the invitation to follow Jesus Christ through baptism, but this time she said "Yes." ❤ She still wants to make sure her husband is okay with it before setting a specific date, but aaaahhhhhhh we are so happy for her!
4) Another cool story with Mercy: We went back for a lesson on Friday, and inquired about her asking her husband for permission. Her husband's health has been declining pretty rapidly recently, so he isn't very coherent or responsive. However, Mercy is determined to make sure he agrees with her decision before she does anything. She told us that when she had explained her desire to be baptized, she asked him to say "yes or no". The first time she did this, he didn't do anything -- almost like he hadn't heard her. But this time she said that he smiled at her, and nodded his head slowly. So she asked again, and said "Yes or No?" And again, he simply smiled at her and nodded his head once. She is so determined to ask until he physically says "yes", but Sister Eberhard and I knew that his response was an answer from our Heavenly Father.
5) Saturday was
one of the highlights of my whole mission😊 It was Jayanns 13th birthday and we wanted to take her and
her siblings to the Laie temple. They have never been outside of Honolulu and
they dont understand that they live in the most desired vacation spot in the
world. We surprised them an hour before with a chocolate chip Eggo waffle
breakfast (with whipped cream of course)! And I have never seen kids so
excited, I think it may have been a 'Little Princess' moment for them which
breaks my heart more than I can express but I'm glad we get to spend time with
them. They have never had a fun day like this and we wanted to make it extra
special. (They were even all awake BEFORE we got there which showed us even
more how excited they were! Jayann (the birthday girl) answered the door and
was all done up in a cute outfit which made me so happy to see how excited she
was😊)
Because they have very little, birthdays arent really a thing for them, but we
were determined to make this one special. We got them all ready to go, and
Jayann was so proud of her Birthday balloon she tied it to her wrist for our
trip up to Laie😊 (I'll attach pictures) We had such a wonderful time together,
and the kids were in Heaven! It was a day that they are never going to forget
and a day I'm never going to forget either. I love them with all my heart and
I'm so grateful Heavenly Father has let me be apart of their lives, even if its
only for a short while.❤
6) JUSTINO GOT A HAIRCUT. At first, we thought he was keeping it long because he liked it that way, but we decided to ask him if he wanted it cut for his baptism and he said "Oh yeah, I was worried it was going to be sooo long..." hahaha So, right after our Temple Trip, the Elders came over and gave our little man a new-do! It was so funny because his whole family just gathered around and watched the whole thing go down. And man, he had a LOT of hair. But he looks so awesome, and so ready for his baptism!
7) Sunday was CRAZY. And awesome. It was crazy awesome, actually, because we had 8 non-members (that we are teaching) come to Church!! 6 of which were children. It made our hearts burst when they all walked in looking their best ❤ One of our senior couples who picked up Jayann, Justino, and Jazareen told us that they had ran down 15 flights of stairs (in their housing complex) because the elevator would have made them late to their 8:30 am pick-up time 😂 Proud "parent" moment. Speaking of which, Sister Eberhard and I had a 3 hour sneak peek into the world of parenthood while we entertained these 6 kids in Sacrament, and then herded them around to their other classes for the following 2 hours...I was in heaven :) After Church, I thought, "You know, I think this is how we should feel after Church every Sunday as missionaries. It means that we are working hard, and it pays off." Even though we had to wake up earlier, drive back and forth to opposite ends of our area, and knock on all of their doors before their rides came, we were simply showing our friends how much this matters to us -- and eventually, they will see why it matters so much for them ❤
6) JUSTINO GOT A HAIRCUT. At first, we thought he was keeping it long because he liked it that way, but we decided to ask him if he wanted it cut for his baptism and he said "Oh yeah, I was worried it was going to be sooo long..." hahaha So, right after our Temple Trip, the Elders came over and gave our little man a new-do! It was so funny because his whole family just gathered around and watched the whole thing go down. And man, he had a LOT of hair. But he looks so awesome, and so ready for his baptism!
7) Sunday was CRAZY. And awesome. It was crazy awesome, actually, because we had 8 non-members (that we are teaching) come to Church!! 6 of which were children. It made our hearts burst when they all walked in looking their best ❤ One of our senior couples who picked up Jayann, Justino, and Jazareen told us that they had ran down 15 flights of stairs (in their housing complex) because the elevator would have made them late to their 8:30 am pick-up time 😂 Proud "parent" moment. Speaking of which, Sister Eberhard and I had a 3 hour sneak peek into the world of parenthood while we entertained these 6 kids in Sacrament, and then herded them around to their other classes for the following 2 hours...I was in heaven :) After Church, I thought, "You know, I think this is how we should feel after Church every Sunday as missionaries. It means that we are working hard, and it pays off." Even though we had to wake up earlier, drive back and forth to opposite ends of our area, and knock on all of their doors before their rides came, we were simply showing our friends how much this matters to us -- and eventually, they will see why it matters so much for them ❤
Thank you for
all you do for me, I love you so much Dad and hope you know how strong my
testimony of this gospel is. I love my Savior and I know that he is in the
details of my life and yours. Your and dads example of being so willing to have
that family stay in our home without any questions (and 5 kids under the age of
4!!) Shows me how much you live a life that is driven by Christs example. Thank
you for your example, it doesnt go unoticed by me or those at home. ❤
I tongei kich
mi Sipwap Chu,
(I love you and
see you later) 😉
Sister
Bowen
PS PREPARE FOR PICTURE OVERLOAD 😉😄
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