This week I had so many wonderful experiences with the spirit!

I have come to understand so much better how the Holy Ghost feels and how it works in our lives. It takes sacrifice to always have the spirit but based off of my experiences this week, I know I cannot go without, on my mission or after.

The experience that stands out to me the most happened Saturday night, we were going to visit one last family before going in for the night. As we were waiting for the elevator, Sister Satame said something to me in chuukese and I responded in Chuukese. A girl stansing nearby turned to me and said surprised, "You speak Chuukese?" (What dont I look like I speak Chuukese?) "A little bit! We are missionaries over a Chuukese congregation so I've learned some to teach the Chuukese people." "Wait what church are you from?" "The Church of Jesus Christ." "Oh." She turned away, uninterested but I wanted to keep talking to her. "A lot of people call us Mormons." She turned quickly to look at me again. "Oh...Mormons..." We rode up the elevator quietly with a group of other people. When we reached our floor, we started to move off when she threw her arm against the doors and said, "Can you tell me about your church? Like, right now?" I answered of course and asked what floor she lived on and said we could visit her after the family we were going to see. She responded and asked instead if she could go with us. I was a little surprised but said absolutely. When we got to our floor and began walking down the hallway, I asked her if she had ever met missionaries from our church before. She looked at me, smirked and said she hadn't but that SHE was a Christian. I immediately knew that she was not interested in learning more about our church but rather letting us know why our church was wrong. I've been on my mission long enough to spot a Bible basher from a mile away. We showed up to the home of Anres and I looked through the ajar door. I saw a ring of about 20 people with Anres in the middle with an open Bible on his lap. They were having Bible study. He turned, noticed me, and excitedly said "Bowen come on in and join us!" Anres is one of my favorite people to teach. He is a pastor over 2 different churches, but has so much real intent to follow the Bible and Christ. When we first shared the message of the restoration and the Book of Mormon he was so intrigued. "I didn't know Christ visited the Americas..." He also watched The Testaments video and really liked it. But he and his group are still very opinionated about the Bible so... I had a choice to make. Get Bible bashes inside or Bible bashes outside. I felt prompted to respect Anres and allow him to do his bible study without any disturbances. I told him we just wanted to stop by and let him know we would be stopping by next Thursday. "Same time?" He asked. "Same time."
I closed the door and turned to face Faith, a 20 year old Chuukese girl who spoke perfect English. She was short but had an attitude taller than the building. Now for my dilemma. Ive been blessed with a rock solid testimony of this gospel. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. I also know how to show the evidence of that from the Bible, Bible bashing is not difficult, but I also know Bible Bashing of any kind completely removes the spirit from any situation and nobody can become converted without it. Not to mention it is very unChristlike, which is why I always find it incredibly interesting when individuals of other faiths want to argue with us about why their church is Christ church and why they are Christs people. Very ironic. So I said a prayer and asked that by the time Faith left we would have shown her that we live the name we bear and next time she saw Missionaries she could say, "Oh! Mormons!" 

"Okay, go. Tell me your thing." she said. At that moment one of the sweetest things I have ever experienced occurred. I felt overwhelming love for Faith. I saw her as Christ saw her, a valiant, faithful girl who was doing what she thought was defending the Bible and Christ. I loved her so much and all I wanted was for her to see that. I also felt absolute peace, I wasn't shaky and my voice didn't sound nervous, I knew that the spirit was with me and I didn't have to worry about what to say because the Holy Ghost knew exactly what Faith needed to hear. Simply and gently I responded, "We believe in a living prophet and apostles and that God has not left us alone." She then went on to talk for an hour as we stood there in the hallway. She talked about everything from how Catholics were wrong to how she use to smoke weed but stopped because of her church to the gift of tongues. She would pause every once in a while and ask a typical question "What was the Book of Mormon written on?" "Gold Plates" "And where exactly are those plates now?" "An angel took them back after they were translated" "Mmhhhmm...right...." and "Does your church believe in the gift of tongues like it talks about in the bible?" "Sure do" "Have you ever experienced it" "I cant say I have" (Actually I have watching thousands of missionaries get called to language speaking missions and learn it in 9 weeks buuuut I knew trying to explain that would not go where this conversation needed to go.) "Well let me tell you this story...." She continued on and on talking about how she Bible Bashed other religions and how they were all wrong and she could prove it using the bible. "Throw the best scriptures you got at me because I know my bible and I know my rights, Imma say what Ill say." I genuinely smiled and continued happily listening. She quotes scriptures from the bible and really impressed me with how well she understood Christs Church. She was trying her best to get us to say something contrary to the Bible (A very difficult feat when talking with missionaries from Christs Church). She talked about things in our church like not having crosses and not paying for the pastor. Sister Satame and I just stood and listened. For an hour. And after a while she realized how much she was talking. She turned to Sister Satame and in Chuukese asked, "Whats your testimony?" Sister Satame bore one of the most beautiful testimonies about how her family had been completely changed by the church and how her father had stopped drinking and went out with the missionaries to teach the people in their village. It brought the spirit so strongly and Faith had nothing to say. She turned to me, "Give me a scripture in the bible that tells me about your church," and pulled out her personal paper copy of the bible and looked at me. I thought for a minute then said "I think its amazing how well you understand the bible. Not many people here read the bible and know it like you do!" She tried to hide it, but I could tell she was beaming with pride. I asked her more questions and came to find out she had joined her church about 1 year ago and had never actually experienced the gift of tongues but wanted to someday. Her heart was softening as we talked and she even eventually asked, "Wait so what actually is the Book of Mormon?" She had so much real intent and I explained that it wasn't rules for our church or Joseph Smiths opinions about God, but ancient accounts from prophets that lived in the Americas, just like the Bible. She thought about it then asked, "Where in the Bible does it talk about that?" I told her, "Flip to John 10:16..." We also briefly talked about Amos 8:7 and Ephesians 2:20, which talk about Prophets and Apostles. She had nothing to say and changed the subject, but I was grateful we read them because after that she realized we really do read the Bible and that we are Christ like and "Mormons" aren't weird. We talked some more and laughed and by the end of the night, she walked with us to our car, we exchanged numbers and left best friends. 

I am so grateful for this experience and to have had the spirit with me so strongly. We planted solid seeds that night of missionaries, the church, and The Book of Mormon. There were many times I wanted to bring up a scriptures or talk about something but the spirit knew what Faith needed to hear and I was prompted to set aside what I thought was right and just listen and love her. I am grateful for my testimony, the opportunity I have had to become a missionary, the Holy Ghost, and the sacrament, which promises us Christ spirit to be with us always. I believe having Christ spirit with us means having the spirit of being a loving person, it takes meekness and patience, but its always worth it in the end. 

I love you and cannot wait to see you in a little over a month. Sister Satame and I received transfer news Saturday night and we will both be staying! That means shes my last companion, Honolulu will have been my area for almost half my mission, and I have 6 weeks left. "Its the final countdown" du du du duuu, du du dun dun dun....

Aloha and Sipwap Chu,
Sistah Bowen 🌺

"Look Sista Bowen its you and me when we sleep!"

Took pictures at this nice feiteen wall 

The Boiling Crab Resturant

The Boiling Crab Restaurant

My View #blessed 

"I 'accidentally' pressed the wrong button"

Aloha

Aloha,

I miss you all so much, I keep think about coming home and being with everyone, but have enjoyed being with my ohana here in Hawaii. 😊 I was visiting 2 of our recent converts, Jayann (13) Justino (10) and their little sister Jayzareen (7) and talking about when I come back to visit them. I cant even describe how excited they were. Justino and Jayzareen were surrounding me talking about going hiking and getting ice cream "youll have to come on a Friday because we have school but we are done at 2:15 so you can come at 2:20." I told them they might meet my brother and sisters and told them all about them. I said to Justino, "I think youll really like spending time with my 18 year old brother Jordan, hes cool." Justino said, "Hes cool?! Im cool too!!" He was so excited to have something in common. 😉

Sister Satame and I worked really hard this week, we walked a lot and visited a lot of our recent converts who are preparing to go to the temple, and many less actives, a lot of which came to church which is great!! Ive realized over my mission the importance of church attendance. The best analogy I hear for tge reason we need to go to church was told by Hyrum Smith (Whos talks I listen to over and over On my ipod THANK YOU DAD). He said they were surrounding a campfire and the man who was suppost to give a talk on the importance of church attendance took a hot coal out of the fire and set it on a cold rock outside of the fire. They all sat there for 20 minutes staring at this coal as it got darker and darker until it was black. Then he picked it up with his bare hands and tossed it nack into the fire until it turned bright again. "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Haha I thought that was great, and I think about it a lot. I think all of us need the spiritual warmth that comes from church 😊

Some cute things from Sister Satame this week:

1 - We walked in the sun and she got sun stroke (my bad) and she slept for 10 HOURS STRAIGHT after a full night of sleeping, woke up and ate at about 7, then went back to sleep and slept through the whole night 😂😅 

2 - We were sitting in the car getting ready to get out when she goes "1 2 3 set go!" It was really cute.

3 - Her life at home before her mission is stuff from a horror story, it always makes me cry thinking about how blessed I am and the family and parents I have hearing about her family. Last night she said to me after crying for a long time about how her Dad beats up for mom, "I dont like that. I love my mom." She is so strong and I know only a little bit about how hard it must be for her to be out here on her mission. I look up to her a lot because of that. 

For P-Day today we hiked Diamond Head, a very famous hike with a beautiful view and Sister Satame barley made it. Highlights:

1 - Once we got to the top she wouldnt stand up to go back down for an hour. Eventually I convinced her with ice cream.

2 - While walking up to the hike through a tunnel cars drive through, a bus drove past us and she slammed herself against the side wall and screamed the whole time it passed us then collapsed into my arms, I honestly think she thought we were going to die.

3 - At one point, there was a tall field of grass on our side and I was a few feet behind Sister Satame and the Elders were a few feet behind me and we all watched as she stopped on the side of the road turned with her back toward the grass and literally just fall flat back into the weeds and disappear. No catching herself or checking for rocks, just "take me now world" 😂 Poor thing.

4 - As we were walking near the end of the hike I noticed she had her phone up by her ear. As I got closer she turned and looked at me and I askes what she was listening to. Then she put the phone next to my ear and I hear plain old apostate radio music coming out of the speaker and I turned to look at her and said "Ummm..." (She knows very well that is not okay). She casually looks at me, walks over to a big rock, sets the phone on the rock, and then starts running as fast as she can it down the hill. Hahahahahahaha what??? I am honestly a single mother. 

This week one of the Elders in our zone announced that a new book on the history of the saints entitled, "Saints" was on the LDS media library app. I finished the whole thing in 4 days. I loved every page of it. I look up to Edward Partridge, Heber Kimball, Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff so much as well as Jospeh Smith. They were the definition of valiant, I love everything about them all. I also liked this particular part:
"Brigham climbed with effort into the wagon and took a seat beside Heber. As the wagon rolled down the hill, Heber felt terrible about leaving his family when they were so sick. He turned to the wagon driver and told him to stop. “This is pretty tough,” he said to Brigham. “Let’s rise up and give them a cheer.”

Back at the house, a noise from outside startled Vilate out of bed. Staggering to the door, she joined Mary Ann and Fanny, who were looking at something a short distance away. Vilate looked too, and a smile spread across her face.

It was Brigham and Heber, standing in the back of the wagon and leaning on each other for support. “Hurrah! Hurrah!” the men cried, waving their hats in the air. “Hurrah for Israel!”
Leaving was pretty tough, but look where we are now 😊 I love you so much, I will see you in less than 2 months!!!
Sista Bowen

P.S. Most of my companions and missionary friends have been from islands and have a hard time pronouncing "Sister Bowen" so they (along with all the missionaries in the mission) call me "Sista Boween" ❤😂)

(P.P.S All of my mission friends at home are dating each other and Sister Chappel is getting married in 4 days🙃🤔)

Photos:

Haha Hurricane Lane 😂

Sister Satame is so adorable. This is our favorite place to eat, its a mexicane restaurant, she loves ice cream.

She was SO excited to see a swimming pool and so we took a picture. 

I got My Plan, the course for returning missionaries 😱

The Wonderful people here in Honolulu

Sister Satame and I continue to visit our wonderful people here in Honolulu and see miracles everyday. On Saturday we went to have dinner at one of our Chuukese members houses and as we were eating - Chuukese food might I add, Sister Satame was in heaven - she spotted Elder Fatiau and Elder Wardell walking. We called them over and we all talked for a while, then as they were getting ready to leave they told us there was a two keys family that lived next door that wanted to learn from us. So we stopped by and turns out it's sister Satames cousin, go figure. They invited us in and it was fun to watch Sister Satame in action as she testified and shared her favorite scripture I love being her companion and love the work going on here. 

Today is mlc and it's weird not being add it. I really miss the trainings we got from president Bekker and the work that I did before training but I know how important training is and I know that the Lord will bless me as I do my best.

Fun facts about Sister Satame:
1. She loves this little red balloon she has and carries it everywhere. (see picture)
2. She loves her little digital alarm clock and carries it around with her. It periodically goes off.
3. She LOVES the cake Nana and Papa sent me which is impressive because she doesn't like anything.

We also had the head Navy coach who was in Meet the Mormons come and speak to us! He use to be in the McCully ward and talked about how important our names are. When we are baptized we take upon ourselves Christs name and that should mean a lot to us too. He sis a great job speaking.

I love how much I learn everyday and love my mission. I love you all too😊❤

Aloha
Sister Bowen🌺