This past week was interestingly different if I could put it to words... Ha, gotta love the mission!!
But really, it was great! Our baptism didn´t happen though. Bianca had something come up so she will be baptized this saturday at 4! And she asked me to confir the Holy Ghost upon her!.... Wow.......
We have an appointment tonight right after we go bowling as a zone that Elder Souza and I are just chompping at the bit for! Seriously, these two are ready to be baptized. One is named Silvana (she was the one who we marked a baptism with during church for that same saturday, but didn´t happen) and the other one is Rosana. We have been teaching Rosana since my third week here. They both work together. Anyway, Silvana actually was going to stop coming to church. She told us that her last Sunday there was last week and that God has a different plan for her. We tried talking to her then, but nothing worked. She didn´t even give us a solid response. So we did the only thing you can do. We prayed.
Thursday night we went over to Rosana´s, but she wasn´t there. Her sister said that we could come back saturday after 5 so that´s what we did. When we got there, she said that she had a lot to do, but was for sure coming to church in the morning. She then asked if we wanted to know what was going on with Silvana. She said that Silvana was receiving revelations, but that they stopped and that she would be at church in the morning too!
So at church we talked with her and she told us that she wasn´t doing very well and that she would tell us the story after church. She did, and it was very hard to take in. She has been having a tough time to say the least. But Rosana stepped right in and shared her testimony about faith. Back tracking a little, with me and Elder Santos, it was one of the most spiritual settings I had ever been in the day we talked to her about true faith. Anyway, so Rosana did that!!!! It seems that these elects that Heavenly Father is putting in our path are more prepared to share the gospel then we are!
So we are very excited for the lesson with them tonight. I pray that the Spirit will be there to open our mouths and their hearts.
I love you sooooooooOOOOOO VEERRRYYYY MUCH!!!! I hope you all have a wonderful week and never forget that the Lord is ever near you!
Com amor, seu amoroso filho e irmão
Elder Bowman
omhiwdMb
Alma 32:27
Monday, January 16, 2012
January 9, 2012
So the baptisam didn´t happen this past week with Silvana. Long story short, she might/probably be moving in two weeks. Literally, the only times we have been able to find here is the 3 hours of church because of how much she works. But it will all work out. Whether Elder Souza and I or others.
But we actually have a baptisam this week. Ha, I haven´t really had time to talk about her the past few weeks, but the date we have right now is this Saturday. Her name is Bionca and she is 19 years old. The other Elders (that live 10 minutes from us and we are always doing stuff on pdays with) found her knocking doors. She was with her best friend Jefferson (who is also planning on being baptized) at his house when they found them. So they feel a lot more comfortable together so when ever we are teaching them, we got promission to do a division and have one elder from each area go teach them together. Yesterday at church, we had Katherine (baptized 3 weeks ago and is also 19, perfect fit!) sit by her all throughout church and Bionca is still kind of iffy if she is ready to be baptized this week. I guess during one of the classes Bionca leaned over to Katherine and asked her, how did you know when it was true and that you were ready to be baptized. Katherine responded that she doesn´t know very much, but when she reads and prays, her whole life is better and she can feel and see it. Actuallly... Before we started teaching Katherine, her family was hardly ever together and stuff and just everyone doing there own thing. Even though her mom doesn´t believe our message (another long story) she and the dad have been together a lot more with Katherine, especially when we are there. We´ve already tried teaching them, but one day I´m sure they´ll come around! Anyway, Katherine just said that she can´t really explain her feelings because of how happy and how much the gospel has changed her life! ELECT!!! This is the same Katherine we met in a story less then 2 months ago!!! So we also went and talked to Bionca and Jefferson after about how they feel and about the 14th. We asked them to pray about it and we have an appointment with them tomorrow so we´ll find out then if it will be this week!!!
The Lord is ever near us! May we never forget the testimony that he bore and gave His life for. Thank you so much everyone for the prayers and support! I hope you all have a wonderful week! LOVE YOU FAMILY!!!
Elder Bowman
omhiwdMb
But we actually have a baptisam this week. Ha, I haven´t really had time to talk about her the past few weeks, but the date we have right now is this Saturday. Her name is Bionca and she is 19 years old. The other Elders (that live 10 minutes from us and we are always doing stuff on pdays with) found her knocking doors. She was with her best friend Jefferson (who is also planning on being baptized) at his house when they found them. So they feel a lot more comfortable together so when ever we are teaching them, we got promission to do a division and have one elder from each area go teach them together. Yesterday at church, we had Katherine (baptized 3 weeks ago and is also 19, perfect fit!) sit by her all throughout church and Bionca is still kind of iffy if she is ready to be baptized this week. I guess during one of the classes Bionca leaned over to Katherine and asked her, how did you know when it was true and that you were ready to be baptized. Katherine responded that she doesn´t know very much, but when she reads and prays, her whole life is better and she can feel and see it. Actuallly... Before we started teaching Katherine, her family was hardly ever together and stuff and just everyone doing there own thing. Even though her mom doesn´t believe our message (another long story) she and the dad have been together a lot more with Katherine, especially when we are there. We´ve already tried teaching them, but one day I´m sure they´ll come around! Anyway, Katherine just said that she can´t really explain her feelings because of how happy and how much the gospel has changed her life! ELECT!!! This is the same Katherine we met in a story less then 2 months ago!!! So we also went and talked to Bionca and Jefferson after about how they feel and about the 14th. We asked them to pray about it and we have an appointment with them tomorrow so we´ll find out then if it will be this week!!!
The Lord is ever near us! May we never forget the testimony that he bore and gave His life for. Thank you so much everyone for the prayers and support! I hope you all have a wonderful week! LOVE YOU FAMILY!!!
Elder Bowman
omhiwdMb
Monday, January 2, 2012
January 2, 2012
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Does it feel like a new year to any of you?! And we are already on the second day! This past week was very very good! I had my interview with President on friday that went really well. I didn´t have any questions and I am junior so I didn´t know what we were going to talk about. When it was my turn and right before I went in, I said that this probably wasn´t going to take very long. Usually he speaks English to all the Americans, regardless of time, but he spoke in Portuguese the whole time until the last question. The interview was literally only like 3 minutes though. When I came out, the Elders thought I had forgotten something. I just didn´t have anything that needed to be addressed with him and I knew that there was other missionaries that had things to bring up.
The the experience I would like to share this week is about one of our investigators named Silvana. I haven´t ever talked about her because we weren´t sure how solid she was going to be. But here it goes. It was Elder Santos´s last Saturday and we went to go visit one of our best investigators (Rosana) we got there a little early hoping that it would be ok. She was actually with her friend from work (Silvana) and they were going to watch a movie, but Rosana was cool with it that we wanted to talk with them, and they would watch the movie after. As we were talking, Silvana realized that Rosana believes what we are teaching (has a testimony but she doesn´t think its strong, yeah, she´ll be baptized one day as well) and was speachless with Rosana. She couldn´t believe what she was doing. Then probably the most amazing experience that I had with Elder Santos... We started talking with Silvana and came to find out that she had met with the missionaries 15 YEARS AGO!!! Then stuff happened in her life... She lost her faith and she wasn´t baptized and stopped going to church. When Elder Santos was talking, it was like being with the sons of Mosiah. After everything he said, Silvana said, ´´It´s like you are reading my mind right now.`` Long story short, she has been at church every week sinse, but we haven´t been able to teach her at all because she works 3 jobs. The night of Christmas Eve, Elder Souza and I get a call from her. She said that she will be working all night long and won´t get off till 7. She´ll have about an 1hr and a half to sleep, but asked if we would call her to wake her up! After the call, we just looked at each other! The next day, she was one of the first people to church! Sooo... We still weren´t able to meet with her this week, so in church right after a class, we explained to her that we need to teach her, but she said, no I´ll just keep coming to church cuz I don´t have time during the week. We then explained that in order to be with her Heavenly Father again she needs to follow His Son and be baptized, but we can´t do that if we can´t teach her. Story short, she wants to be baptized THIS SATURDAY!!! A lot of things will need to happen this week and I´m not even sure if it will happen, but the miracle is that she understands/comprehends and has the desire to do what ever it takes!!!
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!! I love you family!!! Thank you for all that you do and for the testimonies that you all have. Have a wonderful week!
Elder Bowman
omhiwdMb
Does it feel like a new year to any of you?! And we are already on the second day! This past week was very very good! I had my interview with President on friday that went really well. I didn´t have any questions and I am junior so I didn´t know what we were going to talk about. When it was my turn and right before I went in, I said that this probably wasn´t going to take very long. Usually he speaks English to all the Americans, regardless of time, but he spoke in Portuguese the whole time until the last question. The interview was literally only like 3 minutes though. When I came out, the Elders thought I had forgotten something. I just didn´t have anything that needed to be addressed with him and I knew that there was other missionaries that had things to bring up.
The the experience I would like to share this week is about one of our investigators named Silvana. I haven´t ever talked about her because we weren´t sure how solid she was going to be. But here it goes. It was Elder Santos´s last Saturday and we went to go visit one of our best investigators (Rosana) we got there a little early hoping that it would be ok. She was actually with her friend from work (Silvana) and they were going to watch a movie, but Rosana was cool with it that we wanted to talk with them, and they would watch the movie after. As we were talking, Silvana realized that Rosana believes what we are teaching (has a testimony but she doesn´t think its strong, yeah, she´ll be baptized one day as well) and was speachless with Rosana. She couldn´t believe what she was doing. Then probably the most amazing experience that I had with Elder Santos... We started talking with Silvana and came to find out that she had met with the missionaries 15 YEARS AGO!!! Then stuff happened in her life... She lost her faith and she wasn´t baptized and stopped going to church. When Elder Santos was talking, it was like being with the sons of Mosiah. After everything he said, Silvana said, ´´It´s like you are reading my mind right now.`` Long story short, she has been at church every week sinse, but we haven´t been able to teach her at all because she works 3 jobs. The night of Christmas Eve, Elder Souza and I get a call from her. She said that she will be working all night long and won´t get off till 7. She´ll have about an 1hr and a half to sleep, but asked if we would call her to wake her up! After the call, we just looked at each other! The next day, she was one of the first people to church! Sooo... We still weren´t able to meet with her this week, so in church right after a class, we explained to her that we need to teach her, but she said, no I´ll just keep coming to church cuz I don´t have time during the week. We then explained that in order to be with her Heavenly Father again she needs to follow His Son and be baptized, but we can´t do that if we can´t teach her. Story short, she wants to be baptized THIS SATURDAY!!! A lot of things will need to happen this week and I´m not even sure if it will happen, but the miracle is that she understands/comprehends and has the desire to do what ever it takes!!!
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!! I love you family!!! Thank you for all that you do and for the testimonies that you all have. Have a wonderful week!
Elder Bowman
omhiwdMb
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