One miracle I`d love to tell ya about real quick. Yesterday my companion and I were walking (and we had been a little mad over something small, I don`t remember what, but we weren`t talking. Stupid, I know) when we passed by the gate of a little old man who was working in his lawn. We both, independently of each other, felt impressed to talk to him. We offered to help him mow his lawn, and he accepted! First miracle, somebody let us help them!! So I started mowing his lawn with one of those REALLY heavy ancient metal lawn mowers that doesn`t have a moter, and hermana Silva was chatting with the guy, getting to know him and telling him who we are. We finished doing all the trimming and everything, and it was then time to go, becuase we had a meeting in the church. We asked if we could say a prayer, and he, seemingly suprised that we wanted to pray with him, kept saying "right here? Now?" We explained prayer, hermana Silva said it, and then when we finished we looked at him, who stayed silent for a minute until he said "Now, I`ve been catolic my whole life, and I´ve always said (that repeated prayer that catholics say) every night, and I´ve never felt anything like this before. I don`t know if it`s just becuase it`s cold out, or if I`m shaking, but I`ve just never ever felt anything like this." What a privilage to be an emassary of the lord for a lonely son of Heavenly Father who is in such desperate need of help and love. He afterward told us all about his schedule so that we could visit him when he was sure to be there. He lives alone except for his grandson, who studies and has a girlfriend and is never home. He has children who live near but never come to visit him. It really was a cool experience for me, and my companion and I both left with tears in our eyes, blurting out apologies to each other for being so stupid hahaha. We had an awesome week of miracles and have been able to find some more people searching for Gods love.
We also had a really good lesson with Manuel. He came to church again! We were talking about the second coming of Christ for the gospel principals class when he asked some really profound questions. There was a member in the class who has been an institute teacher for years and years that day (Capo) who taught ME something new. One of the differences between the Mormon church and the catholics, or with any other religion, is that we are preparing people not only for the milenium, which is the mission of other churches, but for the life that will come after, the Celestial Glory. The focus and teachings of other churches will get there people to the milenium, but they wont be prepared to make and keep temple covenants that will take them to the highest glory. The teacher and this member explained priesthood authority and how the real priesthood has been restored and that, straight up, the catholic church has no priesthood, and Manuel took it super well! He said it made sense, and is enthusiasticly looking to learn more. He`s reading the book of Mormon and is easily understanding every teaching we`ve brought to him so far. He even invited his son to church Saturday night, but then the son left to a carrete and stayed there til 6 in the morning haha, so that didn`t come to pass. But really, some days the mission just beats you up and some days it makes you float.
This week the father of a part member family passed away, and the funeral was held in the church building. Chilenos do viewings a little bit differently: Instead of a scheduled time, the church was open for two days so that people could come by when they had time. The viewing was ended by the official funeral, which took place on thanksgiving (which is not a holiday down here, btw.) Our bishop asked us if we could sing in the funeral, but the problem was that it would start at 2:30, and our lunch started at 1:40 and was about a 15 minute drive from the church. We called the member to tell her we probably weren`t going to have time, but she, hahah being chilena I guess was like "NO! How could I let you go without lunch! We`ll make time!" So we were all just like, uhh, okay, lets just pray it works out. We also felt kind of bad because we had called her earlier in the week to ask if she could make a cool thanksgiving lunch for us two gringas who are here haha, so we were obligated to go and eat the freaking thing. So she comes by, picks us up, we head up and help her get the table set, eat the ENTIRE almuerzo (soup, casserol, salad, crambrule, mashed potatos, HUGE helpings of everything) in about 15 minutes, then scramble back into the car to head to the church. The member lives on top of a gigantic hill that has steep twisty roads, and by the time we all got to the church we were ready to hurl. The musical number turned out okay but afterwards we all headed home to recuperate from gigantic stomach aches and headaches. It was definatly the worst thanksgiving I`ve ever had haha.
I LOVE the campaign that the church is doing this year for Christmas. Twentyfive days of service, each with a different challenge and opportunity to be the light on the hill that members of the church are to the rest of the world. Please go watch the video and then print out the calendar and start finding ways to serve your fellow man. I know this church is true. Everyday I know it more. I know just how aware of us Heavenly Father is and how much he`s cheering us on. He loves all of you and wants you to succeed. Trust him.
https://www.mormon.org/christmas/light-the-world?play=hero
Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!
Monday, November 28, 2016
Monday, November 21, 2016
This week has been really good. Me and Hermana Silva are starting to get closer beyond the superficial, and I´m realizing that she really has absolutly no self confidence. It makes me really sad to hear some of the things she says about herself, and it also is helping me realize how being confident is such an important and attractive quality in a person. So i´m also learning how to be a self esteem booster, which is an interesting and fulfilling job. Hermana Silva is an amazing, driven, and spiritual missionary, and the only thing she really needs right now is to realize it. I´ve also noticed how much a person can hold themselves back just through their thoughts. Its been a really neat experience for me to notice these things and apply them to myself. How can I change my thoughts so that my work is more effective? What am I thinking about myself or about others that´s holding me back from my true potential. If we think other people don´t value us, we behave like it, which causes other people to reaction in such a way that makes us think our initial self evaluation, they don´t value us, is correct! When in the reality, our thoughts are what caused the whole process in the first place! It´s been an eye opener for me, and has helped me apply myself better to the work.
Last week we had a few mini miracles. Well, duh, every day in the mission has a bucketfull of miracles but sometimes we`re too porfiada to see them. But a kid who we contacted in the park last week called us and said "uhh, hey, could we meet in the park again?" One day he was visiting a friend in Concepcion and the missionarys showed up and started teaching them haha, so he said he`d like to meet with us. It was funny, other missionarys had a baptism that day, and so when Javier showed up and asked "where do we go now" we were like, "uhh, to the church!!" And he really liked it! The spirit was super strong, and we had to leave early, but Javier said he wanted to stay to hear the other talks! So we`re hoping to keep in contact with him and see how he progresses.
Happy turkeyday yall! Today was our zone activity and we had turkey sandwiches!!!! WHA?? So that was bakan. Made me trunky, but all is well in Concep-zion. I´ve started to LOVE studying and using my time better, and I´m starting to feel like a real missionary who like knows the scriptures and stuff. The mission keeps getting better. BOWLING OUT!
Sister Dru Bowling
♥ from Chile!
Last week we had a few mini miracles. Well, duh, every day in the mission has a bucketfull of miracles but sometimes we`re too porfiada to see them. But a kid who we contacted in the park last week called us and said "uhh, hey, could we meet in the park again?" One day he was visiting a friend in Concepcion and the missionarys showed up and started teaching them haha, so he said he`d like to meet with us. It was funny, other missionarys had a baptism that day, and so when Javier showed up and asked "where do we go now" we were like, "uhh, to the church!!" And he really liked it! The spirit was super strong, and we had to leave early, but Javier said he wanted to stay to hear the other talks! So we`re hoping to keep in contact with him and see how he progresses.
Happy turkeyday yall! Today was our zone activity and we had turkey sandwiches!!!! WHA?? So that was bakan. Made me trunky, but all is well in Concep-zion. I´ve started to LOVE studying and using my time better, and I´m starting to feel like a real missionary who like knows the scriptures and stuff. The mission keeps getting better. BOWLING OUT!
Sister Dru Bowling
♥ from Chile!
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Earthquake Update
Hi Karen: I am forwarding, or copying a letter that Ashlee sent today. Last night there was a pretty big earthquake in her area and all of the missionaries are ok. Ashlee's mission president told all of the missionaries to write home today to let their parents know that all is well. I checked on the USGS site and they had a swarm of quakes. The biggest was 5.9, then a 5.1 and a 4.9 and many more.
Dad
So we had an earthquake here last night. Well, the Spanish word for earthquake is terremoto, but everyone keeps telling me that it was'nt a terremoto, it was a temblor, which is smaller. It was about 5.6 or something like that, but I guess a few days ago there was a huge earthquake in Santiago that killed a number of people. So President May gave us permission to write to you all today and let you know that I´m still alive and everything haha. It was funny, Hermana Silva woke up first, and it really freaked her out. She´s from Brazil, where I guess they never have earthquakes. She told me that the whole country of Brazil is on top of a tetonic plate, and so nothing subterrenial ever happens. So at about 2 in the morning the beds start shaking and the closet door is banging around in its frame, and I wake up, take a second to realize what´s going on, and say "woo! Que genial!" *Awesome in English* in total there were 9 or so, but I only felt the first two and then went back to sleep. Good times. Anyways, just so you know, all the missionaries are fine. I love you all and wish for the best for you guys! Keep praying for me! Specifically, if you could pray for me to have energy and excitement, that would be great. I want to work hard, and I have a willing heart and mind, but I´m starting to get tired, in like a deep bodily sense. My feet hurt all the time and I just want more than ever sometimes to be able to take a nap. But we keep working! We´ve started running in the mornings on treadmills, so I´m hoping to get more energy from doing that. But prayers from loving parents also work really well. BYE!
Monday, November 7, 2016
Miracles!
A quick rundown of the happenings here with Hermana Silva!
Last week while we were walking down the street, a giant guy in a dirty teeshirt was on the patch walking towards us, and before we could open our mouths to talk to him he introduced himself to us as a member of the church. He`s from Antofagasta, which is like twenty hours from here in bus, and he had just gotten out of jail the night before. He only had enough money to pay for the bus that was going to take him home and was asking if we could find somebody to give him something to eat. We told him we`d meet him over in a park close by in thirty minutes and that he should wait there. So as we walked away, we were thinking, gosh, who can we ask to donate food? I still am new to the sector, and the members aren`t super understanding, neither the bishop, and so in the end we were like, well, why don`t we just go to the supermarket and buy him something with our own money? So we did just that. And when we came back, there he was sure enough waiting for us. So we sat down with him while he carefully opened the styrafome packaging and started to tell us all about his life, until he even told us that while he was in jail the night before, he found out his mother had died. He began to weep, and Hermana Silva and I couldn`t help but start crying too. We read in the book of Mormon with him and testified of the atonement, that saves all of us from phisical and spiritual death. He recognized he had done some pretty terrible things in his life and was feeling a lot of remorse. It was a really special experience to be able to testify of the atonement like that to someone who was so lost and in need of support. He took the book of mormon to read on the bus and we took off.
gosh I`m out of time again haha, but we`ve been having amazing miracles and opportunities to share the gospel happen to us every single day like this. It was a testimony strengthening moment for sure.
I want to ask all of you guys for a few ideas, you returned missionarys and everybody. What were some different things you did to encounter more people to teach, apart from talking to everybody, knocking on doors and doing english classes and asking for references. What were some of the things you did differently to contact better or just find more people to teach?
I also need some ideas for activities that we could do. The ward does hardly anything and hermana Silva is super energetic about doing activities of every kind. What`s some cool activies your wards have done in the past that you liked a lot?
One more question! You missionarys, returned or other wise. What are some object lessons or verbal examples that you gave to teach, just in general. Like, for example, whenever we teach about prophets and authority, we explain how it´s like borrowing car keys and making copys of them, with permission. Just little verbal examples to teach. I love hearing about the different parables people use to explain doctrine simpler.
Have a great week all of you! Keep being member missionarys. Remember what an example and impact you have in the lives of people who aren`t Mormon. You can easily change the course of somebodys life when you share even a small part of what you know to be true. Love all of you and wish you the best!
Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!
Last week while we were walking down the street, a giant guy in a dirty teeshirt was on the patch walking towards us, and before we could open our mouths to talk to him he introduced himself to us as a member of the church. He`s from Antofagasta, which is like twenty hours from here in bus, and he had just gotten out of jail the night before. He only had enough money to pay for the bus that was going to take him home and was asking if we could find somebody to give him something to eat. We told him we`d meet him over in a park close by in thirty minutes and that he should wait there. So as we walked away, we were thinking, gosh, who can we ask to donate food? I still am new to the sector, and the members aren`t super understanding, neither the bishop, and so in the end we were like, well, why don`t we just go to the supermarket and buy him something with our own money? So we did just that. And when we came back, there he was sure enough waiting for us. So we sat down with him while he carefully opened the styrafome packaging and started to tell us all about his life, until he even told us that while he was in jail the night before, he found out his mother had died. He began to weep, and Hermana Silva and I couldn`t help but start crying too. We read in the book of Mormon with him and testified of the atonement, that saves all of us from phisical and spiritual death. He recognized he had done some pretty terrible things in his life and was feeling a lot of remorse. It was a really special experience to be able to testify of the atonement like that to someone who was so lost and in need of support. He took the book of mormon to read on the bus and we took off.
gosh I`m out of time again haha, but we`ve been having amazing miracles and opportunities to share the gospel happen to us every single day like this. It was a testimony strengthening moment for sure.
I want to ask all of you guys for a few ideas, you returned missionarys and everybody. What were some different things you did to encounter more people to teach, apart from talking to everybody, knocking on doors and doing english classes and asking for references. What were some of the things you did differently to contact better or just find more people to teach?
I also need some ideas for activities that we could do. The ward does hardly anything and hermana Silva is super energetic about doing activities of every kind. What`s some cool activies your wards have done in the past that you liked a lot?
One more question! You missionarys, returned or other wise. What are some object lessons or verbal examples that you gave to teach, just in general. Like, for example, whenever we teach about prophets and authority, we explain how it´s like borrowing car keys and making copys of them, with permission. Just little verbal examples to teach. I love hearing about the different parables people use to explain doctrine simpler.
Have a great week all of you! Keep being member missionarys. Remember what an example and impact you have in the lives of people who aren`t Mormon. You can easily change the course of somebodys life when you share even a small part of what you know to be true. Love all of you and wish you the best!
Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!
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