Oh man... what happened this week... Hahaha have you ever sant down to write in your journal, and you just sit there for a few minutes and then get up and go eat something? Thats what I feel like doing right now. I absolutly don`t remember what happened this week.

OHH!!! So I was just in the pits on Wednesday. I woke up with the worst migrain ever. So we ended up staying home all day, which was just the worst. BUT! One good thing did happen from that, I finished Jesus the Christ! What an amazing book. One of the last chapters talks about the great apostasy, and explains in historical, factual detail that the church of Christ could NOT have kept existing and that an apostasy did in fact take place. Well, a few days later while knocking on doors before lunch with a member, we found a girl we`ve already talked to before. She came outside (because her grandma who is SUPER catholic and rude, according to her, was home), and we started teaching her a little bit about the restoration of christs church here on the earth. She seemed super interested, and explained that she believed the gospel wasn`t lost, and that Peter kept the authority going by passing it on to.... constantine, I think. We explained how she could know if Joseph Smith was a prophet through prayer and that we know the church has been restored, and I used some of the stuff I used from Jesus the Christ. Man, if there is a book worth reading, that is it. It explains in the beginning how Elder Talmage was in the temple while writing it and all of the prayerful counsil he took with the prophets and apostles at the time. SO AMAZING. But she was really cool and we`re going to start doing lessons in the bishops home. The bishops wife when she was younger also used to be SUPER catholic, but has an incredible testimony.

So, transfers came through and I`m going to head down to Arauco! It`s a little pueblito! FINALLY! Ever since I left Gorbea I`ve been wanting to go back to a little country town. It`s only an hour or so south of San Pedro, and is on the coast! I think the beach is right in our sector, so I`ll be sure to snap some good photos. I`m gonna be with hermana Abalos, who is from the...... PHILIPINES! AGAIN! AHahahaa she was in the same group as hermana Galiza! I think I`ve been given a second chance hahaha! There have only been three missionarys from the philippines in our mission and I`ll have lived with all of them. I really do like cambios in the sense that they give me a lot more energy and excitement. I think I adapt pretty easily to new situations, so I`m excited, even though I´m going to miss San Pedro SO much. Yesterday in church I busted into tears at the most random of times, just like I`M GOING TO MISS HERMANO SO AND SO, and ugh. ALSO!! One more thing. A PURE MIRACLE HAPPENED to the other hermanas haahha. They, for the past 5 months have been teaching a guy named Armin. He comes to church every sunday, and is a really really cool guy, but for whatever reason has just not been accepting the idea of getting baptized. At least not in the near future. He says he`ll get baptized one day, but has been to scared to make the commitment. The hermanas worked with so much faith, with the members, and just doing all kinds of great things to help him keep progressing, inclduing calling him every day and reading scriptures with him. Well, Monday night, the hermanas were feeling a little bit down. Armin was supposed to get baptized this Saturday but it looked like he still just wasn`t ready. They decided not to call him, just to give him some space. (Another common thing here that EVERYBODY says is they don`t want to feel pressured. Armin said the same thing to hermanas Asis and Norton.) But instead of calling him, they recieved his call. It was quiet, and then Armin, trying not to cry told them he wanted to get baptized THIS saturday. What an amazing spirit. Only the spirit in the end is what motivated Armin to change. And it just retestified to me the importance that the spirit has in the conversion of people. Only until they look for and recognized the need of a savior and his doctrine in their lives can they feel the need to follow him. We can`t force anybody to become a deciple of Christ. We only invite, and do everything in our power so that the spirit can touch their heart, and then when it`s there time and God`s time, they still even then have the ability to deny or accept what they`re feeling. But Armin is super cool, and I don`t have the time or the talent to explain in email what an incredible experience it was. I`m gonna miss San Pedro de la Paz, but I know Arauco is going to be just as amazing. I think it`ll be a bit like coming home, because I really do miss Gorbea a lot. But I love you all and wish you the best week of your life! Chau!


Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!

Draft of the Devil

Hey guys! Another fast one because I just spend my time reading all about you guys. The thing that`s stuck out most so far was today! We took an hour busride to a town called Lota (that made me think of Gorbea) to go visit a few tourist attractions, FINALLY! Just about every P-day here in San Pedro has been spent buying groceries and doing boring adult things. But we decided to go visit an abandoned mine called Chiflòn del Diablo. That`s a hype name for what used to be called Chiflón Carlos, a coal mine that stopped working in the seventies. Now it`s a tourist attraction, where they do tours and explain what minner life was like. It was SUPER interesting, and we met a ton of cool people, including a temple worker from Santiago who knows my old mission presidente, Wilhelm, a couple from Italy, and a cute little family from..... HOLLAND! We talked for a while about how I`ve got roots from over there and they taught me some basic dutch words. I don`t remember anything now hahaha. Afterwards we went to an old house that`s been turned into a museum, I took some cool pictures for you dad cuz I know you like old stuff. And then we also went for a tour around a HUGE garden that the wife of the owner of the old house used to have (I´m sorry, I´m so bad at names and history and things.) Its right next to the beach and we went and saw the little lighthouse that`s there, as well as sealions that wre hanging out at the beach. It was a really cool time, an opportunity to get out and see some historical type things.

We also have a couple of tender mercies in our sector. On Saturday we called our investigator who`s been out of town this whole month, and it turns out he came home a week early! But the best part: He`s halfway through the book of mormon!! He`s what I would call an ACTUAL investigator. He want`s to know more and is actually trying to find out if the church is true or no. He is also reading the handbook gospel principals, and has a lot of questions for us when we get around to visiting him. Please keep Manuel in your prayers!

I know the work that I`m doing is the work of the Lord. At the beginning of my mission, I was struck with a struggling testimony, but I have now had enough experience to be able to say that I know what I`m doing is true. I am a member of the restored church of Christ and the work I do is inspired. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that Thomas S Monson holds the exact same authority. I know Christ lives, and that God is our loving heavenly father.

Transfers are next week, and so I will let you all know if I`m staying or going. HAve a great week and pray for your family and someone in need.

Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!

MERRY CHRISTMASS

It was awesome to be able to skype with you guys. I love you all. Have a happy new year!! We`ll be in the mission presidents house for new years eve so I`ll be sure to take a lot of pictures. And here are some of the anticipated photos I haven`t sent in FOREVER. Actually just kidding I think there`s something wrong with my camera. Uhh... We`ll see what happens.

This week we sang a ton of Christmas carols, I rolled my ankle but it was literally miraculously healed the next day, and I ate so much that I never want to eat again. I gave away some of the berts bees stuff to the hermanas in the house and have already almost eaten the whole package of cadburry eggs.

I love you all so much! Especially you guys mom and dad!

Sister Ashlee Bowling

♥ from Chile!

Punch satan in the face

We´ve had quite a number of mini miracles happen to us. One being that we have found una familia de ORO!! They´re from Peru and they have been reading the pamphlets we´ve left with them and understanding to the point where the husband, looking straight at us without the pamphlet for a reference told us the steps of prayer. We, after sharing the restorationwhich is the first lesson we generally share with people we´re beinging to teach, invited him to pray and know if what we had taught is true. AND HE DID IT!! I love the Chilenos, don´t get me wrong, but every single time we invite them to pray they put up a fight and say "nooo, mejor que no. Ustedes lo hacen mejor." -_- But this guy was so humble and he just kneeled down and opened up his heart to the lord and asked for the well being of his family who aren´t so well off right now (trying to get on your feet in a new country seems like an arduous process), and it was just an awesome prayer. At the end he looked at us and said, "That was my first kneeling prayer. And my first without reciting (that one prayer that catolics always say)." We asked how he felt and he said the spirit was so strong and so special and different. We´ve got it tentativly planned for them to be baptzied in January. They really are so amazing, and so we´ve started putting all our effort into studying and helping them understand why what we share is important.


Last week while knocking on doors we ran into a little old lady who was sitting outside. We started chatting and asked if we could sing a christmas carol with her, so she let us in and had us sit down on her couch. After a few songs we starting getting to know her, and it turns out this woman is loca. She starts telling us about all of the crazy experiences she´s had with seeing devils and weird lights and just all kinds of crap. So we get out of that house looking at each other like "What the heck." We went again and tried to teach her a little big of the restoration, and the same thing happened where she talked so much about random horrible experiences she´s had. Finally at the end, we were both like, theres got to be something we can do here. We´re not going to give up so easily. So we asked her, Ema, do you want to feel peace in your life and in your home? Do you want these things to stop happening to you? She answered yes, and we promised her that if she prayed correctly, and came to chruch on sunday that these experiences would stop. And guess what. SHE CAME TO CHRUCH! She was sick but she still came because she knew what we taught was true. And she had an awesome experience. Afterwords she told my companion that the things she learned in chruch were better than in any other, that they were things you can actually apply toyour life and live and not just think "oh. that´s nice." We´re going to go visit her this week and see how she feels and if she can tell a difference in her life. We´re also planning on her being baptized in January.
 So we´re going good in the work of the lord. I love you all so much!! I´ve never had such a trial of faith in my life as I have had in the mission, and now through all the trials, and even more, because of them, I am able to say that I KNOW God exists. I KNOW he loves me. He loves you. He had restored his gospel to lead and guide us, and that there is a promise that those who abide by the precepts and laws of the gospel will know for themselves is true and that I speak not for myself. I love the opportunity to teach this wonderful truth to the world.

Also I´ve learned a couple of spanish saying. For example Tengo Ángel (I have angel) {I´m charming}. Peinar la muñeca (brush the doll) {they´re going crazy}.

Que tengan una buena semana llena de milagros y tiernas misericordias. Les amooo!!!


Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!

Cambios!!!

HHEYY! So we had cambios!! And guess what!! FOR THE FIRST TIME I`M NOT GETTING A NEW COMPANION HAHAH!! That`s so crazy. Every single six weeks from the time I first got into the mission I have had a different companion. For the very first time I am staying where I`m at and my companion too! Actually, we`re all staying together! The four of us in the house, Hermana Silva, Hermnana Norton, Hermana Asis and me, and the two elders who are also in the ward with us, Elder King from Utah and Elder Zuñiga from Chile. IM SO HAPPY TO STILL BE IN SAN PEDRO. It`s funny how at the beginning of the mission, at least for me, I was very much wanting to get transfered to a new area, a new companion every single cambio. But the more time I had in the mission, the more and more I started to love the people and want to stay where I`m at, to keep loving them and helping them and building the deep relationships we have together. The two cambios in a row that I had where I got transfered twice in a row were really hard for me because I realized that, yes, while the cambios are always inspired and revelation from the lord, I also realized that it is HARD to leave a sector! You start to love the people so much, and I have really started to put in active practice the idea of just loving with all your heart the chilenos. They are NOT perfect, but I would say that I am even less perfect and have learned so many important life lessons from the memebers, the investigators, the contacts and the missionarys from this beautiful country that I`m serving. I love San Pedro and although it`s not an "easy" sector, it is definatly not "fome". It is amazing and I love the people here, and everytime I meet someone new it`s another incredible opportunity to have a lifelong friend. Every contact has the potential to become a baptism and a temple sealing and another one for the reino celestial.

On Wednesday I was in an intercambio with Hermana Hopkins!! I lived with her in Mexico while I was in the MTC!!! She`s still so awesome and is a great hard working missionary. The mission keeps getting better and I`m glad to keep moving forward. I got the picture mom and dad sent me. Everybody laughed their heads off when they saw our demon cat.

I hope you all have a great week and are able to keep lighting the world with the small christ-like things you do. Something I studied this week was the love of God, and I loved elder Christoffersons talk from October, about how Gods love IS ALWAYS waiting for us. But we need to be the people worthy to recieve that love. Lets see if I can explain it wel....

God loves the person that everyone of us is capable of becoming, and every time we make a correct choice, and do something good, no matter how small it might be, God is SO happy for us, and is cheering us on at every step. Sin is such a bad thing because it literally keeps us from recieving blessings and heavenly help. The only person who can discualify you for a blessing from God is yourself. Go read elder christoffersons talk, and do all the cross referencing that real study needs. Go look up the scriptures he uses and study. Reflect on how you can better qualify yourself for the love that God has for you already. How could we ever pay him back for the love he has for us. I don`t think it`s possible. Love you and have a great life. Peace out.


Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!

Here is the picture referenced in the letter. Her mission pres. asked for the family to print this sign and send a picture holding it for an activity the mission was preparing. This picture with Ashlee's cat Bucky was hilarious so we had to send it!

Merp Herp Derp

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!

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!

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!

♥ de Chile

¡Buenos días a todos! 

On Wednesday, Hermana Galiza and I went to a sisters conference, where Hermana May, the mission presidents wife came, and then she took us in her car to their home where we had dinner with her and president. After, we headed off to the airport, where we got just in time for Hermana Galiza to catch her flight. She was going from Concepcion to Santiago, then Santiago to Sao Paulo(?) Brazil, then to Qatar(?!!!?!!?!!), and then to the capital of the Philippines where she would take a smaller flight to her home on the northern most island. We all cried a bit, but then President May shared a cool experience about when he was praying to know where each missionary should go. He was forced to do it in the car while driving to pick up a group of newbies because of a lack of time. Without even remembering that Hermana Asis, who is also from the Philippines, was going to live in the house with us, he placed me and Hermana Galiza together. After choosing he felt an incredibly powerful force tell him "you did it right". Hermana Galiza having Hermana Asis here with her made such the difference. I know from personal experience haha. It`s hard to not be able to express yourself. Being able to talk in Tagolag was a big help. So that was cool to know. Our mission and everything that happens inside of it is being guided by a heavenly being. 

And now, A few AWESOME bits of news:

We had cambios, and I`m staying in San Pedro!! My companion is going to be...... HERMANA SILVA!!!! I lived in the same house as her while I was in Victoria in July! She`s from the capital of Brazil, which I think is Brasilia or something like that. She is a beautiful soul and we are going to be on fire! She comes here tomorrow and right away we`re going to go visit some of our progressing people. 

I`ve been in a trio with Herman Norton and Hermana Asis since Wednesday, and we`ve been getting along really well. It`s fun to be contacting out and about with them, and teaching is haha interesting trying to balance out the spiritual impressions that three people get at the same time. I`ve realized that I like to talk a lot. When Hermana and President May drove me back home to meet up with them, the feeling and prospect, that we were going to go out and WORK! Actually work! Overwhelmed me with feelings of gratutude, and I ended up crying on and off all day. After a lesson, after a contact, I`d just bust into tears again. I felt the spirit was so strong throughout the whole day. What a blessing to be a missionary, and to love what I do. 

We have an awesome week planned! We`re going to have a family home evening today with our neighbor and his family who are great friends with some members who live in the same building as us. So wish me luck that it all goes well! We`re going to teach about the Family, A Proclamation to the World. 

We also, while walking in Walmart looking for ingredients to make brownies for a baptism the elders had, ran into a guy from Washington state with his 7 year old son! They moved to Chile about 8 months ago and don`t have plans to ever return. Ronald Craig Clayton felt the country was moving away from traditional family values that he holds dear and decided to move to Chile after seeing how important the family is to the culture. His wife will be joining him in January. He lived with an adopted Mormon family growing up and knows a ton about the church! He`s suppper friendly and I think a little starved for English conversation, and his son is smarter than I am. Ron is a bee keeper and his wife is a heart surgeon, and Sam is there only son, and so he just grew up around incredibly inteligent people, and so he`s got the vocabulary of a scientist, which is super cute! Sam actually came up to us in the store and timidly asked "¿Ha-hablan Ingles?" To which we replied yes! His face lights up in a huge smile and shouts "OH! Hi!! My name`s Sam!!!" They`re super cool and we`re going to go stop by to get to know them better during the week. 

So that`s the news thus far! Hope you all have a great week! Can`t wait to hear about the temple

dedication! Love you!

Sister Ashlee Bowling

♥ from Chile!

La Vida Eterna ♥

So I have some... interesting news. My companion, Hermana Galiza for a number of various reasons, is going to go home on Wednesday. It´s been something I knew would happen for a long time, and we haven´t been able to work very much in our sector because of it. So that´s been pretty hard. But this whole cambio has been such a testament to me that we were meant to be here.

Our first day in San Pedro five weeks ago, we did a fast, and again and again through out the day I was filled with the spirit saying over and over that we were there because it´s where God needs us and wants us to be. And as the cambio has gone by, I have repeatedly recieved the same confirmation.

Something really cool that happened this week was something called an Intercambio, where one of our Sister training leaders came into our sector to work with me and Hermana Galiza went to the sector of the other stl. I was with hermana Ollerton from Utah, and it was honestly just the best day I´ve had thus far in the mission. I re-remembered so many things that I had been neglecting just because of the situation that´s been going on with my comp. And I realized that although I was liking the mission, I wasn´t joyful, like in Elder Nelsons talk. I realized that my testimony here in the mission has really been struggling. Doubts I´ve never had before began to be a common thinking pattern, and I realized that I didn´t really know if the church was true or not. And I realized I´ve felt this way since I started 9 months ago. And so I started asking, and I began to read "our search for happiness" by Elder Packer.

And now looking back on this cambio, I can say that my testimony has grown so much. To be able to put a finger on the doubts I had helped me to overcome them and begin to experience an actual joy that a person can recieve ONLY though knowledge of the Gospel. More than anything I realized how incredible it is to know that we existed before this life. God offered us an opportunity to come to this earth to learn and progress, and that if we support it well, we will receive a glory unimaginable.

I realized the importance of an eternal perspective. The things we do in this life matters, but the suffering we go through isn´t without a purpose. People look at the world and the horrible things that happen and shake their fist at God, saying "if he really existed these things wouldn´t exist. But we need to realize that before this life we literally "shouted for joy" at the prospect of living here, because of the marvelous and perfect plan to live with God again and be like him. We trusted that Christ could save us, and help us learn.

The book "our search for happiness" gives this example: Imagine a rope that streaches out into the cosmos on both sides, forever. And then take a thread and wrap it around the middle. The thread represents our time on the earth, with the rope before the thread representing our lives before Earth and the rope after the thread representing the infinity of our Eternal Life with God. The things we do in this life matter so much, but the suffering we and others experience is but for a small moment.

This wasn´t a new thing that I learned, but to be able to remember, and realign my perspective has changed my attitude about the mission. I love so much and am so greatful for the opportunity to be a missionary. I know the Plan of Salvation is made possible by the Atonement of Christ. I love you all so much. Please keep Hermana Maria Emaliee Galiza in your prayers =) Have a great week!

Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!

Amazing news!

Another quick email, but I have some amazing news! I´m not sure if I ever wrote about the people we found in Temuco, but two of the people I found and taught, Camila y Pía were baptized the Saturday of general conference! There is honestly no greater joy than hearing something like that. It was awesome, and Matias is also preparing for his baptism, which either already happened, or will be for this Saturday, depending.

We here in San Pedro are doing really good. I had an absolutly incredible experience yesterday, while reading a conference talk from November 2014. So far this transfer has been pretty difficult honestly. I never thought training would be easy, but this has kind of exceeded some of my expectations. I´ve been feeling a bit lost as far as what to do to help my companion, and a phrase from Quineten L Cook´s talk jumpd out at me, which said something along the lines of "don´t let justifications for your actions get in the way of righteous decision making, especially when serving Jesus Christ." I realized that we don´t need to be lost in our lives. We have an unfailing map at our disposal, obediance. When we don´t know what to do, we can look at the choices we have to make and say, which one will lead me closer to Christ? Which action will serve him more? The answer will become clear when made with Christ in mind. Thank you all so much for your prayers and love. Have an awesome week!

Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!

I seem to have very bad time management skills

Heyy!! So conference was amazing! We`ve been working with a couple who are just about the coolest people ever! The girlfriend is a member and is living with her boyfriend, Leo, who is our investigator. He`s got a baptismal date for the 15th, and they have been taking huge steps in their lives to better live Gods laws. conference was amazing like always, I loved the Japanese guys talk about trusting the lords plan. It hit me and my companion pretty hard, because Hermana Galiza is experiencing some pretty extreme health problems. She`s amazing though and no matter what happens we know it`s a part of Gods plan. San Pedro is the best zone in the whole mission, but really. I`m loving the mission and we`re working our hardest to bring the world His truth! Have a great week and I love you all! Last Friday I compleated 9 months in the mission! Half way there! Thanks so much for all the love. =)

Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!

San Pedro de la Pazzzzzz

Quick rundown:

• San Pedro is the biggest sector in the mission.
• WE´re 20 minutes from the ocean
• There are 3 lagoons in our sector.
• I´m living with Hermana Norton who was in my group but not my district in the CCM in Mexico, and her hija who is also from the phillippines, hermana Asis. 
• We share the ward with the elders who work in the office of the mission. They are amaaaaazzzing. 
• We have no investigators, but I love this place so much. 
• I am training Hermana Galiza who is from the northern most island of the phillippines. She is amaaaaaaaazzxing también. 

I am out of time.
Love you guys!

Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!

It's a GIRL!!!

Oh my gosh. What a week. SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED these past 7 days that I don´t even know where to begin. So on Tuesday, I packed up my life into my 2.5 suitcases and got on the bus to San Pedro. The bus ride is about 5 hours long, and when we got there, the Elders in the office gave us a ride with all of our suitcases to the mission home. We ate pizza, and I got a really plesant suprise, 3 of the other missionarys I was with in the CCM are also training! I don`t have the cord to my camera, and so the pictures we took I don`t have, but Elder Gray, Elder Christensen, Hermana Curtis (my ccm companion!) and I were all there to pick up our noobies! AND, drum roll please, my new companion is HERMANA GALIZA FROM THE PHILIPPINES!!!! HAHAHA she is one of 3 sisters from the philippines in the mission right now! Something new I learned, English is the second official language of the Philipines, and so she`s going to know 3 languages!! She`s flipping incredible! She`s from the northern most island, Laoag. I don`t remember where you served Holland, but wasn`t in the more southern part? She is incredible and really wants to work hard. She`s 25, and all of her family are members but she`s the only active member. One thing I want to ask you guys, if you could, to maybe write her an email or two. She writes and understands English and everything, but her family doesn´t write her, so she doesn`t have a ton of emails. maria.galiza@myldsmail.net  If you could write her something about how amazing she is, I`m sure she`d appreciate it. She`s absolutly amazing!

So this week we got to know the sector a little bit. We have practically no investigators, one, because San Pedro is kind of a hard sector (everybody says), and two, because the sisters who were here before we`re only in the sector for two weeks. It`s not opening a sector, compleatly, but it might as well be because we have practically nothing. But to me its exciting! It means we have to find everybody on our own! It means how strong or weak the sector is compleatly relys on how we treat it. So it`s a ton of responsability, but it`s just the kick in the butt I needed to really get down and get to work, or at least want to.....

This weekend was 18th of September, a HUGE holiday in Chile, their independance day. And what do people do on important dates? Leave and/or drink. So we recieved special instructions the 17th, 18th, and 19th of september to NOT WORK!!! It was awful!!!! Hahaha it was so boring and awful to not be able to teach people. I`m really starting to love the mission to the point where if I`m not working, I`m suffering. So while we spent the free time well, getting to know Concepcion and San Pedro and visiting festivals and going to partys, I was internally dying. I can`t wait to be able to start hitting the pavement again. And the sector needs it to. If we want success in this situation we`ve got to get working, now.

The ward threw a huge party on the 16th for the holiday, and I got called into the center of the cultural center where everybody sang me Feliz Cumpliaños, which was cool hahaha. We ate a TON of traditional chilean food and watched the members dance the national dance of Chile, la cueca. It`s SUPER flirtatious, and I felt very emberassed watching. But at the same time it`s really cool. Just about everybody knows how to dance it, and theres all kinds of different forms. Mom and dad, your package arrived exactly on the 16th! Thank you so much for all the goldfish and treats and stuff. I love you guys to bits =)

Being in this uniquely difficult situation, I have already had SO many experiences testify to me that this work is the pure work of the lord. That I was called to be in this situation by the lord, and that I with my companion are going to have an amazing time in this sector, but only if we put all of our heart and pride and will on the alter of sacrifice. I know this church is the restored church of Christ. I know with every fiber of my being that it`s true. That the Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets with our days in mind. I know Joseph Smith found, translated, and published that book, and that he was CALLED, but did not choose to be the prophet of the restoration. I know that Thomas S Monson has carried that line of authority and calling to our present day. I know that a deep and abiding testimony of these things is the only way we can survive the trials we all are facing. I love all of you and I`m so greatful for your help and support =) Have a great week! Chao!

Sister Ashlee Bowling
♥ from Chile!