♥ 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!