Monday, April 28, 2014

In the commencement of the twentieth year of the reign of Bowden, over all of you.

Long...very long...title today. Very interesting. Well, this has been a very interesting week to say the least. To start, I am being transferred. PRAISE THE LORD!!! These past three months have been a real grand old adventure. However, it is time to go to a new area. I cannot spell the name of it, but I will get it down by next week so don't worry. You'll get it. It is right next to my current area. So that is not a big shift. Just now my church will start at 8:00 in the morning...and I will be going to the Stake Center. That is nice.

Also about my week, we just worked. This past week was just work...got to work and that is all that really happened. We are just working hard.

Of course, I almost forgot! We had a Baptism yesterday! YAY!!! A little girl was baptized. It was awesome!! That was so awesome to see happen. Her name is Mary. She was so excited. She is only 9 years old, but hey, it counts.

Yes, it was my 20th birthday this past week. I also hit my 13 month mark on mission. Wow. Things are really progressing. Soon enough it will be Mothers Day and I get to call my wonderful mommy. Then, 7 months after that is Christmas and another phone call. Then another 3 months and April 1st I land in sunny St. George Utah. Fun.

But lets not focus on that. That is 11 months away and nobody cares about home anyways. :)

Regarding transfers, I will be the District Leader for an apartment of 4. I will be the only Senior. The other companionship will be co equals, which basically means no one is senior and no one is junior. I have spoken with one and he isn't happy and I have heard that the other isn't happy about it either. So...this will be a very interesting transfer. I pray that all will go well. It should. It is a nice area I hear. Apparently it has turned around from a year ago when Elder Bills was there, he said it was crap. So hopefully it is good. If not I will have to turn it into a fruitful area.

Ok well, that is all for now. I hope you have a fun week. I will let you know how the new apartment and District is. It is going to be a crazy new adventure to say the least.

Love

Elder Ty M. Bowden

Monday, April 21, 2014

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

YEAH!!!
This will be my last birthday here in Ghana! Crazy. Time is flying by. Sorry this will not be long, but it will be ok. Wow....Ghana is sweet. Had some adventures this past week. If you would like, go to the picture side of the blog, got some more pictures for you. Some monkeys and pizza and adventures. Fun!

Ok you're back. Well, this past week was fun. We got a lot of work done. We plan on having 3 baptisms this Sunday. They were going to be this past week but due to some unforseen events we had to push it back a week.

We have had a lot of success this past week. We did a lot of contacting and taught a lot of lessons this past week. We are enjoying the time we have on mission. Funny, I turn 13 months out tomorrow and then 20 on Friday. This is crazy. 11 months left! CRAZY!!!!!!

So because of the pictures, it has taken almost all of my time. I only have 5 minutes left. I am sorry that this took longer then i thought it would, but I wanted you to have more pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words anyways so just think if I had sent a 100,000 word letter. You're welcome. Enjoy!!!

Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts about me. I miss you all so much and cannot wait to hear from you all again. Man I am turning 20 this week.

LOVE YOU!!!!


Elder Ty M. Bowden

Monday, April 14, 2014

My Dearest Kelly....

     Greetings my friends and family all around the world and KELLY. Well, this past week was very eventful. There are a few events that happened that need to be talked about and you have been begging for a long email, so if you're not in a comfy seat, you might want to get one because you're going to be here for a while.

     So now we get into the story, the day is Seventh April, two thousand and fourteen of our Lord and Saviour, the place is Ghana, the time, about 6 pm Ghana Standard Time.

     I was just arriving at the apartment, about to end the wonderful day I had had at the Internet Cafe'. When I arrive I soon discover that two members of my District are no where to be found. Well, back up, they had gone on a journey to a place called Kaneshie Market. Their names (names have been changed) are Elder USA and Elder Nigeria and they do not like each other and have been butting heads for this whole transfer.  Well, the Zone Leaders inform me that something is up, and that I need to be around for when the two Elders arrive.
  
     I wait and around 7ish the two arrive.  Elder USA asks if he can speak to me upstairs (it is obvious that he is not a happy camper). We go into my office (aka bedroom) and he just starts to tell me about his day. I do not need to go into details about his day, but just know that what he witnessed was not appropriate for any missionary to see happen. So he reports what happened, as he should of, and I right away call President Hill, because this is bad. Elder USA then tells President Hill everything he has just told me over the phone to President (for later info his story takes about 20 to 30 minutes to tell me), while he is doing that I go and talk to Elder Nigeria to get his side of the story.

     So Elder Nigeria's side of the story is basically the same as Elder USAs, except he takes about 2 minutes to relate it to me and ya...story checks out, nothing more to question...moving on.

     Now we move to Tuesday: today we have Zone Training, which is basically a really long meeting where the Zone Leaders instruct and try to motivate us to be better missionaries. That sort of jazz... Any who, meeting is nice, and we want to go to lunch.  Elder Nigeria is causing more problems as he doesn't want to come with his companion, so Elder Bay, a good old Zone Leader, takes Elder Nigeria home because he doesn't really care whether or not he goes out to lunch or not, so they leave and head home and the rest of us go to lunch.

     While we are at Lunch, President Hill calls me telling me that he is on his way to the apartment to talk to Elder USA and Elder Nigeria. Ok, Elder USA is with us, so how are we going to do this?  No worries, the other Zone Leader, Elder Kelly takes him home and we get the food to go because we had just ordered and the food wasn't ready yet.  We get the food after Kelly and USA have left and we quickly head home to see the action.

     Nothing happens...President Hill talks to them both, and then goes on to say that they are ok and that nothing needs to change...ok.

     Tuesday Night...the time is 11pm, Elder USA gets a phone call...YOU (Elder USA) is getting an emergency transfer to a completely different Zone! WHAT!!! President Hill just figured out that if they stay together that nothing was going to change and that they would just continue to hate each other. So Emergency Transfer...

     Wednesday...APs arrive and pick up Elder USA and Elder Nigeria...two hours later they arrive with Elder Nigeria and his new companion, a ward missionary serving with us named Brother Chea from Liberia. So nothing else really happens on Wednesday.

     Thursday... Nothing else happens...

     Friday...it rains...teach six lessons, suck it Satan!

     Saturday...Exchanges with Elder Bills to do two baptismal interviews for him, they both pass! YAY!              
                                                      

                                                     LIGHT OFF WHEN I GET HOME!!!!

                                                                          ya... moving on...

     While I am with Elder Bills, Elder Kelly is with Elder Heaton (my companion), are out doing a baptismal interview for me and Elder Heaton, well...back up again... Elder Kelly used to serve in this area. He trained someone in this area. Anyways, he is walking around with my companion heading to the person he is about to interview and he points at a compound just a little ways ahead and says, Elder Heaton, we used to teach a man in this compound. We stopped however because another man prevented him from progressing, (strong anti mormon) and totally stopped them from teaching this other guy. Well, Elder Kelly points at the gate, and Elder Heaton says, ya we are going into that compound to interview our guy. Elder Kelly is a little scared but still goes in. Brace yourself, the Anti Mormon who over a year ago tried to destroy the Mormon church, is the same guy that me and Elder Heaton are preparing for baptism next week. Elder Kelly is still in shock!  He has no idea how me and Elder Serassio contacted him and how finally me and Elder Heaton have prepared him for the waters of baptism. Atonement at Work People! IT IS REAL!!!!

     Sunday....Nice day, get ready for church, go to Church, did I mention that our Bishop has no counselors at the present day. That is why we have been trying to do all we can to help the bishop with the work. Great news is that we had a Baptism!!! Awesome!!!  Today was awesome!

                                                           check the other page for more.

     One thing is this whole time Elder Nigeria and Brother Chea have completely isolated themselves from the rest of the apartment. It is sad, but it is what it is. We learn and move on. Things have quieted down since then which is really good. It just makes for trouble. Always locking their door, either locking themselves in or locking themselves out...I don't know why, but trust is down in the apartment, everyone has started to do it because of them. SIGH...

    Well, friends, family, annoying people, and children, that is all. The story ends. 

THE END!

LOVE,
Elder Ty M. Bowden



This is for Jack Kelly, who is sitting right next to me...USA > England

Back Up (again)
Elder Kelly, claims he is from England, but when you really get to know him it turns out that he is from South Africa. So don't let his English Accent fool any of you because he is truly an African and not a proper English Gent. Ta Ta for now, I am off to have tea with the queen. He Lies... LOL
BYE!


LOVE YOU KELLY!

  

Monday, April 7, 2014

T-Minus 359 days...

This has been a very interesting week. I don't quite know how to explain it all. Perhaps I could do it best by talking about things that happened this week and go off of that.

I got to go to a meeting this past week called MLC, Missionary Leadership Council. Usually it is just between the Mission President, APs, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders. But they asked the District Leaders to attend a portion of the meeting.  I went to the Temple Grounds in Accra and had a four hour long meeting with President Hill and the leaders of the Accra West Mission. It was a very interesting meeting and was good to go to see the Temple. That was the nice part of my week.

This is just a very interesting period in my mission. I could really use your prayers at this time. I need them more then ever before. I love you all so very much. We are doing alright here. Just frustrating to see people disobedient all around me. Not quite what I was expecting in our apartment.

No worries. We will press forward. Just need to forget the problems and try to work around them.
Love you guys so very much. Sorry, but the time is cut short today. Been very busy downloading General Conference and talking to family. I am super excited to listen to conference. So hopefully it works. Pray that it does.

Love

Elder Bowden