Crappy Cafe'

Hello Everyone  (and their dogs and cats in my parent's yard)!

     Wow!  What a crazy week!  Of course every week can be a little crazy now and again.  But hey, who cares!  This week was exciting and full of new experiences.  This area has a lot more people than my last area and best of all they are Christian!   I haven't seen a Muslim yet.  So we are working on getting new people to teach.  The only thing lacking is people with baptismal dates.  We have none yet.  That will change and we will see improvements.

     My new companion's name is Elder Metivier. He is sweet!  He is from New Hampshire and I'm sure in the next few weeks we will get to know more about him.  I like him a lot.  So we had transfers and great news!  I got 4 wonderful packages.  That is awesome!  Thank you for everyone that sent packages.  I got letters, too!  Thank you for sending them!  The area I am in is called Mataheko.  It is a very nice place.  The ward is . . . well actually I can't tell you how the ward is because I haven't met most of them yet.  Last Sunday we combined wards (is that allowed?) and we watched General Conference! Finally!!  I have been waiting since like April to watch it!  We only got to watch Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.  They were wonderful.  It is funny that now I only have one more General Conference left in Ghana.  Unless I extend . .  . we shall see.  It is interesting that at this time a lot of the missionaries are trying to go home early for "schooling" reasons.  I understand for August going home early so they have more than a week before school gets started, but June and July trying to go home early? It doesn't make any sense to me.  I don't want to be a 23 month missionary, I am happy to serve 24 months.  While yes, I might have a countdown timer until I can have a glass of tap water and not worry about dying from Typhoid Fever, I am enjoying Ghana.  Cars trying to kill me, people yelling WHITE MAN!!!! and lights being off (twice this week).  People, do me a favor and pray that if the lights are going to be off, it should avoid my apartment.  Can you do that for me?  Last night I about drowned in my sweat.

     We worship at the Stake Center.  That is nice.  It is a big building.  This Sunday is Stake Conference so I won't have had the Sacrament in 2 weeks!  NOT GOOD!!!  However, I have great news!  On Thursday, WE HAVE A TEMPLE TRIP!!!! Finally!!!!!  It has been forever!  The last one was in November.  December, January, February, March, April, and FINALLY MAY! Six months of waiting.  The temple is like my favorite place in the world.  It is only a 30 minute tro tro ride away (if I was driving it would be like 10) and yet I can't go there.  It is strange, and don't question this concern, I just wanna make a statement, about if the church is so strong on temple attendance and if the temple gives you strength through the Spirit, how come as a missionary I can only go twice a year?  It would seem to me (and this is just my personal opinion) why would they limit this?  Now I get we are supposed to be seeking out the living and not the dead, but why not once a month?  Not that it is a big concern, but it does make me raise an eyebrow (figuratively, its not like I can actually lift an eyebrow in a questioning way).  But still, I AM SO EXCITED TO GO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK!!!  Stake Conference on Sunday and the BEST PART???  I GET TO CALL HOME ON SUNDAY!!!!  YAY!!!  THAT IS JUST THE ICING ON THE CAKE!!!!  THIS WEEK WILL BE AWESOME!!!! I LOVE MY MOMMY!!!!!  I love the rest of my family, too, which brings up another interesting question, why only Mother's Day?  Why not Father's Day?  Are Fathers not as important or are the moms just more emotional than the men?  I think it is the second.  But the women would complain more. LOL!

     So I was just looking back and this is a long email.  Half of you are probably asleep.  Mom, I know you would like a book length letter, but still this is probably one of the longest I have ever written.  Well, bye for now.  I am going to send this because the internet at this cafe' is crappy!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Elder Ty M. Bowden

SHOUT OUT TO MY SISTER!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE SISTER!! You just smile and smirk while you surf the net with your iphone 5c and leave me here in Africa with a dumb phone.