The Week of Zero

     Well, Hello, and welcome again to another week of missionary work. You know people say that missionary work is not easy. I would agree with them. It is not, nor will it be an easy task. The Savior sent the 12 and 70 out two by two and in the days following the Crucifixion, there were only roughly 150 members. That is scary considering that during the three years that Christ was on the earth he was followed by thousands. Now were down to 150. Either the Apostles had a lot of less actives to work with or a lot of dropped investigators who didn't make their baptismal dates. Either way, they had some work to do. Now, we as servants of the Lord continue that work under the direction of the modern day Prophets and Apostles, with Jesus Christ directing them. Today it is the same, lots of members, and a lot of less actives. We work. We find them, we teach them, we baptize them, then help them endure to the end. That is not an easy task. But we are doing it small small.

     This week sadly was a rough one. Really just a full on, hit a brick wall at full speed and got our butts kicked. Its like, I don't know how to explain it, we go out, we walk, and walk, and walk, and somehow walk some more, but never seem to find people to teach or at least this past week. We had zero new investigators. That is way short of the mission goal of ten a week.  Oh well, try again this week. Hopefully this week is better.

     So this is kinda weird, but transfers are this week. It is weird because it has only been 4 weeks since the last one. The reason is that President Hill is going to a Mission President Seminar and that falls on the week of transfers. So we had to push it up to this week. This new transfer will last 8 weeks. I will have a new companion during this time. He is from Tonga. Here is the funny part about my new companion. Tonga in Twi, means something bad. I don't need to tell you what it means, but just know that it is bad, not like a swearword, but it just . . .well. . . Thus, we begin a new transfer. Another time to work and to get things done. Hopefully.

     As I mentioned last week we had a zone activity. We played basketball. The end. Sports. . .we are all very rusty at it. Missing lay ups and what not. But as the day dragged on in the Ghana Sun, we got better. Small. It was a fun activity. Others played soccer. So it was a good day.

     Ok well, I am going to go. Because I have to do college applications. BYE BYE!!!!

Love,
Elder Bowden

THE FINAL LEG

     Well everyone. . . what can I say to express how I feel. We've reached another mile stone today in the amazing journey of my life. We have reached eighteen months in Ghana. Three-fourths of the way done and only got six more to go before I am hugging my mommy at the St. George Airport. Wow! That is crazy to think about and hard to believe and yet it is exciting at the same time. Just gotta keep working hard for these last six. Final sprint!
     Well, Dansoman is an okay place. The area has a lot of members in it so we find ourselves visiting members often. I like that because I feel like I didn't visit as many members as I could of in my last area, so I am trying to repent and get to know the members in my area better. That is good because some days you are working hard in your area and there is absolutely no one to see. You are walking in circles day in and day out and you get frustrated, so you go and visit a member who talks to you, is interested in what you have to say, and then tells you they have a friend they want you to go and teach. Cool.
     Even one member, yes the one that feeds us Fufu, is so kind. She has helped us a lot and the missionaries will forever be in her debt.
     So some of you probably want to know about my companion Elder Mmbulika. Some of you just want to know how to say his name! Well, to say his name is very easy. In fact, all you do is drop the two Ms on his name and say bul leak a! It is like eureka, but bulika! YA. . . Well to talk about Elder Mmbulika, where he is from and how long he has been a member, is a very interesting story. His parents have been members for a very long time. Longer then he has been alive. He is 20 years old. His parents moved from the city where the church was in Kenya and moved to a town where the church was not present from like when he was 1 to when he was 15 years old. So he was baptized when he was 15 years old.
     This week was very long you could say. I felt like we walked in circles the whole time and were not able to do as much as we had planned to do. Door to door isn't working and we are just looking for people who are outside. The problem is that during the day everyone is either at work or at school and they are all to busy to let us share the gospel with them.
     Oh well, that's Ghana for you. Right! Well, I hope all of you have a great day and I will see ya next week.

Love

Elder Bowden

Greetings from Ghana!!!!!

Well hello and welcome again to another episode of "The Journeys of a Small Boy named Bowden". In todays episode we have:

My Moms birthday
Ebola
Zone Conference
My Companions Birthday
Fufu
Sisters Update
Ghana Update

     So let us begin by first wishing my wonderful mother a happy birthday. For the record, she is NOT 30! I know she looks it but is far from it. Don't let her shortness fool any of you into thinking she is a college student. She is the mother of a 20 year old.
     Moving on into todays news. . .Ebola is on the rise, everywhere except Ghana. To quote President Hill "still no Ebola in Ghana: zero, zilch, nothing, nada." So that is good news. We don't need to worry about it because the Church will not allow us to stay in Ghana if it was going to endanger us.
     Now onto the wonderful zone conference. It was a nice experience. We traveled out to the Temple/Area Office to have our conference. We didn't get to go inside the Temple (we will be doing that in November) but the main reason we went was to get our new non-citizen id cards. We were also interviewed by the Mission President. He is sweet and doing really well as is his wife. We talked a lot about our personality vs. character. How we should be more worried about our character and not so much our personality. That was something that touched me a lot and am going to follow the council given to us to work more on our character and be defined as someone who has good character and not so much on our personality. Looking forward to November's Zone Conference when we get to go to the Temple.
     On Saturday it was my companions Birthday! He turned 20! Yay!!!! Happy Birthday Elder Mmbulika!!!!! He didn't want anyone to really know about it so we didn't tell anyone until after it had passed. I don't know why, but that's what he wanted. We did enjoy Fufu on his birthday, so that was nice.
     Fufu, so I forgot if I told you about the member who has said that she will make the missionaries Fufu every Saturday. If not, there is a member in our ward who makes the missionaries Fufu every Saturday. It is super good and I love Fufu so much! If we could make Fufu in America I would make it for all of you when I got home, but we don't have cassava or plantain. Sorry. I am for sure going to miss having Fufu. That is my favorite meal in Ghana.
     THE SISTERS!!!! I think it is safe to say that I have the best Sister Missionaries in the Mission. They are nothing like I was told. They are hard workers and are doing very well. One of the two companionship's is planning on having two baptisms this next week. That is awesome! So proud of them. I am excited to be here to help encourage them onto greatness!!!!
    Ghana is good. I am enjoying the mission. Sadly rainy season is about to end which dry season will be rolling around. I am uncertain on how this will effect the missionary work, but we will work no matter what happens. Ghana be great!!!!!
    Alright, thanks for listening. See ya next week.


LOVE!!!!!!
ELDER BOWDEN!!!!!!!

Dansoman Ward

Hello and greetings again from Ghana!  Once again we have reached another Fast Sunday.  We will talk more about the Fast Sunday in a minute, but just know that only 6 more Fast Sundays and I am fasting in St. George.  YAY!!!

Life is good.  Ghana is still free of Ebola.  As you know transfers were last week and I was transferred to Dansoman One.  Now I am going to explain this in detail and very slowly so be patient.  Here's whats happening:

     1.  I am in Dansoman Ward/Mission District
     2.  I live in Mamponse Ward boundaries/Mamponse District
     3.  There are four Elders in my apartment
     4.  2 Elders are in Mamponse Ward, 2 are in Dansoman Ward
     5.  I am DL of Dansoman District
     6.  The other senior companion in the apartment is the DL for Mamponse District
     7.  In the two Districts there are 8 sister missionaries, 4 in my District and 4 in the other district
     8.  ALL 8 sisters live in the same apartment
     9.  Thus, two Districts, two different apartments

OK so hopefully that helps settle any confusion.  So Dansoman area is an alright area.  On paper it is very small and when you get into it....it is, but it is dense so there are plenty of people, for now.  However, I fear this area will run out of people fast.  We only have two serious people we are teaching and one is being baptized at the end of the month.  We will have to contact and hopefully find new people and plan on baptizing in the month of October.

This transfer is only a 4 week transfer, meaning that come October 1 there is another transfer.  After that the next transfer is 8 weeks.  Holy cow that is crazy!  It is because of the Mission President Seminar that is coming up in 6 weeks.  President Hill will not be around to do transfers so they just pushed it up a week or so.  At the end of those four weeks, we will be getting 30 new missionaries!  Holy Cow!! That is a lot.

We have zone conference this Wednesday and we will be going to the area office at the temple grounds.  I am super excited to go and see the temple.  In November we will actually get to go inside.  For now its just a conference.  Dansoman ward is super nice.  Sadly I have only 30 seconds so I cannot talk about it today.  Next week!

Love ya!!!!
Elder Bowden

Transfers

Well everyone. . .sadly another six weeks have passed, and another transfer has come. Sadly, I am leaving Mataheko Ward and am moving to a neighboring ward called Dansoman. I do not know how to say my companions name, but he is from Kenya, so that should be an adventure. That's all I am going to say about transfers.
Last week in Mataheko was really good. I got to go on an exchange with Elder Anderson (my zone leader and former companion) and that was a ton of fun. In fact it was our most successful day of the week. We had nine lessons and eleven contacts that day. It was a fun day.
So you may want to know about the ping pong rematch with the guy from Ethopia. we did play, i did lose, but it wasn't as bad this time. 21-19. I think that was a big improvement from our last encounter. LOL. Yup.
The last thing I want to talk about before I leave is that we had a BAPTISM THIS WEEK!!!! YAY!!!! One of our investigators that has been coming for a while was finally baptized. Her name is Abigail. She is awesome. For the past 3 weeks we've just been reading the Book of Mormon with her to help her understand and get in the habit of reading it with her. Finally, YESTERDAY, she was Baptized! Elder Tullis was the one to baptize her, because one of his investigators was also baptized on Sunday. As a Mataheko District we baptized 2 people this month. YAY!!!!!
Alright, well I am gonna go. Sorry this is short but I honestly don't feel like saying much this week. A little bummed about transfers and what not. Thank you for all of your love and support, and please continue to pray for me. I will need it.

Love,

Elder Bowden