February 24, 2014

Yeah i was so excited to see Tracy's baptism. President let me go see it. It was amazing. I can't believe that Dallen is 14 that is friggin nuts. ugg. awesome to hear about Cody. congrats to him. hes gonna love it. being over the YSA ward we cover two stakes. but each ward has their own normal set of missionaries. but we only deal with the singles 18-30 in all the wards. so there really isn't that much. but we have a ton of fun. we have FHE every monday with fun and games. i think tonight were doing Zumba and volleyball. or something. and we get to go to Institute every Tuesday and learn from the bible. YSA wards are notorious for not getting fed all that much but our ward does pretty good. and people give us food for other meals too so our ward is great. there are  a lot of awesome people here i love it. 

things are going a lot better for me. talking about things really helps me out a lot and i can see my self becoming a better teacher and i love it. this past week has been pretty great and I've been a lot happier with where I'm and and what I'm doing. cleaning up my life has been hard but so worth it. I'm so much happier. keeping everything inside was destroying me and i don't know how i did it for so long. but I'm better now and hopefully i can start the changing process so by the end of the mission ill be who i need to be and learn all that i can from my mission and I'm gonna stick it out to the end. missions are hard and the idea of giving up and going home is really inviting. but that's not for me. i know i can do hard things and this is one thing that i really need to finish.

February 17, 2014

ive been taking the pills anyway. i think it has alot to do with how i was back home with keeping everything to myself and it all boils up inside. and now finally talking about everything is getting the release ive needed. which is nice. after talking about everything and being honest its really helped. idk if its the pills or just talking but i do feel happier. im still tired as ever tho haha. so stewart amspacher is taking me out to lunch today. with the kids.. and tracy decided to get baptised. which is awesome. and wendy just called and wants to take us out to lunch too.. so now we have two lunches.. awesome haha. should be fun. 

thats really sad to hear about Monte. thats really hard.

and now to hear that our cats are sleeping around. getting pregnant. satan is doing a great job destroying the family unit. pregnant cats not even married. its a shame. and the chickens are too sad to talk about ever since mine died.. ugh its so hard losing someone you love!

and yes we got to play with fire haha. it was fun. we get fed pretty great out here haha. usually the singles ward is famous for not getting dinners. but we do pretty good. we had bacon wrapped steak twice this week haha. and lobster. good stuff haha. we also wake up early and play basket ball a couple times a week haha its pretty fun. im loving the singles ward. its crazy. 

i havent seen the new temple movie yet. i dont know why they even changed it.. seems dumb.. oh well ill see it in the beginning of march. so well see haha

im doing pretty well tho its been a pretty good week and my companion is great were having lots of fun haha

love you guys a ton 

love elder bowler

February 10, 2014

this has been a pretty good week. things are looking up. I've been in a lot better mood lately. the counselor guy doesn't really help all that much. oh well I'm happy for now.. the president and his wife want me to see a doc and take some meds to help me have more energy and be in a better mood all the time. i guess we'll see how it goes. The singles ward is pretty crazy were all over the place all the time and i should have brought my journal so i could tell you some stuff but i forgot. so ill try and remember the stuff that happens. so we were in a lesson with this guy trying to get off drugs in a super sketchy part of town and his drug dealer showed up mid lesson and it got super sketchy so we had to leave. and were always in places where people smoke tons of weed and cigs so we come home most days stinking like smoke. its nuts. Please don't beat yourself up not feeling like you weren't a good enough mother.. you are the best mom in the world. its not your fault I'm messed up. haha but seriously you are the best. you are so loving and kind and you'll do anything to make me happy even if its super inconvenient for you or pisses you off or something. all the thousands of times when i asked you to bring food to class at school and no matter what you always came through and i never really appreciated it. all my life you have always been there for me no matter what and i could always count on you. sorry that i haven't been so open emotionally but i love you soooooooooooo much you have no idea. you are the best mother anyone could ever ask for and you raised us amazingly. no one is perfect but you got me on a mission and that's amazing. now that its my time to grow i realize how much i appreciate you and dad in my life.

i love you mom

i love you dad

i love you Calvin

i love you Ashton

 

i love you Dallen

i love you Shep

i love you Shauna

i love you angel.. sometimes

i love you whoever else cares

but yeah ill keep it short and simple 

love you guys

   miss you tons

Love 

Elder Bowler 

oh and i finally tried sushi for the first time.. its pretty good. my burps taste like fish now haha

February 3, 2014

Hey Momma!!

I got transfered to the Belleview YSA ward haha we cover like 14 wards. its crazy. which reminds me. Im trying to buy myself a GPS but I need help. So whatever you can do to help would be greatly appreciated. 

my address is 

The Hampden Appartments 

8567 W Hampden Ave

Apartment 107

Lakewood CO 80227

Its soo good to hear from you guys tho. I emailed Nana and Grandpa. It was so good to hear from them. And I've been thinking a lot lately. I never knew that Grandpa was a convert. and I realized that I don't know much about them so I asked them to tell me about it. And I also realized that I hardly know anything about you and Dad. And I've always wanted to know more but i just never asked. but yeah i would really love to hear about it. Its crazy that Dan is out now. I'm glad that things are going good back home its good to hear. I'm soooo glad that Calvin got another job so quickly. The counselor dude went well I'm seeing him again on Wednesday. I really hope I'm not too crazy and have to be sent home. that would be horrible. Idk if the Mouthpiece thing is working or not. my companion tells me it helps to not snore but i still snore. haha. i still feel like im not getting any rest. i want my tonsils out so bad haha. Idk just talking to the counselor was pretty crazy. I told him things that I've never told anyone ever.. it was cool to get it all out. the first session was just to get to know me but the next few will be to help me out

i gotta go tho but know that i friggin love you guys . 

Love Elder Bowler

January 27, 2014

Probably the best letter I've read in a really long time. Kinda sounds like a conference talk. Scott Bowler you are called to serve in the quorum of the seventy and you'll be giving a talk this April. haha. I can see it. Thanks Dad :) I definitely needed that. More than you'll ever know. This has been a crazy week so I'll try to see if I can remember it all.

 

So I'm being transferred tomorrow. I don't know where yet but I'll let you know as soon as I can. There's a long story that goes with that. So the past couple of weeks I've been kinda struggling and I realized that I really needed help. So I went and talked to our mission president and we had a little talk and I told him that I was struggling with staying motivated and a couple of other things and he said he's gonna put me with someone who is really motivated. And I told him about trouble sleeping, or that I sleep plenty but I'm not rested at all. ( BTW the mouth piece thing you sent me IDK if it is working or not. I still feel pretty tired sometimes, the very first night I used it I woke up like two hours later fully rested, which is kinda scary to show how much rest my body was used to getting. I really just need to get my tonsils out or something. The mouthpiece is like screwing up my teeth and my bite and every morning I have to chomp down to fix it haha.) Any ways, so President Murdock had me take a test thing to see how I was doing in certain areas like anger, depression, anxiety, relationships, and one other thing I forgot. So I took the test and they said that I should do some counseling. (The counselor's name is Kevin Beecher) I wonder if he's related to Josh. I'll ask. But yeah so far on my mission I've probably learned more about myself than anything. And I learn a lot. Constantly trying to fix my character flaws. So opening myself up more to people and realizing if I get hurt or whatever then I'll be fine. And one that I realized is a big one for me is that in relationships I am so deathly afraid to mess things up and ruin the relationship so I do whatever seems logical in my brain to help not ruin it and I then freak out and ruin it anyway.. confusing I know. I'll use an example, so basically like if I said or did something or sent a text to someone that may be a little sketchy or pushy or something IDK. I have no idea how the other person will take it. So sometimes I think I offended them and I freak out and try to fix it as quick as I can so I don't ruin the relationship but me freaking out just makes it worse and it falls apart... So yeah that's one that I'm currently working and I'm really getting a lot better. Trial and error I guess. And there's a lot of error for me to learn from haha. But it's alright I've realized that there is gonna be plenty of people in my life to meet so it's all good haha. My first counseling shin-dig is tomorrow. Hopefully it goes well.

 

Umm I guess that's pretty much it. Seems a lot more complicated in my head haha. I think the hardest part for me was realizing I need help and actually asking for it. I'm usually a pretty solitary guy. Not only asking for help from people around me but also from Heavenly Father. Realizing I can not do this on my own and I really need his help. Even tho I still have trouble asking for His help. I don't really do so good in the praying department. I never have been good at it tho. Another thing I still need to work on I guess.

 

I love you guys more than you'll ever know. I think about you daily and I've grown to appreciate you so much in my life. And I can't wait to see you again and give you the biggest hugs ever. probably wont even let go haha.

 

Thanks again for your letter. It made my week. Love ya tons

 

Love
Elder Bowler #2 

Our back yard

At the Holloway's house...they have a "Shep", too.

Beautiful Colorado Sunset

Alec didn't say what this was...interesting!

Not sure why his comp was in the hospital...I'll have to ask him.