August 11, 2014

there was a member here that knew jackee and snapped that picture to her. it was a while ago. i didnt even know she posted that or even talks to the rest of the family. i actually havent talked to her in a while. the 7th was the year anniversary of Nicks death. most likely a super hard day for her. how is she doing? do you still talk to her?

this week has been better than the last few. ive been studying like mad. i read everything. listen to talks all the time. i just get lost in this stuff. its nice tho cuz when my comps have questions about certain things i can answer them. they are suprised that i actually know my stuff haha. i suprise my self sometimes. its nice to that i can put confusing things in a simple way for others to understand. it really helps as a teacher. weve been working hard. success is kinda slow tho. there are a few families that were working with that are super awesome. one is a less active husband. and his fiance is investigating. with two kids. super awesome. theyre gonna get baptized but the husband wants to do the baptism but he is slow to repent. kinda holding her back. kinda annoying haha. but oh well. Grand Junction has some amazing people. awesome members. theres a family that moved in from germany out of the military and theyre super cool. i like serving here. the transfer is coming to an end which is crazy. it feels like it just started. and im almost twenty. man.. its cool to look back in my journal a year ago and see how far ive really come. me and elder mackley are training elder humphreys and sometimes its a little frustrating. hes pretty immature and doesnt really know how to teach. but were really helping him learn which in turn is helping me learn. i think all the time. was i that immature and unlearned. i probably was. which again is cool to see the progression. and i see the potential for this kid to become a great teacher. thanks for keeping me updated on everything back home. its really nice to hear about whats going on. i love it.

also idk if you already made a B-Day package. but could you include like four pairs of the shirt stays. like the normal ones you usually get. maybe some study materials like highlighters and a strait edge. and gum and maybe a gift card to somewhere for three of us. idk thats all i really want. maybe if you wanna spoil me a new watch would be nice. one with a white band. maybe. id like that. 

but if you already got stuff then dont worry about it. i can wait till christmas haha.

i love you mom. sorry for all the headaches i give you

Love

Elder Bowler

August 4, 2014

Dallen.. Play Football. youll be glad you did. plus youre gonna be bigger than me and everyone will be mad at you if you dont play. and its really good prep for doing hard things (mission)

anyway. its crazy that everyone comes home now. derrek comes home next month. and im on the downhill of my mission. i can look back in my journal and see what i wrote a year ago. its pretty cool. i do have my rough moments. this week was pretty hard but im determined to stick it out. the bad times will blow over eventually. so i just work. not gonna lie the hard times suck pretty bad when they come but i just read the scriptures like a mad man haha. it helps. im on my fourth time through the book of mormon. almost done with alma. its a pretty good book. i can read it forever. 

g sizes i guess i need like 4 xl extra support bottoms. and 4 cotton poly crew neck xl tops would be greatly appreciated. and yeah i like to wear long sleeve. if you could can you get like a smaller chest size. like mid 40s 50s are too big. i got a shirt from walmart and it was a 17. 17 1/2 neck . so just a xl shirt and it fits great. but i got short sleeve. if you got a few of those it would be nice its hot here haha. everyone says oh youre from arizona youre used to the heat. but im dying haha. its more humid here and i sweat like crazy. and ive always liked the cold more. 

other than that im doing pretty good. im determined to make this a good week. the transfer ends on tuesday the 26th. my bday. so dont send anything close to it cuz i might be transferred. idk. 

it seems like my emails are just getting shorter and shorter. i guess i just like letters more. maybe ill start writing again. well see haha. stamps are expensive. i think i should be able to get some tho.

i gotta go tho. 

love you!!
Elder Bowler

July 28, 2014

I got the pants. not very good material tho haha. i slid down a pole on the stairs and it burnt a hole and completely ruined them. but i got the other pair so its all good. my shirt size is like a 17 1/2 or 18 neck and 36/37 sleeve,

i ended up in grand junction with elder Mackley and Humphries, both super funny elders. Mackley served with Gonzales right before i did and hated him just as much. we just moved apartments today 

so our address is

125 Franklin Ave. #312 

Grand Junction, CO 81505

i had a pretty rough week. easily the worst on my mission yet. closest ive been to coming home. but i got over it i hope. i just hate moving around every transfer and not being able to stay anywhere long enough to build relationships with people. so when we visit the mission there wont be hardly anyone to see. and i hate being tossed around not feeling like i belong anywhere. its very lonely. i dont really have friends. its just hard. 

but i cant really do anything about it so might as well make the most of it. right? 

theres this online college for members of the church. idk if youve heard about it but i want to do it when i get home but i think it would be perfect for calvin. its only $65 per credit hour. for a year then after a year it transfers to byui and if you keep doing it online then it stays $65. and has a quite a few degrees. its way awesome. bachelors degree for about $10,000 total. super awesome. all online at your own pace. plus it throws in a little religion. haha. but its awesome. im deffinately gonna do it.

pathways.lds.org look it up

other than all that.. ive been pretty good. i like it alot here in Grand junction. its nice. 

i feel like im getting worse and worse at emailing haha. ill try to do better 

Love ya. 

Elder Bowler

July 21, 2014

i got transferred to highlands ranch again but president is moving me tomorrow. maybe to craig idk yet. ill send a letter with my address when ever i land. i know president doesnt hate me. just sometimes he gets really frustrated haha. he kinda had a bad week the other week. four missionaries went to in-and-out in provo. idk if i already said that or not but but he was in a bad mood. and i didnt help. i saw him the other day and he took one look at me and said hes gonna give me $100 to go buy some new shirts. i guess mine are pretty worn out haha. oh well. use it up wear it out make it do or do with out. motto still carries on for missionaries. ive pretty much had water and pretzel bites for the past week. and then what ever members feed us. not too often tho. missionary life. i decided from now on im never shopping anywhere except the dollar store haha. that place has just about everything a missionary needs to get by. perfect. im not coming home. i decided that a while ago. i started it might as well finish. im half way done. no turning back. yeah it gets pretty crappy sometimes but whos life doesnt? just roll with it. pray a little harder. and move on. such is life. one year left. still some growth to go through. but its all good. im excited. time flies. just gotta work hard. make it go faster haha. crazy that nana and papa are coming home already then derrek in a little while too. i cant believe it. time goes by so fast.

sorry to hear that the activity didnt go as planned. it sounded like it was gonna be a lot of fun. then life happens. do what you can with it i guess. man life is just crazy. i look back over the past year. i cant believe how far ive come. then i see how far i still have to go haha. im excited tho. id just like to stay in one place longer than one transfer so i can actually have some friends to connect with and come back and see. the past six transfers i havent been able to really connect with anyone. havent really get to be a part of someones conversion like i would like to. oh well. not much i can do tho.

i gotta go tho. pday is calling. might go play ball with jimmer. we saw him earlier today. shooting at the stake center. hes pretty cool.

LOVE  YA!!!!

Elder Bowler

July 14, 2014

i really do like jackee alot and im glad that you are talking i really would love for you to become close. im gonna be obedient on that aspect now and just hope that it does work out. shes amazing. i wish i could go on that high adventure. it sounds amazing. who is all going? we had our baptism on saturday it went really well. it was cool to actually see a baptism that i had a part in. so that was nice. i dont have much time so ill write more next week. and ill let you know where im at asap.

love ya

Alec

July 7, 2014

Kinda crazy that nine months has passed. Time flies by so quickly. Tell them I said congrats. I never got the pants that you sent. Or if I did there just sitting at the mission office. Idk. I could use some socks maybe two shirts and some extra support g bottoms. Other than that I think I'm good. 

We have a baptism on Saturday. This one really looks like it's going to actually happen. Brown is gonna baptize her. She's like 60. And Uuhh different. But whatever. She says she talks with god and angel Moroni on a regular basis. But god answered her prayers and she came to us asking to get dunked. So who am I to stop her haha. She's pretty cool tho. Been through a lot in her life. Makes my life look like a friggin cake walk. And here am I complaining all the time haha. Things are going good tho. Missionary work is alright the area is beautiful and great for the summer it's like 70s 80s on average. Definitely beats Arizona haha. Transfers are next Tuesday. Idk what will happen. I guess we'll see. Idk If I wanna stay in this area or not. If brown leaves and I train like I think will happen then I'm screwed cuz I really don't know the area that well yet. I feel bad for the missionaries I train haha. No new missionary should have a house like this for their first area. That's just sick. Cuz they'll be like oh man a mission is like this? Then his next area will be a crap hole apartment. It's better to have a crap hole apartment then come here. So you appreciate it more haha. Our house is like the most coveted place in the mission. I love it here. Just missionary work is hard. Our area is huge. So we ask these people who live out in BFE to drive two or three hours to a church they don't even believe in yet. Most of the members don't even want to make that drive. Oh well. We still have a pretty good turn out. We went fishing the other day at echo lake. It's soo beautiful up there I took like a billion pictures haha. Colorado is amazing. I love it here. 

I love hearing about every thing back home. I want to come home and spend as much time as I can with my brothers before the school year starts. I can't wait. I had a weird dream that Dallen died and I was soo sad it was so real. So I'm gonna spend a ton of time with Dallen and Ashton when I get home haha. I can't express how much I love all of you. My family is the greatest part of me. My favorite blessing that god has given me. 

Love you guys. Have a great week

Love 

Elder Bowler 

June 30, 2014

Its crazy that Charity is leaving already. dang. I miss all the rodeos. i love rodeos. they told us missionaries that for the 4th we need to go to as many members bbqs as possible. glad to hear everything is going good back home tho. crazy to hear everyone growing up. ugh. i saw calvins tat. i don't like it at all. its not even a good one. just seemed like he did it out of spite. oh well. I'm serving in frontrange which is a huge area covering. golden, evergreen, blackhawk, central city, idaho springs, dumont, georgetown. and a ton of other little places. but its huge.  missionary work in japan sounds rough. i couldn't do it. although i really like sushi now. its really good. and shrimp.. mmm. good stuff. grandpa was trying to get us to eat that all the time and i hated it. but i love it now. work is going good tho. we have a lady on date for the 12th of july. she's really awesome. her name is liz.  she's in her 60s she's been investigating for like 30 years. and finally one day she was just reading in D&C and was just like. i need to be baptized. so that was super cool. its really gonna happen. I'm excited. i love you mama. i was just thinking about my whole childhood the other day and i realized again how amazing of a mom you are. you are always striving to make everyone happy even if that means that you might not be happy yourself. i always loved that about you. you're the best mom anyone could ever ask for. especially to deal with all us five boys. i tell people about our family and everyone says that you're amazing for doing what you did. you really are amazing mom. i love you so much. dads pretty great too haha. he's helped me out so much on my mission. you're the best parents ever

love you!

Elder Bowler