Mom of a Missionary... E-mails from the Mission Field...My Mom would Freak if .....

My son has great titles for his e-mails...But what I find funny is that this week he couldn't think of one..I could it was "My Mom Would Freak if..."  It's fun to read and find out what my Son is doing.  He is having a great adventure.  What I find interesting is that my children have a view of who I am, and think that I never had adventures.  They see me as the one who kept them out of trouble, was probably a helicopter mom, and I must have been the most boring child, and teenager on the planet when I was growing up.  In a lot of ways I'm glad for this, they have no clue what teenage and young adult adventures I had.  For me its fun to see their adventures though.  So here it is, all the things that my son has done so far that would freak me out.



By far the best game of Uno I've ever played has been in a humble home on a dirt floor.

If my Mom saw this right now she'd be freaking out, I said as the gigantic delivery truck rolled down the steep hill towards me, slowed only by the speed bump a few feet away.

If my Mom saw this right now she'd be freaking out, I said as I crossed four lanes of Traffic in Mexico because Mexico doesn't have crosswalks.

If my Mom saw this right now she'd be freaking out, I said as I rode standing up in the back of a pickup truck through town.

Welcome to the Mexican state of Hidalgo! We're currently one state over from Tamaulipas, which is the Mexican State that has Tampico and Ciudad Madero.


My morning view. Every day when we leave our apartment and venture into town, we're greeted with this scene. Very pleasant little town.

​And this is a panoramic view of the street that I live on, As seen from my apartment window. Humble little street. In the house directly center of the photo is where I played the best game of Uno ever. They have a dirt floor and no doors inside their house! The room where we played uno only had one flourescent bulb! But it was amazing. Every members house that I've been too so far is amazing. They may not be made out of wood, or have fancy colored walls, or even functioning door handles, but they're all so happy! Every house here feels like a home.

So you there reading this e-mail in the United States; Count your many blessings! I never thought that sofas were a huge blessing until I entered I 1: had nothing to sit on in my own casa except for a plastic chair, and 2: entered into a members house to discover that their sofa chairs had been ripped out of their van and repurposed! 

Mexico, the land of concrete and smiles! Could you imagine? We complain about poverty in the United States, but here in Mexico, some people have close to nothing and their joy is neverending!

The members in the branch here in San Felipe are so kind, too. I hope to work with them to better their spiritual connections, and serve them in any way possible. I just hope I don't say anything offensive in my broken Spanish! I also hope I can develop an appetite. The members are used to Missionaries from the United States who just eat and eat and eat... but here comes Elder Bowlby, thin as a twig, eating at his own pace, filling up on the first plate, and here comes the most surprising part... he doesn't like soda!

Uh oh, Soda. I'm not accustomed to soda at ALL, and it's a bit surprising to the members here. We were invited to a little celebration at a diner called "Lupita" and when the topic of soda and coca-cola was brought up, one member was astonished that I, an American, had never had a coke. He said that he was going to buy me a tiny one because he wanted to see my reaction to my first coke. Apparently it's not common to have pure water (or milk) with your meals. How interesting!

Even more interesting than that, I think I can officially say that I like Pigs Heart more than I like soda.
At the little Lupita, the members had a bowl full of chunks of meat in a somewhat-spicy red sauce. Eagerly, they prodded me a bit to try it out, and of course, not wanting to be rude, I did.
They didn't tell me what it was at first, but once I expressed that I liked it, they told me what it was.
I've had quite a bit of Pigs heart already. Yum! (It's better than it sounds, really).

​Here's a little lizard that showed up in our casa one night. This fella was on the window, and his compañero was on the wall just above him. 

This is the Study Zone. Every morning we get up at 6:30 and prepare and eat breakfast, and then at 8:00 we are expected to be here, ready for personal study.

Bah! I can't think of everything I even want to share! So much has happened in this past week! It's crazy! I've been living off of yogurt and cereal in the mornings, I've been doing my best to talk to people in the street (quite difficult, actually), I've been here and there and everywhere else, and to top it all off, it's only been a week! Wait, it's already been a week?!

I'll finish this off with a spiritual thought. Helaman 5:12.
And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

God Bless. Love you all and Miss you dearly!

-Elder Bowlby

Until next week...
G.G.

My Selfish Year....How I'm dealing with my Mid-Life Transition...A.K.A. Crisis

A few weeks ago I saved a link on Facebook titled... 10 Signs your are going through a mid-life crisis.  As I wanted to see what the signs for this were.  I found that I actually have a few that I am doing.  But I would like to say that instead of calling this change in my life a "crisis"  I have decided to call it a "transition".  I think that is a more positive outlook.  I'm not sure when I realized I was going through this transition, but at some point it occurred to me that my life was in a giant change.
I thought I would share the signs and tell a little of my journey.

The 10 signs you are going through a mid-life crisis.... According to some facebook site....  And isn't everything we read on facebook fact....LOL...

1.  Starting to panic about health problems.... This one is not me.  I'm not worried yet about health issues.  But I am focusing on being healthier.  I've realized that I can't eat all the sugar and fat and things that I have over the years and still remain healthy.  So one of my changes in life is that I'm focusing on being healthier.

To take my health to better places I find I buy a lot of magazines...I'm looking for all the tips I can get to be healthy in my eating, as well as getting fit.  I also love learning about practicing mindfulness, and someday hope to be able to fit learning to meditate into my schedule.

2. Comparing ourselves to friends and other peers... This one I am not doing.  I just have never been one to compare myself to others.  It takes too much time.  I may worry about what my neighbors think about my lawn disaster...Which I hope to share someday...But I could care less what the rest of the world is doing.

3.  Obsession with losing weight/ getting into shape...Oh this is me... I think this comes from the fact that I had a bad experience over a year ago where I didn't sleep or eat for awhile and I lost all this weight and I loved it.   And while my family continues to remind me that this was not a healthy way to lose weight, and I have not had that level of stress in my life to recreate this experience..I loved how thin I got.   My new job, and the fact that there is very little stress in my life caused one thing...Weight gain.  In fact I weigh more now than I ever have in my entire life.  I'm obsessed with finding a healthy way to lose this extra weight...  Thus I have a treadmill now and am trying hard to lose weight in a healthy way and to eat healthy.  Which is hard!

4.A heightened sense of self-worth.... I think this is my selfish year desire....I am looking at myself and thinking is this where I want to be?  Have I accomplished anything in my life?  My other grand question is "What do I want to be when my kids grow up and leave me?" .... I think that is what this means.  And in a future post I will share my thoughts on what I want to be when my kids grow up and leave me... I'm rethinking myself in an emotional and spiritual sense....

5. Wanting to quit a job...even if it is a good job... This was me two years ago...Even before I left my old job, I had been telling people that I was looking for a new job.  That I wasn't going to stay in the job I had.  I wasn't happy with it and I was ready to figure something new out...When you start telling the Universe that you are ready to move on, be ready to move on... What a wild ride leaving my job was, and yet I look back and see what a blessing it all was too.  And for now I'm in a good job for me.

6. Bouts with depression... I think sometimes the female body in it's transition into life change gives you bouts with depression...I sometimes have been sitting and begin to cry and have absolutely no idea why I'm sad.  At my old job the stress level was so high that I got to experience panic attacks.  Over a year and a half free of those.  At least for me I knew the cause.   I think I did go down the dark rabbit hole of mental issues, that time where I stopped eating and sleeping.  I beat it though, I am tougher than anything thrown at me, and of course I had Heavenly Father helping me.  I somehow realized the feeling of the hole trying to pull me in and found ways to make my mind change direction.  I also had my book of pain that I wrote in, but what I found as I looked back at it a few weeks ago was that I always ended all the pain I felt with things I was grateful for.  My book of Pain morphed into a book of gratitude, and the thoughts that had at one point pierced my heart no longer had any hold on me.  I was able to move away and think no more of it, because I felt more gratitude in my life than I felt pain.  It was a very wonderful experience for me.  I grew so much in this transitional state that I would never change any of what happened.  And it has helped me to help others, or at least be a safe person for those who suffer to come to. As I can understand it, and can give compassion when others just can't understand it.

7. Thinking more about Death/ purpose of life...  I think I see more of Death.  I see that Death is coming, maybe not to me yet, but that there are people in my life who are closer to Death happening than are farther away.  There is no way for me to stop those who are older than me from aging.  And there is now way for me to stop aging.  I am seeing myself in this middleness.... Those older than me are preparing to at some point leave and those younger than me...My children are also preparing to leave me, not to die, but to have their own life without me...in that there is a death of some of my identity...I'm no longer the mom that is needed constantly, but the mom who watches from the sidelines.  This I think is what causes the Mid life transition.... or crisis...This being in the middle of the movement of others and trying to figure out just how it affects you, and figuring out who you are when all the dust settles....

8.  Buying lavish items on impulse...I'm not doing this, but I am going to begin to plan my big trip.  I want to go to Scotland.  So soon I will be planning this trip.  I'll share that in my blog posts.  I am going on small trips.  I'm trying to see the world that is around me.  I'm tired of working and not doing anything.  So I have been asking for the same days off as my husband has with his new job and we go on mini adventures.  There are two reasons for this, one we both need to have stress free time.  And we need to keep connected.  I don't want to be that couple that falls apart when the children leave.  I don't want to wake up one morning and look over and think who are you?  when I look at my husband.  My daughter would love to help us on this as she feels we are in the house way too much.  She thinks we need to leave more often so she can blast her music.  Marriage is something you constantly have to work on.  And so I'm in this new stage of working on it.

9.  Someone says "your having a Mid-Life Crisis... no one has said this to me.  And perhaps I really am not.  I am in a transition in my life though.  And I'm going to go through it laughing, and enjoying it and being grateful for all the change.  I like a good adventure.

10.  You change your name on Facebook multiple times...LOL... I have actually changed my name on Facebook multiple times this year.  And for some reason that made people worry and ask what is wrong.  Facebook just isn't a really serious place in my opinion.   And I was just having fun playing with ways my name is spelled.  But it could be a sign of Mid life crisis...

Are you going though a change in your life?  How are you dealing with it?
G.G.

My Selfish Year...Finally after 20 years I had a week to myself.....

This past week was the first time I have been on my own in 20 years.  A week of not being the Taxi Driver, the Cook, the Maid, the Cheerleader, the Nurse, and all the other things that Mom's do on a regular daily basis.

So I have to admit I did do a lot of cleaning on my week off.  But that was part of my plan for the week.  And the really nice thing was that once something was clean and the way I liked it, it didn't get changed, or messed up.  I didn't cook one meal. I had take out food every day.  Which meant no dishes to do.  Yes ladies I had a week of not doing dishes!

I spent my nights watching my favorite movies...I had a girls night out with one of my best friends..
I had time working in my garden, and then I took a nice long walk at the Ashton Gardens....

I had a lot of quiet time.  And it was wonderful... Part of my selfish year is just doing things that help me heal and become balanced again.  And this week was a much needed week for me.  I think in some respects my whole family needed the week that we had each in our own place learning about ourselves and each other.

I'm excited for my family to be home and hear about their adventures. While it was nice to have a quiet week...I think I'm ready for the noise and crazy schedule of family life again....
G.G.

Mom of a Missionary...more than one e-mail in a week...what a nice surprise...

Where do I begin?

​CCM is over, if you couldn't tell from my last e-mail. No more wonky stories about things i've learned, it's time to get to work!
So, last night, I was assigned a new companion as well as my area. His name is Elder Arenalles, and he's really cool. I'll snap a picture of him later, but for now all you need to know is that he's a Latino and he's going to help train and prepare me for the mission field. Ready when you are, Elder! Basically, I've just been following him around all day. I've barely spoken a lick of English today, only for words that I don´t understand. Crazy!

Speaking of crazy experiences, here are a few from the past day and today alone.
I open my large malleta (Suitcase) to find out that my jabón (soap) had burst open during the flight and ¡Sorpresa! my camera was covered in shampoo. Yikes. Cleaned it off and, well, thank goodness it still works. Lost function in just one button, but I hardly ever use it so it's not a problem. At this point, I could care less about expo-metering and timers. 

The night of the assignments and a bit of training, we had to sleep with Missionaries in the Tampico area. A 9:00 PM crazy taxi ride through the city with a seatbelt that didn't work, squashed in between two other Elders! Que raro! How weird! Arriving at their casa, my brain was scattered. I had forgotten PJ's and sandals so I didn't bother taking a shower without them. Slept in borrowed shorts on a matress with a towel as a pillow and a small blanket to cover me. Loco!

We got up early to take a bus to Hidalgo, and then took a bus from Hidalgo to San Felipe. During the bus ride I had to use the bathroom, and ended up holding onto a railing for dear life as the bus speedily traversed bumpy Mexican roads!

San Felipe itself is a quaint little place. It's the Mexican equivalent of Bradford Vermont, except for two things. 
Okay, a lot of things.
First thing is that it's not Vermont. It's Mexico. Lets get that out of the way.
It's hot here, not necessarily humid, but hot.
The people here live in houses pretty much constructed of concrete. Myself and my companion included. We're pretty lucky because we have tiled floors. Check it out!
​¡Este es mi nueva cocina! (This is my new kitchen!) Feel free to send recipies, just nothing that needs an oven. I don´t exactly have that. I have a microwave and a burner plate! Just not an oven. I do have a freezer and fridge (and strawberry yogurt, yum).

San Felipe is so nice. We had dinner/lunch at a members house. She was so kind! There were enchiladas, frijoles, y un carne muy rico. Her house was very humble. Concrete floor, walls unpainted, laundry hanging in another room, but she was smiling! So was her son! If they can smile, I can do it too! Watch out, Mexico! There's a new Gringo in your city!

What else? Well, roosters roam the streets alongside stray dogs and squashed frogs, there's a street market in town which I'll probably be buying peaches from in the future, there's a shrine to the Virgin Mary just down the road from our house (apparently idolatry is a big problem here in Mexico), town is very nice, said hello to a lot of people and found out that I'll be in San Felipe for three months.

​Work very hard! I heard that the first week is very difficult. Bring it on! If I am to recieve joy in this work, there's only one solution, and that is to work! The Lord knows what I need, so if I ask and work hard, he'll make sure I have what is sufficient.

Spiritual experience: They finally gave me my own copy of "Adjusting to Missionary Life" (and it's about time), and there was a section on repentance that I needed to read. Your pal Elder Bowlby wants to think that he can be perfect, pero actualmente, no es posible (but actually, it's not possible). There was a section on repentance that had some words of comfort for me, and I'm glad I opened it. It seems that perhaps, in my rush to be perfect, I failed to realize that only the Savior is perfect, and that's why I have the power to do this work.

Still working on being perfect, though. Little by little and through Christ. It's nothing instantaneous.

​Until we next see each other! Outside the walls and inside a great church, Elder Bowlby, ¡trabajando con todo mi alma! (Working with all of my soul!)

Mom of a Missionary....And He is off to the Mission field...

Here is the first e-mail we received from our son as he set off to his actual mission.  No more 
easy days of training..now the hard work of sharing the Gospel ...
If you like piña flavored ice-cream.
... And drowning in humidity! If you're not into sleeping, after flying real early! If you wished you just had a sketchbook... but it's in your suitcase! They kinda took those to the office... so I've got no pictures for sharing!

Buenos Dias/Buenas Tardes, amigos. Estoy yo, Elder Bowlby, who finally arrived in  Mexico.

It's been quite the journey for me since I last mailed everyone. Lots of hard work, lots of packing, moving, doing, fixing... and the hardest work hasn't even begun yet! Don't worry, I'm going to make sure that I work extra hard during these next two years. Then time will really fly!

I learned a lot at CCM too. Learning that yes, I am not perfect, nor does the Lord expect me to be.

I learned a lot about the Spirit and how it talks to us. How we learn and grow, how we better ourselves in the field.

Lots of difficult doctrine and hard work ahead, but I know that if I work hard all will be alright.

So! How about I share a little about Mexico! You're probably dying to know what it's like here. No? Aw...

I'll just tell you anyways.

Woke up at 12:30 to get on a bus at 2:30 to catch a plane at 6:10. The plane ride was less than an hour and we arrived in Mexico at about 7:03 (6:03 AM Utah time for reference). Very excited to step outside the airport and take it all in. Sea level! Wow!

First off, it's humid. Really humid. More humid than New Jersey Humid. Crazy humid. But it's quite nice, really.

Second, lots of palm trees, palm leaves, beautiful flowers, and rain is random and short from what I can tell, so I had best bring my umbrella.

I had pineapple flavored ice-cream at 9:00 AM. I'll repent for that sin later (Unless you're of the belief that eating ice-cream at breakfast is not a bad thing). Not only was it a bizarre pineapple flavor, but the ice-cream itself came inside an actual pineapple that had been carved out, frozen solid, and was re-purposed as a bowl. Woah! There was also orange flavored ice-cream inside of a hollowed and frozen orange (Don't ask me how they managed that) as well as coconut, melon, and mango. Woah.

So far it has rained twice today. Very short and sporadic. As I type this, practically everyone who went on the early AM flight with me are asleep, and I am restless, walking in circles around a dining room table at the Mission home. I'll need to sleep eventually, but not now.

Spiritual experience of the E-mail. While sitting at the airport, there was a man a few seats down who was going to Tijuana (or something along those lines). The spirit prompted me to talk to him, so I did my best with my broken Spanish to try and communicate. He didn´t have any interest in religion (I believe he said he was agnostic), so after a little bit of conversation I carefully retreated to my seat. Then remembering I had a little pass-along card with me, I took it out of my pocket, and contemplated giving it to him, but coming up with a few reasons he would reject the card, I was hesitant. Nevertheless, the Spirit told me to give it to him. Still hesitant, I played with it in my hands for a few seconds until one of the other Elders who had also spoken with the man suggested that I give it to him. At that point, I knew what I had to do. Carefully handing him the pass-along card, I said something to the extent of "If you ever have a curiosity for the church in the future, this card is for you" in spanish. He took it with a smile and helped me out a little bit with my language faults. How kind of him!

Well, I've got a bit of a headache, so I´ll probably lay down soon. I'm assuming my P-days are Mondays now, so I'll be seeing you more on Monday! ¡Hasta Luego!

-Elder Bowlby

Mom of a Missionary.....The Last E-Mails from the MTC....

By the way, I have no idea when my next P-day is. Don´t freak out if you don´t hear from me for a while, I don´t even get to go to an I-pad mission, so I´m probably going to be e-mailing from an internet café or a library when next we meet. ¡Hasta Luego! Until Later!  So apparently, Speckles is not only a she, but she's a Mom! She was in this tree with two kittens. I could only get a picture of her ear. They must be well-fed with all the fat birds here at CCM.

New radical idea for a series of sorts?? COMMANDMENT FORCE (how campy/cheesy). Two of the 10 commandments are listed in the scriptures below, with their proper locations in both the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon.


Enemigo de EL MANDAMIENTO FUERZA​, ¡ADICCION!
You could probably figure out by yourself that this relates to the Word of Wisdom, a latter-day commandment to avoid addictive substances like Alcohol and Cigarrettes and such. This is one of the commandments that is most difficult for investigators to over come, hence the entangling thorns.

​I think one of the best things about Mexico is that... yes. It´s not perfect. A lot of it is run-down and partially unconstructed. It´s got a charm to it, and the people are still trekking through!

Charlie Brown´s Christmas tree comes to mind. It´s not such a bad little country, it just needs a little love! 


Might as well get all my doodling out of the way before I hit the streets 24/7. I´ll probably be confined to only drawing on P-Day
STANDOFF] Who is this menacing triangle headed man? His tie is amazing.


​I can tell the quality of any given day by how well I draw the snake when I get back. This must have been a good day.

The character gag for this critter is that nobody can kill him. They´re really brave, too. One landed on my pencil right in front of my face, begging me to try and smack him. I´m not very fond of having my pencil fly into my face, thank you.​

​It looks like I am out of space for this E-mail. I have more to send, but I´ll send it another day. Until then! Love you!!
I love seeing all the photo's my son sends with his e-mails.  It is hard to believe how fast the weeks and months are moving.  I hope he stays safe on his mission.
G.G.
Looks like he got one more e-mail in before heading off....

¡Hola! Estoy yo, Elder Bowlby! Beep Boop, Skiddilybop, escalofriante... ¡y otras palabras!
Check out the Olmeca! (Check out how awkward I am!) Totally ready to go out and interact with who knows how many people (in a not awkward way)!

​


n all seriousness, hello! It´s me. Been doing alright. Yeah, there are struggles here. The important thing is that through the love of the Savior and the power of God, I´ll be able to overcome anything! Even self-doubt! Yeah, that's a fun one! 
Don´t worry, leave the worrying to me. Repentance is a process that Missionaries need to do daily. If we´re not repenting, how are we supposed to bring others to repentance? Worthiness is something I strive for daily, after all. Need to have the spirit with me, or else my message is just words from a bumbling gringo's mouth.

Bags are being packed for the departure on monday. I've got my things in order, I´m amazed that it all fits. There is still some re-adjustment to do, but i´ve got a whole hour on saturday to prepare a bit more.


or those of you who are wondering, this is what a typical lunch looks like here at CCM. I hear that food in Tampico is "muy rico". This is pretty great too, of course! That little oreo desert you see next to the apple juice does not taste like what you think it does. It´s almost bitter. Bitter in a good way.


h, and the fruit here tastes way better than it does in the States. I had the best peach i've ever had in my life a few days ago, it was quite tart and tasty. That´s right. I like tart peaches. Argue with me about it when I get back if you so desire.

I´ve been letting the spirit guide me and help me out with my experiences here. I've been learning a lot about Christlike attributes during my daily study, and I have to give a quick lesson on them this sunday during church. I´ve been making little cards to go along with the attributes that I am studying, as well as applying them in my life. I've been feeling more peace in my life already.


There will be more dibujos in a following e-mail, I just want to conserve space.

Seeming how the field begins soon, I also want to share a spiritual experience every e-mail I send. There have been a few devotionals in the past weeks that have had topics concerning the atonement of Christ and the power of his selfless act for us. I'm the kind of person that struggles with the fact that I can´t be perfect, and 9 times out of 10 I feel like my past desicions make me unworthy to serve the Lord in this perfect work. The past few devotionals have really spoken to me, for when we are humble and confess our sins before God, and forsake them, he is able to heal us, and he remembers our sins no more.
Now, that doesn´t mean that we can simply say "I will sin now and repent later and all will be fine." Let it be known that God will not be mocked.
Now, where I am in regards to this issue. Yes, I did not make the best desicions in the past. But did I lie to get out here? Of course not. I feel guilt when I make a sarcastic remark that was uncalled for, or accidentally move somebody's suit when I was just trying to bring it to them. To think that I could feel no remorse for lying to a Bishop, a Stake President, or even my SISTER would be incredilous.
We will all have feelings of guilt in our lives, but everything can be swept away. There is a scripture in Moroni that I would like you to look up if you have time. Moroni 10:32. 
I know some of you are hesitant to read the Book of Mormon, but this scripture was so powerful to me when I opened to it during one of my personal studies, merely by being led there.

So, am I perfect? No.
I hope that will make me a better teacher. An imperfect teacher to an imperfect people. I pray that the Spirit will be with me, and will be with you all as you continue to read my E-mails and keep me in your thoughts.

Even if I baptize nobody. Even if nobody will bear to let me into their homes. Even If I must return home early for whatever thing may afflict me.
How great shall my joy be knowing that I have brought myself closer to Christ.
That´s one soul already, and I haven´t even made it to Tampico.

Best of wishes, lots of love!

-Elder Bowlby.