Mom of a Missionary, E-mails from Mexico. January 14, 2019

Stayin' alive, stayin' alive!

Hello, Family and Friends! Elder Bowlby here. 

So, it's been the first week of the transfers. Elder Anguiano and I are getting accustombed to each other and our way of working. I really love my companion, and as of now there are actually four of us in the house... because we're helping two of our companions find a house. Elder Grande is with us! He was one of my companions in Purification, Victoria (Last year!!) and he's just gotten back to the mission after he had to return for health issues. It takes a lot of strength to get back into the swing of things after going home and getting back. He's accompanied by Elder Ferraz, from Brazil. 

We've been going on a lot of adventures. I'm in the final stages of the mission... the last few months before one gets back home are the hardest because everybody begins to tell me that "I'm dying" and "Hey you're already going home so..." and "Yeah, you lack how much time?" so I'm doing everything I can to "Not die" and "Stay alive".

So, this is my week. I'd like to share you a scripture I found, describing the young Ammonite Warriors in the book of Mormon: 

Alma 53:20-21
20 And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.

21 Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him.

This is a good description of who we can be in order to recieve strength through the Lord. We might not need to fight in the war, but the Lord can always give us protection when we keep the commandments of God and walk uprightly before him. 

So stay strong! Stand tall! Who are you? You're powerful! You've got this! 

Love you all, miss you, but time flies! I'll be seeing you sooner than later!

-Elder Bowlby

Mom of a Missionary, E-mails from Mexico. January 7, 2019

Its the Final Countdown!
Hello, Friends and Family! Its me, once again: Elder Bowlby!

his last week was New Years. 2019 is already here, and that means a set of STARTLING developments! 

Yes. I'm in The Final Countdown. These are my last two transfers in the mission. It's time to not get "Trunky" (or, not think too much about home. Head out of the suitcases!) and it's time to work hard. Elder Ramos and I finished the transfer with a baptism, and now, I'm going to work like crazy with my new companion, Elder Anguiano, from Washington State. I knew him from Mante, and he and I have very similar interests. It's time to get busy.

So, we're also having an area division. The Area is massive. We're going to split it in half to have better control over everything. Elder Anguiano and I are going to be in charge of a large area, but not a massive area like it was before. We're going to have a bit more control.

Woah! So, before I forget, yes! We baptized a young man named Orlando. He's got 12 years old and his family has been recently converted to the Gospel... and now he's got the priesthood! He's going to be a great help in his family, seeing how his family isn't very complete. He lives with his Mom and his Grandma, and his little brother.

So, here's me. The time is running out. I have the intention to serve these last three months as powerfully as I can. It's time to toss the bad stuff, negativity, and stress into the train tracks and we're going to ride on though. Throttle at 100%! All Aboard!

Hey! Hey! Here's a cool scripture I found. It talks about how Captain Moroni in times of war made strategic fortifications to certain cities... that at one point were super weak, but suddenly, they became super strong!

Alma 49:12-15
12 Therefore they retreated into the wilderness, and took their camp and marched towards the land of Noah, supposing that to be the next best place for them to come against the Nephites.

13 For they knew not that Moroni had fortified, or had built forts of security, for every city in all the land round about; therefore, they marched forward to the land of Noah with a firm determination; yea, their chief captains came forward and took an oath that they would destroy the people of that city.

14 But behold, to their astonishment, the city of Noah, which had hitherto been a weak place, had now, by the means of Moroni, become strong, yea, even to exceed the strength of the city Ammonihah.

15 And now, behold, this was wisdom in Moroni; for he had supposed that they would be frightened at the city Ammonihah; and as the city of Noah had hitherto been the weakest part of the land, therefore they would march thither to battle; and thus it was according to his desires.
It's time to reflect a little bit: How can we make our weak-points strong by building fortifications? In what way can the Lord help us build these fortifications?
Also: Remember what I said about how "Desires determine Destiny?" Moroni wisely desired that this strategy would work. He worked hard to complete his desires, and he achieved his goal! His plan worked so well, that the enemies were scared and confused. How can we strive to achieve righteous desires?

I love you all. We'll be seeing soon. Miss you loads! Stay strong, believe in yourselves! 

🐊🐊Elder Bowlby🐊🐊

Mom of a Missionary, Emails from Mexico. December 31, 2018

Prospero Año y F E L I C I D A D ! ! !

ello, Family and Friends! Elder Bowlby here.

Woah! Where did 2018 go?? Goodbye, 2018! Hello New Year!

What are some of your New Years resolutions? I haven't quite thought out mine yet. One of my resolutions is to not procrastinate, but, I think I can hold that one off until later... oops!

Work was very slow this week, being a holiday week and all. We're kicking things back into high gear to start the year off good. We've been making good progress! Looks like we're going to have a baptism this weekend.

So, we had our Christmas celebrations this week with the Mission. We had a great time with our companions, the Members invited us to dinner, and Christmas we called our families! I'll be seeing you all shortly, it seems 😯

Here's a neat scripture I read this week... It's found in Revelation 12:10.
"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night."

This is a scripture talking about Satan. Interestingly enough, here he's called "The Accuser", and he's an accuser in many ways. Often times when we feel down, when we start beating up on ourselves or let negativity into our heads... Negativity doesn't come from God! Pointing, Mocking, Sarcastic, Belittling thoughts and etc are Satan accusing us, trying to get us to feel bad... and if we feel bad (shame, guilt, hopelessness), that limits our potential! He's trying to throw us off our game!

So, this new year, lets be positive! Let's be optimistic! Yes you can! You can do it! Things might look bad, but you don't have to buy into that!! Stay strong!!

Love you all! See you soon, miss you loads, and have a great New Years!

-Elder Bowlby

My Year of Becoming Organized. Will Bullet Journaling Help Me???

So I always see these ads on Facebook to pick a word to define your year.  The word I chose for this year is Organize.  I am hoping to get my life and house Organized this year!

I can't promise you that I will have many blog post about being organized or how I get organized as last year was my year of health and I don't think many of my blog post had anything to do with being healthy.

So to get myself organized I decided that I would try Bullet Journaling.  One of my other new year goals is to not spend money so I had to find free online bullet journaling templates.  There are tons out there so if you don't want to spend money, but want to bullet journal just search for free bullet journal templates.  I made a list of the things I want to keep track of and then found templates for each category.  Look a bullet journal template for blogging.  Maybe this year I will blog more and be organized at it too. 

I have a daily calendar, a monthly calendar and then a monthly habit tracker.  Kitty was a lot of help in putting this journal thing together.  My husband was looking at all the papers and thought I had gone a bit over the top.  I found some good meal planners.  I have one that I just plan what dinner is going to be and then one that I plan all the meals of the day.  One of my other goals is to save money and it seems that where most of my money goes is to food.  We eat out way too much.  So I'm hoping by planning meals and  bringing lunch to work I can save more.  I have been bringing lunch to work for three weeks now.   I look forward to see how all this goal making and tracking goes. 

I never realized how much organizing it takes to become organized.  

Did you choose a word to focus on for your new year?  

If so leave me a message and tell me what your word is. 

Perhaps this year with my blog I'll keep you updated on how well all this bullet journaling and organizing goes. 

Some of my other goals are to:

 Exercise daily ( I lost 9 pounds last year!).

Learn Yoga.

Walk the Gardens weekly ( I may go to the Butterfly Biosphere weekly too!).

Go on weekly day dates with my husband.

Make more photo books (maybe even see if I can get one published).

Make a family cookbook.

Get back to doing family history daily and attend the Temple weekly.

Well that's a big list isn't it.

G.G.

My Cat and Cancer. January 11, 2018

Here is my sweet Amber in her favorite chair.  I have to say that I was so glad that she was pretty well during the holidays.  It was nice to have a last Christmas with her.

It is January 11 and we still have a Christmas tree in our house.   Usually the week after Christmas the tree is out of the house.  But  my cat's routine is that after having a little bit to eat in the morning she goes and sits under the Christmas tree. I imagine she is pretending she is out in the wild.  Some days she even plays with the little birds that I have put in the tree.  I just don't have the heart to take the Christmas tree out.  Most likely it will be out of the house this weekend though.   Perhaps I'll keep the tree skirt out so if she wants to lay on it she can.

When my son was young he wrote a book about our cats first Christmas.  This past year I scanned all the pictures into my computer and then created a small book on Blurb Books.   I  then printed out a copy for myself and my children.  Kitty helped me wrap up the books to give as Christmas presents.  In the back of the book are photos of her.  We had so much fun sitting and reading this little book and remembering our old house and the special Christmases with our family and cat.   In realizing that I will not have another Christmas with my cat, I have been packing up her items in a special box so I'm not depressed next year.  But with the book I wrote a note to myself, about the day I packed up the Christmas items and how my cat was helping me.  I wrote to remember all the special moments with gladness and to not get sad.  I don't know if it will work.

Each day I try to spend time just sitting and cuddling with my kitty.  The other night both my husband and I were sitting with her and giving her lots of love and attention. We spent time talking about all the special moments we have had with our cat, how she is the Queen of our house.  I told him how I missed the days when she would be in the kitchen begging for food.  She always loved to eat, and if you were in the kitchen she was in the kitchen rubbing around your legs and meowing.  I loved our little meal time routine.  The next day was so special because she actually felt good and she rubbed around my legs and meowed for food.  It was a nice little moment to have my hungry cat back. 

We spend a lot of time giving her love and spoiling her right now.  I will be very surprised if she is still with us in February.  I guess I'm learning to make each day precious.  

G.G.

Mom of a Missionary. Emails from Mexico, December 24, 2018.

Feliz Navidad


This is just a quick E-mail to say Feliz Navidad. I love you all, I hope you're doing well, and I hope you have an excellent and safe Christmas.

Altamira, Mexico, December 2018

Love you all! :)

-Elder Bowlby




The best present of Christmas was our hour long talk with our son.  He said that this area is his favorite area of his mission.  And I can tell why, the water and the trains.  We have 3 months left before he comes home and now I'm starting to prepare for that. 

Mom of a Missionary. Emails from Mexico, December 17, 2018.

I can't think of a clever title for this one

Hello, Family and Friends! My name is Elder Bowlboat. 

Surprise! Today we went out to Tampico and visited the Ex-Aduana Marítima in Tampico. It's a very old port building that used to recieve all the shipments and imports into Tampico. There was a guided tour and we got to see some sights. We took a little walk and saw some of the interesting view-points here in Tampico.

This is the Laguna de Carpintero. It's famous because somebody let their pet crocodile loose and now the lagoon is full of crocodiles! 

Hey... is  this a floating log I see? Better take a closer look...

This week we've been working hard to maintain control over our large area... it's the largest area I've ever had! We've got lots of space to work, and if we're not careful, we use poorly our time. Its good to get the work done when we can.

We had a Christmas activity this week in the ward. It went really well! There were a lot of people that arrived, there were piñatas smashed, and tamales eaten. Christmas is coming up. I'm not suuuuper ready for that, but we'll see how things go down.

This week, Elder Pingree from the quorum of the Seventies came and gave us a missionary training session. He told us that we need to have faith to seek and find little miracles in our service. He also told us that we need to be using Preach My Gospel every day to help us in our studies. The wife of our Mission President reminded us that "Our desires determine our destiny, because what our heart desires determines our priorities, and our priorities determine our decisions, and our decisions decide our future." That's good enough to be scripture!

Here's a scripture that Elder Pingree shared with us that I found to be really interesting.

3 Nephi 18:32  Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall healthem; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.  
As missionaries, we work with faith, but we cannot override the free-agency of others (doing so would be completely against God's Plan). So, how do we work with faith? We keep working, and keep ministering. Faith is the hope in things not seen, which are true. When we work towards helping someone come unto Christ, we work with the hope and faith that one day, they will use their free agency to come unto Christ, and he will heal them. We're just instruments in the hands of God, a means of bringing salvation to the people.

I'm going to send a few more pictures as attachments... Including (but not limited to): Us going out to eat breakfast, Boats, cool buildings, and Tampico.

Love you all! Miss you loads, and see you soon!

-Elder Bowlby

Fall Fun Adventure, Day Date 15... Driving the Butterfield Canyon. A beautiful fall drive.

Have you ever done a Siri drive?  My husband and I were invited to Settlement Canyon in 

Tooele Utah.  I put the information into Siri and we went on a wild and beautiful breathtaking ride.

Thank goodness I had my camera.  This is definitely a drive we will do again.

The views from the drive are beautiful.  This is Butterfield Canyon road

it takes you through the mountains to Tooele.  I always looked at these mountains and 

wondered what was beyond them.

Do you see the deer.  I had to have my husband stop a lot because 

I loved seeing all the wild animals.

The brown line along the edge of the mountain is the road we drove on.

"Stop!  I need to take a photo."  My husband was very good to humor me.

I have never seen a turkey here in Utah before. 

Another bird for my new book I'm making.

We took the highway home and stopped by the Great Salt Lake.

I don't know why there is a couch out there.  Maybe just for people to take a photo on.

It is so quiet and beautiful here at sunset.

Well what a great adventure Siri took us on. 

Have you ever found yourself on a wild and crazy drive because you followed your

phone GPS?

G.G.

My Weekly Garden Walk. Week 28, October 15, 2018. The Scarecrow festival and my last walk of the year.

The garden season is over and this is most likely my last walk.

I think the Scarecrow festival is fun. 

I like this Very Hungry Caterpillar.

I'm amazed at how much work people put into their displays.

I think this is a scarecrow of someone who works at the gardens.

There is snow on the mountains.  That is a good thing. 

Gnome sweet home.

Thanos.  

The Tulips are planted for next year.  I look

forward to seeing new tulips.

I think they are planting tulips here today.

There are still a few flowers in bloom.

The next time I come it will be for the Luminaria display.

Well it was a great walking season. I hope you enjoyed seeing the changes that

take place at the gardens.  I hope to go to a lot of different gardens next year, but still do my weekly 

walks here. It's a nice place to spend a few hours.

G.G.