Use Your Voice As a Trumpet

Me and my Hermana's

Hang-in with the zone on Pday

This week went incredibly fast, maybe its due to the fact that we're writing early but wow! So p-day we bought lunch at a local grocery store, went to the chapel and watched the movie "Up" as a zone. Afterwards we had time to run some errands and take a sweet blessed nap. Good stuff. Monday and Tuesday we were super busy with all the recent converts that the missionaries were bringing and us trying to add some family history decorations to the offices to get the vibe and fung-shway on our side :)

We were blessed this week to have a special training from the President and his assistants in which we learned about the importance of using your voice as a trumpet (literally raising your voice and not being afraid to be bold) and how important it is to use inspired questions and teach clearly the gospel. To emphasize his point, the president at one point asked a sister to come in front of everyone and with the voice of a trumpet begin to teach lesson 3. It was interesting to see how maybe we are shy and timid to make waves or are scared of the reaction and rejection of the people we teach. However, now it is the goal of mine to try and liven things up once in a while with the "muertos" or all the dead people here in La Historia Familiar and see if I can wake a few people up with my "trumpet voice". I tried it yesterday and I think it went ok, sometimes I feel bad raising my voice at these sweet little grandmas that they bring, but I figure that maybe they can't hear well so its ok. Ha-ha.

Highlight of my Grandpa Bowers

This same day, after the training from the president, we gathered up another group of recent converts and were able to go to the temple. We went with a big group this time of 16 people (plus some regular members) and for 11 of them it was the first time EVER that they had been at the temple. Some of them stayed outside with us, and we were able to show them the beautiful temple grounds, the distribution center, have a temple photo shoot (this temple is so gorgeous that nobody can help themselves and everyone has to have some type of mini photo shoot) and the we showed them some of the shops that if you know where to look you can find. It was fun to be able to share our testimonies about the temples with the recent converts and be able to be a spiritual tour guide. After wards we were able to get everyone home safe and sound, and one of the recent converts contacted the bus driver and now has a reference to give to some of the elders that are in our zone. How cool is that?

After the Temple -tired and hungry!

Friday was a crazy run around day but it all turned out well. After the late night at the temple, we woke up nice and early to be able to be in the offices in time for my companions English test. To all the Latinos there is an opportunity to take an English exam in which they ask you questions through the computer, and a test proctor listens to your voice and then gives you a score. My old companion, Hermana Osinaga from Bolivia, scored a 6 out of 7, 7 being the highest score! Hermana Inca later this next week will find out her score. We were practicing on the bus ride there, and it was amazing because she was answering really well, and then later I was told that she never before the mission had studied English. Wow how cool is that with how much that she has learned! And to finish the night, we were having problems with getting our laundry washed. The sister that usually does it has been without water for two weeks, and we tried washing some stuff by hand but there just really isn't time as a missionary. So we tried to find solutions and the bishops wife let us borrow her machine to wash the essentials and we sent the rest to a close lavanderia. We were like, oh its going to be so expensive.. but no! it was surprisingly cheap so we were super grateful. But at the end of the night, after running around all the the town trying to drop of the clothes in different places we went to buy yogurt from our neighbor, I put the hamper down for one min to give her change... and a DOG comes and starts TO PEE on the freshly washed clothes. I yell and we go chasing after the dog, and it was just soooooo bad that after ALL the hassle to transport- beg- and plead favors to get laundry of 2 weeks washed, that a dog had to come and do its business. Thankfully I think we scared it off before it could really get anything wet, and after a carefully sniffing test we decided that everything was good to wear. Oh count your blessings!

I mad my Comp a crown for her 18th month

Hope you all enjoy this week and know that the Lord loves you!

Hermana Bowers

16 Months and Still Going Strong!

Celebrating at Chili's

16 months and still going strong!

All is well in Zion this week, and serving as a sister missionary consultant of family history has been rewarding. As we traveled to the different stakes this week, we had the opportunity to meet lots of new people this time around and start new accounts, and reserve lots of new names. This is really exciting, because its a new wave of people that we want to help make it to the temple and of course that means that their ancestors can progress as well. Thinking back on the week, there was an older gentleman Saturday, named Santiago who was very prepared! He came with the missionaries that were teaching him, and he only had one year as a member, but was super gung-ho to be able to do his own family work in the temple. As we shared the discussion with him and two other brothers that were in the room, he knew all the answers and we had to call on the other participants specifically by name to give them a chance to answer the questions. Santiago was so thrilled and so excited to answer all the questions that you just couldn't help but smile and share in his enthusiasm. He diligent reads the Book of Mormon everyday (re-reading it now because he`s already finished it) and studies his principles of the gospel Manuel as well- what a great conversion this man has had! He told us that his wife still will have nothing to do with the church, but with his contagious enthusiasm and spiritual spunk- I believe that all things are possible!

We also had a great opportunity this week to hear directly from our President and his wife. I absolutely love multi-zone conferences and the messages that President Erickson and Sister Erickson really touched home with me! I loved Sister Erickson`s talk as she described the joy she recently had to have ALL of her family (minus the president because he stayed in Peru with us) enter the temple to be there for the sealing of one of her sons. As she showed us the picture of their family together, she reminded us that she has TWO families and wants the same success and same results from the family that she has here in Peru (us the missionaries). She talked about how in her early marriage years, her husband and her put goals on how they wanted to cultivate their family and how they looked to other examples in the church congregation to see how it was done. Some interesting "techniques" mentioned were:


The son/daughter can not drive until they have their eagle scout/ young woman medallion

Everyone sits together in church, and we go EACH Sunday

Monthly father interviews with each member of the family

Family home evenings and prayer

*This next one I actually heard a while a go from a brother that was talking in a stake conference I think but its deserves a mention here: You can not use your phone as scriptures for church meeting etc. until you have read ALL of the scriptures yourself physically.

President Erickson talked about the different attitudes and influences that the spirit, or Satan can have on us. It gave me a lot of insight on some past behaviors that well, I need to repent of and how I can better recognize the influence of the spirit to be who Heavenly Father wants me to be.

This upcoming P-Day will be a special "mundial" pday and so we will be using internet Saturday. So for those who write me, this week I ask that you mail it Friday night so there is something to read that day. Thank you all so much for your support and I hope to hear from y'all next week!

Our laundry lady did not have water- So we are doing it ourselves

Family Search Missionary

These last two weeks have been great! I think that I'm finally getting the hang of what it is that we do and teach, and how to help the people here get to become familiar with the program and feel the need to do their family history. We had a great trip to the temple in which 11 different converts went, and it was the first time for 5 of them to enter and do the work for the dead. Many of the people that we have been working with have their own names from their family to do the work for, so it was a great spiritual experience for them. I`ve forgotten how much it is that I explained the week before about what it is that we do: so forgive me if this is a repeat.

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My companion and I, Hermana Inca, travel the different stake centers/ capillas during the week and work in the family history centers. There the missionaries in the area make an appointment to bring either a recent convert or a person freshly rescued to come talk with us. For the first visit we give a "in depth" lesson about God`s promise to have all hear about the gospel, how Jesus went to the spirit world to preach when his mortal body was in the tomb for three days and how is it that the two sides of the spirit world are liberated. If your really curious the majority of scriptures that we use are:

John 3:16

Romans 10:17

John 5:20

Isaiah: 6:1

Luke 23

John 20:17

D&C 138

And well since I`m learning more about how to use the family search program and I`m fortunate enough to have some of the people already added to my tree- I wanted to do a highlight or a shout out to an ancestor this week. This week I want to start out with two, Abraham Jame Bowers Sr. and Christina Sinclair- my great great grandparents on the side of my father. What I could read about them is that they had a "Golden Wedding" anniversary celebrating their 50 years married together. 50 years!!!! How crazy is that? They had a huge party and invited all the the town to come dance and celebrate. There is one story in which a son fondly recalls that during the party, his father asked him for 5 dollars to pay the band, because they had spent just about everything for their party! How funny is that. This amazing couple served a mission for 6 months in the Manti temple, and had various calling including being part of a "ward reunion committee for over 20 years". There are a great example to me on how to have a marriage that really is made to last.

Great Great Grandparents

Also wanted to give a shout out to my awesome family this week who were able to Skype with me! Thanks so much and i love you all and i hope that everyone is doing well and that well be able to see each other soon :)

My Family

Family History Missionary- Transfer

Our Zone

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Fun Pictures

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I had transfers! So yea big news now is that I'm one of the new family history consultant missionaries in the Lima Peru north mission. There are two comparisons of this calling, and I'm in the part in a place called San Juan de Lurigancho. Its the last and only part of the mission that I had never been to, so I was thrilled to be able to see the three different zone of the mission and be working in this new calling!
We do not work in the mission office, but work in the different stake centers and chapels here in this area. we travel everyday to be in a different chapel and work in the family history center of the stake or chapel.Our purpose is to be able to help the recent converts and menos activos that have come back to the church STAY and be able to make it into the temple. We first teach a detailed lesson about the spirit world and the importance of family history work. We talk about D&C 138 and what it is that Jesus did during his three days dead. And then we help them create an account in Family Search, explain the program to them, and give them homework to be able to find their information about their ancestors so they can reserve names to go to the temple.

We also organize trips to the temple and bring them so they can enter and do the work. Its really really cool!!!
I'm just in the process of learning and knowing how to best magnify my calling, but its super interesting this unexpected twist of fate you could say. My new companion is Hermana Inca, she is from Ecuador is 21, and is finishing her mission in this transfer.

My Companion made me a grilled cheese sandwich- It was heavenly! :) 

Our New Apartment- I love my couch- I am blessed, this is really nice!