Random Subject & The Pursuit of Happiness

Random Subject  January 22nd, 2018

GOOD MORNING!!!!!!!
LOL thought I would start this just like my vlogs with a lil bit of Xanderness!

Anyways how is everyone doing? I first want to say how much I love and miss you all how much you all mean to me and also how much I look forward to receiving something from you all each week. This week has not been extremely eventful  but going through our week we pranked the sisters car on Monday night with Kyle and 2250 ft of plastic wrap we wrapped their car all over.  Tuesday was an interesting day the sisters were getting transferred and we watched the broadcast from our new President of the church and then had lunch with the Jacksons. On Wednesday we went bowling with the Spencers our investigators and the Taylors the family that is super fun that helps us prank the sisters, and Elder Blatter hurt his finger bowling lol. On Saturday we had sushi which i love with the Taylors, and yesterday we went and visited a member in the nursing home. This old lady in a wheel chair came up to one of the Sisters, Sister Ashcraft and asked how she was feeling and then she said hows your husband feeling? lol  So I guess Sister Ashcraft is married.  Anyway that was my week.

I don't have much of a spiritual lesson this week but i really love this video:   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUhgBU3coPY and I shared it a few times this week and its so comforting to know we have a loving Heavenly Father with flesh and bone who perfectly understands us and loves us and sent his son for us. I know it can be hard at times to put trust in something or someone that is not physically in front of you but Jesus Christ is a real person who loves us and knows everything we are going through and as we diligently seek him we can find that peace, comfort, and happiness.

I'm so thankful for this opportunity to serve the lord I'm also thankful for my wonderful family and friends and for the chance I've had to have this gospel in my life. "I know that my redeemer lives" and loves each and everyone of us and wishes to reach out to us we just have to let him into our lives. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week, and May God be with you till we meet again!

love,  your favorite goofball Elder Xander Bowles 

The Pursuit of Happiness January 29th, 2018

Good morning! even though its not morning!

This week has been a pretty good week we now have 3 sisters in the district again the new one is Sister Sutherland we had a pretty slow week this week with the work.  Thursday we were doing weekly planning and realized we didn't have much to plan for so we decided to get out and head to work, and from Thursday to Sunday we got 4 new investigators and one came to church! So that was super cool. But other than all that just another day in paradise. So I've been listening to lots of talks and this week I'd like to talk about happiness and how to find it or at least what I've learned and experienced. So this week we actually got a chance to teach a group of 20-30  college students at a thing called world view and we got to teach the restoration and answer questions it was super cool, but they were very focused on salvation and our relationship with God. Every answer to the Questions they had came back to keep the commandments. One person thought the easiest way in life might be going his whole life in sin and not knowing much about God would be easier. But I told him as we follow the commandments in this life and grow our relationship with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that it wouldn't only bring much happiness and blessings in this life but in eternity also. There is happiness and joy which can be eternal vs we have pleasure very short term and comes from Satan. Another thing I've learned is that happiness is right where you are in your current state it goes back to attitude if we are always looking for happiness else where, weather it be in the past in the future with somethings or someone else you are not going to find it.  It's all about how you choose to live today happiness is truly a choice. I also learned that 2 things bring unhappiness one is transgression the other is adversity and we over come these through Jesus Christ with faith and repentance.   When we sin we can repent and when we face adversity we can choose our response.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1986/04/happiness?lang=eng this is one of the talks. We are made to have happiness 2 nephi 2:24-25. also I've come to learn there is no greater joy than the joy that comes from being in the service of others.  Another good talk is Finding  joy in the journey by president Monson.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/finding-joy-in-the-journey?lang=eng 

With that I wish you all a joy filled week! I love and miss you all may god be with you till we meet again. 

Love, Your favorite Elder Xander Bowles 

p.s. never forget to smile! :)

Long Week!

Dear friends and family,

So this week seemed pretty long for some reason, nothing hard happened to make it seem that way just seemed like 2 weeks in one lol. So this week we had a lesson with the our new investigator family well he used to be a member of our church but it's so awesome. We had dinner and a lesson with him and his wife then played some basketball at the church with a few other people.  It was nice because there are not to many young cool people in canon lol.  On Thursday we went to "springs" (Colorado Springs) for interviews with the Mission President and I got my new camera!  We finally got to eat at BBW(Big Burger World)  after district meeting again lol.

District Meeting and BBW

This week was filled with a lot of appointments that fell through and people not being home when we do stop byes. On Saturday we did a blitz in our area so my companion and I, and the sisters got together and set goals for an hour and a half and we got some pretty good results of 8 copies of the book of mormon 3 new gators(Investigators) over 40 contacts and 4 potential gators.  So that was productive and very awesome!

The Blitz with the Sister Missionaries

  Then we met with a member who is in like an assisted living facility and I absolutely love getting to see and meet with him,  we don't meet very long or share much but when we go we share a scripture and a hymn and his face just lights up every time and he really enjoys the company and the visits.  Before my mission I couldn't stand being in those places but now I want to go to places like that and possibly volunteer when I come home I just love seeing the joy they have when we come to visit and give them company!  Then last night we went to a fireside in springs and it was super good people who were recently baptized or came back to church after a long time bore their testimonies and shared their conversion stories.  President shared somethings I want to share with you he said, in life we should ask these 2 questions that are found through out the scriptures. the first one is "what good thing must I do to obtain eternal life? And the second one is "what lack I yet?" we can always do things to improve and to grow and the straight and narrow path 2 conference talks from October talked about similar things one of them is from Jeffery R Holland and it's "be ye therefore perfect eventually" we cant beat our selves up because we aren't where we wanna be but we cant be comfortable with where we are either. There is always room for improvement especially on the path to eternal life I encourage all of you to pray and seek what you must do to continue to move and grow closer to your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week.

May God be with you till we meet again!

Love,

Your favorite Elder Xander Bowles

LOVE HIS SMILE!

Elder Bowles Now posts videos on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgZdcqNP-8TkQnlxUhf60wg/featured

Missionary Mail

Elder Xander Bowles 

Colorado, Colorado Springs Mission
4090 Center Park DR Suit #4
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80916

xander.bowles@myldsmail.net

"Hope" For a Happy New Year

Dear friends and family,

This week has been a much better week for the work. So the last few weeks have been a bit of a struggle with the holidays. But this week we got 5 new investigators. So a few experiences I'll share.

        So this week someone we met with before Christmas at a parade invited us to come teach him more about a week or 2 ago and we went and no one was there. We tried calling and no answer. We thought he really wasn't interested anymore, but we went by this week and he was home! We had a really good conversation he talked about his life and opened up and he is very prepared for the gospel. Often times when we say that we find people who have been through a lot and are really humbled and seeking answers and truth this is Stoney. So another experience this week we went to stop by a less active members house but I guess he moved like 4 months ago, but the person who lived there was interested and wanted us to come back. Last thing some one we've been trying to stop by and see often and is never home finally got a hold of him, and him and his wife want to take the lessons and is feeding us dinner this week.

     This transfer I've been working on the Christ like attribute of hope. "Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good. Hope helps you conquer discouragement. The scriptures often describe hope in Jesus Christ as the assurance that you will inherit eternal life in the celestial kingdom."-pmg  This has been such a wonderful transfer for hope I've been able to find joy in the work again and i am beginning to feel like myself. I've been able to over come the lack of work from the holidays and so much I have truly learned so much this transfer about faith, hope, and charity( the pure love of Christ) Moroni chapter 7 and 8 are great on these subjects I also had the chance before my bday to finish reading and studying the book of Mormon for the first time truly on my own and as sad as that statement was I now have a much stronger testimony that it is true.  That  Joseph Smith was the prophet called to restore the Lord's church on the earth today. That Jesus is the Christ.  I better understand his will for us. As I have read and now have begun to re reread I have come to find the joy and answers that can come from the Book of Mormon especially as I apply the principles in it to my life. My mission president shared with us his testimony of following the challenge in general conference not just to read, but to study the Book of Mormon every single day and he challenged us to read it everyday for the next 50 years and if we did so our testimonies could never waver.

     I challenge you all to do the same and I promise to you your testimony and faith in Jesus Christ will grow so much stronger. and you will be able to even find hope in times of trouble, question, or doubt and will gain a sure foundation of Jesus Christ and his restored gospel on this earth and always find peace, comfort, and joy. I love you all hope you have a wonderful new year know that I love and miss you all. 

May God be with you till we meet again.

Love your favorite Elder Xander Bowles

 The Glenn Family sent him a Duck Onesie.  GO DUCKS!

  

Skype Call with Elder Bowles on Christmas was Awesome! 

We always say a family Prayer at the end of them.

Elder Bowles Now posts videos on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgZdcqNP-8TkQnlxUhf60wg/featured

Missionary Mail

Elder Xander Bowles 

Colorado, Colorado Springs Mission
4090 Center Park DR Suit #4
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80916

xander.bowles@myldsmail.net