July 28, 2014

Ward Mission Leader and his wife

Eskimo Joe's :)

So Hey thur. So my address is 3867 Jodie Dr. Apt D Beavercreek, OH 45431. President pretty much said I'd be staying here till I die so it's prolly safe to assume that's a good place to send stuff. 

So to be completely honest. I'm pretty tired to write in great detail the things of my heart.. haha but a couple cool things did happen this past week. We had a super cool lesson with a member's friend Brent. He works with Bro. Ellsworth. So this past week things finally lined up to meet him and teach him the restoration. It was cool for everyone there. Brent said he's pretty interested and to also see the spark it lit for the Ellsworths was cool too. So hopefully things get better there. 

We also began teaching Tiffany. A girlfriend of a member. Richard Wampler. I like going over to their house. They are a really great bunch of people. And we also did a butt ton of service and I'm kind of mad I didn't get pictures! Well I did kinda when we split wood for the Wamplers and then I didn't when we went back and did some more demo work on the Jackson's home. I decided to be a scrapper and try to recycle some copper wires. haha why not. But being from a family of construction workers I couldn't help but laugh at what the previous owner did to their house. He took a lot of shortcuts and made the place really unsafe. Like using cardboard squares to cover a hole to the outside and hide it with exposed fiber-glass insulation... It was interesting. So pretty much Friday and Saturday was all service, which I didn't have too much of a problem with cause it broke from the monotony. We also found a couple other people. Like Cynthia. Who's kinda in a sticky situation with her husband. So we're gonna play smart with that one... Umm I did Zumba for the first time today. Haha I'm surprised I could keep up but sometimes I was a little off beat. Prolly won't be doing that again but it was a fun District activity. I'll get pictures next week. Oh also. I gotta say that the Cross' (Our ward mission leader and his wife) Are pretty much some of the most amazing people I've ever met. They're really inspiring and they've taken such amazing care of us it's unreal. So we got pictures with them so I could send them home but yeah. Other that not much happened this week. It was pretty good and I know I'll finish my mission strong. Which is cool cause I remember thinking when I was 6 months out that I would prolly be so burnt by the end. But I'm not. I can't believe Nana and Grandpa are coming home. I'm excited to see them soon I think Lexi comes home this week which is weird too cause it's already been that long.... Time flies when you're serving the lord I guess! But I'll send some pics from this last week! Also we went on exchanges with the zone leaders and one of them (E. Moore) flew out with me and has never been on a bike so I took him to the farthest possible spot to work for that day. haha I wish I knew that was gonna be the day is was gonna be 96 degrees and 80% humidity.... haha Yeah. I was a little sweaty. But such is life on a bike. :) K love you all!

Love,

Elder Derrek Bowler.... OXoxoXXooxx (Nacho)

Longest Bike Ride Ever :)

Service

Zumba!

July 21, 2014

Whole zone on some rocks.. haha

Hey guys!

Sorry to hear the Priest activity sucked haha but it builds character and those are the ones you'll never forget. But it's also weird Ashton and Zach are now the oldest at the campouts. Soon we'll be having Bowler reunions but with just us.. That's a weird thought. So I don't have too much to say today but they're were a couple things I wanted to say. First off. I am doing my best to finish strong. And I will. I don't get trunky just excited and then I keep up the work. We're actually trying different things now to get the ward helping a ton because we have found like 2 people the past 3 weeks and quite frankly I'm getting a little sick and tired of knocking on people's doors especially when no one is home nor answers. So we're trying to work with the members who we know are having missionary experiences and then have them bear testimony about it and have them get the rest of the ward excited. Cause the ward is super supportive but as for finding and teaching people here it's a little slow. So the ward trusts us which hasn't been the case with recent elders and so we're excited. I want to leave Beavercreek in a solid pattern of finding and baptizing through the ward and personal efforts. So hopefully that'll happen, I got 8 weeks to make it count! It is a little weird to wrap my head around the fact I'm almost done, Nana and Grandpa are done and other things are happening. It almost doesn't seem real and I don't think it will till I'm on the plane. Which is good cause it'll help me. So there are definitely days when I am dragging butt cause my body feels like it can't take much more. (I'm surprised I'm still functioning some days) haha like I said, it's gotta be the spirit helpin me out.

So in other news. Richard and Tina are doing well. We talked to them about baptism a little more and answered some questions. We're just trying to help them have a spiritual witness that these things are true, but they just have a hard time even reading the Book of Mormon. If they got baptized though that would be a sweet miracle cause the ward hasn't had a baptism here in over a year and a half or something like that. But it'll be good. We're still working hard with them.

Also. I now have a new companion as of 5 o'clock yesterday. His name is E. Ryan Baldwin and he's from Loveland, Colorado.. So Wendy, What ward are you in?? haha E. Bullock had to clear some things up so he flew home today. E. Baldwin has been out a transfer and a half. So I guess I'm kinda training him for like 2 weeks..? His trainer was a joke and it's interesting. Hearing him talk is like De ja vu cause it sounds almost IDENTICAL to the beginning of mine. But he's a lot more chipper now that's he's here which is cool. We'll get a long great. haha it's funny he has a girlfriend and he's saying the same stuff I did about Lex, Like It's not like she's a distraction I just miss her type thing. haha and now looking back I missed Lexi more than I convinced myself I did. But he didn't have the crazy psychic blow that I took, but it's just funny and President told me I'll most likely just die here. So there's like a 2% chance I'll get transferred hahah but yeah. So it'll be good and I'm glad I go home soon and will be in Salt Lake (hopefully soon.. I don't know what the Lord has planned)

I went on exchanges this last week with E. Simkins (he is one of the funniest kids I've ever met hahaha I love the kid to death!) but yeah. I tried to help him plan and figure out new finding Ideas for their area and I just passed the crap out. Like I was gone... that happened with E. Bullock too. Haha missions.. they catch up to ya!... then again. I get up at 5:45 to try and get a good workout started around 6:15. I made a super annoying alarm with me singing in falsetto to "wake up" haha it's rich... Well. I included some pics from this last week and our Zone fun day today at this nature place here. It was very green and made me wanna hike the narrows! Love and miss you all!!

Love,

Elder Derrek Bowler 

E. Peterson. Me. E. Bean. E. Jones. (Go fight win)

People ruining the pic with Petey and I

Able to finally get a cool one with Petey :)

Exchange with E. Simkins and the pic he took of me when I crashed haha

Last goodbye to E. Bullock till go home

July 14, 2014 - Week 95 (according to Derrek!)

Just a little rain!

Hey Mom!

So This past week wasn't too shabby! We didn't have too much going on. Just a lot of bike riding and tracting and trying to do missionary work! Lot of rain and Hot humid days! haha We finally decided to take the long super hilly bike ride to the far corner of our area a couple times. Twice.. That bike ride sucks... haha I hate hills. (Can you tell I ride downhilll Mtn Bike?) haha either way. That wasn't too fruitful. But the one way we took had a super sweet scenic way. So that made it worth it! (kinda!) 

We got a chance to have interviews with President Daines. Both President and Sister Daines are amazing! I'm not gonna lie. I'm a little bummed I won't get to know them too well. But I do know President and Sister Nilsen were the ones that I needed. Either way. It's still kind of a weird though. But President Daines brought up a way to help me not plateau. And he used Ether 12:27 where it talks about weaknesses. Now I've always used that scripture and know it really well. But I never looked at it in the light of physical and spiritual progression. As in actually asking the Lord to show me what I need to work on next. So that was kind of cool cause I'm trying hard to not plateau and keep growing. But it's sometimes hard when not a whole lot is happening! But I'm actually doing really well!
 Umm... Honestly.. I don't have too much to write about.. Which is a first. Because I usually do. But Richard and Tina are doing well. We had a pretty good dinner with them at the Bishops home and had a good lesson. (The Spirit is sooo different at a members home..) and that was good. We're trying to really figure out what they need next. For one they need to realize the key factor of the Restoration and the Priesthood Authority. So we're working on that. But They're doing pretty well. They've come to church for the past 3 weeks and that's good. They still have a hard time getting much out of it just because of their granddaughters so we're working on that. Saturday we did like 9 hours of service between two projects. haha. It was good cause it was a nice break from the monotony we've been in. The first project we did demolition for a member who's moving in soon. So we tore apart their basement from mold and such. And that's when I stepped on a nice fat nail and it went pretty far in my foot. So that was fun. Nothing special. And they got us Pizza for lunch. It was really good and I pounded four pieces of this deep dish pizza only it wasn't filling at all... Then we go and help Richard and Tina with laying some cement for these stairs they put in the backyard and we got more pizza from that. Funny thing is though. It was the same exact pizza. Like 100% Identical. and I pounded another 5 pieces of that.. Yeah It was a fun little binge haha. I'm actually mad I didn't get pictures of any of it cause that was like the most eventful thing that's happened. And we also talked to this older Korean lady and taught her and her American husband a little about the gospel. It went alright but she LOADED us up with sooo much food... Like two full take out boxes of brownies. Half a German Chocolate Cake and 3 sweet melons... haha I'm glad E. Bullock eats most of it before I ever get a chance to. I can't do sweets too much anymore. Unless it's Ice Cream. So that was kinda funny. So yeah. That's pretty much it. Mom if you wanna ya know... Send me a care package. That'd really make my week! haha Some gum would be grand. Maybe some Oldspice Lionpride Bodywash.. Deoderant. Airheads... A letter from everyone? Just throwin out ideas :P haha Welp. I love you all! Hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Derrek Bowler

July 7, 2014

Hey!

Me, E. Peterson, Bullock, and Simkins

So that's fine about the whole job thing. Can I get his email or something to ask him? and it's understandable about the car thing hopefully we'll figure that out. haha I need a break from the bike as a mode of transportation haha. What about a phone? haha We'll figure it out I guess. It's just crazy everything is starting to come fast. I just hope it all works out. Maybe I'll just find a wife who can help out. haha jk

 This past week seemed to go fast but when I look back it seems like events that happened seemed like months ago. So this past week wasn't too shabby. The beginning of our week was super brutal. I hit a wall cause everything like died in our area... and stayed that way for a couple weeks. So it was all just starting to take a toll on me mentally and spiritually and physically and yeah. So Tuesday was kinda alright a lot of our appointments fell through and then just a massive storm rolled in which was not conducive to a bike area. So that day was kinda shot. Wednesday we drove up to Columbus to meet President and Sister Daines. They seemed tired and shell-shocked but I'm excited to serve with them. I'm not gonna really have a chance to develop any sort of relationship with them cause it'll be a "Hi-bye" situation. But they seem really great. I realized something that I never thought would happen but when I thought about the fact that the Nilsens are gone it kinda hit me that I kinda miss them. I dunno. They've helped me and taught me a lot of things that are very valuable to me and the life I want to live. So it's kinda interesting but after that things started to get a little better. I went on Exchanges with E. Peterson in Fairborn and that was pretty fun. I love the kid and I'll prolly kick it with him when he gets home. He gets home a month after Alec. Which is weird... But anyways.. We lost contact with Richard and Tina until Thursday. Which scared me cause I fasted for them last week and I was kinda leery about it cause it seemed the past few times I'd fast for someone they'd drop us. Happened every time in Big Walnut Creek. But it turned out to be ok. We got in contact had a couple decent lessons. They came to church and I hope it was good for them. We have dinner with them at the Bishop's house tomorrow. But a funny story is we got a Foosball Table from Richard and Tina and now our apartment is a cozy little man cave :P haha E. Bullock is really good at it and I get worked over and I'm competitive so I keep playing haha. Another funny thing that turned out to be really cool is we got Ali (one of our gators) to come to church. Which he never plans for anything and he works the night before and gave us permission to wake him up cause apparently it's impossible and so I was like shoot. Challenge Accepted! So we bought him a RedBull Saturday night and right after our regular church meetings we went over with Duffy Young to wake Ali up and I've never had to go to such great lengths to get someone to church. Like honestly. We dragged him out of bed multiple times and he kept going back to bed. He doesn't remember any of it cause he's asleep and then after he finally woke up he's like "oh hey guys!" haha it was funny. So he downed the RedBull and got dressed and we went to the YSA ward cause he's 22 so it worked out. And then after a couple people bore their testimony Ali is like "can anyone go up?" so we said yeah of course! and he went up and bore a pretty solid testimony! It was one of those "Is this really happening moments?' So that was cool. We were also fasting that day and I ended up getting really bad migraine and couldn't stand. So that put me out for a little bit and then last night we went and Talked to another one of our gators Neva to see how they're doing and we met her son who got baptized in 2012 and get this. He went to High School with Pebbles!! haha Small freaking world!! So he's a cool kid. and I'm excited to try and help him get active again. He has a good head on his shoulders and is out here to take over his Mom's contracting business. So yeah. Everything pretty much got a little better at the end of the week and after this last fast I feel pretty good. It was a good recharge and I have renewed energy to finish strong! Only got 2 months left! It's nuts! But here are some fun pics too :) Love you all and thanks for the support! 

Love,
Elder Derrek Bowler

Angry Birds painting on a fence during exchanges

Me and E. Peterson

Me and E.bullock biking through a wooden glen 

Our Foosball table

Fireworks let off right in front of our apartment (Illegal ones that is haha)

June 30, 2014

Hey Mom!

So No I don't have a problem staying in Phoenix at all. It'll be cool to go support Wes and Jennie. Since Mike was Catholic I'm anxious to go see what a Mass is like! Plus the shopping thing I'm down for haha. I need new clothes bad. Btw. They have really good deals on Nike's here. Just saying. They're like half off at this store. So if anyone wants clothes or ties or shoes lemme know and we can get some home. I had to use the 50 you put in the account for some clothes and food (Eating healthy isn't cheap.) and didn't get a chance to send stuff home. I'll prolly just do that my last transfer or in a month or so. But I'm curious do we have things figured out Work wise or transportation wise or any of that? When is the deadlines for applications for the January semester? Also can we try and figure out some way to do a homecoming talk in St. Geezy? and spend a week there saying hi to family and such? Just curious since I have no clue what's going down yet.

So life here in Beavercreek isn't too exciting. Our pool is pretty dry as well. The only people we really work with is Richard and Tina. They came to a baptism for a neighboring ward (Most awkward baptism ever. The baptism before started to drain the font so by the time this baptism came around it was at knee height. So she had to get baptized three times and on the third time she just sat in the font and laid back..It was brutal to watch. Especially having investigators there) and Richard and Tina also came to church!! (Took us four weeks to finally get someone to church.. Gosh it's brutal!) So I'm curious how this next transfer will be. We do a lot of biking and knocking on doors that don't answer. It's pretty discouraging after a while but I'm trying to hold my head up. It's just a dead area and sometimes it gets hard to want to get up and keep trying. Luckily we have Richard and Tina so we're doing everything we can to get them up and running. She's reading the Book of Mormon and having little "Aha" moments with it. It's cool. Church wasn't the best experience for them. The talks in Sacrament where great but their little granddaughters we're kinda distracting. They talked about conversion and how it's a lifetime process. They just said is was super long and prolly not it's true. It can be long and it's not the most exciting church. haha but you don't go to be entertained.

This past week we also had a lot of people needing our help. Like last minute moves cause no one else in the ward can really help. So in less than 24 hours (Friday night and Saturday morning) we spent like 6-7 hours moving people. Dad, Mom, I'm glad you were really good about moves. Also Dad. I got my tetris skills from you haha. Actually I don't really mind moving people, it's a good work out and it's breaks the monotony of the work but this past week had me in a little funk. But I'm hoping this week gets better. It's weird. I only have one more transfer call left. haha I'm excited but it also feels unreal at the same time. I dunno. It's a weird feeling. But hopefully things start to pick up here cause if I don't start getting busier then it'll make it a little harder these last three months. haha oh well. Calvin sent me a picture of his Tat. haha I can't believe he actually got one. I told him to make it look a little better if he's gonna have one. haha. I'm prolly not helping but lead by example right? haha We'll see how it goes! Love you all! That's really it for this week.

Love,

Elder Derrek Bowler.