Last night is Madagascar.....Last supper!

 

How do I focus words on what my heart feels!? Thank you President and Sister Foote for leading my son and inspiring him to work hard, make a difference, build a solid testimony foundation, and mentor him to be the BEST and obedient while serving the Lord! The pictures were all such a treasured gift that our family has cherished and learned by your example to perhaps one day do the same.  One day may we meet so I can truly say, a heartfelt THANK YOU for loving

 my Elder Bowen!!!

Susie Bowen

Elder Bowen's mom

WEEK 102-Dying (going home from Paradise)-TESTIMONY

Well another great week! For those who don't know I am dying!!! Term missionaries use for going home. so I have already left my area. I left last Saturday instead of Thursday due to the unbeatable planning skills of the aps. I got into Tana and Elder Nelson was there to pick me up and we were taken straight to Ankorandrano. We both worked there before, so we went back to visit members and we had a dinner set up with an old member. I got to see my son Elder Passey who is currently working there. Then on Sunday we went to the Ankorandrano church and then zipped on over to the Ambohimanarina branch to get some final goodbies. I walked in about 10 minutes after they started and all the heads turned my way and everyone started smiling. Then we went and sat down after I shook a couple of hands and the first 10 minutes of sitting there was turning around and making eye contact with everyone haha. It was great. Then it ended and we went around and visited members. So that was done and we worked our way back to Ankorandrano where we had a final dinner with Bishop Olivie. HE MADE US FRIED CHICKEN. Yeah let's just say I ate a lot haha. and now we are here. We are going to go play soccer today and get some last minute goodies and then Tuesday we have interviews and then we are taking off for the long flights to get me back to America!

Well, I've had a lot of time to think about my time here in Madagascar and I've had plenty of times to give goodbye testimonies. I have learned a lot on my mission. Random life skills, a new language, how to get rid of bed bugs, etc. I've seen that families that are centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ see success and have peace in the home. I have had many confirmations that the Book of Mormon is true. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God and that he saw Him and His son Jesus Christ. I learned that scriptures have to be read and actually can be applied to real life circumstances. I know and am a part of the true church that was restored on the earth today. However, all of these things that I know to be true emphasize the strongest point of my testimony. That Christ Lives. A true, perfect, resurrected being with an almighty love for all mankind. He knows all of us one by one....and that is my testimony. 

I look forward to seeing everyone coming up here! I'll get in on Thursday in the evening Fresno Airport 4:45 pm. See you all then! Mandra-pihaona!

Elder Bowen

                                               Bishop Oliviera and his wife and daughter

                                  Elder Nelson, Elder Heo, Elder Passey are some in this picture

                                                                Best Fried chicken!!!

 

WEEK 101 herinandro 6

Well another great week in PARADISE! So I have started saying my goodbys to everyone which has been pretty sad. Unlike past areas I actually know for a fact that I'm leaving haha, so I can get a goodbye in to everyone. We have had the normal schedule with a picture at the end of them. My plans are to fly up to Tana on Thursday where I'll be on splits with Elder Nelson. We don't have a set area so we are going to go around Tana and visit members for a couple of days and probably go on a couple of splits with Elders. Then the next Wednesday, I get on the plane to take me home to America. Flight plans from there are pretty crazy; Tana(Madagascar) to Johannesburg(Africa), Johannesburg to Atlanta(United States). Atlanta to Salt Lake. Salt Lake to Fresno. I think it's a total of 25 or 26 hours of flying! So we have that to look forward to. But, until then, we are still rockin it here in Paradise. We had a baptism this week. Two people got baptized and everything went great!

So then we had a big meeting with our dmb(District Mission Branch) and all the branch missionaries and it was great, haha. They are all so pumped for their callings and they know that we have a lot of work and they are all willing to help out the missionaries. Then at the end of all that they gave me the floor to give my dying speech to them all. Then we took a dope picture as you will see, haha. Well it is sad that I'm leaving but heading onto bigger and better things. I had my last Sunday here so I feel like I have already said goodbye to everyone and now I'm just waiting to leave, hahaha.

My favorite lesson of the week was yesterday. We went to teach this recent convert family and they had a friend that is kind of visiting here. We taught her last week and she was the one asking all the questions whether God answers prayers or not, and stuff. She came to church! We went and taught them again and we gave her a Book of Mormon. She accepted it and eventually committed to reading it and praying about it. Now the cool part was that the recent convert family is still learning and, they were also helping us teach so it was a really good time. They had very interesting ideas on how the devil answers prayers but we will leave that story to another time. 

Well I'll probably shoot another email out next week to warn you all of the coming of Elder Bowen. But for now, I'm loving my last days in Paradise. Usually when I tell people I'm leaving, I tell them I'm going to America. I am going home but I am also leaving my home. I love Madagascar. It is my home away from home. 

Enjoy the pics! Also we went to a huge waterfall last week so here are some pics from that!