Photos from Oxford, MA

Email from Oxford, MA

My week was splendid. Although, I am exhausted in all ways possible, I am standing strong. Missionary work is hard because you are exerting yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, AND spiritually. Hence the reason for me being tired and having headaches a lot. Apparently, missionaries always get sick the first or second week they are in the field. It hasn't happened yet, so let's just pray that it doesn't happen at all! My dinners have all been rather good so far. I am eating veggies like a pro. Even though I hate them. 

It has been VERY HUMID HERE! You Washington people have no idea. Uuugh. However, my hair has been doing VERY well. The Lord has blessed my hair. BAHAHAHA. It is weird to say, but he has. AND the humidity allows me to wear my hair curly. That's right ladies and gentlemen. You heard me right. After years of straightening my hair, I sometimes wear it curly here. I expect many applause and flowers and treats. HAHAHA, jk. I think I look weird with curly hair. I think it is because the last time I wore my hair curly it was long. Plus, it doesn't have much volume on top, like it does when I straighten it. BUT, the point is that I HAVE been wearing it curly. Let it be known to the whole world. I'm hoping that by wearing it curly that it will grow. I JUST WANT LONG HAIR AGAIN :(

A Bubbler is a water fountain/drinking fountain. If you say water fountain, nobody here will know what you are talking about. A Rotary is a round-a-bout. A Grinder means Sandwich. And Malt is a milkshake. 

I saw Emily Rogers at the MTC. She seemed like she was doing really well! She seemed excited to do the work, and seemed to have some good friends down there from what it looked like. So you can tell Sister Rogers that if you ever run into her.

Let's see what else?  Many people in the ward, and all over Massachusetts have had bad experiences with missionaries in the past. Many less actives have been offended deeply and if we were to be bold with them and tell them how it is, it would just make things worse. There are not many youth, and the ones that we have are not very active. The primary kids are, but the youth are not. The parents don't force their children to go to church. A lot of it is because a lot of the members are converts and don't want to push their children. I wish I could just be so blunt with people, but I can't! It is hard. 

A lot of our work is focusing on the less actives and nonmembers though. We are trying to build a really good trust with them.  Sister Boldt and I are trying to come up with ways that we can get involved with the youth. We believe that if we can influence the youth and children in the ward that it will make a huge difference. The problem is that a lot of the youth have youth conference and girls camp and all kinds of things. 

The people are just so different here, and I pray that I can somehow make a difference and open peoples eyes to the reality that the gospel brings. It breaks my heart to see so many people not living the gospel how they should be. I just want to convert EVERYONE, UGH!

Plus, I haven't even met any of our investigators yet. They keep canceling or not showing up to appointments. So I haven't taught a single lesson and my teaching skills are just itching to come out and preach the gospel to people! Hopefully we will be able to bless somebodies life sooner or later. It is just hard to be patient.

Anyways.... that was my rant. I feel better now.

Pray for me! I'm always praying for each one of you :)

Love Always,

Sister Emmie Bower :)

Email sent from Oxford, MA

Greetings from Oxford, Massachusetts :D 

A little town out in the boonies. Everything is SUPER spread out. But it is SO beautiful here in New England. Every house we pass by, I feel like Mr. Darcy or somebody from that time is going to walk out the front door!

We live in a kind of crummy little apartment where the neighbors are nice - all except one. But its okay. Life goes on. Everything is good.

My new companions name is Sister Boldt. Pronounced Bolt, like a lightning bolt. The "D" is silent. She is really nice and I couldn't have asked for a better trainer! She rocks.

​We don't proselyte that much. Actual I haven't even knocked doors yet. The people of New England are very different here. Statistics show that going door to door is really not effective in New England. So we focus A LOT on ward members and less actives.  We have a fabulous Bishop. We had dinner at their house last night and they  are pretty awesome people. I love them! They have a gorgeous house! 

President Packard is SUPER nice. He is the mission president. Him and his wife are so funny, and they like to TALK. It is something that you really have to get used to. And President Packard is a Texan so they ALWAYS had a ton of good food. DELISH! He says he is our father first and president second or something like that. He is a pretty neat guy. He is a pretty inspired guy too, he can receive revelation like a rock star. Well, rock star probably isn't the right term to be using.... like a ROCKIN APOSTLE. lolol. But really though. You'd love the Packards. 

Hmmmm.... there are a lot of weird names for things down here. I will give you some names, and you have to try and guess what they are and I will tell you if you are right in my next email.

1.) Bubbler

2.) Rotary

3.) Grinder

4.) Malt

They also have this deliscous thing called a Fluffer Nutter. It is a Peanut Butter and Marshmellow fluff sandwich. It sounds super gross but it is THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. I AM ADDICTED. YOU HAVE TO TRY IT!!!!!!!! SOOO GOOD. It is a New England thing. But it should be introduced to the whole world. Because it is so tasty. Like heaven. I want one now..... mmmm..... so good..... You. Must. Try. It.

The elders in my District are awesome!  We only see them on District meetings one Fridays. Or on P-days when we decide we want to do something together. I think we are doing a picture scavenger hunt with them next p-day. It should be fun :)  Sister Boldt says I fit in perfectly with our little group. She receives a lot of revelation for me, which I admire a lot about her. She is very in tune with what the spirit has to say to her. I am striving to be like that. It is hard to recognize revelation. But I love the spirit that missionary work brings. It is absolutely splendid. I just hope I can make a big difference like Sister Boldt says I will make. She keeps telling me that I am going to be a legendary missionary and that everyone will want to be my companion when they get to know me. I don't believe her, but that's what she always tells me. She is the best. I don't know if I take that as revelation, but I do take it as revelation when she tells me I will have a big impact on certain families that we have met with. And I can feel it too. There are some families in this ward that just need me. Need us. Need us sister missionaries :)

There is probably a ton that I haven't told you, but I can't think of anything else right now! Although I am sorry to tell you that there are some words out here that you have to say with an accent or nobody knows what you are talking about. For example - Worcester. It is pronounced "Wusta" here. And my companion has it bad when it comes to her R's . I have to constantly remind her how to say words the RIGHT way. LOL. So if I come back with an accent - please don't kill me - because I won't be able to help it. My companion didn't even notice until I pointed it out to her. IM SORRY. I don't have an accent yet though :) I am still very much myself.

Photos

Email from the MTC

Note from the editor:  Our apologies that we haven't had any updates until now.  Just needed to work out some kinks.  We'll try to stay more up to date after this.  Thank you for your patience!  And now, here's Sister Bower...

From email dated June 9, 2014, sent from the MTC:

Hi Family and Friends!

I am doing absolutely wonderful :)  My companion's name is Sister Watts.  She is pretty much my BFF.  I love her, we are so much alike and when we teach, we literally finish each other's thoughts.  The spirit is so strong when we teach together.

I am loving the MTC.  I am in love with my teachers.  We do a lot of role plays in class, which I COULD NOT do at first.  I just had to laugh when we did them.  But now it is second nature almost.  Each of our teachers also role play as investigators, which you would think would be weird, but it is second nature to have them switch from teacher to investigator.  And let me tell you, you grow to love the investigator side of them even more every time you teach them.  Sister Reddish plays a Catholic, 21 year old woman, who wants to know more about the Mormon church because she has a lot of Mormon friends.  She is super hard to teach.  Her character, Jamie, doesn't really want to know if the Book of Mormon is true.  She just wants information so she can understand her friends a little better.  However, she IS willing to read the Book of Mormon, and has already started reading.  Sister Watts and I are going to teach the Plan of Salvation with her today.

Our other teacher, Brother Metcalf, plays a character named William.  I freaking LOVE William!!  He comes from a hard life, the only person who is really in his life is his mom, who lives far far away.  He used to be into drugs and has been to jail many times.  Plus he dropped out of high school so he is not an excellent reader - but he does extremely well when he reads from the Book of Mormon with us.  Sister Watts and I feel the spirit as soon as he hopes the door (to a classroom, but we are pretending it is his home).  I wish I could just hug William - too bad I am not allowed.  I have never felt the spirit so strong - only when I teach William.  I hope that it will be that way for my future investigators.  When I don't know how to continue my sentence or don't know what to say next - Sister Watts literally picks up where I left off.  And sometimes I feel the spirit tell me to tell William something, but Sister Watts beats me to it.  And she says the same thing about me.  We flow so wonderfully together.

I love the Elders in my District.  They are all nice and friendly.  Although I have to agree that the Elders are spiritual giants, and earthly idiots. ;)  It's just true.  It is weird to be older than them too.  They are all just out of high school - even though they look like college students.  They are the best though :)

I love you and miss you!  But not too much yet because I am loving serving the Lord :)

Keep me in your prayers and I will keep you in mine!

Love you all <3