7/28/14 - Photo from Oxford, MA

This is part of my District. There are two other sisters but they are taking the picture, and only took one! And it was one where we are all talking or are in the middle of doing something so we all look goofy! lol. But the one with the red tie is Elder Davey, he is awesome and is an amazing piano player. The one next to him what has brown skin and a purple tie, that is Elder Rivera. He is a Mexican with an English accent. SO COOL. He is the bomb.com and makes everyone feel included. He is getting transferred though, which is sad. Elder Pope is the one in the grey suit next to my companion and I. He is the nicest guy I have ever met, and has the guiltiest conscience EVER. It is so funny. He apologizes for everything, it cracks me up. He is a good kid. Elder Trujillo is the one sitting on the ground. He is such an awkward guy, which makes me just love him. He is hilarious, and I am sad to see him be transferred. Then the other two sisters are behind the camera. I will miss having this district, and am not too excited to start over in making friends. But I am glad that Elder Pope, and Elder Davey are staying. Plus my companion and I and one of the other sisters. 

7/28/14 - Email from Oxford, MA

Sister Boldt is STILL my companion, and I cannot tell you how grateful I am for that! I love her. She is the best, and I am always learning so much from her. She says she is learning a lot from me, but I feel like I never do anything so I don't know what she is talking about.

Zone P-day was SUPER fun :) We went out to this big field and had a glorious time! There is this super long trail that we walked up to go to the campfire area and we made Kabob's and played games up there. After we ate, we went to this swamp area and played an interesting game that me and a couple of others (including elders) refused to play. But it was super fun to watch. So what we did was you had to climb down into this swamp, that was more mud than anything. But it was disgusting. And there were two crates that the elders placed down there. The goal was to stand on one of the crates, and another person stood on a crate across from you. Then you played tug of war and tried to pull the other person in the mud while balancing on the crate at the same time. It was really funny to watch some of the elders get pretty muddy.

Afterwards we went back out to the field and we all played some soccer and threw around a Frisbee at the same time, so there were two games going on at once, which was super fun :) Plus, the elders were going around spraying everyone with silly string, so that was fun as well. I am so grateful for my district leader, Elder Trujillo. He always makes sure that I am included in the activities - so I am very sad that the elder that I am good friends with is being transferred. But he has been here for 5 transfers so everyone knew he was leaving the area. But it is still sad. After all of that, we played a game where you tossed eggs at your companion and had to catch them without letting them crack. WELL. I can tell you now that I smelled really bad of eggs all day long, and went to an appointment afterwards in my church clothes, still smelling like bad eggs. Sister Boldt and I tossed three eggs......and all three splattered on me. So after the third time, I started throwing the eggs that were all over me at the Elders. They thought that me being splattered in eggs was the funniest thing..... SOOOOOO, I might have possible started an egg fight with the elders... hahahaha!!!! It was super fun though!

We also went to a zone conference, and that meeting lasted ALL DAY. But it was fun to hang out with some of the missionaries that I knew in the MTC. After zone conference though, Sister Boldt and I went to dinner with a bunch of Elders. They wanted to go to subway. Well let me tell you something, as a missionary, we eat subway TOO MUCH. I am kind of sick of it! We had had it twice the week before, and then that made it a third time. We eat subway at least once a week. The reason why, is because every Friday we have District meetings, which are far away from home for all of us, so we just eat subway together every Friday. It is kind of sad. But oh well. ANYWAYS, we went to the mall to get some Subway after zone conference, and it was really weird because we were just a group of missionaries in the mall. And the mall for a missionary, is like sin city. That is what it feels like. It is weird. You don't notice certain things in life until your a missionary, and then you are all weirded out by all these worldly things that people do or that occur in our generation. But anyways, it was really fun :)

Hmmmm, what else did we do this week? I don't remember! AAAGGGHHH!!!

Oh I know. So in our mission we have started this new thing for recent converts. Once a month, there is a Recent Convert Baptismal Day, which is when if you have a recent convert you take them to the temple so that they can participate in baptisms for the dead. It is a wonderful experience :) I was able to see Elder Perkes there! He is one of the missionaries I served with in the MTC. He is a greenie just like me, and his trainer is getting transferred. CRAZY! Especially since you are supposed to have your trainer for at least two transfers. It is fun being a missionary and going to the temple. I just love it so much! It is a completely different experience than just being a regular Joe like the rest of the world.

We taught [one of our investigators] this week. Things in his family life just aren't going well. So before we went to teach him, we decided to talk about trials. WELL, when we got there, he pretty much told us that Satan was working so hard against him and that he just had to stay strong and keep having faith in God. In the middle of our lesson he was SO FUNNY. He always gets so excited when we teach him. He literally stood up and said loufly, "Man! I love being a Mormon!" It was SO hilarious. Of course, we are going to remind him that he still has to be baptized to officially be a member, but it was still funny. However, we think that he might have some Word of Wisdom problems.... possibly with smoking. So we are going to talk about that next time we go over this week. I wish you could experience it with me as I watch all of these people grow so much. I love it.

All trials are there for our benefit. I have learned something about trials. Everyone says that Heavenly Father will never give you something that you can't handle. Well, I think that is a false statement. I think that He DOES give us things we can't handle so that we can learn to rely on Him. He is the reason our burdens are made light, so why wouldn't He want us to fully put our faith in Him? And He does it out of love too. There is always something to learn from a trial. And I think that although trials are hard, that we should start looking at them differently. I think we should look at them with a positive outlook rather than negative. Like I said, Heavenly Father gives us trials because He trusts us enough to go through them and learn and grow from them. I think that is a blessing in of itself.

I hope you have a splendid week!!!!

Email from Oxford, MA

Okay. So let me just start out with telling you what it feels like to truly be a missionary. Your days feel like weeks and your weeks feel like days. I don't even know what happened during which day this week. It just feels like one big blur, and let me tell you, Sister Boldt and I are SO TIRED. I feel like I am going to collapse at any minute.

I have found out what my mission is for. It is for two reasons. One - so that I can help my companions, because I know that I will have a great influence over them. Heavenly Father has told me several times. And also, I was going over the notes from when I was being set apart as a missionary, and in that blessing it told me that I was going to be a great influence for those who come from broken homes, and I will have a huge effect on them and their families, because through me, they will know the importance of eternal families. So that is my mission. I am her for my companion, the youth/children, and families. I don't know how I am going to do all that Heavenly Father wants me to, but I have already agreed to do whatever He asks me. Even if it is the last thing I ever want to do.

Exchanges went SO GOOD. I was able to do more than I realized, and although it made me exhausted beyond belief, I am glad that I was able to experience it. Sister Patterson was my companion for the day, and she is incredibly nice! I could have spent another day with her.

So on Wednesday, (I think it was Wednesday? I don't remember.....) Sister Boldt and I had to go to a meeting called Return and Report. It is for all of the new missionaries and their trainers to attend. Basically we have a lesson from President, and the AP's. Then our trainers leave the room and we ask any questions we want. Her and I are extremely blessed. While everyone was complaining, I had nothing to complain about or ask questions about. She said all of the trainers in the other room were asking questions about how to make their companionships better, and Sister Boldt said she had no complaints of questions about me either. We are lucky. I was able to see Sister Watts, my first companion from the MTC. She was SO happy to see me! She is one of the best missionaries around, and one of my best friends.

After the meeting we all went and did a session at the temple. It was SO AMAZING. The Boston temple is beautiful. I loved it. It was so amazing to go and do a session with only missionaries. I wish you could have experienced it with me. It was the coolest thing, and it was the strongest spirit I have ever felt when we all went to the Celestial room.

OH! and guess what happened when we were driving on the way to the meeting. Sister Boldt missed the entrance to the church, so instead of turning around on the highway and being late, she parked in the temple parking lot. Well, once we got out of the car, it started to drizzle. Sister Boldt looked at me and all she said was "oh no, RUN!" and she took off running to the church on this tiny little path that curved every which way! It literally POURED on us. And we were running in PENCIL SKIRTS. It was HORRIBLE. We got the chapel and got to a door only to find out it was locked, so we had to run all the way to the other side of the building. It was so embarrassing when we walked in because we were soaked. Everyone just looked at us and asked, "Is it raining outside?" Sister Boldt and I looked at each other and then looked at them like "really, are you REALLY asking that question?!" Because we were drenched.

Saturday, was also amazing! So long story short, Sister Boldt taught a family up in the New Hemisphere (I think she means New Hampshire?) area, and they were completely inactive. Saturday, we were both able to attend their family getting sealed in the temple. It was so beautiful. I have never been to a sealing before (obviously) but it was truly and amazing experience and it just gave me a stronger testimony of me wanting to get married in the temple. They had five little children, and one on the way. It was amazing to see all of them kneel across the alter. It was truly and amazing day.

Yesterday, I was able to help teach the lesson this time in the missionary class at church. Last time I didn't talk at all, and this time Sister Boldt said I did much better. She said that when I was bearing my testimony about something that one of the woman was almost in tears. I didn't even notice. I don't even remember ANYTHING that I said. But I am glad that I was apparently able to touch someone's heart. I thought that I was just blabbering on and on. But apparently I did a splendid job. We get asked to teach class a lot on the fly. It is scary for me. But I just follow whatever Sister Boldt does and wing it with her. It is always an interesting time.

OH! I remember another thing we did this week. We attended a funeral. That was rather sad. But it was a lovely service and everyone was glad that the old guy finally went. He was in a lot of pain. Apparently his non member wife, who wanted nothing to do with the Mormon's wants to get baptized now. Miracles are everywhere in this mission, even when things are sad, people can see the Lord's hand in their lives. It is truly amazing. I love being a missionary :) Even though some days I am like "what the heck am I doing out here in Massachusetts, all the way in the middle of no where?" But I know that I am being blessed.

Email with Photo from Oxford, MA

I am doing just grand this week. I am exhausted  as usual, but am doing grand. Sister Boldt has been sick a lot this week, so I have been taking care of her. We didn't even leave the apartmentSaturday because she had a fever on and off. So I made her sleep and have been nursing my TRAINER back to health! We have been taking turns getting sick. She let me sleep in until TEN O'CLOCK today! That little booger. She went and cleaned almost the whole apartment, WHILE SHE IS STILL SICK. I mean, I am grateful for the sleep, and I am still feeling really tired, but she told me that she felt like she was going to throw up and she was STILL CLEANING THE APARTMENT.   My companion. Sheesh. haha.

My days are all starting to blur together. I feel like Sundays are like... every other day! But I guess that is a good thing because it means we are keeping busy! Hmm.. what else? OH! I drove for the first time yesterday on New England roads! But only because Sister Boldt was sick and needed me to finish driving home. My poor companion :( But if you haven't seen New England roads, then you don't know the meaning of scary driving. The roads look like there is only enough room for one car, but somehow two cars fit down it. So driving was a fun adventure! I kept us all alive :D haha

Tomorrow we are doing exchanges, which is when you switch companions for a day. So tonight we are going to switch with the Sister Training Leaders in our zone. Apparently the Sister Training Leaders call and ask the District Leaders about any concerns they have about Sister Boldt and I, or any suggestions they have for us. Apparently Elder Trujillo told them that I needed to stay here in Oxford, and my companion would go somewhere else for the day. Do you know what that means? Two things. One, I am going to be in charge for the day which is SO scary because I feel like I don't know how to do ANYTHING still!!! And second, the fact that my District leader felt prompted to tell them that I need to stay here means that he is making sure that I am getting hardcore training. Elder Trujillo has been pushing me way past my comfort zone since I got here, and has been making me do things that greenies DO NOT normally do. For example, staying here and being in charge for during exchanges. And also, he made me give a training to our District ALL BY MYSELF. Greenies never, or rarely give trainings, so he is training me HARDCORE. Between him and my companion, I am learning a lot. But it is still scary to be a leader..... especially since I have only been here for four weeks starting yesterday.

The storms have been interesting. I love watching the lightening, but the thunder is scary. One set of our elders saw a lightening bolt touch down several feet in front of them when they were driving. But they were uninjured, and said it was wicked cool. So the tropical storms here are always an adventure.

Our youth had an awesome time at youth conference. They visited all the church historical sights and did indeed attend the pageant. They also went and did baptisms at one of the temples there. They slept in tents so that they could have two solid days to get to do everything. They had a blast. They rode up in charter buses, and all of the youth wrote there testimony in two Book of Mormon's and gave them to each of their bus drivers which I thought was the coolest thing ever!

Roasting s'mores at a members house. They are foster parents so they have a lot of little kids who love us to pieces! They have a sweedish neice and nephew visiting who are visiting for the summer and are interested in the gospel. They are amazing kids, and I would do anything for them! 

Email from Oxford, MA

Sister Boldt and I were blessed the other night, because I received an answer to my prayer. I was asking Heavenly Father how we could get more involved with the youth, and when we went into a members home for dinner, she asked if Sister Boldt and I could teach Young Women's one Sunday! We gladly accepted. Although it is far down the road, we are patiently waiting to get to know all of these youth. The youth are the key in this ward to get members going. Unfourtunatley, there are a lot of instances that have involved people getting very offended from many different people, or their testimonies are not strong - so we cannot be bold with them. We can, however, be bold with the youth. So that is where I am going to try and start digging for those golden testimonies that they don't realize that they can have.

(Sister Bower answered some questions sent from home:)

How many investigators do you have in your Teaching Pool?

-- We have nine! But I have only taught one so far. Everyone is either out of town or is unavailable.

Are you serving in just one Ward or are you covering multiple Wards?

We are only in one ward. The Oxford ward.

What is your companion's favorite snack?  Does she like chocolate?  If so, what kind?

Her favorite snack is Fiery Hot Cheetos. She has a cheeto addiction, and has gotten me addicted to plain old cheesy Cheetos. What a punk. She LOVES chocolate. She will eat all kinds she says, but she really likes the Symhony bars....... and she is currently listing off all of the chocolates she loves..... which is like... every kind imaginable. She cracks me up!

Is your mission utilizing FaceBook and tablets?

No we are not! They keep saying we will get them soon, but who knows when that will be? Probably not for a very long time still to come.

What doctrine are you studying right now?

I am currently not studying anything specific. Instead I am delving into the Book of Mormon like I never have before. I crave reading the Book. I currently just finished Alma 48 this morning. I read a chapter each morning - and basically what I do is write down things that stood out to me IN my Book of Mormon. Things about the story line, characteristics about the people and leaders, etc. I have found that I never really knew what was going on in all of these "War Chapters" and now they are probably my favorite!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Book of Alma, and I want to be Captain Moroni's bestest friend because he is the coolest man EVER!!!! I have fallen in love with the Book of Mormon, and I can't even describe how much I love reading it. Study time should be longer than an hour each day!!!

I love you and miss you so much! But if we are being honest here, you probably miss me more than I miss you guys.... is that bad to say? I just love being a missionary so much, and the work keeps me busy so I don't really have time to miss anyone. It is kind of a blessing. But you are in my prayers every morning and night!!!

Love Sister Emma Bower