A poor lost orphan in Metan, Salta

Who's the poor lost orphan you might ask? Obvio... me!

My mama of the mission dropped me off at the terminal in Santiago with my suitcases in hand and I climbed on the bus... alone! Ah!

Not only was I alone but the whole bus was full of water. The tvs were dripping water on the seats, the floors were soaked.... For four hours, I sat in and breathed in who knows what..

And I arrived in SALTA!!! My stepmom was waiting for me! Hermana Ramos, of Lima Peru... Naturally she is half my size. Smaller than my last comp and knows even less English than my last comp. hahaha I got there and guess what..... I don't have anything. All of my suitcases were robbed... yay.... Hm.... I have one actually that's filled with some dirty clothes, my scriptures (thank goodness), and just really random stuff. hahahahaha ANd yet, I don't feel sad.

My new comp told me... "You're awfully happy for someone that just lost everything...." Flashback to Senior year when our house flooded. I don't know... Im sad and whoever took my suitcases... Well... we better not meet on the streets, missionary or not. -_- But I know that everything will work out. I haven't the slightest idea of how, but I know it will! :D Prayers for all my clothes and stuff would be awesome... hahaha This life is weird.

But anyways this past Saturday we had another baptism. MARIA DE LOS ANGELES ACEBEDO. I love her so much!! When I found out I was leaving Cabildo I texted her and she called me and bore her testimony! My little heart!! Aw!!! But literally, I did absolutely nothing. The Lord prepared her. She was ready, and we were just put in her path. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. Crazy things happen that you just want to strangle someone like the suitcases... but I know that this is the Lord's work and it's where he wants me.

I was really sad to leave Cabildo. The members were calling and texting me goodbye and kept

asking if I was crying yet... jerks. I wasn't before you asked! hahaha But its something so amazing and so hard about the mission. You can't take people with you. One of the members, Oscar..

 He's like my best friend! AW He told me he was going to go to the terminal at six in the morning to say goodbye. I talked him off that ledge. Nobody should be awake that early! hahaha 

So my heart is full, but Im so sooo happy! I wouldn't change the hard times here because I get to know such amazing people! I know God loves me and that he loves his children so much! That's why he always sends people to us when we most need help. He sent Christ, he sends missionaries, he sends friends.

There are angels among us doing God's work!

Thank you for your testimonies and your love. Im sure more crazy stuff will happen to me this week that I can write about next Monday. hahahaha

Weird things follow me!!!

I love you all so much!!!
Yesterday it was 125 degree in Santiago, I'm escaping the infierno today in Metan!

No longer sweating in Santiago, but Missing My Maletas (suitcases) in Metan!

Love

Hermana Bower

Goodbye to Emilee!!

Live from Tucuman...

Live from Tucuman... where the heat is less but the humidity is higher. 

Please save me.... hahahaha

I fled my companion and went to Tucuman to work on more Visa stuff. Tis' the mish life. But everytime we have to travel we call it a vacation. hahaha so sad but true! I have sooooo many awesome pics to share with you guys but because I'm in Tucuman... AH!! Next week!! 

This is the last week with my comp! Woah... time flie so fast! This Saturday, the 23rd, I'll have been in my mission for 4 MONTHS!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?!?! That's longer than Ukraine!! My oh my... my life is different! 

This week was crazy!! As always hahaha but the streets were flooded because of rain, it was 110 degrees, learned how to cook Dulce De Leche, and we baptized my 2 favorite little chickas. They are awesome sauce and it was so evident that Satan really didnt want these girls baptized... Seriously! We taught the little girls about the Word of Wisdom.. to which their mom who is a member didnt know about... sometimes I wonder what missionaries teach their investigators. You got to teach it ALL! Gosh... but anyways... Their mom didn't know.. but their grandma knows. She literally knows it all but doesnt want to teach them because then they know that shes not living what she claims to believe. People make me so mad! But whateves... the next night we came back and the girls were like, "Abuela is drinking tea in the other room... Can we tell her about the Word of Wisdom?" Uh.... I didnt say yes or no but the nine yr old ran into the other room and i just started to die laughing trying to hide in my Book of Mormon as that little girl just preached it to her grandma.

"Abuela we dont drink tea because its bad for our bodies and its a commandment of God. And he wants us to be happy and live for a long time. And this body of ours we have because God is nice and amazing and we need to take care of it. Abuela, it's the Word of Wisdom. Our bodies are Temples." 

I have never laughed so stinking hard. You preach it girl... You help your family live what they know is true. hahahahaha

But their baptism.... Wow... a true miracle. The last baptism in this ward was over a year ago and apparently it wasn't in our baptismal font. That hasn't been cleaned in almost two years. We opened it up and... Cockroaches galore, scorpions, and a inch of water that was just green. The blue tiles, not blue anymore. NASTINESS!!

We tried to clean it....

Okay I don't have time to explain the craziness but essentially the day of the baptism it wasn't clean because missionaries don't have time ever and the members that said they would do it.. nope. So day of... yikes. And so through our amazing but very poor bishop who doesn't live in our area, had to spend money to come clean it.. hes an angel. And then about two hours into filling the font... NO MORE WATER! There was no more water in the church. NOpe... About three feet of water. Yeah... not enough. And then when the baptism was about to start. We didn't have priesthood. Only one guy who was going to baptize them but no more. AHHH!!! The elders almost came... They were on their way but they also had two baptisms that night... Anyways Satan tried really hard but those little girls were baptized in three feet of water and it all worked out. Not sure how but... whew!! Im so grateful! I love kids. They have no fear and they love God with all they have... Such a testimony builder this week hearing those little girls share Gods love. THey had a friend in our lessons too that they invited. If kids can do it, we can. These girls called their grandma to repentance, have courage!! We are to become as little children before the Lord.
I have a strong testimony of this work, of the happiness it brings in peoples lives. All I'm doing is teaching people about God, and how he loves them so much, it's up to the investigators and God to do the rest. But I'm so grateful for this opportunity to sweat and preach... hahaha I'm so very grateful and I love you all so very much.

My challenge to you... Share the gospel this week to one person. Just let them know how much God loves them because he does. Have the strength of the prophets in the Book of Mormon, but more importantly have the courage of a nine year old and a eleven year old girl to get baptized and help their older siblings, to help their family. I love the gospel so much. I KNOW God's with us. He's always with us, holding our hands, and at times holding us, waiting for the day we come back to him. I can't wait for that day when I can stand before him, having done all I could do for his children.

I love you MUCHO!!!

ANd I love Dulce De Leche!!

And I hate the sun..

Peace, love, and bananas...

Hermana Bower

Guess who goes home next week?  Emilee!!  Back to the 'Couv.

To the Fam:

Okay so I didn't get a chance to respond to your emails.. because I didn't get a chance to read your emails but Im reading them on the bus ride back and Ill respond soon!! Darn you Tucuman!!! Ahhh Ive got a loooooooooong bus ride back. JK it's only 2 and a half hours... not bad!! I love you guys lots though and thank you for the emails every week!!! you'd da best!!! 

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

And mom, i did read your question, i was in the church yes... but im also in argentina... sketch fest everyday... snake fest everyday... bring it on!!!! I love you guys!!!! Go out and kill it!! Talk soon!! Next monday I might be in a different area with a new companion! CRAZY! TIme is so fast here!!
MUCHO AMOR
KOBE 

Crema de Cielo

All I can say in this moment is... ehhhhh ahhhh please help!!! 

There is a snake right next to me... Snakes here are seriously of the devil. They're are scaly monsters here... and theres one by my foot. Well... it was by my foot... but I lost track of it!!! Ahhh I AM NOT OKAY!! Where did it go?! ah okay... I'm done... just know that if you never get this email it's because some stupid snake made me its lunch. ahhhh ha ahhh no.... Mind you... Im in the church building... insert crying face!

Okay... freak out moment over. Unless I find it again....

 One of my fave families!! They left for vacation for two months... but the girl in black is our investigator. Candela. This is familia Gramajo.... LOVE THEM!! awwwww

We were teaching a lesson this week to one of our investigators son. He's 30 years old and his mom was on vacation. So we were teaching him and he just said,

"Wait... that's not the Bible? Why hasn't anyone said anything about this before?!" hahahah His mom and his girlfriend have a Book of Mormon and his mom has a baptism date... Come on Jorge! hahahaha he's never in lessons. He's always there to socialize and then too busy to listen for a lesson! So SUCCESS! hahahah Gosh....He said that of course he'll read the Book of Mormon and he was going on and on and asking questions. It was so good, but so hilarious.

two pesos

Also a member in our ward, Marita. She asked me...."I've seen this is movies alot... What IS in the punch?" I don't even know if that's funny to anyone... but I died. Out of the blue... Whats in the punch? I told her: "Don't drink the punch Marita...?" hahah I love people here... so much!!

This is one of my investigators drawings...
wow huh...
 she gets baptized this Saturday!!
Shes so cute!
​

We were with one family and the hermano caught this GIANT FROG and was like do you want to hold it... eh why not? And the hermana was mumbling on and on about how if it came towards her she would kill it and me.... hahaha so what happens... it jumps from my hands towards her. hahahahahahah I cannot stop laughing about it. My companion flinched but this lady, she dove out of her lawn chair with pure terror.... I almost lost the frog again because I was laughing so hard. The hermano told me that in the United States, we lick the back of frogs to get high.... hahah I didn't know why did that... I learn something new about my life everyday. hahah so stay in school kids and stop licking frogs. He also told me to kiss the frog to find my prince... hahahahaha no. Not for a year and a half buddy. hahahah 

This week has been hilarious and random... and I hope my life continues on like this. Hilarious, random, yet spiritual. 

One thing I've learned this week is... Everyone talks of Christ like love and how that's important and how Christ loved everyone... and I've been striving towards this. But also... Having Christ like love is not just ignoring the bad things people do but loving them enough to help them. Christ was strong. He knew he was and where he was going... literally. And he loved everyone but he was also firm. There's no space for weak testimonies. This world is too crazy. Christ's foundation in God, and our foundation is in Christ. This week I've been learning so much about our brother Christ and how he really is the perfect example. I love him so much and I know he loves me. I've been trying to find the balance between love and strength and finding strength in my love for others. I don't know if this email even makes sense... my brain is kind of all over, but I know that Christ died for us and he lives for us. And this week, this month has been a trial of love and righteousness. Loving someone enough to bring them back to the right path. Jesus carved the path for us, all we need to do is walk as and where he walked. And lead his sheep down this path. Hold someones hand as you strive to do good.

I love you all mucho!!!

The sun is threatening my cute factor!!! 
But I got asked to be married today again.. 
so... I must be a'ight.   hahahaha

Hope you're all enjoying the new year!!! 

Thank you for all the emails and letters!!! I LOVE hearing your testimonies and your lives, and all the craziness that is Vancouver!! hahahah

Love and llamas

Hermana Bower