Chaos...but the good kind - Dec. 23, 2024
Buen día a todos!
Hope everyone is doing great and getting excited for Christmas! Still can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that Christmas is in 2 days, but we celebrate either way!
These past two weeks have been pretty packed and tiring, but still so awesome! We had transfers last week and I am staying here in Trujui for my 4th transfer, another 7 weeks, finishing out the training of Elder Jones, and being district leader! Can't even lie, I was quite surprised as I thought I was moving, but I am very excited for these next handful of weeks here and to put in my all here in Trujui!!
(Nice pic)
Bueno, lots of events, so to keep it reasonable I'll do some bullet points.
• Got stopped by a guy who had just got his leg blown to bits a few months ago in a gun fight. He was quite odd but could speak a little English so we were intrigued... gave him a card to come to church, but he said he only believes in himself so that's that.
• Had zone conference all the way in Ramos Mejia. After the conference, a bunch of us missionaries decided to take the train together... bad idea. Each train would come by completely packed to the brim. We ended up waiting 2 hours, after which we finally found some space to squeeze all 20 of us missionaries in. Quite the interesting ride, but hey we did give someone a book of mormon!!
• OK, bueno, can't lie, when I got the transfer news I wasn't 100% ready for it. We had just dropped lots of friends and were getting to the end of the cycle and I was not looking forward to restarting. I had a bad mindset!!! However... this week me and Elder Jones decided to put our heads down and go to work! Nothing crazy, but we were able to be better than the circumstances and work to get Trujui poppin again! We were able to find 17, put 8 people on date for baptism, and had 5 friends come to church! Nothing absolutely crazy, but from going to not much success in the last 2 weeks to this week, it was a great confidence booster! Just goes to show... never count the hand of The Lord out, even in the 4th quarter (Or 4th transfer). Excited to see what we can do in the following weeks!
(Found a pretty part of our Area
)• Got a craaazy blood nose hahah. Not sure why, but it started bleeding profusely for a good 30min-1hr. At one point I thought it had stopped so we went out to catch the bus, and of course the moment I get the the bus stop it starts pouring blood! Luckily there happened to be a member of the church at the stop from a different ward and she gave me every tissue in her purse. 
very nice lady. I am glad to say, it eventually stopped and I am still alive...
very nice lady. I am glad to say, it eventually stopped and I am still alive...• Had Intercambios (Exchanges) with the zone leaders! They are insane (In a good way). They had 8 baptisms just this week, and me being the district leader means I got to do 8 baptismal interviews my very first week haha! During the Intercambio we ate lunch with the stake patriarch who lived in their area of Marilo. We were eating some nice chicken and salad when the largest dog I have literally ever seen, takes down the fence and comes running in. Luckily it was their dog, and chill. His name is OSO (Bear) because he quite literally is the size of a black bear. Nuts. Everytime they tried to put the dog in the gate it would just knock it down!! (Don't have a Pic sadly)
• Had the Christmas conference in Ramos Mejia with the whole mission!! Was pretty fun to see everyone and do a little white elephant gift Exchange. I gave away a cool funcioning train, and got a mug that says "Papà mi Heroe Sos Vos" 
• 2 Elders in my district got robbed this week so that's fun
• Had a great lesson with a small family, Carina y Derek!! Carina is on baptismal date now for 5 de enero. Super excited for them! On our way to the lesson, there literally was a full on dragonfly invasión! Crazy (Vid in Google Photos)
(Derek!!!)
• Last but not least, Sunday night we were all the way up in the highest part of our area teaching a lesson. We finished and went to catch the bus but had no money. Sooo, we had to run/walk a good 2-3 miles! Elder Jones is a lineman for football so was not too thrilled but we made it on one piece haha!!
Sorry for quite the long email, but to finish out I'll leave ya with a great quote!
(This one is for my friend Bruce-Its related to airplanes!!)
"God will do something unimaginable" - Dieter F. Utchdorf
"Our best days are ahead of us, not behind us. This is why God gives us modern revelation! Without it, life might feel like flying in a holding pattern, waiting for the fog to lift so we can land safely. The Lord’s purposes for us are much higher than that. Because this is the Church of the living Christ, and because He directs His prophets, we are moving forward and upward to places we’ve never been, to heights we can hardly imagine!
Now, this does not mean we won’t experience turbulence in our flight through mortality. It doesn’t mean there won’t be unexpected instrument failures, mechanical malfunctions, or serious weather challenges. In fact, things might get worse before they get better. As a fighter pilot and airline captain, I learned that while I could not choose the adversity I would encounter during a flight, I could choose how I prepared and how I reacted. What is needed during times of crisis is calm and clear-headed trust.
How do we do this?
We face the facts and return to the fundamentals, to the basic gospel principles, to what matters most. You strengthen your private religious behavior—like prayer and scripture study and keeping God’s commandments. You make the decisions based on best proven practices.
Focus on the things you can do and not on the things you cannot do.
You muster your faith. And you listen for the guiding word of the Lord and His prophet to lead you to safety.
☆Remember, this is the Church of Jesus Christ—He is at the helm."☆
Thank you all for all the emails, I love to get them!! Working on responding right now. Have an amazing Christmas and don't celebrate too hard without me, I'll be home before ya know it...
Until the Next...
Elder Bowcutt
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