Ciudad Fuego!!!‏

No changes yaaay :) I loooove Ciudad Colon. Sorry I haven’t really explained much about my area. So pretty much it is hotter than hot 11 to 4 and then after its perfecter than perfect. But I haven’t gotten sunburnt yet que dicha :)

Our area is huuuuuuuuuuuge and we hardly ever use the bus because our investigators are very close to the church. Half the roads are normal roads and the other half are roads like at the cabin. It’s very common to see 4 wheelers in the street. Its veeery green like lots of beautiful trees! Every night on my way home I get myself a mango from a tree. Just imagine eating a mango but like seven million times juicier and better in every way possible. There are also bananas that are huger than any fruit I have ever seen. They are called platano not sure its name in English. And literally taste like heaven. Breaks my heart they don’t exist in Utah.

The members here are incredible. They are always wanting to help the missionaries. Por hecho this week we are getting another set of elders. Ciudad fuego (city on fire) wooohoo. This morning we actually had to change our house. Which really is such a blessing. I know I will be able to feel the spirit more in the new house. We’ve only known the owner of our house for like 2 hours and I already know they will be a huge blessing to us. Can’t wait to see them in all white :) 

This week was good, because it’s another week serving a mission but bad because 3 baptisms fell through. My heart hurts thinking about it. Something I am learning is to first be a million steps ahead of Satan. Another thing I learned is that I need to have the gift of discernment in every moment. And not to just listen to what people say, but read what there are truly feeling. And know when someone is lying. Sounds like reading someone’s mind, and it pretty much is. 

This week we found two families that are absolutely adorable. We will see what their challenges are so we can get them started working toward baptism.

I lately have been given a gift of pairing people up :) Love Doctor uush. I’m currently in the process of lining up one of our investigators with an ex missionary in our ward. Her name is Carolina and she is an angel from heaven. I’ve never had an investigator sooo faithful to her commitments. I don’t know if I told you guys about her but we found her in the park one night and little did we know that like 7 years ago she had received the missionaries and was about to get baptized but got scared or something. But the cutest part of it all was that she started saving up her money to go on a mission. Can you believe that? So anyway she has a new date for her baptism the 16th of mayo!!

Uh oh no more time I love you all so much!!! Thanks for just being the best support team a missionary could ask for!! 

chao

Hermana Fowler

Uh oh I forgot what happened this week. Why does time go by waaay too fast? Make it stop!! Ciudad Colon is better than ever! I love it sooo much!! Right now we are working really hard to get the attendance up because President said that he would send another set of missionaries if we got it up! I HOPE SO!!! It’s sad because I literally don’t even know half of my area because its sooo big. And we have been focusing on a lot of people that live really close to the chapel. So extra help will be great!! We have been fasting a lot this week to know what our goal should be for this next month and I just feel so strongly that there is a family that is ready and waiting for us to find them. We`ll find them!!

This Sunday was one of the happiest days of my mission. I’ve been praying so hard to find more of the less active members because it’s so strange that we just had no idea who the less actives were but this week we found 5 families. And seeing them walk into the chapel just filled me with a happiness I can’t even describe.

Our recent converts are the best. Amalia cracks me up. Every night she calls to give us a new bottle of milk. She still doesn’t know I don’t drink milk. :/ But this week we had our lunch break with her and she told us that she was really upset with Roger and was going to kill him (not really obvi) anyway she is just the funniest ever. She said that the only reason why she married him was to go to the temple. Que bueno :) She understands the Plan of Salvation. No just kidding just she truly is someone really special. She right now is helping us find our golden family :)

Today we were able to have breakfast with President for making our goal last month. It was really great to see President.  I seriously look up to that man so much. It’s sad that he will be going home soon. But two missions uuussh :) Okay I’m out of time sorry this email wasn’t the best. I love you all!!! Siempre felices nunca satisfechos :) Dame este monte. Bautizar y retener

Hermana Fowler 

Cuidad Colon

Hi again :) This week was good we had some pretty interesting experiences. On Thursday we had a multi zone conference which was absolutely incredible. The zone leaders decided to send us a text message right before 10:30 saying that my companion and I will be doing a practice in front of everyone and that it must me powerful. Ahhh. Ya thank you for picking the weakest. But it turned out okay and I actually learned a lot from the practice and President was able to help me a loooot.

Hermana Mazariego and I

This week we had an interesting experience. So we were walking down the street and a little bit ahead of us I saw this girl fall to the ground and she was holding her stomach so we rushed over to help her out. Come to find out that she is a member but has been inactive for 20 years. She was drinking so she was a little off but was very honest. She told us that she saw us walking and started to laugh at us and then that’s when she got a pain in her stomach. Carma :/ I think Heavenly Father struck her down for a sec. no I’m just kidding but everything happens for a reason.

So we walked her home and she told us everything. I still can’t believe everything she has gone through in her life and I know that she will come back to church soon. That same night we were talking with one of our investigators and she was with a friend who happened to be the drunk lady’s daughter. What are the odds?? So we are working on teaching this family :) 

Two of our investigators have had a lot of challenges this week. Evenlin has been so willing to keep all of her commitments and is very prepared for her baptism. Sadly she had lots of problems with her family on Sunday and so now we have to postpone her baptism another week. She is separated from the father of her children but he still lives in the same house. So when we taught the Law of Chastity she quickly started to look for a new house. So we are praying really hard for her that everything will work out. But I know it will! 

So yesterday we were really low on numbers of new investigators we had found for the week so we were determined to find at least 3 more and we both remembered the Bishop talking about this lady who was his neighbor when he was growing up. So we called him and he told us mas o menos where it was. But directions here are horrible, so I really didn’t have a clue where to go. So we just started walking and I asked this one random house if they knew where someone named Yamilet lives. And then a lady from behind said that’s me how can I serve you?

So yep we found the cutest little grandma (besides my grandma’s obvi). She invited us in and we began to talk. She really is such an angel and will be an amazing future Relief Society pres. As we were talking I glanced down at her hand and saw a CTR ring. WHAT? At first I thought okay is this a prank? So I said to her, “Look we have the same ring.” And she said that she had found in the high school that is next to her house and that it’s a great reminder every day. We had a great lesson with her and she is open to pray to see if our church is true. I’ll have to send you all a picture of her next week. 

I’m so grateful to be serving in Ciudad Colon. It really is like heaven city. Best area in the world :) It’s going to be a rough day when I have to leave this place. I love you all and miss you lots :) I’m so grateful to be a missionary. This is the Lord’s church. Jesus is the Christ. Thanks to His infinite love we can change, we can become like Him. Our daily decisions will determine our destiny!! :)

Love always 

Hermana Fowler

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAREN AND GRANDMA FOWLER!!!!! I love you both more than words can express!!! You will be in my thoughts and I’ll be celebrating here :) 

Jairo's Baptism

Jessy and Jairo

Semana Santa :)

My Zone

This week was Semana Santa, which means like Holy Week. I don’t know if it’s because I grew up in a bubble but I really had never heard of such a thing. It’s a celebration for the Catholics, and they take it very seriously. It makes me so happy that they understand the importance of Christ’s resurrection. Because almost everyone celebrates this week there is no school and no one works. There aren’t even buses. We saw probably like 20 overall on Wednesday and Thursday. I definitely took advantage of having people in the street to talk to. But it still was a great week and I learned a lot this week.

Amalia & Roger's Wedding

One of our recent converts (Amalia) really has been such a huuuge blessing. Her and her husband are seriously incredible member missionaries. Roger takes every opportunity he can to share the gospel. Amalia was telling me the other day that every time she writes on a pamphlet our information she says a prayer that the person that will receive this will read this and receive the same blesses she has received from the restored gospel. She told me that she has yet been able to finish writing on a pamphlet without tears in her eyes. It really made me reflect on the work we are involved in. 

Everyday Amalia has called me to see if we have eaten. And the other day she called to see if we could have a microwave in our house. And the elders said yes so now we have a microwave yaaaay! We are so high tech :)

One day this week when we were in the church Amalia noticed I was blowing my nose and was a little sick and like 10 minute after we left she called us to see where we were and brought me all this medicine. And then after that somehow everyone and there dog knew I was sick and kept asking if I was feeling better? It’s as if she sent out a mass text telling everyone I was sick. She is such a sweet heart I want to be like her. 

One of our investigators named Evelyn (she’s our neighbor) is progressing really really fast. On Sunday we passed by her house to make sure that she would be coming to church and she told us how she had been fasting to get her answer about if the church was true. We hadn’t even taught the law of the fast or anything. She was able to watch a little bit of the Sunday sessions. I say a little bit because the internet was horrible. I was only able to watch one session completely and a little of another but all of Saturday the internet wasn’t working sadly. So I’m so anxious to print off as many talks as I can :) 

She's a shorty

Companions

This week I have been studying a lot about how I can rely on the spirit more and just how I can be a better missionary overall. So I read like 7 different scriptures on the concept that when we have fear we can’t have the Spirit, and that one of Satan’s greatest tools is fear. So I was sitting on the bus thinking about the things that I fear about missionary work. Quickly came to mind the thought that I had never contacted a bus. I thought for a second, no I think I should spend language studying on practicing what I would say. But the sentence just kept coming to mind, your time is short, your time is short. So I thought okay Heavenly Father I’m going to do this, I don’t want to but I’ll do it to make you happy. So I got up walked over to wake up my companion. And I said, “Hermana we are going to contact this bus.” She looked at me like I was crazy. So I said it again, “Hermana we are going to contact this bus.” So we started walking to the front of the bus to ask the driver if we could make an announcement. I turn around and my companion had sat down somewhere. Sooo I stood in front of everyone and said something. I can’t even remember what. There were about 6 people laughing at me and not a single one of them will probably call us. Contacting buses really is not an effective way of finding new investigators, but it didn’t matter because I had eliminated my fear.

That day we found 5 new investigators. I know that the Lord truly blesses us when we sacrifice something for him. I’m so grateful to be able to learn more about my weaknesses so that slowly I can make them my strengths. I love this gospel and it hurts me thinking that there are millions upon millions who are looking for what we have but don’t know where to find it. I’m so grateful to be part of this work. I’m glad that we didn’t just sign up for an 18 month or 2 year period but it’s a calling of a life time! I love you all and pray that we can all apply what we have learned from our prophet!!! 

Hermana Fowler

She's pretty
(Kendra- One of Anna's best friends from Bountiful, Rachel Peters)

Anna's very first companion, Sister Markle

I got my ID. Yay I'm legal!

:)

MOMMY!!!!!! I just laughed sooo hard at your letter. How I am having mother withdrawals. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE BEAR!!!!!! I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!!!!!! Have the best 20th B day ever!!!!

I only have a few minutes so I’m going to try to hurry and share an amazing experience I had this week. So Daniel´s baptism was planned to be this Thursday and on Wednesday Hermana Martinez and I both felt like the mom didn’t know about it. We had a really good lesson with her but it was late at night so we had to hurry and run home really fast so she wasn’t able to sign the baptismal form. So the next day Daniel gave it to his mom to sign it because with her working schedule we weren’t able to see her.

Anyway we ending up finding her on Wednesday and come to find out Daniel had forged the paper and that she refuses to give him permission. We talked with her for a while about it and she still just was set that he should not be baptized.

On Friday we ended up having divisions and Hermana Garcia and I went over to visit her. But she was very stand offish she we were trying to think of some kind of way to get into this house. I then remembered that the last time I was washing their dishes I broke one of her spoons. But obviously everything happens for a reason soo we went and bought a new one and made all these jokes with her which broke the ice.

Anyway we began teaching her and she still just left like Daniel needs to change in the house before he can be baptized. I really can’t explain what happened there was just a point where I said to Heavenly Father, this boy is ready for baptism he needs to take this step in his life please soften this mother’s heart. After we shared a scripture with her and she looked up with tears in her eyes and said that it was the right thing to do. But then she said that he could be baptized if he would ask his dad to forgive him. So before Daniel and his mom went in the other room with his dad, we all said a prayer. We waited for about 5 minutes and they came back all angry and said that he couldn’t be baptized. So we asked if we could come into the other room and talk with the dad too. So we went in and pretty much all I want to share is that I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. Hermana Garcia opened up about a part of her life that changed their perspective. I’m so grateful for this family. And I am so grateful that I was able to feel that we needed to make sure that the permission was from the mom. Because now Daniel is baptized and the family in the future will be too! I’m so glad that it wasn’t easy.

This week really was a turning point in my mission. We also had Maria´s Baptism which was absolutely incredible. As she came out of the water I just hugged her guts out and we cried like little babies together. Every baptism I have been able to watch I remember the day I made that sacred covenant and am completely filled with appreciation for my mom and dad. I love my family and I know families are ordained of God. I know that if we get rid of all our doubt and fears all that will be left is faith! And with faith we can move mountains :) Thank you all for just being you :) I LOVE YOU!!!!

I can’t wait to hear from our beloved Prophet and hear all the revelations you were able to get from it! :)

Hermana Fowler