Oh thank heaven...

[Wednesday, November 2, 2011 9:11 AM]


for the month 11! Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm so clever! Just kidding...

Well, I can't even believe that it is ALREADY November 2! I made my new planner for the next transfer, and we are already having to plan for December! The end of the transfer is exactly December 18...2 days AFTER my halfway mark! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!

The main focus of this week has been my companion and I trying to figure out how not to get sick, how to convince the members to give us smaller portions, and to be happy in our frumpy-ness. The mission weight gaining is a true thing my friends. No matter HOW HARD YOU TRY you can't avoid it! And, you know, with it all, the Lord is just giving me mental armor to not get SUPER frustrated when the members come up to me and pat my cheeks and tell me they are writing home to say I'm doing well and getting fat. "sigh". True story...a member the other day prepared lunch for us and came up to me, patted me cheek and said "Oh poor little thing, you are getting so big! But that's okay, people see your card and your smiling face and they'll just look past it all" Oof, I was a little depressed, but my companion said that we'll help each other work together and we WILL succeed this transfer! Today is our last hoorah and it's Body for Life for the next 6 weeks. But...you gotta love the food...oh mamma mia...it's going to be so hard to say no!! BUT I've gotta learn, eh?

You know, the Lord just works in such mysterious ways. My health has been the biggest thing...I have a cough and it's starting to turn into a "seal cough"...I'm almost 22 years old and I STILL don't know the medical term for it...But, I am really being concious of it all and sometimes I just CAN'T get up. MY morning prayers consist of conversations with Heavenly Father to allow me to sleep in 15 more minutes...and He usually allows me to because I fall asleep but hear a voice exactly saying 15 minutes later, "Okay Sorella Bowman...time to get up!" And I can! It's amazing...the Lord is so aware of us!!

I had an amazing experience the other day when my companion and I decided to make a trip to the hospital. We had to go to the hospital yesterday to visit a member. Lina Salazar is her name. She called us, as her son has been sick for the past few days with a HUGE fever and throwing up all the time. They thought it was just a virus that would pass. He received a blessing, but the fever came back stronger than ever 2 days after and she rushed him to Pronto Soccorso. The staff was upset with her because her son just complained of stomach pain, they said it would pass. So they made her wait for 4 hours to be seen by the doctor! Once they finally decided to see her, it showed his appendix were inflamed and they would take them out the next day. As they went in for the surgery, the scope showed his appendix had exploded. There was infection everywhere. My thinking is that it happened during the night, or at least during the waiting period. They didn't help her out immediately, more because she isn't true Italian. Racism is VERY strong over hear...lit my fire when I found out how they treated her! Anyway, For the past week or so, I've been feeling a little down..really wondering WHAT was I doing here! But as we walked into the hospital room where the little boy, Daniel, was hooked up to tubes and wires and bags, the parents faces turned toward us and just a sense of relief came upon them. They were so distressed at seeing their son in this way. Instead of the 3 little incisions like I have, they had to cut him completely open, just like a C-section and clean him out. He has to be on straight liquids for 3 days, wait for another 2 and if the infection doesn't come back then he is free to go. If it DOES come back, they have to split him open again and do the process all over. As we were in there, quiet as church mice, their faces just looked to us, and I really felt the mantle of the Lord and calling of missionary work upon my shoulders. The father asked the little boy if he'd like for all of us to say a prayer together. Christian (the dad) just looked at us with tears in his eyes, so tried and laden with a heavy burden. But we became a sense of hope! Us, two young, well, women...what the heck? Come into the room with the mantle of the Lord upon us, became their sense of hope. Daniel wearily knodded his head and pointed his finger towards me to say the prayer. I was OVERCOME with the Spirit and love for these people. I just about started crying. I plead with the Lord and really felt the communication with Him. It showed me that even though I have my weaknesses, I am STILL called of the Lord to do HIS work. THe Lord WILL make my weaknesses become strengths, but in the meantime, He magnifies my strengths to still go forward and do His work. It's truly amazing the miracles you see in your life... and you always need to make sure you are looking for them.

As time goes by, it is truly going by faster and faster...and sometimes I panic that it is going by TOO fast...but, time is of the essence and you HAVE to use every single minute that you can. Ups and downs still come, as I said last time, but the downs have to come so that the ups are super exhilirating! It truly is like a roller coaster...feelings included and all!!

I hope everyone had a happy halloween...Halloween isn't celebrated here, so we took some funny pictures and shared a pack of M&M's that Mom sent me a while ago. New favorite candy...holy moly! White candy corn M&M's? BRILLIANT!!

My time is up and i hope all is well!! THank you all for your letters and support...they really do mean the world to missionaries...and especially to me!!

Con amore,
Sorella Bowman