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The Alaska Fighting Palm Trees

Hey everyone so this week was a pretty eventful week so let me just get to the deep stuff.

So first, the bad news. This week was a pretty fun week because we got bedbugs........yes, it is quite a shame, but it happened. We don't know why but we have been trying to fix everything. We have been having the help of Sora Hettinger and that has been good but circumstances have not been fun. We couldn't buy mattress covers until today because everything was closed. And then today we were going to buy them and then I lost 200 lei that was going to be used for mattress covers. I don't know why, but we then had to get some more and instead of 200, I brought 300 just in case. Long story short, we go to the store and get the covers and it was going to be 700 lei but they are having an October sale and we got them for under 500. We had just enough money to buy the covers and I felt like that was a tender mercy for a stress-filled weekend. We hope that the situation will end soon, so fingers crossed.

We had some great moments, though, and it's a silver lining after a rough week. We had a lesson with Loredana and we brought a member to testify about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and prayer, the three things that Loredana needs the most. She lacks a strong foundation and this is our start to build this foundation. It was really good and the Spirit was strong. But she is still really timid and keeps saying that she needs time. Slow but steady progress will be what she needs. She also came to help clean the church and that was a super great blessing, but she then told us she was going to the Jehovah Witness church this week so that's upsetting. This week, we really want her to come watch General Conference with us, especially with a question so she can feel the Spirit when the prophet is speaking. It should be great for her. We also have been helping Marius with his progression, even though he is essentially perfect for baptism. He just needs to get married and that has been hard to deal with. This week he is very busy, but he said the weekend he is busy because of General Conference which is awesome!!! 

Another silver lining is not as spiritual, but this week needed some spice. So we created a football team: The Alaska Fighting Palm Trees (hence the title). We are a new Division 1 school and have been playing games against other teams across the country. We have played against Wagner, UTSA, Western Kentucky, and #25 Oregon State. We are 4-0 right now and things are going pretty great. We have been throwing around a stick and we created some crazy rules to make this as realistic and fun as possible. We ended up buying a football today and it'll only get better as time goes on. We have also created some players as well! I am a 4 star QB from Maine named Don Shoemaker and a 1 star WR from Rhode Island named Sean Smitty. Elder Kemeny is a 3 star WR from New Mexico named Ricky Gonzalez and a 2 star QB from North Dakota named Danny Fredrickson. So, honestly this has been one thing keeping us sane hahaha and it's been great. Don't worry, we do missionary work, but it's been stressful and we need to exercise! More updates will come as time goes on!!! (Also, anyone who wants to create a logo for us will be highly regarded by our fan base)
//Sounds like this is how they are making their daily exercise time a little more interesting.  He has done stuff like this since he was little...

So this weekend is GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!! My invitation for you all this week is to go into conference with a question. A question about your faith, something that's bothering you, something doctrinal, ANYTHING. Have this question ready and I know that when you watch conference, your question will be answered. The prophet and apostles are called by God to serve and they receive revelation based on the needs of the people of the Lord. You will learn so much from them if you open your heart and listen with all your soul! I'm excited for this week and I'm ready to be spiritual fed!!! I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!

Va iubesc,
Elder Bowen

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