Thursday, October 1, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
1 and counting
Austin wrote to tell us that he has his first baptism come Saturday! Yay! Go Aust, we are so proud of you!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Updated address for Austin, from Austin
hey here is my address to the mission home
Elder Austin Ford Bowthorpe
Misiòn Peru Arequipa
Casilla 1884
Arequipa, Peru
ok and dont send anything worth more than a hundred dollars or i have to pay alot of money in taxes ok everything is going great here its just living in a third world country cold showers etc we get cooks or pensionistas so no need for the recipes ha ha ok te amo and mi español is coming along slowly ok adios
Sounds like he is doing well, we sure miss him. Two years=a long time.
Elder Austin Ford Bowthorpe
Misiòn Peru Arequipa
Casilla 1884
Arequipa, Peru
ok and dont send anything worth more than a hundred dollars or i have to pay alot of money in taxes ok everything is going great here its just living in a third world country cold showers etc we get cooks or pensionistas so no need for the recipes ha ha ok te amo and mi español is coming along slowly ok adios
Sounds like he is doing well, we sure miss him. Two years=a long time.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Baptism News
So, as some of you may know. I have gone back to church in the past few weeks. Shaun & I have been taking the missionary discussions & Shaun has decided to be baptised. In fact, he's doing so on June 6th. Very exciting. Shaun is such a good Man & I feel so blessed to be marrying him in 4 days! Church has been great, I love the people in our ward. I didn't really ever think I would go back to the church, but I truely feel that this is the only way I could have ever gone back. I used to tell Shaun all the time that he'd make a great Mormon, lol!! His family thinks it's weird & they don't understand. His Grandmother asked his Mom if this meant that he was going to grow a beard... Hmmmm.... But, my family is being very supportive & happy for us, & come Saturday they'll be his family too! I've often heard that sending a Missionary into the field will bring many blessings to the family at home, & I truely believe that. Here's the letter from Austin after I told him we were getting married & Shaun was getting baptised. Enjoy!!!
hey lindy
your email was awesome it made my day! im so happy now to know possibly that im doing some good out here that the lord will bless members of my family. awesome. i know this is what you wanted to be a nice little mormon family im so happy for you and shaun. well i leave on tuesday to Arequipa.... anyways, love you, maybe you will be ready to be sealed when i get back.
adios! Austin
hey lindy
your email was awesome it made my day! im so happy now to know possibly that im doing some good out here that the lord will bless members of my family. awesome. i know this is what you wanted to be a nice little mormon family im so happy for you and shaun. well i leave on tuesday to Arequipa.... anyways, love you, maybe you will be ready to be sealed when i get back.
adios! Austin
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
E-mail from Austin
Here is what Austin has had to say about Peru so far...
Que tal
um where do i begin well i know a little more about Peru now, Lima is a
really dirty and polluted city i cant even see the sky sometimes because the
smog is so thick. I thought where i was was bad but, last Saturday they take us
out to go proselyting and the took us to the slums it was really bad i don't have
pictures cause if i would have brought my camera it would get stolen. people
live in garbage, no roofs dirt floors , stray dogs everywhere people were
staring at us i felt guilty because i have been so blessed with everything and i
felt like i was strutin around in nice clothes and stuff. the only people that
talk to us is girls i don't understand what they say but my companion said they
like us and want to have gringo babies so they can get out of here. I used to
hate all the Latinos coming to Utah but, now i don't blame them i would do the
same thing as well if i lived in these conditions. the part where I'm at is really
nice now the mtc is in the rich part of the city the mtc is really nice well it
has to be the church builds it and they build nice buildings everywhere. I have
a Spanish companion they all make fun of us but us north Americans make fun of
them as well. anyways love ya bye P.S. no guineas pig yet just chicken and rice
every day.but it is pretty funny we teach all the Latins word in English and say
they mean different things, for example we taught them dingle berry and said it
means i love you haha its pretty fun adios.
He also told my dad that the Peruvians like to sing "Hotel California" really loud, and that it sounds awful. Haha. He got to call my mom on Mothers Day so all the sibs also got a chance to say a quick and I mean quick "Hello", and my mom was really thank full to have talked to him. Oh, something funny... while we were taking turns saying hi, Broc was in the background telling us to ask Austin about the dogs, over and over again, then when it was Brocs' turn the first thing he said was "Are there a lot of dogs?" It just struck me as funny.
I cannot believe that he has almost been gone for 2 months. I think we are all really starting to miss him. But I will say that I have seen some definite blessings happening in our family because of his faithfulness and example. Thank you all for your prayers.
Que tal
um where do i begin well i know a little more about Peru now, Lima is a
really dirty and polluted city i cant even see the sky sometimes because the
smog is so thick. I thought where i was was bad but, last Saturday they take us
out to go proselyting and the took us to the slums it was really bad i don't have
pictures cause if i would have brought my camera it would get stolen. people
live in garbage, no roofs dirt floors , stray dogs everywhere people were
staring at us i felt guilty because i have been so blessed with everything and i
felt like i was strutin around in nice clothes and stuff. the only people that
talk to us is girls i don't understand what they say but my companion said they
like us and want to have gringo babies so they can get out of here. I used to
hate all the Latinos coming to Utah but, now i don't blame them i would do the
same thing as well if i lived in these conditions. the part where I'm at is really
nice now the mtc is in the rich part of the city the mtc is really nice well it
has to be the church builds it and they build nice buildings everywhere. I have
a Spanish companion they all make fun of us but us north Americans make fun of
them as well. anyways love ya bye P.S. no guineas pig yet just chicken and rice
every day.but it is pretty funny we teach all the Latins word in English and say
they mean different things, for example we taught them dingle berry and said it
means i love you haha its pretty fun adios.
He also told my dad that the Peruvians like to sing "Hotel California" really loud, and that it sounds awful. Haha. He got to call my mom on Mothers Day so all the sibs also got a chance to say a quick and I mean quick "Hello", and my mom was really thank full to have talked to him. Oh, something funny... while we were taking turns saying hi, Broc was in the background telling us to ask Austin about the dogs, over and over again, then when it was Brocs' turn the first thing he said was "Are there a lot of dogs?" It just struck me as funny.
I cannot believe that he has almost been gone for 2 months. I think we are all really starting to miss him. But I will say that I have seen some definite blessings happening in our family because of his faithfulness and example. Thank you all for your prayers.
Monday, April 27, 2009
A little story
So, Austin has been gone for a month now. I can't believe it. Since he has been in the MTC he had to have knee surgery. My parents have got to see him four times since they first said goodbye. I think that that would be the hardest. He is doing well, and is cleared to go to Peru. He was supposed to leave the 15th of April, but he wont be leaving until Tuesday, which is tommorrow. He sent me a letter that I wan't to share. He talks about how having a mission companion is a love/hate relationship. He then proceeds to tell me how jealous I am going to be because Jeffery R. Holland went to the MTC to speak. Here is the story that Elder Holland told them, about Elder Toronto in Czech Republic. The Elders were going door to door adn they went to this one house and the lady was mean and slammed the door in their faces. The missionaries were persistant and knocked again. The woman answered and the missionaires told her that they didn't need to be treated that way adn that they had prayed this morning and they knew they needed to be there. The woman then asked if they were ministers? When they answered yeS she told them she wanted nothing to do with religion. The missionaries asked her why and she replied, "My husband died in the war, leaving me with a child to take care of by myself, and then my child 3 years old died." The woman broken hearted went to her pastor/minister for comfort and the preist said, " I've never seen you in my church before, and now you come to me when you're in despair. YOur child is in Hell and your going too because you didn't get her baptised. GET OUT!" The woman then asked the missionaries if that is what they wanted to know, and told them to get off her porch. Elder Toronto told her, "I know where your daughter is" The woman stopped dead in her tracks, and the missionaires pulled out Moroni 8 which talks about children adn baptism. Thank you Austin, for sharing this stroy.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Yay, I got a letter today!
I was so happy to see a letter from my lil' brother in the mail today! He writes,
"Dear Jamee,
Thanks for the letter, it is great to hear from the outside world. I had no idea what the MTC was going to be like. From 6:30a.m. to 10:30p.m. I'm either in class or studying, I didn't realize I was never going to be left alone. I'm with my companion 24/7 but we're becoming friends. I can only write on Wednesdays I would suggest you use DearElder.com it's free and same-day delivery. Tell EVERYONE I miss them and they have to write me cause I don't know their adresses. Sorry for a short letter, but I'm in a hurry mail leaves at four.
Love ya,
~Austin"
I won't always put everything he wrote me, but I didn't see any reason why I shouldn't have put the whole letter in today. Well you heard the Elder(hehe) WRITE!
"Dear Jamee,
Thanks for the letter, it is great to hear from the outside world. I had no idea what the MTC was going to be like. From 6:30a.m. to 10:30p.m. I'm either in class or studying, I didn't realize I was never going to be left alone. I'm with my companion 24/7 but we're becoming friends. I can only write on Wednesdays I would suggest you use DearElder.com it's free and same-day delivery. Tell EVERYONE I miss them and they have to write me cause I don't know their adresses. Sorry for a short letter, but I'm in a hurry mail leaves at four.
Love ya,
~Austin"
I won't always put everything he wrote me, but I didn't see any reason why I shouldn't have put the whole letter in today. Well you heard the Elder(hehe) WRITE!
Favorite Pictures
Two of my favorite photos from his farewell parties. Just shows how goofy we all are!!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Dear Elder? How do I write to Austin?
So as you can see Austin has told us that we can use DearElder.com to write to him, this is some ways you can use it...
Some of the benefits of having a DearElder.com account include the following:
1. You can check the status of your letters.
2. You can deposit money in your account and write missionaries in all missions.
3. You can read, print, and delete letters after you have submitted them.
4. You can save your missionary's address information.
5. You can write multiple missionaries at once.
Thank you for using DearElder.com. We hope that this service will help you more actively support the missionaries you love. Be sure to let your let your friends and family know about the great Free service you've found.
Sincerely, Peter HenrieSite
Administratorautomated_response@dearelder.com
Also you can write him letters and they print them out and give them to your missionary, without the cost of postage and the hassle of getting to the post office. If you are interested in using it you'll just need to go to the website DearElder.com and they will walk you through the rest. Austin's still in the Provo MTC, mailbox # 232, departure 0415.
Also if you wish to send him packages you can go to Lehi Pioneer Party Place, on Lehi center street. They do same day delivery as long as they have the package before noon. And the cost is pretty descent.
Please check out the bottom of this blog for all of Austins information on how to write, and get packages to him. Thank you again for your support!
Some of the benefits of having a DearElder.com account include the following:
1. You can check the status of your letters.
2. You can deposit money in your account and write missionaries in all missions.
3. You can read, print, and delete letters after you have submitted them.
4. You can save your missionary's address information.
5. You can write multiple missionaries at once.
Thank you for using DearElder.com. We hope that this service will help you more actively support the missionaries you love. Be sure to let your let your friends and family know about the great Free service you've found.
Sincerely, Peter HenrieSite
Administratorautomated_response@dearelder.com
Also you can write him letters and they print them out and give them to your missionary, without the cost of postage and the hassle of getting to the post office. If you are interested in using it you'll just need to go to the website DearElder.com and they will walk you through the rest. Austin's still in the Provo MTC, mailbox # 232, departure 0415.
Also if you wish to send him packages you can go to Lehi Pioneer Party Place, on Lehi center street. They do same day delivery as long as they have the package before noon. And the cost is pretty descent.
Please check out the bottom of this blog for all of Austins information on how to write, and get packages to him. Thank you again for your support!
1 week down
Austin has been in the MTC for a week now, and we are all missing him. He hurt his knee about a week before he went in and it is still bothering him, so they sent him in for an MRI today. Other than that he is doing well, we haven't really heard much. Here is some news from him
"Hi mom, My email address is austinperu@myldsmail.net tell only close family though, because they only give me 30 mins a week on Wednesdays, so use dearelder.com ok love ya a lot. P.S had a M.R.I today doctor might think i tore my meniscus again so if i have to have surgery i could be delayed but, stay here I'll let you know any updates.
Tell everyone I miss them but, I'm having a blast. Love ya.
-Austin"
"Hi Dad, sorry for the short letter but, we can send letters and send and
receive emails on Wednesdays. I love you too and miss you but, your right I'm
having a great experience and I'm having a blast the first three days sucked
but now it's fun my companion is cool too he is from southern California, so Wednesdays
only it would be better for you to use dearelder.com its free and it doesn't
take my email time
- Austin"
"Hi mom, My email address is austinperu@myldsmail.net tell only close family though, because they only give me 30 mins a week on Wednesdays, so use dearelder.com ok love ya a lot. P.S had a M.R.I today doctor might think i tore my meniscus again so if i have to have surgery i could be delayed but, stay here I'll let you know any updates.
Tell everyone I miss them but, I'm having a blast. Love ya.
-Austin"
"Hi Dad, sorry for the short letter but, we can send letters and send and
receive emails on Wednesdays. I love you too and miss you but, your right I'm
having a great experience and I'm having a blast the first three days sucked
but now it's fun my companion is cool too he is from southern California, so Wednesdays
only it would be better for you to use dearelder.com its free and it doesn't
take my email time
- Austin"
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The MTC
Austin entered the Missionary Training Center on Wednesday March 25th at 11:30am. We were all there to see him off & ofcourse I had my camera to document the event! He was nervous but mostly excited! We took pictures in the lobby, then headed for the chapel where we sang 'Called to Serve', had a little service & watched a video about what to expect in the MTC. It was cool to see! They told the Missionaries that there is a rule that they have to write home at least once per week. So I decided right then and there that I am going to do the same thing! I don't have an address for Austing yet... (could whoever has it please leave the info on this blog?) Anyway, so I am blogging... Hopefully he'll see it before he's off to Peru! So, he's in the Provo MTC for 3 weeks, then off to the MTC in Lima Peru for 6 weeks. After they gave the closing prayer Austin looked at me & said "Oh crap is this really it?!"... haha, he kept saying that over & over, but deep down I know he was really excited! I told him to enjoy it & have fun, just because I know how serious he can get... lol! We love you Austin! Have fun!!! I'm going to continue to tell him that over the next two years, because I AM the FUN ONE afterall... lol!!!
Posing with Granny & Goat
Walking throught the doors of the MTC, the mission finally begins!
Getting his instructions.
Mom putting on his "official" nametag.
Posing with Granny & Goat
And with Mom & Dad
Four of the closest siblings that will ever be!
hahaha.... Our Family
"Go & preach My Gospel".
Last moments before going into the Chapel... We love you Baron!
Sunday Farewell Pictures
After church activities we all met up at Dad & Karens for punch & eclairs... Good Times!
The Parkers enjoying some punch...
Jamee & Mom
Broc & Heather
Mom, Grandma, Diane & Bill
Shaun & Lindy
Joe & Mary
Random Cousins & Friends
Broc & Heather
Mom, Grandma, Diane & Bill
Saturday Night Farewell Party Pictures
Thank you to everyone for coming!! After almost everyone had left Austin, Lacey, Mom & Denny stayed for a game of Texas Hold'em with Shaun & I. It was really fun & great to have a little more one on one time with my baby brother before he left. Hope y'all enjoyed the party!!
haha, look at Austin hiding behind the chair...
Shaun was glad that everyone had fun playing Rock Band!
Stetson thought the donkey was a real dog & barked at it... lol
He got the idea pretty quickly & got in some pretty good hits!
Then it was Tylers turn... Didn't get in too many hits with Austin pulling it up & down..
I was a little nervous that the bat was going to fly outta his hand!
haha, look at Austin hiding behind the chair...
Yay Candy!
Pouch full of goodie... very cute!
Shaun was glad that everyone had fun playing Rock Band!
Austin's 20th Birthday Party
I was happy that Austin was home for his birthday before leaving on his mission. It's weird to think that the next birthday that we'll actually get to celebrate with him will be his 23rd. lol! That's weird!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Elder Bowthorpe
Well, Austin has been in the MTC for about 3 days now, and I know that he is on all our minds. But I truly believe that our Heavenly Father is watching over him and He will take care of him for us. Going on a mission is something that Austin feels very strongly about and I know that it is something that he WANTS to do. Lindy and Shaun threw a great going away party last Saturday and had an awesome turn out, the food was great, as well as the pinata. It's always funny to see Broc and Austin laughing at/with each other. Austins farewell was also great. He spoke so well, and I think everyone enjoyed his talk. His countenance shines and he has a great spirit which will help him on his mission. I know that Austin wants me to thank everyone for all their help, love and support. Please remember him and our family in your prayers. Thank you.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Well yesterday was the day. We took Austin to the MTC. He was very excited to start on this journey. One of the funniest things I observed was how fast they sang " Called to Serve Him". I was having a hard time after and Jamee in her wise words said, " Just look at it as 24 Fast Sundays." That sounds better than 2 years.
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