Snippets of Written Letters

       Okay, please forgive my getting so far behind. I let time just slip away. Funny how that happens right? We continue to receive e-mails and also we continue to e-mail back and forth for his hour and we have had a few letters come in the mail. I personally got my first one this week and was pretty excited about it. Shout out to all of his friends, he got a letter from someone he knew through wrestling. Sorry I couldn't find your name in all of my e-mails. He loved hearing from you. He wants to hear from family and friends if you have a moment to spare.

E-mail work better? tanner.bowers@myldsmail.org

        Here are a few random snippets from letters and back and forth e-mails. Pretty random but slightly enjoyable. 

1. Butter does not come in sticks in New Zealand. He had to guess his first time baking (i'm pretty sure he never used a stick of butter in his previous life here-- i'm sure they were interesting)
2. His companion does not get letters from his family because it takes three months
3. It takes ten days for our time
4. They never miss a meal because they get fed a lot. You know that feeling after you have lost a meal and you never want to eat it again. He has that feeling towards KFC.... a few times. 
5. Domino's does not taste the same as it does here
6. Typical food (if not fast food) includes fish, chicken, rice and kosaua. 
7. Tanner wants to be informed of everything- he specifically told me to not hold back just to keep him from being homesick. He must think that we are having a wild time while he is gone. Unfortunately for him, we wake up, work, eat, exercise, repeat. 
8. Tanner really misses the mountains
9. On P-day he usually plays rugby
10. The sister missionaries made some dinner for Thanksgiving.. although, he did not mention anything about it. 
11. He is calling on his Christmas, which is our Christmas Eve. He is excited to see our cute faces. 
12. He wants "tangible" pictures sent in the mail. DON'T DO IT! or do and just be prepared for the bill. I sent a tiny USB and ten pictures in an envelope and it cost me $13. 
13. He is really grateful for the supportive family and friend environment that he grew up in. 
14. Ken Redding (Bishop Redding) He specifically asked us to congratulate you on being called to bishop. He says that he really appreciates your special interest in him and your willingness to help him. He considers your family like a second family. 
15. My mom put A LOT of effort into his Christmas package and wrapped every little present and went way far into detail and surprises. None-the-less, the customs form that my mom innocently wrote everything on was taped to the box. He knows everything he is getting for Christmas. Oh well, he still doesn't know what day on the twelve days of Christmas that he is getting them so that's a little bit of a surprise. 

November 30

Dear Family and Friends,
This past week has been a week of great improvement! I really felt like I have done much better with keeping my mind on my mission this week. I have certainly felt more comfortable and less homesick. I am so glad that I have recieved these blessings! Past week though it has been full of challenges with weather, plans falling through, not knowing all of the answers and companion differences, I have really come to appreciate the saviors role in this work. I read the poem "he has been there before" which gives me a great perspective and comfort on how the atonement works and how it can help us become better, more spiritual missionaries. Although this week has had its good times, I have certainley felt when I was without the spirit and I  have had trouble staying focused during personal study at times and I have felt my mind wonder, but when I have the spirit there to guide me and keep me on the path I have noticed. My relationship with my companion and trainer elder Carbonell is  improving, I have felt more comfortable around the flat and I have felt more at home this past week. The beginning of this week was quite slow because my companions tire on his bike blew up, not just the tube but the tire, so we were earthbound for a day or two, but this member offered to let him borrow his bike so we have been using that, its this super hard core mountain bike haha, but we have been treating it right. the work and was very difficult because we have been running out of people to teach, we have had a lot of people drop us in the past two weeks, so we have packed in extra finding activities which are good and they help me stretch and get out of my shell. During these last few days though the lessons started picking up and we have finished strong with more lessons than all of the previous weeks. the work is progressing, slowly, but it is progressing. I have become much more comfortable in teaching situations and with talking to people, though I still have many mountains to climb, it has made me very happy because I could not imagine teaching this many lessons in a week in the MTC. I have  been very excited with my progress. We also planned to meet with Jamal the investigator that we have a baptismal date for, he was drinking with a friend, which concerned me, I am not sure how he will be able to keep the word of wisdom or the law of chastity which seem to be his biggest problems but I am hopefull that he will receive a witness that these things are true, and that he will have the will power to follow the commandments that the lord has given us. We spoke at church this weekend which made me very nervous, I had many concerns with my ability to get up and speak in front of this branch, but as I got up and spoke I was very surprised with how much easier it was than in years past. I spoke on love and Obedience with an emphasis on missionary work. I felt for sure that this talk would be perfect for one of the less actives who came to church that week, but when I finished and went back down to sit by him he apologized and said that he wasnt even paying attention and didnt hear it, I was very saddened by it but I hope that lated we can get him to understand the importances of obedience. Finishing off the day we had a lesson with Navin and udaya( i've been spelling his name wrong). They said they had read a little and we had decided to read the first chapter of the Book of Nephi, we explained it and tried to help them understand how the scriptures teach us, we also watched the finding faith in christ DVD which helped Udaya strengthen his faith in Jesus Christ, he did not grow up in a christian background so we are trying very hard to help him gain faith in Christ. Overall this week has been a productive week, I am very grateful for your continual support, I can feel your prayers everyday! I also would like to thank my family for sending my Christmas package which came a few days ago, I love it, but now I have to stare at it till Christmas haha Im just kidding, But thank you all very much for your support. Please If you feel so inclined, write me a letter some time. I hope all is well in Bountiful Utah! I love you all!

love always, 

Elder Bowers

November 23

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was a pretty tough week! We had alot of plans fall through on us and we have had trouble with reaching our goals. The beginning of the week was a better week than most because my companion and I seemed to be hitting our stride together and we were finally getting along. I have been working on being more agreeable and trying to be more patient. we were really starting to understand eachother and work through differences but, when we struggled to teach lessons and keep up with the pace we have set for ourselves I think we kind of started to drift a little. It seems though that we are getting back into the swing of things this week which is good. Like I mentioned we have had alot of difficulty keeping our investigators to remember our scheduled visits. We have extended a baptismal invitation to Jamal and he has accepted, we set our date for January 15. We have not visited him since, we have made many attempts to schedule visits but we have always missed him. I hope we can catch him and continue to teach him of heavenly fathers love for us.  Another one of our serious investigators is Navin and his room mate Odyr. They are great at keeping commitments it is just a struggle to get Navin to Church as he works on sundays. We continue to pray though that his situation will change for the better! Our finding efforts have not been very fruitfull. I think we should take another approach to it but I still struggle with nervousness to talk to people on the street, but I know with the saviors help we can find success. Though the members hear are fantastic with feeding us I really wish they would take missionary work more seriously and help us in our finding efforts. This week My companion has been pretty sick( I dont know what he has) but we have not been able to go on our usual jogs in the morning, also we had some bike trouble yesterday, on the way to church my companions bike tire blew up so we will have to get a new one of those. So transportation has been slow. We have been doing a lot of visiting with less actives and former investigators and have not found much success with that, yesterday we visited Ted again( mentioned in previous letter) we thought we might catch him sober, nope, even if he was sober he was every bit as angry at us as he was before. He continued to attack me because I am an American and given my how strongly I feel about America It was hard for me to bite my tongue, but I did and I did not fight back. This week has been a very good week for letters though as I received quite a few, I am very grateful for those people who write me and for those who email me. Your continuous support keeps me going. Thank you for everything you guys do for me back home. I pray for you guys and I feel your prayers for me each day.

 I love each and everyone of you! Ofa atu!

Love always,

Elder Bowers

November 16

Dear Family and Friends,
    Thank you for your continual support and for your prayers. I feel them everyday. This week has been a tough week but one that  I have learned a lot from. My companion an I are still on the hunt for some new investigators and we have come into contact with some great formers and potentials that are interested in continuing the lessons. I pray that we can find more people to teach. It is just tough here in Oamaru. I find that a lot of people here feel that they don't need anything more in their lives, that they are not interested but we will continue.  We have a few members who are very faithful at finding poeple and inviting them to family home evening but we really want to spread that to the other members. After district meeting on Wednesday this week, we had exchanges with the district leaders which I really enjoyed. This week we had exchanges with the district leaders which I really enjoyed. Elder James was like an old pro and he was showing me the ropes. It seemed like i got along with Elder James really well. I am really working on being more Christlike and we have been studying Christlike attributes during companion study time.
       We have been working with this Fijian-Indian guy named Navin who is less active that works on a farm and is waiting on his work visa and his friend Odyr from Sri Lanka who works and lives with him. They work every Sunday so they cannot come to church. Navin has expressed his desire to come bavk to church and is very helpful in teaching Odyr about the gospel. He is hopeful that he will be able to quit his job after he gets his work visa and find another job. We have taught them both a couple of times. Odyr is very recepetive and has said that he feels the spirit in our visits, though his understanding is minimal we are working on building faith in Christ. We are continuing to work with another man we met named Jamal who is in a difficult situation with his family being that he is not married to his partner. We are working with him to resolve his problems and he has expressed his belief in the church to us. We feel that he is a promising investigator and hope to extend a baptisimal date soon. Dean a less active man that we have been seeing for the last couple weeks seems to be making a little progress. He received his Aaronic priesthood this Sunday. We are continuing here to spread the good work and hope to have success in the future. Thank you for your continual support. I enjoy hearing back from you guys and hope to receive more letters. I love you all and hope to hear back from you!

A Few Pictures

          Here are some pictures that we were able to get off of Tanner's SD card that he sent home a few weeks ago. He sent a lot of scenery of the ocean and around the temple. These are a few highlight pictures. His trainer Elder Carbonell is in the train tracks picture and in the picture with the white shirts and back packs.  As excited as we were to see pictures of Tanner, he said that he would also be excited to see pictures from home of anybody and everybody. I try to snap pictures here and there but you don't realize how fast a week goes out from under you when you are doing your usual grind.

                                                               

The First Benchmark- One Month

Dear Family and Friends,

    This week has been a week full of blessings and setbacks. My companion and I are working very hard to seek new investigators in the Omauru area and have found a few. We have also made efforts toward reactivating less active members and reconnecting with former investigators. We have had very little success with contacting former investigators but the less active members are a little more accepting of our message. We are continuing our finding efforts and we are planning on working out more creative ways of finding investigators. We have had a couple members bring friends to church and other members promise to do so. We pray for their continual support for us and we appreciate their help indeed. We certainly haven't been missing any meals. I struggle a little bit each day, but it is nothing like it used to be a couple weeks ago. I feel myself adjusting. I have noticed the blessings that I am receiving throughout my mission and through sincere prayer I nkow I can continue to receive them. One story this week is when we knocked on the door of this former investigator named Ted, when he answer he was clearly drunk. haha. We had a long chat at his doorstep which included him bashing on me because I am an American which was pretty silly. Eventually we told him something that he could not deny was true and he got frustrated and slammed the door on us. I thought it was pretty laughable. I am trying to keep a good attitude about all of these set backs. I know that they are for my own good. I love you guys so much and think about you often. I hope all is well in Bountiful.
Love Always, Elder Bowers

Each Sunday we are blessed to hear from Elder Bowers. He seems to love the instant communication and so most Sundays are spent glued to a device of sorts for that hour and a half he has to e-mail. We would love more details but he loves the instant. It does help make it seem like he is closer when you can chat about anything. He did tell us today about an investigator Jamal that is close to receiving the offer to promise to be baptized. We will have to wait and see what is in store for Jamal but he did ask for everyones prayers. 

November 2nd

Something fun about Elder Bowers is that he really enjoys e-mailing back and forth. Last Monday, a few of us did some back and forth chatting for a minute and today we got even more of it! I got an e-mail asking if anybody was on and then we actually e-mailed for a good two hours. He said that this was very unusual and not to get used to two hours but that it was transfer day and so he was almost done and the zone leaders showed up saying wait for us and so they all got to stay on longer! Each exchange was relatively short, which I liked because it felt like a real conversation. He did send a family and friend e-mail as well.

Dear  Family and Friends back home,
     This last week has been both a challenging and rewarding experience. I have grown in ways that I couldn't have even imagined before my mission. I hope to continue while I am out here. Being new to the area can be extrememly scary sometimtes and very disheartening but I know that the Lord is giving me great opportunities to grow and learn more about missionary work. The members here are great! We pass out a feeding list every week and we already have almost everyday of the month filled out already. My companion and I make sure we get sufficient exercise to stay healthy but I don't know if it will be enough for long. We have trouble finding new investigators at times but it should get easier as the branch members help us. The branch members have all made it very clear to us that they want enough people to form a ward and they want it SOON. We are working to their expectations. The branch has aboug 250 members with 130 of them active. We just need to get reactivating! I heard about Ken Redding becoming the bishop back home! That is fantastic! I knew he would get a calling like that soon. I sent a letter last week hopefully you get it soon. It has my memory card with a bunch of pictures and a post card and a very extensive letter. I am looking forward to more of your letters. I love all of you and pray for each of you everyday. God be with you till we meet again! 
Love always, Elder Tanner Bowers

Here are a few highlights of the back and forth conversation. Some I have to edit as a sisterly duty to not confess all of his secrets. So here are a few...


>The branch is full of Tongans who are very loud and very spiritual. They feed them very well! Sometimes they will have rice and beans but mostly they drop off KFC or Domino's
>He wants more pictures! (note to Tanner.... so do we!)
>Zone conference is themed Christmas and so they will watch a movie and sing carols. Anything change up the day to day grind! He says it might sound lame but they are sooo excited for it!
>There is no Mexican food there if anyone wants to send him some rice or a burito (coincidentally, we were having tacos for dinner tonight and so I may or may not have sent a picture :/)
>His address is 11A URE Street, 9400 Oamara New Zealand
> He plays rugby on his PDAY

Here's the view from his balcony

1st Area Oamaru, New Zealand

Elder Bowers has made it a week in the field. We heard a day late from him because yesterday was Labor Day in NZ. They didn't do much for the holiday, but they did get to go and see where the penguins are. Yes, I said penguins. Unfortunately, he did not get a picture, but hopefully we will get one in the future. Want to know where he is? Here is a map I found all thanks to Google Images.

It is the tiny little town above the word Queenstown. Clear down there. He said it is pretty cold there right now. He was able to catch a few of us online and so that was fun to exchange a couple words in the week immediately. Here is a letter that he sent to us. 

      Dear Family,

            My companion and I are doing great here in Oamaru, New Zealand. It is freezing here but the weather should warm up. We have a space heater that we bring with us to every room we stay in haha The work is slow here because we are white washing this area but the work should accelerate soon. The branch is great, it is made up of mostly tongans and they have all said they are more than willing to feed us everyday, all we have to do is show up at their house. My companion's name is Elder Carbonell and he is helping me adjust to missionary life here in NZ. We exercise every morning to stay healthy. We also are doing a lot of finding new investigators. I am struggling a little to keep up the pace but with the help of the Lord i'll only keep growing. I am so grateful for this gospel and they help it brings me and I know it could help others, that is why I am here. Just yesterday my comp. and I were biking up this hill and we were really struggling to get up and this old man on the side walk  told us that it would be easier to walk up it. I told him enthusiastically "it's good for you though". I think I can apply that to my mission, the slow crawl upward may not be easy but Heavenly Father knows it is good for me! I like thinking about every struggle here as a way to show improvement. I love you guys back home and I am really appreciative of your support. See you in two. Ofa Tu! Love always, Elder Bowers

{Thanks to Urban Dictionary, I found out what Ofa Tu means. It means I love you!}

We got a letter in the mail!

        Yesterday we got a letter in the mail from Elder Bowers. His letter was dated while he was still in the MTC which will probably occur often, we will get e-mails between letters. We still don't know what day his P-day is, but it should be coming up soon.
        Before I share parts of his letter, I have to tell  you a funny story. When Jason (my hubby) left for his mission, I remember hearing from his parents when he made it to the airport, when he made it into the field, etc... Which means they were told somehow. I have been watching the New Zealand Mission Blog that President Hudson's wife updates occasionally for pictures waiting to see the new elder's faces appear. I got nothin. Yesterday my mom told me to log on to her e-mail to get a copy of an e-mail he just sent to the parents. I'm scrolling through and boom four days ago she got an e-mail from Carol Hudson.... Connect the dots. President Hudson... Carol Hudson. It was UNREAD! "Mom! The mission president's wife e-mailed you! She did?" Oh gosh. haha My mom will kill me for sharing this. Needless to say, she wrote to inform her that he had made it safely AND we got a picture!

Looks beautiful right? Upon looking on her blog again to see if it was updated. It was! Here are a couple more I saved!

 It was so fun to see pictures. It has only been 17 days, but that still feels long. Anyways, now onto what he has to say. It was a week of spiritual growth. I have felt the spirit of Elder Lyon's, another missionary that came with me and it has helped my testimony to grow and has given me more strength to be a strong missionary. My companion is very quiet. I can tell he has stress and doesn't talk about it. Anybody{specificallly Ashton} getting ready to go on a mission should make sure they are comfortable talking about stresses and emotions. If not, it is a mental breakdown waiting to happen. Elder Bowers is happy to be heading to the field soon {he already is there now}.  We were able to make the hour and a half drive to the Hamilton Temple, where we did an endownment session. The temple was pretty small and old, but it was a beautiful building. The food here is alright. Too many baked beans and fish to be honest. Everybody eats french fries (chips) with a knife and fork HAHA! I really appreciate all of the e-mails. I'm sorry I can't respond individually while I am in the MTC. I will write more when I am in the field and get a full P-day.
      Hopefully that P-day comes soon so we can hear from Elder Bowers and get those pictures he promises every time!

A Quick MTC Departure Note

Elder Bowers left the MTC this morning. He had a one hour flight from Auckland to Wellington. He is very excited to be out in the field. He did not have time to respond to personal e-mails (i'm not sure if he even read them this week) because he just sent a quick note last night to let us know that he was heading to Wellington. He missed the MTC p-day, but we will hear from him hopefully soon when he has more time on his p-day. He got to visit the Auckland temple and said that he took a lot of pictures that he will e-mail when he has a longer e-mail time. Yay! He wants everybody to know that he loves you and thinks about his time back home but is thrilled to be serving at this time in his life. A little shout out to our family in Pennsylvania. Elder Bowers compares his weather and scenery to PA. He says there are no mountains [yet] but a lot of green fields. He also said the weather feels very similar!

Here's to a longer report next week!

First P-Day!

Elder Bowers seems to be doing great! He is still very busy and limited on communication time, but at least we get to hear something! I miagine it will get more interesting as he gets in to the field and has more time. Here is a part of his e-mail from this last week:

      Sorry I can't write you all personal letters, I only have 40 minutes to do this. It's so great to be able to check my email today! Yes, Sundays are teh best in the MTC! We were able tow atch conference agagin this weekend since they don't get it till the week after. I took a lot of notes and took a lot more out of it. I seriously loved hearing familiar voices in the MTC, it's always great, especially reading your letters. I missed you guys during conference though. It did make me a little home sick. My Companions name is Elder Harvey, he is from Wellington! He has taught me a lot about local culture and customs. He is great to work with and my district feels like a family already.
     .... Please let Ashton know that he needs to prepare now for his mission. He needs to finish the Book of Mormon before he gets out. It's really important. I did, but I wish I would have studied it more. (I'm sure Elder Bowers would give any future missionary this advice). I really do love it here and I would have it no other ways. Today marks the half way point of my stay at the MTC. Crazy right! I only stay for 12 days! On Thursday (Wednesday back home) we visit the Temple, which I am extremely excited for. I am grateful for the blessings the gospel has brought our lives and I pray for you guys every night. Please let everyone know I love them.
      .... Love Always, Elder Bowers

Tanner continues to apologize for his lack of time to communicate personally with all of his friends and family. He is busy learning about a great work. We are very grateful for his dedication and enthusiasm to serve the people of New Zealand.

Kia Ora.

He Made It!!

Elder Bowers landed around 5 am NZ time Thursday (10am MST Wednesday). Yes, that is a +19 hour difference. To the kind generosity of his mission, we received an e-mail letting us know how he is doing. Can you believe that it only took one long flight to already make him miss us ;)

 His first e-mail!

Dear Family,
 I made it to the MTC finally. The flight was very long but it was comfortable and so I can't complain too much. I travelled to the Auckland aiport with a group of twelve missionaires that are all going to New Zealand, so you don't have to worry, we all stuck together. I really enjoyed getting to know the other missionaries, one was Elder Lyon, he is from Brigham City. He wrested for Box Elder High and he has read the Book of Mormon eight times! He has a girl that is waiting for him that wrote him a letter for almost any situation you could imagine. It's pretty funny. He doesn't want her to wait for him. Well enough about that, the MTC here is great. I was very intimidated at first but i've decided to trust the process and not worry too much. We were interviewed and given callings today also, i've been made district leader. I'm overwhelemed about it but the MTC presiden told me to not overthink it so I am going to trust what he says. I hope you guys are surviving without me. I love you guys so much. It's touch being away but I know it's time for me to do this. I wish I could say good-bye one more time. I'm sorry I wasn't in the best mood at the airport, you know how I get. Anyways, I hope you know that i'm praying for you here in New Zealand, and I know that you will do the same. I know you guys will be blessed for the sacrifices you guys are making by sending me off and I deeply appreciate it and so does our Heavenly Father. If you get anything from this e-mail, just know that I love you guys and I love this gospel... Love you. See you all in two.
Love, Elder Bowers

Kia Ora...What Does It Mean?

In New Zealand there are many cultures, therefore many places to pull key phrases from. The Maori's have contributed many phrases including "Kia Ora" which means "Be Healthy". Away from his family for two years, I would say Elder Bowers could use some wishes of health and success. So Elder Bowers, Kia Ora.