April 12

Dear Family and Friends,
      This week has been really great. We had some slow moments like always but we have been having big noticable miracles that sustain us throughout the week. The trick will be to get to the point where we will feel miracles every day that will help us "burst through the frontier of faith and dwell in the realm of the miraculous." I think as we continue to identify things we can improve on and applying the atonement to become better at them. So early in the week we had a lesson with Isaac to teach the plan of salvation. We are trying to move things along with him at a fast pace because I feel that he is ready and he has no big hang ups with the gospel at the moment. The lesson went great, We felt the spirit and we are so excited for what the future holds for him, We taught him twice this week so we are really working to resolve any concerns he has and teach the lessons. Everytime we teach him he has these ahah moments where he understands a doctrine or principle that he never understood in his past experiences with other religions, it is really neat to see!
     We also had a lesson with Himanshu and Roena on wednesday, this was the big dog lesson. We taught the law of chastity...to two people that very obviously have broken it. Needless to say It was awkward. I dont think there was a good way to go about it except to just teach it. This really shows how novice I am at teaching that lesson. It was rough. We got to the point where we finished the lesson and they would not speak. Then the bishop took the reigns and he helped lighten the mood a bit, I am so greatful we taught this lesson with the bishop rather than alone. After talking for a bit, they told us that they had already decided on there marriage date. They will be married on may 22nd. Bishop Pemberton has offered whatever assistance they might need and hopefully... this work can move forward and Himanshu will be baptised later in may. I love this work, heavenly father shows us the way if we are doing our part.
      We had Interview with President Hudson in the middle of the week while Sister Hudson ran district meeting. We talked more about planning and using the right tools to plan for our areas. She showed us this large map of an area that was laminated where we can mark off streets where people live and where we have tracted ect. I thought it was really cool and creative. My companion will definetly use something similar. I still feel pretty clueless about the area here... well thats not entirely true, but I dont know it as well as I would like to. Interviews with president went well, he is awesome.
        So the rest of the middle of the week was pretty much just tracting and untinteresting stuff... so I wont bore you with it haha. But at the end of the week we got to watch General Conference at the Chapel. I have been looking foreward to hearing from the prophets and apostles for a while. I loved all of their talks. They are so great. I am so grateful to be a missionary now, back home I wouldnt watch all of the sessions and I would really miss out on some great talks from inspired men and women, But I am a missionary so we went to all of the sessions. Two of my favorite talks were the ones given by Dallin H. Oaks on casting seeds into stoney ground and the one by Jeffery R. Holland on the saviors role as Just that, Our savior. I am so grateful that Heavenly father calls these general authorities to guide us in these days!
      Overall this week was great. On a more personall note. I guess I jumped the gun on saying the bed bugs were gone, They are driving me nuts. I am itchy all over, all day! I did buy some bug bombs on saturday and we bombed our flat, I can neither confirm or deny that They are gone. Pray for me.
       I did get a lot of mail this week so thank you so much, I love you all and I hope you are doing ok. I pray for you all the time and I hope all is well in Bountiful Utah.

April 5

Dear Friends and Family,
     This week has been great! We have been having some great days lately. We do have those slow moments but for the most part we have felt inspired to do activities that are both productive and rewarding. The missions new push is for us to plan for accomplishments rather than activities, meaning that we will be working to plan for worthwhile things that have a direct impact on the work, rather than just filling time. I can honestly say that in previous times I have caught myself planning for activities, but I am grateful for the reminder that there is a good, better and best to everything we put time into. We have definitely seen the blessings from this practice. Before I start breaking down the week I just wanted to say happy early Birthday to Eric. Happy birthday! haha. So for the most part this week was good but we had a rocky start.
      We had two pretty unfun things happen on monday which was that one of the elders in our district was Sent home. It was an honorable discharge. Im not sure what it was for. Also another elder in our district recieved news that his father passed away. He is from American Samoa. He is such a strong elder. He said that there was no way he was going to leave, but that it was going to be tough because his dad was his only support back home. Its amazing what a knowledge of the plan of salvation can do for us in hard times. This work must roll forth no matter what happens in our personal life.
      On a more positive note. We set a baptismal record for our new investigator. His name is Isaac. He is Samoan and lives with his cousins who attend our ward. He is surrounded by the gospel which is why I think this one should go well. He has express genuine interest in the gospel and in being baptised. To be honest He asked us if he could be baptised before we invited him... it was way cool! His parents are not totally on board, but Isaac is a man and will have to make his own decisions.
      The next day we had another lesson with Roena and Himanshu. They are way cool. We taught them the first half of lesson 4. It is a long lesson so I like to break this one up a bit. We are making great progress with him. This coming wednesday we are going to go with bishop and teach the law of chastity. I hope that they will be willing to get married so he can get baptised. I know that these decisions can be tough, but with the lords confirmation I know that they will make the right choice.
       On thursday we had our district meeting which was really good. We had a cool role play where we were one on one with an elder that we did not know that well and share any concerns we had about the mission so far. It was really cool and creative. We also printed out general conference invites. I am so excited to watch conference next week. It plays a week late out here.
        For the most part We had a good week. We have been focusing on keeping our goals in mind throughout the week because we often make them and do not address them later in the week. I hope that with practice we can overcome this. This sunday was a special invite sunday as well as easter. We had all of the members bring a nonmember or less active friend with them to church. it was way cool. We had a powerful week. Also, on saturday we had the hangi, it was really good. It was different from what I expected, They usually cook them underground, but this was really good the way they cooked it this time. I love the blessings that my companion have had from the unity and complete obedience that we have putting into practice. I really appreciate all of your prayers and love. It makes this mission all the more great. Thank you. Please keep me updated with pictures and such. I really enjoy them.

March 29

Dear Family and Friends,
        This week has been a pretty crazy week. The weather has really settled down and we have been enjoying our work here. I really do like serving here in Porirua. We have so many opportunities to share the gospel with those around us. Partly because there are just way more people here and partly because people are a little more open minded here. I can honestly say that I am enjoying my mission right now. Thats not to say that there arent challenges, but I can see the good that this gospel does for people and I want to share it. This week was especially interesting because I went out on exchanges twice this week. On Tuesday we exchanged with the district leader, so I went to the Papakawhai elders area to be with Elder Tavo from Australia, it was very interesting because he is a convert and is 26. So he has a lot more life experiences than I and most of the other missionaries have now. He is a very good missionary. We had a very busy day. I really enjoy seeing mission life from the perspective of a leader.
        Getting back to the area was good though because I really want to get this area down and start getting more successes. Also on wednesday I was able to watch "meet the Mormons" for the first time. It was a very inspirational movie. I really liked the story of the Coach at Annapolis Naval academy. It was cool to see how he carried himself and led his family the way he does. But I especially liked seeing the story of the missionary mom. I liked seeing the impact that the gospel had in her life. That is what we have to offer people, a second chance. I really just love this church. It is just way too cool. On Thursday we had district meeting, It was pretty cool because we had the mini missionaries come that were preparing for there full time missions. They are pretty well prepared and I am excited to see what the future holds for them. We also had a couple lessons afterward, one of which was kind of wacky, we went in to teach this guy and we thought he was just socially awkward but it turns out he had a serious mental disorder and couldnt comprehend what we were teaching, one of gods chosen spirits. haha. That night though we had a really good lesson with Himanshu and Roena. They even had there flatmate sit in on the lesson. It was a very good lesson, we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. I really had a good time. I love seeing them grow in understanding, it is awesome.
      On friday we had this a couple cool encounters. One that we had was when we were contacting this former and knocked into a different person, it was this 14 year old muslim kid. He said he was not committed to the muslim church and was looking for another one to attend, we told him about the restored gospel and got a return appointment. Then we door knocked into this young couple who just invited us right in they offered us water and told us to take a seat, to be honest, I was a little apprehensive, i thought they were going to grill us but They were cool and were interested in learning about our faith. We got a return appointment with them also. That night we had exchanges with the Zone leaders so I went to Tawa with elder Smith. It was great. Elder Smith is one of a kind. He is just so good in teaching situations. He helped me with some questions and some of the goals I had and overall it was a very productive exchange. We had a dinner appointment with this Fijian Indian guy and His family. It was so good. We had goat curry, it wasnt too hot until they broke out the chilies and I just had to take one. It was very hot, Elder Redding if you are reading this, it wasnt as bad as the wasabe though haha. We had a good lesson with him afterward about how god answers prayers. It was like perfect missionary work in action because the fellowshipper and his family were there the whole time and he was the one who made the return appointment not us.
      Althought he is the zone leaders investigator I truly had enjoyed teaching him. We had a pretty good time at church they are planning a hangi next week, it is like a moari cultural dinner, sort of like a luau. It is a fundraiser to help this member bring his family back home to him. It is cool to see the ward come together to help there own.
      I have to give a special thanks to Eve Simmons for sending me a package and to mom for Sending a surprise Easter Package. Thank you all so much, I love you all so so so much. I hope all is well in Bountiful, Please keep me updated.

March 22-Tropical Storm did not hit

Dear Family and Friends,

       This week has been pretty great, I have adjusted well to this new area and I should hopefully have it down in a few weeks haha. It is a lot bigger and more complicated than Oamaru. What makes it harder is that the names of the streets are moari names rather than english names haha. I will have it down soon though. So My new companion is the man. We have been working hard and loving it. I really do believe that working hard and getting lost in the work just makes things go by much faster. I love it. The only thing that stresses me out is when we have planning and I dont feel as useful as I feel I should be. I still try to be as active a participant as I can given my newness to the area. I am just really grateful that I have a companion who is patient with me. We have been staying busy with contacting formers and less actives. I love meeting these people. One of the great blessings that we as missionaries have is the ability to have relationships with complete strangers. Its great, you can just walk up to a house and they will welcome you in just based on your calling, it is great.
       So this week as a lot of you predicted it was indeed windy and rainy for a good part of the week because of the tropical storm. I guess it hit Vanuatu pretty hard and the church is helping with the relief effort there, way cool. The church is awesome. One of the side effects of the bad weather was I had a tough time adjusting to the idea of staying here... at least near the beginning of the week. During the middle of the week we werent having too much success but we were working hard so we still felt good about our work. We taught Roena and Himanshu twice this week where we taught the first two lessons. Roena is a less active member and her partner Himanshu is a not member. They are awesome. Himanshu asks great questions and understands the things we teach he is very receptive and is willing to be baptised. He just has a few hurdles to overcome. They have to either marry or separate before he is baptised and he needs to quit smoking. But we are confident that he will overcome these challenges. This stuff just excites me, I love seeing people come unto christ and come to find the happiness I have found.
       We also had zone conference on friday. The AP's and President and sister Hudson were there. We talked about effective goal setting and planning. That seems to be a big emphasis. President Pearson of the area presidency gave us a promise last year that if we become master planners we can double our baptisms for the year. Our mission has a goal to have 350 convert baptisms this year. That is 4 baptisms per companionship this year. I hope to do everything I can to meet those goals. I love seeing the work move forward.
     This sunday was great, I am beginning to feel more apart of the ward. They are great. Everything just seems to run smoothly. After church we went and contacted this less active lady who we talked to for a while she talked about how much she loves her children and how she appreciates the gospel in her life. She was having a hard time because her husband is a drug addict and isnt home most of the week. It was sad to see but I know that the Lord can help us if we are willing to do our part.
      We also had a general priesthood meeting for the stake which was good because we talked about ward councils and how we can work better together to help retain new members, less actives and baptise more. I know that this is the only way that we can move this work forward is with the help of members. I have really enjoyed my time on the mission and seeing my testimony grow and develope. It has been amazing to see.
       On a more personal note, the bed bugs have not been biting me lately so it should be fixed, I sprayed my bedding with this stuff and it hasnt bothered me since. so I hope that is over with. Thank you for your love and concern. I love you all and pray for your well being.

Love always,
Elder Tanner Bowers

Zack's Baptism

Elder Bowers was unable to be at Zack's baptism due to his transfer. He was able to talk to the missionaries and hear about it which he was grateful for. Here are a few pictures he sent of the baptism.

First week in Porirua

Dear Family and Friends,

This past Week has been amazing and overwhelming at the same time. I Really love this new area, its just crazy. The south Island I have found is a lot like europe, it is very victorian in some places and is heavily influenced by english and scottish culture. The North Island is like a whole new place, it is seriously like walking into the belly of a beast haha. I love it though. In Oamaru, I probably saw one or two moari people every now and then, but Porirua is full on, it is like everyone in the ward I am serving in is Moari. We do get fed heaps here apparently, but we bike all over and there is nothing but hills so I will work off the food hopefully. Surprisingly I have not gain any weight but I have lost weight on my mission. Knock on wood. 

So My new companion is from Keribus. It is a SMALL Island near Fiji. I dont think it was hit by the storm. He Pretty cool. He is fresh off training so we are both pretty new. This is much different than my last companion, because Elder Tekiera is Staunch. I am grateful for this because, being staunch helps you be a more effective missionary. You cant really teach when you are being disobedient. He speaks pretty decent english so I am grateful for that. We  do Language study which is new. The flat that I have moved into is very nice and Clean compared to the last one. Apart from the possibility of bed bugs here. By the way family, I might have bed bugs. Awesome. I just hope that we can get rid of them. This district is notorious for bugs being sent around during exchanges. I hope that we can change that Because there is nothing worse than having bites all over in the morning. Other than that I could not be happier with this transfer. I keep having to remind myself that I haven't been here for long and that I cant expect myself to have the area memorized. It is very big. 

This area is a great area. The work here is flourishing. It really is pretty good. We get some quality lessons with people and we hope to see some great success. It is tough to be lead sometimes by my companion because of his broken english but its Ok. He has improved a lot since he first came out. The district is really cool as well. I love it. It is an all elders district and they are all really experienced great elders. We have two sets of Samoan elders and they are hilarious.

This weekend we did a service at this thing called the creek festival as a district, it is like a county fair or something like that. We set up this stage for them. It was like a full on Stage that Was for concerts and such. It took us 7 hours. It was heaps of fun. We also had a tent at the creek fest where we got tons of new investigators and referrals. It was a lot of fun to talk to everyone and see the culture. Afterwards we took down the stage which took 2 and a half hours haha they said we smashed there previous record of 5 hours. We had a prayer afterwards and they were very grateful for our help.

On Sunday we got to go to the new ward and meet everyone. I really loved meeting everyone. I bore my testimony and talked about sharing the gospel with friends and getting out of your comfort zone. I think a lot of people just get caught up in life and dont bother sharing what makes them so happy with there closest friends. I am hoping to work with this ward to get them to share the gospel with everyone. I also had the opportunity to call the elders in Oamaru to see how Zacks baptism went. He said it went well and that Zack bore his testimony at the baptism. I was really grateful to hear that. I wish more than anything to have been able to see it. I was so worried that something would go wrong. But I love hearing that it went Well. My first Baptism. I love this work. I am overall doing really well. I am hoping to learn this new area really fast. I know that Obedience is the key to developing faith and strengthening your testimony. I love you all in bountiful. I pray that you are doing well and that everything is ok. I love you all.

First transfer to a new city!

You heard me right. After Tanner's request to stay the mission president had a better idea. After some clarification on a letter. Tanner explained that it is very common for his president to white wash areas. Now it makes sense why he and his last few companions have both been new to the area. Tonight he left for the Zone leaders flat and tomorrow he will fly out to Porirua where he will serve with Elder Tekiera. Elder Bowers will be the senior companion. He is disappointed to not be around to witness Zack being baptized, but is excited to try a new area. He we will miss all of the people he has got to know and love in Oamaru. I did a quick search and you can see he is headed much further north on the island across the Strait. I am excited to hear about his new adventures. From google I was able to find out that Porirua is one of the 4 metro areas in New Zealand. The population is primarily European with a part of Maori.

HIS ADDRESS IS:

39B Apple Tce
Porirua 5024

March 8

Dear Family and Friends,This week was a pretty rewarding week, It has also been one of the tougher weeks that I have had since i have been out. Homesickness is something that rarely effects me lately, I think of home, but I do not long for home, sure I would like to be back there but I really just want to get to work and forget everything else. I have really been working to keep us busy this week, we have continued to give service as much as we can find it. I love serving at the RDA and around others in the town. Working with the people here in Oamaru is great because it gives us heaps( Kiwi lingo) of opertunities to share our beliefs and our purpose. I really do love the people here.On thursday we had a zone training meeting in Gore. So we slept over at the zone leaders Flat so we wouldnt have to get up earlier for the three and a half hour drive. While we were in Dunedin with the ZL's we made sandwiches with them for the Zone meeting. I also had a wrestling match with Elder Danner, who is from Idaho. He wrestled and I was just itching to wrestle someone haha. It was long and Drawn out and we eventually just ended it due to the lateness of the night. I really miss wrestling, It was one of the most rewarding and character building experiences I have every had... until I complete my mission of course. The Zone meeting that we had was really informative, I really enjoyed it. Elders Oborn and Danner gave the presentation along with sister Simmons the STL. We talked about the goals that we can all set to help us reach our mission. Which is to "Burst through the frontier of faith and dwell in the realm of the miraculous". we learned all about Setting goals to help our investigators be strengthened and grow in the gospel. We were to do this by focussing our goals on the committments we make to those we teach. "Commitments make Converts." The main focus was to help us become master planners so we could grow the number of baptisms this year in our mission, which as it stands the goal is 400. That is one baptism per companionship per Quarter. I know the Lord can help us achieve this goal. Everything is possible through the lords help. We have also continued to teach Zack, this saturday we taught the fifth lesson. We have rescheduled his baptism to the 14th due to a small scheduling conflict. I am confident that he will be ready to be baptised on that day. I have asked President Hudson if I can stay in Oamaru for another transfer so I can see him baptised. He has yet to decide who he would like to baptise him so we told him we would cross that bridge when we get there. I am so happy for him. The lord trully does work miracles in peoples lives. I know that this is Jesus christs church restored again on the earth, I know that Thomas S. Monson is our leader here on the earth. I love you all and I Pray for you.Love always,Elder Bowers

February 1- New Companion

Dear Friends and Family,

     This past week was a little hectic at first, we had transfers and elder Carbonell got shipped off to Invercargil, We dropped him off in Duniden to be driven down to Inv. I was kind of sad to say goodbye but it was really good. We got to say goodbye to some of our investigators and less actives and some members. Sooo since he went, that can only mean that I shall remain here in Oamaru. haha. I love Oamaru, I just dont feel ready to lead the area. My new companion's name is Elder Ofamo'oni, he is tongan, but he is from Auckland. He is pretty cool, He loves Rugby.  He is pretty good at teaching and he is really helpful.  He has been out for six months and I have been out for three, You could say that we are a pretty new companionship. So this week the missionary work moved forward and we have a new branch mission leader. He is very passionate about getting the members to do their part, which is really good, we will finally make some headway into that. So this week On thursday was my birthday and wednesday was my new companions birthday, So we had a member bake a birthday cake for us which was really nice, they are really cool. They are both from utah but they moved here to be closer to there family. I apologize for the shortish letter we just havent had a very eventful week. I love you all. Your letters and packages are so encouraging and help keep me moving, I would just like to thank my family back home for there love and support and I would like to thank my ward family for their love and for the letters. I would invite you If you dont already to help the missionaries back home, I know that you guys have two wonderful missionaries serving in bountiful and they need the members help. I love you all. 

Yours Faithfully,

Elder Tanner Bowers

January 11

 Dear family and friends,

This week has been a very good week, It just zoomed by, some days were slow, but overall, this week was great. We worked really hard this week which I think is part of the reason it went by so quickly. This last week was the eleventh week of my training and that means that I was to lead the area for the whole week, including all teaching and planning activities. What a daunting task! This really stressed me out at the times when I would not know what to do so I asked Elder carbonell what we should do and who we should visit, he just smiled and said," we'll do what ever you want". This irritatted me, but I know it is for my good to grow and develop as a missionary. On tuesday we had a service project at our investigators house, we chopped wood for a while, that really took it out of us, we have been really trying to reach out to them lately because we want to baptise sarah, but her mother wendy has a hard time with understanding it,  We have been talking to her lately about the importance of baptism and about the gospel and she has really opened up to the idea in recent weeks.
We also visited with Dan and his family that night which was really good, I love  talking to him and getting him to talk about experiences he has had that have strengthened his testimony, he is really making progress I think. We also had another visit with Dean, who is still struggling to overcome smoking, but he is doing better every week and we are seeing great improvements in his attitude and with how he carries himself. He is just so happy now. I Love seeing the gospel work miracles in peoples lives. This district meeting I was assigned to give the lesson, I went in feeling prepared, but I dont think it went as well as it could have. We then began our exchanges with Elder James and Elder Inglis. I always enjoy exchanges with elder James, he just has so much knowledge. I can talk to him about anything. We had splits night as soon as we got back which stressed me out because I dont know anyone, but the members are great and we worked well together. though was a very slow day, we tracted for most of the day and we didnt do much of anything else. I did enjoy talking to Elder James throughout the day though, he has a way of talking to people that is just so peaceful and so loving. I learned a lot from him. It was good to get back to work in Oamaru. We worked hard that day, we had dinner at Dans house, they have been really generous. It was a good day, We worked really hard and the day just flew by! We had four lessons. We have been really focusing on less actives because that is what the branch wants us to do. We have had some good succes with the some of them. Dan and his family came to church which was branch conference. They are so awesome. Dan stuck around for all of the meetings and he participated in the lesson and everything, he looked like an old pro. We had a lunch after church which was really good. this branch can really put on a feast. We ended off the week with a couple lessons which was good. Overall this week has been a great success in my mind, there are many things I can become better at, everytime I am in training I am reminded of it, but, I know that with the saviors help, nothing is impossible. I really appreciate the help that I recieve from you all, I got all of the letters that have been sent in december, due to christmas it was delayed, but I have gotten quite a few in the last two weeks, Thank You! 

Love always, 

Elder Tanner Bowers

P.S Since you all wanted to know if we eat weird things hear in new zealand, a tongan member last week fed us horse. it was my very first time eating horse, I dont know if i will eat it again, but it was good. It tasted just like beef, just tougher. Love you all.

He says it felt weird to eat a horse because they got the whole horse for $100 and it costs $100 to ride a horse here in the U.S.

January 4

Dear family and friends,
Thinking back on this past year and on the year to come, I have really been quite overwhelmed with all that this calling expects, I wouldnt want it any other way though. The trials that I have had just in this little portion of my mission have been great, I really enjoy the time that I have here to improve and become a better desciple of jesus christ. I love how the mission just brings the best out of you and makes you better, if you let it. letting it do that for you is the tough part, that is where the work comes in. I hope that this next year I will be able let it build me up.
This past week being the week of new years it was tough to find some of our investigators much less have a lesson with them. we did however have a pretty good week of teaching. While door knocking we knocked on this jehovahs witnesses door and he invited us in, we had a conversation with him where we were not going any where, we finally just humbly told him that the only way that he could know if what we were saying is true was if he read the book and asked heavenly father if it was true, I think he was touched for a minute but he wasnt ready, thinking back on zone conference when we discussed the rule of sevens... I think he was a negative two, but I am glad to put him at a negative one. We ended the lesson on good terms and headed off to our next appointment, which was at the less active families house( referred to in earlier emails). We taught them quite a few times this week due to the fact that hosanna was getting baptised this week.After we closed the lesson, dan asked me what about something I said during the lesson, I had said that one of the reasons we dont swim is that satan has control over the water, he told me that he felt safe while diving on sundays and that he had never been harmed physically. I told him that maybe satan wasnt harming him physically but he was taking him away from church. Dan said that in his words that penny dropped. He said that he needed to make a change. He is awesome. We had a good lesson, and funny enough Dan, the father, knows the JW that we taught earlier and forbade us from going back, he said he was out to get him. I think we'll heed his advice. We rushed home to make curfew, where I think I got a little careless and crashed my bike, but I am fine, I just think a couple of my fingers are sprained, we did get home on time though. We had an uneventfull new years eve and got back to work unhindered the next day. On New years day, we visited this less active lady that we had found through street contacting on christmas day.  We did not even realise she was less active until the visit. She told us that she wanted to go back to church, she has just been so overwhelmed with her three boys she is raising alone. We promised her that if she did her part and came to church that the lord would bless her. She is amazing. We had a service opportunity to carry a chicken pen into this ladies back yard, it was pretty heavy but we managed. She agreed to a lesson in return, she is a buddist and has some really hard questions for us. Im not sure how sincere she is but I know that the lord can do amazing things. was Hosanna's baptism, so the whole family came to church. It was so nice to see them in there best at church. They had a great program, it was very hot though. After the Baptism Dan told us that he was planning on coming to church every week now,  I know that the branch needs his strength. They are an awesome family. I cant wait to see them become active again. This week overall was a great week. I was very happy with my progress and for the progress of some of those we teach. The next transfer is on the twenty eighth of january, and I have a feeling that Im not going any where for a least another transfer. Thank you for all of your support back home, I love all of you guys. I love hearing about your successes and I hope to hear more in the future.

Love always,

Elder Tanner Bowers

December 28

Dear Family and Friends, This Past week has been quite a week of anticipation! I was so excited for this week to come it was almost unbearable. My companion and I since our last week was a little on the rough side, have really been hitting it off, telling stories of past christmases and such. We have been getting along swimmingly. There will always be those little things that are out of our control but, they feel so minnute that they really dont affect the work anymore. I pray that It stays that way for the rest of the transfer. Our week started off with a rather good start, we had a fantastic Family home evening with the Kaufana family, we went christmas caroling to some of there friends and were able to visit a less active family. The visit with the less active family was really good, we have been really working hard on them this past few weeks. One of the young girls in there family has chosen to get baptised so we are teaching the lessons to her. Her parents are so excited for her and want to make sure that it is a special occasion. I am so glad that they are making this choice. We had a great day on Tuesday, we were worried with the holiday season that our lessons would take a nose dive for the week. So we piled on the finding activities. We ended the day with five lessons in all. We could not have been more pleased. it sure made up for the christmas lul that we had. On christmas Eve we had a really good district meeting where I learned a lot. We had a small gift exchange which was fun. I got a migraine mid meeting though which was crappy, but the other missionaries were very accomodating. When we got home after a brief mcdonalds stop I took four Ibuprofin, which took care of it. We proceeded to go christmas caroling at the local old folks home and we talked to some of the people there. We even had a lesson. We had a good time. Near the end of the day elder carbonell attempted to skype his family, he was not able to get into contact with his family because of local internet problems. He didnt seem too disappointed so it wasnt all that bad. Christmas day started off like most christmas days go, we openned some presents that my family had sent. I was very excited to skype you guys later on though. The skype was not all that I expected. The minutes ticked away like seconds and before I knew it we were saying goodbye. I was very depressed afterward. Five months just seems like an eternity, let alone two years till I can embrace you. Later on though I got over it and got back into the swing of things. We had a good rest of our christmas day, we ended up teaching one lesson that day so it wasnt a complete dud. We had a good amount of lessons each day for the rest of the week, so we ended up very pleased this week. On saturday we visited this woman and her husband. Her name is Lisi and I forgot her husbands name. We had a very powerful lesson with them and we left them with a Book of Mormon copy. They seemed so open to the message we shared. We were so happy afterwards. Ending the Week at church is always such a great experience. We were able to hear from the branch presidency this week and they gave so great talks. Pres. Gaskill gave a talk on Obedience and specifically obedience toward our parents, Heavenly and earthly. It was very powerfull. I guess if I could describe this week I would say it was like an emotional roller coaster, but most weeks are. We just have to trust in our savior and Keep moving forward. I am constantly reminded of the saviors love for us and for his great sacrifice, I think this is a week where I needed it a lot. I am so gratefull to be out here serving the people of New Zealand. I love you all so so so much. thank you for all that you do. Love always, Elder Tanner Bowers

December 21

Dear Family and Friends,
This was a great week of missionary work! I felt as though I have made some good progress, and I have found many things that I can improve on, I love how we have so many opportunities to learn out here in the mission field and we can choose to learn and progress or you can reject the opportunities and fall into a hole. I have been working hard to not fall into the hole. I had a realization this week that if I continue with my missionary service the way its been going so far, I will not reach my full potential, I have a lot of things to change but I have decided to start with what Elder Pearson talked about, to be more fully obedient and faithful in my work. I am so grateful for such wonderful leaders that help us missionaries reach our potential. This week before the zone conference we had exchanges with the district leaders and it was to be my first time with elder Cook, and it kind of made me nervous because we were staying in Oamaru so I was the one that we were relying on to have a plan. I was excited though for the opportunity to test myself and see how much I had learned in the past weeks. Tuesday proved to be a pretty good day with us spending a good chunk of the day door knocking and then finishing off the day with a couple lessons, I love having opportunities to watch other missionaries work and to see how they talk to people, elder Cook was great in the teaching situations and helped me whenever I didn’t know what to say. Wednesday was also a great day we had a lesson with a guy who was more than a little crazy but we ended it leaving him with our number and address from the church and he said that he would be willing to go to our church out of curiosity. We proceeded to spend the rest of our day tracting but we did find a few people that were open to learning more, at the end of the day we were picked up by Elder James and Elder Carbonell and we headed over to Dunedin for the night to go to Zone conference. I really enjoyed being able to learn from Elder Pearson, he is an inspired man. I needed to hear what he had to say and I was so grateful for his message. I had heard him speak before at the NZ MTC and I knew he was a very powerful speaker but he certainly is surprising in his countenance and his spirit. I have made conscious efforts to become better since his lesson and will continue to do so. I realized throughout this week that I was getting complacent in my service and that I needed a kick in the butt. Elder Pearson gave me such a kick and I needed it. Friday and Saturday were good days aswell, we worked hard and learned much, I talked with one of the members here extensively as we went around on splits night and he gave me some great advice on working with members and it is something I am trying to implement with my companion, if we can get out of this cycle of endless tracting. Ending the week with the sacrament was so perfect, I was so happy to be able to just sit down for a little bit and think about the savior and his sacrifice for me, I was also very glad to sing some Christmas hymns. We had dean over for a dinner at the Kautai's home. He is making some great progress which is nice to see. most of our plans fell through at the end of the day though so we found ourselves visiting old contacts and checking up on them. I am so glad for weeks like these that show me how to be a better missionary, I just hope I can obtain and implement all of these lessons being thrown my way.
 Also this week being the first week I can start opening those boxes finally, I was so grateful to have your love and support. I love you all so much! you are seriously the best. I pray for you all and I hope that you will pray for me, I need them haha. I know my redeemer lives and it is such a wonderful thing.

love always,

Elder Bowers/Tanner

P.S

I would love to hear back from you. A letter or email would be great.

11a URE st.

Oamaru 9400

New Zealand

December 7

Dear Family and Friends,
This Week Started off Very slowly, like in some weeks past, but this week was very slow. We had many lessons planned and we were hoping for a very productive week of spreading the gospel. We made efforts to reach out to less actives and to work with members to fellowship with them, but almost all of the lessons planned fell through. To be quite honest it was very depressing to not know what to do, we piled on extra finding time to fill the gaps and tried to look for past contacts. we found one of the previous missionaries planners in a drawer and we used that one afternoon to reistablish contact with those that may not have been in the areabook. They did not pan out and we were again left fruitless. I got very low at the beginning of the week, and I was humbled quite a bit. I am so gratefull though, for those times that the lord humbles us, because those are the best times to get down on your knees and know your savior and your heavenly father. The turning point I think was Thursday, we had planned five lessons throughout the day and we were working with some members that day so we had hoped to get some member present lessons. The day had started out with heavy rain in the morning, and our first two lessons with less actives fell through, then our next two later on, but we did end the day with one lesson. when we got back to our flat that night I was very depressed, after a discouraging planning session with not much to do the next day either, I wrote in my journal and just had to pray to the lord. I was very low, but I knew that the lord could lift me higher. After a very emotional prayer, I jumped into bed, slightly more comforted. The next day being also fruitless we had a corrolation meeting with the branch mission leader and at least I was embarrassed with almost nothing to show for our efforts and I was hopefull that since saturday was splits night we would have some lessons to show for our efforts. On saturday we work very ernestly and ended our day with Four lessons, which was great. Elder Carbonell and I really needed that day, we were really getting discouraged. We also ended the day at a moari cultural night which was chalked full of Phillipino's which made elder carbonell happy, we talked to quite a few people and found some people willing to hear our message. This sunday was fast sunday so we had the wonderfull opertunity to fast and to listen to the wonderfull testimonies of the members. We ended the day with three lessons which was great, I was very happy with our day. I have come to really appreciate the work that the members do for us, When they help we really notice and it makes a wonderfull difference in the work. My companion and I are getting along better than we have before, we still have our differences but with the saviors help we can see eachother with our spiritual eyes and we dont notice as much our imperfections. The work this week though tough, I feel has really been a very constructive week, we have come to know eachother and the lord that much better. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone back home who makes that effort to email or write me, it means a lot, I really do love you guys! I would also appreciate letters from family and friends if possible. I love hearing from you. I love all of you so much! I pray for you and I know you pray for me aswell, I can feel it!

love always,

Elder Bowers