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.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
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.
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.
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
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