Elder Taro (new missionary), Elder Bowring & Elder Tolar

July 21, 2014

Dear Family,
This week was a really good week, very busy and went by very fast. It
was nice this week, we didn’t have any exchanges or anything like that
planned so we were able to just go out and teach and focus on our
people and those who are progressing. I just don’t even know where to
start so I guess I will just kind of give you a run down of the week.
Tuesday was just a normal day, not to much happened. We had a really
good day on Wednesday, We were able to help one of our Recent converts
, Varney out. He is having a hard time. We experienced something later
on Wednesday that I have never experienced on my mission yet. We are
starting to teach this women whose name is Sister Wynita. She was
brought to the church by a friend. She is a really sweet and kind
women. Well last week, she had some hard things come up, last Saturday
night, her husband tried to kill her and so she had to leave the house
and her children all behind and is with her sister now and now she is
just trying to figure out things. She was explaining all these things
to us and then started to explain that she doesn’t know how her kids
are doing and she just broke down right there on the spot. I felt so
bad for her and I honestly didn’t know what to do. I just wanted to do
all I could to help her. She is a strong though, she said that she
knows that everything will be alright and that the lord will provide.
We had a good strong Relief society sister there in the lesson with us
and she was really able to comfort her and help her. I love the love
you can see and feel from members in the church and I know sister
Wynita appreciated it a lot. Well this week we were able to sit down
with Sister Evangeline’s husband and talk with him about a lot of
things. HE said that the reason that has been keeping him from service
was his work. He is a Police Commander in Logan town and so sometimes
that gets in the way. He promised us that Sunday, nothing was
going to stop him from coming to church and he kept his promise  We
were able to see there whole family in church this week and it was so
awesome. We are looking and praying for a miracle this week with them.
In order to be baptized, you need to be legally married and we had a
Baptism day set for the 26th of July for Archie and Evangeline. That
is Saturday and they are still trying to get there marriage
certificate. They are facing a few problems and difficulties getting
it but they said that they could be getting it this week, so we told
them to plan for there baptism this week and to pray for a miracle so
that the certificate can come so we can do a small ceremony on
Saturday morning and then baptize them right after so we could use all
of your prayers on there behalf. We are doing all we can but it is now
time to leave it up to the lord. I really am just praying for it to go
through because Evangeline is just so ready to be baptized, she should
have been baptized 2 months ago.  Another cool thing that happened
this week is that Darlington, our convert who has been baptized for
about a month and a half received another calling. He is now secretary
for the young men, but not just for the branch, for the freakin
district. How sick is that.  That is no small calling. WE are pretty
excited about it and so is he. It was cool to, this week Brother
Richard Desmond gave a talk in sacrament meeting to and it was really
good. It just makes me so happy to see people that you bring to the
gospel to just excel at it. I am sure all of my converts are already
stronger than I am.  On Saturday to, the branch had a priesthood
program to the church about home teaching and we went there towards
the end and we had about 6 converts in side and then 3 investigators
also showed up for it. It was so sweet, made me so happy. Also this
week we were able to get back in contact with sister Rosaline again.
She fell off the face of the earth for a while, so we are back on
track with her to get her going and progressing to her baptism. Well
right now we are in the dark in our apartment and have been since Saturday. 
 We are hooked up to a near by hospital to give us current
but Friday night, somebody came by and stole our wire that was
connecting us to Benson so we are hoping to get that one fixed today.
Pretty tired of the dark to say the least. Well, nothing else much
happened this week. The work here is still going great. Fun fact for
you , it is currently raining right now but I am sure you could have
guessed that haha. Anyways, I love you all and I hope that you have a
fantastic week this week. Love
Elder Bowring

July 14, 2014

Dear family,
This week was a very busy week but it was really good. First off, this
week was the complete opposite of last week, it was so hot this week
and we hardly saw any rain. I just don’t know anymore about the
weather haha. Anyways, this week, Tuesday we had interviews with
President Kirkham. They are always really good and it was good to talk
to him again, Wednesday was a good day. We had an exchange and I was
able to go with a New missionary again named Elder Taro. He is from
Nigeria and has only been out in the Field for 5 weeks. He stays in
the same apartment with me so I already knew him pretty good. It is
always fun to be able to go out with new missionaries and be able to
help them out and just be able to get to know them as well. Thursday
we had a Zone service Project in the morning. It was really good, we
went down into Thinker Village and we went and helped one of Elder
Tolars Converts with some things. We brushed all the grass around his
house and also dug a big trench around his house so that the house
wouldn’t flood when more rain comes. I always love service projects;
it’s a nice way to switch things up. It was sweet to because around
the house there was a lot of sugar cane growing and so we got to eat a
lot of sugar cane when we were working. Friday wasn’t a normal day
either, we had to have a zone meeting and give our zone
instruction so we did that in the morning. It’s never bad but there is
always just 1 or 2 missionaries who try and give us a hard time and
just have terrible attitudes but I guess I can’t be happy for them so
what ever. Saturday was also not a regular day haha, we had to have a
meeting with the district presidency. They always have a meeting every
month with the zone leaders in there district. The meeting was
supposed to start at 12 but didn’t start until 1:30.  IT was
frustrating but it turned out being good. We also got transfer news on
Saturday, this next transfer we have is going to be a 7 week transfer
since this last one was only 5 but me and Elder Tolar are staying
together so I am pumped about that. Not to many other changes in our
zone either so it should be good. It’s so crazy that I am turning 1
year this transfer to, I just cant believe that its already been that
long. Our investigators are doing good, especially the Randal Family.
We were able to sit down and talk with the Branch president about
scheduling a wedding for them yesterday and after we talked with him,
the husband told us that he just wanted to be a member of the church
and also his family so he was going to be married before the month
finishes so we are stoked about that. Hopefully we will be putting
another family in the water this month. As for Evangeline and  her
Husband, I am about to drop kick her husband. Evangeline once again
came to church all by her self with 7 kids, once being strapped to her
back, while her husband sat at home. She said that she begged him to
come to church but he just refused. Its so frustrating because every
time we see the guy he seems happy for the gospel but when he comes
down to it he just isn’t willing to act on the message. All he is
doing is keeping blessings from him self and he is also keeping them
from his entire family. I hope that we have an opportunity to sit with
him this week because if we do, we are throwing it down on this guy.
We had a lesson this week with Evangeline and she told us that she
just finds so much happiness in being a latter day saint and that she
is going to do what it takes to be baptized. I honestly don’t know if
I have taught a more converted person than her on my mission. We also
have another sweet investigator who we have been teaching the past few
weeks named Mark. Mark also has a twin Brother named Mathew, Mark came
to church this week for the 2nd time but his brother didn’t so we are
hoping we can get them both on the path. That would be sick to be able
to baptize twin brothers. There is also this girl we are teaching
whose name is Grace. She is going to be baptized on the 26th. She is
awesome, she is from Sierra Leon and just loves the church. Yesterday
she spent the rest of her money just to transport her to the church
and then she had to walk back to her house which is a good half hour
walk. I am very excited with the people we are teaching right now and
in the next few weeks we will be having some good baptisms hopefully.
Also this week I RECEIVED A PACKAGE. I almost forgot what it felt
like. IT was awesome though, it was the 4th of july package. I love
the Juab Wasp shorts so thanks for those. Also thanks to everyone who
wrote me letters, I enjoyed them so much. I hope this is just the
start to a steady stream of packages coming in haha. Anyways, I hope
you are all enjoying summer over there. Know how much I love you all.
I hope you have an awesome week. Love
Elder Bowring

July 7, 2014

Dear Family,
It was a pretty crazy week to say the least.  The freakin rain we got
this week was enough to fill up the Atlantic ocean and more. I
literally have never seen so much rain In my entire life. It rained
all day Tuesday (and I mean all day) And then it rained for like 48
hours strait Friday and Saturday.  It even rained this morning and
it looks like its going to continue to rain.

Anyways, to start off the week, Tuesday we did not end up having an exchange 
because of an emergency transfer that had to take place because of some 
disobedient missionary’s.  So we just had a regular day on Tuesday. Like I 
said before it literally rained all day so right as we left the apartment,
Me and Tolar were soaked. It was so cold the whole day working out in
the rain, walking through practically rivers and lakes haha. Luckily
it didn’t rain to much on wensday and not too much on Thursday, but
come Friday the freakin heavens opened up and didn’t shut for 2 days.
Like I said before, I have never seen so much rain in my life. It
wasn’t just a light rain, but it literally rained hard for 48 hours.
It felt like you were standing under a water fall, and we were strait
proselyting in it. Roads and streets that we usually use were
literally rivers and it was up to our knees ( I know I exaggerate a
lot but none of this is exaggeration ) A few places on the main road
where all the cabs and stuff drive , the water was past there bumper.
It was so crazy. I have never seen so much water in my life. IT rained
enough to probably fill up recapture 10 times over haha. I never
realized how cold the rain can be though until I proselyted in it for
3 days. Friday was the 4th of July and luckily we had a service
project on that day. It was really good, we went to a members house
and we helped him move a ton of sand and fill up a bunch of sand bags
to block all the water that was coming. There literally was a rapid
that formed around there house , so we were working hard in the down
pour of the rain. I had a blast, it was fun, hopefully I can send a
few pictures off today of it. I thought it was a perfect day to have a
service project, it being the 4th, really just helped me get my mind
off home and it just put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.
The rest of the day Friday was spent just proselyting in the heavy
rain again. At the end of the day, we went to one of our familys homes
and the whole community looked like a swimming pool. WE had to
basically get out our paddles and push through the water haha, it was
really a fun experience though.  To celebrate the 4th though, we
splurged and we made some hamburgers and hot dogs with some French
fries so we really enjoyed on the 4th of July here.  Saturday we went
through the same exact thing. We did see a lot of just small miracles
 though. We were really blessed for our diligence in going
out in the rain and just pushing through it all to see our
investigators. We are finding just more sweet people every day. Our
families are progressing well to. The Randall family is so sweet, the
husband especially. Brother Randall just loves us and the church and
we are now just working to get his married legalized and we will be
putting them in the water in no time hopefully. Our other family,
Evangeline and Archie are also doing good, we have kind of hit a road
block though. The marriage and everything are still planned and going
smoothly but we are just having a hard time getting the husband to
come to church for some reason. We sit down with him and he loves us
and the church and wants to be baptized but for some reason he just
doesn’t like coming to church. It is really frustrating. As for
Evangeline, I don’t think we could keep her away from the church.  So
we are hoping that we can figure something out for them. Again I just
want to say this again for Emphasize, IT RAINED THIS WEEK hahahaha.
Everything is going great though, we are just working hard and finding
success because of it. This week is the last week of the transfer so
by next week some new things could pop up.  I just hope me and Tolar
stay together. I literally could stay here in Paynesville with Elder
Tolar the rest of my mission and I would have no problem with it haha.
He is a great missionary and one of my best friends now haha we are
idiots to say the least, but we are enjoying.  It’s weird because
there are some Elders going home next week, like Elder Finau and Elder
Humphrey’s . Its so weird because for those two elders, they have
really helped and influenced me a lot on my  mission and to see them
go is just really weird. Time is flying by that is for sure, before I
know it , it will be my turn to go home. Anyways, I hope you all had a
wonderful 4th of july and that things went great, I am sure they did.
Love you all and miss you all very much, Love
Elder Bowring

June 30, 2014

Dear Family,
This week was actually a long week and had its ups and downs. First of
the week was actually pretty good but towards the end of the week got
a little bit frustrating and stressful. Anyways, on Tuesday we had to
do a zone leader exchange with one of our District Leaders. Elder
Tolar went with the district leader into his area and then I was able
to have an exchange with his companion and bring him to my area. His
name is Elder Miviqi. If you try to pronounce his name you will never
get it haha its another crazy name that has a click inside it.
Anyways, he is a new missionary, he has just be out 9 weeks now and is
from South Africa. We had a really good exchange, it was a little
different teaching with a new missionary again but it was fun. He is a
funny guy. We had a good day together and then he was able to stay the
night. It was really good and I felt like I was really able to help
him a lot with some things so that was really good. Wensday was one of
our stressful days. We literally got so many bounces on that day.
Right now is graduation season in Liberia and everybody throws a party
when you graduate. You can be graduating high school or just
graduating kindergarten, and you will have a party thrown for you. No
matter where we walk you can just hear music blaring and just a bunch
of people. Because of all these graduations we are getting bounced a
lot so it is making things a little bit harder for us. But because we
got bounced a lot on Wednesday, it led to my miracle for that day. We
literally had tried to see everyone we could think of, so we finally
decided to go to a new area and see one of our RC. We were able to see
him and after that I wanted to go and schedule an appointment with a
new family that I had contacted on my exchange. Well the family ended
up being there and we were able to even sit down with them and have a
sweet lesson with them. They are really awesome AND they are already
legally married so that is wonderful.  We have high hopes for them.
There names are Sister Yassah and Brother Hakeem. Anyways, the worst
day this week was on Saturday. We had a sweet baptism in the morning
and was able to baptize Stephen. After that though, the day went down
hill. We had 3 lessons scheduled at the church and literally all three
people bounced us. We then tried to get in touch with some people in
our teaching pool and either everyone’s phones were off or they were
at stupid graduations. We were finally able to see a LA kid and then
we went out to see our family, Sister Evangeline who lives on the Edge
of our area. ON our way out there it just started pouring on us and
when we got there she also wasn’t there. So we had to go and find her
in the pouring rain. By the time it was 2 o clock, we had 2 lessons
and had about 1000 bounces and we were drenched. It was just really
frustrating. But we made the best out of the rest of the day. We went
on a quick exchange with some Elders in our zone so that Elder Tolar
could show them there area (because Tolar served there before) so I
got to take out another new missionary on an exchange, so I am getting
plenty of new missionary action. Sunday was stressful to because we
weren’t able to get Stephen confirmed. He showed up like 5 minutes
late during the sacrament so he wasn’t able to be confirmed. We were
pretty frustrated about that because we still had time in sacrament
meeting to do it but the Presiding authority didn’t let us so needless
to say Me and Elder Tolar got into an argument with him after
sacrament about the situation. It was great haha. But the day actually
ended up good, we were able to see Hakeem and Yassah again so that was
good. We have some sweet people coming to church to. The Randall
family was able to come, Husband , Wife, and Daughter so that was very
exciting for us. We have 2 families that are really close to getting
there marriage certificate so we are hoping to baptize 2 families this
month. We would really appreciate some prayers for those families to
be able to get there marriage certificates though.  I did have a
realization last night though, this past week I have been really
praying that I could work on my Patience and Humility and I look back
at the crap we went through this week and they were really there to
test me and my Patience and my humility. I just really hope that I was
able to learn from them this time so I don’t have to get tested again
haha. Things are good here though, this week is also looking like a
very busy week. I have an exchange with another New missionary
tomorrow so that will be good. We are definitely staying busy here
though. Even through all the trials and things we face in this life,
we can always be comforted about the gospel we have. I love the
scripture Alma 34:41. You will have to look it up. Anyways, I hope you
all have a wonderful holiday this Friday. You will have to party extra
hard to make up for my absence haha. Love you all, have a great week.
Love Elder Bowring

Mom,
I love the rain too, but i am gettting a bit tired of it haha. I hope you
guys have an awesome week with the family and everything for the 4th.
I will for sure be missing it but its all good, ive got plenty of time
for that. I love you so much to, i hope you ahve an awesome week. Love
you mom, Your african son,
Elder Bowring

June 23, 2014

Dear Family,
This week has just been another good week out here in the mission.
Nothing too great or crazy happened but it was a good solid week. On
Tuesday we had our zone meeting. Now that I am a zone leader I am in
charge of giving the Instruction with Elder Tolar so we had that on
Tuesday. It was really good and went really well. Its a lot different
giving instruction to a whole zone instead of just a district though.
It was good to see everyone in our zone though, we even got to see a
lot of the new missionaries in our zone so that was really good. This
week me and Elder Tolar really just took a step back and looked at our
teaching pool and decided we really needed to get some more serious
investigators. So we have really been focusing all week on finding
some new people to teach. We do have some really good people we are
teaching but we just felt like we could really use more people. We
were really able to find some good people to teach this week though.
WE are really making a lot of progress on one of our families. There
name is the Randal family. The wife and the 2 children have all been
coming to church for some time now, they love the church but the only
thing that has been holding the wife back is that she wasn’t able to
get legally married. Well like I said last week, we were able to sit
down with her husband and we have been able to sit down with them a
few times this week. It is just awesome how receptive the whole family
is to the gospel. Twice this week we were able to sit down with the
whole family, Father, Mother, Daughter and son. There really is just a
special spirit in your lessons when you are able to sit down with an
entire family and teach them. Unfortunately the father couldn’t come to
church this week because he was sick but the Mother and Daughter were
able to again so that was sweet.  Well this week was a little slower
also towards the end of the week. On Friday after we got done
proselyting, Elder Tolar wasn’t feeling to well. Then come Saturday he
was feeling even worse. I had to call sister Kirkham and explain to
situation and stuff and she determined that he had Malaria. So on
Saturday, Tolar was dead on his bed and I was inside with him. I
wanted to shoot my self haha, I do not like staying inside at all. I
was able to get a lot of studying done though. I could of really used
a TV with some sports center or something so if you think you could
swing that in my next package I feel like that would be useful haha.
Luckily I was able to at least get out towards the end of the day for
like an hour and go on an exchange and have at least one lesson so
that was good. Tolar is feeling a lot better now though so it should
be good. We won’t have to worry about staying in hopefully. Sunday was
really good this week to, had some good investigators show up and the
sweetest thing is that our Convert, Darlington, got a calling to be
the Young mens 2nd councilor. HE was strait up geeked for it. Well,
sorry this week wasn’t quite as exciting as last week but it was still
good. This week should be pretty good. We have to go on exchange
tomorrow so that will be sweet. Also we are planning to baptize
another person this Saturday, His name is Stephen and he is 19 so that
will be good. I hope all of you are enjoying the summer and sun shine
while I am over here getting drowned in the rain haha. Just know how
much I love you all and how important the gospel is in our lifes. This
morning I was reading the Liahona and it had an article in there about
how to find Happiness in life. It said that our circumstances around
us is not what determines our happiness but our happiness is
determined on our Spiritual to the savior and his commandments. That
is what brings us true happiness and in knowing that God loves us and
that he wants what is best for us. I hope we can all see the Lords
hand in each day and know that he truly does care about each and every
one of us. Love you all, have a great week. Love
Elder Bowring

Dear Mom and Dad,
Wow, I just go done looking at all the pictures and you guys are doing
great. I cant remember the last time that I missed you guys this much.
I am glad that you are enjoying on that side. Things over here are
going great still.  Anyways, I sure do love you guys very much, I cant
believe I am almost a year out on my mission. Its pretty crazy how
fast time goes. Don’t worry about the Ebola either , things are still
in control over here. Love you guys very much. I hope you have an
Awesome week. Love Your African Son,
Elder Bowring

June 16, 2014

Dear family,
This week was a good week as it always is. This week took a lot of
adusting to having 6 people in the apartment, its defintily a lot
different and a lot harder to keep things in order with 6 people but
we are figuring it out. Every one in the apartment is really cool
though and we all get along great. Its pretty cool, in the apartment
we have a Nigerian, an Elder From Kenya, the Philippines and then the
U.S from Texas and California, so I thought that was pretty cool how
many nationalities we have all in one apartment at once. We had a
really good week this week, it rained A TON this week. On Tuesday and
Wednesday it rained basically for 36 hours strait. I love the rain but
it doesn’t necessarily help out missionary work at all, but it was
still a good  week of proselyiting. This week me and Elder Tolar have
just really been trying to focus on trying to find great families and
then kind of weed out our serious investigators and our not so serious
investigators. Something really sweet happened to us yesterday though.
There is this family that we have started teaching, The daughter is
baptized and the Wife always comes to church and wants to be baptized
but the only thing holding her back is her husband and her are not
married. We got this family from the other missionarys (who were
teaching in our area ) and they said they tried to sit down with the
husband but he is so busy they were never able to sit down with him.
We tried several times this week to sit down with the husband but
everytime we tried things fell through. Well we finally scheduled a
time with him for yesterday and when we showed up … he wasn’t there.
His family said that his sister had called and his auntie just died.
So we were thinking we would just try again next week. We just barely
had pulled out the BOM and started to teach a lesson when some random
guy just came and sat down. Me and Tolar were confused but then he
introduced him self as Bro Randal, the husband of the family. Talk
about a straight up miracle. We were able to have a dope lesson with
the whole family there, give them baptism dates and set up times to go
and see them this week. I am very excited to be teaching this family
and I hope we figure things out and get them all baptized.  In our
teaching pool right now, we are teaching about 5 families so that is
sweet, but about 4 are not legally married so we defintily have our
work cut out for us, so if you guys could pray for these families we
are teaching it would be much appreciated. Thanks a bunch guys. This
week we had a sweet baptism and were able to baptize three more
people. Brother Saytue (gold tooth) Brother Varney (Ex-Convict) and
Bro Smith (Albino). It was such a sweet baptism, I was able to perform
the baptism for all of them. I literally thought that brother Saytue
was a Child on Christmas morning he was so happy. It made me laugh. In
the testimonies given after the baptism, Brother Smith said something
that really stood out to me. He said that he had been thinking about
coming to the church for a long time now and that through the studies
he had made the disicion to join the church. Then he said what really
convinced him was when me and Elder Tolar were able to help him with
love and kindness with one of his problems. He was having a hard time
getting to church on time so we talked with him about it and even
offered to come over on Saturday and help him prepare some things so
he could make it. He said that when we showed that love that he knew
then for sure that the church was true. I had no idea that what we had
done had made such a big impact on him I mean we literally do it for
every one but I just really made me realize how far showing love and
kindness really goes and how much of an impact it can have on
somebody. It was really good. WE don’t have any baptism planned this
week but the following week we will be having a few so that will be
good. The work is just moving along great. Just so many great people I
am meeting. Being a zone leader is defiantly keeping me busy for sure.
Some nights I just get back to the apartment so tired I just want to
die haha but I love it. I hope you all had a wonderful week this week
and happy fathers day to all the fathers this past week. I love you
all so very much and I hope you all have a great week this week. Love
Elder Bowring

Dear Mom and Dad,
First off, Happy fathers day yesterday day, I feel like I should have
been able to call home yesterday but its all good ;) haha. I hope it
was great. I am glad to see that you made it home safe from Montana
last week mom. It looks like you guys had a really good time up there.
I am glad to hear that, it  looked like a blast from the pictures. I
hope you guys were able to get through your busy week and that
everything is going great back home. I love you guys both very much
and I just wanted to let you know that. Thanks for everything you have
done for me. Still no sign of any package. I am starting to forget
that receiving mail is a part of missionary work haha jk but one day
It will come. Things here are great. I am really just enjoying and I
am defintily staying busy. Cant believe it is already Almost July
again. Anyways love you guys. Your African Son
Elder Bowring