WEEK 41 Zone conference-transfers coming-SKYPE great!-Working hard spreading turth

Mother's Day SKYPE was the BEST!!!! Here's some notes:

5-5-18 Saturday 9 pm California Time / Elder Bowen Sunday 4 pm Tarawa Time

Elder Bowen is currently on an atoll, Tarawa in the Kiribati Islands. The language has become easier and different on each island. The language on the island of Nikunau talk in a singing sway voice which Carson demonstrated. He sure can talk the language and so fun to hear him rattle it off!!!!
Everyone uses "Boss" in their talking as, Are you way Boss, or that is so Boss.

He lives in a Hut built of coconut leaves and other leaves for the roof. He sleeps on a thin mat made of leaves intertwined together and says he is use to it now and it is comfortable. He uses a book sometimes as a pillow.

Coconut trees are everywhere and that is how the people make their money through these trees.

Communication is the internet which works better now that I am on the bigger island or on the
little island there was internet which didn't work much or a hand held radio would be used.

Bathrooms consist of a hole in the ground or on the beach near the water. People there seem to squat and do there business in the open while even holding a conversation of someone walking by. Carson shared several funny stories of this custom!!! No toilet paper but leaves, hands, and splashing ocean water seems to do the trick.

Showers are using buckets of ocean water, yes there is soap, or bath in the ocean as the soap floats.

The little island of Nikunau is the hottest of all islands.

This Wednesday are transfers so I will see what happens.

The first month things were hard here and really took some getting use to. For one, when arriving in anyones hut you had to sit on the ground in criss cross applesauce style. My legs and back would cramp so bad and it was very painful but I could not move because it would offend the culture. So now I have these big calluses on my feet where they hit thee ground when I sit. There are no chairs because of the poverty and nothing on the island to build sturdy furniture. Cargo comes from Japan, China, and Australia.

I am gaining weight now back on the bigger island because I am eatting EGGS!!! I love eggs!!! When I had the first of the eggs a couple of weeks ago I almost cried....!!! sooooo good!!!!! I was so skinny on the other island as there was rice and fish, and rice and fish! I have learned to survive on catching fish by using a stick and wire, one day I caught 18 fish! with my 6 foot wire. We find crabs at night then use the crab butts to fish. The fish here are so good.

I have AC now on this big island but we will see when transferred! I have 6 hand fans now (the kind you wave back and forth) that kind people have made me as gifts and they come in handy to try and stay cool.

I am busy morning and night, everyday- we never stop!

We find people to teach when stop at a hut and say "Hello, Hello in the house!" If they say "Hello" back we ask, "Is it ok if we come in?" There is either dirt or cement on the ground. Often times we I ask, Don't you want to have good health? You need that to be happy and smoking and drinking do not bring happiness. Once they hear and believe this then I see lives begin to change. So cool!

Several times when we were communicating Carson became frozen but soon we could hear him and soon he would move on our computer screen. We had to use paper and pen to communicate at times when screen was frozen along with thumbs up sign if we could all hear....there was several screens on representing each family.

When talking to the people they like knowing your TALENTS. They would ask, "Are you BOSS in ______?" I would often say, "I am BOSS in Sorry Game. Sorry game is very very popular there. Many would want to know if I have seen snow and what it was like. On every outer island there is always something special like on Nikunau it was the wavy voice in the language. Nikunau also is a happy place where no one cares so everyones happy! At church on a good day in Nikunau we would see 84 members that would come to church. On other Sundays we would see as little as 40 members. People here are so cool and they LOVE to laugh! There are a lot of islands here. Another island eats with sticks.

I have become very skilled at catching flies...they are everywhere all the time and when eating it becomes so annoying! I catch them so well that people say, "This guy is the man" (meaning I am good at catching flies). Because I am white skinned, people always ask me if I showered in BLEACH! They are serious too when they ask.

The older ladies are FUNNY, and the old men can be grumpy with their saggy dark faces.

My perspective has changed a great deal on life! I have introduced the gospel with the help of the Holy Ghost to 11 people who have all been baptized now. I have another 16 that are currently being taught. We do not personally baptized them because it is against the rules but the members do so they can feel a closeness to the members even after we get transferred.

I try to follow ALL the rules as this is very important. We can not leave the house before 8 am in the morning. On P day which I LOVE, I fish, do laundry by hand, play volleyball/basketball.

Love you all, I am doing what I can do to change lives. 6 lessons a day and over 1000 members on this bigger island I am now on. The stars are so pretty at night. We ride bikes and walk everywhere. At night the blue crabs come out and it is very hard to miss them when riding a bike. If we hit them then we go back and get them and cook them for food. It takes 2 hours on bikes to get from one side of the island to the other, so lots of riding always.

At church in our unit missionaries do everything, teach, bless, talks, etc.

Toward the end of Skyping.......

As connection became worse we held up an "I LOVE YOU" sign as he became frozen and soon lost connection. We were blessed with almost an hour of sharing, communicating, and witnessing the important mission this Elder has committed to. Bless him for being so valiant and with the help of the Holy Ghost, wanting to change lives offering hope and faith in Jesus Christ.

What a treasure to enjoy technology to bring our family together. It has been over 3 years since we have physically been together because of boys serving missions and probably many more years to come but the blessings of having missionaries enriches each of our lives. Even though we do not physically see each other, WE are a FOREVER FAMILY, being strengthened by and blessed by missionary work.

Bonus email the next day on his P-day: Monday 5-7-18

super fun Skyping with ya'll!! def miss seeing everyone! I realized that I was talking a lot yesterday and didn't get to hear much about whats going on in America. and I also want y'all to know that I'm obedient. I try and follow all rules.

but I wanna know whats going on at home!

Everyday I work as hard as I can. study hard. and preach to everyone. As of now(bc I have the language) I have been getting really good at listening to the spirit and teaching the people. not just trying to get through the lessons.

just wanted to let y'all know those things, bc time was very short Skyping.

I still have my Christmas Skype that I didn't do yet, bc I was on Nikunau, so I can do that whenever. I was thinking about doing it in a couple of months, but if you guys want it earlier let me know.

I am loving my mission and my perspective on life has truly changed, seeing others change theirs in the gospel is powerful.

couple questions I never got to ask:

Hows grandpa and honey?

WHats everyone driving?

and I think that's it for now.

there is buses here which have springs for seats and are like totaled but they make them move somehow.. that's what I'm use to now.

Love, Elder Bowen

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