Thursday, August 7, 2014

Dreams come true, Bronx Zoo

Hello hello! So this week was wonderful because I was able to see so much progression In both investigators and less active members. It's been incredible to see their progression. That's my favorite part about the mission. Seeing so many people grow and change. Members, less actives and investigators. It's awesome!

One of the less actives, Thelma, came to church again for the second time in a row which is sooo awesome cuz she hasn't come in foreverrrr I guess! I'm talking years. When we met with her this week she talked about how she has realized that God is always guiding her and helping her through all her hard times and so she knows she needs to do her part. She said she was lying to herself about what she did for God before and she knows that she needs to go to church and all that because of the blessings God sends her all the time no matter what. She talked about how she has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday even if it was late like 1 am because she got home late or something and how she takes notes so she can understand better. She mentioned how she can
understand the scriptures way more now because she has the spirit with her and she is praying regularly and church helps her to be a lot happier and positive. It's awesome.

And then Ron. Good ol' Ronald. We set a baptismal date with him for the first weekend in September. We gave him a tour of the church building and explained how church goes and invited him but he said he couldn't come because he had to help out at his mother in laws church this week (He lives with his mother in law). And then Sunday at church sister Orme and I were sitting in relief society and a man came knocking on the door and waving and then all of a sudden my companion got up and started walking out so I followed her of course.
Turns out, Ron decided to come to church. He said he was having a hard time and his mother in law was annoying him and so he knew that if he came to church he would feel peace. He proceeded to tell us that he
was in sacrament meeting (the mid single adults ward meets at 3) and that people were going up just like they did in his church that day too. He told us he remembered the tour and so he remembered we would be in the back room with the women at that time and so he wanted to tell us hello. Then he asked if we wanted to go listen in sacrament with him so we said sure and went in and sat in the back behind where he was sitting since there was no room by him. And about 2 minutes later he stood up and walked up to bear his testimony! We were freaking out a bit and praying real hard that it wouldn't be awkward. It was good though. He said some,thing like "I am so thankful I can be here today. I feel I have a new found freedom here where I can learn and increase my faith. I am so glad God sent me two angels, sister Tanner and sister Orme, and for their willingness to help me. I know that I need to listen very closely to what they tell me because it is how I can strengthen my faith. I love studying to learn more to be a part of this faith because it is truly freedom...(and some more that I forgot) thank you" and then everyone said amen and he sat back down. It was a true miracle. A minute later he got a text from his daughter saying she was at his house so he had to leave but he is so excited to come next week. He said "next week I'm going to come and do the 3 hours. All of it. It's awesome. We met with him yesterday as well and the lesson was so awesome. The spirit was just incredibly strong and ya, I just can't wait until he gets baptized.

Sasha and Natasha were doing SO good and then they went to Long Island with their family where the cousin and aunt talked them out of getting baptized! Families are the worst... Jk. ;-) But ya, they told Sasha all
this stuff like "you can't get baptized. You don't know enough. You don't want to get sucked in. It's terrible and scary." And just all this stuff. And Sasha being 12 believes them because her faith isn't strong enough yet. And Natasha just kinda was like ya we probably can't get baptized. Lame. But we are still meeting with them and sister Macuilt has so much faith that they will change their minds. For now Natasha asked to just push the date back another week so we will do that. Hopefully Sasha will be able to go to girls camp next week and have a good experience with it. They were doing SO well. Satan is very strong. Lame. We are just gonna keep praying for them. They are wonderful girls. At one point it was just sister macuilt and my comp and I in the room
and her grandson Isaiah came in and he was like "who died? It seems sad in here" (it wasn't we were just really tired and about to leave) and then he left and my comp and I looked at each other and said "Sasha's eternal salvation" haha awkward.

Okay so we have a new investigator named Katrina but she is in the YSA ward so we are in the process of sending her over to the elders but she is so awesome! She's from Hawaii. She's a dancer now. She was an
NFL cheerleader. she is super bubbly and happy and fun. She comes to church on her own and knows a ton already. She wants to become temple worthy and raise her family in the church. She will be baptized this
month or next month. Im sure of it. She comes to church every week already too. She asked us what she needs to do to become Mormon and what she can read to learn more. She lives the word of wisdom and the law of chastity besides the modesty part. And ya she is just golden. On Sunday she was walking up to the YSA ward and she was with a kid In the ward she met and she pointed at us and was like "look those are my
missionaries!!"

So last night we had dinner with a less active member and he took us to a really good Greek place. I got a gyro type thing and it was really delicious and I thought of Shayla because every time I went to her house she would always ask if I wanted to go to the gyro truck because she loves it. But anyway, he told us before hand that "he would love to take us out to dinner or frozen yogurt but he isn't into the whole Mormon thing anymore so there was no need for us to talk to him about that". The crazy thing is that it turns out he is the brother of the girl from my ward at byu that is coming to this mission next month! Haha he showed us a pic of his sister and I was like wait I know her! She's the one that has the same birthday as me too. So that was fun. He's hilarious though.  But it was actually a really fun dinner appointment and we got to talk about the work a bit and he told us about his mission and so ya it was good. And he sent us home with a carton of really
expensive fancy gelato that I love because members give it to us a lot here. It's delicious.

So today for part of our p-day, we are going to the BRONX ZOOOOOO :) 

Okay so does anyoneee have any referrals for me? For anywhere in Manhattan really? Let me know and I'll find them! Everyone seems to know someone here.

The church is true. It's the best. Stay strong. Keep up the good missionary work. Have a good week!! I love you all!

Love,
Sister Tanner <3






I guess it was wear RED DAY!

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