LAST WEEKLY MISSION EMAIL EVER!

Hi Family and Friends, 

Well, this is it! I can hardly believe it. Let me tell you, there are so many mixed emotions right now. I'm so excited, scared, nervous, happy, grateful, sad, hungry, anxious and everything else you can think of! It's been quite an adventure to say the least. Monday was hard, every time I thought about going home, my stomach just hurt really bad and I didn't want to eat anything, but people kept feeding us so that was hard.

I'm a bit torn. During this Christmas season, hearts turn to God. Christmas as a missionary is the greatest thing in the world. I am sad I won't be a set apart missionary this Christmas. Of course, I get to be with my family so that is exciting. It's just different, a piece of my heart will definitely be here in New York and Connecticut forever. I love this place, I love these people, I love being a missionary.

I have loved every second of my mission though, even when things were hard. It has all been so worth it.

First off, little about this week.. It was crazy so I can't remember much right now, but here are a few things..

RAKESTRAWS:
So we were getting worried about them because they were never meeting with us but then we got a 13 page text from Bridget at 12:35 on Thursday night pretty much just saying how they aren't ignoring us or anything, it's just that their work schedules have been super busy but that they still want to keep learning. So that was good! I got to see them on Monday too and they are still as cute as ever. I got to give them a Book of Mormon that I marked up for them and wrote in and all that good stuff so that was good too. I still love them.

RANDOM
1. This Ward is getting elders back! Yay, that will be good. We need it because we have a lot of male investigators right now and it's hard to teach them. So that will be cool. And sister Standage found out she will be the STL for this area so that's sweet too!
2. Yesterday and Monday we got fed about 4000 times. No joke. Like it was bad. Everyone we went to gave us some dessert or full course meal. How kind.. Haha
3. I hurt my back picking up my suitcase. Bummer right? Like it kills. It's all good though, I guess that's how you know your suitcase is too heavy! Idk what's in there, I thought I was bringing like nothing home. I still have room too, it's just heavy journals and scriptures I guess.
4. We had dinner with Melva and Lucas and Linda and their whole family! It was so much fun! They made it super fancy and special and we took some pictures so ill show you those tomorrow or something


Anyway, I'm going to miss this for sure. I know I will forever think about all I have learned here. It's been an incredible journey. From the good to the bad, I'll miss it all! I will miss Wearing my name tag, Being around missionaries all the time, constantly having someone by side, stressing out on pdays, writing my mission president weekly, tiwi, stressing about one hour dinner appointments, constant efy music, not having anything be about me, teaching people all day everyday, worrying about others all the time and not myself, having a district and zone to look out for and to watch over me, Smelling like smoke, Knocking on random doors all day, having those really hard days when nothing goes right and then those awesome days where God blesses you like crazy, seeing cemeteries literally everywhere, riding the subway everyday, project buildings, talking to everyone about Christ, being fed until I want to explode, nightly phone calls or texts, smelly houses, always relating things back to the restoration, Urine smelling streets, abandoned houses in Monticello, crazy people yelling at me on the daily, everyone honking their horns for no reason, no sidewalks, snow, tall buildings, billions of trees, praying with everyone, knowing all the members of the Ward and less active members, being at every Ward council, leaving with a prayer at every house, being the go to service people, longing for a relaxing preparation day, practically having a twelve course meal every night, not caring about worldly things, People wondering why my name is sister, walking up long driveways that make us out of breath, having the excuse of just being an awkward missionary, the people, New York, and Connecticut.

TESTIMONY
Some may say I didn't have any huge experiences that changed me on my mission, but I know it was the little things and that was huge to me. I am different today because I chose to serve the Lord. I know this gospel is true. I know that God called me to serve in the New York New York North mission under the direction of President Morgan as well as President Smith. I know that I needed to learn from both Presidents. I know I needed to serve in south Manhattan, Monticello, and Danbury for specific reasons. I learned so much in each area and from each companion and I know it was part of Gods exact plan. I know Joseph Smith truly did restore this gospel. He went through a lot and he did it all because of his love for God and for all of us to have the gospel and the Book of Mormon today. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that it truly was written by prophets of God. I know it brings us closer to God and that each and every time we study from it with the Spirit, we will learn knew things. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet on the Earth today. He guides us and directs us through revelation from God. I know families are eternal. I know that Jesus really did die for me and each of us. He suffered for us and was resurrected for us. I know I will see God and Christ again because of the Atonement. I know my Heavenly Father loves me and knows me. He is mindful of me. He sends angels to watch over me and help me in His work. I cannot do this work without Him and the help He sends. This gospel is incredible. I love it all. I have loved serving as a representative of Jesus Christ these past 18 months. I will never be the same because of it.

Thank you so much for all the love and support these past 18 months, it's been incredible and I wouldn't change any of it. See you tomorrow! I love you!! Xoxoxox

Love,
Sister Tanner <3



Here are all the pictures I took with people before leaving! 

Jenn

the young women

David Governal

Sister Governal

The Hippen Family!

The Dewitt Family

Some of the Summerhays Family

The Lopez Family

The Schapperts

The May Family

Sister Nieves!

Melva and Lucus! And their family who wanted to feed us

The Fahsbeder Family 

The Rakestraw Family- Bridget, Ricky, Emery and Reece.

Sue Brady

Dan!

Crystal! and her mom, Patricia

Hilal and Tilbe

Bishop Anderson!

The Wells!!

Some of the Newbolds

Edgar and Myra

The original MTC crew

we had to match for Sister Smith

Airport departing crew

lauren!

from beginning to end. Sister Rasmussen

****Disclaimer: Not every picture taken is posted. I wish I could have sent every picture home but sometimes time did not allow for it. Also, sometimes the formatting did not work correctly, but I am glad you got to see a little glimpse of my mission. Thanks for reading my blog and for supporting me! 

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!

Happy December everyone! crazy that I will see you NEXT WEEK! Wow. Time has flown. I will write one more time next week but it will just be a wrap up email so don't feel the need to email me because I probs won't email you back anyway.
First off, Thank you for the package Nori, I loved it!
Okay so this week was incredible. Wow, spiritual high, but not much to share about it. It's been so good though.
Guess what, my companion will be TRAINING!!! Wahoo!! So we have been getting the apartment and area ready for that. It puts a lot of pressure on me because now there is a chain of whatever I taught sister Standage, she will teach her new comp and then that new comp only knows what I taught sister Standage.. Weird. But it will be SO good. I'm soo excited for her!

WICKED
So. Good. Enough said, right? But really I LOVED it. It was Seriously so much better this time because I am older and understand haha
During the Intermission we took a quick bathroom break and this cute little girl behind us in line was like "my brother is on a mission in Guatemala. He comes home next month on December 10th" and so we talked to her for a while. It was just crazy how of all people, she was in line behind us. She just stared at us too until we said hello.

THANKSGIVING
It was so good! I felt right at home. Just like a big family party. Aunt Serah cooked everything and Grandma Wells just loved us being there. They are the cutest. There was SO much food it was insane. Not like huge portions, well kinda, but more like a ton of dishes. I took a pic like at the end. There was more but the pic is what is left. I forgot about pictures until after sadly. But yea, it was SO good. Sadly I was sick, just had a scratchy throat and little cough but it's all good. It was still an awesome day filled with weekly planning and seeing less actives and members. And boy was I full. I tried to just eat a little bit, nope, fail. Everything was homemade. One family brought 8 homemade pies. They were soooo good. I didn't try them all but wow, delicious.

BIRTHDAY
So Friday was Sister Standages birthday and I was determined to make it the best since it's her first birthday on her mission. It turned out to be a lot of fun! I secretly decorated the downstairs as fast as I could while she was in the shower. I just used stuff her mom sent and stuff we had in the apartment. I also made her breakfast and her favorite cupcakes for a snack after lunch. We had to go to Scarsdale to get our car checked out because we had a hit and run, someone just knocked our side mirror off...but then we got there and the place was closed. It took like an hour to get there too, So we just went to the mission office right down the street and talked to all them for a couple minutes and that was really fun. We also went to Panera Bread for lunch and on our way over Edgar called to tell her happy birthday and so we invited him. He ended up meeting us there and buying both of us lunch and he didn't even eat, so that was super nice of him. He is so awesome. If anyone knows a 30ish year old single girl, send her here. Hahah. Anyway, we had some really good lessons and were able to see a lot of people, and then for dinner we went to the Hippens! It was a lot of fun. It was princess themed. There was a tiara, a sash, pictures, balloons, streamers, etc.. We had  one of her favorite meals for dinner which happens to be that yummy shredded chicken, cream cheese, cream of chicken soup stuff that you make that we eat with rice, except we had it with spaghetti pasta. It was delicious and tasted like home. And for dessert we had icecream and this apple crisp thing so it was good :) when we got home she opened more presents and yea, there was a lot more that happened but this is already long so that's pretty much her birthday! I was just SO happy that she had a good day because I really wanted it to be a day she will remember as good. So it was fun! :)

INTERVIEW
I had my final interview with President Smith. It was really neat. We talked all about life and concerns/fears about after the mission and then he gave me a blessing. It was soooo incredible and definitely from God. I will tell you a bit about that next week because I dont really want to tell the whole world about all the details that are sacred to me. Just know, it was amazing and life is good. I feel great!

TEMPLE
Yesterday we got to go to the temple. So us 17 departing missionaries and the 2 APs all went to the temple with president and sister smith. We did a session and then they took us into a sealing room and then we did sealings and it was soooo cool. President Bennion and president smith talked to us for a long time. We each got to do one name acting as a child of course with president and sister smith. The spirit was so strong. He also talked to us about how that's what we have been teaching and that's where we need to be. So that was super awesome as well.

STUDIES
Okay if you haven't been on Christmas.mormon.org and watched both of the videos on there and looked at the site then go do that right now! It's sooooo good. The main one is titled "a Savior is born" and I'll send a picture of that which I didn't take because we can't go to time square anymore but I'll send the ones I got. It's sweet! I read a quote this morning that I loved that said "At Christmas we celebrate much more than the birth of a baby--we celebrate who that child already was, and what he would yet become. Christmas is a time of looking--to the past, with its glimpses of premortal glory, and to the future, with its promise of eternity." Think about it, it's incredible. I love this time of year and all the joy and love that accompany it :)

I can't believe my time is coming to a close. It's been so good though and I'm so grateful for the time I was able to have here. New York and Connecticut will forever be another home. You should probs sign up to have the missionaries over for dinner. And if they don't have a place for Christmas, invite them over! Sweet thanks. This week is super busy with MLC tomorrow, the train the trainers meeting on Friday and then the last of everything else on Sunday-Wednesday. Thursday will be here before you know it. But I hope you have a great week. I love you! Xoxox

Love,
Sister Tanner <3

thanksgiving

the Wells

I love them

Her 20 wishes. Me not getting married while she is gone is one.

The Hippen Painting

Tea Party Birthday

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hello!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
This is going to be a crazy awesome week. So as part of the mission we are allowed to see a Broadway musical right during our last cycle.  Today, We are all going to see Wicked(therefore I have no time to email), Tomorrow is thanksgiving, Friday is my companion, Sister Standages birthday, Saturday is my "18 months" mark, Sunday the new Christmas initiative begins, Monday is my exit interview, Tuesday I am going to the temple with all the departing missionaries, next Wednesday is my last pday with sister Standage, and next Thursday is my last MLC! Weird. Time flies folks. It's crazy.

RAKESTRAWS:
Friday night we had an incredible lesson with the Rakestraws. The Rusts had us and them over for dinner and we taught the plan of salvation. We asked the Rusts before hand to teach a couple parts of it too and it was all really good! The spirit was so strong. They definitely felt it. They also felt Gods love and the love of the Ward. We warned them of satans temptations and whatnot.....fast forward to Sunday, they didn't come!!! We just about cried right there in sacrament. Tears may or may not have been on the verge of flowin. Nah, but it was SO sad and we wanted to cry. Such a disappointment, Satan is lame. We did everything we could!! Their son ended up being sick. It was sad. But hey, what can we do? Agency is still a thing I guess. Hopefully they will come next week.

Sadly I think they got me a Little sick cuz I haven't been feeling 100% either. But don't worry mom, I've been taking emergen-c but I'm not better.. Oh well. I don't have time to have a sick day! It's starting to get cold though. It's been in the 40s during the day, so not too bad but it'll be 60 on Friday and then cold again next week. No snow yet though! Wahoo! :)

EXCHANGES:
-We have been on a couple exchanges this week. I stayed in my area both times. The first time sister Thompson came to this area and it was so fun because she served here before. I actually took her spot when I came to serve here. So we went and saw a lot of people that she wanted to see. She goes home mid transfer next cycle for school and so we had a lot of fun on a split. She is going to the play with me today too.
-I also went on a split with Hermana Fink. We did a lot of Tracting and found a wide variety of people. We met a really nice Catholic man who was actually semi interested. Usually we get "I'm Catholic! *slam door*) and that's like every house. But He was open to hearing our message. We shared the Book of Mormon with him and gave him one. As we testified we could tell he really felt the spirit. It was cool. Then we met a super crazy man who kept getting closer and closer to our faces. He wasn't mean or anything, just super knowledgable, not interested, and crazy. Idk how to even explain him. Anyway, we also met a guy named Chris. He was probably in his mid twenties. Boy was he happy to see us and talk to us. He was very quick to tell us that he did not have a church that he was going to and that he would gladly come to ours. He wanted us to come in but we kindly declined and so he invited us back for next week. Don't worry, we will most definitely bring a third female.

REFERRAL JOKES:
So we got like 6 media referrals for people in Carmel, which never happens. So we went to look them all up. They were all 17 year old boys who have never heard of the church and they don't know anyone that is Mormon either. We didn't get to talk to all of them. Some of their parents were very mad we were there. Others thought it was kinda funny. I guess one of their friends wanted to "play a joke" on them, it's okay though. There is an elder here in my mission that had that "joke" played on him and he ended up getting baptized and is here today serving a mission! So "jokes" work sometimes!

QUOTES:
1. "Follow through: stopping at third base adds no more to the score than striking out." -Alexander Animator?
2. "Since we see things more and more, we tend to notice them less and less" -Mormon message "thanksgiving daily"

So December starts next week! There is an Advent calendar from the 1989 ensign that you should Do!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! I am so grateful for the past 18 months I have had to serve the Lord here in New York and Connecticut.  I am thankful for all the Ward members here who welcome us in like family and love us and care for us. I'm thankful for the trust that the Lord has in me, trusting me with Gods children. I am beyond thankful that I get to represent Jesus Christ every single day. I am thankful for the atonement of Jesus Christ that makes this all possible. I am thankful for the Spirit who helps me every single day without fail. I am thankful for all my family and friends, you guys, who love me and support me while I'm here. I'm thankful for the many prayers that are offered for me and for my investigators everyday. I am thankful for the Book of Mormon. I am thankful for this restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for my life and all the blessings I receive every day! I could go on and on, but I have never been happier. This is such a joyous time that I will forever be thankful for.
I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving and take time to really think about all you are grateful for. I love you! Xoxox

Love,
Sister Tanner <3