....I'm Pregnant!

Hey family!!

It was so good to talk to you on Christmas!! Definitely the highlight of Christmas!! Sorry time is short! But You all looked so good in the I <3 NY shirts! Best Christmas ever! I hope you had a good rest of your Christmas Day :) can you send me the pictures you took?

Thanks again for all the Christmas gifts and cards! I really feel the love from everyone. Thank you!

So Christmas Eve was awesome. We went to the Cardonas house with the Elders (investigators that are super active and getting baptized in June when divorce papers [from previous marriage] go through). They gave us all a Christmas present! It was fun being with them. They are an awesome family and have been coming to church every week for about a year and a half now.

Then at 10:45pm sister McCreary rang our doorbell (we put our mattresses in the family room and slept by the lights of the Christmas tree that night) and so we got up and answered and she gave us each a present too! Super unexpected. I love her.

The rest of my Christmas Day was so good! So as I said when we skyped, we woke up and opened presents and then got ready for the day, finished the 1000 piece nativity puzzle and went and skyped our beautiful families. Then We drove the Hsiehs (senior couple) up to then van valkenburgs and spent a few hours there. We had dinner and shared a Christmas story. Then we came home and wrote in our journals and read some Christmas stories from the new era and ensigns and then went to bed, it was good! It was a really relaxed Christmas and I loved it.

Alright, so I think it would be good for you to know that I am pregnant... Yep my baby will arrive on Wednesday. (Missionary term: expecting to train a brand new missionary) She is from Las Vegas. So I'll be training her, therefore I could probably be in this area for a while. That's okay though. I have had a feeling I would be training this cycle for quite some time now. Two weeks ago I started praying for the missionaries that were going into the MTC that would be coming here. I try to do that because I know how nervous they can be but I forgot about it and then all of the sudden I just kept praying for them. And then two days ago I took out my posterity scarf that I got from my trainer (Ya missionaries are weird!) and wrote my name on it so I can be prepared to pass it down. So I guess I really knew it was gonna happen. Follow up training sister Ballou has really got me prepared for it though. Friday we will drive to Scarsdale again because I have a train the trainers meeting. And then on Monday we drive to Middletown to get our car serviced for the regular check up thing. And then down to Ossining for transfers on Wednesday next week. Looks like a week of driving!

Today for pday we have to drive down to Scarsdale to drop off sister Matthews because the group going home leaves tomorrow and they spend the night at the mission home tonight. Since school starts next week they had to leave before transfers. But transfers are on Wednesday. However, since sister Matthews is leaving, her companion sister smith (a different one than my last apartment) is going to be trio-ing with us until Wednesday! I'm excited, she is really fun. She came out the transfer right after me and sister Orme follow up trained her.

We got to teach sister McCreary again yesterday. She is progressing so that is good but she will take longer than missionaries dream of.. Haha but that's okay! We will be patient with her and go a the pace she is ready for so that we don't overwhelm her. Whether she gets baptized when I'm here or not, it doesn't matter. She will get
baptized :) she has been reading the Book of Mormon and she said that it makes sense that Christ came to the Americas because he just disappeared for a while in the bible and so it fits in perfectly. She said she thinks the Book of Mormon can be true. Soon she will know it is true. She loves to pray so she is going to keep praying about it.

Another investigator we have been teaching for a little while is a woman named Corrina. Our lesson last week she told us she has every intention to get baptized, she just wants to make sure she can fully commit when she does. She comes to church every other week (she has work on the other days) and she knows it's all true. She just struggles financially and feels she wants to be more prepared. We will keep working with her and we will be patient. But she is awesome. She always brings friends to church too.

So we are still training the Hsiehs haha it's fun, they are hilarious. They asked sister Ballou and me to teach them English since the elders teach me and sister Ballou Spanish. So last week we had our first English lesson right after they fed us and the elders lunch. Elder hsieh wanted us to teach him pronunciation. When we got to L we all decided to sing deck the halls. So us 6 missionaries gathered around and we sang it so that they could practice the "fa la la la la, la la la la". We put the Christmas Story movie into action. It was real life and so funny haha I wish I would have recorded it for you. Then At the end of the lesson he asked us what some slang words are that we use and some phrases that are commonly used. So we taught them about 20 words (mostly easy ones..like sweet, sketchy, dude, etc) and then as we were getting ready to leave we were like "oh Ya, sometimes we say 'aww man!'" And then we explained what it means and how we say it and then elder Hsieh looked at us super confused and said (in the thickest accent ever) "aww man, the struggle is real!" Haha it was sooo funny. We all died laughing.

On Friday I called Sasha and Natasha and Sister Macuilt! It was soo fun! I love them. When I called sister Macuilt first all I said was "hi sister Macuilt!" And she was like "sister Tanner!! How are you sister!?" I love how she knows my voice :) haha Bishop Nixon bought sasha and Natasha Christmas gifts and they were really happy about that. (So was I especially since Sasha was afraid of the bishop at first but now she knows he is super nice). Natasha(the 10 yr old) is so cute. She was telling me about how after Christmas they always have a cousin day and they go shopping and go to Starbucks and everyone normally gets something with coffee but she is "all about that hot chocolate and whipped cream life now" haha I love her. They are doing
great. I'm glad we have permission to call recent converts :)

This past week I have really felt the love of my Savior so strongly. I have been overwhelmed with the love and joy especially this past week. At first I thought it was all because of the many prayers offered from family and friends back home as well as in this branch(which is part of it). However, as i was reflecting back on my week on Sunday, I remembered what I had been praying for at the beginning of the week
and that was to feel what my investigators will feel when they read the Book of Mormon. Since it didn't come right away, I thought my answer was "you already know it's true, you don't need another witness." Now I understand. The Book of Mormon does bring joy and hope and guidance. I was filled with joy and love because it is a true book. I know I got that answer because God loves me. I feel Christ's
love from others as I see Him touch their hearts and serve others. I have felt the love of our investigators and members especially during this Christmas season. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary at this time. I loved finishing the Book of Mormon just before Christmas because it made this Christmas the best one yet. If you haven't read the Book of Mormon all way through (ever in your
life or recently) then you really should do that. Nothing bad can happen. It's worth the shot. Make time for it and Just give it a chance. It's an amazing book. I love it and I know it's true.

I love you all so much! Thanks for the prayers and love! Happy New Year! Have a good week :)

Love,
Sister Tanner <3

HAPPY NEW YEAR!