We have been given so much

MARCH 11, 2015

Hello again!! 

This week has been awesome for the most part! 

First of all, to start off, yesterday we had zone conference and got our new iPads!! Thank you so much for taking care of that for me! They are sweeeet. It's awesome because since the church made a deal with Apple they come preset and then we just have to delete the filter app thing the end of our mission. So like we got the iPad's still in the box with the filters and one of the first things it has us do after putting in our language is to log into our lds accounts. So cool! No other Apple device comes asking for a church membership account.

Thank you so much for the half way package!! I think I have enough candy and treats to last me my lifetime! I think I'll be good on candy and treats for a long time, so thank you! (Aka don't send me candy/treats for my birthday if you send me a package unless it's healthy haha). But ya I still don't believe I'm half way. Feels like just yesterday that I was saying bye to you all! 

It has been SO warm lately! Like today I am wearing short sleeves. It's been in the 50's!! However I am a bit bummed that I will have to stop wearing my leggings/tights because they are really helpful. Especially today since it has been so windy. We got out to go to the post office and my skirt flew up..awk. Lucky I have my thick dark blue leggings on so it was perfectly fine but man if it was summer I would have been in big trouble. Either way, it feels great outside which makes me very happy :) 

Yesterday we met a less active who has been here in New York for about a year but just decided that she wants to come to church again. We haven't had her records until this week. She is in a rehab home right now and so we went and tracked her down and talked with her and she is a really sweet girl. She talked about how she knows that going back to church will help her do good things and recover fully. I guess she has had some cool experiences with prayer recently that reminded her how wonderful the gospel is. So that's cool! Her name is Emily.

Remember the Kings? The people we made the cheesecake for. The people who want to go to the temple. The super wonderful couple who I love and adore so much? They have been doing awesome! He has cut back on smoking so much and they have been praying together and reading the Book of Mormon together everyday still. So it's been super good. Well on Friday Sister King told us that she has to go to prison on the 26th for 1-3 years because she never paid for her DWI from 9 years ago. (That was the same reason she was in jail for 3 days before but it was for the court case that time). I cried. It was so sad. I will miss her so much. President said I can write her letters but I am just so sad about it. The Kings are the best. 

Let me just explain Crazy Beth again since you probably don't remember(and I don't know what I told you already). So she is known by missionaries as an "angry woman" so we talked to the branch president and mission leader and they described how she screams and yells and chews out all the missionaries. So we went to her house expecting to get yelled at and now we love going over there. She is so hilarious its great.

But anyway, her and her daughter don't have a good relationship (like restraining order and all) but we just recently started visiting both of them and they both ask if we visit the other and we say "we try to visit all our members but everything is confidential" and then they said "okay don't tell her you have seen me or that we talked or anything, got it?" And they have the same hand motions and facial expressions and eyes. 

Anyway, on Saturday we went to sister Beth's for lunch and I was wearing my necklace that has a key on it. When we were leaving she asked where I got it from. I said I wasn't sure and that maybe my mom gave it to me. She said "is it the key to her heart?" And I said "no I think it's just a key" and she said "no I bet it's the key to her heart. I bet when you were born it unlocked her heart. Ask her. I bet that is why." I said okay I'd ask. So mom, do I have the key to your heart? :) haha

On Sunday we went back to sister Beth's because she wanted to give us coupons. (Pretty much she loves us because she can act like our mom. She feeds us, yells at us, gives us advice, and gives us coupons.) anyway, she lost her little blue towel and was so mad about it. So we asked if we could pray with her to find it. She said "be my guest, I pray so much that God has an answering machine for me. The floor is yours. If you find it then I'll believe God answers all prayers." So, if you want something to pray for, pray that Sister Beth will find her little blue towel. But really, do it! Haha 

Sacrament meeting was interesting. The speaker asked the congregation a question and everyone answered back. So that was weird. We had to talk about tithing since people think they can pay tithing by giving eggs to us missionaries, or by doing service, or different things like that. Totally missing the whole point haha so ya we got that settled. Afterwards we had our monthly linger longer pot luck with corned beef and cabbage so that was interesting as always. It was good though and everyone brought food this time. 

Guess what! Next week we get to go to the TEMPLE again!! On Saturday! Because a member is getting endowed and our branch is having a temple day and since it's such a small branch we have permission to go with them! Yay yay yay! So exciting! 

So back to zone conference. We had a kickoff for the new Easter video! It is SO good. I cried a little. The Spirit was so strong. It starts March 28th and will go until the next Christmas one comes out. We got pass along cards for it and all that good stuff. Only sad thing is that since missionaries are all off FB for now, we won't be able to share it on there right away. So that means YOU have to! That's right. It's awesome. I'll remind you about it in a couple weeks :) it is called BecauseHeLives. 

Something funny that president said... He was talking about making sure we are being consecrated, focused, and appropriate while working together and he said "Elders, your jokes aren't funny!! The sisters only laugh out of pity for you, so don't get any ideas!" Hahaha so true. It was great. 

Oh also at the zone conference the doctor for the mission came with his wife. They cover a lot of he missions over here. But guess where they are from! Huntington Beach! So president brought them to talk to me. It's like he thinks I lived there or something...  I guess he use to be the bishop of the pacific shores ward too (well when it was Huntington Beach 1st). So I told him you guys are in that ward now and they thought that was cool. Their last name is Braithwaite I believe and they have been on their mission here for about 10 months. (I believe they said they also lived on balboa island for a little I think, and they know the bishop right now. So ya, small world.

BIBLE JOKE TIME! (Sorry if I already did these ones) 

1. At what time of day was Adam created?

2. Who was the best financier in the Bible? 

ANSWERS:

1. A little before Eve.

2. Noah. He floated his stock [animals] while the whole world was in liquidation.

We have been given so much. This world was created for us to learn and grow. We are to find true happiness here as we do our best to progress towards God. However it is important that we make sure we worship the creator rather than the created. We always need to put Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ first before anything else. That includes media, working out, school, sports, food, books, music, etc. where are you giving your time? Are you spending as much time studying the scriptures and exercising your spirits as you are playing sports or working out and exercising your bodies? We are so lucky to have all we do, we just need to make sure we prioritize and do things correctly. 

I love you all! Have a fabulous week! 

Love, 

Sister Tanner <3