On Friday we are going to MLC and then the Yankees game right after so I hope you all watch it and look for me! ;) I am so excited! It will be awesome. Sadly we have to leave at 9pm or at the 7th inning stretch, whichever comes first. But I think I'd rather leave early than get shot in the Bronx. We probably won't get home until midnight anyways and so it will probably be good to leave early. It will be fun being there and hearing Motab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir)sing at the beginning and all that good stuff. So watch it. It will be awesome!
This week was good. We had a lot to do taking over the elders people and all that. It's been busy so that's always good.
Okay so I stole this from Westins weekly letter but check out- Beta.mormon.org and share it with all your friends. Honestly We never knew it existed but it is the coolest thing. So give it to all the neighbors and whatnot. You got it!
THURSDAY
So I went to the chiropractor and I asked how my neck became like this and he said that it could have happened at birth or anytime in between. It could have happened by reading too much or playing the piano too long(I told him that's not what happened because I've never been much of a reader and I quit piano) or by getting into a car accident, while playing sports, or just tweaking it weird sometime. Many different things. So no, it's not the mission that did this to my neck. Anyway, tomorrow I go back and he is going to "fit me for a pillow." I guess he is going to tell me what temprapedic pillow I should get depending on my size and how I sleep. I didn't know that was a thing. But anyway, I'll be getting that so that will be nice. He also said that it will take months to recover completely but that I am making progress. As we drove home I really thought about that timing and how perfect it is. I am so thankful God guided me to the chiropractor now so that I can get the help needed for free.
Afterwards we looked up Amanda who we met last week and had a lesson with her. She is so prepared it's incredible. She told us that they have been looking for a church to go to that is family friendly and that she can feel at home in. We explained a whole lot about the church and how it works and we reviewed the family proclamation (she read it with her husband because we gave it to her the first time) and then we explained what we do as missionaries and taught the restoration. She absolutely loved it. Sadly she is moving out of our mission soon but still, she is so prepared and awesome. She explained how she knows God sent us to her right when she was questioning their last religion most. It's awesome because we were teaching one of her neighbors for the longest time and she wasn't progressing but then that woman stopped getting back to us. So we really feel we had to hold on and continue meeting with that woman until Amanda and her family were ready to listen to our message.
Later, We met with another awesome less active member named Jody who was having a realllly hard week and day. We ended up just listening to her cry and talk and then we got her mind off it all by picking cherries from her cherry tree and eating them and other fruit. Then we stayed for dinner and had ice cream with her and her son Mark who was just baptized a year ago right before he went to college. It was good to help them out. By the end she was laughing and having a good time.
FRIDAY
We had a zone training in he morning and it was really fun. We set it up and taught it all with the ZLs and it turned out really successful.
Later we Took a girl who just got back from her mission in Ukraine out with us to teach. Her name is kaylee. So we took kaylee to our investigator named Cassie and then to an investigator named Hilal. It was really cool though because Cassie knows kaylees sister and apparently in her dream that night she was at the mall and one of the stores was named after kaylees sister. So she thought that was weird that kaylee came with us this time, haha but anyway, Cassie knows Chelsea (the other girl we are teaching) because they go to the same church. It's a Small world here!
We Got yelled at a lot while Tracting too. It was really sad. People were really mean. One lady told us that we really should forget about what our families believe and what the bible or Book of Mormon say and just ask God to give us a sign of Him and direction from Him and that we need to put God above everything and then she told us she would pray for us so that we could get some truth and guidance from God so that we can have the faith to leave the church and go to hers instead. It was weird! After that whole Tracting experience we were just not feeling too hot. We were both just tired, drained and hungry and just frustrated but luckily we had texted a member in our ward and told her we didn't have dinner and asked if we could come by for a snack but of course she said come for dinner, so we did and that made everything better because she rocks. She's the best. I love her. But hey, everyone has the chance to accept or reject the gospel so it's all good!
SATURDAY
We got to go to a baby shower in the morning for one of the less actives we are teaching and it was really fun! We played little baby shower games and had a yummy brunch. We didn't stay too long but it was really fun while we were there.
Later we got to teach Maurisa. We met her two weeks ago at the grocery store. She is awesome. We ended up just teaching her on Facebook because it was pouring rain and we planned to meet outside. It was cool though because we were able to send her some links to different Mormon messages and I'm a Mormon videos that really related to her and that she asked about. It was cool though. We also set up to see her Monday.(so go to Monday to read more)
We also stopped by and gave a Book of Mormon to Jay! He was so excited. We went through all the pictures with him at the beginning and explained it to him and he promised to read from it, and he did! He is loving everything he is learning. He will probably be baptized on August 1st. Then he will go home and baptize his family and then they will all get sealed together for time and all eternity in the temple and live happily ever after.
SUNDAY
We had a zone fast for President and Sister Smith and their family who flew in on Monday! It was really awesome. They are so cool. I'll tell you more about them on Tuesday! Anyway, we were asked literally last minute to teach sunbeams. Wow that was an adventure haha it was so much fun though. We sang songs, and had a lesson on families, and had a snack and played some games. It's amazing how much you can do with sunbeams in an hour. When their attention span is so short you have to think of 4000 things to do! When we went to get water everyone had to walk like a penguin and keep there mouth like a turtle. Obviously so that they couldn't run or talk. They thought it was so cool. Later when Sister Groberg was drawing a family on the board and they were guessing what it was, all they could guess was a penguin or turtle so I guess that stuck! It was a fun class. We sang happy birthday at the end too and then they had to guess her age. I'll send you a video of that. The little boy that said the prayer prayed that his dad would pick him up after class and that Declans mom would pick him up after class. Haha kids are the best!
Oh this is cool even though it should go under Tuesday. So last week we visited a less active family that we have been working with. So they have been coming to just the sacrament meeting for about a month now. So we asked if they would come all three hours(they normally say no). But this time they said that they didn't have enough gas so they couldn't make it. So as representatives of Jesus Christ we promised them that if they made the effort and came to church and stayed all 3 hours that they would have enough gas to get to work and back everyday through Thursday (tomorrow). At first one of the girls was really against staying all three hours. She says there are better things she could be doing. But, They accepted because the grandma loves church and all that. So we got them a ride to church and they happily stayed all 3 hours. Well Tuesday night they told us that the gas gauge hasn't moved at all and they are still going strong with gas and they know that that is the Lord blessing them for going to church. Sooo, that's pretty cool. Go to church always everyone! It brings miracles. Really.
MONDAY
Monday was the coolest. We took Kaylee(return missionary who just got home from Ukraine) out with us again. We went to two of our investigators with her and then went tracting with her and found a new investigator. They lessons were SO awesome. She is so solid in adding her testimony at the perfect moment and teaching exactly what they need too. But the coolest thing was that as we were tracting on this random street really far away, a guy that we met two weeks ago (joe) on the completely opposite side of town drove by and stopped and jokingly said "are you guys just recruiting everyone?!" And then we laughed and said something back and then he said "I didn't go to church on Sunday, but I went on the website you gave me and I want to come to church this Sunday." Pretty much we needed to be on that street to see joe again! Anyway the rest of the day was awesome too because taking members out is always awesome!
TUESDAY
So we headed to Ossining where we met two of our sisters (sister kovac and her new companion who she is training, sister jones). We had lunch with them and had a little interview to see how they are doing. They are awesome. Sister jones is just really overwhelmed beings new missionary which is completely normal so it was good! Then we went and met the Smiths!!!
Oh my goodness!! It was the coolest thing! I LOVE the Smiths! They are SO cool. President is super young. Something funny is that he woke the APs up to go running with him the first morning he was here haha. He has done 3 iron mans and he runs a lot. Each of the kids gave a talk and told us about themselves a little bit. Cute 11 year old William is an avid BYU fan so he's pretty cool. They are all so excited to be here. So they have lived in Texas the last 14 years and before that they lived in SLC. The Smiths actually were in the same stake or Ward or something growing up and then served in the same mission but only saw each other once and weren't really friends at that point and then two years after their mission they ran into each other at a dance and started dating from there. (The full story is longer but that's he gist of it). President smith was in the healthcare business and was a 3rd party administrator...and a lot of other things. He had like a thousand companies that he built up and then sold. And most recently He is the one that handles prescriptions for the church and other organizations and ya..everything like that. A lot of it was way over our heads but that's what I got!...pretty much he is the one that allows Drugs for everyone! I'm in good hands ;)
Anyway, this is SWEET. over the past week they were able to hear from 9 of 12 apostles in person and the entire first presidency was there as well teaching them! BUT this is the cool part. Elder perry talked to them via video!!! He Made the video a few days before he passed away. Sister Smith said in the video he was vibrant and excited about the work and the future. Goodness he is so cool!
As they talked to us the Spirit was SO strong just confirming that they need to be here right now with each of us. I know that I was called to serve with them! They seriously are amazing. I can't even describe how strong the Spirit was. Fasting for them and then getting that overwhelming confirmation that this is right was incredible. I just want to spend a month in the mission home with em getting to know them more. Of course we miss the Morgan's but it's okay because the Smiths are great!
WEDNESDAY
so today is sister Grobergs birthday. We had breakfast with a member today and then did shopping and now we are at a zone activity. We are having a blow dart war. We have yard long PVC pipes and nerf darts and have all these tables set up to hide behind. It's actually really fun surprisingly haha there is a secret medic for each side to save the people who get shot. That doesn't really explain it, but it's still fun. Things missionaries upstate do for fun. It's great.
Something that I loved this week is Jacob 4:3-"Now in this thing we do rejoice; and we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents."
I thought about how much Joy I find from the scriptures now. I LOVE reading them. I want to just sit down and study the Book of Mormon and Bible all day and learn from the. I also thought about how I didn't always read the scriptures with joy and a thankful heart. At times I would just do it to do it because I knew it was good or because . But I have really been trying to look to my scripture reading each day with excitement and gratitude for all the hard work put into creating the plates and then translating them. I know it wasn't easy, but it is easy for us to read them and feast upon them. Not just nibble, feast. We have to. The words are written for US. It's incredible. The words written in the Book of Mormon and the Spirit that comes from them have changed my life. I love this gospel. I know the Book of Mormon is true and that this gospel is true.
I love you all so much! Have a fabulous week and happy Fourth of July!!
Love,
Sister Tanner <3
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| President and Sister Smith |
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| P-Day Dart Wars |
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| Fun teaching the Sunbeams! |
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| Meeting with Sister Jones and Kovac and my companion Sister Groberg |
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