A Gated Community...

SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

Hello!
This week has been SO good. A lot of awesome little things happened. Former Investigators we have been trying to get in contact with reached out to us this week. We were able to really see the Lords hand in so many appointments this week as we completely changed the lesson plan at the beginning of the lesson and both of us had the same thoughts as to what we needed to share. And Less actives who never talked to us let us meet with them. It was great.
It's been getting a little more chilly especially in the mornings. I broke out the boots and tights this week! :) and Today we are headed down to china town!! :)

WEDNESDAY
Okay so on the way to go Tracting we passed by this girl who we see probably 3 times a day walking up and down this busy road in Danbury and sometimes in other parts of Danbury. We decided it was time to find out what she was about. So we turned around and went up ahead where she would be walking, we parked and said a prayer and then walked towards her to make it look like we were just contacting haha. Well we went up to her and started talking to her. Her name is Kelly. She is Christian. She doesn't take cards, or pamphlets, and she doesn't want to hear about the gospel but other people walking along the road do according to her Haha it was really interesting. But we finally talked to her and I have been wanting to talk to her. So now that we know who she is we are going to talk to her again sometime and find out more about her life. Haha
Anyway, when we went Tracting we met the cutest little family! They would be the perfect addition to the ward. Except it was a babysitter who was home and it was really dark out when we knocked on their door(it was like 7:30) and I think we scared the babysitter half to death. It was so sad. But we are going to go back and talk to the parents this week so I hope they are interested!

THURSDAY
We switched designated drivers because sister Standage got her tiwi card and wow I was so terrified! Hahaha she is a good driver but our car is super wide and tiwi is stressful when you first use it and she hasn't been driving the past couple months. I was so terrified the whole time. Good thing tomorrow we are getting our airbags fixed so I will be safe if we get in an accident ;) just kidding she is good now! She just gets really frustrated with tiwi (as we all do) and then gets grumpy and it's just awkward but we are working on it hahah
While Tracting we Met a man who knows other members in our stake and he said he wants to set me up with one of their sons who is serving a mission out of the country right now hahah he was like "ya you should date him when he gets home. You would really like him". Awkward! 

FRIDAY
Friday was so awesome!! Everything about it was great. We started out by going to a prayer meeting at the Jericho center which is a Christian community service group. All the Christian churches joined together to help Danbury become better pretty much. So our Ward is joining in! It was really interesting. At the end of the meeting discussing all the needs, the head lady invited one person to pray for our congregation and another man to pray for a different project that was going on and then she said she was going to finish. So the first woman prayed, then the man, and then like 6 other people all said prayers! I was so confused and taken back haha I was going to jump in when there was a pause but I was just so surprised that it was too late and the ending lady started praying by the time I was able to think clearly haha so next time!
Later we got to have a lesson with Jenn and our relief society president came with us. She was in shock after. I guess we didn't really prepare her well enough for Jenns personality and whatnot haha so I don't know if she liked it, but it was an awesome lesson and our relief society president said a lot of awesome things that helped Jenn a lot. Later we went Tracting for a couple hours and we found an awesome Christian family. Well we talked to the kids who were super nice and fun and cute. Probably like 9 and 14 yrs old. So we are going back this week to talk to the parents and so hopefully the parents will be open. We also met this other guy named Christian who doesn't know really anything about the church but he is so awesome and open and so we talked to him for a while.
We had an awesome lesson with Hilal and Tible(Turkish family) and at night we were able to see Kimberly and she committed to coming to church!! Wahoo! She is so cool! She is super cute. We love her. She loved the restoration pamphlet as well.
Overall, everything that happened was just happy and good. Life is so good!

SATURDAY
We had our stake day of service! It was awesome! Our Ward went to Jericho and did a whole bunch of projects. People painted, weeded, cleaned storage closets, worked at the food pantry, tore down bushes and trees and stuff, washed cars and buses, sorted cans, etc. stuff like that. It was an awesome turn out and really fun! We worked wherever needed us and ended up moving a whole lot of cans from one building to another.
Later we got to meet with a lot of less actives and have a Skype lesson with Alyssa :)

SUNDAY
So Nobody came to church again. Kimberly texted and said her mom wouldn't drop her off anymore. So that was really sad. But a few less actives came but no investigators! So so sad. Buuuut we got to teach young women's! So that was really fun. All the girls really participated and shared and stuff so it worked out. :)
After our dinner appointment we went home because sister Standage was super super sick all day. So she went to bed at like 7 or 8 and I just called a bunch of people and worked on our Ward list and wrote in my journal. It was quite productive for me haha but it was sad that she was so sick.

MONDAY
We got to see Jim Condon again!! :) we met his little family. His kids loved us! We just talked to them on their porch. He said he read the restoration pamphlet and started the Book of Mormon but hasn't read as much of the Book of Mormon as he would have liked. It was seriously so happy talking to them though. We have tried so many times to go look him up again but every time something happened, whether it was that they weren't home or it was too late in the evening or what. Every time we go though, My heart hurts because I get afraid that they are going to drop us and I just know how much good this can do for the cute family. They will be the perfect Mormon family. So I just never want them to drop us. Luckily they didn't!
We also went down to the chiropractor. Okay get this, Dr. arbuckle adjusted his oldest son at 6 hours old. The baby wasn't eating at all and so after not knowing what to do and not wanting to put tubes down his throat to help him eat, he decided to adjust the baby. He just laid him gently on his lap and felt his neck and then lightly pushed on his neck on both sides. 20 minutes later the baby started crying, they decided to try feeding him again, and he was able to eat. Super crazy! Every since then, they have adjusted their kids every Sunday after baths and pjs. Crazy but cool!

TUESDAY
We went and saw Jenn. She made some popcorn and we watched the first half of the restoration movie with her. She has learned everything so now we are just down to helping build up her testimony and strengthen her testimony where she has doubts.
Oh and her roommate moved out!!! I don't even know if I told you about her but one of her friends was staying with her because she didn't have anywhere to live and that particular friend was nnooottt a good influence on her. It's the one that got her into the anti stuff in the first place. Well sister Standage and I prayed and prayed that the roommate would move out and things would work out. Well I guess two days later, she found an apartment and moved out! God answers prayers people! Miracles do happen. Well ever since then, Jenn has been back to feeling comfortable praying and what not.
Jenn also had a super cool dream after praying and asking Heavenly Father what she needs to do and sister Standage and I were in the dream and it pretty much was all about her deciding if she was going to listen and continue learning or not. God gave her a sign! So if she isn't baptized this next month, I don't know what else to tell her. Seriously it was the coolest dream that she told us about.
Also, some Jehovah's witnesses knocked on her door after the last time we met and they tried to get her to go to their church and to read the bible with them and she told them no because she "is already a part of the Mormon church." She's in. Haha
We will just have to keep praying for her and helping her and loving her! :)
Afterwards we helped her study for her EMT course. Wow it was a lot of fun. It reminded me of all the times me and my roommates studied for Larry's class, or when I studied anatomy with my friends. Surprisingly fun haha. We helped her a lot too. It was awesome.

Oh we got to meet with Mona!! She is an investigator from a few months ago that dropped off the face of the earth for a while! Now she is back and ready to learn. It's cool because she hadn't responded and what not for a long time so we stopped bothering her. Then last week we decided to text her and so we did and that happened to be the same week she picked up the bible for the first time in forever so she took that as a sign. We had an awesome lesson with her about the plan of salvation.
Then we met with a less active who is becoming fully active. She just got her patriarchal blessing on Sunday and so that was super cool to hear about! Just like how she felt the spirit and what not. So incredible!
We got to meet with Kimberly again as well! She is so cute! She was going to get all ready and straighten her hair(it takes her 2 hours to do that) and come to church but then Sunday morning her mom said no. So sad. Anyway, she is still awesome and now that we have her number she texts us a lot so it's good!
In the evening we got to go visit a young woman in the ward at coldstone because she works there and we got ice cream! It was so much fun! I don't remember the last time I had coldstone so it was very yummy...but she was really happy to see us and so next time we are going to try and meet Jenn there! we really want her to come out with us to teach people and so we are trying to help her love us haha

WEDNESDAY
Like I said, today we are going to China town!! Wahoo, probably my last time here! I'm excited though!! We are going to meet sister Standages cousin down there and have lunch with her and shop a bit. It'll be fun :)

This week we have been talking to people a lot about how angels are preparing the hearts of so many of God's children. In Alma 13:24 it says "For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory."
In helaman I was reading about Samuel the Lamanite and how when he went to share the gospel the first time, the people rejected him but the Lord told him to go back. That would be terrifying! I can't imagine going back to declare repentance unto people who are trying to kill me! But he went anyway and he was protected.
I love those scriptures. I know that God doesn't get mad at us when people reject our message. He is happy that we did something HARD. And then He knows he can trust us in the future. He is preparing people to accept this gospel. God loves us and is so pleased with all our hard work we put forth in sharing the gospel. So we can't be afraid to open our mouths to share it. We can all learn from Samuel and be brave when the Lord is on our side.
Okay follow me on this one...We all live in a "gated community" if you will. As missionaries, we need access to the gated community of these cities. The members have the keys to get in. The members know the people within the community. When we knock doors in "gated communities" some people accept us and others reject us. But the ones that know the members are kind. So unlock the gates to the gated community by introducing the missionaries to your friends! That is how we get in. Through you all. We need your help everyday. Keep being awesome and keep Sharing the gospel. This is the truth, we need to not be selfish and share it!

I love you all so so much! Have a fantastic last week of September! Crazy. And all you women, don't forget to watch the women's conference this Saturday! Wahoo! :)
Xoxox

Love,
Sister Tanner <3