Raking leaves

Hello! How's everyone doing? I hope well! This week has been so fabulous! It's been happy, that's for sure :) Well today I am headed to the Statue of Liberty! So I'm pretty excited :) oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kristy!! For some reason I always remember her birthday :) not sure why I can't remember everyone else's haha

We have been doing lots of service this week. I have become a pro mover and packer to say the least. And we have been raking leaves SO much. It's like "oh I need my leaves raked, I'll call the missionaries!" Haha it's fun though so it's okay

HAPPIEST DAY
Okay so on Sunday we had the greatest day ever. First of all, 6 of our investigators came to church and a lot of less actives! We gave talks so we were inviting people to "come support us so we wouldn't be nervous" well it turned out great!! Jenn came and so did the Rakestraw family!! And then a few others that we love. I felt so good after giving my talk. It was the greatest feeling ever. Not only was a weight lifted, but also I really felt the spirit as I was talking and I felt so comfortable up there. I talked all about how the gospel has blessed my life and how it can bless us all and so we need to share it and we should want to share it.
The third hour we taught the young men and young women. I know, we were the center of the show today. Haha well we had a little mini MTC and just taught the plan of salvation and then talked about how to teach by the spirit. It turned out SO good! The youth really were engaged and seemed to have a great time. Goodness I love being a missionary! At the end of the lesson they all got a mission call and next week they are going there. They will have dinner and teach a lesson. So for example, one "companionship" is going to Brazil and they are going to a Brazilian family in our Ward. Another is going to France and they are going to our bishops because they lived in France for a little bit. Etc..it's super awesome though!
All day I just felt so good. I felt right about the time I have spent. It's been so easy to get discouraged especially when we have big meetings with people from salt lake because they just tell us all we are doing wrong, or all the ways we can improve and so it's easy to think "welp, I've been doing missionary work wrong the past 17 months" but there is hope! I feel good and I just know I came here when I did for a reason and I'm leaving when I'm suppose to for a specific reason. Life is great as a missionary. I love it!

THE WARD LOVES US :)
So on Tuesday night we helped the young men and young women practice teaching the plan of salvation. They were SO good. My mind was blown. Seriously it was awesome. We did a practice role play with the elders from the branch and then they got into groups and taught each other. Then at the end after we were finished all the little activity day girls came into our room and gave us thank you cards and a basket full of goodies and our favorite candy and we just about cried it was so adorable. Oh and this is adorable, so last Sunday we taught the 6-8 year old kids and we asked them all their favorite candy from Halloween and 3 of the activity day girls were there and they remembered what we said our favorite candy was and they gave us that candy! How cute are they? So cute. Sadly the pic we got with them was so gross but I'll send it anyway! Haha
Then after mutual a part member/less active returning to activity family called us and asked if we could stop by their house on our way home(they live one minute from us) so we did and they gave us a box full of cereals, milk, bread, fruit, yogurt, peanut butter, stuff like that! Just all this breakfast food that they got for us since they have been working super late and so having us for dinner doesn't work for them. It was so nice!
Pretty much the Ward just loves us now so it's fine. We got invited over for thanksgiving by like 10 people too. I'm just in awe with how great they are to us.  President Smith is coming to our Ward on Sunday to meet with the youth so good thing they already love us so they have all good things to say :) haha

FUNNY-ish THINGS
1. So we went and looked up this less active and he was crazy. He was so excited to see us "elders" and he was saying things like "did you know that we can call the Holy Ghost the Spirit too?" And we were like yaaa and then he goes "oh you knew that one! Okay what about this..." And he just kept going haha then he told us about how he is into polygamy and that's why he doesn't come to church and then a minute or so later he invited us inside. We were like Noo thankss.. But ya, idk why all the less actives call us elders. Whateves
2. On Friday we had an extended MLC with brother Donaldson from the missionary department. He was Also the mission president of the San Diego CA mission when they filmed the district 2... When he was introducing himself he told us that he was the one that taught the elders how to teach the law of chastity lesson hahaha only missionaries or people who watched the district would know what that means though. Let's just say those elders did a terrible job teaching it. Go watch all of it.
3. We met with another less active and she asked us if we knew that there is 3 kingdoms of glory... I'm not sure why less actives think we know nothing! Haha

ITS TRUE, ISN'T IT?
I just love being a missionary so much. I have never felt so much joy. There is no doubt that this church is true. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be here. A lot of less actives have been asking us about that article that came out and I just think about how the prophets and how God knows so much more than we do and to think we know more than God is ridiculous. It's sad that it leaked out before they could explain it and then it blew up wrong. But that video by elder Christofferson is so true. Last night I was praying about how to help those people that are questioning it and I just thought about how When we were little we always thought "if the prophet said to do this would you do it?" And the answer was always yes because he is called of God. Or how the prophet Lehi brought his family into the wilderness and although they thought it was crazy at first, it was what was best. Prophets of God know. But then people think we are brain washed or something. But in reality, our minds are clear and at peace because of the trust and faith we have in God and in His servants. That's what daily scripture and prayer does. Builds that faith. Although the vision of some people who are questioning is a bit foggy right now, we are glad that we can help them and remind them that "it's true isn't it? Then what else matters?"
I am so thankful for the knowledge we have and that I get to share it all day, everyday right now. Miracles are happening daily. This is truly Gods work. I love it.

I love you all so much. Have a fabulous week :)

Love,
Sister Tanner <3