Told You they call me Papi: Week 54

Transfers again!! I have 6 months in my area already so you would think that I would be leaving. Well the Lord has a good sense of Humor because I'm staying… Elder Gonzalez (my son) is leaving me. BUT GUESS WHAT!! I'm training again! I'm going to train Elder Mickelson from St. George Utah! Told you they call me papi. I found out last night! He seems like a really cool guy! But he doesn't speak any Spanish haha so it will be fun to teach him. We are gonna work super hard so I'm stoked for that!!

This week kinda sucked working wise because my comp broke his foot during PDay. So we were trapped in the house basically the whole week. I called the ZLs to do divisions a few times so that we can go to the lessons we already had set up. But I took the opportunity to finish the Book of Mormon so it wasn't all bad i guess!

This morning all the trainers played soccer and hung out with our new sons! It was super fun! I hope my new son doesn't break something haha. I was kinda worried.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!! The church is true! If you don't know it, read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! You will receive your answer!!

Elder Tanner

Pic: getting my new comp. 

Don't Worry, I found it! Week 53

WHAT A WEEK!!!

I don't even know where to begin, Miracles. No doubt that there has been miracles that happened this week. To start off we worked really hard and found a couple GOLDEN investigators that will be baptized in a couple weeks probably. They are named Mara and Isabella. They are from Brazil! We had a couple awesome lessons with them this week and they showed up to church with one of their neighbors!

CEFERINO GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! I had the opportunity to baptize him! It was hard because the parents who are less active didn't support him. They didn't discourage him really but they didn't help at all. But ceferino is awesome. The youth of our ward have befriended him so much. He goes to seminary every day and has a super strong testimony now. Hes 16 years old.  

I hit my 1 year mark!! So crazy that i'm already more than halfway through the mission… I have honestly learned so much about my Savior Jesus Christ and His church. I'm so grateful to be one of His missionaries!! I also burned a white shirt!! but don't worry I burned an old white dress shirt that I found in the house haha

I did surprise divisions with a few disobedient elders and when we showed up at 9:00 they weren't even close to being ready for the day haha i had to drop cain a little bit.

I also had the chance to do a baptism interview for a 40 year old man named Juan. He was SO prepared to be baptized. He turned his life around!! I felt the spirit so strong during the interview. It was amazing.

PDAYYYY!!! We had a Zone PDay and we played soccer and ate empanadas and played other games in the church like ping pong, pool, and foosball. It was super fun. My comp hurt his left foot though and can't walk right now. So it's gonna suck to work this week :(

Love you guys so much!! Hope everyone is doing great!!!

Work Hard. Play Hard: Week 52

Dear Family and Friends,

This week flew by! We had a few awesome lessons with Ariel and Guillermo. They Both committed to be baptized and are progressing!! We also have a 16 year old investigator named Ceferino who is really close to getting baptized!! His dad is being a little difficult but we are working with him.

Tuesday we played soccer and it was pouring rain. But we still played anyway and it was really fun. Thursday we did divisions with the ZLs and Elder Gonzalez from Mexico went with me. For lunch we made super good tacos. We contacted a bunch and had a really good lesson about the Book of Mormon with our investigator Ariel.

Today we had our leadership meeting and played soccer again with the Zone and the assistants. My team won of course. Work hard play hard am I right? I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME BUT I LOVE YOU ALL!!! I know this church is true and anyone can find joy through the Gospel of Jesus Christ!! No matter what situation you are in! Read the Book Of Mormon!! Love you!!

• Elder Tanner

Power Outage?? Week 51

Whats Up fam and friends!! This week was incredible! I have honestly seen the Hand of the Lord so many times this week. We have been struggling a little bit with finding good people to teach who actually want to hear the gospel but this week we found 3 solid families and put baptism date with one of them! We have been using the members a lot more lately and we received some references yesterday that we are going to pass by this week!

This week we were talking with our Investigator Gaby and we were talking about God and about how he loves us. She said that she Believes in God but she isn't sure if She believes in Jesus Christ. This is super rare here because everyone believes in Jesus here so I was kinda surprised haha. But I bore my testimony of Jesus Christ to her and that I KNOW He lives and is our Savior. And that If God really loves us of course he will provide a way for us to return back to Him. It was one of the most spiritual moments in my mission, I think I surprised myself how much I Love and Believe in my Savior Jesus Christ.

I was also able to do my first Baptism interview with a little 9 year old girl. SHE KNEW EVERYTHING!! I was shocked. She was so prepared! It was awesome to see how happy she was when I said she was ready for baptism. She ran out and hugged her family with the biggest smile on her face. I also did divisions with the elders from Terrada and we ate pizza and it was super fun. All around a great week!! I love this church and I KNOW THAT MY SAVIOR LIVES!! Christ Lives and is ALWAYS there for us when we need Him. Have a great week!!

Funny story: We get home on Pday and we go to turn on the lights and it didn't work. We were like dang there's a power outage.  But we look at the neighbors and they had light. So we looked around the apartment with a flashlight and found an old light bill we never paid haha so we lived with the ZLs for a few days and commuted to our area. It was more fun living with them anyway so I don't have regrets haha

Love,

Elder Tanner

I go HARD ...Week 50

This week FLEW by!! We had so much stuff to do. We had an awesome conference with President Hymas and we had our interviews! Pres talked a lot about how we need to be more bold with our invitations and not be afraid to challenge people to be baptized. Then after the conference and interviews I left to go to Pedro Luro (a little town 3 hours away) to do divisions with some elders in my district. It was a good but hard because there is literally NOBODY that lives there. It's a super small town and the whole town works in the Onion fields. Tomorrow I have my first District meeting so that should be fun! I have to have like an hour and a half meeting with with my district. We are still looking for more new investigators but we received lots of references this week so we are excited for those!

On pday we played Soccer and made tacos at the Zone Leaders house!! I love playing soccer haha. I go hard.

I was reading a scripture that I really loved its DyC 58: 2-6

2 For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.

3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.

5 Remember this, which I tell you before, that you may layit to heart, and receive that which is to follow.

6 Behold, verily I say unto you, for this cause I have sent you—that you might be obedient, and that your hearts might be prepared to bear testimony of the things which are to come;

Just trust in God and Be obedient. THE BLESSING WILL COME!!! Love you all! Have an amazing week!!

Love, Elder Tanner

Gigantic Empanadas: Week 49

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was yet another amazing week in the mission. We found a ton of new investigators who have a ton of potential. We contacted the Villa (super Ghetto) and it was actually super awesome. The People were receptive and actually had the desire to seek help from God. We had a few people talk to us for like an hour on their porch and we explained the whole lesson of the Restoration or Plan of Salvation.

This week I had the DL training meeting with President. I'm super excited about my new calling as DL (District Leader). We talked a lot about how the elders in our district are our Sheep and how we need to love them and if necessary leave the 99 to help the 1. I have been calling them about every night and for the most part they are awesome! So I'm not too worried. I can just chill with my 100 all safe and sound. I'm the only gringo in my district haha

Sunday I gave a talk in church about the importance of reading the Book Of Mormon every single day, we had a lesson with Luciano and Romina and they made us Gigantic Chilean empanadas (she's Chilean) and they were super good. They aren't as pretty but they were still really good. We talked about Family History and Temple work! They really liked it. We brought the Valdebenito Family with us.

I LOVE THIS WORK!! I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have every day to go out and serve my savior. What I have seen a lot of this week is that no matter what we have done, we are not out of reach of the atonement and Love our our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. THEY LOVE YOU!!

Funny Story: We are really good friends with the store owners by our house and we said we were gonna make torta fritas. and they said they wanted some. but by the time we were done they were already closed. so we brought them to what we thought was their house. so we knocked this random peoples house with torta fritas in hand and had to awkwardly say they aren't the people we are looking for and they can't have the torta fritas. We didn't find the house...

Sorrentinos Twice: Week 48

TRANSFERS!!! I'm staying in My area Maldonado in Bahia Blanca with my Son!! And I was also called as District Leader this transfer!! I'm stoked to be able to work and serve!! As a DL i will just do things like call my district to make sure they are doing good and also do divisions with them. And I will run district meetings to talk about our investigators and goals we can set as a district to improve! I'm most excited to learn more than anything. This morning I played soccer with a few other elders and then went to McDonalds. My team won so it was super fun haha.

This week was Awesome!! We have been working really hard still to find new investigators!! We are still working with the Ugartes but they have been out of town.

Luciano is doing great and is active in church! We talked about the priesthood more with him and he really wants to receive the priesthood!

We ate super good this week. We had Sorrentinos (one of my favorite foods here) 2 times this week and Locro a rare argentine dish they eat for Holidays. Sorrentinos are amazing but Locro is just okay. It's not gross but not anything special haha

I've been trying to study and pray a lot more about how I can improve myself and be a better missionary. I know I'm far from perfect but I really do feel like I am improving every single day. I love this work and I love my savior Jesus Christ. And I KNOW He loves me. I'm so very thankful to serve Him! Love you all . Have a great week!!

• Elder Tanner

Banana Bread that was made for my companion and I

BAUTISMOOOO!!!!!!! Week 47

Luciano got baptized!!! The baptism went super good and lots of members came and supported him!! He shared his testimony about how he just wants to be able to see his baby daughter that passed away again and that's why he wants to get baptized so bad. His daughter was born early and the 7th (the day of the baptism) is the day she was supposed to be born. It was a super spiritual couple of days haha.  He asked me to do the baptism and my comp to do the confirmation! It was amazing!! And the night before we had an asado with them so it was super good weekend haha

On Tuesday we had our first conference with President Hymas and his wife! They introduced themselves which was cool and then they talked about the power of the Book of Mormon and how we need to use it in Every Single Lesson. If they receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon that means The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church! He also challenged us to continually use the Moroni 10:3-5 promise to pray and ask Heavenly Father if it is true. Even if we already have a testimony of it, we can strengthen it if we do it frequently! I love the Book of Mormon so much and i KNOW that it is true. Nobody can read the book cover to cover and deny its truthfulness. So if you haven't read it and prayed about it, READ IT AND PRAY ABOUT IT!!

Love you all so much!! Have an amazing week!

• Elder Tanner

3-4... Well Played France,,, Well played! Week 46

Dear Family and Friends,

Well Argentina is out of the world cup and everyone here is depressed. My comp is from Uruguay and they are still in it so he's been talking trash to all the Argentine members and stuff haha it's super funny. We may or may not have seen a little bit of the game with our investigators the Ugarte family haha they are awesome. When there is a game here there is NOBODY in the street. And when there's a goal it's crazy loud. Everyone cheers super loud and it's the best!!

This week President Hymas is officially our new mission president. We are going to have a conference and interviews with him this week. Nobody knows him yet except me and my comp and the ZL's because we happened to see him in the bank today. He saw my BYU hoodie and was like hey I know that school! He seemed super nice! His Spanish needs some work but he will get there haha.

Luciano should be getting baptized this Saturday!! He hasn't smoked for 3 days now so if he doesn't smoke anymore he can get baptized. But if he does fall we are gonna have to wait a little bit longer. We had some awesome lessons with him last week!!! I'm super excited for him! Keep him in your prayers!!

This week was hard to find new investigators but hopefully now that the world cup is calming down it will be easier haha. Me and my son are doing awesome!! Hope everything is going good back home!! Love you all!!

• Elder Tanner

EL Mundial ! Week 45

ARGENTINA LOST :((( (Of course you know - If you're following the World Cup) Everyone here is so mad that Argentina lost last week to Croatia. They are saying that everything is rigged hahah. But whatevs they still have a chance if they can beat Nigeria somehow. I want them to win but it's kinda funny how MAD they were when Argentina Lost. When they are playing there is NOBODY in the streets. Literally not a single person or car or anything. Its crazy. It is really hard to contact anyone. We may have been in an investigators house for a little bit of it and saw some of the game hahah

This week was FULL of amazing lessons and Family Home Evenings!! We made empanadas and homemade milanesas with The Ugarte Family and then we talked about the Plan of Salvation. They are so awesome!! Then we had a super spiritual lesson with Luciano about the Word of Wisdom and challenged him to stop smoking. He is is trying his hardest to stop right now! Keep him in ur prayers please :)

This is the last week of president cifuentes!! So crazy! I'm really gonna miss him :( but i'm really excited to see the ideas of President Hymas and see how he runs the mission! I love this mission and i KNOW the church is true!! Les amo mucho!!

• Elder Tanner

I Got Pelted By A Huge Rock...And It Hurt!!! Week 44

This week was so awesome!! On P-day we made tacos again with the ZLs. Super good of course because we had a real Mexican making them. On Thursday We had our last conference with President Cifuentes. And it was also the last time we will be seeing him. Super sad. They leave in about 2 weeks. It's gonna be super weird to have a new mission president. I love President Cifuentes so much he's so awesome. We already have a reunion trip planned. December 2019 they are gonna pay for everyone to go to Disneyworld and the hotels and food. And he wants us to bring our family!! So let's just say President Cifuentes is kinda rich ha haha. I'm sure our new president will be just as great!

We had a few more amazing lessons with Luciano and Romina. We had a NDH or FHE with them and they taught us how to make torta fritas. SOO good. With dulce de leche they are super rico. Me and Elder Gonzalez fasted that they would come to church and they showed up!! It was awesome. July 7th is the date he wants to be baptized. They really want to be sealed to their baby Alma that passed away. The Plan of Salvation is the best!!!

Funny story:

We were walking to a lunch and this car flies by and a huge rock pelts me in the thigh. Like it's a rock the size of my fist probably but it was coming fast. Now I have a huge bruise on my leg haha We aren't sure if someone threw it or if it came from the tire or something. But for lunch we had a super good asado so I am fine haha.

Saying goodbye to President and Sister Cifuentes