Saturday, May 20, 2017

This week was pretty good as always. Had a lot of success and what not. Unfortunately, I don't have any stories at all for this week. All I got to say is that with exact obedience and just being yourself brings a bunch of blessings and success.

My companion and I have been trying to be as obedient as possible because we need the blessings in the work. So with this effort we have been receiving a bunch of blessings in the work. We are seeing a bunch of people progressing, and also just the Spirit in the lessons a lot stronger. Another great thing is that we are being more direct with people. Its not like a 'bad direct', just an honest direct.

In lessons where they will start to make excuses of why they can't do something like read or pray or attend church, and we feel the Spirit telling us to be really direct. So its usually me that gets to talk during this time and in one lesson (I'll just share the experience).  So we were teaching this one lesson and we asked the guy why he didn't go to church. He told us that it was because he wanted to earn more money in his work. We then asked him if he believed that the lord would bless him if he would follow the commandments and if he had faith in these blessings. He told us yes, he had faith in the Lord and his power. And so we asked him to sacrifice three days of work so he could get a divorce, get married, and then get baptized--and all within two weeks. He told us that he would think about it, but in truth he wouldn't do it. So I said, 'Well, if I'm hearing you correctly, you're telling us that you have faith in God, which is good, but you don't have enough faith to make three sacrifices?'  He then said, 'More or less yes'. And I told him,  'Well hermano, you're telling God 'well, I have faith, but I'm just not going to show it'.  And God is going to tell you, 'Well okay. I'm just not going to show you blessings.''   I said that if he isn't willing to show God his faith then God cant bless him, and that he would continue to have troubles in his work.  But if he would only act on his faith he would have more success in his work than he's ever had.

Another thing is just being myself down here. I've learned that people are going to be drawn to you if you are just yourself. And also because God sent us down here for our personality, so we need to show it and not change it. So my personality (if you know) it is a different personality, and I don't really like doing things the conventional way. So I've just been trying to think totally on how I can help the children of the Lord down here in Mexico. hahaha

Well it has been really paying of. With the family of Gustavo and Lucero I'm trying so hard to work with the daughters and getting them to read the Book of Mormon, and they just are bien flojo and don't read. So I put all the cards on the table last night and told them a bunch of stuff and in all honesty, afterwards I was just drained--it was weird. But I told them that I'm going to leave my scriptures here in your house, and I have highlighted all of what I believe are the most important versus in the Book of Mormon. I said 'I'm not asking you to read a chapter a day.  All I'm asking is to to read one of the tabs every night with your sister--nothing more.'  Then I said, 'This is your salvation, and you guys need to take charge of it.  So I'm not going to ask in a week if you are reading the Book of Mormon.  I'm going to trust you guys and your word that you guys will read.'  It wasn't rude at all (don't worry).  I put all the love and care into this invitation.  I fully believe that they will read the Book of Mormon--at least a few versus every day this week.

The Witness by  Boyd K Packer:  So this talk is pretty dang good and you guys should all go watch or listen to it all. Wow! Talk about finishing strong. Watch it all the way through.

That's all I got for this week.   Have a great week.

Church is true--Go be awesome.  (Anne Bagley)

Mother's Day with the Family!!!

Monday, May 8, 2017

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

This week (as always) was pretty good

Monday, April 24, 2017

This week was pretty good for the most part, as always.

Monday, April 17, 2017

This week has been pretty good...

This week has been pretty good, just like always, that's why I start out every email the same way. Not really a whole lot has happened this week though. 

Story one:

So there's this crazy lady in our town--like straight the screws are gone! haha. So anyways, my first day here she stopped us and asked us if we were those Mormons. We obviously said 'yes'. and then she went on a rant of how "I know one of your men who is a bad man. And he beats all the people in his house" and a bunch of other stuff. So then we said, 'Oh really? That's not good.  What's his name?  And then she made up a name and we said, 'Yep, that person doesn't exist sister.  Gotta go-we have an appointment'. So anyways on Tuesday or Wednesday (not really sure), she once again stopped us. She asked a question, which we answered, and then went on a rant about how her dad was murdered in a drug cartel. and then her mom died somehow. And then she starts talking about how "I smoke weed everyday, and drink everyday, and I'm perfectly fine in my life. I'm completely normal, and stuff." We may or may not have laughed and said very sarcastically, "Yeah you're completely normal hna."  It was funny in person--not so funny over text.

Story Two:

So we had another two baptisms this Saturday (which was awesome). And these people had to make some changes in their lives before they could. They were the couple that got married the week before last. Well anyways you can clearly see the love and the Spirit in the home has changed drastically. They lived together before but after their wedding there was a very clear change in this house--you can feel it. Well anyways, after the wedding you-know-who started to go to work on trying to stop the baptism. First, the husband told us that we would have to wait a week because he didn't have money to buy the clothes for baptism. This was an easy fix--we simply told them, 'hermanos you need not to worry about that.  You aren't going to buy clothes. We have a bunch of clothes that you can wear. So 'boom'--check that off. hahaha   And then Mother Nature started to take her monthly course. So we pass by on Friday to ask about how they were feeling for the following day. Well the wife said very directly told us, "I cannot be baptized tomorrow because I'm on my period and I don't want to have an accident in the water."  Haha--My comp was feeling really uncomfortable so I took over (cuz 6 sisters--this isnt weird).  And I said,  'Well there are many things we can do Hermana. And I kindly explained what we could do such as like no one but the two Testigos and Elder Flores will see the baptism. She didn't feel comfortable. So then I said let's call the bishop's wife--maybe she'll have an idea (cuz the other option wasn't gonna come from me). Well anyways, the bishop's wife gave a different form of hygiene product, and 'boom'-got this all figured out. So we got over all the hurdles in this week, and they were baptized the next day. It was pretty awesome changing in the bathroom after the baptism. We were talking with Armando and he asked us how many generations our families went back in the church.  I honestly have no clue with Grandma's family by the way. And anyways he starts talking about how he wants to be a legacy in his family to come. And how he wants to be a standard to them all. And they wanted him to go and be the first of many generations to come, and help with his generations that have already come. 

Oh yeah also during a lesson with a new investigator the people got a phone call. It was a person that had taken their aunt hostage. He was demanding some stuff. So we just said, 'yeah so we gotta go cuz we shouldn't be here'.  We went to a park and just started to pray.  We went back the next day and they were all safe and nothing happened--which is pretty rare here. 

So yeah--that's all I got for this week. 

Church is true--go be awesome (Anne Bagley). 

Love you all.




Monday, April 10, 2017

This week was pretty good as always. I had my first transfer of the area so what's up. Nothing too big has happened though. I got transferred to Aeropuerto, which is called that because the Aeropuerto is in our area. Its still technically in the port so that's not fun, but hey--oh well. My new companion is also the lider de districto, so we are constantly leaving the area for interviews--so that kinda blows a little. His name is Elder Flores, he is pretty cool and we are having a lot of success so far this week. Not really sure how long I have left with him due to the fact that transfers are in a week (I was part of a special cambio of like ten missionaries for some reason). So he could be leaving in a week and I'll be left in this area--haha--not really knowing a whole lot. 

Story one:

Today I had my first wedding. The lucky couple were two investigators-Rita and Armando. We got a call on Wednesday with the news that they were getting married the falling Monday, today. So we happily excepted the invitation to go and we also obtained permission from the President.  So the wedding was an hour and a half away in Jamapa, and we had to figure out how to get there. Saturday we finally found a ride with one of the ward missionaries and we thought we were all set. Well yesterday she said she couldn't make it and we would have to find another ride. So we were looking and looking and looking and finally Armando invited us to ride with him. We happily agreed. So we showed up at seven at his house this morning and figured out that we would be riding in the back of a mini Uhaul trailer. haha   Ahh--yeah. So we crammed like ten people in the back of this trailer and we had to shut the door. It was pitch black and extremely hot and humid. It was also a very hard floor. However it was actually extremely fun and I thoroughly enjoyed myself haha.  Mhey made the comment  (not me) that we were just crossing the border. The wedding was pretty fun--just in a little room signing papers--but hey, oh well-- it was a happy day. And they got to officially start a marriage and a family and not break the law of chastity. This Saturday the will both be getting baptized--so whoop whoop.

Story Two:

The teaching here is going a whole lot better than in my last area. We are teaching as companions and not as different people. Our chemistry is pretty darn good I like to believe. The Spirit in the lessons is actually a lot stronger as well. We are focusing heavily on the Book of Mormon and obtaining a testimony of it. We tell all the people we teach and every lesson they need to gain there own testimony of the book, and if they don't there is a very large risk that they'll go inactive or be shaken by things in the world. This is because they haven't built their house on the rock of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon never changes and it never will change. The teachings are the same and the Spirit and love that you feel is also the same no matter your age, gender, or time of year. However, if you build your testimony on the branches of the church like on the classes or the people, you are building your faith on the sand. this things are constantly changing, and they will never stay the same. So when the sand shifts your house runs the risk of falling over and collapsing. When this happens a lot of people don't want to rebuild this testimony or house back up, so they move and they change everything completely. And in a lot of cases these people don't know where to look, so they unavoidably build on more uneven, insecure ground. And this process repeats over and over again. This is for people in and out of the church. However there is a very, very simple fix. Just turn to the thing that doesn't change--the Book of Mormon. Build your testimony on this and nothing else. And then you can start adding some more rooms to this house--like classes and people and other stuff. But when those things start to shake and waver and change it isn't important cuz you know you're safe cuz you built your house on the rock. Boom--primary song. 

That is all I got for this week. I hope all is well with you guys and I love you all.   Keep up the good work.  I'm proud of all of you. 

Church is true--go be awesome (Anne Bagley)

Love, 

Tanner












Wednesday, April 5, 2017