Feliz Dia de Independencia

Happy 4th of July everyone,  I hope you are all enjoying a delicious hamburger :)

Everyone, I'm kind of  freaked out on how fast has flown by.... ha-ha I really didn't ever think two years would pass by so fast, but I can definatly say with all my heart that these two years have been the best two years, its so cliche to say it but, these two years have truly changed my life, a lot of stuff has happened this week, but in this email i would like to share my testimony with you guys, haha im sure you want to hear about the stories and stuff, but i think you can wait a week ;) im not trunky  or anything I just want you guys to know of my testimony it wont be all of it, just a small part but i want you guys to hear the basic part or principle part of my testimony ; Family and Friends, I know that God lives, I know that he is our father and we are his children, Our Father in Heaven loves us so much that he sent his Son The only Begotten Jesus Christ to dwell in the flesh to take upon him the sins, pains, afflictions, sadness, and temptations of this world, I know that this plan was made since the beggining and that we learned of this plan in our premortal state and accepted it with joy knowing that we would have struggles and challenges, but also knowing that we would have the great gift of agency and repentance and the biggest blessing to come to this earth in families, We accepted the plan before and we should accept it now, and later on and forever and ever, I know that The Christ died, but in this moment is alive and because he is alive we too shall live and the death shall have no sting and the grave no victory but the pain of death is consumed in Christ, so that the families can be together for ever I know that the family is of God and is the most important organization to exist in this world, I know that all the work of God is so that the families can be together forever! I know that The priesthood power is the way to have an eternal family and that thanks to a young boy with a question we in these days have the fulness of the gospel with all the blessings it gives us, I know that the Love of our Heavenly Father is so much and he is so patient with us and I know that he listen to our prayers and i know he answers us and protects us, I really cant explain all that much about how i feel for the love of our Heavenly Father but i know that his love was so much that he sent his son to suffer the attonement, I know the atonemnent happened and because it happened we can return to live in the mansions of our Father in Heaven as Family! We are all Brothers and sisters let us love one another even as Christ loves us, I am so grateful for the gospel and the blessing to share it with other people, I know that we truly do find peace and happiness when we forget about ourselves and look for ways to help others, The scriptures are true and they are the words of our Heavenly Father, written in paper to bless us, I know that the temple is the House of the Lord, and there is were we obtain power and happiness, and we are truly filled and we can have a spiritual feast, I know that Thomas Spencer Monson is a prophet seer and revelator and that he is our guide and the way to a life full of spiritual richness and happiness in this life and the next, there are tweleve apostles as in times of old and they protect us with their councils, I know that the bread is the body and the water his blood and that that supper that we eat every sunday fills our spirit and gives us the strength we need to overcome the many challenges that come our way, and i know that repentance and a change of heart is what we need to be in the prescense of of our Heavenly Father. I love you all so much, but please never go astray look for the light in this world, the light of Christ as he said to the Nephites I am the light and the life of this world, please accept him, because he has always accepted us even with our flaws and mistakes, The Lamb of God is perfect but suffered the sins of us to save us by grace and mercy, I know that I am a child of God and that he loves me and that Jospeh Smith was the prophet of the Restauration and that The book of Mormon is the key to our happiness and makking good choices, I love my Father and my Older Brother Jesus Christ and I know with all my heart that I am a son of God :) in the sacred and holy name of the messiah, Jesus Christ, Amen 

I love you all so much and will see you guys soon!! Enjoy your last week alone ;) 

With lots of Love Elder Tanner

I love you guys, I thank you for your love and support, it wasnt the easiest thing to do but it meaned the most to me and I thank you guys for helping me do it, since I was a kid you guys taught me to be a missionary and it has changed my life, You guys have literally changed my life and have helped me in so many ways and I will forever and ever give you thanks, Thank you for the decision that you guys took to seal us forever, its the biggest comfort I have and I love you guys so much and I have learned so much its thanks to you guys and My Heavenly Father, Our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ, I Love you guys so much and will always stand tall telling that I'm the son of Lorraine and Steve Tanner, all I can say is Thank you and I love you because I truly do mean it, I cant wait to see you guys and be in your arms once again, I love you Mom and Dad 

With Love Elder Tanner 

Familia Garcia Rios, I was able to go see Hector and Claudia and their family in Navojoa and it was so cool! They are the family that I taught and but they got baptized later. They were super happy that I passed by to say bye to them before returning.

 

 

 El Distrito

 

The last message from President Munive 

 This is the zone,it was a good meeting. President Munive actually left today, we have our new mission President.

PERDON......

Family, Friends, Brothers and sister in the Faith... Haha forgive me please forgive me my email was terrible last week ha-ha and I don’t have a whole lot of time either this week, but I’ll do my best, 

So last week we had a challenge teaching Epifanyo, because we were in a lesson with him and we were going good and all talking about the church in the times of Jesus Christ how it had Apostles and Prophets, but his son showed up and started listening to us and I was like alright that’s chill, but at the end of the lesson, his son Pedro, told us that he was Jehovah Witness, ahhh they are the best to ruin lessons and he started asking us all these questions and before we could answer he would ask another question, trying to confuse us and all and I got kind of fed up because we were filling the spirit with Epifanyo and this dude came up thinking he knows the bible cover to cover ha-ha, and he asked us a question like and what do you guys know about the dead people? And I just said Pedro can I ask you a question without offending you he said yes and I just said why do you care? and that kind of surprised him and he didn’t know what to say ha-ha and he just said well just to know, and I told him Pedro if you already know the answer to your questions why are you asking us questions if you already know the answer, and that kind of kept him quiet and we were able to finish the lesson but ahhhh, Jehovah witness drive me crazy sometimes, So we are still working on that poop pit for the sister in our branch and turns out one of her pigs is dying, haha she asked us to give him a blessing and I’m like Sister you can’t do that and she’s like why not elder? well first of all he needs a name haha and we decided to put it Yuri Muni which in the Indian language Mayo here means White Bean ha-ha we put it because the pig is a white pig and he likes beans, but we didn’t end up giving him a blessing. we were able to find a sister named Xochitl, her daughter is member and saw is in the street and came running at us and said that we have to go and visit her mom because she isn’t a member we wrote her name and address down fast and the next day we went, turns out this sister has listened to the missionaries before but hasn’t been baptized because of her husband... but we invited her to be baptized but she is really skeptical? i think is the word she isnt sure but we are going to be helping her get ready for baptizm and help her obtain her answer to her prayers, so two Saturdays ago was a really fun day so that really far town that we go to visit Las Guayabas willl that 45 minute bike ride was a long one, mainly because it wasn’t a bike ride but a bike walk, ahhh my tire blew up half way there! ahhh its because it gets so hot here and the trail isnt all that good and the tire got super-hot and bam! so I walked my bike to the little town and we went with Fernando and his family (that are planning the baptism this week) and they helped me out a ton, Fernando hoped on his motorcycle, and went to another town to look for a bike tire, and they gave us breakfast and water because we didn’t get to eat breakfast because las Guayabas is far away and we have to leave early in the morning, I truly do love that family so much and I have loved seeing there reactivation and this week the baptism of Jesus done by his Dad Fernando!! this week that just passed was a cool week we found a guy named Carlos he is a friend of the second councilor in the branch and he told us he wanted to visit him, so we went by and turns out he is really receptive and has a big desire to learn and to change, and he reads the pamphlets and all that we give him and its super cool, but the challenge with Carlos is that he works a lot he is a brick layer, mechanic, and other things, but he works a lot and he told us that he works Sundays, but that his friend who is member told him that he shouldn’t he asked us why we shouldn’t work Sundays and we explained to him that Our Father In Heaven gave us the example when he made this world that he worked 6 days and rested the 7 giving us the example to do the same, he understood it really well :)  and said that he would go to church :) he also accepted a baptismal date for the 9 of July we are going to work really hard with him but he didn’t go to church this Sunday for the same reason of work, we are going to go with him tomorrow to talk about it. Well this week i think Pedro the son of Epifanyo made him scared of us because he always hides from us, but no worries we are going to keep looking for people, and hopefully we won’t have any problems with the Jehovah Witness. So we are still working on the poop pit and the tubes are finally coming together!! whoo we almost got it done we are going to work on it tomorrow with some members that decided to help us :)  So just a quick funny story we went with  a sister less active and she offered us some tacos and we asked if before eating we could say a prayer, and this sister lives with 3 of her granddaughters and they are about Nolan’s age and super funny and rebellious but we were saying the prayer, and i had my plate in my lap and I heard something move on my plate so i opened an eye in the prayer and realized that one of the granddaughters had gotten closer to me and was eating the meat from my taco in the prayer, hahaha, I just laughed after the prayer haha and she ran off after the prayer, it was super funny but Family and Friends please pray for Fernando we are worried that he will have to work this week and won’t be able to baptize his son please pray that he will be free this end of the week and that the baptism will be brought about, also pray for Carlos so he can keep the Sabbath day and that Xochitl can receive an answer :) I love you guys so much and thanks for everything
Love Elder Tanner 

Happy Father’s Day to the best Dad I love you so much Dad thanks for all that you have taught me through your example I love you 

 

Hey guys im super sorry for not writing today, we had  a lot of problems with the internet and yeah.... I'm sorry but I gotta go now haha kind of a bummer that we finally got internet 8 mintues before I have to go. Jesus went to church his baptism is still planned for 25, but I love you guys so much, and I hope you are all good I'll be sure to be praying for you guys :) 

Love Elder Tanner 

El Dia De Reposo

Hello Everyone! That’s so crazy that summer has started haha, I thought we were still in May I have been writing in my agenda May for the last few days, I realized i was doing it when I started my fast, this weekend haha, but Summer means nice and toasty and wow it was super-hot this end of the week, haha and we did a ton of stuff in the end of week, we did a lot of service project and had to travel really far to the little towns, but none of that gets me down because of the work we are doing its so cool how when its super-hot if I’m working and focused on the people it’s not as hot, and it truly is a blessing from our Father in Heaven to help us with that, it’s so much easier to focus on the work rather than the heat! it was around a 110 degrees this week, so it’s just getting started haha the people think we are crazy when they see us, they say there are only two things in the street in summer time in the afternoon, there Dogs and missionaries from the Mormon church haha, we just laugh and say it’s true. 

But this week was really good, I got to know my new comp a little better Elder Juarez, and we started working really hard. We have been working on finding new people this week, and were able to find quite a few! But Wednesday, we are giving service to a sister that is umm what is the word ha-ha I don’t remember she is growing pigs?? haha I forgot the word to like get a pig ready for the slaughter, any ways she is doing that and well there are two pigs in a little kennel behind her house and she has a little drain in the kennel, and we had two options to make the tubing of the drain out to the street in front of her house to hook it up with the main city tubing, or in her backyard make a poop pit, haha you might be wondering what that is it’s like a big pit under the ground where the people put their.... yeah... or from their animals, and it’s like 6 feet wide and 10 feet deep haha I really don’t like them they are really common here, and the people make their pit and feel it up except for a little hole and they make a seat out of wood and their you got your bathroom haha, we decided to make the tubing out to the street, so we worked on that early in the morning Wednesday and got worn out because we hadn’t even gotten half way haha, we have to make a trench of like 80-90 feet and it has to go getting deeper as it gets closer to the street, We also ran into Veronica that day in the street and she had a Jehovah witness bible in her hand and a notebook, :( but she said that we could go by the next day 

Thursday we went with Veronica in the morning and she told us that she feels super confused, because she feels like God isn’t answering her prayers, and that made me feel kind of sad, because really God is our Heavenly Father and he loves us so much he is always willing to give us what we need and answer us but a lot of times we don’t do our part or aren’t good enough listeners. we explained that to her and said that she is going to read more in the Book of Mormon and try to pay attention to her feelings, haha this day it was super-hot, we were in the street looking for someone and i saw a guy in his porch in the shade and I’m like let’s talk to him haha turns out my companion was super tired, because while I was teaching he had fallen asleep, haha i stopped teaching to let him have his turn and i looked at him and he was asleep and the guy realized and we both laughed and that made my companion wake up haha kind of funny. We also went to Las Guayabas the little town where we are teaching Jesus and his family we went with them and we taught the 10 commandments and the little brother of Jesus his name is Gonzalo or Gonzalito and he was saying a bunch of random stuff like, I love mangos, how many chickens do we have Mom? and i was like I think im going to break the 6th commandment with this kid haha, (if you don’t know what the 6th commandment is look for it ;)) haha also in Las Guayabas we went with a family that gave us a Papaya fresh from the tree bu it was a little mature haha and I put it in my backpack for the ride home but when we got back to Etchojoa I found a papaya smoothie in my backpack luckily it was in a different bag from my scriptures! 

haha Friday we had a super crazy zone meeting in Navojoa haha a sister that was training threw a marker at a sister that was paying attention to her message!! haha super crazy, I was seating next to the zone leader when it happened and he was like ahhh why?! Why?! are the sisters like that, haha the sister got hit by the marker was super mad and she left the meeting haha, but they got it all worked out now :) We also found a super cool guy this week his name is Epifanio we taught him and he was super excited to listen to us and he accepted the  baptismal invitation and we invited him to be baptized the 25 of June, and he accepted!

Saturday we went to do the service project again with the sister adn we got a little further but its getting deeper the trench and it’s getting harder, haha but we say that the bacon will be worth it ;)  we went to Las Guayabas and were able to teach Jesus and his family about prayer and scripture study and I asked them at the end of the lesson if they have a plan to be sealed in the temple and they said yes! that they are going to prepare to go to the temple ahhh its so cool to see them progressing Fernando is awesome and everytime we go the sister always invites us to eat with them! Sunday we had a lot of people in the church it was awesome :) Epifanyo went to church and found out that a lot of his friends and family members are Mormons ! Also Jesus and his sister went to church with all their family! it was a good Sunday and the sister were we ate made sushi so that was kind of cool haha but the challenges with Epifanyo is that he doesn’t know how to read so we’re going to have to help him with that and teach him with images, and the sister of Jesus lives with her boyfriend but says she wants to get baptized so we have to talk with them about marriage and help them get married :) Please pray for them that they can feel the spirit and the desire to repent and be baptized and converted to this gospel! :) also pray for Veronica so that she can obtain and recognize her answer :) 

I love you guys so much and hope you all have an awesome week :) 

Love Elder Tanner 

 

Branch Conference

What What what schools out?? Where does time go?? A big Congratulations to Payton!! That’s awesome Payt that you are graduating, it was a pretty awesome week this week, but it was a really good Sunday yesterday! But I’ll be sure to talk about that later :) 

So we had our District meeting on Tuesday, and we talked about the importance of working with the members, and I have really seen the difference, between working with the members and not working with the members, it’s a lot easier the work when we all work together, like any job its always easier to work together, two heads are better than one :)  We went with Veronica this day, and we decided to teach her about the importance of repentance and having Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, it was a really good lesson, she understood the importance of repentance, and said she is willing to do what she has to do to repent we invited her to be baptized again and she accepted she was a little nervous about the date, but accepted, we explained that we will never have a perfect knowledge of all things but if we have the desire to follow the Lord, we should always do it, Well we went with the sister Belen also who i talked about the other Monday because she didn’t go to church Sunday and ahhh Satan is working so hard!! but we have to work harder haha, because we found out that she couldn’t go because, her ex-husband came back after 9 years trying to take her daughter away, and know she cant go to the church, because she has to have meetings with lawyers and such!! ahh we talked to her about the importance of putting God in our lives over everything worldly and we will be blessed but she is really worried about her daughter she doesn’t want her husband to take her, but we are going to try and help and help her to get to the church because we  know that the Lord will bless her if she goes :), we also went with a member less active that started telling us about his problems of Diarrhea, the people have so much confidence in us its something that kind of makes me laugh sometimes because we find some guy in the street and he tells us his life story, before we tell him our name haha, but its chill, but that less active, went to church this Sunday so that was really good ! we taught a new family their names are Adam and Griselda they are really cool, and its the dude that we helped move like 300 bricks form his front yard to his back yard!! ahhh I wanted to call him Rick the Brick ;) 

Wednesday we were contacting people and we contacted a couple outside of their house, and we started talking with them and he asked where I was from and he was like oh Utah I’ve been there and i was like oh that’s cool did you work there? and he’s like yeah, I was a drug passer, he told me that it was his job to transport drugs by foot over the boarder... haha it’s something so common here, it’s the second one this week, I always say isn’t easier to sell tacos here? haha, but we taught them and he told us that he really wants to change, but we explained him that’s cool that he wants to change but if that desire doesn’t have works his desire is in vain, it’s a little harsh but we wanted him to get the point haha, he accepted to go to church, and a baptismal date so we are going to be teaching him this week, 

On Thursday, we went to the little town Las Guayabas ahh flip it gets hotter going every time the sun is always right in your face! haha, but it’s been worth the pain, we have seen a grand difference in the number of people that are attending church, we have almost doubled the attendance from when i got here! and a lot of people are going to church and they are from the little town Las Guayabas, they get ready early every Sunday to go to church, and well we are teaching Jesus and his family and Jesus will be getting baptized 28 of May, and he is super excited we went to teach him and he learns so fast we asked if remembers the Joseph Smith story and he told us perfectly! we taught him about the word of wisdom using a water cup and we told him the stuff he can’t consume and every time we mentioned something we would throw dirt or grass, salsa, tree bark, and stuff like and then we filled it with water and told him to drink it haha he really understood why it’s important to not consume that stuff because the cup and water is our body and spirit, its affected by the things of the world, he didn’t want to drink it but he’s little brother was like i want to drink it!! haha we didn’t let him but it was a fun object lesson 

Friday We had a really cool experience with Veronica we gave her and her sister a tour of the church and we invited a member and it was really cool the sister that we invitied her really helped her get excited to attend church and said she would stop by her to go together it wsa awesome we showed a video about baptism and showed her the baptismal font, it was a really cool experience :)  

on Saturday we had to go to Las Guayabas again because we got to get Jesus ready for his baptismal interview and we taught him the law of chastity haha and haha it was kind of funny because I showed him a picture from my book of images and i showed him this picture and asked him what is happening

 https://www.lds.org/media-library/images/laie-hawaii-temple-wedding-243957?lang=eng

and he responded, they are tempting the baby, hahha we were like NOO Jesus they are getting married!! haha and maybe later they are going to have a baby but we dont know haha, it was super funny what he said, and his dad was laughing too, 

Sunday was awesome because we had our Branch Conference, and we found out that Veronica and her sister got to the church before us!! haha they showed up super excited, and it was a really great conference Pres. Munive came and gave a really great talk that I liked :) he talked about how are testimony isn’t worth anything if we don’t put it to practice or if we don’t live what we know, it was super cool his message, and Veronica really liked it and her daughter as well she was playing with all the little kids from the primary it was awesome, but Jesus also came with his family, and that means that he is going to be baptized this Saturday!! whoo!! and also we have been working with his  family and this Sunday when he is confirmed we will have reactivated his mom and his dad and baptized the son!! ahhh it’s so cool to see their progression! They are super excited! we are hoping that his dad Baptizes him, thank you guys so much for your prayers and please keep praying, I hope you all know that I love you so much and thank you for all being a part of this work with me :), I love you guys so much :) and hope you all have a good week!! Be Happy and keep smiling :) :) 

Love Elder Tanner 

 

The Prayers of the Faithful

What can I tell you guys, it was a pretty crazy week in the work here in Etchojoa it was truly a week of many miracles, but also challenges, Challenges that are going to require the help of our Heavenly Father, and the members here in Etchojoa but we are super excited to see the work progress here in Etchojoa!  

On Tuesday we had our district meeting, and it was really good we talked about how we can work with more faith and how we should be the people to set the example of living the gospel of Jesus Christ, after we were having our weekly planning session, and we got a surprise visit form Pres. Munive!! whoo, haha, we talked about how the work is going in Etchojoa he gave us some ideas on how we can work more with the members and the importance of planning but also planning how to get something done from the start to finish to the evaluation of the plan, Well we got my bike repaired I had to do it,  and it came out pretty good, haha its working up till now so i think we are all good :)  

On Wednesday is the day that we left the house and found our horse haha, but we also found a guy that day with a really cool name haha his name is Perfect, it’s the perfect name... ha I think I’m pretty funny but he’s a really cool guy :) He knows a little bit about Jesus Christ, and had a desire to learn more :) so we are going to keep teaching him, he like everyone has asked himself why there are so many church’s, but he like many other people explained that there isn’t a true church that God is in all parts, and that one is the church, it still amazes me at how quick and witty Satan is, he says a truth but with a lie, it’s hard to explain to the people that God is in all parts but there is only one true church, we see many examples of how Satan uses his lies to trick us to believe it is a truth in the scriptures the example of Nehor with the prophet alma when Nehor taught about God and that he loves us, but then comes the lie that makes all the difference that God will grant all mankind eternal life... that is the lie from Satan hoping that if people believe that they will not worry about sinning, I hope that we can always recognize the lies of Satan and not be lead down the dark and dreary path, but through prayer and study of the scriptures we may be led by the iron rod, to be protected from the darkness or the lies of Satan, sorry haha just a little spiritual thought, but we also ran into some sheep and lambs and I decide to do the mutton busting again... naw I’m just playing haha but I did give them some food but they just about bit my hand off haha, 

On Thursday haha what a crazy day but so spiritual day!! so we started of the day with another surprise we were studying in the morning and we heard someone knocking on the door , and turns out the zone leaders came to check on us see how we are doing to see if we need help in anything haha, but we started studying with them, and later we did exchanges for the morning and i went with Elder Chichia to check out in the city offices about marriage requirements because we may have to marry a couple so they can get baptized but after that we started for looking for people to teach, and Elder Chichia decided to contact a house and I’m just like sure lets go for it and wow, what happened next is super crazy a young lady answered the door, and when we presented ourselves with her, she left to get her older sister and we found out that the girl who answered the door is Juliet and her older sister is Veronica, and when she greeted us she was super nervous and was kind of jumpy and we asked if we could share a message with her and she let us pass by to her patio and we started sharing our message and she told us about how she lives with her boyfriend and has a little girl but wants to change her life, and so we started talking about how the importance of the family in the church and how important it is that we know which church is true and then she told us that she has been looking for a church in the Christians and the Jehovah Witness and all the other church’s and actually thought that we were Jehovah Witness haha, but we explained to her what we believe and she was really interested and wanted to know about the church and how it was restored and all that, but we asked her why and explained again that she wants to have a new life and we invited her to be baptized in that moment and she accepted so we put a date for 18 of June, in this moment she started crying and we were a little confused, but she started to explain to us that just the night before she was crying and praying to God that he would send someone to help her find a better life... We were speechless, and ahh it was so cool, I told her that God had answered her prayer and that has a much better life for her but she has to do her part and work for that life, it won’t be easy but it is worth it, she told us she would go to church and read and everything so that was super cool :)  we left her with that but she also told us that she has had problems with her boyfriend and has told her not to listen to the Mormons because they have like 7 wife’s ahhhh why do people think that, haha, but then after that we went to lunch with our Branch Pres. and he invited us to sushi, haha I was a little nervous for what happened in Aero Puerto when I got sick super bad, but i ate it and nothing happened whooom, after we took a 45 minute bike ride to a faraway town Las Guayabas we had a lot of really cool lessons there we found a sister that is accepted baptism and a date so and also we are reactivating a family there and their son and daughter isnt baptized but the parents are and the Dad told us that he wants us to teach his kids so they will be baptized! We taught his son and is super excited to get baptized we couldn’t find his daughter but we are going to try and find her in the house, but the son will be baptized the 28 of this month!

On Friday we had another powerful lesson with a sister that is named Belen, we taught her  and invited her to the church, and we finished and we told her we wanted to finish with a prayer, and we asked her if she could say it, but she said she had never really offered a prayer and we taught her how to do it :) and she said it, and she did really well, and after she said the prayer I always like to ask the people how they feel after saying a prayer i learned that from one of my companions, and i asked her immediately her eyes filled with tears and she couldn’t keep from crying, the spirit was so strong and she said kind of laughing crying what is this feeling, I can’t explain it, and I said  Belen that is the Love of our Heavenly Father he loves you and has a plan for you, and she said she felt super good, we explained that she should always do good so she can feel that and that should use these feelings to keep moving forward and progressing in the gospel :) That is one of the coolest things that i have recognized in the mission as a missionary I have realized that one of the grand gifts that our Father in Heaven gives to the missionaries is the power to detect when people are feeling the spirit I can’t really explain it but there has been so many times in the mission and my companions have all agreed with me that when we are teaching sometimes we stop teaching what we are teaching and out of nowhere we say Brother or sister what you are feeling right now is the Holy Ghost, and they don’t deny it because they know they are feeling something and they recognized that the Holy Ghost is testifying of the truth and that’s how we felt with Belen it’s so cool, I can’t really explain it but I’m just so grateful to be a missionary and, it’s so beautiful to see or feel that other people are feeling the spirit, We also helped a guy the same day move like over 300 bricks haha, it was good little exercise but we sat down with him and he offered us a cold coke but we had to deny it haha, but it whoo it looked so good haha, but it was really cool what he started asking us he was like so.. why do you guys help people or why are you here, and we explained that we try to do what Christ would do just like what we learn in the primary ;) haha and he thought it was really cool but really different and explained that you don’t really see that any more in these days, it was a cool little experience  

Saturday ahhh it was a day of patience for the missionaries us here in Etchojoa it was like the party week for the virgin aahhh all the Catholics were having there parties and when it’s a party here it’s like fiesta days in Spanish fork but there are bands playing everywhere everyone is walking around drunk and if they aren’t walking they are passed out and they do it because they say they are making a promise with the virgin Mary! ahh so they do a 10 mile walk from town to town looking for the virgin... and because they do it they say they have the promise to receive blessings from the virgin ahh it’s so frustrating but we couldn’t really have a lot of lessons this day for that because everyone was in the party. and as a result very few people went to church Sunday... :( but Jesus did go so he will be baptized 28 of may but we were super sad because Veronica didn’t go and she was so excited to go and we went with her Sunday and it was such a hard and sad lesson because she explained that she tried to go with her daughter but her boyfriend wouldn’t let her and then she explained that she is having a lot of problems with her boyfriend and that is afraid to leave him because she won’t have money for her nor her daughter, but basically her boyfriend is abusing her, ahh that ticks me off so much, the men here are so bad it’s such a common thing and ahh it ticks me off that the women here have to put up with it, we explained to her that she should try to separate from but she is afraid to do it, we are brainstorming what to do with her but we are going to need the help of our Heavenly Father please pray for her I don’t have a lot of time to write about her but it’s a long story, and it’s so sad because she wants a new life, but is scared of her boyfriend, please pray that she will have the courage to separate from or that her boyfriend will have a change of heart, we need your guys help we now that we found her through the power of prayer and we need to help her through the power of prayer, We are going to keep working with her, and we hope that we will be able to help we have some plans but we are praying that she has the faith and courage to do what is right, but i want you guys to know that God lives that we are his children and he loves, Know how grateful i am for your guys prayers, and be happy this week I hope I didn’t leave this letter on  a bad note, but just know that we talked with Veronica and she is thinking about separating from her boyfriend and we are asking for help from the members so everything should work out :)
I love you guys so much
Love Elder Tanner 

 

El Dia de Las Madres

What a blessing it was to be able to talk with you guys yesterday and loved seeing you guys!! Thanks for all the prayers that you guys have said this week in my behalf I have truly feel the love of you guys :) and we have seen the blessings of your prayers. We had a pretty good week this week :) 

Well I feel like I got to tell you guys, that the beast is down, yup my bike has got some problems it happened on Wednesday, and so we had to put it down for a while right now I’m using a bike that’s from a member whoo! haha and its a lot nicer than mine so I don’t think I’ll be fixing bike up anytime soon ;) nah I’m just kidding, but hahh but Wednesday was kind of funny because my companion feel haha it was pretty funny I was laughing, but it was funny because we were riding down a pretty busy road and we were about to turn right and my companion was to the right of me, but before turning my comp saw a member to the left of us on the other side of the road and so he turned his head to wave to them and everything and was saying hi to them, but didn’t realize that I was turning right, so I turned right and he kept going straight and I kind of like cut him off and I just heard metal crash and turned around and saw his bike thrown down haha, and he was brushing himself off and I couldn’t help but laugh, but its chill cause he didn’t get hurt so we both laughed about it, that same day we had a pretty crazy experience we are teaching some investigators that are super humble we went to visit them and they were telling us that they don’t have any money, that they are working but wouldn’t get payed until Saturday, they had received 15 pesos that’s like a dollar to buy tortillas from one of their friends, and my companion was like lets help them, and I’m like let’s do it, so we decided to give them some potatoes, and oil to cook, because they have a little brick stove were they put branches and stuff to light  a fire and cook, so we helped them have a little dinner, sometimes we forget how blessed we are, but we should always do as the hymn says count our many blessings :) 

On Thursday we went to Las Guayabas a little town to visit some members and some investigators, we taught a brother that didn’t want to accept that you can close a store Sunday we explained to him that God doesn’t give us commandments that we can’t keep haha, and he’s like well that’s true, a lot of times the natural man blinds us telling us that Gods ways aren’t correct and we start to justify ourselves in our wrong doings, we explained to him the importance of the Sabbath day and how it can be a blessing for us but he was still a little stubborn about it but as in Mosiah 3:19 we learn how to overcome the natural man, through being humble and childlike, we were able to invite a lot of members to the church, we also got in a little bike accident again we were coming home from the little town and we were on a little street with houses on both sides and a dog started chasing my comp and he got scared and started pushing me into the fences of the houses, and just my luck is that they had barb wire on the fence, i just jumped off the bike before my comp planted me in the fence completely haha and luckily nothing happened but i found out my comp is scared of dogs haha, 

On Friday we had our zone conference in Navojoa, and they talked a lot about the importance of using the members in this work and how we have to remind all the members that they are missionaries and that they should always be  sharing the testimony that they have :) 

Saturday we did exchanges with some members to visit the less actives and it was kind of a funny experience because I went with a brother and he was taking about the book of Mormon and the was like sister this book is really important because it teaches us about Christ, it answers are questions about why we are here, where do we go when we die, and why we are brown people, haha I couldn’t hold myself from laughing I thought it was so funny and he was like isn’t that right Elder and I’m just haha yeah i guess its true haha. We also had a branch activity for the Moms the priesthood made dinner for the Moms of the branch and well there isn’t a whole lot of priesthood so they asked if we could help, my companion was grilling and I was cutting, we made steak tacos, and they were super fantastic, haha the steak tacos are really common here, 

 

Sunday was cool because lots of members and an investigator from the Las guayabas came to church! And we had a lot of people in the church it was awesome!! we have been working with a lot of people inviting them to church, and they promise to go to church but ahhh it’s a little frustrating when they don’t show up on Sunday, it’s so hard to help the people change there perspective on life and the most important things like church and family, but we were able to see a really big blessing through working with the less actives a brother that is less active came to church with his wife which is member and they brought their two kids a daughter that is married and son, and they haven’t been baptized and the dad told us that he wants them to get baptized and, so we are super excited to get working with them and see if we can help this family be a member family :) Thanks for all your prayers everyone and please keep making them, so we can find the people looking for this message and the true gospel and true church, I love you all so much and, a special thank you to my Mom for always helping me and loving me I love you Mom 

Love Elder Tanner 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-1440-it-was-mom-a-mothers-day-tribute-to-moms?category=topics/mothers&lang=eng&cid=HP_FR_6-5-2016_dMIS_fMLIB_xLIDyL1-A_

 

Etchojoa

That’s awesome that you guys had Prom this week, pretty good looking Tanners, so this week we worked super hard ha-ha we are really working hard in this area and we are hoping to see the miracles soon!! We have already seen some but we want to see even more! haha we have really found a lot of Catholics lately haha in other areas there have been lots from different churches, but lately we have found a lot of Catholics, and haha I’m not going to lie sometimes they give it to ya good, haha it’s kind of sad to see people treat others like that, they treat us like we are nothing and sometimes ignores when we are talking to them haha, it’s kind of funny I just laugh about it, but a lot of times it reminds me of little kids haha really they remind me of little kids, but I’m not saying that all the Catholics are like that we have found a lot of amazing people this week too that have an open heart and are willing to listen to us. We found a really cool sister, locked outside of her house haha   kind of funny how God puts people in our path ;) but we talked to her and she couldn’t really escape so she had to listen to us haha! we taught her outside of her house and she started to ask all the questions of gold haha, she was asking us what is the true church and how can she know, we explained to her that the true church was established by Christ, but was lost for a long time but through a prophet our loving Heavenly Father has brought the truth and fullness of his gospel, she was really interested but a little hesitant on the baptismal commitment haha she said that if God tells her to get baptized she will do it haha that’s good enough for us :) on Wednesday we had Mutual, and the branch presidency asked if we could help the youth in mutual so we helped them have a fun little activity, but my companion nailed me in the face with a ball.... haha but it was an accident... I think ;) haha but I had my glasses on and they basically got wrapped around my face haha, but they didn’t break whoo haha, my eyebrow was swollen, and my nose got cut and under my eye haha we didn’t realize it till we got home that night and my comp was like ELDER!! what’s up with your face, and I was like your fault man haha, We were also able to find a sister that the Elders had taught earlier but she couldn’t progress because she was living with her boyfriend, and she couldn’t get off of work Sundays, but we decided to go with her and we found out that she had split up with her boyfriend and that she doesn’t work on Sundays!! hallelujah ahhh and she accepted to be baptized the 28 of May, so we are going to be working with her this week, to help her prepare for this day :) on Thursday ahh was a little hard haha we had to go to Bacobampo to take out all the stuff we left in the house, and turn in the keys and the house to the land lord but the crazy lady wouldn’t give us the money that she owed us for the deposit that we made when we first started living in the house, ahhhh, haha we explained to her the things and everything but she wouldn’t give it to us and I’m just like ahh whatever if you feel good about stealing money from servants of the Lord go for it. so we left it like that, oh also this week I almost forgot we found a really cool guy! he is catholic but is really smart and understands stuff really easy, he was a teacher but stopped working because two years ago he lost his vision, and it’s really interesting to teach him, I don’t know why but it’s just interesting knowing that he can’t see us and everything that we teach him he imagines it in his mind it was really interesting for him to know that we have a living prophet and twelve apostles! he always asks a lot of questions, but the tough part is that he isn’t all that excited to change he doesn’t get to excited about going to church, so we are going to have to find out what his desires are and help understand the importance of this message :) I was thinking about the way he uses his imagination and i thought to myself that he understands the message clearer because he has to imagine it, and pay lots of attention and i thought about how God is so loving and patient that he gives us weaknesses to make us strong!! but it is so true, we can easily look in the mirror and see ourselves with countless flaws and weaknesses and imperfections, from the inside or maybe even the outside, but what we choose to do with those weakness, can shape us into who we are or what we will become, God has a great potential for every one of us and has given us the tools (Strengths and weaknesses) to shape us into the person we can become, there are hundreds of examples from the scriptures, Moses who had a difficulty with speaking became one of the most greatly known prophets in this world beside Jesus Christ, was known for his courage, faith, patience in tribulations, and humility to ask for help, Moroni from the book of Mormon who really wasn’t all that good at writing, explained that this weakness had strengthened his testimony in the Lord Jesus Christ and helped him to be more faithful and work hard, I know that God lives and I know that he loves us I know that we are never alone, I know that God is conscious of our weakness and is more than ready to convert our weakness into strengths, but he can only work when we have and open heart, the desire to work, and the faith in him that he is The God of Miracles and The creator of all things, I love you all so much I couldn’t write a whole lot we didn’t have a whole lot of time today but Please know that I love you guys so much and I’m going to pray for you guys, and please pray for us so that we can find our brothers and sisters that have the desire to change and make covenants with our Heavenly Father
Love Elder Tanner 

 

Hello Everyone, Thank you for the letters loved to get them :) 

It was an awesome week this week in Etchojoa, we were able to get a lot of work done ha-ha, I’m really enjoying my time with my new companion he is a really amazing guy he is from Puebla, the same place as my old comp Elder Sanchez I always give Elder Reyes are hard time saying, oh my heavens Elder Reyes I thought Heavenly Father was going to give me a break and not put me with another companion from Puebla, ha-ha he just laughs, but he’s a really good guy, he has quite the life story and I admire him for the faith that he has I think I’m going to talk about him a little bit, He was baptized just a few years ago he is 24 years old and was baptized when he was 21, and he is the only member in his family he has 3 brothers and a sister just like me he is also the middle child :) but i asked about his parents and he told me that when he was 18 years old his Mom passed away.... and he doesn’t know a whole lot about his Dad, he’s Dad left when he was young, and the last he heard about his Dad is that he was really sick and on the urge of death... He had to take care of his brothers and sisters before the mission and well, choose to come on the mission, even without the approval of his girlfriend ha-ha she didn’t want him to go on the mission even though she is a member of the church ha-ha, but he still came on the mission :) he’s a really cool guy, I don’t tell you guys these things so that you felt bad but so that we can always recognize the blessings that our heavenly father has given to us, We are all a blessed people with a loving heavenly father that is in heaven that loves us so much   but now about the work We had our District Meeting on Tuesday and we talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and the way it converts us to the church but more to the Gospel and our Savior Jesus Christ. We were able to have a lesson with a less active sister and it was really cool, we felt the spirit super strong because we talked about the importance of the restored church, an also we talked about how the families can be together forever. on Wednesday we went to help a less active make a little brick house we only got the first part done, but he was really grateful for the work that we did, ha-ha we shared a lesson with him afterwards, and we asked him to read a scripture, and he went to get his glassed to read and what happened next reminded me of something Uncle Ernie would do ha-ha he brought back some glasses but the ahhh I’m forgetting English haha the part that is on the ear well the two sides were broken and so what he had done is tied a string from one side of the glasses to the other and he used that string to make like a headband thing for his glasses to keep them on his nose and so he could use them haha it just made me laugh a little and reminded me of some of our family members ha-ha. Thursday well this is a branch here in Etchojoa so we also have some little towns that we have to teach in and as in Bacobampo they are far away we went to Las Guayabas on Thursday and flip it was so hot there weren’t any tress on the way it was just a little dirt road that we had to take, but we finally got there, and got some lessons in with the people that live there, we were able to find a lot of new investigators this day so that was really good. Friday was kind of an interesting day because we found a really cool family haha we saw a lady weeding her garden and so we decided to o help her , and we helped her and all, and we started talking and then asked me if I knew English and itolder her say yes, and she told us that, they lived I California for like 5 years and that her son had learned English, so she called for him and he came out and we started talking ha-ha, it was kind of goofy he told me he really missed the USA and wants to go back. We found a really cool sister, that wanted to listen to us and she promised to go to church but didn’t show up so we are going to find out why, ahhhh we found a super catholic guy!!! hahha it was super hard to teach the little old guy because he was so hard in the heart we told him that what would he do if God told him to get baptized in the true church and he said i would tell him that I’m catholic ahhhhh haha it’s so silly how people can be so heard hearted even to our Heavenly Father let us all be patient and submissive even as a child to his father :)  On Sunday well I thought I was off the hook because here it’s a branch like Bacobampo but there are councilors, but when I showed up with five minutes to start they are like Elder Tanner you’re going to give a talk haha somethings never change haha, but it’s really cool to be in a branch because you can see the progression and really get  to know the members, I’m super excited to be working here and  we are going for it all, but please pray so that we can find the people that want to make changes in their life and are willing to make covenants with our heavenly Father I love you guys so much :) and thanks for everything
Love Elder Tanner 

 

Transfers

Hello hello everyone :)

Sounds like a pretty awesome week :) but before anything else I would like to wish my big papi a very Feliz Cumpleaños!!! I love you a ton Dad thanks for everything you have taught me, and all the patience you had with me haha, Im sure I gave you a couple of gray hairs but thanks for everything Dad I love you. 

It was a good week this week, but I'm sure you all just want to know the transfers haha, its always a crazy day the days of transfers haha the whole mission has the phone in the hand waiting for the call to hear about the transfers and thats how it was for us too, because the transfers got to us super late, it was kind of bad haha we were super anxious to get them but the transfers its good and bad news, ha, the good news is that I'm in a good area and my comp is really good :) the bad news is that they closed Bacobampo, or that means that they took out the missionaries, but remember how I wrote about how we had interviews with Pres. Munive a week earlier he told me in the interview that most likely he was going to take out the missionaries for a while, I was talking with him and we talked about how the branch really hasn't been progressing, becuase the members dont help in the missionary work, we would bring investigators to the church but the members wouldn't help and didn't have the spriit of the missionary work, and also there was a lot of problems in the branch with some members that had lost the faith, and fallen in apostasy its super sad, but its also becasue the mission was sending a lot of missionaries home because they had finished the mission and very few were coming into the misson so it was necassry to close a lot of areas, but no worries, I'm still close to Bacobampo I'm in Etchojoa its super close haha, its another branch, but a little bigger :) I'm with Elder Reyes he is from Puebla like my older comp Elder Sanchez, we are super exctied to get working here but, flip it was a really stressful transfer becuase we had to take out all of the stuff from the house in bacobampo, and close the area, we didnt have a whlole lot of help from the members we needed a truck to move the stuff, but nobody really wanted to help us we finally convinced our branch President and get the stuff moved, my companion got to his bus late and had to buy his own ticket, we were just throwing stuff in bags filling his truck up with all that we had bikes, fridge, papers, chairs everything we had to take out ahhh it was super stressfull, but we got it done, it was really hard to say good bye to the members, a lot of the sisters like the angel Adeliza  started to cry, I was able to make a lot of good friendships, but I'm sure we will see each other again some day. but we were able to see a Baptism this weeek!!1 whooo the son of a less active sister that we are reactiving was baptized and i was able to baptize him I dont have the photos because my comp changed areas but I'll be sure to send them when I have them :) it was a really cool baptism and a lot of work we had to fill up and clean ot the baptismal font by hand becuae some dudes a couple weeks ago stole the pump from the church so the font doesn't fill up or drain automatically but it was all worth it :) I dont have a whole lot to say but I'll be sure to write next week thanks for all your guys prayers I love you all so much 

Love Elder Tanner

Goofy Transfer

Sounds like a pretty good week sounds like you were all able to have a lot of fun that's awesome haha I loved seeing the pictures :) you all look awesome 

So I'm going to ask for forgiveness right now, haha because I left my agenda in the house, and use my agenda to write you guys becasue my memory isn't so good, haha, but I'm going to try and remember everything that has gone on this week, all good.... alright here we go ;) 

So to start off I'm feeling a lot better in my stomach, I'm not having as many problems, so I'm a lot better i don't get headaches or fever so I'm feeling a lot better and we were able to go out and work this week so that is always good :) We were able to go and see Rosa this week and ahhhh haha she's good, and thats why its so frustrating because she doesnt get baptized!! ahhh we went and talked with her, and the purpose of the visit was to expain to her that we can't keep teaching her because she isn't progressing because she wont accept a baptismal date... so we knew it was going to be a super intense lesson, but we got to her house and well she had her friends over and so we couldn't reject her in front of her friends so we just decided to share a quick message, and do it another day, but holy flip one of her friends just went off and started to tell us her whole life story, and she just talked and talked and talked, haha it was so bad and Rosa was telling her friends that they are sinners and have to repent and I was just like Rosa please who are you to tell people stuff like that haha when you won't even get baptized I didn't say it but sure wanted to haha, its so funny how the people when we start talking to them they just get hold of the confidence with us and tell us everything, and I'm just like wow wow settle down haha its good sometimes but there are some people that just go a little far and start from their birth to today what they have done where they've been and what they have done haha kinda funny, but I have sure had to learn patience in the mission I feel like its one of the attributes that I have learned about the most :) the Next day was awesome because we woke up and I started getting ready, and in our bathroom its kind of weird because theres a big window haha, but its just so we can see out nobody can see in, its in a place so people can't see the window but yeah haha its hard to explain but I was showering and all I realized that the sky was full of dark clouds!!! I was so happy haha because theres never clouds here haha and when its like that means that the day will be cool!! ahh it was such a great feelling haha! and it was a super cool day, it actually rained a ton! haha and it was cool and all but then we started getting really wet, and the roads got super muddy because its all dirt road, so it was cool and all but felt like I was on west Mountain in a rain storm, and nobody would open the door!!! ahhhh haha but it was alright the rain only lasted a little bit and it was cool afterwards, we met a sister that is super cool she had questions super cool, she was asking us why are there so many churches she wants to know whats the right one, and if hers is the right one! but after all that she said Elders, look I dont want to offend you or anything but I'm not ever going to change churches and I was just like what??? haha it seems so silly to me that the people can be so hard hearted just for the fear of the unknown or commitment, I hope that we never settle for the good when we can have the excelent, I love this church and I know that it is true, we were able to have a lesson also with Jesus and Andrea. Jesus was the one to ge baptized this week but... I'll explain later but we went with them and had a lesson super powerful and he promised that he was going to go the church and all that but this sunday never showed up!! ahhhhh we havn't gone to visit him since but when we do we are thinking that it will be the last time , because that was the last chance that we wanted to give him to show his interests in batism and well he didn't show it, and so we cant force him to do the good, it hurts us to leave him and stop teaching him but as it says in James a faith without works is a dead faith, he may have faith but isn't putting his faith in action so we are just going to have to let him go, but we are sure that the Lord has someone else prepared for us :) no worries 

We went with Rosa to let her go also and it was super hard, because she knows what she has to do but doesn't do it we explained the importance of not to wait to do the good things, becuase we loose blessings, but she told us that she will tell us when she will be baptized, and she thought that we were mad at her, and I explained to her that it isn't anger that we have but sadness, because every night we pray for her that she will make good decisions, and we feel like Alma from the Book of Mormon when the people wouldn't do what is right and he would feel a spiritual weight, I told her thats how we feel and she felt bad, but not enough to make the decision to get baptized.. but she said she is going to keep going to the church so thats good :)  hopefully she will make the desison to get baptized and will invite us haha , 

We had interviews today !! ahhhh super crazy hah the zone leaders called us at 1030 last night telling us we had interviews in the morning in Navojoa so we had to wake up super early on our pday and go to Navojoa for the zone interviews, I was able to have a really quick interview with President we mostly talked aobut the branch and the members, it was quick but it was good to see him and his wife are so good thank you guys so much for everything I love you all so much and have an awesome week!! 

Love Elder Tanner 

Pepto Bismol

Good Afternoon everyone haha, I'm sorry for not writing last week, I had a little problem... haha I dont know if my Mom has informed but I got a stomach infection, but I'll be sure to talk more in depth about that later.... but I dont think you want me to do that haha ;) 

 

So it was a prettty good two weeks,  So we had Zone Conference with Pres. Munive again two weeks ago Thursday, it was a really good Conference we talked a lot about how to be the best disciple of Christ that we can be, and how we can consecrate ourselves, and that is something that I have learned alot about and studied a lot in the mission and I would love to talk about it but their isn't enough time but it was a really good zone conference :) Then we went to the little towns on friday, to eat with our Branch President and visit some less actives and the investigator Jesus that we are teaching :) we went with Jesus and talked with him about the importance of baptizm and we did a practice interview of how its going to be for his baptizmal interview, he did well and passed the practice and said that he would get ready to get baptized the 9 of April, but Sunday came around and well he and Andrea didn't come!! I was really kinda ticked, because they know how important it is that they go, and they didnt go, and we called them and were like hey whats up what happened why didnt you come, and they told us that their mother in law had hit her forehead, but the mom of Andrea told us that they didnt have money to take the bus because they went to a party that week, so I was kinda ticked, but I couldn't chew them out over the telphone so i just had to tell them to come to the conference this week. That same day we had lunch with a sister in the branch that is an absolute angel haha she is the sister that is always on time to everything, she lets us use her washing machine, she always is willing to help us, and well she made us a goat soup.... haha and well it was alright, I was super hungry but when I saw it, my hunger went pretty fast haha, I ate the soup and well two hours later I wasn't feeling so good, I felt super dizzy and like I was hungry but I didn't want to eat, we finished working and got home and I was just feeling super tired and I had a fever, and I just wanted to sleep, we finished planning and we said the prayer and I just flopped on my bed and bam out like a baby sleeping with my church clothes on and everything, haha but I woke up like two hours later and I was super hot, and had to go to the bathroom, got up and I just started jog/walking for the bathroom, and well... i think you know what happened there, I dont really need to explain it, but i can just say that its from that moment that I knew something was bad in the stomach haha ;) 

I couldnt sleep really all that good that night, but I woke up Monday and still feeling terrible I had a fever was sweating in and out of the bathroom, and so I was like man we have to go to the hospital, and it was super hard haha because it was hot outside we had to go to the bus stop and wait for the bus to take the bus, and it was an hour long bus ride ,but we finally got there and we got into the Dr. and he didnt really do a whole lot for me haha, he just told me I had an intoxication... and gave me some pills for that and the pain and sent me on my way, so I passed like 3 days taking those pills and all that stuff, and it just wasnt working for me, actually I felt like it was making me worse, and i had to go the hospital again on Friday because now I was feeling a big pain in my chest like it really hurt when I breathed hard or had to cough, and that has never happened to me so I was like well whats up with that, and so we went to the hospital again and it was a different Dr. and he told me that I had to take a suero, so they took me into a room and had to put the IV and all that and they started pumping liquids, vitamins, and anitbiotics in me haha, and The Dr. came back and told me that i had a stomach infection, that it wasn't just and intoxication, he gave me some antibiotics and some pills to strengthen my stomach and that was Friday and since then i have been feeling better a lot better :)
I was able to watch the conference on saturday, and it was awesome!! I wasn't able to eat the food that they brought :( because it would make me worse and it was my favorite :( sausage with potatoes and flour tortillas with beans ahhhhh haha, i just sat in the room and watched the chruch news haha, and i was cheering when they talked about the provo Temple!!! whooo, but the next day was super cool because, the angel sister Adeliza made a chicken soup just for me the next day, because she knew that i wasnt going to be able to eat the food that they were going to eat, ahhh i felt so loved haha, and so I was able to eat with the members that day :) it was such an amazing conference and my love for our prophet has grown so much on the mission and i was truly toched to see him this conference, I loved his message and i really dont know how to explain my love for him... HE is our prophet, our guide and our protector in these days and look at him he is so old, but still stands to addrress us, where do you see that a man that is week, tired and 97 years old and still stands to give his testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ he loves us I know that this only happnes in the true church and I stand by that man and i testify that he is a prophet of God and that Christ lives!! i cant talk a lot about the conference because of time but im so grateful for our prophet and i know that all that he does the sacrafices he makes  isnt for casuality, its because this is the TRUE church. I love you so much and thank you so much for praying me this week i Have felt your prayers and have felt so much comfort from my Heavenly Father in hard times, I love you guys and please know that our Father in Heaven loves us and His Son also :) 

Love Elder Tanner 

Milagros

Pretty awesome week this week :) lots of cool stories went on, but we also had a couple of challenges but that is just part of the experience :) haha can't have your cake and eat it too, I think that's how my Mom said the saying... ;) It really has mind boggled me how fast time is going, I can't believe that Payton will be graduating soon and that Syd is going to be a senior, ahhh what happened with my little bro and sister, but oh well, I know that you guys are making good decisions, and that's awesome that Payton will be graduating this year from all the hard work he has put in! whoo, and that's cool that Syd could go to California for her competitions sounds like she did awesome and gave it her all :)   

So we had success this week and it was cool, but I'll start from what I remember haha I start typing and I forget everything that has happened in the week... ooops haha 

So we taught Rosa about the Book of Mormon to help her understand a little bit better what it is, because she's still not capturing the idea of it, but we explained nice and slow that it is not a Bible but its sacred scripture that God prepared in the Americas, and all the stuff but she understood and is going to try to read it more, haha she had one of her friends with her when we went to visit her and she invited her friend to listen, and oh my heavens Rosa is a dry member, Rosa shared her non-member testimony that the church is the only true church and then Rosa invited her friend to get baptized!!! Rosa the investigator invited someone to get baptized haha I about rolled on the ground, haha ahh I'm not saying it was funny like she didn't do good I just thought it was funny that Rosa isn't baptized but is inviting someone to do it haha, but it was cool. we are still working with Rosa on that haha I always give her a good little push in the lessons we share with her to get baptized and we did exchanges and I left and my comp went to teach Rosa, and she told him haha ... That Elder Tanner really wants me to get baptized... Haha and my comp was like me too!! and our Heavenly Father too more than any one!! haha she knows what she has to do :) and I know she will do it :) 

We also taught her about the tithing and that it is a commandment and this Sunday she went to the church and payed her tithing and she doesn't even work!! ahh its so crazy she is really amazing but would be even more amazing if she would get baptized!! but she is a funny little lady, speaking of little ladies, we found some little women haha I didn't realize it when I contacted them because they were sitting down, we had a lesson and finished and they stood up to shake our hands, and I felt like I was with my Aunt Maurine haha the little lady and her daughter were up to like my waist, they are just little things, but they are super cool :) 

We are also teaching Jesus and Andrea that are married to other people and have to divorce and get married, because they are living together and MIRACLE MIRACLE MIRACLE, we had a really cool experience with them :) ahh so cool and I hope I can explain it all I don't have a lot of time to write still but I'll go for it :)  so Jesus and Andrea like I told you guys are married with other people, and are living together so, they have to divorce with them, and after Jesus and Andrea have to get married, we are working with Jesus and he really wants to get baptized and is progressing really well they say that they are reading the Book of Mormon as a family and its awesome we leave them with chapters to read and questions to answer and they always answer the questions and its awesome but the only challenge to baptize him is that he is living with Andrea and they aren't married, so we are finishing up the lessons and we have the permission and help of the husband of Andrea to do the divorce but the wife of Jesus isn't to happy about and has told him that she wont sign the papers, so that has been a real problem, because he can't progress with out the help of his ex wife in the divorce, me and my companion were thinking of what we could do to help Jesus Get baptized and still be with Andrea while we work on the divorce and marriage and we feel as though it was truly revelation, the lesson that we had with them would be a true trial of faith and patience on their part, we taught them that Jesus is ready to get baptized the only thing he lacks is the law of chastity, so we told them that we want to baptize him in two weeks, but it will require their faith and action, we then invited them to live the law of chastity to separate for the time being and stop living together, we read them that the scripture of Nephi in Nephi 3:7 and told them that when God gives us a commandment he will always give us the way to complete it and we know that its a commandment to be baptized and Jesus knows that too, and we promised them that God will make the way but they have to show their faith and put it in practice, we invited them to separate so that God will help us with the divorce proceedings and the baptism of Jesus, we left them with that invitation and promise, and said we would return the next day to see what they decided :) and we knew that we had to do our part also, so we went with the wife of Jesus to help her understand the reason for why we are trying to do the divorce and haha it was a little awkward but it was so special because in a matter of 10 or 15 minutes we saw the blessing and the miracle from the faith Of Jesus and Andrea, because the wife told us that she is willing to help and sign the papers in the divorce, and she has been asking God for away to start her family over and leave the past behind!! AHHHHHHH  I WAS LEAPING FOR JOY!! AHHH I couldn't believe it, we said a prayer right after the lesson and gave thanks for the change of heart that God had worked in the wife of Jesus, the next day we went and shared the experience with Jesus and Andrea, but before we did it we shared the scripture Mosiah 24:16 and explained that God really does comfort us and give us miracles in our trial of faith :), they then told us that Jesus wants to get baptized and is willing to separate from Andrea and put in practice his faith so he can be baptized!!! They will be separated but, God has truly done a miracle and they will be able to divorce faster because everyone is in agreement and so we hope to continue seeing blessings and miracles from our Heavenly Father!! please pray for them to put in practice their faith, and do what is necessary so Jesus in 2 weeks can get baptized!! We can see the hand of the Lord in these things and we are very excited :) Thanks for everything guys, I love you all so much
Love Elder Tanner

My companion Elder Sanchez from Puebla

 

We went to play soccer in Etchojoa, with the Elders there and some members, haha, it was cool then some members came by and started making Pizzas for us to eat breakfast it was cool :)

The children's  Catholic parade haha Semana Santa (Spring Break) here is pretty big haha I'll explain more later but everyone puts on costumes kind of different. 

This smiley face made my day :) we bought pizza one day and the people who wrote on this box knew I needed a smiley face, and a pizza haha, 

Hallelujah

Hello everyone!
Wow so cool to see that my good friend and cousin Elder Pulsipher has returned home! I loved seeing the pictures looks like he is doing pretty good :) be sure to tell him I say Hi :) 

That's awesome that you guys will be going to California, sounds like that will be a lot of fun to cheer Syd on! I bet she will do awesome :) 

This was a pretty awesome week, really interesting but awesome :) we had our Zone Conference this week in Navojoa, and we had a zone meeting and everything, and half way through the zone meeting Pres. Munive and Sis. Munive showed up!! so that was really cool to see them :) They gave us some really cool messages, I really like a message that gave Pres. Munive, he talked to us about the Priesthood and how we can magnify the Priesthood, in missionary work, in our wards, in the family, and it was really cool, we have to make sure that when we are called to a assignment in the church we have to do every thing to fulfill it and magnify it, because its through the priesthood that we will receive the blessings, he also talked about how the women can magnify the priesthood, it was a really cool message, I was able to get my packages, thank you so much Mom and Family for the package and also I got a package from Jordan and Krystle thank you guys so much ha-ha I loved the drawing from Nolan :) ha-ha, so that was really cool to get the packages thank you guys so much. 

We went with Jesus y Eva Wedensday, and we werent able to have the lesson with Jesus because he was working, but we talked with Eva and it was a really cool lesson, we talked about baptism, and also the gift of the holy ghost, and it was really cool because she could comprehend really well the importance of the baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost and that the baptism isn't complete with out the confimation of the holy ghost, she also asked us about what the Sacrament is and so it was really cool to talk about that with her and see her desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ :) 

We also went with Jesus and Andrea the family that is married with other people and have to divorce and get married with each other, and they are super excited Jesus is so excited for his baptism, and wants to do it he just has to divorce his wife and get married with Andrea but its kind of a challenge because his ex-wife doesn't want to sign the paper so we are going to try and go with her :) to explain to her why we need her to sign the papers to divorce, but they are super pumped for the baptism of Jesus, we also did exchanges this week haha I went with Elder Horlacher, to Huatabampo, so it was cool, we were able to get alot of work done and, we met a couple that is really interested in the Book of Mormon and what we do as missionaries and we were able to testify of the divinity of the Book of Mormon and see their desire to read it, I wont be teaching them, but I'm sure that they will be progressing really well :) but they were saying that they will go to church when they know that the book of Mormon is true, and that really called my attention, because sometimes were like that we say that we will do something AFTER God gives us something or a reason to do good, and it cannot be like that we cannot look for ways to council God or convince him to give us something when we haven't done our part to get something, the scriptrue D and C :20-21 we have to do our part to recieve the blessing from our Heavenly Father, and that is where the Faith comes in we have to be faithful to our Heavenly Father and do all that we can to keep his commandments, let us not seek to council the Lord but let us follow his councils and trust in him with faith knowing that he knows all  :) 

We are going to work with Jesus and Eva this week to be able to help them get married and get prepared to get baptized :) sorry for the short letter I love you guys so much and thanks for everything :)
Love Elder Tanner 

Buenas Tardes, Mis Queridos Amigos 

Hey! wow sounds like there are all sorts of cool stuff going on! Thats cool that Payton was able to hang out it in little Moab, sounds like lots of fun :) be sure to keep the 250 running ;) haha Thats awesome that Syd could compete in that competetion and take 2 place :) 

That is so crazy that Elder Pulispher will be finishing the mission! wow, be sure to give him a big ole bear hug for me haha, I love that kid :) 

Well this week was pretty interesting haha and there is so much I want to write but time runs out so fast! I think its because we got back from buying food late... aahhhh I'm sorry haha but some of the things that happened this week is, I was chased by a dog on my bike and the dog just about made me get hit by a car haha, We had another lesson in the Indian dialect Mayo, haha we went to a little town and there was a family there and we had our Branch President with us and the people spoke Mayo so we got to practice a little bit :) we found another invesigator this week her name is Noami and she accepted a baptismal date and we are going to visit her this week, and see how she is progressign :) We had a run in with the Jehova witness missionaries, haha we got to a investigators house at the same time, and the investigators choose them over us! ahhh haha, 

Also we had Jesus y Eva in the House of Prayer this week :) and it was super cool they really liked it and we are still working with Eva for the 19 of March but we just got to get them married :) so please pray for her so that she has the desire to marry and get baptized, its really cool becasue in the lessons she really comprehends baptizm and always explains why its neceassry :) thanks for everything guys I love you so much and I know this letter is super short and I'm sorry but gotta go :)
I love you guys so much and thank you for your prayers.

Love Elder Tanner 

Transfers and I'm staying in Bacobampo with Elder Sanchez

Hello everyone hows it going :) sounds like the Provo Temple openhouse is going on thats pretty cool :), I have seen the videos and it looks amazing, that is such a blessing to be able to go through the temples and see whats in them, but its cool and all to see the temple from the inside, but even more special is to work and bring about the ordanances in the temple, that is when we comprehend the signficance of all the things and why they are. I have truly develoveped a testimony of the temples here in the mission, its amazing and I love to see the members here get so excited about going to the temple, because its such a blessing for them and also a sacrafice, but they are willing to do it, because of the blessings, and the promises they have made with our Father in Heaven, I hope that we can all take advantage of the blessings of the temple, and always draw nearer unto the house of the Lord.

It was a pretty good week this week we had a challenge with the sickness this week lots of people got sick! and it really affected the work, but we are hoping that they are feeling better, so we can keep on working with them, we did divisions this week, with Huatabampo, so that was pretty cool, haha I'm sorry my mind is super blank right now and i dont have a whole lot of time but, just to let you all know super quick we had transfers today, but I didnt get Transferred I'm still her in Bacobampo! haha with Elder Sanchez we are super exctied to keep working together and we hope to see lots of miracles this week, Rosa went to church again and knows she has to get baptized but ahhhh wont accept a baptismal date!! ahhhh haha, but we are going to keep working with her she is basically a dry member.. a investigator that hasn't got baptized haha, but thanks for all your praryers and everything sorry for the Email, I'll be sure to get you guys a better one next week thanks for all your love and support, This is the true church, share it with others and you will see the blessings through sharing the gospel! :)  

I love you guys so much
Love Elder Tanner 

Hello everyone I hope you guys had an amazing week :) it was a pretty good week, a lot happened, but we also realized that we still have a lot of work to do :) Tuesday we went with Rosa in the morning and we talked to her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and she really liked, it is amazing how Christ truly took upon himself the sins of this world I don't think we will ever comprehend the suffering of our Savior in Gethsemane, all we can do is thank him and do everything to please him, we also went to visit Jesus and Andrea that live super far away, we went in hitchhiking and we had to walk a little ways but we found a member that gave us a ride all the way to their front door ha-ha super cool :) we taught them about the Plan of Salvation, one of my favorite messages, because it gives us such a perspective of the life right now after and before, I know that we have to know where we came from to know where we are going :)  we also had to put a move on it because we had a appointment with a less active sister named Griselda and well she's a little crazy ha-ha I like to say that it would be like Uncle Parky but in lady form ha-ha, and I didn't realize that we were late when we finished the lesson with Jesus and Andrea and my comp was like hey we have an appointment with a person in like 5 minutes and I asked him who and he said Griselda and I didn't even answer, I just starting running ha-ha and he was like hey WHY ARE YOU RUNNNING? and I answered SHES GOING TO KILL US IF WE ARE LATE!!! ha-ha well we got there on time. 

Wednesday we went with Jesus and Andrea to talk about their marriage plans, and it was super cool, they want to get married in the temple and be sealed!!! ahhh super cool, but we have to work little by little, so we talked about the plans, and explained that we are going to help them do it!! but they have to do their part, in studying and saying prayers, and Jesus was like and the most important thing is To have Faith :) it was super cool he has truly grown so much spiritually, we also taught Eva the Restoration and she loved it. It was awesome! we talked to her about her baptism and she's a little scared but wants to do it :) ha-ha we also spent 20 minutes with a sister explaining that God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is his son ha-ha she was a little grandma and couldn't quite understand it ha-ha we used a ton of examples ha-ha patience is the key in the mission :)  

Thursday we went to Navojoa for a conference with Pres. Munive and Sister Munive and it was super good Sister Munive was very serious about our way to dress and how we act that its important that we look and act like representatives of Jesus Christ, because its the first thing the people see its like that sticky note Dad has in Triple T, the customers Eyes. I always liked that because its really true :) We also had our family home evening in the house of Prayer and me and my comp gave the message about the Sabbath day and how to respect it and live it :)   

Friday we worked in some of the little towns and I'm getting a little better with speaking the Indian Mayo ha-ha its super fun to learn, but we had to travel a ton because we went to like 4 different towns and we were super tired we were returning home on a little dirt road at night ha we couldn't see a thing and I just about fell in a ditch super cool :) 

 

Saturday we got all out of work done but we went with Rosa and she is still doing super good, and learning lots and wants to get baptized but wants to wait till May so that her kids that are out of town are home to see her get baptized we talked to her about it and explained that its better to get things done rather than wait, because we loose blessings so, we are going to keep trying to help her understand that, we also went with Jesus and Eva and Eva wants to wait a little bit more to get baptized... we made another baptismal date with her for the 19 of March so we are going to help her and Jesus get married before this day, they are super excited, but Eva is a little nervous. Please pray for her about baptism and marriage. 

I don't have a whole lot of time left I know I didn't write a whole lot but I'll do better next week :) Thanks for everything guys I Love you all so much :) 

Love Elder Tanner