Wow Wow Wow 

What a cool week, ha-ha for several reasons, but the problem is that every time I get onto the computer I forget everything happened ha-ha...  but ill do my best to remember ;)   

So Tuesday we had a lot of success and were able to start the week awesome finding new people to teach and it was a really good day then we found out that night, that in the morning we had to be in Obregon for a special Conference directed by the Apostles to the missionaries around the world!! super cool! But we had to wake up at 3:00 in the  morning to get ready and take the earliest bus possible at like 4:30 or 5, to get to Obregon on time!! ha-ha, but I really wasn't all that tired, until it started to get late that day ha-ha but the Conference was awesome!! I was able to see a lot of my companions and Elders from my district!! ha-ha I saw my son Elder Vaca!! ahhhh it was soo cool to see him! haha, but it was pretty crazy because I found out that I'm a Grandpa now because Elder Vaca is training someone ha-ha and my Father was there Elder Flores!! so in the conference we had 4 generations of missionaries Elder Flores, Elder Tanner, Elder Vaca, and Elder Cofler ha-ha super cool its like family history, but yeah it was super good to see Elder Vaca haha one of my best companions, but I also saw Elder Guardado and Elder Hernandez that was with me in Aeropuerto, really good to see all of them but, the Conference was the best part, they talked a lot about how we can find more people to teach and the importance of the Holy Ghost in our lives, and in the missionary work, and in the conversion of the people that are members, less actives, or investigators, it was awesome, and in fact we heard and excellent talk from W. Christopher Waddell! The mission President of Jordan and Krystle, he gave a really good talk! we than got back to Bacobampo, 

Thursday we did Exchanges with the Zone Leaders haha Elder Coello came  with me in Bacobampo and Elder Sanchez went with Elder Robbins haha this is like the 4 time I have done exchanges with Elder Coello haha I think we must be pretty good friends, but it was chill haha we did a ton of exercise!! haha nobody would listen to us it was so weird we went with so many people and looked for new people but they just didn't want to hear it, super crazy, it was kind of depressing too, but it just goes to show that we don't ever know what will happen in the life the only thing we can do is press forward with a smile and our heads up looking for opportunities in life :) but it was a good exchange haha we went to work in a little town, and we found a sister that would listen to us but the problem is that she is from an Indian tribe like in Utah and Arizona there are Indian tribes and reservations and stuff like that, here in Mexico also, and this sister didnt know spanish she just knew how to talk in the Indian dialect of Mayo, here in Sonora the biggest and most known tribes are the Yaquis and the Mayos and the Yaquis are around Obregon and the Mayos in Navojoa and since we are kind of close to Navojoa we found this sister that speaks Mayo, I learned a little bit when I was in Navojoa, haha but it was like I was starting the mission over and I couldn't speak the language, haha but she was worried about leaving her house alone to go to church and I noticed that she had a pig, and I knew how to say pig in Mayo so I explained to her in mayo "that no worries her pig can keep watch or take care of the house" ha-ha she thought it was pretty funny!, also at the end of the lesson her daughter in law showed up that speaks Spanish and mayo so we had her explain a couple things, but at the end of the lesson  the sister asked us if we knew how to castrate a pig, because she wanted to do it with the little piggy that the Mayan sister had  and my comp didn't know how, but I realized that I did, because I had learned how from my time working in Palmyra when I went to help Brand, castrate, and give shots to the cows ha-ha.... I told her I know how, and she was trying to get me to do it ha-ha, but I really didn't want to ha-ha, I know we are supposed to give service and all that but not this type ha-ha, my companion was dying laughing, because the sister really wanted me to do it haha, and I just kept refusing haha she finally gave in haha, but maybe we will go  by on pday in normal clothes and get the job done haha, kind of a funny story 

Saturday we had a District Conference with the 4 branches that are in this district and we were able to see President Munive and Sister Munive and Sister Munive brought me some cards from Christmas haha, late but I got them so no worries, and I just want to say thank you to all the ward members that signed the cards that really did lift my heart and made me feel so good :), I have grown up in the Wolf Hollow ward all my life and I have learned some amazing lessons from a lot of amazing people, friends, teachers, and family! Thank you for who ever did that and who ever signed the card I love you guys so much, but we also had a conference Sunday and it was super good too,  they talked a lot about the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy I have learned so much about that in the mission, the importance of the Sabbath day and it truly is such a blessing to have it and I hope that we can use it well and sanctify it and observe it :)  

This Sunday night was kind of hard because we got back to Bacobampo, and went with Melquizdec and we tried to share a message with him, and he told us that he didn't want to keep listening to our message, it was so weird it happened so fast, and we were just stunned :/ but we have to respect the agency of every person. But I learned that even in the hard times we cant sit down and rest we have to have a prayer in our heart and a life filled with love, and that's what I had to do, I really did get kind of upset, but I know that being mad or sad wont do any good, I really had to pray and ask for help, and Heavenly Father really did bless me and I felt the peace from the spirit and the drive to keep working :) and that same night we were greatly blessed through a less active, we went with a sister that is active that has a son that is less active and his wife isn't a member, and they just had a baby, so we decided to talk about eternal marriage and eternal family we sang families can be together forever and they loved the song, its a song from the primary but really brings the spirit, and that spirit was felt by the son of the sister, his name is Jesus Ramon, and we were able to testify and promise a eternal family through his diligence and commitment to keep the commandments and make the covenants necessary! and he felt the spirit so strong I started to asking him what he is willing to do to obtain this blessing, and he said whatever it takes, and I asked if he was willing to go to church, pray and read the scriptures and with him being filled with the spirit he said yes and then we explained that his wife would have to get baptized to be able to go to the temple with her :) and he said that he is going to talk to her about it and that he wants her to get baptized so they can go to the temple one day, he was so filled and so excited to talk to her about it, that he was asking for scriptures in the Book of Mormon that talk about baptism so he can share them with her :) We truly saw the hand of the Lord in this lesson and truly the spirit was felt because this less active had a change of heart and the desire to help his wife and newly born baby be together forever and all that is possible through the spirit of an eternal family, it is such a blessing! its what everyone looks for, but is only in this church because it is done under the divine power of the priesthood, We are so grateful for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost for the spirit that was felt in that lesson and I know that Families can be forever :) There names are Jesus Ramon and his wife Eva please pray for Eva so that she will feel the spirit that her husband felt so she will have the desire to get baptized and have an eternal family :) 

I love you guys so much thanks for everything
Love Elder Tanner  

How an Eagle Scout dries his pants fast haha thats a fan on the seat and a tie tied to my pants and the fan so the air passes through easier haha ;) 

Changes

Time Flies!! I cant believe it, another change has gone by, well I'm still here in Bacobampo ha-ha, but my companion Elder Guardado got assigned to another area he was sent to Obregon, and I got my new companion today Elder Sanchez, He's a good guy he's got 6 months in the mission and is from the same generation as my son Elder Vaca, Elder Sanches is from Puebla, ha-ha he's a pretty funny kid, he's really sarcastic and is always making jokes :) 

 

So it was a pretty good week this week, We had a conference in Huatabampo with other missionaries and we taught and helped people do their family history work, and genealogy, because the district is getting ready to go to the temple, so we are helping the branch's get ready to go. It was a really cool conference and it made me realize how cool family history work is, and also made me feel bad for never doing it before the mission but I'm so grateful that we have done it, because it truly is such a big blessing to be able to do it because we are the only church that can do it, because we have the power and authority from God to do it :) So please just know that I will be working hard in that after this mission, its really such a cool thing to look for our ancestors and be able to baptize them and do the ordinances necessary so they can be with us forever :) I cant really work on it right now but I will when I get back :) so please let Aunt Maurine know that I will be hoping for a temple trip and that she teaches me more about the family history!!! because it truly is so special :)  

I truly felt the spirit of this temple work Sunday when I had to give a talk that I hadn't prepared ha-ha, my companion was directing the meeting and we needed people to give talks and I thought he would give a talk, because he was directing, but he said and now we will hear a talk from Elder Tanner about the family history ha-ha I gave him a couple slugs after the meeting for that but I was able to share some experiences and my testimony and some scriptures, that I have learned in the mission about this work and it was truly cool, because it fascinates me how the spirit puts words in our mouth to teach people true doctrine, and not only the people we are teaching but ourselves also, as I was talking and I said something that really touched my heart that I have always known but the principle was so clear that it truly touched my heart and made me want to work in this work, I said that as members baptized in the church and with temple recommends we have keys to open the door to the salvation of our ancestors! That in the spirit world there is a door with 2 different places on each end Spirit paradise and spirit prison, when we baptize our ancestors with the body we have we use the keys and open that door so they can pass from prison to paradise and experience the blessings of the true gospel! It made me feel so grateful for the love and confidence our Heavenly Father has in us to be in this time and generation to work with our ancestors and in the temple :)  

We also found a guy named Melquisdec (with a name like that he is asking to get baptized ha-ha) he is super cool and we have been having the lessons in the house of prayer and the questions to our answers are on point! ha-ha its so cool, like we aren't as missionaries accustomed to have people answer so good but his answers were like well I have to baptize me, and I have to be baptized in the right church, and a lot more, he has a baptismal date for 27 of February, so we are hoping to be able to baptize him this day. He would be a big help to the Branch because we need more Priesthood in the branch, but he's a little nervous and shy and unsure about baptism so please pray for him that he will feel what he has to do, and will feel comfortable with his decision to get baptized, he couldn't go to church this Sunday because he got sick :( but we are sure he will go this Sunday. 

We also have a sister named Maria or Mary ha-ha but she has 3 little girls that have the age of baptism and they came to a family night in the house of prayer and we watched a video about finding faith in Christ and she really liked it, so we are hoping to be able to baptize them too! :) it would be super cool to see the family get baptized but pray for her so that she recognizes the importance of the church in her life and her daughters lives, and that she wont be afraid to go to church because she lives with her cousins and mom and dad and they don't support her in her decision and they always try to get us to not teach her... but we are going to baptize her!! Pray with faith and we can do it!!! 

 

Well I'm really grateful that Heavenly Father has given me another transfer here I'm really trying to help strengthen this branch because it needs it, thanks so much for your support :) I truly do love you guys :) BE HAPPY AND KEEP SMILING  '

'

D&C 128:19 !!!  

Sorry for the short letter but I really do love you guys so much and thanks for everything :) 

Love Elder Tanner 

El Dia De Los Reyes

Hello everyone :) 

I hope everyone had an a good week, sounds like everyone had to get back to the "grind" School, Work, Play ;) ha-ha, well the work doesn't ever come to a stop here, but that's alright because I love it :) Work hard and... Work harder ;) so you guys heard about the "Chapo Guzman" ;) ha-ha pretty crazy right ha-ha I actually know the Elders in that area where he was caught, heard that there was a ton of gun fire super crazy, but also ha-ha its been said that he was here in our area before heading down to Mochis, I have talked to a lot of people that say that they knew him, ha-ha super crazy but its funny because the people here love him, they love him more than the president of Mexico ha-ha, because the Chapo always buys them food and is good for the little towns, but no worries he's now in a super safe place ha-ha ;) 

Besides that its been a pretty good week because we were able to celebrate El Día de los Reyes, pretty cool, we bought a cake and all and were able to celebrate that a little bit :)  

Pretty crazy story that happened this week was that we saved a mans life, we were heading to lunch with a member one day, but we passed the house of less active member that's on the way to where we were going to eat, and I felt like that we should check on the family, and my companion agreed to, we stopped by and found the father outside just walking around we asked if we could share a message with him and he seemed a little shaken up we didn't know why but we testified and talked about the importance of the family and the role of a father and he talked to us about all the problems that he has been having in his life, so we explained how the Gospel isn't just for spiritual matters but to help us with our physical or temporal matters and problems, he felt a lot better and was willing to offer the closing prayer, we got to the lunch late but we felt better, as we were eating, someone came to the door of the house crying and it was the less active brother that we had just barely taught, the father of the house where we were eating left and talked with him and later informed us that we had saved his life, because before we knocked on his gate he was preparing to kill himself, and was tying the knot to do what he was going to do  but the message we shared gave him a lot of hope  and made him feel better and he was super grateful and really emotional, I cannot express how grateful I am for the love our Heavenly Father has for us in giving us the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide us protect us and help us, and also be instruments in his hands to bless and help his children ask in prayer everyday for the amazing gift and companionship of this amazing personage and member of the God head, The Holy Ghost :)   

 

We were able to have quite a bit of success this week we worked super hard to be able to find new investigators :) and it paid off because we found a lot so we are going to be working with them in this week, and we are super pumped to see how they progress, ha-ha but I'm not going to lie ha-ha it was kind of an interesting week this week because never in all of my areas have I seen or heard from so many people be so confused about the importance of a having a church, ahh it is so frustrating, really you don't know how ticked, sad, upset, frustrated I get when someone tells me that its not of important to have a church, because the church is your heart, YOU are the church, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh haha my comp has had to hold me back a couple times from people like these, naw I'm joking but I really do get frustrated because, its normal that once in a while in a week, but literally about every person that we talked to has told me that ha-ha, because they have grown up with the idea that God is a changing God that lets us do what we want how we want, of course we have a loving Heavenly Father that has given us our agency but that does not mean that we can take our own path in life to be able to return and live with him, Jesus Christ said I am the way and the life, and we know and testify that when Christ was here, he established his church a church organized of Prophets, Apostles and the Holy Priesthood of our Heavenly Father, That is the way and there is no other way but it makes me so sad knowing that the people have been taught different about our Heavenly Father. It truly goes to show that in these later days people have Created God according to their wants and desires, I probably don't make any sense but I hope that we all understand the importance to have a Church, but not any church a church with our father in heaven and Brother Jesus Christ at the head with Apostles and Prophets governing the church, I know that this is the only true church, I know that Thomas S. Monson is a living Prophet and is a guide for us. I know that his council is what we need in these days to be protected and live happily and have an eternal family. Don't take things casual this is the Church of our older Brother. Let us live, act, and share this message, I also know that just because this path is the right path doesn't mean that its full of cake and flowers, but filled with bumps, holes and thorns, but our Heavenly Father has given us tools and things to be able to overcome these obstacles, Prayer, Scriptures, and going to the church every week to take the sacrament will truly protect us and help us over come any obstacle, Let us be happy and Cheerful in all things while we are in this path of enduring to the end, Never forget what is at the end of this path, a loving Heavenly Father with Arms open and a Eternal family, Press Forward in the path with Faith in our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ and a love for God and all men (2 Nephi 31:19-20) I love you guys so  much and I know this is the True church and correct path and I'm so grateful to be able to share it and also to have my family in this path with me. 

Sorry for the long email but I truly have seen the blessings and the importance of being in the right church and my testimony has grown so much in the mission, I love this gospel and I love my Savior, thank you for your prayers and love.
Love Elder Tanner 

Happy New Year!! 

wow 2015 went by flying!! 

but here comes the big one!! 2016!! whoo thats awesome haha 

It was a prettty cool year this week ;) if you get what I'm saying haha, I'm terrible with jokes I know ;) but it was an interesting week, I forgot to tell you guys that Monday in the morning we gave service to a family, their dad has a problem with his legs and they needed fire wood to make food and sell it and to be able to cook food for themselves so me and my comp decided we would take a swing at it ;) another cheesy joke haha, but we got up early and went to their house to cut fire wook, well its not like when I would cut fire wood with dad haha, becuase we didn't have a chainsaw just the good old fashioned axe!! haha we had to cut down a big ole tree!! we had to  cut down the tree and clean the branches with a machete! haha but it was cool, I left with a couple of blisters but it was cool, I liked getting out and working a little bit!  

Then Tuesday in the afternoon we found out that we would be having our Chirstmas Party as a mission on Wedensday in Obregon, so we had to go to Navojoa and sleep there for the night tuesday and wake up super early to go to Obregon for the party!! It was cool, because I was able to call some Elders from my Old district, and sleep with them!! it was super cool to see them, and see how they are doing and hear about the people that I had to interview for baptisms and how they are doing!!! Wedensday in the morming we woke up at like 4 to get ready and go to Obregon and we got there at like 8, it was super cool because I was able to see a lot of my old companions Elder Yoo, Elder Hernandez, Elder Rivas!! haha I love them all so much and it was so good to hear from them and see them, Elder Rivas is going to be finishing the mission in about 2 months super crazy!! in the Christmas party Pres. let us get into sport clothing and play some games it was super fun to relax a little and be with other missionaries! then we had a christmas dinner!! some senor missionaries Gringos made the christms dinner it was super good, but the gringos forgot to buy tortillas :( haha, we had turkey, pototes, yams, stuffing, corn, and all sorts of good stuff it was awesome!!! then to finish the party we were able to have a talent show! the district we did a play about what Christmas is like in the mission it was super funny and I was finaly able to get my package, and I found myself, the most amazing tie!! haha its a tie with a bunch of flowers on it haha I love it! a brother in the branch asked me if I was a gardener before the mission hahaha I thought it was pretty funny, 

Well it was kinda rough Wednesday because we got to Navojoa late because of the party in Obregon, and there weren't any buses that went by Bacobampo, so we had to sleep another night with the elders from my old district haha two nights in a row sleeping on the ground with just a blanket haha but it was worth it super fun :) we were able to have dinner with a sister in the branch, and she made us pozole its really popular here and one of my favorite dishes its super good :) we didn't stay up till 12 haha thats not for missionaries but it was a good year thanks for everything guys and I hope you all have an amazing week, I don't have a whole lot of time to write, but I'm so thankful for the support that you guys gave to me in 2015, and I know that you will continue to do it in 2016, thank you guys so much for your love and I hope that in this year that comes we can all make goals, both spiritually and physically to be better I love you guys so much and have an awesome week there is so much more that I would like to write but I don't have enough time haha, but I'll be sure to let you guys in on total next week :) I love you all, Love Elder Tanner