Slowish week

Maybe this week was actually a bit slower than slowish. It was slow. I knew I spoke too soon last week when I said I hadn't gotten sick yet. I got sick on Tuesday but was better by Wednesday evening. But that was a little more than 24 hours that I couldn't do anything. I literally had no energy on Tuesday, but on Wednesday I woke up feeling much better, thanks to the Zone Leaders coming over on Tuesday night and giving me a blessing. It was amazing the 180 degree turn my health took. On Tuesday night it took all of my energy to go from my bed to the kitchen and on Wednesday I felt good enough to actually go out and do stuff. I felt kinda bad actually because we were supposed to go on exchanges on Tuesday night so we had to reschedule them for this week. I'm pretty excited for exchanges though. I get to go with Elder Hampson and see what his area is like. See if it's just my area that's struggling or if it's just me. We just haven't seen a whole lot happen since I've been in this area. I think we could have been doing better if the past two weeks weren't plagued with sicknesses. Elder Jack actually got sick again on Saturday with just a stomach bug. We went to the Preedy's for their daughters 3rd birthday party and had to leave early because he felt like he was going to pass out, (which he did when we got out to the car.) And then we were in for the rest of the day. The party was good though. There were heaps of nonmembers there since Ruth is the only member in her family. It was sweet to have a good chat with some of them, and for them to see that missionaries aren't robots. One of the guys I was talking to was actually teaching me about Australian rules football, and it's quite interesting actually. I could never play it, but it's pretty fun to watch. The field is 180 metres long, and it's nonstop running. That alone means I will never play it haha.

I had one of the best conversations with a temple worker on Thursday night when we went to go eat at their house. Brother Couchman was his name. I don't know why, but family history has become very intriguing to me the past few weeks. He was showing me all about FamilySearch and how that website works and everything. I thought it was so cool. He showed me how he submitted a name to be done in the temple and all of the work for that name was done within 1 and a half months. It was cool though because the baptism was done in Nauvoo, the confirmation was done in Nashville, the initiatory was done in Rexburg and the Endowment was done in Boise. I had no idea that once you submit a name it could travel around like that. He explained to me that the way it works is the temple just prints out a list of names that need a certain ordinance done and those names come from that site. I've always wondered how temples seem to have a never ending supply of names to do work for. Well now I know. It just makes me sad to think that the Perth temple has actually had to cancel endowment session because there weren't enough people there. Some people must not understand the importance. Brother Couchman was telling me how he got to do the work for his older brother a few years back. I think that must be one of the coolest feelings, doing temple work for someone you love that has passed on. Even doing the work for someone you don't even know that's related to you, that would just be the coolest thing ever. That's just as exciting as getting a baptism on the mission I think. That's why I really want to get into genealogy when I get home. I've really grown to love it and I've never even done it for myself. If I have time today, I might go make an account on familysearch myself.

Not too much else happened this week. Father's Day was yesterday, so happy father's day dad! The area is still slowly but surely progressing. We actually had an investigator call us before church yesterday morning to say that she couldn't make it. That has never happened to me. Usually I just get to church and have to wait and see if they'll show up or not. So that at least shows some hope there. You could tell that she really wanted to come, but she was just too sick. So hopefully next week she can make it. We're teaching her a lesson on Thursday and it will probably be the first proper lesson that we've taught her since I got here. Usually we just go over and check on things, see how she's doing, see if she needs anything, answer any questions she might have from her reading. But this week we're getting into the meaty stuff. hooray!

For those that haven't studied the Tree of Life in awhile, it seems like we should all do that again. Within the past two weeks I've had a general authority talk to me about it, listened to two talks by apostles about it, and read the ensign article about it. It seems to be having a lot of importance at this point and time for some reason. There's just such a great importance for us to hold even tighter to the Iron Rod than we've ever held before. And also to hold the hands of those people whose hands might be just off of the rod. Even those that have already tasted the fruit are falling away. There's so many people on the other side that don't want us to reach that tree, but we have to. And make sure the rest of those we love get there as well.

Well that's about it for today. Hope you all have an amazing week. I'm praying for you, and holding your hand if you need me to.

Much love,

Elder Tanner