So, sorry I didn't get to email before you all went to bed. We had a Zone P-day today which was so much fun. We started off by doing some service which was just cleaning up someone's yard. With all of us working on that, it didn't take any more than like 15 minutes (it was a pretty small yard with about 14 of us working.) After that though we went to a park and had a sausage sizzle and a sports triathlon. We split the zone into fairly even teams and played basketball, ultimate frisbee, and touch rugby. My team won frisbee easily and rugby we won but that was a fluke. I STILL don't know how to play that game properly. Basketball was fun too, missionary sports are always so competitive. I love it. So that's why I'm emailing now, which is the middle of the night for yall, but I've had an amazing p-day so it's ok.
On Thursday we had our last zone stewardships meeting with President and Sister Maurer. I can't believe they're leaving next week. holy cow. My very last interview with President Maurer was definitely the most spiritual one. I can't wait to see what the rest of my mission has in store for me after some of the things we talked about. He gave us the talk that he probably gives missionaries when they're going home, but now that he's going home, he gave us all that talk. Those who have served missions probably know which talk I'm referring to. He talked to us about what to do when we go home, gave us advice on finding a wife, going to school, doing the right things, you know. It was a pretty good talk. Although, I couldn't really think about some of the stuff he was talking about since I still have a year and a half left, but nonetheless, it did make me a bit more comfortable about my post-mission life.
We finally got our new Ensigns today. Haven't started reading it yet but totally looking forward to it. I already know that Elder Bednar's article in it is amazing since that's one that mom sent me awhile ago. Thanks mom. I'm excited to read it again though. Elder Bednar is such an inspiring speaker. And I love getting inspired.
The Sabbath yesterday was quite good. After church, Elder Hunt and I asked our ward mission leader, Brother Ghergori, if he'd like to come out teaching with us and he was more than excited. Brother G is the man. From what I've heard he's one of the best Ward Mission leaders in the mission. He used to be in the Stake Presidency. He's just such a loving guy though. It's amazing. We took him out and visited 5 less active families and shared a good spiritual thought and invited them to church next week. You can definitely tell that Brother Ghergori does his job as a Ward mission leader just like he probably did his job in the stake presidency as well as a bishop before that. Every house we went to, the family already knew him and was more excited to talk to him than they were to us. It was so cool though to be able to bring him with us. Partly because he has a car and we don't lol. So we were able to see 5 families in about 2 hours, whereas seeing those 5 families on our bikes would've been an all day affair. But yeah, Brother G is the best. More ward mission leaders should be like him. Well, to tell the truth, more members in general should be like him. He's one of the most Christlike guys I've seen in WA. Well in my little part of WA anyway. Transfers are coming up next week, and even though I've only been in this area for one transfer, I really want to see the rest of WA. If I do get transferred, hopefully it's not just down the street again lol. But nah, I probably won't get transferred, but we'll see, crazier things have happened.
It's been a great week for receiving letters. Keep them coming. The only thing that makes me happier than doing missionary work is getting letters from family and friends. I'm so grateful for yalls support. A mission would be very hard without it. Hard, not impossible. It's amazing how much you learn to rely on the lord on a mission. Just like John 15:4 says, we can't bear fruit without the help of the Lord. That's something I've come to live by. John 15 is an amazing chapter, and the parable in verses 1-10 is one of the best. Never forget that. The Lord is always with you, if you allow Him to be.
I love yous. Talk to you next week, don't know if it will be in the middle of the night again though or not because it's President's last Transfer meeting and it's supposed to be a pretty good one. Everyone is invited, so it should be fun. Like our final goodbye.
Love you lots,
Elder Tanner
Monday, June 21, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Hospital Week
This week was pretty uneventful, mostly due to one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Anderson, being in the hospital for 3 days. It's actually a pretty funny story. But because he was in the hospital for so long, his companion needed a companion so my district leader's companion went with him and me and Elder Hunt and Elder Beck were in a 3-way from Tuesday Morning until Thursday evening. During that time we spent a lot of time going back and forth to and from the hospital to take Elder Anderson clothes, food, etc. So we didn't get a whole lot of work done since the first day we had to work was Friday. We would have on Thursday but it was Zone Conference. I guess I should tell you why he was in the hospital. He was playing with a cutthroat razor and opened it the wrong way and it swung around and sliced his knuckle. It wouldn't have been that bad if he hadn't sliced his tendon clear in half. It was just ridiculous that he had to be in the hospital for 3 days for a little cut. That just goes to show you how great socialised health care is.... not.
Zone Conference was probably one of the best ones I've been to. We had a lot of discussion about or scripture heroes. I thought the one I came up with was pretty good. I said my scripture hero was my parents. Even though you can't find them in the scriptures, I find them in the scriptures all the time. Plus Enos and Alma the Younger both talk about how the words of their fathers began to be deeply imprinted in their hearts and that's exactly how I've felt. I've remember the words my parents have taught me so many times on my mission. And I'm so blessed to have been brought up in the gospel. I'm so thankful for the example my parents have set for me and the lessons they have taught me in my youth. I wish I would have paid better attention sometimes, but I couldn't be more thankful for that.
President and Sister Maurer leave in two weeks so Zone Conference was really emotional. I love President Maurer more than I can describe. He's helped me become the missionary I wanted to be and helped me with some personal struggles in my life. It's going to be sad to see him go, but I know that President and Sister Cahoon are going to be just as inspired and as amazing as the Maurer's, if not more amazing. I'm really looking forward to meeting them. Plus they're from Canada, so they got that going for them. Canadians are the best.
So pretty much without leaders, I'd be nowhere. One of the most important things I've learned, always listen to the words of your leaders. Whether it's your ward leaders, stake leaders, or family leaders. They know what's going on better than you do and they can really help you if you only let them.
I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week.
Elder Tanner
Zone Conference was probably one of the best ones I've been to. We had a lot of discussion about or scripture heroes. I thought the one I came up with was pretty good. I said my scripture hero was my parents. Even though you can't find them in the scriptures, I find them in the scriptures all the time. Plus Enos and Alma the Younger both talk about how the words of their fathers began to be deeply imprinted in their hearts and that's exactly how I've felt. I've remember the words my parents have taught me so many times on my mission. And I'm so blessed to have been brought up in the gospel. I'm so thankful for the example my parents have set for me and the lessons they have taught me in my youth. I wish I would have paid better attention sometimes, but I couldn't be more thankful for that.
President and Sister Maurer leave in two weeks so Zone Conference was really emotional. I love President Maurer more than I can describe. He's helped me become the missionary I wanted to be and helped me with some personal struggles in my life. It's going to be sad to see him go, but I know that President and Sister Cahoon are going to be just as inspired and as amazing as the Maurer's, if not more amazing. I'm really looking forward to meeting them. Plus they're from Canada, so they got that going for them. Canadians are the best.
So pretty much without leaders, I'd be nowhere. One of the most important things I've learned, always listen to the words of your leaders. Whether it's your ward leaders, stake leaders, or family leaders. They know what's going on better than you do and they can really help you if you only let them.
I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week.
Elder Tanner
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Temple Week :D
This week has been quite a busy one. It's been so good. Last Tuesday President Maurer came over during study time to share some insights with us which was really good. He's going around the mission trying to encourage people that have things that might distract themselves from the work to send those things home. Apparently there's been a problem in the mission with missionaries that have hard drives with screens on them and watching movies on them. I don't know what the point is of watching movies on your mission, they'll still be there in two years. Plus we're promised blessings if we're obedient so why break such an easy rule to keep. Anyways, also while president was over he told Elder Hunt and I that we had to move out of our house tomorrow to give a new senior couple somewhere to live for the next two weeks until one of the other senior couples goes home. They would have somewhere for them to live but that place got destroyed in a storm awhile back and they still haven't gotten it all fixed up. President told us to cancel any plans we had made for that day and spend the day cleaning as if our mom was moving in with us. So for the next two weeks we're living with the Zone Leaders which has been fun so far. Other than the fact that we don't have a car and from the Zone Leaders flat to anywhere in our area is at least a 30 minute bike ride. Yesterday while we were biking to an area to visit some families Elder Hunt got a flat tire and we were a 30 minute bike ride from home and probably about a 15 minute bike ride from the area we had planned to go, so our district leader came and rescued us. It's been good fun though.
Temple day today. This is President Maurer's last transfer so hopefully we get to keep going next transfer. Once every 6 weeks just isn't often enough to go to the temple. It's almost as good as once a month, but not quite. I can't wait til I can go whenever I want. I wish I would've gone more before I came out. Today we're going with two zones. Usually we just go with one but since the temple has been closed for a couple of weeks for remodeling and president is leaving after this transfer, he wants to have a special meeting after the temple and he and sister Maurer want to go through the temple with all of us before they go home, so going with two zones just makes it easier. We're going with my old zone too so I'll be able to see all of the people I served around last transfer. And Elder Glover came down from Port Hedland this transfer and he's serving in that zone again too now so I'm pretty excited to see him.
Thursday was an exciting day (not). We were on our bikes and it was pouring down rain. I didn't have my rain jacket with me until about 2 or 3. So we biked in the rain and cold and got soaked and I was wearing my suit pants which just made it that much more uncomfortable. But now I have a nice rain jacket that Elder Hunt gave me. He had like 3 that he had collected from other missionaries and Op Shops and things like that, but it's a really nice one. Winter officially started this week so I'm definitely going to have to start using it. Biking home last night at 9:15 was so cold. Elder Hunt let me borrow his sweater because I wasn't smart enough to bring anything warm with me since it was pretty warm when we left the flat. Lesson learned though. I'm just not looking forward to the rainy season if I'm going to be biking everyday. Hopefully my immune system is ready. I'm sure it is though. After Thursday and last night, I'm still doing pretty good, haven't gotten sick yet. We'll just have to see if I can keep that up.
Well I gotta go get some lunch and stuff before the temple. If you haven't been to the temple in the last 4 weeks, do it. That goes for all of you that can. I know that place blesses your lives, but only if you make it a part of your lives. So DO IT!
I love you all, and pray for you daily. Have a great week!
Elder Tanner
Temple day today. This is President Maurer's last transfer so hopefully we get to keep going next transfer. Once every 6 weeks just isn't often enough to go to the temple. It's almost as good as once a month, but not quite. I can't wait til I can go whenever I want. I wish I would've gone more before I came out. Today we're going with two zones. Usually we just go with one but since the temple has been closed for a couple of weeks for remodeling and president is leaving after this transfer, he wants to have a special meeting after the temple and he and sister Maurer want to go through the temple with all of us before they go home, so going with two zones just makes it easier. We're going with my old zone too so I'll be able to see all of the people I served around last transfer. And Elder Glover came down from Port Hedland this transfer and he's serving in that zone again too now so I'm pretty excited to see him.
Thursday was an exciting day (not). We were on our bikes and it was pouring down rain. I didn't have my rain jacket with me until about 2 or 3. So we biked in the rain and cold and got soaked and I was wearing my suit pants which just made it that much more uncomfortable. But now I have a nice rain jacket that Elder Hunt gave me. He had like 3 that he had collected from other missionaries and Op Shops and things like that, but it's a really nice one. Winter officially started this week so I'm definitely going to have to start using it. Biking home last night at 9:15 was so cold. Elder Hunt let me borrow his sweater because I wasn't smart enough to bring anything warm with me since it was pretty warm when we left the flat. Lesson learned though. I'm just not looking forward to the rainy season if I'm going to be biking everyday. Hopefully my immune system is ready. I'm sure it is though. After Thursday and last night, I'm still doing pretty good, haven't gotten sick yet. We'll just have to see if I can keep that up.
Well I gotta go get some lunch and stuff before the temple. If you haven't been to the temple in the last 4 weeks, do it. That goes for all of you that can. I know that place blesses your lives, but only if you make it a part of your lives. So DO IT!
I love you all, and pray for you daily. Have a great week!
Elder Tanner
Monday, May 24, 2010
Noranda Week 1
So, as you all will know, I did get transferred this week, but I'm only 5 minutes down the road from my old flat. The area is called Noranda but we cover something like 5 suburbs I think, and one of the suburbs, Mirrabooka, borders my old area. Even though it's so close it's in an entirely different zone. It's actually pretty cool. The area is a bit nicer and the ward is amazing. It's really good being only 5 minutes down the road from my old area because a lot of the members that I've met don't live too far away. We had dinner at the Berryman's yesterday who used to come to Ballajura ward (that's my new ward) but now they go to Madeley (my old ward). Sophie and Blair were there too so it was nice to see them again. We always have so much fun over there. Eat some Kai (food), play some Pukana, play some ping pong, it's good fun. Sister Berryman is really good at finding us people to teach too. We're going over to one of her friends houses today that isn't a member and hopefully we can start teaching them and in a couple weeks maybe have and FHE over at the Berryman's house with them.
My new companion's name is Elder Hunt. He's Samoan, but he grew up in New Zealand. He is the man. He's big into his rugby so I'm gonna have him teach me some skills this transfer so I can get better. We played rugby this morning with the DL, ZLs, and APs and I was terrible at it. So I plan on getting better soon. But yeah, Elder Hunt and I have been pretty busy this week. We did a lot of service which was way good. Tuesday we did service at the Salvation Army, Wednesday and Friday we did service at some members houses. We have an investigator family, the Scotts, that Elder Hunt and his last companion were working with that is actually related to the lady that we were about to baptise in Girrawheen. They were keen to get baptised but something came up where her parents and one of their sons didn't want them to get baptised, so hopefully we can keep praying for them and get them baptised soon. I think that's why President Maurer put me here. Since I worked with Emma and she's getting baptised next week, hopefully I can help the Scott's get baptised. Oh yeah that's another thing. I'm now in President's ward which is so cool because I get to see him each week and I'll be in his ward when they go home which also means I'll be in the ward when the new mission president gets here and I'll get to know him first hand getting to see him each week. It's pretty exciting. Sister Berryman is putting together a going away party for the ward so I'll get to go to that AND the one the mission is having. I'm pretty stoked for that. As much as I really wanted to move out of the city or at least further than 5 minutes away, I'm really glad I got put where I did. I love the area, the ward, the people, my comp. It will be interesting to see how long I stay here.
We FINALLY got our May Ensigns this week. I've been reading about 10 pages every morning for personal study. It's amazing how much more you catch when you read it than when you watch it or listen to it. Boyd K. Packer's talk was phenomenal, but while I was watching it I didn't catch half the things that he talked about in it. Amazing. I'm looking forward to getting all the way through it, so i can go back and read them again and catch even more. Another thing that I'm doing is reading Preach My Gospel in 3 weeks. That's 10 pages a day, but it's easy. I think it's easy to forget how useful PMG can be and how much information is contained in it, so I'm going through and just reading it so I can remember all the things that it teaches us in it. I found myself in church yesterday quoting from PMG, something I never used to be able to do, but it's amazing the things that diligent personal study can do for you.
Well that's it for this week. I love you all
Elder Tanner
My new companion's name is Elder Hunt. He's Samoan, but he grew up in New Zealand. He is the man. He's big into his rugby so I'm gonna have him teach me some skills this transfer so I can get better. We played rugby this morning with the DL, ZLs, and APs and I was terrible at it. So I plan on getting better soon. But yeah, Elder Hunt and I have been pretty busy this week. We did a lot of service which was way good. Tuesday we did service at the Salvation Army, Wednesday and Friday we did service at some members houses. We have an investigator family, the Scotts, that Elder Hunt and his last companion were working with that is actually related to the lady that we were about to baptise in Girrawheen. They were keen to get baptised but something came up where her parents and one of their sons didn't want them to get baptised, so hopefully we can keep praying for them and get them baptised soon. I think that's why President Maurer put me here. Since I worked with Emma and she's getting baptised next week, hopefully I can help the Scott's get baptised. Oh yeah that's another thing. I'm now in President's ward which is so cool because I get to see him each week and I'll be in his ward when they go home which also means I'll be in the ward when the new mission president gets here and I'll get to know him first hand getting to see him each week. It's pretty exciting. Sister Berryman is putting together a going away party for the ward so I'll get to go to that AND the one the mission is having. I'm pretty stoked for that. As much as I really wanted to move out of the city or at least further than 5 minutes away, I'm really glad I got put where I did. I love the area, the ward, the people, my comp. It will be interesting to see how long I stay here.
We FINALLY got our May Ensigns this week. I've been reading about 10 pages every morning for personal study. It's amazing how much more you catch when you read it than when you watch it or listen to it. Boyd K. Packer's talk was phenomenal, but while I was watching it I didn't catch half the things that he talked about in it. Amazing. I'm looking forward to getting all the way through it, so i can go back and read them again and catch even more. Another thing that I'm doing is reading Preach My Gospel in 3 weeks. That's 10 pages a day, but it's easy. I think it's easy to forget how useful PMG can be and how much information is contained in it, so I'm going through and just reading it so I can remember all the things that it teaches us in it. I found myself in church yesterday quoting from PMG, something I never used to be able to do, but it's amazing the things that diligent personal study can do for you.
Well that's it for this week. I love you all
Elder Tanner
Monday, May 17, 2010
Iiiiii'm. movin' out.
What a great last week in Girrawheen. I was able to see all of my favorite people one last time along with all of the people that I've been teaching for 6 months. It was kinda hard saying goodbye to some people. It was weird. I'm sure I'll be seeing everyone again though. Last night we ate dinner at the Main's and the Berryman's were there which was so good because those are my two favorite families in this area. It was even hard to say bye to the Banucus. I've eaten there 23 out of the last 24 weeks, and even though I don't really care for the food, they're a really good family. Last night at the Main's was fun though. We had two really good New Zealand dishes, Chop Suey and Boil Up, and we followed it up with German Chocolate cake and some fun games. I took some videos of the games, just so that down the road I can teach everybody how to play, because writing about it in my journal just can't describe it fully enough lol.
I'm so excited for my new area. I don't know where it is, or who my new companion is going to be, but I'm looking forward to it either way. I probably only have a transfer or two left of being junior companion which is exciting. I'm ready to be senior just to see what it's like. There's a guy that came out at the same time as me that is training a new missionary this transfer, so hopefully I'm in those shoes in a couple of months. I think it would be a great experience.
What a blessing it is for me to be serving a mission right now. I owe everything to the Lord in helping me get out on a mission and I intend on showing Him that by be as diligent and hard working as I can for these next 18 months. And hopefully I'll be able to see the fruits of my labors. Alma 26:27, 31-33. I Love the sons of Mosiah.
Well I'm about out of time, gotta get going to transfer meeting!
Love you all! Thank you for all of your prayers, I couldn't do it without them!
Elder Tanner
I'm so excited for my new area. I don't know where it is, or who my new companion is going to be, but I'm looking forward to it either way. I probably only have a transfer or two left of being junior companion which is exciting. I'm ready to be senior just to see what it's like. There's a guy that came out at the same time as me that is training a new missionary this transfer, so hopefully I'm in those shoes in a couple of months. I think it would be a great experience.
What a blessing it is for me to be serving a mission right now. I owe everything to the Lord in helping me get out on a mission and I intend on showing Him that by be as diligent and hard working as I can for these next 18 months. And hopefully I'll be able to see the fruits of my labors. Alma 26:27, 31-33. I Love the sons of Mosiah.
Well I'm about out of time, gotta get going to transfer meeting!
Love you all! Thank you for all of your prayers, I couldn't do it without them!
Elder Tanner
Sunday, May 2, 2010
1 week til mothers day!!
I don't really have much to say this week, seeing as how next week is mothers day, I'm just excited to call home.
We were supposed to have a baptism this past Saturday but it got pushed back to next Saturday. The only reason being that she has family getting baptised in another ward next weekend and she wanted to be baptised with them. So we're really excited for that. Plus the bonus is that we don't have to set it all up. BUT, Brother McGaughey called us last night and told us that he wanted to baptise his son Tayzah this Saturday. So we now have a baptism Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. So that should be a pretty good day. It was funny when brother McGaughey was talking to me though because he mentioned that Bishop Snow asked him if he had started thinking about a date to baptise his son and he said he wanted to do it before May 15th because that's when I'll probably be out of this area for reals this time. I'm super excited to get to see him baptise Tayzah though. That's one thing when I first came into this area about 6 months ago that I told myself I wanted to see. The McGaugheys start coming back to church and Jeremy baptise his son. And it's happening! Hooray!
We had Zone Coference on Thursday and the Assistants taught us this lesson from Luke Ch. 5 when the fishermen are cleaning their nets and then Christ comes and tells them to cast their nets one more time and so they do and they catch so many fish that their nets break. But the thing we were supposed to get from it was that they were cleaning their nets, in other words finishing up their day, and Christ told them to just cast their nets one more time. So on Friday when Elder Ulas and I were on an exchange we were biking and we were pretty far from the flat, but then we were biking back for lunch and stopped for some air in the tires and while we were doing that, we got a phone call to go visit a referral that was so far away, it was actually on a road we had just been on. We could've just gone in for lunch and forgot about the referral, but then we remembered the story from Luke 5. So we casted our nets again, but the guy wasn't home, but it's the thought that counts! It was just a big faith builder for me, even though he wasn't home, we were still being tested.
2 more weeks til transfers!
Love you all!
Elder Tanner
We were supposed to have a baptism this past Saturday but it got pushed back to next Saturday. The only reason being that she has family getting baptised in another ward next weekend and she wanted to be baptised with them. So we're really excited for that. Plus the bonus is that we don't have to set it all up. BUT, Brother McGaughey called us last night and told us that he wanted to baptise his son Tayzah this Saturday. So we now have a baptism Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. So that should be a pretty good day. It was funny when brother McGaughey was talking to me though because he mentioned that Bishop Snow asked him if he had started thinking about a date to baptise his son and he said he wanted to do it before May 15th because that's when I'll probably be out of this area for reals this time. I'm super excited to get to see him baptise Tayzah though. That's one thing when I first came into this area about 6 months ago that I told myself I wanted to see. The McGaugheys start coming back to church and Jeremy baptise his son. And it's happening! Hooray!
We had Zone Coference on Thursday and the Assistants taught us this lesson from Luke Ch. 5 when the fishermen are cleaning their nets and then Christ comes and tells them to cast their nets one more time and so they do and they catch so many fish that their nets break. But the thing we were supposed to get from it was that they were cleaning their nets, in other words finishing up their day, and Christ told them to just cast their nets one more time. So on Friday when Elder Ulas and I were on an exchange we were biking and we were pretty far from the flat, but then we were biking back for lunch and stopped for some air in the tires and while we were doing that, we got a phone call to go visit a referral that was so far away, it was actually on a road we had just been on. We could've just gone in for lunch and forgot about the referral, but then we remembered the story from Luke 5. So we casted our nets again, but the guy wasn't home, but it's the thought that counts! It was just a big faith builder for me, even though he wasn't home, we were still being tested.
2 more weeks til transfers!
Love you all!
Elder Tanner
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