Hey Family!
Sooooo this past week seemed to go by really slow I dont know why. Its not like things are sucking here it just feels like forever since I have emailed. But this past week was pretty good. It definitely sucks leaving Vacaville because i really like it there. Its hard getting transferred and having to start all over with investigators, ward, missionaries just everything. This area is pretty sweet though.. We are not in much of the ghetto as I wanted. Vallejo is just outside here which is the ghetto. We get to go there though because we cover part of it and our dinners are in Vallejo sometimes. its pretty sweet.
I got to teach my first district meeting last week and it went pretty good. I was really nervous going into it because I studied for it I just wasnt sure what I was giong to do for it but somehow it all worked out. District meeting didnt really go the way I planned it at all.. the spirit took it away. It was defintiley a life saver. I have to teach again tomorrow and im not sure how that is going to turn out either because I havent really had time to figure it out. hopefully I have a good study in the morning tomorrow. I love my District though. Elder Bezzant is in my District and he is from Brighton. Super sweet kid. My District does work though now me and my companion Elder Gunther need to do work. He is a cool kid. He is from Germany so he has a way thick accent so he is way hard to understand sometimes so ill just nod my head haha. Oh and I went to my first leadership meeting with the mission and i felt so out of place.. hahaha
We have these 2 investigators named Sheldon and Johndale. First wish Sheldon.. Sheldon is like 60 something and is in a wheelchair because he was hit by a car. He has been meeting with missionaries for about 25 years.. nobody knows why he hasnt been baptized haha but he is getting close I believe! We tried setting a date but he wouldnt because his family lives way by Oregon and isnt sure how to get them here or if he can get baptized there but we had a way cool thing happen the other day when we taught him. We had a baptism in the Zone and we wanted Sheldon to go. The mission has taught us to invite people to ordinances. So we got there and taught him and invited him to the baptism and he said I cant its too short of a notice and I just cant.. I knew he was coming up with excuses buti didnt say anything. I dont remember exactly how the conversation went but he started talking about church and the feeling he gets there. Then i told him "You will have that feeling again if you come to the Baptism. Baptism is the most Sacred Ordinance outside the Temple. What would be holding you back from feeling that? If Christ was here and asked you to go what would you say? We represent him" Those are some of the things I said to him (those are skills we have been taught recently) and he got out of his chair and went and changed super fast and we were able to barely make it to the baptism. That was his first one he has seen and he has been meeting with missionaries for 25 years. It was soooooooooooooo cool!! He LOVED it. Came to church and told the bishop how much he loved it. Such a great experience. Hoepfully we can set a date soon.
Johndale is an unbaptized child. He is 10 years old and has a date for June 1. He understands the lessons when we teach him but when we go back another time he forgets but last time he remembered everything. So that is giong well! His mom is LA but she has been coming to church with him so im super excited about all of it.
Those are basically our only investigators so were trying to FIND FIND FIND. Thats basically everything new with me.
Im glad to hear everything is going well. Its kinda hard for me to believe that grandpa is now in assisted living.. thats so weird to think. Poor guy.. I hope things go well for him there. :(
Tell Heather congratulations for me!! Thats way cool. I'm sure trenton wishes he could be there.. haha so weird how much goes on during the mission.
Well I love you all soooo much! I keep you guys in my prayers everyday. When life gets too hard to stand.... Kneel :) Keep that in mind I know it will help you guys in all that you do. Tanner out.
320 American Canyon Road APT #E
American Canyon, CA (you will have to find the zip code.. sorry!) LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
I am currently serving in the Santa Rosa Mission. I left on August 22 2012. Below are emails and updates from my mission.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Hey Family!
This past week wasn't too bad. I was struggling a little bit with grandma passing and I had a hard time doing the work and staying focused. Then I got a thought that passed through my head that said "If grandma sees me struggling because she is gone she would be so hurt." So i decided that I was going to change that and make her proud. I know she is in a better place where she will not be in anymore pain. It really is a blessing that we will all be resurrected. Grandma will have a perfect body where she wont have any of the problems she had before. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ and for all that he did so that we all can be resurrected and death is NOT the end whatsoever, On Sunday we had 2 of our investigators come to church. You guys are gonna get a kick out of what happened but first there is this girl we are teaching who is 14 years old. She is in a part member family and her parents are less active and her brother is taking lessons from the YSA Sister missionaries and now were teaching this girl. Her name is Roweena. She has been through a lot with her famliy and has now come to church 2 times in a row. We were on exchanges and i wasnt here but they had a super sweet lesson with her at a members house. We are going to try to set something up soon and get to teach her. The other guy that came is named Jim. Jim talked to us awhile ago and brought up some concerns and I told him lets solve those concerns so he took us into his home and taught him and his wife barbara. They didnt come to church last week but he came this week. Heres the kicker.. he got up in testimony meeting!!!!!!! He got up and said how he wasnt part of the faith but he was there because of the missionaries AKA us :) but anyway one of his concerns is blacks and the priesthood back in the day, but when he got up he saw a black guy in the congregation and said im grateful to see a black guy here!! hahahaha This african american is a less active member who we taught earlier that week and committed to church. What a coincidence right!!!?? hahahaha soooooo funny. All the other testimonies after Jim were about racism and women because another concern was he wanted more women in leadership. He left right after sacrament but were seeing him on Wed and seeing how he liked it. It was soooo funny though. Everybody came up to us and talked to us about it. It made testimony meeting very different and interesting.. kinda like when we all started standing up to sing the national anthem that one testimony meeting at home hahahaha gosh i love those moments. Thats basically the highlight to my week.
Now with Crystal.. she has been acting super weird lately. We were supposed to teach her at a baptism other missionaries were having and she didnt show up. We called and her step dad said she went shopping.. we were like uhh whhaa?? ok... haha but were gonna try to meet with her soon to find out her concerns and everything.
We picked up a couple new investigators. One really great guy named James who is african american and LOVED the restoration. We learned this new skill of having peple read the first vision and not us tell them so he read it and i asked how he felt and he said how unbelievable and undescribable it was. You could definitely feel the spirit even though we were on his driveway. He wants to meet with us at the end of the week and head out to lunch to learn more.
Sooo mom to answer your question. I only have a couple people actually handwriting me like Madalie, Marlies and like 2 others you dont know but a lot email me now. I am emailing tyler gee, grant garry, cody rogers, meagan mitchell, trenton, rachel corlett, aubree pearson, hannah belnap, zach farnworth, ryan head, adam maxwell, madi bernson, jordan tuckfield i think there is a couple more but yeah i keep in touch with a lot. What is cole morgans email?? thats sweet you see madalies mom at costco she is so cool.
I have some good news... I will be skyping you guys this weekend!!!!!!! I'm not sure what time or anything so i think ill have to give you guys a call after church to inform you the plan but im not exactly sure. I will get a hold of you guys sometime Sunday after 2 our time to let you know whats going down. I cant wait!!!!!!!!
Thats soooooooo sweet walkers got dirt bikes. Im definitely getting a motorcycle when i get home!!! Just sayin so be prepared to buy me one dad :).
We figure out transfer information on Friday.. so i will be letting you guys know what ends up happening to me on sunday when i skype you. Im not quite sure what I wanna do.. I want to stay ebcause i love this ward soo much but i think its time for me to go. We will see what the Lord wants from me.
Well... Not much more to say. Thank you soooo much for everything. I hope you are all doing better. I know this is really hard, but just know that our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and grandma DO NOT want us to be sad.. If were sad it only hurts them. I love you all sooooooooooo much. Head up. Push through life. Eternal Life waits ahead :). Talk to you all on Sunday!!! Peace out bros!!!
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This past week wasn't too bad. I was struggling a little bit with grandma passing and I had a hard time doing the work and staying focused. Then I got a thought that passed through my head that said "If grandma sees me struggling because she is gone she would be so hurt." So i decided that I was going to change that and make her proud. I know she is in a better place where she will not be in anymore pain. It really is a blessing that we will all be resurrected. Grandma will have a perfect body where she wont have any of the problems she had before. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ and for all that he did so that we all can be resurrected and death is NOT the end whatsoever, On Sunday we had 2 of our investigators come to church. You guys are gonna get a kick out of what happened but first there is this girl we are teaching who is 14 years old. She is in a part member family and her parents are less active and her brother is taking lessons from the YSA Sister missionaries and now were teaching this girl. Her name is Roweena. She has been through a lot with her famliy and has now come to church 2 times in a row. We were on exchanges and i wasnt here but they had a super sweet lesson with her at a members house. We are going to try to set something up soon and get to teach her. The other guy that came is named Jim. Jim talked to us awhile ago and brought up some concerns and I told him lets solve those concerns so he took us into his home and taught him and his wife barbara. They didnt come to church last week but he came this week. Heres the kicker.. he got up in testimony meeting!!!!!!! He got up and said how he wasnt part of the faith but he was there because of the missionaries AKA us :) but anyway one of his concerns is blacks and the priesthood back in the day, but when he got up he saw a black guy in the congregation and said im grateful to see a black guy here!! hahahaha This african american is a less active member who we taught earlier that week and committed to church. What a coincidence right!!!?? hahahaha soooooo funny. All the other testimonies after Jim were about racism and women because another concern was he wanted more women in leadership. He left right after sacrament but were seeing him on Wed and seeing how he liked it. It was soooo funny though. Everybody came up to us and talked to us about it. It made testimony meeting very different and interesting.. kinda like when we all started standing up to sing the national anthem that one testimony meeting at home hahahaha gosh i love those moments. Thats basically the highlight to my week.
Now with Crystal.. she has been acting super weird lately. We were supposed to teach her at a baptism other missionaries were having and she didnt show up. We called and her step dad said she went shopping.. we were like uhh whhaa?? ok... haha but were gonna try to meet with her soon to find out her concerns and everything.
We picked up a couple new investigators. One really great guy named James who is african american and LOVED the restoration. We learned this new skill of having peple read the first vision and not us tell them so he read it and i asked how he felt and he said how unbelievable and undescribable it was. You could definitely feel the spirit even though we were on his driveway. He wants to meet with us at the end of the week and head out to lunch to learn more.
Sooo mom to answer your question. I only have a couple people actually handwriting me like Madalie, Marlies and like 2 others you dont know but a lot email me now. I am emailing tyler gee, grant garry, cody rogers, meagan mitchell, trenton, rachel corlett, aubree pearson, hannah belnap, zach farnworth, ryan head, adam maxwell, madi bernson, jordan tuckfield i think there is a couple more but yeah i keep in touch with a lot. What is cole morgans email?? thats sweet you see madalies mom at costco she is so cool.
I have some good news... I will be skyping you guys this weekend!!!!!!! I'm not sure what time or anything so i think ill have to give you guys a call after church to inform you the plan but im not exactly sure. I will get a hold of you guys sometime Sunday after 2 our time to let you know whats going down. I cant wait!!!!!!!!
Thats soooooooo sweet walkers got dirt bikes. Im definitely getting a motorcycle when i get home!!! Just sayin so be prepared to buy me one dad :).
We figure out transfer information on Friday.. so i will be letting you guys know what ends up happening to me on sunday when i skype you. Im not quite sure what I wanna do.. I want to stay ebcause i love this ward soo much but i think its time for me to go. We will see what the Lord wants from me.
Well... Not much more to say. Thank you soooo much for everything. I hope you are all doing better. I know this is really hard, but just know that our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and grandma DO NOT want us to be sad.. If were sad it only hurts them. I love you all sooooooooooo much. Head up. Push through life. Eternal Life waits ahead :). Talk to you all on Sunday!!! Peace out bros!!!
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Monday, April 15, 2013
Whats up Sandy, Utah!!! AKA Best family ever!!!!!
Elderrrrr Howell here in the family history center. This past week was prettyyyy good!
I just wanna say that Grandma Howell is a fighter... she is in my prayers and i hope all goes well for her soon! Keep fighting grandma i love you sooo much!!
Mommmmm it sounds like this young womens thing is gonnna be sick for you! I love it! You got to go to the temple and do some baptisms that is sweet! i hope you still have the calling when I get home because I wanna come teach the class with you hahaha.
I have no idea whats going on on mothers day yet. They havent quite told us I think it will just be a phone call but im not sure. Whatever it is im defintely looking forward to it! Miss you all so much! Can you believe I got my call almost a year ago? I cant remember when i got it but i believe I got it in May. but who knows.. my memory is terrible for some reason haha. I think I got it from my momma ;) hahaha
Dad it sounds like you finally have to do yard work by yourself.. hallelujah. I was so unselfish and helped you wayy too much hahahah jk i know i needed to help more :( ill be better when i come home :)
Brayton I love you bro keep up the good work bro!! :) Love you so much!
Justin I love you man glad to hear all is going well thank you for everything!
Thank you for being the best family EVER!!!!!
Soooooo anyway about this past week. It was pretty sweet! Yesterday Crystal was able to attend church!! Yeahhhhhhhh buddy! As far as we know she liked it. The ward was soo welcoming to her it was sick! She is still struggling with her family and smoking but i know the Lord is blessing her so much lately. I love this work and watching people change. Its impossible to deny this church when you see these things happen. Hopefully she can get baptized by her date!
We have learned a ton of different things to help us become better missionaries and I have tried putting them to use but its sooo hard haha. I pray that I will be able to make these things my strengths and bring more of God's children closer to Him :)
The other day we had a way interesting experience. We had an appointment set with some random lady and we went and of course she wasnt there. We were about to leave when a lady came outside and said "hey guys" were like "heyyy.." haha then she just broke down and we were like uh oh.. whats going on. She told us that she is an alcoholic and that she hates herslef sooo much. It was probably the worst thing i have ever heard somebody say about themselves.. it was so sad! So we offered a prayer for her and it meant so much to her. After the prayer she just went inside and broke down.. we havent been able to see her since then to see how she was doing but it was NUTS.. we didnt know what to do after she walked inside.
I think i told you about Brenda and Esmiralda. The 17 year old twins we have been teaching. They havent made it to chruch again but we had an appointment and Brenda told us she felt the spirit when she was reading the Book of Mormon! She thinsk its true but isnt sure haha idk why she is still questioning! She felt the spirit!! We asked if theyd be baptized and they said yes but we were unable to set a date with them. They werent sure yet. Hopefully we will be able to set a date with them soon. I wish they would come to church! But they say they always have something going on.. but thats gonna change :)
We were able to get Elder Smith to meet basically all our investigators which isnt that much.. but yeah it took a little to get to see them. This coming week we hope we can pick up more. We need to get FAMILIES FAMILIES FAMILES! We will see what happens!
I have been keeping in touch with trenton sounds like he is in quite the culture shock haha. I can only imagine how big of a change it is.. he will get used to it though im sure. love that kid.
The fassbinders sent me a package so if you could thank them that would be greeeatttt! Ill send them a thank you card this week but you guys should thank them too :).
Mom dont worry about that packages haha its not a big deal at all! Really though dont worry about it. Thank you for everything you guys have done for me while I have been out here. I know it was a HUGE sacrifice on all our parts. Even though im exhausted by the end of the day and that this mission is the hardest thing i have ever done I know we are recieving many many blessings :). I pray for you each every single day. I miss you and love you all sooooooooooooo much! I'll talk to you again next week! :) If my letters suck and are super boring.. let me know and ill see what i can do to improve them haha i dont wanna bore you guys to death :) LOVE YOU!!!!!!! peace dudes
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Hey family!
Hope everybody had a great Easter. Mine was pretty good. A member had us over for dinner so it was pretty fun. Definitely miss home during the holidays sometimes.. haha but thats ok.
Transfers are now here. I will be staying here and the new missionary coming in is named Elder Smith. If its the kid im thinking of then he came into the field with me. He wasnt in my district though so i have no idea what hes like. Elder TImberlake is headed to Woodland. Gonna miss that guy.
My week has been pretty good. You think I would have a lot to tell you guys but I dont.. :(I'm sorry haha) A lot of people have been out of town because of spring break. We met with Crystal the other day and she is struggling so bad with her family.. Its rough, her step dad is an alcoholic and tears the family apart. She needs a different environment so badly. Our other baptismal date named Andy got evicted so we have no idea where he is.. haha freak. BUT we did have a sweet miracle the other day. We were walking and you remember Charlie? The Jehovahs Witness? Well we saw him drive by so we booked it and tried to find him in a neighborhood. We finally were able to find him after tons of running. He is doing pretty good he was so glad to see us. He told us the new place where he was living which is really close to us! But... we went to go see him and a guy said he moved earlier that day. Sooo.. were not quite sure whats going on. I hope Heavenly Father keeps placing him in our path because he really needs it.
We also found a less active that we were able to get to church on Sunday. She hasnt been to church since her teens. We have some members that are doing a really great job fellowshipping her. Its really exciting. We tracted into another less active and we noticed she doesnt have ANYTHING in here apartment because she lost it all in storage. So myself and Elder Timberlake were out and about and found a nice couch that we hauled over there. that was sweet we put it on a shopping cart and pushed it over haha people were looking at us like what are they doing... but she was SOOO grateful. It was a really cool experience.
As far as investigators go its kinda the same. Well we did pick up a little family but we arent sure how legit they are. They are soooooooo busy and we meet again on the 12th. Her husband is a jerk she says and wont talk to us but her and her kids will. Hopefully things work out there Gma and Gpa Thorne had some of the cousins email me that was sooo sweet! That meant a lot to me. Mom that reminds me i wanna see Grant do the dance :) haha i have seen that dance a lot. I miss everybody so much.
Yeah Mom I cant believe how many people are out on missions right now that I graduated with. Its so nuts. Its nice for me to know that..It kinda keeps me going sometimes. Especially today haha. Today I have thought about home quite a bit.. idk why its weird but yeah it will be fine no worries :) I just miss my favorite family ever thats all. :)
Well.. time for me to bounce my dudes. I love you all so much and I pray that you will all stay safe. I want you all to know how important this Gospel is.. We are in the final days. Its very important that we all pick it up. The Lord needs us.. I love you all so very much! Take Care! Elder Baller is out until next week!
This is a picture of from left: Elder Timberlake Tanner, and Elder Bezzant a Spanish Speaking Elder Tanners mentioned before. They are at the Sacramento Temple.
Hope everybody had a great Easter. Mine was pretty good. A member had us over for dinner so it was pretty fun. Definitely miss home during the holidays sometimes.. haha but thats ok.
Transfers are now here. I will be staying here and the new missionary coming in is named Elder Smith. If its the kid im thinking of then he came into the field with me. He wasnt in my district though so i have no idea what hes like. Elder TImberlake is headed to Woodland. Gonna miss that guy.
My week has been pretty good. You think I would have a lot to tell you guys but I dont.. :(I'm sorry haha) A lot of people have been out of town because of spring break. We met with Crystal the other day and she is struggling so bad with her family.. Its rough, her step dad is an alcoholic and tears the family apart. She needs a different environment so badly. Our other baptismal date named Andy got evicted so we have no idea where he is.. haha freak. BUT we did have a sweet miracle the other day. We were walking and you remember Charlie? The Jehovahs Witness? Well we saw him drive by so we booked it and tried to find him in a neighborhood. We finally were able to find him after tons of running. He is doing pretty good he was so glad to see us. He told us the new place where he was living which is really close to us! But... we went to go see him and a guy said he moved earlier that day. Sooo.. were not quite sure whats going on. I hope Heavenly Father keeps placing him in our path because he really needs it.
We also found a less active that we were able to get to church on Sunday. She hasnt been to church since her teens. We have some members that are doing a really great job fellowshipping her. Its really exciting. We tracted into another less active and we noticed she doesnt have ANYTHING in here apartment because she lost it all in storage. So myself and Elder Timberlake were out and about and found a nice couch that we hauled over there. that was sweet we put it on a shopping cart and pushed it over haha people were looking at us like what are they doing... but she was SOOO grateful. It was a really cool experience.
As far as investigators go its kinda the same. Well we did pick up a little family but we arent sure how legit they are. They are soooooooo busy and we meet again on the 12th. Her husband is a jerk she says and wont talk to us but her and her kids will. Hopefully things work out there Gma and Gpa Thorne had some of the cousins email me that was sooo sweet! That meant a lot to me. Mom that reminds me i wanna see Grant do the dance :) haha i have seen that dance a lot. I miss everybody so much.
Yeah Mom I cant believe how many people are out on missions right now that I graduated with. Its so nuts. Its nice for me to know that..It kinda keeps me going sometimes. Especially today haha. Today I have thought about home quite a bit.. idk why its weird but yeah it will be fine no worries :) I just miss my favorite family ever thats all. :)
Well.. time for me to bounce my dudes. I love you all so much and I pray that you will all stay safe. I want you all to know how important this Gospel is.. We are in the final days. Its very important that we all pick it up. The Lord needs us.. I love you all so very much! Take Care! Elder Baller is out until next week!
This is a picture of from left: Elder Timberlake Tanner, and Elder Bezzant a Spanish Speaking Elder Tanners mentioned before. They are at the Sacramento Temple.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
This Letter was actually one we received 1 week Prior to the last post I'm sorry I have been so Lame about posting his Emails on time. Thank you all for your support!
Hello out there in sandy utah!!
Everything is going well for me just as usual. me and elder timberlake are doing great! our ward mission leader told us that the work here has been pretty slow for awhile but we are picking it back up. that was a big compliment for us ebcause we have been working really hard.
Sooo... the 17 year old twins brenda and esmiralda came to church yesterday!! that was soooooooo cool. im not sure if i told you guys about them but they are awesome. were not sure how legit they are with baptism but they wanna learn so much more. the young women were very welcoming for them that was soo good to see. we have an appointment with them tomorrow so we will see how they liked church and everything.
We were on exchanges but elder timberlake and the ZL had a great lesson with crystal. they ended up changing her baptismal date though just ebcause of smoking and she isnt quite ready yet. it was changed to april 20th a i believe.
We were on exchanges again and i was on the other side of vacaville and you guys remember charlie?? well we havent been able to find him yet but i saw his roommate so me and elder bezzant (spanish elder) ran over to her to find out where they were living and she just passed by just pissed off at the world as said they werent living anywhere and wouldnt stop to talk to us. sooo... we have an idea where he is at but were not sure. that was crazy seeing his roommate though.
We havent been able to meet with a couple of our investigators because they cancel or what not. But one of our investigators named korisha is in the hospital but as far as we know she will be alright. she really as the desire to learn more. i hope we can meet with her this week.
This week we get to go to the temple!! were going on thursday. also something really cool is that on sunday we have a stake conference and elder cook from the 12 is coming to speak to vacaville! the first couple rows are reserved for missionaries and their investigators so we hope we can get all our investigators there. its gonna be sooo coool! were also gonna be the ushers so im sure we will get to meet him.
The weather here is amazing. pretty freakin hot though when were out pedaling around. but some people are really nice and offer us water as we ride by. my bike is holding up great. that thing has so many miles on it its not even funny.
I met a guy the other day who went to the old jordan. he is like 48 or something. i cant remember his name though and i dont know where i wrote it down haha but i was gonna see if you guys knew him.
Zack left on wed??!! dang ill have to email that boy. i dont get to play soccer that much really.. on pday we play sometimes in the gym but not like legit soccer. i miss it so much.. ahha.
Thts nuts hearing all these people that are getting ready to go on missions. i cant believe how long i have been out.. almost 7 months. sooo crazy. everything is going great though! i feel so blessed to be out here at this time in the world. there is a reason i was saved for this time. i love my mission and i love you all so much. you have all blessed my life. im so lucky to have the best family and friends in the world. love you soooo much!!! take care and ill talk to you next week!! xoxoxoxoxoxox elder baller
Whats up fellas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! E. Howell here in Vacaville library
So........ i get the feeling this is going to be a really boring letter.. haha nothing too many new things happened this past week. I hope thats okay for y'all. Just know that im doing great! Just doing the usual... which is missionary work if you didnt know.
The first thing i wanna talk about is the chance we had to hear from our Apostle Elder Cook! That was soooooo sweeet! We had an all mission conference in Santa Rosa. We all got to meet Elder Cook personally as we went into the chapel. It was sooo cool. He said a lot of great things that made me think about not only my missionary work but about my life. We also had him come to the Vacaville stake on sunday. That was nuts!! We had the first couple rows reserved for investigators and brenda and esmiralda showed up. The twins. The ward has been so good to welcoming them in and everything. They even went to Mutual this past week. They are sooo solid i hope they keep progressing its so sick. but anyway on sunday the stake center was PACKED! More than what ive ever seen in utah haha. we were the ushers and had to sit down hundreds of people. every single seat in that joint was filled. they had some intense security guards surrounding the service haha it was so nuts! it was a great service. Elder Cook talked a lot about the same things on sunday as he did on saturday so i got to hear like the same thing twice. It was overall just a sweet experience.
This past week we also went to the temple. We went to the Sacramento temple. I feel dumb because i have some pictures of this past week with the all mission conference and temple and what not but i forgot my camera cable.. its whatever though i guess haha. ill just have to send you some pics next week. i had a really cool experience in the temple though. i took in my patriarchal blessing (thank you for getting that to me) and i reread it and i received some revelation for my life. It was soooo cool! its amazing the spirit that you feel inside the temple.. its so special. my goal is to have all of us go together when i get home. that would be sickkkk! hit up tons of temples around our crib. that would be a good time.
We are still teaching the same investigators.. we didnt pick up anybody new. This past week was pretty slow due to the activities and everything going on. The only new thing is that Crystal found out how important prayer can be while she tries to quit smoking so we will see how that goes. she really needs the gospel so we hope she can stop...
There is actually an experience that i wanna share that happened today just before i came here. the bishop knows a kid that committed suicide and he wanted us to go to the funeral because there were gonna be tons of non members because it was a split religion funeral. that was super interesting.. anyway.. it was just such a testimony builder of life after death and the role of the book of mormon. there was a speaker that said "there is no proof of what happens after death" and that struck me. i know the book of mormon is true and that there are sooooo many people out there that have no idea about it or anything. There were a couple of other things that happened there that probably shouldnt be shared just for respect but the funeral was a testimony builder for me.
Thank you so much mom for getting me madis address. She sent me a letter that i got today. I cant believe she leaves this week.. thats nuts! Griffen leaves in August!!?? Whoaaaaaaaaaa dangggggggggg that is so nuts. I'll almost be at a year. See him in 3 i guess.. haha
I'll keep Grandma Howell in my prayers.. hope all goes well with her
Well I dont think i have much more to add. Everything is going great with me though! Transfers are next week so you will probably hear from me on Tuesday.. depends on what happens with transfers but it will probably be tuesday. Thank you sooooo much for all you guys do for me!! I love you all so much and pray for you each and every day. I dont think i need anything.. if i do ill let you know dont worry. LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! Take care until next week! STAY SAFE OUT THERE! Peace homies
Well I dont think i have much more to add. Everything is going great with me though! Transfers are next week so you will probably hear from me on Tuesday.. depends on what happens with transfers but it will probably be tuesday. Thank you sooooo much for all you guys do for me!! I love you all so much and pray for you each and every day. I dont think i need anything.. if i do ill let you know dont worry. LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! Take care until next week! STAY SAFE OUT THERE! Peace homies
Thank you so much mom for getting me madis address. She sent me a letter that i got today. I cant believe she leaves this week.. thats nuts! Griffen leaves in August!!?? Whoaaaaaaaaaa dangggggggggg that is so nuts. I'll almost be at a year. See him in 3 i guess.. haha
I'll keep Grandma Howell in my prayers.. hope all goes well with her.
Well I dont think i have much more to add. Everything is going great with me though! Transfers are next week so you will probably hear from me on Tuesday.. depends on what happens with transfers but it will probably be tuesday. Thank you sooooo much for all you guys do for me!! I love you all so much and pray for you each and every day. I dont think i need anything.. if i do ill let you know dont worry. LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! Take care until next week! STAY SAFE OUT THERE! Peace homies
So........ i get the feeling this is going to be a really boring letter.. haha nothing too many new things happened this past week. I hope thats okay for y'all. Just know that im doing great! Just doing the usual... which is missionary work if you didnt know.
The first thing i wanna talk about is the chance we had to hear from our Apostle Elder Cook! That was soooooo sweeet! We had an all mission conference in Santa Rosa. We all got to meet Elder Cook personally as we went into the chapel. It was sooo cool. He said a lot of great things that made me think about not only my missionary work but about my life. We also had him come to the Vacaville stake on sunday. That was nuts!! We had the first couple rows reserved for investigators and brenda and esmiralda showed up. The twins. The ward has been so good to welcoming them in and everything. They even went to Mutual this past week. They are sooo solid i hope they keep progressing its so sick. but anyway on sunday the stake center was PACKED! More than what ive ever seen in utah haha. we were the ushers and had to sit down hundreds of people. every single seat in that joint was filled. they had some intense security guards surrounding the service haha it was so nuts! it was a great service. Elder Cook talked a lot about the same things on sunday as he did on saturday so i got to hear like the same thing twice. It was overall just a sweet experience.
This past week we also went to the temple. We went to the Sacramento temple. I feel dumb because i have some pictures of this past week with the all mission conference and temple and what not but i forgot my camera cable.. its whatever though i guess haha. ill just have to send you some pics next week. i had a really cool experience in the temple though. i took in my patriarchal blessing (thank you for getting that to me) and i reread it and i received some revelation for my life. It was soooo cool! its amazing the spirit that you feel inside the temple.. its so special. my goal is to have all of us go together when i get home. that would be sickkkk! hit up tons of temples around our crib. that would be a good time.
We are still teaching the same investigators.. we didnt pick up anybody new. This past week was pretty slow due to the activities and everything going on. The only new thing is that Crystal found out how important prayer can be while she tries to quit smoking so we will see how that goes. she really needs the gospel so we hope she can stop...
There is actually an experience that i wanna share that happened today just before i came here. the bishop knows a kid that committed suicide and he wanted us to go to the funeral because there were gonna be tons of non members because it was a split religion funeral. that was super interesting.. anyway.. it was just such a testimony builder of life after death and the role of the book of mormon. there was a speaker that said "there is no proof of what happens after death" and that struck me. i know the book of mormon is true and that there are sooooo many people out there that have no idea about it or anything. There were a couple of other things that happened there that probably shouldnt be shared just for respect but the funeral was a testimony builder for me.
Thank you so much mom for getting me madis address. She sent me a letter that i got today. I cant believe she leaves this week.. thats nuts! Griffen leaves in August!!?? Whoaaaaaaaaaa dangggggggggg that is so nuts. I'll almost be at a year. See him in 3 i guess.. haha
I'll keep Grandma Howell in my prayers.. hope all goes well with her
Well I dont think i have much more to add. Everything is going great with me though! Transfers are next week so you will probably hear from me on Tuesday.. depends on what happens with transfers but it will probably be tuesday. Thank you sooooo much for all you guys do for me!! I love you all so much and pray for you each and every day. I dont think i need anything.. if i do ill let you know dont worry. LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! Take care until next week! STAY SAFE OUT THERE! Peace homies
Well I dont think i have much more to add. Everything is going great with me though! Transfers are next week so you will probably hear from me on Tuesday.. depends on what happens with transfers but it will probably be tuesday. Thank you sooooo much for all you guys do for me!! I love you all so much and pray for you each and every day. I dont think i need anything.. if i do ill let you know dont worry. LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! Take care until next week! STAY SAFE OUT THERE! Peace homies
Thank you so much mom for getting me madis address. She sent me a letter that i got today. I cant believe she leaves this week.. thats nuts! Griffen leaves in August!!?? Whoaaaaaaaaaa dangggggggggg that is so nuts. I'll almost be at a year. See him in 3 i guess.. haha
I'll keep Grandma Howell in my prayers.. hope all goes well with her.
Well I dont think i have much more to add. Everything is going great with me though! Transfers are next week so you will probably hear from me on Tuesday.. depends on what happens with transfers but it will probably be tuesday. Thank you sooooo much for all you guys do for me!! I love you all so much and pray for you each and every day. I dont think i need anything.. if i do ill let you know dont worry. LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! Take care until next week! STAY SAFE OUT THERE! Peace homies
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Hey family!!
This past week was really good for us. We were able to pick up a few new investigators. We havent been able to hear from Charlie. He was evicted and were not sure where he ended up. He said that he would give us a call when he gets wherever it is he is going and we havent heard from him yet :(. Thats okay.. we will just have faith that he will eventually call.
We got in contact with Crystal that was really good. She struggles with smoking and all that crap so we talked to her about the word of wisdom. She says she wants to stop smoking, but she just loves it too much. She understood the importance of the word of wisdom. She said the closing prayer and she said "please help me overcome my addictions so i can be baptized." me and timberlake when we left were like no way.. she is legit haha. We are taking her on a church tour this week so she can start coming to church. We have a hard time getting investigators to church. Hopefully things start picking up.
I cant remember if I told you about these people last week but we have a family with a daughter named Victoria, mom named Korisha, and aunt named Charice. We had a really great lesson with Korisha and the first time we met her she said she wasnt interested in converting but after this lesson about the Restoration and Priesthood Authority she started questioning things. We told her about how families can be together forever and she said she believes she will see a family member in heaven . What we explained was very comforting to her. She has been sick so we havent been able to meet with any of them for awhile. I hope when we meet with Charice we can help her to understand the people in the church arent perfect. Because she believes the church is true but wont convert because she got offended. Victoria is just kinda chillin with the lessons. She will come around though eventually.
We had a lesson with Lee the African American without legs and he talked to us about our dedication. He said what do i need to do to become a mormon and be dedicated like you guys. His wife was like "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa did you just say hunny" (in her accent) she wasnt trying to be rude she just was shocked with what he said. She was kinda pushin him away during the lesson but we hope he will come around. Its hard with her though.. she is extremely nice to us though. We cant meet with him regularly because his health. We hope we can meet with him this week though.
There is a guy named Andy. I talked about him last week. He was the one about the prayer in the home. We were on exchanges but timberlake went and saw him and he is pretty solid. I will get to find out more about him sometime this week. He said hed come to church once he met with us more.
There are 18 year old twins that we have taught. They are just curious about Mormons. Not too sure about how legit they are about being baptized or anything but we will be able to find out more as we meet with them. Maybe eventually they will come around.
I cant think of any special stories off the top of my head. I have some good news though. We got new rules that we can now email family and friends! Hopefully it stays that way! I finally can start emailing everybody back. Glad to hear that your mouth is doing fine. I'll keep you in my prayers. Maybe send some pictures :)
I did not get Thornes package :( Sorry.. I feel bad I never got it. Maybe they have it in the office but idk. I will have to check around. I dont think its there though. Did she send it to the mission home?
Everything is great with me though! Just pushin along. Missionary work is tough not gonna lie.. but its worth it in the end. I pray for you all each and every day. Miss you all sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much! I brag about my family at dinner appointments sometimes :) its pretty much the best. Love you all soooooooooooooooooooo much!! Peace out until next week! Love your son, grandson, nephew, friend, brother, cousin whatever my relationship is to you. Buh Bye!
This past week was really good for us. We were able to pick up a few new investigators. We havent been able to hear from Charlie. He was evicted and were not sure where he ended up. He said that he would give us a call when he gets wherever it is he is going and we havent heard from him yet :(. Thats okay.. we will just have faith that he will eventually call.
We got in contact with Crystal that was really good. She struggles with smoking and all that crap so we talked to her about the word of wisdom. She says she wants to stop smoking, but she just loves it too much. She understood the importance of the word of wisdom. She said the closing prayer and she said "please help me overcome my addictions so i can be baptized." me and timberlake when we left were like no way.. she is legit haha. We are taking her on a church tour this week so she can start coming to church. We have a hard time getting investigators to church. Hopefully things start picking up.
I cant remember if I told you about these people last week but we have a family with a daughter named Victoria, mom named Korisha, and aunt named Charice. We had a really great lesson with Korisha and the first time we met her she said she wasnt interested in converting but after this lesson about the Restoration and Priesthood Authority she started questioning things. We told her about how families can be together forever and she said she believes she will see a family member in heaven . What we explained was very comforting to her. She has been sick so we havent been able to meet with any of them for awhile. I hope when we meet with Charice we can help her to understand the people in the church arent perfect. Because she believes the church is true but wont convert because she got offended. Victoria is just kinda chillin with the lessons. She will come around though eventually.
We had a lesson with Lee the African American without legs and he talked to us about our dedication. He said what do i need to do to become a mormon and be dedicated like you guys. His wife was like "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa did you just say hunny" (in her accent) she wasnt trying to be rude she just was shocked with what he said. She was kinda pushin him away during the lesson but we hope he will come around. Its hard with her though.. she is extremely nice to us though. We cant meet with him regularly because his health. We hope we can meet with him this week though.
There is a guy named Andy. I talked about him last week. He was the one about the prayer in the home. We were on exchanges but timberlake went and saw him and he is pretty solid. I will get to find out more about him sometime this week. He said hed come to church once he met with us more.
There are 18 year old twins that we have taught. They are just curious about Mormons. Not too sure about how legit they are about being baptized or anything but we will be able to find out more as we meet with them. Maybe eventually they will come around.
I cant think of any special stories off the top of my head. I have some good news though. We got new rules that we can now email family and friends! Hopefully it stays that way! I finally can start emailing everybody back. Glad to hear that your mouth is doing fine. I'll keep you in my prayers. Maybe send some pictures :)
I did not get Thornes package :( Sorry.. I feel bad I never got it. Maybe they have it in the office but idk. I will have to check around. I dont think its there though. Did she send it to the mission home?
Everything is great with me though! Just pushin along. Missionary work is tough not gonna lie.. but its worth it in the end. I pray for you all each and every day. Miss you all sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much! I brag about my family at dinner appointments sometimes :) its pretty much the best. Love you all soooooooooooooooooooo much!! Peace out until next week! Love your son, grandson, nephew, friend, brother, cousin whatever my relationship is to you. Buh Bye!
Monday, March 4, 2013
Hello!!!!
How is everybody doing?? Everything is going well for me! We had a pretty good week. The weather here is pretty freakin amazing not gonna lie. So lets go ahead and start on some stories and updates.
Charlie is going to be moving so.. I dont know what were gonna do about him. He wasnt able to make it to church on sunday because of his new medication, but thats okay. We are still meeting with him until he leaves. He leaves whoa I think tomorrow!! I didnt even notice... oh boy. He doesnt know where he is going. Him and his roommates are getting evicted. He is in such a terrible environment its not even funny. He needs to get out of there. They do so many drugs and steal crap from stores and who knows what else they do. He cant stand being around them though, but he cant afford to live on his own. Such a great guy though.
So earlier this week we were on exchanges and we went to go see a potential investigator and she didnt asnwer. As we were leaving I turned around and some random dude was waving us over. We went over to him and he asked us to say a prayer for his home because there has been so much contention between him and his wife. They got their kids taken away from them because of it. His wife wasnt there but we went in and said a prayer on his home. At the end of the prayer we looked up and he was in tears. He said he felt so much better already. We explained to him how the gospel blesses families and he invited us back for this friday. He has to go to jail for a couple days because of driving on a suspended license. I'm excited to see what happens this week. Hopefully we end up teaching him!
We went to go see an investigator who is my age and has a kid. Her little brother answered the door and let us in to their families home. There were sooo many kids running around. It was like a zoo. This was the first time they had let us into their home so that was a miracle in itself. But there was a lady there who is the aunt of our investigator. She saw us and was like "I LOVE MORMONS!" and talked to us about our church and how she has studied it so much and it makes the most sense out of all of them. She was coming in and out of the lesson though because she was taking care of the kids. She heard us talking about the book of mormon and she was like I have that book! I asked if she reads it and she said yes all the time. I was just thinking what in the world.. why is this lady not a member. She said she believes its true and everything! hahaha she then said she thought being mormon was the missing piece in her life until she got offended by a mormon. She is really sensitive she said. I told her I had some stuff i would like to share with her another time and she said schedule an apt with the family and she will be there. Our appointment is tonight so we will see how that goes.
We set a baptismal date for Crystal we finally got a hold of her. It is scheduled for the 23rd but it was a soft baptismal date. She said she would be baptized by that date but we have sooo much that we need to teach her still. She also needs to quit smoking and come to church so IF she does ever get baptized it wont be on the 23rd but its kinda a goal for her right now. We will see how things go. I cant remember if that happened this week or last week so sorry if i already told you.. haha.
Lee the amputee African American hasnt been able to meet with us because dyalisis is killing him. I'm sure grandma understands where he is coming from.
I hope the grandparents are doing well. I miss them both so much. Grandma and Grandpa Thorne me and my buddy here have decided were gonna come visit you guys when we get back because he has grandparents in st george too by the outlets :). Grandma and Grandpa Howell I forgot to tell you I think thank you so much for the package. It means a lot.. I hope you guys are doing well. :)
Mom, did you send my package yet? Just wondering because the appt sent out a letter saying mail was missing and that they were changing things around for our safety so just making sure its not supposed to be here yet. BTW I love what your studying . Read Alma 7: 11-13 I believe. Its sooooooooo good! I share that with people a lot.
I cant believe Madi leaves this month. That means Zack leaves here shortly... WHoaaaa thats sick. I got an Ecuador satchel thing from thrift store here that they would love.
I hope Trenton is doing well... I bet its really hard for him right now though. Especially with spanish.. I cant imagine how hard it would be. If he is struggling right now I'm sure things will pick up. It was super hard at first. I'll send him an email it will be ok dont worry. I sent him a picture with a letter on it the day before he left so he should have gotten it on Thursday. I hope it kinda helps him.
Well I think thats all I have to share for this week! We had some pretty cool miracles happen this past week. Hopefully things keep moving forward! I love you all so much! If there is anything i can do for you out here in California let me know. I miss you all soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much! btw thank you so much janae for the email I'll write you back. Time for me to bounce.. Peace out family! Love you! XXXOOOOOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXOOOOOOOOXXXX :)
P.S Sorry I dont have any new pictures to give you guys.. :( Still love you!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Hello Hello Hello!
OK so........ I have to begin my letter by giving the shoutouts that are necessary. Trenton and Bryson good luck out there boys!!!!! You got this!!! I'm so excited for you both!!! I'm sorry i couldnt make it to either of your farewells.. I'm still on a mission if you didnt know. Trenton I love you man thank you for being my best friend since birth. I'll never forget cheering you on when I saw you enter into this world. I hope all goes well for you and ill keep you in my prayers. Just keep pushing. The Lord, your family, my family and your girlfriends are all on your side. Love you man!! Look out Chile you have the best spanish missionary coming your way!! I said spanish because I'm the best english hahaha jay kay. LOVE YOU BOTH!!
Mom my cough is good! I cough sometimes but not NEAR as much as i did. I think it is just the California weather. I'm not used to heavenly weather. I'm used to snow until like June or something :) Cant believe you guys had another snow storm. I remember snow.. Mom you want the yard done if it doesnt get done dont worry im a professional yard worker now because we have been helping a guy soo much and i'm becoming amazing at it. Not really but I try.. :)
So onward with the work.. We taught Lee again (the legless man) he is so awesome!! Wants us to come back tomorrow.. he is working on gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith and the BOM. He has bad vision so we had to get him a giant copy of the BOM and we will give it to him tomorrow so he can begin reading and gaining that testimony. His wife is so funny. "You guys need to come over and eat my fried chicken!!!" "What kinda music ya'll got?? I need to shout some HALLELUJAHS!!!" hahaha. We will continue teaching him. We will see what happens. We showed Charlie the restoration DVD and he said its a great story he just doesnt know if its true. Ughhh come on believe it!! haha but he came to church yesterday!!!!!!!!!!! :) FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!! he said he enjoyed it. I hope he keeps progressing. Ive come to realize it takes people awhile to convert here or anywhere in general. Nothing else special really happened this past week.
When I was doing service at this guys house this week they had their grandson who is 2 and it made me think about how much I miss Grant. I love that little guy. How is Janae by the way?
To the Grandparents: I will write you all soon!! I'm so sorry im taking forever.. :( Love you all so much!! Stay safe i'm keeping you all in my prayers!
Yeah i was thinking about Parker and how he almost hits a year. I was thinking about that because it was around the same time as my hernia. Its almost a year since my hernia!! Whoaaa.. Where does time go?
Mom I'm glad you met Madalies mom haha she is so funny. She was always just sooo nice to me everytime i saw her. I love them!
Well... I cant think of anything else really to say besides I love my family sooooo much :) and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be our here serving the Lord. I love my mission! Thank you for everything you all do for me! It means so much... I keep you all in my prayers errday!! If there is anything I can do for you guys just holla atcha missionary. I'm here for you guys. Love you talk to you next week! PEACE!!
Hello Family!!!!!!!! Happy Valentines day!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once again im single.. but i kinda have to be single out here. :) Things are going well here just as usual! Its really weird to think that transfers are already here again. But thats only because of the shortened transfer. So you wont be hearing from me until Tuesday probably. I know thats what i said last time but i think i emailed Monday because i was getting transferred. I'm not sure exactly how it works but expect something tuesday if not monday. I'm not quite sure what i want for transfers **i love Elder Timberlake We will see what happens. I'm sure he is staying here though. We met with Charlie the Jehovahs Witness this past week and it went well. I was on an exchange with Elder Skidmore here. We taught him about the restoration and at the end of the lesson i invited him to be baptized!! He said he wasnt sure yet so we will just have to keep working with him. He was supposed to come to church yesterday but he didnt :( booo thats ok we will just keep praying for him and trying our best! Our other investigator crystal has been gone or sick so we havent met with her again. Were supposed to text her today and see if she can meet up today. No other really solid investigators just some potentials were trying to see. They had so many investigators here before i got here but they werent really investigating so we took them out so now the teaching pool is pretty low we have a lot of work to do! It will be hard but i know there are so many souls out there that need to be saved. I have come to a conclusion that this world is soooo wicked. So many people just dont care about God or anything. i dont understand people. Its crazy. No wonder the mission age changed. There needs to be more rescuers out here in this insane world. Btw mom that Rachel girl i talked about is a recent convert in davis YSA ward. There is a pic of me and elder blake with her at her baptism. Speaking of which.. I heard Zack Moreno baptized Tflow AKA thomas rogers. NOOOOOOOOOOOO WAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!! Thats sooooooooooooooo sick!! Tflow is a friend from high school that i always went to parties with. Parker emailed me and told me about the baptism. Idk how he found out but thats so sick. Zack and Madi leave in March I believe... I cant remember. yeah mom Erin Berg is going on a mission to i think to Australia. Tyler hit his year mark!? wowwww... that flew by!! Sooo crazy. Parker is approaching his year mark too. We had one of the Assistants to the President come with us the other day and his name is Elder Mahoney. I guess he roomed right next to Tyler Tempest at BYU so we talked about that a little bit. Thats pretty sweet. My interview with President Alba went great! It was a breeze.. it was nothing special just asked how things are going and of course im doing great. We also met with Sister Alba and she asked about all of you guys, so i got to brag about my family. I loved it :) I FINALLY got my memory card back thanks to Trenton :). I got the videos working too!!!!!!!!!! :) I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can watch that over and over again. Thank you Teri for recording some of it and i think Brayton did some too. I appreciate the effort in getting that to me. It means a lot. Miss you all so much! I cant believe he leaves soo soon. When is his farewell? The 24 or 17? Whats it on? I'm sure its all hectic i remember mine like it was yesterday.. So stressful and scary. I remember I said i cant wait to change my name from tanner to elder howell because i heard tanner sooooooooooo much but now i wanna change my name from elder back to tanner sooo badly ;). Cant believe how fast time is flying... I'm gonna write matt cox today. Guarantee he isnt gonna expect it. I'll find his address on lds.org. Yes mom i hear from Madalie like every single week. She is the best writer.. haha but for real. So you mentioned i have a package on the way soon. Idk if i told you but i dont need a journal quite yet i actually had more than i thought. I forgot about that back pages. I dont think i need anything in particular except the memory stick that brayton has got under control. Thank you sooooooooooo much grandma and grandpa howell for the package!!!!!! It means a lot... Well... I think thats all i have for you here. Sorry my life isnt that exciting haha well peace out my good friends! Love you all so much!!! I'll keep praying for you! Later homies.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Hello best family ever!!!!!!!
This past week was pretty good. I love my new companion. This week we had to give up our most solid investigator Mario away because he moved to a different ward. He is in a part memeber family and he is so solid. He comes to church every week and knows everybody. This past week he had a huge concern with the Joseph Smith Story so we taught him the importance of prayer and reading from the Book of Mormon. He understood that very well. Now his only hold back from baptism is that he is scared of what God is gonna have him do. In priesthood he brought it up and we had a discussion about it. I hope it helped him. He is going to be baptized so soon i feel it. We had a VERY spirtitual lesson with him. He knows its true. He is just scared. I cant wait to see him get Baptized. Hopefully U'm still in Vacaville when he does. Other than that we have picked up a couple new investigators but nobody really progressing yet. Missionary work is so frustrating when people dont keep commitments or recognize how important this gospel is for their salvation. A lot of people just go throughout this life thinking there is no purpose. I dont get it. I would be sooooooooooo lost. Im so blessed to have grown up in such a solid family. i love you dudes.
We have a LA in our ward. He is homebound though so its not his fault he is less active. He actually doesnt have legs and has soooo many medical problems. It's so sad to watch him struggle. He has such an amazing story concerning his life and we're trying to get his story in the Paper or in the Ensign or something like that because his story would touch sooo many lives. I would share it with you but its sooooooooo long. To Make a kong story short he was a drug addict and turned down Missionaries for 17 years then one day they ran into him and he was at his lowest and listened to what they had to say and it changed him sooo fast. He once had both legs but had to get them both amputated. Soo sad. His faith is incredible though. His story makes me think that people can change. The Atonement has sooo much power. Sometimes you can feel like there is no hope, but that is denying the Atonements power.
We had a Zone Conference and Woodland Zone (my last area) this Zone and Fairfield. So i got to see a lot of the friends I made in Woodland there. That was a lot of fun. President Alba slammed down on us on how we need to pick it up. Its so hard sometiems because we cant control peoples agency. Were working hard though, but just like anything there is always room for improvement. Hes trying to get this mission motivated because once Pres. Bunker left it kinda went downhill so he is trying to pick it back up. Hopefully people understand how important it is that we listen to his council. We had a little testimony meeting after for the farewell missionaries and a few mins of open floor. And yes i got up... it was super weird hahaha people from the Woodland Zone came up to me and told me how much i have grown and what not. I'm still the same me though. Freakin goof :). There was a great spirit there though.
Thats really all the special events that happened this week. Of course there are some other events that happened, but it would take FOREVER to share them all. I actually had a guy come up to me holding his baby and said kiss my baby i know youre from the Lord. I was like uhhhhhhhhhhh I dont think i can do that and he got so mad hahaha so awkward. People are funny. Speaking of babies I need a nephew and I NEED pictures of Grant please! Mom you have sooo many figure out how to send them to me :) gracias mama.
Mom im so glad to hear you got a calling!! Thats so exciting! You are gonna be great at it I know it. If you need anything from me like stories or something let me know. I'll hook you up. I'll hook a mama up.
Trenton has a month left!!! Thats so sick. I gave you the right address to my new place so im good there. Hopefully my homies know so my letters dont go to davis. Speaking of davis. yes im getting fed here more than davis actually. We have dinner everyday. I love this Ward. The only problem is getting them out on splits. If anybody has ideas on tips to encourage members for splits or motivate them with missionary work let me know. I'm doing great though here!
Mom yes i did hear from Elder Blake kinda. There was a relayed message to me saying he loved me and his first date back home was awkward hahaha i love that guy.
I hope everything is going well back at home. I miss you all so very much and pray for you each individually everyday. Im sorry to the other family memebrs that i cant email :( im so very sorry. Its hard i know.. I'll try getting you letters as much as possible. I love you all soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!! If there is anyting i can do for you guys just holla atcha boy. Peace out until next week!
Monday, January 21, 2013
Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Family!!!!!!!!
Soooooooo... I'm here in Vacaville!! Wussup!! :) I love it here. My new companion is Elder Timberlake. He is awesome!!!!! He is pretty shy but he is a lot of fun. He is from Gusher Utah. HICK! Hahaha I love him. It was really nice getting away from Davis even though I loved it so much. I miss the people there, but im starting to love the people here. I actually went on a split with Brother Webb. Who is our dentists nephew!! That was pretty cool. Such a small world. The weather here is amazing!! Not gonna lie i love it. Utah weather sounds like it sucks. :) sorry peeps. Vacaville is sick. Elder Wykle did stay in Davis. The missionary that replaced me is solid i hear so they will get things going there.
I have only met like 1 solid investigator. His name is mario. He is soooo sick. He is catholic and he is just struggling to know if Joseph Smith truley restored this gospel. He will come around though. He is super solid. He actually just moved over to the 5th ward i believe so we had to give him up :(. There is an elder in 5th ward that justin might know his brother. This elders bro served with justin so that will be kinda interesting if they know eachother. There is also a LA here who is home bound. He doesnt have legs and is just stuck in his bed basically but he has the strongest testimony and positive attitude about everything. Such a great example to me and i realize how blessed i am. I love the ward so far. Its great here. Today for pday we played football with some teens and bishop and some missionaries. That was so much fun. So many good memories. This little girl got nailed in the head with the ball and it was probably the funniest thing i have ever seen. Something you would see on americas funniest home videos.
I have to apologize to those i cant email anymore. I'm so sorry. If you write me though ill write you back i promise. This will just prove who my real friends are ;). No but actually you guys can email me and ill write you a letter. Ill do my best :). Love you guys so much! I need Jarens address too btw. That would be grand. I will email trenton and gparents starting next week. I'm just kinda running short on time today because we played football forever.
I have asked some missionaries in the room if they know ashtons but they dont. Ill keep an eye our for them though. I'll also finish sending out those thank you letters dont worry.
Trenton got his endowments out! Whaaaaaaa! Thats awesome! Did you guys go to the draper temple? I wish i couldve been there :( thats okay though. I cant believe he leaves in like a month. That has flown by. I hit 5 months tomorrow. Whoaaaa.. I miss you all so much! But I know that I'm doing the right thing. I have seen how blessed I am and how much I can apply into my life when I get home.
Yesterday was awesome. There was a fireside that all the singles went to and lots of missionaries here in vacaville. Pres and Sister Alba spoke and so did this guy named Blake Andrews. Blakes story is unbelievable. He has had such a crazy life. The topic was a mighty change of heart. Blake has been to jail soooo many times and is not afraid to share his story. He has had a HUGE change of heart. It was so awesome to hear how the atonement can change ANYTHING. Its soooo awesome.
Well... I hope you are all doing well. I keep you guys in my daily prayers. I miss you all sooooooooo much, but im glad to know you are taking care of my room. I miss that thing ;). Thank you for everything you guys do. I love telling people about my family. I'm so blessed to have such a great family, friends, and support system in general. Peace out fellas until next week!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!
Hey family!!!!!!!
Sooooo... I got some news for everybody. But first there are some rules that President Alba has layed down very strongly. Some of these rules really bug me but I know they are coming from the Lord. This mission supposedly needed them. I guess a lot of people have become O.C. (outta control.) So let me touch on a couple of these rules. I'm NOT allowed to email anybody except for mom, dad, brayton, justin. THATS IT :(. I'm not even allowed to email grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, nothing! Its so hard.. I'm pretty frustrated with the rules, but its okay. I have been emailing a couple of friends especially Trenton.. Idk what to do about that one.. I want to email him because it will take forever to talk to him while he is in Chile, but like I said president watches who were emailing and he is laying down these rules hard... Ugh. Also... we are now not allowed to have toys or anything like that.. soo.. I'm sending my car back home :( it was fun while it lasted haha. There is a member here that is giong to send it off for me.. or drop it off in march when she goes through sandy. No need to keep an eye out. It will arrive when it does. I trust her. Another rule is were only allowed to listen to motab... ewwww hahaha. Last rule is no electronics. That was kinda already a rule but he slammed down on it so idk if i will be able to use those recording things that brayton wanted to send me. Sooo... yeah these rules are very frustrating but i know as im obedient that me, my area, and my family will be blessed.
Soooooo... now im done complaining...... haha but I have the transfer news. I AM GOING TO VACAVILLE!!!! Its only liek 30 mins away haha so nothing too big but im leaving my greenie area!! YAY!! :) I'm actually kinda sad to be leaving here because i love it so much and im comfortable.. which is why im leaving :(. I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store for me. I will be biking again... yayyy... :) Nah it will be good. My new companion is named Elder Timberlake. He is a super quiet humble guy i hear. People say im gonna love him. Elder Blake is giong home tomorrow. Feel free to search out for him and see how things are going. i'm sure he would love to talk.
This past week was pretty good. Kanza (the african american) came to church yesterday to say bye to me and it sounds like he is gonna keep on attending church even though me and blake are gone. I actually had a really cool experience the other day. We were weekly planning and we were going through the formers. I found a former that i have been wanting to see but just havent yet. So i called him up and we started talking about his past and i started talking about the atonement. he then asked how to do i get to heaven, so i explained faith, repentance, baptism, enduring to the end. He straight up was just like I want to get baptized. I was like uhhhhh ok yeah so we set a date and said a prayer over the phone and that was that. BUT dont get too excited with this story ebcause its not a happy ending haha. I got a call at church and he said that god will direct him in his ways and he is fine where he is at. He has a mental disease where he is TERRIFIED of crowds. I think thats why he backed out ebcause he has to go to chruch twice before baptized. Soo.. it kinda sucks he bailed but thats okay because i feel like a seed was planted and he will eventually come around. Thats that latest news on our teaching. nothing too special is going on. The only special thing going on is that i'm leaving. Actually there is a funny story... Once again going through the formers and i wanted to go see somebody that lived by us. Well we went over there a couple times and we could hear the tv on but she would never answer. Well one day we biked by and there were cops outside her house. We were so confused, but then as we were biking by we heard a lady on the phone say "Gingers dead!' The lady that we have been trying to see was DEAD nobdoy knew though because she lived alone! Hahaha so crazy and sad :(.
I need a new journal if thats okay.. I'm only down to a few pages left so if you could send it to my new area when i get you my address or just send it to the mission home and it will get to me eventually. Oh yeah where im going is where sister hernandez is. She is stoked to see me again.
Yes mom my friends name is madalie and her mom works at costco haha idk how you ever got on that topic.
That would be sooooooooo cool to do something fun when i get back. We gotta hit up a cruise again with EVERYBODY this time :).
I'm used to the weather here.. its not as bad as utah at all. It is cold on my bike but a member made me a scarf which has helped out a ton surprisingly. but yes i am staying warm mom dont you fret! It will start warming up here soon. everybody is saying its usually not this cold here. Just my luck..
Whitney is already home?! WHAAAA!? Noo.... thats super crazy. Time goes by so fast.
Well... I dont have much more to say. I love you all soooooooooo much. Please stay close to Heavenly Father and apply the atonement in your lives. The atonement can heal everything. Jesus Christ is our savior. He SUFFERED for all of us. Without him there would be no way for our awesome family to be together forever. REPENT the time is near.. we dont have that much time. We have procrastinated enough :) hahaha i know i sound crazy but really though lets pick it up. The Lord has hastened his work for a reason. LETS GO BOYS! and GIRLS! LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! I'm so sorry for those that I cannot email anymore... write me when you find out my address. Trenton... Ugh idk man this is gonna be hard. Stay safe everybody!! Mom and dad keep being the best parents ever. I brag about you guys all the time. Brayton and Justin keep on pushin guys I love you all so much!! Peace out!! Next email i'll be in Vacaville!!! Teaskie is out! :)
Monday, January 7, 2013
Hey family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sooooo.. im not gonna hold anything back. Right now is pretty hard being a missionary not gonna lie. Work here is super slow... i feel like i just ride around on my bike and get drenched in the rain for no purpose because its just so slow here. It doesnt help that my companion is getting super lazy. There is always one thing after another that is wrong with him. Its soooooo frustrating but im keeping my cool haha. Johnsen (the ZL) talks to me quite a bit about this stuff and we just try to work things out and see what we can do. Being a missoinary isnt as hard as its sounding right now haha. Its just been kinda slow lately and the holidays and everything. I know that ill come out of this stronger though. Other than that things are going well! I love the people im serving around and i love the ward! I think ill be leaving though.. mom and dad you guys dont think im leaving because ive been here for 3 months. i have actually been here for 4.. this is awkward :) haha but everybody thinks that im gone. i feel that i am gone too. We will see though where the Lord wants me. So transfers are this week so you wont hear from me until Tuesday!! I dont want you to get on monday and see that there is nothing haha. I'm really anxious to see what happens though. I'm gonna miss this ward when i leave. i have so many people that i want to come back and see when i go home.
I know you are concerned about my cough... haha my cough is getting better! I went to go see a doctor in the stake and he just got back in town from utah. Guess wehre in utah? right next to wear Ryan, Zac, and Trevor live! haha it was so cool talking to him about that area and having flashbacks. he met zacs dad because he is the bishop. I felt like i was back in utah for a little. I miss utah! I wish it would snow here and the "mountains" here would grow. California is awesome though not gonna lie.
My companion is doing alright. he always has something wrong with him and it slows us down all the time. i get so frustrated because i dont just want to sit around (i know that doesnt sound like me) haha but really! Im trying to love him but its so hard sometimes. I know things will pick up when i get a companion that wants to work and not complain about everything. he is senior comp and i do everything. Pshh whats up with that haha :). Johnsen has been emailing the president saying i need a different comp. The ZLs have been telling me how well i have been doing this transfer with everything. they say im a great missionary and need a better companion to keep on learning. I love those guys they keep me going.
New years was pretty fun. We went to the Nyes house and celebrated it new york style. The nyes are such an awesome family. The sister missionaries that are in davis were there too it was awesome. Then when i came home i saw the pizza that the Thornes ordered me just chillin at the door haha it was so cool! We all enjoyed it!
I got a letter from Madi the other day telling me about all the people that are going on missions are getting married. People are getting married!!? What the heck is going on mback at home. Thats so weird.. im getting so old. :) I'm so excited for all the girls that are going out. Weird to think they will be getting home at like the exact same time as me! I think its so funny how many people are out on missions or going out on missions. Only in utah.. :)
Anyway... I dont really have any cool stories to tell since the work has been going pretty slow. I have done quite a bit of service though for members which is nice. It keeps me busy and builds a reltionship with them. I miss you all soooooooooooo much. I really really do. I sometimes think about what i would do to see you guys again for just 5 mins haha but i know what im doing is the right thing. Even though its really hard sometimes.. its totally worth it. The mission isnt for me, its for others. I love you all sooooooooooo much! Stay safe in the cold. Keep partying hard and being awesome. Peace out until next week! We'll see where i end up! :) TALK TO YOU ON TUESDAY!
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