Christmas with Cockroaches

This Definitely was an interesting week. We had the attack of the cockroaches. They are everywhere and I hate them. Other than that Christmas week was great. It was sad being transferred I didn't feel like I really knew anyone here and Christmas was going to be less warm than i planned on. But I am grateful to the members here. They made me feel right at home. The week leading up to Christmas was interesting. It was hard to teach people due to the rapidly coming Christmas. In Hispanic culture they do things differently, they stay up all night on Christmas eve and open presents right at midnight and then party and eat until early in the morning, then they sleep all Christmas day, so we had no members in church on Sunday haha(well Spanish members)

 There is this lady named Randi McGarity the funny thng is she kinda reminds me of Aunt Randi, so i just call her Aunt Randi. She is a convert, and has since converted her father and about 6 other people in the last two years since she has become a member. She loves the elders we were able to eat over there a couple times and get to know her before Christmas, she surprised with presents on Christmas! She got me a Super man pez because her Dad Gene calls me Clark Kent, she filled a stocking with candy and got me Georgia Bulldogs shirt, I had convinced myself that i would not become a Bulldogs fan, everyone is a bulldogs fan. I would rather root for Georgia Tech they are the underdogs. well I guess I don't have a choice now, she threatened me with my life that I would be a Georgia Bulldogs fan so I told her I would not hate them haha. It is a super cool shirt though.

 The couple days leading up to Christmas we didn't really have anywhere to go to eat on Christmas day. Jaime and his mother allowed us to come over and use their phones which was so great and they fed us a huge meal. Christmas day we got about 7 invites from members making sure we had a place to go. They really care about missionaries here which is nice. There is such a difference being in an English ward though, there are things i love and things i really miss from a Spanish branch. I am staying positive and really liking it here. We have a couple really legit investigators. One of them reads the book of Mormon alot she asks questions like what happened to Lehis body when he died and questions about the nephites and lamenites, she is the first person i have met that really understands the book of Mormon the first time she reads something, and it is so nice teaching someone who actually reads and understands. What a break it is haha.

 Thank you so much everyone for the Christmas cards and the packages it was so greatly appreciated!

I really do enjoy it here. Not where i had planned on being at Christmas but that's okay God always gives us what we need not what we want, i keep telling myself that. I am not surrounded by Spanish constantly now which is a little upsetting i love Spanish but i just have to study harder. I hope every ones Christmas went great, missed you all. Missed ice cream cake roll. So great talking to all of you.

Love Elder Charlesworth aka Principe

We Love our tiny tree!

Elder Benedict and Tanner checking out Christmas

New shirt and blanket

"Aunt" Randi and the shirts

Spanish Etowah

Well first week was a little different than I've ever experienced here on the mission. Elder Benedict was sick so we didn't get to do a whole lot. We serve in two wards they each have a spanish group so we should have lots of work with both wards.

 I walked into Sacrament meeting yesterday and someone from the bishobrick said you're speaking today.......ummmm..... what????..... haha so I spoke, just about the book of mormon which was easy but a surprise. (its getting harder to speak about gospel stuff in english than in spanish) then after sacrament a spanish member grabbed me and said the teacher went home sick so I taught the class with 30 seconds notice. It turned out pretty okay, we had an investigator there so I tried tying the Birth of Jesus Christ (because its christmas) into the restoration and she shared some cool insights and experiences I think the class went okay, the spirit is a great teacher, I cant do a whole lot that's for sure.

I have already gained two new nick names here, apparently "prince" is here to stay, only now its "Prince Charming" oh and Clark Kent, last area I was spider man because of my glasses and this area I'm clark kent because of the glasses.

 The spanish Elders here before have not really been working with both wards a ton, they kinda stick to one, but we can't do anything without the members so we met with the ward mission leader from the ward that they have not worked with that much and turns out he has never met with the spanish elders and they are super excited to help us out, the support of a ward is exactly what we need, and we have two. That is so much Priesthood to help us, this will be a great experience having this much support, I'm very excited. Our area is GIANT so we should always have something to do.

 The southern accent is running rampant out here, I'm in a small country town 2 hours from Atlanta Cartersville). The good news is I get to go fishing now. Today we are going to a members who has a lake that we can go fishing in and I'm so excited its been so long!

 We spent most the week in the apartment, which happens to have this super cool feature....... COCKROACHES!!!! everywhere, they are planning on moving our apartment because its a complex problem, we are clean but our neighbors arent so they keep coming in, its super bad and super dirty, I hate them.

Merry Christmas Everyone hope its goes great!

Love Elder Charlesworth

Jesus' Nose

Well this week went great!!

 Started the week off with an exchanged with Elder Cowley (from california) he is really cool. Only has 4 months left. We taught like 6 or 7 lessons just on tuesday alone and they all went good! And the Exchange was a lot of fun! Cowley is one of thos quiet kids but when he talks its soooo funny.

 We continued to have a busy busy week but that is good we love busy.

We found out it was N's birthday. well funny story actually. We had him with us for a team up and he was asking us our birthday and he said " me voy a cumplir 34 anos en Deciember 4" (i will turn 34 on the 4 of december) i looked at him and said " Hermano today is the 6th" he totally forgot about his own birthday so we decided we needed to throw him a little party. We made him cupcakes ( cause he has 7 kids and that is way easier than a cake for them) and got him a sweater. We had fun!!

He feeds us all the time and goes on team ups with us (now that we got him active and excited about the church again, he goes with us almost eveyday its great) so it was the least we could do for him.

 also funny story to make you all laugh! i said my first wrong thing in a lesson. i've never messed up and used a wrong word in a lesson before (until my 6th month mark) we were teaching Rosana and her family (the ones we found and helped them move late at night) and well i was talking about Alma ch.7 the chapter we wanted them to read before we come back and i was explaining how this chapter is really good especially this tiem of year because it talks about the birth of jesus but in spanish i said " esta capitulo habla sobre la nariz de jesus" Nariz means NOSE!!!!! I didnt notice I said it and neither did the people we were teaching but Heimulli just couldnt hold it in and started laughing and told me hat i said.. i mean to say "Nacimiento de jesus" so there you have it, good thign i can laugh at my self. i just joked it off and kept on talking... ha I love Heimuli so much we never have a dull moment!!!

 We have a member who was x-comunicated last year but is trying so hard to come back. He had a really bad day at church last week and was about ready to give up im not going to go into what happened at church but basically someone put him in a situation that wsa not good for him and then he got in trouble for it. We had no appointments set up on saturday just soem plannign to do. so Heimuli randomly texted him to see how he is. turns out he was right by our apartment at a place called plaza fiesta (spanish mall) we have 3 investigators that work there so we said he we'll meet you there went with him and visited our investigators and then went to Lenox mall with him to visit another investigator that works in the food cort in Haagen Daz icecream we were trying to invite her to church again. we had a lot of fun with him and he lives pretty far away so we was like just leave me here at the train station i'll just take the train home so you dont have to drive me. We both just looked at him and at the same time said get in we'll take you. We went over and he started talking about how its been really hard and what he's kinda been goign through. so we started teaching him form the scriptures jacob 3:1 and then i bore my testimony on how we get these experiences to help other people and make us stronger then told him an experience i had in the MTC that i have not really told anyone, just how my being home for six months and the experience i gained from that helped a kid not go hom early from the MTC. The spirit was jsut really strong. And then he was at church on sunday!!! I really don't care about getting numbers or any of that stuff.. never have since i got here i hate numbers. I'm here to help people and to becoem what God wants me to be. Whats the point of teachign a lesson if it is just a number. Every lesson is a person and someone i need to do everythign i can to help them come closer to Christ. I get so upset at missionaries here that only care about the numbers... not even goign to get into that. I gain so much more from teaching these people than i could ever give them anyways. I owe them more than just looking at them as a number.

The Cupcakes Elder C and Elder H made

Today we get calls to find out if we stay or go. Sure hope we stay here. We have so much work going on and i love this bronch so much! today we went to Waffle House with N. She is one of my favorite members here. This branch is so fantastic!! Yesterday R (same people we helped move) came to church yesterday and N, N, Z and others were right there getting to know her, helping her with her baby, etc... she loved church because of the way she was treated! I love it here, I could honestly stay here my whole mission... Luckily there are 3 areas here so I still have a chance of coming back after I leave whether it be tomorrow or next transfer! Been here for 3 months and i love it.

Elder Heimuli and I still just get along so good. He is such a support and helps me out alot. with spanish.. with everything. He's the best, the Area is the best!

I hope everyone is doing good at home. <love and miss you all! Christmas is soon.

Love Tanner

Time goes too fast

The time is going by way too fast, Transfers are over next week. its so crazy! the 14th is only just over a week away.

 We found some new people to teach this week which is great. We found a family really late at night, we ended up getting back from a dinner and a lesson later than we wanted to, as we were getting out of the car we saw two ladies carrying a mattress. Of course we could not allow this, so I asked them if they needed help ( all of this is in spanish luckily) and we just grabbed the mattress and asked where it needed to go. It turns out that their plumbing above them collapsed so they had to move appartments. She said she had a taxi on the way to help take the rest of the stuff the the new room (on the other side of our complex) We told her to cancel it and we would move it all. So about an hour or so later we had it all done. While we were moving we got to know her a little bit, she is from Uraguay and just had a pre-mature baby two months before. She said to repay us she is ordering pizza and we can come over and teach her. So thats what we get to do tonight! YAY pizza!! Normal food. Oh yeah forgot to tell you, so the same lady that gave us chicken feet decided we needed to try paruvian style pansa (cow stomach) well I have eaten stomach before and it is horrible, this how ever was edible. probably the chewiest thing you could ever eat. So pizza is sounding so great right now!

 Glad Dads surgery went well! What is he going to do now that he cant run? Run half marathons instead of marathons?

Elder Heimuli and I are hoping we stay together this next transfer but we will see new spanish coming in (we dont need four right now) ha so who knows whats gonna happen.

Love y'all miss you!

Love Elder Charlesworth

Thanksgiving Week and Chicken Feet

Well Thanksgiving was great, We started out by playing Futbol Americano with the English ward then we left after a few fun games and went to a way nice field to play soccer, I hate to group them all  in like this but  holy cow  Hispanics are really hard to play soccer with. They cry so much and complain and cheat. I know this happens in every sport with who ever you play with but its bad here haha.

 Well we washed up and went to a dinner with the Familia S they are super super cool we eat there a lot, she grew up in Arizona and is very American and he is very American speaks English has lived here awhile so it was the typical turkey dinner with potatoes stuffing rolls pie and salted margaritas! we left there and went to another dinner appointment with some other members who have son on a mission in Idaho. We took the train and had fun talking to all the people on it in Spanish or English didn't matter its just fun. They cooked us a really good turkey and we had rice with corn in it and salad with lime on it and coke. I try to stop drinking soda but that's all Hispanics drink so i have no choice!

 We did service for a member named N I've talked about her before she is one of my favorites here she has a 5 year old daughter named K. We painted her house but first we had some fun and painted our names and pictures on the wall before we painted over it. Her sister in law is a member as well she asked what we wanted for dinner Elder Cowley half joking, half serious said Patas de pollo (chicken feet) she laughed and even her husband from Mexico said eww we don't eat those. Well we show up and she thought it would be fun for us to try something new so we ate patas de pollo the pictures will explain it all, Its not gross just something i would NEVER ask for! She says from now on every week when we eat there we will get to try something new (yay...ewww) Hispanics eat gross things like Menudo (cow intestine soup) Pansa (cow stomach) Chicharone (pig skin not fried) so it will be interesting. The funny thing is she does not even like that stuff ,she just thinks its fun!

 We found 6 new investigators this week so that is a huge blessing because we kinda had to drop a few of ours that we were teaching, they just were not progressing or they disappeared. ....that happens  a lot.

Elder Heimuli is the Bomb. His mom is too, she sent me spam and corned beef like my two favorite things!! We have so much fun all the time, all of our lessons start with people just laughing because we are such goof nuts and weirdos!! I love it!

MMMM Chicken Feet

 Love Tanner

Thanks to Elder H's Mom

Elder H eating a chicken foot for Thanksgiving

 Tanner didn't write much today so I borrowed some pictures from Elder H's blog that his mom keeps up to date. Thank goodness for missionary moms! Tanner did say that chicken feet are not so tasty. The missionaries played soccer and football then went to member's houses for meals.

Elder H and Elder C with matching Cardigans. Aww cute

Thanksgiving Day activities

   

Gladys Can Sing!

We were not able to do a whole ton this week because we were at the Gladyss Knight SUV firesides since thursday. Basically there from 1 pm until 11 or 11:30 everyday, all weekend. We ended up getting almost 1500 refferals from the show, Which means we will be doing some english work.

 The show was incredible! Gladys Knight directs a choir and they blow everyones mind. And then she sings and blows everyones mind even more! She is set apart as a world missionary for doing this choir. The spirit literally hitss you like a wave once they start singing. But I have to say my favorite part was the jumping and clapping a yelling and praising Jesus in a whole different way. Church is going to seem so boring now!

 Elder Heimuli and I were one of 7 companionships asked to help with the show.They asked the "people persons to do it" so It felt pretty cool being picked out of almost 200 missionaries to do this and be envolved in it in this way, got to shake her and her husbands hands a couple times so that was pretty sweet! We had to walk up and down the line talking to everyone (the line was so big, over 1000 people) We gave out a pamphlet that talks about the choir and in it, it has a card for their address so we can bring a "free Gift" book of mormon, cd sample and a restoration dvd.

Elder C and Elder Heimuli at the Gladys Knight Fireside

 So for 3 days i talked to thousands of people and now I have no voice and have a super bad cold... so thats super awesome! But it was totally worth it. The purpose of the choir is to introduce people to the church, and so Gladys can make some "real music" cause lets be honest our hymns are pretty boring, beatiful, but boring. Her husband Will Mcdauhle (dont know how to spell it) tells the story of how they met and how he came to join the church then bears a very strong testimony (mostly aimed at african americans) Then at the end gladys bears hers and tells how she joined and they basically tell everyone that they now have to true knowledge and they need to do something about it and its up to them but now they know the truth so they will be held accountable for it.

 This was one of those life experiences that I will remember forever. It was so awesome!

Dad glad to hear you got an Elk, what did it score?? Can't wait for the pictures! Glad you made it out okay!

Hope everyone is doing good! Love tanner

They Finally Came!

NOT EVEN EATING AT MEMBER'S HOUSES WILL HELP THEM FILL THESE SHIRTS OUT.

Well first off i should tell you about out "Downtown drug adventure" We went downtown last week for P-day in normal clothes and well Apparently two young men walking downtown look like they want drugs, 4 people asked if we wanted to buy and 1 guy asked if we were selling! haha... not a normal experience you would think to have on a mission but then again I am in downtown Atlanta so i imagine about anything is possible.

 This week went really well. We have been focusing on using members in out work, that members are the key to things progressing in all areas of missionary work here. Elder Heimuli and I put together these "Missionary Packets" just a couple teaching folletos and videos a book of mormon and tarjetas for the members to use to share to gospel with friends and family and not having to come up with it on their own. We have been visiting each member in our area teaching them the restoration and then giving them the packet and asking for their help in finding and teaching. So far it has been going really great we have visited 4 families and they all reacted really well and though it was a great idea.

 We also need members involved in teaching our investigators and the Menos Activos in our area. The Familia F that i have been teaching and trying to get to come back to church since i first got here last transfer has been making excuses since i got here. He does have a really hurt back We understand that but he has 7 kids and a wife, they all need church. We decided that we needed a member to come with us a teach the family. Members can say things that we can't they have an influence that we don't have. The member we took served a mission, is from mexico and just a solid great guy. He helped us out so much. The next time we went over two days later the family had a completely different attitude, He said "If i am in the way to God (meaning driving to church) then i know he will take care of us and we will be okay, we need to go to church" his wife who is terrified to drive even said if his back hurts to bad to drive she will drive...But we found this super great lady E (a member from the english ward who loves to help the spanish missionaries even though she knows no spanish at all) she drove them to church, so after about two months of going over two to four times a week and teaching and helping and doing everything possible they are finally going to church! I have no doubt it is because we have started using members in all of our work. It all started by sitting down together Elder Heimuli and I at the begining of this transfer and praying for what we needed to do in this area. Well Revelation is real I can tell you that. This transfer has by far brought me the most happiness out of the whole time I have been here. Elder Heiuli and I are on the same page in all things and work hard all day and have a blast doing it. The work is a little slow right now because we are focusing mostly on the members but i know that towards the end of this transfer and the transfer after this one, this area will be so busy. Right now we are doing all the actual hard work. Mapping, Looking for potentials, Going through all the less actives in our area and seeing who still lives there and who has moved. Its a lot of work but I love being busy!

Hope everything is going great at home. Hope Dad gets that Big Bull... Can't wait for elk jerky

Love Elder Charlesworth

So glad I'm not a greenie anymore!

We got 5 new spanish elders last week at transfers. Because there was so many I lucked out and Elder Heimuli came to Chamblee with me and it has been so great....Except for me getting the flu for a couple days, that was a little less fun. But other than that it has been fantastic, We are both on the same page of what we want to do with this area and have been working hard, basically started over with the map and other things. Mapping for 3 hours is so lame but Heimuli and I always seem to make it fun! I'm just super jealous of his angelic singing voice.

 We went to a Quince which is a fancy way of saying a sweet 15 party, huge deal for hispanics. It was fun but all the dancing and really fun stuff started at 10 and we had to leave at 8:30 to get home in time. They did a Catholic Mass ( It was a part member family) they do a ceremony for the girl who is turning 15. The Priest who did it was from spain and instead of saying "sss" sound in words they say "thh" so its kind of hard to ltsten to if you are not used to it haha, its like speaking spanish with a lisp but all spanish people do it. (spanish as in from spain.)

 Glad to hear Dad got his spot, I'm excited for you I hope that you get a big one and I'll be waiting for some elk jerky!

Don't have much time today things are going great here. Have a ton of work we need to do for the rest of this transfer.

Love you all Love Tanner

Last week of the transfer

I got to go to the temple on Friday, I did a spanish session. I Understood almost everything.....almost! It was really nice to go to the temple, we can only go every six months. This week was fun. We went to the temple had a Branch fall party that no one showed up to until 2 hours after it started. But it was still fun. Then yesterday no one came to church not even the Branch President it was so odd, We started 20 minutes late, no one was there until right before it ended i dunno it was different than i'm used to. V and N some less actives that are 18 and 20 moved back to California. Vince was here to earn money to go on a mission they have been members for about 2 years. His bishop called and said that they have a bunch of families in the ward who will pay the monthly fee and to get home so he can get the process started. Gonna miss those guys they went out with us everyday They are like little brothers I guess in a way.

Sorry to hear no one shot anything(well brought anything home, Dad... can't believe you lost ANOTHER Buck what is that number 6 on the rock alone?) I'm not gonna lie I'm pretty upset at you all i wanted some nice pictures of a big ole buck! Did you guys go up to the Rock or where did you go?

 Well we get calls tonight to see who stays and goes, i am probably gonna be thrown out of the city because they are training six new spanish elders and they like to train them in the city.So I will probably get thrown into the country side where i have to actually do spanish study for a whole hour if i wanna learn anything here in the city if I miss a day its okay because I talk it all day most people don't speak English or i don't talk to them in english even if they can speak it.

 I have really liked this area. Lots of work and its a fun area being downtown!

Love and miss you all hope you get lots of candy!!!!

Love Tanner

*note from "the mom" Tanner gets to stay in Chamblee.  He was very surprised but excited.

Wedding Weekend!

Elder Charlesworth and Elder Heimuli and the happy family

This is called the Serpiente del mar (snake of the sea) you run around the gym holding hands and try to knock the bride and groom off the chairs (the women were unable to do so) so the men go crazy and they go flying super cool tradition!!!

Saturday I was able to go back to my old area(Smyrna) for the Baptism and wedding for J and E.They asked me to say the prayer at the baptismal service J has been waiting a very long time to be baptized. He has been a "dry member" for like 9 months waiting for a divorce to finalize so he can get married and be baptized. The wedding was a blast! He has been taught for so long that there were around 12 elders there, Hispanic weddings are way more fun than American weddings that's the truth! More food, dancing and fun!!

 The Transfer is almost over, just like 9 days left or something like that. Time really goes by so fast! I love it!

We getting getting referrals for addresses that don"t exist or the people don't live there its been super fun let me tell you haha. But the people we have been teaching is going really good. M came to church on Sunday and we might do the baptism next Sunday but we are debating on whether to hold it off or not because of her current living condition, the house she is in (the people in the house) are totally opposite of what a new member needs. So we are just playing it by ear and seeing what she wants to do.

we have been teaching this lady M, she is super cool and very accepting, but is the kind of person that you can't push anything on or she will back away, she cooks for us every time we go over and participates in every lesson she has tons of potential.

 At church on Sunday M's kids would not go to Primary so they got dumped on me to baby sit. (better i miss class than her) as i was watching them i was helping M (3) get off the stage and he bit my face!!! Just locked right onto my Cheek and would not let go, finally got the little pit bull off my face and set him down, then he went and punched his sister right in the mouth, HARD! gave her a bloody lip.  I don't know what it is but kids seem to keep biting me! Better than getting bit by dogs though!! Hope the hunts went well!! miss you all

Love tanner

Weekly Update!

BYU won so thats the only good news from home i need to here haha.

Its was a good. We had a Priesthood activity on Friday which was a blast! we played soccer for like 5 hours and ate ceviche which is fish cooked in lime juice, like the lime juice cooks it! It is super good!! you eat it cold with hot rice. and then we played more soccer after that. The next day after church we did a Noche de Hogar (family night) with the branch. After a short lesson we taught them how to play signs. They had never heard of it before! it was a blast hispanics get so into things we really had a good time!

Elder Montiel -Tanner's latest comp (I think)

 Last week was so far away i forgot most of it cause its just the mundane stuff that happens everyday. Wake up study, teach, find, teach, eat too much food. then start all over again. I get bored  talking about all of that haha. I bet you get tired of hearing it.

Last week!

It's good being a nerd.

Bite from a 6 year old.

Good thing Tanner was already an Atlanta Braves fan before he left on his mission (Elder Reese from Idaho)

Day of Nations

We did service at the Temple on friday. We planted I'd say about 60,317 or so pansy's and double that in tulip bulbs. It took forever but it was a lot of fun. A member from my last area is the maintaince manager at the Temple so it was fun talking with him. Saturday night we went to Cunningham (my old Branch) and helped with the Dia da Naciones, It was so much fun. Saw all the old peeps from Smyrna. They even remembered me after 3 whole weeks haha. We sang "how can I be" super good song. We ate food from around the world and watched some dances from around the world (only the hispanic world) On Monday we had Zone P-day. We went to Piedmont park, it is a giant park down town Atlanta, pooring rain all morning...so we played soccer for 3 or 4 hours which was a blast.

 Its been a pretty productive last couple weeks. We've had lots of lessons and have been staying busy. The weather has turned for the worst and has been gross, foggy, rainy,chilly and stupid! I hate rain so bad! Waiting for my warm clothes package to come haha. Luckily its not super cold, just no sun and only rain. but i don't think its lower than 60 or 55 right now, but compared to what it was 2 weeks ago its super cold haha.

 How is everyone doing at home? Brener how is Lax? I am dying, i want to hunt so bad you lucky little guys, whos all hunting? all of them? Jerrs and Brener have blue cards now does that mean they are both hunting? Just going to say it right now, don't break my gun or scope! I have only shot that thing once! Its still a baby be gentle to the little guy. Kim already broke her face with it, next time you might break it haha.kim you gonna get another scope ring tattoo this year? last time i checked those were not in style!

 We had to move our Baptisms for this sunday because of a bunch of stuff that happened, but its okay they will be soon!!!

The transfer is already half way over. time goes by so fast! can't believe christmas is almost here, christmas will be my 6 month mark! whats funny is tomorrow should really be my year mark! Things don't always go according to plan or the way we think they should go, But i suppose it will always work out in the end. It always has so far in my past don't see how this would be any different!

Love you all

Love Tanner

Conference Weekend

Conference was great. I really enjoyed it!

We had a busy week. Found a couple new people to teach so that was col. Have two people getting ready for baptism in 2 weeks!! Very excited for that

Other than being super busy teaching not a whole lot happened, got to go to a birthday party those are always fun. Ended up Squeezing about 100 or more limes so that was just a blast haha. I got your package mother thank you! I'm assuming Guppy put in the silly band! so thanks for that i love it! Sorry this is a boring email this week just don;t have tons to say just taught like 20 lessons and did some knocking and its been a lot of fun. Elder Monty and i just have a blast all the time. He is probably training next transfer becasue we have like 6 spanish coming in finally. So i will probably move to another area next transfer!

Hope everyone had a great week/weekend. Brenen good job on the win! Keep it up buddy boy!

Posted by a member in Atlanta with the phrase  Cre que si le gustron!!!!!!

Little Mexico

So I thought there were lots of hispanics in Smyrna, Well I found little mexico the area im in "chamblee" is probably 98% hispano. Everyone says its the "best area"  I've enjoyed it so far!!

We have two super legit Investigators! M is the mother of 3 and has had a horrible life, not going into detail but lets jsut say i don't know ANYONE else who has had to deal with the things she has. We teach her at a recent convert (less actives) house so its helping everyone, the RC/LA family is getting strengthened and our investigator has friends to support them, they live in the same complex so it works out great. She came to church yesterday and we met with her last night, she now has a baptismal date for the 15th of october, very excited for her she needs the gospel to heal her wounds and to bring blessings into her life.

C is 17, he just moved here from kentucky, he was almost baptized there, but not sure what happened he started holding study groups in the park with all his friends and the missionaries he said alot of his friends got baptized over there before he did haha. He said in our last lesson he would be baptized....the only problem is, he is 17 and his mom has jus been anti-ed like crazy and now she literally runs away when she see's us, C is legit though he told his mom that she is being dumb and needs to not listen to her friends and that she needs to find things out on her own, so hopfully that will sink in sometime.

There are some really cool members here.

Elder Montiel is super chill and we have been having a blast! Its super col having a native speaker! What even cooler is he is from california so he's not weird haha.

He is like 5'6'' but he played volleyball in high school, last sport i would have guessed!

Its been super great! I've had a blast this week and next week looks even better, I'll get to go back to smyrna for 2 or 3 wekends in a row, We were asked by the branch there to come to day of nations and peform a song with the other elders there and then J and E are getting Married then baptized the next weekend(family i spent alot of tiem with super awesome) and then elizabeth is getting baptized the week after that, So October will be a busy month!!

How is everyone doing? Jared so glad to hear you passed pass-offs thats awesome! Brenen how is LaX? Guppy I miss you! Dad the hunts are soon! I want pictures!

Tanner

Transfer Week

Cannot believe it is here already! Cannot believe its been six weeks already! I don't want this transfer to be over, I don't wanna leave here. We find out tonight who is staying and who is going. I really hope I stay here!

 This week was great. E and her family is still going strong! M the 11 year old is probably the weirdest 11 year old in the whole wide world but i love him. He told me that he has been praying to God to get a "mission" to fight monsters with a sword in the name of God hahaha, He watches tons of syfy channel and does not realize that it is not real haha. He also asked me if the grim reaper is real! haha I love that kid to death! He reminds me so much of Brenen, Only Brenen is not AS weird haha! We are getting a new Gospel Principals teacher finally! G, he has been home from his mission for a year. He went a mission 1 year after he was baptized he left when he was 26. Such a boss man!

 He went on a team up with us to E and it was so good, He is probably the best teacher i have ever seen. Granted we didnt get to talk much but it went really well! He loves going out with the missionaries so much when we called he immediatly said yes i'll go then realized that he had a date to go to a family party with his fiance, he blew her off and came with us! He said he needs to be out with the missionaries and that she understands and only didnt talk to him for one day so its fine!

 Its been a really good transfer so far, we have 3 baptizms that will happen in the next couple weeks and we are teaching another family we found which is a part member family, pretty sure he forgot he ever was a member until we showed up haha, so hopefully we can activate him and baptize his wife and 6 kids, they are such a cool family!! all the kids except like 2 have ADD or ADHD so they are crazy all over the place ha super funny, but the 3 oldest are like the best kids ever so she is hoping the older the little ones get they will learn to calm down haha. She grew up inbrooklyn and then puerto rico, her husband and step son are from puerto rico. Haha Funny, Awesome family! Mom if you ever thought your kids were crazy I have met SOOOOO many that are worse than we ever were, consider yourself lucky!! We were angel children compared to the ones i've met here! hahaha

 So you basically crushed my day here when you told me BYU lost that badly, It didnt start til 9:15 here so there was no way i ws gonna get to sneak and watch it hahahaha, How can you beat ol mis only lose to texas by 1 point and then get killed by utah who is not that awesome! stupid BYU always messing it up, they are epic chokers! Mom I might need you to send me a byu t-shirt so i can still support them from way out here! all you ever see is Georgia, Georgia Tech and Auburn I hate all of those teams They needs some cougar blue down here!!

 Except if they lose like that again i might not want to support them, They better not lose ever again, tell Brother Dupex I hold him personally responsible if they have a crappy season! even though he's only over the running backs haha he;s just the only one i know to blame!

I hope everything is going great back home! Brenen you need to keep me updated on Lax its so big out here haha, its either football, futbol, or Lax thats about the only big sports here haha. Love you all love Tanner,

PS i kow cindy reads these I know you love that Utah won, BYU is still better no matter how bad they get beat down by utah! Next year Cndy, Next year!

Long Week Short Email

                              Elder Heimuli and Tanner (elder H has nicked named Tanner "prince")

We had a good week. E and her kinds A and Ml have a date for the 24th of september. Ml is 11 and they were catholic before. We asked him to pray and her blessed the we could live with God the Virgin mary and Joseph smith when we go to heaven. It took alot not to bust up laughing it was so sincere and a good prayer until that part. Aleast he understands Joseph Smith. Ml loves church he is dressed and ready every week the second Sacrament meeting is over he runs off to class and we don't see him til it is time to come home he loves it. He is super smart he reminds me alot about Brenen and Jared. He has a hard time getting things out but knows alot and is super smart. We watched the Jeffery R Holland Book of Mormon talk and he asked us where Joseph smith is barried and if apostles and Prophets are the only ones who can touch that book of mormon Elder Holland uses in his talk(the first edition one from carthrisge) he watches to much syfy and history chanel so he asks wierd off subject questions but loves church and loves the gospel He is an awesome kid!

E did quit her so she oculd come to church has put in a lot of applications but the faith this woman has in jsut out of this world she is such and awesome lady!

it was a great week we taught elizabeth about prophets in relation to the book of mormon and after the talk of jeffery holland she decided to read she really wants to know what is in the book now as we left we asked her to pray she asked god to help Tomas s Monson and the Apostles lead this church. It blew my mind. she totally understood all that we taught that day and how important prophets and apostles are. She is just the coolest lady every! so blessed to get the chance to meet here

Hope every one is well

Love tanner

Peace Up! A town down

This week was long and fast at the same time! I don't even remember anything past saturday it seems haha. We did alot of stuff this wek. Thursday was what is called a "car fast" we don't drive our car in hopes to get out and meet more people on the streets, this did not work for us haha we walked 2 miles to Nora's house our investigator for a lesson at 11 am. She was not home so we walked two miles so we could walk 4 more miles to a lunch appointment, when we got there the lady said "did president Gonzalez not call you and give oyu my message?, I didnt have your phone number so i asked him to call you and tell you that i couldnt do lunch today" so we walked 4 miles back home to do weekly planning, 12 miles 0 hispanics on the streets, 0 empanadas, 4 sore legs and 2 gas station gaterades later we made it home haha.

E and her two kids A (14) M11) accepted a baptismal date for September 10th so 3 weeks, a and m came to church, thier mom had to work but they had a really good time. not much else happened this week. we went to a birthday party on saturday for A she just turned 5, hispanos love to party, I got talked into jumping in th bounce house, it had just stopped raining so i got soaked but it was fun. the pinata was bigger than she was it was a giant cinderella. I'll send pictures later and a coupel videos, they love to put giant pieces of pig skin in the baked beans its so good ( sacastic) complete with hair even sometimes hahaha just so appetizing! good thing I like hispanic food or this would be so hard haha, we eat so much, they are trying to fatten me up! still not gaining weight so atleast i'm not getting a belly and my pants still fit. Tonight we are going to teacch a recent convert how to drive stick shift, she got a nice jetta with turbo, but does not know how to drive stick and wants to learn before she turns 16, Its gonna be fun! much cooler than the stupid corolla we drive around that has not guts and can hardly make it up hills some days haha.

did the boys make any money at the fair? how is guppy liking school? remind me again what grade everyone is in? Kim good luck at utah state, don't get stupid freshman syndrom and go crazy and start doing stupid things haha.

Love tanner

Same Syrmna New companion

Well my new companion is Elder Reese, He is a straight up boss man. We get along so good! he is prom Idaho Springs but grew up mostly in Dever his dad was in the NSA so thats pretty cool. He only has 3 months left so this transfer and one more after that.

Elder Gay and Elder Ballard Spoke to us on Saturday. They threw down hard core, all the stake and branch leaders were invited as well Elder gay said that there is a Temple here and the Lord has prepared 100,00's of people to go there we need to find them, they should be going by the 1000's. He told the Wards and Branches they are not working well enough with the Missionaries and told us we need to work harder.

Elder Reese and I had a super great weekend! We found two new families to teach one lives ini our same complex. We are Teaching this Lady E we helped moved a coulple weeks ago. She is seperated from her husband right now and is having trouble with her oldest kid. She kept the commitment to pray. we had a really good lesson on the restoration. Right as elder Reese started the first vision the baby who had been sleeping the entire time suddenly woke up and started to cry, just goes to show how hard satan tries to stop the spirit, after she came back with a bottle I started it over there was no way i was going to let satan take the spirit from the one of the best tools we have to bring it in. This time it worked, we read from the bible and from the book of mormon. She asked me last time what we could do to help her with her husband, so she asked again this time all i could tell her was that through the lord and the gospel  all things can be fixed and that the gospel heals the wounded soul, but the lord knows what he has planned for us, it was her job to do everything she can to fix her marriage but if it does not work out the lord has a better plan for her. I think that really helped, elder reese asked her when she finds out these things are true will she follow the example of christ and be baptized her response was "Claro" which means of coarse, clearly or certainly... we asked her to say the closign prayer, I literally have never felt the spirit so strong during a prayer, she was genuinly asking for help and what she should do and so greatful for all that she has, she started crying during the prayer because the spirit was so strong, we left her with a scripture to helo with her son and have a nother appointment on wednesday.

There use to be 6 elders in our branch now there are only 4 elder reese and I elder anderson from canada and elder Celis from mexico city. and they ot rid of our spanish zone and now we are in the english zone and we have eglish elders in our district, its been a crazy week. there was a lot of seperation between spanish and eglish and alot of pride on both sides. I came at a really wierd time. technically they were not planning on new spanish elders for a couple more months even after i came I was just a random solo one haha, but its been fun.

These Past few days have been the best of my mission so far. It really has been so fantastic!

Love tanner