Monday, December 12, 2011

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