We love riding bikes

President Snow came to our Zone District meeting and said he was going to take two minutes, well two hours later we all had our minds blown! He talked about faith and how all the things we complain about, or problems we have in missionary work are symptoms of a lack of faith. He also talked about having enough faith to repent and especially repent of something that is keeping the powers of heaven from your life. Then he talked about sacrifice and being willing to sacrifice something to the lord so he can bless you. I loved every second of it. He really shook the faith of a lot of missionaries to the point where they wonder if they even have enough faith to be out here. 

 We were really short on miles so we decided to borrow some bikes from the APs and hit the cart path trails here for the day. Well having never used  cart paths before Elder Searle and his keen sense of direction got us 5 miles(at least) out of the direction we wanted to be going. We made it back from were we started and then asked some girls on a golf cart how to get where we wanted to go. We made it!!! After hours of wasted time trying to get where we wanted to go we ended up at a members house to see if he could go to an appointment with us. Turns out we showed up at the perfect time. He really needed help. We changed his flat tire while he cut his lawn. He invited us in after to do family home evening with him and his family. He committed to us at least two days a week that he could go out with us. One of the new things President has put in is we can not teach any lessons from preach my gospel without a member. If a member is not present then we can only read the Book of Mormon or answer questions. We went out on his golf cart afterwards and tried to visit some people.

We spent the whole next morning doing service for a sister who's husband is in Iraq. We cut the grass. Did the hedge trimming, pulled weeds. The cool thing is they have a riding mower. The really bad thing is that the Elder who was cutting the grass has never driven one and had no clue what he was doing so the grass looked horrible. Then the mower died. I couldn't stand how the yard looked and the member was very concerned with the disaster grass so I cut it all over again with a push mower. I don't think any of you people realize the humidity and the heat we have going on right now!! She is from the DR and made us Mangu, its a super good dish that I love!!!

 We have three baptisms this coming Saturday so we spent a lot of time getting them ready this week. We had some great lessons and they are getting very excited! We take a white board to keep them into the lessons. They are teenagers so they get distracted really easy! Sound familiar mother? You've had a house full of them for years!

We were at a members house eating a little snack before we headed out to a lesson. She came running back in the house and yelled for us to go help her neighbor move his yard sale in. We stepped out side and realized the problem. IT WAS POURING RAIN!!!! We ran over and started taking stuff into shelter. We were instantly drenched with in a few seconds. We literally looked like we jumped in a lake! We borrowed some shorts threw our pants in the drier and then headed back out to work.

We spent all day Saturday helping a member move, but nothing was ready to go. So we got to help pack and then move. We were staying in the same trailer park and went to the new trailer where that family was still in the process of moving out. We got to help two people move out. We had 15 people there to help move. The branch president says thats a record! Normally 3 show up. We made a great impression on the family to the point where she turned to her friend and say "me voy a cambiar de iglesia" (I'm going to switch churches)

We had a great meeting with our branch president on saturday, he then taught the sunday school class and really threw down on missionary work. The branch is getting really excited about it. They came up with activities we could do and gave us times they can come out with us. Its really picking up!

 It is really hard to get members to lessons especially when our branch area covers the whole stake. We have lots of struggles missionaries that teach in english or teach in other countries don't have. They talk about people walking to church and blah blah blah, well the church is over 20 miles in one direction from some of the people we teach. There are fears of driving for legal reasons. People randomly get deported. We have lots of struggles, But we have been trying so hard to get members to our lessons. The support is really building and I  think very soon we will have the majority of our lessons with members. We need to do as our leaders tell us and thats what we were told.

Happy birthday Jack!!! I was not able to get a letter to you yet but i'm sending it today!! 

Sometime we get really cool surprises! We were teaching a family when their friend came over. She answered a lot of the questions and helped her friends understand what we were teaching. She knew so much. At the end of the lessons I asked her if she had met with the Elders before or how she knew so much. She told me that she was baptized in mexico four years ago!! This happens from time to time. They come here, can't find the church or find it and assume its in English so they feel like they can't go. Well she is excited to start coming to church and hopefully she will continue to help us teach her friends.

We are teaching a recent converts family. She is a single mother with 6 kids. She has three older boys who we commited to baptism in two weeks. They made the choice on their own. We are really excited for them. They saw the change it made in their mothers life and felt the spirit as they were taught. They are such a great family. They are ages 16 - just a couple months. There is a little girl that is only a couple moths younger the Kaydie jo. They are so fun to be around. Super funny kids! 

Really very short on time today! Yesterday we ate dinner at a member who is home schooling her son so she has been learning about learning styles. She had us take the learning style and disposition tests. I am a performer (shocker right) and I had one that was one point less that the performer was Thinking/creater they are pretty opposite from each other which is kinda odd. I am a Kinostetic learning with visual tendencies! haha it was a of fun hearning the profile and then trying to deny all the things you don't like about it hahaha. I also may or may not have ruined a 10 year old childs life. They were talking about music and Rollingstones so i said how horrible their music is and that Apostle rode with Mcjagger and the things he said about their music. Well turns out its his favorite band and now he can't listen to them anymore. I did him a favor in the long run the rolling stones only have a couple good songs anyways hahaha. He is very upset with me though ahahahah!! His mom was happy though and she's the one who cooks so I think i'll live.

Brenen good luck with try outs!!! How is everyone else doing? how did Guppy like soccer? I really miss summer, parades. Cook outs and the Cabin!! I would love to just have a little vaca right now!!

Love you all!!! Love Tanner

Peachtree

Well yep I got transferred. I'm here in Peachtree city it is super nice here!
Before I left a couple members threw me a little birthday party. Sticking to the Spanish tradition I was covered in cake. They love smasing cake on people. I took all their wind out from it though and smashed my own face in the cake before they could touch me!!!  

I have really enjoyed this area so far its a tiny branch but a really good one. Our area is the entire county so we have lots of work to do but we have along ways to go at times. We are teaching a ton of people. A lot of them are really cool. A couple of them scare me!!! Allow me to explain! We show up to this apartment as we are walking up my companion decides to give me a fair warning and tell me these guys are super gay. So I walk into the apartment and well he was making an understatement! Very very nice guys they really are nice they also said some very not appropriate comments to me. Obviously one of the things they bring up is Homosexuality in the church. So I was very direct. They want to come to church next sunday and want to keep taking the lessons but i explained to them the things they would have to drop if they wanted to be baptized in the church. They really respected it. But all the comments they kept making about me makes me not want to go back. If it were one it would not be so bad but there were 5 of them all talking about me!!! and I am pretty good at spanish and i know alot of slang and they are not saying good things at all! well enough said on that. 

Thank you all for the birthday wishes by the way. Annie I got your package it was fantastic. Mom got yours and Sierra got yours!!!!! Made coming to a new area a little easier haha.

Saturday night I was all relaxed and in bed and then the phone rings....... "Elder Charlesworth its President, can you speak in sacrament meeting tomorrow my speaker cancelled, Great thanks, have a good night.. oh you need to speak for 15-20 minutes, bye" SO yeah I had a couple hours before sacrament to prepare. It actually went really well. A member told me later at her house I have a good Spanish accent and that she was impressed with how well I knew Spanish then she told me a list of the words i messed up hahahahaha it actually was really neat. She is fluent in English and Spanish so she corrects us a lot and i really like it. I wanna get good.

Sorry this is so short. Out of time here. I would love to tell you more what happened this week but cant..

LOVE YOU ALL

Tanner

Time to pack

On P-day we went and played some sports. A little basketball, a little soccer. I totally dunked it. I'm getting my jump back!!!
 We did the usual Noche de Hogar with the M family. This time it was a little different. I tried playing a mormon messgages and it only had subtitles so i was like hmmmmm which one should i do then. I put on the one called "better things will come" by Elder Holland. Well by the end of the message almost everyone in the room was crying. The spirit came in blanket and covered the whole room. It was a very neat experience.
 
 On the 4th we had a lot of fun. We had a soccer tournament. I played way to many games it started getting way to hot. I scored a couple goals tho so that was cool. We had a blast a lot of people showed up.
 K and his wife invited us over for lunch and we had a lesson. K will be baptized in two weeks. We are really excited for him. He has really stepped out and come out of his shell its been a really cool transformation to watch like I mentioned last week. His friend G is really coming to like what we are teaching as well we have had some great lessons with them and now K has his own testimony and helps us testify to G.
 Another family in the ward that we have been working with called us over for Carne Asada!!!! Always a big treat. They made GIANT tacos. Its a dish from their state in Mexico i mean this taco is HUGE like large pizza crust folded in half filled with beans meat salsa and cheese!!! I wish I had a picture to show you it was awesome! We had to be in by six p.m. so we played some card games and then ordered pizza I even got to bed a little early it was so great!!!

 We finally met President Snow and his wife. We had a great meeting with them he has a lot of experience over 10 years as a full time missionary. He was only released last year as a 70. He has already made a lot of changes here and I like them. He changed the way we do numbers and the way we do transfers. I am being transferred to Spanish Fayetteville with a kid who was Elder Steele's companion in the MTC. Yep another young one. I don't think I will ever not be with someone who is new for the rest of my mission haha. I am really kinda sad I am being transferred. We have so much going on here and so much left to do. I got really close with the people we are teaching and the branch but this is the mission and its time to go somewhere else.
 Nayeli had a birthday so we were put in charge (the night before) to invite some people for a surprise party and make the cake. So we called some people made the cake showed up and Nayeli got there before everyone else did. She was still very surprised and really enjoyed it. We put trick candles on her cake and she had to blow them out at least 6 times haha.
 We went over to teach an Investigator that has been kinda skipping out on us the past couple weeks she finally let us in and after a really good lesson she said she needed to tell us something. She cleans houses as a living and was talking with one of the owners as she cleaned. The owner asked where she goes to church. She said now where right now but I'm listening to the "Mormons" in my home and I'm going to start going with them. The lady flipped out and started yelling at her and told her all these crazy things crazy things about "Mormons"  She said to throw away the book and that its all of the devil. So she was terrified she came home threw away the book and hid from us a couple days. Then her husband said what are you doing they are not bad. So she prayed and said she knew we were not bad. She lost two houses she cleans because she listens to the mormons but she says that she knows its true and wants to meet with us every week no matter what happens. She felt so bad she threw the Book away then said she had been reading it everyday in her free time and loved it. She said she needed to tell us this because she felt so bad about it. Some people are crazy! haha. So i said well here is your test, how do you feel when we teach you and when you read from the book and she said she feels so good and. I told her there is your answer if you feel good there is now way it could be bad. Satan can imitate a lot of the things God can do. Healings, miracles he can even appear as an angel. He cannot imitate the Holy Ghost and thats what tells us when something is good!

Glad you all had fun on the 4th I miss you all and miss all the family fun.

Love tanner

One Wild Week!

This was one wild week!!!! Just so you all know you don't understand what heat is!!!!! It was 108 here plus the humidity. Try tracting in that, just try walking outside your door in that haha.... we survived tho!!! You know its really bad when you knock on someones door and they ask if your okay and if you need water haha we got invited into a lot of homes, but of coarse there was never any men home so we could not enter!!!! We suffered in the heat on the porch!

 I went on exchanges with an Elder from Oregon Elder L he is from a town near Salem Oregon. He is the most talented artist I have even seen like seriously amazing he is going to go to school or animation or product design talents like that make me jealous I wish i could draw, sing, play piano like a champion but I have none of those talents haha oh well!!!..

We had a good time we went around and visited a lot of people Z made us dinner and it was fantastic then we stopped by a part member families house and had a blast we started teaching one of the none members and it went really well luckily she spoke English so elder L was not completely left out of there. We started to leave then ended up talking and laughing for another half hour some people are just so easy to get along with and have fun. Its nice when people are not so up tight.

 We have this amazing sister in the branch who cooks for us often. She a good cook but on a hot summer day Mole is not a food that you really want plus no matter how many times I eat it I just can't learn to love it. Its not bad but its just one of those foods that you don't ever ask for. Its a really think heavy sauce and chicken with rice. There are different types of Mole as well. Chile, Dule and Verde. Verde and Chile are the best but Dulce is made with chocolate and well its my least favorite. Bless her heart tho that sister does a lot for us. She works at a dry cleaners and well I'll be honest my suits were well beyond in need of a dry cleaning so she took them and did both of my suits and had them back and ready by Saturday so I could have one too wear to church.

 
 
We started visiting this family that is less active but her niece and nephew just moved here from Guatemala. They are one of the funnest families ever. Her niece turned 15 the day we stopped by. She does not have friends her yet and is so cool and awesome we had to do something. We left the lesson went and got some cupcakes and candles from the store we went back and surprised her then we did a fun game. Well she thought we were playing a fun game.
 You have 4 people stand in a line crouched down and close there eyes the back one stands up and claps once then everyone claps. The second one stands up and claps twice the third person is the birthday person and so they stand up and then you smash cake in their face!! Spanish people love to smash cake on you, Birthdays, goodbye parties etc.. they smash cake its just what they do! Then Her Aunt made us Tacos al Pastor with Tortillas de mano (hand made tortillas) it was soooo good!!!!! 

 One of our investigators has turned into a little missionary. She found and invited two people to church who are actually members that had recently moved here from other countries and had not been to church here so she called us and we got them rides. She invites someone to church every time she goes to the store or is out walking around she is not even baptized yet and is beating the members at their job haha. Her daughter just came out from California so we are starting to teach her as well/ We are jsut waiting to get her and her boyfriend married. We are praying for a miracle this week! She is ready just need the license!!!

 One of the best things ever is when an Investigator comes up and gives you a giant hug and asks how you're doing (it was a guy don't worry i didnt break a rule haha) He was so so so shy when we first met him. You could not hear him talk he would avoid questions well now about 3 weeks later he is coming up and saying hi to us, making jokes. Its amazing what it does when you show someone you care about them and how much the gospel can change someone. He even invited his friend and his friend is now taking lessons with us. He told us last night that he is going to be baptized but he wants to know more and be sure of what he does. His wife is a member who has recently become active again. They are actually married so we don't need to worry about that. Sad but true they are the first people that I have taught that are married! They are only like 23 so we get along really good and have a great balanced relationship during the lessons its business but after the lessons we can talk and have a good time. He is really funny and goofy and a super cool guy it just took a couple weeks the get him to open up its been a really neat thing to watch happen.

 You need to stop having so much fun you are making me jealous. Rodeos, camping fishing its just not fair hahahaha.
Kim glad you finally got a car mom is very happy im sure! she has been praying for you to find one so she didnt have to frove to logan so much ahahah. Oh mothers how great are they huh?

A little friend

I need to make this fast, sorry it will not be very long today.
 We had a good week as usual. It is going well here and we are staying busy. It has slowed down sightly so we are filling that extra time with finding more people to teach. 
 
I went on exchanges with the Vietnamese Elders in my district. As a District Leader I get the opportunity to go with an Elder in his area and his companion goes to my area and we spend the day like this. The Vietnamese Elders do not have areas like we do. They are able to go wherever there are Vietnamese since this is the only branch on this side of the United states. We did a lot of driving it was a lot of fun tho. We were going to knock the house of a potential investigator and I saw something scurry across the drive way at first glance I thought it was a GIANT bug, after closer examination I came to the conclusion that it was a Tiny Lizard with a really cool bright blue tail, So i grabbed an empty water bottle and we scoop it in after a couple of minutes of struggle haha I can only imagine what the neighbors in the pool across the street thought we were doing haha after a successful catch we knocked to door no one was home so we carried on our way. It is so hot here that I did not dare leave the little guy in the car or else he would have cooked and so I released him back into the wild where he was free to roam and eat ants as he pleased. We had a super good dinner where i got to use my chop stick skills, they kept trying to offer me a fork to eat with and I kept insisting i was fine! After dinner they said they were surprised an american like me could use chop sticks and just said it was easier than tortillas. I guess all that sushi Sierra and I would eat came in handy after all p.s. I miss sushi!!!

 Thursday we had a great dinner carne asada and pollo asada that Elder Steele and I helped cook on a charcoal grill. After some time as you can all imagine we smelled like a BBQ we ate the tacos and ran to our next appointment where I'm sure we made a great impression by our excellent smell, or at least just made them really hungry! 

 One of our Investigators had the task of moving all by her self while her husband is out of town working. So of coarse we offered out help. We went with her and got the UHAUL truck and then it was Elder Steele, Alex, and I charged with moving out all of the furniture ourselves. It was 95 plus humidity added with the extra heat that comes from working hard we almost cooked ourselves like the Lizard would have been so after some gaterade and a bag of well needed chips we went and picke dup two brand new giant beds and got to move those in as well! Doing service is always great and the exercise is well needed, these tortillas we eat everyday take there toll thats for sure! Imagine if you ate your fork with every bite. Yeah we don't really use silver wear  its all tortilla some times they give you a spoon (try cutting and eating meat with a spoon). We had a really good class that the missionaries taught in the third hour about rescuing the less actives. A English speaking woman came into the church to talk with our branch president seeking help not knowing it was Spanish. President Garcia asked me to translate for her. It is SOOO much easier to translate Spanish to English than it is to translate English to Spanish like I used to do in Cartersville each week. The members got really involved and had a lot to say and we made assignments of less active for companionships to go visit. We are really focusing on strengthening the branch and the members with our them we really cannot do a whole lot to be honest. Members are really the full time missionaries we are here for only two years and in each area for only a few months so after we leave who is left??? THE MEMBERS so remember that mom as you are teaching you gospel principles class, they couldn't do it with out you!
 
I am jealous you all went to the Rodeo I sure miss that a lot. Glad you all had a great time. Any results on Brenens tests???


 Love Tanner