BYU!

Thanks Coach Dupaix!

Mom note- We were lucky to get a first hand report that Elder Charlesworth is doing fantastic. One of the BYU coaches,Bro Dupaix lives in our ward and was kind enough to take Tanner a package and snap a picture.I received this picture just a few mintues after it was taken. Yes it is a mom thing, but it made me so happy. Bro Dupaix reported that Tanner looks great.

The View from the top

Here are some pics from the game!!! I had a blast! 


BYU!!! So that was basically an awesome game. What's funny I'm sitting next to the mother of number 81 a receiver from Georgia Tech. They are planning a trip to the game next year and I told her I'm from Utah and so I'm helping her plan her trip. 

Elder Anderson and Tanner

 

Elder Heimuli,ward member and Tanner. Check out the Elder in the background
Is that appropriate missionary behavior

That game was great!!! BYU destroyed.
Other than the pick 6 and the kick off return The game was nearly flawless. I was very happy about it!!!  Still not impressed with Rylie Nelson!!! I mean come on! BYU has NFL grade receivers and an incredible running back and they can't even hardly use them! Oh well they won. Finally did something with the offense. The Defense only allowed 3 points which is pretty great! I had a great time. There were only a couple Mormon haters on the corners on our way to the game. Clearly they had no idea what they were talking about hahahha. It was so funny. We just smiled and walked away. I almost started laughing out lot because they did not do any research hahaha. But apparently Brigham Young is burning in hell, just so you're all aware....hahahhahaha

            This week was a good week. Kind of un-eventful other than the game. Clearly that was my highlight! 

We are coming to an end of the transfer and Elder Anderson only has two weeks left. Which means I get a new companion and oddly I'm not that excited about it. 

It was fun seeing some old mission buddies there at the game. A member from Chamblee was there with his wife so I sat by them for most the game it was great catching up! 

We have been teaching a lot of people. Even driving as far as 40 miles to teach some people. That's a long drive here in Georgia. They didn't plan the roads out at all here! hahaha. 

Things are going really good. Our Branch is growing in faith and they are really great!! Its been so fun to serve here for this time and I am looking forward to staying here! I get to stay here for at least one more transfer. I am excited about that. 

I love you all!! Brenen that is a great buck!!! I want to hear the story about it!!! 

Another Mom note. This is what Tanner was referring to. 

Brenen's first hunt. Brenen looks like a mini Tanner.

Short but sweet

Hey, Well this week was pretty fantastic. We were out busy all week. Visiting members of our zone just trying to figure out what questions they have and it was a really good time.

We had a couple really neat experiences this week that I will share.

Basically yesterday there were more people at church than I have ever seen before at our Branch!!! A family we are teaching, couple other investigators and some Less Actives came. We've been working really hard and leaving a blessing with everyone as representatives of Jesus Christ. There is a member who has a husband that was raised in an anti-Mormon church and has been hostile towards the church in the past. For some reason we have been able to get in good with him and he has been very nice to my companion and I. He showed up to church on Sunday with his wife and kids! That is against everything he has been taught his whole life. They literally teach anti-Mormon stuff to kids in Sunday school. He came and sat through the whole thing and then came up to us afterwards and happily chatted with us. I know this is a direct result from the blessing that we left in their home a  couple weeks ago. We asked him to come down and join us in the prayer before we left and to our surprise he did. We blessed him, his family and his home. Well he is now coming to church and being much more open about letting his wife and kids participate. Just a month ago they almost split up just because of the religion conflict. 

A member from our Branch Presidency told us about a problem he was having learning the new system they are using at the warehouse he works in. He said no matter how hard he tried he could not figure it out. His boss was starting to get upset about it cause its been over a month and he could not figure it out. So at the end of the lesson with him we said a prayer and blessed him. He told us on Saturday that it was like a switched turned on he walked into work and just did everything perfect. His boss even told the higher bosses that he is doing really well! He was so thrilled and said that God blesses his children.

We had a few more experienced like this. We are seeing more and more and the Branch keeps getting bigger. We are teaching a couple families and some other people and its just going great!!! 

Looking forward to the BYU game this Saturday. It should be a great time. I just hope they can pull something together this weekend and not muff it up!

Good luck on the hunts! Get a big one everyone!!!

Love Tanner

This week was a good one it went by very fast! Seems like the weeks keep going by faster. My companion now only has 4 weeks left in his mission which is hard to believe cause when he came here it was 12 weeks. Time is going way too fast. At times it sure is nice though.

 We have been working with a guy named J he goes by the nick name "chu-chin" he lives with the relief society president he is her Godson (big catholic thing) He has taken the lessons before but was just not interested at all. Well recently we have been teaching him and inviting him to do things. He has been doing them. He has been coming to church and even watched conference on his own. Hermana Medorio told us to extend a baptismal date and see what happens. So we did. We had a great lesson and invited him to be baptized probably like 7 times...allow me to explain. He kept saying how true he knows the church is and that he has no doubt that he will be baptized one day and that this is the true church its where he knows he needs to be etc... but he understands the commitment involved with being baptized and he kept saying how he does not want to get baptized and then mess up.So we'd teach something... he's respond well and so we'd invite him again...and again and again. So then we just talked and tried to get his concerns out. We found out later that he is scared we will not be able to quit smoking or drinking. He has agreed to us teaching him all the lessons again and we will teach him 3 times a week. He is coming to church by himself and actually really helps us out in our gospel principles class. He answers questions and yesterday we had a new couple there for the first time he helped answer their questions. Its only a matter of time until his faith is strong enough to come closer to Christ. he is on the right path.

Tuesday night we had an appointment with the Stake High Councilman over missionary work and his family. We talked about some things. Their own personal work of salvation efforts and after some discussion. Their concerns and feelings We all got on our knees and I blessed them with the things and the opportunities to accomplish the goals they had to invite their friends. Well we got a call Wednesday morning from Brother Griffiths( he loves stars wars by the way and is a pilot instructor) he said he had an experience he wanted to share with us. He told us that after the blessing we left with them that he prayed that night and then the next morning before entering work that God would put someone new in his way that he could share the Gospel with. He said one hour later one of his employees  walked into his office with a restoration dvd and a Book of Mormon in hand and asked if she could talk to him about it. She had a lot of questions and she got the Book of Mormon and DVD from someone else that he had invited to a fireside about a year ago. He said Elders prayer works!!! They are a great family and a huge example to the saints in the area here. They are always inviting people. More than most families do and they are so concerned and care so much for opportunities to do so. Even their teenage kids invite friends all the time. They are so great. Its been such a privilege to work with him.

Friday night we had day of nations of Dia de las Naciones. All the members make food and put on display stuff from their home country and some preform dances. It was a blast. There was over 200 people who came. Great turn out and a lot of fun! I enjoyed eating all the food the most. Where else can you get empanadas form Argentina  chicken from Colombia with coconut rice, and horchata from Mexico all at the same time???... I don't think my stomach could have been happier It was so great. I ate way too much and loved every bite of it!!!! I'll send pictures soon. Forgot my camera today. It was a great time.

F asked us if we could go watch his cross country meet so we drove out there to cheer him on. His family was not able to make it so good thing we went. We had many funny looks and many people came up to us "hey, Elders i'm a mormon, I go to this ward etc." there were about 80 schools there for this race it was a big one put on by Asics company there was one member who happens to be a coach and came over with some of her team to talk with us. After wards we heard their conversation. The girls were all asking what we were and why we dressed like this so she explained and then told them about her mormon.org profile and shared some Gospel things. Its interesting how God puts us where we need to be. We really do need to go where the people are. That's why I'm so excited for the BYU vs. GT game we were going to get a lot of people asking about us!

Sunday Elder Anderson and I were lucky and got to speak in sacrament meeting. I spoke on power in the Scriptures and then ended earlier so he could speak longer since its probably his last time speaking before he goes home. The Branch President then said some very nice things about us. He basically said that they forget most missionaries that pass through but that we make a difference there and well I wont go into detail but it was really nice and then he came up to us after the meeting and said that he meant everything he said. Its just good to know that we are making a difference!

GOOD LUCK on all the hunts go get a big one.

Love Tanner

Old Gray Van flashback's

Well I really am pulling a blank on this week. Lets see if I can remember any of it.

We had meet the President on Thursday with the  Atlanta Zones and our zone. So we all met up at the mission office to take the trip up to Atlanta (about 30 miles) we were told to use the large mission van (felt like I was back at home in the big gray van) So of coarse I was asked to drive that big ol' thing. I don't know how grandpa could handle an RV here in Atlanta. So with 14 missionaries behind me and two other cars following we headed up to Atalanta. No  accidents or anything exciting happened on this trip. Just some laughing and good conversation. We had to drive all the way down to Griffin (30 miles below Peachtree) to drop off the elders there and then drive another 40 miles to the north east to make it for our dinner appointment, pick up the food, teach a short lesson and then drive 20 miles east to Peachtree City to make in time to teach our English class and then the Stake presidency meeting. 
The Class was great we had a couple people show up and then A stayed for a lesson and church tour afterwards. He started talking at the end of the lesson as we were sitting in the chapel. He kept making it sound like he was confused and didn't know what to do we were all getting confused at that point wondering what was going on he had always liked what we taught, seemed excited for his baptism. Well he brought it back around and made his point, and then talked about how he was inviting all his family to his baptism even though they give him a hard time for joining the church and listening to us. He is a great guy and we are excited for November 3. He came to General conference and really enjoyed it. 
 The rest of the week was pretty normal. We, like I have mentioned earlier, have been asked to bless all those that we meet with the Peace of Christ and I will tell you this....It works miracles almost everyday its been such a change here in the mission in only a couple weeks,A few days for most the missionaries. As Zone Leaders we are trying to train it and teach and show and help and guide the other missionaries so they can understand why we do it, what we do and how to do it. Its been a challenge somewhat at times because some missionaries just don't seem to get it or think they get it but don't. Its to be expected since it is a new finding tool and  new things for us here in general. I certainly have seen a difference in myself and how we act. The whole purpose behind it is to use the authority we have as representatives of Jesus Christ and bless those we contact or teach or see with his peace anything else we feel that they need. We are removing the road blocks from their lives with the authority that we carry. Truly coming to understand who we are and what we are supposed to do. Think back to the Pearl of Great Price and how Moses changed when he understood that he was created by God and was His child. If you really know who you are so many struggles in your life will go away. Just like if you know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, The Book of Mormon is true and that Jesus is the Christ and through Him we are saved you know that our church is true and that any other doubts or concerns don't matter because they other things are true so we know our concerns are going to be taken care of. If we know who we are and where we come from our life just got a lot easier, not easy, easier!


Sorry this is so short its been a great week and have had some great experiences. Jack good job and the Pronghorn I want pictures and the story.

Love you all

Love Tanner

Fantastic

Hello everyone, This week was Fantastic!!! Our new Mission President arrived and we got to meet him Monday night just Elder Anderson and I went over and talked for awhile about the mission. His plans and Ideas and some recent experiences it was great. The week went on a we continued to see Miracles with B. She is staying strong regardless of the rough life she has been thrown into right now. Living the Gospel really does make life easier, well not easier but you are more able to bear it. We were outside teaching her because there was no man home and we had a wonderful lesson. We ask some questions then literally sat in silence for 3 minutes with out saying anything. Then we asked her what her next step was. What she felt it was. She said that she felt she needed to share what she was learning with others. Then we talked about the responsibility of members and that you need to testify and share and help everyone. We then asked her if she would follow Christs example and be baptized by someone with the proper authority. She paused, thought and then said yes I can do that now. She has been taught for more than a year and she keeps coming to a wall and won't go farther. Well Miracles happen. She has literally changed in a matter of days. When I met her about 3 months ago she straight up told me. "there is no way I can believe that there is a prophet on the earth today" well She asked what she needed to do to be baptized so we read the interview questions. When asked if she believed that Joseph Smith restored Christs church and that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet today. She said that at first she really had trouble with that but that now she really felt that it was true and that God has sent us a prophet. Don't ever give on a people. God con change them. We can't do it. We can help influence them but we can't change them.

   More miracles happened. A the guy we are teaching who is basically an indentured servant who can't get a Sunday off to go to church called us up Saturday and said hey Elders I'm off today and tomorrow come over here and teach me and get me to church on Sunday I want to go so bad, Please can you get me to church. Turns out the place he works is remodeling and was closed Sunday so he was able to come to church and He loved it!!!!! He is now looking for a new job and asked the members in Priesthood meeting to help him out so he can come every Sunday. The only reason he is not baptized is because he couldn't be active in his current way of living he has been begging us for months to help him so he can be baptized. He is one step closer now! He was even fasting with us yesterday.

 We meet with the Stake Presidency each Thursday for the Stake Presidency meeting and give them a report on the Zone. Its interesting how humble these men are. Here we are two 21 year old missionaries and they are asking us what to do and for help. We spoke about some investigators in our zone and the numbers from the past six months that we had on plot graphs and you really can see a huge difference in the past few months everything is shooting up. After some discussion we were about to leave and I just was not going to let this moment slide by without inviting them to do something. As missionaries we invite all people to do things, to make and keep commitments to help grow their faith in Christ. So I told them "as missionaries, as you know it is our job to invite people to do things" they all kinda groaned jokingly because they knew that they now had to do something hahahaha (you know how high priest are!!!, haha grandpa lake that joke was for you) We invited them to find someone to be taught in their homes by the time we meet next. We committed them and there were a couple of faithless complaints. As in " i don't know anyone to invite" We promised them that if they prayed they would be led. The Stake President who is such a wonderful man said "its all a matter of faith" and then he recommitted his counselors to do it. 

Friday we were able to go to the Temple with President Harding for a Zone leader council it was fantastic!!! Private session with just us and a couple people getting their own endowments. We met before hand in a room and discussed some things. We heard from the Temple President and then President Harding. We had a wonderful experience it was a so needed Spiritual lift. President Harding is really trying to help us understand our calling and authority as missionaries. He has challenged us to bless each person we meet with that authority and we really have seen miracles come from it. By chance Elder Anderson and I had had some experiences doing that the week before and now that we are getting encouraged to do it we know why and have jumped right on board. 

Good luck on the hunts!!! Everything is going great here I'm loving it. I expect pictures and stories

Go BYU

Life Is good!

Love tanner