Merry Skyping

There was no email this week because Elder Charlesworth was able to Skype with his family for an hour.

It was great talking/seeing him. We loved seeing his face light up when he starting talking about the people he has been interacting with. Sis Harding told me that there are several  "Atlanta White Christmas'"  planned for the next couple of weeks. 

Even in Utah

I don't feel like writing very much today. This week was insane (as usual) and I am very, very tired!!! 

President was so busy with two zone conferences that he asked us to drive a missionary to the airport and send him on his way home (medical reasons) That Atlanta airport is so big!

We have been helping a couple people get ready for their baptisms this week. M is such an incredible lady. We stopped by to check up on her and she was like oh good so glad you came by, I've needed to talk to you. Like I said before she was hoping her son who is a member could come up from Mexico for this. He has no idea that she has been meeting with us and wanted to surprise him. I can fell that she is truly converted. She was telling us how she prayed and has just felt so much peace about being baptized whether he son is here or not i know on that day i need to be baptized. She is so solid and reads daily, loves everything about the church and already feels like she is a member.

 You can always tell when someone prays about something. Prayer is so powerful. The V's family only hold up is that they are not married, and he does not believe in marriage. She was married before in Mexico and is not divorced. We invited them to read proclamation to the world and then counsel together and then pray about what they should do. We went over on Saturday and their concern now is what is will take to get her divorced. They have it worked out so they can go to church every other week now because of his work and they continue to pray and read daily. They are such a neat family and the 3 little boys even come sit in with us each time. Taking members with us has also made a HUGE difference. Missionary will not retain unless members are involved in the conversion of a person. Remember that, even in Utah. Look around you, how many people have fallen away or are just waiting for someone to tell them about the church. One person we are teaching right now who will be baptized next week lived in Utah, went to temple square and no one ever told her about the church. Well she found us one day a few months ago when I was last here and now she is being baptized cause a friend of hers kept inviting her to church after all this time.

A missionary friend I have in New York right now sent me a really cool story. They are serving in downtown which covers the temple. They started talking with the guard outside and turns out he is from Africa and has been reading the Book of Mormon on his own but no one has ever told him about it, or how he can join or anything, well they did, and  now he is being baptized! Not even temple workers stopped to talk to him and invite him to church. They are all around us!!!!

Brenen I love you and I pray the surgery goes well.(Brenen had brain surgery trying to get his seizures to stop) .Good job on those wins!!! (wrestling) you'll get them all next year!!1 Love you buddy. I love the tiger you sent me, it looks great!

Love you all, happy holidays

or in the words of Ronald Wesley "Happy Christmas Harry"

Love Tanner

Crazy tired

P-Day! Elder C,Pres G, Elder S, Elder B and Elder M

This week was a whirlwind!!! So crazy!!! Some days I really wish that I was not a Zone Leader. These past few months just take a toll on you hahaha. I do enjoy it for the most part but when Elders keep fighting and then you have you have to do an emergency exchange,and have a companion for 2 days that does not speak Spanish and then wait for all the stuff to get done for an emergency transfer oh boy, I am worn out! Good news is though I'm not nearly as sick as I have been the past 4 weeks. We have so many people to teach and it was a still a really good week!

M is an investigator that I taught last time I was here and refused to commit to baptism finally accepted a date!!! She is such a neat lady. She finally feels like she can commit her self to it. She reads like everyday and has since we first invited her to. She does not enjoy going to church only because it is not as reverent as she feels the true church should be (the branch here has some problems with that I'm not going to lie) She decided that she knows its true and needs to go no matter what. 

 We found C again..She was someone that got lost since I was last here. After I left the area they split it up and divided the 3 spanish areas in the branch into 2 spanish areas. She some how was never visited after I left and fell through the cracks. Well I told Elder Baugh that she was ready when I was here at that was like 7 months ago. We knocked on her door and she was so excited we came. She said she had been waiting for us to come back. We taught her the Restoration again and committed her to a date early in January. She is so happy to be learning again. Its been so cool to come back here and see all these people again. She is so ready. She has prayed and knows its true. She's been waiting for missionaries to come back since I left. 

The V family is a neat family. I think I've mentioned them before. They are doing so great! They read everyday and he wants us to get the kids all involved and teach them. They all accepted a date for early in January and then came to church tomorrow and all three boys loved it!  
We have been having tons of success and have 3 baptism to prepare for in the next 2 weeks and a few for the first week in January. The crazy thing is I have no idea how we get all this stuff done and teach all these people and still take care of all the Zone Leader stuff like meetings and running stuff and taking care of problems. The Lords blesses us and we spend every second of our time doing something. I'm so tired by the end of the day its been taking a toll. But its a good kind of tired! The kind that makes you feel like I did something good today! Its been so great to see all of these people learn, progress and grow and enjoy the Gospel. Its been worth every tired moment (which now days is like every moment of the day) Time is flying by! Everything is all around great! :)

Bless your heart

Where's Elder C? Picture courtesy of Elder Gautavai's mom

This was a CRAZY week. We had lots of zone leader stuff going on. We were on exchanges and had those interrupted because we had to do an emergency exchange because two elders in our zone got in a fight and separated so we had to find them and split them up for the day. It was just all around kinda funny though. My companion called me ( I was in another area) and said hey two elders just split up...what do we do??.. Bless his heart, he has not even been out a year yet, first transfer as zone leader and he is doing a great job at it. I said well elder....we are going to go find them and then take care of it. All worked out well and the two are back together and happy.

We had Elder Corbridge of the 70s come and talk with us on Friday which was really great. He taught us many great things and I had a great time in the 7 hour meeting..... dang was I tired though hahahaha.

Sunday was probably the best day though. A got baptized(i'll send pics later) and then right before that G (a recent convert of mine) grabbed me with a hug full of excitement and asked me to give him the priesthood and ordain him a priest. That was one of the most spiritual experiences on my mission. First off just that fact that I was able to come back to this area and still be apart of his progression, second the Spirit that I felt during to blessing was so powerful. He is such a great example to me. He studies his scriptures. He loves to serve and he was SOOO excited to get the priesthood. He also grabbed me after the baptism and asked if it would be okay if he brought some friends of his to church the next week so we could teach them. I said yes G that would be just fine hahahaha. Such a great guy. 

A's baptism went great! There were a ton of people there and everyone enjoyed it. 

We are teaching a lot of great people who are reading and doing what they need to do. We can hardly keep up with all the people we have to teach and are working really hard on getting everything more organized so we can do more with our time... and we plan a lot as it is. We just need to figure something else out so we can get in everyone that we want to. 

I hope that everything is going good for you all. Brenen keep it up in wrestling!! I want to see some pics of that soon. Guppy thanks for your letter, I will write you back soon!!!

Hope all is well.

3 dinners

So this week was pretty crazy! I'd have to say the most crazy part was the 3 Thanksgiving dinners we ate and how full I was and how bad I slept because of it! The food was great though!

 We have been working with a family that has recently been reactivated and there is a 13 year old girl named A. When I got here I realized she was not baptized so I turned to my companion and said lets get on that. She comes to church every week why is she not been invited to be baptized yet, I don't know. So we grabbed her at church and said A, you want to be baptized right? She said YES! so we said okay we are going to start teaching you. She will be baptized this Saturday and she is very excited a long with her mom. 

We are working with a lot of fantastic families and people right now. One them is named M she is Guatemalan but spent a lot of her life in Mexico where she has two kids that are members. She really wanted to have her son her to see her be baptized but have had troubles getting a visa in the past. So she was going to wait. We had an incredible lesson with her. We talked about acting in faith and leaving the rest to the lord. We concluded that if her son was supposed to be here and she did every thing in her power to get him here then by the 22 of December he would be here if it was the will of the Lord. She is so devoted and such a great lady. He son has no idea she has even been taking the lessons from us and especially that she is going to be baptized. The Elders went by her house for years in Mexico.

 E is also a great man we are working with. He has history with some of the members here and lives with the M Family. He really wants to be baptized and is trying so hard to make the changes in his life that he feels he needs to do. He wants to be baptized on the 24th (Mexico Christmas) So we are preparing him for that day. On top of these three people we are teaching some great and amazing people that are really trying to find the truth.The Lord truly is hastening his work here and around the world! 

Its great to be back here in Chamblee Branch things are just moving along great!!! 

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!! Sure do miss those family parties. No one does Thanksgiving like the Dukes! 

Love Tanner

Transfer Surprise

Elder's are so easily entertained

Sooooo....remember how I thought that I was going English? Well they pulled a big one on me and they kept me Spanish. I thought for sure i was going english because they told me that I was staying zone leader and being transferred. Well turns out they turned my old area Stone Mountain into a zone leader area and sent me back and now i have a new companion who i get to train to be a zone leader. Yep I'm back in the Chamblee Branch for the THIRD time hahahaha. I'm not complaining though I love it here. I really do miss the Shenandoah branch though. I loved it there.

Watch your head Elder Charlesworth

Family from the Shenandoah Branch

 It was a great welcome here though. On Thursday we went over to someone I had taught and got baptized right after I left and was not able to come back. She now lives with Alex and another member that we helped activate when I was there last. They are doing so great!!! They do "family prayer" together every night. Read together and do Family home evening each week. We also met up with someone else that I found last time I was here. He was baptized shortly after I left as well. He came out of his car and gave me big hug. He is so legit. He showed up to our lesson with his white shirt and tie on and his scriptures. He got baptized only like three months ago! What a stud! We went and taught someone else that I found  last time I was here. Her name is Marta she is the one with twin girls. When she opened the door she did a double take and her little girls came running out to greet me. She told me she was very happy that I was back and then as we sat down she told me she wants to be baptized!!! We were having a great lesson when suddenly this man walked in and ruined it by trying to argue with us just for the sake of arguing. It was cool though cause Marta stood up for what we had been teaching her and basically told the guy he was wrong and that she believed what we taught her and what he said didnt matter to her. She later also texted us and apologized for him. No big deal... that happens all the time. Its really hard for me to hold back and not tear into them with the bible. I've been really good and keeping my cool, smiling and telling them to read and pray about it. Dang thats hard sometimes its so easy to prove them wrong, with the same bible they are trying to use against us I can prove it all to them...But that really does not go any where does it? If they don't have a witness from the Spirit it means nothing and does no good for them. The Spirit really is the most important part in missionary work

 This week must have been a test of my patience when someone tries arguing. We were teaching a family when there came a knock at the door. 3 people came in, one came over and set his Bible on the table for us to see....yep he was a pastor from another church and two other people. He asked the typical thing that most of them do. "tell me about Joseph Smith" then did the typical thing and interrupted me half way through. He was trying so hard to pick a fight. I nearly lost it on him. He quoted scripture after scripture and said nothing to do with what what he was trying to prove. So I just bore my testimony about the church and the priesthood authority and told him to pray about it. (he's Evangelical, they think the holy ghost is the same thing as authority) and then I asked to bless them with a prayer and we left. Well no real damage was done by them thank goodness cause we saw that family last night and they welcomed us in and the wife was actually more open than she was before. We were expecting the worst and got much better haha.

 

 Church was great! It was full, everyone was so friendly and nice and welcoming me back. One of the coolest things in the world though is when your recent convert comes up and gives you the biggest hug ever. Kenny a guy that got baptized 3 days after i left the area and literally cried when I left saw me as he was walking in late and stopped dead in the aisle and stared at me for a good 30 seconds. Afterwards he came up and wrapped his arms around me. He is looking so good! He shaved his nasty little chin scruff and was in a white shirt and tie. Such a cool sight. Sitting there next to his wife and new baby. I have been blessed to just see a couple fruits of my labors and it made every thing worth it. As sad as I was to leave my last area this made it all worth it. To see the change that the Gospel has in the lives of people is so worth every hard day. A day like yesterday is more powerful than even 2 weeks of the worst days ever! Clearly I have been sent back here for a reason, and with the little time I have left I need to figure out what that is!

 

Have a great Thanksgiving. I love you all

 

Love Tanner

Busy is good

This was a great week! BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!!....We were only in our area for like 2 of the 7 days. 

We went on exchanges with some Elders down in Thomaston, its about 65 miles away from us. I went with one of our District Leaders down there and it went so well!!!!

I had to go do two baptismal interviews for them and on our way we stopped by a mormon.org referral. We had one of the most amazing lessons I have ever been in. This email will not do any justice to the experience and the Spirit that was felt there! He is an older man who is a Deacon in his church and said he was comfortable and he had accepted Jesus as his personal savior so at first we thought oh he just wants to talk the bible. We continued to talk with him and did whats called beginning teaching basically it is just setting expectations of what we do as missionaries. After he responded well to all that we said we prayed and began to teach him the restoration. He pull out his bible (one of 9 he has around the house so he can read whenever he feels the urge) and his note book and took notes. We taught about the apostasy and how Christ's church fell and he loved it, it made so much sense to him. We then went through the Joseph Smith story. After the first vision and the Spirit was burning inside his home he said "confirmation" so I invited him to be baptized by someone who holds the authority of god and he said "amen" we continued to teach and introduced the Book of Mormon and he said " I read about that on mormon.org and I'm anxious to begin reading it" he committed to read it daily. I then invited him to be baptized on the 24th of November, He accepted and asked how often the elders should come by to get him ready. We said at least 2 times a week if not more and he said come everyday if you want I'm retired and i'm ready to learn. He asked about where the church was and said that every time he drove by he felt his heart turn towards it like it was calling him. We blessed him and his home with a prayer and left him with tears in his eyes. It was an amazing experience!

The Lord is preparing his children for the gospel. I can promise you that!!!

The next day was not near as good. I took off with the same Elder on bike and we started tracting when we got a call that was very broken up. Elder........car.......broken bumper..... cross streets.... hurry.... so we took off on our bikes and made it to our companions about two miles away who had just been t-boned. Not exactly the news you want to get. No one was hurt the car was wrecked pretty bad but no injuries not even whip lash! Good thing they are elders hahaha.

we got it towed and a very nice senior couple came and got us fromThomaston. Which is in the middle of no where with no cell service hahaha. 

The next day we did a Zone Training meeting it went great! President and the AP's came. Elder Anderson and I tried to direct a lot of conversations and communications and get everyone involved by using the church's new teaching program which is using smaller sub groups to discuss things and then have a spokes person talk about the findings. It went really well we all enjoyed it! 

Saturday we had a baptism!!! R was baptized and he was so excited all week he keeps telling us can't Saturday get here already!! This week is so long, i'm so ready for this! A lot of the branch showed up and it went great. Elder Anderson Baptized him and I confirmed him in sacrament meeting the next day! He is so solid and such a good guy. He was interviewed to get the priesthood next week and is studying and loving what he is learning. 

May the Force be with you- The Griffiths family

Saying goodbye to this branch has been hard. This is probably my favorite area. Things really got going here we have two baptisms set up in two weeks and many others who are very close. The Branch has been giving us their friends to teach and helping us out a lot. When I told the Branch President I was leaving even though Elder Anderson is going home he said he's calling the mission president hahaha. We told the high council man over missionary work in the stake Brother Griffiths about it  and he said the same thing. He invited us over for dinner last night. They are such a good family. They are both from Oregon and know the Ainges  actually. They love Star Wars so we had light saber battles. They are such an impressive family I was so glad we got to work with so many stake leaders as Zone Leaders, we got a lot more opportunities to meet so many other people than we other wise would not have. They are one of those families that just gets it, they live and share the gospel.

This Branch is so great and now I have to move on to other places,in English, which will be a big change. They won't tell me where I'm going all they said is I'm staying Zone Leader and need to go take care of some things. I am really sad but looking towards new opportunities that the Lord has for me.

I love and miss you all!

Something about that southern food.

love Tanner