Letter #53 . . . finding dumb ways to have fun!

Hey fam and friends! 

Thanks for the family update, and thanks for that package
mom, I loved it. Lots of people are complimenting on that red tie! 
We ate at a nice Chinese restaurant, so I guess you could say that's my 
hump day celebration. 

Sporting his new "hump day" tie!

  
There's been a huge warm streak going on here! We've been in the lower 70's randomly all week! I'm pumped for Missouri to start looking pretty again . . everything is yellow. It's flipping beautiful here when it's not yellow. I didn't realize how desert-y Utah is until I got here and saw SO MUCH GREEN!

Griffiths and I play basketball in the mornings every day. We've probably played a million games of "horse." Except we change the word we play with every time hahah. We both "own" like 20 different words. Recently we played "ouch" and "sore" because we could barely lift our arms to shoot because we were sore from working out. Missionaries have to find dumb ways to have fun OK, don't judge. 😂

All the lessons we have with our "teenage girl" investigators are in public, like at the college. That's the rule, just be in public with them haha. Taylor, our most progressing investigator has been sick last week.. so we will meet with her this week. We taught Jacinda at the college this week and is not really interested in progressing. We had an interesting conversation to say the least. Don't want to get into details, but let's just say she let us know she doesn't believe in just one God, and has the hots for the god Poseidon...? We walked around the campus a bit, and met two people that asked us a bunch of questions and want to meet in the future. Being on the campus made us realize we're not very excited for college. :)

Another "dumb" way to have fun! :)

I've been out one year, craziness. I thought I'd feel a lot cooler being out a year, but I don't. Haha I feel like the same old Tan. Am I supposed to have changed more at this point?! I guess I'm changing, but just don't realize it... My testimony of the Book of Mormon and my attitude toward being a part of this Gospel sticks out as something that's changed a lot out here. I know I say this every week, but I love that Book. It's more than a book . . it shows us how to be happy in this life, and shows us the Reason that's possible.


Much luv,

- Tan

PS. Trying to look cute with our middle parted hair 😂

Letter #52 . . . Hump Day Week!!

Fam bam!

Happy Birthday Spence! Hope you have a great day! You're getting bigger and bigger every time I see you, it's crazy. Yay momma, bout time you and paps got a little vacation together!! You should definitely get the most out of it and stay until Wednesday. :)

I'm sad I didn't get to see this date night! Park sent a little clip of it, looked like a fun Night! That's super awesome lots of friends showed up to it. I'll miss the next one too!? Britt was looking good in those dance pics! How's he liking the dances? I loved 'em.

So the 16 year old investigator I talked about last time who is super duper solid, is actually a different girl than our other 16 year old investigator haha. The one we've been meeting with recently is Taylor, who's super awesome. We had an amazing lesson with her on Wednesday. We went over the first part of the plan of Salvation and then talked about baptism. We read 2nd Nephi 31 and talked about baptism with her. She said she wants to be baptized but wants to be sure it's the right thing to do before she does. We invited her to seriously read the BOM with an open heart and pray to know if it's true. We showed her the Because Of Him video at the end, and she said she felt an overwhelming peace that she'd never felt, that suddenly made all of the things we were teaching her make sense. So Cool!! 

Tanner and Elder Griffiths

The other 16 year old one is Abby who I mentioned a few weeks ago that's the bishop's son's girlfriend. She's rarely in town so it's been tough to meet with her. We also are meeting with a girl named Cassie who's playing soccer at the college here, she's progressing pretty well!  We had dinner with her at the Bishop's house as well since she's a friend of their daughter. We showed that same Because of Him video, and her face lit up, and she said she was blown away. The spirit is working with her slowly! We're also working with another girl going to college here, named Jacinda. We've met with her a few times, but isn't really taking our commitment to read and pray about the Book of Mormon very seriously. She's just kinda curious about our religion. Hopefully she will read it! Haha so I guess everyone we're working with are girls around our age... That makes it fun haha. They're all solid, some more interested than others at the moment, but I could see them all joining the church eventually!

Well, I'm reading the Book of Mormon again, and I'm at Jacob 4! I love that book, and know that it's true!! Grandpa sent me a digital version of his book, learning to love the Book of Mormon, and I've been reading it a ton! Mostly all the extra articles he writes about the translation, plates, language of the book etc. Ive read most all of them. Man he is amazingly smart and spiritually in tune! Love him so much. 

Love you all, can't believe I've been out a Year! Time is flying. :) 

Tan  

PS I've been working out lots, and have gained almost 25 pounds, and am not as skinny, and appear less like I'm in a concentration camp. So that's a plus! :) 

Dressed in hump day stuff and . . .

Valentine's stuff!  You can see the extra pounds! :)

Letter #51 . . . Church is True, Book is Blue!

Hey fam and everybody! 

Missions are good. Life is good. Funny story . . We were at the church syncing up one day and had to go to the bathroom . . the men's was incredibly stinky. So, naturally we went to the girls and did our business... It's not as stinky in there. Thought nothing about it. As we were playing basketball at the church later on in the week, this really angry old lady in our ward came up to us (since I've been out I've noticed every ward has one), and said very confrontationally, "Can I ask you boys a serious question? Are either one of you transgender?!" We assured her that, to her surprise, we aren't, and actually have been males for most of our lives. :) "Then why in the world did I see you boys in the girl's bathroom a few days ago? I saw you walk past the window while I was sitting in my car outside..." She then let us know she let the counselor in the bishopric know. So yeah, now the whole ward is probably hearing rumors that we're transgender...#WelcomeToMaryville :)

We're finally starting to teach some solid people! We're teaching Jacinda and Cassie, who are going to the college up here, and Taylor who's a sophomore in high school. They're all former investigators that haven't had much time in the past for us, but now they're ready to take lessons! Not gonna lie, Cassie is super cute. Cutest girl I've talked to in a year hahaha. She's on the soccer team at the college, and is majoring in chemistry! Nicest chillest girl ever, she reminds me of Lauren! Her best friend is the bishop's daughter Tessa who now is married in Utah. Mom, go check out the Bishop and his wife on Facebook. Laureen and Christopher G. They're the coolest people I've ever met. Laureen reminds me of you, mama!
.
We had a lesson at the church with Taylor, she's a little younger, 16.
We taught the Restoration and she loved it. She's so solid, it's
unreal!!! In the past she's talked to her LDS friend Matt in our ward
about the church, and says she felt something very different than
she's ever felt. It's a huge testimony builder watching her progress. 

Transfers are this week, I hope I stay so I can continue teaching her.
She's a missionary's dream! She brought her violin to be strung and
tuned by Elder Griffiths, and she named out songs and I played them on
the piano! It was so fun just getting to know her and hanging out and
being friends with her. She says we are, "a lot more normal and cool
than she thought we'd be" hahaha yay. :)

Happy Birthday Joshie! Holy poop, I can't believe you're 12. Thanks for your emails dude, you make my day every time I get one. I love and read them over and over. I'm sorry I'm so bad at responding tho! Just know I will soon, and that I read and love them! Josh, Spence and Britt, I will respond to your letters soon. Y'all are the best. Jake I'm so sorry I was so bad at writing you when you were on your mission. I feel like an awful human being haha.
I'm reading the Book of Mormon again and I'm in 2nd Nephi 2 right now. I get so much more out of it every time I read it. I've noticed I'm so much happier when I'm consistently reading it. 
 
I've been studying a talk a ton called Prayer by Spencer W. Kimball. 
So much good stuff in there. Everyone of you NEED TO READ THAT. 
One of the cool things said... "A certain seminary teacher asked his 35 
youngsters the searching question, “Did your family have their prayer 
this morning?” Of the 35, two had had their prayers; 33 families had 
been too busy, too late, too hurried, or too disinterested. Why should 
we pray? Because we are the sons and daughters of our Heavenly 
Father, on whom we depend for everything we enjoy--our food and 
clothing, our health, our life itself, our sight and hearing, our voices, 
our locomotion, and even our brains. Do you not realize your 
dependence as you stand in perfect health with your opportunities? 
Do you think that they are of your providing? Do you give to yourself 
your breath, your life, your being? Can you lengthen your days by a 
single hour? Are you so strong without the gifts of heaven? Are your 
brains made by self, and did you fashion them? Can you give life or 
give it prolongation? Do you have power to do without your Lord? Yet I 
find that many fail to pray. We are commanded to do so by our all-
wise Heavenly Father: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of 
God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall 
be given him.”

Much luv, church is true, book is blue! Till next week!

- Tan