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!
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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

Letter #50 . . . . . the work is picking up here in Maryville! (Adam-ondi-Ahman)

Hey fam and everybody!! 

Hope life is good!

Adam-ondi-Ahman

Highlights of the week . . . we had Interviews with President, then went to Adam Ondi Ahman! We had a worldwide missionary Broadcast and some of the Twelve taught us how to be better missionaries, and they changed some of the missionary morning schedule to help us be more effective. :) I love those men. They're flippen awesome.

I went on an exchange with my first companion, Elder Amosa! We sang lots of songs and found an awesome new investigator in our area named Taylor! She is 16 and is the friend of one of the youth in our ward. She was so happy to see us. She said she has been waiting for us to come back because she wants to take the discussions!! The work is picking up here in Maryville!
 

I miss the fam! Spence is just like me, I was his same size at his age.The boys look like they're getting big! Josh, that vid mom sent of you driving in with your left hand and laying it up is insane!! I never got THAT good!! I've showed a ton of missionaries that vid... 


I've started reading the Book of Mormon again, and I am amazed every single time I read some of it. That book is true, and I'm so thankful to have it. It brings me so much peace.


Love you all,
- Tan

Letter #49 . . . bacon and eggs for every meal?!

Hey fam!

Life is good out here in Maryville. We're visiting a lot of less actives and we just heard our ward is like 70% inactive. We're trying our best to bring some people back to church! 

Yesterday we played "Come Thou Fount" in Sacrament . . Me on piano, Griffiths on cello! It was super awesome. I'll try to send you a recording of it! Here is the link . . click here!

Griffiths is a pal. He's so dang funny. We get along super great.

Other stuff this week . . . we talked to some people in the Amish
community. We have one of the few all Amish little towns in the US in
our ward boundaries! Click here to see Amish sighting

We had bacon and eggs like 4 times this week at member's homes
because there was some rumor that got out that that's all we like.....?
Haha I'm fine with it.

District meeting

We volunteer at the ministry center a few times a week. It's like a little thrift/grocery store for struggling families. We met some really nice old people from a bunch of different churches and they were super nice and all would gather around us asking questions about our missions. It was so interesting and impressive to them that missionaries drop everything for two years and serve the Lord! It was a cool experience.

Griffiths got 2 baseball mitts, so we play catch for exercise in the mornings! It's been fun, I miss baseball! Griffiths is playing pitcher at Dixie when he gets home.

I've been reading a lot about the life of Gordon B. Hinckley. He's one
amazing dude, I've learned I need to be more positive and focus on
the virtue and good in people, and not the flaws and imperfections.

Much luv,

Tan

Letter #48 . . . it's as cold as the Grinch's heart!

Hey fam bam and everybody! 
 
Why yes, it is cold as the Grinch's heart out here in Missouri. 
Church was cancelled in our stake more than 24 hours earlier
because of the nasty forecast that said there was going to be super
bad freezing rain. I've never heard a storm more hyped up than this
one, everyone is talking about it! 

A little basketball on p-day! (video at the bottom of post)

We've been in contact with Abi, the girlfriend of the bishop's son. She wants to learn more but lives so far away . . it's been tough. Especially because the weather has been rough.. So we're hoping things will work out and we'll be able to teach her! 

We've been working with less actives a lot. Like 60% of the ward is less active. There's a lot of nice people we've gotten to meet. We drove a little over an hour to the very tip of our area, like the VERY top left of Missouri, to a little town called Rockport, with a few hundred people in it! It borders Nebraska and Iowa!! There are some less actives over there we were able to visit who hadn't had a visit from anyone from the church for 15+ years.... :/ you'd think a ward this small would have an easier time reaching out to everyone. But when only 3 percent of the ward home teaches, it makes it a little interesting!

That's fun you got to go out with the missionaries momma! I wish I
would've went out more with the Elders! Too bad I tried to avoid them
like the plague.. Now as a missionary, I know what it feels like... :)
Britt, you seem like quite the catch these days! Lemme know how those
dances go. Write me beebs, I'd love to hear from you personally again!
I wanna hear the deets of this bowling team, and who you're hanging
with these days, and who you're liking and all that jazz. Hahaha
that's the sweetest thing ever you guys started a bowling team, lemme
know if you beat my high score 146. :)

Heyyyy we got a cello that we're borrowing. Griffiths and I are going
to play Come Thou Fount in Sacrament this week! It's been fun jamming
with him, he's pretty good!! I surprisingly don't play the piano we
have in our apartment all that much, but it's still so nice being able
to have that as an outlet when I need it. I've also been getting back
in to drawing. I've been drawing a lion on my iPad that's pretty
sweet. I'll send it when I'm Done!

Grams passed away exactly a year ago? Wow, I miss her lots. I think 
about her all the time, especially when I listen to Sleeping at Last! I bet
she's loving it up there in heaven! :)

Much luv,

Tan

PS. Claire is such a cutie. She keeps getting cuter and cuter!! My
comp loves watching videos of her too. Send more more more!

Elder Griffiths after making a full court shot! 

PSS. Here is a video of us on p-day playing basketball at a rec center . .  
click this link: Two Dunks! :)

Letter #47 . . . saved millions, town heroes now! :)

Hey fam bam!

Playin' the Banjitar!

Sounds like the weather's pretty nasty over there! We've had a few snowstorms, but I'm keepin' pretty warm tho, except for the day it gone down to -12! We have a full time car. Our area is the biggest in the entire mission. It takes 2 hours to drive from one end of our area to the other!! We out in the middle of nowhere hahaha. I like it tho. Our ward is struggling. They had like 8 super solid families move to Utah. So now there is an increase of not-so-solid people filling in all the callings. :/ But it's fun being in such a small ward!

Some highlights of the week: our bishop's son brought his girlfriend to church, she's 16 and is super nice! She loved church and loves being there! The Bishop's wife invited us over to their house for cookies that night, and she was there. We are going to start teaching her the lessons! So excited! Other cool thangs.. I just barely had some way yummy Filipino food at a member's house, and I got to play a Banjitar (banjo/guitar) at another members house who is the lead singer in a country band (pictures below!) It's been sweet. I've 
been able to play a lot of piano and stuff for members. Makes things fun! 
Yesterday I played "Everything" by Michael Buble at the request of 
Bishop's wife. She thought it was awesome! They are seriously the 
coolest family. Mom, go Facebook stalk 'em . . . Chris and Laureen G.! 
They just visited family in Draper I think. 
 
Oh also, yesterday we called 911 to report a forest fire. Because of our quick 
thinking and pure bravery, we were able to save the lives of millions. We're basically town heroes now.  Lol nah just playin'! It was a tiny fire. Didn't hurt a fly. #stillheroestho

Looks like Utah!  Maryville, Missouri

Man I miss J-jazz! Enjoy it while you can bros! Send me your highlight mix tapes!! I've been playing a ton of basketball out here. We have a rec center with super nice courts that we play on in the mornings a few times a week. I'm getting pretty good! I fully expect to be on the Warriors roster in 2018 starting over that Stephanie Curry gal... Sar, I'm loving the vids of you and Claire playing the piano. Claire is gonna be a prodigy I can tell. Dad your looking good in that photoshoot for your website!! Those are sweet.
 
Miss you all lots.

Love, Tan

PS. Lovin the ol' country life, still don't like country music...

Comp, Elder Griffiths

Zone Meeting

Crazy zone photo!

Letter #46 . . . transferred to middle of nowhere with new comp!

Hey All, 

Tanner and new comp, Elder Griffiths

I left my last area, Blue Springs, that I'd been in for the last 4 1/2 months! I was transferred out to the boonies, (aka middle of no where) to Maryville Missouri,  and Elder Griffiths is sweet! 

Fun fact for ya -- the rapper Eminem was born and raised in a little town called St. Joe like 25 minutes from Maryville! His childhood/mother's home is in our
district boundaries! Maybe we'll convert Mrs. Mathers! ;) 

I've been blessed with awesome companions. Elder Griffiths is a baseball/basketball playin, hilarious cellist from St. George, Utah! He's my age. He loves jammin out on the piano with me and naming out songs and stuff. We're gonna get a cello, and play a song in Sacrament meeting. 

I'm excited to be out here!

Church was interesting in Maryville. It was way different than what I'm used to! But I still 
liked it a lot. The people are great! We had 40 people at church. We gave talks and prepared 
the Sacrament.

Crazy that it's 2017! I learned a lot this past year. From preparing 
for my mission, to serving almost a year of my mission, I've
had so many cool experiences where I've felt the Spirit and the love
of God toward me and his children so strongly. My testimony of this
gospel & the truthfulness of the restoration has grown to a pretty
unshakable faith. I can honestly say with all confidence and sincerity
that I know God lives, and that I will never fall away from this
Church. This year, I've seen my weaknesses come into view, and I've
had to learn to deal with them. I know through Him I can overcome
my weaknesses. I'm humbled and proud to serve as a missionary for Him.

Love, Tan

PS. Here's me and Elder Griffiths and a copy of the talk I gave in Sacrament Meeting.