Mission Week 99, Farewell, Arequipa Peru!! "No Matter Where I am, I'll take you with me!"

"Know that whenever you feel alone, I always keep you in my heart! No Matter where I am, I'll take you with Me!!"  Elder Tanner

Mission Week 98, Umacollo Peru; "Plant good habits in the mission and cultivate them at home."

The mission no longer has weekly indicator of lessons they only count the following Baptisms confirmations, New investigators baptismal dates and church assistance.

This week has been great. I have noticed that with the new indicators we can really focus on our goal as missionaries. Before sometimes I stressed over the goals for lessons in a day. Sometimes as a missionary I found myself teaching ineffective lessons just to complete the goal. I understand that Lessons are still a key part of the progress of the investigators and we will always teach lessons but now we are not focused on teaching lessons for the simple fact that we teach lessons. I was talking with Elder Mendoza about it this week. We talked about how one of the companionship's in our zone had always had so many lessons every single week back to back there numbers were huge, However for the last few months none of their many investigators who have baptismal dates had NOT entered into the covenant of baptism. We could teach more than 30 or 40 lessons in a week and I am sure we would be feeling great and loving the opportunity to teach HOWEVER if none of our goals for the month become baptized, Were those 40 or 50 Lessons very effective? No. With the new indicators we are really focusing on finding people and with the spirit getting them to the faunt. I love the new indicators and we have found that they help us to focus on those who are willing to progress and not teach those who are only ready to Listen.

This week we had a lot of fun teaching more people and focusing on the spirit. We have been looking for the people who are willing to progress. It was amazing to see how focusing more on the needs of people and the spirit helped all of them keep their commitment to go to church.

The gospel is true and I love it. I will not stop sharing it. I loved what the mission council talked about in terms of applying the mission after returning home. Plant good habits in the mission and cultivate them at home. That is definately my plan!

ALSO!!!! We had an investigator named Benancio go to church for the second time and the ward mission was talking about Priesthood and how a worthy holder must pay tithing. Our investigator went to the bishop and told him that he needed to teach him how to pay tithing and HE PAID TITHING!!! He is an investigator and he is paying tithing! I could not believe it. An amazing sunday.

Elder Tanner

Mission Week 96 & 97, Umacollo Peru; "Do we have a Dog?" "Last Transfer"!!

1/17/2017

MOM!!! :D Love you so much I got changed back to arequipa. Was on a long bus ride and did not have any time to write. I will get you more details and photos next week. I am in the UMACOLLO stake with Elder Mendoza! He is from Bolivia! We are going to have lots of fun we are zone leaders of two Large stakes. The office is in the zone! I am really close to umacollo! Love you tons mom!!!! QUESTION: ¿Do we have a DOG?😲

1/23/2017

So this week has been a little bit to take on. For the first few days I felt like I was underwater. The stress and the anxiety got me so worked up I could not understand what was being said in the lessons and my Spanish stopped working. Elder Mendoza is a great missionary but there are a few character traits that make him a very unique companion. He is a very timid and shy. I have been working on gaining his confidence and helping him to get to know a little bit more about being a zone leader. He lacks a lot of basic social skills that many of my other companions have had.  He is an only child and he and his mom are the only converts in their family. He is fairly relaxed with the missionaries and hard on the investigators. I went through a few panic attacks but I think I can help Elder Mendoza with the zone.
The biggest difficulty and frustration that I have had with the zone is not knowing anything. It has been a large part that gets my spirits down because I would like to do exactly what I did in Tacna with Elder Velasquez or Elder Cleverly but its not the same. I love the missionaries in Tacna. I am new and I have yet to develop a relationship with the Elders Here but that just means I will have to try that much harder with the time I have. I also still do not know how to treat the Elders in the office thats an enigma but we will present you the idea when we go to visit you for interviews!

Mission Week 95, Tacna Peru "Opportunities to serve and love"

 Monday Jan 9, 2017

We cannot compare ourselves to others. The mission is not a competition. When we start to compete against others in our mission we put a limit to the blessings that we want to receive from God. A long distance runner always competes against himself comparing old and new times looking for ways to improve his performance.  If a Long distance runner stops focusing on his goals and focus himself on others he might sacrifice his own progress and become satisfied with being faster than another runner when in reality he could not only beat the other runner but many more.
I loved the message about comparing resulting in Pride or discouragement.  In talk of President Leguia he shared about a parent correcting a child and said that God corrects us.  He has two sons, one who he saw was loosing his way; with tears in his eyes he expressed his love for his wayward child but still longed for him to come back to the gospel.  God does not want to discourage us.  He loves us and will correct us but does not want to discourage us.  I have seen many runners who become satisfied with less than their full potential because they compare themselves with other runners.  Many times we as missionaries see baptisms or leadership positions as a form of recognition.  They are wrong.  It gives us opportunities to serve and love.

-Elder Tanner

Mission Week 93 & 94; Tacna Peru "The Lord has a plan"

12/26

Something that I recognized this week was that we have one purpose on the mission. Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel. Elder Sorias conversion story was definitely a huge example to me of someone who fulfilled his missionary purpose and a mom dedicated to the lord. Elder Sorias brother passed away on the mission. When a ward member broke the news to his mom she screamed out of agony and fell to her knees and prayed. She must have prayed more than an hour when she stood up and said "I know and trust in the lord. If it was his will to take my son let it be. I have four more children that need to send on a mission as well." I was blown away by the faith and trust in god that this woman had. The first thing that she does after hearing about her sons death is testify of the will of god and promise to send her other children. Neither she herself or any of her other children at that time were members. After the news of their sons death the family soria quickly converted to the church and made a long and hard journey to become sealed in the temple. Even though their son passed away on his mission he fulfilled his purpose as a missionary for his own family. I know that the Lord has a plan and he will never waste our efforts on the mission and we will always receive the rewards of our efforts, we may not see them but the blessings come and they last forever.

1/02/2017

Hey mom here are the baptisms and funny photos. If you look at me and my companion in the street its called colon street!!!}

Mission Week 92, Tacna Peru; "PEACE".

This week was fairly interesting. I was sick for a part of it but I got over it fast. It was actually the Christmas dinner that made me sick and after that I ate Ricotto Relleno which would usually make my stomach worse but my companion told me to do it with the faith that it would make me better. I just kept on telling myself that it would make me better and with a positive mentality I got better while eating a pretty heavy dish.
This sunday I gave a talk on the message from the first presidency from this month. I enjoyed preparing myself for the talk I used a few scriptures from John. The explanation of peace is amazing and how Jesus gives us a peace that no one else can. How a firm confidince in his plan and in obeying the commandments can bring us more peace that a full wallet and a full stomach. That is just one of the fruits of the spirit. I have decided to look and develop everysingle one of these fruits of the spirit found in galations 5 this week. I hope that I can gain a stronger testimony of each and everyone of them.
Our investigators keep on progressing. We are excited to see them take thier leaps of faith in these days. Last week we all had very spiritual experiences and we were able to feel such a strong spirit and this week we really focused on committing them to act according to their feelings. We will see the results this week and I wait for them zealously.

I have a two months left in the mission. I have many plans and goals that I will accomplish in that time, Moreover I would like your opinion on the goals I have set and I would like you to help me set more. Here are some of the goals that I have planned,

1. Learn to testify in Ayamara or Quechua

​ (native language here in south america)​

and use it to help convert someone who does not speak spanish.

2. Have a healthy Diet and gain 5 Kilos.

3. Raise church attendance in the ward I am in by 20.

4. Read the Book of Mormon in the two weeks I have left while contemplating the way I have used it in the mission and how I can better that usage int he time I have left.

5. Serve my companion daily.

6. Be more spiritual in my letters that I write home. Help my family feel converted through the things I write.


Elder Tanner

Mission Week 90 & 91, Tacna Peru "One SOL"

 12/12

Another good week. It was hard to get in doors for lessons but with a some phone calls and text messages we got enough investigators to go to church. There are a few of those investigators that we want to teach and they tell us, no I just want to go to church. A little frustrating but no one ever said that the investigators would come easily. I hope that we through fasting and prayer the lord can soften their hearts or we can find the "KEY" that will get us in the door and the spirit in their hearts.

I miss being with Elder Velasquez. He is an excellent missionary. We are still living together. Its a little strange. Everyday with Elder Velasquez was a Day where you got home and you felt absolutely drained. So many spiritual experiences and surprises at every turn. Elder Cleverly is a fantastic Elder too. I do not know him quite as well but we have a much more compatible way of teaching and I can feel the spirit so strong its like it is shooting out of our fingers like it says in Preach my gospel. The weight of the zone is not the same. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to learn. It was amazing to see how the lord can fix everything and we only play a small part. He is everything. He can do everything. Sometimes all we have to do is be present and he will do the rest. Sometimes we he lets us fail so we can learn.

This was an experience from last week that I wanted to share.

Fast and testimony meeting the Bishops councilor started by talking about the example of a sister in the ward who was going to go to the temple. She had so little but she always saved enough to go to the temple. This sister was an older woman who sold juice in a market she said that she did not make much money in fact it was practically nothing. That all that was left after she had bought food and necessary items was a sol. ONE SOL. She would take that sol from everyday and put it in a jar that was saved for the temple. Every year she would go to the bishop and say bishop here it is and she would always have enough to go to the temple including a little extra that would go to help others. A few testimonies later that same woman stood up and gave the most simple and sincere testimony. She said,"the temple is a good place. It is Beautiful and I like it. I like it and the lord likes it to. He is happy that I am there. That is why he gives me extra so I can go". I could not stop thinking about the humility and example of faith in that woman. She saves 33 cents daily so she can go to the temple. What more can we give? I am making goals of more things that I want to give during the mission and after the mission. 

12/5

Whew I had a few things that I wanted to write you but today was the hard day. Changes.... I am staying in my area but I will have a new companion Elder Velasquez is going to another ward in the stake but they are splitting the zone. I have half of the zone in the larger of the three stakes. It will be a lot easier to manage. Elder Cleverly is my companion. He should be getting here soon. I am feeling really wiped out. Yesterday we readied a room and that was not the funnest. We were painting for over an hour. I loved the Christmas devotional. I should have a few minutes more to write

Today was changes. We had to send over half the zone. Imagine trying to get over fifteen missionaries on three different buses in two different terminals.... I was fairly agitated and I yelled at a member. He wanted to call me and give me a hard time and I was just not taking it while trying to make sure elders did not lose their buses. During changes I cannot describe how much less stressful the sisters are. They are mature, they get to the terminal on time. they do not complain. they dont give me problems. I would love to thank and urge all sisters to go on a mission. They have such a strong presence int eh mission.