Elder Christian Tanner - Yep.....I Played The Violin

Christian jamming on an accordion

 

 

Hey family!

So, last week I was thinking that it was Thanksgiving. But, on Thursday I realized that it WASN'T Thanksgiving that week. This week is Thanksgiving. But, still, you can be thankful for things 2 weeks in a row ;) I can say that I am definitely thankful for you, my family, much more this year than I have been in the past. Not that I wasn't ever thankful, because I was. Just, its a little bit more now. So, I am thankful for my family. And I am thankful for my mission that I am on right now. This past week was another terrible week, but I am still thankful for it. Without bad weeks, we wouldn't know what a good week was like! I am thankful for trials and hard times. I am thankful that we have a loving heavenly father that loves us, no matter if we deserve it or not. I have felt his love countless times and I am truly thankful for that. And of course I am thankful that I have a pilots license. Corny? Yeah. But I love it.

So, instead of talking about the awful parts of the week (and there were many), I will just write some good things that happened. No one wants to hear the bad stuff anyway.

On Tuesday this past week, we were in Vänersborg (or something like that. I am still learning the area) visiting a ward member with the sisters. The sisters told us to get off at a certain bus stop and they would be waiting for us when we got off. Well, we got off and they were not there. So we called them and asked where they were. They said they were waiting at the bus stop. Turns out, they told us the wrong bus stop. So we were scrambling around for like 20 minutes trying to find where we had to get to. There was this older gentlemen not too far from where we were walking. I turned to Elder Peterson and said "Lets ask this guy if he knows where our bus stop is." So we walked over to him. Right was we started asking our question, we could tell something wasn't right with him. I don't even know what wasn't right though. We tapped him on the shoulder, asked the question, and he didn't respond. In fact, I don't think he even knew we were talking to him. Finally he realized it, and just kinda waved his hand in a direction. It was really odd. So we just said "Ha det så bra!" and went on our way. Well, we had walked about 50 feet maybe and I hear keys hitting the pavement and a loud groan. I turn around and this old guy just smacked the pavement face first with on coming traffic. I started booking it! Behind me I hear Elder Peterson say "should we help him?" haha I was like "yeah!" and I was running. So as we run over to this guy the cars start stopping and we start picking him up. He is completely dazed and has no idea what is happening. We get him up to his knees and some police officers start running over towards us. The police and my companion and I get him up on his feet and he is still just dazed. After we picked him up we just left the scene. The police thanked us for the help and we were on our way. I don't even know what happened to him. He could have had a stroke or something. But in any case, it was a miracle. I truly believe we were met to get off at the wrong stop to be there to help that guy. It could have gotten really bad if we weren't there to run out into the road and stop the cars. I have thought about this experience many times over the past few days. I am come to the conclusion that we really are instruments in the lords hands. We are not just here to save lives spiritually, but as well as physically if it need be. The Lord knew we would respond when we were needed. The Lord has his hand in everything, we just need to trust in it. Even if it causes a lot of stress sometimes.

There is this guy in our ward who lives like 2 hours away by bus. He is active and comes every single Sunday. Its quite impressive really. He is actually from Germany. I cant remember his name right now either. But, he makes instruments. He makes Guitars, Violins, Cellos, Xylophones, and just all kinds of stuff. On Thursday we took the day and went out and visited him. Guess what!? I played a VIOLIN! It was the first time I have picked one up since I graduated high school. Do you know what the strange part was? I picked it right up as if I played it yesterday. I started rockin out to some Orange Blossom Special and such. It was super cool. The guy was really impressed. Elder Peterson is good at the guitar and this German guy made his own instrument similar to a viola but played like cello. So for the Christmas Party in a few weeks he wants the 3 of us to do a trio. Pretty neat huh? I can still read the music and everything. Felt just the same. So then, after we spend a few hours playing on all his instruments, he takes us to a music studio in town. When we got there, we discovered there were like 6 old people there. 2 of them had accordions (drawspel in swedish!)  and the rest had violins. They were a band! Kind of. Mostly they just got together and played around. Well, the main guy asked if I played violin. I was like "heck yes I do!" and he had an extra one there! So they gave me the violin and music and I jammed out with them. While they were having fika, I started playing that one Swedish Folk Song that Dad taught his group years ago. They were like "Hey! Thats a Swedish tune!" And I was like "Yes, it is!" So then they all started playing it! And no one even had the music to it and we were just playing! IT WAS SO FUN! With accordions and 4 SWEDISH violinist, it was SUPER fun! I only wished dad could have been there with me. It was a lot of fun. I might be going back next week and doing it again :)

So our investigator Hjalmar. He is trying to quit using snus (chewing tobacco) right now. We did have the baptismal date set for this Saturday, but they have to have quit for 1 week before they can be baptized. And he didn't yet. So we pushed it back one week. He really really wants to quit. He has such a strong testimony and knows the Book of Mormon is true. But, he was in church on Sunday! He has been 2 times now int he past 3 weeks. If we can get him to go again this following week, he'll be all set. Just gotta get him off that nasty stuff. I look forward to hopefully writing about his Baptism in a few weeks! :) but for now, we meet with him 3 times a week.

I have had several dinner appointments this past week. Being in the Göteborg Stake, everyone knows Sol Tageson. And I have heard Marlene mentioned a few times. So, its pretty cool to just be like "yep, thats my family." you'd think I would get used to it by now, but nope. Oh and since I have been here, I have picked up an unusual hobby. One that I never thought I would do in my life. And before you judge too much, just know I am quite good at it. I made my own tie. How? Knitting. Yep. Knitting. Ask me if I feel like an old lady. I dare you. Because the answer will be yes. But at the same time, I will have an awesome tie that I made. So ha! When we go to District Meeting in Skövde (mom, 4 of us in trollhättan, 2 in Skövde makes our district), its a 2 hour bus ride. So, I get plenty of time to knit. Hahaha. Thats 4 hours I just sit there anyway.

Okay, and I gotta share this ridiculously funny story. So, me and my companion decided we wanted a Christmas tree. Surprise, there is a forest right behind our apartment. After we get home from tracking and such on Wednesday, we go to the forest behind our apartment and chopped down a small christmas tree! We get it down and get it into the apartment and get it standing up against the wall. Suddenly we realized that it wasn't your regular Christmas tree. AKA: pine tree. It was a bush that stinkin looked like a pine tree. It was  BUSH! Not a TREE! But it smells nice so we just keep it there. And I have the ornament grandma send me so I hung that up at the top. And that will do until we decide if we will actually go get a christmas tree. So, there is your "average missionary desperate for a christmas tree" story. Haha.

Well, that will do it for today. I am looking forward to a good week and well, maybe a thanksgiving. HAHA. Love you all lots!

Kram,

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Christian with his 3 companions he has had in Sweden

The knitted tie he made

Elder Almen Thorpe

Elder Almen Thorpe heads out to his first area in Manukau, New Zealand. His first companion is Elder Jarnigan.

 

 

Elder Almen Thorpe with President Paul N. Lekias and Sister Lekias

Elder Christian Tanner - Be Grateful For What You Have!

 Hey family!

What a week it has been. Obviously I we had transfers this week. I am now about a 35 minute train ride from Göteborg. We are allowed to go to Göteborg on pdays if we have permission from our Zone Leaders, but from what i have heard is that they have never said no. So, I am looking forward to spending some time in Göteberg.

So what is it like here in Trollhättan? Well, its different. A lot different. Halmstad was very big and beautiful. It had a river running through town and it just had a very warm feeling to it. Lots of art everywhere. Right on the beach. But, Trollhättan has none of that. It has no river, no beach, no warm feeling. Its a lot more ghetto town (as much as sweden can get...).  There are soooo many muslims here. Everywhere you turn. Which is not what I was used to in Halmstad. So far the only up side to Trollhättan than to Halmstad is that it has about 70 or so members active. In church on Sunday we had about 75 members in attendance. So that is good. I was asked to stand up and introduce myself during sacrament. But everyone does that, so that was not a big deal. But, its hard to compare too much. I was in Halmstad for over 4 months and I have only been here a week. So, maybe I will learn to love it here too. But, for now, Halmstad is my home in Sweden. Like really though, I havent seen THAT much of Sweden, but from what i have seen, Halmstad would be where I would live if I lived in Sweden. For the reason of everything i mentioned before. The river, the beach, the art, and just the warm feeling it gives. But, anyway.

 We have 2 investigators here in Trollhättan right now. One of them has a baptismal date. His only problem is that he has been using snus (chewing tobacco) for a very long time and is having a hard time quiting. So we are working with him and getting him to quit before the 30th. He has this "club" for missionaries called the MRRC (M double R, C) Missionary Rest and Relaxation Ceter. It was the weirdest thing I have ever heard of. Basically its just that we sit there and talk for a few minutes before the lesson. Anyway, for my first time there he asked all these questions to get to know me. Questions like "most embarrasing moment" and "best prank you have ever done." So for most embarrasing I told him about while I was at the MTC and we had the Wrold Wide Broadcast and how i was on the screen looking up at the jumbo tron. Then for the best prank I told him about when it was April 1st a few years ago and dad called that guy in our ward who is a cop. He came over and "arrested" chase. HAHAHA he was like "I LOVE YOU AND YOUR DAD!" So, Dad, this guy loves you! It was really funny to watch him. One other interesting thing is that before we pray, we play rock, paper, scissors to decide who says the prayer. Its not the person who loses, it the person who wins. So you have to fight to say the prayer. It was really cool actually. And as it turns out our investigator won the opening prayer AND the closing prayer. And his prayers were some of the absolute best prayers I have ever heard in my life. I really look forward to helping this guy out. I really think he'll get baptised while i am here.

 So our goal for this area? well, since this ward is soo strong in comparison to Halmstad, we have agreed to focus more on finding investigators than strengthening the ward (and the sisters are already doing that). We decided to start looking for NO to baptisms. Do you know why? because sometimes you have to go through a lot of people before you can get to the right person. We are more afraid of asking for baptism than they are. So i really just want to find find find and teach teach teach. I think we will baptise monthly, but we gotta get to work. My companion, Elder Peterson, was with me in the MTC. He still has the fire that i have. So, together we can do it.

On Friday this past week we had a combined Zone Training in Göteborg. The highlight about this meeting is this. There were 4 zones at this combined training. Mälmö, Helsingborg, Göteborg and Göteborg East zones. Thats less then half the mission. There are 5 other zones that had their training the day before. Anyway, sister newell said that 8 months ago the amount of people that were in these 4 zones was the entire mission. WHAT? In 8 months the mission has more than doubled. In 1950's there were only 26 missionaries and 13 companionships in ALL of Sweden. Today we have almost 100 companionships not including the senior couples. How cool is that?? that just gives me chills down the spine The 2nd Harvest is happening, and I am right in the middle of it. So awesome.

So thats it. I forgot my camera. I will send the photos later this week. Enjoy your thanksgiving and BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE!!!!!

 Kram!
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Elder Almen Thorpe - Nov. 16, 2013 (written on November 11th)

Hi,
Once I made it to the MTC safely, our first day arrival we all had a lot of free time to relax and have fun after Being up all night. During that time, I got to meet my roommates. I told you last time I'd get their names down. Their names are, Elders Aumua, Faaifoaso, Seiuli, Pennington, and Escott. The first two are Samoan. Seiuli is from Wellington, NZ, Pennington flew with me and Escott is from Australia. Seiuli played rugby and is a really nice kid and funny as well.

Elder Escott, my companion has really taught me a lot. His story and background has shown me that you don't have to grow up and have an LDS family to share the gospel. How cool is it for me to be partnered in the MTC with a convert?

I've got one week left in the MTC and I'm off into the field. The MTC is just a wonderful place to be. There are a lot of Samoans, Fijians, Tahitians, Americans, Australians, New Zealanders and one from South Africa here.  The spirit here is so strong because all of them came from a different back ground but want to teach the gospel. I've already made close friends with the elders and sisters here.

This gospel has blessed my life and I want to thank each and every one of you for helping me and to not give up on me. My first day of class we learned about what our purpose of being a missionary is. Going through the lesson and talking about it really got me thinking. In our classroom we have a poster that reminds each of us every day what our true purpose is. It says, "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." This touched me and woke me up because this whole work I'm doing right now is not about me. It's all of out the investigator that I will be teaching. As my teacher would say, "There's no more I."

A side track to all of that, we are all writing to our families. As I am writing I thought I would share this with you guys. We all just got on our knees to pray because Elder Aumua was missing his brothers a lot. He first talked to me while I was writing and I told the others we should all get down and pray with him. Even though he said his prayer in Samoan, I still felt the spirit in the circle. This all happened while I'm writing to you.

I believe so much in Heavenly Fathers plan for all of us. It's because He loves us. As we practice teaching our teacher, it is such a neat way how they show us how it is going to feel in real missionary work. Love being here in New Zealand. Love this gospel and what it really can do to change many people's hearts. Miss you all oh so much.

I just want to close this letter by saying my testimony. This church is true. Anybody with the desire can and will feel that same happiness. So many things have accrued in my life that all led to my decision to go on this mission. My heart is full of happiness and smiles.

Love you family! Miss you guys a ton. I hope everything is going well, Elder Almen Thorpe

Sister Courtnee Wood - YOSO pt. 2

Sister Fuchs and Sister Wood

Today was pretty sweet. We had a zone activity and we went sand boarding. Just basically sledding/snowboarding, but on sand. It was pretty legit. The hill we were on had an ocean view so it was cool. So while you are at home in the snow, we are here in the Philippines sledding on the sand. :)

Zone Activity

So we are so blessed with the apartments we have to live in. They are incredible. The only thing is, the ANTS. I have never encountered so many ants in my life. While we are studying at our desks it is literally like playing wack-a mole and smashing them with our fingers. The other day we also found them all over inside our toilet and around it. Like so many ants. And then, Tom and Liza are the greatest and sent me tootsie pops. Which I loved so much thank you. And there happened to be literally a little sliver of a hole in the bag, and when i opened it, it was swarming with ants. But don't worry i just brushed them off, put them in the fridge, and still ate them. I guess I have been in the Philippines long enough. :) 

I have decided that all of the funny things that happen to us happen while we are in La Paz. This week we found a couple of ladies whose dad was a member of the church, but lived in a America. So we decided they would be good to teach. Well we started teaching them and of course like a crowd of 20 kids come and gather around. We continue the lesson and I asked her "Sister, gusto mo ba and walang hanggang pamilya?" Do you want and eternal family? She responded, "Hindi!" No. I sat there like wait what? I looked at our fellowshippers and was like did she say no? They nodded, and then come to find out, she thought I asked her if she wanted NO family. I was SO confused. So obviously there is room for improvement in my tagalog. It kind of made the whole mood of the lesson leave though, so I guess I just need to be better haha. Next thing, so as you have seen La Paz is along the big river here. Well we were walking along the riverside and come to this little lagoon where all the little kids are swimming and jumping off rocks. Super cool/sweet. I had to take a picture of them because they were so cute. So I walked over there to take a picture of these 4 kids and right as I was about to take it, this little kid who was swimming, but was away from us on the side (not the one i was taking a photo of) starts SCREAMING! BALLING! CRYING! Louder than I have ever heard in my life. I didn't know what was going on. I turned around and he had jumped in the water and started swimming to the shore (still crying). By this time, since it is La Paz, there are probably about 50 people watching this. All of the people are laughing at this little kid. He is probably 4 or 5. He gets to the shore, grabs his clothes (cause he was naked) and starts running. I did not know what was going on at this point. I told my companion we gotta go find that kid! So we start walking up the the walkway and i remembered i have some tootsie pops in my bag. Perfect. We look over, and the little boy is hiding behind the waiting shade. We could see his little legs there. I start walking towards him with a sucker and he starts screaming bloody murder haha. He was legitimitally scared haha. He starts running up the side of the houses and all i wanted to do was give him a  sucker because I didn't know why he was so sad! AFter he ran away there were about 30 people around me. I asked them ANO NANGYARI! What happened! They told me he was scared of me. HE WAS SCARED OF ME! I have never felt so bad in my life! hahaha. I couldn't believe it. This little kid was scared out of his mind. Anyway, I had to find this kid and give him a  tootsie pop. We walked up to the main road and there he was. At his house, on the balcony with his mother, just calming himself down from crying so hard. Probably because he knew I wouldn't be able to get him or something hahaha. I don't know, but I at least finally got to give it to him. :) I never thought of myself as scary, but I guess I am wrong! haha. 

I have amazing news. NANAY BATUGAL passed her interview and will be getting baptized this Saturday. It is going to be the most incredible day ever. This woman has so much faith. We taught her about modesty a little bit ago because being an old nanay she always just wears these little tank tops. Well we came back later that night after teaching her for some reason and we saw that she had changed her shirt to a modest one. I love the woman! She only speaks ilocano, but somehow we find a way to communicate. :) Not to mention the coolest news that Joey WILL be baptizing her. It is going to be such an amazing experience I can't wait. I hope we can make it the most memorable day for nanay. 

Nanay Batugal's hand and Sister Wood's hand - I love this picture

 

You know what, in the short time that I have been a trainer, I have realized how imperfect of a missionary I am. There are so many things that I could be better at. So many christlike attributes I need to better develop, just the WHOLE enchilada. But I do know one thing. That Heavenly Father has been with us in our work. As we do our very best as a companionship to have the Spirit with us, all of the flaws I have, and the ones she has as well, will become strengths. God sends the weak to do His work, and I have realized how weak I really am, but I am grateful for Him because I know that if I do what I am asked of, he will make up the rest. Every day I am shown the happiness that the gospel brings. Being able to look people in the eyes and bear my testimony to them about the joy they will have if they accept the gospel is a feeling that you can't describe. I am so so so grateful for this opportunity. 

Trust me, I know there are a lot of things I am missing out on right now back home, like the ncaa tournament, the holidays, all the things i love back home. But the Lord's work is what really matters right now. He is hastening his work, and I will be eternallly grateful that I get to take part in it. Have an amazing week everyone. :) 

xoxox

Love,

Sister Wood

P.S. Oh yeah, just FYI, our zone is doing a Filipino folk dance for the Christmas conference. Bahahaha enough said. 

 

Sister Wood's favorite treat - HALO HALO

Elder's eating Balut - a developing duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell. It is commonly sold as streetfood in the Philippines.

 

Elder Christian Tanner - Last Week in Halmstad!

So I know you've all been dying to know where I am getting transfered to. Well, maybe you haven't been dying. But I HAVE! President was suppost to call on Saturday morning - he always makes the calls then. But he never called me! But I knew I was getting transfered because Elder Bilodeau is getting a greenie and he had a telephone conference call on Friday and they said in that call that he would be staying in Halmstad. So I wait the entire day on saturday. Nothing. I thought "surly on Sunday morning he will call." Well, now church is over. No call. We go to visit some families for my last time. No call. Finally we get to the apartment and I get a text from the office elders. They said that my travel information will be in my mail box tomorrow. So at this point I am like... what? So I actually called President Newell myself. I said "So, I got my travel information text, but... I don't know where I am going..." then he says "oh. Yeah, we have you transfering to...." then he pauses for like 30 seconds. Then he says "I am driving to karlstad (or some city like that) right now. I don't know where I am sending you. Can I call you back?" About 5 minutes later he calls back and says "Yes, Hi Elder Tanner. We have you transfering to...... Trollhättan! You'll be co-senior companions with Elder Peterson." I was in the MTC with Elder Peterson so it will be fun to be with someone I know a little bit already. 

 I talked to Elder Peterson last night. It will be a fun area. Its actually a lot like Halmstad. They only have 3 investigators and a bunch of less/inactive members. They seem to send me to the struggling areas. Although, they do have a baptismal date for one of their Investigators´. There are 6 people in the district there. Us 2, 2 Sisters, and 2 other elders in a town not to far from Trollhättan. I am excited to see what I can bring there. I hope to get at least 2 baptisms out of it and maybe reactivate a few members. I know I will be there for at least 12 weeks. President said that Elder Peterson was born in Trollhättan and he wanted me to learn the area as best as I can in 6 weeks. So I will get a new companion in 6 weeks. Maybe I will even train there? That would be cool. However, its farther north. 

 

As for my last week in Halmstad, its been bitter sweet. I have grown to love the people here. I am really going to miss the people here. I am going to miss the beautiful art everywhere. Halmstad has a lot of art. But at the same time I am excited to continue my adventure elsewhere and meet new awesome people. I have gotten really close to Elder Bilodeau, Sister Christensen and Sister Hosenfeld. I will certainly miss them a lot. But It will be fun. I am really excited. I leave tomorrow afternoon, too. So today I get to do a lot of washing and packing! Yippy! Haha. I will send my Trollhättan address when I get there and you can send your mail there if you want. Elder Bilodeau said he would forward all my mail to me that comes to Halmstad, because I believe I have a few letters out here right now.

 

As for what I DID my last week here. Well, its been a normal week. I didn't know I would be transfering until Thursday night. So it was the same. On Wednesday, however, my last companion Elder Millsap and his companion, Elder Hansen, were in Halmstad for the night. On Thursday Millsap and Bilodeau had leadership training in Stockholm. So I was on splits with Elder Hansen on thursday. We spent the entire morning that day handing out flyers for our family history. We spent our 2 hours shift at the church, and we went street contacting for a few hours. It was a fun, we had a good time that day. Probably my favorite day of the week.

 

On saturday while we were at the church, I was going crazy! President hadn't called yet and I was dying with anxiousy. Sister Christensen has these tabs in her Bible and in the Book of Mormon that coorespond with each other. So like all the green tabs is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and red are all the Commandments and so forth. So for example, I could flip to the first green tab in the Bible and it would talk about faith. I could in turn flip to the first green tab in the Book of Mormon, and it would talk about faith. The second green tab would be repentance in both books. It is genious on a number of levels. Its perfect for if someone doesn't belive in the Book of Mormon but does believe in the Bible. You can just.. BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM... all the same stuff. It took me like 2 hours but I copied them all into my scriptures. I want to put them in my quad too. But it takes a long time. She said she got it from her trainer and wanted all of us to copy it. Its super helpful and it helped take some time off my hands waiting for President to make his call that never happened. Haha.

 

So yeah. Thats about it. My next email will be coming from Trollhättan and I probably will have a lot to say then! But for now, as usual, I miss you all and hope you have a great week!

 

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Elder Xavier Stilson - November 18, 2013

Elder Stilson

 

HOWDY!! And BOM DIA to everyone!!! This week has been really good with a couple of bumps... First off Elder Crapo was transferred! Now it is just me and Elder M. Silva. We have to cover 2 areas now with just 2 missionaries... It’s rough because of all of the hills here haha but it is alright. We have been making a lot of progress here in Cobilândia and I love it here.

Tuesday was H-O-T HOT!!! I think it was close to 120!! Now the humidity isn’t what has been killing me! I thought it would be but it is just the stinking heat!!! We had to stop after walking for about an hour after lunch and asked a random guy for water, it was a nice house so we think the water was safe ;) (My mom will love to hear that! She reminded me over and over not to drink the water.)  While we were sitting there we got a call from the APs saying that Elder Crapo had been transferred! Well he served a good week here in Cobilândia ;)

After we took him to the bus stop we had amazing lesson with an investigator Sheila! She wants a Joseph Smith testimony experience before she is baptized though... We have tried and tried to get her understand it usually doesn’t work that way.  She finally has accepted baptism and is scheduled to be baptized this Saturday! She feels the spirit every time we visit with her but it is hard to tell someone exactly what they will feel and what their answer will be. She wants to be baptized so we are hopeful about Saturday!!

Wednesday we had a lesson with Lorival which was really good. Teaching him was very different because everything we taught he accepted!!?? WHAT?! A 71 year old catholic accepting everything?! Yeah we were a little shocked at how accepting he was about everything we taught but we now know that he truly was prepared!! He stopped drinking coffee and he was baptized this week! It was amazing and the members here have really helped him! He is an amazing man and one of my best friends here in Cobilândia!!

The rest of our time this week was mainly spent trying to get addresses! Our zone leaders have made this a new rule. We didn’t get all 35 addresses this week so we had to go out this morning and get the 8 that we were missing.  It is frustrating but we did it and I’m glad we were able to get it done.

I don’t have a lot of time today but I want to thank everyone for the letters and emails.  Thank you for everything that y’all have done for me!! You are the best!! JR thank you so much for that essay that you sent me! I hope you know how much that means to me and I know you said not to waste my time but I need to thank you for that! It really is going to help me!

LOVE,

ELDER STILSON!!

Vitoria District