{I HaVe BeeN BleSSed}

Word up!

This week was sweet! We had changes...elder chicas got sent to San Miguelito by Panama. I was pretty bummed that he left but he´s doing well i hear. My new comp is Elder Poli...from Missouri. Get this...Ricki Gallagher served in his ward when he was on his mission! Small world eh? He´s really cool though...his parents are from Samoa. He´s a really obedient missionary so we´re going to have the Spirit with us which is really the most important thing.

While I was waiting for Elder Poli to get here...i went to Almirante with elder stoddard. That area is reeeeeeally poor. The people there literally have nothing. It was a great experience to go down there for a couple of days and teach with him. One morning with him we decided we were going to focus on contacting people asking them if they knew why they were here on this earth and what there purpose is...after contacting ALL day...the very last contact that we did....this kid said that he had been wondering why he was here and what his purpose was. Haha incredible!

We were going to have a baptism two days ago with a lady named Adayana but we didn´t feel like she was ready so were putting it off a bit. I think about her constantly. She has two kids and the gospel would be incredible in her life. The problem is that she´s really shy and doesn´t have any friends in our branch...but we´re working on it.

Cecilio came out to work with us yesterday! It was sweet! I think it was really good for him and he is pumped about missionary work now. He´s going to the temple this week to do baptisms for the dead! I can´t tell you how happy I am! I think that will help him stay faithful. One of the ways that people can really stay faithful is tithing...but seeing as how Cecilio doesn´t make any money and is searching for work...i think the temple will be just as helpful.

Yesterday at church was a little rough. The assistance was really bad (only 27 showed up) but were praying a lot and trying to work with the members to help people get back to church.

Oh and I forgot to tell you about this guy named Chalo. He´s about 50 years old and we got him to quit smoking! It´s sweet...he still has some other problems and isn´t really progressing much, but we´re probably going to keep going with him and see what happens. We ran into a guy that lives at Chalo´s house yesterday and it was one of the sadder moments on the mission. He was really drunk and stopped us to talk with us. He started crying and just kept saying help me, help me, I want to change. It´s so hard to see things like that. Drinking is a huge problem here...satan´s working just as hard as we are.

This week is the Carnaval...a big party of some sort...so we have to be in the house a little early the next couple nights. I´m kind of bummed because we had some sweet family home evenings set up but...it´s all good.

It was a good week! And yes dad...i didn´t even know it was valentine´s day until i got to church haha.

Day to day activities eh? Bueno, we usually eat cereal and or oranges for breakfast (one of our investigators gives us oranges like you wouldn´t believe) and study for the normal amount of time. We eat with members every day for lunch and dinner...that´s how empalme is i guess. It´s awesome. And basically, it´s rice, rice and more rice, and sometimes some chicken. I can punish any amount of rice that you put before me it´s incredible. We do a lot of teaching here...sometimes up to 10 lessons a day. We teach a lot in the park by our house i really like that. We´re trying to find things to do that are more creative that can help investigators. So ask j dub if he´s got ideas...i know he does.

I love you all a lot. Every day I can even tell you how much I realize I have been blessed in my life. Our family is so incredible. Be grateful. Keep praying together every night! that´s what we try to get less active families to do every day...pray together. And keep having family home evening...go to the temple as much as you can because you´ve got one right next to you :)

Dad it´s been cool hearing about you´re Gospel Doctrine class. It´s so hard to study everything I want to here...because we only get one hour of personal study in the morning....and it´s focused on investigators. But i´m learning a lot from it. One hour for sure is way too short haha.

Stay strong fam! I love you all and pray for you nightly. And Elder Poli prays for you as well. I hope all is well. The times still flyin here. I´m basically done with my mission haha that´s what it feels like sometimes. It scares me how fast some weeks go. Muuuucho amor!

Os amo, (is that correct, no sé)
Elder Tanner

ps how sweet is that that there´s a sister tan in your ward?! Did you tell her that you have a son named Elder Tan?

Hola mamá!

Just wanted to tell you I love you! I´ve got three minutes and i wanted to let you know that i´ve been thinking about those times in the morning before I left to work when we´d have chats about the gospel. It strengthened my testimony a lot. I hope that everything is well and that you are happy. I´ll keep praying for ya!

Te amo mucho,
Elder Your Son