{ThiS WeeK RocKED. ThAt'S aLL TheRe iS tO iT.}

Dearest mother,

This week rocked. That´s all there is to it. I´m still loving Empalme a lot! We had 73 people at church yesterday!!!! Yes! And Emiliano showed up looking like a stud. It was incredible.

Ok two experiences to share. Me and Elder Poli were contacting this guy in the street towards the end of the night and I saw a family across the street. Elder Poli was talking to him and I felt like I needed to go talk to this family...ya know...that feeling. So I when up and contacted them and we set up an appointment (this was last change). And a couple nights ago we taught them...the familia Jimenez...about the plan of salvation. The man, Luis, had lots of questions about the spirit world and people that haven´t had the chance to hear the gospel. A little while later in the lesson he started crying. His brother had passed away less than three months ago. Luis told us how his brother was going to come up for christmas but he never made it. I then realized why I was supposed to stay in El Empalme. I remembered where we were all at three months after James´ death and I told him about James. I could really feel the pain that he was in and we all cried together. We´re really hoping that we can get them to church as a family and get them progressing. It was a very special experince.

Ok, so we were walking to Finca 4 in our area when we saw a little neighborhood on the right side of the street and we were feeling it. We found a young joven in his house. This family literally had nothing. The kid´s name is Germán, 24 years old. He was baptized when he was 16 but hasn´t come to church for years. He cried as he told us what he´s been going through and how hard his life is right now. He´s been bed ridden for two months and they hardly have any food. That day they were waiting for two other pastors from a different church but we showed up instead...what a coincidence. Anyway, we gave fim a blessing and he came to church yesterday. It´s awesome to see what the gospel does for people. He´s still got a lot of things he needs help with in his life but i´ll be praying hard for him.

So it was a good week! Oh and ps we can´t go to Costa Rica anymore hahaha. I called up Presidente after i emailed y´all and apparently that´s bad. So...ya no. But no worries he wasn´t mad with me :)

Maui? What? haha well i´m in Panama so take that.

And what a cool story about those missionaries!

Love you all!

Mucho amor,m

Elder Tan

My awesome siblings!

Libster thanks for the sweet email! I want to see a picture of your long hair! Did you get the birthday package yet? I hope so :) just wanted to wish you a VERY happy birthday from down here in panama! Are you really 5 years old? jeez that´s huge. Don´t grow up too much before i get home lib. I love you a lot and i miss ya! I hope your birthday is as good as mine was. I´ll be praying for you.

Love ya lib!

-elder Tan

Hey dad i´ve only got a couple minutes left...i just wanted to thank you for the letter. Every week i get so pumped after hearing from the family! It really does get me ready for the week. Ps we´re going to David this week to hear the profeta and the apostoles give us the word! I´m soooooooo excited! How lucky are we to have a living prophet.

I love you dad!

Elder Tan

{He´S cHanGiNg So MucH}

Hey hey!

Alright....so I asked my district leader when we were over there if it was against the rules and he told us it was fine. And we talked to the migrations people also so I wasn´t under the impression that we were breaking any rules. So we were over there for about 20 minutes and came back. It was actually really lame as there was nothing over there. And I´m trying to be obedient 100 percent with every rule (my last comp told me that I was too obedient haha)...and I searched the rules thoughouly to see if I could send a video home to all of you. The rules say don´t have cameras in public while you´re proselyting...and it didn´t say anything about videos. Trust me i´m not wanting to get sent home for blowing it on a rule. But i´ll write Presidente Madrigal about it to clear it up with him and make sure we´re good. That´s what i always do when i have an interview...ask him about questions i have with rules...

This weekend we had a baptism with Emiliano because I got to stay in El Empalme with Elder Poli! It was such a great experience. Afterwards he stood up and bore his testimony about Joseph Smith and the church...it was so incredible! Seeing the change that he made has been so amazing! And we had some great lessons taking Cecilio out with us yesterday. He bore his testimony way powerfully about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. He´s changing so much.

This coming month we want to work for 3 baptisms. And we´re going to try to get 75 people to church! It´s going to be a lot of work but i´m really excited for it! I´m glad i´ve got six more months here in El Empalme. And i can´t believe i´ll be 20 tomorrow! Crazy!

Thanks to all for the emails :) maybe if you sent letters they´ll get here this change hahaha we´ll see! I love you all! I love this Gospel. I love testifying to people about the changes and the happiness that this Gospel can bring. Thank you all for all the support!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Tanner

ps we´re teaching a guy named José Smith! haha he´s really positive!

{I'M ReaLLy SaD AboUT TuCK}

I´m really sad about Tuck. He was such a great friend. I wasn´t really expecting to see him again but it´s still hard. I know he and James are going to have a great reunion though. I´m just chillin here crying at the computer in the middle of nowhere hahaha i feel dumb. I hope you´re all good there. I´ll miss him a lot. I´m gonna have to work super gnarley this week to quit this feelings.

Mom and dad thanks a million for the letters! I love hearing from you! Seriously it recharges me every week. PS no we don´t have daylight savings. And i´m so excited for Matt! He´s gonna be on the team soon! The MTC is nuts. I´ll never be able to describe my experience there. haha it was so much fun...at times i miss it...just because it was so dang easy compared to the mission field. But he´s going to love it. Tell Matt that I´m wishing him the best of luck in every aspect of the mission, the language, the studying, the working. And tell him to ENJOY the washers and dryers in the MTC.

I´m actually surprised my letter made it to you that fast. Tell Libby i sent her a sweet birthday present that I bought from a little old lady by Costa Rica. Yes we went to Costa Rica last week. It´s not all that tough...you just walk across the bridge and you´re in Costa Rica.

Last night we had a sweet lesson with this awesome family! The wife is Cindy she´s a member, and her husbands name is Julio. He saw an Anti Mormon video recently and he had some questions. But we did already in focusing on the doctines. They´re a sweet fam. I hope I don´t get transferred this week because i´ll miss Emiliano´s baptism (This saturday) and i won´t get to work with this fam. We´re going through the jungle again today, but we´re bringing Emiliano! Sweet! Oh and we had 48 people at church yesterday! Awesome!

Mucho amor,

Elder Tanner

oh and yes i can print emails haha my bad

{EXPerienCes THaT i´ll NEveR FoRGeT}

Hey Hey!

Alright...no i can´t print the emails here. The weather is really cool right now. It´s raining a TON! We got soaked the other day and my leather belt bled through my pants and ruined my garments...oops. Yes i´m still loving the coconuts when i have the chance to eat them. But this week we got a tasty dish of cow stomach haha it was gross.

We were eating con los Valdez, and we asked her what we were eating (because it was gross)...and she said it was part of a cow. So we decided to finish eating before asking her what part haha. It really was gross.

Did I tell you I lost the keys to the house too? But don´t worry because they were the original. So the owner came over, they bent the bars on the window, stuck a kid through the window to unlock the door, changed the lock on the door, and two hours later it was all good. That was a funny day!

Oh and I almost got eaten by a dog this week! That thing was huge! We were standing in front of this house waiting for them to come out and this thing came runnin at us! Luckily it´s chain pulled it back just in time. Hahaha that really was one of the few times i´ve been pretty scared on the mission!

My tooth is great I promise! Really no worries there. I´m not really using it to chew at all.

The mission is still sweet! The time goes by ridiculously fast but i´m enjoying it.

Yesterday we got up at 5 in the morning to call people in the branch and have them go out and pick up less active members, investigators, and recent converts. But don´t worry, the assistance only DOUBLED this week at church!!! Last week it was at 32, and this week 64! God really blessed us. It was sweet!!! We´re hoping to keep up this assistance.

And we set a baptismal date with a joven named Emiliano!! For the 20 of this month! He´s way cool...he´s 17 i think. He´s reading his Book of Mormon every day, comin to church, and praying. He´s such a great kid! I might not be here for the baptism if i get transferred but i´m way excited for him! His personality has changed a lot since we started meeting with him. I really love him a lot.

We´re also meeting with an older couple, they´re called Elba y Victoriano. Elba studies her book of mormon more than most mormons do haha. SHe´s way awesome. And Victoriano is just awesome, he speaks english fairly well too. They´re a sweet couple, in their 70´s i think. The problem is that we can´t get them to church...but we´ve talked about baptism with them as well.

We had some appointments with members this week. All i´m gonna say is that you have to be careful when you have lessons with members. Sometimes false doctrines get goin, talk about the temple and baptisms for the dead, the Santa Cena, haha oh man. But it was a great week no worries!

Everything is going well here. We´re headed out to the border today for P-Day...should be sweet! The spanish is still comin along and the members of our branch are really starting to work with us.

I love you all. The church is true. My testimony continues to grow every day working with these incredible people in this little branch of empalme. I´ve already had experiences that i´ll never forget. Bearing testimony that Christ has restored his church once again and that people can have eternal families is incredible. You all have to keep praying every night as a family. Please! Please don´t stop! Families are being destroyed here. There are so many problems with the law of chastity, alcohol, and just tons of difficulties going on with so many people. And its all because they don´t have the gospel, or if they don´t have it they don´t live it. And have family home evenings!!!

The church is soooo true! Les extraño mucho y les amo más...nunca voy a olvidarles en mis oraciones. Siga adelante!

Mucho amor,
Elder Tanner
ps the mission rocks!

Letter #2:

Wow mom.
All i can say is thank you for everything. Tell Devan Woodruff that i love him and that he absolutely CANNOT miss this experience! And that story about Ryan was pretty awesome. I´ve seen a lot of people that I know are gonig to be so relieved when they meet the Savior. Mom, God lives. Jesus Christ really is our Savior. This life is incredibly short, and we have to prepare. Our family is so rock solid i love it. I was studying charity this week and trying to thing of a bad thing that i had heard dad say about someone. I though all week and i couldn´t think of anything! And i always think about how well you´ve

taught me...just like the sons of helaman were taught by their mothers. I´m going to read the book of mormon in spanish by june 12 this year! One of my goals....

Love you mom! Stay strong. Know that I think about you a lot. But i´m focusing on the work. I love you a ton! Tell libby that she needs to practice violin a lot. And tell marsh that i´m excited to get by butt kicked by him in basketball when I get back haha.

Te amo mucho,
Elder Your Son

ps am i turning 20 this month? haha what happened?

{A LeTTer to TannER frOM GraMMy}

Dear Elder Tanner,

I love reading your letters posted on your blog as you sound so happy. Bob and I can tell you are working hard (as we always expected you would) and we are sure that helps to keep you happy. We pray for your safety, success and happiness. Though I miss you, I know you are in the right place. I loved seeing the picture of your new mission president in the Church News. He is from Huntington Beach. Your mom has sent you their picture, I think.

This is some of the family news:

· Ruthanne turned 50 last week. We had a wonderful time dinner here with your mom and dad and your uncles and aunts. Each one of her siblings gave a tribute to her, organized by your mom. It was a sweet evening.

· Jackson’s have had a trip (two weeks ago) to Hawaii. I tended their dog, Millie. That was an unforgettable experience (tending the dog, I mean).

· Matt continues to prepare for his mission. His Sacrament Service talk is on March 21^st. He doesn’t have his Brazilian Visa yet. Bob’s grandson Nate has arrived this week in Brazil to begin his mission.

· Lyssa and Rees await the arrival of a new dog---a medium sized Golden Doodle.

· Kent and Heather, Lyssa and Rees are preparing for another big bike ride through Southern Utah Mountains in May. They will be riding 3 days. I am hoping to go one day with them. If I can get myself ready I will ride from Fishlake down into Loa---about 30 miles. Bob will drive the car behind me for “insurance”.

· Bob and I went to a program of music last week in Provo. There was a Cory Christiansen on guitar. He is apparently quite well known among guitar circles and I wondered if he is someone you know of. He was very good.

· Marshall continues to tear up the basketball floor. I have seen several of his games and he is tenacious.

· Libby is really doing well on her violin. Erin told me yesterday that Libby will play with other students in a concert in the Conference Center. That is pretty impressive.

· Will remembers you often and speaks of his friendship with you. You are a great example to him and to all the other cousins.

· J.W. and Jessi continue to do good things. Jessi will sing at my ward Sacrament Service in March . I am eagerly looking forward to it.

Other news:

• BYU is tied with New Mexico for the lead in the Mountain West basketball conference. Utah (sadly) is about 5^th.

• The Utah Jazz are in a winning streak.

• United States took a record number of medals (37) in the winter Olympics, which just ended in Vancouver British Columbia yesterday.

• Our weather is starting to warm, but still brisk. Spring is a few weeks away, I think. I am going to try to fit a ski day in before the snow melts.

I love you, dearly. I know that what you are doing is The Lord’s plan for you; I know the Gospel is true and that we are lead by a Prophet,

Stay cool. Be happy. Brush your teeth (advice given in honor of Grandpa Hansen) and say your prayers.

Deepest Love, Grammy