Dear Family,
Mom, if you have any cool renditions of church hymns or something that you could send sometime...that'd be sweet :) I got a way nice keyboard from the Morales family, and E Packer is teaching me some good stuff haha!!
E Packer has kinda got me into techno music....when people we teach find out that he was a DJ before the mission, they look up his stuff. And it's soooo good. Look up DJ Arctica on youtube or soundcloud.com!! He's got a record label for one of his songs!!!!
This week was crazy. Tuesday we had an exchange with the zone leaders, and I went with E Newman (he's from Syracuse!!) to Ledgewood. It DUMPED rain that day. Remember that picture from the MTC of when we played volleyball in the rain? Yeah, it rained hard like that. Except this time we were in our nice clothes haha! We were driving around in the rain, and then we got to a house that we were going to try by, and it started raining harder. So we got out of the car and sprinted up these waterfalls running down the stairs and we got so soaked, and the guy wasn't even home!! So we swam back down the stairs and jumped into the car. We were soaked for the rest of the day haha!! But it was still fun!!
Wednesday we exchanged back, and after that we went to help some members set up a clothing drive. Our stake did a clothing drive where people just donated clothes and things they didn't need/use so that other people could come and just get a bunch of stuff for free. We helped a member get a few things over there and then set it out, and then the people in charge said we could go through everything and see if there were some things we wanted. So I got a pair of proselyting shoes (kindof a combination of old man sneakers and sperry topsiders) and a couple of t-shirts. After that, we walked around for a long time, just trying to get in to people's houses. We were only able to teach one lesson that day, not because we didn't try, we were seriously walking ALL DAY!!! But the lesson that we did teach was really good. This lady in our ward, Patricia, has been less active for about 3 months because she hurt her leg really bad by slipping on the ice. So she's asked us and the Maughans to come and do like a FHE with her every week. She has a son who is like 8 months younger than me who has been less active for almost 3 years-ever since his older brother died. His name is Nick. I've shared a few lessons with him, and I really like him!! He's a really really great kid, and he's way cool!! But Patricia wanted Nick to be involved in these FHE's, so when we got there, Nick wasn't there, and we watched "only a stonecutter" with Patricia, but nick came about 30 mins later, and we watched the Because of HIm video, and it was waaaay powerful!!!!!! I love Nick, and I could tell he felt the spirit!!! Hopefully we'll be able to get him to church!!!
Thursday we taught several lessons, and two of them were the Because of HIm video haha! We shared that alot, but it was soo powerful every time!! That is one of my favorite three minute long videos about Jesus ever!! ;) Our last stop was the Chiviliu's, but right when we got there, the AP's called me and asked if I could help them go give a blessing to a sister missionary in another area. So I left and my comps stayed, and it was a really cool experience!! A sister training leader had been going through a hard time, and although she didn't say anything about what she was going through, her blessing was awesome!!! God loves all His children and His work goes forward to bless every single one of them through the Priesthood!!!
Friday we taught several lessons as well. We have also been teaching the Restoration alot to members to help them relearn the basic principles of the gospell, and it's amazing to me how much some of these converts have learned and grown through the gospel IF they've rooted themselves and learned the gospel through their efforts. On the flip side, it's amazing to me to see how many of these converts who haven't really understood the purpose of the gospel don't even know who Joseph Smith is...As a part of the hispanic culture, church is just something you do. Everyone believes in Jesus, and everyone has a "church" to go to, and so some people don't understand the importance of going to THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH, so that's the part that we are trying to bring to all the members.
Saturday we had a really cool experience. We were walking down the street, and this kid on a bike stopped us and asked where the church was. We started talking to him, and found out that his name was Josue, and he was a 14 year old boy that moved here with his mom 3 or 4 months ago. They were members, they just hadn't known where the church was or any members! So we went by to visit them later that night and they are so cool!!!! Josue does BMX, likes boy scouts, and wants to go to church, and his mom, Carla, is waaaaay strong in the gospel!!! We got them to church the next day!!
Easter sunday was good too!! The sister missionaries made abranch choir that we all have to sing in, and we sung "I know that my Redeemer lives" in spanish. It was really cool!! There was also a really good talk given by Hno Morales about being humble like the savior. It was really good! After church we had two dinner appointments...it was alot of food...but we watched the Because of HIm video again haha! Something that stuck out to me from that was that because the Savior suffered, died, and resurrected for us, there are no ends. You can't ever sin too much, that the Savior won't forgive you if you truly repent. You can't ever feel too much pain, that the Savior doesn't know how to help you get through it. With Jesus Christ, not even death is an end. Rather, it is a new beginning.
Today Elder L. Tom Perry is here in NJ!! So he's giving a special conference to all the missionaries!! IT's gonna be sooooo awesome!!!!! Everyone looks great at home!! Tyler, I'm diggin the white tux, you stud!!!! Emma, did you die your hair? Looks great!! Addie, you remind me of toothless....;) Love you guys!!! Send me pictures of the house!!! I've heard it's pretty cool! ;)
Love,
Elder Tanner Nelson
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