Tanner's Mission Experiences

Hello friends. Well for me, as I am beginning to near the ending months of my mission I have realized a greet need for diligence. Some days the work seems too hard and the load too heavy to bear. The temptation of sleeping in is becoming more and more enticing as each day passes by. I often feel physically exhausted and sometimes unmotivated to do the work. The truth that I have found is on my own I can not meet the demands of this work. On my own I cannot complete this race I have started. The winds are beginning to blow and my mortal body isn't strong enough on its own to continue.  But there is hope. I have found added strength beyond my own in staying focused on the simple doctrines the gospel of Jesus Christ has to offer. When I can't get out of bed, going to my knees in prayer seems to give me a breath  of life for the day. When I feel unmotivated to go out, reading the scriptures and words of the past and modern day prophets gives me the desire to share this won...

Today I want to talk about something very important that I have really studied and come to learn this week. In a world of negativity, gossip, backbiting, degrading words, insults , and comparisons, it is easy for one to lose sight of their divine potential and importance. As the standards of the world become more and more impossible to please, feelings of self worth decrease leading to anxiety and depression. When this happens the whispering of the devil pierces our ears telling us we will NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH. And we believe it. We may forget that we are literally spirit sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father.  In this world today there are enough distractions to make one feel down. There are magazines, posters and commercials showcasing "flawless" models dictating standards of beauty. These models are given the best clothes, makeup, and eventually extensive editing until perfection. The message of all of this ends up to be, If you don't look this way then you a...

Hello Friends! Okay lets see. Well for almost the entire week I was not with my companion haha. He and Elder Viatu'ulala got permission to travel to one of their previous areas to see their people. Soooo for me I stayed behind in my area with Elder Olsen.  This week was pretty fun though. We were able to see a lot of members and one of them wants us to come every Wednesday to help her make a new treat every week. So this last Wednesday we made no bake cookies. Ghanaians don't really like sugar though so I don't think it was her favorite, but her kids loved it! This week she requested for us to teach her how to make meat pie, soo thats what I think I, will do.  Other than that this week we also had three baptisms. Two of them are the kids of an older lady we baptized about 3 weeks ago, and one is a part member and the mother wanted us to baptize him. I'm not sure why she waited so long (HE'S 10), but we were happy to do it. Immediately after the baptism we...

Tanner is currently serving as a Zone Leader so is in charge of planning zone activities.  For this one he organized a bunch of minute to win it style games and had a bracket to record their scores etc. 

Hello Friends,   This week was a busy one. We had meetings, service projects and exchanges! On top of all that we had to finish preparing our candidates for baptism. The good news is it all worked out and they were baptized!  The one is named Sister Esther. She is so awesome and has been so ready and excited to be baptized! Soon we will baptize her son and his cousin. The little boy is in a part member family, so they asked us to prepare him for the same day...   Haha actually the funny part of that day is I wasn't even wearing the right name tag! Earlier that week I went to pick up a name tag for an Elder Morisho in my same zone and then when I got back to the apartment, I just put that tag on my desk. Well when that Saturday came along I was in a hurry and  gI justrabbed the name tag I saw on my desk not even realizing it wasn't mine! Finally when I arrived at the church someone looked at me with a confused face and said, "Elder Morisho?...