Can we leave a blessing?

September 16, 2013

Okay. I'm glad you have questions because I did not have a whole lot to write this week. 

1. Do you eat at the homes of members?
 yes, I do eat at the homes of members occasionally. Seeing as the ward has 10 sets of missionaries, and none can eat at the same home at the same time, it doesn't happen as much as it used to. However, the sisters get fed more than the elders, and Sister M_ has been in the ward for almost six months now, so we get the most of anyone, I think. 
2. Do they forward the mail to you or do you only get it if someone goes to the office?
They do forward the mail to me, and the reason I gave you the mission office address is because if transfers happen, they will have my mail, and it won't be stuck at my old apartment complex. I am not sure if they forward packages though, those might only be at zone conferences and such. 
3. Where did your companion live in Florida? Is she a convert or lifetime member?
Sister M_ is from Tampa, Florida. She joined the church four years ago, and is the only member in her family. She is a spitfire. 
4. Do you go tracting knocking on doors? Have you done the door approach?
I do go tracting door to door. I do that a lot. President Harding has a big emphasis on blessing people, so we usually introduce ourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ, and ask if we can leave a blessing with them (a prayer). Seeing as we are in the south, they usually say yes, though occasionally they say no. We then bless them, usually holding hands as that is how they do it down here, and then afterwards we talk with them a little bit. Tracting has actually been one of the most successful finding approaches we have used. It helps that we immediately know where they live. :) I hope you received my hand written letter, but I went tracting my first day in the field here. 
5. Do I have a southern accent... I don't know. I think sometimes I begin to imitate the way they speak here, but most of the time I don't. I've become better at understanding Jamaican accents though. I had a brief taste of how Sister Crompton probably felt. 
6. How big is the area you cover, is it just College Park or more?
Our area is pretty large. We cover College Park, Riverdale, Union City, and Fairburn. Since we have a car, we can drive out to all these areas. The elders have to bike places or walk places, so they are more restricted. So I live in the hood, but I don't necessarily tract in the hood. The other sisters, the ones that don't live with us (there are four sets of sisters in my district), they live in the nice area, but tract in the hood. Good times.

with sign saying What is the greatest gift that you have received?

So those are the questions. As far as things that happened this week, not a whole lot. We had a lot of people cancel on us, or stand us up. Some people won't pick up our phone when we call them. When that happens we just go to their house. HA! But yeah, it's been a little sad. But there are always good things as well.

  

On Tuesday we had zone conference, so I was able to go to the Atlanta Temple. It's beautiful, but a lot smaller than the pictures make it look. But I really appreciated the opportunity to go. I wish we had a church photographer, because the trek there and back was funny. We took MARTA to the closest station, and then we had to walk the next twenty minutes, on the side of the road, no sidewalks, over an overpass (there was a slight lip there), and then into the neighborhood where it is. I wanted a picture of the eight missionaries going single file over the overpass. The zone conference lasted basically all day. It was good, but really, really, long. The sword and shield were brought out, as well as a giant spear. Some good pump up stuff. 

So sometimes missionaries just have to release at night, so Monday night we put some facial masks on. Then toilet paper was brought out and we became toilet paper mummies. Then someone just went too far and frosting appeared and a frosting fight occurred. I was minding my own business, so of course I ended up with the brunt of it. I don't think frosting is good for your hair. But maybe it is. I have pictures. 

And that, sadly, is about the most exciting story I have. I am so grateful to be out here though, and to be among the people that I am. There are some unique challenges here, things I have never been involved with before, but it is wonderful to know that what I have is knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which applies to everyone, no matter their situation. The Atonement really is for everyone. 

I love you all. Be nice to the missionaries.
Sister Tanner

One more story. One day we knocked on this door, and a man answered, then yelled. I jumped, was sure we had knocked on a crazy man's door (He said we scared him. He scared us!), and then proceeded to have an interesting conversation where he told us to not bother blessing him because he was going to Hell, since he "liked the heat." It was one of our more interesting door approaches.