Twenty years old

October 14, 2013

Okay! Let me start with the good. Today I am twenty! It's weird to think a year ago I found out I could even go on a mission, and now I'm here, in Ukraine. It was definitely a life course changer. And a big THANK YOU to everyone who sent me birthday wishes - they really mean a lot to me.

This week the weather has been beautiful and actually fall like. Ukraine actually looked kind of beautiful. Unfortunately, I did not get to enjoy the outside as much as I would have liked, because Sister Pharis and I spent most of the week sick. Really, flu-like sick. It was awful. BUT getting sick is worth nothing if you don't learn something from it, so this is what I've come up with:

Getting sick on a mission is terrible, because, one, you're sick, two, you can't go out and do the things you want to do, and three, you're forced to think about yourself. And when you are forced to think about yourself, you begin to think about home, and all the things you miss about home, and all the things you could be doing, etc. etc. And then you get stressed, which makes everything worse, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Try to spend as little time in this sick stage as possible. This is also why it is so important, as President Hinckley and so many others found, to completely forget yourself in the work. Because if you don't forget yourself, there is no way you're going to survive.

I found this amazing peppermint oil stuff Sister Pharis had, that I could put under my nose and finally breathe, and put on my head and magically make my headache go away, helped calm me down physically. Then prayer helped spiritually. And eventually everything comes back together.

So to not dwell on the bad, I would like to mention how great it was to not only attend zone conference and be re-inspired this week, but to also watch General Conference. It was so good this October! All the missionaries in the Donetsk area got together to watch it in English.

In other fun news, I got to attend my first Ukrainian wedding reception. I had no idea what was going on, there was some strange food in front of me (the smell of food was still making me sick at this point), some strange games occurring, but it was all in good fun. Also, if my children turn out funny, it's because of the fish I accidentally ate at the reception, because apparently what I eat affects my children seven years down the road.

Also, during tracting this week we got called Nazis. I of course did not know this at the time, but that is what trainers are for. I was just smiling and nodding.

Sadly, there is not much more to mention this week. I actually talked to a lady on the bus by myself the other day. The conversation was short, but she still liked me by the end. She did, however, stare at me like I was rather strange when I asked how she was doing. People just don't talk to each other here. We also get rather strange looks when we just say hello to people. Oh Ukrainian people.

Be good! Stay healthy! Learn from your trials.

Love,

Sister Tanner

How do you do laundry?

We have a very tiny washing machine that takes hours to do one load, and then we have a line on our covered porch out back that our laundry hangs on.

There were more than 7 missionaries in the group photo taken when you arrived in Ukraine. Who are the other missionaries?

The districts that arrived at the MTC a couple of weeks before we left, came to Ukraine with us. And two elders were from the other MTC zone but were in our MTC generation and went to Atlanta with us.

Your letter says you walk down the hall lit by your flashlight. Do you have a flashlight other than the Disney princess one?

I do have a flashlight other than the Disney princess one, but the princess one works great and that is what I use.

Was the photo of you standing on the steps in front of your apartment building taken in the morning or evening?

Evening, we do studies all morning.

Just keep smiling and saying hello to people. What fish did you eat and why would it make your children funny?

I don't know what fish I ate. We have just been told explicitly to not eat the fish, because it is so horribly polluted here.

I hope you are feeling better now.

Not 100%, but a whole lot better.

Did you have any General Conference talks you particularly enjoyed?

I really enjoyed Elder Eyring’s https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/to-my-grandchildren?lang=eng and Sister Stephens’. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/do-we-know-what-we-have?lang=eng  Everything is a blur.