August 11, 2014
When I think back on this week, you could say it kind of
hit me in the gut.
Monday night we received a call. Long story short, the D
family is no longer to be baptized on the 16th of August. They still want to
meet, but they don't all have a testimony of the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith
yet. Turns out, not all of them have been reading, so we told them to do so if
they truly want an answer to their prayers.
Wednesday I went on an exchange to Palm Springs. I don't
see the appeal of Palm Springs. I will say it is completely different from
Yucaipa. At one point we were meeting with this older member lady, and when she
learned I spoke Russian she suddenly said hello and asked me how I was doing
(in Russian). It threw me off at first, but my instincts kicked in to respond.
So there - I've used Russian since coming to California now.
Thursday I spent all morning and afternoon at Missionary
Leadership Council, learning to be a better missionary leader. Then we got
home, and Sister Webb got super sick so I had to reschedule our lessons. And
spend the rest of the day doing bookwork.
Friday we weekly planned. Then at lunch break I got
another phone call. And that is when I learned Buddy passed away. (Our 15 year old dog.) Yeah that
hurt. But I can say I'm grateful I learned then, and not today. So I had till
the end of lunch to fix myself up, and then we had an appointment right then.
But the appointment resulted in a new investigator, breaking the dry spell. So
silver linings. That night as we left for another appointment we opened the
door to find Roxy, the Palmer's puppy, practically eating one of their
chickens. She was just ripping out feathers like it was a toy, and blood was
everywhere. We got her off, the chicken ran into the hen house, I locked her in
for safety, and reported the incident to the Palmers. Roxy got in trouble,
and...
Saturday a new fence was built around the chickens. In
case you are wondering, the victim chicken is alive, if not a little
featherless on the rear end. Roxy is officially in the "terrible
twos" and a complete fiend. My love for her is strained.
Saturday morning I got to do some more service sorting
donated shoes for a charity drive. A lot of stinky, wet (from the rain storms) shoes.
Sister Webb got shoe juice on her skirt. Gross. Then later that day I got kind
of sick, along the same lines as Sister Webb's sickness, ie. pretty woozy and
weak. I did not have it as bad as Sister Webb, thankfully, so I was able to go
to a baptism with the mom and daughter of the D family. Then they took us out
to dinner :)
Okay - funny story. So not this past fast and testimony
meeting but the one before, Sister Webb bore her testimony. Then a couple of
weeks later, it did not seem that the last speaker would make it, so the bishop
asked if I would bare my testimony. Well, the speaker showed up and I avoided
it. Then the next week Sister Webb was supposed to give the opening prayer, but
then we got the program and it said I was to. Sister Webb offered to do it
anyway, but I said no, I would do it. As soon as I said that (before the
service started) the bishop walks over and is like, "So the high council
speaker did not bring a speaker with him, so since I see Sister Tanner is
saying the prayer, would you, Sister Webb, mind baring your testimony?"
Ha. Well, the next week Sister Webb said the opening prayer (see - they
switched the order of the prayer giving on us). And THEN this past Sunday we're
going along in the service, and it comes to the last speaker, and it turns out
he's not there. And so the bishop gets up, and asks if Sister Tanner would come
up and bear her testimony (I have no idea how to spell bear in this case). It
was my Jonah moment. Not even any time to think about what to say. Hopefully it
came out understandable. Of course I had to then be followed by two young men
who just got back from their missions.
Those RMs were a little weird, may I just say. I hope by
the fact that I could recognize that, means I won't be quite as weird. I did
learn though, that I was pretty stiff when I first came from Ukraine. As people
would comment on the two RMs, they would be like, "yeah - you've changed a
lot since you got here Sister Tanner." So sorry family, you missed my
culture shock.
By the way, this letter took a long time because this man
next to me kept talking to me about all kinds of things that I wasn't quite
following, and I think he kept throwing out Bible verses to see if I knew what
he was talking about. I have to admit I was a little distracted, but he was
pleasant enough. And then he says "and you know what the scriptures say
about who my brother is, who my sister and mother is..." and I'm like
"well, we're all children of God." And he's like "NO. That is
not what the Bible says. You don't know your scriptures." And then he
stood up and left. So sorry mom, but that is why this letter took so long. All
the missionaries around me writing home to their families had a good inward
chuckle about that one.
Yep. That was my week. Hope you all are having a great
end to your summer! All the schools around here are starting up again this week
if not the next. Craziness.
Love you!
Sister Tanner
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