Squeamish be warned

October 27, 2014

May I first begin by saying that missionaries should never have pets of any kind for good reason. They are entirely too much of a hassle and we have no time. Plus they make your apartment stink.

May I now update you on the chicken.

It got maggots.

Okay, so Monday we were entirely too tired and lazy to try and introduce the chicken back to the others. That bit us in the butt, because the chicken was really noisy all night and kept Sister Magleby up. So Tuesday morning we try to put it with the others. It doesn't want to leave the box. So I put it outside of the box. It just sits there. Then the other chickens come over and start pecking it. It tries to stumble away, but keeps falling because it's really weak. You can tell it's just accepted death. We are very distressed and trying to figure out what to do. In the meantime I'm playing a real life "defend the castle" game trying to shoo chickens away from the sick one. They would just keep coming, from left, right, front, even between my legs. No mercy. So we put the chicken back in the box, and bring it inside. During all this, I happen to catch a glimpse of the rear, something I have not been able to while she was in the box. I see worm like things. Either worms or maggots.

So we call the D family, and before the daughter went to school they came over to help with the chicken. They take it into the bathroom, lift up her tail feathers, and... maggots. Lots of them. No wonder she was uncomfortable during the night.

And this is where you might want to stop reading if you get squeamish easy.

So it turns out they missed some wounds and maggots got them. There was another maggoty wound on her neck. They brought some heavy duty pink healing stuff that they started wiping on her bum and neck. This also means they had to pick maggots off one by one. We had maggots going down our bathroom sink. And then chicken got to take it easy in our bathroom. So we couldn't use our bathroom for a day because there was a maggoty chicken healing in it. Dying maggots would fall off her rear and then she would eat them. Oh yeah, and then she started having diarrhea (chickens pass gas too by the way). That bathroom REAKED. We thought the Palmers were coming home Tuesday (that day). Turns out it wouldn't be until late, late that night, so we were out of a bathroom all day. We had to use the Palmer's. 

The next morning the Palmers were home, and they removed the chicken and we cleaned up our bathroom. Hard core. The smell of cleaning products has never smelled so good. We also took the time to clean the tub because it had some mildew that may or may not have been affecting us. Oh it felt so nice to be in a clean apartment. It was only a few days but it felt like eternity.

Squeamish people can now resume reading.

Other things happened this week. Apparently I volunteered myself to be the official pianist for the Activity Days’ mother/daughter musical performance. This means I get to come help the girls practice. This time I also got to paint a "prayer pumpkin" for B, to remind him to pray.

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I still get to use my piano skills here. For Activity Days (the 8 to 11 year old girls), for Primary (played for them this past Sunday), and for Relief Society sometimes. But never in the same day like in Ukraine. And I don't have to play for Sacrament Meeting.

Cool story: So we had this birthday card for a less active person who lived in a place we had never been before. We plugged the address into our GPS and it first took us to a road leading out of our neighborhood I had never seen before. It took us way into the hills/mountains by where we live. We get to a stopping place, and ask a lady where this house is. She points up. I'm feeling a bit nervous, because this is all private property. So we continue driving into the mountains. We reach a gate. You have to call for someone to open it. Not to be deterred, we call. No answer. Having gone through so much effort to get here, we decide to just stick the card on the call box. Just then a truck pulls up. Turns out it's the grandpa of the person we want, and he's all "follow me up!" Miracle! We drive, and drive, and we are way up there. And then we reach the house. It is the EXACT house Sister Magleby always used to point to and go "I want to go there." Yeah right, like we were going to tract there. But we made it! And then the grandpa takes us inside and we walked into a 1940s wealthy person mansion. Like the people who would just go on hunting trips to Africa. Because he did. Apparently he was a professional hunter. Horns, exotic animal heads, stuffed birds. I walked on a zebra skin rug. There was another one on the wall. So many dead animals. The grandpa points to a room and is like "go knock on her door and surprise her!" Uhhh..... awkward. Standing outside the bedroom door, Sister Magleby and I just gave each other a look like "well?..." and knocked. So terrified of what was behind the door. Turned out it was a really cool girl our age. Really though, it was her 21st birthday. We had a nice chat, we exchanged numbers. Definitely could not have anticipated ANY of that happening.

One more thing and then I have to go. Saturday morning we got to plant trees! And then our member ride wasn't done serving so we went to another service project and helped them finish mulching. It was one of those big service projects where you feel accomplished and ready to go home and sleep. Except we got to go home, change, and go back out and be missionaries. But it was great to be out serving the community.

Hopefully that is all for this week. Cooler weather is on and off here. Strange to think this time last year I was in boots, a coat, hat, scarf and now I'm wearing the same thing I did in mid-July. Sometimes I get to put on a light sweater. Oh southern California.

Well, have a great week! Love ya!

Sister Tanner

I forgot to include an update in my letter about investigators. I'm going to copy and paste my letter to president, and you can edit/add/whatever as you wish to my letter.

"This week investigator lessons tanked, but we were able to see some less active members we've never been able to see before.

As a quick update on C, after she cancelled her baptism again it seemed like she was avoiding us. She wouldn't respond to our out reaches to her, and stopping by her house is complicated because of the situation with her parents plus she never seems to be home. Things seemed bleak until we suddenly received a text from her. Apparently she got a new phone and it's been messing up on her, hence the lack of communication. Plus she has been extremely busy with work and school. And then she told us on Saturday night, the night of her scheduled baptism, that she was at urgent care for something probably stress related. So a baptism on the 25th was apparently not meant to be.

Dave D told us that he and Ty were not going to be at church on Sunday because he's swamped at work (construction) and Ty was going to help. But then they were at Sacrament Meeting! Apparently Dave told Christine that morning that they could at least make it to Sacrament meeting before going to work, which is what they did. Dave continues to impress me, especially since he was the most hesitant one. But then he started reading/listening to The Book of Mormon, and everything changed."

I love you! Thank you for taking care of housing and classes. I will definitely be praying.

I have to go. Again, love you!

Carving pumpkins with the Palmers

Service - even to a chicken

October 20, 2014

Would you believe me if I told you that at this moment, there is a chicken sitting in a box in our bedroom?

It's true.

But I'll get to that later.

So my birthday. It was a pretty sweet day. Literally. I think people are trying to make me fat. There were THREE cakes made for my birthday, along with a big "cookie cake" plus a billion other sweets. Just in time for the holiday seasons. Luckily we went walking that day, but of course while we did so, a member found us and delivered the cookie cake. 

Then not two minutes later we get a text asking if we can stop by another member’s house, and I get a personalized mini cake and ice cream. And then my birthday party. Delicious pizza, great friends ranging in age from 4 months to 40 years, and, of course, pumpkin cake. (Diana's favorite birthday cake.) A pretty awesome twenty-first birthday party. Ironically the drinks came in a wine box, but it was just sparkling lemonade. Side note: we made two pumpkin cakes, but only ate one, so the next morning an entire pumpkin cake was delivered to our door. But we didn't get to it fast enough and we're pretty sure it started fermenting. Weird.

six year old Kyla put the candles on the cake

Wednesday was a funny day. So we stopped by this less active older couple. The husband answers the door, and he's like, "yeah, come on in!" So we walk in and there is the wife on the couch dead. At least she looked like it. It kind of freaked us out, especially when she didn't respond right away. Turns out she was just resting, but definitely not a good time to stop by. Come on, husband.

Then we walk over to our favorite potential investigator/investigator and as we walk up his long driveway I see that he is talking to two men in white shirts and nice pants. Either a business deal or Jehovah’s Witnesses. So we quietly start to walk away, but just then he finishes up, sees us, and motions for us to wait. Then he walks down saying "I'm in a tug-of-war between the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses!" And then he proceeds to tell us to follow him the other way around the house, so the JWs don't see us as they drive away. Funny stuff. Then we have a nice conversation with him and his son-in-law. Basically, I think we are winning the "tug-of-war."

Then that night I had a massive steak and baked potato dinner and I felt like I was going to explode the rest of the night. You see, there is this lovely older couple, and the husband makes amazing steak, and now he loves me because I love his steak, so every time we eat dinner there I have a massive steak and a massive baked potato.

I'm just going to slip some bad news in about here: C canceled her baptism again. Again, there was backlash from the family, and as she told us, "My priority to my family trumps what I want." It can just be a little frustrating, but of course we have to just support her. Now moving on.

Thursday we had a great mission conference with Elder Evans! Elder Evans is the general authority in charge of the entire missionary department for the church. He was supposed to come several months ago but had to postpone. Anyway, it was a great session. Four missionaries were picked to be interviewed afterwards, and one of them was Sister Magleby. And then she was the last one, so we had to wait a little while. But that meant that afterwards I had a brief chat with Elder Evans. When he learned I had been in Ukraine, he told Sister Evans to hug me, and she did. He also told me that he was the one who released President Lochhead, and updated me a bit on how they were doing. That was pretty cool.

That night we had a lesson with our investigator, B, about the temple, and he was really interested. His desire to really study has grown a lot lately. It's great.

Friday nothing too special happened. I do remember it was a mental struggle day. Those have been happening a lot lately. I think my brain is turning to mush. I have been EXHAUSTED lately. I think I may be just a little bit sick, but not enough to feel justified in staying in. So I just feel crummy.

Anyway, so Saturday morning Sister Magleby and I got to go to a new horse trail park opening and help out. We were in charge of the little stick-horse rodeo games they had. We timed little kids, teenagers, and adults as they performed Jim Cannon rodeo events with stick horses. It was great fun and I wish more people had known about it and come. My favorite was the girl with the big purple unicorn stick horse. She biffed it a couple times but would just get right back up and run.

That afternoon our Sister Training Leader and her companion came to weekly plan with us. We did it in the Palmer's backyard and were occasionally accosted by pets.

That night we had a lesson with our 94 year old recent convert, and we asked him to say the closing prayer. We think he may have a prayer and a testimony confused. We now know the subject for our next lesson.

And Sunday. This is the day of the chicken. So the Palmers left town on Thursday and we've been taking care of their animals. Well after church Sunday we come home and Roxy is sniffing in the bushes in front of our little house. I look to see what she's sniffing, and I just see a torn and battered chicken body. Ah oh. Luckily it was breathing, so we lock up the dogs while we try and figure out how to get the chicken out from its hiding place. Finally we extract its rather disheveled self, and go to put it with the other chickens. 

But it just sits there, and I'm pretty sure the other chickens are going to peck it to death, as they have a way of doing that. So we bring it inside, and Sister Magleby donates the box her mom sent with holiday decorations. Then we call the chicken experts - the D family. They came over and dressed her wounds, and gave us some instructions. I am happy to report the chicken is alive and well, doing all the chicken things like eating, drinking, pooping, and preening. No egg laying though. Soon I think we will try to introduce her back to the chickens. By the way, after we had brought this one inside, we released the dogs and Roxy went to sniffing another bush. I heard a soft squawk and went to check, only to find another chicken Roxy had chased. This one had somehow gotten to the other side of the gate, and was only mildly roughed up. It was quickly returned to the others. Sometimes, Roxy tries my patience.

Later that day some members gave us three massive pomegranates. Score.

Well, I think that wraps up the report for this week. It was a long one.

Hope you are all doing well!

Love,

Sister Tanner

If you follow what is happening in Ukraine at all, you know that despite a declared cease fire there is continued shelling in Donetsk, especially around the area of the airport. In October of last year Diana flew into an airport that looked like this.

As of October 7, 2014 it looked like this and many lives have been lost in fighting for control of this airport.

Last December, Diana wrote in her letter and sent many photos of the missionaries' visit to the soccer stadium in Donetsk.

It was bombed and damaged in August and this video shows what happened yesterday when more shelling hit the building.
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/10/22/ws-ukraine-stadium-collapse-girl-survives.cnn.html

Happy week, Happy Birthday

October 14, 2014

Since Columbus Day shut down the libraries, I now have the great joy of writing to you on my birthday. 

First off, a big THANK YOU to everyone who wished me, or will wish me a Happy Birthday :) I really do appreciate it, even if I do not write back individually.

Side note: a big thank you to anyone who has written to me in the past as well. I understand I am terrible at writing back, but I promise it makes me very happy inside. 

But yes, Happy Birthday to me. At 21, I am now old enough to serve a mission...under the old rule.

Can you believe that was a whole 2 years ago?! Where has time gone?

Anyway, this week was pretty good.

Our investigator, C, texted us saying that her parents talked to her again, and she was thinking of postponing her baptism. Then she stopped texting us. We were sad. But I said this week was good, and it was. Because yesterday she texted us out of the blue and wanted to meet, and then texted again saying that she was going to go ahead with her baptism on the 25th! So we have a baptism to plan :) This is a miracle, made possible by months of hundreds of prayers. 

We got to teach Activity Days, or the 8 to 11 year old crowd. We taught them about how what they’re doing now helped prepare us to serve missions, and then we ate the dinner they helped make for us. It was pretty funny to see their interactions with one another. You can definitely tell the 11 year old "get me out of here" ones. 

We picked up some trash. I found an empty medical marijuana bag. Only in California. 

We wandered the hills of Oak Glen and found the less active we were looking for! It was exciting. He said the church was "not for me." Actually, funny story: So his mother sent us to look for him weeks ago. We only had general directions, and if you don't know Oak Glen, there are just a bunch of houses hidden down dirt roads and lots of trees. So it was really exciting that we found him. He sees us and is like "what can I do for you" and I blurt out "your mother sent us." Only then did I realize that I was talking to a 20-something single man, and we were two single 20-something females, which can give off the wrong impression. So I quickly clarified we were missionaries. Oops. 

We had another strange encounter. So to make a long story short, our bishop asked us to help him find the mother of a less active, because he was really busy and could only stop by so often. So one night we stop by and you have to walk down this long driveway. We reach the door, ring the doorbell, and the dogs start barking. Well suddenly we hear this creepy older lady's voice, and she’s like "oh stop my puppies. There's nothing to be barking at, etc." And then - get this - she looks out the window RIGHT AT Sister Magleby and goes "I don't SEE anyone out there." And then walks away. We were spooked, but we knocked again. The dogs start barking. And then the lady is yelling at them to be quiet. So ever so quickly and quietly we get out of there. We went back the next day, and again, we were ignored even though we know people were home. The mystery must be solved.

We had Stake Conference, and for the first time on my mission I got to attend the Saturday night session. I don't think I have ever enjoyed meetings so much as on my mission. 

I think that is pretty much it for the week. Apparently I get a birthday party this year, because we're having dinner with the Palmers and they invited the D family and another family from the ward. This was not my doing. I'm trying to keep it small but Sister Magleby keeps telling everyone it's my birthday. Which is only the same thing I will do to her on her birthday (which is the 29th by the way). 

One more funny story: Speaking of birthdays, we delivered a birthday card and the two kids answered the door. After I hand the son (probably 7 years old) the birthday card, I'm like "it was your mom's birthday yesterday, right?" He says "no," and for a second I'm confused, but then he goes "it was last night." Ah. Of course. 

Love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Tanner

Sister Palmer sent this to me this morning. It looks like there was a birthday party.

General Conference was awesome as always

October 6, 2014

Let me begin by saying that General Conference was awesome as always. For missionaries, General Conference is basically a holiday.

But I get ahead of myself.

The pumpkin patch was so fun! And we were total VIP status. The pumpkin patch is owned by Brother Palmer's brother, so we got to do everything free and get free pumpkins. So I have a little pumpkin I will carve on a Monday in the near future, as well as an adorable little pumpkin for our apartment named Doris. We completed a corn maze, and I determined that Kyla looks much cuter in those things you put your face into. I just look bald. 

I also got to be in a sea of goats! If you are my immediate family, you will know that I once fell in love with a goat, and since then it has been a family joke that I am obsessed with goats. I do like them very much. So now there is a picture of me in a sea of goats with the most goober-y happy face on.

Tuesday when we went back out after dinner we discovered a chicken had escaped her enclosure. The dogs were messing with her, so I tried to catch her. But she ran away into this other enclosure behind the chicken one. So I locked her in there to keep her safe and meant to tell the Palmers. Except I forgot. Luckily when we came home that night I remembered and went to check on her. There she was, huddled in the corner as close to the other chickens as she could get. A sight to break your heart. Despite chickens supposedly not being able to see in the dark, she definitely knew how to run away from me. But I got her.

And THEN on Wednesday when we came home for lunch, I discovered TWO chickens were out of the enclosure, and the dogs were eyeing them. So I chased them into the back enclosure, and then using my expert chicken catching skills I got them. One I caught in mid-flight as it tried to escape. I got a pretty sweet chicken scratch on my arm. I am becoming a chicken master.

On Thursday we got to drive down to Subway and order a sandwich for this older lady in our ward. She paid for our sandwiches too, and then we all ate Subway together and read the scriptures. Exciting times. And even though Subway gives me anxiety I handled myself rather well.

We had that girl from 4th Ward come out with us again Thursday night. She's the one who fainted last time. She was way more confident this time, and apparently she has decided she does want to serve a mission. Cool! Plus she didn't faint.

This weekend was really hot. Mid-July hot. I did not appreciate it.

And then General Conference. You can tell people are catching on to watching it at home or on the internet, because the only people at the Stake Center were the missionaries, and a sweet old lady. It was rather exciting to see Elder Klebingat, as he was my Mission President in Kiev. You bet I told the missionaries around me who he was. Fun fact: Elder Klebingat is WAY into exercising and being healthy, and at my one zone conference with him he told us to become really good at repenting, and really good at forgiving. All points made in his talk :)

Well, I think that is about it for this week. October marches on with its goodness :D

Love you!

Sister Tanner