Sister Tanner's 1 Year!

Sister Tanner's week started off with a fun sports day! It was her first time playing sports with all the Missionaries in the Kenosha area. She got to spend time with one of her old companions, Sister Hancock! It was so amazing for her to be around a familiar face! Later that day, Sister Tanner was able to meet with a recently baptized girl in her area. She is 16 years old, and has the strongest testimony of the gospel! She is so organized, and studies harder than any missionary! Sister Tanner is so inspired by her!

Tuesday was Sister Peterson's birthday! Sister Tanner loved making the day special for her new companion! That morning, both Sisters coincidentally studied the exact same thing during their personal studies. They both focused on "Teaching for Understanding." The Lord definitely wanted them both to be inspired by that! "Dang, I guess we really need to apply this", Sister Tanner said. That day at their District meeting, they learned all about the "plan, study, teach cycle". It went hand in hand with what they both studied that morning! After their district meeting, the Sisters had a lesson with a Sister who is getting baptized in a few weeks. It was such an amazing lesson! This Sister had just finished reading 1 Nephi, and retold in her own words what she had read. Her comprehension and understanding of the Scriptures is incredible! That night, Sister Tanner and her companion celebrated her birthday with a few families from their ward. They had a wonderful dinner, birthday cake, and birthday pie! What a fun day!

The Sisters had a busy day on Wednesday! It's incredible how many lessons and appointments they have in Kenosha. One of the less active members that they visited that day, had forgotten she was even a member of the Church! The Sisters taught her about the Plan of Salvation, and she loved it. She has a huge family, and none of them are members of the Church. Sister Tanner cannot wait to start teaching her and her family more! The Sisters continued their appointments, and got so busy that they ran out of Book of Mormons! What a great problem to have! They met up with the Elders so they could get more Book of Mormons. For dinner that night, the Sisters went to a part member familiy's home. The husband is not a member of the church, but is very supportive of his wife. Sister Tanner taught them a lesson on the importance of the temple. The husband even encouraged his wife to attend the temple. "He hasn't joined the Church, but he basically knows more about the Church than I do, and he know it's true. If you didn't know, you would think he was a member for years. We are slowly working with him. He's awesome and will join the Church someday soon. There will be so many missionaries who will be so happy the day he does get baptized. We just have to remember, in the Lord's time", Sister Tanner said.

Thursday was Sister Tanner and Sister Peterson's 1 Year of their Missions! They both came out to Wisconsin together from the MTC. "We celebrated by doing weekly planning", Sister Tanner said. Afterwards, she taught a wonderful lesson about the Plan of Salvation to the woman who is being baptized soon. "She loved it", Sister Tanner said. "She loved the part about being perfected when we are resurrected." The Sisters might bump her baptism date up, because she is so excited and ready for it! How amazing! That night, the Sisters packed up and drove to Muskego Lakes to spend the night there. Happy 1 Year of Sister Tanner's Mission!

Friday was a very exciting day for Sister Tanner! She attended her first Mission Leadership Council Meeting in Muskego Lakes! All the Zone leaders and Sister Training leaders attend this meeting. Sister Tanner was nervous at first, but loved how amazing the meeting was. "I learned so much", she said. "President talked about how his main concern is having us be converted and helping those we are over be truly converted to the gospel. The more consecrated we are, the more converted we are, the more our desire to share the gospel will be and the harder we will work." Personal conversion was a big topic at this meeting, along with family history training. The Missionaries learned all about teaching family history and incorporating that into their teachings of the Restoration. "We were like, what the heck at first! But it totally works", Sister Tanner exclaimed! It was such an inspiring and motivating training meeting! " I'm so grateful to be able to work with President so much, and have the opportunity to implement his inspiration in the work, and help the Sisters I'm over do the same", Sister Tanner said. 

After the training meeting, the Sisters went to do exchanges with the Oak Creek Sisters. "We were so tired already, and I prayed so much for Heavenly Father to help me stay awake and alive", Sister Tanner said. The Oak Creek Sisters just went from having a car, to using the bus system. Sister Tanner was able to teach them effective ways of meeting people while traveling on the bus. She definitely had a lot of experience doing so in West Allis! It was helpful for those Sisters to learn from Sister Tanner.

"Saturday was such a beautiful day", Sister Tanner said. She was able to use the family history approach she had learned the previous day. It worked, and she met so many people because of it! "We found 3 solid potential kingdom builder investigators for them who were really interested", Sister Tanner said. "It's crazy how Heavenly Father really strengthened me to be able to be a good example and work really hard even though I was so tired." Her prayers were definitely answered that day! As tired as she was, she was able to work hard and teach the Sisters of Oak Creek. A wonderful surprise happened later that day. Before she headed home to Kenosha, she ran into the girl who was just baptized in West Allis! She was so excited to see her! She technically lives in the Oak Creek ward boundaries, which happens to be right next to where those Sister Missionaries live. She was outside! "She was so happy to see me! She's doing so good", Sister Tanner said. 

After a wonderful night's sleep back in Kenosha, Sister Tanner had a great Sunday! 2 investigators were at Church which was wonderful! In Relief Society, the lesson was on Charity which is Sister Tanner's favorite subject! After Church, Sister Tanner and Sister Peterson taught a lot of lessons! They taught a few less actives, and one of their investigators who is being baptized soon! It was such a great day!

Sister Tanner had an amazing week! It is crazy to think that a year ago she was sitting in the MTC learning all about being a Missionary. Now, a year later, she is the one teaching other Missionaries! It is incredible how much her testimony has grown, and how strong of a Missionary she is. Everyone who knows her, will testify of her enthusiastic personality! This trait has helped her to become such a powerful and inspirational Missionary! We are all continuously proud and blessed because of Sister Tanner's decision to serve. We cannot wait to see the miracles that await her in these next 6 months!

Sister Tanner's Testimony

"Things are going so well here. The Lord truly qualifies whom he calls and has helped me make it through this busy week. We have another busy week ahead of us, with 2 exchanges. I am so excited to talk to you guys on Sunday! What a beautiful day that will be! Thank you all for your support and love. I know this is the Lord's work and when we give our all, we are just tools in his hands to do His work the way He knows best. I feel more focused and more motivated than ever before on my Mission! I read this quote this week that I wanted to share with you":

"You only get one chance to serve a Mission, it is your responsibility, your duty, to use it to the fullest, to give every last ounce of energy until you collapse in exhaustion at the end of it. All the hardships, all the tears, all the hard work will be looked back upon as the best thing you've ever done, not because you enjoyed it, not because you baptized everyone, but because you gave everything you had, even when you didn't think you could, and especially when you didn't want to. Live your mission to your fullest, work harder than you've ever worked before. Let people know that this is the most important thing in the world to you... If you do not run until you have nothing left to give, and then keep going anyway, cry and pray and work and sweat and plead until you are so drained that all you can do is turn to the Lord, if you don't do this, then these people will not come to this joy because of you. Their failure to come to Christ will be partially upon your head. Come out of your mission proud of what you've done and this experience will bless the rest of your life."

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

"I love how true this quote is! Happy One Year! Happy May! Happy Cinco de Mayo! And Happy Mother's day! I love you so much!"

Love always,

Sister Karlie Marie Tanner