Monday, October 20, 2014

"We Lived After The Manner Of Happiness"

It's been such an amazing week here in Stallis. I am just so happy every single day. I wake up every morning and just thank Heavenly Father for sending me back to West Allis and that I get to be with so many people I love everyday. I really am the happiest I've ever been in my life!


 
Monday we had a fun pday and we just went shopping at Target and the mall. It was the pday before Sister Askerlund's birthday so she had some money and I had fun helping her pick out some clothes and stuff. It was super fun! Then we had dinner at the "A"s. They are a new family that moved into our ward like 2 months ago from Texas. They are fun and we had a great time with them! Then we got caught in the rain and looked like drown rats and ended up missing our connecting bus to get home, so we walked a long ways home but it was fun! 
 
Tuesday I got Kristen & Mav's announcement! YAY!!!!!!! Made my whole day! :) Then we had a really busy day full of appointments, which is so good! We didnt even have to ride the bus once the whole day! We had a lesson with our investigator "T" in the morning and "SW" came with us. They loved each other and hearing "SW" bear her testimony always makes me so happy. Then she took us  to lunch bunch with the relief society sisters. It was really good. Then we went to help a less active member clean up her house and get some things ready for her baby. Shes like almost 9 months pregnant! Then we went to have a lesson with "T" whos a recent convert that just got baptized a couple months ago. Shes amazing and we are helping her work toward going to the temple for baptisms soon. During the lesson, she kept saying how much I remind her of Sister King! Because Sister King taught her. Ah! I love and miss Sister King so much! Then we had dinner with "R"! Shes the best! She took us to this cute restaurant in downtown milwaukee called Lulus and they had GF stuff! It was soo yummy! "R" is the cutest and we always have so much fun with her. Then we raced to "F" and had a lesson with him and a family came and they are perfect for "F"! It's crazy how you can see the difference in him when he reads the book of mormon and when he doesn't. You can literally see the difference it makes in his life. The book of mormon changes us!! Then we went with the family to see this girl they home teach. We kept joking with them that they are going to be mission presidents someday because they are so amazing and a great example of magnifying your calling. I love them!
 

Wednesday we had another crazy busy and fun day. Me and Sister Askerlund have so much fun together and we laugh all day long! I love her!  We had some hilarious lessons in the morning with crazy recent converts and less actives. Hahaha. Then we visited a couple of our investigators and visited the older couple whos son died in the texas chainsaw massacre thing. We visited them to tell them about an older investigator that lives in their complex that we want them to fellowship and then they ended up telling sister A all about their son who died and stuff. Weridest story ever. Later, we went to the "B"s for dinner. They are the most hilarious people ever and we had a blast with them. We are trying to teach all their friends and family! After dinner, we walked like 2 miles to try to contact this less active we felt like we should see. She's never home so we were nervous we were wasting time walking all the way to see her and miracle happened... She was home!!! And we set up an appointment with her for tonight and we are going to bring the brother that was the bishop when she was active because she loves him! So we are super excited. She has 2 daughter both of age to be baptized that arent so we want to start teaching them! Overall it was a great day!

Thursday was Sister Askerlund's 23rd birthday!!! I tried to make her birthday really special, so I decorated our apartment with leftover decorations that were left behind from my birthday and other random stuff. We did some weekly planning and then a member she was close to in Madison came and took us to lunch and FroYo. So much fun! Then we went to Kopps with Sister D later and then we went to visit Sister M (a less active) she said her husband mentioned that he wants to get sealed in the temple and wants to start working toward that. SO exciting!!! Then we rode our bikes around and contacted some other people and met some cool people on the street and then we had dinner at El Beso with Sister S. Best food ever. I cant wait to bring you guys to this restaurant! It was such a fun day and the members made Sister A's birthday really special and fun! 
 
 
Friday we had zone training meeting and so it took us all morning to bus and walk to the church building but we met this really cool girl on the bus and gave her a book of mormon! Then during ZTM, we got to watch #meetthemormons AHHHH!!! I loved it! We were balling our eyes out! My favorite part was the missionary mom and the candy bomber guy. It was so good and I just wanted to watch it over again! Is it coming by you guys? You should seriously bring everyone to go see it. It really does a great job of not being preachy but showing who we are as people and that we live normal lives but we are mormon too. It was a great meeting. I also got to see sister reed and a bunch of other missionary friends from kenosha and surrounding areas. Then we helped Sister C clean out the nursery at church. She just got called as nursery leader and toys and stuff havent been cleaned in like 10 years so we helped her with that and then we had dinner at their house. We had another miracle on friday! While we were waiting for the bus, Sister B's friends drove by and honked, smiled and waved! Normally people like hide from us when they see us, but they said hi! We love them! 
 
 
Saturday was SWEETEST DAY <3. (Sweetest day is a holiday celebrated in 11 states in the Midwest. It is similar to Valentine's day.) We had a lesson with Tonya in the morning but on the bus toward her house, we met "N" the mormon. A less active that lives right by our apartment!!! He just moved to West Allis and said he got baptized when he was a kid but his parents didnt join so he never went much after he got baptized. I love finding hidden less actives! So we are going to start meeting with him! He said he wants to find good friends here too because he doesnt know anyone. Then we had a lesson with the YSA sisters. They were teaching this girl who is 17 so they handed her off to us. She is so cute! Our lesson went really good and she told us how she dresses modestly because she just doesnt feel right if she wears revealing stuff. WHO DOES THAT OTHER THAN MEMBERS? Shes so cool! We are going to try to teach her whole family! Then we had a church tour with our investigator "D", who we just met like my first day back here. The Muskego lakes sisters were having a baptism, so we had him come so he could watch the baptism too. President Cutler was there and sat by Doug and talked to him the whole time! President like took him under his wing! It was great! The spirit was so strong during the baptism and "D" loved it and loved getting to know people! Afterward, we took him on a tour of the church and we ended by the baptism font again and testified of the restored priesthood power by which we do baptisms and we commited him to be baptized on November 29th! He has such a sincere heart and loves the gospel. He said he couldnt make it to church the next day but that he would plan on being at church every sunday after! It was amazing. Sister M is the best for coming with us and testifying as well. So Saturday was an extra sweet day for us! :)
 

Sunday was a great day too. The "D" family came to church so we sat by them all 3 hours. :) Sister D is the most amazing person ever. I love her so much! Also, the "M"s came to church and she brought her less active brother who was super fun and was making comments in church and stuff. Then after church, Sister A had me fit my dress so she can hem it! YAY! Then we went to visit "J", whos sister B's niece, "J" and I had dinner with her so many times last time I was here and she lives right by us so we went to say hi and had a whole lesson with her. She is the cutest freshman girl ever! She said she's going to start reading the book of mormon and wants to have dinner with us again at the "B"s. :) Then we had dinner at the "D"s and it was crazy fun as usual. Their kids are so much fun and the food was amazing! After dinner, we had a lesson with "T" and she was just cracking jokes about how tired we look. :/ Haha. Then after her lesson, we RAN like 5 blocks to catch the bus and made it in perfect timing. The Lord loves us!!!
 

So many exciting things are happening here! I love everyday of my life and I am truely truely happy! I read this article on lds.org of a talk Elder Holland gave to students at BYUI and it's called "Happiness is a Quest" You should look it up! I know that we choose to be happy and that we find happiness as we live the gospel and serve others. 

"Above all else, ultimate happiness, true peace and anything even remotely close to scriptural joy are found first, foremost and forever in living the gospel of Jesus Christ."

"Most times happiness comes to us as when we least expect it, when we are busy doing something else. Happiness is almost always a by-product of some other endeavor."

"God expects a willing mind in the quest for happiness and peace as well. Put your head into this. All of this takes effort. It's a battle, but a battle for happiness is worth waging."
 

I know that the reason I am happy everyday is because I am living the gospel of Jesus Christ and that my everyday is focused to help others find the gospel. In serving others and doing the Lord's work, I have found true happiness that no where else in the world can offer. Theres so many things in the world offering instant happiness or some remedy to cover people's sorrow and pain. I know that nothing else can work. Theres no other source for true happiness other than the gospel. I am so grateful for my happiness. A happiness that wont come and go because of other people or because of my situation, but a lasting happiness because I have hope and help through my Savior and because I know who I am because of him. :) 

I love you all so much and I pray that each of you can find moments of happiness and peace each day. :) :) :)

Have the best week ever!
I LOVE YOU!!!!
love,
Sister Karlie Marie Tanner

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