Monday was a fun pday! We went to take pictures at the lake with the Lenhards (the senior couple). They drove us there and then we drove around downtown milwaukee for a while. It was fun! Then we had FHE and dinner with the Kings! We had a whole lesson on baptism because their oldest son is almost 8 so we did a baptism prep lesson! It was fun!
Tuesday we spent the morning trying to contact potentials and invite them to the trunk or treat and then Rissie took us to lunch! So yummy! We always have so much fun with her! Then we had district meeting and it was all about revelation thru prayer. It was pretty good! Then we spent the rest of the day walking and trying to contact people and having a couple lessons that fell thru. It was bitter cold outside and this sweet old lady chatted with us outside her house for like an hour! She lives in the house she grew up in and this lady was like 90 at least! Later on, we went to the Gatterers and they fed us and Brother Gatterer gave me a blessing. I was really struggling feeling sad about going home and the blessing was perfect! My blessing said how as I go home, people here will miss me very much but that Heavenly Father needs me at home right now. The whole blessing kept saying that He has been with me every step of the way and that he will never abandon me just because I wont be a missionary anymore. The blessing gave me counsel to study my scriptures, be faithful in my prayers and to go to temple often and then I will have nothing to fear. It was everything I needed and an incredible feeling of peace came to me. Although Im still sad about my mission ending, I know God has a great work for me to do at home. I know he will never forsake me or leave me as long as I strive to stay close to him. :) The Gatterers are the best. They dropped us off at a potentials house and we ended up staying there and having a lesson with him on his porch for like 40 minutes. We had waved the Gatterers on and we thought they left, we were just planning to walk home. But after we left the house, there they were waiting to give us a ride home. They are incredible people. Im so grateful for all they do for us!
Wednesday was SUPER EXCITING!!!!!! So in the morning, during studies, President called us and said we might be getting a sister from temple square to come with us. (they do 3 months of their mission in another mission to experience normal mission life) He said he still wasn't sure because he wanted to interview them first. Well the night before, Sister Askerlund had a dream! So we overheard that 3 temple square sisters were coming but we had no clue we might get one of them. So sister A had a dream that there was a raffle for the temple square sisters and then he pulled out a paper and announced "Sister tanner and sister askerlund get the asian girl from china" ahahaha. So we were cracking up about that and then President called us about a possibility of getting one and then we ended up getting a 3rd companion from CHINA!!!! Sister Wu! Shes hilarious!!!!! We love her and she keeps us laughing with all the details of things we have to explain to her because she is still learning english. Shes been out about a year but doesnt really know how to do normal missionary work because temple square is so different, so shes learning but its been sooo fun! Anyway, wednesday we had a great lesson with our investigator T. We taught her the plan of salvation and she loved it! Hopefully we can get her progressing soon! Then later, we had the TRUNK OR TREAT!!! It was sooo much fun! Our less active family, the "T"s came! They haven't been in the church building in over 10 years and they came and had a blast reconnecting with so many members they knew from before! We dressed up as nerds! It was so much fun! Sister Wu felt really overwhelmed because she didnt even know what halloween was and then she met all of our members in one night. Haha Poor girl was exhausted!
Thursday we had appointments most of the day! We had lunch with a less active, "H" and she was hilarious! Love her! Then Brother R met us there after we ate lunch to home teach her. We had to explain the difference between "stocking" and "stalking" to Sister Wu! Lol. We laughed about it all day long! We walked all day long and met some pretty crazy people along the way! Gotta love dirty stallis! Then we had #tacoandtalkthursday at the Dominguez! YAY! It was so much fun! They want me to come be their nanny after my mission! Heck yes! I love the Dominguez family so much!
Friday it SNOWED!!!!!! We woke up and it had snowed and then it kept snowing a little bit throughout the day!!! We weekly planned for forever. Then we had a lesson with "C" and Sister Wu just laughs about how crazy people are here. Sister Cutler brought over some extra blankets for her too because she isnt used to the cold! Then we met some cool people on the street and then later on, we went to the Bostons for dinner! The Newmans were there too and he told us the long story of how he got a date with his wife. Lol. He drew a whole picture about it. They are so funny!
Saturday was my 18 months!!! Yay! We had a lesson with an older less active lady in the morning and we went thru boxes of pictures and journals to help her find info for her family history! It was so fun! Then we had a bunch of appointments the rest of the day! We were on a bus, headed to go get lunch and we met the coolest people ever! Miracle bus ride! We met J and M! M is a recent convert, got baptized in AZ and went inactive about a year ago. her boyfriend, J is interested in the church and Michelle wants to start coming back! YAY! They are the coolest people ever! They even texted us the rest of the day being so excited to come to church. They ended up not being able to come, but we are going to meet with them this week! :)
Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. Such a great sunday!!! I bore my testimony about how much I love Wisconsin and our ward and how much my mission has changed me. I feel like West Allis ward is my home ward now. It will be weird not to be here. During church, we set up an appointment with this member's friend "A" whos come to church twice now. After church, Sister Stewart came out with us and we contacted a couple less active ladies in the ward. Then we had dinner at the Wilsons with the Bostons! Brother Wilson was asking me how our meetings are compared to other wards. It meant a lot that my opinion mattered to him!
I cannot believe I will only get to email you all one more time before I see your beautiful faces. I am going to work harder than I've ever worked in my life this next week. So much to be done! I love my calling and I love the people here. I know that Heavenly Father loves us so much! I know that our Savior lives and helps us though everything! Ether 12:8 and Romans 8:38-39
Some quotes of the week:
"There is nothing more powerful than the arm of love that can be put around those who are struggling" -M Russell Ballard
"Even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself. He may turn personal tragedy into triumph."
I love you!!!!!! Have a great week! See you all in 10 days!!! <3
love always,
Sister Karlie Marie Tanner <3
