Monday, September 1, 2014
August 13 Email - Cant Really Type Today
uhm i cant really type because well i was trying to adjust this new
fan we got a couple days and it was on full blast and my finger somehow slid
through the cage and it broke the blades and it slashed my finger pretty good
and my nail i talked to president douglas already we both kind of laughed about
it but yeah it took it like three hiurs to finally stop bleeding i have
pictures but im not going to send a big letter today lol.
August 6th Email - Its been about 4 weeks since ive written..whooops lol
Sorry everybody its been a while that i have written we didnt
really get to use the computers for the last 4 weeks but anyways heres a little
breakdown of whats happened in the past couple of weeks. First i finally got to
baptize somebody myself and it was awsome and nerve wrecking but mostly awsome.
His name is henry and hes about 11 or 12 and i was happy i got baptize somebody
small because i didnt want to baptize somebody whos huge and me fall into the
water or something haha. I had to redo it twice becasue his hands didnt go in
the water or something i dont know im just glad i didnt screw up on the spanish
i was practicing the phrase all day in my head haha. Second I got a new
companion his name is Elder Salazar and im currently still in the same area. Hes
knows martial arts or something like that i dont remember exactly.
Things are
going really good im glad that i know the area and really good friends with the
people so thats always a good thing. I got another infection in my eye so i went
to the mission doctor and he said just buy the same drops that i got last tiime.
well 700 pesos later jeez medicine is exspensive here like well anything like
that and stuff from america haha. Its nice with my new comp becasue i finally
feel like im working in the mission because i feel like my 8 months in the
mission ive sat back and watched how things are done but now i feel like im
doing stuff and really helping with the work so its been nice and exciting and
many other things.
Our mission president is so awsome today for pday we watched
here comes the boom with kevin james and tangled haha. Our mission president is
a really super interesting guy some of the stories he has told me have blown my
mind he seriously needs to write a book maybe one day i will write a email about
the stuff he has told me and also i have pictures from the baptism but it takes
forwever to send pictures and it doesnt allow me to talk with people until its
done downloading. as far as the area is going things are going super good and i
feel like we are getting trust from the members which is super awsome but
anyways thats all i reemember haha Bye!!!
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
July 9th Email - aye haste tu sickness!
Well i cant really share anything this week because i have been in
bed rest recovering from chingkunggoya sorry i dont know how to spell it
basically its a fever. YOu get a really high fever arthritus, rash, and no
energy and no desire to eat or drink. Luckily i only had it for 3 days but it
was the worst thing i have ever felt in my entire life just give you a idea lol.
I was so bored in the house because there is nothing to do and i would try to
read scriptures or liahonnas but i got tired really quickly haha. So yeah but i
am all good now i am healthy and much skinnier so thats a bonus whoo hoo!!! Well
thats all i can really share for this week sorry its so short... love you
guys!!
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
July 3rd Email - Another Week in the DR haha!
Hey everybody! Well this week in the DR has been somewhat difficult
for me this week. Mostly because my eye has been really red for almost 2 weeks
and since sunday i havnt been wearing my contacts because its really annoying
wearing contacts with my eye. IM pretty sure i have an eye infection becasue
there is a white spot or thing on my eye where its really red. So ive been
practically walking around blind for the week which is causing me headaches and
and my eye is a having a little pain. I was suppose to go to the eye doctor
yesterday but we were in nagua which is the farthest area from santiago which is
about 3 to 4 hours. SO we didnt have time to go... but i am going on friday
finally.
As far as investagators we have we are going to finalize his baptismal
date with him tomorrow because he finally got married. So we should hopefullly
have a second baptism here real soon. IM praying that we do. Its a big problem
here with marriage. The goverment makes it real hard to get married here and the
men simply dont want to get married even if they have been with the same girl
for 20 years and have like 5 children together. For missionaries here its really
difficult to find a couple that is actually married so it makes the missionary
work way harder then it needs to be. Well i dont really have anything crazy this
week like dogs almost attacking me or almost getting hit by cars haha. Love you
guys talk to you next week!!!
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
-Elder Tanner Gothard
June 25th Email - This week has been fun haha!!
Well this week has been great as usual im loving it here in mao!
The hermanas had a baptism this week which was awsome. Its great to see the area
progressing and me and elder henriquez are expected to have another baptism soon
which is exciting! Me and him are like the perfect team which is good when it
comes to lessons and we get along and hes wierd just like me so everything works
out haha. Its been really great to see the spirit work because with the people
that have been baptized after they have been baptized they always start crying
it just shows me that what we are doing is real and its great that we are
helping others come unto our savior jesus christ.
This week i almost had a
problem with some dogs lol. ME and Elder henriquez just finished some service
and we bought some ice cream and i went to go throw my wrapper away in this
trash can and there was a dog behind it and i tryed to hurry and throw it away
and all of a sudden i hear it barking and i booked it as fast as i could and
there were two dogs that almost came after me becasue they came around the fence
but luckily the owner was right there and stopped them so that was good i do not
want rabbies and i dont want to go to the hospitals here either no thank you.
Today we were allowed to ride bikes today.... it was so scary i felt like iwas
going to get hit by a car. The traffic here is insane traffic laws do not apply
for jacksquat.
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
-Elder Tanner Gothard
June 18th Email - My First Baptism!
Hey everybody well this week has been great and its also transfer week. Luckily
im going to stay another transfer with Elder Henriquez hes awsome love the guy
to death!! Anyways i have exciting news I had my first baptism this week! also
what was awsome is we were able to get our president and his wife to come and
she played the violin while we sang. It was great you could really feel the
spirit. It was great to see the look on demiras face when she got baptized. I
could tell she was super excited and ready for the gospel.
She was all teared up
which was great to see you could tell that we wanted to do it for herself and
and follow the example as should we all. He is our savior and redeemer and we
should always strive to follow him in everyway possible. I want to share my
testimony that i know that the church is true from all sincerity of my heart and
it has been such a blessing in my life and ive seen bless the lofes of others. I
know jesus Christ lives and died for all men so that we can one dday return with
our heavenly father again. Im grateful for this oppurtunity to help people seek
change in their lifes and mine as well. I say these things in the name of jesus
christ Amen. Love you all hope to talk to you all soon
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
-Elder Tanner Gothard
June 4th Email - This Week has Been Awesome!!
Well what a great week this has been. We got permission from our
mission president to go to the temple in santo domingo with our ward. We got
perform baptisms for the dead and it was neat to see the recent converts do it
for the first time. We all had a good time and I got to say hi to one of my
teachers and it was nice to finally to be able to communicate with her because i
can speak spanish somewhat haha. OH i dont know why but on the way to the rutas
or the buses that took us to santo domingo all these dogs started barking at me
like 20 of them i thought for sure i was a dead man or would survuve but i would
have rabies haha.
Then yesterday we had a special training with president
douglas and hermana douglas which was really awsome. President wanted to do an
example of how to teach and so he said i need to magnificent elders to come and
teach and no one did anything and i see my comp stand up and i was like noooo
what are doing lol. I went up there and we were sitting there and my comp was
teaching and my heart was pumping becasue we had to teach in front of three
zones so like 50 people not to mention president was there haha.
So it came to
me to end and the spirit just took over and i actually started getting a little
emotional which was embarrassing but oh well thats the spirit for ya. Then
president asked everyone how we did and everyone said we did great for the most
part. THen president said they did really well and the that was a precious
testimony lol. So yeah then my district had to sing in front of everybody and my
comp sings loud!!!! like super loud and when someone sings loud i song loud to
so the poor hermanas you couldnt even hear them. IT was a great training really
enjoyed it. AS far the work we have one lady getting baptised this week which im
looking forward to becasue its my first baptism and we should be having another
one in 2 weeks!! Ohhh today i saw like 7 porsches 2 ferrari´s and a jaguar it
was the most beautiful thing i have ever seen lol. Well that was my week of
interesting things love you all hope to hear from you bye!!
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
-Elder Tanner Gothard
May 28th Email
Well this week has been a real busy with mostly service. Yesterday
we went to do service at 8 in the morning. We were painting her entire house and
lets just say the hermanas and us had a little bit of a paint war to say the
least lol. It was a great time it was a great way for me to get to know the
other elders and the hermanas. Theres one hermana her name is hermana henderson
and shes new so ive been talking to her a lot just checking how shes doing
becasue i remember when i first got in my area and it was rough with language
and adjusting to the culture. Tomorrow we are going to have more service and
friday so its going to be a fun time. This week also we got permission to go to
santo domingo and go to the temple so it will be cool to talk to all my teachers
and actually understand what they are saying. Me and my comp are going to eat
Krispy Kream im so excited haha.
As far as lessons everything been about the
same we were suppose to have a baptism on monday but they needed get thier
papers for marriage so yeah but we should be able to baptize them in 2 weeks we
are hoping. well i have to go becasue we have to go and setup for an activity. I
cant even begin to describe how much the mission has changed my life and how
much im coming to love it. Its not always easy but ive learned a lot in these 6
months and i cant wait to see how much ive changed in a year and 6 months. Love
you guys talk to you next week!!
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
May 14th Email - The Past Two Weeks!!
Well the past weeks have been full of interesting things to talk
about. Biggest news is i got transfered out of Nagua so no more beaches for me
sad face but im happy im ready for a new area and a new comp becasue me and
elder lopez wernt getting along very well so its a nice relief to start in a new
area. THe day me and another elder in the house had to leave it started raining
hard and we had to go to the zone leaders house in san fransico which is like an
1 hour and 15 minutes away. There was no other transportation to take besides a
truck and so we had to put all of our suitcases in the back of the truck and we
had to sit in the back with our stuff in the rain for an hour and 15 minutes
with pouring rain haha.
It kind of stinked but it was a fun experience for me
also. Also my new comp is Elder Henriquez and he was actually elder morgans
trainer and he lived in the same house as me for 3 months and we are really good
friends. So i was really happy about that and things have been going super great
with him couldnt ask for a bettter comp. OH i forgot to mention my new area is
mao. THe area is super cool and the members are super nice. Our area is very
poor with dirt roads and shacks but the people are so humble and nice i love the
people here to death they are super legit. We have been working with this member
and weve been doing service with him. We have been tearing down his kitchen and
we were busting things like crazy with a hammer and stuff it reminded me of
dwight from the office when he was fixing pam and jims kitchen lol.
Yesterday we
were shoveling dirt in the rain and i was drenched. SOmething im really trying
to teach myself is forget myself always and think about others and its coming
along little by little. Then this morning we went to the doctor in santiago for
elder henriquez for his ankle because he hurt his ankle running or something.
HEs fine he just has to rest it and not walk so much. THen we went to a
supermarket and i got so trunkie because it was so beautiful seeing all the food
i use to eat but i cant really anmore because of the areas im in lol and plus im
poor missionary haha. Well thats all that happened in the past 2 weeks that i
remember nos vemos yo les amo!!!!
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
April 23 Email
Well this week has been kind of rough but also a good one. Well to
begin I have a really bad cold right now. Ive had it for 4 days now and i stayed
home for 2 days but its not going away. Its bad to where its affecting my voice
and sometimes i cant even talk. Ive also been coughing a lot lately and havnt
had much energy. Hopefully i dont get worse. As far as lessons things are moving
along we a couple investagtors with dates but they dont seem to interested so we
will see how things go. We are getting like 25 lessons a week which is a lot
here. I dont know for me as missionary yes numbers are important but i pick
qaulity over quantity.
Well this week i found out that one of the new elders
that i we have in our área was about to go home because he was having a lot of
problems. He was going to go home yesterday but he decided not to. We did
exchanges on monday and we started talking and we got on the topic of why he
wanted to go home and why he decided to change his mind. we were talking for 2
hours about everything and i still didnt really know this Elder very well but
after the whole discussion and trying to help him out he said he was so thankful
that i talked to him about it becasue he said he felt that he couldnt talk to
his companion really about it. I basically told him that the misión is probably
one of the hardest things you can do in this life.
I shared some struggles and i
how feel about the misión but it i told him when it comes down to it going home
has never been an option for me because i know how much the misión has already
changed me as a person and i told him that i dont care if i dont get one single
baptism on the misión becasue all that matters is that you work as hard as you
can and you served the lord and changed for the better. The misión is to prepare
you for the rest of your life. Talking to him that night made me realice a lot
of small blessings that i have recieved and i didnt even know it. Its it wierd
to know that we recieve blessings all the time and we just dont notice it. FOr
me ive realized that for me the misión is preparing me to help others and ive
already helped a lot of my friends and just being an example for them. This
misión is hard but rewarding as most things are in life. I love you all and im
thankful for all the experiences i was able to experience with you to get me to
this point. I hope everyojne had a good easter!!!
April 16th Email - this week dude!!
Hey everbody!! well this week has been really hectic!! Mostly
becasue we are putting appoinments every half an hour or so. Which is good im
practically senior comp because my comp is still new in the area and so i have
to lead us everywhere we go and plan everything. So yeah its a little difficult
at sometimes. Especially trying to do it in spanish which isnt to hard. Right
now we have 2 people with a baptismal date which is sweet hopefully my first
baptism!!! For me its crazy to think that ive alredy been out for 5 months!!
Time has gone by fast but slow at the same time if that makes sense. Im still
trying to get use to my comp but its not really working at the moment to say the
least.
My spanish is getting better and better everyday little by little and
patience is key to learning a new language. I finished the book of mormon this
week and this is the first time i unstood everything and took the time to learn
and apply thethings i learned in my life. I can say with assurance that i know
the book of mormon is another testmant of jesus christ our savior and it gives
all the fullness of the gospel that our father in heaven wants us to know so we
can find that peace and happiness in our lifes. I know this book blesses lifes
because ive seen it bless mine and becasue of it i know that this church is
true. We should constantly read it and pray to know its true and apply the
things that we learn from it in our lifes. I know the mission has changed my
view of the church forever and it has changed me as person spirtually and i know
that this gospel blesses the lifes of others. I know a mission is one of the
greatest experinces and one of the hardest experiences of a life time but i
wouldnt change it for anything. For anyone who is skeptical about going on a
mission i encourage you that you do it you will have a much stonger relationship
with your heavenly father and you will come to know him as well. en el nombre de
jesucristo amen
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
-Elder Tanner Gothard
April 9th 2014 - General Conference was Amazing!!
Hey everybody!!!! Well this week was really good becasue of
conference. I really enjoyed the talk by President Uchtdorf talking about how
even in situations when we feel troubled we should always thank God for
everything that we have. I know this is something i can work on in my life as
with everybody else. The important thing to always remember in times of trials
and afflictions we need to have faith in our savior Jesus Christ and remember
that he not only died for our sins but for our afflictions as well. He knows how
we feel and what we are going through in any moment in our lifes and I like
Helaman 5 12 becasue it says if we have a strong foundation of christ in our
lifes satan can never drag us down.
Also in Ether 12 27 its important that we
all have weaknesses but we have weaknesses so we can grow and become strong and
ive defiantley seen this personally happen to me because a mission is not easy
especially being put in 3rd world country learning a new language and being away
from friends and family is never easy but with faith in jesus christ anything is
possible and ive seen this over and over again. I found a really great scripture
that i feel is important especially in this world. Its in ether 12 verse 4 and
it says wherefore whoso believeth in god might with surety hope for a better
world, yeah, even a place the right hand of god which hope cometh of faith,
maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast
always abounding in good works being led to glorify god. Hope and faith are the
things that keep us going and having hope and faith in our savior jesus christ
all things are possible.
Something ive been really trying to work on lately is
ch 6 from preach my gospel and that chapter is the attributes of christ. For me
personally you cant change someone else unless you have changed yourself so
thats what im going to work on for the rest of my mission actually the rest of
my life haha. I want to end with my testimony that this is the church of jesus
christ and we should constantly look for ways to improve ourselves and with the
atonement of christ we can feel that peace and that love from our heavenly
father in any situation in our lifes. I can personally say ive seen it in my
life and ive felt that love from my heavenly father. I encourage all of us to
strengthen our relationship with our heavenly father and get to know him
personally and that he knows us better then anybody else and he has our best
interests at heart. I share thse things in the name of jesus christ amen
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
-Elder Tanner Gothard
April 3rd Email
Well this week has been hard, and fun all at the same time. Ill
start with why its hard. Well mynew comp elder lopez he is a great missionary
but he acts like my mom and whistles at me like im a dog so irratating. He also
is a numbers guy which is good but for me personally its more that you show love
to the people and take time to be their friend and not treat them like a number.
Hes also very impatient. This is definatley morework then what i was use to with
elder jenson.
Which is good ihope to learn many things from elder lopez but this
will help my spanish alot so im glad about that!! Well for the fun this same old
usual sitting in the back of trucks with the crazy drivers. Also we got to go to
this beach that us elders call the missionary beach becasue we can go in the
water and stuff becasue its shallow enough.
IT was so beautiful its super legit
i have pictures but iforgot my camera.... i have a picture with me and elder
morgan doing an engagement photo haha. Well this week has been the best numbers
ive had on my mission which is good in some aspects. A verse from 3rd nephi that
ireallylike says be the light to the world. FOr me and for missionaries this
isvery true and it applys to all of us. We need to be the light for all the
darkness in this world.
We need to invite people to follow unto christ. We
should always take a second to talk to everybody and bring happieness into their
hearts and allow them to have the oppurtunity to feel that sense of peace and
love from our loving heavenly father. Thats i love the people here they are
always willing to listen and they are some of the nicest people on this planet.
They are so humble. There one couple we are teaching who are pretty much living
in a shack. It is the worst house ive seen in my life and no person should have
to live like that. They are so humble andare thankful for everythng they have.
They are a great example to me and help me realize that whats important in this
is life is our family and how the gospel of jesus christ blesses our families.
Well thats all ihave this week loveall you guys. Thanks for being one of the
main foundations in my life
--
-Elder Tanner Gothard
-Elder Tanner Gothard
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