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!!

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-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!!

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-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!!!!

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-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

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-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

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-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

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-Elder Tanner Gothard