Well today I about fell out of my chair when I got an email and picture from Sean saying they are expecting!!!!!! I at first thought it was all a huge joke, that he somehow photoshopped something haha, but now I know it's for reals! Can you believe it! So many things are changing it feels like! I'm going to come home and have an additional member to the family. How crazy is that! I gave Sean some advice about names, I heard Jameson was a really good one;) I'm so excited for them. Mom and Dad will now be grandparents, and we will be uncles and Hayley will be an Aunt! How crazy is that!
I'm glad to hear that everything is going great for the family. Hahah even after having some mix ups on Sunday haha. Thank you all for your wonderful emails!
This month is going great! We just had a baptism yesterday. His name is Brother Egg about 22 years old and he was a man we met inviting at the park. We went up and asked him if he wanted to get baptized and he told us that he actually was thinking about changing religions like 2 weeks previous so he said he was really interested. We met him about two weeks ago. We inviting him to a branch activity night at the church, and first he said he couldn't go because he had work, but miraculously he showed up, talked and played with the members and was so accepted. That was three Saturdays ago. We invited him to church, but he said he couldn't go because he was working. The following Monday he called us (which is very very very rare for somebody to do) and asked if there was any other branch activities going on that night. We told him that we wanted to teach him more about the church and he agreed. And the rest is basically history. He came last Sunday to church (1/12) and felt the Spirit so strongly. He began praying and reading the scriptures daily. In one of the final lessons, we asked him about his reading in the Book of Mormon and he told us that he LOVED it. He opened up to 1 Nephi and told us that when he read a verse about the Lord providing an opportunity for Nephi to do what needed to be done, he felt that the Lord was really giving him a chance to finally get it right this time. We taught him about the Word of Wisdom, he was pretty addicted. But when he made up his mind to not drink one day, he said it cleared his mind and he could feel the Spirit and he didn't drink anymore after that. He was baptized yesterday and shared the most beautiful testimony I have heard. He began to cry as he told the congregation that when he prayed he really truly knew that Heavenly Father loved him. And he hadn't been the best of people in his life, but he felt that he had really been forgiven for everything and that he was ready to follow the Lord through everything. It touched me so deeply to know that there are people that are so ready for baptism. We met him two or three weeks previous and now he has a strong testimony and it's building. After church was over, he helped us teach another investigator and bore a great testimony about the Word of Wisdom and was looking up scriptures in his Book of Mormon that he had. He has only read to 1 Nephi 10, but something sparked his mind to search through the scriptures and find something that he read before. Heavenly Father has BIG plans for Brother Egg in the future. Whether it be a mission, or a Stake President, he has tasted of the love of the Savior. I know he's a day old convert, but I want to be more like him. I want recommit myself to our Savior.
Our mission has 102 baptisms as of 1/19 for the month of January. And next week we have 110 people more as a goal to hit 200+. We cannot do it without Heavenly Father. That I know to be true. My fear is that I will become prideful and trust in my own strength and lose it all. I know I am nothing, but when we the instruments, are in the Hands of the Master, each of us can play as beautifully as he needs us to be. Please continue to pray for us, Thailand and our investigators. How humbled we are to know that our Heavenly Father knows us, sees us here in a little town in Thailand and loves us. I love this work so much!!!
Thank you all so much for your prayers and faith. The Thailand temple isn't that far off. The Thailand people need it so bad to return to Heavenly Father. This is His work and it's moving forward. We can help in many ways! I love you all so much!
Much Love,
Elder (soon to be uncle) Tanner
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