Post from mom

I came across this poem, made me cry, I tend to do that a lot lately when I think of Tanner. I am so proud of him. He's so happy and loving what he is doing, but I miss him still. I do feel the Christmas spirit more this year, unlike the poem. I think it's one of the blessings of having a missionary out. I am reminded often of the wonderful gift of the knowledge of the gospel and our Savior the missionaries help bring to others .


A Missionary Christmas (author unknown)


This year for Christmas
I skipped the sales after Thanksgiving.
The thrill just wasn’t there.
No pictures taken with Santa Claus.
My decorating has no flair.
His presents are shoes, shirts, and ties,
Two suits and socks…no fun.
I’ve bought him all white clothes because…
This year I’m giving Christ my son.

I’ve spent more time in the temple,
Felt strength come from his words.
I’ve reread November’s Ensign,
And my testimony stirred.
Our family prays more frequently.
My tears are quick to run.
Abraham seems closer because,
This year I’m giving Christ my son.

I wonder how those Lamanite mothers
Gave their sons to war,
Or how the pioneers chose Zion,
Their sacrifice was so much more.
My loss will be his presence.
I’ll miss his smile a ton.
For two years we will pray for him.
I’m giving Christ my son.

I stare at his face when he’s not looking.
I memorize his eyes, their shine.
He’s always hungered for the part of him
That makes his soul divine.
The stories and lessons he always heard.
His choice and mine are one.
I’ll put my faith in God’s hand.
This year, I’m giving him my son.

Past gifts have lost their glitter.
I think I finally understand.
Christ’s birth should be celebrated
By giving Him a hand.
It’s because I know Christ lived and reigns
That all his packing is done.
My gift has taken years to make.
This year…I’m giving Christ my son.

12/6/11

Hey Dad!

Unfortunately I've only got a quick minute today, transfers are
tomorrow, Elder P  is leaving, and there were some things poorly
planned, namely this computer time. So I will try to cram as much in
here as I can.

I'm doing great, the work still moves on. I will see if I can't come
back, I will be in New Castle, glad to hear from you.

Love you and I will write soon.

Elder Tanner Newey

11/14/11 oops, out of order

Oh man, where to start. J has been an interesting case. Last time
we taught him we were telling a bunch of the stories from the Book of
Mormon, trying to get him interested in it more. When we came to the
Tree of Life chapter, I pulled out a picture of Lehi's Dream. He saw
the tree and started freaking out. Apparently his mom was a Jehovah's
Witness and there are all sorts of messed up thoughts in his head, one
of them being that the tree is evil and to even think about it will
let the devil get you. He hasn't been real keen on meeting since
then, but we've been working on him. After that he went and tried to
do everything that he knew he wasn't supposed to. He got new tattoos
and harrasses T  and H  with cigarettes and coffee. He's
actually knelt down with us twice now though, and is actually friendly
and joking around these last couple days. Eventually he'll come
around again.

As far as T  and H  go, T  got fed up and dumped all the
tobacco in the house down the sink. She was tired of it all and made
the rule that there would be no more smoking in the house. H  has
been real good through this, giving her mom support, and even quitting
herself. When T  broke down and bought a box of cigarettes last
week, H  took them and hid them. T  made it to church again on
Sunday, but H  had a fever and wasn't able to make it. Pretty soon
I'll be able to visit Kirtland with them.

And... we have another great investigator, P . His wife and son are
members, and they've been married about a year or so. She was less
active, but wanted to get back in to church. So she invited us over
and we met with them yesterday. It was the perfect lesson, I don't
know that they get much better. Their home teacher was there with us,
building up and teaching at just the right time. We taught the
Message of the Restoration, as he wanted to know what the difference
is between our church and all the others. Elder P  and I
testified the whole time and just built off each other. At times I
thought I could see tears in P's eyes. The Spirit filled the room,
and P  committed to be baptized on December 10. When we asked what
he would ask God if he saw Him, he said he would ask how he could be a
better person, in Christ. Then he prayed, the most sincere prayer I
have heard. He prayed fervently, and paused for a minute at the end.
I started praying for him, and the story of Ammon and King Lamoni came
to mind. P  was so happy afterwards he came and gave us a hug.
While we were walking out their home teacher turned to us and said
"that was awesome." Oh, it was. We were so excited. That is this
great work, that's why I love it so much. Seeing this change in
people, as they gain a hope in Christ. Purely amazing.

Other fun things this week: not nearly as much tracting as I thought,
keeping in control a fire, exchanges with Zone Leader Elder H , a
few more less actives at church (there was actually a whole side
full!)


Well, I better go get a haircut, I've waited way too long. Have a
great week, thank you for the letter, its great to hear how you are
all doing.   The computers yelling at me, so I better go.

Love you lots! Talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Tanner Newey

11/28/11

Hey Mom!

First off, THANK YOU for the great package. Those granola bars lasted
two days. I was lucky to get any after my companions got a taste.
Just about all the food is gone. Elder P  would like to know
what the granola recipe is, I've got him hooked. He wants to send it
to his mom so she can send him some. The ornaments are great, its so
weird to think it is that time of year already.

Sounds like you had a good Thanksgiving. It was definitely weird to
have it at somebody else's house. The weather has been nice here too,
although there has been quite a bit of rain. I don't think the branch
president here has candy either, I'll have to have a talk with him.

So what is this you and Dad are saying about Kirtland? I don't think
I've heard anything about heading there this week... I'll have to
check. That would be awesome though. I need to get H and T to
visit there soon, apparently there are over 100 nativity sets put
up at all the church sites. There wasn't nearly as much pie here as
I'm used to. I did get fed pretty good though. Two families fed us,
I was so full. There was a turkey bowl in the morning. So we got up
at five to travel up and meet the zone leaders, luckily it was fun and
the day was pretty nice. The field was a mud pit though.
So this week has been interesting. As I mentioned last week, I became
part of a triple up this week. Elder H  joined us on Wednesday,
and it has just been crazy since. He has quite a bit more experience
than Elder P  or I had, so he was able to help us straighten out
a few things. Plus we tracted a lot. We tracted close to ten hours
this week, quite a bit of it in the rain. Wednesday night Elder
P went with a member while Elder H  and I hit up door after
door, all while it poured. The rain here is a little different than
in Twin. Luckily I found a coat and raincoat in the apartment, so I
was dry and warm. It was fun though, we came across all sorts of
people, and were able to hand out several copies of the Book of
Mormon.

T  and H  have been sick and out of town all week so we didn't
hear much from them. P  is doing great as ever. He will be
baptized Dec 31 now, hopefully there won't be issues with the holiday.
Those are all the investigators we have left, so we spent some time
visiting less actives. There have been a few coming to church lately,
it has been so cool to see them show up.

While we were out tracting last week we met a guy who told us he was a
prophet, except that he had been called to be a minister instead. He
said he was willing to hear what we had to say and to have a good
Christian discussion, but any time we asked him to open the Book of
Mormon he would completely blow it off and start talking about the end
of the world again.

I was able to help build a ramp this week for some members in the
ward. It looks pretty good too. There was another member and his
friend working on it, so we were able to have some good discussions
with the friend about the church.

On Monday we went to help with the Habitat for Humanity around here,
but there was only one guy there. Of course religion came up and he
started mentioning how he had a bunch of questions. We were able to
answer quite a few of them and he was really excited about the
answers. We haven't been able to see him since, but we'll be able to
follow up on that this week.

So yeah, it's been fun, the work is moving forward. I love every minute of it.

I will talk to you next week,

Love ya!

Elder Tanner Newey

11/8/11

Hey!

Its weird to hear you are watching the 4 oldest of DeeAnna's kids,
that's all of them isn't it? For some reason I don't see Dad staying
up till 2 though, as much as he loves those kids.

I don't blame you for listening to Christmas music. Walmart was
playing it the other day. It's a nice break. I love MoTab, but I
think I can just about list the order of the songs on Elder P's
CD's without too much trouble.

As for me, it's been an interesting week. I did a lot of service.
There was a guy stalled out on the side of the road one night as we
were headed to an appointment, so we decided to stop and offer him a
push. The funny thing about Pennsylvania, its all hills, and of
course the closest gas station was up and on the opposite side of the
busiest street in New Castle. So we rolled up our sleeves and dug in
our toes. We were just about there when someone else pulled over and
offered some help. He had a gas can that someone else had given him
when he had stalled out. So the guy was able to fill it up and his
car worked. We were saved!

Also we helped some members and less actives put up a barn in their
yard. All the framing was up so we just put up the walls. Sometime
this week we will get to help put on the roof. Along with this I've
been able to help out at the Habitat for Humanity a couple times.
They keep us busy, and those houses can go up quick. It was a little
interesting though when a reverend came and read the blessing. That's
alright, because we had everybody sing "I am a Child of God" earlier
that morning.

Probably the biggest thing I've learned this week is the power of
commitments. We have been way too lenient with our investigators, and
they progress very slowly because we don't follow up well. That is
about to change. Especially because T and H are the only
investigators we are still meeting with. We are trying to get the
branch to take more responsibility. We shouldered a lot of it and it
didn't do them any good. So we are backing off, which means I might
have to actually start tracting this week. Somehow I've made it this
far and have been tracting more outside of my area on exchanges with
other missionaries than I have inside.

That's about it for me, I'm still working on finishing off your
package. I just got your letter so I will be able to read it tonight.

I love you so much, keep doing great!

Elder Tanner Newey

10/31/2011

Hey Dad!
>
> As far as my bike goes, its that $500 we had to pay, so I get to keep
> it. It's pretty nice, hopefully it will last a good long while. I
> still have the same companion, we get to work together for one more
> transfer. I guess I never explained it before, but there is a new
> program, where essentially I will be able to train at the end of this
> transfer. For 12 weeks each week is broken down with what we are
> supposed to study during companion study and what I am supposed to
> start doing, like leading lessons. My trainer went through the same
> program, so he has only been out three months longer than I have.
> It's a really great program, it helped me adapt a lot quicker.
>
> Sounds like you are all doing good and keeping busy. I'm glad Reid
> had a good birthday. That's really cool he was able to finish the
> Book of Mormon. He's farther than a lot of people are out here. He's
> going to have a lot of fun. Wow, so now you have a kid in all the
> quorums up to you. No wonder they made you young mens president, they
> need you to keep an eye on them and make sure they're not breaking
> into houses, haha.
>
> So I'm doing really well, there have been a lot of cool things going
> on. Yesterday President and Sister S came to the branch to
> teach the third hour. Everybody was pretty excited and Elder and I were running around like crazy. He offered to lead our branch council too. They showed the branch all the ways to use mormon.org,
> and all the cool new things to do. Now they allow everyone over the
> age of 14 to create a profile, which I highly encourage. There are a
> lot of people on there, even a few who are famous. I saw that Brandon
> Flowers even made one. Blake will know who he is. That's been one of
> the biggest things we've been pushing, and we hand out cards for the
> website like crazy. The website is just awesome. Another cool website
> he showed was youth.lds.org
>
> Along with mormon.org, the main point was Rescue, finding not just
> investigators, but even less actives who have wandered off. Some of
> the greatest missionary work comes because of less active work. We
> found our star investigator because of a less active member. He
> showed videos from Preach My Gospel (which you can also order, and I
> suggest that as well, they are amazing) and the video where President
> Hinckley talks about the three young men who helped the pioneers
> across the Sweetwater river. By the end everyone was ready to go and
> the Spirit was strong like crazy.
>
> After that was over he met with our investigator, T. She is the
> one found because of a less active. Its a cool story. It all started
> back about the first or second week I was here. One of the members
> took us to visit his niece, who is less active and was living with her
> three kids and boyfriend who is not a member. While we were meeting
> with them the less active said she wanted a temple marriage so we
> started teaching her boyfriend the lessons, and we thought he was
> golden. He was just soaking up everything we told him like a sponge.
> At one point he even asked us when he could be baptized. Then all
> sorts of crazy things happened and the boyfriend ends up getting
> kicked out of the house. Turns out the niece really isn't interested
> so we have since stopped visiting her, but the boyfriend wants us to
> keep teaching him. He was staying with some friends and they said it
> would be ok if we came over, and they wanted to know if they could
> listen in. By this point we are going crazy. Here we had J, the
> boyfriend, just ready for baptism, and he is handing us more potential
> investigators. So we get over there quick as we can. We start
> teaching J, but soon his friends end up dominating the conversation.
> T and H, the friends, had a lot of questions.  H is
> T daughter, and they have been through a lot in their life.
> Because of this T told us she was agnostic, she believed in God
> but had too much anger built up against Him. After several very long
> appointments T realizes we do have a lot of answers, and even
> better, she is finding a lot of her own answers in the Book of Mormon.
> What's more crazy is she had a big answer, as she calls it her
> revelation, and has been anxious to be baptized and hear what we say
> since. She is so excited to learn. She introduces herself to the
> ward members as an investigator, she hand sewed a skirt together
> because she has nothing else, and she will not dress casual for
> church. We mistakenly told her she couldn't take of the sacrament
> yet, and it tore her apart to think she wasn't worthy of it yet and to
> pass it on. We teach her the Word of Wisdom and first she says no,
> because if she gives up both her coffee and cigarettes she is not
> going to be the favorite grandma. But then she comes to church, and
> tells us that that morning she threw it all away. Even though the
> other two in her house still smoke, she is pushing through to make her
> baptism happen. Then she meets President S. In their
> conversation she mentions how hard it is to come to sacrament and not
> partake. President tells her she can, and no sooner had he said that
> than she broke down, I could see the relief in her. We then stepped
> aside into a little room. Sister S gave Tracey a pack of gum
> to help the craving. President S gave her a blessing, and then
> told her how she can help H come around, and how T can be an
> example to her. I can just see the Atonement working in her life.
> She has had so much peace come. Because of this she sets it up all
> the time so that her kids will visit while we are over. We have met
> all four of them now, and they all have so many questions, but are so
> willing to sit and listen. The gospel makes sense to them.
>
> So that's our crazy day yesterday. By next week I should be able to
> tell you when she is getting baptized. I imagine it will be before
> November is through. The Lord has a great plan for her, and it is
> amazing to see His love for her each and every day with all the little
> miracles that work in her life.
>
> We are still being fed well. I haven't had to cook anything since
> I've been here, and usually I only have to eat leftovers for lunch.
> The members just need to know what to do now. The branch council has
> been shown what needs to happen, now we just need to apply it, and
> focus on the people. Great things are happening.
>
> Well, I hope you have a great Halloween and a fun week. We aren't
> allowed out today so we are spending the rest of the day at the stake
> center having a zone p-day and a district meeting after that. We have
> been given a lot of candy though. Oh, which reminds me, thanks for
> the package! I'm going to be able to eat well for a while now, the
> granola is already almost gone.
>
> Have fun in young mens, you are going to do great. Hope everything is
> still going well at work and Mom stays legal. I love you. By the
> way, all of the gospel analogies and stories over the years have
> stuck, so that helps out with the lessons. I'm still waiting to
> describe the apostasy as the basketball smashing the glass table, but
> it will happen. Thanks for everything!
>
> Love
>
> Elder Tanner Newey
>

10/24/11

So I'm doing great way over here, some cool things are happening. I spoke in church on Sunday about temples. The branch president asked me to prepare a twenty minute talk on Pres.
Monson's talk last April on Temples. So I worked on it Sunday morning
and felt pretty good about it. There are only three speakers usually,
so I didn't think there was much chance of me cutting anything, and I
was actually trying to think of some more stories. The youth speaker
ended up talking for over ten minutes though, and then by the time the
other sister was done there were five minutes left. They also were
given the exact same talk to work with, so I was relieved when I had
decided not to use the same stories in the article. All I really
ended up doing was bearing my testimony of temples, talking about my
Kirtland experience and how cool it was standing in the Twin Falls
temple with everybody. I let slip the story about me leading, so in
priesthood opening exercises I was volunteered again.

Ok, so I am in a car area. I have only been on my bike once, and that
was the other day. We do have a pretty big area to cover, but I'm
pretty sure we could use our bikes more. As far as the weather goes,
it's just like being home. Sunday was close to freezing but today is
up in the 60's. Not much wind yet though. So far everyone has been
pretty good to me and I haven't eaten anything weird or even bad.
I've had a lot of Italian sausage sandwiches, so I'm happy. It's bad,
they keep piling food on my plate. Actually its great, but somehow
I'm still hungry at night.  
   Therewas a deacon just ordained last week. We've been working with his
family and know him pretty well. He was a little late, and came
running up to me. He asked where to go and I pointed across the
chapel and he was off again. He plopped down on the chair with a huge
smile. President L  sent one of his counselors to get him a tie,
but as soon as the counselor stepped out of the chapel the deacon
pulled a clip on out of his pocket, still beaming. It was cool to
watch as he passed, and he told his grandpa he knows he was doing ok
because I was making sure he was doing it right. I hope Reid has the
same excitement, it is a great thing that he gets to be a part of.
 Love you all,

Elder Newey