Conference Halftime Report

Dear family and friends,

Another transfer down, another one started! We said goodbye to a really powerful group of missionaries on Monday, lot's of good friends and great missionaries.  It was a fun weekend with them, both the testimony meeting on Sunday night and the last lunch on Monday afternoon.  President's always dropping good little dating and marriage advice for the going home missionaries in the Sunday night devotional, which Elder Stroud and I were taking mental note of and having a good laugh about after! We got to the airport super early on Monday and had a long wait there until the sad goodbye as they walked through security. However, the group we received on Tuesday kinda made up for it! Super good missionaries, already speaking great Spanish, with a great attitude towards the start of their missions! I feel like I was there a few short months ago! That first day I remember especially well! Time flies.

Perú's funny.  We were in a taxi the other day with an interesting driver.  He was right in the middle of talking to us about the hurricanes in the US and how (according to him) lots of cities are flat out disappearing haha!! He was like, "Yeah, San Fransisco is gonna be gone, Orlando is going to disappear as well, about half the US is going to go under water!" Haha he was funny! Anyway, during the middle of that interesting conversation, he hit a pothole going a solid 50 mph, immediately after which we heard the air quickly seeping out of the tire.  Naturally, the driver pulled over to take a look at the damage.  He looks at the tire, listens to the air coming out, locates the hole. and pulls a hammer from the trunk.  I asked him, "Do you have a spare tire?" which he neglected to respond haha.  He just took the hammer, pounded the tire rim with a good solid 10 smacks, pulled out a little air compressor, and filled the tire right back up! We jumped back in the car and were on our way! Definitely the most unusual way I've ever seen to fix a flat tire....

A fun little story as well, I saw my trainer's (or dad's, in mission slang) homecoming this week! He was one of the 15 missionaries who went home, but as luck would have it, his parents moved here to Trujillo while he was on the mission! Not only to Trujillo, but here to this very ward where the mission offices are located! So we were here late Tuesday night and slipped over to the church to see if there was anything we could clean.  While there, we took a peak in one of the rooms and there was Elder Guerrero, surrounded by a bunch of members, young single adults, and "Welcome Home" signs! Just sitting, without his plaque, of course, taking it all in.  It was a pretty unique thing that not a lot of missionaries get to experience! He actually came up big in finding mine and Elder Stroud's lost notebooks as well, in a story that I won't share at the moment haha. 

As I'm writing this letter, we're at the halfway point of general conference.  Womens' Session and Saturday in the books, with Priesthood and Sunday still to come.  Let's take a look at the first half highlights:

• THE HUMBLE BRAG! Groundbreaking concept from Elder Cook that will be part of my vocabulary for quite a while haha, I can already feel it.
• Lots of references to full time missionaries, which is always fun as a full time missionary!
• If Sister Bonnie Oscarson was a man, she'd be a part of the quorum of the twelve, I'm convinced of it!
• Loved Stephen Owen's reference to BYU football.  I feel like it wasn't really related to anything else he said in his talk, but I appreciated it none the less! (Sounds like the cougs are having a rough year though, too bad we can't send President Hinckley to the locker room anymore!)
• Anxiously awaiting the announcement of Disney's next movie, Inside Out 2, starring sisters Sad, Mad, and Glad.
• Salvation is a personal matter; exaltation is a family matter. Elder Stroud and I have been breaking that one down since the moment Elder Oaks said it.
• Elder Holland and Christofferson put in remarkable performances, as usual. 

The thing I've felt the most has been TURN OUTWARD.  Don't be selflish, don't think about one's self, but turn to others and their needs! Multiple speakers have touched on it, and I was reminded of a verse in the Doctrine and Covenants.  "For verily I say unto you, (spiritual gifts) are given for the benefit of those who love me and keep all my commandments, and him that seeketh so to do; that all may be benefited that seek or that ask of me." 

Now the condition about how we are to ask: "that ask and not for a sign that they may consume it upon their lusts." 

The Lord is more that willing to bless those that ask with spiritual gifts, but not if they're just asking for themselves! Not if they're just going to consume, take in, or receive for themselves.  No, the condition of the Lord's blessing us is that we then turn outward and bless others! Something that I felt this week studying and also during conference today! 

I love you all, have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Elder Tanner Hart

Matthew 16:13-17

Dear family and friends,

*Sigh of contentment* It's been such a good, relaxed week.  It seems like we've been going at a thousand miles an hour this past month and these past few days we've been slowing down just a bit! It was good to be back in our area a lot more and see our three converts (Luis, Luisa, and Claudia) for the first time since their baptism! We were with Claudia last night and caught a glimpse in her sketch book, where she had drawn a little quote (in English!!): "it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me" with her own addition in the corner "09/09: mi mejor día!".  Or "my best day!" It was neat to see that! 

We also have a monster change these next two days so we've been prepping for that! Lots of missionaries leaving, lots more coming, and lots of planning to make sure all goes well! We have our testimony meeting tomorrow Sunday, then will say good bye on Monday and receive new missionaries on Tuesday.

Well, since there wasn't much else that happened temporally, I'll go spiritual for a sec!;) I've been learning so much lately but there hasn't been much time to share, so I'm gonna unload a bit here:

Matthew 16:13-17, man! First of all the type of question the Savior used! "When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?"

 I love that question! One that gives his followers an opportunity to bear testimony, say something out loud! Elder Bednar taught in the worldwide missionary broadcast in 2016: "That investigator, making those statements—acting as an agent—invites the Holy Ghost to confirm the truthfulness of what that man or woman said." In other words, as the person SAYS IT, as it comes out of THEIR mouth, the Holy Ghost comes and testifies.  If they just respond with "yes" or "no," the spirit might not be able to testify with as much power! So a powerful missionary maybe doesn't ask, "Do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet?" but, "What do you believe about Joseph Smith?" One, it shows the investigator's understanding, but more importantly, it gives them a chance to bear testimony and feel the Holy Ghost confirm that testimony! 

"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."

Surely as Peter made that statement, the Holy Ghost testified to him that what he was saying was the truth! 

Now, one other quick lesson: the guy was with the Savior all the time!! He saw so many miracles!! He walked and talked with Him and everything.  But how did he know that Christ was the literal "Son of the living God"? " Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."  The one and only way that truth can enter into one's heart is through the power of the Holy Ghost.  THE ONLY WAY! We could see Christ, see the golden plates and the Angel Moroni, be with Joseph Smith and listen to him speak, and it could not make any difference! There is only one way for eternal truth to enter the heart, and it's through the power of the Holy Ghost.  It happened to Peter, and we can receive the exact same knowledge, with the exact same conviction, through the exact same way! 

Thanks for letting me share all that! Love you all and have a wonderful week!

Love, 

Elder Tanner Hart

Garlic Bread and Ice Cream Crepes

Dear family and friends,

This week was so nuts I'm writing two days late! It was officially the craziest week of my mission, and on of the most fun as well.  Wednesday we had our mission tour with Elder Walter F. González of the seventy, the area president of the Caribbean! We had three meetings to plan, a leadership council on Wednesday, then two multizones for Thursday and Friday! Holy cow, there are so many tiny details to plan that I'm sure no one even notices! At least, I never noticed them before! It's kind of like a referee in a basketball game: you only notice it if it's bad, if it's good it goes unnoticed. If that makes any sense haha. But everything went fairly smoothly! We didn't really have any part in the meeting except for preparation, clean-up, and conducting.  I tell you what though, I got strangely nervous just conducting! We got this mini-biography off of LDS.org that I had to read when I conducted (Wednesday and Thursday) and I was completely psyching myself out beforehand.  But, all went well, and it's a relief to have it over!

Elder González was powerful though! The guy stood up in every meeting with just his quad! He's pretty much a wizard with the scriptures!  He started by quoting a few scriptures and I though, "Well, looks like he came in prepared with a few memorized scriptures as part of the script," but the meetings continued and different topics were brought up and he kept pulling out scripture after scripture after scripture! Supporting missionary behavior with scriptural doctrine! There definitely wasn't any "script" at all.  And honestly, if he wasn't a general authority, his wife would probably be part of one of the auxiliary presidencies.  She knows the scriptures just as well as he does! It was a neat thing being with them for each of the meetings! 

A cool thing happened on Tuesday as well.  We were in the office preparing for Elder González when President Rios called us into his office to help with the transfer, something he often does.  This time, however, was pretty much transfers on steroids.  There's a big group going home, a big group coming, and tons of trainers and leadership positions to be filled.  He pretty much just said, "Alright Elders, ideas," and we got to work on it!  It was an honor that he would trust us enough to even call us in there and listen to our suggestions! We were there for a little while until it was pretty much nailed down, and before we left he asked us to join him in prayer to seek further revelation.  It was quite the experience and privilege to be a part of!    

Saturday, the day after the mission tour finished, we headed up to Huaraz with President and our financial secretary to interview and train the missionaries there.  It's about a six hour drive so it's an adventure every time! Here are just a few quick hitters from that trip:
We stopped toeat lunch at this little half run down place on a little beach called Tortugas (Turtles).  There was a really neat view and we even went down to the ocean while we waited for them to prepare our food! I'll see if I can attatch a few pics...
After stake conference Sunday morning, we made the one hour trip to Carhuaz (where we have one companionship), and then one more hour to Caraz (two companionships) basically just to do room checks and show the wards some support. So we were in the car for the majority of the trip! 
Speaking of that, driving with President is an experience in and of itself.  He takes speed bumps at full velocity and drives in the opposite lane about half the time.  Or just straddles the white line between lanes haha! It's like real life Mario Kart! Or Need for Speed or something like that haha.
Carhuaz is this little old town with really old traditions.  Right now, they're in the middle of this festival for "La Virgin de la Merced."  I don't even know what that means.  But while we were there we saw a strange amount of bulls.  We learned from the missionaries that the people basically just keep the bulls around, dress them up in costumes, make them drink alcohol (as the people themselves are also drinking, of course), then kill them and eat them at the end.  It's so random! Definitely an interesting sight though, we probably saw at least 15 bulls in the 15 minutes we were driving around there. 
As we were driving in the darkness from Caraz back to Huaraz (a two hour trip) President says, "What if a person just appeared in front of us and started floating and walking through the air?" It was thee most unexpected comment possible from him in that moment.  He's a serious guy! Just shows you what his fears deep down are haha;)
We didn't have any place to eat dinner last night, so President took us to his hotel and left us in the restaurant part while he went up to bed.  We weren't that hungry, so we just got ice cream crepes and garlic bread.  All the fancy people in the fancy restaurant were giving us some pretty strange looks haha!
We also had three baptisms last Saturday! What a week!!

I love you all:) Have a wonderful week! 

Love,
Elder Tanner Hart

1: Our baptisms last Saturday! Luisa, Luis, and Claudia were all baptized and confirmed!
2-3: Eating at President's fancy hotel
4: Looking down at Huaraz (even though you can't see the city very well haha)

Week of Miracles!

Dear family and friends,

I hope you're all well:) We've had yet another wonderful week here and have seen some serious miracles! We had a powerful lesson with Luisa last Saturday night talking about, you guessed it, baptism, and she was two centimeters away from committing!! Right at the end, Elder Stroud threw in an inspired comment: "By the way, you'd have to let us know that you want to be baptized about a week in advance to set up the baptismal interview and service." That got her thinking even more.  She promised to pray that night and see what she felt.  Next morning, the bishop (her father in law) gives us a call: "Elder Hart, good news! My mother in law wants to be baptized this Saturday!" We were jumping for joy, bouncing off the walls, making all sorts of ruckus in our room when we heard that! That day was stake conference.  We showed up early and there was Luisa, already seated in her usual bench, waiting for it to start.  She saw us approaching her, smiled, shook our hands, and said just one word: "Positive:"  As if it were the results of some test or something haha! We were so excited for her though! She'll be (and really already is) a powerful convert!

So we started the week planning on one baptism, and at that point were up to two.  But it wasn't over yet! We've been teaching a guy named Luis for a long time now, and he's been coming to church for the past 6-7 months every single Sunday.  He doesn't understand a lot, so we never really even considered baptism for him.  However, he's really wanted to be baptized, and in the last few months has been demonstrating fruits of repentance! Our bishop went and visited him Sunday night and while he was there he gave us a call saying, "Elders, Luis wants to be baptized this Saturday as well.  What's holding him back??" We didn't really have an answer and just said we would talk to President Rios about it.  We talked to him in the office the next day, and he gave it the emphatic yes, so we're planning on three for today! When our district leader, Elder Collazos, finished Luis's baptismal interview and told him he was ready for baptism, Luis started to cry he was so happy! 

There's been a problem with crickets here in Trujillo lately, and crickets show up in the most random places.  For example, we found on in my backpack on Thursday night, so Elder Stroud proceeded to calmly place it in the toilet, and that was that.  Why do I share that? Because late Thursday night/Friday morning I woke up at about 2:00 not feeling super good.  I jumped off the top bunk and went into the bathroom, feeling like I was probably going to throw up (sorry for the possible grossness of this story, if you're not feeling it you can just move on haha).  Well, it wasn't coming out! That is, until I looked in the toilet and saw that big old cricket just swimming around.  Yep, that did it for me! I ended up throwing up one more time that night and the next morning still didn't feel good.  I went in the bathroom and was hanging out in there again, when I heard Elder Stroud come up the stairs and say, "Hey Elder Hart, I just took the L downstairs." Haha he had just thrown up too! So we were sick together on Friday! 

We taught an American named Benjy this week, the son of a baptist pastor.  Definitely a super interesting conversation.  This guy has been living in Perú his whole life but has been home schooled so he's been brought up with mainly American culture! His dad and grandpa started the church back in the 60's so it's basically their whole life.  He was a nice guy though; for example, we walk in and he brings out a tray of Starbursts, Dum-Dum suckers (you never know how much you appreciate something until you don't have it in your life anymore) and some pretty tasty muffin-like treats.  He also had very nice things to say about the tabernacle choir and BYU Men's Chorus, which was another plus haha. 

To quickly close, I love Peter's words in the first chapter of 2 Peter.  He's about to die, and writes to the members of the church, urging them to remember what they already know:

"Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  

It's all real! It's not just some cunningly devised fable fabricated to make you feel good! They were eyewitnesses of Christ's majesty! Those members of the church were likely becoming complacent, like we often do know, and forgetting often-repeated simple doctrines. I hope we can always remember that! I know that Jesus Christ lives!  

I love you all! 

Elder Tanner Hart

Always Remember Him!

Dear family and friends,

I know I always talk about how nuts the weeks are, but holy cow are they nuts! The main theme of this week was interviews! We were in Virú, Chimbote, and Casma interviewing and training missionaries for about half the week.  It seems so relaxed, so chill--you just simply sit there and let missionaries come to you, give little training, repeat a few times, and you're done! For real though, it gets you tired! I have way more respect for all my high school and seminary teachers after running through the process a few times! 

We went to a "Matrimonio Masivo," like a mass wedding, this morning because we're teaching a couple who was getting married! Wow, what an experience! We walk in and it's in this basketball arena-type place (it was actually the first time Elder Stroud or I had been in a basketball stadium since being here so we were getting pumped about that!) with a bunch of cheap plastic chairs set up and strange music playing. Our investigators, Robert and Laura, told us it would start at 9:00, so we showed up at 8:55 to get good seats.  Empty.  There was hardly anyone there! We were the first "spectators" and not one couple had shown up yet.  Well, they started filing in and by about 10:30 we could finally get started! To start they do about everything except get the people married! This old guy starts singing, then a band does a few numbers, then these salsa dancers came in, and finally by 11:15 or so they were on to the actual ceremony.  The guy stands up, announces the rules/laws about being married, says, "Girls, do you accept?"; "Boys, do you accept?"; everyone says yes, and he announces, "Alright, you're all married, kiss the bride!"  It literally took less than a minute!! Then these waiters dressed up in tuxedos started passing out the Inka Cola in paper cups to all the marriages haha!

The language in the sacrament prayer, "always remember Him," has been on my mind lately.  We commit to ALWAYS remembering the Savior when we are baptized, and recommit every week during the sacrament.  Mormon's invitation to Moroni is similar: "May Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever." I wonder how different our actions would be if we truly always remembered Him, as we covenant to do? How different would I be as a missionary? What would I think about, what would I do, and say, and be? How much more could I bless others around me if I let his sufferings, death, resurrection and post mortal appearances "rest in my mind" continually? It's something I'm doing my best to do, and will surely be striving the rest of my life to master! 

I love you all:)

Elder Tanner Hart

PS It's gameday baby!! Opening day of college football, we're definitely very aware!