Tears from Heaven

Not a lot of time. No pictures. and Barcelona lost last night even though they are TOTALLY the better team. So this might be a short email.

It's been a good week.  Not on paper/according to the key indicators necessarily.  But I have been in a good mood, my companion and I get along well, and basically we just keep on moving forward.  Time is a thief.  It is flying by these days.  I can't believe we already get to talk again in a few short weeks.  When is Mother's Day? The 13th?  The 13th day is my favorite day of every month. I don't know why. I just love that number.  

The family got confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  It was a very spiritual experience standing in the circle and confirming for my very first time ever.  But life is good.  They're way happy.  We gave them a Family Proclamation and picture of their baptism framed last night and they were super stoked and happy.  I love them.  I feel like I'm a Dominican with them sometimes. We have a visit with themin 10 minutes.  It is always such a spiritual booster to see their amazing examples.

Examples.  I have seen another amazing example of the importance of examples lately.  Élida is the next person we're preparing for baptism el cinco de Mayo. The same day my best friend will be partying for independence or something.  But she has progressed a ton and is totally ready for baptism.  Why? The example of her sisters and family.  I think I've already talked about it before, but here it is again.  I love you all for the example you are to me. You've all helped me to become who I am.  Especially the parents, Kylie, siblings, Austin.  You might not have realized it all the time, but you all shine in my eyes. Your some of my missionaries.  So thanks. I still look up to you all. 

Well, we're already out of time.  but I do rightly love you all. Have a wicked week, and I'll keep on keeping on and we'll see what I have to say next week.  

Love,

Elder Tanton Jeppson

P.S. Give Elder White a big hug for me and call him Sollajo.  Pronounced Soyaho.

El sueño sin color

Hola familia! Como estáis?

All is well over here in my part of Europe.  No nos andemos por las ramas.

The family got baptized!  Madre mía it was quite a white-tie affair.  We had the baptism on Sunday because Luis works(worked) Monday - Saturday, but he actually lost his job about halfway through last week, so Satan is still working hard.  But we kept the baptism on Sunday still so that we wouldn't have to call all the members and change it.  It was testimony meeting here.  I bore my testimony because I was so fit with joy that I couldn't just sit in the congregation.  The promises of the Lord.  This family did not think they could progress and get baptized within a month, but they did their part and the Lord did his.  The service was right after Church.  Everybody got changed in the bathroom.  Our goal was to have 10 people dressed in white, and we achieved it :) We started with Luis and then Zoraida and then the kids oldest to youngest.  It was a truly spiritual experience.  We even had to change the bathrooms so the boys were in the girls cause there are lots of changing stalls there.  It was still a zoo.

After the baptism they bore their testimonies.  As I was sitting there I just realized that this decision for them was probably even bigger and more important than I even realize.  Having the gospel in our lives as we are raised and grow up can completely change what we do and choose during the crucial years.  All three of these kids will have the church to guide them and help them make the decisions that will truly make us happy.  Luis bore his testimony on the power of prayer.  He talked about his experience when he didn't want to go to church because he was so tired but ended up getting up and going after saying a prayer of faith asking for strength.  It was really spiritual.  Zoraida then talked about how she had gained a testimony and prayed for strength to stop drinking and that after she stopped drinking she could learn so much more from the Book of Mormon and really feel the Spirit.  Then the kids shared theres.  Ana Julia's was my favorite.  She just stood up and said "I got baptized. Now I'm clean. Now I'm happy."  Ahhhh! It was a dream come true! I hope you can see I'm still pretty excited about it.

On Friday we also set a baptismal date with Élida.  She is the sister of a menos activa that we just helped come back to church and have been teaching.  We asked her if we could meet with her non member sister too, and she agreed.  She had listened to the missionaries in the past(if I've already explained all this before, forgive me) but wasn't living the commandments and had a boyfriend that was against it and all.   But now she is ready.  She sees the happiness in her sister and wants to have the same in her life.  She has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying when we challenged her to the 12th of May to be baptized, she said she wasn't sure if she could do it so fast, but she would try.  Well, after sacrament meeting she came up to us and told us "Elders! I have something to say. I want to get baptized as soon as possible!"  She told us how she has been thinking about it a lot and how she really feels like it's what she needs in her life.  So we changed it to the 5th of May so we can at least have 2 weeks to teach her everything instead of having to rush it.

This is a miracle because after her parents got divorced, she invited her dad to live with her for a little bit. Well, there was eventually a big problem and it resulted in kind of a falling away from the family.  But she told us she wants her dad to baptize her and I'm super stoked because I think this is like the token of forgiveness for this family.  Everybody is going to be happy with each other again and no more hard feelings.  Crazy what the gospel can do for families!  Needless to say, the Lord is blessing us abundantly.  

Other than all of that things are just moving along over here.  We have recently dropped some people that weren't really progressing and so we're looking for more people to teach again.  It makes for some long grueling hours of knocking doors and trudging around in the rain.  But my companion got sick starting last weekend and on Monday just got pwn3d.  So we actually spent the last 2 days in the piso. I kind think I might have given him my sickness... Speaking of which, I feel a lot better these days.  So that's good.

Yesterday was a sad day for me.  Elder White, my conejero brother from the islands went home.  I called him and said goodbye and that I loved him.  His name is Taylor Norton White.  Mom/family, you should add him on facebook and figure out his homecoming junk and go say hi to him.  It'll be on the 29th. He lives in West Jordan.  Elder Thurston also went home to Cache Valley and the other León Zone Leader Elder Hodges made his way back to California.  All my mission friends are going home and it makes me feel old and sad! Así es la vida...

I don't really know what else to say. I hope you all enjoy the pictures and whatnot.  I love getting letters and stuff. Congrats Kristina on the graduation that is coming up. I got your announcement.  It was my first time seeing you pregnant too! There really is a baby on the way! Genial. 

I love you all. This church is true.  I hope that everybody that this email makes it to (even the blog stalkers) knows how much I love my family and that I know we'll be an eternal family.  Fan-freaking-tástico!

Love,

Elder Tanton Jeppson

Ponte capucha!

It's been a rainy week. I'm going to go to a chino (ghetto little stores run by Chinese people full of cheap china crap) and buy an all black umbrella and paint the hand red because I feel like the Mayday Parade man.  Shirt and tie, always an umbrella.  That's what's up!

 

Last Thursday was a sad night. We had to say goodbye to Nikolás.  He's a little 11 year old that got baptized last...August-ish.  He is legit. He will be like some powerhouse missionary in the future.  I was sad to say goodbye.  Back to Brazil with him.  A lot of our branch will be going back to their countries within the next bit of time.  Next 6 months-ish.  It'll be hard for the branch here.  But that's life I guess.  That's why we just need to baptize other families to replace them and keep the work rolling. 

 

On Saturday President Watkins came all the way up to our dark corner of the mission to give a presentation in the JAS (YSA) activity that we had here in Asturias.  It was for all the Young Single Adults in the Galicia district and León district.  Remember when I served in Vigo? Well I did once.  And I got to see Tairí again! I probably never talked about her. But she is a member that speaks English so I would always escape from Elder Quevedo and Spanish by talking to her if she was in the chapel hahaha. She couldn't even remember me until she saw me.  But it was still cool to see her. Also, two mini missionaries that served in Madrid and were in my District while I was in the office were there. It was cool to see them again.

 

Pedro also went.  It was an amazing experience for him.  Really fortified him right after his baptism. It was legit!  He has been progressing so much. It really has been awesome to see him go from not knowing anything about the church really to getting baptized and now preparing for the priesthood.  There is truly nothing better than seeing people progress in the gospel.  It is amazing how much you can SEE the difference if people are really reading and praying.  They can't lie to us about it.  We can see the difference if they do it or not.  So Pedro is like our best little gangster friend these days.  We're gonna start taking him on visits.

 

The family of Luis and Zoraida all passed their interviews.  So they're all set to go for baptism.  Yahoo! We are planning the program with them tonight and then on Sunday, after the church services they will get baptized. All 5 of them.  We're Super stoked.  They are another case of seeing amazing progress.  I feel like Gijón was just too prepared.  I have been extremely blessed by coming here. I guess when I found Alma 53:12 in the temple the Lord really was telling me not to worry about coming here.  I love this place!

 

Other than that we have found some new people this past week through the members.  Élida is talking about baptism too already! Buah.  I don't have enough time to talk about all of that. Hopefully I will in the future.  But just know that's pretty awesome too.

 

Other than the work all is well. I still have a bombshell of moco in my face, but it's cool. I can handle that.  As long as I can work, I can be happy.  Got some letters and stuff this past week, so I guess I'm not completely forgotten.  Hit 17 months yesterday.  That was like a punch in the gut.  7 months is not enough time. But it'll have to be.  Maybe I'll ask for an extra transfer at the end.  We'll see. 

 

I love you all. You rock.  Like a pirate ship on a rough sea. A pirate's life for me! I won't go quietly...

 

Love,

Elder Tanton Jeppson

Call of Duty: Spiritual Warfare

Well 'ello there.  That's about how I sound with how blasted stuffed up my face has been this last week.  Good times... Good times...

It's been a pretty great week.  I don't even know where to start.  I guess I'll just take it as it comes to my mind.  Last Thursday I did an exchange with a new elder from Wyoming.  His name is Elder Miner and he's way legit.  I focused a lot on how he can learn the language well and focus on missionary work at the same time.  I love Spanish! So I tried to instill this love in him as well so when he talks he doesn't sound like a little gringo cracker bot.  I mean, I'm not saying I don't sound like a gringo, but come on missionaries, if you don't study the grammar you sound silly!

Saturday we did an activity in the morning for the 9-12 year olds so they could play soccer.  We did it so Wagner could play and get involved with the kids and get all stoked about the church and whatnot.  It went well. President Watkins told us we couldn't play in it so we just took them there and then went to the Capilla to fill up the pila bautismal.  Then we picked them up at the end and walked them back to their house.  I think it went super well.  Wagner has been seeming to warm up and open up a little by little to the gospel. 

Then we had the baptism.  It went really well. I even played the piano for the service. Ohhhh snap! I've never played piano for anything like that, so I was basically...well super nervous to say the least.  But it went really well.  Venid a mi and Deja que el Espíritu enseñe.  Brandy would just be so proud that I thought I would mention that.  Take that piano!  Immediately after the baptism the conference general started.  We have a legit capilla here so we were even able to get it in English in a room all by ourselves hahaha.  I kind of wanted to be with the members and whatnot, but my compie comp wanted English and I wasn't gonna complain about English hahaha.  So yup.  That's what that one picture is. 

 

I loved the conference! Especially President Packers talk and Elder Hollands talk. Maybe just cause they're my two favorites anyways.  But also President Monson gave two stellar talks.  That's where my subject comes from.  In priesthood he gave us all a call to duty.  I noticed 3 things in the conference as themes.  Well, 4.  1-We need to help less actives come back to the church! They need our support! 2-We need the family to stay strong 3-We're all going through hard times. Such is life.  Get over it with the help of the Lord! and 4-The priesthood should be active. If it's not active, it's not the priesthood.  Well, it still is, but you get the point. 

Luis and Zoraida and their family are doing fantastic.  They always get so happy and big smiles when they see us and we get big smiles and happy when we see them.  We're finishing up with all the lessons today and then they should have their interviews this Saturday so they can get baptized next Saturday.  It'll be the last day of the transfer, so I guess we'll see how it goes.  Hopefully everything will go well. Pray for them! There gonna be a super strong family in Zion someday. Ya'll's gonna loves to meets them sumdays. 

That's about all I have time for today.  It's basically just been a week full of the Spirit and I have loved it.  Even my lack of DayQuil and excess of pressure in my head hasn't been able to pull me down from this spiritual high.  Ohhhh the mission. Funny how it just becomes what life is for these two years...

Love you all!

Elder Tanton Jeppson

P.S. You come here thinking we'z da dumbs, but you's da dumbz!! Yahehehe