That's Not Candy, That's a Scrub Daddy

 It's crazy to think that I'm already a third of the way done with my MTC experience. I really have enjoyed living with my grandma, although I really don't see her a ton because I'm really busy. 

The MTC can be a mental grind at times, but I love it. I really like Elder Sahagun, he's a great companion. I also really like my two teachers. After I sent the email last week I realized that I sent two pictures of Hermano Nieves, and none of Hermano Guitierrez. Hermano Guitierrez makes me laugh every day. His English is good, but not perfect, but he always tries to talk like he's an American teenager. "Muy fuego" or "muy fire" have become catchphrases in the district because he says it all the time. He also frequently says "easy money". When we watched a safety video in class where a sister missionary backed over her companion he laughed so hard and dropped an XD in the chat. Once an elder had to do something because he lost a coin toss, and Hermano Guitierrez just straight faced replies with "democracy bro". I died laughing that time. Anyway, both my teachers are awesome. 

Another fun thing is gym class. We have it once a week. The gym teacher doesn't speak very good English, and so he just leads us through a bunch of random exercises and stretches in Spanglish. It makes me laugh so hard for some reason. I'm sitting in my grandma's basement being lead through squats and neck stretches by a Mexican, and some poor Elder or Hermana who got chosen to count out the exercise. The exercises are pretty easy, but I get a good workout from laughing so hard. 

Running with John is still going well. Saturday I slept in and so Grandma and I went to Fremont's track where I did 40 laps. I changed direction every 4 to keep it interesting. I ran the ten miles in under an hour so I haven't gotten out of shape yet. 

On Sunday my mom brought up one of the greatest things of all time for me - a Scrub Daddy. If you don't know what that is you need to watch the Shark Tank pitch and then get yourself to Walmart to buy one. They are literally the greatest kitchen tool of all time, and I was so happy when my mom brought it up. The next day Grandma made baked apples for breakfast, and there was some Cinnamon baked onto the bowl. It couldn't come out with her normal dish thing, but 30 seconds of me and the Scrub Daddy and that bowl was shiny and sparkly clean.

I absolutely love being a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I'm so excited to hear from the prophet of the Lord at general conference this weekend!! 

Keep Grinding 

Elder Rogers

Grandma and I with the world's best kitchen tool.

My teacher Hermano Guitierrez

My district in a zoom meeting

My First Week as a Missionary

 Howdy

I love being a missionary!

I've been in the online MTC for a week, and it has been a great experience so far. 

Living with my grandma has been great, and the classes have gone well. It took a couple of days to adjust to waking up early and sitting through the long classes, but I think that I am getting used to it now. I was worried that I would be bored, but I have been extremely busy. 

My companion is Elder Sahagun (pronounced Saw-goon). He lives in California and will be going to the Columbus Ohio mission, so he'll be right next door when I get out to Cincinnati. 

So far all of the Spanish they have taught in class is basic and I understand, but it is tricky to remember all of the vocab because they want us to learn 80-100 new words a day. I use a lot of notecards.  It's been a really good experience. 

One cool thing about being a missionary is that people always stop you to talk to you in the store. It's been really fun to get to talk to people, especially since I have to spend 8 hours a day on zoom meetings, plus two additional hours of study by myself, so any in-person human interaction is greatly appreciated. 

I have been blessed, and get to continue running each morning with my grandma's neighbor. His name is John and he ran for Weber State. We meet at six in the morning, and we go seven miles. We usually average 7 minute pace. I am very grateful that I get to run with John. One morning he wasn't able to come and so I had to work out on my own. I did thirty-five minutes of jump rope, then a ten-minute wall sit, and then I ran a mile around grandma's house. It took twenty-five laps. Needless to say life is better when I get to go with John. It's been nice to have somebody to talk to and run with.

Sorry, this letter isn't very cohesive - it's been a busy day and I'm tired. 

Anyway, I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve as a missionary!! I'm excited to continue my learning process so that I can better serve the people in Cincinnati!!

Keep Grinding

Elder Rogers

My teacher Hermano Nieves

My note cards for studying Spanish

Elder Kanzler's treehouse MTC

It begins...

Tanner was set apart tonight at 6:30 pm by our stake president as a full-time missionary.  After he was set apart, we drove him to the MTC (aka grandma's house).  Due to COVID 19, he will be completing his MTC training online through the Mexico City MTC.  He will stay at his Grandma Anderson's house while he is completing the 6 week MTC online training.