Elder Tanner Rogers: Pottery and Ventriloquy, Candle Making

Howdy

This week was a pretty great week here in Norwood! On Tuesday we had a virtual tour of the Sacred Grove with our friend Kiara. I would recommend those virtual tour things, they are free, and the spirit is still strong, even though you aren't really there. When the tour finished we asked Kiara what she thought, and the first thing she said was that she thought the Sacred Grove was creepy because it was just quiet and a bunch of trees. That was kind of a rip, but we were able to have a nice conversation afterward, and the spirit was strong there too. A lot of our friends are progressing, and it is a great time to be in Norwood!

We went through the old paper area books and found lots of names and phone numbers to call, so that has been very helpful. We were able to find five new friends yesterday, which was very exciting. A lot of our lessons were canceled, and so we had a lot of time to make phone calls. We got bored of sitting around, and so we decided we would go make phone calls somewhere adventurous. Our church building has a basement with an old baptismal font and classrooms, and it also has an attic with an abandoned classroom. We decided that we would make calls in the attic to change things up a bit. Turns out that the attic must be closer to heaven or something because we were able to have a lot of success up there!

One of our friends has a son in third grade who is obsessed with paper airplanes, and so every time we go visit we bring a new paper airplane we made and fly it with him in the front yard and then go talk to his mom on the porch. We think he is more excited for us to come than she is, so hopefully, he'll be able to convince his mom to come to church so he can go to primary. I convinced Elder Brock to buy some sardines with me, but he is being a wimp and won't eat them, so I'm trying to come up with a way to cook them or do something so that he will try it. It's like a secret agent mission to try and get him to eat a sardine.

This week something that came to my mind during my personal study is the importance of names. In Helaman 5, Nephi and Lehi are reminded of those that they are named after, and this is an encouragement to them to keep the commandments and follow in the good example of their forefathers. I was reminded of those that I was named after, John Tanner, My Grandpa Anderson, and my last name is the name of my Dad. All three men whose names I carry set great examples, and it was fun to think of traits of theirs that I can strive to develop. As I finished this, I was reminded of one more name that I carry - a name that I chose to take upon myself - Jesus Christ. When we are baptized, or partake of the sacrament, we choose to take the name of Christ upon ourselves. This means we should try to remember Him, emulate Him, represent His name well, and do things to make Him proud. I hope I can represent the Savior and His name well, and I'm grateful for His atonement, and the opportunity I have to take the sacrament each week so that I can try again.

Also if you are ever playing hide and go seek, make sure you don't put on too much perfume or you will lose.

Keep Striving Everyone!

Elder Rogers