Transfer: Mission Office in Munich!

From Nov 15, 2017:

 

Hallo there meine Mutter! 

Im doing pretty good! Busy and not enough time to do things, but "I'm a happy sponge." :) tell the fam I said sorry but I'm only going to have time for this one email home this week. I think I've been pretty good about it lately, but I guess sometimes I just don't have time. -_- tell them I said i loved their emails and that I'll have all week to think of replies for them. XD 

You know the whole bird thing is really interesting... I feel like I've always been this way, but it's amplified on my mission. Sometimes I feel kinda goofy about it because Elder Palfreyman just laughs and watches me figure out creative ways to get bugs out of the apartment so I don't have to kill them xD but it works. I'm glad i feel this way about animals. It's really helped me sometimes when I'm beating myself up a bit. I just think, "you literally can't even hurt a fly... you can't be such a bad guy." ;) haha. In any case, thanks for loving that about me. 

 

Thanks for having the missionaries over! When I get home, I'm doing a lot with them. :) I want to experience all different kinds of missionary work. 

Somehow I knew you all would have a big part to play in the Christmas program. Our family is too skilled and musical to stay out of it. ;) what a blessing it is to be able to share that with others. I miss being in a house that always seems to be singing. I'm constantly singing here, too. 

Thanks for telling me about Enos. Prayer is pretty easy, but solemn heartfelt prayer requires preparation and a heart willing to sacrifice time and pain to think on the things we need to repent from and talk to God about it. Pouring out my honest feelings to Heavenly Father is something I've always been fond of. When I have hard times it seems to be kind of a fresh start for me. 

 

 

So now for the big news! I am being transferred to the mission office in Munich. :) it is foreseen that I will spend the last 5 months of my mission there. To be honest, it might be the best thing for me at this time. I have an opportunity to keep doing missionary work and continue doing my best to help others come unto Christ, and I also get to use my computer know-how to help the other missionaries in their areas. I'm excited! It'll be a strange change, but I'm up for it. Elder Palfreyman is getting Elder Williams, an awesome Canadian I've known almost my whole mission. They'll get along really well and I know Innsbruck will be in good hands. I'll really miss this place, though. I have so many friends and people I love. I'll miss them. They've done a wealth of good for me, and this place and the experiences I've made here have changed me and my mission in such a good way. When we come back we definitely have to visit here. :) I'll miss Elder Palfreyman, too. We had quite an exciting ride together! He'll do amazing though, I'm sure of that. 

As far as my transcripts are concerned... I would just fax it to me until I figure out if they need the hard copy or not. I need to get settled in München first, before I can look at it again. 

 

 

I am feeling pretty uplifted. I've had a lot of peace this week. It was pretty busy, but really cool. Elder Palfreyman and I had a great last day of finding on the little Platz in the center of Innsbruck. We only had about an hour and a half, but we found 6 people to exchange contact info with. It was a nice ending note to our time in Innsbruck together. We've been singing in the ward choir that just started up for Christmas, so that's pretty cool. :) it's been nice singing in that setting again. I think I'll do it when I get home, too. We didn't get to see all of our investigators before I left, but I've been able to say goodbye to most of them, and will be able to keep in touch with the others. I got to give a blessing to our friend Jonah this week, who will be baptized on the 23rd of December. I'll miss him, but I'm glad I got to spend time with him. I'm glad I got to be a part of his teaching and see him grow. We had our Family Home Evening this week and I got to hang out with them before I leave. They even bought me a pizza!! It was awesome. 

 

 

Besides that, we finally got to teach Maria again this week. :) she's been gone for a while. We had dinner together and then had a super great discussion. She will be baptized around the end of January next year, and I'm so happy for her. :) things are going pretty good in Innsbruck right now. I might even be able to travel down for their baptisms, because I'm not that far away! 

 

 

I was listening to a talk this week by Hugh B. Brown, who I've grown to love. It was a BYU devotional called: Father, are you there? You should look it up. Maybe listen to it for family home evening? I love it. It's about a lot of things, but he talks a lot about who we are and what that means to us in these days. Knowing that my potential is Godly brings me the assurance that I can do hard things. I can accomplish my goals and dreams, even when it seems impossible or insurmountable. It is possible because God is my Father. The only all-knowing, all-seeing being in the universe is behind me. Satan and all the power in the world can never take that from me. 

 

We found this Santa suit in our apartment!

 

I love this gospel and my mission. It's hard. But hard is good. Hard is ok. If anything, it just makes me appreciate it more. I have to go, but I love you Mom. Thanks for the prayers and pleading on my behalf. I'm doing my best out here, and I feel your love. :) can't wait to Skype you in a month! 

Love, 

Elder Tanner Larson