Letter #8

Dear Family,

I'm almost out of here! This week hads its ups and downs, some in the same day, but the ups always seem to out number the downs. Such as Sunday. Our companionship goal was to not take a nap, to use the time doing something slightly more edifying. So after lunch we returned to our class and listened to several general conference talks and other devotionals (one I'll mention later). We watched the weekly church movie, which was "Legacy," and afterwards had a final choir rehearsal for our piece, " I need Thee Every Hour." Our interpreter didn't show up for the devotional so instead we had an impromptu, tri-lingual testimony meeting. It was fantastic. Afterwards, both Sister and President Degn bore their testimonies and President Degn pronounced a priesthood blessing upon the congregation. He blessed us that the righteous desires of our heart be filled, allowing us to become the missionaries we desire to become. It was very spiritual and uplifting. Well, to top it all off perfectly we sang our piece for postlude perfectly, which I may add is significant as I sang tenor and the song never dropped lower than a "d." To our surprise as we quietly were returning to our seats, Pres. Degn, on the verge of tears asked us to perform it a second time. At the conclusion of the second time, many in the audience and, even some singing, were in tears.

Yesterday, my good friend from Bolivia left and also many other Brazilian friends, including our roomomates. As Pres. Wood related in Boston, I will leave many parts of my heart here, and already have with several of the Brazilian, Hispanic, and American elders. It is never hard to see that we are all brothers and sisters.

My thoughts this week: Perhaps I have already talked about the importance of the spirit in our lives amid the newfound desire and understanding I have on this subject but it can never be overemphasized. This Sunday, I heard a great talk from Elder Bednar given at the Provo MTC sometime ago. In it he asked us to stop worrying about whether or not we always recognize the spirit guiding us. Instead, worry about being obedient and worthy and know the spirit will be with you. (Also, he referred to a great story in a talk entitled "The 20 Mark Note" by Elder Packer.) Many times he says you may not recognize at the moment that something is a spiritual impression, but it is. Almost all the time, while living righteously, we will be led by the Holy Ghost and not know we're being led. This was quite revelatory to me and I hope you see the great beauty and importance of this doctrine. It is our job to faithfullly obey God, to do what he asks to do, always. He will take care of the rest.

This week, we had a few fun celebrations. Tuesday was Chile's 102nd anniversary of their independance day so the cafeteria was decorated in red, white and blue (Chilean not American). We heard the national anthem and had popcorn at lunch. Being the creative missionaries that we are, Elder Hale and I proceeded to improve upon this celebration by adding to the popcorn melted butter, salt and dulce de leite (carmel) and tosting it in the microwave. Life-changing. We've now created several CTM culinary legends. Also highlight of the week, I GOT TWO OF YOUR LETTERS!!!!!!!!! Oh, the joy! My soul at last at peace: ) I quite enjoyed them as I do all the letters my wonderful family and friends send me.
But wait!! Lest I forget. Monday night Sister Degn let me watch Grampy's prayer. Pres Degn and Sister Degn watched it as well. I can't explain how special that was to me. It surely was a tender mercy of the Lord and I felt very close to my family and the Lord, which I expect is what Heaven will be like. I'm so very grateful for that Great Plan of Happiness of our God, that provides the way that I may spend eternity with all of you. I love you more than carmel popcorn!

LOVE,

Tanner

p.s. Sis. Steadmena sent a recording of our song. Another missionary recorded it and is sending it to you so expect.

p.p.s.- Only two more weeks!!! Are you as excited as I am???

p.p.p.s. Today in the temple the power failed and we finished the session in the dark! It was quite the experience but the work goes on, light or no light : )

The Appalachian Jamie Oliver

Every Sunday Miller asks if we're going to Kirby's house.

Therese has often invited us all, 8, over for dinner.

There are not very many people we know that would do this.

Especially on a regular basis.

She's my cooking hero.

She's Miller's movie hero.

She lets him pick movies from her library, alphabetized, to borrow.

Better than the library.

And definitely better than eating out.

THANK YOU!

Green Thumb Gardening

A good friend called me and said he had too much produce.

Did I want to come and pick tomatoes and whatever else I could find?

Are you serious?

Did Porter pick a pint of peppers?

Not quite.

But we did glean two HUGE boxes of tomatoes, some corn, cucumbers, squash and cabbage.

Can you imagine how BIG this tomato was?

I had lots of helping hands!

A cornucopia, rather counter, full of produce.

I made yummy pot pie - the fresh corn was the best!

Delicious salad!

And salsa that was to die for.

And, 48 quarts of tomatoes.

Wow.

Call me again.

Hershey, Pennsylvania!

We knew we were in a SPECIAL place when we found t h i s near our hotel!

We stayed overnight in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and woke up to the smell of chocolate, Hershey Kiss-shaped street lamps, and a whole town devoted to chocolate!

The factory tour is free, but everything else costs money. This is a picture of the picture we could have bought, but it shows the amusement park type cars that drive you through the factory. Very fun.

Boys being smokestacks.
Hershey smoke stacks.

The family being happy pieces of chocolate.

Being in Hershey makes you happy!

The replica oven that bakes the cocoa bean into cocoa, that you drive through on the tour.

The boys all wanting a kiss from a Hershey!

My funniest find in the gift shop.
Who in their right mind would wear tinfoil looking hats, whether or not they resembled the kiss candy?

Hershey, Pennsylvania: Fourteen thumbs up!

Beautiful Eyes

Remember when I learned that food experts won't eat potatoes unless they're organic? They mentioned potato farmers not wanting to eat them either. So I experimented. Organic potatoes were on sale last week for $1.50 a bag. Organic food also needs to be sold, eventually. I bought a ton. And in a few days, had these beauties sprouting out of my potato. Still waiting on the three week old regular potatoes to sprout. I'm hooked. Now I know why there use to be food cellars, and why I'm wishing I had one.

Happy Twelve Years Old Porter!

Happy Birthday Porter!

Although he didn't choose angel food cake with glazed berries and whipped cream, it was a hit!

Cooper, who had recently won this ball, gave it to Porter for his birthday present.

Thank you Grampy and Grammy for thinking of Porter on his special day.

The hat was a BIG hit! More so than our underwear and socks. Oh well.

Faraway Friends

We recently received a package from Norway. Can't say that's EVER happened before! Sawyer, who had been studying different celebrations of Christmas around the world, wanted to know if the package was from Sweden's "Tomten." He knew it wasn't the "Santo Clos" from Mexico, as they're too far away.

It was loaded with these cute cookie cutters (notice TWO pigs - reminiscent of olden times when a peasant family's wealth was tied up in its precious pig), and a box of Norwegian gingerbread.

It was perfect! And delicious! And we don't even know these folks!

Thank you for our care package. And that you thought of the boys. They had a blast making the cookies. And eating them.

Porter's Science Project

Science fair projects again! Not my favorite time of the year, but it's always interesting to learn something new. This year Porter wanted to use litmus paper, so he chose to determine which drinks were the closest in pH to the pH of our body.

Pure water is about 7.5 (I'm doing this from memory!). Our filtered water came in at 7, tape water 6, organic milk 6.5. Now it gets interesting. Sports drinks had an average of 3. That's getting really acidic!

We came upon an interesting article:

"The pH of your tissues and body fluids affects the state of your health or inner cleanliness or filth. The closer the pH is to 7.35 - 7.45, the higher you’re level of health and well being and your ability to resist states of disease and the onset of symptomologies.
The pH scale is like a thermometer showing increases and decreases in the acid and alkaline content of these fluids. Deviations above or below a 7.35 -7.45 pH range in the blood can signal potentially serious and dangerous symptoms or states of disease. When the body can no longer effectively neutralize and eliminate the acids it relocates them within the body’s extra-cellular fluids and connective tissue cells directly compromising cellular integrity."
Hats off to water!

Eating More Healthier in the New Year

There was a recent article my husband sent me, probably from Yahoo!, regarding foods that food experts won't eat. This is just a quick summary (#5 is the worse!). These are food experts that are at the front of food safety. What foods do they avoid?

1. Canned tomatoes. The resin linings of tin cans contain a synthetic estrogen that has been linked to many ailments, made worse by acidity. Makes growing and canning your own tomatoes very important!

2. Corn-fed Beef. Cattle eat grass, not grains. Today's farmers feed their animals corn and soybeans to fatten them up faster. Cows are herbivores and that does not mean feeding them corn and chicken manure. Buy grass-fed beef.

3. Microwave Popcorn. Chemicals in the lining of the bag are linked to infertility and cancer and accumulate over years. There are voluntary phase outs but they're not effective until 2015. Pop the old fashioned way.

4. Nonorganic Potatoes. Root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides and fungicides that wind up in soil. These potatoes won't sprout and spoil quickly. Potato farmers grow their own potatoes to eat separately without all the chemicals. Washing or peeling isn't good enough. Buy organic.

5. Farmed Salmon. Nature didn't intend for salmon to be crammed into pens, fed soy, poultry litter or chicken feathers. Farmed salmon is high in contaminants, carcinogens, PCBs, bominated flame retardants, antibiotics and pesticides. You can only safely eat one of these salmon dinners every five months without increasing your risk of cancer. Look for wild-caught Alaskan. If it says Atlantic it's farmed. There are no commercial fisheries left for wild Atlantic salmon.

6. Milk Produced with Artificial Hormones. Dairy cattle treated with hormones boost milk production but also udder infections, pus, and a hormone that contributes to different cancers. When the government approved this milk it thought the hormone would be broken down in the human digestive tract but the casein in milk protects most of it. Check for labels with rBGH free, rBST free, or produced without artificial hormones.

7. Conventional Apples. If fruits held a "most doused in pesticides contest," apples would win. Apples descend from a single tree so that each variety maintains its distinctive flavor. As such, apples don't develop resistance to pests and are sprayed frequently. The industry maintains that these residues are not harmful, but apple workers have a higher rate of many cancers and studies are linking this with Parkinson's disease. Buy organic. Or wash and peel.

Wise Boys, Shepherds and a Feast

Usually this signifies the end of the party, but Sawyer was helping me clean up stray pine needles before it began.

Santa made a short visit before dinner.

And he had THIS boy all figured out.

Even offering Miller the magical bell didn't work.

One of the hits of the program: The Twelve Men of Christmas. Number 6 was the crowd favorite (purple shirt).

The youth performed a live nativity, to music from the Luke 2 video. Tanner portrayed Joseph.

Sawyer was a shepherd, last minute style, just because he wanted to be one and they were kind enough to remember the reason.

Hunter was a wiseman.

Tears were plenty, the spirit was strong, and it was the best part of the night.

At the end, the three wise men handed out their gifts to the children: gold (bell), frankincense (peppermint candy canes), and myrrh (gingersnap cookie).

Happy Birthday Miller!

He has a birthday, SHOUT hurray!

Three year olds need many parties to celebrate being three. This is round one.

We lit and blew out the candles three times. Only one bite into the cake. Happy Birthday Miller!

Gingerbread Houses

Inspired by the beautiful creations we saw we embarked on the grand adventure of making our own gingerbread houses!

Somehow it was always easier when Mom was helping! My "glue" never comes out quite sticky enough.

I KNOW that there is more candy consumed than used for decorating. I KNOW that for sure.

We saved our Halloween candy, and our friends brought theirs, and everything needed to create anything was available.

Proof: Candy sampling in progress.

More proof.

Some finished creations...

other creations...

The grand prize winner!