The Legend of the Soda Tree

     Hey Mama, I'm doing good here. I discovered the legend of the soda tree. There's a tree here that smells like soda if you get close enough. Sounds like something you tell the new guy to make him look stupid right? Well I did it anyway and i can tell you, The Soda Tree is REAL. It smells just like cream soda and it was awesome. I don't know who discovered it but I'm glad the did. I was so excited that I told every new missionary I hosted yesterday all about it. I'll send you some pictures in a little bit with it in it. Aside from that, I helped host some new missionaries yesterday which means I showed them around a tiny bit and then took them to their rooms and then classes. It was super fun. My teachers, Sanderson Kyoudai and Moon Shimai, are super duper awesomesauce. I learn so much from them every day it's unbelievable. Oh by the way, you can send me emails all throughout the week (which I would like) and I can write responses, I just can't send them until my Thursdays. Also, why hasn't the Duenas family emailed me yet? Or my Utah friends? Do you think you can let them know I wanna hear from them? Also I wanna hear from you guys a lot too. It's super awesome that everybody's doing well in school and I'm proud of all you guys. They do read these emails right? Anyway I'm proud of all of them for whatever they do, in school or in a sport (gymnastics included Hannah ;) ). Have fun at the movies and whatever else you guys do. I'll send you a few pictures i a minute. Love ya Tanner the Kukyuu Kisai (you can Google Translate that if you want)
      Oh yeah, we made a little tiny snowman (chisai yukidaruma) and it was as big as a water bottle. Here's the scripture you wanted me to send you like, forever ago. And the soda tree. And an origami dragon.

The MTC is Really Good

Hey Minasan(everybody)
      To answer all of your questions, Elder Moore was in my first EFY group and we are good friends. Elder Jackson I know from SMYC and Scout camp. The MTC is really good. They feed us a ton and we have dessert every meal, but that's ok because we'll lose a lot of weight when we get to Tokyo so we're all getting kind of fat. My companion speaks Portuguese and so it's fun to listen to him talk. He speaks some English too. Our lessons with the investigator have gone pretty well. Funny story, we were finished with our first lesson and instead of asking if we could HOmon(visit) her again, we asked if we could HAmon(excommunicate) her. We fixed it though. Our teacher did make it back from California and he's super awesome. When you said Kadena won I had to tell my friends real quick because it was so unexpected and awesome. Good job Grant and Scott! Way to kick the other kids' butts! It's good to hear mom is less involved in scouts now, have fun with you're free time Mom. I speak more Japanese than I did when I got here a week ago. I don't know how to put it on a scale but I think I've at least doubled my knowledge. So a lot of my emails after this will be in Japanese and then I'll translate it for you underneath. This time I'm writing in English though just so you aren't totally confused. Also because I have a list of things I need and I want you to know what I'm talking about.
     So, I need my: running shoes(the gray ones) My black jacket with a gray hood inside (Dallin probably adopted it but now I need it :)   Assorted Japanese snacks please so the other missionaries know what to get. And all those people who want to email me to actually email me(please) And I think that's it. I love you guys and hope you have lots of fun doing whatever you do.
   Love, Your missionary Bro/Son Tanner

I Made It!

Hey Mom and Dad and anybody else who reads this,

      I made it to the MTC all right. Grandma and Grandpa dropped me off on time for orientation and I got to meet a lot of cool missionaries. I saw Elder Moore and Elder Jackson and they're in my building where I'm staying. The food is good here and all the people are super nice. We've been studying Japanese super hard and we are getting better at it. We've learned a lot more than I thought we would and we're going to teach an investigator tomorrow! In Japanese too. I think it'll go well as long as we listen to the Spirit and do our best. I'll let you know how everything goes next Thursday, because that's my P-day. I was told to write long and detailed emails but I'm not sure what to say. The guys are all nice, they've all offered us junk food at least and they shook our hands a lot. It snowed today and we'll probably get some more tonight. I 'm trying hard to learn what i'm supposed to and it's pretty hard sometimes, but it's fun at the same time. They gave us 10 minutes to email our families today because we're kind of busy, although we don't really have a teacher because he had to take a trip to California. Anyway, we're studying on our own and there's a lot of really smart people here so we should be fine. I took a couple of pictures just like you wanted but I'm limited on time and I can't technology so I'll send those later. I love you guys and I'll send you another email later.

 Love,
 Tanner

Utah Going Away

The night before I went to the MTC my family in Utah threw me another going away. I had a lot of cousins, family, and friends come to send me off to the MTC. It was great to see everyone. I saw some of my friends from elementary school.

Heading to the MTC

 The whole family came to see me off before I flew out to Utah.  Even Aunt Darla came to say goodbye. 

Okinawa Going Away

My family and friends came to wish me good luck before I leave for my mission. Donna Wykle made me another one of her famous cakes. It was so good! I had a lot of fun with everyone.

Lots of my family and friends came to wish me good luck on my mission. Donna Wykle made another one of her famous cakes for me. It was nice to see everyone.

I Love to See the Temple

My mom and I took a trip to Utah to prepare for my mission. We went shopping for mission clothes. While we were here I took out my endowment and went to the temple for the first time. Grandpa Olsen was my escort. I had lots of friends and family come to support me.