From the Mission President

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Wednesday, August 27, 2014 

Dear Simmons Family,

Sister Franco and I are pleased to inform you that Elder Simmons arrived in La Gran Misión Argentina Resistencia this evening.  We welcomed him to the mission, ate lunch and let him rest. Today we had a small briefing of the fun facts and necessary information about the mission.  After that he met his new companion, Elder Elder Harris and they headed off for their area called Clorinda 6 in the province of Formosa.              

A mission is a wonderful experience filled with challenges and successes that strengthens the testimony of each missionary.  A great support that you as a family can give your son during his mission is uplifting letters.  In addition to using email, you can send letters to the office address:

Élder Tanner Simmons

Misión Argentina Resistencia

Entre Ríos 435

Resistencia Chaco CP 3500

Argentina

 You may also send letters (and only letters taped shut; no envelopes) via the ¨pouch¨:

                                              

                                                               Élder Tanner Simmons                                             Misión Argentina Resistencia                                     POB 30150                                                         Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

It will be our privilege to work closely with Elder Simmons here in Argentina.  We are blessed to have him join us in this mission to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Thank you for sharing your son with us. 

Sincerely,

President Rodolfo C. Franco

Misión Argentina Resistencia

....and then from Tanner

Simmons Family
Hey whats up?  Made it to my mission at like 11 at night after 3 different flights.  Afgentina is absolutely crazy.  It's nothing like Payson.  There are people everywhere.  Millions of sketchy houses and apartments, two airports.  We visited the temple, didn't go in but I took some pics.  It's freezing in Argentina right now, like 50 degrees but I'm glad.  It's better than 130.  Anyways, I handed out pass along cards in the airport in my awful broken Spanish.  I figured out my espanol is even worse than I thought.   After getting 5 hours of sleep in some random hotel we were taken to the mission home.  We got some rules, money, trainers and what not.  My trainer is Elder Harris.  That's all I really know.  I don't know where or what to do.  Anyways log you guys.  Hopefully I'll be able to talk to you soon.  Paige good luck with soccer.  Same with you Thacker, Eli and Logan.  Talking to you guys on the phone was harder than I thought.  Anyways I love and miss you guys like crazy.  Thanks again for everythin mom and dad.  Tell grandma hi too. 

Resistencia

Tanner's Mission president posted this picture on Instagram and Facebook around 10PM MST so 1AM in Argentina on 8-26-14.  They arrived in Resistencia safely.  There were 20 Elders and 7 sisters that traveled from Provo to Resistencia.

Travel Day August 25

Tanner flew out today and his Uncle Brandon was flying in to Salt Lake on the same airline.  Brandon said it was like the MTC in the airport.  He found Tanner and took pictures.  I told Brandon to give him a big kiss for me!  We talked to him in Salt Lake and then a few hours later in Atlanta on his layover.  From Atlanta he has 11 hours to Buenos Aires and then an even longer bus ride to Resistencia (about 17 horus).    There were 200 missionaries flying to Argentina today from Salt Lake, he said about 30 of them will continue on with him to his mission.  it was so great to talk to him and he's very excited.

ARGENTINA

Sooooo i got my travel plans and i got my visa! I leave Monday. I fly to Atlanta Georgia, we have a 4 hour layover. Then after that we fly 11 hours to Argentina. After that we take a bus, anywhere from 8-12 hours... So ya it will be like 3 days of traveling. But still I’m super pumped because I’m going to Argentina. Other than that the life of an MTC missionary is pretty low key. We got our first (fake) baptismal commitment. YAY. And yesterday we finished that last mandatory lesson of Spanish. So the rest of week is just going to be review. The Spanish is coming but i definitely don’t feel confident, let alone go to another country where everyone speaks it. And plus all this Spanish is making me forget how to speak English so it’s kind of hard, But a week and a half from today I’ll probably have a native companion that doesn’t speak a lick of English. Hahaha i don’t know but this next 2 weeks should be really interesting. I don’t even know what to expect. One of the Elders in my district had his birthday last Wednesday, so we ate some cake took some pictures and what not. I went into his room at like 5 in the morning on his birthday got a whole bag of starbursts and just made it rain. On P-days we are allowed to go to jamba juice, today we went and Elder Gonzalez bought 10 wheat grass shots and we drank them. I might as well have just chewed the grass straight out of a lawn mower bag. It was pretty gross. But i heard they are super healthy and so that’s a plus. Ok the Sister Missionaries in my district..... i know God put them in my district to help me grow my patience. OOOOOOOHHHH MMMYYYY HEEAAAAVVENNNS. Where do they get off.  I’m sorry but i had to blow some steam right here. They never stop talking, the only people that laugh at thier are jokes are themselves. And no matter what i do I’m doing it wrong. Hopefully marriage isn’t like that.  I’ve been praying lots for my future wife, so i think I’ll be fine. Today was the last time ill probably go to the temple in 2 years so that’s crazy.  It won’t fully hit me that I’m a missionary utill probably i get off the plane in argentina. But it’s getting real, real fast. There are real people that I’ll be teaching. That’s crazy. Like i said i just don’t know what to expect but it ought to be exciting.

Oh fun fact,  my companion has no facial hair whatsoever. But he gets shaving creme and shaves every single morning because it says to shave every day in our handbook. (He shaves his ears too.) So today we were running a little late, and i asked if him if he was ready to go and he said almost and then what and shaved for ten minutes hahahah... I dunno the kids a walking mystery but he pretty good at teaching the gospel. Well you know what they say... Strict obedience brings miracles.   Anyways as for gospel principals I’ve learned this week it’s the Atonement. We owe everything to Jesus Christ, Because he saved us. I guess that’s part of why I’m out here to pay him back. The thing is even out here while I’m paying him back he is still helping my more than I’m even helping myself. We are eternally indebted to him, so that we really can return with him and our Father in Heaven. Jesus didn’t have one bad thought in his whole earth life, think about that, and those people that were supposed to follow him were the ones that killed him. Then he overcame death, so we all can to.  I really do know this church is true. Even if my companion is a walking question mark, and sister missionaries drive me nuts. Talk to you in Argentina :)

-Elder Simmons

....And It Came to Pass Week 4

Hello everyone :) 

Well where do i start?  Elder Winders companion,  elder Sampson, woke up one morning sat up in bed and said o my gosh i know Elder Simmons.  Elder Sampson used to be in my ward in Lehi. He lived just east of the mink farms. I used to go over to his house all the time and make bike jumps. it's a small world. The Mormon Message about bullying, the one my dad really likes, ya well that main kid i met him. I just said hey you're the elder form the Mormon message and turns out he's Pyper Americas cousin or something like that. Anyway, once again small world. This week has been interesting and I've really been working on listening to the spirit. The spirit was something before my mission i was confused about. Before my mission i could feel the spirit, but i had a hard time listening to spiritual promptings. So this week I've been working on that. We got a new investigator, this investigator is supposed to  be kind of hard on you. She asks real solid questions like why she has to be baptized into our church if she's already been baptized? Why does God and Jesus have a body and the Holy Ghost doesn't? What's heaven? What's the underlying message of the book of Mormon? Now these questions are all very answerable but just remember that all this is a different language so  that's the real reason it's so hard. Anyway we are working with her and hopefully she will get baptized, even though she's a member because i saw her garments stick out of her shorts. Last night i was deep in thought and it can to mind...  i'm not gonna be able to see Derrick Jeter finish of his career :,( Oh well you gotta sacrifice for the mission. Me and some of the other elders in my district have been having Spanish Rap Battles, that's interesting. During our espanol study time we throw together a 20 line rap and then throw down right before we go to bed. Some one will drop a beat and then we do our thing.  It's safe to say i have the most wholesome raps in the MTC. Don't worry they all have a good message to them. 

One of the Sisters was kind of sick last week so I've been keeping my distance. But of course i still got sick. Not only now do i have 16 hours days but i have 16 hour days plus the flu. O well keeps me humble.  Elder Gonzalez has it like 40 times worse the kid as probably coughed up 3 lungs in the past 2 days. 

I was playing soccer this week too and i guess some kid from Panama that showed up is a Semi Pro Goalie for a team in England. His companion said he got a call from Chelsea like a week before his mission. (Dang satan, stay away from soccer) so of course he was on my team----and obviously we won. About the FBI background check, Rumor has it that some kid in the class below us didn't do his until 2 weeks before he left. And he still got his visa in time to leave to Argentina so that's a positive, but we will see. Then again that was from an unreliable source, i call him the "FlirtBag". He flirts with all the sisters and i wanna punch him. I actually want to punch a lot of people here. For some people this isn't a learning experience, it's a social experience. Makes me mad, and yes i pray every night for the Gift of Charity. 

My branch president challenged us to read the Book of Mormon in 6 weeks or 15 pages a day. Well since I'm an over achiever cause that's how Simmons family works i had the opportunity to finish it today in the temple.  I prayed to know if it was true in the celestial room. Well no surprise surprise, its true. The answer was as clear as day. The great thing about this church is that everything just makes sense, and then the spirit backs it all up. Although I've learned so much Spanish, I've probably learned more about the gospel. I know its true. 

......And i'll end with this. How on earth does a body produce this much snot in one day???????

<3 Elder Simmons

(Almost) Hump Day Week 3

Well it’s officially my three week mark tomorrow, and half way mark. Woot Woot. It’s been a pretty solid week if I say so myself. Someone must have fasted and prayed for me or something because my Spanish has been picking up and it all kinda makes sense to me now, so thank you. Oh and the gift of tongues is real. When I’m speaking Spanish in class its awful but when i go to teach, my  Spanish is practically fluent..... Kinda   We started a thing called TRC and it’s pretty much we start off street contacting a fake investigator and teaching them for two weeks straight. Elder Lebaron and Istarted that yesterday. We are currently teaching 3 people, Matias, Jonathan, and Natalie. Cool story with Matias. We were teaching him about prayer and the book of Mormon. We had just read with him out of first Nephi because he forgot to keep up with his commitment and read. Anyways i was talking about praying to know with the book of Mormon is true. I  had stopped for a second because i had the prompting to ask him to kneel and pray with him right then. But unfortunately my companion started talking about something, so i immediately cut him off in a way that would keep the spirit. He prayed and now he’s getting fake baptized. I know it’s not the craziest missionary story ever, but hey that’s what you get in the MTC. We are going to keep studying more and more so Hopefully we are able to really get the spirit in our next lessons. Elder Lebaron, well I’ll just say it how it is. He stinks at making decisions, I love him to death, but honestly I have to help decide if he wants red powerade, or blue powerade. I’m like the mom of the companionship. Sometimes i feel bossy but we have to get things done! I love him though he is super obedient.  Also something cool, Elder Groberg taught at the Tuesday devotional. If you don’t know who that is he was the missionary the movie "other side of heaven" and is based off of his mission.  He and his wife talked to us about the power of bearing testimony.

Now on to the the important stuff….. I’m an undisputed 4 time MTC champion of 4 square. It's whatever, i even beat the mission president.   Ok not really but the 4 time champion is still true. Oh and I’m kinda on a diet. Since the food here has been injected with more things and processed 13 times, i decided to go on a diet. (Don’t worry I’m not losing weight I’m just choosing the stuff i eat.) It’s hard not having gourmet food your dad cooks  for you every night.....So Simmons count you many blessings. The cleaning crew, bless their hearts, have failed our dorm three times now. Once because we didn't vacuum (i had vacuumed the night before.) And the other two times because one of us didn't make our bed. The dudes expect something short of perfection of us!  And mom I promise you, your jaw would drop if you saw our room. We left them some brownies and a note that says “You can have the brownies if you let us pass" That ought to be interesting. Vince heads out this week so I’ll say goodbye to him tonight, and then Z gray gets shipped in tomorrow so that ought to be fun. I haven’t got to escort new missionaries yet but I really want to. How cool would that be?

Oh and these are just all the answers to your questions mom.

~ The old guy in my picture from last week is my Branch President. I’m in a district of 10 people. 6 Elders 4 hermanas. Our district is in a zone. The zone is averaging 3-4 districts, because we get new missionaries every week and lose some every week. That Branch President is in charge of our zone with his presidency, He is a down to earth, smart man. I like him. 

~Favorite activity: Going to the temple.

~I share a room with all the Elders in my district, 3 rooms in a dorm. 2 people to a room. couch. 1 fridge, 1 bathroom. we can only take like 5 minute showers in the morning. It’s pretty packed in the dorm but its ok because I love those elders. I’m really close to all of them and feel like if been lifelong friends with them all. We are all going to the same mission. 

~The firesides vary every week, and we don’t know who talks until we show up. We have heard that general authorities have the potential to come but so far we have got Koli Poki, president of byu, member of the 70, and some guy in charge of something to do with missionaries in the church.

~I have two teachers Hermano Lounsbury, and Hermano Rockwood. They are both hilarious and Hermano Rockwood shares super spiritual lesson all the time. Hermano Lounsbury went to Argentina on his mission, to salta, so he teaches us all the Argentinian slang.

~I’m reading the book of Mormon in english and spanish. 15 pages in english, and 1 chapter in spanish. Once i finish it in english I’m going to read it full time in spanish,

Well church is true everyone. You are most likely in my prayers if you’re getting this email forwarded to you. Hopefully I’m in yours.

Until next week.

<3 Elder Simmons