June 18 Event Details: Service project

We are very excited about our Girls Night Salad Potluck on June 18th at 6:30! Along with the fun activities we will have going on (for mothers, daughters, friends, and loved ones of all ages to do together), one of the stations will be service oriented.

The Story behind the Service Project:

The Tanners are flying to pick up their son Elder Kade Tanner from the Mozambique Maputo Mission (in Africa). They are bringing an extra suitcase to pack full of things to donate to the members in Africa.

Elder Tanner is pictured here on the left

This past conference, Elder Neil Anderson gave THIS TALK and quoted Elder Tanner's mission president:

"President Paulo Kretly of the Mozambique Maputo Mission shared this experience: “It is common in Mozambique [for] couples to live their lives together [without being married because] African tradition require[s] an expensive dowry to marry, a dowry most couples can’t afford.”²⁹

Members and missionaries thought and prayed about how to help. The answer to their prayers was that they would emphasize the law of chastity and the importance of marriage and eternal families. And while helping couples to repent and legally marry, they would teach of the happiness that only comes through following Jesus Christ.

Married on Friday, they were baptized with their older children on Saturday.³⁰ Friends and family were invited to “come and see,” and hundreds did “come and see.”

Following the baptism, one sister said, “We needed to choose whether to follow the traditions of our fathers or to follow Jesus Christ. We chose to follow Christ.”³¹

Elder Tanner has told his parents that the most beneficial thing they could bring from America are wedding dresses. It is very difficult to afford any type of wedding.  He almost spends as much time planning weddings in order to have baptisms. A major setback is not having  anything nice to wear for their wedding.

If you have a wedding dress that you would like to donate to the people of Mozambique, Sheri Tanner is collecting gently used wedding dresses that she could bring with her to Africa to ease the burden of getting married in order to be baptized.  You can bring it to our activity or contact Sheri Tanner directly. If you would like to enclose a photo of you in the dress with your testimony, that would be so meaningful.

Another need: Gently used white shirts to give the young missionaries that are going out to serve missions. It is almost impossible to find white shirts in Africa. Smaller sizes would be appreciated as it will be for young men going out to serve. The church is young in Mozambique and it is exciting to see them send out missionaries of their own. This Mozambican missionary was just called to serve in England!

In addition, the members in Africa have no religious pictures hanging in their homes. As a ward, we will be personalizing Christ-centered pictures that night. If possible, bring a small (wallet sized) family photo to attach to the back of their picture to make it a more personalized gift.

Lastly, the Tanners are looking for a suitcase that they can carry everything in but leave it there in Africa to save on the cost of flying it back. This will be a donation.

Thank you for your enthusiasm and participation in this wonderful activity!

Note: pictures taken from the Mozambique Mission blog:  http://presidentandsisterkretly.blogspot.com/