Utah Marshallese Christmas Peet 2008 - West Valley Chapter

The guys of the West Valley Chapter giving one awesome Christmas Peet performance. Every year on Christmas, the Marshallese people will throw the biggest party of the year to celebrate the birth of Christ with songs and dances about his life to honor him. They will often practice for months in advance to coordinate everything, and the results are awesome. This video features my Marshallese brother, Dustin Nang, who is wearing a Santa hat in the lower left corner.

Christmas Surprise or BRIAN'S EPIC ESCAPE FROM WASHINGTON!

I, Brian K. Tanner, after three harrowing days, was able to escape from the State of Washington. After 6 airplanes, I was able to make it to Utah. Here's how I did it:

During our last episode of "The Adventures of the Laughing Monkey," (12-18-2008) our hero was trapped in Spokane after three feet of snow fell in two days. With the snow continuing to fall, the roads out of town closed, and the airport closed as well, things looked grim for our hero ever being re-united with his girlfriend!

You see, the reason why I was excited to get back to Utah was so I could be reunited with my really hott girlfriend, Jen. Living in two different states, we'd really been looking forward to spending three weeks together during Christmas break. All of the flights at the airport for Friday and Saturday were completely full, so I had a flight on the first available flight for Sunday afternoon. But with a forecast filled with snow, I was extremely fearful that I would end up stuck in Spokane until January, and would completely miss the much anticipated Christmas holiday with Jen.

I was staying with Brooks Crandall, another stranded law student, who's wife and infant twin sons had already left to Arizona earlier in the week before the snow came. I was extremely fortunate to run into him at the airport, and he was very kind in letting me come stay with him in his home. But he was also afraid he wouldn't be able to get out of Spokane to be reunited with his family before Christmas.

Friday afternoon (12-19-2008), I spent several hours researching any and all possible escape routes from Washington to get back to Utah. Amtrak, bus, rental cars, etc., everything was sold out or not operating, so our choices looked grim. The roads out of town appeared too dangerous to use, but we had about two days of "good" weather before the next storm hit Saturday afternoon.

Just as I was about to despair, two miracles happened simultaneously: First, Brooks found an opening on a flight to Reno, and then to Arizona for Saturday morning. The flight had previously been full, but he miraculously was able to get a ticket.

The other miracle was I found an available flight to Seattle that evening at 6:00 that I could take. I quickly arranged another flight from Seattle to Salt Lake City, and was just about to call Jen to tell her my good fortune...when instead I got the sly idea to repay her back for surprising me for Halloween. My flight to SLC was going to arrive on Saturday evening, where I could then go to a party with Jen's good friends and surprise her there.

To cover the fact that I was on an airplane, I told her I would be charging my phone in Brooks' car. Brooks and I then quickly shoveled the three feet of snow from his driveway, and then had a perilous drive back to the airport to drop me off.

Checked in and ready to go, I began to worry when I kept getting text message notification every fifteen minutes telling me my flight to Seattle kept getting more and more delayed. After the flight was delayed for more than four hours, I received a notification that the flight had simply been canceled. They did not announce this on the PA or post it on the board, so I realized I was the only passenger in the airport who was aware of the cancellation. I immediately ran up to the ticket booth, wherein they confirmed the flight had just been canceled, and was put on the stand-by list for a flight that was to leave in ten minutes on the other side of the airport. I quickly ran there, and in a panic, demanded of the workers there to know what my chances of getting on the flight were. The worker assured me that I would be getting on the flight, and a minute later I was issued a boarding pass.

At 8:00 on Friday night, I escaped Spokane on an Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle. Flying beyond the Cascade Mountain range, the hardest part of my journey was over. From Seattle, I had hundreds of new possibile contingency plans open up to me, including driving to California or Canada.

At my hotel the next morning (12-20-2008), I recruited Jen's friend Angelica to help give me directions to the party and to be my spy to ensure my surprise would work. I then told Jen I would be going snowboarding with Brooks up in the mountains, so I would probably be beyond cell phone range. This gave me a perfect excuse if she were to try calling me when I was flying home to SLC. I then returned to the Sea-Tac airport some six hours early to wait for my flight. I had a great afternoon there listening to live Jazz music, having lunch with some basketball players, and preparing my surprise for Jen that night.

The time for my flight to leave approached, and the flight attendants had us line up to board the plane. A few minutes later though, they told us that our plane was too heavy because we had too much fuel, so they needed to switch us to another plane. This then caused a two hour delay waiting to get on the new plane, and then another two hours for the plane to actually take off.

During my wait, it began to snow again. Hard. The monster storm had arrived, and I was on a race against the clock to get out of Seattle before the storm closed the airport. I was on one of the last planes before the airport was closed, stranding some six thousand people there on Sunday. I counted my self very blessed I only had a four hour delay instead of another two days.

Rudolph had landed.

I got to SLC at 10:30, some four hours late, and got a ride from my father to the LeSuer home to surprise everyone. I was in communication with Angelica, who changed my name on her phone so no one would realize it was me, to make sure everyone stayed there long enough for me to arrive. I finally knocked on the door, where upon a bewildered John LeSuer answered. I asked if Jen was there, and Jen looked up from the couch, saw me, and screamed as she lept into my arms.

Suddenly, all of the frustration and misery I had gone through to get home was erased in the arms of my girlfriend. It was the best Christmas present and surprise she had ever gotten.

Jen and Brian reunited again and having a feast at L&L.

Update (12-28-2008):
In the days that followed, snow continues to fall in Spokane. As of today, 51 inches has fallen at the Spokane Airport, and a state of emergency has been declared in the county. Power lines continue to go down, buildings are collapsing from the weight of the snow, and I am beginning to wonder if school is going to start again in two weeks after all. But for now, I sigh in content and peace, knowing that God has answered many prayers this week, and has helped me have the best Christmas of my life.

Merry Christmas.

Snowbound in Spokane

Well...it's a really crazy story, but in short, I'm trapped in Spokane. My last law school final was canceled this morning...the law school has never canceled finals before, so they have no idea when they're going to have our final. All of the law students had gotten a threatening e-mail the other day saying that there were going to be tests, no matter what, and that we had to risk life and limb to get there. Well...I had quite the adventure just getting to the school, only to discover it was closed, and then getting to the airport in my friend Joseph's trusty little Ford Taurus that could. It was amazing we got around town as it was, considering I saw a city bus that was stuck in the snow.

Basically, we've gotten a whole ton of snow in the past two days, somewhere above two feet. It's wild. The city streets have all been closed, no stores are open, public transit non-existent, the missionaries are told to stay in, and yet I was running around in the snow drifts to get back to my girl. You see, we've been looking forward Christmas break for some time because we would be able to get about three and a half weeks together. I stood in line for about five hours at the airport, getting bumped from one flight to the next, before the call was made to cancel all flights for the rest of the day. With more snow for the forecast, I'm scheduled for the next available flight to Salt Lake on Sunday.

I have been very blessed throughout the day. One of the blessings was another LDS law student had his flight canceled today too, so I'm just staying at his home until Sunday. It's great.

So get ready for a whole lot of cabin fever ramblings and the good times are going to roll!

Anyway, here are some pictures to let you picture things...

This was my backyard last night around 8:00 pm.

This was my backyard this morning around 7:00 am.

This is the view from my window around 7:00 am.

The front yard of the home I'm staying at around midnight.

Halloween Video

Blessings and Bubu - UPDATE

Just for a quick update on this story, the missionaries and Bubu both keep telling me about more Marshallese people who want to get baptized. While I was having lunch with the Elders, Bubu and Handy yesterday alone, Bubu got a phone call from a lady named Nejinta. I'd met her the same night I met Bubu at the same party, and she had also asked me to give her child a blessing that same night. I went by and taught her a lesson a few days later with the missionaries, but haven't seen her since. Anyway, Neginta called Bubu yesterday because she'd just found out that she was going to get baptized and was asking if she could get baptized too. Crazy.

Oh, and Paul Ceaser, Handy's grandson, is going to get baptized with Bubu, also by me. This is getting a little out of control.

Paul and Brian after church

Let's hope it stays like this!

Blessings and Bubu

So a few weeks ago, we had a big crazy Marshallese birthday party here in Spokane for a baby (which coincidentally enough was the same day as Handy and Phillip Ceasers' birthdays). Marshallese first birthday parties (Kemem) are always wild, and provide lots of quality entertainment. My favorite part is at the end of the party, everyone forms a procession line to go greet the child, who by this point is usually screaming his/her head off at all of the scary strangers. Upon greeting the child, you of course have to give the baby money.

A Kemem in Hawai'i

Marshallese children, of course, are running wild everywhere during the whole party.


While sitting at a table with Handy, she introduced me to Bernice Rolfo, or as I call her, "Bubu" or "grandmother." She is an older woman, who was feeling very weak and in a lot of pain that night because of her dialysis treatments.

We hadn't been talking long before she asked me if I could give her a blessing, which caught me by surprise. This was a common request I got while I was a missionary, but I wasn't dressed like a missionary or anything, so it was surprising that she would recognize me as one who could give a Priesthood blessing.

I gave her a blessing not long after that once we had some privacy, and she later told me that all of her pain immediately left her body. She was able to rest that night in peace.

After that, Bubu and I became really good friends, and she adopted me as her grandson. She went trick-or-treating with me and Paul on Halloween, and was demanding earlier that day that Jen needed to come to Spokane so she could meet her (only a few hours later Jen sprung her trap on me). She was overjoyed to meet her and has two pictures of us proudly displayed in a frame that says "World's Best Mom" in her front room.

A few weeks ago I was taking Handy to church when I asked Bubu if she'd like to come too. She did, and brought two other granddaughters with her, which made everyone really excited. She began meeting with the missionaries and has since decided to get baptized next week. When the missionaries were talking to her about it, she got really excited when they told her I could baptize her. Her granddaughters also got really excited about this and are close to baptism themselves.

I've had a lot of experiences lately to give blessings to people who have asked me for help. It has been really humbling for me to realize that a lot of people here recognize me as one who has authority from God. It makes me really grateful to be here to help these people like this in my small way.

Going to that party also made me somewhat of a celebrity among the Marshallese here in Spokane. Everyone the missionaries talk to claims to know me know, which makes missionary work a lot easier for them. I think this is pretty crazy...Who'd ever thought I'd be a Marshallese superstar?

Handy's grandson, Joyle, and Brian playing at the Kemem

Halloween 2008

Halloween was a great day for me. School got out at noon, my homework was all done for the weekend and I was allowed me to spend the rest of the day playing. I went trick-or-treating with Paul and Handy Ceaser, which was a blast. I realized trick-or-treating is a lot like tracting like an LDS missionary, except you get more candy. Paul made off like a bandit with about four pounds of candy, including several king-sized candy bars.

After dropping them off at their home around 10:00 pm, I started driving home when Jen called me. She told me that her brother had called her after a friend of his living here in Spokane called him. His friend is another first-year law student, and has supposedly been stalking and spying on me for a few months now for Jen’s brother. Jen told me that the girl had gotten really drunk that night and was stranded in a park down town and needed a ride home. Being the perpetual super hero that I am, and probably against my better judgment, I told her that I’d go try to save my stalker from Halloween mischief.

With hordes of wild Halloween spooks lining the streets of down town, I really didn’t want to have to get out and search for the girl on foot. At first I figured if I just drove around I could find her and shout for her to come get a ride. I spied a figure dressed all in black, just like Jen had described to me sitting on a bench some 20 yards into the park from the road.

Shouting and hollering at her to come get a ride, the black figure finally heard me, raised their arms into the air and began shouting back in a drunken drawl, “Whose callin’ me?!” Getting frustrated, I realized I wouldn’t be giving the girl a ride unless I got out on foot to find her.

Parking on the road, and muttering to myself about the hero going to save the world, I approached the figure on foot. Up close, the figure appeared to be wearing a black hat, mask, cape and coat which completely covered their body, so it was extremely hard to make out any features. On the figures chest was a small neighborhood watch sign with a black figure being crossed out on it. Somewhere from deep within my memory, I recalled how this sign had scared me as a child, so I initiated conversation with the person with some trepidation.

The Neighborhood Watcher

“Hey, are you Anne?” I ask, thinking to myself that I probably didn’t really want to talk to this person after all.

The figure in black replies in a drunken drawl, “Hey man, you gotta light?” What is it with this park and weirdos asking me for cigarettes?

“I’m afraid I don’t. Are you Anne?”

“You don’t gotta light?”

Getting frustrated, I repeat, “I don’t.”

The black figure then caught me off guard by saying, “You’re really cute.”

Stunned, and unable to discern if the figure in black was actually a boy or girl, I was extremely creeped out. I couldn’t say anything.

“Yeah, you’re really cute.”

Annoyed, I asked a different question. “Do you know Scott Perlmutter?”

“Yeah…yeah I do” was the reply, which made me think, “Finally, we’re getting somewhere!”

The figure continued, “He’s actually my brother.” And immediately the figure cast off the hat, mask and cape to reveal not some creepy drunk person, but my lovely girlfriend, Jennifer! She jumps into my arms and I just stand there for a moment in amazement before saying, “Ok, you win!” She giggles and we kiss and it was beautiful…she made it up to me for having scared the tar out of me!

The Neighborhood Watcher unmasked

You see, with Jen living in Provo, UT, and I living in Spokane, it’s rather difficult for us to see each other on a regular basis. Jen had only come her one time before, and that was when I was first moving here, so seeing her here again was quite a surprise, and especially since she filmed it too.

Now, to my credit, I’d been suspecting she was going to do something like this for a while now. She’d been telling me about how she was going to go to a salsa congress this weekend for months now, so I knew that she was going out of town this weekend. I’d suspected that she was really coming up here, and kept dropping hints that I knew her true intentions, but she was eventually able to convince me that she wasn’t coming about two days before she came.

Enjoying Grandma Perlmutter's Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken at Brian's Apartment

The surprise was wonderful and we ended up having a great weekend together. Jen knows how I love surprises, and this was the best surprise anyone could ever hope for.

Brian and Jen along the Spokane River

She told me that she’d used the money she would have spent to go to her favorite salsa congress in San Francisco to come here, which was a big sacrifice for her. I was amazed that she would do such a thing for me. It really meant a lot to me to know that she cares more about me than salsa dancing, which is one of her great loves in her life. Knowing this gives me an awesome sense of responsibility to take care of her and our love and to make sure I live worthy of this love in every way.

Jen brings so much joy to my life. Not a day goes by that she does not make me laugh or smile. It’s impossible for me to talk with her and not do so. Seeing her smile makes my heart sing. Because of her, it’s hard for me to have a bad day or be too stressed about my schoolwork. She balances me with her personality and spirit and I love how she is always able to make my fears go away.

Brian and Jen along the Spokane River

For these, and many other reasons, I love Jen Perlmutter!

October Conference

The October General Conference was quite successful and I was even able to avoid going crazy during the weekend helping translate into Marshallese. This was mostly because I tried to avoid being the "fireman" this time and putting out all of the fires that sprang up. Instead, I was able to spend more time watching conference with Jennifer instead, which was wonderful! It was really neat to realize that our first experience going to church together as a couple was to the Saturday Morning session of Conference in the Conference Center!


Anyway, you can access the Marshallese audio archive for this session here. I did Elder Causse's talk from Saturday afternoon, which begins about 50 minutes into the program. Enjoy!

My Best Friend – Jennifer Perlmutter

My best friend in the world is Jennifer Perlmutter. She makes me happy, more so than anyone else. She has always been there for me when I needed a friend the most. She has always given me wonderful advice that has changed my life for the better. By knowing her, I am a better man and a happier person over all.

I love how I can always share the simplest joys with her. No matter the time of day, she is always willing to listen. No matter where we go, there is always an adventure to be had with her. I can accomplish anything when she is by my side, because she is my hero.

I love her. My feelings for her are deeper than anything I have ever experienced before. I love her laugh. I love her smile. I love her sighs of contentment. Words cannot describe how much I care for her.

We have been good friends for three years now, beginning when we both moved into the same BYU ward in Provo, UT. We spent a lot of time together: chatting on the phone for countless hours; being L&L buddies; having ice cream parties; and going on hundred of late night walks with her dog Rudy.

We were always trying to help each other overcome whatever challenges we were facing, which usually meant dating drama. Initially, I had been very attracted to her and had wanted to date her, but whenever I entertained the thought for any amount of time, it always “felt wrong” to do so. In truth, I needed to grow up more before I was ready for such a relationship, and so did she.

Despite this, everyone else around us would always tell us to date each other. If I had a quarter for every time I was told I should date Jen Perlmutter, I could probably fund my law school education.

Jen in fact was the first person I told about my decision to attend law school. Her encouragement gave me enthusiasm to take the LSAT and make all of the other steps that have landed me here in Spokane with a scholarship.

As the time grew closer for me to leave Provo for Spokane, I began to catch myself thinking how lovely Jen is and how I should date her. I tried to chase these thoughts away, but they would keep coming. But as I’ve learned from experience, the Spirit is usually the one prompting me whenever I have reoccurring thoughts that I can’t chase away.

Jen was heartbroken when I left to go on my road trip with Daniel to Texas. Unbeknownst to me at the time, she had begun to foster deeper, romantic feelings for me since the time she had gone to the temple at the beginning of July. My leaving for a week showed her how difficult it was going to be once I had moved to Washington. She knew she had to do something or I was going to walk out of her life forever.

The night I got back from Texas in the middle of August, which also was my last night in Utah, we went to the Salt Lake Temple together along with our mutual friend, Beth Deever. That night Jen presented me with a medal that said “Brian Tanner – 1^st Place Friend” and had a ukulele in the middle. I had joked with her a few times how I deserved a medal for how all of the times I had saved the world for her, so she had luckily “found” this one at the “DI” for me. I was overjoyed at her kind gesture.

She didn’t let me go home until about 2:00 am that night. While I had gone to bed to prepare for the long drive to Spokane the next day, Jen Perlmutter ended up staying up all night long freaking out that she was going to lose me forever. After a hard long night, Jen sent me a message the next morning at 6:48 that read, “Call me when u wake up…I might really want to drive out w you. If I don’t answer it means I’m sleeping, so keep calling :).” Reading this message, my only thought was “Yes! That is a good idea!” and was filled with peace. It simply felt right.

I was excited for her to come with me. Even though we ended up leaving later than I had originally planned, I didn’t mind because I had this feeling that she needed to be with me as I came to Spokane. We didn’t leave until 6:30 that night and planned to drive all night long to get to Washington. We had so much fun together talking in the car through Utah and Idaho. But once we got to Montana, our conversation had drifted to talking about our relationship. Jen confessed the feelings that she had begun to have and I confessed the feelings that I had been trying to suppress for a long time. While driving that night, I could feel the hesitant feeling I’d had about dating her be lifted, and I knew time was now right for us to date.

It was at this point that we pulled over for a rest stop around 3:30 am in Missoula, Montana. Stopping in front of a gas station/Indian Casino, I got out an umbrella and we held each other in the rain. It was quite romantic, just me, her and the gas station attendant.

We left Missoula as a couple; a pair of best friends in love. We were so excited; we wanted to tell everyone in the world, because we were in love. There have been many fun adventures since then, and our relationship continues to deepen every day.

There are some lessons I want to point out from this story. First, revelation from God can change at times depending on circumstances and timing. What had been wrong before is now right because the timing is correct now. Second, by continuing to endure in faith and putting your trust in God will eventually bring you the blessings you seek if God wants you to have them.

Today is her birthday, and I wanted to publicaly post this note to share the happiness we have together. We know that our friendship and current relationship are truly blessings from God. There have been too many coincidences to just be a simple twist of fate. It is a miracle.

Jennifer Perlmutter is my best friend, and is an angel from God.

Summer Jambo #5: Terrorizing the Southwest

The past three weeks have been filled with all sorts of excitement and grand adventures for me. I feel really blessed to know and be consistently seeing the hand of the Lord in my life, and how he has protected me from serious situations on several occasions recently. My list of adventures are far too long for me to list in one post, so I'll try to get them posted in portions. So here goes:

The second week of August, I essentially began a Peter Pan lifestyle. I quit my job, moved out of my apartment in Provo (with all the pomp and majesty involved thereby), and began a four day road trip across the desert southwest with my little brother on our way to Houston. One of our first stops was at Arches National Park in eastern Utah, which I am ashamed to admit I had never visited before, despite my living in Utah for the majority of my life. We did the lame tourist thing by just stopping at the scenic viewpoints, but we did make a point to take the short, 10-minute hike up to the Delicate Arch viewpoint. There's nothing that builds confidence and pride in one's physique quite like passing up lazy, foreign tourists panting in the desert heat!


We also stopped by the Monticello Temple (which was the first small temple of the church to open) before crossing the Colorado boarder. Again, it's embarrassing to admit that I'd never been to Colorado before, even though I'd been to Europe and over half of the states in the union. We stayed that night in Cortez, CO, which coincidentally was a town that Elder Roman Matthew served in.

The next morning, Friday, we found ourselves crossing into New Mexico and driving through the endless wastes of the Ute Mountain and Navajo reservations. This was by far the worst terrain we saw the entire trip...the sand was soo terrible, not even sagebrush or grass could grow in it. It was a terrible reminder of the atrocities the Untied States Government had committed by confining these people to this desolate land.

Once we left the Navajo territory, we entered Albuquerque, NM. Daniel and I had been quite excited to come here since we'd heard the "Albuquerque" song by Weird Al Yankovic and even got to see the world famous Albuquerque Holiday Inn! Daniel and I both agreed that Albuquerque is in fact a magical place, and can confirm that it really does smell like "warm Root Beer."


Leaving Albuquerque, we kept heading east until we hit the junction with the road that went to Roswell. Again, it had been a life-long dream to visit the infamous town of Roswell ever since our old roommate, Chris Porter, had told me about his adventures there. The story he told me was about how his tour guide had shown him a picture of a nuclear blast that had occurred after an Alien spacecraft crashed at the Pittsburgh airport, and some foolish firemen had put "Earth water" on the alien fire, "which as we all know," will cause a nuclear reaction that destroyed Pittsburgh.

Daniel and I were quite excited to meet some "true believers" there in Roswell...probably a little too excited. We'd planned out our day so that we'd be able to arrive in town in time for us to visit the International UFO Museum and Research Center about an hour before it closed, and we rushed throughout the rest of the day to ensure we would stick to our schedule. As part of this rush though, Daniel insisted we pass the first gas station we'd seen in about 100 miles. According to his calcuations, we should be able to reach Roswell with 40 miles to spare before runing out of gas. Dispite the bad feeling I had in my gut, and about a quarter tank of gas left, we passed this station, only to later realize it was the last gas station for another 100 miles.

About 35 miles outside of Roswell, the low fuel light came on. To say the least, Daniel and I became quite concerned about this. The endless hills and fields stretched on for miles in every direction, with no end in sight. I began pulling out every trick I'd ever learned to save gasoline to save as much as possible. Daniel later told me that as the minutes passed, he kept telling himself "30 miles! I don't want to walk 30 miles!....20 miles! I don't want to walk 20 miles!...10 miles! I don't want to walk 10 miles!...5 miles! I don't want to walk 5 miles!...3 miles! Ok...I can walk 3 miles!" Of course, we were praying the entire time that God would help us to get to the next gas station.

Somehow, we miraculously rolled into a gas station on the outskirts of Roswell. I made Daniel get me an ice cream for the emotional trauma he'd caused me, and I also claimed dictatorial powers when it came to matters of safety for our trip.

Brian - "You owe me an ice cream!"

While in Roswell, we lived our dream of attending the UFO Museum, which was a joke. The science was crazy, and they would take comments out of context to try to prove points. I was left unconvinced of the existense of alien life on the earth. We also watched the Star Wars: Clone Wars movie on it's opening day there at the town mall.

Daniel outside the International UFO Museum and Research Center

The next day, Saturday, we entered Texas, where it really began to pour down on us. It began to flood very badly just outside of Odessa, TX, and we even hydroplaned a few times on the freeway, so we decided to pull off the road and take shelter at the local Dairy Queen until the storm passed. We eventually were able to arrive at Lampasas, TX, an area where Daniel had served his mission, and have dinner with Dean Howard. The next morning we were able to attend church there and then drive the rest of the way to Houston. We had more rain on the way, but the flooding wasn't as bad as it had been in Odessa. We safely arrived at our cousin's home that night and had a fun time staying with them.

There are a lot of ruins in Texas. Sometimes all of the buildings on one side of the road would be fine while all of the ones on the other side were destroyed. Daniel hypothesized it was a parable about tithing.

My cousin, Jennifer Thomas, had moved to Houston with her husband, Orren, who works for NASA. Considering Daniel was doing an internship with NASA, it was the perfect situation, and they're also really fun to talk to. Jennifer had grown up in Sacramento, so I didn't know her very well, but in spending time with her, I was amazed at how much she reminded me of my grandmother in everything that she did. I had fun baking bread with her on that Monday, and later going to the NASA Houston Space Center with her. When our tour of NASA ran later than we had planned, she even drove like a maniac to get me to the airport on time for my flight home.

I suppose this is a good place to end before my adventures moving up to Spokane. Stay tuned for another update shortly!

Coming Unto Christ and Being Healed

I want to apologize for not updating this as regularly as I had originally planned. Just lazy I guess. I do plan to do some quick summary notes about the other Summer Jambo's and whatnot, but that will probably be when I'm bored on my Jambo to Texas this weekend. Anyway, to get things rolling again, here's the text from my talk in church this past week. I'd written this specifically with some people in mind, but I think it's universal enough that just about any young adult can find some solace from it:

I want to testify to all of you today that our Savior, Jesus Christ, lives! I know that He and our Heavenly Father know each of us and all of the problems and struggles we face. Because they have all wisdom, they know what our needs are and will give us the help we need to overcome any trial we may face.

I saw this first-hand one morning a little over a year ago when I was late leaving for class. Just as I was about to run out the door, my telephone rang. Upon answering it, I heard the girl on the line begin shrieking and crying very loudly, “Ahh!”

Perplexed, I asked “Umm...how are you?” The girl began shrieking, “Ahh! My eye! Oww! My eye! Ahh!” and so on. Discerning that something was probably wrong with her eye, I asked, “Is something wrong with your eye?” “Ahh! I don’t know! Oww!” “Where are you?!” She replied, “I don’t know! In a parking lot somewhere!” followed by more screaming. I told her, “Ok hold on! I’ll come find you!”

Because I was late for class, I was in the unique position to readily get in my car and begin driving around, not knowing where I was supposed to look. While driving, I prayed for Heavenly Father to lead me to my friend so I could get her the medical help she needed. My prayer was answered, and without knowing how, I was able to find her in the very first place I looked.

Once she was in my car, I was able to then take her to the hospital so she could be examined. Her eye had been badly scratched, but it was able to be healed from some medicine and some surgery. A doctor later remarked that if she hadn’t come when she had, she might have permanently lost her eyesight. Her needs and prayers were answered by my being in an unusual position to help, and by the Spirit guiding me to find her.

The Lord knows where you are and how you can be found. He also knows how you can be healed from our physical and spiritual infirmities.

The New Testament tells the story of a woman with an “issue of blood” or “bleeding condition” who was healed when she touched Christ’s clothing. Many of us are familiar with this story, but I want to point out a particular principle about this story which has profound implications for all of us.

Under the Law of Moses, which the people in the time of Christ were still required to live by, women with “issues of blood” were considered unclean, and any who came in contact with them were also made unclean by extension. She had been living as an “unclean woman” for twelve years, which is a terrible amount of time to carry such a burden. By touching the hem of Christ’s garment, it would have made Christ unclean as well. But this did not happen, instead Christ healed her from her infirmity according to her faith.

The lesson this principle teaches is that no matter how unclean you may be, whether it be from grievous sin or otherwise, the Lord can heal you if you will come unto him. The Lord taught, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Elder Holland taught, “In this promise, that introductory phrase, “come unto me,” is crucial. It is the key to the peace and rest we seek. Indeed, when the resurrected Savior gave His sermon at the temple to the Nephites in the New World, He began, “Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”...

“Whatever other steps you may need to take to resolve these concerns, come first to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Trust in heaven’s promises. In that regard Alma’s testimony is my testimony: “I do know,” he says, “that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions.”

Last year I watched the change that occurred in a friend of mine who came unto Christ. When I first met her, she was in a state of despair. She had recently broken up with a boyfriend whom she loved very much and had put a lot of hopes into their relationship. By his breaking up with her, she saw it as a sign that no one would ever love her. Because her boyfriend no longer loved her, she didn’t think that God or Christ also loved her either.

Do you ever feel like this? Do you put conditions upon whether or not your Heavenly Father cares about you or not? If so, I want to point out that the real problem my friend was facing her wasn’t one of self esteem, but that she was rejecting the peace that comes from the Atonement to heal her and give her the courage to press forward. If you will truly believe in Christ’s power to help you, you can receive the peace that is missing from your life, just as my friend did.

Little by little, as she began to put her faith in the Lord, began reading her scriptures again, actively fulfilling her church calling and counseling with her Bishop, she was able to have the Atonement begin to work in her life. By giving her burdens to the Lord, happiness entered her life, her testimony became powerful, she had goals for the future again, and ultimately doors were opened for even greater happiness to enter her life. My friend today is now able to stand as a witness that not only does God love her, but that Christ’s Atonement can overcome all obstacles in her life.

Elder Holland said, “Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, “Come unto me,” He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way. Brothers and sisters, whatever your distress, please don’t give up and please don’t yield to fear.”

If you feel fear or despair, please recognize that these feelings do not come from our Heavenly Father, but instead from the Devil. Paul wrote, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

My testimony is similar to that of Elder Holland’s, that “If you are lonely, please know you can find comfort. If you are discouraged, please know you can find hope. If you are poor in spirit, please know you can be strengthened. If you feel you are broken, please know you can be mended."

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Summer Jambo #1: Spokane, WA

This summer I find myself in a unique situation where I am planning to go on a number of Jambos (a Marshallese concept for a random vacation, usually with little or no planning, and usually involves crashing with relatives/friends for free). I have been needing to go check out a few law schools, so I was able to go to Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA last week with my brother, Daniel. Daniel had helped re-activate Dean Howard, a man from Texas, who was planning to go to the temple to be sealed to his family there in Spokane, so we thought this was a great excuse to go. Cheap plane tickets were purchased, a good discount on a hotel room arranged, and within two weeks from finding out about the temple sealing, we were stepping off the plane to Washington.

Much to my mother's dismay (she always knows when I'm going to do something stupid/dangerous), I thought it would be more fun to ride public transportation than get a rental car. Upon going to the bus stop at the airport, we found our hotel had a courtesy shuttle that we could ride for free. Fifteen minutes later we entered our room, took a glance out the window to see our view of the Spokane river, then immediately left for adventure.

Daniel and I had four goals for our trip:

1. Visit the Gonzaga Law School.
2. Attend the Spokane Temple with Dean Howard.
3. Find the Spokane LDS Institute.
4. Find Handy Ceaser/the Marshallese Community.

Handy Ceaser is a Marshallese woman I first met when she was living in downtown Honolulu. She had been baptized about the same time I began learning Marshallese, so when I met her a few months later, I was pretty fluent at the language. I was one of the first missionaries she'd met who could actually speak her language, so she became quite fond of me. A master at weaving amimono handicraft, she would always give me amazing flowers and ties and whatnot for my mother and girlfriends.

Daniel displaying some of Handy Ceaser's Handiwork

Despite my Marshallese language skills, Daniel has long been Handy's favorite. Shortly after he graduated from high school, we went on a family trip to Hawai'i where Handy taught us how to create amimono flowers. Daniel quickly picked up the skill because she gave him hands on help, but I was unable to work very quickly because she just told me what to do verbally. Never having learned words like twist, pull, or fold, I got lost, and Daniel won her endearing love.

Handy is also infamous for calling me in the middle of the night. Never fail, she would call me at 3:30 at least once every six months. This would often make me laugh, so it wasn't ever annoying to me. The weird thing is she would always ask for Daniel when she would call, even when he was on his mission to Texas.

Handy, being a professional grandmother, would make frequent jambos to visit all of her grandchildren, scattered across the Marshall Islands, Hawai'i, Arkansas, etc. She moved in with a daughter in Spokane about a year ago and was attending a community college there to improve her English, so Daniel and I thought this would be a great opportunity to see her again.

Have you seen me?

Unfortunately, because Handy moves around so frequently, and has a hard time keeping the same telephone number in service for longer than two months at a time, we had no way of knowing where to find her. The Nangs, a Marshallese family I baptized in Hawai'i that has since moved to Utah, gave me the phone number for their uncle Bein (strangely enough, Bein was one of my childhood nicknames...who knew it was a Marshallese name?), but that turned out to also be disconnected. Thus, we were forced to use our own ingenuity to try and find Handy. Hearing how large the Spokane Marshallese community supposedly was, we had high hopes of making contact with someone from the islands there.

The Wendy's across the street from GU where we found the Marshallese girl

The very first place Daniel and I went to after leaving our hotel was Wendy's. We'd been in the store two minutes before I noticed a Marshallese girl working in the kitchen! We couldn't believe our luck! We found a Micronesian in the very first place we went! Daniel said the odds were mind boggling, and I couldn't help but laugh at our good fortune. Unfortunately, she was busy working with a headset on, so she didn't hear our "Yokwe" greeting. Not wanting to cause a scene, we ended up leaving, but with high hopes that we would eventually be able to find Handy.

After that side adventure, we got down to the main business of checking out the campus.

Situated on the Spokane River, Gonzaga was named after a Jesuit Priest from the 1500's.

We had a lot of fun touring the university, even though we didn't have a map or anything to show us where to go.

Eventually we found the law school. It was hard to miss because the fire alarm was blaring and there were two fire trucks parked in front. Someone must have warned them that we were coming! Daniel's hypothesis was that the local Yellow-bellied Marmots, or Rock Chucks, were to blame.

Some people would see this as a bad omen, but I found this whole scenario pretty funny. It also provided a great opportunity to size up the student body and teachers. None of them looked too shady, and besides a few cigarettes, the majority of them could all have fit in on BYU campus without getting busted by the honor code police.

Once the firemen got the alarm turned off, we were able to go inside. A great rush came at me when I walked in the doors, and I felt really cool. It was a good feeling, especially when I walked into the courtroom the students use to give cheap legal assistance to local people. I just couldn't stop smiling and felt great. I like it when I receive confirmation from the Spirit about decisions.

Having found the law school, we then turned our sights on finding the local institute. My hope was that I'd find a bulletin board or something where people looking for roommates could post openings. We eventually found the institute, but it was abandoned. There was a note on the wall indicating that Institute graduation was that evening, so we had the luck to show up on one of the few days when no one would be around. Oh well, better luck next time, eh?

Daniel and I hit a few more fast food restaurants that night, looking for more Marshallese people, but our luck had run out. We didn't see any more for the rest of the jambo.

The next morning, Daniel and I decided to wake up early and go to morning mass before going to the temple. Daniel had been telling me about different things he'd learned in a Christian history class about the Catholic Mass, so we thought it'd be fun to attend there while visiting on campus.

Coo-coo for Coco Puffs. Anyone paying $4.50 for cold cereal would have to be bwebwe. Note the pinky in the air and the fancy tie.

We had a quick breakfast in the snooty hotel restaurant (Daniel had coco-puffs in a fine china bowl) before rushing off to church. We were the only ones dressed up, besides the deacon and priest that is, so we stood out pretty sharply. That and we didn't join in performing the mass ceremony.

I couldn't help laugh quietly to myself when the deacon began his short talk by giving the Catholic version of "So the Bishop asked me to speak the other day..." and a "I didn't get to prepare much so what's going to come is going to be pretty awful..." It wasn't too bad overall, a little light on the personal application parts, but not too bad.
At the end of the ceremony, the priest gave an invitation to any who wished to join the parish to come forward (i.e. to be baptized), and he made a B-line towards us once the meeting was over to personally invite us. Upon learning we were visiting from Provo, he immediately asked if we were missionaries. Daniel and I looked at each other and shared a glance before telling him we weren't. Besides, I was wearing tan pants! Missionaries can't wear tan pants!

Daniel and Dean Howard at the Spokane Temple.

Not long after than, Dean Howard's nephew picked the two of us up and gave us a ride to the Spokane Temple. He gave us some pretty funny looks when we told him we'd just left Mass and that I was part Tongan, but we soon hit it off. Our time in the temple was neat, and Dean was sealed to his 87 year-old mother and deceased father and wife.

Dorthy, I don't think we're in Texas any more. Daniel and Dean, two lost Texans at the Spokane Temple.

Afterwards, the three of us sat in front of the temple talking, which was a great experience. We were then kidnapped by the family and forced to eat five pizzas because they thought we were so funny.

From Left to Right: Dean's Sister, Dean's Mother (Bubu), Dean Howard, Daniel Tanner, and Sister Skinfil, Dean's Niece.

The rest of our stay was pretty uneventful, besides the occasional run-in with hordes of yellow-bellied marmots. We returned safely the next day, having successfully survived going on vacation without a rental car or having our feet fall off from walking everywhere.

Happy Family at the Graduation Party, from left to right: Valarie Tanner, Dustin Nang, Brian Tanner, and Kathy Nang (Bubu).

Now, while we were unsuccessful in finding Handy Ceaser in Spokane, there was still a sense of successfully re-uniting with long lost Marshallese family members, for there was a big graduation party that night in West Valley/Magna for Dustin Nang, my little brother.

Grandma and Grandpa! For some reason, Kathy always calls me Jimma (grandpa) when I call her Bubu (grandma).

I brought my mom to the party, where who did we find, but Kathy Nang! Kathy was the one who first introduced me to her son Rick's family in Hawai'i and facilitated their baptism. Kathy remained living in Hawai'i while the rest of her family came here to Utah, so it was a pleasant surprise to see her there.

Mona! Anella Boaz forces more food upon my poor mother. We'd already been eating for an hour by this point, but the food kept coming. Note the fish in the right corner that I'd picked clean by my very own fingers.

My mom had never been to a Marshallese party before, so she was unprepared for the huge outpouring of food they presented her. She was a good sport and ate some, even though she'd already had dinner, and didn't even flinch when I started eating an entire grilled fish with my fingers (imported from the Marshall Islands, it was exquisite!).

Momma and Bubu Nang.

There was a lot of laughter, and it was the perfect ending to my first jambo of the summer.

The Spokane Temple.