September 2009 - September 2011

The Journey from Beginning to End

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

30 December '09 Email

I just wrote my first full letter to Presidente Jayme in all Português! foi divertido. (It was fun) I spent a couple hours reading the rest of the letters I got last mission conference this morning and writing back, so there are a couple envelopes heading home with surprises!

PHOTOS!! Just 4 I think, but good ones. And a R$2,00 for Sam I want to trade for $2.00 (Two ones please. Brazilians like to trade for them because they look cool.) I also am sending a R$100,00 for Sam. But the 100 isn´t a real one. Its a mini look-alike. I've only had one real one since I've been here, but I used it to buy a fan.

Oh! I have a new companion now! His name is Elder Seastrand from Holladay, Utah. Yup, another American. At this rate, I don´t think I will ever have a Brazilian companion, besides Elder Sales I was with for the one day that Elder Gannon was gone before transfers. That was a fun day. We deep cleaned our two apartments, more or less.

Our shower isn´t working for some reason right now. Muito chato. (Very annoying).  I managed to get a small stream to come out to shower this morning, but it just doesn't seem to have any pressure in it. Toilet is filling up slowly, too.. I think it may have to do with the giant water tower we can see from our window leaking water profusely at great rates of water.

We don´t really have anything big or exciting planned for today, so I don´t know what we are going to end up doing.

Well, that´s really all I have for today.

Oh! I inherited a lot of stuff from Elder Gannon. I have so many books it's not even funny. It's super cool though.

Ok, that's everything.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

The Phone Call: 25 December 2009


Elder Mitchell Hayden Tenney - 23 December 2009
 
Elder Tenney's email on December 23rd was very brief and about our instructions on how to call him on Christmas Day.  And that call was way too short at only 45 minutes, but to hear his voice was the best Christmas present ever!  He was at the home of an 18-year-old member who allowed Elder Tenney the use of his phone for our Christmas call - THANK YOU to Welton in Manaus!  We called from Brian's office so we could all be on speakerphone and when Elder Tenney answered we weren't sure it was him. When we asked again if it was him, we knew for sure when he said "It's me, you fool!"  (Inside joke). He is the same, funny guy - when I heard, "Hi, mom", I knew it was my boy.  Speakerphone didn't work too well on his end, so we all talked to him individually. 

Here's what we gleaned from our phone call:

His companion, Elder Gannon, is going home on Dec. 30th.  Brazil is not getting missionaries very regularly right now as visas are not clearing in a timely manner, and Elder Tenney may get transferred into another area as they are consolidating due to lack of new missionaries coming in as others are going home.

He has some glass in his apartment windows, but we get the idea that most of them are open to mosquitoes as night time is when he gets a lot of mosquito bites.  Especially if their fans are not working and stirring the air around.  He says it rains there every 11 hours.  And he has not used his raincoat yet, and rarely uses his umbrella...he and his companion usually just try to take shelter.  I imagine the humidity keeps you from wanting to add a layer of clothing such as a wet raincoat. 

He and his companion live across the street from a bakery and go there every morning to get the equivalent of a very large loaf of bread for the cost of about $1 US.  That's breakfast. They eat some strange hamburger, cheese, hotdog concoction for one other meal.  And members are supposed to feed them one meal each day.  I wasn't sure if that is happening or not, but he seemed like he was okay with food.  He did say if we wanted to send him anything, American Candy was what he would like - no chocolate as it melts.

We were very happy and grateful to hear that he had received his box we sent on November 24.  The district leader went and picked it up and took it to him either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day as it had been in Manaus for some time, just not delivered yet to Elder Tenney.  We are so glad he had his Christmas and other items he needed.  He had been eating Swedish fish all day he said:)

They are teaching or making contacts all the time.  The biggest problems are drinking and people don't wear very many clothes there.  (He says he and Elder Gannon just keep on walking when I asked him how they handle that).

He doesn't get to the post office very often, and is not able to write letters except on P-Days.  He doesn't receive his mail often either, but when he does, he gets a big batch - THANKS to all who have written to him!  He mostly emails us and has been using his letter-writing time for friends.  If you have anything you'd like to share with us, please do!  We asked him to please try to write us a letter every week or so.  We do get a weekly email on his Wednesday P-days, but his email time is limited.

He said he has only been really sick once and that was at his zone conference the day his Grandpa Tenney passed away on Nov. 30th.  We are thankful he is enjoying good health. 

He tried out some Portuguese on us, and as we didn't understand a word, feel he must be fluent;)

He has taken hundreds of pictures and has burned us a dvd that he will be sending as soon as he is able to get to the post office.

In the end, it wasn't so much what Elder Tenney had to say, but that we got to hear his voice and sense that he is loving his mission, is happy and healthy, and that we love and miss him and vice versa, but that feeling is still there that he has been set apart to do the Lord's work and he is in the right place.

Merry Christmas and Happy '10! ;)

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

It Rains in the Amazon ;) 16 Dec. 09 Email

I have composed a list in my planner to remind me of things to email. I hope I cover everything. From the beginning, Box- No, It has not arrived. I think I will get it at transfers on the 30th. Or possibly later.

I watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional this last Sunday. It was so amazing. I thought I was in Utah again for a second and I thought there would be snow outside or something. It was a homesickness moment, and the only one I have had in the field so far. It was cool though.

I had my first transfer interview with President Jayme on Monday. He is such an amazing person. I am so grateful to have him as my president. He treats us as though we were his own children practically, and he has a really good sense of humor.

The Rainstorms have begun. There is more water coming from the sky in 10 minutes here than there is in all of Southern Utah for 5 years. Today we are having the worst one yet. We were coming back from downtown in the bus and the road is completely flooded everywhere we went. Every time the bus pulled up to a stop, water flooded onto the platforms and everyone waiting for the bus got soaked. I took some pictures from the window.

Next topic- Pictures. I took my memory card to a place and had the pictures transferred to a disk. It is a DVD so it won`t work in your computer, but it will work in dads laptop. I suggest you get a new computer with a DVD drive for Christmas. Just don’t get Windows Vista. Stick with XP.

Phone call for Christmas information will come next prep day. We are still looking for a members house to make the call from. Not many people have a phone here. (Land line, lots of cell phones.)

I am going to try and mail the dvd pictures in an envelope from the post office in a week or two whenever we go by to withdraw money again. I have plenty of money. Today was just a restock of supplies day.

On a fun note, I was bit by a dog for the first time on Monday. We were just walking down the road, we passed this dog, it turned watching me, I wasn’t watching it, it growled and bit me right above my ankle on the back of my leg. Didn’t break skin or anything, so no need to worry. Elder Gannon and I just laugh that it was so random. It scared me to pieces too.

The language is about the same. I haven`t really been studying it that much. Its more walking and teaching what I can than stay at home and study for a bit. But now the rain is starting and we are having to find shelter (sometimes). There are a couple times where we just have to keep on walking in the rain and I have become absolutely soaked. I will just hold to the promise that was given to us by President Van Orman from the CTM-(He was our Branch President) He said for every rainstorm you have to walk in and the harder you work, the prettier your wife will be :P

Anywho, that’s amazing that Ty got his call! Spanish speaking?? Wow! And Josh to Thailand????????? I did not see that one coming!! When does he leave again?

I think the mission office forgot or lost the paper that says I bought a proselyting bag, because I haven’t got it yet. The backpack I brought is too big for this mission. It is strongly recommended to only have a small bag to not look like a wealthy tourist with lots of stuff to steal. So I bought one of those bags with the drawstrings like that roadrunner one I gave to sam.

Anyways, Love you a whole lot. Im freezing now. 80 degrees is very cold. Next week for p day every missionary in the mission is being called in to manaus and we are going on a boat ride up the river to where the Rio Negro and the Solimoes come together to form the amazon. It should be amazing.

(Can't wait to get the pictures from Elder Tenney - I will post some as soon as I can! - Mom 10-e)

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Our First Real Photo of Elder Tenney!

We were so happy to get a letter and this snapshot yesterday from Elder Tenney's mission president (President Jayme) and his wife!  They just wanted to reassure us that he arrived safely and in good health from the CTM in Sao Paulo to his field of service in Manaus.   The letter was dated 17 November, just before Thanksgiving.
 
Elder Mitchell Tenney with President & Sister Jayme
First Day in Manaus, Brazil
17 November 2009

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Christmas = 100 Days! 09 Dec. 09 Email

Dear mom and family,

Everything is going good here. The rain has begun, and it. Gets. Wet. Crazy beans. This last week has been a little difficult. None of our investigators came to church last week, and for a lot of them this is the third or so time they haven’t come, and if they don’t come this next week we have to drop about half of our teaching pool. Super sad. Also, a lot of them aren’t home when we schedule to teach them, so we end up walking back and forth all day teaching not so much. We are making lots of street contacts though, but lots of people give fake addresses rather than be rude and say I don’t want to hear your message.

No package yet. It takes longer than what they say for that kind of stuff. I don’t think I`ll get it till around new years maybe on transfer day. The newsletter that the mission just emailed out has a list of packages and my name wasn’t there, so… oh well. We went downtown today so Elder Gannon could get his brazil stuff to take home. I was tempted to buy an Indian blowdart gun and a fedora, but that can wait a couple years. There is some super awesome stuff you can buy here. No piranha head keychains yet, but I saw full piranhas you can buy.

There is a hamburger here that you can buy at lots of places called the X-todo which is like Cheese-Everything. IT has egg, meat, meat, lettuce, cucumber, meat , 2 hotdogs, meat, bread and IT IS HUGE! oh, and cheese. They think its what Americans eat because all Americans are fat and eat hamburgers everyday. Riiiiiiiiiiiiight. I`m starting to wake up tired now from all the walking we are doing. It is crazy how many hills there are and how steep everything is. Its like walking up and down our hill all day.

Can`t see the river from the apartment, just other buildings and the forest. Saw the river today though. For Pday before Christmas we are taking a boat to where the two rivers come together to form the amazon river. Every missionary in the mission will be there.

Downtown is so much different from where I`m serving. It`s more like Sao Paulo with extra heat. It is really strange that that kind of stuff is so close yet so far to where I`m serving right now. As of Christmas Day I will have been in Brazil for 100 Days. That means that the mission is already 1/7 of the way over! Where on Earth is the time going! The question mark button doesn`t work on this keyboard… That`s awesome that everyone is getting their mission calls. I`m super excited for them. All in all it was a decent week this week. I`m doing good. I have 29 mosquito bites on my left arm alone. Don`t know how many total. Language has hit a brick wall, but I know it will come. Its cold at nights. I have to sleep with a blanket now. It gets all the way down to 89 Fahrenheit! Freezing cold!!!
 
Anyway, love y`all!
 -Boy

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Grandpa Tenney... and the Work goes on... 02 Dec 2009 Email

Dear Mom and Family,
 
Center:  Grandpa Miles Tenney with Elder Mitchell Tenney
@ his setting apart as a missionary to the Brazil Manaus Mission
15 September 2009
 
Thank you for letting me know about Grandpa Tenney. I´m happy to know that he went peacefully and that he is in a better place now. I´m going to miss him.  I already did actually, but I know that he isn´t in pain anymore.

I had my first Zone Conference on December 1. I woke up and was (No Surprise) sick again. Also, throughout the day my back and legs and arms started to hurt and I got quite the headache. So when I got home I had authorization to sleep the rest of the day and I woke up feeling much better. I´m good now. Also, I got about 5 letters from all of you at the Zone conference. No package though. Those take time. The Mission home is in the Central Zone, and I´ve only been there once when I arrived here in Manaus. I only go there for if I get transferred and for interviews. There is a Zone conference about every month also. Interviews are in about two weeks so I might get the package then instead.

Right now my camera has about 250 pictures on the card. I have room for 750 more. Fun stuff too. We deep cleaned the apartment this morning and I took new pictures of it. We are going bowling later today for P-Day! YAY!! Next week we might go to one of the zoos, and after that go downtown for Elder Gannon´s last P-day for buying stuff because the last p day is the mission Christmas party. We are going to where the two rivers come together to form the amazon on a boat! Super fun. Also, I get to have my phone call on December 25, 2009.   IT CAN BE UP TO 45 MINUTES. NO MORE THAN THAT. So make sure you time it. When it gets to 40 minutes I need to start saying the goodbyes. (Obedience, eh!)

Please let everyone know I´m super sorry I haven´t sent any letters recently. The post office is forever away and we rarely go by. We are going by on Saturday to withdraw our allowance (We get about R$100 every 15 days) and the atm is next to the post office. I´ve got quite a stack to mail out. Sorry, none for the family. I say everything I need in emails, and I wouldn’t mail friends if I could email them, but I can´t, so… I´ll try to write Sam a letter soon though. :P

Our toilet got clogged last week. Write me back if you want details on how it happened and how we unclogged it. I don´t think mom has even had to do what I had to do. I´m scarred for life.

About toiletry items. They have TP and toothpaste and everything here. EXCEPT deodorant. That´s what I'm going to need. They also have repellant and sunscreen and all manner of items.

What else… The language is coming along good. I have a Book of Mormon in Portuguese that I am translating to English by writing the translation beneath the words in the book. I just started a few days ago and have the testimonies, introduction and everything up to about CH 5 in First Nephi. It's super fun to do. If you want to be fluent in any language, read the Book of Mormon in that language.

By the way, its illegal to eat monkey in Brazil.

We are teaching a lot of people now. We try to make about 25 street contacts a week (just men), get 15 new investigators, and get 5 people to sacrament every week. We could have a lot of investigators getting baptized in the next few weeks.  The problem is, a lot of them need to get married. That´s one of the most difficult things here.

I check email in a LAN House, meaning it’s a room with a bunch of computers people can come and pay to use (R$1.00/hour). It´s just down the road from our apartment. I don´t know the address of where we live, but the neighborhood is called ZUMBI 1. We live in an apartment above a small market about a block and a half away from the chapel.

Que mais? It has only rained once since I got here, and it was really light and short. Lots of people are worried because the river is going down and the fish are dying due to the lack of water.

I was very close to having to eat a chicken foot the other day. Thankfully one of the members we were eating with took it instead.

How is the Helaman´s camp coming along?

I´m happy to hear that you got my package. If Sam doesn´t like wearing the underarmour type jersey, put it in a safe place for me. I like that one. OH! I remember now. We found a shop that sells shorts for a really really good price and they are the right size too.

I finally picked my team to support. My team is BOTA FOGO. –(TO LIGHT FIRE) The reason I picked it- Elder Gannon likes them, and they are terrible. Therefore, when we say we like bota fogo all the Brazilians go “What?? Why do you like them? They never win!” and they open up to talk to us and then it's easier to teach.

Anyway, I need to go now. Hope you all have a great week!

Tell Grandma Tenney I love her and that I´m sorry about Grandpa. I´m happy to know I have one more person to help me now.

Happy St. Patricks Day!  (Goofy Kid!  That's our news from Elder 10-e for this week. He sounds great, doesn't he?)

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving in Manaus (Email 11.25.2009)

How are you all? I´m doing just dandy. My feet are just light red but don´t hurt from the sunburn anymore. It's the mosquito bites on my feet that irritate me.

I haven´t seen it rain here yet. I just missed the rainy season.  Going into the dry right now.

Cool thing!! You know how the moon in the US, when it goes from full moon to new moon and stuff how it goes from left to right or whatever? Well, here, it goes from bottom to top, so the crescent moon was on the bottom and it looks like a smiley face!!

We had our "Thanksgiving Feast" today at the house of some other missionaries in my district. Another district came too. We had lots of meat and a big fish. Really good stuff.

We have a baptism this Friday. Her name is Marceleia. She is married to our ward mission leader. She was Baptist, but didn't like something the pastor did, and decided to come to her husband's church. She hasn´t missed a meeting in 6 months now. My first time meeting her, she was selling hotdogs and said we could have some cake. E. Gannon asked cake for what? She said cake for her baptism. E. G,"When?" M,"I don´t know, when do you want?" EG," Next Saturday?" M,"ok, sounds good." Super exciting! Elder Gannon had been teaching her for a long time. I helped teach the last few lessons. Fun Stuff.

By the way, for the whole mission, you mail me at the mission home. I don´t get the letters until zone conferences or transfers. Tough luck, eh. I have a few letters to mail out, but generally I´m just going to be doing email. We have as long as we need to email, but generally keep it to one hour, but I´m not as rushed as I was in the CTM.

So far, I´ve seen one monkey, one pink dolphin, 3 giant, (and I mean GIANT) cockroaches, lots of bugs, and eaten 4 kinds of fish. Yummy! We may try eating monkey sometime this transfer.

Supposedly they scan boxes/packages sometimes and memory cards can get wiped, so I´m going to try to find a place to upload memory cards, but I also have another idea. I´m going to keep the memory cards the whole mission, but every once in a while can you send me a new one and when I come home I´ll just have a whole bunch of memory cards with me. Don´t worry.  I´ll send pictures home. I can upload and print them too and mail those home as well, but I don´t think its safe to send the card with the only file of the pictures I´ve taken. Too risky.

The language is coming along very well. I´m still not able to understand a lot of it, but I understand the general idea of what's being said. The only scary thing is when I´m asked a question and I don´t know what to say back because I don´t know what was asked. Elder Gannon translates for me, and then I feel stupid because I know how to answer most questions in Portuguese.  I just don´t understand when I hear them... I´ll have it in a couple months.

The ward I´m serving in is the Castanhera Ward. It´s pretty cool. We have to wear our suits to sacrament meeting, and the electricity went out this last Sunday. It was so much fun.

I have been deeply humbled by some of the houses.. homes I´ve seen here. Some of them only have one or two old beds, a small stove and dishwasher in a little shack. It´s really sad to see the poverty that a lot of the people here live in. I feel so blessed to have had so much. I took way way way way way too much for granted. Even having as much food as we have is a miracle. Clean water. AIR CONDITIONING. Right now our apartment has 4 fans. Only one works. I enjoy its presence. If we lost it the mosquitos would have a feast. Elder Tenney would be sad.

OOH! I forgot! Something awesome about Manaus! NO SALES TAX! What you see is what you pay! And in Brazil they don´t make the 1 centavo (1 cent) coins anymore, so they just round it to the nearest 5 centavos. I like that better.

Thank you so much for the box! Hopefully I get it at the zone conference next Monday or transfers next month. Doubt it, but I can dream.

Well, I think that´s about it. Have an Awesome Thanksgiving y'all! Love ya!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

FiShiNG in ThE AMaZoN!!! 1st Transfer in Manaus!


HELLO FROM MANAUS!  (I´m soaking wet.)
 
We flew from São Paulo to Manaus in about 4 hours.  I took so many pictures the last few days. There are places I can upload them and you can see them instead of me mailing them which is highly unreliable.

I am currently serving in the Manaus Leste (East) zone.  It´s the poorer part of town. My 1st companion and trainer is Elder Gannon from West Jordan, Utah. I am his first trainee and this is his last transfer.

Mission Lore: The trainer is called our 'father'.  I was 'born' in the Manaus Leste Zone (My first zone).   My father (Elder Gannon) will 'die' in the Manaus Leste Zone (his last zone) because he goes home after this.  I am his first and only 'son'.  His trainer is my 'grandfather' and so on.  It´s just some fun phraseology for you.  And if I say that I will have a son in the future, it will be me being a trainer.

President Jayme is so awesome!  And Sister Jayme is so nice!

(Elder Gannon is, too!)

So. Today is my first p-day. It's about 2:30 here. This morning I fulfilled one of my dreams. We went fishing in the Amazon river. Yeah, it was cool. I took pictures (lots) and yeah.  So... I´ve stood in the Amazon river. The water was super hot.

This morning we fished for fish.  Tonight we will be fishers of men (which is a lot easier).

I´m soaking wet right now.

Ummm... I don't remember much of the last week.

CTM= Premortal Life

Mission Field= Mortal Life

Home=Celestial Kingdom

We knew each other in the CTM, we live/serve in the field, we 'die' and go home and see our friends from the field again.

Lots of fun stuff.

I have sunburns on the top of my feet from this morning and it kinda hurts to wear socks and shoes over it.  Arms, too, but thankfully no long sleeve shirt.

Muito quente aqui no manaus.

My apartment is similar to what the people I'm around live in.  It has a kitchen, a bathroom, and two other rooms.  Pretty nice.  I like the walls. They are painted green.

33 degrees celsius before I went to bed last night. Right now, I don´t know, but it's around 40 I think.
 
Manaus Brazil Temple Construction Site
17 November 2009

We went to the temple construction site yesterday. A picture is in the mission newsletter I got emailed that you can check.  (Editor's Note:  This must be at the Manaus temple construction site yesterday.  Elder Tenney is in the back row, 1st elder on the right!  Our first picture of him since he left home! Yea!  President Jayme is in the center front row. Click on photo for larger view).

That's all for now.

Love you all.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Elder Tenney's Last Week in the CTM (11.10.09)

First off, WOW!! Nick is going to Russia?!! Lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky!!! Tell him good luck in learning the language! That is definately going to be a fun one to learn! When does he leave? and can you get me his mailing address for his mission home?

Today was our last day to go to the temple for 2 years. (about) it was very sad. I picked one of the red flowers on the grounds (there were many) and I think I´ll try to dry it in a notebook or something. Unless it gets so humid that nothing drys. :P

Well, last week one of the elders in my district went to the field (Sao paulo south mission) and elder owens and i got elder johns as a 3rd companion. It has made everything a little different, but its really fun having him with us.

I got a letter from eddie this week! :D  Thanks, Eddie! (Mom10-E:)

We went proselyting last friday. It was soooo much fun. I´m super excited for the next two years now. People are practically just waiting for you to talk to them. Everyone is receptive and has a Christian background in some way or another.

We were proselyting in the Central São Paulo. There were so many people! If you want to look up the location, look up the Sé Cathedral. It is the center of sao paulo and there is a pedestal in the courtyard that we all got to touch which is the "marker" for the city center. Super cool. Look it up.

We also went up a road that looked exactly like Diagon Alley from Harry Potter, and there was a massive National Bank at the top of the road (Gringotts Wizarding Bank). There was a huge chandelier in the bank that was about 2 stories tall. IT was HUGE! and very beautiful.

As fun as São paulo is, I´m ready to go to Manaus. I really really need a change of scenery. And breakfast foods. Ham and cheese sandwhiches for 60 days for breakfast is starting to take its toll on me.

Did i mention I ate chicken hearts last week at a rodizio grill? I forget..

We would love to hear from Elder Tenney's readers, so please leave a comment now and then.  Also, please add yourself as a follower - we would like to know who is reading the blog, and in the event that we make this blog private, you will be able to log in and read the latest news from Mitchell's Mission in Manaus:)  THankS foR ReAdinG!

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Address Change!

Since Elder Tenney will be departing in less than 2 weeks from the CTM for the mission field, please send all of his letters and packages to the mission home address listed on this blog until further notice.   That way he will hopefully keep getting his mail in a timely manner and he won't have to worry about whether or not his mail is being forwarded.   Thanks!

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

11.03.2009 Email from the CTM

Oh how i love P-days! They are just so amazing! We went to the temple again this morning, and I think that makes our district one of the record holders for most trips to the temple at the CTM with 6 times. We may even go next week too! We have only had one p day when we didnt go and (not saying the temple is a bad thing) it has an extra 6 hours to do stuff and nap etc instead of going to the temple, but the temple is super fun!

So, Good News or Bad News first? Bad? ok. Well, we get new bedsheets and stuff every wednesday, and this last week we didnt get pillowcases on accident. So I used the blanket they provide for us as a pillow. This same blanket is the one that a few weeks ago when i was super sick i was coughing into a whole bunch. see where this is going? Yup, i got sick again. It´s always elder 10e. On saturday night I finally opened my advil because i had a killer headache. I took my temp too and i had a fever of 102.8 Fahrenheit. Yes, i kind of wanted to die. It´s not fun being sick in a foreign country. I´m better now, just a cough now and then. I should be back to 100% in a couple of days. Oh, by the way, I´m down to 2 advil pills left, so could you send that big bottle I was going to bring? I have a feeling that since i get sick every other week I might need that. :P

Good News: ... I forgot. I got so into the bad news I forgot what I was going to say... oh well..

Our departure is set for the 17 of Nov i think. the week of anyway. I have one p day left and leave (2 weeks from today?)

So, for lunch today we went to a Rodizio restaurant with our teacher Irmão Diniz. It was just like Made in Brazil in St. George, but 10X better! Guess what I ate: Chicken hearts! They are super good! Taste just like chicken!

Tell Brother & Sister Christensen thank you for their letter! I got it the other day. It really cheered me up.  Shout out to Brother & Sis. Christensen!  Thanks for writing to Elder Tenney!  Also thanks to the Ences for the same!  He loves getting those letters in his mailbox....and hearing from everyone at home....

In the box I sent there is no memory card. I haven´t used my camera enough to have it be worth sending yet. There really arent that many pictures. I think there is a place that I can upload them somewhere nearby. I´ll try next week If i have more time.

We haven´t got letters the past few days because they don´t run the postal service on Saturday and Sunday and Monday was a Holiday- Dia do Morte (Day of the Dead), so hopefully I might get something today!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

10.27.09 Pday Email to Family

"Wow! Is October really over already? Elder Owens was just saying to me the other day that September is almost over! Time is absolutely flying!

We went to the temple again this morning. There are some really amazing red flowers all around the grounds. It really is a beautiful temple.

No class on Sunday. Just devotionals, church, a movie (testaments this next sunday in portuguese) about 3 hours of free time (nap) choir and a bunch of other stuff.

I just finished re-hemming my pants. There is just one pair that I´ve had to sew 2 buttons on, and the other day i saw a string coming out of the pant leg so i pulled on it and it kept coming so I stupidly kept pulling and before it all came out, i realized that I had pulled the hem out. So i did an extremely good job. With Green Thread. :P Don´t worry, its on the inside. I did extremely well.

Elder Scott´s talk was amazing! I wish I had my journal on me right now so I could give a run through of it, but I put some stuff in the letters so I guess you´ll just have to wait a week or so to get that.

They give us the run down for our trips to the field the day before we leave, so I don´t have an itinerary yet, but I do know we only spend 62 days in the CTM, which means I leave the Tuesday before Turkey day I think..

It. Is. Getting. Hot. The classroom gets up to about 28 Celsius sometimes and we just boil. We love when the air conditioning randomly works. We can get it down to about 18 Celsius if we leave the room for an hour or so and blast the AC.

I have hit 69 Kilos! That is 152 lbs. I came in at 61 kilos or 134 lbs. thats over 15 lbs!! I tried my jeans on today and they are a little tight. Thankfully my pants have a little bit of room left in them, as well as my white pants.

I really do miss Chinese Food Friday. I now have CTM Pizza Wednesdays, and I get the same effect eating the pizza here as dad does eating a butterfinger. Yummy, right?"

That's the majority of Elder Tenney's email for this week. Thanks for reading! Now, go write him a letter:)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Letters and Emails for Week #5

Letter dated 10 October 2009: 
Dear Family and Others (And Friends!),

"Hey there!  How are all of you doing?  Did you enjoy conference?  It was absolutely amazing! Right now only the Saturday morning (afternoon here in Sao Paulo) session has played yet.  But WOW!  It was intense, and it was over in about what felt like a half hour."

"Right now we are in between sessions and we get personal time to nap and do whatever inside the CTM.  Unfortunately, pictures/cameras can only be used on P-Day, so I don't have many yet.  That camera rule only applies to the CTM by the way.  Also, I have an email address but while in the CTM, we are only allowed to email family, but out in the field it is up to the mission president.  I still need a confirmation, but I think it is possible to receive, but not send email to outside of family.  Because many here have, but I'm not sure as of yet."

"They only turn on the air conditioning system when there are big group meetings here, and it's been pretty nice temperature-wise so far when we open the windows and doors.  UNTIL...Yesterday we  were hit with an intense heat wave.  And there wasn't even a breeze.  The inside temperatures hit 30 degrees C!  What made us feel worse is that a Brazilian from Manaus told us this was cold.  In Manaus, it can get up to 40-45 degrees C by the end of the day.  We don't know if that is with or without humidity though..."

"It's pretty cool that Brigham City is getting a temple.  I wish it was Cedar City instead though."

"I love Friday and Saturday breakfasts here.  Friday has cereal like granola and chocolate frosted flakes, and Saturday is pancake Day.  The syrup is really thin though.  Every other day, though, is ham &/or bologna and cheese sandwiches.  I shall never eat a sandwich after my mission ever again.  We can toast them if we want, and add butter, but we all wish for cereal.  There are tons of stores all around the CTM, so I'll probably buy some next P-Day (Tuesday)."

"P-Day ends at 4 in the CTM instead of 6 like out in the field.  I've been to the Sao Paulo Temple twice so far.  On the bus trip there, I saw something that brought more joy to my soul than chocolate frosted flakes for breakfast:  WAL-MART.  Underground parking included.  I'm saved!  Hahaha...Too bad it's outside our area..."

"Well, with the missionary stuff, we can almost teach the first lesson entirely in Portuguese without having to check our notes every 3 seconds or so.  I really really really like Portuguese.  It makes Spanish sound like a more basic language.  It's like this: 
Romantic languages>Neanderthals>Spanish>Portuguese.        According to one of our teachers, that is how it is.  Upon asking where/what English is from/like, he said, "Oh, it goes barbarians>English>then romantic languages to Portuguese.  China and Japan are just weird.  Not really."

"There was a giant rat running around the other day. It could almost have been classified as a Rodent Of Unusual Size.  It was about the length of my wrist to my elbow.  Maybe a bit bigger.  It. Was. Awesome."

"You can send me pictures (preferably wallet size) of people in the mail (and email, just make sure they're not too big!) over the weeks.  Just F.Y.I. :)"

From a letter to mom dated 10 Oct 09:
"In case I haven't said it yet, streets here are filled with crazy drivers.  I'm so happy I don't have to drive here!"

"Sao Paulo is so huge.  It's hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that there are 23 million people around me."

"The days feel like they are just flying by.  It feels like just yesterday was my first Sunday here, but now I'm in my 4th week!  100 more to go."

"Guess what.  I could have come to the CTM with a 70 lb bag!  And go to Manaus with a 50.  And leave x-tra weight at the mission home.  That's how I understand it at least.  Most missionaries stay in the city, so they can have a heavier suitcase until they get sent out to a far corner.  Oh well."
(We sent Elder Tenney with the specified 47 lb bag....at least he's travelling light).

"When I came, there were about 60+ Americans who came the same week. This week: 5. Visas are extremely hard to get now. I feel blessed."
 
"My Portuguese is coming along very well.  One of my teachers were extremely surprised with my "milestone event" which we have twice a week to evaluate where we are.  I can teach the entire first lesson without having to check notes now.  I done feel so smart. ;)"

"Life is good."

And if you are still reading, here's excerpts from his Tuesday, 20 October 09 email: 

"Hi. Need I say more?...Yeah, I guess I'd better. This last week was fun. I'm back to 100 percent health-wise, my eyes are clear and my cough is gone! Yay!"
 
"We went to the temple this morning and it was pretty much awesome.  My district was put in a van instead of the bus because there were so many people and we got there and back before everyone else, so we get an extra hour or so to our P-Day time today."

"We have an Apostle coming this Friday to speak to us!  I wrote in the letters I'm sending who it is, but I'm going to let you guess who.   Have fun guessing!"

"Elder Owens and I were talking with a teacher who went to Manaus, and he told us some fun stuff.  There are 2 zoos:  SIGS and IMPA.  SIGS is a land animal zoo and IMPA is an aquatic zoo.  Super excited!"

"There are 3 states in the misison:  Amazonas, Roraima, and Acre.  Roraima is the nice one according to the teacher that went to Manaus."

"Supposedly there are no people in Acre. It's just a myth.  There are cities on the map, but none of the teachers have met anyone from Acre.  It's like us saying there aren't any people in Montana.  Just mountains.  Supposedly the jaguars in Acre are really open to the gospel though."

"We are through 3 lessons in Portuguese so far.  It's amazing to see how far we've come with the language.  We actually have a Portuguese only thing in our District from 6:30 a.m. to after lunch.  It was really quiet the first time we did it. ;)"

"Well, I thought I could do it, but I failed.  I was trying to wear the same tie everyday in the CTM, but last Friday I just couldn't stand it anymore and pulled out a different one.  Maybe I'll just wear the same tie for each transfer.  Every 6 weeks, switch the tie."

"I hit 68.2 kilos yesterday.  I don't know what I'm at right now.  However this means I have gained over 7 kilos since I've been here, which is over 15 pounds!  I can't tell the difference though."
"Thank you to everyone who sent a letter!  I got about 6 envelopes in the last 3 days!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!"

Tchau!

Elder Tenney

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Halfway Mark at the CTM

Email from 13 Oct 2009: 
"Wow. This week went by super fast!  Mioto rapido!  Time is absolutely just flying!  My stay in the CTM is half over, and that means Sister Christofferson, (she's the wife to one of the Mission Presidency) is going to bake us COOKIES SOON!  She is an angel."

"Last Saturday I got my cough back again because I share a room with other elders who got it from me and are giving it back.  I think the worst of it is over now and soon it will all be gone.  The only problem is this time I seem to have developed something that is very similar in nature to Pink Eye in both of my eyes, and so I had to take my contacts out last night and I've been a little blind for awhile.  They are really starting to clear up though."

"We are already moving on to the 3rd lesson this week.  It's insane! It goes a little faster because we aren't starting completely over with the language.  It's just reorganizing the words in a different order.  The grammar is extremely similar to Spanish, so it kind of makes sense, but there are some things that are completely opposite English grammar." (Elder Tenney is learning Portuguese for those of you who are wondering.)
 
"We are starting to see some of the same meals during the day now, and we really miss food that isn't cafeteria food. I'm not complaining, though. It's really amazing food...as far as cafeteria food goes...hahaha."
 
"Smile!"  -Elder Tenney

From an email to his sister on 13 Oct 09: 
"The grounds at the Sao Paulo temple are so beautiful!  There are red flowers everywhere, palm trees, a sweet fountain, and PARROTS!!! :D  Super awesome.  I like the money here.  It reminds me of Monopoly money, and all the bills have a different animal on the back that is native to Brazil.  My favorite is the 20, which has the "Lion Monkey" on it.  It's actually a little monkey that would only come up to my knee at most, but it has a lion mane on it. Fun Stuff!"

We are still hoping for a letter from Elder Tenney this week.  We have only had 2 so far.  It's a good thing he can email us once a week!  Keep writing to him and praying for him.  Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Letter: 09.26.09 & Email 10.06.09

Elder Tenney writes on 09.26.09 that his district is very "goal crazy".  "We have so many goals that we can't remember all of them.  Most of them are made on random occurences, but they are pretty awesome."

"We figured out that from the schedule we are in our classroom about 50 hours a week.  Which means we are in this small room for about 3 weeks straight. I now know why everyone says you'll go crazy about week 6 or so.  We are already starting to feel the evil voodoo of it."

"My branch president...is quite a character.  We just had a semi-fireside taught by him on the 9th chapter of Preach My Gospel, and it was fantastic!"

"Please send a great multitude of letters my way.  A plethora of letters would be very pleasant to a celestial degree!  If you have nothing to write about, Go Do Something! then write about it!"

09.28.09 PS.. Please write letters.  I'm starting to go crazy.  Not really, but still, a letter would be nice.  If you find some time during the day when you've got nothing to do or something...HAPPY CONFERENCE!  (Seriously, I'm in my 3rd week and only have 1 letter?? Thanks, Sam!)  Write!) :)

*Sounds like Elder Tenney would like to see some mail in his mailbox.  What do you think?
And from his 10.06.09 Email on P-Day: 

"Well, since last week, I feel that my skills in Portuguese have skyrocketed to huge proportions over the last week.  I managed to teach the entire first lesson without having to check notes.  We are just mopping up the details and ironing the commitments and little things and we could have this stuff down pat."

"It's weird to think that I'm already in my fourth week here!  Time is just zooming by!  Every week we have friends from our floor head out and we get new 'smurfies' every week.  During the first week, everyone gets a blue sticker on the front of their name thingy and therefore:  Smurfie."

"I feel so blessed to have gotten my Visa when I did!  The week I came, 60+ American missionaries came to the MTC. This week, there are 5 coming in total."

"Conference was SUPER AWESOME.  I took fabulous notes, drew some random pictures, and never fell asleep.  That is a first time for me to have seen all 5 sessions for conference!  I put most of my good notes into my journal, including all the songs that were sung and stuff.  It looks pretty cool."

"Today, I ate rice and beans.  Yesterday, I ate rice and beans.  Sunday:  Rice and Beans.  Saturday was different.  Beans and rice.  Thankfully the pineapple here is grown in heaven, and they seem to have 1001 ways to cook a chicken.  They still have a way to go with their cow products, but chicken is amazing.  DON'T EAT CORN AND BANANAS!"

"I'm still trying to get my mind around the fact that I'm in one of the most heavily populated cities on earth, and I'm stuck in this same building for the entire time.  We get to go proselyting in a few days, and again in 3-4 weeks when we know some more.  I can teach in Portuguese, but I don't think I can have an intelligent conversation."

"I really do enjoy getting snail mail.  The last one I got was yesterday with a comic in it and a letter from...  Thank you. :)

"I find one thing that is very lacking in Brazil is condiments.  I've only seen mayo once.  I really do miss it."

"Our district had a basketball game against another district this morning.  We got crushed.  If we kept score anyway."

"My clothes are starting to fall apart.  At least the buttons anyway.  I had to sew one on in between conference, and I'm going to do my suit coat next p-day maybe.  The button I sewed on will never come off again.  It doesn't look very pretty, but it's where no one can see it, so I didn't try very hard on that.  Oh, and I shined my shoes for the first time today.  They look like I just bought them again, except that they look a little worn from all the walking, but at least they is shiny." :)

What a funny boy!  Can't help but smile to read his letters.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Elder Tenney's Emails: Week #1 and Week #2

Mystery solved...We were finally able to get the 1st  big email Elder Tenney sent to us dated 09/22/09!  Here are the highlights...

"Our first week has been awesome!"  "The food here is amazing!   I've already gained 8 kilos here, which is about 6 pounds.  Seriously.  The food is good."

"We went to the templo...temple today and while I was waiting to go to the chapel I was asked to do initiatories instead.  It was really really really reallyreally reallyreally reallyreally reallyreally reallyreally reallyreally really awesome!!! It was all in Portuguese, and I think just listening is helping me to improve my portuguese pronunciation.  The sessions for us are in English by the way, except for a bit of portuguese at the end."

"When I arrived in the SLC airport, there was only one elder there. ...he had the 12:00 flight to Dallas. I watched them board, and then a guy came over and said, when are you leaving elder?  I said 3:10, and he said, that's not good!  I just loaded your luggage on the 12 flight!  So my ticket was changed and I boarded last minute.  That's why I didn't call.  But then they had engine problems right before take off, and long story short, I managed to get my original seat back after standing in lines for 2.5 hours, but elder *** had to reschedule for the next morning. He is here now.  2 days delay.  Sad day, I know!"

"I am having an extremely hard time spelling now..."

"Most of my district is going to manaus, but there is a sao paulo south and a recife.  r at the beginning and middle of a word makes the h sound. so it sounds like hecife, or heh-see-feh."

"Did I mention the food is most excellent?"

"I'm only allowed to take pictures on pday in the CTM (Center for Training Missionaries).  They don't want us to look like tourists, so the only pictures I will have are of  the CTM."

"EVERYONE HERE LOOKS OR ACTS LIKE SOMEONE FROM HOME!!! My companion looks like cousin nathan b, but more my height.  His personality is kinda like Quinten Hardman, but just a little.  Elder B. looks and acts just like Steve Ott, but with brown hair.  His companion Elder J. is like a mix of Ryan Wiggins and Josh Christensen. :)  There is an Elder Wiggins here by the way!!! It is so cool!  I saw Kevin Steck here.  He arrived last Wednesday from the Provo MTC.  Elder C, our DL, hmmm...I can't think of who he is like. His companion is a red-head named Elder Larsen, and guess who he looks like!  You Betcha!  He looks...not exactly, but kinda like Todd."

"Elder K is my fellow star wars nerd, and he is like a tall Colton Campbell. He is super awesome and likes minty things.  He always has listerine packets and ricola.  his comp elder H is another one I have a hard time describing...I'll get around to it."

"The classes are good.  I'll try sending our weekly schedule to you next week.  I'm almost out of time. You can use MissionTies.com thing to send me letters sooner. I don't know how they get to me, but they do somehow." 

"We sleep in bunk beds by the way.  I still need to go do my laundry today...I've got 3 hours left. :)  Please send many letters!  PLEASE PLEASE (Elder Tenney repeated this about 50 times:) !!!! Even though I really don't have time to read them...Kidding!!! but yeah...."

"Ummm...have I said the food is really good yet?"

"I can bear my testimony and pray in portuguese right now.  They seriously do not waste time teaching.   They used to, but they took away an hour of personal study time for more class time."
 
Well, I wanted to share most of that email in Elder Tenney's ow words so you can tell he's still got the same fun personality.  The three top things I learned from this first email are:

1.  He loves the food:)
2.  He really, really, really wants letters in his mailbox from all of us!
3.  He is already learning the language, enjoying the spirit of the temple, and loving missionary life.
 
Now for excerpts from this 2nd email dated 09/29/09:

"Hey,  everyone!  Just sitting here in the CTM typing away, having a good ol time. The keyboards and stuff here are different, so I seriously am having a hard time typing..."

"So, we just got back from our second temple trip about an hour ago.  I finally got to go through a session, and it was amazing!  It is so easy to feel the spirit there when the entire place is filled up with missionaries!"

"So how is everyone doing?  The only letter I've received so far is one from Sam, so I feel like I fell off the face of the Earth or something...Everyone and Anyone can send me snail mail!"

"Is it true that some strange creature was seen in Panama that looks like Gollum from Lord of the Rings?  Irmao D. said it was all over the news all over the world, and it was chasing some kids and they stoned it to death.  We need confirmation on this siting!"

"I went to the distribution center today ....  I bought a Portuguese bible, Book of Mormon (triple), and a mini portuguese hymn book."

"Classes and stuff are intense.  We are just on the first lesson right now, and its all jam packed with info that we have to learn in English first, then we start all over again in Portuguese!  It's insane!"

"I'm at about 147 pounds now, but I'm afraid that this rollercoaster I'm on is gong to plummet to the end of the ride when I get to Manaus and start back at my original weight.  Oh well, enjoy it while it lasts."

"We are going to the post office today to buy stamps and envelopes so I can send snail mail.  And we are going to exchange the rest of our cash.  Everything is really close to the MTC. It's pretty much awesome."

"I don't really remember what all the questions were about the CTM and stuff like that, but if you ask me, I'll try to answer to the best of my capability.  Nobody really has asked me anything yet..so I'm just rambling away still."

"Give me a topic. :P"

"Is BYU winning? I heard they lost a game the other week..sad day."

"A guy on our floor got a box sent to him from his parents a couple of nights ago. Lucky guy.  It was filled with American Candy.  I would love to have some cow tails and milky ways if its not too much of a hassle.  If you wanna wait till Manaus, then ok...."

"All the Brazilians on our floor went out to the field last night.  Since it was their last night here, they kept us up for quite awhile with a lot of singing, yelling, and running about.  It was semi-funny, except we couldn't get to sleep and had to be up earlier than usual to get to the temple."

"I'm doing pretty good. My cold went away about 5 days into the mission.  There are bugs everywhere."

"I saw a bunch of Green Parrots today!!!! Like seriously!  They are so awesome!  They were all over the temple grounds, just chirping away!"

I love all you guys!  I miss you all a ton!  Have EVERYONE write stuff!  Individual letters appreciated!  Don't group them all up and make it look like one.  More Envelopes=More Love.  But please, no empty envelopes cuz that's just empty love.  Kidding." 

"Stay in touch!"
Elder Tenney

So, there you have it...The first 2 weeks of Elder Tenney's missionary experience.  Thanks for following his blog, and to all his friends and family, please, please, please:) take time to send him a letter or card of support when you can.  98 cents 1st class postage from the US to Brazil.  And thanks especially for remembering him in your prayers.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The 1st Email and the 1st Letter have Arrived!

Elder Tenney sent a brief email today (meaning this must be his Preparation Day) saying he forgot to tell us that the rules for his email use at the MTC in Brazil are that he can only send and receive email to his immediate family while there.  He said that may change when he gets to his mission field in Manaus.  This email implied that he may have sent another email right before, but we didn't get it if he did...

But...the postman was our friend today and brought our first real handwritten letter from our missionary, written on the back of a form with his new address at the MTC and instructing him to use the back of that form to write a letter to his parents. Elder Tenney said "my adventure down here was stress filled to the max. I'll give it full justice after I finally get some sleep here.  It's about 2:30 pm by the way, and I'm going off 3 hours of sleep."  So....we really, really want to know what the stresses were...guess we'll have to wait till the next email or letter.

His first companion is from Heber, Arizona.  He went into the CTM with 4 other elders going to Manaus, and was very excited that one of them is "a red head named Elder Larson, and looks just like Elder Larsen back home!  Not really, but still, he looks kinda like him.  So far there are 4 elders from the U.S. in my room (counting me) and we may have a couple Brazilians too if we are lucky!"

About the food: (a very important topic for missionaries and for moms to know) "The CTM (Center for Training Missionaries) has some of the most excellent food ever.  Four meals a day, and I will/would be very fat after awhile, except I'm on the top floor (7th) and that is a lot of stairs."

He sounds happy and excited and well-fed....just what we wanted to hear. 

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Farewell and Setting Apart


Elder Tenney with some of his friends & future missionaries
@ goodbye party - 13 September 2009

Dad & Mom:  Happy...yet sad...
15 September 2009

Grandma Martin, sister Allison (expecting baby boy, Isaac in November),
Mom, and sister Jessica
15 September 2009

Elder Tenney & Siblings:  Sam (14), Jessica (23), & Allison (25)
15 September 2009

Dad & Elder Mitchell Tenney
15 September 2009

Mom & Elder Mitchell Tenney
15 September 2009

Elder Mitchell Tenney & Grandma Martin
15 September 2009

Elder Tenney & Family @ his Setting Apart @ Bloomington Hills Stake Center
Allison, Grandma Martin, Grandma & Grandpa Tenney, Elder Tenney, Mom,
Sam, Dad, & Jessica
15 September 2009

Elder Mitchell Tenney
@ his setting apart as a missionary with
Dan Olsen (counselor in bishopric), Bishop Jim Ott, &
Stake President Donald Lyman
15 September 2009
 

Saturday, September 19, 2009

"Leavin' On a Jet Plane..."

Departure from
Airport on the Black Hill * 9.16.09 @ 9:05am

Seems like Elder Tenney has been gone 2 months instead of 3 days! If it's that bad for me, I can only imagine how he must be feeling in new surroundings more than 6000 miles from home. My prayers are with him constantly. I hope yours are, too!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Arrival in Brazil!

We received an email from the president of the Brazil MTC and his wife notifying us that "your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC."  He has a companion and is settled into his room and is assigned to a district with instructors to teach the language and lessons.  He will soon meet the branch president and his wife, who are usually a senior missionary couple or mature Brazilian couple who watch over the missionaries.  There is a full-time live-in physician at the MTC.  We are assured that the cafeteria food is "abundant and very good". 

Elder Tenney will be able to email home on Preparation Day (either Tuesdays or Wednesdays) after spending the morning at the temple. 

Important Information:  Please do not send packages to the missionary training center. 
The email says "We strongly encourage sending handwritten letters". :)  This is how the address should appear:

Elder Mitchell Tenney
Manaus
District 38-C Box 47
Brasil CTM
Rua Padre Antonio D'Angelo, 121
Casa Verde, Sao Paulo, SP
Brazil  02516-040

Let's get those letters headed his way!  98 cents for first class postage on a typical 1-oz letter from here to Brazil.  Mail and packages should only be sent through the US postal service - no FEDEX or UPS or other private carriers.

1 day down - only 2 years to go!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Time Has Come...

Elder Mitchell Tenney
the morning of his departure from home
16 September 2009

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Final Day @ Home - & Visa Arrives!

Elder Tenney's visa and passport arrived at our house at noon today! Hurray! So, he will NOT be going to the Provo MTC tomorrow to wait on the visa as we had been instructed this past weekend...he will fly out of St. George tomorrow morning! The smile on his face was priceless when he heard the good news. He is very eager to get to Brazil and to be about the Lord's work. Today he is cleaning out his bedroom and reliving a lot of memories as he sorts through years of accumulation. Tonight, he will be officially set apart as "Elder Mitchell Hayden Tenney"...and by Thursday night he will be in Brazil!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Missionary Plaque Photo and Scripture


Elder Mitchell Hayden Tenney
Brazil Manaus Mission
September 2009 - September 2011

Alma 29:13
"Yea, and that same God did establish his church among them; yea, and that same God hath called me by a holy calling, to preach the word unto this people, and hath given me much success, in the which my joy is full."