September 2009 - September 2011

The Journey from Beginning to End

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Week #50: TRANSFERRED!!!

Hey Everybody!
 
Where to begin? Let's start with the transfers: Elder Trage is in Senador Guiomard. I am not. That´s right all, I done be back in Manaus. I forgot it smelled funny here. So, there was this one elder who was doing a bunch of junk in Senador Guiomard, and the area closed. I went there and reopened it with Elder Fox. That same elder went home last transfer complaining of heart problems and he closed another area. Guess who just reopened it. That's right. I did.

DETAILS!!!! 
 
Elder Tenney's New Area in Mauazhino
(Photo by Elder Lobhino 2003-2004)

I am in an area in the Center Zone of Manaus. It is called Mauazinho. It is directly south of my first area, Castanheira.

Houses in Mauazinho
(Photo by Elder Lobhino, 2003-2004)

When we got there, the house was dirty to the limit just like how the last one was left in Acre. So my comp and... OH! I have a new companion. His name is Elder Arruda. I met him in Acre. He is pretty awesome. Neither of us know anything about the area, so we are a little lost. It has been 6 months since this ward has had a baptism. All the elders who have been here have been sick and unable to work and yeah. This area is lucky it reopened. When I got here, there were more than 200 missionaries. Now Missão Brasil Manaus has 138 missionaries. All the interior areas are closing. Brasil as a whole is missing 700-800 missionaries to open all the areas. #1 problem is the visas. #2 is lack of young men wanting to go on missions. Oh, I met an elder here today. He is an American named Elder Reil. Guess who was his companion in the CTM! Elder POULTON!!! I will go crazy if Elder Poulton doesn't get here in the next transfer.

Let's see... I got the 2 packages and some letters with pix! THANK YOU!!!! The ward doesn't know we are here yet, so we have to hunt for food this week. Thankfully, the house we live in is rented out by the first counselor in the bishopric so we got a meeting marked tonight to meet people.
 
River shoreline & views at Mauazinho - Photo by Elder Lobhino, 2003-2004

Elder Tenney's View from his house in Mauazinho
(06 September 2010)

Oh! Cool thing about the house! We went out on the roof and we can see the river really well. We are right on the riverside practically, and our part is where the two rivers come together! It's so awesome! The house is huge, too! 2 stories. But yeah, it was really, really dirty. We spent 8 hours cleaning. There was no water, but thankfully an old carton of grape juice and an open box of cereal and some spaghetti noodles. We ate the spaghetti.

Our area is really far away from the others, so we are our own district of 2 missionaries. A bit of a change from Rio Branco where there are 2 districts of 10 missionaries.

So yeah, back in Manaus now. It smells funny. I had forgotten that smell. Acre was really clean. But I am happy to be back here in the big city again.

Elder Seastrand is home now. Lucky... all of my American companions besides Elder Owens are at home now.

Sorry, I left my memory card at home, so no pics this week, but the pictures are going to slow down because the internet here is super slow.

I got all my stuff that I left in the staff building before leaving Manaus. I wasn't thinking and put my suit in a box. It smells funny now. I have all my English scriptures and books now! Not that I need them... It is super easy to read Portuguese! Speak is a different story. I like reading and writing it, though.

Love you all!

Pray for us to find men and families to teach and baptize. I know they are here. This is one of the biggest wards in Manaus. They had 200+ members at one point, and now it is 130, with a high percentage of kids.  At least they are children of members.

Church is true! etc.

Elder Mitçhell Tenney