September 2009 - September 2011

The Journey from Beginning to End

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Week #62: Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey Everybody!

I had totally forgotten it was Thanksgiving this week. I´m thankful that you reminded me. I am thankful that Sam got on the Basketball Team. I am thankful that I don´t have a foot fungus as of right now. I am thankful that I stayed in my same area with Elder Ammon this transfer. I am thankful that Christmas is coming up. I am thankful that bread is cheap in Manaus. I am thankful that toilet paper exists here. I am thankful for running water. I am thankful for electricity. I am thankful for a mattress to sleep on. I am thankful for a pillow to rest my head. I am thankful for my clothes. I am thankful for my dying shoes which shall probably be replaced soon. I am thankful for duct tape and how it works to waterproof the before stated shoes. I am thankful for Doctor Scholl´s. I am gellin´. I am thankful for mangos and bananas and apples and oranges and tangerines and açai and cupuaçu and araçá-boi and graviola and macaxeira and pupunha and taperebá and piquiá and tucumã and bacaba and acerola and guaraná and limes and lemons and pears and grapes and watermelon and peaches. I am missing a whole lot of fruits, but I´ll just let it go there. I am ....thankful.... for...... rain........... maybe...... I am thankful for music. Very much. Very very much. Oooooh so much. I am thankful for computers and how I can email home every week. I am thankful for water and water purifiers. I am thankful for baptism, and how the water purifies. I am thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and how through our faith in Him, miracles can happen. I am thankful for the Holy Spirit, and for its comfort it brings to me in times of trial. I am thankful for my companions, every single one of them, and the things I was able to learn from them. I am thankful for President Jayme and for the counsels he gives to me. I am thankful for my mission leaders and fellow missionaries. I am thankful for prayer, that through it I can speak with Heavenly Father on a constant basis. I am thankful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that through Him I can be forgiven of all of my sins, and return to live with Heavenly Father with all of you. I am thankful for my mission, and for the experiences I am having here in the field. I am thankful for the Book of Mormon and the Bible and all other scriptures, and for the teachings that are inside that record that the Prophets left for us and are still giving us in these latter days. I am thankful for the temple, that through the ordinances done there I can be sealed to my family for time and all eternity.

I am thankful for my family, and for all the love and support that they give me.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Love,
Elder Tenney

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Week #61: 14 Months! Week 6 of Transfer 9

Hello, Hello, Hello!

So, this last week was pretty good. We have been teaching Janderson´s brother, Jonathas, who was marked to be baptized last Sunday. There was a small speed bump in the road, but this next Sunday he is all up and ready to go. Jonathas has an extremely large testimony of the Gospel. He even bore it to us the other day. Basically we are just making small visits this week to keep him pumped up and excited.

We had made a contact with a man in the road the other week. We marked to go back, but I got a little lost. We decided to go to a house on the street we were at to ask directions. Turns out, that house had an inactive family in it. How are they now? Active. It was a miracle. Then the man we were looking for ended up yelling at us to come over in the road and we kept teaching him. He had started reading the Book of Mormon and was extremely interested.

Yesterday, I made 14 months in the field.... Seriously, it is going by extremely fast. Too fast for my liking.

Today we went to INPA. It is like a zoo/science study place. They do studies of the Amazon Forest. It wasn´t all that exciting, except that the animals are allowed to roam free through the zoo. Except the crocodiles. The monkeys went swinging around over our heads at one part. I got a pic! So yeah, it was cool. There was the world´s largest leaf there from the Amazon. It was bigger than me!

Transfers are coming up next week. Who knows where I am going to be this next Tuesday! (Day of Transfers) More areas are closing because there are about 10 missionaries leaving and only 2 coming in. It's a rough life.

Well, that´s about it. Love you all tons! Happy Thanksgiving next week! Happy Birthday, Blake! Thanks for the amazing email Grandma Tenney! Love you!

-Elder Tenney

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Week #60: I'm Singing in the Rain!

Oi! Como estão?

So, this last week has been really tiring. We have done a lot of walking. Right now we are working out in the Sharp Community, which is the furthest neighborhood from our house. Basically, if we had gone any further, we would have gone into the area of Mauazinho. (I didn´t know it was so close to here!) We received one reference out there and now we are finding a whole bunch of people to teach! Our teaching group had died, but now it is starting to come back to life again. I´m starting to realize that a teaching group has an average life span of 2 weeks, then you have to basically get a new one. Well, actually you shouldn´t let it just die, you should always be putting in and taking out people constantly so it can stay healthy, but usually if you don´t go looking for new people, it dies fast. But, on a happy side, we have a baptism marked for this Sunday, and another one for next Saturday after. The first one is of Jonathas, who is Janderson´s brother, the guy I baptized with Elder Seastrand. He is an elect. He was already trying to quit drinking coffee before we found him. The other guy is Antônio. He was an old investigator from a few years ago that I found in the Area Book. That Saturday is also the day the phone call comes for transfers, so I don´t know much of what is going to go on after that one. We also started teaching Fabio´s parents. His dad was really against the church a long time ago, but now that he is seeing how Fabio´s life is changing, he has softened up a bit and we are teaching him. He accepted the Book of Mormon as the word of God, but he isn´t really in the mood to pray about it. Give him another couple days and he will come around.

All in all, Zion is growing! Hope you all are having a blast! Good luck to Sam with the basketball tryouts. I will only accept Desert Hills beating Pine View if Sam is on the team!

Boa Sorte, Buddy!

Love you all!

Church is true in case you had any doubts.

-Elder Tenney

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Week #59: Power Week!

Hey all,

Hows bes yous alls? Is bes goods. This last week was a power week in the mission. We went all out and we have quite a large teaching group now of young couples and men. If all goes well, we will be doing 6 weddings on the 27th and about 15 baptisms. But, that´s just the hope. Most of the people aren´t exactly accepting, but if they all do, that´s about the potential number. Probably will filter out to one wedding with 2 being baptized, but that´s the idea of teaching lots. SOMEONE in there is ready to accept the message.

Our investigator that is closest to being baptized is Jonathas. He is the brother of Janderson, that Elder Seastrand and I baptized when I was here last time. Jonathas is like a golden investigator. He reads, prays, received an answer, was already trying to stop drinking coffee before we met him, and has no other problems that we are aware of yet. 13 of November is our goal.

We have had a few headache-giving investigators the last few days. People that just don´t seem to get it and they say that even if they got an answer from Heavenly Father they wouldn´t trade their religion, then they say that it can´t be true anyways because Joseph Smith´s name isn´t in the Bible. We try to explain, but a hard heart is a hard thing to get through.

This transfer is going by extremely fast. It´s practically Christmas again! So very excited I am!

Have an awesome week!

Love you all tons!

-Elder Tenney

Bad news about pictures: My card reader burned out for some reason last week and isn´t working anymore. It is going to be a while before pictures come again.