Week #93: "10"

To: You

From: Elder Tenney

Title: How to Slay a Dragon

In the year 1328, there was a fearsome dragon who roamed about the land, eating the peasantry and stealing what little gold they did have. As would have it, there was a mystical sword that slays dragons, and as all fairy tale legends go, only one person is chosen by the sword to wield it. That poor bloke happened to be Sir Whippersnippers. In short, he went to slay the dragon and got eaten. The dragon later died of smallpox because Sir Whippersnippers never took a bath in his life.

What does this story have to do with me? Nothing. I was just bored and didn´t know what to write. So this week we both got sick around Friday and we both still have a bit of the sniffles, but we are getting better. I´m eating chicken noodle soup and what-not, so yes, I'm on the mend. So is Eça. We marked a baptismal date with one of Marcileia´s cousins. Cool beans. We basically showed up and the first words out of her mouth were "I want to be baptized." As you wish! In all, we are going good. Pres. Klein's airplane touches down in the airport at noon today, and Pres. Jayme leaves for the US at 3-ish. I am going to miss them a whole lot. I guess that´s the highlight for the week. Marking a date. Happy Birthday Livers! Tell Ike to use his hands to open the door instead of his head. Happy DragonSlaying!

Loves,

eLdEr TeNnEy

Week #92: Internet Slow in Caveman Area

Dear peoples at home,

This week was pretty good. The chapel is a rented building here. New chapel bigger than our stake center will be done in August. No piano here. The area is huge. It used to have 4 missionaries here. Hope it opens up some more. Lots of missionaries coming in. Groups of 16, 19, 17, next one 20. The mission is finally growing as I'm leaving. My comp is "maluco". That means he is crazy. I like him. I have about the same time on the mission as he does {as a} member of the church. I'm teaching him English, too. He has a great attitude and we are getting along well. 

21 June 2011

"Going Away" Conference with Pres and Sister Jayme
(Elder Tenney is in the 3rd row, right behind President Jayme!)

We had a going away conference with President Jayme. I will miss him a lot. I find myself surrounded by my old comps at these meetings. It's pretty cool. OH! I just remembered. Fabio, one of the men I baptized forever ago, is now the Elders Quorum President in Castanheira! I'm so happy for him. Suelen had a baby girl last month, too. It makes the whole mission feel worth it. They are waiting for the Manaus temple to open next year. I talked to a certain sister Hammaker the other day. She gave me Ty´s address out in Spokane. I think I´ll try writing him a letter here in a bit. Today we were going to play football (real football) on the beach next to the temple, but our bus was hit by a car this morning. I took a pic but it's not loading. The car tried turning left on the inside of the bus which was also turning left. He scraped up right under the window where we were at. Basically destroyed our pday. So we went to the city center and looked around. I found out that Elder Fox passed in this area a long time ago. Pretty cool. Well, hope you all are having a most excellent time, being happy, playing nice, eating your veggies, smile!

Loves,

Elder Tenneysan

Week #91: One Ring to Rule them all...

Dear Family and members of the Fellowship of the Ring,

The quest to save Middle Earth is going well. I just barely took a long voyage back to Mordor in the heat and stuff, so I´m going to be battling here on the front lines again. In case you´re not understanding me very well, yes, I got transferred back to Manaus. It was actually really sad to leave the Shire (Porto Velho). I don´t know why, but I wanted to stay there some more. It was really good to see a ward with a functioning leadership. Our ward mission leader, Samwise Gamgee (Fernando Grabner), was one of the best ones that I had up to now. If we needed anything, he was there. The bishop was super friendly and doing a lot, and basically all the leaders did their job well. But, now I´m here again, back in Manaus. So, my area is way out on the northern tip of manaus, on the opposite side of the city from where all my other areas are. It is called Nova Cidade. For the first time I have a companion with less than a year on the mission. His name is Elder Josimar Eça from Camamu, Bahia. He is a descendant of Portuguese and African people. He is in his second transfer right now. My flight didn´t come in from Porto Velho until 1 AM and I hardly slept at all Monday night. Last night I just died and went to sleep when the time came. We went around and met some of the ward members yesterday. One of the investigators here is the uncle of Marcileia, who happens to be the first person I baptized on the mission with Elder Gannon! Small world. This area is a bit smaller than my last one, so maybe I´ll get back the weight I lost in Porto Velho. For the first time I have an air conditioner unit in my house, so maybe I´ll get some quality sleep now. Elder Eça´s last companion finished the mission up this last transfer, so I´m kind of starting from scratch here if you know what I mean. There are lots of missionaries coming into the mission. Last transfer had 15ish come in, this one 16, and the next they are planning for 20 more to come. Sounds like things are starting to pick up now. Wish I could be here to see the mission filled up again. President Jayme is still here until the end of the month it sounds like. They do the trade somewhere around the 30th, and they will both be here for just 2 hours together and then Pres. and Sister Jayme get the airplane home. Well, I´m super-de-duper-100% excited to go out into this area now. To boldly go where probably lots of other missionaries have gone before and pick the fruits from the seeds they sowed. It doesn't matter where you have been, it is where you are now and the direction in which you are heading. The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that we are the pilots. Well, hope you all have a splendiforous week and make the most of it. I know I will. Loves and bear hugs.

Elder Gandalf the Grey. (Tenney)

Week #90: 3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

Dear People,

Another week gone by so fast. Same difficulties as usual. It´s weird how after being in the same area for a while the routines start to become monotonous. I am thankful for transfers. I love my areas, but I don´t think staying in one for large amounts of time is such a great thing. Oh, by the way, transfers are this week.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE LAN HOUSES!!!!!!!!!!!! THE COMPUTERS ALWAYS FREEZE AND I LOSE MY ENTIRE LETTER!!!!!!!!! I CLICKED SEND FOR A GIANT LETTER AND IT FROZE AND I LOST ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....

Yes, I am doing fine. I'm as calm as a daisy and peaceful as a butterfly. On the outside at least. Inside I'm wreathing with rage and destruction and craziness. Well, I´ll just list the stuff now. Taiane is back. Baby had pneumonia and infection afterwards, but will be baptized this week. Pres. Jayme finishing up the battle. Don´t know what's going to happen this week, if everyone goes to manaus for mission conference or what. That´s basically it. Sorry for the ruined letter. Love you all tons.

ET

{Three months from today....!!!}

Week #89: KUNG FU PANDA 2??? NO WAY!!!!!

Hey all,
  

"We had a zone activity today. Soccer and basketball. I forgot my shoes in Manaus, so I've been playing barefoot and today I got a massive blister. Not going to be fun walking... maybe." (Elder Tenney:  Second from right)

This week was a hot walking in the sun go about talk to everyone milkshake physical therapy where are the investigators why isn´t our baptism working out kind of week. In other words, this week was normal. Elder Guerreiro started to have back pains the other day and so we went to the hospital and he got an xray. From the looks of it, his spine is collapsing or would have had we not come in when we did. They ordered him to start physical therapy, which we do once or twice a day now. Poor guy, after physical therapy it gets better, but then much later in between sessions he says it still hurts. Hope he can get through this. Took an injection and meds and stuff for it, too. Not pretty. Taiane´s little baby girl got pneumonia a couple weeks ago and finally left the hospital this Sunday. We went to go visit her on Monday and right before we got there they rushed back to the hospital as Grazielle got bad again. It's so sad... it's a little baby girl with a rocking hairstyle. I´ll try to take a pic one of these days if I can. So... we spend our days talking with people. As our area is the city center, for every 10-12 people we talk with, 3 give us their address. Of every 10-12 addresses we get, 1-2 live in our area. So, we get to talk to lots of people. That´s basically the battle plan for this week and next week so that the next transfer can already start off good. We walked past a movie theater today and I saw a poster for Kung Fu Panda 2. Let me just say I am so excited now I'm just getting all giddy inside. Well, hope you all are doing amazing! Love you all tons! Have an awesome week, work hard, go read a book or something. Loves.

-Elder Tenney