Week 6!!!!

So we found the peeerrrffeecccttt investigators this week!!!  And why are they perfect you ask???  ohhhoo lemme explain!!!  First off, they have an acoustic guitar, so i always play a hymn while my comp sings to start the lessons (idk if ive ever said this yet but my comp is a great singer and we sing hymns lots in lessons, way cool!)  Second, these poor people could talk for hours, sometimes they talk so much that we literally cant teach them, literally cant, they just cut us off and start talking, so we have to teach them with movies hahahaha how great is that????  We take a movie such as the first vision and movies about Christ to teach them everything!!!  They still talk a fair amount during the movies, but hey were doing the best we can with them... Alright best part of the story though, i put the cap to my pen on the wrong side of my pen, and then stuck my pen in the chest pocket of my white shirt (oh my goodness i hope i can explain this story well enough cuz it was literally the funniest thing in the world, im dying trying to type it right now, so ya heres some good suspense for ya, take breaks if you need to, thats what im having to do) so my pen made a good black mark all the way downthe top of my shirt to my pocket where i put it... i didnt realize it, but then the lady pointed it out to me... and then the lady, feeling like a genious, said to me ´´oh no hermano look, i have an idea, you can put the lid on the other side of your pen, and then it wont mark your shirt...´´ and she was completely serious, like she thought this was a brilliant idea that i had never known before hahahaha like anyone else would give me crap you know and say ´´ya nice one genious´ or something, knowing that obviously i knew, i just made a little mistake this time, but no this lady literally thought i had never in my life known to put the lid on the other side of the pen... but you know, im happy she got to feel like a genious for a little while... anyway i was dying for days after that, i barely made it through the rest of the lesson, so ya i hope that turned out as funny as it was in reality through my translation from spanish and via email...

Alright so other than that its just the same old life here in crazy Colombia, salsa music blasting from every building, loud motorcycles zipping around everywhere, occasional drunk guys chasing each other on foot through the street, hardly able to run straight (oh ya those are great haha) but occasionally some really sincere people with good hearts too!!  Such an interesting country, crazy contrast among the people, and the stuff that happens, but its always exciting here and i love it!!!  Theres this emergency alarm, huge tower, in the middle of the city that sounds off every once in a while, waaaayyy loud, not exactly sure what it means haha, but ya it went off a few times this week and whenevber it does cop cars go flying around all the streets, but ya dont worry too much mom haha im safe, especially in my little pub town villa gorgona here!

Two way neat experiences with investigatores this week!!  First, weve got this couple who are young and living together but arent married, but the parents of the dad are members and way fun people, and weve been teaching them, and the other day they straight up told us they have seen miracle changes in their lives since taking our lessons, that they have felt so happy all the time, and that they are really feeling themselves come to know the love of God for them, and that they want nothing more than to keep learning, so ya that was SOOO COOL to hear for the first time for me really from the mouths of my investigators!!1  The only problem is they arent married (thats a super common problem here) so we found their birth papers with lots of effort, some of them are getting shipped here from other cities, and we are planning a wedding for them (cheesy joke time: who says a missionary cant still be a love doctor right?)!!! 

Same thing happend with a group of brothers and cousins, teenagers, who live together who weve taught... one day i told them the story of your cancer mom, but of how your recovery and the help i received from The Lord all the way was such a testimony builder, and another day one of them told me that was super powerful for him, and he has changed since, normally he laughs a lot and isnt as focused during the lessons, but hes been doing a lot better now!!!

So ya im loving the work here!!!!   I cant thank you guys enough for preparing me my whole life for this!!!!  I couldnt be happier doing this work here!!!  Oh and i gave a talk in church the other day, and i taught on the enabling side of the atonement, cuz a lot of people here (or really everywhere in the church) really dont understand that, but think they have to have sins to receive the power of the atonement, so ya that was a sweet opportunity, and my spanish was definitely guided by the gift of tongues, my pronounciation was way better than normal while i spake, and even though i had notes to use if needed, i didnt use them much, but gave almost the whole thing with my own words, and everyone told me after that i sound like a gringo whose been out for at least a year on his mission!!!  So ya the gift of tongues, as with every other doctrine, is real, and since ive had this doctrine to bless me my whole life, i want nothing more than to use it to bless others too!!!

Sigan haciendo lo correcto!!  Con tal de que hayamos hecho lo que Dios nos ha pedido que hagamos, tendremos su amor y su gracia con nosotros en cada momento de nuestras vidas, la gracia que hizo posible por medio de la expiacion de Jesucristo!!

Les amo

Nos vemos

Elder Tenney

the weeeeeeeek

K, haaaannndddssss dooowwwwnnnnn im starting this weeks story sesh with the jeepetas!!!!   K so the hermanas (sister missionaries) in our ward work in a city similar to ours outside of Cali a bit too, but its a bit nicer, and we went there on wednesday to help them track and find new families and people to teach (first time i actually tracted here haha upside of serving as a gringo in south america, we almost always have lots of investigators and dont need to track much...) and in their city they have what are called jeepetas!!!  They are jeeps,but a bit bigger than normal, and they are like taxis, but you stand on the push bar on the back and just hold on to ride everywhere!!!!  haha soooooo funnnn!!!!  So ya from the main road we rode a jeepeta into their town, and after, at night, we rode all the way into Cali to the chapel for a ward mission meeting!!!  Holy cow it was sweet to be holding on for my life haha on a big main road with the craaazzyy drivers here, but to also be pulling into Caliat night, all lit up brilliant with its lights, was gorgious and soooo cool to think that this is my mission hahaha riding on a back of a car with the wind in my face and all pulling into a big busy but fun city after a good afternoon of doing The Lords work!!!  k shoot the only problem though is that the flash wasnt working for some reason on my camera, so one of the hermanas took some sweet pictures for me on her camera but i havent gotten them from her yet, sorry i will get those to you when i can...

alright i had my first mission conference this week!!!  Was awesome!!!  Got to bus down to southern Cali for it, a part i havent been to yet and was cool to see!!  It was with our zone, a big zone in Cali with a weird name i can never remember, and the buenaventura zone (buenaventura is a suuper poor but super popular and fun zone across the mountains right on the coast) and it was super fun to meet lots more missionaries!!  Especially gringos who not only spoke waaay good spanish, but could understand the natives perfectly haha... so ya we did some really helpful practices and the APs gave some cool tips, and we got some sweet lectures from the president and ya it was a great experience!!  Got us way amped!!  The president is awesome, hes super calm and always talks really quite and can be a bit boresome haha to be completely honest, but thats only if you arent listening very carefully, because he is a quite genious, he always has suuuper neat teachings and all... i like him!!  His wife is super funny too haha and shes always a really good energetic teacher as well!! 

Alright this goes to will mark and jared specifically:  LEARN TO CITE READ THE HYMNS ON THE PIANO!!!!!  hahaha ok so ive been playing the piano in sacrament meeting in church, and no they havent been letting me choose the songs, yes ive had to cite read them haha and the first week was a bit rough, and i told them ´´look sorry but im really not great at cite reading (was a bit difficult to explain what that means in spanish haha)´´ but they told me it was fine, that nobody else can play and it was a privilege to have me play, even if i dont cite read perfectly... so ya just as i thought i was getting better at cite reading, yesterday one of the counselors in the bishopric said he had an assignment for me.  He told me to practice a bit after district and zone meetings during the week, and to call him with four songs i can play saturday night before church on sunday... which really means: ya we were wrong, your cite reading really is quite poor, and we gotta stick with the songs you can play better hahaha... but oh well its better for me too that we do it this way... so ya keep practicing cite reading guys... haha

i need another favor haha, do you guys by chance have a copy of the book ´´he took my lickin for me´´?  I would really like to use that book to teach about the atonement, so if its not too much work, could you by chance take pictures of the pages and send them to me so i can print them out, translate, and use them to teach???  if its convenient that would be awesome thanks!!!

So after a bit of a drought we finally have got another baptism on the calender this saturday!!  And we might put a second one for the same day!!  Weve got an appointment with a young kid whose a cool guy and who knows this gospel is true and always comes to church, but keeps telling us he doesnt feel ready to be baptized, he doesnt know why, so weve got a big lession planned and the APs are trucking it out here to Villa Gorgona to teach it with us and try to get him a bit more excited about baptism... so ya other than that the work is going good!!  Como siempre, la problema es la asistencia a la iglesia aqui en villa gorgona ya que la capilla es muy lejos, siempre nos animamos mucho durante la semana mientras estemos ensenando mucho y encontrando muchas buenas y receptivas personas, pero nuetra esperanza se cae cada domingo cuando tocemos las puertas y nadie nos contesta y nadie quiere acompanarnos a la iglesia, pero estamos haciendo lo que mas podamos y tenemos algunos investigadores que estan progresando bien and deben ser bautizados con un pocito mas tiempo!!  Gracias por todo!!  Somos bendecidos por hacer esta obra!!  Siga haciendolo!!!

Les amo

nos vemos

Elder Tenney

Week 4 in the field down already?!?!

Not as much this week sorry, but living in Colombia theres always some good stuff to share!!!  I will start with the cockroach on my pants this morning!!  Ya so i woke up and felt something weird under my bed sheets... hahaha no dont worry mom thats a lie, it actually went like this:  We were buying lunch and in this little restaurant a guy pointed to my leg and i looked down and there was a cock roach probably the size of a typical computer mouse, no joke, crawling up my pants almost to my knee!!!  I didnt scream haha luckily but i did shake a good little bit in fear haha and shook it off and immediately stomped on it, then looked up to see all the natives around me laughing at the dumb gringo who got perhaps a bit overly scared with a cockroach on his pants haha... i tried to explain that they arent even half as big in my country but they just laughed even more haha but oh well, thats the life of a gringo in Colombia...

OOooooo we had a CRAZZZYYYY storm this week!!!!!  Daaaaannngggg if you guys like a good storm in utah you otta come here some time!!!!!!  One day this week we were walking out of a lesson in teh mid afternoon when it just started absolutely pouring rain harder than ive ever seen!!!  And it was a blast standing out in it getting soaked and cooling off haha really refreshing, until a huge lightning bolt came down not too far from us, and scarier yet, at the SAME TIME; THE LOUDEST THUNDER ive eeeevvverrrrr heard!!!!!  Holy cow my ears were ringing for at least an hour no joke, sounded like a gun shot, no like 3, it crackkled a bit, but was soooo loud my comp and i jumped a bit and ran over to a little store haha!!!  So ya we ran through the rain to our next appointment enjoying the rain but plugging our ears and staying under roofs of stores whenever we could cuz the lighting was right over us!!!  But ya it was waayyyy fun haha!!!

Alright really random thing ive noticed, you can know the doctors arent very good here by peoples belly buttons...  hhahahha i know that sounds dumb but here me out for a second...  the men are always walking around shirtless since its so hot here, and dang ive seen some weird stuff stuck to the middle of peoples stomacks that they somehow still call belly buttons...  haha they almost always stick way out in like the size of half a tennis ball, and usually have a little naught tip sticking out too... ughgh weird haha ill have to try to casually snap a pic sometime hahaha

alright well ya thats all i got for today, but i love you guys tons and even though i miss you I couldnt be happier to be here doing this great work!!!  Thanks for preparing me my whole life for this!!!  Keep hastening The Lords work!!!  We have been born into such fortunate circumstances because we agreed before this life to use all that weve been given to strengthen the church here in these latter days and ultimately prepare the world for the second coming of our glorious savior!!!  Keep doing the work with me and keeping me posted!!!  Oh and no mom i still havent gotten sick haha dont worry about me one bit, The Lord is watcing me and you guys too, especially Jared!!!

Les amo

Nos Vemos

Su hijo,

Stephen, Elder Tenney

Week 3 in the Field Down! And passed up my two month mark too! Time is flying!

Dangggg i could write a multiple volume book on the buses here!!!   HAHAHA they dont need a Six Flags here in the slightest!!!!!  So as i think if said, we take the bus a few times a week out of our little town here and into Cali where the chapel is for meetings and what not, and it is always such a blast and unique experience haha!!!  For starters, the other day we almost took out some dude walking his goat across the street... And one time this week there was a bunch of traffic in another little town on the way to Cali, so the bus, without slowing down at all, swerved hard left, across the lanes of opposing traffic, and into a gas station parking lot!!!  It nearly took out a car pulling out of the gas station in the process, and if thats not enough, it swerved around a few people and in between two different gas pumps, one of them occupied with another victimous car and its owner, and then off the curb, not a little dip no, the curb, of teh gas station, and finally back across the lanes of oposing traffic and finally into its correct position on the road!!!!!  And it maintained the same speed the whole time!!!!  Craziest maneuver i think i will ever experience in any sort of vehicle in my life!!!!   Another day, there was again a bunch of traffic, (this time there was traffic because of a huge fire in the crops alongside the road), and the bus pulled off the road to the right where it was dirt that wasnt level, so the bus is leaning at a good 30 degree angle (maybe a bit of an exageration but hey) to the side and still cruising kicking up tons of dirt as it flies down the side of teh road!!!  If you looked out the windows on the right, all you saw was ground, and if you looked out to the left, all you saw was blue sky, like an airplane making a sharp turn...  I quickly counted the number of overweight people on each side of teh bus to try and capture an idea of how safe we were...

So then, after crusiing at this crazy angle for a while, passing most of the traffic, we come to the fire itself, and the bus winds around a few cop cars (ya the cops dont even look twice at this crazy bus braking who knows how many traffic laws, nor are the cops actually doing anything about the fire, just standing there staring at it, the cops in this country could compile another book haha ive seen some funny stuff from them too that i will perhaps share later) and stops for a sec, stuck behind a bunch of other cars that did the same thing and tried to pass up on the right, and a whole bunch of smoke starts coming into the bus from the fire thats right by our side, flames maybe 20 or 30 yard away!!!  So ya i start breathing into my tie before finally the cars infront of us move out and we pull back onto the road ahead of all the traffic and continue our journey...  

K perhaps the best part too of all this is that as im sitting here in aww, pretty scared but also super entertained and almost unable to believe that this is all happening hahaha, i look over at my comp every once in a while, and ya hes passed out asleep every time!!!  Hahahaha no idea how this guy can sleep through all this, but ya it always gives me an additional good laugh to see him just sleeping through all this... I love riding the buses cuz its always a crazy energetic experience and he loves riding them cuz he gets some time to nap haha!!!!

Alright so ya there you have it, the buses in Colombia...  other than that everythings just the typical good old missionary work!!!  There really are so many poeple here who want to hear our message and are really receptive, its an awesome place to work!!  But the hard part is always just getting the people to come to church with us...  Every week we find some new people who are super receptive and take the lessons well,until sunday comes around, and we pass by their house in the morning to take them to church with us and theyve got some excuse and say they cant go... But we are working on it!!  Its a bit hard that the chapel is so far, for a lot of people the problem is that they cant pay the bus ride to the chapel and back, it only costs 2 mil pesos both ways, which isnt even quite a dollar, but they dont even have that, they are taht poor...  We are allowed to pay the first time they come but after that the bishop and our mission president have strictly forbade us to help them pay to come to church, but interestingly enough, the people who are the poorest are usually the ones who are so moved by our message and who do find ways to make it, and its so neat to see!!!  Im so lucky to be apart of the missionary work here!!!  The church is so young but strong here, and growing fast, and its incredible to see!!!  The Lord really is hastening His work, and i want nothing more and delight so much in being apart of it!!!  Thanks again, as always, for everything youve taught me my whole 

life!!!  I couldnt be more greatful for how you guys have always prepared me for this, and I told my mission president the other day in my interview that it is soooo cool and neat for me to see myself sharing everything that ive been taught to the people here, everything ive ever learned had lots of purpose before, but has sooo much more know that im sharing it too!!!

El caso de que la iglesia puede cambiar vidas en las maneras a las que he visto aqui es un gran parte que se ha dado a mi testimonio!!!  Mi companero y yo nos animos muchisimo cada dia a fortalecer la obra aqui!  Es posible, hemos escuchado, que podemos construir una capilla aqui en villa gorgona, solamente estamos esperando los numeros requeridos segun las reglas de la iglesia para construir una capilla.  Desafortunadamente (ive been practicing pronouncing that word a lot lately haha) probablamente no podemos lograr tantos miembros aqui en villa gorgona para construir una capilla durante de mi tiempo aqui, pero yo se que muy cerca en el futuro se habra construido, porque esta iglesia, la unica iglesia verdadera, esta creciendo muy rapido aqui!!!  El Senor, nuestro salvador y redentor, Jesucritso, regresará, y sigan tratando conmigo a preparar la tierra para esta segunda venida!!!

Les amo

Nos vemos

Elder Tenney