the Weeeeeekkk!!!!

Whaaattttuuuppppp?!?!?!?!   Cómo les va?!?!?!   Finalmente he aprendido a usar estes teclados para escribir con acentos sobre las letras!!!! 

Hows it going?!?!?!  Thanks sooooo much for the emails as always, looooove them soooooo much!!!!!  Ahhhh mom im so sorry youvbe been sick, i cant say the same for myslef this week, ive been quite healthy and taking care of myself, dont worry haha, but daaaaang keep telling me more about this Bednar book!!!!  Bednar is incredible!!!!!!  I seriously look up to him soooo much!!!!!  so in the MTC we got to watch a good amount of devotionals particularly to the missionaries in the provo mtc, and of course Holland is probably my favorite, but Bednar is a waaaayyy close second!!!  He really is soooo articulate, sooooo smart... and you should try to look for some of his mtc addresses, idk if they are released publicly, but hes waayyy more animated in them and even said in one, that General conference is not the place to be cracking jokes and super loud and all, but that he will be more that way with the missionaries hahaha and its true, hes wayyy funny a lot of the time in these talks, but in a very particular, whitty, and still proper way, its sooo neat!!!!

And daaaang Dad and Will that riding sounds soooo fun!!!!  Will that bike loooks sweeeeet!!!!!  And mark im sooo glad to hear all is going well!!  hahahaha i couldn not agree more about Gibsons classes, the same happened with me, i went through a fun run era in that class, and then finally started using the time to focus on other homework and all as well!!1  and ya listening to music is the best while studying the scriptures huh!!!!  We have a little music player in our house yes with church music and even some efy music, I LOVE IT!!!!  But my comp doesnt let us use it during study time.... he says its not allowed, bim not sure if thats accurate, but oh well... but ya so anyways i always try to get ready extra fast in the morning and start my personal study like 10 minutes early so that i can study for that time with the music before he turns it off...

So ya im sooo glad all is well!!!  And know that all is just as well with me too!!!  Wooooow time is flying!!!!  im gonna complete four months on the mission this week!!!!  Can you believe that!!!!  already 1/6 of the way done!!!  And as excited as i will be to get home and see you guys, im honestly not counting down, but counting how much time i have to still take advantage of this full time work!!!!  But i read in a cool article in the liahona the other day that a member of the 70 had two missionaries tell him they didnt know what to do to help an investigator, they were doing the best they could, and he was glad to see that, cuz he knew they would then get home and at times be worried about what to do with a prospectice elder in the quorum who wastn super active, or a kid who wasnt super obedient, and he says they will be sooo much more prepared for that having served missions, and thats wayyy cool and makes me want to take advantage of the mission even more!!!!

Alright so not a whole lot this week sorry, im already almost out of time, but a few funny little things from living in Colombia.   The other day we were sitting out in front of an investigators house teaching and a chicken flew out of the middle of nowhere and landed on my lap!!!  I squirmed a bit, almost handing away my man card, until it fluttered of, dismounting me, and then finally regained my posure to find my comp and the investigator laughing at me haha...



Alright so a few funny stories first haha.  There are always a few times when i wish there were another gringo with me, or someone else who speaks english... example number one: some kids were walking down the street selling stuff with a megaphone, and they asked me to say something in english, so what do i do, thats right, i ask to use the megaphone to do it haha, so i get the megaphone and start yelling out ´´ohhhhh you guys´ve got a fresh gringo here right out of the united states living it up in colombia!!!  Whats he saying???  Nobody knows!!!¨´  hahaha and i was just laughing to myself as i realized im the only one who understands what im saying hahaha and ya, thats always part of why its awkward but even more funny, because im just left to laugh alone, by myslef, cuz the only times im with someone else who speaks english is in zone conferences with other gringo missionaries.. ( there are a few people here who know a little english, but not much, but they cant understand me at all when i talk in english, i have to talk super slow and clear with simple words for them...)

alright another case of this, a guy in the ward said the other day that he cant speak english, but he can understand it, and i quickly looked up and said ´´oh ya???´´ and he had no idea what that was that i said and i just started laughing alone haha...

the buses are still sooooo crazy... i love them So much though haha!!!!  No jeepetas this paast week darn it, but this thursday we should be going to that area where they are agian!! 

OOOOO ok so i gotta tell you this sweeeet analogy ive been using to teach the atonement!!  Some serious inspirational help in coming up with this, and its a bit difficult to teach, im still working on making it more simple and clear in spanish, but ive been using soccer to teach about the atonement like this:  First i ask the people what happens when someone touches the ball inside the goalie box, and they explain penalty and all... and i say k, imagine before we start a soccer game, we tell the other team that they can start with an advantage of 20 free penatly kicks, and they are stocked and take the offer, but weve got Christ, who is the perfect player, as goalie, and he blocks them all!!!  So then we start the game 0 to 0, and when one of our players accidentally touches the ball inside the box, we tell them ´´no, no penalty, now you guys only owe us 19...¨ and we keep playing... I teach them this is how it is when we use the power of the atonement to repent, that Christ already payed the price, and that only Christ, the perfect player of soccer, the only one to live a sinless life, could pay that price... Then i ask them ´´but what fun would soccer be if we could always use our hands in the goalie box without a punishment?´´  i help them understand it wouldnt be fun, that the players still regardless must keep trying to do their best, and then i aks them if the players would get any better without trying and always using their hands in the box, and i teach them that even though the players dont have to suffer the penalty, they must keep trying to play by the rules so that its fun, just as we keep trying to live sinless so that we are happy, and that they must keep trying so that they improve theirs skills and becoem better players, and eventually become perfect soccer players, like Christ, just as we must keep tring to do our best and can one day become like Him!!!!

Entonces sí, ha sido muuuuy divertido enseñar eso en lecciones con investigadores y con meimbros, y les testifico que es verdad!  yo se porque siempre disfruto ese partido de fútbol, que es la vida, cuando uso el poder de la Expiación hecho posilbe por Jesucristo, y que con tal de que yo esté tratando siempre de hacer lo que más pueda, estoy feliz, y así es la esperanza que tiene Nuestro Padre Celestial para cada uno de nosotros, y lo digo en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.

Les amo

nos vemos

Elder Tenney

Ahhuba, hes back!

K so no thats not a word in spanish, ahuba or whatever i wrote, im just out of ideas for the subjects on these emails...

anyways..... WHATS UP?!?!?!  Thanks sooo much for all the emails!!!  The excitemente about getting emails is mutual then, sooo fun to hear about how well you guys are doing!!!  And just know that im doing just as well too, if not better!!!  Daaaang haha i can promise you byu will go far this year, and next year (in sports), but then im sure they will fall back a bit by the time i get back there knowing my luck... And ahhh im always soooo glad to hear about Jared and his progress!!  Awesome that you guys got to see the temple dedication!!!  I would love that more than anything right now!!  Its kinda funny haha i think i can fairly say ive hit the spiritual high of the missionary since my favorite thing to do is read the Liahona and since ive never in my life been SOOO excited for general conference!!  Haha im seriously stoked for it in a few weeks!!  Dang keep up the good ball playing too and mountain biking!!  Soudns sweet!!  Theres some sweet mountains here on the other side of Cali i wish i could ride in... maybe some day after the mish!!  Ahh im sorry about Peggys husband, he was wayyyy supportive of me right before i left, i will keep them in my prayers...

Alright well interesting week weve had here.  I will start with the bad and get it over with.  My comp got sick yesterday, and he thought he could still make it to church, but he slept in a bit in the mornign and so we didnt pass by the houses of our investigators like we normally do... normally we have 4 investigators who attend church on their own, without us accompanying them, 3 of them cuz they are way good investigators (the 2 we are planing the wedding for and the old guy whos divorcing his wife since shes a Jehovahs witness haha) and 1 other cuz his girlfriends a member, but hey whatever floats the boat right (tried translating that phrase the other day to make a joke with my comp, didnt really work...).  And aside from thsose 4 normally we pass by the houses of 4 or 5 more, and usually 1 or 2 will come... buuut so yesterday we didnt pass by for anyone, just went straight there, and the stake president was there (which happens less than once a month probably) and he gave a talk and asked all the nonmembers there in the meeting to stand... nobody stood... he asked the missionaries to stand, and then asked us who are investigators are, i frantically searched around for the typical 4, but through the sweat now thickening on my face couldnt find any of them... so there are 4 other missionaries in our ward too, 2 elderes and 2 hermanas, who normally bring at least 2 or 3 investigators too, but they didnt bring a single person either.... ahhhhh so the one day the stake presidnet comes (hes a way cool guy) is the one day none of us, amongst us 6 missionaries, managed to bring a single investigator, and we got thrown under the bus there in sacrament meeting infront of the whole ward... hahaha ahh ya so now my comp and i have cooled off about that one but that was a bit rough, but its helped us get even more motivated to keep working hard (not that we werent before, but we are cracking down a bit more now on the 4 good investigators especially).

Alright, thats the only bad thing haha fortunately, other than that, INCREDIBLE week!!!!  Mostly for 1 reason, we had a conference with Elder Grow from the 70 all day friday and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!  All the missionaries expect zones popayan, pasto, and ipiales down south, were at the conference, probably 140ish of us 200, and we had meetings with him all day and then he gave a fireside at night to all the leaders in 3 of the stakes here in Cali with us missionaries too!!  So i got to see most of my other missionary friends here in the mission which was sweet!!  And when elder Grow first arrived in the morning, he greeted us all one by one, and when he got to me and saw my plack, he asked me if my grandpa is Don Tenney, and i said yes and he immediately hugged me and said my grandpa is a hero to him and that my whole family is the ideal strong family in the church!!!!!!!  he said grandpa hired him at arthur anderson and i think he worked with him a bit in the church too... but ya im always running into situations with leaders here in the mission who know our family and our name, both the Tenney side and the Richards side, and it always just makes me realize even more and more how blessed i am by reason of my birth, adn the responsibilities i have to build this kingdom!!!  So if thats not enough, to start the second meeting after lunch, he asked me to come up to the stand, there in front of just about the whole mission, and told me he had a few questions for me to answer for everyone, knowing that ive only been out 3 and a half months he asked if i wanted to do it in english or spanish (he served his mission in mexico and as a president of the mission in uruguay, speaks pretty well), i told him i could do it in spanish which was maybe a mistake haha but oh well... so ya he asked me there at the pulpit a few questions about our family and what role it has had in my life with respect to the gospel and everything... and i told the whole mission that nothing means more to me than my family!!!  I told everyone that my parents have worked so hard there whole lives to teach this gospel to my brothers and i and that we have always had teh spirit so strong in our home, and that i only want other families here to have that too... and ya im not too sure how clear it all came out in spanish haha but one thing i know for sure, the Spirit was soooo strong as Elder Grow gave me that experience.  I bore my testimony of the strength and gift of families and potential across eternity, and started crying pretty hard darn it infront of the whole mission haha but oh well it was a good cry, and Elder Grow hugged me up there again in front of everyone and i went back to my seat... But as i walked back i saw lots of other missionaries filled with tears and smiles as well, many of whom patted me on the back as i returned to my seat, and ya im not trying to say i did anything amazing, in fact i can promise with my rookie gringo spanish theres no way i did or said anything great, but one thing i can say for sure, you guys have helped me come my whole life to develop one dang strong testimony.  Even if nobody else there in the meeting gained anything, i felt the Spirit soooooo strong the rest of the day and it was incredible!!!!!  So ya that was amazing!!!!!  After the meeting in teh night i went up to elder Grow to thank him one more time for the amazing experience, and he told me to say hi to all of you, expecially to grandpa, and we took a picture, and Hermana Prícoli, the mission presidents wife, thanked me too and told me that she thougth it was a great opportunity for many of those missionaries there who dont have strong families to feel the Spirit and come to understand better the strength of families... so ya haha that was incredible!!!

Listo entonces que pena pero no tengo mucho más para compartir esta semana, solo quiero asegurarme a que ustedes entiendan la gratitud infinita que tengo por nuestra familia eterna y por este plan de Dios, nuestro padre vivo en el cielo, para nosotros, el cual Jesucristo hizo posible con la expiación.  No hay algo más importante para mí que este plan, y estoy infinito agradecido por este privilegio que tengo ahorita de usar todo mi tiempo para enseñar este mensaje con las personas aquí! 

Les amo

Nos vemos

Elder Tenney

SHHHAAA BOYZZ BAACK!!!

Dang, im running out of subject headers for these emails haha, anywayyyyssss..... WHATS UP?!?!?!    Things are still kicking way good here in COLOOOMBIA!!!!!   Oh and before i get and while im keeping my pinkie finger over the shift button, i gotta finally react now that im 3 weeks late, to the fact that Braden Tenney is engaged.  My reaction:  WWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!  K there is soooooooOOOOO much more reaction i would write to that haha but the time doesnt permit...

Alright sooooo it finally happened this week.  I finally got sick.  So ya i remember now that one of the llamas (yes mark, correct, they are called yamas here, funny huh... hahaha) sneezed on me at the zoo last pday, and im not sure if i remembered to wash my hands before eating lunch then after that...  haha no jk that didnt happen.  But i think it was just the burger i had for lunch at the zoo or something cuz monday night, exactly a week ago, my stomach started doing painful summer saults, i barely made it through the two family nights we had planned, and then at night as we were walking back i began to run, i will save you the details, but ya i got a bit sick and had to stay in the house all day tuesday and part of wednesday, but i took the medicine you packed me mom and now its all good!!  So ya dont worry one bit about me, ive now got a little experience under my belt of taking care of myslef when i get sick too and ya all is good!!  And dont worry mom i will be even more careful in the future now...

Alright, a bit of story time:  So one sweet investigator weve got right now is an older man who has always loved reading the Bible and was thrilled when we found him and shared the Book of Mormon with him and invited him to church, hes already read like half the Book of Mormon and a whole Liahona magazine and always wants to accompany us to church and its really just too easy with this guy... kinda scares me... like it shouldnt be this easy... im waiting for some huge obstacle to come up with him... but anyways waaaaayyy cool to see the truth with him that The Lord has indeed prepared many people to hear the gospel, and as DC says many are searching for the truth but know not where to find it....  But ya anyways so this guys awesome and the funny story with him is this:  So his wife and him are completely separate, havent lived together for like 30 years, but they arent technically divorced, legally, and shes a Jeohovas witness, and he wants to be dating another lady friend he has here in our little town, so according to the law of Chastity, he has to divorce his wife to be able to date this other lady and still be worthy of baptism, so ya thats what hes doing, and in short the way i say it is that weve got an investigator whose divorcing his Jehovahs witness wife to join our church... haha so ya way cool the progress hes making!!! 

Alright so dont have any more funny stories this week, sorry, but i do have some really cool things ive learned!!!  So one is that ive learned a TON on patience!!  ive been studying it a lot in the scriptures, preach my gospel, and in talks from the Liahona, and ive really learned a lot!!  One cool thing is that Christ, as he was being risen up on the cross, said in prayer to The Father, to forgive the people, for they knew not what they were doing.... INCREDIBLE!!!  Christ, who had never done anything wrong, the only perfect one to ever exist amongst us, suffered more than all of us combined, and as the people brought this pain upon Him, he asked that they be forgived...  Why?  Because he understood its more peaceful that way... and thats what ive learned.  When we feel things are unfair, when our patience is pushed, if we have faith in The Lords will for us which we know is the best for us, we can see that He has an even brighter future for us, and theres two paths to that brighter future, one where we fight in the mean time and struggle and are impatient and just create problems, or one where we endure peacefully, without creating problems, and then are redeemed equally in the future... So ya im finally really starting to apply what you always taught me too dad to just drop it, and forget it, when things happen to me that i dont think are fair, because this is taking the more peaceful path to the brighter future The Lord has for us!!  So ya thats just one cool thing i learned from a sick bed and wanted to share

Another is that according to the just laws of men and the physical, carnal laws that bind us, as is constructed the law of Moses, if one man kills another, the life of that killer is required to create equality... i was reading this too in the scriptures somewhere, i think a reference from Jesus the Christ, sorry i dont remember exactly where, but anyways i read and learned that its the same with all things, that if someone is impatient with us or not receptive of us, we have to be the same way to them right?  Thats what the carnal laws of men say, but the Infinite Atonement reverses this too!  Not just does it save us from sin, or enable us in challenges, but reverses the laws of physics as well (something i learned last year at byu, it reverses entropy so that our corrupting bodies can be made whole again) and it reverses these carnal laws of men, and literally makes it possilbe that we can use our agency to not return with justice what other people have done to us, but that we can smile and forgive them and follow Christs perfect example!  This is one way in which the Atonement changes us to help us become like Him, by literally making it possible to use our agency to forgive others and do good unto them, especially unto those who might not be doing good right now...

One more thing i learned, the mission presidents wife asked me to play three hymns for a big conference we have this week (Elder Grow from the 70 is coming, im stoooocked!!!) and i told her i would do it but was way nervous after getting off the phone with her because they are a bit difficult and the time i have to practice hymns consists of maybe 20 minutes before and after church and district meetings, which i didnt think would be enough to learn the songs, but ya so of course i prayed for help and as i was practicing them ive never been so focused in my life!!!!  I learned the songs almost immediately, in like 10 or 15 minutes is all i learned them perfectly, and i know its because i was enabled with His power made possibel through the infinite Atonement!!!  Preach my gospel says we are set apart to be missionaries, which literally sets us apart from the world and puts us on a higher plane than the rest of the world, a higher level of thinking, more seceptible to the Spirit (apparently this higher thinking doesnt work with spelling though haha ceceptible or however its spelled...), and ive felt that to be soooo true as ive learned soooo much in my personal study here on the mish and with my piano practicing!!! 

Entonces si, aqui tenemos algunas cosas que han sido muy especiales que he aprendido!!  Ya que tuve más tiempo en la casa esta semana con mi enfermidad, empecé a escribir algunas cartas hechas a mano para ustedes, y voy a enviarles ellas para que puedan leer aún más que he aprendido pero no tengo tiempo suficiente para incluir en mis cartas semanales... Pero como siempre sé con todo mi corazón que El Señor nos conoce y nos ama y quiere el mejor para nosotros, y por eso nos ha dado este plan de salvación, hecho posilbe por la expiación de Su Hijo Unigénito, y estoy tan bendecido por tener la oportunidad de servir una misión enseñando este mensaje! 

Les amo

nos vemos

Elder Tenney

The Weeeeeeeek!!!!

Heres the big weekly scoop!!!  K mom to answer your questions, dont worry the horse story is the worst thats happened to me yes, but you sound like thats not even a bid deal!!! uugh, hello, i got chased by a horse!!!  Arent you worried for me?!?!  hahaha no jk ya im perfectly safe dont worry, especially in this little town its actually safer than most areas apparently...

Companion:  haha ya hes great!  his name is Douglas Peñafiel, from Ecuador if i havent said that yet oops haha sorry, and ya hes great!  Ya we get a little frustrated with each other here and there, but nothing more than is normal for two kids stuck together 24/7.  Its interesting, im learning a lot about him and hes really a great missionary!  He wants to work hard, he does work hard, and hes a really good singer, we sing hymns a lot together in lessons and ya, hes told me he has some songs on youtube haha so you might be able to find him on there.

And ya spiritual experiences:  Sorry if i havent shared as much as youve wanted me to share, because there are literally so many i cant share them all!!!  Every single morning, literally every morning, i bring myself to tears in my personal study cuz im feeling teh spirit so strong!  I either find something way sweet in the scriptures that i love applying and try to diligently apply to my life, or i find some killer story in the Liahona magazines!!  I LOVE THOSE HAHA!!!  I shared to dad to be directed to Jared the other day one way good story from those!!  Also, there have been countless, like at least 3 times a week, times when im either frustrated a bit with my comp, with the language, or with not knowing what to do with some of the investigators and i just simply kneel in the house and pray, and its INCREDIBLE the strength i receive!!  I can literally feel the Saviors arms coming around me as i pray for the help i need!!  I usually start tearing up too i feel the Spirit so strong, and i picture the Saviors feel under my head, them and their nail prints catching my tears as He hugs me and understands exactly how I feel!!!  so ya there are endless Spiritual experiences I could share!!  The testimony is always being built even stronger and reassured, and for that i know even if i cant baptize a single person, or cant keep a single person active in the church here, cant help anyone become a Celestial member, I will at the very least come home with one dang solid member, myself.  And so much more of that is thanks to you guys than you realize too!  I remember sooo many teachings you guys gave me in the past that i maybe didnt apply as best as i could have, but now have!  One example as i think i told you Dad is being happy in the moment!  I taught that today to another gringo missionary who just arrived to the field and has been super homesick and saying he just has to make it through two years, i taught him he can be happy now and all your teachings dad and have really helped him too!  We went to the Zoo for pday today haha apparently thats somethig really popular here for the missionaries, so yta it was at the zoo that i taught him that, pics are on their way!

With investigators, its interesting cuz the spiritual experiences arent maybe anything crazy like some would expect, but dont get me wrong, they are still very definite and strong!  They are just calm.  We always feel the Spirit very strong as we teach my comp and I, and as weve done other practices and stuff with other missionaries in meetings others have told us they feel the Spirit a lot when we teach too!  So ya, and weve got two investigators right now, as i think ive told you a bit about, who are wayyy solid!!!  They are progressing so much and starting to really develop strong testimonies now which is always a Spiritual experience to see"!!  They come to church so readily every week, saving  up money all week to be able to pay the bus ride, they read the scriptures and pray lots, as a family too, they obey all the rules and commandments, and they arent married, so theve even stopped sleeping together until their wedding.  So ya we are planning a wedding for them as i think ive told you, and they are working so hard to help plan the wedding, the other day the mom made tons of deserts which my comp and i sold to other missionaries at a zone meeting, and it was sweet for me to see all the work she was doing, and she was doing all of it just to get married, just to get baptized!!!  people rarely actually get married here, it doesnt mean much to them, and theyve lived together lots witout any desire to get married, but now that they want to get baptized they know they must get married so thats what they are doing!!  Suuuuuper neat!!!!!  Im sooooo happy for them!!!!  My comp gets discouraged sometimes cuz in all his other areas he was baptizing people left and right, but there are so many recent converts here who dont stay active, and the church here needs more strong members, so im so happy to be teaching some people who will be strong members!!!

So ya there you have it!!

Now a few fun stories from the week!!  Not as many this time, but here it comes!  My comp told me the other day that us gringos always smell good!  Hahaha he said we always smell good and asked me why and i said i dont know, i dont wear colon or anything, dont even use soap that often in the shower (cuz ya theres only one knob in our shower, and its not warm haha... sorry mom) i just put on a little deodorant and thats all... but ya so he told me he wants to smell like me, so he bought some perfume from one of our investigators store hahaha, not cologne for men, no perfume, and hes been wearing that... why?  Because he wants to smell like me... im flattered.

ive got one more good story:  So we were driving back from Cali the other day from a district meeting when the bus was stopped cuz the cops were checking all the cars for drug smuggling... and there was one car that was pulled over that was filled completely with what looked like laundry detergent, and i asked around from others and a member who was with us, and apparently what the cartels do is put the drugs in bottles like that, that are apparently bottles of lotion being shipped to stores, and they do it to hide the smell of the drugs, and ya there were a bunch of dogs sniffing it and all... and also apparently the cartels have gimme cars with all the bottles but without any drugs, as decoy cars, and i think thats what that pulled over car was that we saw cuz the cops werent hand cuffing them or anything... but ya theres something cool and new i learned about the drug trafficing here haha!!!

Entonces, voy a enviar muuuuy rapido algunas fotos que tengo de la semana!!!  Ustedes son increíbles!!!  Imprimí las fotos que me mandaron la última semana y las traje a algunas citas para mostrar nuestra familia, la cual es muuuy felic con este mensaje, para poder enseñar con aún más poder de la ayuda y fortaleza que se establecen en las familias por la doctrina que enseñamos nosotros!!!  Sigan siendo siervos buenisimos por El Señor!!!  Sé que no hay algo mejor!!!

Les amo

Nos Vemos

Elder Tenney

Heeeeessss Back online!!!!

What?!?!?!  Its monday already?!?!?!  Literally feels like just a few hours ago i was walking out of this internet cafe and thinking ''dang i gotta wait a whole nother week to talk to them again, thats a bummer...´´ so ya times flyyyying here in the mish, and it makes me wanna work even harder!!!  Dont want to lose a single minute!!!

Dang well soooo good to hear from you guys!!!  Mainly because you tell me schools starting, so finally i will be getting some boring emails from you and not these sweet emails about boating and all that make me wish i were there...  haha but ya sure sounds like all of us have had an incredible summer!!  Myself included!!  I loooove getting all of your emails too!!!  i think my comp thinks im a weirdo cuz every monday as we are here emailing im either laughing really quite loud from your funny stories or im crying slightly from the sweet spiritual reassurance you always send too!!  Especially such as the story of matt getting the melkisedeq priesthood this week!!  (ive forgotten how to spell melx, melkquis, melqxisedek or however in english, its a lot easier in spanish haha)  And dang mom please keep me posted on the stories from Bednars book, hes incredible, i got to see a fair amount of his talks in the CCM and they always blew my mind, hes incredible, and i love reading his talks from the Liahona magazines we have here too!!

Alright the weeeeekk!!!  Stories to the world!!!  First, haha, did i get chased by a horse this week?!?!?!  Hahahah suuuure did!!!!!  Ahhh that was great, lemme tell ya, ya dont worry im gonna tell ya, we were walking to an appointment on the far side of town where its even a bit poorer than the typical poor here, and there are a bunch of horses in a few little farm type lots on this side of town, and some dude was walking his horse by with a little piece of rope for a leash tied arounds its neck, and as we walked by the horse started breathing really hard, like Lacy used to do when we would take her on walks and pass by other dogs... And as we got closer the horse leaped out after me!!!!!  im gonna rewrite that in caps, the HOSRE LEAPED OUT AFTER ME!!!!!!!  I was probably like 15 feet away from the dang gringo killing machine when it lurched out, took the rope out of the hands of the guy walking it, and started running towards me!!!!!!!  So what do I do?!?!  Yeah i scream haha and take off running the other way!!!!!  Hahahaha ahhhh man i wish you guys could have seen it!!!!1  Im not sure what i said, but i think i might have cried for you mom, not sure if it was in english or spanish, but i think i did yell for your help, and ya i ran a good thirty yards probably before the guy, who was running too, finally got a hold of the rope to the horse again and stopped it....  oh ya so the now sweating even more profusely Elder Tenney then looked to his companion, who did nothing to help, and was just laughing his head off at me standing right where we were before hahahaha oh ya that was great.....

Alright story number two!!!  So remember the tower in the middle of the city with the big siren, not sure what it means, thats been going off lately???  ya so thats the second biggest tower in the city, and the biggest is a giant pole with cell phone pannels on top, probably 150 feet tall, and the other day we walked out of a lesson nearby this tower, and saw that the streets were flooded with people who were all staring at the tower... Why???  Ya thats what we were wondering too, so after asking around a bit apparently something had broke in the bottom foundation of the tower and it was expected TO FALL!!!!!  HAhahaha so ya just your typical day in this crazy country, the streets filled with everyone just glaring at the only source of modern technology in the city that is about to fall and crush half the city... So ya it hasnt fallen yet, its been a few days, but who knows maybe there will be a funny follow up story to this in the next few days....

Alright so ya thats about all ive got for today for the funny stories.  Nothing suuuuper big with the investigators this week, but things are going well!  Still planning the wedding for the one couple!!  They are soooo awesome too!!  They are sooo converted, already developing real strong testimonies, and their dad is a member in the ward here and he thanked us real thoroughly the other day, telling us we are transforming his family for him and he couldnt be more grateful, that was cool!!  Ok so i have to say, President Pricoli is a calm and quite older man, but he is a silent GENIOUS!!!  His weekly letters always blow my mind!  At first he was telling us all this cool stuff about being celestial missionaries, and now hes applying all of it to our investigators to make them celestial investigators, ones who will be strong members fast who will hold up the church strong here, not just people who we drag along to church with us, and its been really cool to see how he has helped us aim towards this!!  And fortunately we are succeeding in doing it my comp and i!!  Weve had to cut off a few investigators, and now we are contacting more and looking for those who are truly ready to hear the message and be strong celestial members and weve already found a bunch!!  REally neat!!  I know President Pricoli is relay8ing to us exactly what The Lord wants us to do to ultimatley prepare for the second coming!!  other cool thing about pricoli, actually two things, is one: there are a number of super difficult and disobedient missionaries ive heard about in this mission, and at first i couldnt picture someone like this quite old man who is our president being capable of managing them, but now most of these difficult elders were transfered into the office this week hahaha where hes got them right under his eye at all times... so ya i think hes a way smart dude and the man for the job!! 

So ya i couldnt be happier to do the work here!!!  its sooooo cool how strong people can have the Spirit with them at all times on the mission!!  I literally receive personal revelation everyday during my personal study from the Spirit that brings me to tears and reassures my testimony that there is nothing greater than  this The Lords work to bring to pass our eternal life!!!  Even cooler when i find myslef sharing what i learn with others here!!!  So si como siempre les agradezco a ustedes como siempre por ensenarme toda mi vida, con todas las detalles sabidas a los hombres, este evangelio!!!  No hay algo mas importante a mi y solo quiero compartirlo con los demas a mi alrededor!  Gracias por hacerme capaz para hacer esta obra!!!  Sigan haciendo lo mas possible para hacer la obra del Senor alli en los estados unidos tambien!!!

Les amo

Nos Vemos

Elder Tenney