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
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