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
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