Feliz Navidad y Año Nuevo!!!

Lets start with christmas eve... twas the night before christmas, when, under a shady street light in buenaventura, two good little boys who believed in santa clause, and in Jesus Christ, had the christmas spirit tell them they should go to a distant land, half way to the north pole, to visit a man who recently started believing in santa again, and in Jesus Christ.  They did not have any reindeer, oh no sir, they walked.

 

They walked through the candicane forest, and past the sea or swirly whirly gum drops, and through the lincoln tunnel, but as they walked, it started to rain, a rain storm most dreadful, undeserved by such good little boys.  After miles and miles of putting one little foot infront of the other, the whiter and taller of the two said to the other, ``sorry for saying we should come out this far, maybe christmas eve will be better next year`` but, to the young boys surprise, his littel boy friend simply replied ``be of good cheer, im cold, im tired, but happy as could be``

 

The two little boys realized that christmas, and the work of Christ, arent about being warm by the fire or getting presents, but by giving one to another, the best thing anyone can give, the message of Jesus Christ, who gave us everything, even his life.

 

Alright im tired of talking/typing poetically... but ya it was a cool experience haha becuase we walked sooooo far and then the recent convert wasnt even home, and we were like ``dang seriously?`` and i told my comp ``shoot dude sorry for dragging you out here`` but he told me ``dude you know what, im cold, im tired, but im happy, not sure why`` and we both realized that here in the mission field we had had one of teh best and happiest christmas eves of our lives!!!

 

Alright next story for the week, ohhhhh thats right, call me Alma, BATPIZING IN A RIVER!!!!!!!!!!   We had another baptism this week, and this time the investigator asked me to do the honors!!!  pics on the way

 

Third neat thing from the week.  The elders quorum president got really sick this week (thats not the cool thing), and so everyone showed up to the priesthood meeting and realized nobody had the lesson prepared, so i ran to the other room and grabbed a bunch of liahona magazines and flipped to elder Jorg (weird russian last name i dont remember) talk, i think in english its ``approaching the throne of The Lord with confidence`` or some sweet title like that, and with no time to prepare i just taught the lesson on his talk... and i did it in SPANISH!!!!  Like holy cow, it used to take me two hours to prepare the lessons for elders quorum last year at BYU, and that was in english, and now i just last minute warning got up and did it in spanish!!!  So ya, as you know its an incredible talk, ive been studying it in english as well (they gave the liahona in english to the girngos this week, so ya dad ive got reeds talk and will give it a look!!!), and ya it was awesome!!!  Interesting to see how as missionaries try to forget themselves and help others grow, and edify The Lord`s church, He edifies and strengthens the missonaries!!!

 

Entonces vi un ejemplo perfecto de esa idea esta semana en mi propia vida!  La decisiòn de servir la misiòn es la mejor decisiòn que he tomado en la vida preterrenal, y he visto las bendiciones!  Fue un privilegio recordar un poco màs que normal a Jesucristo esta semana mientras celebràbamos su nacimiento.  Les testifico que Èl realmente nos dio todo.  Como Èlder Nelson (i think it was him who said this) nos dijo, Jesucristo dio cosas tal que nunca se habrìa podido devolver de su valor.  Dio perdòn para el arrepentido, vista para el ciego, oido para el sordo, fuerza para el dèbil, y màs que todo, nos dio su vida.  Lo sè porque he visto tales bendiciones no solamente en mi vida, sino en la vida de los colombianos aquì tambièn, y se lo tesifico en el nombre sagrado del mejor dador del mundo, Jesucristo, amen.

 

les amo

 

nos vemos

 

Èlder Tenney

not sure what to put here

WHATTTSSUPPPP?!?!?!?!  I sweat i was just in the little internet cafe yestyerday writing you guys, and now a whoooole nother weeks gone down....  wow time is flying!!!!

Alright, the report!!!  First life lesson i learned this week, latinos dont know the difference between sun burnt and tan... im not sure if its becuase they are already a darker tone than us, or actually im just not sure they know what ``tanning`` is at all... they just seem to think every gringo is completely white, regardless of how much time he spends in the sun... 

so i learned because everybodies been telling me im burnt, but dont worry mom, im not.  But ya they all say ``oyyy Èlder Tenis, estàs reee quemado!!!``  and i tell them, ``no im not, i put sunscreen on everyday, and my skins not even red at all, nor is it peeling, nor does it hurt...`` and then they proceed to tell me im not as white as i was when i arrived and i have to expalin to them that im not ``quemado`` but that im ``bronceado`` ya they dont really buy it, but oh well...  if it makes them happier to think that gringos come in all shapes and sizes, but only one color, completely and totally white, so be it, im sure i can incorporate that somehow in the first vision and all other descriptions of celestial beings...

Ohhh k one other thing i just remembered, next monday we have a zone conference in Cali, so i have pday tuesday and will be writing tuesday, so mom, when i dont write to you guys on monday, im ok, im safe, do not get on a plane to colombia and come looking for me

Alright haha so Colombias not the most sober place on the planet in christmas time, as im sure you can imagine ive seen a number of funny things this week, allow me to share a few...

We went to an investigators house the other week, a guy who was really getting a lot of interest, who says he wants to change his life and get baptized and all, but hes not married and living with another women and they have a family and all, and shes scared to get married... we are working on that... but ya so ironically enough, we were headed there to teach the word of wisdom, and we were with a couple from the ward who got married to get baptized as well and they were gonna help us with that, when we got to their street and saw evberybody on the block was out infront with empty beer bottles all over the ground... so ya our friend came up to us and sort of said a slurred version of somethying like ``im really happy, well happy your here but just really happy in general... (with a weird smile)  come in and sit down, lets talk about God....`` so ya we told him wed come back later....

K que pena, tenas, ya se me acabò el tiempo, pero les voy a hablar por skype en algunos dias!!!!  Como siempre, quiero dejarles con mi testimonio, que sè que estamos en la iglesia verdadera, la misma iglesia que Jesucristo estableciò, cada dia de mi vida es evidencia del poder divino y restaurado que tenemos, sè que la decisiòn màs difìcil que alguien ha tenido que tomar era ella de proveernos un Salvador, y sè que solamente un Dios, no solo todopoderoso, sino tambièn todo amoroso a causa de su papel como nuestro papa, sè que solamente un ser perfecto asì serìa capaz de tomar la decisiòn de enviar a su hijo unigenito acà al mundo, para morir por nosotros.  Sì, afortunadamente tenemos la pelìcula ``he is the gift`` aquì, la he llevado a casi todas las personas aquì porque se siente el Espìritu navideño tan fuerte al verla, y ese es mi testimonio en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.

les amo 

nos vemos

Èlder Tenney

Pictures

ya i got nothing

Whaaatttupppp peeeeps in teh big United States?!?!  another week down here in Colombia!!!  Man i started wondering if maybe, being closer to the equator here in Colombia, we travel faster (cover a larger distance) with the Earth`s rotation, and for that time goes by faster (it makes sense if you dont think about it) but ya anyways, my point, TIME IS FLYYYYING!!!!

the week was normal without anything overly exciting, i mean cars always honking, sweating like crazy, nonestop sounds of frogs croacking and other animals in this tropical costal jungle (ya, not sure if ive emphasized that yet about Buenaventura, but remember how cool it was to wake up in the youngs old house in Australia when we were there, how cool it was to wake up to the sound of soooo many different animals and stuff???  ya thats EXACTLY how it is here, SOOO COOL!!!!), salsa music coming out of everysingle inanimate jungle, but ya other than that, just normal until wednesday when we went to Cali for the leadership meeting with all the zone leaders and office missionaries!

So wednesday we headed out for the big and famous Cali again and got there in the night and stayed with some good friends there in Cali Elder Dean and Elder Tolentino, from Provo and Peru.  Then the next day i had my first leadership meeting!!!  Haha honestly it wasnt anythign overly amazing but really fun to catch up with other missionaries!  We jsut talked a ton about how we are going to use the ``Èl es la Dàdiva`` iniciation during Christmas time (im sure you guys have seen that video the churh made right?  ``He is the gift``?) and we talked a lot too about how many new missionaries there are, over half teh missionares here now have less than 3 months here in teh mission!  So they want us leaders to do more divisions and stuff with them... 

Ahhhh but then back to Cali..... we got stuck in sooooo much traffic, not sure why, but we were stuck in this little shuttle van with limited leg room for even a latino, so for a gringo it was rough, but finally got home a little after midnight... (dont worry mom the shuttle dropped us off directly in front of the house, so no we were not out on the street after midnight in Buenaventura...)

so ya we set some really high goals with everyone here in teh zone in the zone meeting while we relayed all the announcements and all from the leadership meeting and we are all suuuuper pumped and working hard in the zone!!!  K one small probem though thats been a bit tough is one of teh elders in our house has gotten super lazy and his comp isnt great about whipping him in shape, so ive been trying to help him get up on time and get dressed and all and actually study, but he jsut wants to sleep in always and hates studying and has been getting pretty annoyed with me, the younger guy, getting on him, but its alrgith im learning a lot about being a leader

alight so we had another baptism this week!!!  The guy who said he saw me in a dream sure enough got baptized and confirmed!!!  K it was sweet and all, but a small bummer haha i thought i was gonna be able to perform the baptism but he asked another guy in teh ward to do it, but its all good, ill have my chance in teh river soon enough

Alright few funny things from the week:  First off, so with the ``He is the gift`` video, they gave us missionaries a disk with a few other christmas videos as well to wath with the members and investigators and all, and we were watching one of teh other videos in our house one night when, i realize, amongst a group of people carroling are THE OLSENS!!!  Hahahaha i jumped and was like ``NO WAY`` cuz all the olsen`s daughters are in it and i explained to the other guys that they are my good friends and all and it was pretty cool...

Alright another random little thing about Buenaventura, the stairs here, are NEVER even!!!!  like, every single group of stairs, every staircase, big or small, has completely uneven steps!!!  There will be one big step with a big drop and then the next step will be like half the size, so IM ALWAYS FALLING!!!  I trip and fall ALL THE TIME on the dang stairs here hahaha so youve got to look straight down and really focus directly on the stairs while ascending or descending them, and even when you are going up and down them without falling, it just feels awkward usually to be taking big steps and then small steps and ya... there have been a good number of moments when latinos looked down and laughed at the gringo lying on the stairs holding his knee... but its ok, we are working through it...

Alright so one really neat but humbling experience this week.  I did divisions with the other gringo Elder Nail from texas in my house one day and he took me to the area called ``los puentes`` or ``the bridges`` which are houses built directly over the water of one of the inlets of the bay, and WOOOWWW im pretty sure you dont get much more poverty than this.... it was sad..... you can find all sorts of pictures online im sure, not a great place to take out a camera, but i sneaked mine out real quick to snap a picture that i will attach, but ya so they are just a few logs stuck into the shallow and absolutely disgusting water, with houses built around them and two by eights connecting them all, little bridges you walk along to get to each house... ya the houses dont have bathrooms, just holes in teh floor... and ya... ill let you use your imagination from there...

hahaha ohhh i knew i was still in Colombia though because some of these little houses, just a few, STILL HAD GIANT SPEAKERS!!!!!  I have no idea how, but yes, some of these houses were still blasting slasa music, and honestly, im not sure where the power comes from, nor how the houses dont break and fall, being rattled by the loud vibrating speakers, but ya its nuts....  So there is one family of members who live there, the poor people are sooo lazy, never come to church for teh dumbest excuses, but they have one son bless his heart who is suuuch a great kid, always goes to church, and is filling out his mission papers!!!!  Hes gonna be pretty soon the first missionary from Buenaventura, and everyone is soooo excited for him cuz the missionaries are who have constructed everything here and chyanged the peoples lives sooo much, and ya its neat!!!

Entonces, la verdad, no sè còmo puedo contarles mejor acerca de mis pensamientos de tal pobreza acà, pero me hace humillarme por lo menos, y me pone pensar en mis bendiciones primero, y despuès en la belleza de mi trabajo de traer este mensaje a toda la gente aqui en Colombia, el mensaje que salva a todas clases de personas!  Sè que un mensaje tan hermoso, solamente puede venir de un Dios no solo todopoderoso, sino todo amoroso tambièn.  Se me llena de Su amor cuando pienso en Su hijo tambièn, Jesucristo, a quien Dios enviò al mundo para darnos la senda a seguir, y sè que el Espìritu navideño que disfrutamos durante las celebraciones de Su nacimiento es el Espìritu Santo, el mismo que siempre me testifica de la verdad de este mensaje, y que testificarà de la veracidad a todo el mundo!  Sè que Èl vive, que me ama, que me dio su vida, que es mi Redentor, y mi Salvador, y lo digo en Su nombre, aun Jesucristo, amen.

les amo 

nos vemos  

Èlder Tenney

6 MONTHS!!!!

Alllllllright im starting this email the same way i think ive started every single other one, by saying how INCREDIBLY FAST the time is absolutely FLYYYIIINNGGG!!!!!!!   MY MISSION IS A QUARTER OF THE WAY OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1   ahhhhh man just makes me wanna work sooooo much harder which im really not sure is possible but i will find a way!!!!!

Wait wait wati hold on a minute though, rewind, tell me i havent just waken up from a coma, ive been out six months???  And mark is as tall as dad and will?  And will is turning in his BYU app???  Will was in what third grade when i left???  and seems like just the other day you told me you bought a boat (had to type bought like 3 times before i got it write, dang my enlish is draining down the go) and now its already winter and you are skiing?!?!

Wow, well all is ``suuuuuper fine`` here in Buenaventura!!!!  i say ``suuuper fine`` because thats what everyone says to me here.  I dont know why, but all the english teaching books and classes and all here teach that the word ``fine`` means ``good`` when really it just kinda means ``not bad...`` so when people try to talk in english a bit with me and i say very slowly ``how are you?`` or ``hows it going?`` the say with a big smile ``fine`` or ``really really fine`` or ``suuuper fine`` and ya its kinda funny...

Ahhhh man though it is soooooooo dannnngggggg hot here!!!!!   So i started, haha no joke, wearing a littel hand towel under my belt that im always wiping myself with and which i keep on my lap during lessons and stuff to wipe the sweat, becuase im seriously always, always covered in sweat from 11 in teh morning to like 8 or 9 at night when it finally starts to cool off just enough to sleep... haha my comp actually started doing it too, keeping a little towel on him too to wipe the sweat and all, hes been here 2 months now and is still sweating just as much so im just gonna have to get used to it... the people alwyas feel bad for us too though, the natives dont really sweat and are used to it, but they like apologize and stuff as they see us sweating sooo much haha its.. ummm.. great

Holy cow though besides the heat I LOOOVVEE It here!!!!!  We had another incredible week!!!!  So we had a baptism planned with an investigator whos awesome, a friend of the one really good family in teh ward who actually moved in with them for some time, planned for next saturday, but they planned to leave this week for their vacation, so we moved up the batpismal date and did it yesterday!!!  OHHHHHH and ok perhaps the coolest thing about Buenaventura, and one of the reasons i wanted to come here, theres no baptismal font in teh little chapel so we go to A RIVER TO BAPTIZE!!!!!!   Yup, thats right, call us the sons of Mosiah, pics on teh way...!!!

So ya her baptism was swweeeeettt yesterday and shes already getting a strong testimony and even thinking about the mission!!!  (shes 17)  Alright now though, for maybe one of teh COOLEST EXPERIENCES ON MY MISSION!!!!!!   We went to visit a guy whos a friend of a member and who already went to church with this member a few times, the elders never visited him before cuz he lives really far, but i felt like we should visit him, so ya we go and sit down with him and get to know him a bit and start teaching him and share a lesson and all... and at the end of teh lesson he told us the most incredible thing!!!!  He said ``you now what, i was sleeping right before you guys knocked on the door, and in my dream when i was sleeping i saw a gringo with bright blond hair, and when i answered the door i was a bit shocked cuz i realized you, Èlder Tenney, were the gringo i saw, so i invited you guys in a know you guys have something very special for me...``!!!!!!!

take a moment 

im still taking a moment

WHHHHAATTTTTT?!?!?!?!   HOW INCREDIBLE IS THAT?!?!?!?!?!   Ahhhh man ok ya so you dont really get much of a better example than that that The Lord is indeed preparing people to hear this message!!!  so ya weve kept teaching him since then and now weve got his baptism planned for this saturday!!!

Alright so a random little funny thing about Buenaventura, so just the architecture in general in Colombia isnt anywhere as good as what weve got there in the states, and its even worse here in Buenaventura, so the steps on every stair case are super uneven, so you have to be looking attently at your feet anytime you go up or down a few stairs... so ya i had some pretty good falls this week haha, some aweosme moments when everyones jsut laughing at the dang gringo in colombia whos on teh ground holding his knee not knowing wether to laugh or cry...

Alright well ya thats about it for this week!!!  Todavìa no puedo explicarles acerca de quì tan bonito esta ciudad es!!!  Es increìble!!!  Creo que la Caìda tocò algunas partes de la tierra màs que otras partes, y Buenaventura aquì casi no se tocò, que quiere decir que la naturaleza aquì es casi iqual que lo que se nos describe de la gardìn de Edèn!!  Les envio algunas fotos muy buenas que saquè esta semana!  Otra evidencia de la divinidad de Nuestro Padre Celestial y Su Higo Jesucristo que crearon toda esta belleza para nosotros!  Es mi testimonio en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.

les amo

nos vemos

Èlder Tenney