Transfers...

Alright the big news

I got transferred...

notice i said ´´got´´ past tense, before they always announced the transfers sunday nights and then wednesdays we traveled, tuesdays if we had a big distance to travel, which gave us all pday to pack and say good bye, but last night my comp and i printed of the transfers for the zone and it said that me and one other missionary from the zone were getting transfered and that we had to be IN CALI AT 8>00 in the morning THE NEXT DAY!!!!  we seriously had 11 hours is all to pack, sleep a little bit, not say good bye to anyone, and hop on a bus at 4 in the morning headed to cali..... not sure why they did it this way, but alright...

So ya not gonna lie, i was wayyyy sad at first, i absolutely loved zarzal, there were some people there who seriously changed my life, it just touched my heart to see people there who really dont have any of the material blessings even th poorest of people in the states have, nor who have the chance to go to general conference personally, yet people who besides all that are the absolute happiest people i know, simply because they know its true.  Zarzal and its people will forever have a special place in my heart

´´Ill go where you want me to go dear Lord´´ is all my comp and i sang last night as i packed, my comp elder Tolentino from peru was half the reason i loved zarzal so much as well, he will seriously be one of my best friends for the rest of my life.  Its wayyyy interesting though, at first i didnt see any advantage in doing the transfers immediately the next day, i didnt see any logic, and felt wayyy bad that i wouldnt even get to properly say good bye to everyone, but as i did my best to keep my mind off that and just exercise faith, The Lord has already opened my eyes to see how these transfers are really a blessing in disguise>

So with that, the news, i got transfered back to the ZONE WHERE I STARTED THE MISSION!!!!  im in a different area, in downtown Cali, like half an hour away from villa gorgona where i started the mission, and im  in a neighboring ward, the same stake, and im the zone leader of the missionaries in villa gorgona where i started the mission!!!  Furthr more, we ran into some members from that ward today and they told me alllll about a lot of th people i taught, those that i baptized are still strong, one of them elders quorum president, and a family i found and taught for the longest time but that didnt quite progress, their kids just got baptized and the missionaries need me to help them plan the wedding with the parents so they can get baptized!!!  So that answers your question about the wedding business mom, oh ya, im still the love doctor out here, ill be helping the elders with that wedding and my new comp has been planning a wedding in our own area!!!  So wooowwww, long story short, even though it wasnt easy leaving my last area so fast, its been a blessing in disguise.  Im not sad its over in zarzal, just glad it happened, and now i know The Lord has opportunities for me elsewhere!!!

So ya often times when surprising and not inicially positive news comes, our immediate thoughts are to think ´´why´´ and unfortunately even to blame The Lord sometimes, but really every one of those is just a blessing in disguise that The Lord is able to give us, even though it hurts Him to see us in hard situations for a moment, becuase there are even greater blessings down the road.  How selfish and incorrect of us it is then to get discouraged when bad news comes, and that discouragement can be completely overcome if w just simply humble ourselves and have more faith.

Alirght enough of my preaching, more of the basic details, im already loving my new area, im still zone leader, my new comp is Elder Romero from paraguay, cool guy, so far we are getting along well and ive heard hes a good hard worker, hes a convert and the first misionary from his family which always impresses me tons, my house is small but nice on the fourth floor, our area has cool views of the lit up city Cali, but our house has simply the view of a brick wall of the apartment builidng next to ours but its all good...

Im FINALLY IN A WARD WITH A PIANO!!!  something im excited about, all the chapels ive been in have just had small keyboards without a damper pedal and that are missing like two octaves on each side, this chapel has a nice real piano!!!

And ya...

Well i often feel bad that i dont have time to share everything im learning, i usually stick to th fun stories and try to squeeze in as much as i can of all im learning but just cant in an hour, but in short words two things ive learned tons in the mish is to not get discouraged, the keys are to sacrifice which means work without expecting any prize at the end and faith, and the other thing ive learned is the first part of ether 12>7, if men come unto me, i will show unto them their weaknesses... ive seen in soooo many instances in the mission that things that i thought were strengths before the mission have become my weaknesses, but not i get happy when i see my weaknesses cuz it means ive successfully come unto The Lord

Entonces con eso les dejo.  Que estos saludos desde Los Guaduales, Calima, Cali, Colombia les lleguen bien.  Agradezco al Senor cada momento que tengo acá en la misión, por que en cada momento me doy cuenta aun más de qué tanto Él nos ama.  TEstifico de Su infinito amor en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.

les amo

nos vemos

Élder Tenney