Will's Bday!

Qué más familia?!?!?!  Bueno hay que hacer lo primero primero, así que, FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS WILL!!!!  Que los cumplas feliz!!!  Espero que pasa mañana sea un día particularmente especial!!  Te lo mereces!!  

Alright well its been an INCREDIBLE week here!!  So i actually have some good stories this week and pictures, here it comes.

First off, so i have one pair of shoes that are still pretty good, but they got drenched in the rain one day so i put on my other pair of shoes where one of them has a huge whole in the front that opens up like a mouth when i lift my toes... theyre still comfortable though... but ya so my comp and i were in a lesson when the investigators two little cousins like 10 years old were trying suuuper hard not to laugh, sitting there on the couch listening to us... the investigator told them to stop laughing and pay attention when one of them said ´´sorry i cant control it, its just too funny, he told me ´look, his shoes hungry´´´ and then pointed to the hole in my shoe... The investigator just lost it, he started laughing super hard too... 

So after a moment the kids kept laughing, so he told them to go into the other room and clean up so that they wouldnt distract us anymore... they left, we kept teaching, then after a few minutes i saw through a window that led to the kitchen that the kid was standing on the counter, dancing, and singing ´´Zapatico roto´´ which means broken shoe, and i couldnt help but laugh at that moment... but all in all, we managed to have a decent lesson and the investigator is progressing and my other shoes dried, so all is good!

Alright so on wednesday this week we went on divisions with some other missionaries in the district.  THat meant that my comp had to go visit the family weve been working with without me, and take all the iniciative, which he was a bit nervous about.  Furthermore, it was a CRUCIAL lesson with them... theyve been pretty slow lately with the marriage process, and we needed to give them a huuuge boost in this lesson to get them to schedule their wedding and baptism... so i just confidently reassured my comp hed be able to do it.

We met up at the end of the day after the division, and to my shock, my comp told me ´´ELDER!!  I DID IT!!  Were going to the center TOMORROW to setup their wedding with them!!!´´  So turns out at the beginning of the lesson, the family had said they wanted to wait until june to get married so that their son whos out of town can come to see the wedding, and cuz theyre tight on money, but my comp stepped up bigtime and explained that they cant just put off blessings that come from getting baptized and furthermore working towards going to the temple to get sealed, and in the end they commited to do it now!  So theyre getting married this friday and baptized next week, and they have a rock solid goal of going to the temple in a year to get sealed!!  weve seen soooo many miracles with this family its amazing!!

Así que, les testifico que El Señor obra milagros al diario aquí en ésta Su obra.  Nada me hace más feliz que saber que una familia se va a bautizar para sellarse también más adelante como familia eterna.  Sé que el poder para hacer ese sellamiento se ha restaurado hoy en día, en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.

les amo

nos vemos

Élder Tenney

The Week!!!

IWhattsuupp family?!?!  TENAZ las noticias se vuelven aun más locas cada semana, CÓMO ASÏ que ethan izu va a ir a la MISMA misión que william?!?!?!  Wow ya siento que colombia es algo antiguo, como si ya hubiera salido de moda... ahora todo es chile... ajaja wow CONGRATS to elder Izu!!!

alright well its been another great week here in Colombia!!  K honestly there isnt too much news this week sorry. Weve got lots of big plans to help the family of ivestigators raise money for their wedding this week, and next week the real deal should go down!!  were SUPER stoked for them!!  

We went on divisions this week with teh zone leaders and the lady who makes them lunch every day is the mom of wills excompanion from Colobmbia, so i ate lunch with them their in their house which was cool!!!  Still cant believe that... small world... We learned a lot from the zone leaders too, it was a great day!!  We had some suuuper spiritual lessons and then finished the day with a fun family night, the best part was that one of my zone leaders was in my district when we both started the mission, Elder Jeffrey from Leyton Utah, super nice guy.  So we went on divisions once in Cali, both being newb gringos in the middle of colombia who barely spoke spanish, and now this time a year and a half later haha it was funny to see what weve learned since then

So my companion continues to amaze me!!  hes been taking just about all the iniciative and is doing a SUPER good job of it... i think back about how i was when i had two months in the mission like him and WOW theres a huge difference haha but thats good thats how it should be.  And ontop of everything, hes an AMAZING cook, he cooked ´´seco de pollo´´ a peruvian lunch yesterday and it was sweet!!

Bueno pues eso es todo lo que tengo por ahora.  Espero que sepan que tanto estoy disfrutando la misión.  Es INCREÏBLE ver todos los días la manera en que El Señor obra milagros en esta obra misional.  Sé que ésta es la iglesia verdadera, restaurada en su plenitud en estos últimos días.  Sé que Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador, y lo comparto en Su nombre, el de Jesucristo, amen.

les amo

nos vemos

Élder Tenney

Conference week in Colombia

Q´hubo familia?!?!  Cómo me les va?!?!  Allllí SIIII mucha conferencia sí o no??  uyyy aprendí muchísimo espero que también hayan podido hacer lo mismo!!!  Pues... qué les digo???  Ha sido otra semana EXCELENTE por acá en Tuluá, Colombia!!!

Alright so yes fortunately i was able to see conference live and in english!! It was AWESOME!!!  One other gringo in my district here and I and a peruvian in our district who speaks super good english watched it together!!!  K i could talk ALLL DAYY about all the things that inspired me, but to list just a few, i LOVED how Elder Hallstrom helped us see the reality of the idea that were sons and daughters of God, its something i feel ive come to realize a lot more and depend on in the mission!!  I also LOVED just about every talk from priesthood session and every talk in the sunday morningsession.... oh and  Elder Renlunds talk, wow hes brilliant

k well teh weekly report... So we FINALLY got the birth certificates of the family were teaching sent here to Tulua, a bit of a tough process but they should get here this week and we should schedule the wedding and all!!!  the family is doing AWESOME!!  we have a family night with them right now!!

A few weeks ago, not sure if i told youy guys this, but it was raining super hard and we saw a lady trying to dig a little ditch infront of her house where the water was rising and starting to flood... so he helped her dig, contacted her, and have been teaching her... so last week she came to church for the first time, and then when she saw the ward mission leader went up to him and hugged him,,, turns out their COUSINS, and she didnt even know he was a member haha (hes a convert of like 2 yeears).  better yet, we went with a lady from the branch who lives near by to teach her this week and when we got there they both shouted each others names, ran and hugged each other as well... theyre SISTERS!!! no jk, but they are friends from like 30 years ago when they were growing up!!  Haha, so... AWESOME!!  ya so shes progressing well right now, after the lesson the other day her friend told us something we didnt know, she had a son pass away a few years ago so well go teach the Plan of Salvation and it should be a powerful lesson... i LOVE seeing peoples eyes opened up to the reality of the perfect plan The Lord has for us!!

So my companion amazes me sometimes!!  im trying to hand over the reins more and let him take the iniciative in everything we do and even though he gets a bit nervous sometimes and even though weve had some pretty tough situations, hes ALWAYS willing,... he always does his absolute best, no matter what, and ive learned a lot from him!  so ya, things are super good here in Tuluá!

Así que, testifico de Jesucristo.  Sé que Él es nuestro Salvador.  Lo he sentido.  Igual que Alma yo sé de estas cosas porque el Espíritu me las ha confirmado a mi corazón, y las comparto en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.

les amo

nos vemos

Élder Tenney

Semana Santa en Colombia

Q`hubo familia?!?!  Què màs?!?!  Què me cuentan de la vida estadounidense?!?!    Sweet well im stoked to hear youve had another good week!!!  Ve!!  Esperen!!!  Còmo asì voy a tener otro primo ahora?!?!?!  Woooow la familia se nos està creciendo sì o no?!?!

K well its been another good week here in Colombia!!!  K so Dad you asked about the family who we commited to be baptized... good question i was planning to talk lots about them today!!  So this family is AWESOME!!!  We commited them to get baptized and all, theyve been reading the book of mormon everyday and they even told us they were married (rare in Colombia)!!!  But that was just the problem too... haha darn so we found out that they got married through the catholic church years ago and that they dont actually have any registers of their marriage.... sooo.... we are in the process of re-marrying them... haha

K but ya so this family is INCREDIBLE!!!  One crazy experience from the week!!  My comp and i were having a typical awesome spiritual morning with personal study and study in comp and all, when we started to talk about this family and what we should share with them!!  Elder Bednar taught that the most important part of a lesson isnt even the lesson in itself, but rather the preparation that we do for the lesson before hand.  evidence of that this week:  my comp and i both felt strongly that we should teach this family about the power of fasting... we prepared the lesson, went with a member and taught them on like thursday night, and at the end of the lesson, they seemed a bit worried... we asked them sincerely if everything was alright, and they told us that their oldest daughter was suuuper sick and in the hospital.... so sure enough, instead of waiting till sunday to fast with them, we started a fast with them the next night, and well ya their daughter is still in the process of surgery and all, but WOW they have testified to us of the peace that they have felt since they fasted, the peace that they know The Lord has given them to help them know that His will will be done, and that that will be the best for everyone!!

So besides that the mom, ontop of everything, quit her job when they wouldnt give her sundays free, and went to church with the rest of the family!!  So they are a perfect example of how The Lord lets us pass through difficulties just to strengthen us, and as they are being strengthened right now we are finishing up the process of getting their birth records and all so that they can get married and baptized next week!!  So we are seeing miracles daily with this family!!

Something real interesting that my comp and i are trying to apply in our area and with the whole district here is the importance of working with recent converts and les actives...  Us members often dont realize how big of a change it is to start to live the gospel the way its taught in the Church of Jesus Christ, but the recent converts and less actives are more familiar with that change and can relate much better to the investigators as they enter a whole new world, going to church and starting to keep the commandments...  I LOVE the hidden examples that there are in the Book of Mormon, such as in Alma 19 when Abish (a less active) runs out and tells everybody to come and see the incredible work Ammon was doing!!  Another is in Helaman 5 when Aminadab (another less active) helps people understand the words that they normally wouldnt have understood that tell them to repent and look unto Christ... We are trying to work lots more with these members in our area and are seeing results!!

Pues testifico de estas dos herramientas fuertes de la obra misional que son el ayuno y el trabajar con los conversos recientes y menos activos!  Sè que èsta es la obra del Señor y que Èl la dirige, veo evidencia de ello diariamente acà, y doy mi testimonio en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.

les amo

nos vemos

Èlder Tenney