Okay first things first i havent read any of your emails yet because i dont have a lot of time, so i will print them off and read them today and respond next week on my phone call! About that, i Know that i am calling home on Monday the 24th. I dont know for how long or when, but i know its the 24th. They dont want us to be losing our tuesday since we already have pday monday, so thats that! But i will be skyping and stuff so thats awesome. Last year president said talk for as long as you want, so hopefully that happens again. Haha if not i will enjoy the hour! I dont konw what he will say, but we will find out. I have conference with him and the whole mission tomorrow (i will get all of the packages tomorrow) and i am sure he will tell us the rules. But either way, be ready on the 24th! I am really excited to talk to you all. I am starting to write down some funny stuff to tell you abotu but ask lots of questions! I will forget most everything i planned out cause ill be so excited.
Anyway,
kind of a rough week. It was actually a really good week but the results were a
little bit hard at the end. Last week i was SO excited and we had SO much
potential, and this week we were EXACTLY obedient, prayed for those people
every day, put our whole hearts into serving them, prepared every day special
lessons, fasted, prayed more, and then none of our 3 fechas showed up for
church. It absolutely broke my heart. This cambio has been different because i
have felt a much more personal responsibility for the people. Because i have to
prepare more and teach more, because i know them better and for longer, i feel
so close to them and responsible for their success. When none of them showed
up, i just about wanted to cry. Haha it made me so sad that we could have SUCH
powerful lessons, they could feel the spirit so strongly, have the desire to get
baptized, and then fall. But its helped me to learn some really cool lessons
this week and i am grateful for that. One of those is that it must be REALLY
hard being a parent. I am sorry mom and dad for all the stupid mistakes i fell
into. It must have been so hard to pray and fast for your kids success and KNOW
what was best for them, but have to watch me make dumb mistakes. You must have
just wanted to slap me across the face and call me an idiot! It is so hard when
agency of other people is in play. No matter what you guys did as parents, it
was still my choice to act on the principles you taught me and apply them. No
matter how much you tried, how much you prayed, fasted, encouraged, ANYTHING,
it didnt matter. It was my choice. Its a really hard concept to grasp and
frankly it kind of sucks. Hahaha i felt so bad this week when these people who
i had done SO much for still turned around and fell back into their old ways.
But i realized that it is so important to be patient and help and love and not
just abandon them. But thank you for your patience in raising me. I know it
wasnt easy and i am sorry if i ever put you through that kind of pain, but i am
finally starting to get a little glimpse of what that might be like and its not
easy. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart!
That
has been the biggest challenge of the week. Trying to stay happy when you put
your whole heart into something and it doesnt pan out. We kind of went through
a little "why me?" pity party on sunday for awhile after all of our
baptismal dates fell, but then i learned something really cool. Its really easy
to be obedient and fast and pray if its guaranteed to work every time. Every
missionary would do it and there would be NO disobedient missionaries if it was
guaranteed success! But we have to suffer through the hard times even when we
are being obedient because thats where faith really comes in. Faith isnt
expecting perfect results if we act the right way. That woudlnt be faith....it
would just be simple logic. I thought of Aaron and the 2 other sons of mosiah
who were thrown into prison from the lamanites as they went to try and teach.
They werent being disobedient - i guarantee they were the most obedient and
most righteous missionaries ever. But they had to be tested! It is NEVER guaranteed
success if we are obedient and obey the commandments. I am excited to keep
doing my part and keep doing everything i can to progress the work. That way, i
know if it doesnt happen it was just the lords will and not because i didnt try
hard enough. I guess thats all i can really ask for as a missionary. Freaking
agency....cmon people!
OH!
Latst story in the Ricardo Temer chronicles. We made those cookies last week
that you sent me mom (the mint chocolate chip ones. SPEAKING OF PACKAGES: I
love my christmas one so much! I love opening the little gifts every day. You
spoil me way too much and are way too nice. Also, elder wray walked in on me
licking the inside of the reeses peanut butter cup wrapper....embarrassing? I
would not be sad if i got a package of pure reese´s. No joke." Anyway i
made the mint chocolate chip cookies and we left to go to Lota for a meeting,
then when we came back 4 were gone. 4! Hahaha so i was like HERMANO TEMER! BAJE
INMEDIATEMENTE! Which is just like get down here right now. And he started
laughing because he KNEW i wasnt going to be happy! hahaha the guy ate 4
cookies! Well he ate 2 and then took 2 to work to keep there so he could eat
them the NEXT day! Hahaha i could not stop laughing. I was like "Hermano
Temer those were our cookies! Why did you eat 4 cookies! That is so many!"
and he was like "Yeah well they were really good!" "i KNOW they
were good thats why i was saving them! CMON hermano temer!!" and he just
kept saying "well its okay because they were really good. seriously, like
they were incredible." hahaha i about killed him. its okay i eat his bread
every day so were even. And also, i made the pumpkin bars and homemade cream
cheese frosting and he tried cream cheese for the first time. I was dying
laughing. he had one tiny pinky-full and was like "oh dang this stuff is
good. what IS this stuff?" and ended up using his pinky to scoop EVERY
left over drop out of the jar. Love the guy. I am sure going to miss him when i
leave Arauco.
Thats
basically all i have time for. I love being a missionary so much and ams o
excited to continue to work hard. I get now why it is mentally and emotionally
hard too and not just physically tiring. it reallyis hard putting your whole
heart into the people and then having them disappoint you over and over again.
but i wouldnt have it any other way. I love how jeffrey r holland says
"Salvation isnt cheap. It wasnt easy for Him (christ), it wont be easy for
you, and it will never be easy for your investigators." Its not an easy
process! but BOY is it worth it. I am excited to keep working and i know the
results will come int he lords time.
I
love you all! Merry Christmas!
Elder
Tengberg
this
ciber place sucks and i cant send pictures. sorry!
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