First
off...Happy Birthday to Matt and Auntie Gin this week! I didn't even know what
month it was right now, but mom informed me that it was your birthdays and I'm
very happy for you. You're both turning 28 - so exciting.
Anyway...another
great week. This email will have to be a pretty short one because i already
wrote to a lot of you, but it'll be good either way. This week we just are
working on helping out the different zones of the mission. Well that's what we
do every week actually, but things are going really well. Or so i thought! We
had a meeting with president on Monday morning and he informed us otherwise. So
we all had to get our butts into gear and get back to a more diligent work. We
called emergency meetings in the north, center and south of the mission, and
that was our week. Emergency meetings where Elder White and I spoke and
president spoke, and then we went out with the different zone leaders to work
with them for the day and help them out in their sectors. Anyway, i just wanted
to share a story that president shared in his part of conference!
The story is a
lot better in Spanish in my opinion, but none of you speak Spanish so my hands
are tied. Minus dad, he would probably get it all!
The eagle who
thought he was a chicken
Once a farmer
found an eagle's egg in an abandoned nest. He took it
home and
slipped it in amongst his chickens under a brooding hen.
When the egg
hatched the mother hen reared the eagle chick as if it
were her own
child. And so that eagle chick grew up thinking that he
was a chicken.
He pecked like a chicken, he scratched like a chicken he
even walked
like a chicken. But in time, he grew bigger and it became
clear to the
other birds that this chick was an eagle. They would swoop
down and say,
"You are an eagle, you and king of the birds. Come and
fly with
us."
"I'm not
an eagle, I'm a chicken," he'd tell them. "My mother's a
chicken. I
live like a chicken. I am a chicken. Now go away!"
But that young
eagle chick continued to grow. One day an owl swooped
down.
"Get on
my back" he said, "I've got something to show you."
The young
eagle hopped onto the owl's back and the owl flew high into
the sky.
"Put me
down. Put me down. I don't like it up here," the young eagle
squawked.
"You'll
be fine," said the owl. "Trust me." Soaring higher and
higher,
the owl
finally flipped himself over and the eagle fell, plummeting fast
towards the
ground.
"Why?"
screeched the eagle. "I'm going to die."
"Just
open your wings," called the owl.
The eagle
opened his wings and was caught by the wind. Soon he was
soaring above
the farm and the chickens bellow. "You're right," cried
the eagle.
"I am an eagle. I can fly."
We are who we
are. Wherever we live and whoever we live with.
so....that's
the story. Anyway president shared it a little different because in Spanish its
a little different, but i just love the story. President said "Many of you
are here right now but you are acting like chickens. Are you really chickens?
Are you really people that only talk to 30 people a week? Or are you
eagles? Is this really what you came here to do?" It obviously wasn't the
same words but thats the same idea. I just loved it because so many of us are
conditional based on our circumstances. If we go to a calling, or a new
university, or a new job, we often think that our potential is the same as what
is already being done. but how dumb of us! We have a Heavenly Father who loves
us, and if we let him, he will take us to abilities that we had never thought
we had. I am awfully grateful that president taught about that, because so much
of what i do is precedented stuff, and I'm guilty of conforming myself to those
past results. But we aren't chickens. We aren't people who keep our head down,
just eating for ourselves and taking the meager things the Lord sends down. We
have divine potential and can fly if someone helps us to get there.
I love you
all! Things are going well here. I'm happy, healthy, and loving my mission more
than i ever had before. Rodrigo and Lorena and Natali y Raul are progressing so
well. Church tomorrow for sure! The other family is kind of done because of
some problems, but we are stoked about Rodrigo. Keep up the prayers for the
bread-maker!
¡Que Dios les
bendiga mi queridas águilas!
Elder Tengberg
No comments:
Post a Comment