familia y amigos -
Ahh its already Friday again! Life is great here in the MTC. Its tough at times, but I am so happy. I love hearing from everyone all the time! Mom, thank you so much for your package. It was awesome getting those muffins in the mail. Packages are the best here, and those muffins were amazing. My roommates loved the "1" that was for them....I enjoyed the other 9. Hey at least i TOLD them this time I had food! I'm getting better from the past when Shardae made me food. Sue me, I love your cooking mom.
Okay so its really hard to remember what happened when here, but anyway I'm going to do my best to talk about as much as I can. These e-mails are always way too long I feel like, so I'm sorry! Anyway....here it goes.
So our first practice "investigator", Adan, is now one of our teachers. His name is Brother Derrick Adams. He is seriously incredible. I don't know how much of his story I told you before, but he really was atheist and is a convert of about 5 years ago. In his own words, "The most important thing in my life was being right. That's it. I had no conflicting beliefs, and I knew my beliefs fit together. But I was miserable. Utterly, indescribably, hopelessly miserable. My life goal was to wait until my parents died, and then kill myself. I hated life." His family hated him, his dad told him and his brother, "I wish I had never had you" multiple times. Anyway, after the missionaries came once, he laughed at them and mocked them and stuff. But a seed was planted. And after a couple of months, he had this sudden urge to pray. He didn't want to for months, because if he prayed and all this was really true, then EVERYTHING about his life was wrong. All his philosophy was wrong, his pride was wrong, he would have to answer to sins he had committed in the past...but my favorite quote was when he said, "A father in heaven who loved me? Someone who would listen to me? A brother who loved me so much to DIE for me? How could i NOT want that? of course i wanted it! i just couldn't admit I was wrong for a long time". Anyway, he received an answer. Through simple prayer, he came to know it was true. His testimony is so strong, and we just love him so much because he has opened his heart to us and bore simple testimony, something that we as missionaries can all do. So powerful!
Anyway, so we love him. he teaches us along with our other teacher, Hermano Stephenson. Some of you have been asking about what we do every day. We have two "sessions" of class for 3 hours each. usually we teach once a day for about 30 minutes in Spanish, to either one of those teachers. They act as people that they taught on their mission, so the stories are real and stuff. Its tough to get super into the lessons, because you know that it really won't affect anything (but yourself). But I keep thinking how Matt (thanks for this) talked about the MTC being like the pre-season to lacrosse...which, by the way, was awful. I ran every single day and lifted and did those awful workouts at the Duddys for about 5 months, all before a 3 month season. Anyway, so I keep thinking of it as training. So the harder I work here, the more I will be prepared once I hit the field! The other hours of class either have like Spanish grammar instruction or some teaching practice. There is no "religious class". They teach us how to use our personal study time more effectively, then we do all of our study on our own! There is about 2 hours a day for that.
So, I had one really frustrating day this week. one of our lessons just went awful. The investigator was super passive and didn't care, so it was hard to make it meaningful. Then we rushed the end and it was just a disaster....but something Hermano Adams said a couple days later has really helped me. Everything he says is pure gold. Seriously.
He said, "You are not powerful enough to screw up the work of the lord. Trust me. no matter what you do, you cannot screw up the lord's work." His whole point was that, as missionaries, we need to stop wondering whether we are being led by the spirit and stuff. We need to stop worrying about whether or not we are consciously aware of the spirit and how that affects our lessons. I guess it comes from a talk from Bednar that he gave at BYU-I, but we should always EXPECT we are being led by the spirit. Because, if we have the gift of the holy ghost and we are living righteously, it has been promised to you. So, rather than constantly wondering "was that from the spirit? Did I miss a prompting? Should I have done something different?", just TEACH how you know how to teach, and you will be guided. Just because we aren't consciously thinking "THIS THOUGHT IS FROM THE SPIRIT" doesn't mean that it isn't. The conscious awareness blesses us as missionaries, and lets us see God's work in action. I think That's something that is so interesting. God could convert these people any way he wanted, but for some reason he trusts us 19 year old, immature boys to go out and witness his work. And the more we are living righteously, the more we can be consciously aware of what the lord is doing. and THAT is what blesses us. We get to witness first-hand God work miracles in these people that we teach. Isn't that such an interesting thought? It applies to every facet of life. I don't even know if I fully comprehend it yet, but it just helped me so much. I have been worrying about whether I am acting by the spirit and stuff, so it was such a different attitude thinking that i am ALWAYS being led by spirit. So hopefully that helps some of you as much as it has helped me.
Anyway, now for some funnier stuff. I play volleyball every single day. its amazing. Haha its really funny, because we all try SO hard to just make it fun and not get competitive, but lets be real....we are stuck in a room like 23 hours a day, this one hour is the most intense thing ever. I'm diving all over the court, getting all sandy. Its pointless, but so worth it. Kids are stretching beforehand, giving coaching tips to each other. The other day we had a little tournament going and everyone was yelling at each other and stuff. Its definitely a funny sight. I think next week we might get back into the gym to play some "Four-square". You know that will be intense as well!
Oh! This is pretty funny. So as you might imagine, learning a new language can sometimes lead to some unusual word choices and some mis-communication as you pick the wrong word. SO...the word for fish is "pescado". The word for sin is "pecado". needless to say, my investigator was very confused when i told him that "Christ died for all of our fish". hahaha it was hilarious. There are a million other little Spanish jokes and puns that I am learning. I guess some other elders mixed up "mensaje - message" and "masaje - massage" and told their investigator they had a massage for them. So it could be worse. Either way, we are just laughing at ourselves all the time and trying to speak it as much as possible!
Haha another funny story. So as missionaries here are SUPER obedient, and for some reason whenever someone tries to get everyone quiet, its like instantaneous. So, naturally, I think this is hilarious and have begun to abuse it. We were in a hallway the other day, probably about 500 elders waiting to get in to the devotional, and i go "SHHHHHH" super loud. The whole place got quiet in about 5 seconds, with everyone shushing everyone else. it was HILARIOUS. i was cracking up, because everyone was so confused and like looking around trying to figure out which important church figure we were being quiet for. I'm terrible, but it was hilarious.
I have made so many friends here, and seeing my old friends from college too is amazing. I am happy, enjoying myself, learning a TON, and growing closer to Heavenly Father. I love being here so much. Its really hard, super frustrating, and sometimes I don't want to be here, but every time I feel the spirit and forget about what my OWN emotions are, I am once again so excited to be doing this great work. The Lord's hand is in this. There is no way 19 year old boys could be doing this otherwise! This gospel has meant so much to me, and I am happier when i live it and share it. Its as simple as that. Thanks family! You guys are the best. Until next week!
Con Amor,
Elder Tengberg
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