Voy a Chile! Email 9/8/12

Hola familia! 

This has been a crazy week, and sorry this e-mail is a day late. They changed our schedules around and put our P-day on saturday, but I had no way of telling you. So sorry about that. Anyway, hopefully I can get everything in here that I have been wanting to, its kind of hard to remember it all! 

Anyway, I leave for Chile in less than 48 hours!!! Holy COW am I ready. Haha honestly, I am so excited. I love the MTC and it has been a great experience, but I really am excited to be a real missionary. Sometimes we say that this kind of feels like missionary camp - like I am just here for awhile, learning how to be a missionary, then I'll go back home and resume normal life. But I finally get to go to the big leagues now!!! Haha I am honestly so excited. I know its going to be crazy hard, I'm probably going to cry, I'm not going to know what anyone is saying, and I'm going to want to be home...but that will pass. I just can't wait to be down there and have every waking moment to dedicate to helping real people. Here, it has been a great experience teaching and helping my companions, but its going to be REAL. Like when I talk to people in the street, they have real problems, real families, real doubts, and really want to know if God exists. This message that we share is THE most happy thing on the earth, and the only thing that can bring true joy. And i get to share it, every day, for the next 22 months, with REAL people. Man i can't wait. 

Before I talk about this past week, thank you everyone who sent me letters! If you sent dearElders or something different since yesterday after noon, I won't get them here. I think they forward them to my mission eventually, but I won't get them for awhile. Anyway, Grandpa, Sister Moody, Emilee, Catherine, Alex Inman, Bishop Konold, you all are so awesome!! Haha I am seriously so spoiled out here, I don't deserve it. Thank you so much. Mary finally reversed my fattening trend and sent me some bananas and apples, so thanks for that too. I have had a "free" box outside of our door all day because i just have SO much food left that I can't take with me. Haha my desk has been overrun the past week with food and stuff. You all are so supportive and just know that it makes me so happy out here! 

My week has been awesome. I am pretty sure my spanish has gotten worse in the past week, but maybe thats just because I'm realizing I'm leaving. its a super scary thought that in 2 days I will be speaking ONLY spanish. I have no idea who my companion will be, and I am dreading having to leave Elder Watt and Elder Long. I love them so much! Anyway my new companion...he could be a native Chilean and not know a word of English, or some kid from utah. NO idea! Either way, I am just excited to start actually using my spanish. We haven't used in like 3 days because they keep having us doing all these pre-departure activities and all of it is in English. I am just so excited to be thrown into the culture. Which reminds me! "Dieciocho de Septiembre" or Sep. 18 is the Chilean independence day apparently. So i am literally getting there in the most exciting week of the entire year. Haha there is people dancing in the streets, fireworks, mayonnaise on mayonnaise on mayonnaise, empenadas, parades, and more. I don't think its quite like Carnival down in Brazil, but I know they love it in Chile. Seriously, how cool is that?!? I get to go in the coolest week of the year and just be thrown into their culture. It might be a little weird trying to understand drunk Chileans (I can't understand spanish from coherent people), but HEY what of it it, I'll figure it out. 

I don't think I'll be able to call before my flight to LAX. So, I don't know when that would end up at, but I'll call you from LAX. My guess would be around 11? I know my flight leaves SLC at 9:30 Utah Time, so I don't know when that puts me in LAX. Either way, I'll call then. Haha mom and dad, please don't drive up to LAX. I will already be trunky enough from calling you and talking to you, I couldn't handle much more! I appreciate the thought, but I think I would be happier just being able to talk to you on the phone. I bought a phone card here Mom, so I'll use that one for my US flight. Then I'll use that international one you bought me for Tuesday when I get to Chile. I get in at 6:40 AM chilean time (i think, our paper doesn't say what time zone everything is in) to Santiago, and then I also get to Concepcion at around 9:30. I will call home then, but I'm pretty sure thats like 3:30 or 4:00 your time in San diego? I have no idea. I'll still call, then you can set it up and I'll call back again a few minutes later. Knowing how dad worries....I'm sure you still want me to haha.Things I learned this week.... 

The Book of Mormon is seriously the most incredible book we have on earth. I finished it this past week and have been transferring in my notes from English to Spanish. I read the entire thing in the MTC because I felt so inadequate in my BoM knowledge (really easy when you have like 2 hours a day to read). Honestly, I have never had so much personal revelation and personal information from Heavenly Father as when i read it this last time. So many times, I would catch little phrases or verses that I have read a hundred times, but for ME, right now in this moment, they were absolutely necessary. I can't even explain enough how grateful I am for the Book of Mormon. It answers so many questions of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just little things that have been changed or affected over the hundreds of translations and re-translations of the Bible. People get awfully caught up about the "new book" that Mormons have, but why? Just because we have the Old testament, does that make the new testament any less true? I can see the trepidation people might have, but when you READ the book itself, it is impossible not to feel the spirit. If you honestly read it, seeking to know Christ better and learn what we should do, you WILL receive an answer. I feel so blessed to be sharing this with people all over Chile, especially because it has blessed my life on countless occasions. Every time I am homesick, struggling, or doubting, I read chapters that apply to me SO directly. I love how Elder Bednar says that every member of the church should read from the Book of Mormon every day, because it is impossible not to grow when we read it with real intent. 

Something I heard this week was from President Monson, and it said something like this (don't remember exact phrasing) - "When faith replaces doubt, God has power to do His will." I just love how true FAITH has no room for doubt. Its easy to say you have faith in something, but its a lot harder to show it in action. If our actions show doubts, or we are scared to pray because we don't think we will receive an answer, then those doubts still exist. But if we truly give ourselves up to Heavenly Father, then he can work miracles. I think of the Brother of Jared in Ether, and how he literally had NO room for doubts. His faith was so perfect that he couldn't have anything withheld from him. What an example to me! 

I hope you all don't feel like I'm preaching to you...I just love sharing the insight that I get personally! We are so blessed to be on missions, and sometimes I feel selfish in not sharing what I learned. So take what you want out of this, and throw out the rest :) Haha I love you all, more than you know. I am so lucky to have family, friends, and a dog (miss you Harley) like you all, and ultimately to have this gospel in my life. It is the single most important thing in my life, and defines who I am. 

Yo sé que esta iglesia es verdadera, y por medio de las enseñanzas de la iglesia y las cosas que el Libro de mormon enseña, podemos acercarnos a Dios y aprender de él. Estoy agradecido cada día por mi Salvador y que él murió para mi. no puedo esperar para Lunes cuando pueda enseñar esto a los Chilenos! Adios, familia. Y gracias por todo. 

For those of you who speak spanish...I know I still am awful. Don't make fun of me! 

Love you all. Elder Tengberg

** This is Shardae now. And here are some super secret stalker photos that one of my friends took of Brady in the MTC.