Ciao to Arauco- Email 1/14/13

Well...this is going to be a short email packed with about as much as i can get into it. I am typing as fast as humanly possible right now so excuse my errors and try and follow along. A ton happened this week and a ton is changing so i have a lot to say!

First off, I am leaving Arauco. I had no idea how hard it would be to leave my first sector. I love it here so much. This has been a really hard cambio and we have not seen the success we wanted, but we realized these past few days that we are more proud of this cambio then other ones in the past because we know we were about as obedient as possible, worked as hard as we could, and really dedicated ourselves to the lord. Anyway, we didnt baptize this cambio and that was really hard on us. We worked our butts off and just didnt see the success. We maybe should have dropped some investigators sooner and started working with new ones, but its just really hard to drop people when you want them to progress. But as missionaries we arent supposed to work with people for that long. Our job is to find the escogidos y preparados, the people Heavenly Father has already prepared for us to accept our message and progress rapidly. But i am content with our work and i know that we planted a lot of really good seeds for some missionaries to come and pick up in the future. Anyway, tonight we have little goodbye parties tonight with Hector and Cecilia who are getting married on the 31st of this month, Camila (who i didnt talk a lot about but has been the one we have worked most with this cambio, just look down in a second and youll see), Estefania who is just doing awesome and cant wait to serve a mission, and Valentin and Juliana my favorite kids ever. Its going to be really hard and i know i am going to cry. Haha its just the worst, i hate crying! Yesterday when the branch president started to announce that i was leaving, he started to cry and then i was just a mess too. I really, really loved Arauco. It was my first home and i dont konw how to be a missionary anywhere else! I am also going to miss Elder Wray a ton too. Its going to be really hard leaving him because we got to be really good friends as well. We grew a lot together and i will definitely be lifelong friends with him as well. 

Anyway, as far as where i am going. I am going to Coronel....which is the same zone i am in right now. It would be like me moving from the Green Valley ward to the Sabre Springs ward. Hahaha WHAT??? Seriously usually missionaries get transferred all over the south of chile and i am moving an hour away from my sector. I have worked there in the past on intercambios and its a much bigger city. Its just a lot bigger and has a big downtown. its in the same little Gulf of Arauco so youll be able to see it on that map mom. My companions name is Elder Salazar. From what i know he has about a year in the mission and he is from Mexico, but i dont know anything else. We are both getting transferred in because they are opening up a new sector in Coronel that wasnt there before. So this will be interesting! Haha but we will make themost of it and i know we will have a great time. I am excited to get my spanish more tuned again and ill also be living in a house of 4 with some other really cool guys that i know from my zone right now so it should be a lot of fun. Plus ill be able to come back for hector and cecilia wedding since i will be so close, so that is also a little blessing! I am really excited for that. But more about all of that next week when i know more!

Its been hot as HECK here. Seriously, its been so hot this week. kind of like how hot it has been in utah, right? This whole week we have just been chugging down Peach juice (its so good, do we have that in the US?) and eating so much fruit. The fruit is really good here. There are all kinds of peaches (kenna, you would love it here. You could have all types of peaches thrown at you!), apricots, watermelons, canteloupes, plums. Its seriously so awesome. The other day for dessert i got 1/4th of a watermelon. A huge one. Haha i was in heaven! Then the next day i just got a half of a canteloupe. They just cut it in half and gave one to each of us. So awesome. But i am loving the summer here and my new sector is on the beach too, so hopefully that helps with the heat. Basically what i am saying is i am beyond spoiled...and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

So this story is long and this will be my best effort to say it as short as i can. Basically, we had 99% of a miracle this week. It didnt quite turn out how it should have, but it was still a miracle. So we have been working with Camila a ton. We are over there so often and teaching her and everything, and we just try so hard. Her plan was to get baptized the 12th and she was going to do it, but at the last minute some doubts came up and she didnt go to church last week so her fecha fell. This week we were dealing with the same doubts - not wanting to leave behind the life she has right now with partying with her friends and all of that. Its just so frustrating because you cant explain to someone who hasnt felt the true power of the spirit how INCREDIBLY different the joy of the spirit is than whatever temporary fun the world offers. You just cant. No matter how hard you try, they just dont understand. So finally on Saturday we were at her house, and we were going through the same routine. She had told us stories about how one time she was talking to some friends and that they were mockig the church and she was like "I KNOW the church is true". And she said she didnt know that but it just came out and she felt SO good when she said it. THATS CAUSE ITS THE SPIRIT!!! So we focused on that alot and finally we were like Camila, ignoring ALL of your doubts, what does god want you to do? And she was just like "I dont know Elder Tengberg. I truly dont know." So instantly we went upstairs and knelt down to pray. She has been praying for about 3 weeks and never gotten an answer directly to a prayer, and its been super frustrating for us. We were starting to doubt a little bit and we were so confused. So we go through the whole real intention thing, that if god answers she would be willing to obey, and she was. And she asked Elder Wray to pray. So we are knelt down in her room, and elder wray starts to pray with all the faith he can possibly imagine. He prays and prays and prays, and despite our best efforts, we felt NOTHING. I couldnt believe it. We all sat there for a second, and then i asked her to take a decision to the lord. I had the impression to tell her that she should ask if she should get baptized TOMORROW (or yesterday, sunday) after church. She agreed to ask. So as she starts to pray, her voice gets so soft and emotional. She says "Heavenly father, i have asked you so many times. I am struggling right now and i dont know what to do. I just want to know. Please. Should i get baptized tomorrow after church?" and in that moment, the spirit was about as tangible as it can possibly be. I have felt that about two other times in my life, and it was almost as incredible as those times. It just rushed like a wave over us, and she just broke down in tears. SHe said "I had no idea anyone could feel like this. I had no idea. I know i have to do it, i know it". So FINALLY we got her an answer, and then we started scrambling to find a baptismal tunic for her and getting the zone leaders down for an interview. Everything was perfect until that night, and she passed the interview, but didnt want to do it. She just felt like she wasnt prepared enough. She knew her answer, but still just didnt feel like she could do it. We seriously tried everything. I dont know what else we could have done. We did our part, heavenly father did his, but she just couldnt take the step. She said she has to start living the life more because her biggest fear is going back how she was before. We explained everything and felt the spirit so strong as we testified, but she just couldnt. Then that night she went to Concepcion and didnt come to church. It just broke my heart. I literally have never gone from feeling so incredibly happy to so heartbroken, so fast. As i wrote in my journal, i wrote, "I just dont understand. how can someone feel so special, and then still choose not to follow? How can i put so much love on the line for a person and they still choose to reject? How can i do so much and they still shove it back in my face?" And then it hit me - thats how the Savior feels. It hit me like a ton of bricks. It just broke me down into tears again as i thought of the pain he goes through every day. Of the pain he WENT through, of everything he does, and then his pain as we continue to choose to sin and be selfish and prideful and not serve others. We all have experienced the joy of repentance, incredible spiritual experiences, and he has done SO much. But i finally got to feel a little taste of what the savior feels every day. I konw she will get baptized (she has a fecha for the end of january) but i think maybe that whole experience had a little purpose. I still dont know why it didnt come out the way we wanted, but i am so grateful for the savior and feel so much closer to him after that experience. I truly love him somuch and am so grateful for him.

I am way out of time and need to go because we have little parties to get to so i can get out of here tonight, and then have to pack all night to get to the bus terminal in the morning...going to be a long night. But i love you all and i love my savior. I know he feels frustrated when we struggle, but i am even more grateful that he has the patience to let us get back up again  - to PICK us back up again. He never gives up, even when we do. I am so grateful for his patience with me and know that one day when we get back to him, we will just say sorry for everything, and he will give us a big hug and thank us for coming back. The gospel is true. God answers prayers. he loves us more than we can ever know. I will never be able to doubt the power of this work, and the personal love that God and Christ have for each of us. 

Les Quiero y les amo

Elder Tengberg

and good luck on marys farewell talk

Another Week.... 45034 More Lessons Learned- Email 1/7/13

Well hello there again family! How are you all doing? From your letters it just sounds like things are calming down after the holidays and thats always a positive thing. First off im sorry f this letter has a ton of typos, our favorite internet place is closed again (everything closes for LUNCH here. like really guys? You have been at work for an hour and a half, you do not need an hour and ahalf lunch break. I mean everything. Every store minus the bank and the grocery store is closed from like 1:00-3:00. Haha CMON CHILE) so the place we are at has really crappy keyboards that everything sticks. But its okay because i type fast anyway so ill just make do with what i can! Mom maybe you can try and fix the typos so that i dont have to worry about it and i can just type as fast as i can. thanks. 

ANYWAY. This week was really good. New Years Eve was about the lamest night of my life. usuaully missionaries can stay out super late on new years and go watch fireworks or go to a members house and have a big asado, but for some reason president changed the rules and we had to be in the hourse at 830. So that kind of was lame but we made the most out of it and had a really fun time actually. We just chillled and made chocolate chip cookies and since we were so tired from that disastrous hike, we went to bed at like 12:02. Haha so lame! We have made chocolate chip cookies at least once a week this entire cambio. How crazy is that? We are so blessed. One time we just made the dough and then froze it and ate it. Besides the GIANT letters on the front that said "do not eat raw cookie dough", i didn't see a problem with it. But we found the cookie dough mix in one of the grocery stores for 4 dollars, so we just eat it every single week. Haha we are seriously so dumb. But the chilean stoves here are weird because its gas and its attached, so a lot of time stuff doesnt cook evenly. Like the bttoms will be ROASTED and then the top will be all mushy still. So last time we flipped the cookies half way through and they turned out perfectly. How genius is that?! Elder Wray is a boss. 

Anyway, that was a super long sidetrack, but new years was nice. Then it was nice to be able to start a new week with a huge planning meeting in Lota with the whole zone, and elder wray and i got really excited about that. we made some good changes to our plans, made some charts we are going to be using to figure out where our investigators need the best help, and really just try every week to identfy our weaknesses and work on those. This week its asking more questions in teaching, because there are times where people are OBVIOUSLY just nodding their heads and have no idea whats going on. my favorite this week..."Ana, what did the people do to Jesus Christ at the end of his life?" "the..um...tranquility." uhh....hahaha no? Clearly no. It was so funny and we all just kind of started laughing because it was obvious that she wasnt paying attention. But anyway thats one of my goals too - really start trying to work on my own personal characteristics one at a time. We all know our own weaknesses, but so often we just live wih them and say thats the way we are. But my new goal is to start systematically improving on things like patience, frustration, and pride. Heck, i have 2 years and the most constant spirit I'll ever have in my life, so if i can't figure it out here I'm kind of hopeless. 

With that beig said, this week was once again really tough. We started off the week SO strong, and we worked our butts off 100% of the days. We had lessons set up with around 10 different members this week, accompanying us to lessons, and all of them fell through. We had people accept fechas, have incredible lessons, and none of them came to church. We were 100% obedient, more lost in the work than we ever have been, made goals to not mention home or family or girlfriends or anything and just be focused, and it ws a HUGE difference. And sunday, we had 5 people in church, but not a single one of them was someone who we had put a fecha with and wanted to be there. I was just heartbroken for the first few minutes. But then i realized something - i could not have done ANYTHING more. I truly understand that. I did everything i could possibly do to set these people up for success. I was obedient, i was focusing on them every second i could, we tried to bring members along, we called them relentlessly. like there was nothing that i could look back on and say "yeah, thats where i screwed up." and amidst this sadness of not having the success that i wanted, i just had the simplest peace. i realized that thats one of the blessings of being a missionary. There are days that you may not have the success you want, but if at the end of the day you can honestly get on your knees and pray and tell heavenly father that its in his hands, its still so peaceful. After i realized that, my attitude changed a whole bunch. We went by to visit some of the people that had failed us and not come or completed with their commitments, and I wasn't impatient or angry. I was so much more patient with them and i was just so grateful that heavenly father showed me that lesson. Obviously i still have a huge long way to go, but it was awesome to be able to learn something like that. I am going to keep doing 100% my part and then i know that whether the people progress or not is between them and the Lord. It may not be their time, or for whatever reason, but i know that i will be able to kneel down at night and truly say that I'm doing everything I can. And thats good enough for me.

Haha but still, there were quite a few funny moments this week. We actually had a huge breakthrough lesson with Zaira and she committed to doing a 7 day challenge of "being mormon". Basically she is just like "im happy with my life right now, and i feel like god is always with me". she prays like 10 times a day, so i agree with her that he is probably with her. but there is just something more that we can get after being baptized and receiving the holy ghost. it is SO much more peaceful and different. But she just couldnt see it and didnt want to commit to it. So finally we used some examples and she was like "i guess ill never know if i never try it". so every day we have mormon messages written down, chapters of the book of mormon, prayer reminders, little things like that, and we are giving them to her every night this whole week.  She was supposed to go to church Sunday and was actually excited to go, but turns out she found the most CREATIVE excuse of all time. I frankly wasnt even mad, it was just impressive. She had to go to the hospital...because she was standing up for too long making Humitas. There like little Tamales, or corn meal stuff inside of a corn husk. she made 150 freaking humitas. Hahaha she had to get x rays and shots in her back and everything! Like Zaira....either thats the most unfortunate event ever or you are TRULY dedicated to not going to church. But we have members working with her and calling her and we are doing everything we can, so hopefully she comes around. 

Camila is also coming along great. She has a few little setbacks that we still have to work through, but she will get there. She and her brother Ricardo might be getting baptized on the 19th, so help me out and start praying for them! She has such a big heart and such a big desire to change, but just isnt sure if all the commandments really come from god through a true prophet or just from some 19 year old kids in dusty shoes. So, we have left her with plenty of material and are encouraging her to get a true testimony of the restoration. She will come around! This is not an easy change in life, especially if its supposed to be a lasting one. So many people change SO fast and get baptized SO fast, but those are the same people that leave SO fast when things start going a little bit tough. SO i really am not worried, and know that Wray and I just have to keep doing our part and hope that the Lord helps her take these steps.

Some of the pictures...we climbed the hill Colo-Colo again today but found the backside! Dad you have officially cursed me. The second i got up there, overlooking this whole coast gulf framed by pine trees and araucarias, i thought, "This would make a great par 3." I wish i was kidding. What have you DONE to me?!? Haha i just wanted to build a golf course. We are so pathetic.

We also made a delicious lunch today. We made longanisa (like sausage but better, using real intestine as lining and everything...YUM), bell peppers, tomatos, pasta noodles, parmesan cheese, into some sort of pasta dish. it was way good though. I am actually getting better at cooking! #yourewelcomeMary #MoreThanCerealNow #CerealorPopTarts

One of the pictures has me touching the point of the church too. See how close it is to the beach? I want to do a beach baptism so bad

Also, scariest looking dog ever. Its a RottBernard. Literally halfway across the face it changes...scary little freak

Anyway thats all. I love you all so much! Thanks for your support. You truly are angels to me and are making me so happy.

Les amo y les quiero

Elder Tengberg

Christmas 2012- Email & Pictures 12/31/12

Hey there family! So its been an awesome week. I was definitely a little bit trunky the day after christmas after having talked to you guys. Seriously i missed you guys like crazy! But it all went back to normal within a day or two and now the work is just cranking along like always. I am basically just going to talk about a few little things because nothing really big has happened. I attached a ton of pictures so maybe those will make up for the lack of fun things to talk about. 

We had our christmas activity last week and that was awesome! There was a santa there and everything. I knew he was a fake though...maybe the fact that he was CHILEAN gave it away? haha but the activity was awesome. Thats where a lot of these pictures are from. my favorite one is of hermano soto, the one with the two hands in the air. "Two hands up if youre a mapuche indian" what whaaaaat! Haha he is an awesome guy. 

We also have had some pretty good success this week. We havent been able to make any progress with Zaira which is frustrating, but Camila is looking like she will be able to get baptized on the 12th! We have been working SO hard with her and i will be thrilled if she can make it. I think she will. Yesterday in church we were talking about the gathering of israel (nothing like having a lesson about the gathering of israel with a roomful of investigators and converts of less than a year. i tried SO hard to keep that thing about as superficial as it can get, but the teacher would not keep it simple. So frustrating. haha they didnt get a THING) and she basically just responded, when asked what she learned, that she was grateful that the gospel is being spread so that people like her could learn of it. It was the sweetest answer ever and it made me so happy. She is such a good investigator and i will be thrilled if that goes through. We dont have any other fechas right now that are really set, but we have a ton of families we are workig with and a lot of potential for january and february. Hector and Cecilia are still set for the second of february, and since Carlos is quitting work on Jan 31, we have him for a Feb 9 baptismal date! We had an INCREDIBLE lesson with him and he realized if he didnt quit now and get baptized that he would never be able to make it through college without being tempted like crazy. So he is taking some really great steps and that should be awesome. We have some other whole families that we are working with as well, but they just take so much more time because its harder to meet with them and get them all to progress at the same rate. I want to be like HEY EVERYONE GET DUNKED ON THE 26TH OF JANUARY, but its a little bit more difficult than that. Anyway, Ana Del Rio and her kids are doing awesome and are starting to show more interest, Marcela and her kids and husband Luis are starting to participate more, and it looks like we are laying the foundation for some good strong success up ahead. Change just takes time, and it really doesnt matter how hard i try or how hard i want it. Its not easy to change your entire life and join a religion, but the blessings are always there and the change always comes. So its been cool to see their progress even if it isnt exactly what i want yet!

We had an earthquake this week! It was like a 5.4 or something, but the epicenter was about 30 minutes away from us. It was pretty strong but nothing actualy broke or hapened. It still was so cool though! THe whole house started swaying and stuff and we both just stood up but had no idea what to do. It lasted for about 20 seconds so it wasnt that bad. I cant imagine being in the one that happened here before. It lasted for a few MINUTES! That would have been so scary, seriously. I cant imagine. But anyway that was exciting and fun. Haha nothing really big has happened other than that. OH! Actually i tried cutting my own hair this week, and the hair clippers from walmart blew up after i took two huge chunks out of the back of my head. It started smoking and turned off all the lights to the entire house. Kind of cool. But i used my expert electricity knowledge (fliip switches til it works) and somehow managed to reset the fuses of the house. Just all in a days work #likeaboss

I think thats pretty much it. I dont really remember what all these pictures are because i cant see them right now as i am sending them. We went on a hike today and it turned out to be themost ridiculous hike EVER. It took us 2 hours to get down from the mountain because we tried pulling a bear grills and just follow the sound of the stream. Turns out the brush is THICKEST in the stream. We were literally faced with a wall of thorns and i have scratches all over my face and arms. Haha maybe he didnt hike in basketball shorrts and vans shoes? I could be wrong, but that seems like the best idea for me. Who knows. 

Anyway i love you all so much. It was really great talking to you and i am so grateful that i have a family so supportive of me. I got WAY too much in the mail before and after christmas and you guys are all way too generous! I am sending letters out today but thank you in advance to the Moodys, the Burts, Sister Bertha, the Porters, Grandma and Grandpa, Sister Christensen, Colleen Moody, and many many more. You are all WAY too generous and i will be responding as fast as i can! I am so grateful for all of your support and love. I have made so many batches of delicious Sister Burt cookies, had tons of stickers, chocolate bars, nerd ropes, christmas cards, and more. Thank you all! I am way too blessed.

Sorry if this letter is a little lame. Just look at the pictures. Im beyond exhausted from that terrible hike and i can barely stay awake as i am writing this haha.

Les amo y les quiero! Que vaya bien.

Elder Tengberg