Well hey there
family! I cant believe another week already went by. Seriously, time in the
mission FLYS by. every single day has its own little attributes and things to
look forward to. all the sudden youre rushing to get people to church on sunday
and then its a sudden wooooosh of tranquilo, and its monday again. haha its
just crazy. But i love it and im scared at how fast the time is going by! My
great-grandpa in the mission (my trainer´s trainer´s trainer) goes home this
cambio, then next cambio is the assistant that picked me up at the airport,
then elder page (who is fine, he isnt gonig home. he just wears a sling on his
shoulders that he calls his cia gun-hiding belt, its hilarious) and elder wray
go home in a few cambios. Like what is going on??? im supposed to be a newbie
in the mission still! But all of my friends are starting to go home. obviously
im still crazy young in the mission but im starting to realize how fast the
time goes by because it seems like i just got here yesterday. Anyway, even in
this fast week there has been some cool stuff.
We had a
mission conference on Tuesday and it was insane. I dont know what other
missions are like, but my president is just a straight up stud. Like he is
incredible. 1, he doesnt take disobedience from ANYBODY. our mission used to be
super disobedient. Like the president before us would give computers to elders
who wanted to go home, or let people who were disobedient stay because it was
better than sending them home with embarrassment, or just coddle elders. But
president now is like no. no more. And i can tell its hard for him too because
apparently the mission used to baptize more, but we are really starting to take
off now. The missionaries have all bought into the program, and the ones from
the old president are all gone, and even the ones who were affected by the old
group of more disobedient elders. Like our mission is so awesome now. We have
some guys here who i just look up to SO much and feel so inadecuate. But hey,
its great to learn from them so i feel super lucky. Anyway, president now is
basically like, "I dont care what you do. If you are disobedient in ANY
aspect, whether it be waking up late to bad music (not church or disney) to
using other sites on the internet, you have one interview with me. if it
happens again, you have another interview, but the second is with your stake
president because you will go home." haha pretty cool. I love it though
because its the only way for some of the elders to take the next step and
really consecrate themselves to the work. We are going to see the mission
baptisms go up like crazy, i just know it. The goal for the mission this year
is 2013 baptisms, so itll take a heroic effort. But we´ll see! Ayway, lovemy
mission president. I look up to him so much and know we will be close for a
long time.
My companion
and i are finally starting to take some good steps together. it sucks because i
think this is our last week together. I dont konw whats going to happen but i
just have a feeling one of us is going to leave coronel. But we have really
tried hard just to work more together. Its difficult because there are always
more personal issues under teh skin of people that arent obvious at first, and
its hard to work towards a higher goal when people arent fit to do it. Like its
hard to convince someone to run a marathon, no matter how hard they try, if
they have a sprained ankle. no matter how much you encourage and pray and
everything, theyre hurt. They cant. So its been a cool experience for me to
grow to learn and love people more. I really do love him. We have
disagreeances and its not easy, but we are getting along a lot better.
Angie and
antonella are getting baptized this friday, i think i may have explained that
incorrectly? They are both beyond excited so that should be great! Ill tell
more of their stories next week so the context is clearer.
We have a cool
new family we are teaching, named Marcelo, Paola, Diego y Juan Pablo. The two
parents got baptized like 18 years ago but never attended after that. The two
kids arent members. Anyway, we just LOVE this family. he is absolutely hilarious
and we get along super well. he always tells me his american conspiracy
theories and i just laugh at him and tell him thats the dumbest thing ive ever
heard. Its so fun. They came back to church this week for the first time in 10
years and our goal is to get marcelo the priesthood so he can baptize his two
kids. Wouldnt that be so cool? I would just absolutely love to see that.
Anyway, they are really awesome. Also, they refuse to let us come over unless
they give us food. Haha we cant have "once" which is own-say here in
chile, like a nighttime dinner, but they claim that it isnt and they wont let
us come unless we eat. THeyre sneaky little boogers but i love them.
Andrew, i
could not stop laughing reading your letter you sent me. Im sending you one
back as soon as i can, itll be good. I will tell you all the missionary stories
that i dont tell mom and dad. Hahaha youll laugh so hard. Just know that youre
going to love your mission. its crazy how much we have grown. We used to play
nba jam and do the stupidest stuff...and now we still do the stupidest stuff
but we love the book of mormon a little bit more. haha jk we are way different,
and youre going to be a stud missionary. play endless pranks on your companions
and be stupid. youll love it. youre going to be a stud of a missionary man!
Also, i will steal every single thing of clothes i can find. Also, im going to
beat nba jam by myself.
Thanks sister
moody for the package! I havent opened it yet, but that was very very very nice
of you to send me one. Ill open it as soon as i get back to my house!
I love you all
so much. You are all amazing in how much you support me and i cant thank you
enough. I know this church is true. I am grateful for everything that this
church is, for the blessing that i have to serve, and the miracles i see every
day. Our leaders talked about the miracles we see from obedience...but not once
did they mention the sector. We are changed SO much individually as we are
obedient to the lord. 100% obedience brings forth 100% blessings, anything less
brings forth just a portion of what the lord wants to give us - of how he wants
to bless us and change us and make us happy. I love the gospel and love all of
you so much!
Les amo y les
quiero!
Elder Tengberg
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