Numbers Truly Don’t Matter- Email 9/2/13

Well hey there my amazing family! Thanks for all your letters. Its been a really, really interesting week and i wish i could explain it all adequately. I've learned so much about myself and about why i am here, and its just been hard. Anyway. I wont talk about my investigators at all because not anything has changed, its still the same as it was last week. Familia Sanchez is a probable for this week but we still got some work to do there! 

Anyway, biggest thing. I've gotten so frustrated with myself. As i have gotten further along in the mission I've just realized that there are certain things that missionaries start to get lazy about. Like because we are always so unbelievably busy trying to get stuff done with the zone, i started to get kind of lazy about time rules and getting to bed on time. Its not things where its like obvious points of disobedience but it just kind of the general idea. and i got really disappointed in myself this week because thats not who i am. Like i was genuinely sad when i realized what had been happening. As i got further along in the mission and i had started to rely on my own teaching skills more and my experience, and had forgot that the success of a missionary is his obedience. I remember graham Bullick said that to me once and that has always stuck with me. Here in victoria we are having so much success. Its a HUGE blessing. And i just began to think, how much more would we have if i was diligently being obedient and seeking for the spirit like i was before? we were here at "return and report" for the new missionaries being trained (thats in a second,just wait) and i realized when i was new i was honestly a more successful missionary, because i learned that i was NOTHING if i didn't have the lord at my side. I knew that i couldn't do anything and that if i wasn't being 100% obedient i wouldn't have the spirit and no one would get baptized because my spanish was too awful to convince anyone. So it was just a weird moment. I think thats something i really needed though. The first part was when i had all the obedience, and none of the success, in Arauco. And here we are having all the success, and I'm struggling with some tiny things because I'm so stressed about bigger things. but its those little things that the lord has commanded us to do and to focus on. Today as i was reading the scriptures i realized that as christ was being baptized, it talks about "testifying" to the father so many times. And as i contemplated it, it wasn't that he was just fulfilling the commandment because he knew he had to complete it, its because he was genuinely 100% consecrated to his father, and being obedient to the little things was what his DESIRES had become. he was testifying through his actions that thats who he had become. Thats what i want. I want to come back different, not with a bunch of baptisms. I admire Mary so much because she has changed SO much and hasn't had that success that i have had number-wise. But thats just that...thats  because success as a missionary isn't that. SO I'm just so touched to be able to refocus this week and honestly humble myself before the lord and recognize that I'm still nothing. that i have been lying to myself, trying to excuse my lack of humility on the fact that i had stuff to do for the zone, and that i didn't need to do the little things. but thats just crap and it made me so sad to realize that. I hope that now with the experience and time the lord has given me, i can combine that with the humility the lord needs to work miracles and send his spirit. because if numbers are possible with this level of consecration, what is possible if i give more of my will? every last thing? thats what he really wants.

Anyway, i love you all so much. This week one of my best friends in the mission had to go home for some stuff that happened in his family and it absolutely destroyed us. I am now training with elder rico- a new Elder Mundell, and i just love the kid. it makes me want to train again so bad but i think that time of my mission is up haha. So until next week when cambios happen we are in a trio and loving it. But it just broke my heart seeing one of my best friends have to go home for a bit and it honestly made me so sad for when that day comes. I truly love being out here and don't know what the heck I'm going to do when I'm not. But good thing I'm still a baby missionary and still have a ton of time!!!! Anyway...we are in a trio now and I'm loving it. Victoria is on fire.

I love you all. I really love the work, and i really love the lord. Its not easy being a missionary but its one of the few things that gives me a true purpose and makes me happy. anyway, I love you all so much and thank you for everything. 

Ill try and think of funny stories to send soon because I'm boring now. sorry I'm so boring. I just am so stressed haha!

Elder Tengberg

Victoria Victoria- Email 8/26/13

WELL hello there! sorry its going to be a short letter because i was reading all your letters and the dumb 45 minutes flies by so fast. Im glad to hear you are all doing well! I love to hear about the fun things that happen back in Poway and provo and all those shenanigans. but things are going great here in victoria. Elder Rico and I are still cruising together and thats been fun. i found out this week that ill probably be here for 5 cambios which means ill be here in victoria until december! its not like fijo yet but its very probably. elder rico goes home in a month and a half so ill probably just stay to receive the new one that comes in after him. so I'm stoked about that because i really like it here and we just have people that are so genuinely excited to be apart of the church. this week...wow. its just like any other. crazy and filled with so many things to talk about!

bruno and kathy got married. Im going to write extra short today so i can attach all the pictures and just talk about those. but the pictures of her in the pink dress are the wedding! I was the equivalent of the best man. i mean thats got to be some cool achievement on the mission, right? I was the best man at a wedding of 10 people on a tuesday morning. Score.  but they are the best couple. Also that giant chilean flag? Apparently its some really special flag that i wasn't supposed to touch and they got really mad at me for touching....so i deleted the photo. The first one of the two that i took. Ahem :) i mean what would a really really nice old chilean flag be doing in a  government building! it certainly couldn't be special. But anyway the wedding was awesome. Im actually going to make a little wedding present for them soon using the photos of the baptism and the wedding, and then a big picture of the santiago temple. ill send you all a picture of it when I get it done! but they are so happy. they are a super quiet and humble people but they just love the gospel. Bruno was like "Man i really do feel lighter! this is crazy!" and was just so excited haha. Ramiro,a  recent convert of 2 months, baptized bruno and then president henriquez baptized Kathy. The other girl int he other photos is Elizabeth, the elders from victoria 1 were working with, and a joven from the rama baptized her. So we had 3 here in victoria this weekend! Anyway, that was really exciting. So thats that! Thats all that happened here in victoria this weekend. The photo of them with their daughters is Maite (the baby) and Monse the older one. Aren't they so precious? I sure love them. Elder Girsberger got to come back for saturday because he leaves tomorrow for his house and it was great because he got to be there for their baptism too!

Other things...family Sanchez! THey are doing great. THe little daughter Reinata is literally attached to me. haha she wouldn't sit still this week unless she was in my arms. I held her during the ENTIRE baptism, during all of sacrament meeting, during our lessons. like she is the most precious little thing ever and i love her so much. But this family is so special. They are still going to church and doing everything, and they are really trying hard to prepare. They have some word of wisdom problems but its just like drinking wine when they have big barbecues and stuff like that. Its easy to tell someone who is addicted to something that that needs to change, but when its just casual behavior....its almost harder. Thats the way the gospel works though, we cant even let the slightest things inhibit our ability to feel the spirit and feel clean! So they are doing great and we are still shooting for 7th of september for the baptism. we actually have a goal for 7 on the 7th, so pray for us! We have one other lady patricia who is so sweet, a mom of a recent convert, who is locked down for the 7th and then we also have eric,a  husband of a member, who we are trying really hard with too for the 7th. and then we just need a miracle for the other! But the lord has just prepared victoria so much.

FAMILIA MEDINA!!! Haha you're not going to believe this. We go over to teach wednesday and marcelo takes us to the back room and says "look at this." and pulls out a RING. we hadn't even TAUGHT the law of chastity, but he has already read the entire principles of the gospel book and he himself decided that he wanted to live it and get married. so he proposed to her on friday for her birthday in front of all their friends. the date still isn't planned so we will probably try and encourage it for september or october. i mean its all about me right? thats all this is about? but they are doing so well. The other son, matias, is so cool. I am like a brother to marcelo but matias was a little bit harder to get to. but turns out that he LOVES neff headwear. His snowboard, his clothes, his computer, his hats. Everything is NEFF or has neff stickers on it. hahaha so we talked about that forever and i said i would try to work some strings. i had no idea neff was down here in chile but isn't that so cool? so there you go hawkes family, Brother Neff is helping out the whole mission here in Victoria. Thanks guys. I owe you one! So they are doing great. Progressing, reading, loving church. Haha its so amazing. We don't do everything and they are just going solo. 

Last thing....I'm really happy. I really am. This week was super hard because of some problems we had in our companionship and stuff like that, but then we fixed it all and once again the work soared. Its just crazy to see how much the lord is willing to bless us when we get our pride out of the way. I sure love it down here in chile. I was realizing today that in about a week or two ill complete a year in chile....so crazy. Its gone by so fast and i cant believe how much the lord has blessed me. I don't feel any different, in fact I'm LESS mature than i was a year ago, but i genuinely love the gospel and love this work. Being a missionary is just cool. Haha but anyway, thanks for your support and heres the pictures to enjoy too! You guys are al the best.

Les quiero mucho

Elder Tengberg

A Little Faith and a Lot of Miracles- Email 8/19/13

I wish i could just describe all this week enough but i wont be able to do it justice. 

First off we had a baptism! Nicole got baptized on saturday. We asked her on..saturday. 4 hours before the baptism. Haha we FINALLY found her after 2 weeks and we went by again on saturday morning with a member and it was SO amazing. like i really haven't seen faith like that in so long. But it was really cool because we just started talking to her about how these trials are hard for her and she said "before i met missionaries, i would have doubted god and said he has abandoned me. But i can understand now that believing in all this helps me understand that these are just trials that i can overcome." haha umm...okay! Yeah thats more faith than i have. Her grandpa is super mal en el hospital and she has been going there every day. in and out of a coma, one day better and the next day worse. But saturday we went by and i shared about the holy ghost and the role that it plays in comforting us. We told her that the lord really loved her....and that he loved her so much that he wanted to give her even MORE of his spirit, but he couldn't do it unless she took that step thats baptism. She looked down for a second, then looked up with a big smile, and said "What do i need to bring?" We were like...what? because we had told her that the other branch, tolhuaca where the other hermanas are, were having another miracle baptism that night at 8, and we thought she meant to COME. but she said "What do i need to bring? a towel? I'm getting baptized. Im tired of waiting." Haha well OKAy i guess we will take that. So we got a service together and watched this amazing faith take place and get baptized. It was so special. I really feel like that kind of faith is what the lord needs to always have miracles take place. ANd by the way, her grandpa got out of the hospital sunday after her confirmation.

Thats just one. Bruno and Kathy are more than ready. They were finally able to go to church this weekend because his mom stayed with the sick little babies, and they also got MARRIED. haha like WHAT is going on?? why do these people just want to be so faithful? it seems like that was forever ago but that was only last tuesday. It was a super simple ceremony inside of the civil center because they don't have a ton of money, but we took some great photos that we are going to give to them along with a photo of the santiago temple for their house. Anyway, they´re married and getting baptized this saturday. They are so funny. he is such a goofball and is always making random comments that we are just like "Bruno were you paying attention?" and he is like "yeah I'm not going to lie, i don't know what you jus said" and kathy just laughs at him and tells him to pay attention. Haha but they are so amazing and their daughters are everything to them. Like when we ask why they want to do this, its just because they want an eternal family. the only reason. So well....i guess thats amazing. The branch loves them.

Familia Sanchez. Doing even more amazing. The daughters love church, hermana Lourdes is WAY better than i thought. In the beginning she was so incredulous and didn't quite want to believe it all, and now everything has changed. She is so excited. The daughters are adorable and the branch loves the fact that this FAMILY is coming to church. The best part is that our own converts are the ones that are helping them so much. Like Carolina who got baptized a MONTH ago is the one who is taking the daughters in and taking care of them, and making sure they stay all the classes. Ramiro (who was actually de elder girsberger but got baptized two months ago) is helping out Bernardo. Everything is just going well. I seriously love that family so so so much. We are going again tonight and we are going to see how everything is going. But i really feel good about them: Bernardo came to church again in his white shirt and tie, and it just makes me thrilled. All the members talk to them and are so great. I think that really is the success to a branch....the missionaries can do whatever but these people come and sometimes no one talks to them, but this branch here just takes them COMPLETELY under their wing, calls them for us, invites them to FHE without telling us....like its such a blessing. So keep praying for familia Sanchez :) they're my golden ones.

Marcelo, Andrea, Marcelo and Matias. Marcelo is actually Ramiro´s boss (they are both in the army and Marcelo is 4th in command in all of the south or something crazy like that. like super high up there). Marcelo is a stud though. We haven't even like TAUGHT them anything and he has already read over half the principles de evangelio book, which is basics of the gospel? Something like that. He volunteered to take care of ALL the games and activities for the huge september 18th party we are planning as a branch. Haha i don't know whats going on but he has already gone to church 3 times, he brought his girlfriend (they live together and we will have to get them married but they are so grossly in love its disgusting. always holding hands. or maybe I'm just a weird missionary and any contact seems gross) to church and she loved it. Marcelo the 14 year old who is my little brother went to seminary every day this week. Haha I just love victoria so much. I love you all.

Last story...Alfonso CHIFFERLY. You know those stories that missionaries tell ALWAYS after they get home? like the classic funny stories? thats Alfonso chifferly. i wont tell this one til i get back, but i really cannot believe this man. He is 87, has said "I'm smarter than the doctors" about 100 times to us, sells herbal medication out of his house, and is just a riot. I love him so much. I think we will probably drop him because even though he accepted a fecha he kind of went back on it. We told him to pray about church and he said that he saw the risen savior in his house, in person, but that the fact that he was IN the house means that he has no need to go to church. So close chifferly, so close. Best part his? He kicked us out of his house 2 days earlier because my companion was really really rude and then when we went back he didn't remember we had passed by. Like the movie groundhog day. Hahaha i cant wait to describe this man to you...

Well, thats all i have time for. I love you all so much. Thanks for your prayers, your thoughts. I really REALLY love the mission and even though its flying by, I'm enjoying every minute. Thanks for all your support!

Les quiero mucho

Elder Tengberg

i would send photos but it appears that my new memory card has a virus on it too, so ill have to find a way around it next week. freaking chilean cyber cafes.