Exciting News!

We are happy to say that Brady will be ending his mission and returning back to the United States on June 17th!!!!!

Second, Brady's address has changed! His new address is:

Elder Brady J Tengberg

Mission Chile Concepcion Sur

Castellon 1063 Casilla 3560

Concepcion, Bio Bio

CHILE

If you are mailing a package the 3560 is the post code.... or we would call it the zip code.  

He would love to get a Christmas Card from you :)

Busqueda del Tesoro- Email 11/11/13

Hello hello! One to tree! Ha thats what everyone says to me in the street. They cant even say one two three. But i swear i still find it funny when they try. 

Anyway this week has been awesome! We started off the week really strong and then it kind of got difficult to the end, but things are really going well. This week we had the Busqueda del Tesoro, that activity that i had told you about. We made little burnt maps for the teams that actually had NOTHING to do with the treasure, then hid it somewhere in the church (but 10 minutes in, we didn't want them to find it fast so we hid it after it started. what?? we had to keep the game going! everyone was like "i totally looked there!" haha yes, you did.) But it turned out so good. We had about 50 people there and 16 investigators, which was awesome. Now comes up another one end of this month! So things are looking good. People really had a good time so that made us happy.

In other news....Fernanda and Gladis are doing really well! They are super good for their baptism for the 23rd, and they are excited. We may have a tiny complication but we still aren't sure, but as of now everything is good. Fernanda has so much faith, seriously. She told us some stories confidentially and it was crazy to see how she really trusts us and believes we are sent from God. Some stories that after we gave her the blessing (she left the next day) that she saw a man dressed in white by her bedside all night, and the next day she was fine. She thinks it was an angel, and it was just such a spiritual experience when she told us. I thought it was a doctor, isn't my faith so strong? but she assured me it wasn't the doctor. haha I'm so dumb sometimes. Anyway she is super happy and we are happy for her too. They went to a baptism Saturday of an 80 year old man (it took about 10 minutes to get him to actually go underwater, so sad) and she loved it. So things are good there! 

In other news, Cecilia is super prepared. She is the mom of a recent convert we have been working with a ton. This week we had a really spiritual experience with her and she accepted a fecha for the 30 of november! She has been evangelical her whole life and her only fear is talking to her evangelical friends in the future and having to tell them she truly believes this stuff. She said "I know its true, but they just won't understand...but it doesn't matter. I get it." And it was super spiritual. I wish i could say i was part of it but elder medina has been working with her for about 5 months so its cool to see how things changed. Her daughter is 13 and now she is coming to the church too! Anyway, great stuff. She actually was in Santiago this week so she went to the temple to see it, and we will find out how it went tomorrow. Super, super cool. Sometimes the Lord just needs time to prepare people! Or i guess maybe they just need time to recognize he has already prepared them. But anyway, she is awesome and we love her. She is so funny and just never stops making jokes. 

Emilio! SUCH a cool kid. This story is honestly exactly like Marcelito from Victoria. We passed by the mom and she is super super closed off. She will listen to us and everything but she has just come from a catholic background her whole life and even when we showed her a couple things in the bible about baptism, she was just like "I would never change. Never. My padrinos (godfather i think? not sure what the name is in english) would roll in their graves. I could never." and at the very end we just talked to the son, who is 13. and he came and played football the next day with us (also i am very good at goalie. Probably because thats all i have played for  a year and a half because NO ONE LET ME PLAY BECAUSE I CANT DRIBBLE WITH MY FEET) and he LOVED it. he is 13, such  good kid, and just super sano. Like doesn't do anything bad and just wants a place to have friends and have fun. He is super awesome so we are excited to watch how he opens the door for that family too. Anyway that's all for this week.

I love you all so much. Its hard being a missionary sometimes...but every time i think its a little hard, i remember how little i do and how much Christ does. Honestly i do nothing, he did all i do and 100x more for BILLIONS of people. All i do is teach - he suffered and died. All i do is walk - he carried a cross. I get doors slammed in my face - he gets nails in his hands. I love being able to experience LITTLE parts of what he went through, because it just makes me appreciate him so much. I can honestly say that I love the savior, and i think its the first time in my life i really mean it. That i can really say that I love him and appreciate what he did. 

love you all. The church is true and God lives!

elder Tengberg

The Army of Moronites- Email 11/4/13

Familia!!!

Ah its good to hear from all of you. Its been an awesome week here in Angol. Seriously i love it here so much, its such a fun sector. Its burning burning hot but hey what are you going to do. Im getting tan though! well mostly just red but its better than white.

Happy birthday big brothers!!! I love you all so much. You're like 40 now but who cares. I'm still young and fit.  Well, mostly. 

SO its been a week of miracles. Here is what we have so far...and sorry for the short email last week! Ill be better today. promise.

Gladis y Fernanda. Fernanda was in the hospital this past week and her mom stopped us in the street at like 9:55 as we were walking to our house to go in for the night. And she said "Pray for my daughter." so we obviously found out what was wrong and told her we would go there to give a blessing. Fernanda is 18 and was super sick, but got better right after the blessing and as soon as she came out we talked for like 10 minutes and put a baptismal date with the two of them because it was such a strong spirit. 100% guided by the spirit in everything. The mom didn't go to church this week because her husband is super porfiado but the daughter did and she is super excited. Crazy how things work! So that is looking like the 23rd of this month. They are super awesome people.

Ramiro...we met him in the street, went over to his house, and that was a super spiritual lesson too. He had almost died like 6 years ago and has been looking for why he was left on the earth (like seriously, Heavenly Father is handing them to us on a silver platter) and we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith through baptism etc.) and he just loved it. He is thinking about getting baptized the end of this month or early december, but he accepted a baptismal date right away too! Such miracle stuff. Honestly awesome. He is about 30 and has got a great heart, such a humble and simple person for what happened. Was a huge military buff before but now he only sees out of one eye and has a limp so he can't do anything...just small stuff in the neighborhood. Crazy how the Lord prepares people for the gospel, sometimes a personal accident, sometimes time, sometimes crazy events. But the two are super prepared.

Another family is Marcelo and Pamela. We found them last week and they are SO cool. We met him int he street, he is like 30 and my new dream for YM 1st counselor for the ward (we already have a president...close though). He is just such a friendly guy, and when we went by to meet his family it was awesome. His wife (well not quite, but in our contact he said "but we really want to get married like really soon - well marcelo i think i can help with that) Pamela is awesome too. They both have really busy schedules and busy work jobs but have such friendly attitudes and are receiving us as much as they can. They have two boys, Cristian and Benjamin. So I don't know if this will be a fast process or a slow one, but either way, they are getting baptized in my time here. Im not letting it not happen! Haha but its good stuff. He actually wrote on the back of our "Families are Forever" passalong card "I love you Pamela, my eternal companion" and gave it to her. hahaha like who does that??? They are golden. Gold gold gold.

The zone is awesome, i am happy, we are super blessed as a zone and have some great baptisms coming up. Everyone is pulling their weight which is just the best thing ever so we are united. Our "mascot" for the month or our name is the "moronites" because we read a whole bunch of stories about Moroni. So I had an idea to have army tryouts today for the Army of Moroni, and we just played a whole bunch of games and painted our faces and were stupid. We played hide and seek and everything, it was a blast. Things are just going great here.

I love you all. I truly love being a missionary. Its crazy how incredibly fast this time has gone, but I'm enjoying it more every second and not letting a second slip out of my hands. Its good to know that i have people at home (or in china - ahem) who love me and who care about me, and that i just have to give it everything and not worry about the rest. I love you fam. Thank for being such a great support!

Elder Tengberg

and my companion Elder Medina is honestly a riot. We joke around, fight so much and are always playing jokes on each other. We´re doing awesome and he says hello too! 

Angoooooool!- Email 10/28/13

Hello my amazing family and friends! Aw MAN i am just so so so happy. I don't have any time to write this week because we are here in Concepcion and we are already late for our bus...and i just have way much to do. I'm awful at writing now aren't i? i truly am i know. 

ANyway, leaving victoria was hard. Here are pictures of my goodbye! Marcelo had a trampoline there from the night before, but they left it there so i told everyone that it was there "for me" hahaha. SO awesome. BUt yeah we jumped on the tramp with the district president, i relived my Lowe´s Extreme Air sports days and did some backflips, and just had a ton of fun. Thats a picture of the jersey that Bernardo gave me, that was by far the hardest goodbye. Marcelo and Andrea and marcelito and matias too was difficult. Good stuff though and i was happy to leave on a good note.

ANGOL! Here is my companion Elder MEdina. WOW it has honestly been one of the happiest weeks of my mission. i have learned so much about myself, taken some really strong steps in becoming a better missionary, and really tried to become more dedicated to the savior. I sure do love being a missionary. I am so so so happy and so grateful to be out here. Elder Medina is a super short little guy but we are so thrilled to e together. Haha he is a crack up. Surfed in the north of chile, did skimboard, loves to eat just as much as i do...he is my chilean twin. Except for i didn't surf i just had a surfboard. But OTHER than that, we are doing great. OUr zone is HUGE, the city is like 100 degrees every day and I'm melting and its only SPRING, and I'm just loving being out here more than i ever have my entire mission. THe ward is great, super big and super receptive. haha i have almost everyones names remembered in just one day! Working hard on that. ANyway, love you all, ill write more next week so i don't send pictures and have more time to write! 

You're the best. 

Elder Tengberg

Off to Angol!- Email 10/21/13

Well. Haha my time in Victoria has come to a close! It's bittersweet. Crazy to think that 6 months ago I got here because it seems like yesterday and it's just flying by so fast. Crazy to think that in this little branch we have seen talent shows, movie nights, trains, holidays, cookies, empanadas, and so many people baptized. It has just been an incredible journey and I'm so glad that i was able to be here for the time that I was able to be here. It has been a huge blessing honestly. I think here I learned a lot about myself and its going to be hard to let it go. Im super, super excited for my new zone and for a new challenge, but its just hard leaving the people behind. They are so focused on the work though and the majority truly understand the depth of all this. Even Bruno, who has been struggling a little bit with old temptations, told me this week after i gave them a present, that "we didn't do this just to do it. Even if the girls are sick and we can't go, or we cant make it, know that we did this for forever and we want an eternal family." It was such a deep comment and just made me SO grateful for all of this. Honestly have had one of the most blessed experiences here and its for nothing that I did. haha I'm just a 20 year old boy who loves to do fun activities and mess around, and the Lord does so many miracles that he just lets us watch. Bernardo and Marcelo are still the studs....this week Bernardo received the priesthood, came in his suit and is progressing like crazy, and will be called as YM president next week haha. marcelo wants to get baptized and always teases us by saying "You guys hate me and don't want to baptize me." and we are like NO WE DO!!!! haha but he is ready for April when they have their big wedding and baptism the next day. This week at a military convention, one of his bosses saw him reading the Book of Mormon and said "You're mormon?!" and Marcelo said "And you ARENT? what are you waiting for! its the new thing!" hahaha so funny. But he actually asked me for a Doctrine & Covenants book too because he wanted to keep reading more that he hasn't been able to read in the Book of Mormon. Just such miraculous people that I am so grateful to have known. Seriously i consider myself so blessed and feel so humbled being a missionary here in Chile. These are people that I am going to treasure my entire life. Tonight we are going to do a little get together in the chapel before I leave, and I'm just excited but also so so so sad to have to say goodbye to them. Anyway....that's the mission!

SO! My new zone is ANGOL! ITs pretty close to here and its a pretty field-ish type of place (campo doesn't translate so i have no idea how to describe it?) and i am so so so excited. It will be my first time in an actual ward, not just a branch.  So it will be weird working with a real ward with more than 60 people! My companion will be Elder Medina, a good friend of mine here in the mission. He is a super short little Chilean kid who is just a riot to be around. He has been in my zone before and we have always been good friends, so I am so so so excited to work with him. Two of my other good friends are going to the same zone too so it is going to be a blast. Excited to work harder than I ever have, to love the people another time, and to baptize more families that want to be together forever. Thanks for all the support and I will send pictures next week of the despedida tonight!

Until ANGOL!

Elder Tengberg