Well hellloo
family! I sure do love you so much. I don't have a ton of time this week but
last week i promised pictures so that's what I'm going to send this week! There
are pictures of the four of us comps, me in the campo, us on the volcano, and a
couple more. To be honest i forgot what i attached but it's all there! Haha
sorry. The volcano was super fun though and it was a great memory. Anyway,
this week...
Well this week
I was back in Angol again! I actually spent the whole week there working with
the zone and doing intercambios with all the different district leaders. it was
really fun. It was a good week and I learned a lot from a lot of people. One of
my favorite things to do is to leave notes to missionaries after the
intercambio is done. I remember when I was back in Victoria one of the
assistants did it with me and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever, so
I do it every time now. This week I had a really cool experience with an elder
who I had kind of judged before but after working with him, I was shocked at
how little I knew him. So at the end of the day, I wrote him a little card and
hid it in his pillowcase and stuff, then when I got home I realized he had done
the same to me! Sneaky little booger. Anyway what he wrote was one of the
coolest things I have read and something I needed to hear so badly. I will
share it with all of you because I frankly don't have any investigators to talk
about or anything else. All I do is intercambios!
He said
"Look, people in your life will always, in one way or another, let you
down. I suppose that you're in the perfect position right now to practice how
you want to respond when it happens (he was referring to a situation that I
asked him for advice about with a missionary who with I had put various goals
to improve on, and had completely thrown out all of them and didn't care. I was
rather annoyed because he is a leader in the mission and was just completely ignoring
his personal responsibility as such!). What's made me happiest is applying what
Elder Holland said to my own relationships: ´Surely the thing that God enjoys
most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who
don't expect it and often feel they don't deserve it´. From my own experience
people change the most profoundly when we show them love and respect when they
don't feel they deserve it. Try it out . It feels fantastic."
Wow, right? I
was just in for a bit of humble pie, wasn't I? I think thats one of the most
frustrating things I have come to learn...that in the mission I thought I would
become almost perfect. Obviously not perfect but I thought i would come home
with a lot less rough edges. But I feel like I've just changed from a rough
jagged pointy rock to one that has one less jag on it - but it's still pretty
awful and barely noticeable. I guess that's life though. In the end, none of us
will ever justify ourselves in getting into heaven. We are all just
trying our best and hoping that it will be okay in the end. But the consolation
is knowing that God will, in the end, always forgive us, if we follow the
teachings of his son Jesus Christ and apply the atonement to our life. I feel
like, even though I WANT to be so different, so much better, that God just gets
a thrill out of forgiving me when I certainly don't deserve it. He is pretty
incredible. He must get so sick of hearing our constant "No but I PROMISE,
I wont ever do it again!" and "God please help THAT PERSON TO
CHANGE" prayers. He must just laugh. But I am awfully grateful for his
mercy with me. I love the mission so much. I really do. I know this church is
true and the gospel is our key to happiness!
Love to everyone
at home! We have a couple of busy weeks coming up. Interviews, all wide mission
conference, cambios. But, alas, a heavy train never jumps the rails. So, in the
end, I am grateful that I have the chance to be stressed and busy - it's
helping me progress.
I love you
all.
Elder Tengberg
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