Monday, September 15, 2014

Cecilia se bautiza September 15, 2014

Cecilia's Baptism


Family,
1st of all, the exclamtion point button doesn¨t work and the other marks dont work either. So if something is really exciting, Ill just write "exclamation point" haha. 
This week was a really dfiicult but beautiful week. I love every moment.
Cecilia. This week satan was working a ton on her. He did everything he could to stop her. She had family members telling her that it was too fast and that she couldnt do it. She was doubting...on Friday we had her interview and when we started, she said "Im not going to be baptized this week." We tried to help her see she was ready, but she was determined. We could see she was super stressed and not thinking clearly, so we gave her a blessing. Not much changed. We went through with the interview anyways. I left and Elder Estrada, a good friend from Mexico, did the interview. He was talking with her for 45 minutes...and I was praying. He finished the interview and Cecilia told me, "I-m getting baptized this Sunday." AhHh. I was so happy. She asked if I could baptize her. 
Sunday, the day of the baptism. She was nervous. We entered the warm water, I told her how everything would go. Still nervous, she said "Okay..." Then I lifted my arm to the square, "Cecilia Alicia Acuña Morales, Habiendo sido comisionado por Jesucristo, Yo te bautizo en el nombre del Padre, y del hijo, y del espiritu santo, amen." She came out of the water and didn-t let go of my arm, still had her eyes closed, and began to cry. Afterwards, I asked her how she was feeling, "I feel like I am flying" she told me. 
We are going to cook tacos as a zone so I need to go, but know that we are seeing miracles and working hard. I am determined to rise to a new level of dedication these last 5 months. This time is so precious.
I love you all so much.
Have a great week, exclamation point.
Love,
Elder Tenney

fotos
Cecilia y Raul
Sofia y yo

Don't be afraid to turn back, September 8, 2014

Hey! 

The atonement is real. I feel so much strength, patience, guidance, and love every day that comes from it. 

Things in the area are still kind of hard haha. We worked super hard this week, talking with everyone and all the members. The miracle of the week was Cecilia. She is like one of the investigators from the "preach my gospel" DVDs. We found her last Saturday. I was on exchanges with a brand new elder from New York, Elder Avalos. And we passed by just when she was outside and said hello, then kept going. After several steps, I turned back to talk with her and I am so grateful I turned back. 

We left her with 2 nephi 31 to read, afterwards we asked her how she felt as she read it, she said, "I felt something right here (pointing to her heart), it was a peace, I can't explain. But it comes...and then goes. But I just want it to stay, but it goes." Then we asked her, "what do you think God was trying to tell you through these verses?". She answered, "I feel like He is telling me He wants me to be baptized...but just give me some time." So we prayed and prayed for her, then 2 days ago, she told us, "I have good news." my companion responded jokingly, "you are going to be baptized now?" "yes!" she responded excitingly. "I was in the doctors office thinking about it, and I felt something telling me, 'you should do it.' so I am going to be baptized." Miracles!!! The spirit does everything. Cecilia has so much faith. We taught the word of wisdom and she said without hesitation, "wow, so now I'm not going to drink coffee anymore." so much faith! 

 So lesson learned, don't be afraid to turn back. The atonement was made to give us second chances. One of the greatest lies of satan is, "it's too late." Sometimes he tells us it is too late to help people, too late to serve, or too late to change, but it's not too late, it's never too late. 

Cecilia gets baptized this next week! Please pray for her and for Garin! :)

Have an awesome week!


Love,

Elder Tenney

foto: Elder Loza, mi amigo.

Two Limones

September 1, 2014

Hey! 

This week was memorable. I am so so grateful to be in Garin. President told me that this will for sure be my last transfer, so I am trying to give everything I can to Garin these last 6 weeks. So I have been here a little over 5 months and we have been so blessed with a lot of success. Now I look at the lists of less active members, former investigators, and active members, and I have literally passed by every single one multiple times. I have talked with every single active member in the area asking for referrals or neighbors. So this week was rough, because honestly I had no idea what more to do, but somehow the Lord always does incredible things even when we have no idea what we are doing. 



Thursday...we passed by a few less actives whom I had not passed by in a long time and did EVERYTHING we could to find the elect there. We asked everyone whom we could visit. We visited a ton of people and even started knocking doors of neighbors (which we don't do in this mission, but really there was nothing else we could do and we just wanted to teach someone). At the end of the day, we had talked with like 60 new people, but not one of them was ready to accept the gospel. Finally we ended the day with 0 new investigators that we prayed and worked so earnestly to find. We didn't have new investigators, but one guy did give me a couple of lemons from his lemon tree, so that was a success at least. 
That night, in planning, I had nothing, no idea at all what to do, so I just prayed and begged Heavenly Father to guide me, and He did. That day we found Cecilia! Then we passed by Daiana, whom we hadn't seen in weeks and we found her! She was still reading the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized. 2 miracles and 2 lemons. 
Saturday was very similar to thursday, we did everything. All the plans we had fell through. It was a long day. It was 5:30pm and my body felt like it was 10:30pm, ready to colapse. My spirit was exhausted. The thoughts of sleep came rushing into my head, but something inside me always reminds me there is something much more important to do, so I looked up and told myself, "I'm not tired. I'm not tired. I'm not tired." and kept going. Finally, we met Ana, a neighbor of a less active member. The natural man in me still cried for rest, not only physically, but mentally and spiritually, but the most important thing in the world to me in that moment was Ana. We were outside, talking to her through her fence, and I poured out my heart. "Jesucristo le ama." Jesus Christ loves you.  I said. "and because He loves you, he has placed his Church here on the earth to bless you and your family, to help you feel peace." I looked into her eyes and I knew she felt it. She felt it was true. The spirit filled my heart. She told us she wanted to go to the church. 

After a long hard week, Heavenly Father blessed me with tender mercies on Sunday. First of all, Victor blessed the sacrament for the 1st time. Moments like that I will never forget. Ariel was confirmed yesterday, received the aaronic priesthood, and that night went with us to visits. Without us even saying anything, he testified to our investigator, telling her about how he lost his dad, and his house has always been broken. He didnt   even want to be in his house at times, but when he started to go to church, to read the Book of Mormon, and to pray, he changed. He felt peace. "I know that the Church of Jesus Christ, this church, is the right church...thats all..." It was hard not to cry. It was one of the most powerful testimonies I have heard on my mission. There was nothing more we could say to invite the spirit more so we ended the lesson there. Miracles... This 12 year old kid just 3 weeks ago took everything like a joke, now he is a worthy priesthood bearer.

I love seeing the atonement in these people and feeling it in me. I know it is real. Hard times now are not just hard times, they are an opportunity to use the atonement, an opportunity to be more like Him. I am so grateful for these times, because there is no time like this ever again. 

I love you all so much

Full of gratitude,

Elder Heath Tenney

Transfers and Lost Converts, August 26, 2014

August 26, 2014


Hey! 

This week was awesome. We had transfers this morning. My new companion is Elder Alfaro, de Chile! He is a stud. I am so excited to be with him. 

This last week with Elder Mederos was amazing. We worked so hard. He really finished his mission well. We were so blessed this week. Sunday, a ton of people came to church for the baptism of Ariel. Every area in the zone had someone in church which was a miracle. It was just an amazing Sunday. 

That night we had the farewell for the departing missionaries. We went in bus. When we were on our way back. We got off the bus, and the member we were with, Aldana, looks at us and says, "where is Martin?" We turned around as the bus was pulling away. This 8 year old kid was left alone sleeping on a bus heading far away. Miracuously there were other elders from the zone on the bus still so we called them and were able to find Martin. But it was an adventure running after the bus haha. 

We are seeing miracles here. I am so excited to be here in Garin 6 more weeks. This place is about to exploddeee even more! I love the Lord. It is such a priviledge to serve Him. 

Sorry this is super short. I don't have much time nor cool stories from the week haha. I promise to have cooler stories next week. 


Love you all!

Elder Tenney