Vamos al castillo del Senor"

Today is Heath's 19th birthday!  Sorry I'm slow in forwarding this week's letter.  If anyone would like to respond with a short bday greeting, I will forward them along to him.  Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.  If you'd like his address for a Christmas card, it's:

Elder Heath Tenney 

General Lavalle 1828

1646 San Fernando

Buenos Aires,  Argentina

It's $1.10 for an intl. stamp.  

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From: "Heath Tenney"

Sent: Monday, December 2, 2013 11:02:42 AM
Subject: "Vamos al castillo del Señor"

¡Hola Familia! 

It is so good to hear that Thanksgiving and everything went well. I loved the picture that Courtney sent. Everyone looks really good and happy. It made me so happy just seeing you all together and happy. 

Thank you also so much for all the kind notes for my birthday. You all are so kind.

My time in Argentina so far has been the most enriching, stretching, memorable time of my life. At the end of the day, I feel so overwhelmed with blessings. And those are only the ones I see and remember. My whole life right now can be summed up with one word: BLESSINGS. I really am not the most gifted person in missionary work, but I am doing my best, and the blessings just keep coming. And I'm learning that blessings, or God's hand in our lives, are the way this work really gets done, so we just have to do our best, then His hand will come. It always will come. 

Update on the pension! This week our shower broke for good, but we really didn't have the time to go all the way over to the other Elders' pension to shower, so this week I got to shower with bottles of water everyday! Luckily we had water in the kitchen, so we filled up bottles of water, then brought them to the bathroom. The 1st day, all I could do was smile the whole time, because it felt like I was in a movie or something haha. 

Okay, this week. I met for the first time the familia F.  Hermana F kindly invited us to come back later, and we did. The moment we walked into the house, we could feel... not darkness, but just an absense of hope. No one really seemed that happy. After talking with them for several minutes, we learned that their son died several years ago, they stopped coming to church, and now were starting to question if there is a God. We only had several minutes before we had to return home. Looking into their eyes and feeling the sadness they had made me feel inadequate. I had no idea what to say...so I turned to the answer for almost everything: The Book of Mormon. We opened to Alma 40, and read with them what it says about where their son/brother is, he is in peace, in paradise. We read that, and told them as fervently as I could, "I know this is true." We told them that they can know and feel that this is true for themselves, if they only ask. There was so much love in the room. I know they could feel the love of Heavenly Father, and our love for them. After sharing the scripture, Hermana F. and her daughter began to cry. I don't remember all they said but, she said, "That is true. I know that is true." The feeling in the house changed completely. The Book of Mormon is so so powerful. It is one of the reasons God can send the weak to do His work. He knows we are nothing, so He gave us the Book of Mormon. 

Luego, we had a lesson with Hermana C (she is the less active sister who we miraculously found last week). We met her husband Omar, who isn't a member. We had such a great lesson with them and Omar knew that this is what he has been waiting for. He shed tears of joy at the end of the 1st lesson, he could just feel it. I wish I had time to tell you the details of everything that happened. He really is just stressed and tired, he needs more in his life. He needs to make time for God. For the 1st time in a long time, he felt God's love. We left him with the restoration DVD to watch and he watched it 3 times! Ahh! He accepted a baptismal date, but doesn't want to rush it, so not sure about that for now. On Saturday, he was thinking that he wasn't going to go to church, because he would feel uncomfortable, he finishes work at 7 AM and would be really tired...and other reasons. But he was driving past the church with his family, and his 3 year old daughter, Luna, who has never been to the church yells "¡Papa! ¡Mira, un castillo! Un Castillo, Papa! ¿Por favor podemos ir al castillo?" - Daddy! Look! A castle! A castle, daddy! Can we please go to the castle?"

He had to be feeling it then, and said to his daughter, "Yes. We can go to the castle. We are going there tomorrow."

What? Ahhh! I couldn't stop smiling when I heard that. Seriously, what a miracle. And he loved church and met with Bishop. Luna was sad she couldn't stay for longer. So amazing.

We really are seeing so many miracles here. In every lesson it seems someone is crying because they feel the love that Christ has for them. It is such a priviledge and blessing to be here, even though it is so hard. 

My thanksgiving was great. I feasted on some bread with strawberry jam. 

There are things to be grateful for in every place in the world. 

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Elder Heath Tenney