Wednesday, May 30, 2012

"Lords success formula"

Family and friends,
My week was all over the place and had a few unusual things happen.
From being in Peter and having a conference with a general authority
(Elder Grow of the 1st presidency of the 70) to losing my wallet in
Peter ( a huge city with LOTS of dishonest people) and having someone
return it to me, then returnig home and doing service in an old war
fort in K-grad and exploring its creepy chambers (it had a moat and
everything. It was seriously SO SICK), to offending an old babushka in
our ward who is convinced no one loves her and that we have all
forgotten about her ( seriously so sad. Please dont grow up and become
an old grouchy babushka!) and then finding out I will be serving in
K-grad with sister Pinkston 6 more weeks!!! (woooooo hooooo!).
Since the baptism Sister Pinkston and I have just been trying to
figure out what to do from square one. We're focusing on working with
the ward and bringing back the less actives. Elder Nelson, when he
came here last year he promised the missionaries and members if we
brought back the less actives that our number of baptisms will double!
Thats a promise worth working towards :) And that is exactly what we
are trying to do right now. This last week we met with a lady who
hasn't been to church in over 6 years and she came on sunday. Woooooot
wooot!
So this week I learned something SOOOOO COOL. Its what we call the
Lord's success formula. I know you have ALLL learned this before, but
never realized it. Its a pattern that works for ANYTHING;
relationships, school, work, seriously anything. Christ taught us this
formula and Joseph Smith knew it was so important he included it in
the articles of faith. Nephi calls it the doctrine of Christ.
Step 1) FAITH. In anything we do, we need to have faith in it, and in
ourselves. We trust that we can do it, we trust the Lord will help us,
we trust in those we work with or who are involved with us. Faith is
the basis of EVERYTHING we do.
Step 2) REPENTANCE. Aka GROWTH. Everyday we learn. We make mistrakes,
we figure out how to do things better. We learn as we try new things
and we try to be better. We make goals (goals based on faith of course
:) and then repentance is the growth process of accomplishing them.
Step 3) BAPTISM. aka COMMITTMENT. When we start something, we truly
commit ourselves to it and we do all we can to accomplish it, or
fulfill it, or keep our part of the bargain. Its more than just a
causal decision, its something we are determined to do.
Step 4) the gift of the HOLY GHOST. aka INSPIRATION. We all know we
can do things on our own, OR, we can have the help of a higher power,
or divine power. Our Father in Heaven didnt send us down here to be on
our own. He wants to help us, lead us, inspire us, comfort us, and
guide us. And He does daily. Often so quietly we dont recognize it.
And often we forget that He is there willing to help us. Seek His
help! I promise He will help you. And inspire you day to day, in both
the big things and the small. And dont forget, it is through small and
simple things that great things are brought to pass :) (alma 36:6 and
7).
Isnt that formula genious! I love it! And I hope you all do to. I love
you and promise as you remember this and strive to follow the Lord's
pattern you will be blessed. I love you all! Love, Sister Tenney

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Bubble-of -goodness

Family and Friends,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS! For Lena I mean. It was apparent that she
was completely enfolded in an almost "bubble-of-goodness" or
protective veil this week. Somehow everything worked out. Yes we saw
the work of Satan and his pathetic attempts to keep her from the being
baptized, but his thwarts were nothing matched with Lena's faith
combined with the prayers of the righteous (by the prayers of the
righteous I mean your prayers :). We were with her everyday this last
week as we did everything we could to make sure she was ready and
surrounded by goodness. We had an interesting week that started with
Family night with the young adults and youth. The spiritual thought at
Family night was on the Holy Ghost. To give a "visual" of the Holy
Ghost, they had Lena leave the room and we set up a course she would
have to walk though with a blindfold on. We assigned one girl to be
the "still, small voice" of the Holy Ghost and then we all were the
loud, tempting and distracting voices of the world and Satan. As Lena
walked in and we started yelling and trying to lead her off the path
it was apparent she had no idea what to do. She tried to listen to the
kind, quiet voice, but in the end she heeded our voices and never made
it to the end. I was quite angry at the girl who lead the activity
because she didnt explain to Lena before she started the course, the
point of the game or what she was even supposed to do! The girl then
used Lena's confusion as the example of what not to do, and this just
made Lena feel bad and then confused her. Afterwards we knew we needed
to better explain to her the Holy Ghost and the great gift  that
it is. The next day we had a meeting with her and we explained and
more tesimony of the greatness of the Holy Ghost. We then watched the
movie the testaments. If you have not yet seen this movie, i beg of
you to watch it with your family! It truly testifies of the Book of
Mormon and most importanly of THE Christ. We all ended up completely
crying. Lena just sat there holding her heart saying "I feel him. I
feel the Holy Ghost". It was such a sweet experience to see her truly
feel and learn for herself. She then said the closing prayer. It was
the sweetest prayer I have ever heard. She sincerely thanked the Lord
for His goodness, that she now knew of the truthfullness of the
gospel, and she promised to read the Book of Mormon. And she did! This
week, in 8 days, she read over 25 pages! Mind you, she is only 14. Yet
she LOVEs it and LOVES Nephi. Oh how I love her.
Her baptism on Saturday was blissfully beautiful. Haha the font water
was freezing, and green, and her baptismal suit was HUGE on her, but
she didnt even care! And Sunday she recieved the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Afterwards she leaned over to me and asked "so I have the Holy
Ghost now always???". I smiled and nodded and watched as she sat back
and smiled and held her heart. She called her mom and told her all
about it and just kept holding her heart and saying, "I feel him mom.
In my heart".
I just could cry as I think about this last week. It was amazing. I
hope all of you, like Lena, are reading and truly trying to FEEL and
FOLLOW the still small voice of the Holy Ghost. I promise you he will
lead you!
I love you all! Love, Sis Tenney
ps- the photos. Me and Lena, Lena dancing of excitement before the
baptism haha, her big baptismal clothes, and the nasty green water
haha.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Another good week

 At the beach!

 me commemorating the dead
the elephant!
me petting the rhino

It was a Miracle

 Family and friends,
How do we always forget that miracles are possible???? And that they
DO happen. And OFTEN! I forget this over and over again even though my
life is full of them. This week we had a rollar coaster week. my
favorite person ever, Lena (pronounced Layna) seemed to be doing
awesome until we met with her Tuesday and she told us that she couldn't
come to church the DAY after her baptism (the day she would be
recieving the Gift of the Holy Ghost) becasue the boy she likes is
having a birthday party at the beach. OH MY GOSH. ARE YOU KIDDING ME
LENA???? We immediatly rememered that she is only 14. We then
proceeded to ask her WHY she wanted to get baptized and what it meant
to her. She passed the questions with flying colors as she bore her
sweet testimony of how she feels good when she is here and knows that
it is true. Regardless of her awesome answers we were very
straightforward and hard on her as we told her she would not be able
to be baptized if she went to the party the next day, and then we went
on to re-teach the importance of not only the keeping the sabbath
day holy, but the magnitude of the decision to be baptized and that it
is a decision that will change the rest of her life. We ended the
meeting telling herit was her choice and then testified to her of the
truthfullness of what we had taught her.
We then worried the rest of the week as each day we somehow were not
able to meet with her. She then called us Friday morning in a panic.
She had a dentists appointment that day and was EXTREMELY nervous
about it. Everytime she goes it is an EXTREMELY painful and scary
experience and she was completely frightened. We were touched with
her faith and that she had even thought to call us. We ended up going
with her to the dentist. She walked in with the saddest, frightened
look in her eyes and sister P and I were so scared for her too. (the
dental care here is pretty sketch and I don't think they even numb them
before they start drilling! crazy right??). 15 minutes later she runs
out to us with a HUGE smile on her face and hugs as she just keeps
repeating over and over "it was a miracle becasue you prayed for me! I

didn't feel a thing!". But then the true miracle happened. She told us
she had decided she wouldn't be going to the birthday party and that
she would be baptized this Saturday and come to church the next day.
She told us, "I realized that God is the most important and that
nothing else matters".
WOW. And then we haven't stopped smiling since then. Yesterday we were
with her all day as we met with her, read scriptures with her, ate
dinner with her, as she contacted with us on the street! AND she met
our families when we skyped home. I feel like shes my little sister. I
love her and am sooooo grateful for her!'
So PLEASE. PLEASE keep Lena in you prayers this week. This week Satan
will work harder on her than ever before. She needs the power of
heaven this week! Thank you, I love you all! Love, Sister Tenney

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Pictures from a great week!






I wake up each day happier and happier

Family and friends,
I have 5 min so this will be quick, but I just gotta let you know how
AWESOME my week was! First off, last p-day we weant to the zoo and I
fed the giraffs! SOOOO FUN! And it's so nice and warm these days it was
incredible. THEN Tuesday I was at the beach all day with Lena and all
the seminry kids. It was kinda like a mini youth conference as we
played games on the beach, went on a hike, and had a spiritual
thought and testimony meeting. The youth here are awesome and are so
warm and welcoming to Lena it's perfect. The rest of the week consisted
of great meetings with less actives and inviestigators and once again
I feel so blessed to actually HAVE progressing investigators, to have
wonderful weather, to have a hilarious and awesome companion, to be in
K-GRAD the best area ever, to have SO much support and love from home,
and somehow I wake up each day happier and happier. AND today we're
off to the beach again. Gotta love the mission life :)
Please keep being amazing people. Don't be afraid to open your mouths
and testify of the wonderfullness of the gospel and how it had blessed
your life! I promise you as you do so your life, and others will be
blessed. I love you all and pray for you all. LIFE IS THE BEST! Love,
Sister Tenney
ps- please keep praying for LENA!!!