Letter from March 5th, 2012

Well how are things going? I take it that you guys had some pretty good ol' times at "Wicked". Amanda sent me some pics of the boys (ha ha). They are just getting so big!!  I freakin' love Kolten's hair (ha ha). 

 

Not much new stuff that has been happening these past couple of days. I have just been getting to know my new companion and all.  He is super white (ha ha) and he reminds me of Shawn White. One of these days I will send you guys some pics. I need to try to figure out how to send like all my pics at once because I have a bunch. But,  he is from Curitiba, Paraná.  It's way down in the southern part of Brazil. He has 9 months in the mission. He is pretty chill too. It's funny - he is so white that like everyone says that he is American and some people don't believe him so he has to like show them his identification and everything. People say that I look more Brazilian than he does (ha ha).  This week was pretty calm and everything with transfers going on. We had Fast and Testimony meeting which was good. Our branch is so small that pretty much everybody that could bore their testimony, and we even finished a little early because there was no one else to bear testimony (ha ha). We have this one lady who we are teaching that we are trying to get baptized.  She is ready and everything, but she still isn't baptized and there is nothing holding her back from being baptized. Even she got up there and bore her testimony how she knows the church is true and the Book of Mormon is true.  I'm just sitting there thinking why doesn't she want to get baptized??!!!  But, I know that the Lord works in His own time and everything, so maybe I'll just have to wait.

 

This morning we played a little bit of soccer which is always fun. The best part was when we put the Brazilians vs. the Americans. All I'm saying is that we represented quite well against them and we ended up pulling off the big upset which just felt so good. But, that's about it for news this week.  I hope that everyone is well and all. Hope Dad's feeling better.  Love you all so much!

Letter from February 29th, 2012

Sounds like things are going good for you guys. So, yeah - pretty much you guessed right.  Pres. Hall doesn't let me stay with my comps ever. So, I'm getting a new comp today. I don't know him or anything about him right now, so I'll be able to tell you more this Monday.  All I know is that he is a Brazilian.  But, we had a really good transer with my old comp and we got along well.  

 

This week and a half passed by really fast. With all the work and traveling and things that have to get taken care of and everything, it seems to pass by really fast. But, I'm excited to stay in my area at least one more transfer. We are gonna have to work really hard to have success here, but we are always working hard.  I hope my new comp likes to work!!

 

I feel like I'm pretty much writing like the same thing every week.  If you have any questions, it would help a little bit (ha ha).  Hey, you need to get on Amanda and Jessie's case because I haven't heard from them in months, so I don't know anything that's going on in their lives. Quite a few Elders from my district were transfered and pretty much now we have the coolest district in the mission I would say (ha ha). We have so many cool Elders, and 4 of us are Americans (ha ha).  This will be my 3rd Brazilian comp and my 10th comp in my mish and I only have been out a year and 2 months.  I hope that you guys all have a great week and I will be able to give a little bit more info here in a couple of days on Monday when I pass internet again. Love you so much!!

Letter From February 6th, 2012

You had asked the reason why I had to leave my last area - the reason was because a bunch of missioinaries left and only a couple got here so we are down a couple of missionaries right now.  So, there was a couple of areas that had to get closed.  My new comp has about 5 months in the mission right now.  This is about his third month here in this area.  This is his first area.

 

Here are some photos - some from this week and others from a while back.  I have a bunch of  photos, but with this email and computer, I can't send that many.  But, this week went really well.  We had two baptisms this week which was cool.  One was a young man who is 16 years old and another that's 18 years old.  We are still teaching a lot of people here.  We are STILL trying to help people get married though.  Most of the people don't want to which is kinda rough.  But, what do ya do?  I'm just gonna do everything in my power and then leave the rest up to the big guy upstairs.  He does some strong work!! 

 

But, things are going really well here and all.   We got to play a little soccer this morning which is always fun.  Our Branch President blessed his first child yesterday, a little baby girl.  So, there were quite a few people there visiting. Please get that package sent to me ASAP - I just love getting mail.  We will be getting mail on Wednesday because the ZL's are going to Joao Pessoa, so I'm hoping that I got something waiting for me. Well I hope that all is well with everyone.  I love you all and have a great week!

 

P.S.  This area has the most delicous churros in the world.

Letter from January 30th, 2012

You wanted to know how things are going here in my new area, if it's good or bad?  Do you think that I would ever talk bad about my comp or area - come on (haha).  Here in this area we have  a bunch of little cities that we are always visiting that we have to take a taxi to. Our chapel is in a different city as well, so we have to take a bus there with all of the members every Sunday.  Usually we have about 30 people in sacrament meeting.

 

My new companion is pretty much the opposite of me.  It's funny because he always asks me if I have seen
such and such a movie or know such and such music,  and I tell him no.  And then I ask him the same thing and he says no (haha).   But, he is a good kid and a hard worker which is nice. Our district is way chill.  We got together today and played soccer which was super fun. It had been a while since I had played. But, that's about it for here.  I will try to send some pics next week because this computer is really slow.

 

We have a big group of people that we are working with right now. A lot of the people that we are teaching need to get married before we can baptize them, and most of them don't want to get married.  So, that's probably the toughest thing here.  I will send a longer email next week for sure.  I'm back for sure now (ha ha).  Love ya so much!!

Letter from January 18th, 2012

So, I finally got  my email back!!!!!  I don't know what's better - talking to you guys for a little bit longer at Christmas or being able to email you every week (ha ha).   Well, there sure has been a lot of things that have happened in the last couple of weeks since I was able to email you.  The one kid who got sick Christmas Day did get baptized a couple of days later and then confirmed the following Sunday.  We also had 2 miracles happen.  First was with J.  He is the husband to a lady in our ward. Everybody was a member of the Church except him - his wife, kids, in-laws - everyone was members and have been for 9 years.  So we were trying to work with him and everything, but he wasn't really wanting to talk to us much.   I even told my comp "this guy will for sure be baptized, but I just don't think I will be able to see it".  Well, a miracle happened and the Lord opened up his heart and he came to Church the next Sunday and told us that he wanted to be baptized!!  So we put it all together and baptized him. Now everybody  in that family is members. The next week he was confirmed and another miracle happened. Another guy who has  known the Church for 3 years now came to us and told us that he wanted to be baptized as well.  Really - 2 miracle in 2 weeks.  This is really something that I have never seen or even heard of.

 

Another cool experience was my comp had an earache/infection.  It was really hurting him a lot. So, he asked me to give him a blessing.  In the blessing  I felt the prompting to say  that he would have no more pain. He said a couple of minutes later his ear wasn't even hurting. It's experiences like these that really show the power of the Lord and the priesthood. I have truly been really blessed. 

 

As you said it is transfers today as well. I got transfered to Rio Tinto.  It's a pretty small branch here, but it should be cool.  My new comp is Elder H.  He is from Washington. I was really sad to leave my last area because the members were great and we were starting to have success. But what can I do??  It is what it is I guess.  I was sad to leave my comp especially.  He is a great kid and I really enjoyed training him. Well, that's pretty much it for now.  I'll email you here on Monday again and let you in on more deatils about the new area.  Love you all.  It's good to be back!!

Christmas Letter

Chace's Christmas update - December 26th, 2011

 

Merry Christmas!!!! First things first - sadly we didn't have the baptism that was scheduled for Christmas Day.  The young man got pretty sick yesterday and wasn't able to go. So we will be doing it on Tuesday I believe. Yesterday was a pretty awesome day. We started it off picking up one of the members from my first area who decided to come and visit me for Christmas which was really cool. Then we went to lunch and had a delicious lunch. Then we had a Church meeting which went well. The 2 bishops ended up speaking and it was good. Then we went to a members house to do "Christmas" which was cool.  They even were nice enough to get me and my comp a gift.  They gave me a nice tie and belt which was really nice of them. Then we gave them some pics and a letter and a card game, so I hope that they liked it.   Afterwards we had a huge dinner with them that was awesome.  Then we ended up having to run home to get in on time. All in all it was a really good day.  We also even had a couple of our investigators that visited the Church which made it that much better. My comp was  nice enough to get me a gift as well.   He bought me a soccer shirt and an air pump to pump up my soccer ball, and then I had bought him a hammock, which I think he likes.   I love the gifts that you guys got me!  I have already listened to that missionary CD and the whole talk from Chad Lewis which I liked a lot - it was awesome!  Of course I love the BYU Cougar shirt that I got too, even though my comp doesn't like it very much (ha ha). 

 

It was awesome being able to talk to everybody and see the new nephews and brother-in-law and everyone else.  I am for sure gonna use Skype the next time as well. For now I don't think that I will lose my emailing privileges, but who knows (ha ha). Hey, I'm gonna jet,  but I'm hoping I'll get to send you an email here in a week.  Hope all is well and that you have a great New Year as well.  Great Big Hug!!  Elder Tenney

December 12th and 19th, 2011

December 12th, 2011

 

These past couple of days have gone pretty well.  My comp has what we call "greenie fire" (ha ha).  He just wants to work like mad, which is really good.  The only thing is that he doesn't speak hardly anything.   So I have to talk to everyone all day long AND translate for my comp into English at the same time.  So, I get a little tired sometimes because it's a lot of work.  But, my English is getting better.  I should be speaking pretty good English by the time that Christmas comes along.   But, things are going pretty good. We had a Stake Conference yesterday that was a satelite transmission from Salt Lake City.  We had a Seventy, a sister from the Relief Society, Elder Cook, and Pres. Henry B. Eyring talk.  It was really good.  It was funny listening to the Relief Society lady because she was talking in Portuguese, but you could tell that her native language was Spanish.  I felt a little bad for my comp because he wasn't understanding anything that they were saying.  But, even in this  short amount of time his Portuguese is already getting better.

 

I forgot to tell you a joke last week - I had a healthy young boy.  He weighs 250 lbs and is 6ft 3in (ha ha).  But that's about if for these past couple of days.  This coming week we will have our Christmas conference with the other missionaries. I think that I will get to see my trainer, so I will send you our 3 generation pic (ha ha). Love you and hope you all have a great week.

 

 

 

 

December 19th, 2011

 

Last week we had our Christmas conference with all of the missionaries from this state. It was pretty cool. We had a great spiritual part in the morning with lunch and then we played games all afternoon.  It was a whole lot of fun. I'm trying to send some pics, but this computer is being dumb so I'll have to send them later. Then last Thursday as you know was my official year mark. It's tradition when you hit your one year that you burn a shirt. So I found an old missionary's shirt and lit it on fire. We got some pretty cool pics too. Then we went home and went to bed. All in all Thursday was a great day.  Then I got a little sick that night and had to go to the bathroom a couple of times during the night. Turns out when I woke up that everyone in the house was sick. Then I got a call from the Zone Leaders and they said that almost everyone was sick. I don't know what it was but something that we ate at the conference was bad and pretty much all of the missionaries got sick. Even President Hall was sick. But, after that day I got feeling better again and now it's all good.

 

My new comp is speaking the language better and better everyday. Here in a little bit he will be fluent. I really like him a lot.  He is way funny and always makes me laugh with his comments. I am learning more and more everyday being with him. He is a great guy.  Maybe you will even see him this Saturday when we Skype for Christmas.  I am also learning how to play the recorder now. It's cool!!  Would you have ever thought that I would know what a flat and sharp is? Well, I do now (ha ha)!!  You just gotta love the things you do in the mish. Well hey, I'm gonna wrap this thing up. I hope you are all well and cold (ha ha) - and excited for this Saturday to talk.  Much love - daqui em pouco.