Friday, October 29, 2010

QUE BENDICION! 10/25/10

¡Hola familia! ¿Como anda?

Wow, QUE BENDICION! I had my most successful Sunday as a missionary......

So, my most successful Sunday as a missionary.... we had EIGHT
investigadores in the iglesia - EIGHT PEOPLE!!!!! WOOHOOO!!!!! We also
had 3 conversos recientes (well, technically 4 but he´s in another
ward!). ¡¡¡QUE EMOCION!!! We feel SO blessed, SO happy! I felt the
love of our Heavenly Father for each of these special hijos and hijas
of Him.

We had: Monica, Marta, Beti y su esposo Hector, Elba, and three
members of incomplete familias in the ward! The esposo of Manuela, y
las madres of two girls in the Primary. The biggest surprise was
Beti´s husband. Beti is this WONDERFUL Catholic woman that was an
antiguo investigadora - we found her in the area book. She let us in
and we´ve had WONDERFUL chats - she´s asked us about ALL kinds of
doctrines. She went to the RElief Society activity where they showed
the broadcast of the Relief Socity Mtg for GC and she LOVED IT! She
asked me all about templos and the importance of families - we even
taught her baptisms for the dead. So, she CAME on Sunday and so did
her HUSBAND! He hasn´t listened to us at all, but he came with her. He
asked me if he could borrow my Gospel Principos book and I said YES! I
wish he would start with the Book of Mormon, but the Gospel Principles
is SO inspired! They would be SUCH a great addition to the ward, to
the fold of the Lord. They are such good people and Beti, especially,
has a very good, open heart. PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM!!! Beti y Hector -
especially that they will have a testimony of the Book of Mormon!

Also on the pray list: Nelly, Ashylen, Monica, Alicia, Marta, Eduardo
- that they will all read and pray about the Book of Mormon. That they
will know it is true!!!

And also Osvaldo, the esposo de Manuela, and Liliana Suarez, la mama
de Mikaela. They are very duro people who don´t want to accept he
gospel, and their family members are suffering because they WANT them
to feel of the peace the gospel brings.

Conversos Recientes - Nahuel, Oscar, and Romina! They are sooo great,
but are going through SOOO many trials! After the baptism, it only
gets harder beacuse Satan does NOT want them to progress and get to
the temple. But thank goodness the Lord watches out for his sheep and
wants to bring them HOME.

I don´t have time to share my wonderful experiences I had this week
finding Ashylen justo when she needed it, crying as I read the 3 Nefi
11 account to Nelly and testifying with my whole heart and soul about
the Book of Mormon, conversing with the Lideres de Zona who helped me
remember my purpose as a misionera, seeing the light in Beti´s eyes as
we explained the Book of Mormon - where it came from, why it´s
important - and seeing her get excited to learn about the gospel.
Every day is an adventure. Some days are a LOT harder than others,
some days I see more bendiciones than other days, but I am blessed
everyday here. I am SOOO grateful for every experience I have. I am
trying my best to be a good, faithful, humble, and useful instrument
in the Lord´s hands. I make mistakes everyday, but like Ben told me to
do, I am trying to be a little better and better in every aspect -
read my scriptures a little more purpose, pray a little more intently,
love my investigadores a little more and more each day. That´s what
the Lord asks of us.

I asked myself, ¨Why THIS week did we get blessed?¨ I still have NO
IDEA - why not another week that I fasted and prayed my heart out? Why
not when we hoped that certain ones would show up on Sunday? I just
think it´s all in the Lord´s hands. All I can do, is what it says in
Doctrine and Coventants 123 - just do all things cheerfully and then
don´t worry and watch the God work His salvation unto the children of
men.

I LOVE this gospel more than I can explain in an email. I am ETERNALLY
grateful for all the wonderful opportunities I have had so far as a
missionary. I only hope I can do better and better and bring more and
more people unto Christ, my Savior and King.

Love you!!!!! Animo y adelante!

Hermana Tingey

Love all of you 10/18/10

Wow, Jack is right = in November it will be my half way markª how
CRAZY is that? But I just try and think about the wonderful people I
have met and loved and served, rather than the amount of time ticking
away.

I do not have a lot of time to write about my week, but I want to tell
you all about a charlita that I had with Oscar and Nahuel. Oscar is
our converso reciente and Nahuel has started coming back to church the
last few weeks with us. Oscar is a 76 year old man whose wife passed
away a long time ago. He is very sick and always tell us about going
to the doctor, but he has a lifetime of stories and knowledge to
share. Nahuel is a 22 year old punk kid who got baptized a year ago
and then went inactive. He hangs out at a kiosko smoking and drinking
mate = the traditional Argentine drink = all day, doing nothing with
his life. HOWEVER, Nahuel has been coming back to church with me and
the Hermana Olsen.

I had the idea to have Nahuel come with us as we taught Oscar.
Hna Olsen thought it was a great idea and so we invited him. He was
STOKED to come and helpª As we taught Oscar about the priesthood and
the importance of it, they both starting saying that it just meant
more responsabilities and less time to relax. Nahuel even said that he
had decided not to recieve it. I boldly testified of the importance
of the priesthood = the gift it is here on the earth, the importance
of the saving ordinances and the only way we can preform them is
through the priesthood. I testified that these responsabilities are
ways to help us come closer unto Christ and that my little brother has
and respects his priesthood and his responsabilities. As a family, we
have been richly blessed from the priesthood. The Spirit was strong as
I testified, so I looked at Oscar and said, Will you prepare to
receive the Priesthood? then I looked at Nahuel and said, Will YOU
prepare to recieve the Priesthood? They both said yes. I could tell
that Nahuel was touched by the Spirit.

I am so grateful to the Lord for this humbling experience. This is
when I loved being a missionary = when I can feel the Spirit working
through me and I can see the Spirit touch THEM, these precious
children of God.

Nahuelçs mom is not a member, and we went over to their house really
quickly to wish her a Happy Motherçs Day, because in Argenina it is
different, and she was very touched when I said that my family prays
for all of the people I am working with. That means her son. I could
tell that she was very very touched = that people all over the world
are praying for Nahuelçs future. Please, pray that Oscar and
espeically Nahuel will be able to prepare to receive the Priesthoodª
Nahuel is a great guy, he just doesnçt have a grasp on adulthood and
the purpose of life yet. But heçs a lost sheep thatçs making his way
back home again. My goal is to get him on a mission. I am praying for
these miracles in Mar Del Plataª

I hope you all can take my challenge from last week. PLEASE BE MEMEBER
MISSIONARIESªªª Invite a neighbor family over for family home evening.
Talk to your old friends, like Ben and Jackie. Talk to your co=workers
like Dad. Resuce the lost and fallen sheep. Which reminds me, Mom = I
have been thinking a lot about Christ Proctor = how is he doing?
I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO MUCHªªªªªª I pray for you always = I can not
wait to share more wonderful experiences togetherª Hermana Olsen
sends her love = itçs her birthday next week, so can you write her a
happy birthday in your next weeks emails to me and Içll send on the
message? she is a HARD WORKER and I LOVE being her compª
Joseph Smith was a prophet of God who helped restore the true church
of Christ on the Earth. With the Restoration of the Presithood, we
have the new and everlasting covenent that saves us as families = what
a blessingª I LOVE THIS GOSPELª

ANIMO Y ADELANTEª

Hermana Tingey

¡SORPREZA! 10/11/10

President has been initiating many cambios (changes) in the mission - one is that now we have P-day on MONDAY´s! (like every other mission in the whole wide world! haha) So, now you all have a great Sunday activity to write your wonderful sister/daughter

A lot of things have happened over the last few months with the missionaries - a lot of scary situations and dangerous circumstances. My area is pretty secure and I pray daily to be protected. Don´t worry, I just want you to be aware that we´re taking extra precautions when we work. I miss my old, ¨Nothing happens to servants of the Lord!¨ attitude where I´d walk fearlessly into the Villa at night (ghetto). I always am on my guard, especially at night. But I know that the Lord is protecting us and that this is just Satan trying to slow the work down in this mission. But he will not prevail - we will through the Lord´s help!

Ok, so it´s only been a few days since I sent my last email, but I´ve had some really great changing experiences for me, as a missionary.

We had a suprise visit from the Office Elders to check to see if our house was clean... unfortunately, it was a wreck! Now, I had a ton of great excuses (our drains in the sink and the bathroom don´t work, our calefactor doesn´t work, we just had a few muddy/rainy days where we tracked in mud, etc. etc.) But they are excuses nonetheless, and we got chastized, pero mal. Afterwards, I talked to Hna. Olsen and just started crying, ¨Why can´t anyone see me when I do something RIGHT? or why can´t I feel like a ¨good¨ missionary?¨ I have just felt like I can never be enough and no one ever says anything when we do something RIGHT. I was in the area where Presidente Detlefsen lived and we were not blessed with success - for weeks. And he was there every Sunday, and he saw how we didn´t have investigadores in the capilla. Or here we had a baptism a few weeks ago and when I talked to my leaders about it they said, ¨So how many more fechas do you have Hermanas?¨ And then I have cleaned and cleaned my first 4 transfers, and just so happens that the beginning of this 5th transfer we had not cleaned yet and the house is falling apart... it was just the pinnacle of a build-up from many of my frustrations and weaknesses.

But as I talked to Hermana Olsen, I also said, ¨But I know I don´t have to prove myself to anyone because the Lord knows how hard I work and how hard I try and if I´m a ¨good¨ missionary. It really doesn´t matter what anyone else thinks of me as a missionary.¨ I felt the Spirit fill me and comfort me as I said those words. I feel very humbled in that moment because I realized that what I was saying mattered more than ANYTHING - more than the numbers at night, more than the dirty house, more than the opinion of my fellow men, more than anything - what matters is what kind of missionary I am in the eyes of the Lord. Obvious to most, surely, but to me this was a very special moment. I hope to life my life like this - always worthy in the eyes of the Lord and not worrying about what others think. I would love to conquer this weakness out here in the mission field.

···································· (my favorite part! :-D )
We also had a consejo de Barrio and the Presidente de Estaca was there. He has been working closely with our mission president and he gave a presentation on how the Consejo de Barrio can work with investigadores, converso recientes, menos activos, etc. It was all about MISSIONARY WORK! It was SOOOO good! Hermana Olsen and I was sooo excited!

When I came home that night I just starting crying again (happily - I promise, I honestly don´t cry very often, its changed a lot on the mission) because it was basically an answer to many questions and many prayers. I´ve been trying to figure out why am I here in Bahia Blanca? Why this mission? What can I do to help change this mission for the better? How can I help the members and people in this area?
I realized that I don´t think I was called exclusively to baptize. That is a major part of missionary work and something I work towards every second of every day, BUT I feel like I was also called here to help teach the members how to be member missionaries. Everything that I have learned and am trying to apply - everything that I am teaching to the members and to my companeras - everything I am becoming has to do with this concept. That I, as a member of the true church of Jesus Christ, need to LIVE the gospel. Being an example is NOT ENOUGH! Being an example is important, but as the second coming of the Lord is fastly approaching and as we have convenanted with baptism and in the temple and as the seed of Isreal/Ephraim, being an example is NOT ENOUGH. It is only part of it. We, as members and leaders in the church, have the sacred responsibility to FIND people for the missionaries to teach. In Preach My Gospel, it says that in Consejo de Barrio and Presithood Executive Committee, the leaders should talk about people and families that need the gospel. The leaders go to visit them FIRST and ask if they want the missionaries to come over (that might be a Presidente Detlefsen idea), and then the missionaries go and teach (which is their calling). The members should be there every step of the way, sitting in with the charlas and being a good support before and after baptism. This obra is for the members, as well as the missionaries. We are wasting time knocking doors and contacting in the street - I personally would not invite two random chicos into my house to convince me that their religion is best. But, I would invite my neighbor in and as my neighbor introduces these two chicos as special witnesses of Christ who want to chat for a little bit with her, I think I would listen to what they had to say and really take it to heart. THAT is the vision of missionary work that I have and have had since the MTC. The same vision that the Presidente de Estaca has - and the Presidente de Mision has - and Elder Audukaitits, in the Area Seventy, - And President Monson, the Profeta hoy in dia. I KNOW that is how the Lord wants his members sharing the gospel, because that line of authority goes right down from HIM to his PROPHET and eventually down to us. I feel like I am here to help get the ball rolling - to try to teach this plan to the members, to try and take it to heart so that I can teach this manera the rest of my mission, and then DO IT after my mission. I know that the Lord has asked me, and all of us, to serve with all of our heart, might, mind and strength. I promised my mission President that I would do this. I promised my first day in Argentina. I think that this plan is part of serving with all of my heart, mind, and soul. I LOVE missionary work! And I know that if we do it the Lord´s way, that we will be blessed!

FAMILY, WILL YOU BE GOOD MEMBER MISSIONARIES? Will you do what I described above? Will you go with the missionaries over to your neighbors who are not members and just have a chat? Or will you have a Family Home Evening and invite non-members and the missionaries over? And if you feel like you don´t have any friends who are not LDS, MAKE SOME non-member friends!!! It really doesn´t require a lot - and these friends and neighbors will thank you in the eternities!

I have made a goal to do so as well when I get home. This gospel is for EVERY SINGLE person who does not have it! We are ALL God´s children - we all should bring our brothers and sisters back home into the fold.

I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!!!!!!!! I am sooo happy because I have this gospel! I want everyone to have this gospel! Everyone needs it!
I love all of you soooo much! PLEASE write me! Letters are so precious and special.

HUGS! Animo y adelante!

Hermana Tingey

Follow the Prophet! 10/8/10

WOW, GENERAL CONFERENCE was AMAZING!!!!! I absolutely LOVED IT!!! First of all, when President Monson said that they´ll be building a temple in Indiana I gasped (quite loudly) and started to tear up! Ohh, the joy of the gospel! How hard the missionaries and members have worked to have a temple there! Our fellow Hoosiers will be so blessed with this temple! Also, as many people mentioned the temple in Kyiv, Ukraine I felt so grateful for the experiences I had in that beautiful country! The people in Ukraine are so prepared to receive the blessings of this temple!

Each talk meant SOOO much to me! Hermana Olsen and I have read over and over our notes, pondering on the many doctrines taught. We decided one of the major themes (if you all didn´t get it) was FOLLOW THE PROPHET! ¡Siga el Profeta! Everyone talked about the importance of following the prophet, or mentioned how dear and wonderful our prophet is, etc. I´m also reading in Helaman in the Book of Mormon when Nefi chastizes His people very very boldly and tells them that if they don´t repent like the Prophets have said, that they will be perish. Then he asks the Lord to send a famine on the land and the Lord does. The people are humbled, but then go back to their old ways, always. It is right before Samuel el Lamanita will come to preach repentance unto the people. The times are the same - we must OBEY the prophet´s voice - follow his council and guidance. If we are obedient we will be blessed, if we reject Him, we will suffer, like in the BOM. President Monson is literally the mouthpiece for the Lord on the earth. I am grateful for parents who taught me to listen to the Prophet´s voice and to follow what he says. I honor our Prophet and as I made my baptismal covenant, promised to follow his word. As we know, his word is scripture! Hna Olsen and I think that there are going to be some hard times in the next few years. BUT, if we follow the prophet, we will NEVER be lead astray! (one of the 14 points!)

So, with our investigadores...

We´ve had a roller coaster with Neli - she basically broke my heart on Thursday when she said she doesn´t feel anything when she reads the Book of Mormon and then prays about it. She said she will not change because she is afraid to change all of her friends, her circles of acquaintances, her traditions, her Saints, etc. HOWEVER, she went to Conference on Saturday!!! Hermana Olsen and I KNOW that she knows it is true. She just has fears. Any ideas on how to help her get over her fears?

We had a MIRACLE the other day! We had 4 new investigadores in ONE day!!! We met a crazy lady who said she has talked to a servant of Satan and that she has not felt peace since. But, she is looking and searching for peace. Hermana Olsen and I testified of the love of our Savior for her and that we can find peace though Him and His Atonement! Praying with her was a very special experience. We also had some antiguos investigadores that we passed by and got into their house and shared with them the First Vision. Marta is SO great! She is very interested, but just so busy that it´s hard to have more lessons with her.

We also had another miracle. A MEMBER did her missionary work and brought a FRIEND to General Conference!!! WOOHOOO! Now THAT´S THE WORK OF THE LORD! Because as we know from Preach My Gospel chapter 13, the consejo de barrio and the leaders of the ward are in charge of FINDING people for the missionaries to teach! I CanNOT even IMAGINE if that actually happened - if the ward leaders and members brought all their references and friends to the missionaries and all the missionaries had to do was teach teach teach all day. Now THAT is Zion! :) Anyways, after that very important tangent that I´m very very passionate about, an Hermana in the church brought her friend and we are going to have a lesson with her and her friend tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes!

Mom and Dad - I want to thank you for EVERYTHING! As Elder Holland, Elder Gong, Elder et.c etc. etc. talked about their parents and anchestors in this conference, I just felt so grateful for my Heavenly Father and He gave me the perfect parents for me. I have been so blessed to have had your examples and teachings all of these years. I took sooo many notes about how to better myself and how to be a good Mother in the future, but I am grateful for the examples that you both have already given me for both of those.

Abby and Jack - I´ve been thinking about you too a lot, too. Keep on fighting! I know High School and middle school is HARD and moving is even HARDER! I know that friends and dating and school and activities... everything is hectic and hard. BUT, I also know that the best things in High School for me were 1. Personal Prayer and Scripture Study 2. Hanging out with the family a LOT 3. SEMINARY! 4. SERVICE!!! Such as looking out for people who don´t have friends and befriending them (and I wish I had helped Mom and Dad out more with chores and things) 5. Developing and trying to find what I love - I didn´t do this THAT well, but I did try Lacrosse and FELL IN LOVE! I also did Student Council and LOVED IT! Just find things YOU love! Also, I did not have very many friends my senior year. Only Nicole Flake for a bit... a few others... and by the end, I started hanging out with Dall Pal, Geoff, and Andrew. I don´t know if you remember that, Abbs. My Senior year was tough for me, as was my Junior year just after moving. But you know, I am sooo grateful for the time I had with the family during those difficult times! And I´m grateful for Mom´s patience and love with me. And you´ll find GREAT AWESOME friends - maybe not now, or tomorrow, but like Elizabeth she found them at BYU. And me, I´ve finding more and more on the mission. Just be YOU, and Heavenly Father will provide some wonderful people!

I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!!!!! Know that I´m praying for you!!!!!! I KNOW this church is the true church of Christ. His prophet is Thomas S. Monson. WHAT BLESSINGS we have now on this earth!!!

HUGS HUGS HUGS!!!

Hermana Tingey

Who´s excited for General Conference?? Woohooo!!! 9/29/10

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!! I´ve been preparing myself for WEEKS!! I´m going with questions I have about the gospel, missionary work, my investigadores, my life, etc. Because as a GA said last week as he came to visit us, ¨The Doctrina and Convenios and even the Book of Mormon is made up from profets having questions and then receiving answers!¨ Revelation is answers to questions. It really hit me and I want to be prepared for General Conference - to recieve needed revelation. I´m SOOO excited!!!!! :)

I LOVED what Dad wrote me about last week, ¨I still struggle with the challenge of not being bold enough because I fear that I might offend. However, as I observe General Authorities - they are past fear. They are so turned in to what the Lord wants through the Spirit that they have no fear of what others will think. Their whole purpose is to be obedient to the Spirit and to serve the Lord.¨ I thought a LOT about that statement and how it applies to me as a missionary. I am a called representative of my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ - I am called to have that same boldness, without fear, with humility, and with faith! I have been trying to use it as best as I can. Presidente Detlefsen has challenged us to challenge everyone to baptism during the first lesson... and I have spoken and explained and testified and casi challenged every single one! It was a real struggle at first because I felt like I was asking a lot for not having their trust or not having explained everything... but as I´ve followed my leaders and learned from the example of the apostles and profetas of today, I have seen the importance of challenging to baptism. This is a saving ordinance! This is their happiness and salvation as of right now! This is the ONLY puerta to open the kingdom of God! I love teaching about baptism!

Oscar showed me his journal that I asked him to write about his baptism... it said that he was very grateful to the missionaries Hermana Tingey and Olsen and that he felt so much peace and joy during his baptism. And that he recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands (because Oscar really understands the apostacy and sacerdocio (priesthood) and is a CAPO!), and how he feels great! He looks HAPPY! I feel SOOO grateful to have helped and now I am DYING to find MORE precious souls of our Father! We have been struggling to find people who are ready to progress right now, but we just keep on keeping on!

We´ve been going through the Area Book and passing by a lot of older investigadores to see if they are ready to enter the waters of baptism. We are also trying to ask for more references and to work with the members. I´ve been going through Predicad Mi Evangelio for all of the ideas inside of it, like Historia Familiar and everything. I´m trying to think of what I can go with that. Any other ideas about how to find new investigadores?

I had an interesting experience the other day. Hermana Olsen and I were testifying to each other about the importance of this work and we were fired up as we left the house to start the day. The first contact we talked to FREAKED out and said, ¨There is NO such things as religion, God is not what we think He is, He is a LIE! There is just a Great Spirit in the trees and my grandchildren, but NOTHING ELSE! Religion is horrible....Men are corrupted and after this world ends there is nothing left... when you are my age, you will always remember what I say that God is lies and you will always remember me!¨ It was incredible because the crazy, firery Hermana Tingey did not argue. I just felt the love of God for this woman. I knew that she had been through hard times and for that, she lost her faith. I just told her that God loved her. As we walked on, the Hermana Olsen and I talked about how much we would have loved to testified to her more, if she would have allowed it, of the love of God, of His plan for us, etc. I think I will remember her when I´m her age. I hope I look back on my life and see the love of God in EVERYTHING that happened in my life and say, ¨She was wrong... God is love!¨ And I hope she will one day feel of that love!
In contrast, we also talked to a man who said, ¨Wow, I never knew that the Mormons were so nice! You believe in God? Really?¨ He said we were, ¨Encantadoras¨ (A really sweet word in spanish) and that he´d loved to come to church with his wife, as long as his wife was up for it. It´s amazing how the Lord prepares and helps his children when they choose to follow Him.

Oh yeah, PRAY FOR NELLY!!!! She is struggling with reading the Book of Mormon and doesn´t want to give up her Saints!!! But we feel like she is GOLDEN!!! She just needs to read and pray and she´ll be in the aguas del bautismo in no time!

Oh this is really really random, but I´d love to know the list of the people who visited Wilford Woodruff (right?) in the temple and wanted their temple work done. (Such as the founding fathers, Jane Austen, etc.)

I LOVE YOU ALL SOOO MUCH!!!! My testimony has been strengthened and my love for the people and for the work of the Lord has too. This work is SOOO IMPORTANT! It´s for ALL of us! The members are the REAL missionaries! the missionaries are just supposed to be the teachers, the preachers of the word of God. Give references to the missionaries! EVERY person who is NOT a member is a REFERENCE!!!!! If we truly love them, we will help give them the truth and help lead them to the straight and narrow way of the Lord.

Animo y adelante! Pray for my investigadores (Neli and Jose Luis especially) and for the members of Barrio Centro to give us references!

Love,

Hermana Tingey


P.S. Ben, tell your class to be excited!!!!!! They are coming to the mission at a GREAT time!!! WOOHOO! The field is white and ready to harvest!

OSCAR GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! 9/22/10

OSCAR GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, I can not explain the joy of another child of God entering the redil of the Lord - and I was able to help him along his spiritual journey!!! What a privelge, what grand joy!!!! My heart is full of the love of God for this wonderful old man. Thank you all for prayers on his behalf and on mine. It´s a victory for Heavenly Father, for our Savior, for the ward, for Oscar... for all of us! We have a brother who has come back! Oh, how the Father rejoices!

The story with Oscar: Oscar is 72 years old. He doesn´t have immediate family because his wife died young and he never had children. He has a few cousins in Neoquen, another province in Argentina. When we first found him, I said, ¨Hola!¨ to him in the calle and he gave me a funny look. ¨Hello, we´re missionaries. Can we help you?¨ ¨Are you the girls I talked to last time?¨ ¨Well, I´m not sure, but if you´d like, we´d like to chat tomorrow in the church with you, is that alright?¨ ¨Sure sure!¨ Come to find out he had talked to two chicas before - we´re not sure if they were testigos or other misioneras (haha), but he came to the cita! Oscar understood the apostacia and has a great deal of intelligence. He was brought up Catholic but did not agree with the priests in hiscatholic school. He said they said one thing and did another. He wasn´t active in the catholic curch for YEARs! And then he met us... and EVERYTHING started going wrong. His health started going downhill , he got ROBBED during a lesson in the capilla, etc. etc. Poor guy! BUT he kept the faith!!!! He always says, ¨Ever since I met the chicas, all the problems started, but I´m so grateful for them and for their friendship!¨ He is like family to me! And he LOVED his baptism! He said it was beautiful and he loved how he felt - OH THE JOY!!!! I was freaking out all Sunday morning during church, ¨Will he back out? Do we have the font ready? Is there white ropa that fits him?¨ And in the end, he looked at me and said, ¨Hermana, I feel content.¨ and he did it! I wish you all could have been there to see it... to see HOW BIG my smile was and just how happy I am!!!!

Now, I have a bigger drive to bring people unto Christ through faith, repentance, baptism for the remissin of sins, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end happily!!! I want to find the rest of Heavenly Father´s children, of MY family, who are lost and wandering and who need to the Atonement and the understandg of the Restauracion to feel of God´s love for them!

NELI WENT TO CHURCH AND THE BAPTISM!!!!! WOOHOOO!!!!!! I was SOOO excited! She is wonderful wonderful wonderful and needs the gospel sooo much! She´s been listening to us with open ears, but needsto open her heart a little more. Her neighbors used to be the Bishop and his family,so she has a good background with the mormons. She is golden, I am just praying and praying that she gives up her Catholic traditions and continues forward with the Church of Jesus Christ!

We contacted an older couple named Irma and Jose who lived in Buenos Aires and had helped a lot with the building of the temple. They knew a LOT about the Church and LOVED a picture of the Salt Lake Temple I had. I gave it to them - Irma´s face lit up! ¨Thank you thank you!¨ And she went inside to put it up in her house! We went by and they keep saying they are busy... but I KNOW that if it´s the Lord´s will, we will teach them and baptize them to bring them into the fold and to partake of the wonderful blessings inside the temple.

We just had a lesson today with a woman named Ana Maria who grew up Catholic, who recognized that the Monghas said one thing and did another, and who went through a major accident about 3 months ago. Her almost cunado is a member, the member who baptized Oscar and who is fired up with missionary work right now! He went with us and we had a great lesson -she is wonderful!

I feel very blessed right now! We have been receiving sooo many blessings that I am just in awe - Heavenly Father listens to our prayers! All of the months of struggling and trials and no sucess, and now the Lord is opening up the doors to people who are prepared to hear us! They just have to recognize the Spirit and choose to follow it - that´s what we plead for every night. That´s what our goal is - for the Spirit to guide us in lessons, in contacts, in our words, our actions, everything! Because as missionaries, we are only the tools in the Lord´s hands. He is preparing people for us and our job is to DO the work and to transmit his love and his Spirit to them. Then THEY have the choice! Agency is wonderful gift! I am learning so much every day.

My compie, Hermana Olsen, keeps me laughing and helps me more than she knows. She is a HOOT!!! All the men look our way because a tall, blond, beautiful Americana is walking by and she is OBLIVOUS! She hates that attention anyway... she´s rather not live in a city, she´s rather live, ¨in a place where you have to take a one-lane dirt road 2 hours in to get to and where you have to get water out from a well.¨ haha, what a crazy girl! We´re a really good team- it´s fun to have someone that loves to run and eat healthy and laugh and work hard hard hard!!!

Random things - I´m avoiding all dogs and have had no trouble lately (woohoo!), I tried Argentine ice cream and it´s like Italian Gelati but more creamy, and I like it BETTER!!!! (did I just say that... oh YES I did!!! :) haha), It´s finally starting to warm up in Mar Del Plata, transfers are coming in a week and a half (pooie), I found out I´ve gained almost 10 pounds haha, good thing summer´s coming and I´m starting a diet!, and I´m just working hard and always trying to find new investigadores to teach.

I LOVE this gospel! Every day I am strengthing my testimony that this is the only true Church of Christ on the earth. I am so grateful for the Spirit who teaches me so many lessons during my scripture study, during comp study, through the examples of others, through memories from my parents and my family, and through my daily experiences on the mission. BE MISSIONARIES!!!! BE BOLD!!!! I think that the more bolder we are in sharing the gospel, the more converted we are to the gospel. I am trying every day to be bolder and bolder. Pray that those that I invite into the waters of baptism, that they will accept! This is the Lord´s work, and we are bettering it here in Argentina day by day!
ANIMO y ADENTE!!!! whooohooooo!!!!!

Hermana Tingey

Elder Audukaitis 9/15/10

This week was GREAT!
First we had the conferencia with Elder Audukaitis and Presidente Detlefsen, and then I tried to take leaps of faith!

OKKK... so, Elder Audukaitis, member of the area presidency, first quoruom of the seventy, came and BAJO-ed the cana on us! (dropped the bomb basically!!!) He is a tall, smiley, Brazilian man, who said he wanted to meet us all beforehand and shake hands with his friends.... because after his lecture WE will not want to be HIS friends! YIKES! What a way to start! :) But boy is he a man of power!
Elder Audukaitis asked us if we had the meta (goal) of one baptism last week, to stand up. Only me and Hna. Olsen, and three other companionships stood up in two zones. He asked everyone for all of our excuses for why we couldn´t make the meta or why we coudn´t baptize this last week. We made a list and took an hour talking about every single one and then erasing every single one. They were ¨legitimate excuses,¨ ¨because the investigadores have to go to church at least 3 times and they´ve only gone once, because the investigadores are waiting for their divorce papers to go through, etc. etc.¨ But Elder Audukaitis said that none of the excuses were important. That we are not relying on the Lord and that we are not believing in miracles. He did it in a very powerful manner - you could hear a pin drop becuase it was just AWKWARD!! But, BOY did I feel the Spirit!!!!! I felt on FIRE! He told us about his mission and all of the incredible stories that occurred. He told us about missionaries in his mission as a mission president. And then he told us he had seen our numbers as a mission and that we were not living up our llamamientos. That we need to rely on the Lord con FAITH and con accion en nuestra fe!!! He told us that English Classes are garbage, that we are bad missionaries if we don´t talked to people while we are on the bus, that we need to ask for references differently and more effectively... and even with his blunt, direct approach, I drank it all in. It was INCREDIBLE!!!! I could feel the Spirit SOOO powerfully - I wanted to run out of the capilla and go find Oscar and baptize him right THEN!!! I was STOKED!!! I was bouncing off the walls, and right when we got out of the church I ran up to the first contact I could see and just talked to her. She was surprised at my excitement and gladly gave us her phone number to call her. Woohooo!!!

Our mission Presidente has decided on a new ¨Norma de Excelencia¨ for the mission. We need 1 baptism a week, 15 new investigadores, 20 lecciones, and 5 en la capilla todos los Domingos. Presidente´s new norma de excelencia - is REALLY REALLY HIGH.....like, exceptionally high, ALTISIMA for our area de Centro, but I have faith!!! Presidente said that he wants the new missionaries who are coming in (like Ben´s class) to have this as their normal planning. This would be INCREDIBLE if we can do it as a mission!
And for me as a missionary, I want to do it more than anything! I know that Presidente Detlefsen recieves revelation for our mission and that everything he says is from the Lord. I also know that the visit from Elder Audukaitis was necessary for our mission. Our mindset has been that this mission is ¨hard¨ and that the people are duro!!!! Well... that´s COMPLETELY true!! :) BUT, that doesn´t mean we should lose our faith in our Savior and His work! and Heavenly Father knows His children and He´s preparing them to hear our message. We just have to take more leaps of faith!
I think it´s the same with life in general - I have been learning that I need to be more humble and have more faith. And with more faith in Heavenly Father and His Only Begotten, I can see miracles!!!

One of the leaps of faith I have taken was with Neli, a contact that we made. We went to visit her and she was home! She gladly invited us in and gave us herbal tea and cookies. Neli is a HOOT!!! She´s a bubbly old lady who´s less than 5 feet tall. She goes to yoga and always serves her neighbors. Neli lives alone, and is VERY Catholic! The Saint of Urgency is her favorite and she had pictures and pictures and a minature statue of this Saint in her house - it´s like her ¨favorite movie star¨ but it´s a Saint! hahaha!!! She began to ask us questions, so we began to teach leccion 1. We talked about the love of God and of Jesus Christ and she began to tear up. i think she feels very lonely. We taught her about prophets, the apostacia, the Restoration, and the Book of Mormon. As we explained the Book of Mormon, she began to tear up again. I knew she could feel the Spirit. We read a little bit together, and then knelt down and prayed together about it, but she said, ¨Chicas, I know this book is true.¨ She´s excited to read it! So, I took a leap of faith and did what Presidente has asked us to do in the first lesson... I asked her to be baptized. She instantly changed and fiddled around and said, ¨I´m Catolica, Chicas. I can´t change...¨ But she said she´ll read the book of Mormon and she wants us to come over again. I have faith with Neli - I KNOW the Spirit touched her because I could feel it powerfully and I could see it in her eyes. She just has to decide to change. If she does, she will be abundantly blessed!!!

OH YEAH!!! We had a random contact come to church!!! His name is Augustine - he said we were happy smiley girls and wanted to know why. (He had pulled over to the side of the road and was sitting in his car talking to us!!!) We taught him a bit and invited him to come to church. And HE CAME!!! He didn´t give us his address, but he said thank you and it was very good to know about. I hope one day he´ll come back and partake of the blessings of the church!!!

Oscar´s baptism SHOULD happen this weekend. With his health, we might need to move it to next week, but we are praying and praying that it will happen pronto. We will try to sack a fecha tonight with Jose Luis (AGAIN! haha) or decide to dejar him for now. I really hope he´ll take the leap of faith and just say YES!

I love ALL of you sooo much!!!!!!! Hermana Olsen says Hello!!!!

Animo y Adelante!

Hermana Tingey

HUGS!!!!

Mar Del Plata--Week 3 9/8/10

The Pinebrooke Hike sounded GORGEOUS! Hermana Olsen and I talk about the beautiful mountains all the time! And it KILLS me not to be able to see them! But being close to the Mar is great. We can´t see it (only on occassional P-Days), but we can smell the fish in the air and sometimes smell the salty water! Winter is just ending right now and Spring should be right around the corner - the rainy wet season! I can´t wait for Summer! I haven´t had one in a LONG time, but that´s the mish!

We had problems with our house last week, so we had to go stay with the other Hermanas in our Zone and travel back and forth everyday for the last 5 days, BUT they fixed the leaking gas and water and we cleaned the house thoroughly, so hopefully it will be livable and hopefully I´ll come back with at least half of the brain cells I had before the mission! :)
BUT after the trials come the blessings - TWO BAPTISMAL FECHAS (dates)!!!!!!!!!!!! Daniel and Oscar, two of our ¨nice old men,¨ as Dad puts it! :) haha

Oscar - We reviewed lesson 1- He understands the Apostacia wonderfully - and then taught lesson 3 about baptism. I explained the importancia de la autoridad of the Priesthood holder who baptizes, the understanding of the convenant one makes during baptism, and immersion in the agua using Matthew 3, Christ´s perfect example. He understood and I said,¨Will you be baptized through the correct authority of God to follow the perfect example of Jesus Christ?¨ And Oscar said YES!!! He just has to figure out some trips to Buenos Aires, so we´re trying to get him to postpone them. I don´t want anything getting in the way of this important convenio con Dios. I am just praying and praying for him!

Daniel - It was quite the lengthy lesson to finally allow him to feel the Spirit and accept the invitation to be baptized, but we managed it! The problem is that he wants a big sign from the Lord and he is obsessed with how insignificant our reglas are as missionaries (like we can´t beso the men, we can´t listen to music del mundo, like we have horarios to be inside, etc.) He doesn´t like how our leaders ¨control us.¨ I looked him in the eyes and lovingly corrected him and said, ¨Everything I do, I do for my Lord and Savior. My leaders recieve the necessary revelation from Him for me and for the mission, and I humbly try to always do what they say. I can not always do it perfectly, but I try everyday.¨ He understood, but still couldn´t believe that we have no many mandamientos and reglas. He said to me, ¨I won´t do anything for other men, but I´m interested in the salvacion del Senor (Salvation of the Lord).¨ I told him it was baptism by the authority of God on the earth, and then He looked at me and he said con conviccion, ¨Bueno, then I´ll do it.¨ I am praying for fervently for Daniel because his faith and conversion is slowly growing - he needs to keep his committments! Please pray for Daniel to read the Book of Mormon and pray daily. He still struggles with this!
This experience with Daniel was really important for me. I´ve been struggling with perfection and how, bueno, I am NOT perfect. Everyday I struggle to be a good, obediente, missionary - to be a better teacher, to speak Spanish more fluently, to be the the instrument in the Lord´s hands that I want to be- and there´s just no way I can perfectly do the obra misional! And when he asked me why I follow the rules, why why why, I realized how much more I need to believe and use the grace of the Lord in my life. I try and do my best. That´s when the Lord can lift me up and finish it. His mercy and grace are not just for my investigadores ni for the members of the ward ni my companion, all of whom I pray for every day. But it´s for me too. I can always do better, but that´s the blessing of repentance and the Atonement of Jesus Christ!

We STILL haven´t gotten a hold of Graciela and Ruben, but we´re hoping to see them tonight!!! I have been praying sooo hard for them too!
OH! And Elder Aiudukatis from the area presidency is coming to speak to us tomorrow! I am SOOO excited, but I´ve heard that he drops the bomb pretty hard and that it will be an opportunity to be humbled. Greatly. Very greatly. But boy, am I stoked for some spiritual uplift!!! :) woohoo!!!!!

I love all of you SOOO much!!!!

I LOVE this work! I LOVE this gospel! I LOVE my companion! I LOVE my investigadores! I LOVE this barrio! I LOVE the many challenges I have to learn. I LOVE IT ALL!!!!!! It´s not always easy; and it´s soooo worth it!!! :)

Animo y Adelante... always! :)
Hermana Tingey

Mar Del Plata - week 2!!! 9/1/10

Mar Del Plata

Hermana Olsen and I are like two peas in a pod - it´s been SOOO fun chatting with her! She´s a hoot - full of spunk and alegria!

We had FOUR investigadores at church on Sunday!!!! FOUR!!!!! WOOHOOOO!!!! We are seeing miracles here. Hna. Olsen said that before Mar Del Plata wasn´t doing so hot, but I have so much animo for this area! I am grateful for all of your prayers and advice - I am doing so much better with my faith in this work. I believe that the Lord will help me fullfill my purpose as a missionary. And I feel like Mar Del Plata is just a perfect place for me to start to see my potencial as a missionary!

Jose Luis - Attends our English classes, is 52, has a WONDERFUL family, and is just a little thick. He does not understand very well, but he wants to do what´s right. La Hna. Olsen has taught him the first lesson 7 times - a little excessive, I think, pero bueno. His family is great and we´re trying to work more with them.

Oscar - He thought I was a testigo de Jehovah when I first contacted him in the street (haha), but he just clicked with me. He has lived a rough life. His wife died in a car accident and he decided to live down South in Neoquen, so we moved to live with the Maipuche Indians. He got in an accident and part of his body is paralyzed. He was also very depressed for a while. We had a first lesson and he just kept smiling as I spoke. At the end he said, ¨I feel so great right now! So much happier!¨ I explained to him that it was the Holy Spirit touching his heart. He came to church and liked it!
We had a second lesson and he told us that he had come to the church before - like 40 years before. He played basketball with a tall, American Elder. He said that all of the boys in the neighborhood basically worshipped this Elder and wanted to follow his example. I told him that this Elder is like Jesus Christ and that we need to follow his example. He thinks his Catholic baptism and confirmation still holds true, so I´m having him read Moroni 8. I hope he still wants to talk to us after! :) Oh, and It´s hard to teach Oscar because he can´t hear very well because of the paralyzed part of his face. Talk about DIFFICULT to teach with the Spirit when you´re basically SCREAMING the First Vision at an old man!! :) But, Oscar is great and NEEDS the gospel in his life! We have felt the Spirit together and I pray fervently that he finds peace in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Nestor - This funny old man! He´s been to church FIVE TIMES!!! And FINALLY decided to let us teach him! So, we taught him leccion 1 and he kept saying, ¨It´s logico...It´s logico...¨ BUENO! ¡Bautisensenlon! (That´s some Argentine Castellano for ya! :) haha Ben´s dying because it´s NOT correct Espanol para nada. Gotta love the Argies! haha) Nestor has a Catholic background but he LOVES the Priesthood class at church. I think he likes the comraderie of men. He asks us a lot of questions. I want to start focusing on his personal conversion (like Mom and Dad were saying about Greg Livingston), that Nestor needs to pray and read the scriptures to have a personal, intimate conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Daniel - is GREAT! He heard the charlas from the Elders before but they told him if he didn´t believe in Jose Smith, it was all or nothing. Daniel said no, so they dropped him very rapidly and rudely. So, he started attended English classes too, but now we´re teaching him. We taught him and he said that he´s searching for truth! PERFECT! :) We told him he can find answers to ALL of his questionsin the Book of Mormon and prayer. He looked at us like You´re kidding me right, and said, ¨In this book?¨I said yes! He went to church for the first time on Sunday and really liked it!!! He is very inteligent and out of all of our investigadores now, I think has the potencial to have the strongest conversion. We all knelt in prayer at the end of the second lesson, and we each said a prayer. I offered one and asked the Lord to bless Daniel to know of the truthfulness of the BOM and Joseph Smith. Then Hna. Olsen prayed, then Daniel... and he prayed that he would have a confirmation and know of the truth of these things too! I was STOKED! Then the member we had there prayed to end the lesson. I pray with all my might that Daniel, this wonderful man who said he is SEARCHING for the truth, will know that he can find it in the Book of Mormon and in this True Church of Jesus Christ!

I don´t know why ALL of our investigadores are nice old men, but there you go! :)

Ruben y Graciela - New contactos that are GOLDEN! They have 5 children but one passed away when he was 15 in a accident in the Ocean. They´ve gone through years of inactivity in the Catholic church, and Graciela is looking for hope. She was clutching the folleto about the Plan of Salvation after I gave it to her. Ruben is her husband; he´s an intellectual. He told me that it was great I was ¨convinced¨ in my faith, but that he wasn´t going to believe. I think he´s still upset with God for what happened with his son... I pray that he will open his heart and allow the Spirit of the Lord to fill it and give him peace and comfort. I want him and Graciela to know and understand the joy of familias eternas! We are going to go visit them this week orthe beginning of next week. I hope we can start to teach them and help them on their spiritual journey!

I love all of you SOOOO much!!!!! I am so happy - because I get to testify of gospel truths daily! Because I get to help people learn about Jose Smith, the Book of Mormon, the Plan of Salvacion, the Apostacia, the real nature of God, all of the commandments and ordenances for our salvation, etc. etc. etc. This is truly a MARVELOUS work on the earth!!!!! It´s tough, and I´m humbled every day, but it´s worth it because I keep seeing glimpses of change and light in people´s eyes. The gospel is SOOO important and wonderful! It´s ALL of our duty to share it - and it´s my duty as a missionary to teach it, to help people understand the first principles, and assist them with their first ordenances with God. How GREAT a calling! I hope that all of my finding efforts will lead to successful conversos!

HUGS!!! Animo y adelante... always! :)
¡Chao!

Hermana Tingey

the beach, the sun, the city....MAR DEL PLATA!!!!!!!!!!

I got transfered to.....MAR DEL PLATA with a NEW COMPANION!!!!! But first a few notes... 8/25/10

**********END of LA FALDA****************
So, before I got transfered I had a few very very spiritual and wonderful experiences in La Falda.
1. La Flia Alarcon (Rutti and Fabian) As we were walking to service last week we were in a HUGE hurry, but I looked to my left and saw a door. I ran to the door and rang the timbre. A woman answered and I did some sort of normal missionary shpeel and she said, ¨I´m a member! But I´m a menos activo...¨ we ended up talking for about 5 minutes through the timbre and she asked me, ¨Who are you? You are very sweet.¨ ¨I´m Hermana Tingey... and we´ll come back to visit you!¨ We went back on Friday and wow, the Lord definitely knew we needed to visit them! They were members in a different city and then moved here. Rutti and Fabian were even sealed to their children in the temple! But they had had problems with a Bishop and stopped attending. When they moved to La Falda, they didn´t even bother looking up the church. But they are wonderful and want to keep ¨having the discussions from the missionaries.¨ I testified so powerfully of the necessity to go to church and partake of the sacrament and the many blessings we receive when we do so. They fell in love with me and my love for them - oh it was hard because I had JUST found out I would be leaving to Mar Del Plata and I wanted to keep working with them! But I know they will come back and help make the rama stronger - I just know it!
2. Victor y Cristina - We were contacting in the streets and I felt like we should visit some antiguos investigadores del Elderes. Sure enough, they were home! (That does NOT happen everyday, by the way, but I think I´m getting better at listening to the Spirit and acting on the prompting!) Victor and Cristina are soooo great - we ended up having a 2 and 1/2 long lesson, which is NOT what Preach My Gospel recommends, but Victor kept asking me question after question about the Priesthood, about the nature of God, about baptism for the dead, etc. etc. deep deep stuff - I am SOOO eternally grateful that I´ve learned from my parents, from seminary, from BYU, and from studying, because for the first time in my life I could answer almost ALL of the questions! I felt the Sprit sooo strongly as I testified of families and that Heavenly Father has made this organization for a very special and specific reason! It was hard saying good bye, but they are GOLDEN!
3. Natalia Perez - is the Presidente de Relief Society. She and I got sooo close while I was here in La Falda. She is from Cordoba, Argentina and served in Bahia Blanca a few years back!!!! She moved back because her husbands family lives here in Bahia. We went on divisiones together and I learned so much from her! We became close - she gives the best hugs! Anyway, I felt prompted to write her a letter. And to tell her to always stay strong during tribulacion and trials. I gave it to her at church and she started bawling and hugged me soooo tightly!!!! As I observed, I could tell she and her husband were having marital problems. He didn´t sit next to her during sacrament meeting and left early without her from church. I am so grateful that the Lord helped me to help her and to perhaps give her a little animo to keep moving on and trying hard. Life is difficult, marriage is difficult I imagine!, but as I´ve learned in La Falda, we just need to keep going and keep going... there´s always a light at the end of the tunnel!
4. Hna. Abarzua del Canto - saying goodbye to her was SOOOO hard!!!!! I didn´t realize just how much I love her and how much I´ve learned from her!!!! I will miss her terribly! And I hope to see her again after the mission!

***********MAR DEL PLATA************
Hermana LaPray from the other zone, Elder Wallace, Rain, Frias, Seegrist, Decilia, and my friend Matias from Barrio Cerrito and of course, La Hermana Abarzua del Canto waved to me as I boarded the bus to Mar del Plata. It was really hard saying goodbye to so many people whom I admire and saying goodbye to La Falda, but that´s the mission! After a 7 hour bus ride by myself and after giving the first lesson to the Catholic boy next to me, I arrived in Mar Del Plata tired and was met by my new comp La Hermana Olsen from Riverton, UT! She is a HOOT!!!! She´s 5´11¨blonde, blue-eyed, mountain biker, rock climber, lactose intolerant, crazy spastic girl!!! (I added in lactose intolerant because she can´t eat ANYTHING with milk, butter, etc. No facturas, alfahores, etc. POBRECITA!) She´s a hard worker and very capable! And I didn´t realize how good my Spanish was until I met her... hahaha! She speaks well, as in using lots of words and her grammar, but she pronounces like an American! I pronounce like an American too, but it´s funny because people look to me to translate for what she says! HA!!!
So, we started off contacting and contacting and contacting and contacting.... but we had one lesson with an investigador! We´re in Mar Del Plata Centro - the city city city! And it´s right off the Beach with the sun and with the blue sky - it´s GORGEOUS!!! I just spent P-day playing ultimate frisbee and soccer in the sand, and then taking a million pictures with the otras Hermanas with the Ocean!
I´m SOOO excited to be here in Mar Del Plata! I LOVE IT HERE!!!! It´s basically Babylon, there are casinos and people drinking and smoking ALL over the place and EVERYONE sins, but I feel like we´re going to have success here. There´s a reason why I´m here! And not just because I´m obediente and wont´go to the beach like other Elders would! haha But I really do feel like this is a very special place for me and that I¨m going to just love it here and have a great deal of success!!!!

I love all of you SOOO much! I know that Heavenly Father is our literal Father in Heaven! He loves us sooo much! We are literally his children - we are His divine sons and daughters of God who have the special responsability to be witnesses of Christ at all times, and in all things, and in all places! I LOVE being a witness here in Mar Del Plata! I LOVE THIS CHURCH!!!! AND THIS MISSION!!!!
Animo y adelante.... always! :)
Love,

Hermana Tingey

P.S. I don´t have a prayer list because I don´t really know the investigadores here yet! But next week!

Dogs (again! haha), Authority, and Service 8/18/10



TRASLADOS - this Sunday I will either have a new companion in La Falda or I will be leaving for another part of Argentina - I´m EXCITED!!!!

So I have another dog story, a story about power as a missionary, and another service opportunity. So here it goes:

You´re NOT going to believe but I had a BETTER DOG STORY!!! (Or worse...depend on how you look at it...:-D) So we clapped a door (instead of knocking we clap - it´s customary in Argentina), but this time we knocked too and we half-yelled to our investigador whose an abuela and can´t hear. She didn´t answer!! We knew she was inside, but she just couldn´t hear us. So, the majority of the houses here in Argentina have gates, passage ways, and then the house because there are so many robbers and problems, so I tried the door to the fence area to see if it was open. IT was, so I opened the door slightly and clapped inside the fence/passageway so that our investigador could hear the clap... THAT was a mistake!!! Her dog charged at me and... ATTACKED ME!!!! IT bit my skirt and tried to bite my leg but I got away. There happened to be a bunch of other dogs in the street around her house and they all perked up and starting barking ferociously at us. My comp grabbed and said, ¨Don´t run! They´ll all follow us!¨ But I couldn´t help it, I almost had a heart attack when the dog charged at me!!! But we got away and as we starting walking safely on another street we started laughing and laughing and laughing. WHAT crazy experiences we´ve had with dogs lately!!!!!


Ramona - We contacted Ramona one day and she said her mother was a member and that ALL of the missionaries had come to her house. We went to her house this last week and as we sat down to chat, we could tell she was very lonely and basically, she´s preparing herself to pass on to the Spirit World. She´s 82 and lonely. As we talked to her we felt impressed to talk about baptism, so my companion and I testified and testified - it was incredible. It was the first time since Cristian that I asked someone to get baptized. I felt the power and authority as a missionary of the true church of Jesus Christ as I asked her to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized with the true authority of God on the earth. I felt so much power- it was truly a sacred and special moment for me.
Ramona has so many doubts and so many things holding her back. When we went back to visit her, she said to us, ¨You missionaries just come over to have more numbers, you just want to count another baptism...¨ it was like a knife to my heart, I said to her, ¨Ramona, I don´t have one single baptism in my missionary yet. Not ONE single baptism, but I want to teach you because I feel Heavenly Father´s love for you and your soul is precious to him; and to me. I know that your mother is waititng for you in the Spirit World and she wants you to be baptized as well...¨ I testified this to her with all of my love - she didn´t say anything else after that about baptism. I hope and pray she will feel of Heavenly Father´s love for her!


We went to a center for boys who have mental and physical disabilities to serve. It was INCREDIBLE! I fed a boy named Guido guiso for lunch and then I walked around with Guillermo for about an hour. Guillermo is blind and has mental disabilities. He didn´t say anything, but held tight to my hand as we walked around the center. I talked about my family and about the Book of Mormon. He listened intently. Especially when I talked about the love of our Savior - I knew Guillermo was listening and understanding what I was saying. I thought about Jacob and my friend Cedric that I helped in High School the whole time I was there. We are so blessed to have Jacob in our family, and to have these boys and Jacob and Cedric as examples to us. They are SO precious! I love them SO much! I felt the Spirit of the Lord with them.


I love you all SOOO much!! I am studying and learning a great deal about the Apostacy right now. I have such a strong testimony that Jesus Christ established his church with Revelation, Authority (Priesthood), Organizacion, and Ordinances that were lost when the Apostles passed away. But thanks to a loving Heavenly Father, all of these things were restored!!! The church is PERFECT! We have a prophet who holds all of the keys we need to have the ordinances of salvation! I am so grateful for this knowlege and for this gospel!

LOVE YOU!!!!!

Hermana Tingey

I Ran Faster Than My Companion



Familia! Wow, another wonderful week en La Falda! (8/11/10)

Sounds like you guys are B-U-S-Y! I hope all´s well, though! Mom - thanks for always writing me! Sorry about your birthday weekend, but it sounded like everything happened for a reason. And thanks for going to Shelby´s wedding for me- we always said we´d go to each other´s weddings... well, I wasn´t sure where I would be at the time. And Elizabeth Rennie too! I can´t believe it - we were just little girls in Young Women´s together and now, they´re MARRIED! AHHH! Nope, not going to think about it... not going to think about it... haha! :)

Ok, so I know everyone is sooo busy, but you all are NOT going to believe what happened this week... We got chased by a crazy dog!!! YOu know those mission stories where it´s important to run faster than your companion... yeaaaahhhh... it REALLY is a good thing I´m faster!! :) haha We were walking down an alleyway that was dark, so we were walkikng in the middle of the road when suddenly a dog charges us. I yelled at it, ¨Sali, che! Basta!¨ with my Argentine accento, but it was coming at us full blast with big bulgy red eyes and I bolted! My companion too- pobrecita - she was panicking and panicking! I´ve never seen her run so fast, haha! We booked it for about 15 seconds and finally the dog went away after we got the other street. Now Hermana Abarzua refuses to walk down that street.

David - Un contacto en the street. We started talking about the Apostacia with him and I testified that the plentitud de evangelio fue perdido - that we didn´t have all of the authority, etc. on the earth after the apostles died and he looked at me and said, ¨Que raro!¨ (How weird!) ¨I´ve never heard of this before!¨ He said thank you and left,but I sat there and thought, ¨Wow, it IS weird to people because it´s different AND they feel that it´s right, but it´s new.¨ I thought it was wonderful that he said that. These doctrines are peculiar to them, because they recognize it inside with the Holy Spirit but they can´t pinpoint why. I want to help them find this wonderful truth we take for granted!

I had another experience that was really special to me. When we go to centro for P-day to get our money from the bank or buy things that we can´t buy in our area, there are often beggars or homeless people selling things. Often I´m in a hurry or I think, well they´ll probably just go and spend money on drugs, but as a missionary, I´ve looked at them differently. I want to help them MORE. I´m a servant of the Lord and I souldn´t walk by these people for any reason. We were standing in line for the bank and a lady who was having a bad day and took it out on me said, ¨You´re with the church, aren´t you? Why don´t you help this man?¨ She was honry, but her words stung me. I started to talk about Bishops and the importance of the humanitarian aid and she just said, ¨Um hmm,¨ and stormed off. My comp said, ¨It´s ok Hermana, she´s just mean. And our money is for us to us... etc. etc. ¨ But I couldn´t let it go. As we left the bank (my comp took out money), all I had in my bag was 2 pesos and a piece of candy. So, I leaned down to the man and said, ¨Here. This is all I have. God loves you.¨ I gave him the 2 pesos and candy and walked away. As I left, the Spirit filled me and I felt more like a disciple of Jesus Christ than I have my whole mission. It wasn´t hardly anything, but I was to give my ALL. If that means sacrificing 2 pesos and a piece of candy to help someone in need, I want to serve the Lord. Everyday I see people who live from paycheck to paycheck - people who don´t have anything. I want to help them more than anything. I want to bring them unto Christ!

Another experience with a hombre malo. My comp and I started contacting a man who said he believed in the Bible, but then she started telling lies and said, ¨Jesus Christ was not resurrected. It´s something they made up and put in the Bible for people to believe...¨ or ¨We don´t need to pray, God knows our soul and our words don´t mean anything to him...¨ All kinds of false and foolish doctrines of men. ANd worse he started getting angry and had dark, black eyes... my comp started getting frustrated and started arguing with him... and I had an incredible spiritual experience. When he said, ¨Christ wasn´t resurrected...¨ in my heart I was filled with the Holy Ghost. ¨YES, He was and He LIVES!¨ My testimony was strengthened and in the midst of adversity I felt peace and strength. I said, ¨I´m sorry, Sir. But Christ lives! HE LIVES! And you can know by the power of prayer...¨ He woudln´t listen and so we left, but I am so grateful that in this moment of adversity and lies, I was able to have a testimony building experience. There are so many people lost, like this man. They don´t understand, they are using their agency to do wrong, or for whatever reason and I want to show them the light! The gospel is light- it´s truth- it´s life eternal! It´s LA VIDA ETERNA! We offer joy and happiness!
I was talking about the happiness the gospel brings with a new investigator, Beatriz, and she said, ¨What I would give for some peace and happiness!¨ She put a smile on her face as we talked to her about families... I am really hopeful that she´ll keep listening and progressing. Happiness and peace is what we offer as servants of the Lord! This is the plan of happiness, the plan of redemption... and I am so grateful for this opportunity to testify of this happiness in my broken Spanish to these wonderful Argentine people!

I love you all SOOO much!!!

Animo y Adelante!

Hermana Tingey