Elder Tensmeyer-My first "greenie" - Ogden, UtahHey everyone how are things going? So this week has been pretty good. We got our changes last Monday night. Turns out that I am TRAINING this change! Haha. I went down to Viña on Tuesday morning and was there by 9:00 in the morning but had to wait there until around 4:00 to meet my new companion. There are only 7 of us in the mission training this change. Two from my group that came to Chile together are training…Elder Mower and me. Well my new companion is Elder Tensmeyer. He is from Ogden, Utah. He is a cool kid and likes a lot of the same things that I do. We get along really well and have a good time. It is so weird to see someone that is in the same shoes that I used to be in only 10 short months ago. He speaks really good Spanish and will be a great missionary. The only thing is that he almost understands nothing. Ha. Good thing that happens to everyone though and only time can help that.
So this week in the missionary work, I had a really good experience. We were teaching this less active lady one evening who hadn’t been to church for a long time and had just moved to the area about a month ago. Her name is Nativity. She is a single lady with three daughters. They are really in a financial problem but she did come to church last week and is really excited about getting back into being active again. We shared with her a document called “Permaneced” which talks about the importance of staying active in the church so that one can receive all of the blessings that God has for us. She really liked it and then talked about when she used to have a book that she would read that really helped her feel closer to God but that she doesn’t know what happened to it. I pulled out one of our copies of the Book of Mormon to give to her. I don’t think I will ever forget the look on her face and her reaction when I gave it to her. She was so grateful for it and the way she held it really showed how grateful she was to receive this gift. There aren’t many people who accept that book in that way. The member that went with us even told us that it was a great experience for him to see how she accepted the Book of Mormon. A couple days later, we were walking in the street and she stopped us and told us that she had been reading it. She said thanks to us again.
Well other than that, we are just keeping busy with the same ole. It is weird that a year ago today I gave my farewell talk. Even weirder that I hit a year in the mission on Thursday! Wow how time flies. Well change #8 here we go!
Take care everyone. Chao
