Costco is the only piece of Utah in this disgusting city. 4/6/15

Happy April 6th! Incase you weren't aware: "On the 6th of April, 1830, the ‘Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ was first organized in the town of Fayette, Seneca county, state of New York". So today's the best day of the year in my opinion, Jesus' birthday, the organization of His church, and Doug Jennings' birthday as well, oh! and we went to Costco today! Can't get much better. 

This week was great! We had a lot going on. 

We helped two different families move out of their apartments.. Haha I remember Derek's family telling me something about a missionary in New York that spent most of their time helping people move? Well, that is accurate. People move in and out of New York all of the time. It's not the easiest to help our branch grow.. But I do feel like I am literally gathering Israel! 

We also had a few other pretty nasty service opportunities.. Let's just say I'm well familiar with cockroaches, and rat poop. That's just a part of New York life. I don't know how many times I've had to flick a cockroach off of myself, or iPad during lessons.. But it's more than 7.. Gross eh? I love NYC❤️ 

On Thursday I had an interview with President Calderwood. (Our last interview before he goes home in July) and we talked about a lot. My family, Derek, my mission.. But mostly about making decisions. The decision I have to make this week is when I will be flying out of New York to the promised land of Utah. My 18th month mark is December 25th, 2015- I can leave within a 30 day range before, or after that date. The transfers land on January 4th and November 25th. So it is completely up to me as to when I go home... I'm not sure what I'm doing yet, but I'm working it out with the Lord.  #westwardho! 

Conference this weekend was awesome. Haha wow.. Saturday was all about marriage.. That was awkward for all the missionaries.  

Nobody had us over for Easter and no one really wanted to be visited during their "family time"- so it was probably my least favorite day of the mission thus far. Besides from conference! Which I enjoyed, I'm glad they didn't shove marriage down our throats during the Sunday sessions. I loved all the talks and I'm really grateful for a modern day prophet and apostles. But mostly I'm grateful for Jesus Christ, and that he lives. 

Well, that's about all I got.. 

Deborah is getting interviewed for baptism next weekend! That's so awesome... And yep. 

That's it.. Oh ya shout out to Derek's two grandmas Carolyn and Jennings! They both made my Easter a little bit better because I got cute Easter cards from them today, thank you so much! It means a lot. 

Love, Sister Tenney 

 

Sorry it's short but I have a nerf war to win. 3/30/15

Hi fam. This week was pretty interesting. I feel like so much happens and I still never know what to say to you people when Monday comes around. 

So here it goes: 

Richmond Hill is great, were teaching some amazing people who are accepting the gospel into their lives and truly changing their lives! I love it. I love being a missionary. I love telling people that God loves them! It's the best thing ever, and I will be sad to leave this crazy city when that time comes. 

Something I've realized on my mission, is that everything about the gospel comes down to God's love for us, and our love for him. Jesus Christ is the greatest manifestation of God's love for us. I'm so happy it's Easter! I love Easter and I know that Jesus Christ did conquer the grave and still lives today. So, Happy Easter this upcoming Sunday! And, remember why we celebrate it! 

Oh yeah, random, but guess what? That lady I was talking about last week- Brittany Bodrero came to church this week! Wahoo! So awesome. 

My companion and I are doing well. She's teaching me how to be a nice person and I'm teaching her how to be a fun person. It works out. We are working really hard, but she is a little homesick. I'm super awkward trying to comfort people, so I usually just try and make her laugh until she stops crying. It resolves the problem 98% of the time.  I love her a lot! She's super sweet and she's going to be one of those extremely nice grandmas that bakes cookies some day. I'll just take my grandkids out for a slurpee, that's more my speed. 

Well, sorry this email is kind of lame.. But happy one year birthdays to my two chickens, Slim Shady and Tweet! Love you ladies. 

I might just shave my head. 3/23/15

Hey everyone! This week has been good! 

Pretty random... but this week I was super grateful for Derek's mom, Dawn and her brother Greg Thorpe! Haha super weird.. But this week we went and visited a less active who is married to a nonmember from Italy. We have been trying to get in contact with her for weeks with no success. But she finally answered the door and I was able to introduce myself and ask her some questions. She told me she was from South Ogden! So I did some prying and found out she went to Bonneville High School and I don't know how in the world I remembered that's where Dawn went, but I did. (The spirit of remembrance). Anyway, I asked her if she knew any Thorpes and she was like "Yes! I know a Dawn and Greg Thorpe" hahaha what?! Small world. 

I guess the whole reason I said I was grateful for Dawn is because Brittney Bowdrero told me how nice she was to her in high school. How awkward would've it been if Dawn had been a jerk in high school? So.. Thanks for being a nice person Dawn! It definitely helps my life as a missionary, and actually softened a lady's heart. Good job! 

So now that it is just Sister Jones and I here in Richmond Hill, things are a little bit different, but they're still good. We've been a little frustrated this week with people canceling/bailing on us. As a missionary I just think you get this new understanding of when you make a commitment, you need to keep it! 

Anyway, if the weather would get warm.. That would be nice! I packed up my winter stuff last week.. Right before it snowed! Again! Haha come on! Winter needs to end. 

But it will end soon! Unlike my mission. 

Haha have a great week, 

Love Sammy 

P.S. Happy birthday to my 50 year old dad on Saturday!! Woooooow. You're a champion for raising me. Love you Todd! ❤️

To explain the pictures:

1. Selfie of sister jones and I 

2. How New York "fixes" their sidewalks 

3.booties and a hat a member made for me. :) 

God be with you till we meet again. 3/16/15

This week was a party. Last Monday after we emailed our district went to little Guyana and bought some Saris and ate Roti. We are so Indian- so that explains the pictures.  

Our area is super diverse. We live in a mainly Jewish community, but there is also Little Guyana, a lot of Spanish people on Jamaica Ave, Haitians, Jamaicans, people from Barbados, Trinidad, Granada, Asia, Russia, and Poland, and people in East New York. So yeah.. New York truly is the melting pot of the world. I love it and hate it. Let's just say, we eat a lot of curry. 

This past week was good. It was Sister Harris's last, so we worked really hard. I'm sad she's leaving and I'm glad I am staying in Richmond Hill with Sister Jones! Hallelujah I don't have to pack my stuff up. It may be lame/lazy, but that's why I truly did not want to be transferred. Packing is one of my least favorite parts of mission life. 

The work here is on fire! Our investigators are the best and are progressing. Deborah was at church again this week and she is amazing! Seriously, she reads the scriptures, prays, and comes to church more than long standing members of the church. I love her. 

We met with Melissa again and went over the Plan of Salvation, she loved it but unfortunately was not at church yesterday. Bummer. 

Elmer was at church with his kids though! Which is great because the branch really NEEDS priesthood holders.  He's a boss and is from El Salvador. 

Speaking of Church- this Sunday was Branch conference and the Stake came to speak/teach the lessons. President Sanchez (our Branch President) threw down the law in sacrament meeting about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy! Hallelujah, I hate when people break the Sabbath  Day. He was then followed by the Stake President who spoke about tithing. He basically let everybody know that they made plans with Salt Lake to reconstruct the building and make it nicer for the Branch- but the First Presidency reviewed the faithfulness/tithe/fast offerings of the branch and said that they need to do some work before they can proceed with the plans! Whhhhaat. Haha I was happy because the members needed to be called to repentance, but they were NOT happy. Just goes to show that the guilty take the truth to be hard. 

It was pretty funny though- the box of tithing slips were empty real quick after sacrament meeting ended. 

Anyway, today should be fun! People want to say goodbye to Sister Harris and the district so we have a few homes to visit tonight and then tomorrow will be transfer meeting in Rego Park. I'm glad I don't have the anxiety of where I'm going/who my new companion will be. I'm excited for the next six weeks with Sister Jones here in Richmond Hill. 

And once this transfer is done, it will be Mother's Day! Crazy! Time is going by super quickly. 

Love forever, 

I've got the black lung pop. 3/9/15

Heyyyo! 

This week has been great up here in Richmond Hill. I feel like Heavenly Father is just giving us all of these super prepared people! 

So here's a little of how my week went: 

Tuesday: 

Tuesday was international free pancake day at iHop. Our district did attend, but seeing as I hate pancakes it wasn't too enjoyable for me. (I didn't eat the free pancakes) but our ward mission leader, Dimitry ate mine, a total of 9. Pretty gross. 

Wednesday: 

On Wednesday we had a mega zone conference and exchanged our old iPads in for new ones. Our new iPads are on lockdown! For like a month we are focusing on how to use the gospel library app. Which is actually way sweet.

Thursday: 

Thursday we taught Deborah. She is one of my favorite investigators ever! She was at church again this week and when they tried to introduce her as a visitor in relief society again she wouldn't stand up and said "um, I'm not a visitor. I'm here to stay in the church". Haha yessss! She's a boss. 

Friday: 

Friday was full of coughing and Doctors. Woops, I passed on my cold to one of my companions, Sister Jones. So we hit up the doctors and got some antibiotics.  

Saturday: 

Saturday we taught this amazing girl named Melissa from Trinidad. She's a homie and we will be meeting again with her this week. 

Sunday: Three of my favorite investigators came to church! Why are they my favorite? Because they come to church! Hallelujah.

Today we are going to Liberty Ave, and getting Roti. I'm basically living in a third world country (Guyana). 

I love all of you! 

You're the best of the best. 

If you have time send a shout out to my best friends: Derek & Sister Snow 

derek.jennings@myldsmail.net 

rsnow@myldsmail.net 

March! 3/2/15

Hola! This week was good. So here are some highlights: 

🔶I went on an exchange to Rego Park with Sister Pablo, from Mexico. We had fun.. I had a hard time keeping up with the Spanish though. Haha that was rough, I haven't taught in Spanish in forever! Can't say I miss it. 

🔶Elder Evans and iPads

We had a really long meeting, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. It was good though. Elder Evans, who is in charge of the missionary program in the church came to speak to us. Along with him, we heard from His wife, President and Sister Calderwood and Elder Steve. The reason they came is because we are getting new iPads, along with new training. So we will not be on Facebook for at least two months.

Surprisingly they didn't speak much about iPads. They really focused on how we need to be disciples of Christ. And how if we can learn to use technology wisely on our missions, we can be the masters of the tools we've been given not the other way around. They also spoke about how the "trial" of this generation is pornography, and they even brought up 50 Shades of Gray.

He also basically pleaded with all of the missionaries to confess their sins to President Calderwood if they have anything they need to repent of.

 

🔶On the train the other day I started talking with this man to find out he is a member of the church! He told me his son went on a mission to Canada and he hasn't been to church in years because he was in Afghanistan and came home to an unfaithful wife. Our stop came and I couldn't get his information, but we gave him ours and hopefully something will come of that. It makes me wonder how many other lost members are in this crazy place!

🔶Deborah is the woman who requested a Bible a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday she came to church and loved it! She was participating and even introduced herself in relief society and said "I'm here to stay". She wants to be baptized on her birthday.. But that's in a few months, so hopefully she moves that date up. Anyway, I haven't ever met someone so pure in heart, willing to change, and prepared by the Lord. She's the best. 

Well, missionary work is crazy and hard, but I do love it. The gospel is the good news. The Church is true.

Love, Sister Tenney 

Happy March!! 🌈 jk it snowed a ton last night. 

Just another week in New York 2/23/15

Hey family, friends and Derek. 

It's pretty crazy that eight months ago I was giving my farewell talk! But at the same time, it feels like eight long months since I've slept in my own bed. Haha, maybe that's just because I've been sleeping on the floor for three weeks.

Everything has been going well with my companions and I. We work well together, teaching with three people is still hard adjusting to. We're getting better though. ☺️

This last week was good! We had some pretty rough times.. But they're kind of forgotten when I focus on the good things that happen. 

One good thing that happened this week is that a girl named Deborah requested a bible online. We dropped it off to her on Tuesday and then met with her at the church on Friday. She's really amazing and pure in heart. It just goes to show that even in the slums of Brooklyn, God prepares his people. 

Another great thing that happened was that I received this message yesterday. (I'm taking out the names to keep confidences) 

"Hey Sister Sammy! This week was pivotal for me, and I want to tell you about it because you were instrumental in bringing (my wife) and I to this point in our lives. We met with the Bishop today on my behalf, and I can't tell you what was discussed in the meeting save that it was concerning the repentance process for myself. For years going back to my early teens I'd been struggling with sin I was unable to overcome until just a few months ago. This time my struggle involves not only my resolve but the strengths of the Lord, my incredible loving wife and our Bishop. This week as I confessed my sins to God in fervent and frequent prayer I've felt the spirit of the Lord stronger than I can ever remember having felt it. It burns in my chest and reassures me that my Father in Heaven is pleased in the path I am choosing. The repentance process will be long, and I am facing a possible lifelong struggle with temptation. It is one I am capable of taking on, with the Lord's help. I know he is with me. I mention your role in all of this, because you were a wonderful teacher to us. I decided to model my life, the things I read, the media I watch and listen to after the requirements of you missionaries. I've given up heavy metal music, which I'm now certain was a factor in my before seemingly fruitless struggle. Watching my thoughts and being vigilante in scripture study, and prayer comes easily now. I am excited to see the change in myself when I am no longer burdened by sin! I will be able to hear the promptings of the Holy Ghost again, and worthy temple attendance will be a reality! I will be a worthy partner to my loving spouse! These things I know. Sister Tenney, you and your fellow missionaries are The Bomb.com! God bless you for the service you provide for your fellow man. I had to let you know of the difference you had made. Love you, sister. Have an awesome week!"

Ah, it was so nice to get this message! Soooo nice. 

I really needed to know that there was at least one reason I'm here in Queens, getting rejected and being cold. Haha. 

I know that numbers and baptisms don't make you a successful missionary.. I'm still working on trying to overcome my pride, and not Having to be "the best missionary". Buuuuttt, numbers DO matter to me and I think they definitely reflect how hard missionaries work.. 

Anyway, hard work doesn't always result in baptism.. But it does help me sleep at night. Haha

Love, 

Sister Tenney 

This week was super slow, cold, and tough.2/16/15

Haha I'll just keep it real with you, this week wasn't fun at all. It was really cold and it seemed like every appointment would fall through some way or another. Which is hard because without a car it takes you an hour to get there, and then an hour to get back. Plus, it is literally 0 degrees Fahrenheit with a windchill of -10.  

So YA, missionary work is.. Work. Sometimes it sucks. 

That being said, my life is pretty good. I count my blessings because I really have been blessed with a lot. Especially with having the gospel in my life. But, here are some things I've been grateful for this week: 

- unlimited use metro card

- five pairs of leggings 

- thermal garments

- boots a size too big so I can wear 4 pairs of socks

- a church building only 15 minutes walking distance away

- Sister Sookrum who gave us sandwiches 

- The Lord's protection 

- Alarm clocks

- benches at bus stops

- Pday 

Even though last week was hard, I still love being here. I love being a missionary and having the opportunity to help others Help themselves come closer to Christ. The Church is true. If I didn't know that, I'd be on a plane to Utah right now. 

Love you all. 

And re-shout out to my Sister Cassey, whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday! She's a great mom to my favorite relative, Henry. 

 - Sister Tenney

Dye your hair brown, get sent to Queens. It's like gravity. 2/9/15

My week--

Tuesday:
Well transfers happened. Woooooof. Long day. Hahaha..To start off,
transfer meeting was pushed back due to the weather.  So, driving to
Rego Park, Queens was pretty interesting.. To make it even better the
GPS took us down Sunrise Highway  and all the way down Jamaica Ave,
and Queens Boulevard. What. A. Joke.
Haha sitting in traffic in Jamaica I looked at Sister Ewell and said
"can you see another white person anywhere?" -no- "that's how you know
you're in Jamaica!" Haha and it's true! There are so many people
everywhere but the only other caucasian person you're going to find is
another missionary.

Needless to say, we arrived at the mission office 50 minutes after 3:00 pm.

But we made it for most of the meeting and it was awesome! The
departing missionaries did their thing like usual and sang a little
hymn. President Calderwood spoke and that was great, as always. One
thing President mentioned is how this faith is not a one time 'born
again' faith. We do not have 1 experience with the Holy Ghost, declare
Christ, and become saved. We do this over, and over, and over again.
We are born again continually or in other words converted daily.

He's a super powerful speaker, and person. I always get a lot out of his talks.

Sooo.. Where in the world am I right now? Richmond Hill, Queens! (Part
of the South Queens Zone) haha.. Insane! It covers South Ozone Park,
South Richmond Hill, Kew Gardens, Cyprus Hills, and East New York.
It's a pretty crazy area. There are a lot of black people and Asians..
And it smells like the city. We obviously take buses and trains, so I
hope I figure it all out quick.

I'm not going to lie, half of my mission is basically over but right
now I feel like I just stepped off the plane from the MTC! A complete
Greenie! Everything is new to me. I'm in a total different
mission/world. Luckily my companions know what they're doing.

YA, that's right. I said COMPANIONS. TRIO LIFE.
Yep, I'm in a trio..
Sister Harris and Sister Jones.

Sister Harris is way cool! She actually trained Sister Snow (my
trainer). And, she just left companions with Sis. Snow as an STL in
Brooklyn. Pretty wild. Anyway, she is from Spanish Fork, Utah and has
four older sisters, no brothers! Cool. Me too.
She's super nice, hard working, and obedient. And, she only has one
transfer left, so I'm 'killing' her. Oh yeah, something awesome is
that Sister Harris already served here six months ago, so that's a big
help!

Sister Jones came out the transfer before me, and has served in the
city her entire mission. She's been in Richmond Hill for three
transfers, and this will be her fourth. She is from Washington
state.😊 I don't know a ton of stuff about her, but she's already
offered me trail mix.. So, I am sure we're going to get along just
fine. She is super nice. I'm excited to be working as a trio though,
because it helps balance our personalities out.

Wednesday:
"City missionary work is a lot different than the missionary work I
have been doing for the past eight months. Same in purpose, completely
different approach. We walk and walk and walk.. I'd say 60ish percent
of our time is spent trying to travel to where we need to go. So
that's a big change."

Thursday:
The day was good.. Long, but good.
The days always seem to be long haha.MAlthough, it's good we are busy!

So I'll just write a little about my life right now:
- we live in the most expensive apartment in the mission. Seriously, I
would never be able to live here in real life. I feel like I'm in a
movie or something! Haha we have a valet parking guy and a bell girl
who lets us in. It's the ritz! The mission has named it the "princess
pad".
- there's a gym on the second floor of our apartment building and it's
WAY nice. They have every machine you could ask for. Just no swimming
pool-- which is probably good because that would be tempting.
- we also have one of the sketchiest areas of the mission.. Haha so I
guess that the apartment building kind of compensates for that.
-we walk a few miles a day at least. Haha my legs have been a little
sore this week but I'll get over that quick.
- trio life has it's pros and it's cons.. But I definitely am not as
stressed to make sure my comp is happy because I have two of them and
they can be best friends if they want. I usually just keep to myself
when it comes to things not related to missionary work.
- Mother's Day is in like three months and then I won't see my family
until Christmas! That is crazy.
- I love mission life. And I like the city. It's different, but still good.
- would I want to go back to the island? Depends, for missionary work?
Yes. As an advocate for my physical body? Probably not.

Saturday:
Everyone's crazy here, even the Mormons.

Today we had correlation meeting with all of the missionaries and the
ward mission leader. Haha he's this 23 year old black guy who
is really muscly, into himself, and out spoken. But, I am just
grateful that we have a ward mission leader that will meet with us.

The work is really moving forward here in the Richmond Hill branch.
There have been quite a few baptisms over the past while, so we visit
all of the recent converts. It's cool to see the fruit of the other
missionaries labors. But I am ready to go and find new people to
teach.

Sunday:
Happy Sabbath. 🙏

Church today was good. It was kind overwhelming with so many new
people to meet. But, it was good. There were 90 people there! That's
more than I have ever seen even in Bayshore. But it is still a branch
because there isn't enough Priesthood to carry out the duties of a
ward. Some day though!

Tonight we got home late because we missed the bus coming home from an
appointment at the Ashrams. They are from Guyana and really nice. They
fed us and it wasn't the best, or worse food I've had on my mission
thus far.

Before that we were in East New York trying to find some people that
are less active. They live in the projects, but none of the addresses
were making sense and it was pretty frustrating. My companions and I
were walking down Stanley Avenue and all at the same time had a
prompting to turn around. We immediately started back to where we came
from and ended up passing by a huge really crazy/dangerous gang fight.
So we started like running to the bus stop and luckily didn't have to
wait too long to get picked up.

--I did this weeks email a little differently and basically compiled
and edited my journal entries. So sorry if it doesn't make sense or is
too long. But yeah, I love Richmond Hill, my companions, and
missionary work.

I'm experiencing so many things but I can't really write them because
you really wouldn't understand. I was thinking about that and how it
applies to the gospel. You can tell somebody all about it but if
they're not living it, they don't really get it.


Anyway.... Love you all!
Happy Valentines Day💕❤️💕❤️💕 and happy birthday shout out to Cassey!

Love, Sister Tenney

Mom, don't google the area I'm serving in.

January is over, and so is my time in Bayshore. 2/2/15

"I sure hope President Calderwood knows what he's doing... "- me everyday since Saturday.

Haha, Saturday night we got transfer calls and guess what?! I'm leaving Bayshore! I am so confused but something I've learned over the past 3 months is that this mission is not my mission. I am definitely serving the "Lord's mission". It's pretty crazy to not know where I will be sleeping tomorrow night.. 

On a positive note, I don't have to say goodbye to as many people as I did in Riverhead -7 weeks versus 7 months makes a big difference in how many people you get to know. But, I am going to miss my companion Sister Ewell! She was my saving grace after a rough time with my last companion. I LOVE her. 

The snow storm last week was obnoxious because there was a "driving ban". We were trapped inside for a couple of days. It snowed again last night, but it's raining now.. So the roads are okay. 

Well, this week was good. We had sister-wide exchanges and my home girl Sister Leal from Brasil came to Bayshore with me. Haha we had a good time and she laughed at everything I said. We stayed up and talked about Pretty Little Liars and Harry Potter... She told me all about how she's 50 something percent Raven Claw.. Hahaha I guess there's a test you can take or something. I mostly pretended like I knew everything she was talking about.. But I do like the Harry Potter movies. She is cute. 

Speaking of Harry Potter.. I miss Sister Snow. Hopefully I will get transferred close to her. Shout out to my #1 Homie Becca. Love her. 

Well, I'm pretty content being a missionary. 

Love you all, 

Sister Tenney, aka T$