I miss Riverhead! 12/22/14

It's been a rough adjustment to the Bayshore Ward.. Haha but I do have an awesome new companion named Sister Ewell! She's from Vernal, Utah, she is 4.11 feet tall, just graduated high school in May, and is a really awesome person and missionary! 

I miss Riverhead. But I am super happy to be with an obedient companion. Hallelujah!

We live in this tiny studio apartment called "the loft". I just came from the Taj Mahal compared to this thing. Haha the head of my bed is right next to our fridge! So, it wakes me up all the time making weird noises. Our sink is like six inches long, six inches wide, and I feel like I am living in a hotel room or something. 

Besides that I think I get second-hand high every time I walk outside of our apartment because it smells like weed so badly. 

Yet every night I lay my head down, I am so grateful for the things Heavenly Father has blessed me with. Seriously, we go into homes and I just think "how do people live like this???" I've become aware of how truly blessed I am. My eyes are definitely opened when I see people, children, sleeping on cold floors. Families with no presents? No, try families with no food to give to their children. 

It's a humbling experience to go into the homes of others. 

Anyway, I don't really have a lot to say except for that I really am grateful to my Heavenly Father for my really comfortable life, my amazing family, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and remember what it is all about. 

Much love, 

Sister Tenney 

Oh the little lady getting baptized is my most favorite investigator Paige! She sent me pictures of her baptism today.  Sister Snow and I taught her this summer while she was in school in New York- you're welcome Michigan mission. Haha jk, but really... 

Temple trip, Christmas party, National Veterans Memorial, and Transfers. 12/15/14

Well it's been a crazy last week in Riverhead! Yeah, that's right, last week!  today is the last of my ministry hear in Zion, Long Island. I am so sad! And so are all of the members  I've never been asked to come over for dinner so many times in my life. But my American family (the Blom's) made me my favorite Gringa dinner last night and my Spanish family (the Leon's) are making me my favorite Spanish dinner tonight! :) #hondurantacos #fatgirlprobs

Anyway, I have had a great week. I got to go to the temple on Wednesday and it was amazing. I love the city! Haha except for the smell, but I think you just get used to it because it doesn't even phase me anymore. 

I need to stop making bets because it gets me into trouble. Haha but I may or may not be dying my hair brown tonight.. I guess we will see what color my hair is next week! Hahah speaking of coloring hair, I cut and colored Sister Acosta's hair last Monday and it turned out really cute. 

On Saturday Elder Duncan, Elder Rose, Sister Acosta, and I went to the National Veterans Memorial and places wreaths on graves. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done! There were so many soldiers. 

Then Saturday night was the Riverhead branch's Christmas party. It was a blast! And a lot of investigators showed up. 

I have loved serving here in Riverhead and I'm so grateful for the last six months I have been blessed with. 

Love you all! 

Sister Tenney! 

Keep Christ in Christmas. 12/8/14

Hola familia! 

It is definitely December! This week has been super cold but I can't complain because I'm not in Grand Prairie, Canada. So.. I just count my blessings. (Shout out to my best friend, Derek Ammon Jennings who is being a champ in negative 20 something weather to bring forth the truth in my native land, the Great White North.)

I am freaking out that I have already been out for a third of my mission?! WHAT?!! Why??.. I do not want to come home. Haha I love missionary work! This week has been killer. We have worked really hard, and I am more tired than I have ever been, but it's the best! 

One good thing about being out for six months is that I get to go to the temple on Wednesday! I'm way stoked, and I love Manhattan. (Even though, Queens and Brooklyn are WAY cooler..) 

The temple is really important to me and I am grateful I had the opportunity to go a lot before my mission. Some missionaries only went one or two times before they came out. There is a lot about the temple that I still don't know or understand. But, one thing I do know is that the temple is a house of God, a place of love and beauty. ❤️ In all seriousness, I love the temple! And I am hoping I get to see my home girl, Sister Becca Snow when I go! I miss her so much.  

I LOVE December on the mission so far! Sister Acosta and I just go around neighborhoods and knock all of the houses with Christmas lights. It sounds miserable, but I actually have a great time doing it. Haha I always think it's so funny/crazy when people have these big lit-up nativity scenes on their lawns but say they don't have two minutes to watch a video about Jesus Christ! What in the world?! Haha.  

Can anybody help me out with that? I just do not understand.. But, esta bien. 

This week has been full of miracles and mishaps. Haha one piece of advise I would give a fellow missionary is to Not have their dreams interpreted.  A series of bad events have happened ever since some member interpreted my dream! 

On Friday I almost fell out of our window! Because of my stupidity of course. Haha. We had deep cleaning this week because the transfer is almost over. We thought it was about time to take our air conditioner out of the window.. So, I opened it up and it just fell out! Luckily I grabbed the cord in time and it was just hanging there.. The cord was going to break off so I tried to grab the whole thing.. but, I must need to lift some weights or something because my arms were too little and weak and it started pulling me out of the window! Haha.. Embarrassing.. I was screaming/freaking out. So Sister Acosta started holding on to me, so I wouldn't die. I was holding this giant metal box, hanging out of the window.. My feet were off of the floor inside of the house. It was a disaster. I was like that for a good 8 minutes until somehow we got the strength to get it back onto the ledge of our window.. Haha more like my Mexican companion took over. She's shorter than me, but she could definitely beat me up. 

I used to be a lot more tough back in my water polo days.. I'm not sure what happened.. 

So, yeah.. Bad things do happen.. But the miracles outweigh all of the bad stuff! 

One miracle that happened this week is that four investigators were at church yesterday! I don't know if you are aware of how cool that is.. But, I don't think I've ever seen four investigators at church.. in Utah and definitely not in Riverhead, New York. I was SO happy! (and I still am) 

It's weird how the things that bring me joy are so different than what used to bring me 'happiness'. Don't get me wrong.. I still love a pair of new Uggs, a new piece of jewelry from Tiffanys, or new perfume.. But I would give all of that up to see everyone under the covenant of baptism, in the Riverhead area, come to church next Sunday! 

Something I have been thinking about recently is how The Lord has blessed us with this awesome technology to share the gospel, so IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO USE IT.  and not for silly stuff like candy crush or FarmVille. Trust me, I love Instagram just as much as any, but if our smoothie from Starbucks is as far as our influence goes on the internet.. That is pretty LAME! 

My whole point is that Christmas is coming soon.. Which means it will be gone before you know it. So, make sure you use these next three weeks to share the He is the Gift video with as many people as possible. It's on your gospel library apps on your phones. Which I am sure you ALL have downloaded. 

It's pretty easy to do, all you have to say is:

"have have you seen that video about Christmas on Facebook?" 

"No, what is it?" 

"I will show you, I have it right here". 

2 minutes later.... 

"Yeah, I love that. It really reminds me of what Christmas is all about". -- super easy right? 

And that will lead you to a perfect opportunity to invite them to something! All you have to say is: 

"something my family does at Christmas time to remember Christ is.. (Go to church, go to the SLC Christmas lights, go to the stake creche, have hot cocoa and read the story of Christ's birth, go caroling.. Etc.. Etc.. Etc..) WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US? We would love to have you and your family." 

Don't know any non members? Well guess what? Even better.. You already know that less active members believe in Jesus Christ! #WOW #crazy #thisishowmiracleshappen

How easy is that? Isn't it the greatest time in the year to share your testimony of Christ with others?  I love it!

I love Christmas! And I love all of you! 

Keep Christ in Christmas! 

I promise that if you share the short video about your Savior to those around you His Spirit will be more present in your day and you will find more joy in this Christmas than any other Christmas before. It is so simple and easy. I know that blessings will flood your homes, which are much greater than any presents you could receive on Christmas morning!

#blessings>toys

See you soon family! Hallelujah! Joy to the world Skype is come. 

Feliz Navidad! ⭐️.   

⛄️❄️

Con amor, 

Hermana Samantha Tenney

Oh man' this email is a mile long.. But I forgot to tell you.. 

I puked my guts out all Friday night because I ate cow liver! Yum! Haha I've had worse on my mission, like turtle for example.. But I have never felt so sick! Barf. Literally. As soon as I swallowed it, I knew I was going to pay for it. I felt like I swallowed a rock! When we got home we said a prayer to began planning and right when Hermana Acosta said "en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen" I just ran to the bathroom and didn't come out until after 10:20 pm. Hahaha 

Worst thing ever! Don't eat the Liver! I also never want to be pregnant, because throwing up is not my thing. 

Here's a selfie of me being stoked because of the miracles of fasting and some pictures of me with this little puppy (Leo) who tried to lick my face. My favorite is the one where Megan Arreola is super happy! She's the cutest little girl in the world and her older sister's name is Samantha.. Awe. Cute. (Samantha and Megan) (little Honduran twins of me and my sister)  . Oh, and that's a bird that was outside of the church. I obviously did not take that picture because I would not get close to a rat of the sky. #birdHater (except for my chickens slim shady and tweet.. Which are more like dumb dogs). 

It's December already? 12/1/14

This week was cray. 

On Tuesday Sister Acosta and I drove to Rego Park, Queens to pick up her new iPad from the mission office. There I got to see my best friend, Sister Snow. It was so awesome! But, unfortunately that was short lived. 

Something I have been trying to overcome is my deep hatred of driving. Tuesday didn't help the cause. We got lost in Queens and drove like 160 miles that night. On the freeway, in the pouring rain, and my lights stopped working! It was one of the scariest things ever. But when we got off the 495 into Riverhead my stress level went down. God is definitely watching out for me. 

Other than driving, this week was good! The lord blessed us with six new investigators! Two of which are parents of four boys! So, we are going to start teaching their family.  they are set to be baptized on December 28th. Nothing is better than families in the gospel! 

We did another hot chocolate stand finding activity this week.. Hahah I just wish someone could follow me around with a video camera so you could see and listen to the people I come in contact with on a daily basis! People are seriously out of their minds. 

We are going to figure out a new spot to find though because a cop came up to us and asked us if we all had cell phones on us, and if we knew 911.. Ha ha.. Uh.. Sketchy. Don't worry though, anytime a man came up to me the Elders stepped in. 

Thanksgiving was good. I don't really like Thanksgiving food.. But I had some mashed potatoes and a roll. Better than beans! Yeah, I still hate beans.. And bananas.. 

Spanish people from Honduras eat so many bananas! Last night I was given warm bananas with sour cream on them. Yum.. (I hate both of those things).  Bananos con crema. No me gusta.. Jaja  

So, yeah.. Everything is good with me. Spanish people love to make fun of me. Haha I don't mind at all. (It gets old sometimes though) Yo soy de Canada. #grina4life  

Well, happy December! There's no snow here yet.. Hallelujah. I keep telling Hermana Acosta it's because the Lord knows I can't drive in the snow.. 

Love yall! 

Con amor, 

Sister Tenney

I love five week transfers 11/24/14

Another great week in Riverhead for the Spanglish Sisters! 

We have been teaching a lot of people and most of them are set for baptism in December. Which is going to be awesome because Riverhead hasn't seen any action in the font for about a year now. We are trying our best to change that. 

One of the people we are teaching is Javier. He is so awesome! He is probably one of my favorite people that I've taught because he keeps ALL of his commitments and he really wants this, (this being the gospel) We started teaching him because an Elder in the Hamptons invited him to come to a branch activity like two months ago. After that we didn't have any contact with him. But, two weeks ago he just showed up at church! He walked to church! I don't know many members who would walk to church.. Haha So, we taught him over the phone. Then yesterday he took a taxi to church and we had a really amazing and spiritual lesson with him. He is planning on being baptized December 13th. The only problem is that he has trouble with his job, so if it doesn't get resolved in the next two weeks he is going back to his country...

(Nicaragua) haha I always joke around that I am going to call Devon (Derek's little brother who is serving in Nicaragua) and give him the referral. 

This week was pretty crazy.. Some weird events took place. One being, we found underwear in our mailbox. Not what I was hoping for. Haha, who does that?! We don't know if it was some punk teenagers or our mail woman has a crush on Hermana Acosta. Pretty funny though..

Something we did as a district finding activity this week was a "free hot chocolate" stand. Kind of like a lemonade stand but more free, and more warm. It was actually a lot of fun. Most of the people who accepted the free hot chocolate were homeless or waiting for the train. 

There are some interesting people here in New York! Haha.. 

Anyway, I guess my favorite part of the past week was church yesterday. Two miracles happened and also our awesome investigator was there. One of those miracles was the sacrament. The atonement, in my opinion, is one of the biggest miracles that has happened on this earth, next to the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. I'm grateful for the sacrament and for the ability and blessing of repentance. #thelordknowsineedit #renewingcovenants #ontheweekly

Anyway, I have so much hope for the Riverhead branch. Someday it will be a ward! And all of the callings will be able to be fulfilled. I'm sure of it. 

Ether 12:4

4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

I love Riverhead! I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I love you guys. 

And I am stoked to see my mom in like a month. #christmas 

Love always, 

Sister Tenney.