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$ 

Biggest storm in history to hit NY and of course I am here for it. ❄️❄️❄️ 1/26/15

Hey everybody! This week was great. I really am in the best mission ever! I love New York. Everything that I'm experiencing, I am growing and learning from. 

I have been blessed with spiritual experiences before and during my mission. But I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me an understanding that what is most important is not these experiences them-self, but the "why" of them. I've seen how these times have strengthened my faith. I keep them close to my heart, but I've also come to realize that the pure testimony God is strengthening through the miracles, revelations, and healings is really what it's all about. 

I've learned a lot out here on the East Coast, some of which I will leave here in the mission field, some I will leave with my future family, and some I will bring with me through the eternities-- that of which is eternal 'truth' or light.  

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe in Him, Jesus Christ, to be the "light" (or another word for truth) of the world. We believe He is the son of God, a perfect being. A man born in a manger, raised by mortals, and crucified by his own. We believe he came, he suffered, he died, he came back, and he will return again. 

So.. How does all of this information affect us in our daily lives? Do we have a better understanding than the world does of Christmas and Easter? Do we come to Church on Sunday? Attend our meetings, obey the commandments, go to mutual, go on missions, and fulfill our other church obligations? Yes! But, there hast to be more than that, doesn't there? 

Shouldn't Jesus Christ have more of an impact? Not just in "our daily lives" but in our every thought, action, and feeling? Shouldn't He be the one guiding us, leading us, and directing our paths? 

So, how do we allow Him to do that?  

I'm sure everyone is different. But what works best for me is what us missionaries in NYNYS call "real time repentance". The idea of this is that when we go throughout our day, we recognize immediately whether or not a choice is good or bad. Well, if it's bad, we need to repent, right? So, instead of waiting to the end of the day.. Or week.. To try and remember all of the things which you need to ask forgiveness for. Repent right then! Repent real time. 

As you do this, as I have done this, I have felt closer to God and His son than ever before. I have been able to immediately feel of Our Father's forgiveness and unending love. I know you can experience this same thing.

By repenting real time, we allow Christ into our lives. He is able to direct our choices, quickly followed by our thoughts, and our feelings. His Atonement starts to play a roll in our lives like never before, and we gain so much. 

 My stellar mission President Kevin Calderwood is the one who introduced this to me in the beginning of my journey out here. Through this principle alone, I have a much greater understanding of The Atonement, Repentance, Christ, and Forgiveness.  

I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I love Him. I truly am serving here in New York, WITH Him. This is His work and I am privileged to be a part of it. This is His Gospel, and it is His Church, He does direct it. 

He can change people, he's changed me. And He has the power to change you too. 

Love always, 

Sister Samantha Mona Tenney

Also, CHECK THIS LINK OUT! It is so cool!!! 

https://www.lds.org/church/news/joseph-smith-atop-smithsonian-magazines-top-religious-figures-list?lang=eng

Oh, Mom and Dad-- yes. Apparently the biggest snow storm in history to have ever hit New York is on it's way right now. Haha we are all aware.. 

But President Calderwood is smart and isn't letting us out tonight. 

#iamsafe 

Love you! 

Baptisms by water, and fire. Hahah.. Bad joke 1/19/15

This week was super crazy! 

The best and worst parts of my mission happened within a matter of days. 

I'll start with the good news. Javier, my best friend ever (from Nicaragua) was baptized and confirmed! It was so amazing! When I first met Javier he didn't even believe in God. Now he is a changed man. 

The day started like this: woke up, worked out, showered, studied, drove to Riverhead, witnessed a baptism of two of the Carberry children. Then all hell broke loose..

Right when their baptismal service was ending I saw a woman in the hallway, Sharlene! I used to teach her. I was super excited that she was there, so I went up to her and she said "Raven's house is on fire." 

What?! 

So, it's kind of complicated but Cynthia is a girl in Riverhead that I escorted through the temple. We also went to her and her husband's sealing. She's like my best friend and she is married to Deren Krueger. They are living in his parents house, Raven and Lee. 

Raven and Lee have 5 kids, the only one active in the church is Deren. They are such a great family and brother and sister Krueger are super strong. For the last year or so, their family has been hit with some major trials. Their youngest son was diagnosed with  leukemia and they have been really struggling with that. 

Anyway, they went out of town for the first time in a long time and a day later they get a call that their home started on fire. He built it himself and it was their dream home. Besides that, they are swimming in medical bills up to their ears. So devastating. 

There wasn't anything anyone could do, and I just stood outside and held Cynthia's two year old daughter Kyleigh while they tried to get their important stuff out of the house. I felt like I was in a wind tunnel of emotion, haha it was straight out of a movie. 

Life lessons are being learned every day. 

One being: 

Stuff. Does. Not. Matter. 

Take everything from me, my home, my clothes, my bed, food, scriptures, church.. I still have a relationship with God that is bigger than any of that. I know him. He truly is my Father in Heaven and I am so grateful for the strength that knowledge gives me every day, and every second. 

God is good. 

I'm forever changed day by day. I'm being who I want to become. I love this work and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. 

I love you guys! 

Love, 

Sister Tenney

I said "sar" today instead of "saw".. I've been on Long Island for too long. 1/12/15

Hey everybody! We are almost half way into January and it is colder than ever.

This past week was so great. Sister Ewell and I saw a lot of miracles. Yesterday right as church was starting and people we had seen earlier in the week kept walking in! It was the best feeling ever! 

Also, yesterday my old investigator Javier contacted me and told me he decided to be baptized this upcoming Friday! I am so stoked for him!  he truly is a miracle man. He's going home to Nicaragua in like a week and is going to bring his entire family to church there. 

Everything is going well, and quickly. We had interviews with President Calderwood this past week and they went awesome! He only has until July and then our new President, Gary Reynolds will be here. 

So, New York is the bomb. There's nothing else like it! 

Love you all, Sister Tenney.

Oh ya, my hair is brown now. I'll send a picture next week. 

Peace. ️