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.   

Soy Gringa 11/17/14

This week has been one of the most tiring, but most rewarding weeks of my mission. 

Tuesday I drove into Rego Park Queens, dropped off my beloved Sister Snow, picked up my cute companion from Chihuahua, Chihuahua Mexico, and grabbed my Spanish name tags. And that's where the adventure begins. Haha you can just call me the first Spanglish missionary. Called English, but now learning Spanish for the people of Riverhead. 

It's hard, but there is a promise made in Preach my Gospel; "In time you will acquire the language skills necessary to fulfill your purpose as a missionary." Of course this promise is only fulfilled if I do my part. It's not easy but I am learning a lot. 

"Whenever the Lord gives a commandment, He provides a way to accomplish it (see 1 Nephi 3:7)." PMG 

I know I wouldn't be asked to learn Spanish unless God would provide a way for me to do so. 

It's such an amazing experience to be sitting in a house and not know the language of the people speaking, but at the same time being able to understand and respond in a language I never have spoken. The gifts of tongues is real. But it's not something that just comes because I am set apart as a missionary. It takes a lot of work.

"You will not obtain this gift without effort on your part; you need to actively seek it. Part of seeking the gift of tongues is to labor and struggle and to do all you can to learn the language." PMG 

Anyway, besides learning Spanish... This week has been incredible. 

Hermana Acosta and I went through our entire area book and wrote down all of the potential investigators we felt prompted to contact. Then the next day we fasted and prayed for 24 hours. Two of those names we contacted became investigators, both with baptismal dates in December. The Lord also gave us SEVEN more new people to teach. (That's 10 new investigators, 4 with baptismal dates, in 3 DAYS!) the Lord, my God, is good. 

The 'Standard of Excellence' in our mission for new investigators is 20 per transfer (a period of 6 weeks). God gave us half of that in only 2 1/2 days. 🙏👍🇺🇸 How amazing is that?! Fasting does work, and it does bring down blessings from heaven. I, Hermana Tenney, am a testament of that. I don't say that to brag, or boast of a number we got, but to glorify my God, and the miracles He is sending me. 

I love the work of salvation. 

Anyway, I am teaching a lot, praying a lot, fasting a lot, and trying really hard to not get overwhelmed haha. 

I am teaching Sister Acosta English and she is teaching me Espanol. #itainteasy

She's really cute though and she thinks it's hilarious that I tell her that her horse is pretty every day.. Haha for some reason I can't differentiate hair and horse in Spanish. But esta bien. I'll get it. 

Soy Mexicana. (Simon) Jajaja Hermana Acosta is teaching me to be Mexicana.(if you know what I'm talking about, Simon) 

Hermana Acosta doesn't have a drivers license, so I drive everywhere now. I don't hate it, I don't love it.. 

Anyway, it's been a really... Refining week. 😊 

Oh yeah, on Saturday afternoon we had the opportunity to go back into the city to hear Elder Donald L. Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy speak to us and have a question/answer meeting. They were late coming in, #newyorktraffic, so we only got a short amount of time to ask him questions. The first two questions were in regards to polygamy, (Joseph Smith is on all the news papers in New York #famous #frontcover) and the new video put out by the church about temple garments. 

Then a Sister got up and asked a question, (the 1st two questions were from elders). She asked "How do you continue to trust in the Lord when everything is crumbling around you? As missionaries we tell everyone 'trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord' but, how do we as missionaries really trust in the Lord? We were human before we were missionaries (haha) and it's easy to say but not always easy to do when life seems to be crumbling." 

This Sister's question was really one of the most sincere, honest questions I've heard in a long while. She was really seeking guidance from a true disciple of Christ, a man that meets with the Prophet and his Apostles at least twice a week, and knows them at an intimate level, travels, talks, laughs, and eats with them on a frequent basis. 

 What I received during his response was that; to trust in the Lord, you first need to find out who you truly are. Once you know who you are. WHO YOU REALLY ARE, you will trust God. Because He is your Father. Deity is your actual father. He loves you, He cares about you, and He Knows you. You've lived with Him before, and you can live with Him again. Once you gain this knowledge, it won't matter your circumstance in life, you will be able to trust in him.

I trust my Dad, Todd, with my life. He has loved, watched over, and prayed for me my entire life. He's watched me grow, and has watched me struggle throughout the past 20 years. 

In a very real and similar way, my Father in Heaven, Elohim, has been with me. 

I'll leave you with a great quote from Thomas S. Monson: “There is one language … that is common to each missionary--the language of the Spirit. It is not learned from textbooks written by men of letters, nor is it acquired through reading and memorization. The language of the Spirit comes to him who seeks with all his heart to know God and keep His divine commandments. Proficiency in this language permits one to breach barriers, overcome obstacles, and touch the human heart” 

I really love you all so much, thanks for reading all of this.. If you made it this far.. Haha I know it's long. 😊💕😘

New York is the bomb! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Tenney

(Pictures: Barbara's cat and I, the ocean where I live, we wrapped Books of Mormon with our testimonies like presents, Sister Seely and I. Hermana Acosta and I) 

Sister Snow's out. 11/10/14

*Sammy has been sick with bronchitis this week. Illness plus sweet Sister Snow leaving makes for a sad week!

Well it's been a good five months spending 24/7 with Sister Becca Snow. But, our time together is now complete. Tomorrow we drive into Queens to go to the transfer meeting, where we will get our new companions and she will find out where her new area is.

I'm pretty sad to lose such a solid comp. but, I am sure the next one will be good. The past couple of days we have been visiting a lot of people. So, that's good... Yesterday was the primary program, we invited EVERYONE. And none of our investigators showed up.. Except for this former investigator named Francine Hopson and her cute little niece! It was great to see someone Come to church!

Then last night there was a stake fireside in which President and Sister Calderwood spoke about how families can be together forever.

Anyway..

The church is true,

Sister Samantha Tenney

One more week of the transfer! 11/3/14

Well familia, we have one more week of the transfer and miracles are in the horizon!

This week we set a baptismal date with Barbara! She committed to be baptized on November 30th. I am so excited for her. She's the woman who let us in and gave us water when we were knocking a couple of months back.  We've been meeting with her at least once week and we are actually going over to her house tonight. She's so SWEET.🍬 But she is still a little hesitant, so please pray for her.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! We were in by 6:00 pm. It wasn't too eventful, but there has been some pretty weird/scary things that have happened on Long Island for the last little while. -oh, we did have interviews and they went well.

On Tuesday and Wednesday Sister Kapisi was here in Riverhead and Sister Snow was in Plainview on exchanges.  While Sister Snow was in Plainview a lady was found on the sidewalk that had been decapitated!
Everyone thought it was a Halloween prank/prop. Crazy eh?! But don't worry, I am super safe. 🙏👼

Last night a huge tree in our yard, I mean HUGE, snapped in half and fell down. So, hopefully we figure out what to do about that. Our landlord doesn't really respond to our messages.. Hah ha. But who knows, maybe I'll be in Riverhead next week, maybe I won't.

I'm doing good, staying warm, working hard, and having fun!

Love you all! 💕😘

Sister Samantha Mona Tenney

I have been gone forever! hahahah jk I'm never coming home! 10/27/14

"Monday night we visited our investigator Barbara and taught the Plan of Salvation and had a heart to heart about the importance of the Book of Mormon. She committed to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is the word of God and to have the faith to act if it is. She said the closing prayer and she me and Sister Tenney we're stoked because she said, "Help me to be able to change my faith and know for myself because obviously the Book of Mormon is your word." It was really cool. Two weeks ago she had never prayed out loud before. Now she's
reading the Book of Mormon and doing awesome! Hopefully we'll have a baptismal date set with her soon to help her strengthen her faith.

Tuesday we had district meeting and the Jorgensen's said their goodbyes. We all bought them our favorite snacks for the drive home. The new senior couple are coming tomorrow and we're really excited to meet them. They're from Salt Lake and I'm sure they're great! That night we visited a less active and set up an appointment with her and her mother (who hasn't been to church in over a year) which will happen this week. We also went to Josephine's (the chorister) house to help her get ready to move. She's leaving soon to go to Florida. We showed up and she asked us to take her old stuff. "Anything you want you can have it." Haha we didn't take anything. We helped organize her CD's and she tried giving those to us too. She has probably 200+ CD's and she's not
taking them with her. There's some good 60's 70's and 80's music if you're interested. ;)

Wednesday we found ourselves at the Senior Center doing service. We repotted some plants that were getting too big for their pots and that was good. Made a mess, had some fun, and we're going back this week. I'll let you know how it goes. We had FHE with my fav Spanish family the Leon's. Sister Leon had never carved a pumpkin before so Sister Tenney carved it and I scooped out the guts. It was good to have a little lesson with them and invite the Spirit into their home.

Thursday we did our usual weekly planning. Gotta plan if you want to be successful. Me and Sister Tenney were talking about how much more productive lives we'd live at home if we planned as much as we do on the mission. Haha we'll see if that happens. Thursday night our investigator Nancy took us out to eat with her best friend from
Manhattan. We got to answer some of her friends questions about Mormons and talk. They took us to a real fancy restaurant in downtown Riverhead, but the food wasn't very good. My chicken fried chicken cost 24 dollars but it looked like chicken fried octopus haha. Nancy's friend was not happy and kept complaining so both of our meals were free. We went out for ice cream afterward and everyone was happy.

Friday we were out and about seeing different people. We visited a part member family and they were doing pretty good. They had just gotten back from a vacation in Moab so Sister Jolliver showed us lots of pictures and told us all about how fun it was. We went and visited a former investigator family of four. They are so cute and nice and fun. They have two sons, one is 12 and one is 6. The only problem is they don't/won't read the Book of Mormon. But they do have "Family Night" and invited us to a haunted house with them. We declined haha. That
night there was a branch activity at the house next to the church and we invited a couple of people that ended up showing up! That's always exciting.

Saturday we went to stake conference which is about an hour away. 

Sunday we had more Stake Conference. Both me and Sister Tenney had some pretty cool connections made. She found a friend of a friend and I found out that my good friend Ryan Wilcox is training an Elder Gonzales. When I was in Terryville I served with an Elder Davis who's a recent convert and an awesome person. Long story short, Elder Gonzales baptized Elder Davis and they're real close. And now our BFF's are companions over in Oklahoma. Cool!

Sister Tenney says "What up?? See ya next Christmas."

I say love ya'll tons!! Hope you have a good week. Remember who you are. Don't forget to pray. Trust in the Lord. Be kind and patient. The scriptures have the answers you're looking for. Also God. Thanks for your prayers!

Love Sister Snow" 

Haha this is Sister Snow's email that explains how our week went. Sorry I got busy and couldn't write it all myself.. (Lazy, not busy..) I can't tell a lie..

But really, all is well in Riverhead. Sister Snow and I probably only have two more weeks together and I am not happy about it. 

It's getting cold so I'm really grateful I got a box of warm clothes this week from Todd and Nancy. Hallelujah! 

Well much love, 

Stay fresh, 

Sister Samantha Tenney

10/20/14

Well it has definitely been an interesting week. Sister Snow and I didn't do much missionary work this week do to an illness going around. 

-We've watched Johnny Lingo like 6 or 7 times.

-My sleeping schedule is jacked.

- Our investigator Nancy found General Conference on On-Demand and watched it. She told us she went to church on T.V. Haha.

-Medicine is way too expensive.

-We watched finding faith in Christ for Sunday school. 

-It is soo so cold.

-There are raccoons in our backyard. Here's a video of the raccoons in our trash bins. They're way creepy! And I am no fan of them.

 

So, yeah.. I don't have too much to say except that I really love being a missionary. I am part of one of God's greatest works and miracles here on the earth. And I have sooo much fun doing it! 

I can't lie, it's been some of the best days of my life. 

I know that joy, peace, love, and true happiness come from serving The Lord; whether that is as a full time missionary, or a member in Utah.. it is the same. I love serving a mission, but I don't plan on stopping serving when I am released and my name tag comes off. 

“I think if all men knew and understood who they are, and were aware of the divine source from whence they came, … they would have feelings of kindness and kinship for each other that would change their whole way of living and bring peace on earth.”

Keep it real everybody. 

Stay fresh, 

Adios, 

Hermana Tenney 

P.S if you are going to send anymore letters and things I would love that, but send them to this address until further notice. LOVE YOU! 

85-69 60th drive

Elmhurst, New York 11373 

Oh, these pictures... haha we did the mexican face mask remedy haha. the others.. I am unsure of. .