I have had such a wonderful week!!!! First off we have had a very good finding week. We were able to, through the guidance of the holy ghost, find a couple of Gods children. The work is hard, but we are starting to see progress and miracles. Yay! This week has been a spiritual feast. To start we had a zone conference on Thursday. There our mission president discussed with us our purpose. It was a great talk and lesson. It really helped my companion and I. We immediately began to notice a change when we went back to work. To top that off Saturday Elder David A Bednar visited our mission. All 193 missionaries in the California Ventura mission were there. We sat and had a 3 hour conversation with a prophet, seer, and revelator. He taught us how to teach by showing us an example. He had given us homework to study before his arrival. So we spent and hour discussing that with him. One thing I noticed about him was how happy he was. He wasn't this stern grumpy man, but a wonderful, jovial teacher. I did love it. Then for another hour we discussed what we were learning about teaching. Finally, for the last hour we were able to ask questions. That was amazing. He had such insight and wisdom. The thing that got me though was when he explained how Thomas S Monson was called to be a prophet. After the funeral of Gordon B Hinkley the 14 prophets, seers, and revelators met in the temple. Then in a matter of hours the Church's presidency was reorganized. Parallel that to today's presidential elections. They take months and months of hard work, campaigning, mud slinging, and big spending for us to even half way agree on who should lead this country. It was a wonderful meeting.
To make it even better Sunday the Simi Valley Stake was treated with his presence again. My host family, the Stewarts, left for the stake center at 7:00 am. Meeting didn't start till 10:00 am. There we met Bro Rose who had come at 5:30. We had front row seats. It was a wonderful 2 hour meeting. He had a few people bear testimony for the first hour. The second hour of the meeting he taught us about agency. He admonished us for laziness in the gospel. He taught us the restoration in complete simplicity. Overall it was spiritually uplifting.
Right after that meeting we went and saw a less active. He asked for a blessing and I got the privilege to seal the anointing. It was unlike any blessing I've ever given. Normally I struggle with words to say. I have an inner battle of a predetermined script and spiritual promptings. This time though the spirit just flowed through me. It was like a dream I put my hands on his head and then listened to the words coming out of my mouth. I listened to myself promise him answers to question I wasn't even aware he had. It was a wonderful experience.
Well I hope all is well back home. I do love you and I'm thankful for your support and your prayers.
Love,
Elder Thomas Tingey
Monday, June 7, 2010
Hello from your favorite 20 year old -- April 19, 2010
Hello from your favorite 20 year old. It has been an interesting week. First off I would like to say I had a very memorable birthday. Started at 5:50 am, when the Stewarts (the family I live with) came into our room. They had a flashlight, a camera, a stack of pancakes with a candle in it, and a nefarious plan. They startled me out of bed and then sung happy birthday in both English and Portuguese. I blew out the candle and went back to sleep. The antics didn't stop there. They were determined to make sure I realized my birthday, which they only found out about because of the US Census. As I left our house that morning I found my bike shrink wrapped to a pole. It had a nice pink bow on it. So we left it there and went and did our weekly planning. When we returned for lunch our apartment had been filled with balloons. There was also a nice banner (made from brown paper towels you find in church dispensers) around the whole room. Plus, there was a few gifts and a stack of letters from the young men and young women in the ward. I could feel the love. It was impressive. Other fun stories.
Wednesday we were talking to a member who isn't all there. While my companion was talking to him a little girl saw us. She shouted "missionaries missionaries" and then army crawled across the grass to hand me 3 little flowers. It was a simple act, but brought a smile to my face.
Tuesday while we were tracting (knocking doors) we met some very odd people. We knocked on one door and a guy came to the window on the door. He didn't open the door he just pressed his face against it so that it was all smashed against the glass. And then in this odd state he just stared at me. It was odd and I wasn't quite sure how to approach the situation. So I did my invite and he just (with his face still pressed on the glass) shook his head. It was odd. Then a few doors down we knocked again. This time a lady answered the door. She stared at me like I was the devil himself. She let out a long sigh followed by a long winded nooooooooooo. She finished the nooooooo with "my sons not home". Then while still staring she slowly closed the door. I didn't say a word the whole time. Odd people in this world.
Overall it has been a good week. We get a special treat this week. Saturday Elder David A Bednar will be addressing us as a mission. Following that address Saturday he will be in our Stake having a stake conference. We get to hear from him twice! Woot!!! I'm excited about it.
I love you!!! Hope all is well back home.
Love,
Elder Tingey
Wednesday we were talking to a member who isn't all there. While my companion was talking to him a little girl saw us. She shouted "missionaries missionaries" and then army crawled across the grass to hand me 3 little flowers. It was a simple act, but brought a smile to my face.
Tuesday while we were tracting (knocking doors) we met some very odd people. We knocked on one door and a guy came to the window on the door. He didn't open the door he just pressed his face against it so that it was all smashed against the glass. And then in this odd state he just stared at me. It was odd and I wasn't quite sure how to approach the situation. So I did my invite and he just (with his face still pressed on the glass) shook his head. It was odd. Then a few doors down we knocked again. This time a lady answered the door. She stared at me like I was the devil himself. She let out a long sigh followed by a long winded nooooooooooo. She finished the nooooooo with "my sons not home". Then while still staring she slowly closed the door. I didn't say a word the whole time. Odd people in this world.
Overall it has been a good week. We get a special treat this week. Saturday Elder David A Bednar will be addressing us as a mission. Following that address Saturday he will be in our Stake having a stake conference. We get to hear from him twice! Woot!!! I'm excited about it.
I love you!!! Hope all is well back home.
Love,
Elder Tingey
April 19, 2010, late post
Hello from your favorite 20 year old. It has been an interesting week. First off I would like to say I had a very memorable birthday. Started at 5:50 am, when the Stewarts (the family I live with) came into our room. They had a flashlight, a camera, a stack of pancakes with a candle in it, and a nefarious plan. They startled me out of bed and then sung happy birthday in both English and Portuguese. I blew out the candle and went back to sleep. The antics didn't stop there. They were determined to make sure I realized my birthday, which they only found out about because of the US Census. As I left our house that morning I found my bike shrink wrapped to a pole. It had a nice pink bow on it. So we left it there and went and did our weekly planning. When we returned for lunch our apartment had been filled with balloons. There was also a nice banner (made from brown paper towels you find in church dispensers) around the whole room. Plus, there was a few gifts and a stack of letters from the young men and young women in the ward. I could feel the love. It was impressive. Other fun stories.
Wednesday we were talking to a member who isn't all there. While my companion was talking to him a little girl saw us. She shouted "missionaries missionaries" and then army crawled across the grass to hand me 3 little flowers. It was a simple act, but brought a smile to my face.
Tuesday while we were tracting (knocking doors) we met some very odd people. We knocked on one door and a guy came to the window on the door. He didn't open the door he just pressed his face against it so that it was all smashed against the glass. And then in this odd state he just stared at me. It was odd and I wasn't quite sure how to approach the situation. So I did my invite and he just (with his face still pressed on the glass) shook his head. It was odd. Then a few doors down we knocked again. This time a lady answered the door. She stared at me like I was the devil himself. She let out a long sigh followed by a long winded nooooooooooo. She finished the nooooooo with "my sons not home". Then while still staring she slowly closed the door. I didn't say a word the whole time. Odd people in this world.
Overall it has been a good week. We get a special treat this week. Saturday Elder David A Bednar will be addressing us as a mission. Following that address Saturday he will be in our Stake having a stake conference. We get to hear from him twice! Woot!!! I'm excited about it.
I love you!!! Hope all is well back home.
Love,
Elder Tingey
Wednesday we were talking to a member who isn't all there. While my companion was talking to him a little girl saw us. She shouted "missionaries missionaries" and then army crawled across the grass to hand me 3 little flowers. It was a simple act, but brought a smile to my face.
Tuesday while we were tracting (knocking doors) we met some very odd people. We knocked on one door and a guy came to the window on the door. He didn't open the door he just pressed his face against it so that it was all smashed against the glass. And then in this odd state he just stared at me. It was odd and I wasn't quite sure how to approach the situation. So I did my invite and he just (with his face still pressed on the glass) shook his head. It was odd. Then a few doors down we knocked again. This time a lady answered the door. She stared at me like I was the devil himself. She let out a long sigh followed by a long winded nooooooooooo. She finished the nooooooo with "my sons not home". Then while still staring she slowly closed the door. I didn't say a word the whole time. Odd people in this world.
Overall it has been a good week. We get a special treat this week. Saturday Elder David A Bednar will be addressing us as a mission. Following that address Saturday he will be in our Stake having a stake conference. We get to hear from him twice! Woot!!! I'm excited about it.
I love you!!! Hope all is well back home.
Love,
Elder Tingey
April 5th post -- sorry it's late
Hello from rainy California. What a week I have had!!! We have had a wonderful week of work. Seeing as it was the last week of transfers we were striving to finish strong. We for the most part accomplished that goal. Conference took 10 hours out of our work week, but it was well worth it. Conference was awesome!!!!! I hope you had a chance to watch it. I thought it was interesting to note that a lot of the talks talked about the last days, and the signs of the times. Crazy!!!! So some other fun news. We had an earthquake! Yay!!! I was on my bike and didn't even feel it. It was a 7.1 in Mexico and the shockwaves were felt up here. All that happened were some lights started swinging and the pools sloshed over the sides. Interesting though. We have had some weird weather too. It gets really hot for a few days and than really cold. Crazy! It's hard to keep up. Other exciting news is today was transfer calls. It was a nerve racking morning as we waited for the phone to ring. Finally, around 10:45 we got the call. My companion Elder Bowen is going to Agora hills just east of Simi Valley. I'm staying in Simi Valley, but will be follow up training an elder named Elder Lea Kehe. Don't have any idea how to pronounce his name. I believe he is samoan. It should be a fun transfer with him. Tomorrow I get to go pick him up. Yay!!! This is my 5th transfer and my 5th companion. Crazy!!! Other cool news was that March 30th was my 6th month mark. That is insanse. Time has gone so fast, and it just gets faster and faster. Anyway, I'm off to go save souls in the pouring rain. I love you. Hope all is well.
Love,
Elder Tingey
Love,
Elder Tingey
Sunday, April 18, 2010
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