November 30

Ola. haha. HEY EVERYBODY! its FRIDAY

FRIDAY gotta email on friday!

Haha i love having fun with the subject ;).  So first things first. Thank you everyone for the letters this week! they were awesome! Thank you Stokers and Tingey families for the thanksgiving letters! Mom Thanks for all those addresses. So to answer some questions from dad. The Language is coming along slowly. honestly the best way to learn it is to just syl. speak your language. all. the. time. so im trying to do that more. um they teach... idk. they give you a lesson like once a day. but honestly you have to learn the language your self. which can be frustrating sometimes. they just say your teaching these investigators so prepare a lesson blah blah blah and you gotta know the lesson and the language. seriously i never looked up so much stuff in my life. its not exactly full imersion unless you personally chose it to be. so im trying to do that. Yeah we have zone and districts here at the mtc but we dont do floor prayers. Speaking of which you know how im district leader? well that only lasted two weeks. They just called me and Elder Dredge to be the zone leaders! btw Elder Dredge and i are really getting along now. we're becoming good friends. But we got some big shoes to fill because our zone leaders are such bosses. i love them and im going to be so sad when they leave on tuesday. I love the elders in my district. im constantly focusing on them.

K the story of darin getting kicked out of class made me laugh haha thats awesome... but not ;).  I cant believe the tingeys got bunnies! i want pics! Hannah youre so cute. starting to learn google! and yes i did get your pics. thank you! The cabin trip sounded pretty interesting but fun! i want to see the tree!

Xan: thats awesome that you went on splits with the missionaires! i cant wait to know where youre going!

Sis Berge: thanks so much for the letter! Seriously being obedient is like everything i strive for because i know i NEED the blessings! Love the quote too btw.

Catie: i knew you would finally see the light (" and at last i saw the light, and its like the fog has lifted" haha)

So i seemed down at the temple when matt saw me? yeah i was that was my 4th day. i still hadnt figured out that i needed to serve others. seriously thats the key to happiness. in everything you do. nothing i do is for me anymore. all my study time is devoted to the investigator. its awesome. i have three and theyre great. my teachers are awesome too. sister wells is probably the best because she gets real with us and actually tells me stuff about the outside world!... haha she's a new teacher ;). Thanks for keeping my blog up to date mom! i appreciate it. tech problems. ug. ask someone else. im on a mission. but a suggestion. use dropbox. k so remember how i told you to send me stamps? did i? well i need some :):):):) (puppy eyes). oh and send me all my nice ties. im dying i gotta mix it up, up here! not gonna lie, im looking pretty fly.. Elder froggly had me wear his purple tie with the pocket square so we could both have pocket squares. i took a picture it. was pretty sick.

I want pictures of darin playing ball!!!! oh and if you do send me food just make sure its not candy or sweet. just chips or junk food.

Devotionals here are great i love them. especially because we sing a ton of prelude songs before and its like the only time i hear music! seriously this whole no music thing kills me. i have to constantly sing to myself to keep myself happy. I love Elder Dredge. He's honestly were getting to be better and better friends everyday. haha sometimes he makes my bed. and when he does it, it looks like were in the military haha! Temple days (friday) are like my favorite. The Temple is awesome!

Oh i dont have to get another rabbis shot i guess.. hard to expailan but i dont. Im almost done with the BOM. in fact ill be done on monday. Grandma Stoker, take notice! ( hint hint. $$$) haha. oh and so during gym time we have this game of speed that never ends. so if someone gets you out, but someone else gets the person out that got you out then you get to go back in! did that make sense? anyway the only way to win is for one person to litterally get everyone out before someone gets you out. we've only ended the game twice in the past two weeks. guess who's won both times? yeah thats right me. My shot is $$$$$$$. for real. people recruit good shooting elders to come get me out. haha! its fun! k well i gotta go! love you lots everyone! keep writing and those of you who arent writing me, write me. (yeah im looking at you, you know who you are, and you know you need to write me!)

LOVE, a whole heck of a lot!

Elder Tingey

First Pday!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!! Nov. 26, 2012

ola familia! 
k so first email! geez pday took forever to get here. i have the last pday. which is friday. and my grammer and puntuation on here is going to be... bad. because im trying to go super fast cause i only have 30 min! feel free to correct it. k so the week has been alright. you know just getting ajusted to everything. sometimes i get homesick at night. but during the day im fine. i just dont like being in class when its dark. the language is ... coming. i guess. im mostly able to understand what my investigators are asking and i know the answers to their questions but i just dont know how to speak portuguese! but with patience, faith in the lord, obedience, and working hard it will come. k darin, you gotta be careful with your body man! dont get hurt! how was your first game? write me a dear elder i wanna know all about it! i saw the harrisons here on sunday last week and that was nice. umm what else. oh yeah all the packages im getting.. thank you everyone! seriously its awesome! but the first week is over, so now i dont need food. seriously i love it but its too much! everyone gets food around here so theres plenty to go around! so dont send me anymore k? thanks! Okay, you wanna know what stinks? you cant listen to music at the mtc! im dying! like serious withdrawls. its depressing so i just sing to my self the hymns. singing before devotional is probably my favorite part of the week. i love it! its just so comforting to sing ya know? oh and i miss country music too. theres some elders in my district that like country too. so sometimes i just break out into song haha! the other day during service i just busted out singing angel eyes and everyone joined in with me and we were cleaning the showers so the sound was amplified! so sick! hahahaha made my day! 

So happy thanksgiving everyone! just fyi i had an amazing one. the mtc is pretty good about making us feel like a family on holiday's. so in the morning we had a devotional and Elder Holland and his family came! it was awesome! and we had a little program in the morning and elder holland is just a boss and the spirit was really strong! during the devotional there was a part where the spirit just overcame me and it was amazing. super spiritual expereince i had that was an answer to my prayers. (mom im going to write to you about it in detail). so after that we had thanksgiving dinner which was suprisingly good.... then we did a first thanksgiving skit type thing and then after that we did a humanitarian service project putting kits together for none other than the great people of AFRICAAAAAA!! What up!!. So Elder Dredge (my companion if you didnt know) says i should do a speacial musical number... idk. maybe.. oh i forgot! to end the night we all went in the auditorum with the presidency and we thought we were going to have another devotional but they passed out huge bags of popcorn to all of us and were like wha?? but then we watched 17 miracles! it was sooo tight! such a good spiritual movie! 

oh last sunday we watched a talk the elder bednar gave at the mtc on christmas last year. SOOOOOOOOOO FREAKINGGGG AMAZING!!!! so dang good. all about the character OF Christ. like seriously try to find it and watch it or read it cause it is bomb. that goes for everyone reading this email/ blog. Tingey's i want letters from you! especially paige. tell her to send me a dear elder. Blake and Travis, holy heck i miss you guys like for real. my brothas from anotha motha all in the same family! k it sounds like were poligamist but whatever. were not. blake tell me how youre doing in sports (you too trav) and send me stuff about how the nba is going. Darin send me pictures of your games and write and tell me about them. Seriously mail is the best part of my day. Babes, hannah, i miss you little girls! i cant just kiss you guys when youre so darn cute! babes thank you for that one letter it was awesome! hannah, its youre turn now. Marissa i miss you so. dang. much. im writing you a letter though. K i need addresses. addresses for EVERYONE. seriously give me all you can think of. make sure you update my blog too! My companion and i are doing a lot better. were learning to love each other and all that jazz. I just love all the elders in my district! and i get concerned for them a lot. like A LOT. but theyre great ill send some photos. K gotta go love you lots! freaking write me a long letter next time family! ask me questions!
tudo bem!

LOVE ( like freaking hecka crazy, so much you dont even know, like not joking in the least)

Elder Tingey

Second Letter Home

Received November 20, 2012
Familiaaaaaaaaaaa!

Holy cow I miss you guys!  But, Tudo Bem! That's like the Portuguese phrase to say.  it means "All is well."  It's a question, a greeting, and an answer so everyone uses it.

Marissa, a bunch of Elders here have the hots for you!! Mom, don't send me a weekly email till I get out in the field.  Use Dear Elder.com to send it.  That way I don't have to waste any of my precious 30 minutes, reading it.  Babes, thank you so much for your letter! I loved it so much! It made my day.  I miss you so much too!  My companion is good. No, he's not gross, he's just.....the typical Utah mormon.  Follows every rule with over exactness.  It's annoying! But I'm learning to love him! Except I'm pretty sure he gave up his personality for 2 years...or he doesn't have one. Haha. Whatever. Elder Maggitigan and Elder O'Malley (He's from England) are the coolest! They are going to Portugal.

DARIN S TINGEY!!!!Be careful man!  Don't be rollin' ankles!! I'll pray for you man!

Yeah, I talked to Megan Skousen! That was good, just really comforting.  I finally saw Robbie yesterday.  I was getting worried that I wouldn't see him.  The elder I met at In-n-Out isn't my companion but he's in my room and my district.  Did I mention that I'm district leader?  How's my blog coming? Man, I'm going so fast, I can't spell!  Make sure you keep my blog up to date okay?!!  I'm worried about that!

Mom....I knew this was going to happen!!  When you print...select the HP printer @macuser k?  Hopefully, that should fix it for you if you haven't already figured it out!  As for the photo you are looking for, I thought it was on the laptop but if not I know it's on my iPod hard drive.  But I'm worried about you messing with that!  I think that picture is on FB too, download it from there.

Dad, thank you so much for your letter!! I LOVED IT! Tell the Tingeys I miss them and tell them to write me letters!

Mom, Happy Birthday!  I love you so much!  You'r the best mother ever!  I can't thank you enough for every thing you've done.

Okay, I'm about to pound my companion, he won't shut up about how bored he is and so he keeps repeating stupid Portuguese phrases and trying to have an accent! So annoying!  I want to get out in the field so bad!  It's a voluntary prison here.  Just 8 and a half more weeks. HA! What a joke! Make sure to put this on my blog!!!

Hannah, Draw a picture and send it to me PLEASE! Tell Grandma and Grandpa Stoker thank you for the cookies!  I can't wait for Sunday Temple walk and choir practice.  I'll get to see other people!

So, the Stake President called it when he talked about my companions being the hardest part! I love everyone in my district but SOME are harder to love!  What ever! It'll come.  Probably on the New York trip! I'm stoked for that!

Anyways, I am so blessed, I love you guys. Thank you so much for writing me.  It kills me to give out the letters to the Elders and some of them don't get any.  It just breaks my heart.  Maybe for FHE the girls can all draw a picture for every Elder in my district? There's 12 of us.  It's okay if you can't.  Okay I gotta go kill my companion real quick! :) Love you So much!!

Elder Tingey
P.S. I have like no one's address.  Especially Tyler's.  If you can get for me as many as possible that would be awesome, thanks!

Sam volunteering at the MTC as an investigator.  Nate was soooooo excited to see a pal from home.

The last supper at In n Out eating with my BFFs. Nov. 14th

First Day at the MTC

Nov, 14, 2012

Dear Familia!

I’m alive, ha.  So Mom, I want you to type this letter up and put it on the blog, K?  So I met another Portuguese speaking Elder in Phoenix.  He is going to Portugal but I forgot his name already, you know I’m bad with names.  But he’s in my Zone.  At In-n-Out in Provo I met another Angola Elder.  His name is Elder Banta.  He’s from Idaho.  He’s my roommate.  There are 4 of us Angolan Elders in the whole MTC.  There’s me, Elder Drudge (my Companion), Elder Banta and Elder Mccune.   Both Elder Drudge and Mccune are from Utah.  Morgan and Clinton respectively.  Elder Drudge, he’s pretty cool.  Nice guy.  I feel like I know him from somewhere before but he just has one of those faces that looks like 3 of  my other friends put together or something, you know what I’m sayin?  Nahmean?  Okay one of the coolest things was putting on my name tag.  The feeling that came over me when I put it on was just awesome.

I also met another Elder who’s in my zone that is from El Dorado Hills, CA and knows the Porters (Greg, Mason, etc.)  And I’ve seen a lot of guys from home which is nice.  Elder Barcus, Elder Skinnner (well, he came w/me), Elder Ganley (Max), and Elder Oldroyd (Trent) found me which was awesome and really nice of him.

Man they really just throw you into things here.  We taught former investigators (who are now members) but it was more like learning about the investigator individually and figuring out a route to take to get to a gospel principle.  So like find out about them, some of their traits and then use that to go into a gospel principle that they needed to hear for their situation.  Man, I’m telling you, these Elders just did not get the concept.  They were trying so hard but all they kept doing was just throwing gospel principles at them, not really relevant to the situation and ah, anyway it was frustrating to watch.  So finally I got up and asked the investigator a few more personal questions that needed to be asked and then we could finally see the route that we needed to take.  (It’s really cool because you can literally feel the Spirit guiding you.)  The sisters get it a little more because they’re older and more mature.  But they also think they’re better than us.  Well at least some of the them.  It’s kinda weird, maybe because I’m officially a missionary now but the sisters…are actually cute.  Weird.  Also I think I might be getting a little jungle fever…Ha!  JK, it’s probably nothing.

I love you guys so much!  Miss You!  I’ll send pictures probably every two weeks if I can’t send them through email.  Also, my P-days are Friday so that’s when you’ll get an email.

P.S. Apparently halfway through our stay here at the MTC, us Angolans go to New York for a day or two to go to the consulate for our visas.  Cool huh?!