I FREAKING LOVE AFRICA!!

January 21, 2013

Bom Dia!!

Guys what is up!

Ok this week has been pretty awesome not gonna lie! So my companion is Elder Walker and I freaking LOVE him. He's so chill and will help me with anything and we get along really well. It's great. Ha the only down side to him is that he doesn't like country music but that's not biggie out here! I live with 3 other companionships in a house. My companionship and another are going to be moving into a new apartment hopefully this week. It was supposed to be when I got here but the guy who has the keys went to Dubai or something and doesn't get back till today. But our house is nice! well..haha nice for here. The house is really great when we have energy. But when we don't, it just becomes like any old shack. It really stinks not to have energy. We can't purify our water, the water pump doesn't work, no lights. mainly just the water not being purified really stinks. So we have to go stock up on bottled water which is a pain. BTW everything is really expensive here! We take taxis or walk everywhere. It's fun actually.

Just trying to get from point a to b is quite the thrill. The taxi drives

are always fun. I feel like I am on a roller coaster. Oh and the taxis are

basically VW buses CRAMMED with people! The people are pretty sweet here though. Everyone wears flip flops and I mean EVERYONE - even me. I had to get some because there's parasites apparently that are on the floor that can get through your skin.

Soo... yeah. hmm what else. Oh everyone carries stuff on their head! It's

quite a skill! Like a TON of stuff on their head! There's lots of poor

people but lots (well I don't know lots..) of rich people as well. It's

funny to see the REALLY nice cars everywhere. Oh and all the rich people

drive Range Rovers or Porsches or something. Mostly Range Rovers which I think is sweet. We walk on the side of the road which is basically a freeway sometimes haha and the cars just get soo close to us I'm surprised I haven't been hit yet!. Luanda drivers are horrible.

Elder Walker and I opened up a brand new area of Luanda. It's called

Futungo. sooo we are basically starting from the ground up. Lots of

contacting.  But we already had an investigator come to church on Sunday

which was exciting! Her name is Rita. I'm just so excited!

Yesterday Elder Walker and I went to the neighborhood in our area that is

like super rich and it was weird. We went tracting which was new for both of us and we had this one guy pray with us and whoa he prayed weird. Clapping and muttering weird things hand signals. Elder Walker and I were trying sooo hard not to laugh! Oh it was funny! The poor people are really humble and friendly. There are lots of drunk people - like lots - and half the time I don't know it when they're talking to me.  I just think they are really friendly! haha! But beer is cheaper than water here soo yeah.

Oh man I am so glad to be out of the MTC. Soo glad. This is a million times better! My language skills are bad. But I can understand a lot if we’re actually having a conversation.

Okay some info. packages... well it costs money to get them.. and president is thinking about just banning packages altogether - so that stinks. Letters... I don't know the address but send them to president's house.

Elder Yarbourogh was my ZL (Zone Leader)before I became ZL. Ha Elder Megettigan is hilarious. I miss him. Darin... haha your such a stud. Oh btw I'm 8 hours ahead of utah time. I think you too then. Oh and everyone has a phone –like everyone - unless your super poor.  But it was funny to go to the grocery store by president’s house (it’s really a nice store it has a mall conected to it) and you see like super nice smartphones. It was just weird!

Oh it's freaking hot here! Like dang hot. Ha-ha going from freezing my butt

off to burning it off! Money is super inflated here and everything is really expensive. Basically add to zeros to any american dollar. So US$1.00 is 100 kwanzas. Everything is expensive. It's annoying. we get 500 dollars a month. We're probably the most expensive mission in the world my ZL says. Hmm what else... idk. But I love you all! You are amazing! Keep choosing the right, reading your scriptures, praying and going to church and basically you do those things your going straight to the celestial kingdom! haaha and if I die here(which is totally likely ahaha!) I'll see you there!

With much African Love,

Elder Tingey

PS  I'll send address information when I have it.  I don't know the President's address either.

Hello From Africa!!!!!

Hello from Africa!!!!!                                                      Jan.16, 2013

I’m here! and I’m like crying tears of joy! I seriously cannot stop smiling. like it’s hard. The flights were lonnnnnnng let me tell you. and they had like super nice TVs and stuff. man it was hard to refrain. They had music on them and everything and they had some quality country music and it took everything I had not to listen to it! but it was sooo nice to finally listen to Jericho road. man those are my home boys! Dad I think you’re going to be disappointed. My apartment from what it sounds like is going to be pretty nice. and there are 2 companionships per apartment which I am very happy about! I haven’t met my new comp yet but I know he’s from Utah. West Jordan I think. idk his name I forgot. Marissa thanks for the pics! Paige is set apart and probably leaving to the MTC soon. Sister Thompson said we're 8 hours ahead of Utah. sooo yeah.. we met these elders in the London airport coming home from France and they were just studs. like I better be that bold and awesome and just so full of charity when I come home! Oh it’s VERY humid here. It’s like a mix between what Rocky Point looks like and how Costa Rica feels. Little bit greener than rocky point though. But just the buildings and stuff.. all very similar. well tudo bem! Love you all! 

Elder Tingey

Last pics of Provo and the MTC! Here I come Africa!

last week! halafreakingluha!

January 12,2013

Last week! Halafreakingluha!

hello everyone!

my final week is over! im so excited! not gonna lie it was a little bit of a rough week because the mtc is changing schedules with everything so yeah. very frustrating. i was a little dissappointed, anyway. yeah i have a cold and im ticked about it. i didnt not want to leave to africa the least bit sick but oh well!

at the beginning of the week it was like 25 degrees. oh my i never thought i would love what 25 degrees felt like but it was just so nice and warm compared to -8. but now its cold again and it has been blizzards the past few days. oh this morning i hiked up to the temple, through the snow, freezing cold(!), in a blizzard. oh and i was uphill both ways. haha but yeah i felt like a pioneer. k im going to have tyler pick up my stuff. he should recieve a call from me or from the mtc this week. Mom thank you for the package oh and before i forget, grandma and grandpa stoker thank you so much for the christmas package! and the other package of stories you sent me. Grandma and Grandpa Tingey thank you for the tools! haha so awesome that you sent me a picture. Megan thank you for your package and the SWEET tie. everyone was jealous of it. speaking of packages the one with the family calendar in it. qualidade. serio. like good job (aunt tiff?) for putting that together. you know what i realized? we have a dang good looking family. seriously. and mom you are soo pretty! im just like yep thats my mom! thats why im beautiful! haha jk you look good too dad. People tell me all the time that i look like different celebraties. i get told that i look like anakin skywalker ALL the time. Probably 3 times a week. haha its always the sisters too. and someone told me i looked like a kid from newsies. i took that as a compliment because newsies is awesome.

speaking of the sisters here... the quality (of how good they look) is skyrocketing.. its quite scary. i feel bad for all the elders coming in cause they have to deal with these beautiful sisters and theyre on missions so it just makes them 10 times more attractive. sad day for them haha.

Mom. Thank you for singing. Thank you for always singing to me as a little kid and just always singing. you have such a pretty voice. i might make you sing to me when i call you. speaking of which im calling on monday from dallas proably around 12 your time. if everyone was home that would be sweet but if not thats fine. but back to the singing. my district is abosolutely terrible at singing. i am not even exaggerating. Like i cringe. i mean the good old elders try so valiantly but..... well ha enough said.

Girls. ALL girls. Long hair is the key to marriage. haha i had this talk with irma wells my teacher. she was thinking about cutting her hair and i was like heck to the no youre not! haha needless to say shes not cutting her hair anymore, she’ll be married soon because of it, she'll thank me and my work here is done. your welcome. hahaahahahahahaha.

Change is hard. but possible. The Lord is trying to humble me this week and im not taking it well haha. but im working on it. quick quote from elder mccune the other night: " i hate that we have christ like attributes... i'd rather just sit here angry." hahahaha amen brotha! IT is very hard sometimes but possible. wow the time flies on the computer here. gotta go but i get to call you soon! heck yes!!!  by love you all soo much!

Elder Tingey

P.s. i saw larry mecham on a missionary poster here in in-field orientation yesterday.

p.s. tell Bro stringfellow i love him and am praying for him. ill write him today.

What's up?!

January 4, 2012
Whats up Family!

so this week has been FREAKING cold! like 0 degrees cold! it was -8 this morning. Gosh im dying. But 1 more week and i will feel right at home in the nice hot sun! Also this week a serious institnal virus went on a mad rampage and destroyed half the missionaries! seriously we were dropping like flies. in my zone we have 12 go down in 1 hour. 1 hour! it was nuts! its still ongoing but the mtc has taken serious measures to stop it. Like serious. no handshaking. theyre cleaning the bathrooms and what not every hour! its crazy! speaking of my zone, i now have 81 missionaries in my zone. Crazy i know. Im so glad im leaving before this place becomes seriously packed! oh ! okay so on wednesday we got our second dos of the 19 year old sisters and whoa it was weird... they all looked so little! like just out of high school! haha weird! every one here thinks im like 20 something. i think its just cause im a zone leader though. Cause i thought my zone leaders were old. Elder dredge, well everyone thinks hes 15 haha jk but kinda. oh and funny thing they all think he has kissed like 30 girls! which is halarious because he wont tell them how many he's kissed! K so mom i need you to send back my memory card please and the ipod. thank you sooooooooo soooo sooo much for putting all that awesome gospel music on there! Oh and i need you to go through my ties and send me all the ones that are 100 percent poly! because i learned the silk one kinda "leak" in the humidity. Speaking of humidity i got my travel plans! im sooooo pumped! i mean you all know how excited i get when i get really excited, yeah it was like that! but im flying to dallas and then to london then to south africa then to maputo. Idk how long ill be in maputo before i go to angola. but im super stoked. But my total travel time is like 2 days and 5 hours or something like that. Yeah brutal i know. Oh! president emailed us all and said that elder cook is coming to tour our mission in feb! im so excited! he's coming to angola (luanda and lambongo) and were all going to get to meet and and he's going to interview some of us. Ill be sure to mention you Grandpa Stoker!

Hey marissa, so i saw r.j. haha but i also saw will barker! i talked to him for a little while. he's in the other portugues branch. I thought it was halarious how i came into the mtc before him by like a month and a half and he had his call WAY longer than i did. He's a cool dude. i like him a lot.

man i cant even think i just want to get out of here and go to angola! i feel good about the language but i know im not going to understand anyone when i get there. oh well ill learn.

Oh i forgot.. today is also a sad day. Another Elder from my district went home today. Man it was really sad. we had a district prayer last night in our dorms after class because the one elder was going home (dishonorably) and he asked me to say the prayer. so i was saying the prayer and wow i almost lost it at the begining of every sentance. its just so hard for me to see them go home cause i love them so much! so were down to 8 in our district.

Oh heres another thing, i spoke on sunday. In portuguese. yeah what up. haha it was good. i said everything i wanted to so that was good! haha i hadnt prepared because basically zone leaders never speak in sacrament meeting cause we do so much other stuff. and ususally they only have 2 missionary speakers but last sunday they decided to do 3. yep i was the 3rd. but it went good. One of the sisters asked me to give her a blessing tonight so that should be a good experience. Ill tell you this though. So nice to be able to say yes and be completely worthly to give a blessing when someone asks you. Just remember that every one.

I dont have enough time to write but i had a really special experience in the temple today. it was awesome.

well i have to go but write me dear elders and send me everything you want to because basically itll be the last time for 22 months! love you all! the gospel is true!

Elder Nathan Tingey

Ps mom update my blog

Hey Everyone

December 28, 2012

Hey everyone!

how's it goin? hope everyone had a good christmas! the ended to our christmas was pretty good we had greg olsen come talk to us and that was pretty sweet. Then we got to watch "its a wonderful life" awesome movie! idk if you guys watched it this christmas season but just do it anyway cause its awesome! dad im gonna answer your questions. On average.. i get about 5 week? yeah, but the basically all come at once. but have the time its grandma and grandpa stoker sending me inspirational stories ;) soo i dont really count those ones. and Yes i got a letter from the Burtons! it was awesome! i wrote them back. Oh and i got the picture of the truck. Dang i love that truck. And yes all my teachers are fluent in portuguese and the speak it to me all the time and i speak it to them. Most of the time the whole lesson is in portuguese that they give us. it helps a lot.

Megan! Holy cow Paris France that is sooo legit! im sooo excited for you! all my companions were like dang thats a sweet mission to get called to!

So you guys might find this funny, Brother Radabaugh is the first counselor in our branch presidency. He's super cool and he speaks portuguese was a mission president there and everything and he teaches at byu international business. Anyway he told a story about how there family goes out in the woods and cuts down a christmas tree every year. I was like no way! thats what my family does! oh! and his son is in singles ward and singles second ward. i knew i recognized the son when i saw him! he's in those because Bro R's nephew is the guys who makes them. pretty cool eh?

So we just got finished cleaning the temple which was pretty cool. They gave us a tour of the 4th floor and the brides room. Those were pretty cool.

Guys only two more weeks left. holy cow. im soo close! i want to get out of here! 9 weeks is too long. im jealous of all the new missionaries. so i only got 10 min to write you so sorry this is so short. But one thing i wanted to tell you is look up 3 Nephi 27:16. Read it and imagine your self in front of God's throne being judged and then imagine Christ standing right next to you as you being judged and taking the pain and the guilt for the sins you've commited. It gives the Atonement a more visual aspect. anyway I love you all. Send me lots of Dear Elders these last two weeks because its the last time youre going to get to talk to me and ill get it the next day! after that its all email homies. well i gotta go.. grr. Please write me lots! Mom i havent decided whether to call you from provo on the 14 or in Dallas. Probably in dallas since i have a 4 hour layover there. Oh i cant wait to get out of here. Eu desjo que posso estar com voces a vezes, mas Eu gosto de aqui. The spelling of that was probably terrible. Darin write me about basketball and something else in your life. babes and hannah i want letters from you too! marissa thanks for the letter this week sorry i couldnt write back. but youre awesome. Te amo muito!

Elder Tingey

Merry Christmas Everyone!

December 25, 2012

Mery Christmas Everyone!

I hope everyone has had a nice christmas.

Im having a semi white christmas up here. it snows then melts then snows then melts. but its good!

I cant wait to hear what everyone got for christmas! ps everyone write me and tell me how your christmas was and such! they havent given us dear elders for.... since friday. so finally tomorrow i will hopefully get some. Megan if you've open your mission call i cant wait to hear where you are going! im dying! idk if i said my guess yet but im guessing portugues speaking! hopefully it will be the pure Portuguese and not the corrupted one ;) (yeah thats right im looking at all you brazilians!)  Elder Nelson came and spoke to us this morning. It was good. he talked a whole lot about the logistics of missionary work... and like not about christ or christmas. anyway... oh! thank you so much for the gifts! i loved them! we had our little tree in our room and we opened them up this morning. Elder Dredges Family gave me a tie which was really nice of them. And babes, hannah, marissa, and darin thank you for all your gifts. They mean so much to me. oh darin Sorry bro i forgot to tell you that who cant really chew gum as a missionary so ill be sending that back home. So you can use it. Im sure youll need it for the ladies anyways! My favorite gift.. well one of my favorites was the pillow case! i seriously love it! i was just sooo happy when i got it. Country is sooo awesome! Such good lines of motivation! Get your shine on! Dont back up, dont back down! Full throttle, wide open! haha oh i love it.

 Well i wanted to share with you my testimony this Christmas. For this holiday truly is wonderful. I dont think that i have ever appriciated it as much as i have here. When you really focus on the true spirit of Christmas it just makes it so much more enjoyable! Just think about giving. And all that we have been given. God gave His son so we could live with Him again. Christ gave us the Atonement. The biggest and most important gift to the world. We celebrate Christs coming into the world. as a little child. His ministry, and his Death and his ressurection. Christ suffered all the pains and sorrows of this world for us. When we truly understand what the atonement is and what He has done for us we will Begin to love Christ. and When we live his doctrine, and use the atonement to the fullest, we learn of Him, and love Him even more. I am so Grateful for this gospel and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I Testify, and I know, That He lives. That Jesus is the Christ. And that through him we can be saved and return to live with Him and our Father in Heaven. I love Him ever so Deeply and i continue to get to know Him and serve Him everyday.

Feliz Natal. But honestly i like saying it in English because it has Christ's name in it. Merry Christmas. I love you all soo much. You have no idea. I am so thankful for your love, support, and your prayers.

Have a very Merry Christmas, Love,

Elder Nathan Tingey