bonjour. psh yeah right. Bom dia!

March 11, 2014

soooo this week....

oh guys..... this whole writing you guys every week is taking a toll on me.... kljdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.

sorry my head just kid the keyboard. okay i can do this!

well we taught more lessons this week. haha missnary life gets way repetative. okay so transfers.

well elder whitaker left. amazing sometimes you dont realize how much you liked someone until they are gone. i missed him for the first few days. haha that nerd. haha so fun! im glad we will be at byu together. but my new comp elder rigby is great. he is from idaho. some tiny tiny town. 1 mile long. gooding. great guy. super .... docile? haha

it was funny though how many people noticed elder whitaker was gone. some drunk guy came up to me on the street and was like what happened to the little short guy with glasses?! haha hes in luanda bro!

so president came down this week and released elder tilley and put in elder hyde (ex ap) to be branch pres until the end of the month. it was fun having president down here. last night before he left he made the joke about how my comps need to set my alarm so i get up on time. (fyi i do get up on time but for some reason pres has joked with me ever since he got to angola that i sleep all the time.) so this morning i was gonna get him back. so at 630 i texted him. i was like hey president hows life? hahaha you know just striking up a random conversation at 630 in the morning like it nbd. he laughed. i was going to call him at 630 but i was way to tired for that.

we are going to lubango in two weeks again. for zone conference. im excited about that. then the week after that president comes down again.

on saturday we played basketball. elder tilley and i were finally about to be on the same team. (usually its super not fair so we always have to split up, but we had some good competiion this week) we won every single game except for the last which was by 2 points and we were soo tired. like 15 games in total or something. there was one time were there was a point descrepancy (no idea how to spell) but elder tilley and i got fired up about it. in the end we let them have what they wanted and then we just played 150 percent and killed them. haha basketball.... for good or for worse..

well thats about it. we had a few awkward lessons about the law of chastity. we were talking about having good thoughts. and this girl was like yeah im the worst sinner in the world! and i was like no your not. and shes like no serious! for example when i look at you i think ...................... (ill just leave the rest out) but i was stop. stop. stop. stop talking please! my comp just died laughing.

okay i have somethings to ask. mom did you send the calendar yet? also can i ask for some new ties?? these ones are so.... old. same thing everyday.

please please with a cherry on top?

oh and how come no one told me about jase getting his mision call??

well love you fam. peace out. paz fora (haha yeah totally doesnt translate)

Elder Tingey

Transfers!

 March 3, 2014

well mom you asked at a good time. we learned transfers today. Elder whitkaker got transfered to Luanda to be ZL and im getting elder rigby. he is somewhat newish. but itll be good. i hear he is a good worker. thatll be good. 

well this week was .... rather unexcited. hmmm we got attacked by lions... i guess that made the adrenaline pump a little but yeah... you know how africa is... lions everywhere. gotta watch your back!   jk jk

well wow really not much happened! lots of contacting. lots of lessons that people didnt show up to. 

oh we had this less active lady named N´geve. she used to be quite the grouch and didnt want anything to do with us. but elder whitaker and i have visited her at least once a week since i got here. usually we would just read the scriptures to her. but after a while she warmed up and took a liking to us. haha elder whitaker uses his nerdy super super dry not funny jokes on her... and she gets upset at him and we laugh and then she laughs and its just funny. she is quite pleasant to be around now. anyway she called us on saturday and was like Elders i need your help filling out my tithing slip! i forgot my glasses at work and cant see anything it says! come over in an hour. uh okay.... so we hurried and finished making lunch and went over there to help her. and so she had me fill out the slip. and i needed her full name. haha and with so many africans there was a discrepency with how to spell the last name. and her daughter said one thing and then ngeve said another and then the other daughter said another! hahah N´geve got a little stressed and was like "oh no..... my blessing are going to be given to somebody else!" hahahahaha it was the funniest thing ever! old ladies... gotta love em. so much joy in this world because of them! 

well president is coming down this weekend to interview people for branch president. We will see what happens. well this is gonna be short. 

FAM, dont slack on scriptures or prayer. sao essencias! 

marissa i love you a ton. wish i could be there.

darin... you can stop being so cool.

babes.. where did you go? send me more pictures!

Hannah.. i feel that you will be smarter than me when i get home. send me a message girl.

I love you guys so much! 

Elder Tingey

elder whitaker... the nerd going gangster hard!

the twins of jesus. of jesus is literally their name.

the young men at institute.

EEKING OUT A VICTORY!!

February 24, 2014

Well hello family! well first things first GO MOUTAIN VIEW! ahh!! Basketball is my favorite sport! i like the way they dribble up and down the court! i keep it so fresh on the microphone blah blah blah! oh i miss basketball games! yelling, storming the court its all soooo great!

well this week was .... good slash kicked us in the butt! haha. okay so it started off great and then by the end we were struggling to take home the W. thats win if you didnt know.

so first off last monday night we went and taught carla. who was a contact we made. she seemed cool and so anyway we go over there. and we sit with her. and she like elders im sorry. and we like what? well i havent finished the book of mormon yet. but im in mosiah. hahaha um wow yeah that stinks your the first one who hasnt finished it .... not. mosiah!!!!!!!! che! wow i was so impressed. shes like i have some questions and ive written them done but i dont want to ask you them until i finish the book. because sometimes they get answered with further reading. and ill finish it by next monday. haha well okay then! sounds good to me! anyway it was way cool. then she tried to descibe what she felt while she was reading but couldnt. obviously it was the spirit! super cool experience and we are meeting with her again tonight.

so Giovania went through with her baptism! YAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! finally! its been since like july since this area has had a baptism. we had a lesson with her this week and i was like so your baptism is marked for the 22 which is this saturday.... ainda pode ser? which translates to is it still going to be? and then she came back with a great response! Deve ser. which mean it must be. so we were pumped and her baptism was great. elder whitaker baptized her and i confirmed her. officially 39 members in our branch now! keep on sicken that sickle!

so we have had quite the rainstorms this week. nothing too unusual but our power went out a lot. but then when everyone else got power back we still didnt have any. great. sooo we are in the process of fixing that problem. also we have a portugese man who lives under us.... who does NOT keep the commandments at all and is pretty grumpy. His wife and kids live in portugal and he lives here..... not a good combo. anyway dealing with our energy problems, ive been talking to him quite a bit. and ive finally made friends with him. haha you know. after about the 5th time he yelled at me.  i even got him to smile yesterday. one day he will become a member. haha sometime in the very distant future but one day!

also we had our branch basketball activity on saturday. well we got to the court and there were lots of people there. we learned that a club team from another province was visiting and wanted to play. so huambo got a team together with the people who regularly play there. and they know how good we are. they wanted us to play on there team. well everyone wanted to play full court. unfortunately we cant. so we told them that and oh man they thought we were nuts! they were so surprised they litterally thought hell had frozen over. they begged and begged and begged for us to play full court just this one time! just one time just one time please! sorry bro not happening. so we offered to be the refs and score and time keepers. they accepted begrudingly. well it was quite the game! huambo was getting dominated! but in the 3rd quarter our progressing investigator jorge had some amazing shots and well longs story short huambo won by a nail biter! sooooo fun! love it! i wanted to play so bad but it was still fun to watch.

well that was the week! i hope you all have a good week. remember "just keep swimmiing"

love

Elder Tingey 

 GIOVANNIA'S BAPTISM AND THE CUTEST GIRL EVER, BIA!

MY ROOM AND STUDY

The CIA is in town!!

February 17, 2014

helloooo family!

thank you for your wonderful letters! it was a good week this week! nothing revolutionary but just a hard but good week.

so on wednesday we had a dinner with sister aurora. shes angolan but she lived in canada for 20 plus years soo.... shes great! haha!  anyway we learned something really funny while we were there!

so there is a place called DEFA and its for all foreigners. they have to register at DEFA where they live. so when i came from luanda to huambo i had to tell DEFA aka the angolan government that i was now in huambo. its so they can keep tabs on you. haha and people complain that the US govt is difficult for foreigners. anyway so us missionaries we walk everywhere and when i say everywhere i mean everywhere! and we have our favorite restaurante in town thats called boca loca. and we go there at least once a week on pday. and the owners of the restaurante are from lebanon. okay so DEFA starts asking questions about us to some of the higher ups in the govt. and they get one of the members of our church and start asking questions about us. THEY THINK THAT WE ARE THE CIA! hahaha they think that our missionary badges are cameras! and then they asked why we eat at boca loca so much? they think we are in cahoots with the owners! hahaha what a crack up. Angola spying on the missionaries. they also are confused why we walk everywhere.... hmmmm because we dont have a car? anyway funny stuff. i got a good laugh.

so we are teaching this girl (30 years old) named natalia. and her sister as well. and last week was a reall struggle trying to meet with them. and so i was thinking that they kinda were not wanting it anymore. because thats what angolans do. they just say yeah yeah yeah i want you guys to keep coming... but they dont really want you to. ironic because when people tell me no or they dont want us to come back i am actually grateful for their courtesy!  anyway so we were finally able to sit with them. while she was out of the room i peaked at her bookmark in the book of mormon... 1 nephi 2. DANG it! so she gets back and i ask her how her reading is going. shes like good! im in 1 nephi 7. im thinking okay better than i thought. and then she says yeah i read it once and know im going through it again to really really understand it.  CHE! nao brinca comigo irma! wow. i was blown away.  so then we watched the restoration video which is awesome as ever! and then at the end it reads moronis promise and shes like ive heard those words before! yeah theyre in the BOM! anyway the lesson finished great. she believes that the book of mormon is true and acceped baptism! so we are working towards that. we are going over there tonight.

BUT WAIT! so we are also teaching giovania and her boyfriend jorge. who everyone says is my black twin because he drips with swagga ;) anyway he was on  a trip and got back this week. and came to church. Natalia also came to church. and after the first class when we were switching, jorge wiped something off natalias face, like without asking or anything. and i saw it and i was like that was really really weird jorge. and then i gave him a look like that was really really weird! haha and he smiles and goes shes my sister. WHAT?!?!??!?!?!!? your kidding. no way. so we just happened to be teaching both of them at the same time and none of us knew it. natalia was from tracting and jorge through giovania! hmmm couinsidense (how ever you spell it)...? I think not. God s got plans for this family. way cool.

Then yesterday after we got done with our lessons we walked out. yeah there were clouds out but it hasnt rained in like two weeks. then CRACK BOOM! i kidd you not it POURED in  less than three seconds! i didnt even have time to pull out my jacket or umbrella! not that it even helped! flash floods in the streets! its was crazy! and actually really fun.

well that was the week. love you guys a ton!

Elder Tingey

Pics of our house

Happy Bday Hannah! AND Star Wars

February 10, 2014

Hannah hannah hannah! double digits! wo wo! Were gonna party like its your birthday! holy cow youre 10! that nuts! i remember before you were born! tahts weird to think about! i remember when mom told us kids that she was going to have a girl. you know how she told us? she said quote " girls rule boys drool!" i know what youre thinking... how rude. hahahahaha  but along you came and you have always been so happy and pretty and cuter than ever! and one smart cookie too! oh i miss you a lot. yeah president said i couldnt get transfered home for your birthday but he said on your next birthday it would be fine. in fact he will send me a few months early. christmas too! what a nice guy right? but happy birthday i love you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo (repeating for eternity)  much!

but hello family! good emails this week thank you thank you. especially dads. i loved the ones about darins games. oh i get sooo pumped for next season! keep me updated on varstiy!

babes thank you for going horseback riding! i miss that soo much! its probably the greatest thing ever. as the plaque in my room says " if heaven doesnt have horses, i aint goin" true story with me!

dad to answer some of your questions

local music..... there are to kinds. there is the kind that is like super local. like tribal stuff. and that stuff drives me nuts!!!!!! also the have kuduro which is not so tribal but.... i dont like it. its very annoying.  then there is the kid that is more american black. more international and that stuff is good!!!!! also i like a few brazilian artists such as paula fernandes who is my brazilian girlfriend.   wowzers!  and that about it. its funny because when i write other missionaries in brazil or portugal they have no idea about the music there. the only reason we know about it here is because of the taxis! haha its funny because we all know the songs and can sing to them.

apartment... its a house. a mansion. haha two floors. one and a half bath 4 bedrooms one office. a lounge, a kitchen and a dining room. but its like a cabin on the inside. ill send pics next week. actually its 3 stories but the basement is rented out to a portuguese guy.

non church vocab... hmm i think its pretty good. but im always learning new words. so who knows. unfortunately angolans dont speak very well. well they do, just not as good as portugese or brazil.  they say "coiso" a ton. which translates to "thingy" . its a horrible habit they have and i call them out on it all the time.

this week was.... oh man. very very tough. horrible actually. everything and everyone dropped. no one came to church. just a tought week. huambo is tough missionary work wise, but its the best at just general living. but no biggie. just a trail. a refinement. we didnt die so apparently it makes us stronger! 

during the week i was going through my mission pictures and videos and  i realized i freaking love angolans. they are my people! even though they can be soooo dificult to work with and they have no sense of commitment i still love them to death.

this week we were in the barrio ( super super poor neighborhood, mud huts) and all of our appointments fell through. dang funerals mess up everything. because when someone dies literally the whole neighborhood goes to the funeral that has two parts. doesnt matter what commitments they have to work or anything. they all go. very annoying for an american missionary. but its just theyre culture. its actually kind of cool if you take a step back. they are all a big family!

and our little branch here is amazing. even when things are looking horrible (no investigators progressing, inactives that seem impossible to bring back) they have soooooo much faith. and they are just like okay how can we continue. what can we do to help this. such faith. they have true grit.

third thing. God loves his lost sheep. sometimes when a person is baptized and they move or something and basically go inactive we think its a lost cause. but God knows them. and will do all he can to get them back. this week while contacting we ran into a portuguese guy who was baptized in portugal and then moved and lost contact and basically hasnt been to church in forever but he saw us and came up and talked to us about where the church is in huambo. (its very new here) and wanted to come back. God is amazing!

also this week. we were without energy one night and we were talking about starwars. and we got really starwars trunky... and we wanted to watch starwars.... so we did! in a special missionary way. since in was dark we didnt need to turn off the light. and elder fontain played starwars! haha said every line and acted all the parts sound effects light sabers and everything. haha its was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ill send some pics of the cool light sabers we made. i know we are nerds. but some times you gotta stay sane!

well that was the week. i love you all! have a great week!

Elder tingey