Spotted in the MTC

Our Park City friends, Mike and Lynna' Taylor are volunteers at the MTC and big missionary supporters.  Thanks for the fun picture and VIDEO of Sister Tingey and her companion Sister Colvin!

MTC Pics

OI OI OI!!!

Oi Familia!                                 7/30/13

 

WOW days and weeks are blending together! I'm at my halfway mark in the MTC, I can't believe it! This work is so amazing, how great is my calling! I am continuing to learn so much and coming closer and closer to the Lord! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

 

OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH I can't believe Elizabeth is coming home in a WEEK!!!! GAHH!!!!! So exciting!!!! Mom: you need to call this number 801-422-2683. It's the number to the missionary office that can set up a meeting for me with Elizabeth! GAH!!! I can't wait to see her!!!! But it's going to kill me that mom will probably be waiting just outside and I won't be able to see her! But I love being a missionary and I want to be an obedient missionary! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Wow my thoughts are scattered today, but I hope I can convey my thoughts and feelings of this week well!

 

In the weeks I have been here, I have noticed a drastic change from being scared out of my mind to teach to looking forward to and being excited for every opportunity my companion and I get to teach! We have a happy message to share! A message of Jesus Christ and His love for us! The more I'm here, the more I have that desire to share the gospel with everyone I meet!

 

My companion and I had a really cool experience with our investigator, Francisco this week! Our lesson on Monday was kind of frustrating because I had a complete stupor of thought and could not figure out what he needed to hear! Then on Tuesday, Sister Colving and I both had the impression that we needed to share the story of Ammon and Lamoni with Fransisco. In doing this, we talked about the joy the gospel brings and true conversion and opening up your heart to the Lord. I honestly don't even really remember everything we talked about because it was the spirit talking, not me. We were blessed with the gift of discernment and reading that story with Francisco was exactly what he needed! He felt the spirit and has committed to being baptized in two weeks! The spirit is real! The Lord blesses His missionaries and helps them bring His people to Him.

 

This week I've kind of gotten sick and especially yesterday I was feeling kind of irritable and frustrated! It was the worst feeling and I didn't want to feel that way, so I decided I would CHOOSE to be happy and patient and I asked Heavenly Father to help me with that! Heavenly Father listens to prayers! We can choose how we react to trials and difficult experiences and if we turn to the Lord and choose to be happy, we will be! This week I have also really developed a testimony of how great my calling is! I am a representative of Jesus Christ!! I act in His name! Our Sunday night devotional was great (as per usual)! It was about Faith in Jesus Christ, hope in the Atonement, and Charity being the pure love of Christ.This week in my personal study I have been focusing on Christlike Attributes and studying up on them! I have also begun the New Testament and have been reading in Ether! Can I just say, I love the scriptures and I love Preach My Gospel! I am getting closer and closer to Christ as I read and my testimony is growing and strengthening! I've realized that if I'm going to be bringing others unto Christ, I need to bring myself unto Christ first. My personal study has really helped me do that! I feel so close to Christ, especially in this environment, in the MTC where the spirit is so strong all of the time! I'm going to have to bring this same spirit to all of the people I teach and serve in the field! It really is a privilege to be a missionary!

 

A great quote for the week that's helped me out: "Obedience is the price, Faith is the power, Love is the motive, Spirit is the key, Christ is the reason, Joy is the reward". How true all of that is!

 

I love this gospel so much and I love being a missionary! Every day I think to myself, "How great is my calling!" I am literally a representative of Jesus Christ and I act in His name! I get to help bring sould unto Christ!

 

On a less spiritual note, I've realized that I haven't really talked about MTC life at all. MTC life is wonderful and busy! Because we Brazilian missionaries are "visitors" (visa waiters) we get up half an hour before everyone (at 6 AM) and have a really odd schedule. We are in class 6 hours a day, the rest of the day we are usually studying or teaching! We spend literally all day with our district! We have become a family!

 

I am running out of time but I love my family, I love being a missionary, and I love this gospel! It seems like these 18 months are going to last forever but I know they are going to fly by! I want to Return With Honor, having been the best missionary I could have possible been, just like my big sister! I LOVE YOU!

 

Love,

Sister Tingey (Brasiliera)

 

P.S. Mom-- would you mind sending me tide-to-go square snap things? They work much better than a tide to go pen and you know how clumsy I am....getting stuff on my clothes...anyways, that would be awesome! Wish I could help you move into the house, I am so excited you'll finally be able to get settled! LOVE YOU! Thinking about you alway! The Lord blesses His missionaries and I'm so grateful he is blessing my family while I serve! LOVEYOULOVEYOULOVEYOU!!!!!

Fotos

Happy Pioneer Day....almost!

Oi Familia!!!!

 

This week has been a wonderful week! I am feeling much more comfortable with my new missionary life and time is actually going by a little bit faster than it was last week! I am learning and experiencing so much every day! Being a missionary is so wonderful! This week the poor sisters in my room have been very sick and they all have had to go back to the room and sleep for a while at some point. I have been powering through and making it through the week without getting sick, but I think it's just about to hit me.

 

I love being at the MTC! Everyday I feel the power of thousands and thousands of missionaries! It is also such a blessing that I get to see some of my best friends while here and some old friends I haven't seen in a couple of years, like Elder Quinn! It really is such a blessing when I get to see these wonderful missionaries I love so much!

 

This week our first investigator (Aquilino) became our second teacher! His name is Irmao Duvall and he is AWESOME! He has so much energy and focus and he teaches us so well! I have really felt since I've been here that the teachers are here for so much more than to teach us Portuguese. They are here to uplift us and to teach us how to be the best missionaries we can be and I'm so grateful for that!

 

Last Tuesday I got to go to choir for the first time which was AMAZING! I love the choir director!!!! He is so fun and amazing and he brings the spirit so strongly into every practice. I feel like I am really singing with a choir of angels when I sing in the MTC choir! It is an incredible experience! Because it's pioneer day this week, we are singing Praise to the Man!!!!! I feel so much power when we sing this arrangement, it is so beautiful and overwhelming! The choir director talked to us a little about W.W. Phelps and how he basically caused the prophet to be put into liberty jail because he had so much anger against the church and then a few years later he wrote Praise to the Man! What a powerful song and message!

 

This week we began teaching a new investigator - Francisco - which has been a great experience, and again we are learning so much every time we teach, good lesson or bad lesson. This week the church distributed new leader resource materials to all of the branch presidencies and the district leaders and the zone leaders! This work is moving forward and missionary work and training is changing and hastening! It is so excited! I am so grateful that I am apart of the change! I am apart of the rush of missionaries and the rush of the gospel around the world! This week our zone is getting 2 new districts! 27 NEW MISSIONARIES!!! Crazy!!!!! But so exciting!!!!!!!

 

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be serving my Father in Heaven. He has given me so much and blesses me everyday. I am grateful for this time to turn outward and serve God's children. This is a very selfish age in most peoples' lives but I get to spend 18 months devoting my time and heart and soul to God and to serving His people! One major lesson I have learned this week is that this work is not about me!!! This is the Lord's work and it's about bringing God's children unto Christ and helping them receive the restored gospel so they can one day return to the Father in Heaven who loves them so much!!! Sister Colvin and I had the opportunity to watch Elder Bednar's talk "The Character of Christ" on Sunday night. I invite all of you to watch or read this talk, it is life changing! It taught me how important it is for me, a representative of Jesus Christ, to strive to have the character of Christ! This means not turning inward but turning OUTWARD! That means serving other people and loving them and not thinking about myself! Christ has given us so much and is the perfect example, I want to strive to be like Him in everything I do!

 

I love this gospel so much! I am so grateful for the countless blessings the Lord blesses me and my family with! The miracles the Lord has provided for our family this past week is such a testimony to me! I am so grateful the Lord is looking out for my family while I am serving Him. As President Phillips said, "I'm ashamed that I'm amazed". The Lord has always and will always look out for us! I know this is where I need to be at this time. I know that this gospel is the only true gospel on this earth and I know that it is the only way we can return to our Heavenly Father. Portuguese has been a struggle this week but I know the Lord would not have called me to Brazil unless He knew I could do it and He is helping me every step of the way!

 

I love you all so much and I always feel like I have so much more to say but not enough time to say it! I love you all so much and I love missionary work!!!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Sister Tingey (Brasiliera)

7/23/13

 

Pics

First week as a missionary!

Oi Familia! Tudo Bem?!

 

WOW! What a week! There is so much to tell and yet I don't know if I can really put it all into words!

 

FIRST: Minha compenheira is the BEST! Her name is Sister Colvin and she is such a wonderful missionary! I am so grateful for her! We get along so well and are so different and yet so similar! We seem to be able to really understand eachother and we are always on the same page which is such a blessing! She is such a strength! She is 21 years old and has graduated and majored in Biology and Music. She is extremely smart and dedicated to the work. We both have helped eachother out so much already! Also: MY DISTRICT IS AWESOME! We are already like family! There are four sisters and eight elders in our district. We all get along really well and we just have amazing missionaries in our district. There are a few that are struggling but I really am so grateful for my district. There is one Elder, Elder Siebers who is from Connecticut. He says his family knew our family and his sister used to play with Elizabeth or Ali all of the time. Small world in the Church.

 

Okay, MTC:

 

Can you say refiner's fire? The MTC is such a wonderful place! Days literally feel like weeks and the first week was pretty slow but apparently after your first week, weeks go by fast. I don't know....seems like I'll be here forever haha! But I am okay with that becuase I am learning so much!!! Our first lesson in Portuguese was on Friday and it was definitely a struggle but we learned so much! We were extremely humbled! Our second lesson, however, was such an incredible experience! Sister Colvin and I decided that we were going to focus on the needs of our investigator (Aquilino) and focus on our purpose as missionaries: To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, recieving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Another big focus was to listen to the spirit and follow the spirit and put all of our trust in God and not worry about the language! Family, it is incredible what miracles can happen when you put your faith and trust in God. I was so exhausted on Saturday but I was so determined to invite Aquilino to Christ! Sister Colvin and I prayed and prayed for the spirit and prayed and prayed that we would be directed on what we needed to teach Aquilino. Words cannot even express what we felt in that lesson on Saturday. The Lord truly does help his missionaries. It was the spirit working on Saturday, it was such a miracle. There is no way we could have taught that lesson by ourselves. Also: the gift of tongues is real! Although I'm still not great at Portuguese, I have learned so much and can pray and testify in portuguese! Sister Colvin and I practice and speak portugues as much as we can! Este muito importante que nos falamos portugues siempre!

 

I love this gospel and I love being a missionary!

 

Each day there are so many ups and downs and highs and lows! Every day feels like three days haha! But everyday without fail is just incredible over all. There is such a power here in the MTC! My teacher is Irmao Cope and he is amazing! He has been teaching at the MTC for a really long time and knows what he is doing! He is great!

 

Sunday was wonderful! The spiritual uplift and day of rest was much needed! All of the sisters got to watch Music and the Spoken word which was so nice! So uplifting! In relief society Sister Carole Mikita spoke to us and gave us a wonderful lesson about planting seeds and how important our calling is! The devotional was given by Brother Heaton and he taught me to embrace the awkward and to open my mouth even if it is an awkward situation.

 

This week I have really learned and had to be reminded of why I am here. I am here to bring others unto Christ. I am so grateful for my calling and the opportunity I have to be here!

 

I have been able to see a lot of my BYU friends since being here and that has been such a blessing! Seeing my friends as missionaries gives me strength and it makes me so happy!

 

This gospel makes me so happy! I want to share it with everyone and I know that that will take WORK! I knew a mission would be hard and this week I have been reminded and have been learning how much work it takes to be a successful missionary! It is so important that I work and study and prepare as much as I can and then have the faith to put my trust in the spirit and in Heavenly Father to guide and direct me in what to say. I am so grateful for a companion who is so dedicated and diligent and helps me focus and study as hard as I can!

 

I am running out of time but I love you all so much! I miss you lots but being a missionary is so worth it to me! I am learning and growing so much! I am drawing closer and closer to Christ everyday and I am so grateful for that! Eu sei que Jesus Cristo vive. Eu sei que este evangelho es verdadeiro. Eu sou muito grata para me chamada e este oportunidade de servir. Eu sei que O Livro de Mormon es verdadeiro. Eu amo O Livro de Mormon e Eu amo Jesus Cristo! I LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

 

Animado e Felizidade! This is a happy message!

 

Love,

Sister Tingey

7/16/13