email: October 8, 2012

It sure was an awesome week so here we go:

So I threw out my back this week and I have been miserable... However, I have been doing my exercises Carol gave me and using the electro stimulation machine on my back so it has helped out a lot! But it was a tough week to start out with. Our week started off by meeting with Carol on Tuesday night with Robert. We went over the baptismal interview questions with her and basically taught her the Restoration again. She seemed to understand and comprehend what we re-taught her. When we were getting ready to leave, she told us that she has made up her mind to go ahead and get baptized on the 13th. Oh goodness, did I ever feel a burden lifted off of my shoulders when I heard her say that to me! We then went on to tell her that we were going to the temple on Friday and she really wanted to go with us. So I offered to have her go and walk around the temple and feel the special Spirit there. So we set that up for Wednesday night. I then heard from Mary that she got her temple recommend and is going to the San Diego temple to do baptisms for the dead! Sure exciting as well.

All day Wednesday, all I could think about was the temple trip with Carol. Victor went with us so that we could ride up in her car with her. Our new Relief Society President met us there, Sister Murphy. We talked and walked as we admired the temple as it was lit up in the California night. It was so breath taking, the temple looked so good at night! We talked with her and both Sister Murphy and I bore testimony of the temple and of how families can be together forever. It was such a sweet experience to be there with those two wonderful women. We kept walking and explained more of the temple. I told her that I know that I stayed in Beaumont because I needed to be there for her. I then went on to explain to her that I need to go to the temple because I need comfort and guidance. She went on to tell me that she knows that God is going to prepare a wonderful woman for me to be my wife and that she felt goosebumps go through her when she told me that. That was an answer to prayer that I was in need of. It was such an amazing experience for me.

We had an interesting experience on Thursday outside our apartment. We heard someone yelling at the top of their lungs and we saw a black woman walking down the street with a cane. We went up to talk to her and she turned out to be not mentally stable. She kept screaming/yelling "Jesus help me, someone is after me! LORD HELP ME!". I did my best to calm her down but she would not listen to me. She kept telling me that someone was following her and looking for her. She told us to call the police and to get help. Come to find out, she told us that she was on Speed (the drug). She was nuts, and even freaked out when she heard a leaf fall from the tree near us. A neighbor came out to help us and we called 911. The Beaumont PD showed us and sure enough, there was a glass Meth pipe in her purse. After that, we went and tracted the Boulevard for three hours. We talked to 63 people and got four potentials. Just another day in Beaumont.

Friday was our temple day. I went in looking for guidance and peace. It was an amazing session, the Spirit was there so strongly. When I got into the Celestial room, I started to pour out my heart and soul unto my Father in Heaven. I pleaded for guidance and peace in regarding the burden I have been carrying. While I sat there and pondered, I felt a warmth start at the top of my head and run all the way through my body. I felt true peace for the first time in months. I also had two thoughts come to my head. The first was: don't worry about things back home, I will take care of you. It is my work you are doing and I will take care of you. That was so profound that I know that the Spirit was talking to me. I then thought of a scripture in Ether 12:27. That all weak things will become strong unto me. That was such a comfort to know that my Father was watching over me. I have now let go, to let the Lord run His course and that He will take care of me. It was such an awesome experience, something I will treasure for a very long time.

Conference Weekend is always so much fun as a missionary. We watched the morning session and then we went to a lady that we met with Robert because she wanted to give us a bunch of her husbands clothes, as he passed away three years ago. She pulled out like five suits, a french cuff shirt and a whole bunch of ties! I walked away with two new suits, a french cuff shirt, and a whole bunch of ties! It was so much clothes. It meant so much to her that she could give those clothes to us. She knows that they will be used in a good way. Elder Holland's talk seriously brought me to tears. It reminded me WHY I am a missionary and how significant it is to say "having been commissioned of Jesus Christ" when I walk into the waters of baptism with my converts. It gave me the confidence to keep working my hardest. We watched the afternoon session, got our 20 OYMs and then went to the priesthood session. And guess who took us? ROBERT! And he even wore a suit! So I wore a suit and my new french cuff shirt :). I even got Transformers cuff links from my Elders Quorum President! IT was so cool to have Robert go with us. He is the closest thing I have to a father while I am away from my real one. It was such a wonderful week all the way around.

So Jake told me that he might not leave when he is 18 to go on his mission. That seriously broke my heart because he was the first person I thought about going on a mission. I have such a love for my mission that I want him to experience that for himself. Hopefully he will pray about it and see what the Lord tells him because it is coming up fast. That is so exciting that the Lira's went to the temple! I wish I was there to go with them but that is such an amazing accomplishment. Going to the temple is so amazing, Carol and Victor both want to go so badly so it will be awesome to go there with them in a year! I will send pictures of Carol's baptism! Someone gave me an airplane tie and that is going to be my new baptism tie. It reminds me of Grandpa Tonini and he is one of the main reasons why I am on a mission so it is in honor of him. I miss him so much... But I know he is here with me while I am out serving so it makes it a little bit easier. I love y'all so much and thank y'all for all the prayers in my behalf.

-Elder Tonini

PS Can you give my address to Katelyn and Jessica? I want to write them and see how they are doing!