email: July 15, 2013

Ready for the week? Here we go :)

Monday was super fun! After we emailed and did some running around Elder Everett, Franson, Wood and I went golfing at our favorite course. Everett has never golfed before and he did pretty well! I had a beautiful nine iron drive that landed seven feet from the pin. It felt so good to hit that thing and see where it landed! I shot pretty bad but I still had so much fun. We really have a good group of missionaries here in Hemet. After we golfed, we changed and ran off to dinner. We had dinner at the D****'s and it was fun to teach a FHE with them. Their dad was away on business so we grabbed Sam A**** to come with us. One of our members gave us a scripture bag with little objects in them that can represent any scripture story that has the item in it. We sat outside on the patio because the A/C went out in the house. It was a lot of fun to be with the kids and to teach them. I have gotten close with the oldest boy, Urry. He is my boy! He just turned 13 and I love him to pieces. He is a super sharp kid, along with all the other kids. The youngest, Obie, was super fun to mess with. They have an above ground pool that they play in and I took Obie and threatened to throw him in. I was just playing around but it was super fun. We got OYMs and dropped Sam off and then the Idyllwild Ward missionaries, Elders Everett and Franson, came over to our apartment and we stayed up wayyyyyy too long. We had zone conference the next day so it was interesting.

Oh my goodness was Tuesday super long. First off because I got zero sleep the night before and because we had to be up at the stake center by 7:30 in the morning. The best part was that I got to see Spencer again to catch up with him. But to top the scale, I got to see Victor! He came down from Beaumont to come to zone conference and to share his testimony with us. He stayed the whole time! It was a long six-hour conference. After that we left to go to Beaumont and to get ready for the temple! It was awesome that I got to be there every step of the way with him. it was weird going to the temple at night. I did get to see a whole bunch of people that I knew back in Oak Valley. I love the O'Harra family, they have been such a good family towards Victor. It was awesome to get to see in the temple. I gave him a big hug and told him I love him. That seriously was the best day of my mission. Plus, the missionaries in the ward got to come with him too so there were six missionaries that came to the temple with us. We then made a Denny's run that night to grab something to eat with the O'Harra's and the crew. Victor and I had a really good talk about what's been going on in my life. I tell that man everything and now I won't be able to call him up anymore when he is in Arizona. He is Utah now getting ready to enter into the MTC. I love that man so much! I got to see Anita on Wednesday and took us out to lunch. We went to Mimi's Cafe and then I gave her a blessing at the church. She was much appreciative towards me in giving her a blessing. She sure has grown attached to me but that is okay, she has been through a lot in her life so it is the least I can do. Our lesson with JayR went... Interesting. He had a pretty deep doctrinal question that we tried to answer. He wanted to understand why we believe we can become like God and why the New Jerusalem is going to be in Missouri so we addressed those issues and it ended up in getting into a deep doctrine discussion. But he said he is super close to getting baptized so we are in crunch time because they are leaving to Utah here pretty soon. We had a good rest of the day and got to visit some people.

Thursday was awesome because we did some weekly planning but then John wanted us to come over and have dinner with them! That worked out because our dinner had to cancel. We got to spend some time with the family and build some bonds with them. We have taught John once and now we need to get the whole family involved. He wanted us to come to his son's practice but it was just out of the zone so I decided that we couldn't go. Hawkins was for it but I wasn't going to break that rule. We didn't get to teach him because he left a lot quicker that we had planned on but we are planning on going over there later this week so it will be good.

Friday was exchanges with Park Hill Ward and it was super awesome. We had service with Valle Vista's former investigator out on his ranch. We were around horses and it was awesome. Ever since MoVal, I love being around those animals. There was a paint that you could tell that had been abused and it was super sad to see how it reacts now. It got pretty close to me and followed me around the pen the whole time. We were at the back corner of the pen, shoveling poop with the horse right next to us when a big semi-truck came down the road and scared the paint and she took off away from the fence. We all surrounded her because she walked in between us and we had to get out of the way pretty quick. But there was another horse, Lucky that was super nice. I hugged him and petted him and everything. I love being around those animals. After we finished with that, we ran home to shower and study for the day. We ended up studying a little too long because we got into a deep doctrine discussion again haha. Our dinner was crazy, he is Bolivian and he just loaded my plate up with food and I had to eat it. Oh my goodness it was gross but I did it! Our lesson that night was with a family and we are teaching one of the son's girlfriend's. It was a good lesson and a good way to end the night.

On Saturday we got a call from Ray D*** that he needed helped moving his family. We just baptized his daughter so we thought it would be good to help him move. It went really well, I wore a long sleeve shirt to try and sweat some fat outta myself haha. It was fun to go help his family out. His wife is expecting so it was the least we could do for them. We took studies after that and then went out to proselyte. Our dinner cancelled so the Cole's invited us over to have dinner. I love going over there to eat. Brother Cole always talks baseball with me and it is super fun to talk with him. Their grandson, Blake, has been talking to Corina so it is fun to give him a hard time. I love that family though and they have been a blessing to us here in the ward.

On Sunday, I felt prompted to fast for JayR again. Fasting always gives me the biggest headache so it pretty much killed me the entire day. Sunday's are always long because we have meetings from 8:30am until 3pm. Yay! But the fasting really paid off because we talked with Sara, JayR's wife, told us that we need to invite him on Tuesday. We are taking that comment to invite him to be baptized on Tuesday so we are super excited for that. I may fast again tomorrow too because this has been on my mind a lot lately and I really want this for that family. The biggest thing we are focusing on this week is him. After church, I had to come home and try to kick my headache. I did all that I could but it still wouldn't go away. I even showered for twenty minutes to try and get rid of it. It wouldn't leave so we went to dinner anyways. I got there and just crashed on the couch, my head hurt so bad. Sister V**** got me an ice pack and I crashed on their couch for almost an hour. I felt so much better when I woke up though, it was so nice. I talked with them until it was time to go home because I missed out on talking with them. The V**** family makes me laugh every time I see them. We came home and everyone came over for PDay eve. We played Risk and rubiks cubed it up! I love my mission so much :) it is awesome to be a part of this work.

Thank you for sending the few shirts, I need them badly. I have gotten pretty good at sowing my clothes up and fixing them! I want y'all to know that I love y'all so much and miss the family a lot. Time is flying and it is really starting to scare me.. I'll be home before I know it and that stinks! But I am not going to waste anymore time and work my hardest on the last stretch. Hope y'all have a wonderful week and know that I love you. Thank you for the prayers and the thoughts on behalf of the people we are working with. This transfer is almost over and it scares me to death! I am doing just fine with everything and I am doing the best I can. Love you and have a great week!

Elder Tonini