Wednesday, July 31, 2013

email: July 31, 2013

I realize that it is Wednesday again and I am just now emailing... But that is okay because I have a legit reason! My life gets crazy sometimes haha. I am glad that Momma gets to go and help with Rochelle's kids. Jesse said that Mom is a way good cook too; that made me laugh quite a bit. I love that cousin of mine; I am super excited that I get to talk to her more now with the new email changes. Anyways, is Carson back home from the Jamboree? I got a postcard from him and it seriously melted my heart. He said that there are over 40,000 scouters and none of the scouts in his troop are LDS and so he is going to do missionary work. He is such a good kid! You know, the more and more I am away from home and have time to reflect I have come to realize how blessed I am to have a family like I do. Goodness, I love each and every one of y'all! I know I have said this before but I am so glad that Jake and I have become super close and along with everyone else. My mission has really opened my eyes to who I really am and who God needs me to be. Okay, I'll get off that topic and I will fill y'all in on what had been going on this past week. Let's go!

So on Monday, we had a very AWESOME surprise. We got to the golf course after we emailed and everything and I was fixin' to tee off on the first hole when Elder Hawkins goes crazy! I couldn't understand why he was going nuts until I read the text he had gotten. Sarah had texted us and asked when Jayr could get an interview so he could get baptized on Wednesday! You seriously have no idea how excited I was or even how Hawkins reacted. This was a baptism we both had been fasting and praying for a long time. He had decided he finally wanted to do it. We had to make it quick though because his father-in-law was leaving for Montana on Thursday so we had to do it on Wednesday so we had to speed everything up. Hawkins and I were on cloud nine the entire night; we got our OYMs and then headed home to get everything ready for his baptism.

Tuesday was all focused on getting Jayr ready for his baptism interview. Our DDM went well and then we started off to get Jayr ready. We had it done and he passed; we were good to go for Wednesday! He seemed like this was what he wanted to do. Plus we talked with Sarah and the family and they both said that Jayr wouldn't do this if he didn't want to have that be done. It was super awesome to finally have him be ready to baptized. We got all the info from him and Sarah to get the baptism program set and we got that off to Brother P**** to be printed off at work. He makes some beautiful programs! I will have to send some back home for y'all to see. That night we ran over to the Stake Center to make sure that the baptism font was cleaned and ready to go. We ran off to go see Aaron again and that funniest thing happened. I crashed super hard at his house; I seriously hit a brick wall. I was so tired that my body physically came close to shutting down and making me fall asleep instantly. It was a weird feeling to have that happen so after the lesson Hawkins drove home and I went straight to bed. I didn't mind though because I needed to be alert for Jayr's baptism the next day.

All we did Wednesday was get the baptism ready for that afternoon. Hawkins was the one to baptism him so we was pretty excited to have that opportunity. Even though we had to have the baptism at 4 pm, we had a pretty good turn out. Everett and Franson drove back down to see the baptism and we had a lot of the ward family there and it was awesome to have everyone there. I got the opportunity to talk about the Holy Ghost after Rene N**** talked about baptism. Jayr's baptism was one that as long awaited. Hawkins walked into the water with him and he performed the baptism and it was such a powerful experience. We got permission to confirm at the water's edge and his father-in-law got to confirm him. I have never seen a family that happy than after that baptism. Sarah told me multiple times, “I seriously love you" haha. When I hear things like that, I can't help but make me smile. Even though I was the COMPLETE opposite of the personalities of the N**** daughters and the family, well except for Brother N****, we got a long well haha. But I am connected with that family forever and I am super happy about it. I love them to pieces and is a testimony to me of why I was called here for my mission.

Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday went by with nothing exciting. We don't have anyone else to teach so we are in the process of finding new people. Our dinner with the R**** on Wednesday was awesome. We had pizza and got to know them pretty well. I did my Restoration lesson with my Rubik’s cube and they loved it. Come to find out, they have been working with a family that lives on their street. We committed them to share a Book of Mormon with them and to have them meet with us. We had a baptism and a bomb lesson that night. We then had another similar experience with the P**** family on Thursday night too. I did the same lesson with them and we found a part member family that they had been working with. They gave us her name and address and we committed to them that we were gonna go over there on Friday and we did. When we knocked on Viki B***'s door, we had an awesome experience with her. We couldn't get in because there wasn't a man in the house but she basically quizzed us at the door and we passed! She wants us to come back and see her again. Her daughter went to girls camp and everything. We went to Steer and Stine again with a member and had a great time there. We were much anxious to hear the transfer calls the next day.

Around 7:30 am, I got a call from President that I was to be a trainer again. I was super excited because I didn't have the best experience last time I trained so I wanted to redeem myself and train again. Well, I got that wish and I was super pumped to have that call. The regular transfer calls came that night and they were sooo confusing! So what ended up happening is that the Hemet zone is getting split; there is now a San Jacinto zone along with the Hemet zone. My ward got split and the Zone Leaders are in my ward. Elder Figueroa and Wilkinson are my new zone leaders and I love them to pieces. Elder Figueroa is from El Paso and he trained of my favorite missionaries here in the mission. I was made the district leader and I now have two sets of sisters that I am responsible for. I was excited for that and for everything else.

Sunday was awesome because Ross S***** and Jayr got the priesthood! I ordained Jayr to the priesthood so that was an awesome thing for me to do. They leave on Monday for Provo so I am glad that they were able to have that happen with family there. Jake needs to find them in Provo and go see them! They are awesome. I then found out that I am moving into the guest house on Bishop's property so I got to pack all day Sunday to get ready for that. We drove up to Idyllwild to help Everett and Franson come down the hill and to get Kelley's bike up to Idyllwild to his new area. They spent the night so they didn't have to drive back down the hill for transfers.

Monday was moving day! I packed two cars full of my stuff and drove it over to the new place. The new place is super tight! I am moving into a new house and getting a brand new missionary; couldn't get any better than that. I got almost everything moved over by noon so that was pretty tight. I got my bike and weights over too and everything. We helped Jayr and Sarah get all packed up and moved. It was weird for them to not see me in a shirt and tie; they're our neighbors so they'll be seeing a lot more of that haha. Elder Johansen is also getting a greenie up in Anza so he stayed with me for the day and the rest of the night until we could go pick up our greenies. We had dinner with his branch president and had a lesson with him. We got our OYMs and then headed home for me to get unpacked and ready for tomorrow.

Oh my goodness, Tuesday was a long day. It started out with a District Leaders Council and then we had to run some errands to be ready to go up to Riverside. We are going to have an awesome zone; I get to be a part of starting a new zone so that is pretty humbling. I was at the mission office from 2 pm to almost 9 pm. It was a long day but I got to see a lot of people and to pick up my greenie!


His name is Elder Child and he is from Kaysville Utah. He is an awesome guy and I am excited to get to train him. We got him all moved in and almost settled down. It is going to be a good transfer! Well, that's all from here in Cali. I love y'all and want y'all to know that this is the Lord's work and that I love doing it. Thank you for all that you do for me! Talk to y'all on Monday :)

Elder Tonini

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