email: August 26, 2013

As we speak, I am sitting in the family history center in the Hemet Stake Center dripping in sweat after playing three games of basketball, fielded some ground balls, and caught a brief bullpen. I love having Elder Feist here so I can have someone to throw with again. That is crazy how big the Church is there in Minot! Everyone keeps reminding me that I am 18 months in and is going home soon so home has been on my mind lately. However, it hasn't made me too trunkie so it's all good. It has been a busy PDay already. Ready for my week? Let's go.

Oh my goodness, this last PDay was terrible. I got roped into the pizza challenge. It was a pizza of 2 feet in diameter and weighed 10.5 pounds. I ate it with Elder Ringwood and we couldn’t finish it... It was super gross! It had 13 toppings and was freaking huge. We had to eat it in 40 minutes and we couldn't get up from our seats along with other rules. I got to the point where I started to dry heave. Yeah, it was bad. Ringwood even threw up in his mouth then swallowed it back down. I jumped up out of my seat so we got DQed but I wasn't gonna get barfed on! It was miserable; I've never been in a food coma like that one. I slept for three hours when we got home. I didn't eat dinner or any meals for almost two days. It was GROSS. I love pizza but that took it too far. Our dinner on Monday was with the S**** and it was fun to pick President's brain about being a California Highway Patrol officer. He does hand-to-hand combat training right now for the CHP officers but he's going back out into the field here in about a month so it'll be fun for him. Our lesson with the St****'s went well. We taught the Plan of Salvation and the family really didn't know much. Do the Elders there teach active families for the ward mission process? I think it would be a good idea to have them in our home and then have the kids invite their friends over to teach them! Every member a missionary :). We taught the family a lot about the Plan of Salvation and how important it is to be a member missionary. I still wasn't feeling that great so we came home and I slept. Bad idea with eating so much pizza haha.

Our Tuesday was actually quite productive. We had DDM which went fairly well. I kinda had to improvise because I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to train on but it still went well. I enjoy teaching but I am getting tired of preparing something every week. Oh well. We then had lunch and went out to hit the pavement. We had a follow up appointment with a lady named Janice that we street contacted last Sunday. We went to go see her and we ended up getting into the door. When we were talking with her, she actually wanted us to come in and see some else in the house. We ended up talking to Mrs. M****, an old black lady and is from the deep south. Along with Janice, we gave them a blessing. We had a return appointment set up to come back and teach them but it ended up falling through later during the week but we got their number so we can stay in touch with them. Our dinner was with the R**** family which is always a blast. I love that family so much. Good news! Brother R**** doesn't have cancer in his chest! It was awesome. The dinner always goes well with them and we then ran off to go teach the G**** family. We taught them and then afterwards was throwing the football with Junior until it got dark. Bad news was that I ripped my pants playing ball... My favorite pair! Good thing I have Momma N**** to help sow them back up. After the lesson, we finished our OYMs and then called it a night.

Our Wednesday, sadly to say, wasn't the most productive. We had studies and then had lunch with Park H*** and then came back to their house and talked all afternoon. I know it wasn't the most effective but it was much needed. I can already feel my body and mind getting burnt out. So I called it my mental health day to justify it. Terrible, I know but yeah. Our dinner with the J****'s is always fun. I like having all four of us come to dinners. It makes things interesting. Nick is awesome; I actually knew his family in Yucuipa and his brother took a picture with Austin O'Harra in Guatemala! It was fun to see Austin again. We taught the G****'s again and they are making huge strides with them. The girls are getting comfortable with the ward and so it is a good thing to see. We get to go to the temple on Thursday! We called the R**** and they said that they would love to go with us. It was awesome because we get to ride in his 2012 Ford Raptor! Hmmmm yes! So bad news about the temple... We missed the endowment session :(. We got there and the session was full, super fast. It was insane so we didn't get to see the new movie but we did get to do sealings! That was intense. I loved it. We got a lot of work done in the sealing room. The sealer was the former temple president and he was in my first ward in Beaumont! It was good to see him again. After the session, we went to Cafe Rio and had lunch with the R**** and all the missionaries. Even though Cafe Rio started in Utah, it was still good! He then wanted to go to the Yamaha store to look for something for his bike while we were in Redlands so we made a pit stop at the Yamaha store. Oh my goodness, I was in heaven. I want a bike so bad! I saw a really nice Suzuki GSX 600 for only $3600. Oh yeah! We then went back to the house and he gave me some new slacks and a full suit! Sure love that family. We went and made some visits and then had dinner with them again! They love us. And I love them back haha. Our appointment that night was the G***'s lesson and interview. They passed and so they are good to go! Two baptisms on Sunday!

Since we didn't weekly plan on Thursday, we did that on Friday. That took most of our day and we tried to figure out how we are going to find more people to teach. It was a good weekly planning session. It will be a good next week. Elder Child is singing at the baptism on Sunday so before our early dinner, we went and practiced at the stake center. I can still read music, kind of so we were able to practice. Once again, we had our lesson with the G*** and then we walked up and down Florida, the main street in Hemet. There were some CRAZY people out there! It was sure fun. We really didn't find anyone but we were being obedient so that was the biggest thing.

Funny thing happened during the lesson. Nick J**** called like four times during the lesson. I called him back and finally got to talk to him about why he called. I guess his sister is down visiting family and she is childhood friends with the girl that I have been writing in Utah and she wanted to meet me. It was kind of weird but it made me laugh. Nick didn't know anything about that until she told him. Small world haha. I didn't get to see Nick's sister but it still made me laugh.

We found a pretty awesome Part Member Family on Saturday morning. We had been driving around with no success when I felt prompted to go by and see this lady that I've never met before. We ended up sitting down with her and having her tell us she wants us to help her grandson. So maybe that will be something good. And then today the ZLs got a referral from her to their phone haha. Listening to the Spirit always pays off. We tried to get in to teach Stevie but she wasn't there when we got there so we started to help her mom and grandmother to install a toilet and some tile. Bad idea, we didn't get to finish it but we made a good dent into the project. Our lesson with the Gu*** family went okay, I guess. I love Elder Child but sometimes he ticks me off. He threw me under the bus a couple of times during the lesson with them and it really got to me. But I got over it and we talked it out. Our dinner was with the N**** and that is always a blast. I seriously feel like a part of the family. Their family picture that Hawkins and I are in is their computer screen saver and I'm on the fridge! It's like home away from home. Our lesson with Holly and Bob went okay. They really aren't progressing so I am not sure how we're gonna fix that. After that, we ran over to Park H***'s house to burn my slacks. I hit my 18 month mark on Saturday so I got to burn some slacks. It wasn't as epic as when I burned my shirt and I threw all the pictures into the fire but it still was a good time. We then talked with Park until we went home. Wasn't a bad Saturday!

I love baptism Sunday's because it is always rewarding. Funny story with the baptism. I baptized Natalia and Elder Child did Junior. So I baptized first and mine went off without a hitch. But Junior gets in the water and Junior doesn't know his middle name so he says his sister's! Child baptizes him and we start to get dried off when Elder Wilkinson poked his head in and says that was the wrong name. We were confused because that was the name Junior told Child. Come to find out, he didn't know his middle name! Goofy kid. We then confirmed them right after the baptism so the baptism was complete. Yessir! By the time we came home for lunch, it was almost 4pm. We had lunch and had some studies and then we went off to dinner. Dinner was super funny, it was with the S**** family and they had a ball. At first it was kind of awkward but then we got to know them and then it was fun. We then taught them the Restoration with my Rubik's cube (I love that thing!) and had a good talk with them about the gospel. The mom then says that their daughter up at BYU-I wants to write the both of us! I was kind of taken back with that because that doesn't usually happen. Child was all over it though! The older I get in the mission, the less I care about mail haha but we gave them the address anyways. We got our OYMs for the day and then went back to Park’s house for some deep doctrine discussion. Ohhhh boy, I love me some deep doctrine! The Church is so true, it is insane. And that was my week. Not too bad but it could have been a lot better.

Alright well, I am super nasty and want to go shower so I'm going to close. Something I learned this week was the difference between the milk and the meat of the Gospel. The milk is WHAT gets us into the Celestial Kingdom but the meat is the HOW and WHY. All of the answers are there for us to find, we just have to mine those little nuggets of treasure. The Gospel is so simple that primary children can understand but it keeps scholars like Bruce R. McConkie and James E. Tamlage to keep searching. I am starting my senior year, I am on the last 6 months. Now I really don't have anytime to waste. Talk to Darren and ask him about the poem he sent me. It is super powerful and I can't read it without getting emotional. I love all of y'all and miss the family dearly. Talk to y'all next Monday! Time to be a finisher. Let's go!

Elder Tonini