Monday, September 30, 2013

email: September 30, 2013

Subj: "The freaks come out at night..."

Ready for my week? Let's go.

We had our P-Day on Tuesday and that was kind of weird to have a P-Day on a day other than Monday but we still had a lot of fun. We played a volleyball game with the Sisters and I creamed Sister Gambling in the face by accident... Whoops. She got me back pretty good so it all worked out. Brother R*** took us out to go play golf at Echo Hills. I played very poorly but it was still awesome. I love that man so much. I fell asleep after we golfed and we were late to dinner... Good thing the S***** family were super cool about it. We then had no set appointments but we stopped by Jennifer's house to see her. We actually had a lesson with her and we told her that we were going to stop by every day to help her. There is huge promise there with her. But it slowly went down hill.... But I will explain that later.

I decided to hold a DDM on Wednesday and it went really well. I trained on the Creation and how we can relate it to planning. It was kind of another deep doctrine DDM but it went well. I am scared that when I do these trainings that people don't understand it... But I think they understood. We had to run to Target to help the Park Hill Elders get more bike stuff. After that, we made visits to get ready for Bishopric Action Night. I went out with President F**** and we rode in his new sports car. It was super sick! It was a Hyundai Genesis coupe. Super fast and a nice red. Meanwhile, Elder Child went and set a baptismal date for Jennifer. It was an awesome experience for him. She is SUPER crazy and I will explain later.

We did teach four lessons on Thursday and got a lot of work done so it was a good day. We also did service for the Hemet theater and that was super fun. We pulled up carpet and took stuff out of the walls.

Friday was spent down in Riverside in a district leader training meeting. I got to see all of my old missionaries that I have served around. It was good to see them all. I learned a lot about what I need to do to improve so it was good. We saw Jennifer that night with Brother L**** and we threw out all her cigarettes and booze down the drain too. She wasn't too happy... But it was a cool experience.

Saturday was crazy. We did service in the morning for the Hemet theater again and then did our studies to get ready for the lessons we had. Our main goal of Saturday was to get people to come to church. Our lesson with Jennifer fell through. It was crazy, she wrote on a paper towel telling us to leave. She's crazy... Denny came with us and it was crazy. We ended up talking to Denny for the rest of the night and getting to know him better. He's been through a lot. I love him though.

Sunday was good, our meetings went well and I had an interesting conversation with the ward council. I stood up and passed around the towel from Jennifer and told the ward council that we need more quality people to teach. Before we went in, someone got up in the morning ward and said, "If you don't do your missionary work, then you are not going to make it into the Celestial Kingdom." Holy heck! It was pretty sick. We had a baptism after church for the Zone Leaders and we had dinner right afterwards. I got sick after dinner and had to sleep it off so I could finish working. We finished up our night by going to another baptism that we had to participate in. It was a good week overall.

Well, that's all from me. Love y'all and talk to y'all later. Love you!

Elder Tonini

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

email: September 24, 2013

Subject: "When it comes to God everybody's got a version...

Some are wearing turbans others getting virgins with all of these options we know He's for certain. Cause ain't no other God like mine you gots to admit it ya I'm falling cause of sin and yet His grace is sufficient --One Sixteen, Trip Lee.

Hiya! I am super excited that I get to email y'all today. It has been a long week but everything worked out. Alright, ready for my week? Let's go!

Tuesday was a super good day because I did my Atonement training again to my district. It was super legit. It always goes well when I do it. It's a good training when I know that people are struggling with their testimony or reasons for being here on the mission. It was awesome. I then emailed because I didn't manage my time well on Monday... We then took the Park Hill Elders to Walmart because they popped a tire. Our lesson with the G****'s went well and we had an awesome time contacting people on the way home! It was super sweet.

Wednesday was a good day for us. We got on the bikes and rode this week! We ride in the morning so we can save miles. We did some work out in Homeland area and saw some people. We are getting close on miles so we have to start riding again. I love it though, I feel like a real missionary again. We had lunch and then drove into Hemet with the bikes. The Park Hill Elders came out with us to visit some potential investigators we picked up for them while we were visiting the G**** family that lives in their area and so we contacted some people on the way home. It was a good time with Elder Tafoya. He's struggling with his desire to work here in his area and so I pushed him a little bit. Our dinner went well and then we had an awesome lesson with Janice, the one that came to church last Sunday. We took Denny with us and he connected really well with her. She broke down to us and we testified that Christ can make her clean. It was a super spiritual lesson with her! It was a good way to end our night :).

Thursday we did some service with the Park Hill Elders that turned into a bust. We didn't need four missionaries there. We thought it was going to be a bigger than it really was. We got cleaned up and weekly planned for the morning. After that, we rode up to the De Anza building for the Sisters interview for their baptism this weekend. It was fun to get to know them. We had dinner with the Park Hill Elders and then our appointments fell through... So we did an obedience ride and finished up our OYMs. Elder Tafoya is really good at reading people and so after we came in for the night, he read Elder Child. It was insane what he got out of him. It helped me because now I can read Child like a book! It was crazy. We got home pretty late though so Friday was not a good day... Plus the Sisters are having some issues and so I've had to deal with that. Other than that, it was a good day.

We had a crazy bike ride on Friday! We rode down Highway 74 and it was super scary. Riding next to big semi's is crazy! We did save eight miles though so that was good. Sister C**** was super nice, she's a nice old lady haha. Her husband didn't want to see us so we just taught her. Our lesson with Stevie went well and then we had dinner with Anita. I love that woman, she makes me laugh. We had a good dinner and she took us to Walmart to pick up the stuff. I was super tired and cranky so it wasn't good.

The M**** family needed some help around the house on Saturday and so we helped them with some yard ward. It was super nice to put the boots and wranglers on to go work outside. It was fun, I loved it. We had our church visits go down on Saturday to get ready for Sunday. We did stop by and see John on Saturday night. I really, really want that family. He was on my mind as we went home that night and during planning, Elder Child REALLY got me upset to the point I had to walk out of the house and cool off. But we made things up so it's all good now. We've had a lot of those lately. I think it's because he's still really young but it's okay, I'm learning patience.

We had our usual Sunday meetings and everything. We had lunch and then made our visits. We fasted for the sister missionary that's been having issues and so I slept for our lunch hour. It was nice haha. Our dinner was with the V**** family and then we went over to see the N**** family because it was Brother N****'s birthday. We found out that JayR and Sarah are gonna be having a baby! I was super excited! She's due in April, which means I can go see them! I was stoked. But yeah, it was a good Sunday overall.

Monday was filled with meetings. Elder Kent R. Richards of the Seventy came and spoke to us. I had a leadership meeting at 0745 and then the meeting started at 0830 all the way until 1300. (Haha telling in military time makes me think of Grandma Tonini because that's how she tells time.) Anyways, the training was good. President Smart was super sick, it was hard to see him like that. Elder Richards talked with us for over four hours straight but it was way good. I learned a lot but what really got me was that I have to re-learn how I am going to teach. I can't use worldly analogies so I have to go in and redo all my teaching. Oh well, it'll be good for me. I got to see my old zone! Moreno Valley came to Hemet for the conference. Afterwards, we had lunch and talked deep doctrine. Ah yeah! Afterwards we came home, detoxed for thirty minutes and then did studies. Child and I had another breakdown. He started to make plans behind my back and THEN texted the sisters and THEN deleted the messages so I couldn't see it. So we had to have a comp inventory but now we're good. We went out and got our OYMs and then picked up a new investigator! Jennifer was the one that got 5150ed but now she wants to get baptized! It's super awesome. It was a miracle. So now we're gonna start working with her to get her ready.

Well, it was a good week. I worked out this morning and we're now leaving to go golf with Brother R**** in his Raptor! Super dope. Alright, love y'all and hope everything is going well. Love y'all and miss y'all tons. Talk to you soon!

Elder Tonini

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Pictures Courtesy of Anita

Just in case you were worries that missionary work was all work, there is some play too!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

email: September 17, 2013

Subj: "And it was down with the old man, up with the new...”

Raised to walk in the way of light and truth. I didn't see no angels, just a few saints on the shore.

But I felt like a new born baby, cradled up in the arms of the Lord

- Baptism by Kenny Chesney.

Mom and Dad,

How are things going in the great white north? The Northrup's always let me know the weather report is in North Dakota haha. Sounds like things are going well there back home. It’s been over 100 degrees here so it's been fun. I am socking up all the Vitamin D I can get haha. Ready for my week? Let’s go.

Monday was fun, we got a lot done with it being transfers. It was sad to see Elder Smith leave... He had become my best friend here in the mission. I love that man. I tried to move in with the Park Hill Ward missionaries into their double-wide trailer but that idea got shot down because they are going to split that ward soon so we couldn't move in there with them... It was a bummer because that would've really helped with the miles but it was all good. Our night was pretty good. We gave a blessing and a lesson to a family that we found on the street and when we were walking back we talked to this lady who came running up to us and asked "Are you guys Mormons? We need God in our life". So we got her address and we were gonna go by the next day. Our dinner was with the D**** family and the funniest thing happened. Elder Knudsen whispered "awkward" to one of the kids when I wrote the wrong thing on the jenga block and the mom thought it was super funny. Don't completely understand why but she did. Our lesson with the S****'s went well, we met their cousin (or something around that line) and he wants to meet with us again on Monday.




Okay so I have some explaining to do of why I missed finishing emailing on Monday. Unfortunately this email won't be a novel like the other emails have because we have things to get done today. The reason why I didn't finishing emailing was because Brother B**** came up from Beaumont to come see me and take me out to lunch but most importantly to talk doctrine with me. I have had a lot of questions about certain topics and he wouldn't explain it to me over the phone and so he drove up on Monday because he was off. I really, really want to talk about what I learned but this wouldn't be the appropriate time or place to do so. I will say this though that the gospel is so, so, so deep and I love it so much. I have learned so much out here and I cannot wait to learn more about it and bring it back home with me and teach about it. I have to learn that I love to teach people and that I have a talent for it. There are so many questions that I have about the gospel that haven't been answered yet and my mission is going to lead me in continual learning. Okay, I'll get off my rant about my studies and how my mind gets blown on a daily basis haha. I'll do a brief fly by of my week to show y'all what I've done.

Tuesday was interesting because the Sister missionaries took our car to go down to Riverside to pick up their new companion. They are now in a trio and on bike so they needed our car. So for a day, I felt like a normal missionary! I loved it. Only problem was that I forgot my helmet in Winchester and there wasn't a spare one lying around the Park Hill Elders’ apartment so I rode without a lid on. Yes, I can already see Dad cringing. Elder Child had a bad tube and so we called the R****'s to help us out and take us to Walmart. We got to ride in the Raptor with him. SO SICK! We went to In-and-Out for lunch and then to Walmart. The original reason why we went over there was to help him take the bed cover off the truck because Sister R**** was getting a quad. Now mind you, this couple is retired and just recently got married in January. Oh goodness I love them! Brother R**** also bought Elder Child a camelback which was a huge blessing to him. I also found long boards at Walmart that I rode around. So much fun! Anyways, after that we went by and saw that potential that we found on Monday only to find out that she got 5150ed [involuntary psychiatric hold] that night and wasn't home. However, we got to talk to the husband and set something up to come by and see him. Our dinner was with the N*****'s which is always fun and then we had a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader. Now mind you, he cancelled an appointment of ours that night so we could come to the meeting. I wasn't too happy about that but I sucked it up and made the meeting the best I could. The Sister missionaries brought back the car and they put a 100 miles on it! We are gonna be biking a lot for the rest of the month...

We had DDM on Wednesday because the Sisters weren't there and so I had to train on Wednesday. I had no idea what I was going to train on but that morning, I had some revelation given to me. Now I usually don't train on deeper doctrine subjects but I chose to. I trained on how the priesthood really works and how we need to use the authority given to us in our setting apart as missionaries. Everyone's faces was priceless when I blew their mind. It was super fun but they did learn a lot. I loved it. We then had a brief lesson with a referral that we got from Brian B**** and then went and saw Janice and invited her to church. Our appointment that night was with Brother L**** and he took us out to go home teaching with him and to see his people. He is super missionary minded and it is awesome.

We had our usual Bob D**** meeting on Thursday that we have at the beginning of every transfer and it was interesting. Brother F**** came and spoke and he was crazy! It was super good. Everything else fell through though for the day so that was sub-optimal... But what really irritated me was when our ward mission leader changed our appointment and then taught our appointment. I walked in to the house where our appointment was and they were there sitting and teaching. I asked what was going on and they said they were teaching and we didn't need to come see that family anymore. That he rescheduled the appointment on Tuesday for him and not for us. I walked out of the house and didn't talk to anymore. I was really irritated. Not a good way to finish a night. We had weekly planning on Friday and then went to lunch at DQ when I spilled Coke all over my pants... DANGIT! I went home and changed and then we went and taught Stevie with Denny H***. We taught about prophets and that went well. Before that lesson though we talked with Larry, the guy who's wife got 5150ed. We taught him and left a blessing. It was super cool!

I had exchanges with Elder Knudsen on Saturday and it was super fun, I loved it. We got a lot done, including dedicating the Sisters home and making church visits. We taught a girl named Nareida that is one date for baptism for the 29th. But she didn't even know who we were! So we'll need to reevaluate that. Dinner was with the N**** again and then gave a blessing to a sister in the ward that is really ill. Sister W**** is an interesting lady and I almost fell asleep during the lesson... But it was a good day with Knudsen.

Sunday we had a miracle happen. Janice came to church! It was awesome. We also taught the S**** and were working with them to get them to the temple. I an interview with a lady that is very sensitive. She had a million scrunchies and she lied to me in the interview... So she has to be interviewed by President. We didn't have a dinner so we called the R**** to have dinner and it was super fun. I love them to pieces. But that was our week!

Sorry again about the late email... It was a good week nonetheless. Love y'all and talk to y'all next week!

Elder Tonini

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Letter from Bishop of Valley View Ward

May 5, 2013

Dear Brother and Sister Tonini,

I am the Bishop of the Valley View Ward in the Moreno Valley, California Stake.  The city of Moreno Valley is located to the east of and shares a common border with the City of Riverside, California.  Moreno Valley was the 15th fastest growing city in the nation in 2007, and now has a population exceeding 190,000.  Moreno Valley enjoys an extremely diverse demographic, with the majority demographic being Hispanic, followed by Caucasian, African American, Asian, and Pacific Islander.  Needless to say, it is a dynamic city of diverse cultures.  In addition to five family wards, the Moreno Valley Stake also has a Spanish Ward and Samoan Ward.  It is a challenging area in which to serve.

On behalf of your Brothers and Sisters in the Valley View Ward, I want to express to you our gratitude for the faithful service of your son, Elder Tonini, while assigned here in Moreno Valley.  As Bishop, I had the unique opportunity to work closely with Elder Tonini as he labored diligently in this part of the Lord's vineyard.  His tireless and selfless service was an inspiration and motivation for the members of this Ward.  He was instrumental in touching many lives with his unwavering testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As the parent of two returned missionaries, I know that expressions of gratitude from recipients of our sons' missionary service are infrequent.  I just want to let you know that Elder Tonini's service was appreciated.  Thank you for sharing him with us.

Your Brother,

/s/ Bishop Hansen

Monday, September 9, 2013

email: September 9, 2013

Aye I was raised in that lone star state where we go hard
Can't do it small at all, 'cause big things our state
–“New Dreams” by Trip Lee

Sorry, I had to start off with some lyrics I heard from a Christian rapper. He's pretty good and his testimony is strong in his lyrics. I love hearing from all the kids and how things are going! Ready for my week? Let's go.

Monday was spent at the driving range with Elder Smith and other missionaries. It was much needed relief from the normal routine. The only bad part was that I got SUPER sick afterwards. I was not a happy camper at dinner and then we had a meeting afterwards with the zone leaders and I was not in a good place. After that I went home and went straight to bed.

So after Monday, I stayed home to rest. However, I had to do a DDM on Tuesday because I needed it for the new zone plan. I struggled through that... So after that I was sent straight to bed. One of the other missionaries in the Park Hill Ward was sick and so I stayed with him while Elder Child and Elder Smith went out to work. I slept seriously all day and it was much needed. We did pick up a new person to teach and put her on date so that was exciting. Elder Child did that all on his own! He's a good man. Our dinner was with the V****'s and it was just Elder Child and I that went. The other missionaries skipped out to go to Buffalo Wild Wings for 65-cent wings. That irritated me but I got over it. It was a rough day but I survived.

Wednesday was the trainer-trainee meeting and so I got to drive up to Riverside to the mission home. It was good to see all the missionaries there. I sat with Elder Johansen and it was crazy to see all the sister missionaries there. We are in trouble... There are some that are actually some who are really attractive. Or maybe it’s just my mission goggles, I don't know haha. But it was a good meeting and I enjoyed it. 





Afterwards, I went out to lunch with Anita and Spencer.  I loved it, it was a lot of fun to be with Spencer again.
Our lesson that night was with the S****'s and we had a good lesson with them. We are working with them to get them ready for the temple. Our dinner with the St****'s and we got to meet the kid's dad so that was fun. He's a good guy. We got our OYMs and called it a night.

Thursday was weekly planning and we got some good work done. We tried to go see Narida, Sister C***'s granddaughter who accepted Elder Child’s invitation for baptism, but she wasn't there. That was a bummer but we aren't going to give up. We had the R**** for dinner and that is always a fun dinner. I brought up some stuff from home and she went crazy on me. She's seriously like having another mother haha. But Brother R**** gave me a Jerry Garcia tie that is super tight! I love that family so much. We taught the G****'s that night and it was a good way to end the evening. Oh my, Friday morning started with ZDM. It went off well at first but then we got super immature when it came down to the role plays that we did. It really ticked me off; I was not happy. I sat there and didn't say a word. It was painful. We did go out and invite someone to baptism during an OYM and this crazy black guy went nuts on me. It was awesome. We went and saw a member who gave us two referrals for a family in his apartment complex. It was cool to see him be such a good missionary! Our lesson with Stevie went well and they even took us out to dinner. We went to a fast food hotdog place. It was okay; Elder Child loved it haha. We saw the G**** and had a good lesson with them.

We had the craziest service on Saturday morning. We went to clean out an abandoned house and we found some crazy stuff... We found crazy Mormon doctrine books and then we found some crack in the house. It was nuts! I got me super sick again though so that wasn't fun... Saturday was transfer calls and so it was very interesting all day. Our dinner was terrible that night... I hated it. But I ate it so we did the right thing. We got all our stuff done and called it an early night for transfers. I am staying but Elder Smith is leaving... I'm gonna miss him a ton! I love that guy. I did though make the sisters cry when I joked around when I told them that they were getting transferred... Oops. It was fun though haha. Sisters are interesting but they're a blessing too sometimes. Sunday was Stake Conference and we had lunch with Elder Smith for the last time. It was a good Sunday. We got out OYMs and made our visits so it was a pretty quick day. We finished the night picking Park Hill up and we chilled at their house. Being a missionary can be fun at times. I love my mission!

So, that was my week. Nothing too exciting but it was fun. Probably the highlight of the week was saying hi to a down syndrome kid in his car at a stop light. It was seriously awesome to see that. Well, time to help people move for transfers so I will talk to y'all later! Remember RPG: Read, Pray, and Go to church! That is our defensive against the Adversary! Love y'all and talk to y'all soon.

Elder Tonini

Monday, September 2, 2013

email: September 2, 2013

Are you ready for my week? Let's go!

Last P-Day was uneventful. We played some basketball and I played some baseball so that was refreshing. I was pretty tired after that so I came home and went to bed. I love naps so much haha. Our lesson with the S****'s was... Interesting. Ross St****, my recent convert, was over there with Sister S****. She's single and so is he and so it was weird to see them together. However, he made it clear to me that they are just friends and nothing else. Still, it was weird having him there with us. He said the prayer to start the lesson off and he started by saying "Father God" in his prayer. Oh goodness, Elder Child was about to have a fit. Then Ross kept telling stories so that lesson took forever. It was a very interesting lesson to say the least. We got OYMs and then ran home.

We had a good DLC on Tuesday. We talked a lot about what the zone needs and how best we can help them get better. DDM went well, I am getting tired of training though... I am running out of topics to train on. We won't have a DDM this week due to zone meeting on Friday. We had lunch and then went out to find people. We have made a lot of visits this week and we haven't seen much success from it yet. But that's what the work is all about anyways. Dinner was with the Ste***'s and that is always fun to eat with them. The husband is a high councilor and so I tell him all the time that he is going inactive on us haha. We did see the G****'s that night though and it was good to see how well they are doing. All they have done this week is look for apartments so that they don't have to go to Barstow to a homeless shelter up there. But hopefully we can help them out with that. We saw a potential part-member family (PMF) and we talked to the non-member husband and tried to commit him to sit in on our lesson with his wife. He was flaky but we tried.

Wednesday felt very similar to Tuesday. More and more visits... We talked with everyone trying to find people to teach and to baptize. We did see a man by the name of Rex B**** who is one the ward mission process. We had tried to meet with him for forever and we finally did. He's got a few people he is working with but not willing to push them to come meet with us. That is super frustrating. I have come to realize that I am going to be the best member missionary ever. I don't care what people think about me anymore. If they don't want to be a friend of mine because I tried to share the gospel with them then that’s too bad. Something kind of cool happened on the way out to the car from Rex's. There was a woman walking down the God-forsaken road that he lives on and I decided to talk to her. I got talking to her and come to find out, she is originally from Katy, Texas! Small world sometimes. I tried to get over there and to talk to her in her home but she just moved there and didn't know her address so it that was a non-starter... But it was cool to see that happen. Dinner was at the V**** home and it is always a ball when we go over there. Brother and Sister V**** are literally best friends and they give each other a hard time all the time. It is super funny to sit at the table and listen to them tease each other. It's super funny. I want my relationship with my spouse to be like that. Maybe not to the extreme like theirs but it is still super funny. That night, we walked Florida again and talked to some CRAZY people. There's an old school rap song that I heard one time and it says that the freaks come out at night. Very true in Hemet!

Thursday started by going over to Mary's home and tried to get in to teach her non-member husband but come to find out, things are NOT going well for them right now. They are distancing each other and it is not good. So that was kind of a bust... After that, we ran to the Elders’ house in Park Hill to pick them up to go eat some DQ. We had a good talk. Elder Smith is from Farmington New Mexico and so we have a lot of the same ideals and theory's. BFFLs [Best Friends For Life]! Hahaha. Plus I love Elder Tayofa. He is super fun and we have a good time during lunch haha. We continued to look for people but no luck... We had our usual lesson with the G****'s that night and we had some fun before the girls showed up. They had brought a bat, softball, and a Nerf football thingy and we started to hit it around. I couldn't hit the softball as hard as I wanted to but I did get to hit the football. Elder Child hit as well and it was super fun. It has been really humid here lately because of the monsoon season so it's been really sweaty haha. We had a good lesson with them as always. Our dinner was with the P****'s that night and it was super fun. They are in the process of moving houses and so their apartment was a mess. They watched the tail end of the Utah State and Utah game and so we got to hear about the end of the game. Their oldest daughter is super funny. I get along with her really well and we had a good time. All business, of course. We already had our OYMs and so we ran home to get ready for interviews on Friday.

So our interview was supposed to be at 10 am but we had a situation go down. I got a call from the Sisters while I was in the bathroom and they asked where the interviews were. Elder Child told them that it was down in Hemet. The bad thing was that they were in Riverside and their interview was about to start in ten minutes. They wanted us to take their spot and we LIVE ten minutes away from the stake center and I wasn't fully ready to go. So I finished up and got ready super-fast and drove WAY too fast to the interview. We were a little late but still made it. I had a good talk with President; it was much needed. We talked with the Sisters and boy was I not happy. I couldn't help but laugh. We had a weekly planning and had lunch with the Park Hill Elders again. Elder Child and I had a much needed companionship inventory because of something that went down with the Sisters but we cleared that up. We planned and contacted people before dinner with the Clemens and guess who we ate dinner with?! The PARK HILL Elders! They came to the same restaurant we were at so we ate dinner with them. Our lesson again with the G****'s was... Interesting. They told us that they didn't find a home here so they are leaving to Barstow for a shelter. Brother G**** told us that we saved their family. I SAVED THEIR FAMILY. Oh man, that was humbling. It really hit me deep. That was our night and it was a bitter sweet with them.

Our whole Saturday morning was filled with moving the P****'s. The Zone Leaders and Johnson came and that was interesting. But it was good. I was terrified when I got into the big truck with Brother P****. The bishop's truck is a manual and so Brother P**** didn't know how to drive it and we almost rammed the truck into a car and a house! I was terrified. We had a good laugh and I kissed the ground whenever I got out of the truck. We did that all morning and it was good to do that for them. Our dinner was interesting because the head of household was super prideful in his knowledge of the scriptures. Oh well, it was interesting. We taught a less-active member that we found and invited them back to church. That was our night and it was decent. I was so tired it was crazy.

Sunday was interesting as well. Church went well and we had a good sacrament meeting. I enjoyed church even though I was crazy tired. I missed our Elders’ Quorum (EQ) lesson because Elder Child forgot the box with copies of the Book of Mormon at the house so we had to run back down to Winchester to get it. It went well though; it was a good EQ lesson. We saw the G****'s at church today! Come to find out, they didn't get into the shelter and so they had to find a place here. Sure enough, they did and so after church, we helped them move with Brother C****. It was good; I loved it. I was dead tired after that though because I was fasting and I got sick... So I worked while I was sick. Oh well. We had dinner with the N****. We ended up staying for a while and talking with them until we left to go over to Park Hill Elders’ house until it was time to go home. We talked about A LOT of things; even into my romantic life so that was interesting haha.

Now something happened last night that really chaffed my khakis. Our Zone Leaders sent out this text telling us things that we can't do that the handbook says nothing on and THEN drops by the Elders in Park Hill to check up on them right as we are on the way over there. I didn't want to cause a scene so we went to the church to do numbers. Numbers weren't that great because it was a rough week for me. So that didn't help and then on the way over there, Elder J**** stopped by to make sure they weren't being disobedient. Can you say micromanaging? It ticked me off. I do not like when people micromanage others. However, that was the fire I needed to get ready to work my tail off for the next week. But other than that and being sick, I am doing fine.

Well, that is all from here in Hemet. I am doing fine and working through the issues I am dealing with. Don't worry, I will be just fine. Send my regards to the family and the kids. Oh! I almost forgot! Our second counselor in the EQ knows the Romney's in Prosper and Frisco. His name is Brandon V*****; it is such a small world. Well, I am off to go to the driving range so we will talk to y’all soon!

Elder Tonini