"If I stepped in a mud pie, how deep would my boot sink?"

It was kinda of bittersweet to get to talk to y’all this Christmas. I guess it hit me that this is my last time Skyping as a missionary and my last Christmas as a missionary so that was kinda surreal for me. Next Christmas, we will be talking to Jake on his mission! Missions are the best! I loved getting to see all the kids. Ready for my week? Let's go!

Our Pday was super weird due to Christmas. Since we were basically having another Pday on Tuesday with Christmas Eve, we were to have a half Pday on Monday. They even had us have district meeting that morning too. It didn’t even feel like it was a true Monday! I felt so bad emailing because I felt like I was breaking the rules haha. We got that done and some laundry done then it was off to start proselyting at 3:30. We had an early dinner with the C**** and the P**** families so that was super fun! They both are super awesome families. We then went and saw Cale to see how he was doing. It was a short lesson with him because they were still trying to get things ready for Christmas but we left him with a Restoration DVD and followed up on his smoking. He's still off of it! Hopefully we can keep him going. We got our OYMs and then we called it a night.

I was super stoked for the Christmas party because of us doing the Haka with all the Samoan's and Tongan's in the mission. Elders Ete and Kava did it and so they invited me to do it. It was super good to see everyone again! I will try and send the video so we will see what I can do. The party took all day and so we got back to the house around 3ish. It was super bittersweet because that was the last time I am going to see a lot of my mission friends on their missions. We came home and crashed because I had no energy left because I'm still fighting that stupid sinus infection.  We then went to the U*** family for dinner. They are a Mexican family and so we had tamales for dinner! It reminded me of being back in Texas :). Plus they had UFC on and so that made me kinda trunkee but it was good to get to spend time with them. Their son Gio is a super good kid! We talked a lot about missions and how much they help so hopefully we made an impact on him for the better :)

Our Christmas morning was awesome! We slept up until 8am then hung around the house until 10ish then we went to P***’s for breakfast. We played with the kids and had fun outside with them. We then ran to the C***'s to spend some time with them. We  ended up watching one of their sons play Battlefield 4 so it turned into a bust.  We were supposed to have a fun activity but it never happened. Then we ran home to change into a shirt and tie to Skype the family! After that, I got into an intense chess game with Cameron, their 8 year old. I won, but by the skin of my teeth! He put up a good fight for sure haha it was a good time. We then played another super fun board game! Dinner was good and then we ran straight off to play basketball with some Elders and Gio. It was so much fun! I am terrible at basketball but I was doin' work that night! I even dribbled through Gio's legs and laid it up haha. He didn't like that too much haha but it was a good time. Elder Ete and I were so funny, I love my Poly! It was a good Christmas for sure :)

Thursday was back to the usual and so we got our weekly planning somewhat done and then we went and taught John again. It actually went okay this time. We had to kinda yell at him but we made it work. We taught him through the pamphlet and we testified like CRAZY to him so that he could feel the Spirit. We challenged him to be baptized but he didn’t accept it just yet. We're gonna keep on trying with him. Then we went to Cale's and got some crushing news... He relapsed and smoked two packs in two days so we didn't have a baptism this weekend. It was crushing but it opened us up to his real concerns. He still has a lot of doctrinal questions that we are going to address so that was okay. It still was super crushing... But we got some work to do now with him so it'll all work out.

We went on exchanges on Friday and I went with Elder Johansen! I love that Elder so much! I really loved this exchange. We talked to a member about his Jeep, had Little Caesar’s pizza and gave a freaking awesome blessing on a family and then taught the mother! We went to visit a former member and we ended up talking to her neighbor. Her name is Tammy and she runs a traveling petting zoo so we got to see all the animals! It was awesome haha. We left a blessing on the kids and her and it was crazy spiritual! She then dismissed the kids and she talked to us about doctrinal things. She agreed to have us come back so that was good! Dinner ran long then we went to get fries in honor of a missionary we are both close to :). Then we were gonna head home but another Elder needed a blessing so we went to give it and I gave the blessing. It was super profound because I said some things that only God would tell me to say. I guess I'm just fulfilling what my patriarchal blessing says about me being a spiritual healer. We exchanged back and got ready for Saturday :)

We had apartment checks that morning then went out to see our people. Our noon appointment had three cops in the front yard when we rolled up so that appointment, needless to say, fell through and then our next one wasn't there so we just rode around and explored while we talked to people. We had our bash appointment that afternoon, which really didn't happen but we did get to talk to him and set something up. Hopefully we can make headway with him. We then finished weekly planning and went to the P****’s for dinner. We had a correlation meeting and then went to the hospital to make some visits. We ended up meeting some sweet old ladies in the hospital and gave them blessings as well. It was a tender moment for both Elder Anderson and me. It’s amazing how much love you can have for random people you meet and come into their lives. I love it! We then rode home, knowing we did something great that night.

Sunday was a good day. It was a good sacrament meeting and then we got to teach Melissa and put her on date for baptism! Yeah buddy! We then rode home and Elder Anderson tanked it HARD in his suit. Poor guy! We then had lunch and studied then went out to make visits and OYMs. Dinner was okay, but the highlight was going back to the hospital. The man in the ICU is getting better and one of our sweet old ladies went home! The other one was waiting for us and she is getting better :). It was awesome! I loved it so much. The Lord really does know what He is doing :).

I love y’all and hope everything is going well! I will send pictures next week, I promise! Keep working hard and open y’all’s mouths this week! Be the full-time missionaries and share the gospel :). I love y’all and pray that I don’t get too trunkee!

- Elder Tonini