"I love you God... You're the best!" - Ryker G

I was SUPER stoked about Jake getting his mission call! I did get to see it. I randomly check the Justin.tv account and sure enough, there is was! I tell everyone I meet that my brother got his mission call! Sounds like he is doing well, I sure am going to miss him though. We won't get that long to be together either so that kinda stinks... Corina told me the story about her coming home from work twice to see Jake open his call. I am glad that everything worked out! Hopefully by the time the next one leaves, we'll have the video streaming technology figured out. Ready for my week? Leggo!

I had a super fun birthday this year with missionary friends and family. We went to Skyzone, an indoor trampoline park, which was pretty legit. There was a huge foam pit that we started out on and then we went to the hoops to dunk on them! It was a flash back to Slam Ball days. I got my back flip down and I was flying high! It was super fun. There was a volleyball net up with the tramps and so we tried that for a bit. It was quite interesting trying to time your jump to hit the ball. We then played some dodge ball and that was LEGIT. All eight Elders against 15 plus 13 year old kids and we won :) naturally. You can't stop the power of God, even on the dodge ball court! Haha we then had dinner with the P*** family and it was a riot. Brother P*** has a VERY dry sense of humor so that was enjoyable. We then went to the batting cages for my birthday/FHE with Allison and Nick. It was super fun! That was the most physical activity I have had in months and before the day was over, I knew I was gonna hurt for a few days. I even got a wood bat as a birthday present to myself haha I cannot tell you how great it felt to hit again. It was an awesome birthday for sure.

Oh man, Tuesday was rough for me. I woke up that morning to work out and I couldn't move... I was that sore! I was pretty funny. I haven't had my abs or back hurt like that in a long time. That's what I get for not hitting in forever and a day! Dale Pa***'s picked us up because it was temple day so that was cool but the icing on the cake was when I got to see Elder Child and he gave me some awesome news. Remember John Ph***? The football coach that I taught in Hemet? Well, he moved to Menifee and he is getting baptized this Sunday! And he wants me to baptize him! MY LAST SUNDAY AS A MISSIONARY! I was about in tears because that family means a lot to me. We took some pictures and then went to lunch with Dale. I love that guy but he can say some of the oddest things... In and Out was good and then we had dinner with the M***' family where Elder Anderson patched his tire. We stopped to teach Allison and Nick that night so that was good too :)

So we had DLC and DDM on Wednesday due to the temple on Tuesday and that was a good time too. I trained over the priesthood and intelligence and how we need to magnify our calling. Some of the sisters just looked at me with a blank stare but then Sister Jenkins made the connection and that made the icing on the cake. Sister Anderson heard it in Hemet when I first gave this same training and she just rolled her eyes when she heard what I was training on haha. After that, we had lunch and then went out to make visits and contact. We ended up teaching these two guys and we taught them almost to the bus stop. That was a good time because then we had to book it home for the R*** to take us to dinner but they never showed... I went and called them from the payphone and they told me the bad news that Jake's call didn't come so it'll be on Thursday. Before I called them, I got super depressed because I wanted to see the R*** and Jake opening his call. We were supposed to go on a split with our Ward Mission Leader but he got held up at work. It was a crazy day but we made it out alive and that's all that counts.

We had breakfast with the Foothill Elders and then went and saw Sister Sanchez at her salon. We gave her an update on things and on her family. After that was some lunch and then weekly planning. It was weird planning for my "death week" but we made some good goals and got ready for the week. We rode to go see Richard for the first time in forever and had a good lesson with him. He showed up his new car and the "essentials" in his trunk that consisted of a pack of water and boxers... That won't get you anywhere! We then went to dinner with the Ji****'s and Rodney came! We taught him after we had dinner. But before we taught Rodney, I got to watch Jake open his call! It was freaking awesome :). I love that kid to pieces! After that, we saw Allison and Nick again to teach them. Allison’s 21 year old sister wanted to see pictures of us and so that was interesting. She'll even be over on Sunday for a lesson too haha. We exchanged that night and I got to spend some time with Elder Gordon before we crashed.

Friday was busy! We worked out in the morning, studied and then went out. We stopped at the gas station to get some air and I ended up talking to Robert, our favorite homeless man. I ended up teaching him and giving him a Book of Mormon. After that, he asked if I could buy him a drink so I went in and bought him two Gatorade's and gave him the change. It was a small thing but it meant a lot to me to do that. We then rode off to a potential investigator and ended up leaving a blessing on Rick and Karen in their home. It was really good! Karen is looking for something so we are gonna keep working with them. Their house butts up to the church so that is convenient haha. We then went to lunch at Subway and went back out to work. We made more visits and then stopped to see Paul Ry***. We talked to him for a bit and then set something up to teach his mother this week. We then had a bomb lesson with Tom which was super spiritual. We'll get Tom soon! Dinner was with the Morris' family and we had Samoan food! It was super good too. They were a fun family to eat dinner with. We then stopped to see Cale but he was in Orange County with Kim and so we taught Sister Clarke instead. We taught her about helping with Cale and making progress with him. Our last stop was Nick and it was a cool because Nick is gonna let us leave him with commitments to read and pray and so we taught about the Book of Mormon and prayer. Ryker, his son, said the prayer and he said "I love you God, you're the best!" I couldn't help but laugh but that six year old taught me something very important that night. Our prayers should always be like that! It was an eye-opener for me and it made me love that little kid even more. We exchanged back to find out Elder Anderson got super sick and so we are still dealing with that but he will get better soon.

We went to some yard sales on Saturday while we made visits. We saw crazy Eddy again and he was wearing a homemade shirt with a cross on it! Plus he pulled out Church paintings and he prayed with us in the middle of the street. Yup, he still isn't changing... We had lunch and then went back out to make some visits. We rode to see Izzy when I tried to contact a man and he ignored me then cussed me out. He called me profanities and so I kept talking to him haha. I am tired of people doing that to me so I am going to kill them with my charity. I knocked on the door and about got attacked by Izzy. I am pretty sure she has a thing for me because she is CRAZY about me. She can't say my last name and so she calls me "Tohini". Not even close! Haha we then had dinner with the A****'s and had some super good Porterhouse steaks. It was super good! Everything fell through that night so we finished up our OYMs.

Sunday was not a good day because I was up at 4 am and couldn't go back to sleep. I think it is my anxiety of everything starting to kick in. The "dry" council spoke in church and I slept through it all because I didn't sleep very well the night before. I'm glad Dad isn't a boring speaker! I got to teach sharing time in Primary so I spent two hours with the kids. I love the primary kids so much! We then ate lunch and then off to the C****'s to have a mini FHE and read the Book of Mormon together with their family. After that, we ran off to Pu****'s for dinner and that was a ton of fun. I love their kids! Little Christy wanted me to sit next to her and she held my arm the entire time. Yup, I can't wait to be a dad. We told mission stories and then ran off to Allison and Nick. Her sister was there and so we told more stories and taught about patience. I am going to miss that family so much. It’s gonna be way hard to leave...

Well, that's my week. Keep me in your prayers as my anxiety is gonna be out of control this week. But I will be fine. I gotta sprint to the finish and not let the Adversary get to me. I love y'all and I will talk to y'all one more time before I am home!

- Elder Tonini