I GET TO TALK TO THE FAMILY IN TWO DAYS! I cannot wait to see everyone and see how things are going! This is my last Christmas in the mission field! It is kinda crazy to think about that right now. I saw the trunky count down timer you have on my blog. Good one! That is super clever haha. Alright, ready for my interesting week? Let’s go!
Monday was an okay Pday. I got my haircut and then took a nap before we went and emailed at the library in the early afternoon. We then shopped and worked out then met Anita at the mall to get some stuff for the Elders. I love being able to spend time with her. She got Elder Anderson a Nike jacket that he seriously wears all day every day. It made his Christmas and I am so thankful for Anita for being generous and doing that for him. We then went to dinner and came home after we got OYMs because Anderson got some news from his family that really got him upset. When we came home that night, we didn't take the bikes up, we just left them at the bottom of our stairs at our apartment and locked them up there. It was a rough night and I was helping him through it all and so we both weren't in the right state of mind that night. And it sure as heck paid off...
We woke up Tuesday morning and we walked out to go get on the bikes to ride when we looked below the stairs and the bikes were gone... FETCH! So we got on our Shanks' ponies and took off to go see Ivan. We had to walk all say because we had no way to get around. Needless to say, I was super tired and my feet were on fire. Good times. We walked to go see Tom again and see how he is doing. He isn't progressing just yet but we are going to keep on him to try and get that going. We had dinner with the H*** family which was nice and then we went to go see Cale. He is progressing really nicely and he is making huge changes. We got him on track to stop smoking so hopefully that will happen later that week (which it did!). Funny story during that lesson. I went to commit Cale to live the Word of Wisdom that we were teaching and I said the Law of Chasity instead... Dangit! That's what happens when you're super doped up on cold meds haha. We then had another situation go down with my companion that night... He got some news from his recent convert in Hemet about his blood brother and how things are not going well for him. To make a long story short, we ended up yelling at each other and trying to make peace. We eventually did and things are good. I've come to realize that I am the kind of man to not take recognition for the things I do. Elder Anderson told me that he prayed for me specifically to be comps and that he looks up to me and wants to be just like me. That floored me because I didn't realize how much of an impact I was making on him. The Lord knows what He is doing for sure!
We were still on our Shanks' ponies on Wednesday so we walked to our potential blessing to find that it fell through... But we did get to meet these super nice JDub (Jehovah’s Witness) ladies out tracting too! We shared scripture and we talked about our missions and our beliefs. They even offered to drive us home because they asked about our bike situation and they felt sorry for what happened haha. We didn't get in though so we walked home. We then did a service project for the community and all the local kids. A non-profit organization is going to give a thousand kids a present so they can have a Christmas. The missionaries help every year and today we helped sort presents and get things ready for Saturday. However, after the project, I got super sick with what I think was a super bad sinus infection so that knocked me out for the rest of the night... We had Bakers dropped off to us and so we had dinner but it was a rough night for me. We did however, get a bike for Elder Anderson so we are back on the bikes again!
Thursday was another rough day too because I was feeling terrible... I slept almost all morning and then when we were about to go out to go make some visits... It starts to rain! Just my luck... Riding in the rain and feeling miserable is not fun. It was some sure big wife points though! We got our OYMs and then had dinner with the C**** that night. They are an awesome family; this was the first time we got to eat with them. Brother C**** has an interesting family... Come to find out, all of them are in the medicinal marijuana business. Whoops! After dinner, we had our lesson with Cale and we taught about the Law of Chasity and tithing. He is on track to still hopefully get baptized this weekend! Keep him in your prayers that we can make that happen for him family!
On Friday morning, we drove to Corona to have multi-zone conference with President Smart and the AP's. It was super good but super long. Towards the end, I was trying real hard to stay focused but then my meds ran out and I tanked... I felt terrible towards the end of the meeting and I couldn't do anything about it. I had to give my outgoing testimony too and that was bittersweet. It’s crazy to think I only have a few months left... It went way too fast. However, it was good to see old mission buddies there and catch up with them. Anita stopped by the apartment to drop off a pie and I looked like death... I slept through dinner and then went off to a lesson with Allison and her family. Allison got all made up for us and I think that is interesting... Oh well haha. Their kids are super fun and I love going over there to see them.
Saturday was the big day! We got to help with the toy drive and giving out the toys to the kids. I started by helping ushering kids into the door to going in front of the kids teaching them the wave and singing songs with them. It was super fun! No one was stepping up to get things organized so I did it myself. I guess that's something Dad taught me to do. I could hear him say "quit standing there with your teeth in your mouth and go get it done!" We taught the kids "popcorn popping on the Christmas tree" and "once there was a snowman"! It was super fun. By the end of it the second group, I had no voice. The poor Sisters I was working with didn't have a loud voice like I do so I kinda took over the show... Whoops! Good thing they know the words because I had forgotten them all! After the project, I came home to sleep some more because I was still feeling terrible and then we went out to make visits. I had the worst experience with Eddy on Saturday night. When we saw him, we could tell there was something wrong with him. He was super high and I think on meth. We kept hugging us and he ended up kissing me on the cheek which I about decked him when he did that. There was the most evil feeling at his home and I hated it. I just wanted to run. There was a man sitting in his garage with the door half open so I couldn't see his face but I could see him turned at me with his hand together in his lap staring at me through the garage door. There was a meth pipe in the garage and Eddy was tweaking super bad. It was the worst feeling ever... We then went to Tom's again and invited him to church and to read then off to Cale's. Cale is done smoking! He's done it and it’s super awesome. We invited him to church so hopefully he'll come.
We made our church visits Sunday morning and we got Cale to come to church! We ended up having Cale, Melissa and Jean Johnson come to church. That's the most investigators at church this ward has had in a long time! Cale went home after sacrament but Jean stayed for the second hour and Melissa stayed all three. It was a good Christmas program and there was some good talent there. I taught the youth Sunday school and that was a ton of fun. Melissa, the bishop's daughter's friend that is investigating, was answering more questions than the young men! Those boys... But I guess there was some drama win the investigator class with a member so that was interesting. We then came home and slept some more because we're trying to get feeling better and then we went off to the S**** family for dinner. I love that family so much! I sat with JuJu, the 5 year old, and had dinner with him. We taught the Restoration with the rubix cube and then got our OYMs and called it a night. It was a good way to end a crummy week! Gotta make the best of any situation and just smile back :).
I love y’all and can't wait to see y’all in a few days! Tomorrow is the Christmas party and I get to see everyone one last time before I leave! Plus I am performing at the talent show at the party so that'll be good! Love all of y’all and we will talk soon!
Elder Tonini
Elder Andrew Tonini grew up in Houston, Texas and is currently serving a full-time, two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Riverside, California. He returned home on February 24, 2014.
Showing posts with label #WifePoints. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #WifePoints. Show all posts
Monday, December 23, 2013
Monday, November 25, 2013
email: November 25, 2013
I am glad to hear that everyone had a great week! I can feel for Mom with the headaches, I have been battling one for almost a week that won't go away. Jake told me that he is getting close to getting his papers started! I am super excited and proud of that boy. He is going to be a wayy better missionary than I ever was. Corina told me about her birthday and I am glad she growing up so quickly. Everyone is getting so old except for me! I love that Carson goes and plays in the snow. That'll be my favorite thing to go do with him in February. Hopefully there will still be some snow. Ready for my week? Shake and bake!
I got my haircut on Monday and I was looking fresh! I got a fade from one of the sisters in my ward that does hair and it looked good. I get my haircut every two weeks; I gotta find a girl who can cut hair otherwise I am going to spend some serious money on my hair haha. We actually played football with the other Elders so that was fun. I was sitting with the Elders when one of them pulled me aside and we started talking. He asked me what I thought of him and if I thought he was dorky and geeky, if I would pick on him with we were in high school and stuff like that. I told him of course not; I'm not like that at all. He thought that because he labeled me as a "jock" and he didn't have a good high school experience with kids like that. I reassured him that I wouldn't do that and that I loved him a ton. After that talk, we went and played football with him and on the last play of the game, he caught the winning touchdown pass. It was so awesome to see him get like that, all excited and happy. It made my Pday. After that, we emailed and had lunch. We hung out and I worked out that afternoon until we had dinner with the P**** family. Their kids make me laugh, their youngest is such a sweetheart - she makes me smile every time I see her. We then went to a part-member family (PMF) to give the wife a blessing and taught more about the priesthood. One of the sisters in our ward told us that her husband really likes us and so hopefully we can start teaching their whole family soon. A pretty productive Pday :).
We had our usual meeting on Tuesday but Elder Thurman got pretty sick so he had Elder Coleman train and it was really good. We made goals and set plans to help ourselves become the best missionary we can be. It was super inspiring. I actually miss training every week. I don't think my Sisters do because I tended to talk a little deeper topics than usual district leaders do... Whoops! We then had lunch and finished our studies. As part of our studies, Elder Anderson and I had a really deep companionship inventory. We talked about our weaknesses and what would keep us from baptizing in this area. We wrote it all down and made a system to keep ourselves accountable to each other. It was much needed because we are imperfect but yet we can make those weaknesses become strengths. We are gonna really focus on this this last week of the transfer. We made visits in the afternoon and then had dinner with the J*** family in our ward. It was a fun dinner; their kids are pretty crazy sometimes though. When we were leaving a quick lesson, their one-year old daughter walked up to me and sat next to me and I read her a book while Elder Anderson taught. Goodness, it makes me ready for a family! Time will come though. We then ran off to teach Kale, one of our PMF we are working with. The family loves us - we are actually having Thanksgiving dinner with them so it'll be exciting. We taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation and they understood it really well. The homework we left with them was Alma 40 to get them ready for next week when we come and teach the rest of the plan. Our goal as a companionship was to get five member present lessons this week and we got it! It was awesome to feel that accomplishment. Our goal is to get seven this week so we're gonna have to work pretty hard to make that happen!
We started off our Wednesday with a super big deep clean of the apartment. We are starting fresh and cleanliness is close to godliness so we took that as our fresh start. It was a good thing too because we felt refreshed and ready to make big things happen! We made a visit to a less-active member who is super sick to see how she was doing. We talked with her and made sure she was doing okay and left a brief lesson with her before she left for chemo. The only downfall was that my gastritis was acting up and it was become quite uncomfortable so I didn't eat very much that night at dinner at Farmer boys. We then rode to Dale’s house to have him ride his bike with us to our appointment that night. We taught Richard again and it went well. Dale and I have some conflicting doctrinal views but I put that aside and we taught well together. As we were leaving the house, Elder Anderson went to OYM this guy walking down the street and they almost got into a physical confrontation. The guy said something provocative about his sister and he about freaked. I had to jump in to cool him down before he did something stupid. And that's why we roll together in pairs :). And then to make matters worse, it starts to rain. Not just rain, POUR. And we were 15 minutes plus away from home so it was quite a fun ride. #WifePoints When we got back to the apartment, we were soaked. I showered and then went to bed. I was freezing cold! I am gonna die in Minot for sure...
We had our lesson with Ivan that went really well. We both testified and taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation. It was awesome to see the Spirit prick his heart. He started to ask us questions about our missions and about the purpose of life and everything. He really is a good kid, I love him to pieces. Right as we rolled outside to ride home, it started to rain again! It poured all day and we worked in it all day. Awesome! Our dinner went well and went to go see Kale and check up on his reading. It's not happening yet but hopefully soon.
Friday was temple day! I needed to go to the temple so badly; I have had a lot of things on my mind that I needed to go talk to God about. I got an interesting answer in the temple that I will have to tell y'all about when I call home for Christmas. It has a long back story and is super, super personal to me. After the temple, we had our temple nap for lunch and then went out to make some visits. Pizza was dropped off for us for dinner and then we went and saw Carmen again to try and set something up for us to come and teach her. Her six-year old daughter drew me a picture that I hung up on my wall. It was awesome!
All we do on Saturday is make church visits and try to get people to come to church. We stopped by Ladio's house to try and see if he would come but he's working on getting over being sick and so that might not happen. The afternoon was kind of shot due to the fact that I really rolled my ankle during lunch. Elders Thruman and Passmore came over for lunch and we started dancing and I rolled my ankle when I stepped on one of my dumbbells. Yup, I'm a dork I know. It killed all day and so we didn't go everywhere that I wanted to but we made calls to those people we missed. We saw this referral that we got from another missionary and we could tell he was on meth and so we'll see what happens with him. Anita took us to Claim Jumper for dinner because we didn't have anyone sign up so she took us. It was quite an adventure with her that night, it always is with her :). I love her to pieces!
I was pretty dead on Sunday because I started to come down with a sickness so it was a slow day for us. Both Elder Anderson and I came down with something. It was probably from the cold and rain earlier in the week. I still am sick so it'll be a fun week working through it all. Kale came to church so that was good! Our dinner made Thanksgiving dinner early for us so that was good. The only downfall was that I had gotten progressively worse so I didn't eat too much... We played some Uno and got to know the family. We did however, have two lessons with Eddy and Tom, some new people we picked up this week and last so that was good. Overall, it was a good week besides the physical ailments I am working though.
In closing, I want y'all to know how much I love MY Savior. I am so grateful for daily repentance; it is something all of need to learn and master because that is the only way back to the Father. I have grown to love the scriptures and the doctrine within its pages. I love that we have modern day prophets and the power and love they have for us. This is the most important work we can do. I'm not a full time missionary, only part time. Y'all as members ARE the full-time missionaries because y'all live in the area and make huge impacts. Keep opening your mouth and share the good news of the Gospel! I love y'all and I'm counting down the days until Christmas time!
- Elder Tonini
I got my haircut on Monday and I was looking fresh! I got a fade from one of the sisters in my ward that does hair and it looked good. I get my haircut every two weeks; I gotta find a girl who can cut hair otherwise I am going to spend some serious money on my hair haha. We actually played football with the other Elders so that was fun. I was sitting with the Elders when one of them pulled me aside and we started talking. He asked me what I thought of him and if I thought he was dorky and geeky, if I would pick on him with we were in high school and stuff like that. I told him of course not; I'm not like that at all. He thought that because he labeled me as a "jock" and he didn't have a good high school experience with kids like that. I reassured him that I wouldn't do that and that I loved him a ton. After that talk, we went and played football with him and on the last play of the game, he caught the winning touchdown pass. It was so awesome to see him get like that, all excited and happy. It made my Pday. After that, we emailed and had lunch. We hung out and I worked out that afternoon until we had dinner with the P**** family. Their kids make me laugh, their youngest is such a sweetheart - she makes me smile every time I see her. We then went to a part-member family (PMF) to give the wife a blessing and taught more about the priesthood. One of the sisters in our ward told us that her husband really likes us and so hopefully we can start teaching their whole family soon. A pretty productive Pday :).
We had our usual meeting on Tuesday but Elder Thurman got pretty sick so he had Elder Coleman train and it was really good. We made goals and set plans to help ourselves become the best missionary we can be. It was super inspiring. I actually miss training every week. I don't think my Sisters do because I tended to talk a little deeper topics than usual district leaders do... Whoops! We then had lunch and finished our studies. As part of our studies, Elder Anderson and I had a really deep companionship inventory. We talked about our weaknesses and what would keep us from baptizing in this area. We wrote it all down and made a system to keep ourselves accountable to each other. It was much needed because we are imperfect but yet we can make those weaknesses become strengths. We are gonna really focus on this this last week of the transfer. We made visits in the afternoon and then had dinner with the J*** family in our ward. It was a fun dinner; their kids are pretty crazy sometimes though. When we were leaving a quick lesson, their one-year old daughter walked up to me and sat next to me and I read her a book while Elder Anderson taught. Goodness, it makes me ready for a family! Time will come though. We then ran off to teach Kale, one of our PMF we are working with. The family loves us - we are actually having Thanksgiving dinner with them so it'll be exciting. We taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation and they understood it really well. The homework we left with them was Alma 40 to get them ready for next week when we come and teach the rest of the plan. Our goal as a companionship was to get five member present lessons this week and we got it! It was awesome to feel that accomplishment. Our goal is to get seven this week so we're gonna have to work pretty hard to make that happen!
We started off our Wednesday with a super big deep clean of the apartment. We are starting fresh and cleanliness is close to godliness so we took that as our fresh start. It was a good thing too because we felt refreshed and ready to make big things happen! We made a visit to a less-active member who is super sick to see how she was doing. We talked with her and made sure she was doing okay and left a brief lesson with her before she left for chemo. The only downfall was that my gastritis was acting up and it was become quite uncomfortable so I didn't eat very much that night at dinner at Farmer boys. We then rode to Dale’s house to have him ride his bike with us to our appointment that night. We taught Richard again and it went well. Dale and I have some conflicting doctrinal views but I put that aside and we taught well together. As we were leaving the house, Elder Anderson went to OYM this guy walking down the street and they almost got into a physical confrontation. The guy said something provocative about his sister and he about freaked. I had to jump in to cool him down before he did something stupid. And that's why we roll together in pairs :). And then to make matters worse, it starts to rain. Not just rain, POUR. And we were 15 minutes plus away from home so it was quite a fun ride. #WifePoints When we got back to the apartment, we were soaked. I showered and then went to bed. I was freezing cold! I am gonna die in Minot for sure...
We had our lesson with Ivan that went really well. We both testified and taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation. It was awesome to see the Spirit prick his heart. He started to ask us questions about our missions and about the purpose of life and everything. He really is a good kid, I love him to pieces. Right as we rolled outside to ride home, it started to rain again! It poured all day and we worked in it all day. Awesome! Our dinner went well and went to go see Kale and check up on his reading. It's not happening yet but hopefully soon.
Friday was temple day! I needed to go to the temple so badly; I have had a lot of things on my mind that I needed to go talk to God about. I got an interesting answer in the temple that I will have to tell y'all about when I call home for Christmas. It has a long back story and is super, super personal to me. After the temple, we had our temple nap for lunch and then went out to make some visits. Pizza was dropped off for us for dinner and then we went and saw Carmen again to try and set something up for us to come and teach her. Her six-year old daughter drew me a picture that I hung up on my wall. It was awesome!
All we do on Saturday is make church visits and try to get people to come to church. We stopped by Ladio's house to try and see if he would come but he's working on getting over being sick and so that might not happen. The afternoon was kind of shot due to the fact that I really rolled my ankle during lunch. Elders Thruman and Passmore came over for lunch and we started dancing and I rolled my ankle when I stepped on one of my dumbbells. Yup, I'm a dork I know. It killed all day and so we didn't go everywhere that I wanted to but we made calls to those people we missed. We saw this referral that we got from another missionary and we could tell he was on meth and so we'll see what happens with him. Anita took us to Claim Jumper for dinner because we didn't have anyone sign up so she took us. It was quite an adventure with her that night, it always is with her :). I love her to pieces!
I was pretty dead on Sunday because I started to come down with a sickness so it was a slow day for us. Both Elder Anderson and I came down with something. It was probably from the cold and rain earlier in the week. I still am sick so it'll be a fun week working through it all. Kale came to church so that was good! Our dinner made Thanksgiving dinner early for us so that was good. The only downfall was that I had gotten progressively worse so I didn't eat too much... We played some Uno and got to know the family. We did however, have two lessons with Eddy and Tom, some new people we picked up this week and last so that was good. Overall, it was a good week besides the physical ailments I am working though.
In closing, I want y'all to know how much I love MY Savior. I am so grateful for daily repentance; it is something all of need to learn and master because that is the only way back to the Father. I have grown to love the scriptures and the doctrine within its pages. I love that we have modern day prophets and the power and love they have for us. This is the most important work we can do. I'm not a full time missionary, only part time. Y'all as members ARE the full-time missionaries because y'all live in the area and make huge impacts. Keep opening your mouth and share the good news of the Gospel! I love y'all and I'm counting down the days until Christmas time!
- Elder Tonini
Monday, October 14, 2013
email: October 14, 2013
Sounds like y'all had a good week! I love going to the temple. We get to go to the temple this next transfer so that will be awesome. I am excited. Transfers are this next week so we will see what happens. After this transfer, I will only have three left...time sure does fly. I will dearly miss my mission but now I have to put the lead down and work my hardest. Ready for the week? Let's go.
Monday was super fun! We went and played some baseball up at the Park Hill building. We played with a tennis ball so everyone could play. Henderson got creamed in the stomach with the tennis ball while pitching. It was super funny! It felt so good to play again. I had Sister Pack hit me some ground balls and she nailed me in the stomach the first ground ball she hit me. Yessir! We had dinner at the D**** home and it was super fun. I love those kids so much. But we taught a lesson to the kids and that is always fun. We then got our OYMs and called it a night.
We had a brief multi-zone conference with San Jacinto and Hemet zones. I actually played the piano in front of everyone. I made a rendition of "Come Thou Fount" and three other Elders sang. It was super sick, I loved it. After lunch, we had studies and then went out. We didn't have any lesson until that night when we went and saw the G**** family. They are doing well :). We gave them a picture of the San Diego temple that we found so they can keep their eye on the prize. We got our OYMs and called it a night.
Wednesday was DDM and so I had to do that. I trained over the Good Samaritan and how Christ was prophesying about Himself. It was a pretty good training. After DDM, Sister Gambling asked for a blessing from me and so I gave her one and we ended up giving blessing to almost all the sisters. Gotta love them :). We were going to see John again but he had to re schedule so we had companionship study together. It started to rain in the afternoon and boy it didn't stop. It dumped like crazy. All of our visits, no one was out and so we had to walk in the POURING rain. We talked to everyone out in the rain. I was freezing... But it was all worth it. #WifePoints! Haha it was a fun way to end a day.
We had our usual weekly planning on Thursday and saw John and his wife. We had a good lesson with him. Jasmine actually sat down with us and so it was good. They want us to come see their son play on Saturday so we will have to see. Our dinner was with the M**** family and we got to teach Maddy afterwards. It was a good lesson with her. We then had the G**** family that night and we had to get our contacts for the day.
We had Fred on Friday which was super sick! He is a Hawaiian that just moved here. He wants to get baptized and so we are going to make it happen! Sister Gambling actually got us the contact so that was pretty sweet! We then met up with Mrs. Montgomery which is always a blast. She is the old black lady that wants to come to church. She's...interesting haha. We then also saw crazy Jennifer. She is not going anywhere... But it's still good to come by and see her. We gave a blessing to a less active lady. We had dinner with the R**** family at Steer and Stine. It was super good! I told them I could be leaving and they freaked. Brother R**** is going take me to the temple for the last time on my mission. It's going to be awesome.
We had our follow up lesson with Fred Saturday morning and it went well. He said he's gonna come to church but he didn't end up coming... But he understood everything and he even gave us money for breakfast haha. We then went to go see John's son play football at the local high school. It was super sick! Those six year olds are pretty intense. We got our oil change and had a lesson again with Mrs. Montgomery. She asked us to go buy groceries for her... Oh boy haha. But it was a good day. Funniest thing happened that afternoon. We had come home because we had a situation with the other missionaries that had to involve a DL stop-by. We were sitting on the couch when a random guy with pizza walked into our apartment. He stared at us and I said, "Hey what's up man!" He turned around and shut the door. Only in Hemet hahahaha.
Sunday we had our usual meetings and made a drop by to see the G****s because they didn't come to church. They ended up having a huge fight... But we came over there that night so it was all good. I did have a pretty humbling experience that afternoon. People kept asking when transfers were and I told them I might be leaving. I told a young man I got close to that I might be leaving and it really crushed him, according to his mom. He texted me later that afternoon and said that because of me, he is going to go on a mission. That was very humbling... We had dinner with the P****'s and that is always a blast. I love that family so much too. We called it an early night because I wasn't feeling too good. The day before, I ate some pasta sauce that was nine months expired... Whoops. But I am good now. Overall, it was a good week :).
Well, I hope y'all have a wonderful week. I will let you know what happens with transfers. Love y'all and remember who you are!
Elder Tonini
Monday was super fun! We went and played some baseball up at the Park Hill building. We played with a tennis ball so everyone could play. Henderson got creamed in the stomach with the tennis ball while pitching. It was super funny! It felt so good to play again. I had Sister Pack hit me some ground balls and she nailed me in the stomach the first ground ball she hit me. Yessir! We had dinner at the D**** home and it was super fun. I love those kids so much. But we taught a lesson to the kids and that is always fun. We then got our OYMs and called it a night.
We had a brief multi-zone conference with San Jacinto and Hemet zones. I actually played the piano in front of everyone. I made a rendition of "Come Thou Fount" and three other Elders sang. It was super sick, I loved it. After lunch, we had studies and then went out. We didn't have any lesson until that night when we went and saw the G**** family. They are doing well :). We gave them a picture of the San Diego temple that we found so they can keep their eye on the prize. We got our OYMs and called it a night.
Wednesday was DDM and so I had to do that. I trained over the Good Samaritan and how Christ was prophesying about Himself. It was a pretty good training. After DDM, Sister Gambling asked for a blessing from me and so I gave her one and we ended up giving blessing to almost all the sisters. Gotta love them :). We were going to see John again but he had to re schedule so we had companionship study together. It started to rain in the afternoon and boy it didn't stop. It dumped like crazy. All of our visits, no one was out and so we had to walk in the POURING rain. We talked to everyone out in the rain. I was freezing... But it was all worth it. #WifePoints! Haha it was a fun way to end a day.
We had our usual weekly planning on Thursday and saw John and his wife. We had a good lesson with him. Jasmine actually sat down with us and so it was good. They want us to come see their son play on Saturday so we will have to see. Our dinner was with the M**** family and we got to teach Maddy afterwards. It was a good lesson with her. We then had the G**** family that night and we had to get our contacts for the day.
We had Fred on Friday which was super sick! He is a Hawaiian that just moved here. He wants to get baptized and so we are going to make it happen! Sister Gambling actually got us the contact so that was pretty sweet! We then met up with Mrs. Montgomery which is always a blast. She is the old black lady that wants to come to church. She's...interesting haha. We then also saw crazy Jennifer. She is not going anywhere... But it's still good to come by and see her. We gave a blessing to a less active lady. We had dinner with the R**** family at Steer and Stine. It was super good! I told them I could be leaving and they freaked. Brother R**** is going take me to the temple for the last time on my mission. It's going to be awesome.
We had our follow up lesson with Fred Saturday morning and it went well. He said he's gonna come to church but he didn't end up coming... But he understood everything and he even gave us money for breakfast haha. We then went to go see John's son play football at the local high school. It was super sick! Those six year olds are pretty intense. We got our oil change and had a lesson again with Mrs. Montgomery. She asked us to go buy groceries for her... Oh boy haha. But it was a good day. Funniest thing happened that afternoon. We had come home because we had a situation with the other missionaries that had to involve a DL stop-by. We were sitting on the couch when a random guy with pizza walked into our apartment. He stared at us and I said, "Hey what's up man!" He turned around and shut the door. Only in Hemet hahahaha.
Sunday we had our usual meetings and made a drop by to see the G****s because they didn't come to church. They ended up having a huge fight... But we came over there that night so it was all good. I did have a pretty humbling experience that afternoon. People kept asking when transfers were and I told them I might be leaving. I told a young man I got close to that I might be leaving and it really crushed him, according to his mom. He texted me later that afternoon and said that because of me, he is going to go on a mission. That was very humbling... We had dinner with the P****'s and that is always a blast. I love that family so much too. We called it an early night because I wasn't feeling too good. The day before, I ate some pasta sauce that was nine months expired... Whoops. But I am good now. Overall, it was a good week :).
Well, I hope y'all have a wonderful week. I will let you know what happens with transfers. Love y'all and remember who you are!
Elder Tonini
Monday, February 25, 2013
email: February 25, 2013
SUBJ: SMILE BACK!
I am so excited that Jake got accepted into BYU! I seriously could not stop smiling whenever I read that he made it in. I am so proud of him; I am proud of all my siblings! They are such wonderful young men and woman. We wouldn't be the way we are if it wasn't for y'all as parents so I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your two amazing examples and parenting. I am glad to hear that Dad spent the weekend at home; everyone needed to have him home. I miss my Dad... But I have good fatherly figures here in the mission to try and fill that void. Grandpa Baugh is doing a wonderful job, I love that family so much. It was like Grandpa Tonini is still here, living through Brother Baugh to help me through my struggles as a missionary.
We received some exciting news this week: the Church is opening a new mission here in our area and we are going to be losing Redlands. It is all in the Church News, but the details are unclear on what exactly is going to happen. Enough rambling, here was the low down on my week.
On Tuesday, it poured rain again! We worked in the cold rain all day. #WifePoints. We planned to see some people and they all actually went through. We went and dropped in on Karina and got in to teach a lesson to her. She told us that she has been reading the Book of Mormon every night and she has noticed a difference in her life since she has started doing that. It was really cool to see how her countenance has changed just in the few weeks we have known her. She is terrible at keeping appointments but it's okay, we will work through that. We then stopped by a less active that sister told us that we needed to go see. She welcomed us in and we gave her a blessing and talked with her for a while. She talked about her problems and her life and her hardships. Being a missionary, you kind of become a therapist for people haha. We gave her a blessing and then she showed us her smart car. Oh my goodness, it was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. She had it custom done: Lambo doors, dual exhaust, alloy wheels to match the paint job, and a convertible. It was ridiculous but super sick! We handed off Samoan ward to Elder Randall and Coleman so we did that as well. We have really good missionaries here in MoVal, even though we are down a companionship.
Wednesday was a good day for us too. We prayed about who we needed to go see and they actually all went through. We went and saw a less active family and taught them a brief lesson. The mother is actually coming back to church now so that has been a plus. After that, we went and saw a recent convert that is a part member family. Brother C*** was baptized in October of last year and he is the only member of his family. We have his family the harvest blessing and it went super well. His son-in-law opened up right to us and wanted to hear what we had to say. There is very good potential there and we are going to be back there to try and see the family. The St*****'s are always a wonderful family to visit. The husband isn't a member, he's an eternal investigator, but we see a lot of potential in him as well. People in the ward don't think so but we see it.
Oh my goodness, I had the most intimidating experience on Thursday night. We usually go to the stake Missionary Correlation Meeting every 3rd Thursday of the month to talk about the work in the zone. Well, the high councilor over missionary work wasn't going to be there so he asked us to lead the training to the ward mission leaders. So I was already intimidated about trained men Dad's age or older, but then President Smart [the mission president] walks in to the meeting. I gave training with President Smart there. I have honestly never been that nervous on my mission, in regards to speaking in front of people. It went well but dang, it was scary!
We had the funniest experience on Friday at a door. We went to see a referral from the ZL's in Riverside that they had found. It was supposed to be a 17 year old girl that lived in our area. Come to find out, she didn't live in our area but we drove there anyways so we knocked on the door. We talked to this CRAZY guy. He at first, offered to give us $20 then went on to say how someone cast out 38 demons outta him for $35 outside of Disneyland. He kept talking to us and invited us inside we came in to the home and did it stink. It smelt like really bad weed and cat. He went on to say that he tried to commit suicide 12 times but doesn't remember any of it and how he has found this new plant that will save 250,000 people out of the 300,000 in the world. He also told us that he hadn't been the same since he jumped off the interstate overpass. The entire time, he was holding a blunt. There were so many drugs going on that it was super sad. It sure made for a good story! We then handed it off to the other Elders and didn't tell them about what happened. Super funny.
Ever heard of Marvin Goldstein and Vanessa Joy? They came and sang and played for us this weekend. It was super cool to hear them speak and perform. Check them out, they are really good! I actually would like a CD by Sister Joy, it is called By and By (I think). They were so much fun to listen to and to talk to. Sister Joy can sing! Holy cow, it was amazing. We had one of our investigators go with us so we could go and see them perform :). I then burned my shirt for my hump day and some pictures of my past. I have let it go, it is done. It was weird but relieving.
It was a busy week but all is well. I love y'all so much! Thank you for all the support and love. Till next week.
Elder Tonini
I am so excited that Jake got accepted into BYU! I seriously could not stop smiling whenever I read that he made it in. I am so proud of him; I am proud of all my siblings! They are such wonderful young men and woman. We wouldn't be the way we are if it wasn't for y'all as parents so I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your two amazing examples and parenting. I am glad to hear that Dad spent the weekend at home; everyone needed to have him home. I miss my Dad... But I have good fatherly figures here in the mission to try and fill that void. Grandpa Baugh is doing a wonderful job, I love that family so much. It was like Grandpa Tonini is still here, living through Brother Baugh to help me through my struggles as a missionary.
We received some exciting news this week: the Church is opening a new mission here in our area and we are going to be losing Redlands. It is all in the Church News, but the details are unclear on what exactly is going to happen. Enough rambling, here was the low down on my week.
On Tuesday, it poured rain again! We worked in the cold rain all day. #WifePoints. We planned to see some people and they all actually went through. We went and dropped in on Karina and got in to teach a lesson to her. She told us that she has been reading the Book of Mormon every night and she has noticed a difference in her life since she has started doing that. It was really cool to see how her countenance has changed just in the few weeks we have known her. She is terrible at keeping appointments but it's okay, we will work through that. We then stopped by a less active that sister told us that we needed to go see. She welcomed us in and we gave her a blessing and talked with her for a while. She talked about her problems and her life and her hardships. Being a missionary, you kind of become a therapist for people haha. We gave her a blessing and then she showed us her smart car. Oh my goodness, it was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. She had it custom done: Lambo doors, dual exhaust, alloy wheels to match the paint job, and a convertible. It was ridiculous but super sick! We handed off Samoan ward to Elder Randall and Coleman so we did that as well. We have really good missionaries here in MoVal, even though we are down a companionship.
Wednesday was a good day for us too. We prayed about who we needed to go see and they actually all went through. We went and saw a less active family and taught them a brief lesson. The mother is actually coming back to church now so that has been a plus. After that, we went and saw a recent convert that is a part member family. Brother C*** was baptized in October of last year and he is the only member of his family. We have his family the harvest blessing and it went super well. His son-in-law opened up right to us and wanted to hear what we had to say. There is very good potential there and we are going to be back there to try and see the family. The St*****'s are always a wonderful family to visit. The husband isn't a member, he's an eternal investigator, but we see a lot of potential in him as well. People in the ward don't think so but we see it.
Oh my goodness, I had the most intimidating experience on Thursday night. We usually go to the stake Missionary Correlation Meeting every 3rd Thursday of the month to talk about the work in the zone. Well, the high councilor over missionary work wasn't going to be there so he asked us to lead the training to the ward mission leaders. So I was already intimidated about trained men Dad's age or older, but then President Smart [the mission president] walks in to the meeting. I gave training with President Smart there. I have honestly never been that nervous on my mission, in regards to speaking in front of people. It went well but dang, it was scary!
We had the funniest experience on Friday at a door. We went to see a referral from the ZL's in Riverside that they had found. It was supposed to be a 17 year old girl that lived in our area. Come to find out, she didn't live in our area but we drove there anyways so we knocked on the door. We talked to this CRAZY guy. He at first, offered to give us $20 then went on to say how someone cast out 38 demons outta him for $35 outside of Disneyland. He kept talking to us and invited us inside we came in to the home and did it stink. It smelt like really bad weed and cat. He went on to say that he tried to commit suicide 12 times but doesn't remember any of it and how he has found this new plant that will save 250,000 people out of the 300,000 in the world. He also told us that he hadn't been the same since he jumped off the interstate overpass. The entire time, he was holding a blunt. There were so many drugs going on that it was super sad. It sure made for a good story! We then handed it off to the other Elders and didn't tell them about what happened. Super funny.
Ever heard of Marvin Goldstein and Vanessa Joy? They came and sang and played for us this weekend. It was super cool to hear them speak and perform. Check them out, they are really good! I actually would like a CD by Sister Joy, it is called By and By (I think). They were so much fun to listen to and to talk to. Sister Joy can sing! Holy cow, it was amazing. We had one of our investigators go with us so we could go and see them perform :). I then burned my shirt for my hump day and some pictures of my past. I have let it go, it is done. It was weird but relieving.
It was a busy week but all is well. I love y'all so much! Thank you for all the support and love. Till next week.
Elder Tonini
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