Ready for my week? Leggo!
Monday was a crazy Pday for us. We emailed for an hour and then ran off to lunch with Dean and Pat C**** and they showed us this super sweet diner that we both love now! They are really a neat couple. We ran back to the library to finish emailing and after I got done emailing, I taught a lesson to these teenage kids in the library that the Foothill Sister's were teaching so that was pretty cool! We than ran home to work out and chill until it was dinner time. We had KFC with the P**** family and had a FHE lesson with them over justice and mercy. The kids were asking about it and so we had a lesson over it. I honestly didn't understand it for the longest time until my mission. I love that those kids were asking those questions! Before we left their house, we contacted their neighbor that was getting home and he actually accepted a blessing from us! More details to come about William and family :). We then got our OYMs on the way home and while we were at the mailroom, I contacted this lesbian couple that were walking by and we had a nice conversation that turned into a brief lesson with them. Teach when you find, find when you teach works! We didn't get a return appointment but we did have a positive impact on them so that was good!
On Tuesday, we finished some weekly planning from the previous week and then we went out to work. We saw Tom for a brief, daily contact lesson and then we ran off to dinner with the J**** family. That was super good! Anyway, we went to go teach Cale but then we got there and Sister Cl*** said that they were at the 12 step addiction recovery program thingy that the Church puts on so that was awesome to hear! We taught Sister C**** at the door and then taught Jimmy and Kyle when they got home. We then booked it to go see William again and left a really good blessing. We tried to invite him to baptism but we kept talking about history and his past and stuff. He even talked about taking a dead body over the border of Mexico and how it was legal to do so. Kinda creepy but he is a good man. He has two daughters, 10 and 7 so that will be good for them! William is from Guatemala and he talked about an oral tradition that his people saw a white man descend out of heaven and talk with them, ascend back up and that now they are waiting for Him to come back. BAM! The Book of Mormon is SO TRUE! It was a great segway into introducing the BoM. It was super cool way to finish our night :) Two new investigators!
Wednesday was when I started to get sick again... I woke up and worked out but then I started to tank. We still taught four lessons but I was not feeling good. We went by and saw Paul R*** to talk with him. He owns his own company reloading ammunition so that was pretty cool to see that process. He can ship ammo now so when I get some of my own firearms I am going buy from him! Before dinner, we went by to see Nick and Allison. We taught them about the pre-earth life and how we can overcome tribulations. We gain patience through going through tribulations! We then had dinner with the Cl**** again and we taught Cale there too. Elder Anderson taught a lady on the street named Tracy and got a return appointment for today that we are hopefully gonna see today so that was good! But my health was not good that day but I just kept truckin' away.
Oh man, Thursday was not good. We weekly planned and then we went out to go see Tom again and when we got back to the house, I took four Benadryl thinking that it would help with my sinus and flu symptoms even though its mainly for allergy. Yes, I know it makes you drowsy but I thought I could fight it. Yup, I was wrong. After dinner with Brother H*** at Amy's Diner, I crashed HARD. I fell asleep at around 6:30pm and I didn't get up until 6:30am the next day. Yup, I was pretty sick and I knocked out. I still don't feel the best but I am working through it. So needless to say, we got behind in our lessons and we had to play catch-up for the rest of the week.
Friday was zone meeting and that went well besides the fact I was still feeling crappy and I got the biggest migraine on the planet. Plus we had a huge scare on the way home. Since we still don't have our phone, the office was trying to get a hold of us because the management at our apartment called and said our apartment was leaking and that we had to get all of our possessions out ASAP. Well, that was the message that got relayed to us by another missionary. We booked it home right as maintenance was walking out of our apartment and the Cle** walked up too. There was a leak in the guest bathroom upstairs that had leaked slowly into the downstairs apartment. It was nothing big, just had to fix the tub real quick and then dry out the bottom apartment. We did have a good talk with the Cle***, which I guess Mom knows because they knew me when they saw me. So that was cool and then Marco, one of the maintenance guys that came to fix the leak, talked to us about the church and we taught him about the Book of Mormon and gave him our info so we can stay in touch. Pretty funny how the Lord works sometimes haha. After that settled down, I have to take care of my migraine so I showered and slept again. We missed dinner but they dropped off money but missed a dessert appointment. However, we did see Allison and Nick to see if we were good for Saturday but Nick has to work... We then ran off to P**** to see him and his family. We taught the kids about Lehi's dream because that's the missionary slang for sleeping during studies haha. I thought it was funny and the kids learned a lot! Even though it was kinda a batched day, we made the best outta it.
Saturday morning, we visited with Sister Sanchez at her salon to see how she is doing. Since we don't have our phone, it's been hard to see her husband because he doesn't like drop by's but we're gonna start doing them anyways. Anyways, we went and saw Ivan again even though we dropped him and invited to come to church. Did he come? No, but we still tried. We were on our way up to Jean's house when Elder Anderson contacted this lady on a bike and we ended up having a lesson with her and bearing testimony of our purpose. We had her in tears, the Spirit was so strong. Even on the street, we can still bring the Spirit! She is up to meet with us again so that will be super cool! Jean wasn't there but we didn't go there to see her, it was for Jody. The cool thing is that I prayed for a miracle to happen because things aren't going how I want them to in the area and now we found her. It was a pretty small but really powerful miracle experience! We went to go see Cale but he was wrapped up in taking care of a sick baby so we taught Jimmy instead. He's wanting to come back to church and I love that about him! Even if I don't baptize Cale, at least I could re-activate a family for life. We then ran back to the apartment to grab my Nerf fun that I promised Allison's son, Ryker, if he was good this week. We had a brief Sabbath Day lesson with Nick and then we had an all out Nerf war with the kids. Yup, I'm still a big kid at heart haha. I modified my gun that I gave Ryker and I forgot how hard it shot until he shot me! Ryker hit his sister from across the room underneath the table through chairs which was a pretty dope shot! Poor girl haha she's only two but she is fearless. Yup, a super fun way to end the night.
Sunday at Church was good, we had Cale come but that's it... We had ward council in the morning and then made church visits until sacrament meeting started. I was actually a good testimony meeting! That was my last testimony meeting as a missionary... Oh man! Crazy! I got up with Noah Tanileu who is fixin' to turn eight on Saturday and be baptized. He was scared to go up and so I told him I would go up there with him and so we did it! He got up to the pulpit and said "brothers and sisters... TALOFA!" and the whole congregation said it back! It was awesome! It was just like being back in Moreno Valley :). I bore my testimony on being missionaries and the Savior. Brother H*** got up and spoke about his missionary experiences and told the whole ward how great of a time it was having us in his home to teach John. It was awesome! That was a basic theme in the whole testimony meeting, it was so sick! Then the fireworks happened... Cale dragged us into a discussion about marijuana and the church's stance on it. Now mind you, Elder Anderson wants to be a narcotics cop and get drugs off the streets and so he has done his research on everything. He told Cale what was up and then he even dragged Dale P*** and David Pu*** into the discussion after gospel principles. Needless to say, Cale is justifying smoking pot even though he has a medicinal card for it. So we gotta help him overcome that. We finished church and then went over to the Cl**** for dinner to break our fast. They had the Super Bowl on and so we watched it with them while we ate. We taught Cale about the Word of Wisdom and the promise of "running and not be weary and walk and not faint". They wanted us to stay but we told them we had to go out and make some more visits. We went to see Rodney but we only taught him briefly. I want him baptized so much! I am make it happen before I leave. Before that though, we got into a bash with their neighbor downstairs about the Book of Mormon but the lady wouldn't listen to us so it was pointless. Plus I didn't want to leave a bad impression by telling her she was wrong so we just left it at that. After that, we rode to Gawry's to see what was up with Melissa. I guess she has gotten kinda scared when we invited her to baptism and when she was feeling that it was true so she kinda back off... That sucks but we won't give up. However, Dalian got into the marshmallows are we starting trying to throw it into each other's mouths which turned into Dalian throwing them everywhere haha. I threw one into Anastasia's mouth on the second throw! Yeah buddy haha. We already got our OYMs and so we rode home for the night. I made calls to the district and zone leaders and we called it a night.
So these last few weeks have really interesting for me. I am frustrated with the area because it always seems to not go our way when we are working has hard as we can... Of course we are working on being obedient, repenting daily and trying to make things work but I keep getting frustrated because I haven't seen it yet... But I am gonna be that closer that comes in the ninth inning with the bases loaded, up by a run to save the game. I think about Lights Out Lidge when he played for the Astro's and how he was clutch all the time. I gotta be clutch now and finish it off. I am trying to keep that mentality as I keep working these next few weeks. Keep me in your prayers and always know that I love the Savior and that He is MY Personal Savior. I love 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 Book of Mormon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book of Mormon. Show all posts
Monday, February 3, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
"If God's willin' and the creek don't rise!" - Elder Anderson
Thank you for the prayers. Elder Anderson and I are just fine after our eventful bike wrecks. It keeps us on our toes haha. We are fine though, nothing a little bit of sleep and dirt can't fix. I am glad Dad got to talk to Bishop G**** this week. We had lunch with them and it was super fun. I will tell the story later. Alright, ready for my week? Let's go!
Monday was super fun because we got to go to the mall to get our haircut by Sister Jimenez! She washed my hair and rinsed it and everything! We went with Rodney, who we are working with to be baptized this next month, and I got to know him a little bit more. He is such a good guy. He is gonna be the best convert ever! So we did that and came home to wait for dinner to be dropped off and then we went off to see Cale and Allisen and Nick. Our lessons went well and we are making slow progress with Cale and Nick but we are gonna get there.
I had a meeting with the Zone Leaders and then had DDM which went really well. I don't exactly remember what I trained over but what was important was what happened after our meeting. Sister Jenkins approached me and asked if I could give her a blessing. I said of course and so I sat down with her and she told us what was going on. So Elder Johansen anointed and I sealed the blessing. Once again, I amaze myself because I say things that are NOT coming from my mouth but from God. She is doing really well now so that blessing really worked :). We then emailed because we couldn't on Monday and then we went and saw Tom again. He is doing well, I actually got to stand in his pool! Haha it was empty but it was still cool because his house was built in the early 1900's. After dinner with the E****, which was super fun to eat with them, we went to Kaiser again to visit Sister Wilma Mackey. When we got there, we found that she wasn't in ICU anymore and we got to see that she was getting better! That was awesome to see because she hadn't talked to us yet because of the breathing tube and everything. It was a fun way to end the end seeing Sister Mackey.
Wednesday morning, we rode to go see the G**** family and talk to them about Melissa. We then also talked to Bishop about our situation with Cale and he gave us some HUGE revelation for us in regards to his family. It was super cool to see actually. The Spirit is such a wonderful tool! We talked with them and that was when Bishop emailed Dad about his brother and then we went out to eat at the Greek Street grill. While we were there, Sister G**** saw one of her old "flings" and Bishop made a huge scene about it. It was super funny! Poor Sister G**** was so embarrassed but she was a good sport; that's why she is so awesome :). After lunch, we saw Tom again and taught him more of the Book of Mormon. He is another person who is making slow but small steps. We just gotta be patient and coach him through it all. We then printed off a talk at the library for Kim and Cale for our lesson that night and then went to Kaiser again to see Sister Mackey. She is getting better! Yeah buddy! Our lesson with Cale went well, it was super spiritual and I hope and pray that he takes it in and really considers the things we say. It was a good way to end the night :).
Thursday started off by seeing Sister Mackey again but her daughter wasn't there so we planned on coming by later that afternoon. We ran to the church to make some copies but the ink was going out so we're gonna have to do it another day. We came home to eat lunch and then headed back out to see Wilma. We walked with her and her daughter and taught another lesson to her about faith. She isn't a member and her daughter has been trying to get her to listen but now she actually is! Sister Jenkins told us that she wished we were the missionaries in her ward! It was very humbling to hear her say that. We got back from Kaiser and waited for Brother Hill to come pick us up for John's lesson. That ran a little long because he kept talking and we ended up dropping him because he said he wasn't willing to change. It'll be a bummer but he wasn't going anywhere so we need to focus on some other people. So we came home to start weekly planning and then went out with Brother M**** to go eat with him. We taught him about missionary work and about his co-worker that he is working on. It is super cool to see members being missionaries! I love it!
So we had to say goodbye to Sister Wilma Mackey on Friday... That was super hard because we had grown to love her oh so much! We actually gave her a Book of Mormon that had my testimony written in the flyleaf of it. The story behind that is that we kept placing them in the meditation room in the hospital but they kept disappearing. I guess the chaplain kept taking them and so Brother Jenkins asked for one and he gave the copy with my testimony in the front to him, out of all the ones we placed before and after that, he chose that one. It was crazy! And now Wilma is open to reading it and listening now. Her daughter bore such a sweet testimony to her mother that almost had me in tears. It was hard to not get emotional when we left but I kept my composure haha. We made more visits that afternoon and then we had dinner with the Gu**** family and it was super fun! We went to IHOP and it made me think of Grandpa Tonini so that was kinda hard for me at first so I decided to get all-you-can-eat pancakes and eat away my sorrow haha. I ate 10 pancakes and about made myself sick. Their daughter Janea is super funny! She has Downs and is the funniest girl! She kept sneezing and kept saying "piss my nose!" At first I didn't realize what she was saying but then I couldn't help but laugh every time she said it! It was great. We then ran off to see Allison and Nick to confirm Saturday's appointment and we ended up teaching a lesson so that was good! It was a good Friday none the less :).
We had an emergency DLC Saturday morning but the other DL couldn't make it because of "other plans" and that didn't set well with me. Step up brother and magnify your calling! Anyways, we had a good DLC and then helped to clean the church. The Gu****'s took Elder Anderson to go mail some books home for him so that was a blessing for him. After that, we had lunch with Allison and Nick again. Part of lunch was going to the park to get the kids out of the house before we ate and it was super fun! I played on this spinning thingy with Ryker and it was awesome! I about got sick every time but I had fun making him fly off haha. Yes, I still haven't changed, I am the biggest kid still. Anyways, that was super fun and then we taught them about Church and committed them to come but they didn't... Can't give up on them though! We had a correlation meeting the our ward mission leader and then ran off to dinner. Dinner was with a Samoan family and I felt right at home! We told story after story and it was a ton of fun. I love my mission for the super spiritual stories and the crazy ones! It was a fun way to end the night :).
Sunday was unusual because we never go to ward council but we did this Sunday so it kind of threw us off. We went and then left early to make our church visits to Cale and Nick but they didn't come... Neither did Rodney or Melissa so we had no one at church! That stunk :( but it was good none the less. There was some deep doctrine talked about at the pulpit and then the rest of church was good. Anderson got a real bad headache and so we came home for him to rest and kick it so that we could finish the night. We went to dinner with the G**** which is always fun. They know one of my MTC buddies, Oliver Weight, that went home early and he sent me a message through them so that was exciting too! We finished out OYMs and came home to have a beat box and rap session haha. Overall, it was a decent week. I just wish that we could've had people at church!
It's crazy for me to think that my mission is almost over and that these experiences that I have had and will have will be done. It's a testimony to me that this is the Restored Church of Christ and of how much peace the Gospel brings to people. It has changed my life into the man I need to be and that God wants me to be. I love it and I am not ashamed of it! No matter how many times people swear at us or call us gay, it doesn't matter. Christ was ridiculed like that and being His representative so will I. I sure do love this work and I am glad to have been in the service of it. I love y'all and hope y'all stay warm and have a great week! Keep repenting daily and working hard everyday to open your mouth! Love y'all :)
- Elder Tonini
Monday was super fun because we got to go to the mall to get our haircut by Sister Jimenez! She washed my hair and rinsed it and everything! We went with Rodney, who we are working with to be baptized this next month, and I got to know him a little bit more. He is such a good guy. He is gonna be the best convert ever! So we did that and came home to wait for dinner to be dropped off and then we went off to see Cale and Allisen and Nick. Our lessons went well and we are making slow progress with Cale and Nick but we are gonna get there.
I had a meeting with the Zone Leaders and then had DDM which went really well. I don't exactly remember what I trained over but what was important was what happened after our meeting. Sister Jenkins approached me and asked if I could give her a blessing. I said of course and so I sat down with her and she told us what was going on. So Elder Johansen anointed and I sealed the blessing. Once again, I amaze myself because I say things that are NOT coming from my mouth but from God. She is doing really well now so that blessing really worked :). We then emailed because we couldn't on Monday and then we went and saw Tom again. He is doing well, I actually got to stand in his pool! Haha it was empty but it was still cool because his house was built in the early 1900's. After dinner with the E****, which was super fun to eat with them, we went to Kaiser again to visit Sister Wilma Mackey. When we got there, we found that she wasn't in ICU anymore and we got to see that she was getting better! That was awesome to see because she hadn't talked to us yet because of the breathing tube and everything. It was a fun way to end the end seeing Sister Mackey.
Wednesday morning, we rode to go see the G**** family and talk to them about Melissa. We then also talked to Bishop about our situation with Cale and he gave us some HUGE revelation for us in regards to his family. It was super cool to see actually. The Spirit is such a wonderful tool! We talked with them and that was when Bishop emailed Dad about his brother and then we went out to eat at the Greek Street grill. While we were there, Sister G**** saw one of her old "flings" and Bishop made a huge scene about it. It was super funny! Poor Sister G**** was so embarrassed but she was a good sport; that's why she is so awesome :). After lunch, we saw Tom again and taught him more of the Book of Mormon. He is another person who is making slow but small steps. We just gotta be patient and coach him through it all. We then printed off a talk at the library for Kim and Cale for our lesson that night and then went to Kaiser again to see Sister Mackey. She is getting better! Yeah buddy! Our lesson with Cale went well, it was super spiritual and I hope and pray that he takes it in and really considers the things we say. It was a good way to end the night :).
Thursday started off by seeing Sister Mackey again but her daughter wasn't there so we planned on coming by later that afternoon. We ran to the church to make some copies but the ink was going out so we're gonna have to do it another day. We came home to eat lunch and then headed back out to see Wilma. We walked with her and her daughter and taught another lesson to her about faith. She isn't a member and her daughter has been trying to get her to listen but now she actually is! Sister Jenkins told us that she wished we were the missionaries in her ward! It was very humbling to hear her say that. We got back from Kaiser and waited for Brother Hill to come pick us up for John's lesson. That ran a little long because he kept talking and we ended up dropping him because he said he wasn't willing to change. It'll be a bummer but he wasn't going anywhere so we need to focus on some other people. So we came home to start weekly planning and then went out with Brother M**** to go eat with him. We taught him about missionary work and about his co-worker that he is working on. It is super cool to see members being missionaries! I love it!
 |
| This is Sister Mackey before she went home! Sure do love her! |
We had an emergency DLC Saturday morning but the other DL couldn't make it because of "other plans" and that didn't set well with me. Step up brother and magnify your calling! Anyways, we had a good DLC and then helped to clean the church. The Gu****'s took Elder Anderson to go mail some books home for him so that was a blessing for him. After that, we had lunch with Allison and Nick again. Part of lunch was going to the park to get the kids out of the house before we ate and it was super fun! I played on this spinning thingy with Ryker and it was awesome! I about got sick every time but I had fun making him fly off haha. Yes, I still haven't changed, I am the biggest kid still. Anyways, that was super fun and then we taught them about Church and committed them to come but they didn't... Can't give up on them though! We had a correlation meeting the our ward mission leader and then ran off to dinner. Dinner was with a Samoan family and I felt right at home! We told story after story and it was a ton of fun. I love my mission for the super spiritual stories and the crazy ones! It was a fun way to end the night :).
Sunday was unusual because we never go to ward council but we did this Sunday so it kind of threw us off. We went and then left early to make our church visits to Cale and Nick but they didn't come... Neither did Rodney or Melissa so we had no one at church! That stunk :( but it was good none the less. There was some deep doctrine talked about at the pulpit and then the rest of church was good. Anderson got a real bad headache and so we came home for him to rest and kick it so that we could finish the night. We went to dinner with the G**** which is always fun. They know one of my MTC buddies, Oliver Weight, that went home early and he sent me a message through them so that was exciting too! We finished out OYMs and came home to have a beat box and rap session haha. Overall, it was a decent week. I just wish that we could've had people at church!
It's crazy for me to think that my mission is almost over and that these experiences that I have had and will have will be done. It's a testimony to me that this is the Restored Church of Christ and of how much peace the Gospel brings to people. It has changed my life into the man I need to be and that God wants me to be. I love it and I am not ashamed of it! No matter how many times people swear at us or call us gay, it doesn't matter. Christ was ridiculed like that and being His representative so will I. I sure do love this work and I am glad to have been in the service of it. I love y'all and hope y'all stay warm and have a great week! Keep repenting daily and working hard everyday to open your mouth! Love y'all :)
- Elder Tonini
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
"Let's look at the pros of this situation of me getting ran over by a car..." -Elder Anderson
Alright, I had a pretty eventful week. Ready for it? Leggo.
We had a pretty chill PDay. Shopping got done and then we emailed after that. With us being so far away from the other zone, we really don't get to go do activities so we end up hanging out at the house. We worked out and got ready for the week. I finished my last planner cover so that was fun. Our trip to the mall was good too, we got to walk around and get some things off of our minds. Dinner was good and then we went to Kaiser to visit some people in the hospital. We went to go see Mr. Swanson but while we were about to go into his room, a member up in Lake Arrowhead stopped us and was basically in tears to see us because her mother was not doing well in ICU. So we went and gave her a blessing and gave Sister J**** one as well. It's funny how the Lord works sometimes :). The right place at the right time. We went back to see Mr. Swanson and see how he is doing. We finished our OYMs and then went home.
Tuesday morning we went and saw Sister M**** and she was already making progress in the short time we have been seeing her. We ran off to DDM which went well. Sister Anderson, who was trained by Sister Gambling, is back in my district so it was good to see her again! Just like old times haha. I love doing comp intro's too because it's always funny to see what everyone else says about their companion. I trained over revelation, prayer, and fasting so hopefully they got something good out of it. That has been something I had been doing lately so I thought it would be good to go over. We had lunch and then did our studies for the day then headed out. Nothing really happened until that night because we went and saw Allison and Nick. It was a good time because those kids are crazy! Ryker and Brooklynn are super fun but nuts. We set something up to come by and see them on Saturday for lunch so that will be a good time.
Wednesday morning was spent at the hospital again seeing our people. There is a meditation room in the hospital that has a table where there are Bibles and Psalms on it. We leave a Book of Mormon on the table and every time we see that it's gone, thinking that some has been taking it, we replace it. We learned that the chaplain in the hospital takes it and hides it in the free magazine rack. Sister J**** saw him take it and so she is going to complain to the Kaiser. Oh well, we'll just keep putting them out there hoping that we can answer someone's answers to the soul with the Book of Mormon. We then went and saw Tom to see how his reading is going and he actually read and had questions. Next thing is to get him to come to church. Dinner with the D**** family is always fun. We ate wings from Wing Stop and it was super good. It is always fun going over there because Brother D**** is a riot. Our lesson with Cale fell through but we went and taught Jimmy instead. He is a good guy, just starting to come back to church so he is eager to learn and sit in on our lessons with Cale. He's a tow truck driver so he always has some good stories for us.
We weekly planned on Thursday but only got part of it done so we are gonna have to finish it on Friday. We rode up the hill to go see Jean but she wasn't there... So we rode back home to get ready to see John. We taught John again with Brother H*** and again, it went as well as it could go. He is reading like crazy but he is still not willing to accept baptism or coming to church. So we'll have to see what we are gonna do with him. Our dinner with the Ji****'s was super awesome. We are working with their friend, Rodney, and so we got some good insight on him. The dinner went a little longer than we wanted but we had a good lesson and good company. They cooked salmon and chicken, Hawaiian style. Super good! We then taught Cale and that went okay. We answered more of his questions and we are trying everything to get him to stop smoking but he still is so it feels like we aren't doing enough... Just gotta keep praying and fasting for him.
So y'all are probably been wondering about my subject topic for the email. Friday will explain why he said that because he really did get hit by a car on Friday on his bike. We finished weekly planning and planned on riding to go see the Bishop's family to talk to them about Melissa. We rode over the freeway overpass and we both were coming down the hill and crossed the light as I rode past the entrance for a gas station. The car saw me go past and waited for me but then didn't see Anderson coming up behind me. She pulled into the entrance and she nailed Anderson on his bike. He went flying, bike and all. I heard the impact and I bailed on the bike to go and make sure he was okay. He jumped right up and OYMed the girl that hit him. She hit him hard enough to leave a huge dent in her front bumper. We told her that he was okay and he even told her that "there is a reason why you hit me... check out this card when you calm down and get in touch with us." Goodness, I love that Elder! He is fine, just a little sore from the impact. Worst part is was that the Bishop's family wasn't even home! Bummer. We went and saw Tom again and had a good lesson with him. But oh no, we are not finished with the bikes. We were riding to dinner, which cancelled on us anyways, when I wasn't watching the road and I got into a fight with a pothole in the bike lane and lost BADLY. I ate it hard, got some blood going and ripped up a shirt. I was hurting pretty bad... It was more embarrassing more than anything. We did pick up a new investigator named Vincent so hopefully we'll get to see him this weekend. Our dinner fell through and so we decided to ding-dong ditch the D**** family because we were in their complex but they weren't home. We stopped by the Ji****s to borrow their phone and we ended up teaching Rodney! I love that kid so much, he's gonna be the coolest convert ever. We went to Taco Bell to eat then rode home. Quite an eventful day! It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt... Then it’s hilarious. NOT! Just another way the Adversary is trying to slow us down. Not gonna happen!
We had a stake breakfast with the Stake President and that is always good to get to see everyone. The Assistants picked us up and had a good breakfast. We brought clothes to change into for service but that ended up falling through so we decided to have some recovery time for the day before so we slept for an hour so we can function for the rest of the day. Brother G**** came by and we talked about the ward and we set up a ride to go to that night's session of stake conference. After that, we went to the park with Allison and Nick with the kids for lunch and then had a lesson with them. Nick is a super good guy, we are wanting to help this family so much! I had fun riding a razor scooter with a pink helmet, jumping curbs and what not haha. We taught Cale before the session and invited him to come to the stake conference. Brother G**** took us to Costco to eat and then we went to the session. I had a lot on my mind when the session ended and I sat there in my thoughts when one of the Assistants pulled me aside and we talked. He told me something that I will never forget. He told that God loves me and that he loves me too, no matter what. That was answer to prayer because I have really been feeling alone... It was comforting to hear that from him. It was a simple thing but it meant a lot to me.
Sunday we had two sessions of conference and that was super nice. We had a broadcast from SLC so that was unusual but President Eyring spoke to us and it hit me hard. It was awesome. After lunch, we had a lesson with Rodney and we are gonna get him baptized in February! He is gonna read and pray and it is gonna be sick. I am so stoked. We then had dinner with the P**** family and we made our own pizzas. Yup, I love pizza. We then went to see a potential but they fell through but the highlight of the night was throwing the football with the kids in the street. I still got my arm! They would say it sounds like a missile falling from the sky haha. I miss those days playing in the street! It was a good night nonetheless and a good way to end the week.
I have learned this week how important prayer and scriptures are. Really, it is through Christ we can do anything! I love Him with all my heart and I know He is always here for me. And He is always here for all of us too. I love y'all and I am gonna make these last five weeks count. Have a good week and we will talk soon.
Elder Tonini
We had a pretty chill PDay. Shopping got done and then we emailed after that. With us being so far away from the other zone, we really don't get to go do activities so we end up hanging out at the house. We worked out and got ready for the week. I finished my last planner cover so that was fun. Our trip to the mall was good too, we got to walk around and get some things off of our minds. Dinner was good and then we went to Kaiser to visit some people in the hospital. We went to go see Mr. Swanson but while we were about to go into his room, a member up in Lake Arrowhead stopped us and was basically in tears to see us because her mother was not doing well in ICU. So we went and gave her a blessing and gave Sister J**** one as well. It's funny how the Lord works sometimes :). The right place at the right time. We went back to see Mr. Swanson and see how he is doing. We finished our OYMs and then went home.
Tuesday morning we went and saw Sister M**** and she was already making progress in the short time we have been seeing her. We ran off to DDM which went well. Sister Anderson, who was trained by Sister Gambling, is back in my district so it was good to see her again! Just like old times haha. I love doing comp intro's too because it's always funny to see what everyone else says about their companion. I trained over revelation, prayer, and fasting so hopefully they got something good out of it. That has been something I had been doing lately so I thought it would be good to go over. We had lunch and then did our studies for the day then headed out. Nothing really happened until that night because we went and saw Allison and Nick. It was a good time because those kids are crazy! Ryker and Brooklynn are super fun but nuts. We set something up to come by and see them on Saturday for lunch so that will be a good time.
Wednesday morning was spent at the hospital again seeing our people. There is a meditation room in the hospital that has a table where there are Bibles and Psalms on it. We leave a Book of Mormon on the table and every time we see that it's gone, thinking that some has been taking it, we replace it. We learned that the chaplain in the hospital takes it and hides it in the free magazine rack. Sister J**** saw him take it and so she is going to complain to the Kaiser. Oh well, we'll just keep putting them out there hoping that we can answer someone's answers to the soul with the Book of Mormon. We then went and saw Tom to see how his reading is going and he actually read and had questions. Next thing is to get him to come to church. Dinner with the D**** family is always fun. We ate wings from Wing Stop and it was super good. It is always fun going over there because Brother D**** is a riot. Our lesson with Cale fell through but we went and taught Jimmy instead. He is a good guy, just starting to come back to church so he is eager to learn and sit in on our lessons with Cale. He's a tow truck driver so he always has some good stories for us.
We weekly planned on Thursday but only got part of it done so we are gonna have to finish it on Friday. We rode up the hill to go see Jean but she wasn't there... So we rode back home to get ready to see John. We taught John again with Brother H*** and again, it went as well as it could go. He is reading like crazy but he is still not willing to accept baptism or coming to church. So we'll have to see what we are gonna do with him. Our dinner with the Ji****'s was super awesome. We are working with their friend, Rodney, and so we got some good insight on him. The dinner went a little longer than we wanted but we had a good lesson and good company. They cooked salmon and chicken, Hawaiian style. Super good! We then taught Cale and that went okay. We answered more of his questions and we are trying everything to get him to stop smoking but he still is so it feels like we aren't doing enough... Just gotta keep praying and fasting for him.
So y'all are probably been wondering about my subject topic for the email. Friday will explain why he said that because he really did get hit by a car on Friday on his bike. We finished weekly planning and planned on riding to go see the Bishop's family to talk to them about Melissa. We rode over the freeway overpass and we both were coming down the hill and crossed the light as I rode past the entrance for a gas station. The car saw me go past and waited for me but then didn't see Anderson coming up behind me. She pulled into the entrance and she nailed Anderson on his bike. He went flying, bike and all. I heard the impact and I bailed on the bike to go and make sure he was okay. He jumped right up and OYMed the girl that hit him. She hit him hard enough to leave a huge dent in her front bumper. We told her that he was okay and he even told her that "there is a reason why you hit me... check out this card when you calm down and get in touch with us." Goodness, I love that Elder! He is fine, just a little sore from the impact. Worst part is was that the Bishop's family wasn't even home! Bummer. We went and saw Tom again and had a good lesson with him. But oh no, we are not finished with the bikes. We were riding to dinner, which cancelled on us anyways, when I wasn't watching the road and I got into a fight with a pothole in the bike lane and lost BADLY. I ate it hard, got some blood going and ripped up a shirt. I was hurting pretty bad... It was more embarrassing more than anything. We did pick up a new investigator named Vincent so hopefully we'll get to see him this weekend. Our dinner fell through and so we decided to ding-dong ditch the D**** family because we were in their complex but they weren't home. We stopped by the Ji****s to borrow their phone and we ended up teaching Rodney! I love that kid so much, he's gonna be the coolest convert ever. We went to Taco Bell to eat then rode home. Quite an eventful day! It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt... Then it’s hilarious. NOT! Just another way the Adversary is trying to slow us down. Not gonna happen!
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| Elder Tonini and Elder Moss |
We had a stake breakfast with the Stake President and that is always good to get to see everyone. The Assistants picked us up and had a good breakfast. We brought clothes to change into for service but that ended up falling through so we decided to have some recovery time for the day before so we slept for an hour so we can function for the rest of the day. Brother G**** came by and we talked about the ward and we set up a ride to go to that night's session of stake conference. After that, we went to the park with Allison and Nick with the kids for lunch and then had a lesson with them. Nick is a super good guy, we are wanting to help this family so much! I had fun riding a razor scooter with a pink helmet, jumping curbs and what not haha. We taught Cale before the session and invited him to come to the stake conference. Brother G**** took us to Costco to eat and then we went to the session. I had a lot on my mind when the session ended and I sat there in my thoughts when one of the Assistants pulled me aside and we talked. He told me something that I will never forget. He told that God loves me and that he loves me too, no matter what. That was answer to prayer because I have really been feeling alone... It was comforting to hear that from him. It was a simple thing but it meant a lot to me.
Sunday we had two sessions of conference and that was super nice. We had a broadcast from SLC so that was unusual but President Eyring spoke to us and it hit me hard. It was awesome. After lunch, we had a lesson with Rodney and we are gonna get him baptized in February! He is gonna read and pray and it is gonna be sick. I am so stoked. We then had dinner with the P**** family and we made our own pizzas. Yup, I love pizza. We then went to see a potential but they fell through but the highlight of the night was throwing the football with the kids in the street. I still got my arm! They would say it sounds like a missile falling from the sky haha. I miss those days playing in the street! It was a good night nonetheless and a good way to end the week.
I have learned this week how important prayer and scriptures are. Really, it is through Christ we can do anything! I love Him with all my heart and I know He is always here for me. And He is always here for all of us too. I love y'all and I am gonna make these last five weeks count. Have a good week and we will talk soon.
Elder Tonini
Monday, December 9, 2013
email: Another Week Down!
Monday was transfer PDay and so it was pretty laid back. Elder Ete is coming back into Juruapa so I get to see him all the time! We said goodbye to everyone and then we kicked it at the house. I got my haircut again and then worked out for the rest of the time until it was time to go to dinner. We ate with the P**** family and they made Thanksgiving dinner again! It was super good. They actually got us a Christmas tree! So we put our little white tree up in our room and decorated it and everything :). I love their kids so much! I feel so at home at their house.
Tuesday morning we had a District Leaders Council with the new District Leaders and the new Zone Leaders (ZL). Actually, one of my close mission buddies is my ZL now! We have a pretty legit zone, I love it so much. There are only three sets of Elders and all of them are in leadership. The rest are sisters. Oh boy! After our meeting, we went had lunch with the C**** family. On the way over there, I broke two spokes on my bike... Wonderful! I told the member about it and he made a fat joke about me through it. Ha, GOOD ONE! I didn’t let it bother me though so it’s okay. We did get to know a recent convert in the ward and taught him too so that was fun. We then went and saw Eddy and that was…interesting. He told us about this experience that he had with his friend and how he greeted him with a "holy kiss" like Paul says to do in the New Testament but then he said that he "accidentally" stuck his tongue in his mouth. GROSS! I looked at Elder Anderson and was trying to keep my composure when he told us that. It was messed up! We then saw Tom down the street and had a lesson with him. Elder Anderson and I found a white rabbit that we chased around his house for almost half an hour. We looked ridiculous but it was so much fun! He told us that he wasn't too interested anymore but I told him that he can’t rule that out until he honestly reads the Book of Mormon and gives it a shot.
Wednesday was good because Sam came and visited me! I hadn't seen him since he left and came back from Portugal. He had to end his mission early because of medical reasons. After we had lunch with him, we went out and made some visits before dinner came and then he picked us up to drop the bikes off for us at a members house that works on bikes. We had dinner and then we went to see Eddy and that lesson was sketchy. I did not feel the Spirit in his home and it was so sad to see his wife in so much hurt. Eddy has an addiction problem and it is destroying his family. It crushes Elder Anderson and me to see that happen to him. We are gonna do everything we can to help him!
We had our usual lesson with Ivan on Thursday only to walk all the way to his house to have him tell us that he can’t meet today because he has a major stomach ache. We taught him a short lesson and then walked home. After some weekly planning, Brother H*** picked us up to have a lesson with him and his neighbor at his house. That lesson went on for almost three hours! It was insane and we barely made any progress. We didn’t have a dinner appointment so we ate at home then we walked over to see Kale and his family. We had a good discussion about the spirit world and everything like that. He has some different views but hopefully I can help him understand the right way of thinking through the Bible. It was a good lesson though for sure! We got a ride home so we didn’t have to walk in the cold :).
Friday was Zone District Meeting and it was actually a good one. It is hard having sisters in the zone because they are a lot harder to work with than Elders. It seems like everyone is leaning on me for my experience and leadership to help us to baptize. I guess that comes from my experience and time in the field. But it was good none the less and then Elder Anderson and I ate some carne asada fries for lunch! Yumm. We then went and saw Paul and I got to learn how to reload ammo! It was super awesome. I reloaded a 357 magnum round and then I shoot a crossbow with a scope. Super fun! We then saw Ivan and had such a heart breaking lesson. We had him pray and ask right then and there if baptism was the way and if the Book of Mormon was true. He said the prayer and then we sat in silence for about five minutes. He then looked up to me and said that he didn’t feel anything and that it made him sad. That crushed us because the Spirit was so strong there! We think he denied the answer he got so we're gonna talk with him about that. We aren't losing hope!
Saturday morning it POURED rain. I got a loaner bike so we went out to make visits and to pick up Elder Anderson's recent convert from the bus stop. I was cold and soaked. I eventually got warm and then we went out with Trevor to have lessons. We taught Eddy while he was laying on the floor, we taught Karmen again about church and Tom about coming to church and reading. The rain held off for the rest of the day and then we went to the Christmas party for the ward. It was really good! I got to play Santa's helper and to get the kids to sing Jingle bells for Santa to come in. It was a ton of fun!
Sunday was good and we picked up two new people! Good things are happening here in La Sierra :). I love y’all and hope things are going well! I can’t wait to see y’all on Christmas! Have a good one and stay warm!
Elder Tonini
Monday, August 12, 2013
email: August 12, 2013
Subject: Another week in paradise.
I am glad that yall like Mondays. Guess what? I do too haha. It's a good break from the day to day grind so it's good to have this breaks. Living out on Winchester, it makes planning even more important because if we don't plan accordingly, we blow through miles so we have to work with that. Yes, we have been dealing with wildfires but none of them have come into the Valley. We live right next to the Hemet-Ryan airport and so we have the Cal Fire planes buzz our house all the time. I love seeing those bird fly! It makes me want to become a pilot again. I've played with the idea of pursuing that dream but that decision can wait until I finish with the Lord's work. My headaches have been doing better! I identified that it is my allergies that trigger the headaches. I wear my contacts every day as well so that helps. Yes, I am learning to live within my means. It is hard sometimes but it is good practice for later in life. Alright, ready for my week? Here we go.
We had a good Pday on Monday. After we emailed and shopped, I went to the driving range to him some balls. It was super relaxing and much needed. I got some good sun on my arms so that is always a plus haha. Our dinner was awesome! It was with our new Elders Quorum president, President F****. He has such an awesome family. It is super fun that we get to eat with all four missionaries at dinner. President Smart isn't a big fan about that but until we can get a separate calendar then that's how it's gonna happen. Sister F**** was a star soccer player at her university so we got talking about college sports. I don't know what I want to do when I get home and that's a possibility that I've toyed with doing. We then taught the family the Restoration and I used my Rubik’s cube again to teach it with the kids. Our main idea of teaching was to ask President if he knew of any home teaching families we could go see. So we got some good names from him that we are going to go see. We got our OYMs and called it good for the night after that.
We had our usual DDM on Tuesday and it was weird to train again as a district leader. It's been almost a year since I've been one so it was good to train. This was a pretty powerful DDM and I want to share it with y’all. So I started the meeting with a testifying role play to help the missionaries focus on testifying when they teach. The companionships sat down together and they testified to one of their investigators that another missionary was role playing. I stood behind them and I would tap the missionary on the shoulder when they would cut their companion off and continue on testifying. It was a good role play to start of the meeting. What was really good was what I trained on. I trained on the true meaning of Charity and how we need to implement it. Something that I have learned here is what the true meaning of charity is. The true meaning of it is SACRIFICE. That's taking the primary answer of "the true love of Christ" to another level. I then had us read 3 Nephi 28, which reads:
1 And it came to pass when Jesus had said these words, he spake unto his disciples, one by one, saying unto them: What is it that ye desire of me, after that I am gone to the Father?
2 And they all spake, save it were three, saying: We desire that after we have lived unto the age of man, that our ministry, wherein thou hast called us, may have an end, that we may speedily come unto thee in thy kingdom.
3 And he said unto them: Blessed are ye because ye desired this thing of me; therefore, after that ye are seventy and two years old ye shall come unto me in my kingdom; and with me ye shall find rest.
The key word there is MY KINGDOM. Now look at what he says to the three others.
6 And he said unto them: Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me.
7 Therefore, more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death; but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will of the Father, when I shall come in my glory with the powers of heaven.
8 And ye shall never endure the pains of death; but when I shall come in my glory ye shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to immortality; and then shall ye be blessed in the kingdom of my Father.
Christ makes it pretty clear that there are two different kingdoms. Now where are those two kingdoms? I don't know but it is pretty clear that we have to be willing to sacrifice even our exhalation to receive all that the Father has. Now that's deeper doctrine but that hit me hard and made me realize that I need to work as HARD as I can if I want to get what the Father has. I then closed with a poem that brought me to tears every time I read it. Overall, it was a good DDM and good things are going to happen when we put these things into practice in our missionary lives and in our personal lives. We then had the craziest dinner appointment. Our dinner was in Winchester with some members who live in a home with a ton of nonmembers living there. Towards the end of the dinner, the members of the home freak out and run outside and there was a big ruckus outside. All of a sudden, there was a HUGE man standing in the window and he stared right at me. The Spirit INSTANTLY left. It was terrifying. He didn't mess with us when we left but it was crazy. Our appointment that night was with Sam S***** to go over home teaching list. It was good, we got some names to go see so it was good. We went and saw a part-member family that night but we didn't see the non-member husband. I guess he got really offended by missionaries so we didn't get to see him. But it's okay, we had a good lesson with the wife. It was a fun way to end the night.
We got a call on Wednesday from our part-member family the night before and said that her husband wants to show off his food storage to us. So we went over there and started to build the relationship with him. Our lesson with the G**** family went well. We put the two kids on date for baptism! We testified and they agreed for the 25th. It was an awesome lesson. Our appointment fell through for the night and so we went out for priesthood action night with the EQ. Elder Child got his first run in with marijuana! It was hilarious! Those boys were rollin' up some big blunts and he had no idea what was going on. We then talked with a crazy less-active lady that told us she used to be a stripper and everything in between. It was a crazy night to say the least!
All Thursday morning, I had to deal with a situation with the Sister who are serving in the YSA ward. It was trying to get them to teach a YSA girl but the elders are teaching them when they shouldn't be. That took all morning and drained me emotionally and spiritually so working for the rest of the day was tiring but I made it. Our dinner was with my favorite family, the R****. I love them to death! Sister R**** calls herself my adopted momma haha. She even asked about the girl I left back home! It was a good dinner with them. We saw Holly T**** again and taught Bob. He is such a funny guy! He has no teeth and every time we say goodbye or see him, he gives us the biggest hugs. It was funny.
Friday was filled with finishing weekly planning due to not being able to when I had to deal with the Sisters situation. We did see the G**** family again and taught them. We read out of the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, they expressed to us that the lesson was exactly what they needed. It is an awesome feeling when you listen to the Spirit and act on things like that. We then had a lesson with Sister P**** and that was fun to get to know her. She plays the ukulele like I do! I saw hers on the table and I asked to play it and she said of course. She even complemented me on my style too. Our lesson went well, it was good to get to know her.
We had our exchange with the Zone Leaders on Saturday so I did all that I could to stay as productive. Our lessons in the morning fell through but I did get to do a baptism interview with one of the Sister's investigators. She has had a very rough life and she knows that this baptism will do so much for her. It was cool to hear her testimony in that interview. The best part of the day was when I got to see Elder Spencer. He came up to Hemet to help one of the Sisters move with their truck and we were getting a new phone so I got to see him. I love that man, even though he is from Utah and loves the Yankees. I won't hold that against him haha. He goes home next month! That is crazy so I love getting to see him again. Our dinner with Sister M**** was good and our lesson with the G**** family was funny. One of the daughters is special needs and in the middle of the lesson, she lets a long fart go. It was pretty funny. It was a funny way to end the night.
Sunday was interesting for me. I got overwhelming feelings of worthlessness, not being good enough, you aren't working hard enough, and other things like that. That was a special sacrament meeting for me because I really went to the Lord to see where I am with Him. I am in a good place with Him, I felt that as answer, but there is always room for improvement. So this week is going to be an awesome week for us. We went to a family party for dinner and then had a lesson with Sister C****. We heard she has an unbaptized granddaughter but she doesn't live there with her so it was a bust. The funniest thing happened that night though. Child and I got on a debate about Inception that lasted about an hour. It was super funny and actually quite fun. It was a good way to end the night.
Other than that, things are going well with me. I still have my usual struggles but I work every day with them. Child is doing well. He cracks me up, the other day he asked if he could wear my other pair of Oakleys in the car. Of course, I let him and he's worn them every day since. Now he dresses like me on pday and even asked to wear one of my hats! He even took my Oaks and put them on the brim like I do. He's a good kid, he's like my little brother now that I get to teach and train. But other than that, I am doing fine. I am going to be a finisher, just like how Geoff preaches. Everyone reminds me how long I have left so I have to be a finisher. I love y’all and miss the family a ton. Have a good week and know that this work is REAL! Be a missionary this week and give out a Book of Mormon! Always be a member missionary!
Elder Tonini
I am glad that yall like Mondays. Guess what? I do too haha. It's a good break from the day to day grind so it's good to have this breaks. Living out on Winchester, it makes planning even more important because if we don't plan accordingly, we blow through miles so we have to work with that. Yes, we have been dealing with wildfires but none of them have come into the Valley. We live right next to the Hemet-Ryan airport and so we have the Cal Fire planes buzz our house all the time. I love seeing those bird fly! It makes me want to become a pilot again. I've played with the idea of pursuing that dream but that decision can wait until I finish with the Lord's work. My headaches have been doing better! I identified that it is my allergies that trigger the headaches. I wear my contacts every day as well so that helps. Yes, I am learning to live within my means. It is hard sometimes but it is good practice for later in life. Alright, ready for my week? Here we go.
We had a good Pday on Monday. After we emailed and shopped, I went to the driving range to him some balls. It was super relaxing and much needed. I got some good sun on my arms so that is always a plus haha. Our dinner was awesome! It was with our new Elders Quorum president, President F****. He has such an awesome family. It is super fun that we get to eat with all four missionaries at dinner. President Smart isn't a big fan about that but until we can get a separate calendar then that's how it's gonna happen. Sister F**** was a star soccer player at her university so we got talking about college sports. I don't know what I want to do when I get home and that's a possibility that I've toyed with doing. We then taught the family the Restoration and I used my Rubik’s cube again to teach it with the kids. Our main idea of teaching was to ask President if he knew of any home teaching families we could go see. So we got some good names from him that we are going to go see. We got our OYMs and called it good for the night after that.
We had our usual DDM on Tuesday and it was weird to train again as a district leader. It's been almost a year since I've been one so it was good to train. This was a pretty powerful DDM and I want to share it with y’all. So I started the meeting with a testifying role play to help the missionaries focus on testifying when they teach. The companionships sat down together and they testified to one of their investigators that another missionary was role playing. I stood behind them and I would tap the missionary on the shoulder when they would cut their companion off and continue on testifying. It was a good role play to start of the meeting. What was really good was what I trained on. I trained on the true meaning of Charity and how we need to implement it. Something that I have learned here is what the true meaning of charity is. The true meaning of it is SACRIFICE. That's taking the primary answer of "the true love of Christ" to another level. I then had us read 3 Nephi 28, which reads:
1 And it came to pass when Jesus had said these words, he spake unto his disciples, one by one, saying unto them: What is it that ye desire of me, after that I am gone to the Father?
2 And they all spake, save it were three, saying: We desire that after we have lived unto the age of man, that our ministry, wherein thou hast called us, may have an end, that we may speedily come unto thee in thy kingdom.
3 And he said unto them: Blessed are ye because ye desired this thing of me; therefore, after that ye are seventy and two years old ye shall come unto me in my kingdom; and with me ye shall find rest.
The key word there is MY KINGDOM. Now look at what he says to the three others.
6 And he said unto them: Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me.
7 Therefore, more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death; but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will of the Father, when I shall come in my glory with the powers of heaven.
8 And ye shall never endure the pains of death; but when I shall come in my glory ye shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to immortality; and then shall ye be blessed in the kingdom of my Father.
Christ makes it pretty clear that there are two different kingdoms. Now where are those two kingdoms? I don't know but it is pretty clear that we have to be willing to sacrifice even our exhalation to receive all that the Father has. Now that's deeper doctrine but that hit me hard and made me realize that I need to work as HARD as I can if I want to get what the Father has. I then closed with a poem that brought me to tears every time I read it. Overall, it was a good DDM and good things are going to happen when we put these things into practice in our missionary lives and in our personal lives. We then had the craziest dinner appointment. Our dinner was in Winchester with some members who live in a home with a ton of nonmembers living there. Towards the end of the dinner, the members of the home freak out and run outside and there was a big ruckus outside. All of a sudden, there was a HUGE man standing in the window and he stared right at me. The Spirit INSTANTLY left. It was terrifying. He didn't mess with us when we left but it was crazy. Our appointment that night was with Sam S***** to go over home teaching list. It was good, we got some names to go see so it was good. We went and saw a part-member family that night but we didn't see the non-member husband. I guess he got really offended by missionaries so we didn't get to see him. But it's okay, we had a good lesson with the wife. It was a fun way to end the night.
We got a call on Wednesday from our part-member family the night before and said that her husband wants to show off his food storage to us. So we went over there and started to build the relationship with him. Our lesson with the G**** family went well. We put the two kids on date for baptism! We testified and they agreed for the 25th. It was an awesome lesson. Our appointment fell through for the night and so we went out for priesthood action night with the EQ. Elder Child got his first run in with marijuana! It was hilarious! Those boys were rollin' up some big blunts and he had no idea what was going on. We then talked with a crazy less-active lady that told us she used to be a stripper and everything in between. It was a crazy night to say the least!
All Thursday morning, I had to deal with a situation with the Sister who are serving in the YSA ward. It was trying to get them to teach a YSA girl but the elders are teaching them when they shouldn't be. That took all morning and drained me emotionally and spiritually so working for the rest of the day was tiring but I made it. Our dinner was with my favorite family, the R****. I love them to death! Sister R**** calls herself my adopted momma haha. She even asked about the girl I left back home! It was a good dinner with them. We saw Holly T**** again and taught Bob. He is such a funny guy! He has no teeth and every time we say goodbye or see him, he gives us the biggest hugs. It was funny.
Friday was filled with finishing weekly planning due to not being able to when I had to deal with the Sisters situation. We did see the G**** family again and taught them. We read out of the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, they expressed to us that the lesson was exactly what they needed. It is an awesome feeling when you listen to the Spirit and act on things like that. We then had a lesson with Sister P**** and that was fun to get to know her. She plays the ukulele like I do! I saw hers on the table and I asked to play it and she said of course. She even complemented me on my style too. Our lesson went well, it was good to get to know her.
We had our exchange with the Zone Leaders on Saturday so I did all that I could to stay as productive. Our lessons in the morning fell through but I did get to do a baptism interview with one of the Sister's investigators. She has had a very rough life and she knows that this baptism will do so much for her. It was cool to hear her testimony in that interview. The best part of the day was when I got to see Elder Spencer. He came up to Hemet to help one of the Sisters move with their truck and we were getting a new phone so I got to see him. I love that man, even though he is from Utah and loves the Yankees. I won't hold that against him haha. He goes home next month! That is crazy so I love getting to see him again. Our dinner with Sister M**** was good and our lesson with the G**** family was funny. One of the daughters is special needs and in the middle of the lesson, she lets a long fart go. It was pretty funny. It was a funny way to end the night.
Sunday was interesting for me. I got overwhelming feelings of worthlessness, not being good enough, you aren't working hard enough, and other things like that. That was a special sacrament meeting for me because I really went to the Lord to see where I am with Him. I am in a good place with Him, I felt that as answer, but there is always room for improvement. So this week is going to be an awesome week for us. We went to a family party for dinner and then had a lesson with Sister C****. We heard she has an unbaptized granddaughter but she doesn't live there with her so it was a bust. The funniest thing happened that night though. Child and I got on a debate about Inception that lasted about an hour. It was super funny and actually quite fun. It was a good way to end the night.
Other than that, things are going well with me. I still have my usual struggles but I work every day with them. Child is doing well. He cracks me up, the other day he asked if he could wear my other pair of Oakleys in the car. Of course, I let him and he's worn them every day since. Now he dresses like me on pday and even asked to wear one of my hats! He even took my Oaks and put them on the brim like I do. He's a good kid, he's like my little brother now that I get to teach and train. But other than that, I am doing fine. I am going to be a finisher, just like how Geoff preaches. Everyone reminds me how long I have left so I have to be a finisher. I love y’all and miss the family a ton. Have a good week and know that this work is REAL! Be a missionary this week and give out a Book of Mormon! Always be a member missionary!
Elder Tonini
Monday, July 8, 2013
email: July 8, 2013
This will probably be a short email since I wrote back on Wednesday because of all the things that went down. My headaches have been under control lately and I have been able to function. That was good because it was a "Smile Back" kinda week. I made it through this week and that is all that matters. So rewind to Tuesday..
After we tried emailing at the stake center, I ran off to the urgent care to get checked out. I was feeling like crud and that was the last straw. The mission nurse gave me the okay so I went ahead and saw the urgent care doctor. He was kind of a dweeb when he was diagnosing me because I thought I had a migraine but I didn't and he mocked me for not knowing the difference. That kind of put me in a mood but I got over it. I was diagnosed with bad tension headaches and allergies (GO FIGURE!). He prescribed me with some allergy stuff and some pain medicine to help kick the headaches. We ended up teaching Aaron R**** that night too so it was an okay night. We got our OYMs earlier and so we called it a night after we saw Aaron.
Wednesday we went and finished emailing and saw a referral with one of our Bishop's sons. It was their next-door neighbor. The only problem was that the wife didn't speak any English. Good thing that Nathan M**** could speak it! He basically taught the whole lesson and did the blessing on the home for them. We taught a little bit but there was such a language barrier that Nathan had to teach the entire time. They are semi-interested so we are going to send the Spanish missionaries over to them so hopefully there will be some success in there. It was convenient to teach that lesson because we ran right off to go teach JayR. We taught the big three commandments: Chasity, Word of Wisdom, and Tithing. He understand it all and is basically living the standards already so we just need to get baptized! He is close though, he said he was coming to Ross' baptism so that will hopefully be the turning point. That night was super crazy because we had so much to do and there was only two of us. There was a move that was dropped on us and to go help set up for our dinner's son's birthday party. Luckily some of them fell through but it was stressful. We had to run to dinner and then go to the Cole's home and teach Ross. Our dinner was... Interesting. It was at a recent convert's house and it was the birthday party of her son. One of our members showed up in his blazer and handed out five copies of the Book of Mormon! It was pretty cool and we got a few referrals that we sent in. After the party, we ran to our lesson with Ross and we got him ready and finalized things for his baptism. He is such a funny guy, he thinks I am the strongest guy he has even met haha. It is super funny. He is ready though and is excited to get into the waters of baptism.
This Fourth of July didn't compare to the one I had in Beaumont a year ago but it was still awesome. Our ward and Fruitvale ward did a pancake breakfast together for the Fourth. It was pretty fun, I hung out with Elders Feist and Wood with Hawkins. There were a lot of people there and it was a good time. People were throwing a football around and Feist mentioned we should go get his gloves and go throw so we jumped in my car and we went and got them. It felt so good to throw but man is it hard to throw in pros! I got all sweaty and nasty but it was all worth it. The only bad thing was that I ripped my favorite pants... So I gotta sew them up and get them back in working order.
Hawkins had a district leader training to go to in Riverside so I got to hang with Baltazar and Franson all morning. They came over and we had breakfast and tried to study but that didn't happen... But we did get some work done that morning so it all worked out. We ran off to the K*** home to teach Stevie. In order to teach the Restoration I needed to think up of an object lesson to teach her with so I grabbed my Rubik’s cube to illustrate the Restoration. After the lesson, she ran off to find her cube so I solve it for her haha. Learning how to do that cube has really paid off here in the mission. Our dinner was freaking awesome. We had dinner with the S*****’s and I played on the trampoline for an hour with his boys. I seriously loved every minute of it, I miss that a lot. Plus, it was fun to see their two-year old son run around and be a baby. On top of that, we had ribs so that was the icing on the cake. Our lesson was the Restoration lesson with the Rubik’s cube as the object lesson. We committed them to OYM a friend and share the gospel with them. Overall, it was an awesome night and a much needed one. It makes me excited to one day be a father. I could care less about everything else, as long as I have my wife and kids I will be the happiest man alive.
On Saturday, we weekly planned and part of that was cleaning the car for zone conference on Tuesday because it won't get done on Monday so we did it that morning. Ashley D*** finally got baptized and the best part was that her father did it! It was awesome. Her baptism went smoothly, it was Ross' that we had some trouble. I love my ward mission leader but sometimes he has senior moments and we don't communicate well. We were supposed to have Ross' baptism that morning but we changed it to Sunday afternoon but he was under the impression that it was that morning. Frustrating but we got through it. Our dinner was with the N****'s and JayR. It was super awesome because I love that family. The only one I really connect with is Brother N***** but that's okay. We had burgers and then s'mores! We sat outside, ate s'mores and told stories and talked. It was such a fun night with them. We taught the girls and JayR about the Restoration using the Rubik’s cube again. Yeah! I love that cube of mine haha. It was a good ending to a "Smile Back" day.
Sunday was the big day for Ross and boy was it interesting. Our meetings went well and we got the ward excited about Ross' baptism. It was announced over the pulpit and everything. When Ross walked into the chapel and saw me, he gave a knight’s salute. It was pretty funny to see. He even got up to bear his testimony the day of his baptism in front of everyone! I got a little nervous but it went well. He is truly converted and that is awesome to see. I got up and told my story of baptizing Brenden. Our Gospel Principles class was about repentance. We got the font filled and I got to baptize him. We seriously FILLED the whole entire primary room! It was legit to see. Best part though was that JayR was there. I had a talk with his wife before third hour and so hopefully this will be the turning point. The talks were awesome at the baptism and the baptism itself was awesome. I went into the water with him and I baptized him. When he came up out of the water, he gasped for breath like he was literally born again and he gave me a huge hug in the font. It sure was a memorable baptism. After the baptism, we ran off to Brother C***'s house to get him all set up in using his computer to send things in to the stake. Bless his heart but he is so computer illiterate that he needs a lot of help. We got him squared away and ran off to dinner. That dinner was interesting because we were surrounded by young married couples. Trunky much? Haha nah but it was a fun dinner. Nathan M**** was there because he is engaged to one of the daughters in the family. Overall, it was an interesting week but it was a smile back week.
But overall, I am doing okay. Working as hard as I possibly can to get the work moving forward here. I want to end by sharing my testimony with you two. I know this is the Lord's work and I love doing it. I am grateful for trials; if we didn't have them then how could we grow? We wouldn't. This is the restored gospel and the Church that Christ set up in the primitive days. Most importantly though, I know that my Savior loves me. He knows me and He shed great drops of blood for me. I know I have a Father in Heaven that loves me so much. I love you two and everyone I serve here in California. I am super excited to go to the temple with Vic tomorrow! He is even coming to our zone conference so that will be fun to get to see him all day. I love y’all and I will talk to y’all soon.
Elder Tonini
After we tried emailing at the stake center, I ran off to the urgent care to get checked out. I was feeling like crud and that was the last straw. The mission nurse gave me the okay so I went ahead and saw the urgent care doctor. He was kind of a dweeb when he was diagnosing me because I thought I had a migraine but I didn't and he mocked me for not knowing the difference. That kind of put me in a mood but I got over it. I was diagnosed with bad tension headaches and allergies (GO FIGURE!). He prescribed me with some allergy stuff and some pain medicine to help kick the headaches. We ended up teaching Aaron R**** that night too so it was an okay night. We got our OYMs earlier and so we called it a night after we saw Aaron.
Wednesday we went and finished emailing and saw a referral with one of our Bishop's sons. It was their next-door neighbor. The only problem was that the wife didn't speak any English. Good thing that Nathan M**** could speak it! He basically taught the whole lesson and did the blessing on the home for them. We taught a little bit but there was such a language barrier that Nathan had to teach the entire time. They are semi-interested so we are going to send the Spanish missionaries over to them so hopefully there will be some success in there. It was convenient to teach that lesson because we ran right off to go teach JayR. We taught the big three commandments: Chasity, Word of Wisdom, and Tithing. He understand it all and is basically living the standards already so we just need to get baptized! He is close though, he said he was coming to Ross' baptism so that will hopefully be the turning point. That night was super crazy because we had so much to do and there was only two of us. There was a move that was dropped on us and to go help set up for our dinner's son's birthday party. Luckily some of them fell through but it was stressful. We had to run to dinner and then go to the Cole's home and teach Ross. Our dinner was... Interesting. It was at a recent convert's house and it was the birthday party of her son. One of our members showed up in his blazer and handed out five copies of the Book of Mormon! It was pretty cool and we got a few referrals that we sent in. After the party, we ran to our lesson with Ross and we got him ready and finalized things for his baptism. He is such a funny guy, he thinks I am the strongest guy he has even met haha. It is super funny. He is ready though and is excited to get into the waters of baptism.
This Fourth of July didn't compare to the one I had in Beaumont a year ago but it was still awesome. Our ward and Fruitvale ward did a pancake breakfast together for the Fourth. It was pretty fun, I hung out with Elders Feist and Wood with Hawkins. There were a lot of people there and it was a good time. People were throwing a football around and Feist mentioned we should go get his gloves and go throw so we jumped in my car and we went and got them. It felt so good to throw but man is it hard to throw in pros! I got all sweaty and nasty but it was all worth it. The only bad thing was that I ripped my favorite pants... So I gotta sew them up and get them back in working order.
Hawkins had a district leader training to go to in Riverside so I got to hang with Baltazar and Franson all morning. They came over and we had breakfast and tried to study but that didn't happen... But we did get some work done that morning so it all worked out. We ran off to the K*** home to teach Stevie. In order to teach the Restoration I needed to think up of an object lesson to teach her with so I grabbed my Rubik’s cube to illustrate the Restoration. After the lesson, she ran off to find her cube so I solve it for her haha. Learning how to do that cube has really paid off here in the mission. Our dinner was freaking awesome. We had dinner with the S*****’s and I played on the trampoline for an hour with his boys. I seriously loved every minute of it, I miss that a lot. Plus, it was fun to see their two-year old son run around and be a baby. On top of that, we had ribs so that was the icing on the cake. Our lesson was the Restoration lesson with the Rubik’s cube as the object lesson. We committed them to OYM a friend and share the gospel with them. Overall, it was an awesome night and a much needed one. It makes me excited to one day be a father. I could care less about everything else, as long as I have my wife and kids I will be the happiest man alive.
On Saturday, we weekly planned and part of that was cleaning the car for zone conference on Tuesday because it won't get done on Monday so we did it that morning. Ashley D*** finally got baptized and the best part was that her father did it! It was awesome. Her baptism went smoothly, it was Ross' that we had some trouble. I love my ward mission leader but sometimes he has senior moments and we don't communicate well. We were supposed to have Ross' baptism that morning but we changed it to Sunday afternoon but he was under the impression that it was that morning. Frustrating but we got through it. Our dinner was with the N****'s and JayR. It was super awesome because I love that family. The only one I really connect with is Brother N***** but that's okay. We had burgers and then s'mores! We sat outside, ate s'mores and told stories and talked. It was such a fun night with them. We taught the girls and JayR about the Restoration using the Rubik’s cube again. Yeah! I love that cube of mine haha. It was a good ending to a "Smile Back" day.
Sunday was the big day for Ross and boy was it interesting. Our meetings went well and we got the ward excited about Ross' baptism. It was announced over the pulpit and everything. When Ross walked into the chapel and saw me, he gave a knight’s salute. It was pretty funny to see. He even got up to bear his testimony the day of his baptism in front of everyone! I got a little nervous but it went well. He is truly converted and that is awesome to see. I got up and told my story of baptizing Brenden. Our Gospel Principles class was about repentance. We got the font filled and I got to baptize him. We seriously FILLED the whole entire primary room! It was legit to see. Best part though was that JayR was there. I had a talk with his wife before third hour and so hopefully this will be the turning point. The talks were awesome at the baptism and the baptism itself was awesome. I went into the water with him and I baptized him. When he came up out of the water, he gasped for breath like he was literally born again and he gave me a huge hug in the font. It sure was a memorable baptism. After the baptism, we ran off to Brother C***'s house to get him all set up in using his computer to send things in to the stake. Bless his heart but he is so computer illiterate that he needs a lot of help. We got him squared away and ran off to dinner. That dinner was interesting because we were surrounded by young married couples. Trunky much? Haha nah but it was a fun dinner. Nathan M**** was there because he is engaged to one of the daughters in the family. Overall, it was an interesting week but it was a smile back week.
But overall, I am doing okay. Working as hard as I possibly can to get the work moving forward here. I want to end by sharing my testimony with you two. I know this is the Lord's work and I love doing it. I am grateful for trials; if we didn't have them then how could we grow? We wouldn't. This is the restored gospel and the Church that Christ set up in the primitive days. Most importantly though, I know that my Savior loves me. He knows me and He shed great drops of blood for me. I know I have a Father in Heaven that loves me so much. I love you two and everyone I serve here in California. I am super excited to go to the temple with Vic tomorrow! He is even coming to our zone conference so that will be fun to get to see him all day. I love y’all and I will talk to y’all soon.
Elder Tonini
Monday, April 8, 2013
email: April 8, 2013
Subj: Conference Weekend
This was such a wonderful week for me. I love General Conference as a missionary. I had one pressing question that I needed to be answered and I got it answered. I love that I get to email friends now as well. Now I get to talk to Jessica too! I finally have a best friend I can tell everything to. I love her to death and I worry about her all the time. I can imagine that Mom is super excited to go to VA. That will be such a wonderful experience for her. Give the family a big hug and let them know that I love them! Wanna hear about my week? Okay, let's go :).
I got a huge surprise on Monday when Victor called me and told me that he was coming up from Beaumont to see me! I got to see my closest friend here in Cali and give him a huge hug. He is almost done with his application to go into the mission field! I am super excited about that for him. We'll get to go to the temple in July together. That will be a huge highlight of my mission! He took us out to a steak house and we talked for hours. I got caught up open what is going on in my old ward and how things are going. He told me something that really struck home to me. When the missionaries there go to people's houses. they always bring up that Elder Chambers and I were the best missionaries that they had ever had. Vic told me that the Elders there are starting to compare themselves to Chambers and me. I had never realized how big of an impact I made in that ward. It really humbled me and gave me that bigger desire to serve even harder. I also bought new dress shoes; they are dress boots, basically. It helps with me ankles SO MUCH. Plus they were only $20! That was sweet too, I love a great bargain. It was a productive PDay for us.
On Tuesday, we went to visit our investigator LQ and see how she was doing. She told us that she was busy but that we could come by and see her. We ended up talking with her for an hour and a half on her door step. Funny how that happens sometimes. We rushed off from LQ to Ken's house to invite him to General Conference. He is doing so well! He is excited for the temple and he is reading his scriptures like crazy. He also is dating a LDS woman as well! That was super cool too. We talked and got into a deep doctrine discussion. Oops haha but he loves talking about the Gospel like that.
We met with Norma on Wednesday and had an awesome lesson! It was another drop-by lesson that turned into a three hour discussion. She would just talk to us about what is going on and things happening in her life. We are making real progress with her. Elder Coleman shared 2 Nephi 31 with her and we read part of it together. During that time, we BOTH received the impression that she needed to get invited to be baptized. So Coleman invited her and she said yes! With tears in her eyes, she said yes. It was super awesome that she felt the Spirit and wanted to come unto Christ. Plus we found out that she has cousin's that are LDS! Small world. We then went to the S*****'s and taught them as well.
Thursday was our monthly meeting in Riverside with all the zone leaders and the mission president. During these meetings, I just sit back and watch the people who talk. I cannot stand leaders who get up and say something to make themselves look better than the others. That is why I sit back and not say anything. I'll only say something if I cannot keep my mouth shut for much longer. But then we weekly planned and got ready for our zone meeting on Friday. We went by and visited Ken again and talked more deep doctrine with him haha. He loves it though and it is fun to teach him. Then I OYMed this guy that I got into a bash with for no reason! He told me that he couldn't talk to me because Joseph Smith wasn't a true prophet. That pissed me off and then I went into defensive mood and told him otherwise. I shouldn't have done that because I ended up me getting more frustrated and getting each other pissed off. He couldn't deny me though so he kept changing the issue and I would answer it every time. People amaze me sometimes.
Friday was our usual meeting with Anita and our zone meeting and it went well. I love speaking in front of people. Crazy huh? Haha but yes, it went well. We learned from Coleman that in two years, we only have 200 days to proselyte. That blew my mind. Put my mission in a different perspective. But it went well and our zone plan is going to work! Saturday was filled with conference. Priesthood session was super good as well. It isn't the same without getting ice cream afterwards so we went and did that :). Plus we got to meet Ken's girlfriend so that was pretty sweet :). Sunday was good with giving one of our neighbors a blessing and teaching them about the restoration. I love bearing my testimony to people! Sunday conference was good and dinner with the Bishop went well. Tri-tip steak is always good eating :)
My testimony is this. Jesus IS the Christ, my Savior and Redeemer. I love the Gospel and the Atonement He gave for me personally. Joseph Smith was and always will be a prophet and NO ONE can take that way from me! The Book of Mormon is the word of God, same with the Bible. I love my Heavenly Father and I am so grateful for challenges that make me stronger. I love you, Mom and Dad. Thank you for your example to me!
Elder Tonini
This was such a wonderful week for me. I love General Conference as a missionary. I had one pressing question that I needed to be answered and I got it answered. I love that I get to email friends now as well. Now I get to talk to Jessica too! I finally have a best friend I can tell everything to. I love her to death and I worry about her all the time. I can imagine that Mom is super excited to go to VA. That will be such a wonderful experience for her. Give the family a big hug and let them know that I love them! Wanna hear about my week? Okay, let's go :).
I got a huge surprise on Monday when Victor called me and told me that he was coming up from Beaumont to see me! I got to see my closest friend here in Cali and give him a huge hug. He is almost done with his application to go into the mission field! I am super excited about that for him. We'll get to go to the temple in July together. That will be a huge highlight of my mission! He took us out to a steak house and we talked for hours. I got caught up open what is going on in my old ward and how things are going. He told me something that really struck home to me. When the missionaries there go to people's houses. they always bring up that Elder Chambers and I were the best missionaries that they had ever had. Vic told me that the Elders there are starting to compare themselves to Chambers and me. I had never realized how big of an impact I made in that ward. It really humbled me and gave me that bigger desire to serve even harder. I also bought new dress shoes; they are dress boots, basically. It helps with me ankles SO MUCH. Plus they were only $20! That was sweet too, I love a great bargain. It was a productive PDay for us.
On Tuesday, we went to visit our investigator LQ and see how she was doing. She told us that she was busy but that we could come by and see her. We ended up talking with her for an hour and a half on her door step. Funny how that happens sometimes. We rushed off from LQ to Ken's house to invite him to General Conference. He is doing so well! He is excited for the temple and he is reading his scriptures like crazy. He also is dating a LDS woman as well! That was super cool too. We talked and got into a deep doctrine discussion. Oops haha but he loves talking about the Gospel like that.
We met with Norma on Wednesday and had an awesome lesson! It was another drop-by lesson that turned into a three hour discussion. She would just talk to us about what is going on and things happening in her life. We are making real progress with her. Elder Coleman shared 2 Nephi 31 with her and we read part of it together. During that time, we BOTH received the impression that she needed to get invited to be baptized. So Coleman invited her and she said yes! With tears in her eyes, she said yes. It was super awesome that she felt the Spirit and wanted to come unto Christ. Plus we found out that she has cousin's that are LDS! Small world. We then went to the S*****'s and taught them as well.
Thursday was our monthly meeting in Riverside with all the zone leaders and the mission president. During these meetings, I just sit back and watch the people who talk. I cannot stand leaders who get up and say something to make themselves look better than the others. That is why I sit back and not say anything. I'll only say something if I cannot keep my mouth shut for much longer. But then we weekly planned and got ready for our zone meeting on Friday. We went by and visited Ken again and talked more deep doctrine with him haha. He loves it though and it is fun to teach him. Then I OYMed this guy that I got into a bash with for no reason! He told me that he couldn't talk to me because Joseph Smith wasn't a true prophet. That pissed me off and then I went into defensive mood and told him otherwise. I shouldn't have done that because I ended up me getting more frustrated and getting each other pissed off. He couldn't deny me though so he kept changing the issue and I would answer it every time. People amaze me sometimes.
Friday was our usual meeting with Anita and our zone meeting and it went well. I love speaking in front of people. Crazy huh? Haha but yes, it went well. We learned from Coleman that in two years, we only have 200 days to proselyte. That blew my mind. Put my mission in a different perspective. But it went well and our zone plan is going to work! Saturday was filled with conference. Priesthood session was super good as well. It isn't the same without getting ice cream afterwards so we went and did that :). Plus we got to meet Ken's girlfriend so that was pretty sweet :). Sunday was good with giving one of our neighbors a blessing and teaching them about the restoration. I love bearing my testimony to people! Sunday conference was good and dinner with the Bishop went well. Tri-tip steak is always good eating :)
My testimony is this. Jesus IS the Christ, my Savior and Redeemer. I love the Gospel and the Atonement He gave for me personally. Joseph Smith was and always will be a prophet and NO ONE can take that way from me! The Book of Mormon is the word of God, same with the Bible. I love my Heavenly Father and I am so grateful for challenges that make me stronger. I love you, Mom and Dad. Thank you for your example to me!
Elder Tonini
Monday, August 27, 2012
email: August 27, 2012
Dear Family,
It is transfer week! It was fun to meet that family that knows the Romney's in Texas. I love eating with the O'Harra family, we had a very good lesson that I will tell more about in a little bit.
I had a pretty good week. We got 170 OYMs and 17 lessons. We were 3 lessons short of where we need to be. Nothing exciting happened on Monday but we had a good P-Day. I played disc golf with Robert for probably the last time. He has been offered a job in Atlanta so hopefully he won't be unemployed for very much longer!
We taught Victor a lot this week. He actually is going to get his Patriarchal Blessing in the upcoming weeks so that is super exciting. We taught him three times this week with him teaching us on Saturday night at the O'Harra's. He is such a stud of a convert. He shares the gospel with everyone. I get so excited when I see him excel and grow in the gospel. He got a home teaching companion and families so he is super excited to start with that new responsibility. He is seriously thinking about serving a mission and he is getting ready to go to the temple.
On Wednesday, we went with Robert to go help a family friend of his. She is an older lady that he does work for occasionally. He went to install a dimmer in her house and we went with him to help him move a piano so we could get back there to install it. We ended up teaching her and she seemed pretty interested. The only bad thing is, she doesn't live in our area... But hopefully something will come of it.
As we have started to teach a lot more lessons, I have come to realize how important the Book of Mormon is to us. I love talking about it and sharing it with people. It seems like that when we teach active members, we talk about about the BoM. It truly is the keystone of our religion and it is what separates us from other Christianity. We are trying to help Antoinette to see how the BoM is the key to conversion and so hopefully we will be able to help her understand that.
I had a couple of interesting tracting stories this week. The first one was that this 17 year old girl answered the door in her bikini and then wanted to hear more about what we do. It was super awkward because I didn't want to make it seem like I was attracted to her (when I wasn't!) and to show that we are respectable men. She didn't want us to come back but it still was awkward. The second one is that we got in to two bashes on the door step with people on back-to-back doors. We had this Seventh Day Adventist try to tell us that he read the BoM and everything and how he cannot agree that the Sabbath is on a Saturday. I boldly told him that he did not pray about the BoM because he didn't feel that it was true. The second door, this Born Again Christian lady told us all sorts of false doctrines that we tried to clear things up but she didn't have an open heart to it. It makes me realize how important the Gospel is and what a blessing it is in my life. It truly is our job to share the light with people.
<EDITOR'S NOTE: Drew's girlfriend Taylor changed her Facebook status from "in a relationship" to "single" as she gets ready to head out to BYU Idaho. I usually omit these very personal experiences from the blog for obvious reasons. However, this time I felt it was important to show how he is dealing with it.>
So on the subject of Taylor, I actually had a testimony building experience with it. I read her letter and, as you could probably imagine, my mind took off and I started to worry. I was sitting in my room and I had a prompting come over me that told me "You need to go pray." I heard it three times so by the third time, I followed that prompting and I got on my knees to pray. I explained the situation to my Father in Heaven and asked for guidance to know how to handle it. After I finished that prayer, I stayed on my knees to listen to what the Spirit will tell me. I got this warm feeling that started at the top of my head and fell all the way to my feet and I got the feeling that everything will be okay. And it will be. It is hard because she was my everything... And now to hear the she wants to do her own thing is hard because usually that involves me. Sometimes you have to go through fire to get where you want to go and this is my fire. I will be okay, although sleeping at night won't be okay.
Anyways, I will find out this week if I will get transferred so if y'all are going to send anything send it to the mission home. This week is going to be hard for me so keep me in your prayers. I love you all.
Elder Tonini
It is transfer week! It was fun to meet that family that knows the Romney's in Texas. I love eating with the O'Harra family, we had a very good lesson that I will tell more about in a little bit.
I had a pretty good week. We got 170 OYMs and 17 lessons. We were 3 lessons short of where we need to be. Nothing exciting happened on Monday but we had a good P-Day. I played disc golf with Robert for probably the last time. He has been offered a job in Atlanta so hopefully he won't be unemployed for very much longer!
We taught Victor a lot this week. He actually is going to get his Patriarchal Blessing in the upcoming weeks so that is super exciting. We taught him three times this week with him teaching us on Saturday night at the O'Harra's. He is such a stud of a convert. He shares the gospel with everyone. I get so excited when I see him excel and grow in the gospel. He got a home teaching companion and families so he is super excited to start with that new responsibility. He is seriously thinking about serving a mission and he is getting ready to go to the temple.
On Wednesday, we went with Robert to go help a family friend of his. She is an older lady that he does work for occasionally. He went to install a dimmer in her house and we went with him to help him move a piano so we could get back there to install it. We ended up teaching her and she seemed pretty interested. The only bad thing is, she doesn't live in our area... But hopefully something will come of it.
As we have started to teach a lot more lessons, I have come to realize how important the Book of Mormon is to us. I love talking about it and sharing it with people. It seems like that when we teach active members, we talk about about the BoM. It truly is the keystone of our religion and it is what separates us from other Christianity. We are trying to help Antoinette to see how the BoM is the key to conversion and so hopefully we will be able to help her understand that.
I had a couple of interesting tracting stories this week. The first one was that this 17 year old girl answered the door in her bikini and then wanted to hear more about what we do. It was super awkward because I didn't want to make it seem like I was attracted to her (when I wasn't!) and to show that we are respectable men. She didn't want us to come back but it still was awkward. The second one is that we got in to two bashes on the door step with people on back-to-back doors. We had this Seventh Day Adventist try to tell us that he read the BoM and everything and how he cannot agree that the Sabbath is on a Saturday. I boldly told him that he did not pray about the BoM because he didn't feel that it was true. The second door, this Born Again Christian lady told us all sorts of false doctrines that we tried to clear things up but she didn't have an open heart to it. It makes me realize how important the Gospel is and what a blessing it is in my life. It truly is our job to share the light with people.
<EDITOR'S NOTE: Drew's girlfriend Taylor changed her Facebook status from "in a relationship" to "single" as she gets ready to head out to BYU Idaho. I usually omit these very personal experiences from the blog for obvious reasons. However, this time I felt it was important to show how he is dealing with it.>
So on the subject of Taylor, I actually had a testimony building experience with it. I read her letter and, as you could probably imagine, my mind took off and I started to worry. I was sitting in my room and I had a prompting come over me that told me "You need to go pray." I heard it three times so by the third time, I followed that prompting and I got on my knees to pray. I explained the situation to my Father in Heaven and asked for guidance to know how to handle it. After I finished that prayer, I stayed on my knees to listen to what the Spirit will tell me. I got this warm feeling that started at the top of my head and fell all the way to my feet and I got the feeling that everything will be okay. And it will be. It is hard because she was my everything... And now to hear the she wants to do her own thing is hard because usually that involves me. Sometimes you have to go through fire to get where you want to go and this is my fire. I will be okay, although sleeping at night won't be okay.
Anyways, I will find out this week if I will get transferred so if y'all are going to send anything send it to the mission home. This week is going to be hard for me so keep me in your prayers. I love you all.
Elder Tonini
Monday, August 20, 2012
email: August 20, 2012
I cannot believe that I turn 6 months in nine days! I get to burn a tie in honor of that so I need to go to the thrift store and buy a crap tie so I can burn it. I did get Dad's letter this week, it just came later that usual. I love getting his letters along with Grandma's. I get at least three letters a week: one from Dad, Grandma and Taylor. Plus all the other ones from family that I get. Getting the mail is the best time of day. I have a love/hate relationship with the mailman; I love when I get something in the mail and I HATE when it is empty! Oh the pathetic life as a missionary.
Speaking of Seminole Missionaries, how are they doing? How is the work going? I am sad to hear about that family and their struggles... I hope that everyone in the branch can fellowship them and show them what it means to be a member of the Church and to be a true Christian. I saw that with Victor when he was on the road to baptism and I saw it with Jessica and Demetrius (who we haven't seen in like a month... we can't get in to see them). Explain to them that the testimony will come when they read the Book of Mormon and pray. Follow the promise is Moroni 10:4 and they will receive an answer. How are the other recent converts doing? How was the girl that I baptized when I was there doing? The key to staying active with the recent converts is helping them fit into the branch but I know that y'all are doing a good job with that!
My week has been a pretty decent week. We taught 16 lessons with 170 OYMs. We would have had more lessons but a lot cancelled on us. A positive thing that we saw was that we found a new investigator. His name is Jordan and we talked to him on the street in his car. He met up with us on Saturday and he seemed like he was very interested in what we were saying. The things we were saying were really sinking in to him. He never thought that there was a falling away and that Christ did set up a Church. He goes to a non-denominational church here in Beaumont so hopefully his Book of Mormon reading and praying will help him to receive an answer.
We really didn't have anything exciting happen this week. I did get to go to a church service at that church I told y'all about last week. The youth pastor invited us to go so we went to see how we are different. It was weird to see the band and the loud singing and everything like that in a chapel. The sermon was good though, Jose did the best that he could with the knowledge and power he has. Their doctrine is a little bit different; it made me appreciate modern revelation and the Book of Mormon to help us understand completely Christ's gospel and his teachings. While we were out tracting on Saturday, we ran into a Jehovah's Witness that we got into a bash with. We talked with him for almost an hour! It is amazing to see how different out doctrine and how happy it is. He told us that little children can sin, that we are here because of Adam and Eve's mistake, blah blah blah. It amazed me at how ignorant he was and how blind he was to the truth. I am so so grateful for the truth that we have. We also found out that Ben has a mental disorder and so I think we are going to drop him. It is upsetting but he cannot comprehend simple things.
I got TWO new pairs of shoes this week as well! I found them at a garage sale. Two black pairs of Dockers slip on shoes. The best part is, I only paid a DOLLAR for both of them! It was super exciting, I have been looking for a pair of those for a while and I got two pairs for a steal of a price. Mom, you will love Seminary this year, the New Testament is AWESOME. I have been reading it and I am almost through the Gospels. It is amazing to see how much Christ made an impact of people when he was on this world. I have learned SO much doctrinal stuff already and I am only 6 months in! I have come to love the scriptures and I feel like I cannot read them long enough.
I love y'all so much and cannot wait to her from y'all again! Stay safe Mom on that scooter!
- Elder Tonini
Speaking of Seminole Missionaries, how are they doing? How is the work going? I am sad to hear about that family and their struggles... I hope that everyone in the branch can fellowship them and show them what it means to be a member of the Church and to be a true Christian. I saw that with Victor when he was on the road to baptism and I saw it with Jessica and Demetrius (who we haven't seen in like a month... we can't get in to see them). Explain to them that the testimony will come when they read the Book of Mormon and pray. Follow the promise is Moroni 10:4 and they will receive an answer. How are the other recent converts doing? How was the girl that I baptized when I was there doing? The key to staying active with the recent converts is helping them fit into the branch but I know that y'all are doing a good job with that!
My week has been a pretty decent week. We taught 16 lessons with 170 OYMs. We would have had more lessons but a lot cancelled on us. A positive thing that we saw was that we found a new investigator. His name is Jordan and we talked to him on the street in his car. He met up with us on Saturday and he seemed like he was very interested in what we were saying. The things we were saying were really sinking in to him. He never thought that there was a falling away and that Christ did set up a Church. He goes to a non-denominational church here in Beaumont so hopefully his Book of Mormon reading and praying will help him to receive an answer.
We really didn't have anything exciting happen this week. I did get to go to a church service at that church I told y'all about last week. The youth pastor invited us to go so we went to see how we are different. It was weird to see the band and the loud singing and everything like that in a chapel. The sermon was good though, Jose did the best that he could with the knowledge and power he has. Their doctrine is a little bit different; it made me appreciate modern revelation and the Book of Mormon to help us understand completely Christ's gospel and his teachings. While we were out tracting on Saturday, we ran into a Jehovah's Witness that we got into a bash with. We talked with him for almost an hour! It is amazing to see how different out doctrine and how happy it is. He told us that little children can sin, that we are here because of Adam and Eve's mistake, blah blah blah. It amazed me at how ignorant he was and how blind he was to the truth. I am so so grateful for the truth that we have. We also found out that Ben has a mental disorder and so I think we are going to drop him. It is upsetting but he cannot comprehend simple things.
I got TWO new pairs of shoes this week as well! I found them at a garage sale. Two black pairs of Dockers slip on shoes. The best part is, I only paid a DOLLAR for both of them! It was super exciting, I have been looking for a pair of those for a while and I got two pairs for a steal of a price. Mom, you will love Seminary this year, the New Testament is AWESOME. I have been reading it and I am almost through the Gospels. It is amazing to see how much Christ made an impact of people when he was on this world. I have learned SO much doctrinal stuff already and I am only 6 months in! I have come to love the scriptures and I feel like I cannot read them long enough.
I love y'all so much and cannot wait to her from y'all again! Stay safe Mom on that scooter!
- Elder Tonini
Monday, July 9, 2012
email: July 9, 2012
My 4th of July was so cool! We had a regular work day up until 6 pm and then we had to be with a member family. We went with this family in our ward to go eat and then watch the fireworks at the park. Apparently the Indian Reservation give the city almost $30,000 for fireworks! It was super awesome. Plus we also saw Jefferson Starship play in the park. It was so cool! The fireworks were super legit as well. We saw Victor there with the O'Harra family so it was a super good 4th of July for me.
We got Victor baptized this week! I saw that you talked to Sister O'Harra this week. She told me that you got emotional on the phone. I love you mom :). I would send you pictures of the baptism but the USB port isn't working on this computer... The O'Harra's bought Victor a quad for his baptism and I bought him a tie. He really appreciated it and was almost in tears when we gave it to him. He is so legit Mom, I love him to death. He is talking about going to the temple to receive his endowments a year from now. When he goes to get them, I can go with him! I am so stoked about that as well. Overall, he is just a stud and a super awesome convert. Brother O'Harra confirmed him and Austin O'Harra baptized him. There were so many people at his baptism, it was insane!
I have some bad news about Jessica and Demetrius... Jessica went to a Born Again Christian church and she really liked it. Demetrius though is still on the fence. He really wasn't sure about the Born Again church. He likes our church with the structure and the focus on the family. There is still hopefully hope for him to feel the Spirit and want to be baptized. He feels that the Church is true but he hasn't received a sure confirmation about it. I testified to him that the key to know is to read the Book of Mormon and to pray specifically to know that the Book is true. I am hoping and praying that he will want to make that step in his life to come closer to Christ.
Robert came home today from Pebble Beach! When I walked outside to his truck, he got out and gave me a huge hug. No one can replace Dad but he seriously feels like a father figure to me. We get along so well and his wife loves us. We are actually going over tonight for desert. His wife invited us over :). They would be such a strong family in the Church. Hopefully we can work with them to get them ready to accept the Gospel.
Well, that is all from Beaumont for last week. We are working hard and staying focused. I love you and miss everyone back home. Let everyone in the branch know that I love them and miss them. Send my regards to President Shummway and President Davis. Love you and talk to yall soon!
Elder Tonini
Monday, April 23, 2012
email: April 23, 2012
Mom,
Sounds like things are going very well back
home, things are busy and everyone is happy. Happiness is a choice and I am so
glad that y'all are making the choice to be happy. I have had my ups and downs
this week but I am always trying to be happy, no matter how much I have on my
mind. I keep thinking of President Shummway's blessing and the promise he gave
to me. I intend to make that promise become reality and that everything I go
through will be all worth it in the end.
We finally hit 200 miles on the bike this week. We have had a really busy week, from flat tires to inviting people to the waters of baptism, we have done it all. The work is finally starting to come around. We now have ten investigators! We invited Mary to be baptized and she is going to work on achieving that goal on May 6th. She is such a sweetheart, she is my mother away from my own mother. She is going to continue to go to church and learn more so she can be ready for the waters of baptism. We are going to help her as much as we can to get her ready to make that first step.
We got five new investigators this week and they have kept us busy. One of the families that we found has a really cool story behind it. Elder Chambers and I were out tracting when we knocked on this one door and a Hispanic lady answered. She at first said she wasn't interested in what we had to say then she started to open up and told us that her mother and mother-in-law have cancer. We told her we would come back with a Spanish Plan of Salvation pamphlet for her; that was two weeks ago. We went by last Tuesday to drop off the pamphlet but she wasn't there so we gave it to her brother. After dinner, we stopped by to see if she had gotten it. Her husband answered the door. We explained who we are and he invited us in. We ended up teaching the Plan of Salvation to them and gave them a Book of Mormon. On Saturday, we came back to see them and they shocked us; they were reading the Book of Mormon together and really talking about it. What really impressed me was that all week Demitrius (the husband) listened to talk radio on the way to work and all they talked about was how there are things out there that disprove the Book of Mormon. The adversary is working really hard on him and boy does that make me mad! It goes to show that the adversary is really real. Anyways, that didn't faze him and he still kept reading and asked us why people are so hard about the Book of Mormon. We told him it is because the Book of Mormon is they way for people to know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is really Christ's church. Our lesson of the Restoration was a bomb and we invited them to come to church with us. They said they would be there and that they are going to keep on reading. On Sunday, only Demitrius showed up because his wife, Jessica, got sun burnt very badly and wasn't feeling well so she stayed home with her two kids. Demetrius looked so fresh in his suit that he wore! He is a Marine and he cleans up VERY well. We even got him to stay for all three hours of church! After church he told us why he came just by himself even though his family couldn't go. About a week ago, he was thinking and he told himself that he was going to find a church to take his family to. He kept putting it off and putting it off until one day when he was driving home from work, he prayed and promised God that he would go to church that week. He didn't know what church to go to but he is going and then we knocked on his door and we invited him to come to church so he kept his promise and came. NOTHING ever happens by chance. It wasn't by chance that we found the Passmore family or Mary or anyone else who we have found. The Lord truly knows us better than we do, I know that for a fact.
After our lesson with the Passmore's, we came back to teach a family that we tracted into on Friday afternoon. We talked to Andre and he said that he would want us to come back and that his girlfriend would be very interested in hearing what we had to say. So we came back on Saturday but he was leaving when we pulled up. He told us to come back in half an hour and he sound be home from the store. We rode around, talking to people, trying to be effective while we waited for Andre to come back home. At 5 we rode by the house but didn't see his car outside on the driveway. We were about to ride off when his girlfriend's son opened the door and yelled at us to come in. Trya is the mom and she was so so intersted to hear what we have to say. She is good friends with some recent converts and she has been wanting to hear from us for a while. We taught them the Restoration and they asked a lot of questions about the Church. They asked if black people were shunned in the church (they are a black family) and we told them HECK NO! We ended up giving them TWO copies of the Book of Mormon so that they can read as a family. They are an amazing family and they really want to change their lives for the better and turn to Christ. They even have a picture of Him on their wall! I know that they have been prepared to hear the gospel, otherwise they wouldn't be wanting to hear so much about it.
On a funnier note, we came up to this house on Sunday and saw two men outside. One was sitting on the steps and the other one was face flat on the walkway up to the porch. We talked to the man sitting on the steps and asked him if he needs any help. He told us that he needs to get his friend in the house. Come to find out, the guy was passed out drunk! We tried to lift him but lifting 250 pounds of dead weight is impossible. We walked away shaking our heads because it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon and that guy was passed out drunk. I also got a flat tire on Sunday... But thankfully one of the members was able to slime it and fix the flat. I got a thorn from taking a shortcut to get to the other side of our area. Goodness, I love riding my bike every day! Oh and I have fallen in love with a new sport: disk golf! We went last PDay with a less-active member of the church and we are going with him again today. His wife isn't a member and is now opening up to us teaching because we are building a great relationship with that family.
Being a missionary is awesome, I love it! It is so hard but it's the launching pad for the rest of my life as well as the people I have and will meet. I love you and keep me in your thoughts and prayers as we start to have people hopefully coming into the waters of baptism!
Your Missionary Son,
Elder Tonini
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Out with the Missionaries
Last Saturday, I went out with Elder Clark and Elder Cahoon from the branch in Seminole. We made a return visit to a man that they had found the day previous. He lives in a modest trailer, working nights to provide for his young family. We had actually woke him up when we knocked but he gladly let us in. Matt was very open to the church and the idea that the gospel brings. He was given a Book of Mormon and challenged to read it and to find out for himself if it was true. Elder Clark testified if the truth of it and the joy that it brings. Matt told us that he is going to try it out for himself, that he was going to test it and find out for himself if it's true or not. When I heard that, I got excited because that is the first step in becoming converted: be willing to try it out for themselves. So we kept talking to him and he really likes what the gospel offers and how we focus so much on the family. He's rough around the edges but he wants to learn more and will hopefully want to attain the fullest of truth that the gospel offers. We then went to visit a newly converted family to visit and check up on them. We were going to teach the daughter but she wasn't there. However, we talked with her mother and made sure that she was doing okay. It was an awesome experience to be with the Elders for the afternoon and to listen to their advice in going into the mission field.
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