email: April 1, 2013

Sounds like y’all had a wonderful Easter. I thought about my last Easter and I realized that last Easter I was in the mission field! That was super crazy to think about; how fast my time is flying by. Before I know it, I will be flying home to North Dakota. I am dreading how fast the time is flying... I know for y’all that the time seems to be going on forever with me not there but boy is it flying for me! We had a wonderful Easter; that I will get to later. It was a crazy week with all the transfers and us moving apartments. So here was my week :)

Monday was filled with getting everyone packed up and transferred in or out. I moved apartments so I spent all day moving. It honestly felt like I moved everything by myself because my comp and Elder Allen didn't do anything but pack up their stuff and worry about them instead of helping Elder Preito and I move stuff to our new place. That was kind of frustrating and it really took a toll on me physically. We made so many trips back and forth from the apartments. Our new apartment is kind of in the ghetto but it is a nicer apartment than our last one. We now have two bathrooms and two closets for each companionship. Elder Coleman and I have a walk in closet! Super sweet; the only downfall is that we lost our washer and dryer. We went to laundry mat today and did laundry. It is going to cost almost 5 dollars a week to do laundry. I have been lazy with budgeting but now I am really going to have to work on it! I pay with cash so I'll have to start the envelope system again. Anyways, after we got most of the stuff moved in we then had to deal with a lost Elder trying to find the right apartment and making sure that everyone was taken care of. That was a huge headache and stress for me but I got through it all. We also went out to McDonalds to get dollar ice cream with the zone. Our old Sister missionaries were still here and it was fun to get to see them for one last time. My new bed felt so nice that night! We upgraded to bunk beds with memory foam pads on our mattresses :). They are super sweet and I sleep so well now!

Tuesday was another logistical day. We had to make a few more trips to get everything moved in officially. We then went to service with the Lasselle elders to help someone move. It was such a painless move, I loved it. Everything was in boxes and made it super easy to move. We cleaned up then went to teach a lesson to a lady that Elder Coleman found in his last area. The Sisters didn't get to the new area until that night so we had to do double duty for a little while. Our drop-ins to investigators didn't go through so we knocked doors for a while. I love being companions with Coleman. I laugh all day with him. Our dinner was with the Rascon family. I love going over there. They have the cutest daughter ever. During the meal, she hopped up on the lap and sat there while I ate the rest of my dinner. We then went and saw Ken and made sure that he was doing well.

On Wednesday we helped the new companionships get settled in and help them get familiar with the area. That afternoon, we stopped by a family in our ward that we felt like we needed to go see. We talked with the husband for almost two hours. He is from Compton with tons of stories. He just needed someone to talk to and he really appreciated our time with him. Anita kept calling us because she was freaking out about stuff for her baptism. She is really starting to stress me out... But it is all good because she is happy and wants to get baptized so I will do everything I can to make her happy. Our evening appointment was with the new sisters to hand off an investigator to them. The Sisters are way better teachers than us Elders! They are going to do well there.

We had our lesson with Gary and his family and it went very well. We had a member come with us and help us teach. It was amazing to me to hear how little the kids understood about Christ. They really didn't know much; all they knew was that he died on the cross for them and that isn't even the whole part of the Atonement! We taught them and helped them to understand. We are hoping to see them learn and progress. Since Thursday is planning day, we went over to Cashman's house to plan. Coleman needed clean clothes so we washed clothes as well. It was super fun to plan with Coleman and Cashman! We then saw the craziest thing coming home from an appointment. We took the exit to get on the 60 freeway and saw this really bad accident so we pulled over. The story was that this car full of men took the on ramp going 90 MPH and hit the median. They totaled the car but the five men took off running! The driver was badly hurt but they pulled him out and took off. Come to find out that they were running from police and crashed the car. Super crazy. That night we went to Ken's and he started asking some deep doctrine stuff! And it was all from his reading too. We answered them the best we could.

Sunday was a good Easter Sunday. I got to give Ken the priesthood and stand in on Cashman getting ordained to an Elder! It was super cool to be a part of that. Our Easter dinner was okay, it was fun to be with the family that we ate with. Overall, it was a good week!

I love y'all and miss everyone terribly. I am actually in need of some new clothes (pants, running shoes, some more shirts) so if y’all could see what you could do to help, that would be wonderful! Love y'all so much :)

Elder Tonini

email: March 25, 2013

So we got transfer calls and I am... STAYING IN MOVAL! YEAH! I am super excited to stay. I love it here. I am moving to another apartment so that will be the majority of our PDay. We are losing six out of the ten missionaries here in MoVal. Elder Coleman is my new companion; I love him to death. He was my district leader here in MoVal and now he is my companion. We are going to tear it up here! Today is going to be filled with getting everything ready for the new missionaries and helping the ones that are transferring to get to their new areas.

I love that Jess [his cousin] got to stay with y'all for a while! I love that woman to death. She is seriously the closest friend that I have. I miss her and love her to death. I felt so bad that I didn't get to email her last week because I ran out of time but I made it up to her! Carson sent me such a sweet email that really touched me. I seriously have the best family ever!

Transfer week is always crazy but we started off in good fashion by going fishing out at Lake Perris! It was super fun. A recent convert couple in the Lasselle Ward took us and it was a blast. I sat and fished for hours with Elder Randall, Cook, and Adams. I have bonded so well with all of my missionaries. It is going to be difficult to see some of them leave but we have made life-long memories together. Besides, we'll all end up going to school in Utah anyways together! We talked a lot about life and stuff out on the lake. I had a lot on my mind and it was good to have an outlet to help me get over it. I got burnt so badly though... A year of not seeing sun on my shoulders was bad! I blistered and everything but it was well worth it. I will send pictures; it was seriously the best PDay ever.

Our week was filled with exchanges... Elder Allen went back on insulin so he couldn't drive for a few days so we had to go on exchanges. We met with one of our new investigators on Tuesday. She is an awesome lady! She has the longest finger nails I have ever seen! They curl and everything! But she is so much fun to talk to with her black attitude. It is super fun to teach her. She liked everything that we taught her and is even willing to meet with us twice a week. Elder Prieto was with me and we did some door knocking and then went to see Ken that night. Before our lesson, we caught up with him about his week over a game of pool :). Prieto killed me but it was still super fun. Ken is awesome, he is such a good member of the church. He wants so bad to get involved so hopefully the bishop will give him a calling soon. He should also be getting the Priesthood next week as well.

Elder Allen came with me on Wednesday to go give service for a family in our ward. We had so much fun. Almost the whole zone came to help. The lady though kept asking me what we should do next in her yard. I kept telling her that it's not my stuff! I was good though to help her out. I finally took charge and started to organize because the sister we were helping wasn't doing much so I took over. I know, I sound like my Father but hey, I learned from the best. I then took Allen to our lesson with Anita. We put Anita on date! We are having a baptism on April 20th! I can't wait to see her make that step. She has adopted me as her grandson so it has been fun to get to get to know her. We went to the Stanton's and they brought out there huge remote control shark that flies through the air! It was so much fun to play with! We are trying to help Bob get the desire to get baptized.

Thursday was our usual weekly planning day but we ended up going to Riverside to get our new phone! It was a decent one, definitely an upgrade from our previous phones. Our lesson with our new investigator didn't go through but we rescheduled for Saturday. Our Missionary Correlation Meeting went well; it is crazy how these grown men actually listen to the advice that we give them. It truly was a lesson to me that no matter what age you are, people will listen if you talk to them with love and boldness.

We had a super cool experience on Friday night. We went on exchanges again with another companionship and I was with Adams for the day. We had a good day together, he really needed it. We talked a lot and I was able to help him through some trials he was going through. That night though, we got to give a non-member family a blessing on their home. It was so Spirit felt and I was awesome to have the member friend bear testimony about the gospel. That is why the members are so important! Hopefully good things will come from the blessing.

It was service Saturday and we helped a family start to level their backyard. Boy was the Cali sun beating down on us. It did feel good to pick up a pick ax and start swinging and shoveling. The members were very appreciative. I love helping people like that! We then went and taught our new investigator that afternoon and had another awesome lesson with her. Transfer calls came and it was exciting and fun to hear the news.

Sunday was crazy. We got a call from a Coleman and Randall that Randall had passed out. So we left church and went to go help them. I ended up staying with Randall for the whole day. He ended up getting better but it was crazy how the whole thing went down.

Well, that's a little bit about my crazy life! I love y'all and can't wait to hear form y'all again. Have a great week!

Elder Tonini

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut...

For those readers who aren't familiar with mission life, rest assured that there is time for levity. Take this picture for example:

He sent this picture last week without any explanation.  Although now that I think about it, does it really need any?

email: March 18, 2013

Subj: Don't Tread on Me

Wow! I love those pictures from Minot! Am I really going to like it? I really hope that I do. It is a year away but still, that is exciting to think about! It looks so cold there... I am going to freeze! But hey, it'll all be worth it in the long run. Minot is going to be the start of my post-mission life and it's going to help me get on my feet when the time comes. It'll be exciting. Jake did so well at his games. I wish I could be there watching him tear it up down there in Seminole. Corina is always full of knowledge and fun stories from her crazy teenage life. I wish my life could be as fun as hers ;). Carson is getting so big! He isn't my little Carbar anymore... I got a set of military scriptures (they're smaller and easier to carry around) and I made a box for them and put our family picture on it. People all the time say what a wonderful looking family we are. And I have to agree with that :).

I had a pretty cool experience on Monday. Well first, we saw a coyote on the side of the street in the middle of town! It was super crazy. It was soooo scary looking too. It probably had every disease known to man and animal in it. But Elder Craig and I got to help set a missionary apart from our ward that night. It was the stake president's son and it was super cool to be a part of it.

We had a baptism on Tuesday! But before the baptism, we went over to a member's home to share with her a message. Come to find out, a year to that day her sister died. The member was struggling with it... We switched our lesson to the Plan of Salvation. During the lesson, I got this impression that we needed to offer her a blessing. So at the end, we offered the blessing to her and she gladly accepted it. I gave her the blessing and I said things that I never thought I knew about her. The Spirit works! After the lesson, we got ready for the baptism. Ken was baptized and he asked me to do it. The whole baptism went really smooth, I was impressed with how well it went. Elder Craig and I preformed the primary song Baptism. I played the piano and he sang. I haven't performed in front of people since Mom's piano recitals we used to do. But we did well and everyone liked it. Anita came to the baptism and she really liked it. Hopefully she will be baptized here in the near future.

We had a super cool experience on Thursday with one of our investigators. That morning, we had an open hour that we hadn't filled and I got the impression that we needed to go see Norma. So we did and I am so thankful that I listened to that prompting. We got to her house and she was so excited to see us. She gave me a big hug and we sat down and talked with her. She talked to us for two and a half hours! She talked and we just listened to her. That was all that she needed, was someone to talk to. We even missed dinner to be there with her. After we said we had to go to another appointment, she told us something that really struck me. She said that this morning, she prayed so hard that God would hear her prayers. She was really struggling that day and was going to throw in the towel and lay down with a sheet over her head for the rest of the afternoon. Well, we came and knocked on her door and it was an answer to prayer. She then gave me a big hug and sobbed on my shoulder. She's like the black grandmother I never had! She is so awesome and I love her to death. It was super cool to be an answer to prayer that day.

We picked up a new family to teach on Friday after we had our lesson with Anita. They are a family of seven with five girls under the age of seven. They are a super cool family and we found them knocking doors. We blessed the house and invited them to be baptized. They gave the generic answer but they agreed to have us come back. After that though, nothing happened this weekend. Everything fell through and it was super depressing... But hey, you gotta press through it and keep working has hard as you can.

I hope y'all have a wonderful week and have a fun one. I love y'all and I will let y'all know if I get transferred or not. We get calls on Saturday so we'll know what happens. Love y'all so much!

Elder Tonini

First Presidency Updates Missionary email Policy

I have been unable to confirm this on an official LDS website, but Elder Tonini sent us the following:

"Missionaries are to write to their families each week and are also authorized to communicate by email with friends, priesthood leaders, and new converts. Mission presidents should allow sufficient time on preparation day for missionaries to write emails and letters. While in the mission field, missionaries should receive authorization from the mission president before entering into communication, including via email, with converts and others of the opposite gender within the mission boundaries (see Missionary Handbook, 36–37)."

He explains that this means: "I can now email basically whoever I want now. If anyone wants to email me, they can."  

His email address is now included above the mission home address on the right-hand side of the blog.  

email: March 11, 2013

Subj: "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain"

It was another crazy week, filled with emotions so here we go.

There was a woman that died in our ward this past month that they had the funeral for on Tuesday. She was only twenty-two and she was beautiful. She was an EMT and a student. I didn't even know her and yet I was still a blubbering mess. The bishop asked our zone to help with set up and take down and we did it with a smile. We took an hour out of Preparation Day to come and set up. After the funeral was over, we were the last ones to leave to make sure that the building was clean and chairs were put up. It was the least we could to for the family and the ward. There was over 600 people at the funeral. It was insane. It went very well; it brought back memories of Grandpa's funeral. The talks were really good too; very much centered on the Plan of Salvation. There were a lot of non members there so it was good that they had a missionary mindset. There was a quote that really touched me. A Bishop that knew the woman that past said this" "We are immortal beings in a mortal state". There is a lot of truth behind that. I am so thankful for that plan and the happiness that it brings to people.

We had our lesson with Ken that night as well, finalizing the last of his baptism program. He wants me to get in the water with him so that will be a great experience for the both of us.

Zone Leader Conference was filled with surprises on Thursday. As y'all probably have heard, they are opening up 58 new missions around the world with three new ones here in SoCal. On Thursday, we got the new boundaries. The San Bernadino Mission is now going to be called the Redlands Mission and they are taking Redlands, Yucaipa, Yucca Valley, and Palm Desert into their mission. We are also losing Murrieta to the Calsbad Mission. We are going from 12 zones to seven zones. It will be interesting to see what happens, logistically wise, and what happens to those missionaries in those respective zones. I could be in another mission when I finish next year. Those changes won't take place until July however.

Remember that guy that I gave the blessing to and released him from this life? Well, he is still in the hospital; he didn't die... When I first saw the referral, I didn't believe it. I started to doubt my Priesthood and the blessings that I give to people... But I talked with Elder Craig and he helped me through that. Maybe he needs to see his family one more time before he goes; he is still in bad shape. He did though refer us to his friend in Hemet so maybe that was the reason why he needed to stay around a little bit longer.

We also had interviews on Thursday as well. I love getting the chance to sit down with President Smart and talk with him about how I am doing and how the zone is doing. He is such a wonderful man, someone that I look up to. I had my interview in his office, a place I haven't been in since I first got to California! it was kinda surreal to be there with him again. He then came to Moreno Valley to interview everyone.

We had another lesson with Ken that night as well. His home teacher came with us so that was good for the both of them. Ken has told us that he wants to be active in the Church and to be involved. That was music to my ears! He will be interviewed for the Priesthood right after his baptism on Tuesday.

Friday was a crazy day as well. We taught Anita again - we are running out of things to teach her, she just needs to get baptized already! Haha but the lesson went well with her. I seriously have the best zone, we are all super good friends. We all went out to eat at Alberto's and I got a thing of carne asada fries. Oh boy were they good! It rained all day so that was a bummer. We taught Michael again and we are planning on handing him off to the Sisters. Hopefully he will be okay with them teaching him. It will be hard to give him up but that ward needs a baptism.

Our dinner on Friday cancelled so we went to the Samoan ward party for our dinner. Holy crap, it was so much fun! I seriously miss that ward; the Church is way more true in Samoa. There is a blind brother in the Samoan ward that shocked all of us. Y'all know the Gangham Style song, right? Well, he came out and started dancing to it! He was going crazy! It was so much fun to watch. There was also a Hakka done too by some of the young men. That was super legit too. We stood in the back to watch and we get to see everyone in front of us and we saw the weirdest thing ever. There was a gay couple that came and they were all over each other! It was super weird to watch... But it's okay, God loves them too. But still, it was so much fun! I got to see everyone from the Samoan ward too!

Overall, this week was a good one. We worked hard and we even got the Standard of Excellence this week! First time on my mission! I love being here and seeing my testimony grow everyday. I love the missionaries I am serving with and serve. By the way, Elder Craig and I are preforming a musical number for Ken's baptism on Tuesday. I am playing the piano and he will sing. Before the baptism, I'll get a video of us performing and send it to y'all. I love and miss y'all so much. Stay true to the faith and remember that our Savior loves each and every one of us!

Elder Tonini

Zone Leader Council - March 7, 2013

Another Elder Tonini sighting on the mission blog: