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