email: "If God's willin' and the creek don't rise!"

Ready for my week? Let's go!

Monday was a usual Pday. Got some good rest and good emailing in and some good shopping. We got an increase in our monthly allotment so I am going to save as much as I can these next two months. Yeah, it's probably too late but it’s getting into the habit is what counts haha. Trevor, Elder Anderson's recent convert came to the area to serve a mini mission with us for two weeks! It was good to have him here. Our dinner was with our RS president's family and that was good. Dinner wasn't quite ready when we got there and so I found a ukulele and I started to play while Elder Anderson sang and rapped. It was super fun! We then went and saw our people in the hospital. Ms. Louis is getting better and Mr. Swanson is making progress in the ICU! It is super cool to see how much Priesthood blessings work. We finished our OYMs and called it a night.

Tuesday was good because I held an extra DDM after we had a DLC because I got the impression on Monday night that I needed to hold a DDM for the sisters. One certain companionship really needed it but it turned out to be a real good thing for everyone. I trained over how we can relate our missionary planning to the creation and then had them apply it to their own areas. The general feedback was that it was a pretty big help so I am glad I followed that prompting. Jim C. then picked us up some In and Out for lunch and we went over to the M**** family's home to have lunch with them. Vito, the husband, isn't a member so it was good to get to know him and his family. I ended up playing Angry Birds Star Wars with their five-year-old son, Jet. It was super fun! It is the actual game, not the phone version, so it was fun to get to play with Jet. Our bash appointment cancelled on us and told us that he didn't want to meet with us anymore so we dropped him haha. We then went to the hospital to visit Ms. Louis and we got into a bash with another guy at the hospital! We might have ticked him off by telling him the truth but that's okay :). The truth hurts sometimes. After the hospital, we came home to get ready for our ward New Year's Eve party at the Jones' house. The Davis' picked us up and we had a good time there. I had brisket for the first time in ages! It was soooo good! We then went and ding-dong ditched the Bishop's house with the Davis'. It was super fun! We then stayed up till midnight to welcome in the new year. It is crazy that it is 2014 already. That means my mission is almost done... Where did the time go?!

Wednesday we stayed in the morning getting the apartment deep cleaned for the new year. We had kept it pretty clean already so this clean wasn't too bad. We then had the office assistance come and pick up some unused furniture that was in our apartment for someone else to use. I got to see Elder Braithwaite! I love that missionary. We had a good talk and a good catch up. We'll be the only two flying home together in February. Pretty crazy! We then rode to the Davis' for their New Years Day party and had dinner with them. They made some pretty good fried chicken and appetizers! They had football on and so it was hard not to watch but I ended up watching... It’s the natural man in me! We then went and saw Ms. Louis again and she asked if I had a girlfriend back home and I wasn't sure how to respond to her haha! And then we saw Eddy. Our meeting with Eddy was very interesting. I am dead set that he is on meth. He has the creepy laugh, the mannerisms and the smell for it too. He even told us that he saw Elijah come down out of a cloud. He says that Alma is the most High God and crazy stuff like that. He's basically made his own religion and he won't listen to us. The meth has really taken a toll on him... He then gave Anderson two HUGE hugs and it was super weird. Needless to say, I don’t think we are gonna go back anymore. It was an odd way to end the night too.

So I went to pick up my bike on Thursday morning and then went back to see Ms. Louis again. She was going home and so we got to meet her daughter and son. She was a sweet old lady, she was almost 90 years old! We came back and weekly planned for a bit before we went and taught John again with Lyle H. That went well too, it was pretty good. We then had dinner at home then went and saw Cale that night. We taught him about Authority and working with him to understand it. We got our OYMs and called it a night.

We went to go see Ivan in the morning but he wasn't back from Mexico so we came to the library so Trevor could pay a ticket that he got and then went home for lunch. We weekly planned and actually got good things done. We didn't have dinner again but then we went and saw Jean, our Jamaican investigator. She is doing well, she comes to church but it is hard to keep her interested or reading because of a slight language barrier. We saw Mr. Swanson and he was out of ICU! We got to talk to him and see how he was doing.

Saturday was filled with ZDM where I learned a TON that I will have to explain next week and then made our church visits. I beat our bishop in a push-up contest; I did 70! I was pretty impressed with myself haha. We made our visits and then got ready for Sunday. Sunday was good because it was fast and testimony meeting. I got up and bore my testimony about repentance because I have been doing a lot of that lately and I called the congregation to repentance in a nice way. I'll share the scripture that I read that hit me hard with that next week. We then tried to see Ivan and a few other people but without any success. I am doing a two-day fast and so I had no energy but I made it through the day!

Well, I love y’all and hope y’all have a wonderful week. I know that this is the Lords work and that He is the head of it. I love the Atonement and the relief it brings. I love y’all again and hope y’all start the New Year off right!

- Elder Tonini

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

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

email: January 22, 2013

Subject: Talofa!

The library was close for MLK Day so you get my email today! Let me tell you, I love getting the emails from the kids. I love hearing about how they are doing and their super busy lives. I played basketball yesterday and it seriously destroyed me. My knees and ankles are definitely paying for it today. I did get a pair of Jordans to play in, and they only cost me 7 bucks! So that was nice to play in. I actually felt like I belonged on the court ha-ha. Living there in Seminole has really opened the kids eyes to how my everyday life is in how people talk to us. We hear all SORTS of crazy things and people telling us that we are wrong. I actually had a conversation with a man outside the library that told me that we don't need Priesthood anymore. It has been a great learning and growing opportunity for the entire family!

Our week was filled with baptisms! I know, it's rough to have to have that as a missionary. I have come to realize that running a baptismal service is very stressful at times! Coordinating everything and getting everything set up can be super chaotic. We had a baptism on Wednesday and on Saturday. On Wednesday, we couldn't get into the building to start filling the font! The code we had for the building was no good. Luckily, the old bishop for the Samoan ward lives across the street so his wife was able to let us in. Blake's baptism on Wednesday went SUPER well. His whole family came, even his dad. Since we made it a mutual activity, there was a huge turnout for Blake. Elder Spencer came back from the desert to speak on baptism and I spoke on the Holy Ghost. I tried my hardest to not get emotional in front of everyone. I spoke with just my scriptures and let the Spirit guide me in what I needed to say. The coolest part of the whole experience was seeing Jeff baptize Blake. Right before they got in the water, I went in to make sure that they were good and ready to go. The three of us had a tender moment together right before they got into the water. It has been very humbling for me to see how much the Spirit has worked on these two young men. They were both very emotional before they got into the water together. Jeff did the baptism wonderfully and it was so powerful to watch. After the baptism, our wonderful Bishop decided to confirm Blake right after so that his parents could be there. He asked me to confirm him so I did. That was probably the most powerful blessing I have ever given to anyone. Again, I was trying so hard not to cry but towards the end I couldn't help it. Blake gave me the biggest hug with tears in his eyes after I confirmed him. It has been a crazy road to see how far he has come. Blake's little brother wants to come to church and everything with him but the dad isn't allowing it. The dad did NOT look happy during the entire baptism. So we will have to see how things work out with the rest of the family but right now, Blake is happy and that is all that matters.

Kind of a cool side note: after the baptism we needed a few more OYMs to get our 20 for the day so we went to a parking lot to talk to a few more people. I approached this well-dressed gentlemen and he was a limo driver. He let us in the limo and check it out! I'll send pictures of it next week :)

The baptism for Yaya went well on Saturday. I love the Samoan culture! Everyone there feels like family. The baptism was supposed to start at 7 pm but we had to wait for her uncle to get here from Long Beach so we waited for half an hour for him to get here. That was a good baptism as well, it was cool to see her uncle baptize her. The uncle looked like and talked like he just came from Compton, outside Los Angeles. You could tell he has had a rough past and cleaned up. That was a testament to me that anyone can change and that God looks on the heart and not on outward appearance. Besides the wait for their uncle, everything went smoothly. Well, except when Yaya had to be dunked twice because the first time her forearm was out of the water so she got to do it again ha-ha. She scared us on Sunday because she got there super late when we were going to confirm her but she did make it in time.

Sunday was an awesome day because Blake got the Aaronic Priesthood! Jeff gave it to him and it was so awesome to be a part of that. Those two young men are going to grow into wonderful men. Jeff's mom was about to kill me because we didn't go get her so that she could be there Jeff gave Blake the priesthood! Mom can probably imagine how that would feel to miss that with her sons... I felt so bad but the Bishop didn't go get her and it totally slipped my mind. We then had a super emotional lesson in Priest Quorum as well. It was all about father and sons. I felt for Blake because the relationship he has with his father is broken. The Spirit worked on his during that lesson and he was just as emotional, if not more than I have ever seen him. It made me appreciate Dad and who he is to me. Our priest quorum advisor is a very inspired man. He didn't know why he needed to talk about this subject but he did. That was the lesson that Blake needed. The Spirit can do so many things and it can touch the hearts of so many people. I am so grateful that I had parents who helped me to understand and recognize those feelings. I love y'all!

I hope you have a wonderful week! I love you all and miss y'all so much. I look forward to Monday's in getting to write to you and hear from you. I can't wait to talk to y'all again. Love you!

Elder Tonini

email: October 22, 2012

I cannot believe that it has been two years since Grandpa Tonini passed away. I knew that it was coming up but I didn't realize that it was today. I miss him so much... And I can only imagine what Grandma feels. Those last memories that I have with him are one of the most treasured memories. The Plan of Happiness really does bring happiness and helps to ease the pain for which I am eternally grateful for.

Are y'all running my Facebook? I have people from my ward add me all the time so could you make sure that someone is taking care of it? Also, could y'all update the pictures? They are almost eight months old! Robert showed me my profile and nothing has changed. So if y'all could do that, I would deeply appreciate it! I also got an email from Grandpa Romney, which brought a huge smile to my face! I love hearing from all of my grandparents. I am glad that they are proud of me and of the things that I am doing. I represent our name; I better be doing great things!

I am glad you liked my last letter, it was seriously a crazy week! Carol is so happy now, she really can feel the Holy Ghost in her life. I see it in her every time I see her. Also, I did get the bike seat and it was sweet! Thank you for sending that to me, it makes work A LOT more enjoyable! I don't need anything right now, I am taken care of. Regarding Christmas, I actually just broke my camera and have to jerry-rig it to work it. So that could be a possibility? Also, I love ties so maybe some more? And I could use some more garments, just so that I could have some extra during the week and not have to do laundry throughout that week. Oh, and maybe some more white shirts? More the better! Thank you for caring so much about me, it means a lot!

Oh boy, my week was an interesting one. It seriously felt like an Abinadi week. We didn't have a lot of success or teach a lot because we had A LOT of lessons fall through. I really did feel the Adversary hit me hard. I have had feelings of disappointment, failure and depression. He really attacked me hard, making me feel like I am not good enough and it really did affect me. But I recognized it and I am going to make this week a better one. We did, however, get a new ward mission leader and he is awesome! He actually served in our mission so he is very missionary oriented already. The work is going to explode here soon.

I also ran my first district meeting this week. It was a cool experience because a couple of days before, I started to stress over what I was going to train on. Everything I looked at didn't feel right. So I said a prayer and asked for guidance to find what I needed to teach. In companionship study, Elder Johnson suggested that I train over the Spirit and how to use it in missionary work. I thought about it and that topic felt right. It is amazing how prayers get answered like that! The training went well, half of my district are greenies so I hope that they learned something from it. Afterwards, we went to Burger King to get some lunch. While we were there, Elder Johnson seriously made me almost die laughing. He was wearing his three piece suit, minus the jacket, with his sunglasses on and a BK crown walking around the place. People were calling him the King, where is your scepter, and so on. It was so funny, I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

That night, we went to go check on a name that the Bishop asked us to go see. We knocked on the door at 7:30 at night, pitch dark, and we see this huge tatted up man answer the door. We asked if he was the member we came to see and his face lit up and said " COME ON IN ELDERS!" We were so surprised! He showed us his cars and toys and stuff and got to learn more about him. He is a convert and is less-active now. He is SUPER tatted up and is wanting to get more. He has over 600 hours in the tattoo chair! However, it was a fun visit. We reported back to the Bishop, which he was grateful for. On Sunday, Victor got called to be a ward missionary and I got to stand in the circle when he got set apart! We also got to stand in as one of the youth received the priesthood as well. After church, I had a really good talk with Victor about stuff that I have been bothered with. He really did help me get through some things and open a new light. He is seriously one of my closest friends now and to have someone to talk to. Even though things were rough this week, I am going to make the CHOICE to be happy! She taught me that lesson and to which I am most grateful for.

That about sums up my week here. The weather is starting to feel AMAZING! Hopefully it will stay that way. I love y'all and miss y'all dearly. Hope things are going well for everyone. I am so grateful for my Savior and His Atonement. I love the Plan of Salvation, it means so much to me. Prayer is such a wonderful and powerful thing. Keep praying and building your faith. You can never have too much faith! Have a wonderful week :)

Love,

Elder Tonini

email: October 16, 2012

Subj: Another 6 weeks in Oak Valley!

Sorry I missed emailing on Monday, we got the short end of the stick during transfers and couldn't email or shop... Transfers came and gone and I am staying in Beaumont for another 6 weeks. However, I got called to be the new District Leader! This will be an interesting change because my district will be three "seasoned" Elders and three Greenies. The old AP is in my district as well and he is training so it will be interesting. Apparently, they had to pull some strings to get me to stay and be the DL so we will see what happens.

So a little about my week:

Elder Johnson and I found a new lady to teach on Tuesday. Her name is Corinna and she is from Germany. Even though she has been here in the States, she still has an accent. Victor came with us and taught her the message of the Restoration. Elder Johnson and I decided to invite her to baptism on the first lesson to see if she was the elect. She really didn't have much of a religious background and has always wondered why there were so many churches if there is only one God. BINGO! She understood everything and the lesson was super powerful. We invited her to baptism and she accepted for the first weekend in November! She was the elect and now we have to continue in preparing her to make those convents at baptism.

We then had another lesson with a potential that the Spanams (Spanish Elders) found for us. Her name is Janie and she actually searched out the Spanams, wanting them to teach her. We set something up for Thursday and we went over to teach her. She is in her 50's (we think) and is a recovering addict. It was pouring rain and we still rode over to see her. We taught the Restoration again and it went really well. She has some religious background but for some reason, she LOVES Joseph Smith. The first thing she asks us was "tell me about Joe Smith". We taught her and she really liked it. We left her with a Book of Mormon to read. She has been prepared and is ready for the Gospel. Hopefully this next lesson we will invite her to baptism.

All week, we really focused on getting Carol ready to be baptized. We met with her on Monday and got her prepared for Thursday when she would be interviewed. On Wednesday, I felt like we needed to fast for her. Sure enough, we get a text from her saying that she doesn't think she is ready, doesn't have a strong enough belief in Joseph Smith, etc. As soon as I read that, I hit my knees in prayer, pleading for divine help to get her ready. While I was praying, Elder Johnson got the same impression to pray and came to tell me that we needed to pray. However, I was already on my knees so he went and prayed on his own. When we got to Carol's, Chelsa P***** was there with her. Chelsa is a co-worker of hers that is in another ward. She played a HUGE part in her conversion. We talked more with Carol and answered her concerns and told her that she doesn't have to know EVERYTHING, but to have faith in it. Faith isn't a perfect knowledge and that was what we told her. So Carol went and got interviewed and while she was in there, we talked more with Chelsa. Come to find out, she was with Carol the entire afternoon, talking with her and helping her with her issues and questions. That seriously was an answer to prayer and fasting! Carol passed her interview and she got baptized on Saturday!

We had a lesson with our investigator Mike on Saturday. We have been over before but he just bashed with us. It wasn't intense but he would NOT let us teach and it got super frustrating. He went online and found "contradictory" scriptures in the Book of Mormon. He believes in the Trinity and I have a hard time explaining it to people. He does want us to come back so I think we are going to bring Brother Bailey with us. He is basically a scholar in Mormon Doctrine so it will be a HUGE help. He actually took us out to lunch and we talked about it. We gave a lot of service before the baptism. The baptism went really well! The whole family was there and it was a good experience for them. When I got in the water with Carol, the Spirit hit me so strongly that I almost teared up while saying the baptism prayer. It was as close as I will ever get to baptizing my own mother. It is seriously amazing how much love I can feel for someone who is coming into the Gospel. There is a reason why I stayed in Beaumont and it was for her. I know that for a fact!

I got to confirm Carol on Sunday as well. The power of the priesthood is so real! I had no idea what I was going to say but the words flowed out of my mouth and it was what Carol needed to hear. On top of seeing Carol get confirmed, Victor spoke in Sacrament Meeting for the first time! He announced that he has decided to go on a mission. I was so proud of him and the progress he is making in his life.

Overall, it was an awesome week. However, Elder Bingham and Tukuafu got transferred... Bingham is now a District leader in Redlands and Tukuafu is a Zone Leader in Yucca Valley! Super exciting but sad to see them leave.

Since it is Tuesday, I'll tell a little bit about my Monday. We went an played disc golf with the usual group then went to the Sandwich Stoppe to eat. Tukuafu decided he wanted to do the Junkyard Challenge. The challenge is to eat this HUGE sandwich, a thing of fries, 32 OZ drink and a large shake. The record was 13 minutes and 30 seconds. Now, Elder Tukuafu is a BIG boy from Tonga. He took down the challenge in 10 minutes and 55 seconds! It was NUTS! After that, we got transfers out of the way then went and got Elder Johnson's new weight set from another Elder.

After that, we went to the Neilson's for dinner and to Carol's for a lesson. That lesson was so spiritual. We talked about obedience and then went to the topic of the Atonement. The Pratt family was there with their 15 year old daughter. We got talking about some of her trials and how she hasn't felt the Atonement work in her life. I bore my testimony to her that the Atonement is REAL. That is works, that anything is possible through Him. I told her that the reason why the Adversary was hitting her so hard was because he KNOWS what she is capable of. There wasn't a dry eye in the room (including mine, of course) while I bore my testimony to her. It was seriously one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever taught. I love being a missionary so much, because of those special moments I get to share with people I care about. I hope I made an impact on her for the better!

Well, time to start the new transfer as the DL and finishing up training Elder Johnson. I got my bike fixed but did not get a new seat. Hopefully I will get my seat at the mission office on Friday after my leadership meeting. Yay for meetings.

That is all from here in Cali, hope things are going well in Texas! I love y'all so much and pray that everything is going well. Thank you for everything, especially your example to me in my life. I won't be the man I am today if it wasn't for y'all. Hope to hear from y'all soon!

Your missionary son,

Elder Andrew B. Tonini

email: March 7, 2012

On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 2:18 PM, Andrew Tonini <andrew.tonini@myldsmail.net> wrote:

My dearest mother (and father),

Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts.
I was so blessed to be in an awesome district. We have so much fun and we are learning so much as well. We really do feel like a family. We have sister missionaries in our district too! they are awesome and help us Elders to stay on topic. I have a great companion, Elder Braithwaite. He reminds we a lot of Jacob. We butt heads but we are good friends. There are three of us going to Cali, one to Idaho, Sisters to St. George Visitors Center, and a trio going to Taiwan! We really get along really well and have tons of fun together. We have a huge Hawaiian elder that plays for BYU and another that is a wide receiver for Utah. I will send pictures home soon so you can see my new missionary family :)
I got called to be the zone leader of our zone! We were here five days and I got called to be the leader of our zone. It was quite humbling for me because I was NOT expecting that at all. I guess we were called to the leaders for a specific reason. On our first couple of hours, we had to deal with a missionary that was having conduct issues and then call the branch president. We got it taken care of but it was an awesome welcoming to the leadership.
I had seriously one of the most spiritual experiences of my life on Monday night. One of my missionaries fell and hit his head really hard on the hardwood playing basketball. He definitely had a concussion so I had to take him to the emergency room. We were there for less than ten minutes before someone asked us to give a blessing. Only did we know that our night was just about to start. We got called back into our "room" which was only a trauma bed with curtains to separate the beds. There was a woman next to us that had a super bad seizure that lasted almost five minutes. After the doctors got it to stop, I got this prompting that I needed to give her a blessing. Elder Bean (the elder who had the concussion) got the same impression as well so we acted on it and we gave her a blessing. She was so thankful that we were there for her. So we went and got Elder Bean's CT scan done and went back to the bed. The same woman had another seizure and I felt prompted to give her a blessing of comfort, so we did. However, she kept having them and having them. I started to pray, I prayed harder than I ever have before for a woman that I just barely met. I asked my Father in Heaven to stop the seizures and to help her not to be in pain anymore. Then the most amazing thing happen, her seizures started to get shorter and shorter. My prayers were actually working! I kept praying and praying for her and they kept getting shorter and shorter. After one of the later ones, she called out to us. She could barely call to us because she was in so much pain. We went to her bedside and with tears in her eyes, she asked for another blessing. I grabbed her by the hand and Elder Bean asked her to offer her a prayer. She did, expressing the faith and love she has for our Father in Heaven. After she finished, I looked her in the eyes and asked her "Do you have faith in your Lord and Savior?" She replied with tears in her eyes again that she did. I told her that if she has faith, these seizures with stop and that the pain will leave her body. We anointed and sealed the oil on her head for the second time. In that prayer, I said something that I never thought I had the power to say. I promised her that the seizures would stop. That they WOULD stop. I blessed her with healing and that she would not be in pain anymore. I could hear her just sob when I blessed her. When I finished the blessing, I told her that I believe that God will answer this blessing and that you will be okay. Soon after, the scan came back for Elder Bean. He was fine, just a mild concussion. She did have another seizure but they were getting shorter and shorter.
It is really hard to not tell that story and not cry. I cried like a baby last night in front of my branch president when I shared my testimony about the power of the priesthood. Even typing it up is bringing tears to my eyes. That was not just by luck that we went to the ER that night. We needed to be there for Barbara Jean Largent. She needed us to be there for her. How do I know this? A CT scan is only supposed to take 20 minutes to be read. We were there for an HOUR. The Lord works in mysterious ways and that was one of the ways. I was seriously humbled so much from that experience. Thank you Dad for teaching me to honor my priesthood and how to use it. I've only been here a week and I've given 5 blessings.
The new missionaries get here today so I'll be pretty busy getting them settled down. Sure do love y'all, so much. Send my love to the Branch and let them know that Seminole is being represented really well here in Utah and soon in California. I know I need to be here. This gospel is so simple and true. I love you all and miss you. Can't wait to hear from y'all next Wednesday.
Elder Tonini
P.S. A package of goodies wouldn't be too bad to get here ;)