"Look at that plying flane!" - Elder Anderson

We had a pretty crazy week. Ready for it? Leggo!

Monday morning I got my haircut again from Sister S**** and we had a good talk. She has become one of my favorite people in this ward. We got that done and then went to email and shop. After that, we hung out at the house. I worked out and got to get some good studying in for my meeting the next day. We had dinner with Brother B**** and it was actually not bad. It was good company and we had a good chat. He would turn the NCAA National Championship game on occasionally during dinner to see what the score was. I didn't complain haha. He even check the weather in Minot for me because he likes to give me crap for going back to such a cold place. Oh well, I've been getting that for a while now. We had a quick lesson with him and then we went out to get our OYMs. It was a good Pday and we got some good work done.

Our Tuesday morning started out with me having another DLC meeting and then having a DDM. The best part was that I got to see Sister Pack after the meeting! She was on exchanges with someone in the zone and so I got to see her and catch up on things with her. I trained over the Good Samaritan and how it was Christ prophesying of Himself and the Atonement he would perform for us. I have learned really how the Atonement works these past few weeks. It hasn't been pretty but I have learned so much for everything. Anyways. Our dinner dropped off money so we went and got wings at Wingstop which was super good! We came back to have a comp study together and then headed out. I ended up contacting this young man on the street that allowed us to follow him back to his home to give him and his home a blessing. In the middle of it, his mom walks in and joins us. It was a pretty cool experience, the Spirit was super strong there. Isaac had questions over the Spirit World that we are going to teach him this week. I don't think the mom likes us too much so we are going to tread carefully. We tried back to see Ivan and set something up for the next day which we did so that was good to do. On the way back, Trevor was trying to open up a Hershey's kiss while riding his bike and he tanked it right in the middle of the road. He busted up his knee pretty nicely. I was trying hard to not give him a hard time but I couldn't help myself. While we were ridding to Cale's house to teach him, I was giving him a hard time while we were riding down Magnolia. After I said a few things, I turned back to keep riding and when I turned my head to see where he was, he blind-sided me on his bike and sent me flying into the curb, over the handlebars and into the grass. He, on the other hand, didn't end up so well.

We pulled him from the pavement and avoiding the traffic and we got him to the side of the road on the grass. He banged his knee up super bad, his ankle bad and he had road rash on his arms and a bit on his chin. A cop saw us on the street and he stopped to talk to us and give us some support. Trevor couldn't move and the cop was fixin' to call an ambulance. We told him no, we were gonna get him up and going. What we did was that we gave Trevor a blessing on Magnolia, in front of a cop. It was pretty crazy. We got him up and he held Elder Anderson's backpack as he pulled him to Cale's house which was right down the street. Trevor wanted to go to Urgent Care so we did. Cale and Kim dropped us off and we got Trevor looked at. There was a member from my ward in Moreno Valley that was there and they actually gave us a ride home when we finished at almost midnight. THEN there was a member in Riverside that was trying to get a hold of us, since we are phone-less at the moment, to set up to teach one of his co-workers. He drove up to Kaiser to see us. It was a riot with the three of us in the hospital because of the jokes and things we would tease each other. For instance, while Trevor was getting his vitals checked, he interrupted the nurse and said "Umm, excuse me, can I have a big band aid? My arm is sticking to the [wheel]chair". Elder Anderson and I about fell over laughing. We were so tired that we were losing our minds. Trevor's diagnoses is a bruised knee and a bruised ankle. He got crutches and a little shoe thingy for his ankle. Boy, was that an adventure or what?!? That's what happens when you are busting your butt to work as hard as you can with a pretty big chip on your shoulder like I do right now.

After our adventure, we taught Ivan that morning and we had a Come-to-Jesus meeting with him. We told him that if he doesn't come to church then we aren't going to meet with him anymore. Guess what? He didn't come so we are dropping him. He still wants to be friends and everything but we have to fulfill our purpose first. We made visits and went to the G****'s to hopefully teach Melissa but that fell through so we busted our butts to teach Cale. That went well and we are making progress with him. Hopefully he will get baptized this month!

We taught Melissa Thursday morning and that went well too! We have had good lessons with her and she understands well. We taught the second half of the Plan of Salvation and it answered some questions for her. We are pushing for her to get baptized this month so we are going to do all we can to help her make that commitment. We had our usual lesson with John with Brother Hill and that went okay, about as good as its gonna get. We taught the second half of the Plan again and tried to finish it but we had to go back to the G****'s to make Cale's cinnamon toothpicks to help him quit smoking. After that, we had dinner at the E**** and taught the kids a lesson too. They were super cool and Brother E**** has a SICK motorcycle! A black and red Yamaha R6. It is sick! We then got our OYMs and called it a night.

Friday was fun too! Our lesson with the referral fell through... So we did weekly planning and finished our scripture boxes. Mine is super cool! Anyways, we taught Trevor again and then weekly planned. We had tortas for dinner at the M****'s and that was super yummy and good company. We then went and saw Eddy and that was something else. As we crested his hill, we see his garage open and he come out wearing white bed sheets. We should have turned around but we didn't. As we talked to him, we felt like we shouldn't be there so we got out of there as soon as possible. But before we left, he gave Elder Anderson a huge hug and grabbed his butt and THEN gave him a "holy kiss" on the cheek. No bueno! We got out of there ASAP. We saw Tom and found out that he read and prayed! So we are gonna see him on Tuesday. Quite a way to end a night for sure.

We saw a lot of people on Saturday to get them to church and then had a good Sunday. Overall, it was a good week. We missed getting the Standard by TWO people at church! Dangit! Oh well, building for next week. I love y’all and I feel y’all’s prayers and fasting for me. I am learning important things right now and I hope and pray for y’all’s continuing support. I love y’all and I promise to finish out this next six weeks strong!

- Elder Tonini

"If I stepped in a mud pie, how deep would my boot sink?"

It was kinda of bittersweet to get to talk to y’all this Christmas. I guess it hit me that this is my last time Skyping as a missionary and my last Christmas as a missionary so that was kinda surreal for me. Next Christmas, we will be talking to Jake on his mission! Missions are the best! I loved getting to see all the kids. Ready for my week? Let's go!

Our Pday was super weird due to Christmas. Since we were basically having another Pday on Tuesday with Christmas Eve, we were to have a half Pday on Monday. They even had us have district meeting that morning too. It didn’t even feel like it was a true Monday! I felt so bad emailing because I felt like I was breaking the rules haha. We got that done and some laundry done then it was off to start proselyting at 3:30. We had an early dinner with the C**** and the P**** families so that was super fun! They both are super awesome families. We then went and saw Cale to see how he was doing. It was a short lesson with him because they were still trying to get things ready for Christmas but we left him with a Restoration DVD and followed up on his smoking. He's still off of it! Hopefully we can keep him going. We got our OYMs and then we called it a night.

I was super stoked for the Christmas party because of us doing the Haka with all the Samoan's and Tongan's in the mission. Elders Ete and Kava did it and so they invited me to do it. It was super good to see everyone again! I will try and send the video so we will see what I can do. The party took all day and so we got back to the house around 3ish. It was super bittersweet because that was the last time I am going to see a lot of my mission friends on their missions. We came home and crashed because I had no energy left because I'm still fighting that stupid sinus infection.  We then went to the U*** family for dinner. They are a Mexican family and so we had tamales for dinner! It reminded me of being back in Texas :). Plus they had UFC on and so that made me kinda trunkee but it was good to get to spend time with them. Their son Gio is a super good kid! We talked a lot about missions and how much they help so hopefully we made an impact on him for the better :)

Our Christmas morning was awesome! We slept up until 8am then hung around the house until 10ish then we went to P***’s for breakfast. We played with the kids and had fun outside with them. We then ran to the C***'s to spend some time with them. We  ended up watching one of their sons play Battlefield 4 so it turned into a bust.  We were supposed to have a fun activity but it never happened. Then we ran home to change into a shirt and tie to Skype the family! After that, I got into an intense chess game with Cameron, their 8 year old. I won, but by the skin of my teeth! He put up a good fight for sure haha it was a good time. We then played another super fun board game! Dinner was good and then we ran straight off to play basketball with some Elders and Gio. It was so much fun! I am terrible at basketball but I was doin' work that night! I even dribbled through Gio's legs and laid it up haha. He didn't like that too much haha but it was a good time. Elder Ete and I were so funny, I love my Poly! It was a good Christmas for sure :)

Thursday was back to the usual and so we got our weekly planning somewhat done and then we went and taught John again. It actually went okay this time. We had to kinda yell at him but we made it work. We taught him through the pamphlet and we testified like CRAZY to him so that he could feel the Spirit. We challenged him to be baptized but he didn’t accept it just yet. We're gonna keep on trying with him. Then we went to Cale's and got some crushing news... He relapsed and smoked two packs in two days so we didn't have a baptism this weekend. It was crushing but it opened us up to his real concerns. He still has a lot of doctrinal questions that we are going to address so that was okay. It still was super crushing... But we got some work to do now with him so it'll all work out.

We went on exchanges on Friday and I went with Elder Johansen! I love that Elder so much! I really loved this exchange. We talked to a member about his Jeep, had Little Caesar’s pizza and gave a freaking awesome blessing on a family and then taught the mother! We went to visit a former member and we ended up talking to her neighbor. Her name is Tammy and she runs a traveling petting zoo so we got to see all the animals! It was awesome haha. We left a blessing on the kids and her and it was crazy spiritual! She then dismissed the kids and she talked to us about doctrinal things. She agreed to have us come back so that was good! Dinner ran long then we went to get fries in honor of a missionary we are both close to :). Then we were gonna head home but another Elder needed a blessing so we went to give it and I gave the blessing. It was super profound because I said some things that only God would tell me to say. I guess I'm just fulfilling what my patriarchal blessing says about me being a spiritual healer. We exchanged back and got ready for Saturday :)

We had apartment checks that morning then went out to see our people. Our noon appointment had three cops in the front yard when we rolled up so that appointment, needless to say, fell through and then our next one wasn't there so we just rode around and explored while we talked to people. We had our bash appointment that afternoon, which really didn't happen but we did get to talk to him and set something up. Hopefully we can make headway with him. We then finished weekly planning and went to the P****’s for dinner. We had a correlation meeting and then went to the hospital to make some visits. We ended up meeting some sweet old ladies in the hospital and gave them blessings as well. It was a tender moment for both Elder Anderson and me. It’s amazing how much love you can have for random people you meet and come into their lives. I love it! We then rode home, knowing we did something great that night.

Sunday was a good day. It was a good sacrament meeting and then we got to teach Melissa and put her on date for baptism! Yeah buddy! We then rode home and Elder Anderson tanked it HARD in his suit. Poor guy! We then had lunch and studied then went out to make visits and OYMs. Dinner was okay, but the highlight was going back to the hospital. The man in the ICU is getting better and one of our sweet old ladies went home! The other one was waiting for us and she is getting better :). It was awesome! I loved it so much. The Lord really does know what He is doing :).

I love y’all and hope everything is going well! I will send pictures next week, I promise! Keep working hard and open y’all’s mouths this week! Be the full-time missionaries and share the gospel :). I love y’all and pray that I don’t get too trunkee!

- Elder Tonini

email: Well, things can't get worse than this week...

I GET TO TALK TO THE FAMILY IN TWO DAYS! I cannot wait to see everyone and see how things are going! This is my last Christmas in the mission field! It is kinda crazy to think about that right now. I saw the trunky count down timer you have on my blog. Good one! That is super clever haha. Alright, ready for my interesting week? Let’s go!

Monday was an okay Pday. I got my haircut and then took a nap before we went and emailed at the library in the early afternoon. We then shopped and worked out then met Anita at the mall to get some stuff for the Elders. I love being able to spend time with her. She got Elder Anderson a Nike jacket that he seriously wears all day every day. It made his Christmas and I am so thankful for Anita for being generous and doing that for him. We then went to dinner and came home after we got OYMs because Anderson got some news from his family that really got him upset. When we came home that night, we didn't take the bikes up, we just left them at the bottom of our stairs at our apartment and locked them up there. It was a rough night and I was helping him through it all and so we both weren't in the right state of mind that night. And it sure as heck paid off...

We woke up Tuesday morning and we walked out to go get on the bikes to ride when we looked below the stairs and the bikes were gone... FETCH! So we got on our Shanks' ponies and took off to go see Ivan. We had to walk all say because we had no way to get around. Needless to say, I was super tired and my feet were on fire. Good times. We walked to go see Tom again and see how he is doing. He isn't progressing just yet but we are going to keep on him to try and get that going. We had dinner with the H*** family which was nice and then we went to go see Cale. He is progressing really nicely and he is making huge changes. We got him on track to stop smoking so hopefully that will happen later that week (which it did!). Funny story during that lesson. I went to commit Cale to live the Word of Wisdom that we were teaching and I said the Law of Chasity instead... Dangit! That's what happens when you're super doped up on cold meds haha. We then had another situation go down with my companion that night... He got some news from his recent convert in Hemet about his blood brother and how things are not going well for him. To make a long story short, we ended up yelling at each other and trying to make peace. We eventually did and things are good. I've come to realize that I am the kind of man to not take recognition for the things I do. Elder Anderson told me that he prayed for me specifically to be comps and that he looks up to me and wants to be just like me. That floored me because I didn't realize how much of an impact I was making on him. The Lord knows what He is doing for sure!

We were still on our Shanks' ponies on Wednesday so we walked to our potential blessing to find that it fell through... But we did get to meet these super nice JDub (Jehovah’s Witness) ladies out tracting too! We shared scripture and we talked about our missions and our beliefs. They even offered to drive us home because they asked about our bike situation and they felt sorry for what happened haha. We didn't get in though so we walked home. We then did a service project for the community and all the local kids. A non-profit organization is going to give a thousand kids a present so they can have a Christmas. The missionaries help every year and today we helped sort presents and get things ready for Saturday. However, after the project, I got super sick with what I think was a super bad sinus infection so that knocked me out for the rest of the night... We had Bakers dropped off to us and so we had dinner but it was a rough night for me. We did however, get a bike for Elder Anderson so we are back on the bikes again!

Thursday was another rough day too because I was feeling terrible... I slept almost all morning and then when we were about to go out to go make some visits... It starts to rain! Just my luck... Riding in the rain and feeling miserable is not fun. It was some sure big wife points though! We got our OYMs and then had dinner with the C**** that night. They are an awesome family; this was the first time we got to eat with them. Brother C**** has an interesting family... Come to find out, all of them are in the medicinal marijuana business. Whoops! After dinner, we had our lesson with Cale and we taught about the Law of Chasity and tithing. He is on track to still hopefully get baptized this weekend! Keep him in your prayers that we can make that happen for him family! On Friday morning, we drove to Corona to have multi-zone conference with President Smart and the AP's. It was super good but super long. Towards the end, I was trying real hard to stay focused but then my meds ran out and I tanked... I felt terrible towards the end of the meeting and I couldn't do anything about it. I had to give my outgoing testimony too and that was bittersweet. It’s crazy to think I only have a few months left... It went way too fast. However, it was good to see old mission buddies there and catch up with them. Anita stopped by the apartment to drop off a pie and I looked like death... I slept through dinner and then went off to a lesson with Allison and her family. Allison got all made up for us and I think that is interesting... Oh well haha. Their kids are super fun and I love going over there to see them.

Saturday was the big day! We got to help with the toy drive and giving out the toys to the kids. I started by helping ushering kids into the door to going in front of the kids teaching them the wave and singing songs with them. It was super fun! No one was stepping up to get things organized so I did it myself. I guess that's something Dad taught me to do. I could hear him say "quit standing there with your teeth in your mouth and go get it done!" We taught the kids "popcorn popping on the Christmas tree" and "once there was a snowman"! It was super fun. By the end of it the second group, I had no voice. The poor Sisters I was working with didn't have a loud voice like I do so I kinda took over the show... Whoops! Good thing they know the words because I had forgotten them all! After the project, I came home to sleep some more because I was still feeling terrible and then we went out to make visits. I had the worst experience with Eddy on Saturday night. When we saw him, we could tell there was something wrong with him. He was super high and I think on meth. We kept hugging us and he ended up kissing me on the cheek which I about decked him when he did that. There was the most evil feeling at his home and I hated it. I just wanted to run. There was a man sitting in his garage with the door half open so I couldn't see his face but I could see him turned at me with his hand together in his lap staring at me through the garage door. There was a meth pipe in the garage and Eddy was tweaking super bad. It was the worst feeling ever... We then went to Tom's again and invited him to church and to read then off to Cale's. Cale is done smoking! He's done it and it’s super awesome. We invited him to church so hopefully he'll come.

We made our church visits Sunday morning and we got Cale to come to church! We ended up having Cale, Melissa and Jean Johnson come to church. That's the most investigators at church this ward has had in a long time! Cale went home after sacrament but Jean stayed for the second hour and Melissa stayed all three. It was a good Christmas program and there was some good talent there. I taught the youth Sunday school and that was a ton of fun. Melissa, the bishop's daughter's friend that is investigating, was answering more questions than the young men! Those boys... But I guess there was some drama win the investigator class with a member so that was interesting. We then came home and slept some more because we're trying to get feeling better and then we went off to the S**** family for dinner. I love that family so much! I sat with JuJu, the 5 year old, and had dinner with him. We taught the Restoration with the rubix cube and then got our OYMs and called it a night. It was a good way to end a crummy week! Gotta make the best of any situation and just smile back :).

I love y’all and can't wait to see y’all in a few days! Tomorrow is the Christmas party and I get to see everyone one last time before I leave! Plus I am performing at the talent show at the party so that'll be good! Love all of y’all and we will talk soon!

Elder Tonini

email: Another Week Down!

When Mom told me what temperature was in ND I about threw up. -33?! I am going to die! Thank you for the package, it has been a ton of fun opening a gift every day. It meant a lot to Elder Anderson too. It was nice to see his face light up to know that my family cares about him. I love corresponding with the kids; I know I say that every week but I love it. I cannot wait to talk with them on Christmas! Did you like that picture of me in the Jeep Trevor posted on FaceBook? Ready for my week? Leggo!

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

email: November 25, 2013

I am glad to hear that everyone had a great week! I can feel for Mom with the headaches, I have been battling one for almost a week that won't go away. Jake told me that he is getting close to getting his papers started! I am super excited and proud of that boy. He is going to be a wayy better missionary than I ever was. Corina told me about her birthday and I am glad she growing up so quickly. Everyone is getting so old except for me! I love that Carson goes and plays in the snow. That'll be my favorite thing to go do with him in February. Hopefully there will still be some snow. Ready for my week? Shake and bake!

I got my haircut on Monday and I was looking fresh! I got a fade from one of the sisters in my ward that does hair and it looked good. I get my haircut every two weeks; I gotta find a girl who can cut hair otherwise I am going to spend some serious money on my hair haha. We actually played football with the other Elders so that was fun. I was sitting with the Elders when one of them pulled me aside and we started talking. He asked me what I thought of him and if I thought he was dorky and geeky, if I would pick on him with we were in high school and stuff like that. I told him of course not; I'm not like that at all. He thought that because he labeled me as a "jock" and he didn't have a good high school experience with kids like that. I reassured him that I wouldn't do that and that I loved him a ton. After that talk, we went and played football with him and on the last play of the game, he caught the winning touchdown pass. It was so awesome to see him get like that, all excited and happy. It made my Pday. After that, we emailed and had lunch. We hung out and I worked out that afternoon until we had dinner with the P**** family. Their kids make me laugh, their youngest is such a sweetheart - she makes me smile every time I see her. We then went to a part-member family (PMF) to give the wife a blessing and taught more about the priesthood. One of the sisters in our ward told us that her husband really likes us and so hopefully we can start teaching their whole family soon. A pretty productive Pday :).

We had our usual meeting on Tuesday but Elder Thurman got pretty sick so he had Elder Coleman train and it was really good. We made goals and set plans to help ourselves become the best missionary we can be. It was super inspiring. I actually miss training every week. I don't think my Sisters do because I tended to talk a little deeper topics than usual district leaders do... Whoops! We then had lunch and finished our studies. As part of our studies, Elder Anderson and I had a really deep companionship inventory. We talked about our weaknesses and what would keep us from baptizing in this area. We wrote it all down and made a system to keep ourselves accountable to each other. It was much needed because we are imperfect but yet we can make those weaknesses become strengths. We are gonna really focus on this this last week of the transfer. We made visits in the afternoon and then had dinner with the J*** family in our ward. It was a fun dinner; their kids are pretty crazy sometimes though. When we were leaving a quick lesson, their one-year old daughter walked up to me and sat next to me and I read her a book while Elder Anderson taught. Goodness, it makes me ready for a family! Time will come though. We then ran off to teach Kale, one of our PMF we are working with. The family loves us - we are actually having Thanksgiving dinner with them so it'll be exciting. We taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation and they understood it really well. The homework we left with them was Alma 40 to get them ready for next week when we come and teach the rest of the plan. Our goal as a companionship was to get five member present lessons this week and we got it! It was awesome to feel that accomplishment. Our goal is to get seven this week so we're gonna have to work pretty hard to make that happen!

We started off our Wednesday with a super big deep clean of the apartment. We are starting fresh and cleanliness is close to godliness so we took that as our fresh start. It was a good thing too because we felt refreshed and ready to make big things happen! We made a visit to a less-active member who is super sick to see how she was doing. We talked with her and made sure she was doing okay and left a brief lesson with her before she left for chemo. The only downfall was that my gastritis was acting up and it was become quite uncomfortable so I didn't eat very much that night at dinner at Farmer boys. We then rode to Dale’s house to have him ride his bike with us to our appointment that night. We taught Richard again and it went well. Dale and I have some conflicting doctrinal views but I put that aside and we taught well together. As we were leaving the house, Elder Anderson went to OYM this guy walking down the street and they almost got into a physical confrontation. The guy said something provocative about his sister and he about freaked. I had to jump in to cool him down before he did something stupid. And that's why we roll together in pairs :). And then to make matters worse, it starts to rain. Not just rain, POUR. And we were 15 minutes plus away from home so it was quite a fun ride. #WifePoints When we got back to the apartment, we were soaked. I showered and then went to bed. I was freezing cold! I am gonna die in Minot for sure...

We had our lesson with Ivan that went really well. We both testified and taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation. It was awesome to see the Spirit prick his heart. He started to ask us questions about our missions and about the purpose of life and everything. He really is a good kid, I love him to pieces. Right as we rolled outside to ride home, it started to rain again! It poured all day and we worked in it all day. Awesome! Our dinner went well and went to go see Kale and check up on his reading. It's not happening yet but hopefully soon.

Friday was temple day! I needed to go to the temple so badly; I have had a lot of things on my mind that I needed to go talk to God about. I got an interesting answer in the temple that I will have to tell y'all about when I call home for Christmas. It has a long back story and is super, super personal to me. After the temple, we had our temple nap for lunch and then went out to make some visits. Pizza was dropped off for us for dinner and then we went and saw Carmen again to try and set something up for us to come and teach her. Her six-year old daughter drew me a picture that I hung up on my wall. It was awesome!

All we do on Saturday is make church visits and try to get people to come to church. We stopped by Ladio's house to try and see if he would come but he's working on getting over being sick and so that might not happen. The afternoon was kind of shot due to the fact that I really rolled my ankle during lunch. Elders Thruman and Passmore came over for lunch and we started dancing and I rolled my ankle when I stepped on one of my dumbbells. Yup, I'm a dork I know. It killed all day and so we didn't go everywhere that I wanted to but we made calls to those people we missed. We saw this referral that we got from another missionary and we could tell he was on meth and so we'll see what happens with him. Anita took us to Claim Jumper for dinner because we didn't have anyone sign up so she took us. It was quite an adventure with her that night, it always is with her :). I love her to pieces!

I was pretty dead on Sunday because I started to come down with a sickness so it was a slow day for us. Both Elder Anderson and I came down with something. It was probably from the cold and rain earlier in the week. I still am sick so it'll be a fun week working through it all. Kale came to church so that was good! Our dinner made Thanksgiving dinner early for us so that was good. The only downfall was that I had gotten progressively worse so I didn't eat too much... We played some Uno and got to know the family. We did however, have two lessons with Eddy and Tom, some new people we picked up this week and last so that was good. Overall, it was a good week besides the physical ailments I am working though.

In closing, I want y'all to know how much I love MY Savior. I am so grateful for daily repentance; it is something all of need to learn and master because that is the only way back to the Father. I have grown to love the scriptures and the doctrine within its pages. I love that we have modern day prophets and the power and love they have for us. This is the most important work we can do. I'm not a full time missionary, only part time. Y'all as members ARE the full-time missionaries because y'all live in the area and make huge impacts. Keep opening your mouth and share the good news of the Gospel! I love y'all and I'm counting down the days until Christmas time!

- Elder Tonini

email: November 18, 2013

Subj: I love SUNNY Southern California :)

TODAY IS CORINA'S BIRTHDAY!!!! I can't believe my baby sister is 16 now. That is crazy! She told me all about her party and how it went. I love that sister of mine! She's one of my sweethearts :). The other one is Mom and then the last one will be my future wife, when that time comes. I watched the video of Carson wrestling and I was basically cheering in the library! I was getting some funny stares from people... I love hearing about how Jake is doing. I am soo stoked Jake is getting ready for his mission! He is gonna be twice the missionary I will ever become. I am so excited for him. I am going to make a call into one of the senior couples who helps with that process of applying for schools. I want to apply to BYU and Utah State and maybe even that school in Bismark Dad told me about. I want a few options so I can be taken care of. Ready for me week? Leggo :)

On Tuesday we emailed in the morning after DDM and that took a big chunk of our day. DDM went well, Elder Passmore trained and it was awesome! I love that missionary so much. He is such a character. I am having issue with one of my Zone Leaders so DDM is kind of hard for me. We then had a bomb lesson with Karmen and finally introduced the Book of Mormon to her. We hadn't had the chance to do it before because sitting down with her has been impossible so we decided to teach her about it on her doorstep. It went well and the scripture I shared hit her deep. Hopefully that will be the spark she needs! We then had dinner with the Jones family and that was fun. They have a one year old that came and sat next to me during the lesson with them and it was awesome. I can't wait to be a dad one day :). Our lesson with a recent convert/part-member family went well too! His name is Cale and we just picked him up. His wife was just baptized and so we are now gonna work with him. It was a good lesson, Elder Anderson and I teach really well together. I have been blessed to have him. We then got our OYMs and called it good for the night!

We had visits to do all Wednesday and we ended up picking up a former investigator and teaching Richard again! He started to dive deep into some deeper doctrine so that was a fun lesson haha. Our dinner with the B*** family went okay. The bad thing was that I voiced my opinion a little too far and kind of made Sister B*** mad.. Whoops. Oh well, she's not going to hold that against me I hope. We then went and saw our ward mission leader to have our correlation meeting. We hadn't seen him in a week and a half because of some family stuff but it was good to see him. We got our OYMs and called it good for the night.

We had our lesson with Ivan on Thursday and it went better than we had thought it was gonna go. He is willing to give us another shot and to keep praying. We came down on him hard but with love so hopefully he really felt that. We had weekly planning and made some visits to people. Our dinner was with the H*** family and that was a good dinner. I had some really good tacos and had a good conversation. Our follow up lesson with Cale went awesome! We brought a receipt convert with us (just baptized four months ago) and he testified so well to Cale! It was awesome. We then went to the church to meet his friend and we are going to hopefully start teaching. The Elders Quorum was practicing some football for Thanksgiving and so we jumped it. It was a fun way to end our night!

Friday was a good day, we gave a blessing to a less active lady in our complex and then had a bomb dinner. However, I wrecked my bike pretty bad before dinner. It was my fault but it still was pretty bad. We were riding a dirt trail doing 180's in the dirt with our bikes. I went a little too hard and I tanked it super bad. I was fine but it was right before dinner and so I showed up all dirty and stuff. Good times! We had some bomb carne asada with the M**** family. Our appointment cancelled and so we went on an obedience ride. I stayed on two tires for the rest of the night haha.

Saturday was rough for us because Elder Anderson came down with a head cold and I had a pounding headache from the night before and so we had a really slow morning. We studied and then got a call from Brother G**** about taking us to go ship our books home we got from the sister who passed away a few weeks ago. He paid to ship almost a 100 lbs of books to North Dakota. It was such a blessing to me. We then did some service for Cale's in-laws and invited them to church. The G*** came back and took us out to eat because we didn't have a dinner. That dinner was so much fun. They have a 27-year-old Down syndrome daughter that is so much fun. She has a "boyfriend" and she talks about him all the time. She told the waitress she wanted "aqua" and that she can speak Spanish. Classic! It was so much fun. We got our OYMs and called it a night.

Sunday was full of ups and downs. I can get really frustrated with our ward but I am learning patience with them though so it’s okay. I was in a pretty bad mood at the end of sacrament meeting when Janae, the G****'s down syndrome daughter, came up to me and showed me her temple book. She talked to me for about five minutes and then called me her pretty boy and then gave me a hug. It was super funny! It made my day. We then had a brief lesson with Ivan and invited him again to church. Our dinner was super cool, it was a young couple and so it made me a little trunkie.. But coming home for the night, both Elder Anderson and I wrecked on our bikes. It was a good time! We were haulin' down the sidewalk and there was this puddle that he decided to try and skid through. He went down on his side and I braked to try and avoid hitting him when my bike skidded and sent me flying over the handle bars. It was a good time haha I loved it! Didn't feel too good but it was quite an experience for me.

Well, that's what's going on with me. I am doing just fine, still trying to figure out who I am. There have been a lot of changes that have happened to me and the Lord is making me into the man He needs me to become and I am so grateful for that. I love y'all and miss y'all so much. I love my Savior and His Atonement for me. It's real and it changes peoples lives. Open your mouth this week and share the gospel!

Elder Tonini

email: November 4, 2013

Ready for my week? Leggo :)

Monday was pretty laid back. We had a good PDay and got to relax some. We got our OYMs and then had dinner with our second counselor that is a millionaire. He pick us up in his BIG 7 series BMW and took us out to eat. We got to know him and his family better and then got on the topic of marriage. I swear, the closer I get to the end of my mission, the more it seems like marriage is the hot topic with me. C’mon man! Anyways, it was a good time with him and getting to know him.

Tuesday was our Halloween party so we spent the day riding all over town inviting our investigators to come to church. We talked to Ivan and had a lesson with him even though he was pretty sick. We invited him to the party but he decided to stay home and not get kids sick. We also saw Carmen and her family and invited her to come to the party. Even though she nicely dropped us, we are still gonna keep going over and hopefully get her to come to church. We also talked to the F**** family and invited them. Before we went to the party, we saw Richard and had a lesson with him. We talked some deeper doctrine than usual when I teach but he asked good questions. At the party, we met some non-members and introduced ourselves to them. We are seeing some progress with the ward and I want to be that catalyst to help the ward members. The Bishop's wife asked us to man the bounce house and we gladly accepted :). It was super fun! We were throwing kids and having fun with them. When the trunk or treat got going, we had the bounce house all to ourselves. Yeehaw! I was super fun! Although some of the young women were getting a little too friendly so we had to bail... Hahahah oh man, anyways. It was a good time at the Halloween party.

Wednesday started off like usual with studies and visits and then Anita came to visit. I love that Basque Grandmother of mine! We had lunch and had a good talk with her. We got our OYMs and made more visits when we went out again for dinner! Good thing I'm on bike, otherwise I would be getting super fat! We found out a sister in our ward passed away and she was an organized hoarder... It was sad to hear that but even more of a sad thing was going through her stuff. More details on that project later.

Our Halloween started off by helping a part-member family do some drywall in their house. The husband isn't a member and he is super legit! His wife and kids are active but he isn't a member YET. We helped with that and it was super fun. However, Elder Anderson broke his seat while riding and racked himself pretty bad. It was super funny! But I felt super bad for him... Haha anyways, we ran home and got dressed to go teach Ivan. We committed him to keep reading and come to church with us. That was basically our Thursday because after that, we went and helped clean the apartment of the sister who passed away. Guess what we found? Doctrinal books galore! I have the WHOLE set of Journal of Discourses! I’m going to send them home so I can study it when I get back :). It was such a treasure she left for me, it was awesome. Our Zone Halloween activity was the pits... We couldn't combine with the other zone so we did nothing. It was lame... Oh well. I hung out with Elders Thurman and Anderson the entire time. It was still a good time though!

Friday was ZDM day and again, I really irritated some people. I guess that's just my calling as a missionary, to voice my opinion even if it will offend people. We had a goal of 37 baptisms when we only had ONE. That wasn't going to fly and so I spoke up and stepped on some toes. Oh well, I saw something that I was strongly against and so I spoke up. It was all good though, we worked it out. Lunch was good at Ancho's and then we finished weekly planning. Not too much of a busy day but busy enough to make me super tired.

Saturday was again filled with service. We helped a sister in our ward move and it was only three ward members and us four missionaries. A little disappointing to say the least. Anyways, we did that all morning and then had studies. We listened to the Glenn Beck conversion story. Super good! We then had a route of church visits to make and then had dinner with Brother K***. He is super awesome! We had Subway and then he came with us to make some visits. We didn't have too much success but we did see another recent convert/part member family that we want to start working with. There was the SICKEST motorcycle in the garage. It was super dope! I drooled all over it when I was there haha. The work is starting to pick up, slowly but surely.

Oh my goodness, Sunday was rough. We had Ivan come to church but testimony meeting was terrible! Only three people talked about Christ. Three! And two of those three were under the age of 10! There was a lady sitting with her dog in the chapel, babies crying and people talking about being buried in their temple clothes. SERIOUSLY?! Fetch man! I was not happy. Ivan liked it though and he said he would come back next week so that was a positive. Then the lesson in gospel principles was about marriage AGAIN. That topic won't leave me alone either. And then the Elders Quorum only talked about beating the other ward in football and only had a 20 minute lesson. We expressed our frustrations with the ward mission leader. We had dinner and a lesson with the bishop and then went home. Elder Anderson got super sick and it was pretty bad so we took it easy that night. Anita stopped by again and it was good to see her :). Overall, it was a decent week. Another week in paradise :).

Well, I love y’all and want y’all to know that I do. I am focused and have my motivation back. Nothing is gonna let me get in the way of finishing. I gotta be that closer, to never look back at the wheel. I want y’all to know that I love my Savior and love the people I work with. I love serving just like how the Christ did. I love Him and love learning about His gospel. Love y’all and have a great week!

Elder Tonini

email: October 28, 2013

Subject: Boy do I have some guardian angels...

Ready for my crazy first week in Riverside? Leggo!

Monday was crazy with moving and everything. It was super hard to say goodbye to my district, especially Elder Child. We both got a little emotional in our embrace and it really made me love him even more. He is going to be a special missionary. We still talk and everything so it's not a forever goodbye. I got all moved in with Elder Anderson and we got our OYMs for the night.

On Tuesday, we took some time to organize the area. We identified potentials and formers and the current people they were teaching so we could have a plan of attack. I love being on bike, I am dropping weight like crazy. Working out hard in the morning and riding all day is gonna be good for me. We had two set up appointments that fell through but we had dinner with our WML, Brother P**** and got to know his family. We are gonna be working closely with him to make this area boom again.

Elder Tonini, some random kid, and Elder Anderson at Taco Bell

Wednesday we had DDM and got to know the zone. We are getting overrun by Sisters... Blah! There are seven sisters and eight Elders. Ohh man haha. We had lunch at McDonald's with Kavababy! I love Kava haha. He was in the area for a doctor’s appointment and so we had lunch with him. We didn't have dinner and so we worked all the way till 8pm before we ate dinner. We did meet with a part member family and had a good lesson with her and then put Richard on date! He is the son of a recent convert and he is willing to learn more and so we put him on date for baptism. President made a surprise stop by to see me and to make sure I am doing okay. I love President Smart, he is the man! We had a good heart-to-heart so it was good for me.

Thursday was a miracle day for us. We had a set lesson with a kid named Ivan. The report said he wouldn't commit to pray or go to church and they previous missionaries were fixin' to drop him but we went by to have a lesson with him. The end result? Put him on date, committed him to pray and come to church. Sometimes, you just gotta be bold with people. After that, we ran off to a blessing with a lady I contacted on the street and she let us in! We had a really good blessing and the Spirit was SO strong in that apartment. We committed them to baptism and they accepted for the 30th of November. We set something up to come by the next day and start teaching. Legit! We then finished our studies and weekly planned for the week. Dinner was good; we went to La Pollo Loco with an interesting family. They were nice but it was still interesting. Not a bad day for weekly planning!


Friday was a freaking crazy day. My guardian angel was watching over me a lot on Friday. So we had a church tour with Ivan in the morning which went reallyyyy well. The only hiccup we had was that the building was dirty so we had to clean it up some and that Brother P**** didn’t show up for the tour... I was a little frustrated about that but we made it work. And then that family we gave the blessing to on Thursday called and said that they weren't ready for organized religion and stuff like that. That was a bummer too but at least our church tour went well with Ivan. We made visits all day and boy was it interesting. Anderson has the WORST luck with riding. He ran into a wall, about fell off his bike almost six times and really did a number of the family (if you smell what I'm stepping in) during all these close call crashes. We had dinner with the B*** family and got to know them. This ward is going through some major issues... Just by talking to them, that was the feeling I got. One sister is on life support and another just fell and broke her leg. A lot going on. After dinner, we rode to the other side of our area to go visit Richard. I had a really close call with about getting ran over. I was trying to cross from the right side of the road to a street on the left side when I about when flying over my handle bars. I made a hard left turn and my pedal hit the ground super hard, about ejecting me off my seat and onto the pavement as a car was coming up the hill. By the grace of God, and my guardian angel, I saved it and rode away. It did not feel very good but I walked away from what happened. I saw my life flash before my eyes, no joke haha. But we made the visit and then called it a night. Anderson and I were both pretty beat up... Just another day in paradise :).

Saturday was filled with making church visits. We did pick up another super awesome family! It potentially could be a family of seven. We left a blessing with them and taught about how they could be a family forever. We invited them to church but they didn't end up coming... But we are gonna work with them this week and get them progressing. We rode 26 miles on Saturday making visits. Goodness I love the bike! No worries about staying under miles :). We set up some appointments with people and tried to get people to come to church. Hopefully we can get them to come! We have Sunday meetings starting at 7:15am... YUCK! Everyone was shocked to see two new faces but it was good to get to know the ward. I guess we will see how well the ward works with us. Sacrament meeting was super loud but the last speaker was awesome. He talked about the idiom "look up". He related a story that Elder Cook had with President Monson and it really made an impact on me. President Monson told him to "look up" and keep working hard. It was a way cool talk and it was presented really nicely. We came home and took a nap for lunch because we both are exhausted already and then we went out to go meet the Bishop's family. We are on the bottom of the overpass that we are about to bike up and Anderson locks his chain up and we can't get it undone. So we get a ride home from Brother J*** and he rides the spare bike to dinner. Dinner with the G****'s went well. He is a cool guy with an awesome family. They have a 27-year old down syndrome daughter that was super funny! She is so marriage crazy, it was hilarious. We made a few visits and then called it a week.

You know, I wasn’t sure how thing would be with my new companion but he really loves being with me. We had a good heart-to-heart and he wants to work really hard. He has had it hard the past six months and he feels like I am training him again. He looks up to me a lot and he wants to become a better missionary. He has already made improvements with his teaching and talking to people. I don't know what it is but I bring out the best in people. It's nothing I do, I just be myself but they seem to be attracted to me. Anderson is a really good guy and he wants to learn everything from me. It’s humbling to hear him say stuff about me like that. I guess I never realized how much I make an impact on people.

Well, I love y’all and thank y’all for the prayers. I need them! Cali drivers are not the best sometimes haha. Always know that I love y’all and miss y’all so much. Christmas is coming up and that means I get to see y’all soon! Take care of Mom for me and help her get better. Again, I love y'all so much. Don't worry, I'm not getting trunkie. I've got a lot to work to do :). I've found my drive again! Have a great week!

Elder Tonini

email: September 24, 2013

Subject: "When it comes to God everybody's got a version...

Some are wearing turbans others getting virgins with all of these options we know He's for certain. Cause ain't no other God like mine you gots to admit it ya I'm falling cause of sin and yet His grace is sufficient --One Sixteen, Trip Lee.

Hiya! I am super excited that I get to email y'all today. It has been a long week but everything worked out. Alright, ready for my week? Let's go!

Tuesday was a super good day because I did my Atonement training again to my district. It was super legit. It always goes well when I do it. It's a good training when I know that people are struggling with their testimony or reasons for being here on the mission. It was awesome. I then emailed because I didn't manage my time well on Monday... We then took the Park Hill Elders to Walmart because they popped a tire. Our lesson with the G****'s went well and we had an awesome time contacting people on the way home! It was super sweet.

Wednesday was a good day for us. We got on the bikes and rode this week! We ride in the morning so we can save miles. We did some work out in Homeland area and saw some people. We are getting close on miles so we have to start riding again. I love it though, I feel like a real missionary again. We had lunch and then drove into Hemet with the bikes. The Park Hill Elders came out with us to visit some potential investigators we picked up for them while we were visiting the G**** family that lives in their area and so we contacted some people on the way home. It was a good time with Elder Tafoya. He's struggling with his desire to work here in his area and so I pushed him a little bit. Our dinner went well and then we had an awesome lesson with Janice, the one that came to church last Sunday. We took Denny with us and he connected really well with her. She broke down to us and we testified that Christ can make her clean. It was a super spiritual lesson with her! It was a good way to end our night :).

Thursday we did some service with the Park Hill Elders that turned into a bust. We didn't need four missionaries there. We thought it was going to be a bigger than it really was. We got cleaned up and weekly planned for the morning. After that, we rode up to the De Anza building for the Sisters interview for their baptism this weekend. It was fun to get to know them. We had dinner with the Park Hill Elders and then our appointments fell through... So we did an obedience ride and finished up our OYMs. Elder Tafoya is really good at reading people and so after we came in for the night, he read Elder Child. It was insane what he got out of him. It helped me because now I can read Child like a book! It was crazy. We got home pretty late though so Friday was not a good day... Plus the Sisters are having some issues and so I've had to deal with that. Other than that, it was a good day.

We had a crazy bike ride on Friday! We rode down Highway 74 and it was super scary. Riding next to big semi's is crazy! We did save eight miles though so that was good. Sister C**** was super nice, she's a nice old lady haha. Her husband didn't want to see us so we just taught her. Our lesson with Stevie went well and then we had dinner with Anita. I love that woman, she makes me laugh. We had a good dinner and she took us to Walmart to pick up the stuff. I was super tired and cranky so it wasn't good.

The M**** family needed some help around the house on Saturday and so we helped them with some yard ward. It was super nice to put the boots and wranglers on to go work outside. It was fun, I loved it. We had our church visits go down on Saturday to get ready for Sunday. We did stop by and see John on Saturday night. I really, really want that family. He was on my mind as we went home that night and during planning, Elder Child REALLY got me upset to the point I had to walk out of the house and cool off. But we made things up so it's all good now. We've had a lot of those lately. I think it's because he's still really young but it's okay, I'm learning patience.

We had our usual Sunday meetings and everything. We had lunch and then made our visits. We fasted for the sister missionary that's been having issues and so I slept for our lunch hour. It was nice haha. Our dinner was with the V**** family and then we went over to see the N**** family because it was Brother N****'s birthday. We found out that JayR and Sarah are gonna be having a baby! I was super excited! She's due in April, which means I can go see them! I was stoked. But yeah, it was a good Sunday overall.

Monday was filled with meetings. Elder Kent R. Richards of the Seventy came and spoke to us. I had a leadership meeting at 0745 and then the meeting started at 0830 all the way until 1300. (Haha telling in military time makes me think of Grandma Tonini because that's how she tells time.) Anyways, the training was good. President Smart was super sick, it was hard to see him like that. Elder Richards talked with us for over four hours straight but it was way good. I learned a lot but what really got me was that I have to re-learn how I am going to teach. I can't use worldly analogies so I have to go in and redo all my teaching. Oh well, it'll be good for me. I got to see my old zone! Moreno Valley came to Hemet for the conference. Afterwards, we had lunch and talked deep doctrine. Ah yeah! Afterwards we came home, detoxed for thirty minutes and then did studies. Child and I had another breakdown. He started to make plans behind my back and THEN texted the sisters and THEN deleted the messages so I couldn't see it. So we had to have a comp inventory but now we're good. We went out and got our OYMs and then picked up a new investigator! Jennifer was the one that got 5150ed but now she wants to get baptized! It's super awesome. It was a miracle. So now we're gonna start working with her to get her ready.

Well, it was a good week. I worked out this morning and we're now leaving to go golf with Brother R**** in his Raptor! Super dope. Alright, love y'all and hope everything is going well. Love y'all and miss y'all tons. Talk to you soon!

Elder Tonini

email: September 2, 2013

Are you ready for my week? Let's go!

Last P-Day was uneventful. We played some basketball and I played some baseball so that was refreshing. I was pretty tired after that so I came home and went to bed. I love naps so much haha. Our lesson with the S****'s was... Interesting. Ross St****, my recent convert, was over there with Sister S****. She's single and so is he and so it was weird to see them together. However, he made it clear to me that they are just friends and nothing else. Still, it was weird having him there with us. He said the prayer to start the lesson off and he started by saying "Father God" in his prayer. Oh goodness, Elder Child was about to have a fit. Then Ross kept telling stories so that lesson took forever. It was a very interesting lesson to say the least. We got OYMs and then ran home.

We had a good DLC on Tuesday. We talked a lot about what the zone needs and how best we can help them get better. DDM went well, I am getting tired of training though... I am running out of topics to train on. We won't have a DDM this week due to zone meeting on Friday. We had lunch and then went out to find people. We have made a lot of visits this week and we haven't seen much success from it yet. But that's what the work is all about anyways. Dinner was with the Ste***'s and that is always fun to eat with them. The husband is a high councilor and so I tell him all the time that he is going inactive on us haha. We did see the G****'s that night though and it was good to see how well they are doing. All they have done this week is look for apartments so that they don't have to go to Barstow to a homeless shelter up there. But hopefully we can help them out with that. We saw a potential part-member family (PMF) and we talked to the non-member husband and tried to commit him to sit in on our lesson with his wife. He was flaky but we tried.

Wednesday felt very similar to Tuesday. More and more visits... We talked with everyone trying to find people to teach and to baptize. We did see a man by the name of Rex B**** who is one the ward mission process. We had tried to meet with him for forever and we finally did. He's got a few people he is working with but not willing to push them to come meet with us. That is super frustrating. I have come to realize that I am going to be the best member missionary ever. I don't care what people think about me anymore. If they don't want to be a friend of mine because I tried to share the gospel with them then that’s too bad. Something kind of cool happened on the way out to the car from Rex's. There was a woman walking down the God-forsaken road that he lives on and I decided to talk to her. I got talking to her and come to find out, she is originally from Katy, Texas! Small world sometimes. I tried to get over there and to talk to her in her home but she just moved there and didn't know her address so it that was a non-starter... But it was cool to see that happen. Dinner was at the V**** home and it is always a ball when we go over there. Brother and Sister V**** are literally best friends and they give each other a hard time all the time. It is super funny to sit at the table and listen to them tease each other. It's super funny. I want my relationship with my spouse to be like that. Maybe not to the extreme like theirs but it is still super funny. That night, we walked Florida again and talked to some CRAZY people. There's an old school rap song that I heard one time and it says that the freaks come out at night. Very true in Hemet!

Thursday started by going over to Mary's home and tried to get in to teach her non-member husband but come to find out, things are NOT going well for them right now. They are distancing each other and it is not good. So that was kind of a bust... After that, we ran to the Elders’ house in Park Hill to pick them up to go eat some DQ. We had a good talk. Elder Smith is from Farmington New Mexico and so we have a lot of the same ideals and theory's. BFFLs [Best Friends For Life]! Hahaha. Plus I love Elder Tayofa. He is super fun and we have a good time during lunch haha. We continued to look for people but no luck... We had our usual lesson with the G****'s that night and we had some fun before the girls showed up. They had brought a bat, softball, and a Nerf football thingy and we started to hit it around. I couldn't hit the softball as hard as I wanted to but I did get to hit the football. Elder Child hit as well and it was super fun. It has been really humid here lately because of the monsoon season so it's been really sweaty haha. We had a good lesson with them as always. Our dinner was with the P****'s that night and it was super fun. They are in the process of moving houses and so their apartment was a mess. They watched the tail end of the Utah State and Utah game and so we got to hear about the end of the game. Their oldest daughter is super funny. I get along with her really well and we had a good time. All business, of course. We already had our OYMs and so we ran home to get ready for interviews on Friday.

So our interview was supposed to be at 10 am but we had a situation go down. I got a call from the Sisters while I was in the bathroom and they asked where the interviews were. Elder Child told them that it was down in Hemet. The bad thing was that they were in Riverside and their interview was about to start in ten minutes. They wanted us to take their spot and we LIVE ten minutes away from the stake center and I wasn't fully ready to go. So I finished up and got ready super-fast and drove WAY too fast to the interview. We were a little late but still made it. I had a good talk with President; it was much needed. We talked with the Sisters and boy was I not happy. I couldn't help but laugh. We had a weekly planning and had lunch with the Park Hill Elders again. Elder Child and I had a much needed companionship inventory because of something that went down with the Sisters but we cleared that up. We planned and contacted people before dinner with the Clemens and guess who we ate dinner with?! The PARK HILL Elders! They came to the same restaurant we were at so we ate dinner with them. Our lesson again with the G****'s was... Interesting. They told us that they didn't find a home here so they are leaving to Barstow for a shelter. Brother G**** told us that we saved their family. I SAVED THEIR FAMILY. Oh man, that was humbling. It really hit me deep. That was our night and it was a bitter sweet with them.

Our whole Saturday morning was filled with moving the P****'s. The Zone Leaders and Johnson came and that was interesting. But it was good. I was terrified when I got into the big truck with Brother P****. The bishop's truck is a manual and so Brother P**** didn't know how to drive it and we almost rammed the truck into a car and a house! I was terrified. We had a good laugh and I kissed the ground whenever I got out of the truck. We did that all morning and it was good to do that for them. Our dinner was interesting because the head of household was super prideful in his knowledge of the scriptures. Oh well, it was interesting. We taught a less-active member that we found and invited them back to church. That was our night and it was decent. I was so tired it was crazy.

Sunday was interesting as well. Church went well and we had a good sacrament meeting. I enjoyed church even though I was crazy tired. I missed our Elders’ Quorum (EQ) lesson because Elder Child forgot the box with copies of the Book of Mormon at the house so we had to run back down to Winchester to get it. It went well though; it was a good EQ lesson. We saw the G****'s at church today! Come to find out, they didn't get into the shelter and so they had to find a place here. Sure enough, they did and so after church, we helped them move with Brother C****. It was good; I loved it. I was dead tired after that though because I was fasting and I got sick... So I worked while I was sick. Oh well. We had dinner with the N****. We ended up staying for a while and talking with them until we left to go over to Park Hill Elders’ house until it was time to go home. We talked about A LOT of things; even into my romantic life so that was interesting haha.

Now something happened last night that really chaffed my khakis. Our Zone Leaders sent out this text telling us things that we can't do that the handbook says nothing on and THEN drops by the Elders in Park Hill to check up on them right as we are on the way over there. I didn't want to cause a scene so we went to the church to do numbers. Numbers weren't that great because it was a rough week for me. So that didn't help and then on the way over there, Elder J**** stopped by to make sure they weren't being disobedient. Can you say micromanaging? It ticked me off. I do not like when people micromanage others. However, that was the fire I needed to get ready to work my tail off for the next week. But other than that and being sick, I am doing fine.

Well, that is all from here in Hemet. I am doing fine and working through the issues I am dealing with. Don't worry, I will be just fine. Send my regards to the family and the kids. Oh! I almost forgot! Our second counselor in the EQ knows the Romney's in Prosper and Frisco. His name is Brandon V*****; it is such a small world. Well, I am off to go to the driving range so we will talk to y’all soon!

Elder Tonini

email: August 5, 2013

I emailed on Wednesday of last week so this may not be the longest email but we had a lot go down this week. Ready for my week? Let’s go!

So after I emailed on Wednesday, we ran off to see the R****' family. Sister R**** got Hawkins and I speed Rubik’s cubes for our Restoration lesson and so we went over to see them. I can't remember if I mentioned that the doctor's found a tumor in Brother R****’ lung so they have been struggling with that recently. They actually called on Tuesday night to have us come over and give him a blessing so we went over there Wednesday afternoon to see him and give him a blessing. I love that family; I have a huge soft spot for them in my heart. After that, we ran to get some OYMs and went to the C***'s for dinner. We ate some awesome chicken and then had correlation with us four elders. It was a long week in regards in getting the area all organized and ready to go. We did though pick up a new part member family. The G**** family has two kids that aren't baptized and have been coming to church every week since they moved in to the ward. Hopefully we can get them baptized this month! Later that night, Sam A*** called me and said he would like a blessing because he's getting anxious about leaving for his mission so I sat down with him and we talked. At the end, I gave him a blessing. It was a good way to end the night.

Thursday was planning day and we seriously planned all day long. We had to go through and split our ward list for the two wards. So we sat down and punched every address into our GPSs and made the decision if it was on the north or the south side of the 74.That took all day to get done basically. I set an appointment to go by and see John P**** again and to introduce his family to the new elders. It went really well, John said that he would be open to being baptized so they are going to keep working with him. Our dinner was good: Chinese food with fried chicken haha. That night, we sat down with the bishopric and went over the ward list again. We discussed names and families and got a lot down for the area. It was Brother P**** that sent the pictures to y’all. Stay in contact with him, his family is awesome! Although we didn't get that much proselyting in, we did get organized so it was a good use of time.

Brother Langston, Brother Porter, ET, Elder Child, and Bishop Mackie

Elder Child and Elder Tonini

Elder Wilkinson, Elder Figueroa, Elder Child, and Elder Tonini

We had our zone meeting Friday morning and it was weird having the zone leaders call me the "patriarch" of the zone. Then Johnson made some smart aleck comment and said "matriarch" under his breath. That kid... Anyways, it was a good meeting and we got a lot done. It is very humbling to have the responsibility over the two sister companionships and being the district leader in starting a new zone. We are going to work! I am super excited. I committed to the zone and to the Lord that we will have two baptisms this month so we gotta get working! After ZDM, we went to Red Robin to eat. We then had dinner with the K**** family and to see them again. Stevie is always fun to be around. We got there a little early and I sat down to play Skip-bo with her. It was super fun! She was talking some smack and it was fun to play. The ZLs didn't like it too much but they'll be okay haha. Our lesson at 7 pm fell through so we checked up on some people and then contacted down the street. We found two potential families that we are going back to see on Saturday. That night, we had a lesson with a family we thought would be a potential part member family. Come to find out, they were. The wife is super less-active and her live-in husband isn't a member. They live in the middle of NO WHERE in Winchester so it was an exciting time trying to find the house at 8 at night. We find it and had a good lesson. They are super funny together and they have 11 dogs living in the house with them! Bob is the biggest hippie and he doesn't have any teeth. It is a riot. I am not sure if anything is going to come of it but we are gonna keep teaching anyways.

Oh goodness, Saturday was busy. We went back to see the two families and got in to both doors! We left a blessing with both of them and invited them to baptism. They didn't accept but they agreed to have us come back. We taught them about the priesthood and a brief thing about the Restoration of the Gospel. We then back to the stake center to work on the ward list again. We got it all split and ready to go. It seriously took almost four hours. We forwent lunch and went straight to dinner at Hometown Buffet with the R*****'s. I stuffed myself and I felt a lot better after that. After dinner, we picked up Denny H and ran off to our two lesson for the night. We saw an elderly lady named Francis W. She has had two strokes and her body is starting to shut down. She is a spiritual giant though! We talked for an hour and got to know her a little bit more. She is almost blind but yet she can still function. I could've talked with her for hours. After her, we ran over to the T**** family to get to know them. They are an active family with eight little kids! I did the Rubik’s cube lesson and they loved it. Every kid wanted to touched the cube and play with it. It was a fun lesson to teach; it was a fun way to end the night.

Sunday is always a long day for us with meetings. We had our correlation meeting with Brother C*** and then had our ward meetings. I struggled with it for a little while because the spotlight was on the ZLs and how they are awesome missionaries and everything. I felt like I wasn't that important; that all they cared about was their work and not mine. But as church started and sacrament meeting came around, I had an interesting thought come into my mind. When Christ was in the pre-existence, He offered to go down and perform the Atonement with no glory for His name. That struck me because that is how I am kind of feeling right now. It gave me strength and gave me a lot of comfort. We all sat on the stand so we could be recognized and bear our testimony's. Being me, I couldn't hold back the tears when I got up to bear my testimony. My heart was so full and that is just came. I have learned so much about the TRUE meaning of charity and that really struck me hard when I got up to speak. After the meeting, Sister V*** pulled me aside and with tears in her eyes told me that she wishes her son could be as good as a missionary as me when he leaves in September. Now THAT was humbling to me; it showed to me that I AM making an impact on the people I meet and come in contact with. The rest of church went well and we ran home to take lunch and do some personal study. We had dinner with the V*** family and then went to get OYMs. I OYM’ed a guy outside of dinner and ended up teaching him of the Restoration. Even though he didn't accept it, we did answer some questions of his. That night, we went to Sam's setting apart for being a missionary in Portugal. I love that guy, I am going to miss him terribly! But yeah, that was my week in a nut shell. Elder Child is doing well and I love living with the Mackie's. I now live with my pet pitbull Porter! I love that dog to pieces; it's like living at home again. It is funny; Elder Child is from the Mormon Bubble so it is taking him some time to get used to everything. He is a good Elder and I love him to pieces already.

I love all of y’all and I hope things are going well. Keep me updated with everything! I want y’all to know that I know my Savior lives and the He loves everyone. He knows me personally and I am glad that I am starting to understand what charity really means. I love being here and I love all of y’all! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Tonini

email: June 17, 2013

Mom and Dad,

So I read from Elder Feist's email that his parents met y’all. I also talked to Elder Johnson and his grandparents do live there. That is kind of a small world ha-ha. I love it though, I'll be able to know some people when I go home. So Jake leaves for Provo this week? He is going to do so well at school. He is such a good man. He has come a long way. Corina is getting so old! Funny story, I actually had one of the young men add her on Facebook that is her age so that was kind of funny ha-ha. Carson sounds like he is doing super well! Goodness, I have such an awesome family. Too bad that everyone is getting older and growing up. We better have family reunions! So I had an interesting week so here it goes. Nothing really happened with everything falling through but here we go:

This past Monday, we went out to a local golf course and we played nine holes! It was so much fun, it was much needed with all the drama that was going on. The Elder that was causing trouble said another thing and that set all of us off so I asked the zone leaders to sit down and talk with them after DDM about it. After golf, to eat with the P***** family and that is always a blast. I am super close with James P***** so it was fun to go and see them. After dinner, we left and got our contacts and tried to find new people. It was a much needed P-Day with all the crap that happened so it helped me to relax and get ready for the week.

We had our DDM on Tuesday and we had our talk with the ZLs. I basically told them with what was going down and how we needed to fix the issue. This was way overdue; this talk with them so I was excited to clear the air and start to get the issue taken care of. We then went out to find and then had our dinner with the C*****. They both are huge hunters and I feel at home around them. I have come to find out how redneck I really am ha-ha. I love it though. After that, we went and taught Aaron R**** and he told us he would come to church! His niece is down from Moreno Valley to watch his daughter while he is at work so it is good to have her there with him. And they actually came to church this week so that was a good thing.

Wednesday was exchanges for me with the zone leaders. I went out with Elder Santos and we made a whole bunch of visits: seeing formers, less-actives, and potentials. We did see an older couple, the G****'s and got to know them. They are pretty less-active but super friendly. It was fun to get to know them. Oh my goodness, our lesson with the B***** family went super awkward. We wanted to finish up the commandments so we taught the Law of Chastity. However, it didn't go as well as I wanted to. Their friend, Matt, piped up and asked about masturbation. He was all up in arms about it because he thinks it is healthy for you and stuff like that. So we committed him to live it and he said heck no! It was super weird... But hey, that's missionary life for you!

We weekly planned on Thursday and made some more visits and tracted. We did though, go by and see Matt and teach him again. He is slowly but surely coming around. Hopefully he'll be able to make it back. We ate with the P***** family again and they had family come in and eat with us. It was pretty fun; I love that family. We then finished up planning for the week and got ready for the next transfer.

Friday was intervention day. We sat down with the other Elder and we talked things out. He denied everything that he supposedly said but I forgave him regardless if he did or didn't. However, he still has hard feelings towards us so he isn't talking or giving us the time of day. Oh well, I'll get over it. I've forgiven him and so I feel at peace about it. We then ran off to our lesson with Stevie. We grabbed a priest and went off to teach her. Come to find out, we weren't supposed to take him out until afterwards so that was interesting ha-ha. We contacted for the rest of the night and then we got ready to go off to MoVal on Saturday to go to our transfer meeting. Super exciting!

So Saturday morning, we got ready and drove up to MoVal to have our transfer meeting. This meeting was super hard for President Smart and his wife. I can only imagine making this decision and seeing his missionaries leaving him. But my first area is now in another zone! They created a Banning zone now. Pretty cool to see the work progress. I found out that I am staying with Elder Hawkins here in Hemet! I was pretty excited. It will be sad to see people that I served with to leave but this is part of the work here. I then left to get an adjustment from Doctor Collins. It felt so good, I needed one super bad. He thinks that the reason why I have huge headaches is because my neck is always out and it is causing the headaches. So I am going to call the mission nurse and see what I can do. Our lesson with the N***** and JayR went really well too. Brother N***** shot an oriole that has been eat his hummingbirds! The lesson also went well, we invited JayR to think about getting baptized so we will see what he thinks.

Sunday was awesome too, we had another baptism fall into place for us! We have three on date now for this month! She was a young woman that came to girls’ camp and had an awesome experience there and now she wants to get baptized. Stevie is still good for next week and Ross is hopefully gonna be on the 29th. We had four people at church! That was the highest we've had so far here. I also taught gospel doctrine to all the adults about the Plan of Salvation. That was super fun and it went really well. Our dinner was with the ward mission leader and he had a good correlation with him. We then went and tracted and I caught a bunny! It was super funny ha-ha. Then that night, we helped Elder Albright pack. I am going to miss that kid! Overall, it was a good week even though not a lot happened.

Have a wonderful week and know that I love y’all dearly! Have a good time in Utah and have a good time. I am off to the driving range to golf so I will talk to y’all next week :). Love you!

Elder Tonini

email: May 27, 2013

Subj: Another Week Down!

How was y'all's week? Did you ever find the Feist family up in ND? Their son is so much fun to serve with. We work hard and play hard together haha. It was a good week for us the area is really starting to pick up. Here was a low down of my week:

Monday was our PDay and that was always a good time. Even though I am fairly new to the zone, we have a lot of fun together. Elder Feist brought his two gloves from home and I got to throw with him. Oh my goodness, it felt so good to get out and throw. I got my hair cut at Sister D****'s house and that was amazing. She runs a salon out of her house and it was super nice to sit down and get my hair cut. That is one of the most relaxing things I can do, I love getting it cut. Our dinner unexpectedly had to eat at 4 pm so that kind of threw us off our usual routine but we made it work. We had two appointments for the night and all of them fell through. So we went and got our OYMs and tried to contact more people. It was kind of a weird PDay but it was still productive.

We had our usual DDM on Tuesday and went to DQ for lunch. We get free DQ, it is super awesome haha. We ran home and waited for our mini missionary to get to us so we could go out and work. I drove out to Homeland to go and work on the names that we got to go see from the Bishop. We knocked off almost five names off the list out in the middle of nowhere Homeland. It actually reminds me of Seminole in a way, just the set up of the city. Our lesson with JayR went really well! This is a family that we are trying so hard to get in and to teach. Elder Hawkins made really good analogy with a glass table and the analogy with the Apostasy. It really made sense to him and it is starting to click, hopefully. Our dinner was at Red Robin and it was terrible... There was baseball one the TVs and it was so hard to focus. Seriously, baseball is my weakness haha. After dinner, we ran to the O*****'s to give them a blessing and to leave a blessing with them. They are such a cute old couple! The husband is 90 and the wife is 88. It was awesome. We went and stopped by Aaron's place and we started to go over his old mission stuff. He misses his mission so much, I don't ever want mine to end! It was a good first day with our mini.

Our Wednesday started off with giving service to a family that is moving up to Anza. They has some big stuff so they called in the big guns to help move :) haha. That took up almost our whole morning. We showered, studied for a little bit then ran off to go knock some doors. We ended up finding these two high school girls that let us in. We had Porter with us so we could actually get in the door! The one girl answered the door in a tight shirt and spandex bottoms. Oh man haha but luckily we had Porter there so it all worked out. They asked us a lot of questions and we left them with a blessing. We set something up to come by on Thursday. We had another Ward Mission Plan (WMP) lesson with the B****'s and the craziest thing happened. So I gave their two year old son my military scripture case for him to play with. He walked around with them for a while then he does something that made my jaw dropped. The son THROWS the box at his pregnant mother's stomach. My jaw dropped! I felt so bad... It was terrible. It was a great way to end the night. NOT! But she was okay, it all worked out.

We weekly planned on Thursday and got ready for the week. Porter was a champ and he helped us out to plan for everyone. After that, we went out knocking and had our lesson with Kendra and Zante (the two girls we met the day before). We had a lesson and it went well. We aren't exactly sure how we are going to keep teaching them but we are going to make it work. Our dinner was awesome, the kids were amazing. I have such a good ward here in Hemet. I love it. Our WMP lesson with the C**** went okay. They drive me nuts and they believe in a lot of false doctrine. It isn't our place to correct but we did let the ward council know about it. The last lesson of the night was with the L***** family. They moved out of our area but we still went and saw them for the last time. We are going to hand them over the the correct elders for them to go over and see them. Thursdays are one of the hardest days to be productive because we lose a lot of time with planning but it all worked out :).

Friday was INSANE. We went on exchanges and Elder Baltazar came with me into my area. Our morning was filled with making more visits to the people on our ward list project and getting their info. We had some pretty nasty rejections; some guy told us to "leave him the HELL alone and get of my doorstep!" It was interesting haha. We had almost 40 OYMs by the time we had to go to our lesson with Stevie. She is getting ready to be baptized in June so that is exciting! After that, we had NOTHING. Everything cancelled and we already visited everyone for the day so we thought to go and contact people. I had an idea to hop in Porter's Wrangler and talk to people as we drove by at stoplights and people outside walking with is PA system in his Jeep. Guess how many people we ended up contacting for the day? 143 people! It was crazy. I had so much fun. We then ate dinner at DQ again because we had no dinner for the night. That was seriously one of the best exchanged I have ever been on. We even went off roading! Icing on the cake :).

Oh my, I seriously thought I threw my back out on Saturday. We helped a potential investigators move their house and it was rough. We moved these SUPER heavy beds up two flights of stairs. That seriously lasted all day. It was rewarding but it was rough. OH! Guess who came and saw me on Saturday? Elder Scoffield! I loved seeing him. I haven't seen him in almost a year. He road his bike down here from Utah, 720 miles. It was good to see him. We seriously moved all day and it super bad. My back hurts so bad. We got our OYMs and came in because I was hurting super bad. I am okay now but it was bad on Saturday.

Guess who ended up getting the chance to speak on Sunday? I did! The youth speaker got sick and so the second councilor asked me to speak five minutes before the meeting. I love speaking in front of people. Being a missionary is awesome because I can speak on any gospel topic with no time to prepare. Everyone liked it; I talked about myself and my family, basically introduced myself to the ward. I spoke on my favorite topic: the Atonement. I loved it. After our correlation meeting with our ward mission leader, he asked me about me giving up baseball to come on my mission. That amazed him, that I would give that up to come here. I guess I earned a lot of respect from people because of that. After our meeting, we ran down to Home land to teach Ross. He is such an awesome guy. He is really soaking up the gospel. We taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation and committed him to stop drinking and smoking so he can be baptized. He really wants to do it so we will be having a legit baptism here pretty soon! Our dinner was sick and so we contacted people and then came in to study for the rest of the night. Overall, we are seeing huge progress from this area already. It has HUGE potential and I am excited to get the work moving forward.

I sure love each and every one of y'all. I love the gospel and how true it is. I love my mission and I never want to leave it! Have a wonderful week and I will talk to y'all soon :). Thank you for sending me that package! If you could, could the iPod have a screen so it is easier to navigate through the content? That would help me out a ton! Love you and thank you for your love and support :).

Elder Tonini