Ready for the week? Here we go :)
Monday was super fun! After we emailed and did some running around Elder Everett, Franson, Wood and I went golfing at our favorite course. Everett has never golfed before and he did pretty well! I had a beautiful nine iron drive that landed seven feet from the pin. It felt so good to hit that thing and see where it landed! I shot pretty bad but I still had so much fun. We really have a good group of missionaries here in Hemet. After we golfed, we changed and ran off to dinner. We had dinner at the D****'s and it was fun to teach a FHE with them. Their dad was away on business so we grabbed Sam A**** to come with us. One of our members gave us a scripture bag with little objects in them that can represent any scripture story that has the item in it. We sat outside on the patio because the A/C went out in the house. It was a lot of fun to be with the kids and to teach them. I have gotten close with the oldest boy, Urry. He is my boy! He just turned 13 and I love him to pieces. He is a super sharp kid, along with all the other kids. The youngest, Obie, was super fun to mess with. They have an above ground pool that they play in and I took Obie and threatened to throw him in. I was just playing around but it was super fun. We got OYMs and dropped Sam off and then the Idyllwild Ward missionaries, Elders Everett and Franson, came over to our apartment and we stayed up wayyyyyy too long. We had zone conference the next day so it was interesting.
Oh my goodness was Tuesday super long. First off because I got zero sleep the night before and because we had to be up at the stake center by 7:30 in the morning. The best part was that I got to see Spencer again to catch up with him. But to top the scale, I got to see Victor! He came down from Beaumont to come to zone conference and to share his testimony with us. He stayed the whole time! It was a long six-hour conference. After that we left to go to Beaumont and to get ready for the temple! It was awesome that I got to be there every step of the way with him. it was weird going to the temple at night. I did get to see a whole bunch of people that I knew back in Oak Valley. I love the O'Harra family, they have been such a good family towards Victor. It was awesome to get to see in the temple. I gave him a big hug and told him I love him. That seriously was the best day of my mission. Plus, the missionaries in the ward got to come with him too so there were six missionaries that came to the temple with us. We then made a Denny's run that night to grab something to eat with the O'Harra's and the crew. Victor and I had a really good talk about what's been going on in my life. I tell that man everything and now I won't be able to call him up anymore when he is in Arizona. He is Utah now getting ready to enter into the MTC. I love that man so much!
I got to see Anita on Wednesday and took us out to lunch. We went to Mimi's Cafe and then I gave her a blessing at the church. She was much appreciative towards me in giving her a blessing. She sure has grown attached to me but that is okay, she has been through a lot in her life so it is the least I can do. Our lesson with JayR went... Interesting. He had a pretty deep doctrinal question that we tried to answer. He wanted to understand why we believe we can become like God and why the New Jerusalem is going to be in Missouri so we addressed those issues and it ended up in getting into a deep doctrine discussion. But he said he is super close to getting baptized so we are in crunch time because they are leaving to Utah here pretty soon. We had a good rest of the day and got to visit some people.
Thursday was awesome because we did some weekly planning but then John wanted us to come over and have dinner with them! That worked out because our dinner had to cancel. We got to spend some time with the family and build some bonds with them. We have taught John once and now we need to get the whole family involved. He wanted us to come to his son's practice but it was just out of the zone so I decided that we couldn't go. Hawkins was for it but I wasn't going to break that rule. We didn't get to teach him because he left a lot quicker that we had planned on but we are planning on going over there later this week so it will be good.
Friday was exchanges with Park Hill Ward and it was super awesome. We had service with Valle Vista's former investigator out on his ranch. We were around horses and it was awesome. Ever since MoVal, I love being around those animals. There was a paint that you could tell that had been abused and it was super sad to see how it reacts now. It got pretty close to me and followed me around the pen the whole time. We were at the back corner of the pen, shoveling poop with the horse right next to us when a big semi-truck came down the road and scared the paint and she took off away from the fence. We all surrounded her because she walked in between us and we had to get out of the way pretty quick. But there was another horse, Lucky that was super nice. I hugged him and petted him and everything. I love being around those animals. After we finished with that, we ran home to shower and study for the day. We ended up studying a little too long because we got into a deep doctrine discussion again haha. Our dinner was crazy, he is Bolivian and he just loaded my plate up with food and I had to eat it. Oh my goodness it was gross but I did it! Our lesson that night was with a family and we are teaching one of the son's girlfriend's. It was a good lesson and a good way to end the night.
On Saturday we got a call from Ray D*** that he needed helped moving his family. We just baptized his daughter so we thought it would be good to help him move. It went really well, I wore a long sleeve shirt to try and sweat some fat outta myself haha. It was fun to go help his family out. His wife is expecting so it was the least we could do for them. We took studies after that and then went out to proselyte. Our dinner cancelled so the Cole's invited us over to have dinner. I love going over there to eat. Brother Cole always talks baseball with me and it is super fun to talk with him. Their grandson, Blake, has been talking to Corina so it is fun to give him a hard time. I love that family though and they have been a blessing to us here in the ward.
On Sunday, I felt prompted to fast for JayR again. Fasting always gives me the biggest headache so it pretty much killed me the entire day. Sunday's are always long because we have meetings from 8:30am until 3pm. Yay! But the fasting really paid off because we talked with Sara, JayR's wife, told us that we need to invite him on Tuesday. We are taking that comment to invite him to be baptized on Tuesday so we are super excited for that. I may fast again tomorrow too because this has been on my mind a lot lately and I really want this for that family. The biggest thing we are focusing on this week is him. After church, I had to come home and try to kick my headache. I did all that I could but it still wouldn't go away. I even showered for twenty minutes to try and get rid of it. It wouldn't leave so we went to dinner anyways. I got there and just crashed on the couch, my head hurt so bad. Sister V**** got me an ice pack and I crashed on their couch for almost an hour. I felt so much better when I woke up though, it was so nice. I talked with them until it was time to go home because I missed out on talking with them. The V**** family makes me laugh every time I see them. We came home and everyone came over for PDay eve. We played Risk and rubiks cubed it up! I love my mission so much :) it is awesome to be a part of this work.
Thank you for sending the few shirts, I need them badly. I have gotten pretty good at sowing my clothes up and fixing them! I want y'all to know that I love y'all so much and miss the family a lot. Time is flying and it is really starting to scare me.. I'll be home before I know it and that stinks! But I am not going to waste anymore time and work my hardest on the last stretch. Hope y'all have a wonderful week and know that I love you. Thank you for the prayers and the thoughts on behalf of the people we are working with. This transfer is almost over and it scares me to death! I am doing just fine with everything and I am doing the best I can. Love you and have a great week!
Elder Tonini
Elder Andrew Tonini grew up in Houston, Texas and is currently serving a full-time, two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Riverside, California. He returned home on February 24, 2014.
Showing posts with label horse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horse. Show all posts
Monday, July 15, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
email: June 3, 2013
Subject: It is moving week for the Tonini Family!
Sounds like yall are going to have a busy week this week. I am excited for the new move and it is crazy how many of my mission friends actually have ties to North Dakota. One of the sisters in my MTC district actually has her non-member family up there in ND. It amazes me every time the company moves us how fast the house gets packed. That is a huge blessing on Mom because then she wouldn't stress out about things. Alright, ready for my week? It was interesting one so here we go:
Our PDay started out by going shopping and getting everything taken care of. It was Memorial Day so there were a lot of people out for the holiday so we talked to a lot of people. Our dinner was with the N***** family and Hawkins thought the dinner was at 6 pm but they actually said 5 pm so we showed up an hour late. We need better communication between each other. However, we did teach JayR again and that lesson went well. He understood it well; he only had a question about Adam and Eve which his mother-in-law resolved for him. He has HUGE potential and I am so excited to be there helping him. That night, we made contacts that night and fulfilled the Ballard promise.
Oh man, Tuesday was rough for me. Hawkins had a district leaders' conference which took THREE HOURS to do. That was our whole morning basically. When I got home, I came down with the biggest headache and my allergies were going insane. I ate lunch super fast and I tried to lay down to kick the headache but it never went away... Elder Albright wasn't feeling good either so I stayed home with him and Hawkins and Kelley went out to work. I tried to get feeling better but the longer I slept, the worse I felt so I just tried to power through it. We did service with the young men and that didn't help at all. Our appointment with Aaron R***** was super fun; he pulled his guns out and we started to talk about emergency preparedness haha. He has two AR-15's and an RPG casing! Super awesome. We went home because I was feeling like garbage... It wasn't fun but I powered through it the best I can.
We had exchanges with the Spaniards on Wednesday and Elder Moyer came into my area for the day. I still wasn't feeling very good so I tried my best to power through it. We made a lot of visits to people, seeing if they live in the ward boundaries and if they live there or not. We drove all the way to Sun City to check out if there was anyone out there. There was but they had moved so it was a waste of time. We exchanged back before our lesson with the B****'s. It went well and then we had Matt, a friend that is living there with him who is actually a member of the Church, came out and we kind of started to bash with each other. But amazingly, he changed around and was willing to sit down with us and talk. So we set something up for Thursday to come and sit down with him. It was kind of a batched day but we made the best out of it.
Our usual weekly planning happened and then we drove out to see Matt all the out in Winchester and he wasn't awake! I was super ticked because we wasted 10 miles driving out there. We got home and then he called us, wanting us to come by. OF COURSE. So we drove out there to go see him and we had a pretty good lesson. We made a lot of head way with him. He still has a long way to go but we are going to make it work. Our dinner was with a single sister so we took Blake M**** with us to go over. He is the same age as Corina and I offered to hook them up haha. We then went on splits with the young men and I took Blake with me to go visit another part-member family (PMF). Even though we only taught two less-active lessons, it still was a productive night regardless.
On Friday, Anita took us out to eat to Marie Callenders. It was pretty good, but way over-priced. After lunch, we ran out to Winchester to go and teach another PMF. It is the W**** family and they have an interesting story, There are two families living there together and only one person is a member. Sister W****'s caretaker comes to church with her almost every week and we wanted to come in and start teaching her but she isn't too interested yet. After the lesson, we had a spur the moment baptism interview. After that, we had dinner with the Mc******'s. They are a super sweet old couple and it was awesome to get to talk to them. They were such a wonderful couple. We met with out Bishop and went over things for the ward.
We had service on Saturday morning and it felt so good to put the boots and Wranglers back on to go to work. The service was putting up a new fence on a horse ranch so that was fun. Later that morning was our zone conference and it was not a fun experience for me. It started out with me not liking one of the action plans for our focus and people trying to prove me wrong. However, their comments didn't help me at all so I am stuck in a bind. THEN I heard that another elder called me a "bad influence on the other younger elders because I only have 8 months left and blah blah blah". THAT really pissed me off and so I am going to prove everyone wrong and make my area the best area in Hemet. It was the fuel I needed to get my butt working even harder. Our dinner was at the Four Seasons, a super nice retirement community. The R*****'s treated us to eat and it was really good. After that, we taught the G**** family that night with Sam A***. He then took us out to Sonic to have half price shakes :). It was an interesting Saturday but it all worked out. We also got out mini that night too! He is super cool and really gun hoe about being here. We will have him for a week so it will be fun.
PEC went well on Sunday morning and so was Sacrament meeting. I still wasn't feeling very good and it really affected me throughout church. I love my ward though, they are awesome. Our of our investigators showed up at church and he wanted us to teach him. We hadn't seen him in like seven weeks and he randomly showed up to church. So we taught him second hour and he learned a lot. It was awesome to see how much he retained from the last lesson. I invited him to be baptized but he was going to be out of town for the whole summer... But it was still a great lesson. We then got invited to come share our conversion story in Teachers Quorum and that went over well. After church, I went home and slept because I had a HUGE headache and I got really sick to my stomach... I tried to get up and work but I couldn't do it. I slept until dinner but luckily, dinner made me chicken noodle soup and that helped a lot. The S*****'s are a PMF and we taught them that night. It was a good lesson; after that I went home and slept. I still don't feel good but I will be fine.
Well, that is it for me. I have a whole different mindset now and I am going to baptize all of Hemet! Haha but all in all, I am doing well. Thank you for the package, I loved the Cliff bars! I love you all and keep working hard!
Elder Tonini
Sounds like yall are going to have a busy week this week. I am excited for the new move and it is crazy how many of my mission friends actually have ties to North Dakota. One of the sisters in my MTC district actually has her non-member family up there in ND. It amazes me every time the company moves us how fast the house gets packed. That is a huge blessing on Mom because then she wouldn't stress out about things. Alright, ready for my week? It was interesting one so here we go:
Our PDay started out by going shopping and getting everything taken care of. It was Memorial Day so there were a lot of people out for the holiday so we talked to a lot of people. Our dinner was with the N***** family and Hawkins thought the dinner was at 6 pm but they actually said 5 pm so we showed up an hour late. We need better communication between each other. However, we did teach JayR again and that lesson went well. He understood it well; he only had a question about Adam and Eve which his mother-in-law resolved for him. He has HUGE potential and I am so excited to be there helping him. That night, we made contacts that night and fulfilled the Ballard promise.
Oh man, Tuesday was rough for me. Hawkins had a district leaders' conference which took THREE HOURS to do. That was our whole morning basically. When I got home, I came down with the biggest headache and my allergies were going insane. I ate lunch super fast and I tried to lay down to kick the headache but it never went away... Elder Albright wasn't feeling good either so I stayed home with him and Hawkins and Kelley went out to work. I tried to get feeling better but the longer I slept, the worse I felt so I just tried to power through it. We did service with the young men and that didn't help at all. Our appointment with Aaron R***** was super fun; he pulled his guns out and we started to talk about emergency preparedness haha. He has two AR-15's and an RPG casing! Super awesome. We went home because I was feeling like garbage... It wasn't fun but I powered through it the best I can.
We had exchanges with the Spaniards on Wednesday and Elder Moyer came into my area for the day. I still wasn't feeling very good so I tried my best to power through it. We made a lot of visits to people, seeing if they live in the ward boundaries and if they live there or not. We drove all the way to Sun City to check out if there was anyone out there. There was but they had moved so it was a waste of time. We exchanged back before our lesson with the B****'s. It went well and then we had Matt, a friend that is living there with him who is actually a member of the Church, came out and we kind of started to bash with each other. But amazingly, he changed around and was willing to sit down with us and talk. So we set something up for Thursday to come and sit down with him. It was kind of a batched day but we made the best out of it.
Our usual weekly planning happened and then we drove out to see Matt all the out in Winchester and he wasn't awake! I was super ticked because we wasted 10 miles driving out there. We got home and then he called us, wanting us to come by. OF COURSE. So we drove out there to go see him and we had a pretty good lesson. We made a lot of head way with him. He still has a long way to go but we are going to make it work. Our dinner was with a single sister so we took Blake M**** with us to go over. He is the same age as Corina and I offered to hook them up haha. We then went on splits with the young men and I took Blake with me to go visit another part-member family (PMF). Even though we only taught two less-active lessons, it still was a productive night regardless.
On Friday, Anita took us out to eat to Marie Callenders. It was pretty good, but way over-priced. After lunch, we ran out to Winchester to go and teach another PMF. It is the W**** family and they have an interesting story, There are two families living there together and only one person is a member. Sister W****'s caretaker comes to church with her almost every week and we wanted to come in and start teaching her but she isn't too interested yet. After the lesson, we had a spur the moment baptism interview. After that, we had dinner with the Mc******'s. They are a super sweet old couple and it was awesome to get to talk to them. They were such a wonderful couple. We met with out Bishop and went over things for the ward.
We had service on Saturday morning and it felt so good to put the boots and Wranglers back on to go to work. The service was putting up a new fence on a horse ranch so that was fun. Later that morning was our zone conference and it was not a fun experience for me. It started out with me not liking one of the action plans for our focus and people trying to prove me wrong. However, their comments didn't help me at all so I am stuck in a bind. THEN I heard that another elder called me a "bad influence on the other younger elders because I only have 8 months left and blah blah blah". THAT really pissed me off and so I am going to prove everyone wrong and make my area the best area in Hemet. It was the fuel I needed to get my butt working even harder. Our dinner was at the Four Seasons, a super nice retirement community. The R*****'s treated us to eat and it was really good. After that, we taught the G**** family that night with Sam A***. He then took us out to Sonic to have half price shakes :). It was an interesting Saturday but it all worked out. We also got out mini that night too! He is super cool and really gun hoe about being here. We will have him for a week so it will be fun.
PEC went well on Sunday morning and so was Sacrament meeting. I still wasn't feeling very good and it really affected me throughout church. I love my ward though, they are awesome. Our of our investigators showed up at church and he wanted us to teach him. We hadn't seen him in like seven weeks and he randomly showed up to church. So we taught him second hour and he learned a lot. It was awesome to see how much he retained from the last lesson. I invited him to be baptized but he was going to be out of town for the whole summer... But it was still a great lesson. We then got invited to come share our conversion story in Teachers Quorum and that went over well. After church, I went home and slept because I had a HUGE headache and I got really sick to my stomach... I tried to get up and work but I couldn't do it. I slept until dinner but luckily, dinner made me chicken noodle soup and that helped a lot. The S*****'s are a PMF and we taught them that night. It was a good lesson; after that I went home and slept. I still don't feel good but I will be fine.
Well, that is it for me. I have a whole different mindset now and I am going to baptize all of Hemet! Haha but all in all, I am doing well. Thank you for the package, I loved the Cliff bars! I love you all and keep working hard!
Elder Tonini
Monday, May 6, 2013
email: May 6, 2013
Subject: Onward to Hemet!
As you have heard, I am going to Hemet to serve there for the next little while. Anita called me to tell me that she had talked to Mom and it just made me chuckle. Yes, she buys me all sorts of stuff and it drives me insane because I feel like I'll offend her if I say no. She replaced the old weight bench that I had with my weight set. I am not exactly sure how I will get that home but if we want a weight set at the house, I have one! Sounds like the move is coming up quickly! Can you make sure to take a lot of pictures and mail them to me so I can have them? One great thing is that I can think about home and not get trunkie. If y’all could do that, that would be wonderful! Ready for my week? Leggo :)
Monday we taught a less-active girl that we tracted into a while back. We are so close in getting her to come back to church. Plus, her dad's family aren’t members so that would be awesome to get them into church! They are Hispanic so the Spanish-speaking missionaries will take care of them but still, that would be ideal. We ate dinner with the H****'s and we sang happy birthday to Elder Coleman even though it wasn't his birthday. The kids think that anytime Mom makes a cake, it is someone's birthday so it turned out to be Coleman's birthday that night :). I got really close with their four-year-old son and I brought my Rubix's cube to show him. He carried that thing around all night and was really upset when his dad made him give it back to me. I had the thought to give it to him because it meant a lot more to him than me so I did. He gave me a big hug before I left. The cube is replaceable but that hug wasn't so it all paid off.
We taught LQ again on Tuesday and that lesson went well. We talked about baptism and what made the true form of baptism true. It really made me realize how grateful I am to be enlightened with the truth. She is having a hard time with some issues that we found out about later this week. I then had the craziest food experience. Have you ever heard of balut? It is a Pilipino dish that is basically a ten-day old fertilized duck egg. I ate it and boy was it gross! I got it on video so beware whenever that comes home! We stopped by Lisa and her family and had a quick lesson with them. We found out that their 19 year-old daughter is expecting her SECOND child now. Holy crap! She's not married either so that was kind of upsetting. Our lesson with a hopeful part-member family went well. They are a Samoan family that has been having some issues so we started teaching them in hopes to help them feel the Spirit again. It was a good way to end the night.
I went on exchanges with Elder Moss and we had a pretty good day. We had a lot of appointments fall through so we started to go through the unbaptized members list to try and find some part-member families. We gave a blessing to these four African-American young people in their garage and that went well. It is amazing how addictive gaming can be. Some of the kids were playing Minecraft and they told us that they could play it for four days straight. NOT COOL! Huge waste of time. We then stopped by to see Ken and have dinner with him. I love that man so much, it was super hard to say goodbye.
We had our last true ZLC on Thursday and it was always an interesting experience. I don't like the bureaucracy of the Church sometimes. The Church is true but the people aren't. We then had the most interesting lesson with LQ. We decided to teach her about repentance and that did NOT go down well. We found out her real concern: she hasn't forgiven the person that murdered her nephew over 10 years ago. She can't let go of it and she has a pure hatred for that person. So needless to say, the lesson didn't go as well as we would have hoped for but we aren't going to give up on her. The A**** family took us out to eat at Five Guys for the last time that night as well. I love that family dearly as well.
We had our usual meeting with Anita on Friday and she kept asking me if I was going or staying. I didn't have any gut feelings yet so i couldn't tell her yes or no. Our ZDM went super well, we did a really cool activity. We blindfolded the entire zone and led them into the chapel with the lights off and music playing. I then played DJ and played the clip from Finding Faith in Christ when Christ goes through the Atonement for us. I dubbed it back to some dramatic music and read from a talk about the Savior. We then had them take the blind folds off and we talked a little bit more about what the Savior did for us and how we can apply that into our missionary and personal lives. I thought it went super well. Of course, I got emotional but I have accepted the fact that I am that way. We saw Gracia again and had dinner with Anita as BJ's Brewhouse. It was super good, my last supper with sweet Anita.
Saturday was kind of a botched day with our appointments falling through again. We did though get to see another part-member family and teach them. They didn't come to church but we had a good lesson with them. Transfer calls came and I am leaving to go to Hemet in the Diamon Valley Ward. At first, I felt like I got demoted but then I slept on it and those feelings went away. It will be good for me to be a "regular" missionary. Plus it sounds like that area is dead so I will have my work cut out for me. I called Anita and she just cried and cried. I felt so bad for her... But I am needed in Hemet.
Sunday was super hard for me because I had to get up and say goodbye. That was so hard to get up and bear my testimony. I was a blubbering mess... But I got through it. I waited until the end so Jeffrey and Blake could hear it. I had so many people come up to me with tears in their eyes and give me a huge hug. This ward really felt like home. We then made visits all day and also got to see Weylen (a super famous horse trainer) start the process of breaking a Mustang. There was a film crew filming it and it will be on the air sometime later this year. They are following a couple horse trainers across the country and I got to see firsthand how it works. It was super awesome! Dinner with the R*****'s was super fun, we watched their little girl slide down the stairs in a cardboard box into her mattress. Super hilarious! I said goodbye to Ken, the Baugh's and a few other families. Brother Baugh gave me a "father's" blessing before I left so that was much needed. It was so hard to leave... I loved the people I served with and they will always have a piece of my heart.
Well, that was my week and my last chapter in Moreno Valley. I loved serving here and I am truly going to miss it. I love you y’all so much and miss the kids a ton. Love y’all and can't wait to talk to you on Mother's Day!
Elder Tonini
As you have heard, I am going to Hemet to serve there for the next little while. Anita called me to tell me that she had talked to Mom and it just made me chuckle. Yes, she buys me all sorts of stuff and it drives me insane because I feel like I'll offend her if I say no. She replaced the old weight bench that I had with my weight set. I am not exactly sure how I will get that home but if we want a weight set at the house, I have one! Sounds like the move is coming up quickly! Can you make sure to take a lot of pictures and mail them to me so I can have them? One great thing is that I can think about home and not get trunkie. If y’all could do that, that would be wonderful! Ready for my week? Leggo :)
Monday we taught a less-active girl that we tracted into a while back. We are so close in getting her to come back to church. Plus, her dad's family aren’t members so that would be awesome to get them into church! They are Hispanic so the Spanish-speaking missionaries will take care of them but still, that would be ideal. We ate dinner with the H****'s and we sang happy birthday to Elder Coleman even though it wasn't his birthday. The kids think that anytime Mom makes a cake, it is someone's birthday so it turned out to be Coleman's birthday that night :). I got really close with their four-year-old son and I brought my Rubix's cube to show him. He carried that thing around all night and was really upset when his dad made him give it back to me. I had the thought to give it to him because it meant a lot more to him than me so I did. He gave me a big hug before I left. The cube is replaceable but that hug wasn't so it all paid off.
We taught LQ again on Tuesday and that lesson went well. We talked about baptism and what made the true form of baptism true. It really made me realize how grateful I am to be enlightened with the truth. She is having a hard time with some issues that we found out about later this week. I then had the craziest food experience. Have you ever heard of balut? It is a Pilipino dish that is basically a ten-day old fertilized duck egg. I ate it and boy was it gross! I got it on video so beware whenever that comes home! We stopped by Lisa and her family and had a quick lesson with them. We found out that their 19 year-old daughter is expecting her SECOND child now. Holy crap! She's not married either so that was kind of upsetting. Our lesson with a hopeful part-member family went well. They are a Samoan family that has been having some issues so we started teaching them in hopes to help them feel the Spirit again. It was a good way to end the night.
I went on exchanges with Elder Moss and we had a pretty good day. We had a lot of appointments fall through so we started to go through the unbaptized members list to try and find some part-member families. We gave a blessing to these four African-American young people in their garage and that went well. It is amazing how addictive gaming can be. Some of the kids were playing Minecraft and they told us that they could play it for four days straight. NOT COOL! Huge waste of time. We then stopped by to see Ken and have dinner with him. I love that man so much, it was super hard to say goodbye.
We had our last true ZLC on Thursday and it was always an interesting experience. I don't like the bureaucracy of the Church sometimes. The Church is true but the people aren't. We then had the most interesting lesson with LQ. We decided to teach her about repentance and that did NOT go down well. We found out her real concern: she hasn't forgiven the person that murdered her nephew over 10 years ago. She can't let go of it and she has a pure hatred for that person. So needless to say, the lesson didn't go as well as we would have hoped for but we aren't going to give up on her. The A**** family took us out to eat at Five Guys for the last time that night as well. I love that family dearly as well.
We had our usual meeting with Anita on Friday and she kept asking me if I was going or staying. I didn't have any gut feelings yet so i couldn't tell her yes or no. Our ZDM went super well, we did a really cool activity. We blindfolded the entire zone and led them into the chapel with the lights off and music playing. I then played DJ and played the clip from Finding Faith in Christ when Christ goes through the Atonement for us. I dubbed it back to some dramatic music and read from a talk about the Savior. We then had them take the blind folds off and we talked a little bit more about what the Savior did for us and how we can apply that into our missionary and personal lives. I thought it went super well. Of course, I got emotional but I have accepted the fact that I am that way. We saw Gracia again and had dinner with Anita as BJ's Brewhouse. It was super good, my last supper with sweet Anita.
Saturday was kind of a botched day with our appointments falling through again. We did though get to see another part-member family and teach them. They didn't come to church but we had a good lesson with them. Transfer calls came and I am leaving to go to Hemet in the Diamon Valley Ward. At first, I felt like I got demoted but then I slept on it and those feelings went away. It will be good for me to be a "regular" missionary. Plus it sounds like that area is dead so I will have my work cut out for me. I called Anita and she just cried and cried. I felt so bad for her... But I am needed in Hemet.
Sunday was super hard for me because I had to get up and say goodbye. That was so hard to get up and bear my testimony. I was a blubbering mess... But I got through it. I waited until the end so Jeffrey and Blake could hear it. I had so many people come up to me with tears in their eyes and give me a huge hug. This ward really felt like home. We then made visits all day and also got to see Weylen (a super famous horse trainer) start the process of breaking a Mustang. There was a film crew filming it and it will be on the air sometime later this year. They are following a couple horse trainers across the country and I got to see firsthand how it works. It was super awesome! Dinner with the R*****'s was super fun, we watched their little girl slide down the stairs in a cardboard box into her mattress. Super hilarious! I said goodbye to Ken, the Baugh's and a few other families. Brother Baugh gave me a "father's" blessing before I left so that was much needed. It was so hard to leave... I loved the people I served with and they will always have a piece of my heart.
Well, that was my week and my last chapter in Moreno Valley. I loved serving here and I am truly going to miss it. I love you y’all so much and miss the kids a ton. Love y’all and can't wait to talk to you on Mother's Day!
Elder Tonini
Monday, April 29, 2013
email: April 29, 2013
Subj: Transfer Week
I know I say this every week I email home but my goodness, do I have wonderful siblings. I love getting their emails and updates on their lives. I cannot believe Jake dropped a HUGE two run home run in his last game! He could go play somewhere and be super talented. Jake has seriously become my best friend. I regret not growing that relationship with him before I left... But that only means that our relationship is only going to be awesome. I want our relationship to be like Dad and Geoff's relationship when we have families of our own. By the look of things, it looks like they will be :). That sister of mine is such a sweetheart! She is the only girl in my life now :) and I love it! She is so beautiful. I'm going to have to beat those boys off of her with a stick! I'll have to get my rascal beater! Carson is getting his tonsils out this week? Oh man... Hopefully he'll be good to talk on Mother's Day! Ready for my week? Leggo :)
We had a catch-up PDay last Monday and it was much needed. We got a lot of cleaning done and some relaxing in. Part of that was going up to Ken's house to relax there. I love that man so much! He just lets us in and we can relax there. We played pool and slept on his couch. It was much needed. After Ken's house, we ended our PDay early and went to our Elders Quorum President's horse ranch to help his wife with some much needed chores. Every time I go over there, I am reminded of what kind of woman I want to marry. President's wife is amazing; the Lord blessed him with her. They are such a great team and love each other dearly. It keeps me motivated to keep working hard and the Lord will bless me :). Our dinner with the Rodriguez family went well too. We taught about the 10 commandments and shared mission stories. I amaze myself with the stories that I have now.
Our Tuesday started off by seeing some referrals that we had received the past week. We weren't able to contact all of them but we did get in to see a former referral so it went pretty well. Our lesson with LQ is always interesting ha-ha I love her to death. We answered her question and concerns about the life after death, It was cool to see her accept our message and to come to a better understanding. She is progressing nicely. We then had dinner with the M*****'s and that is always a delight. Brother M****** reminds me so much of Dad so I love being around him. Ken brought up an interesting gospel question with how Michael is Adam, I knew how to explain it but I had no scripture background for it so needless to say that I studied that the following morning.
Our Wednesday was DEFINITELY an Abinadi day... We had backup after backup after backup fall through... We did everything we could to see our people and to be effective. But sometimes, people excise their agency and it really upsets me sometimes. Reminds of Elder Holland's talk with how God has been dealing with imperfect people for eternity. So it really tested my patience that day. However, we did get in to see a recent convert of mine so it wasn't a total failure. The highlight of the day was that Victor called me and told me that his mission papers are in! He will get them in about two weeks! I am super excited about where he is going to go. He has made my mission a success even if I don't baptize anyone for the next year.
We had multi-zone conference on Thursday and that was very uplifting. They taught about planning and keep our eye single to the glory of God. After our lunch, we stand and sing the Army of Helaman to the sisters that made us lunch and that always gets me teared up because I imagine Mom standing there serving the missionaries in our stake. Long meetings always kill me because I am so used to being out working that I got a massive headache. I almost threw up because of it. I had to go and get a Rockstar for me to kick the headache, I needed the caffeine. We had a bomb lesson with LQ again and still talked about the spirit world with her and answered more questions. We ALMOST got her to pray out loud with us! We were so close. The difference with that lesson was that we bore testimony after testimony to her and she was actually listening. It is amazing what a testimony can do. We answered Ken's question and helped him to understand more.
Our lesson with Anita went well and she took us out to eat afterwards to Mimi's Cafe. It was pretty good, good French good. I still think American's eat better ha-ha. We weekly planned then went out to teach. Everything fell through again but we did get in to see our next door neighbors and teach with Cashman. I love that kid! We ended up spending the rest of the night with Cashman and we took him out to eat with us. Members gave us money :).
Saturday was Mormon Helping Hands and that was a great project. We helped a disabled veteran with his yard. I am so thankful that Dad taught me how to work hard. There was an RM there that did NOTHING but stand there and talk on his phone. It really got to me and it reminded me of how I DON'T want to be like. We then gave a blessing to one of Elder Coleman's former investigators to help her quit smoking and then stopped by everyone to get them to come to church. It was a long day but we still got our work done that we needed to.
Sunday is always a refreshing day and I love going to church. I have the best ward! Cashman came out with us again and we saw a lot of people. I also failed to mention that Victor's sister was found dead this week at a homeless shelter... That really got to me and I am so thankful for the Plan of Salvation and the comfort that it brings. I am thankful for this gospel and Christ in my life. I know that this is Christ's Church and that He loves and knows me personally. I am so thankful to be here serving my brothers and sisters. Transfer calls are this week so I will let y'all know if I go or not. I really want to stay but that is the Lord's decision. Have a wonderful week and know that I love y’all so much!
Elder Tonini
I know I say this every week I email home but my goodness, do I have wonderful siblings. I love getting their emails and updates on their lives. I cannot believe Jake dropped a HUGE two run home run in his last game! He could go play somewhere and be super talented. Jake has seriously become my best friend. I regret not growing that relationship with him before I left... But that only means that our relationship is only going to be awesome. I want our relationship to be like Dad and Geoff's relationship when we have families of our own. By the look of things, it looks like they will be :). That sister of mine is such a sweetheart! She is the only girl in my life now :) and I love it! She is so beautiful. I'm going to have to beat those boys off of her with a stick! I'll have to get my rascal beater! Carson is getting his tonsils out this week? Oh man... Hopefully he'll be good to talk on Mother's Day! Ready for my week? Leggo :)
We had a catch-up PDay last Monday and it was much needed. We got a lot of cleaning done and some relaxing in. Part of that was going up to Ken's house to relax there. I love that man so much! He just lets us in and we can relax there. We played pool and slept on his couch. It was much needed. After Ken's house, we ended our PDay early and went to our Elders Quorum President's horse ranch to help his wife with some much needed chores. Every time I go over there, I am reminded of what kind of woman I want to marry. President's wife is amazing; the Lord blessed him with her. They are such a great team and love each other dearly. It keeps me motivated to keep working hard and the Lord will bless me :). Our dinner with the Rodriguez family went well too. We taught about the 10 commandments and shared mission stories. I amaze myself with the stories that I have now.
Our Tuesday started off by seeing some referrals that we had received the past week. We weren't able to contact all of them but we did get in to see a former referral so it went pretty well. Our lesson with LQ is always interesting ha-ha I love her to death. We answered her question and concerns about the life after death, It was cool to see her accept our message and to come to a better understanding. She is progressing nicely. We then had dinner with the M*****'s and that is always a delight. Brother M****** reminds me so much of Dad so I love being around him. Ken brought up an interesting gospel question with how Michael is Adam, I knew how to explain it but I had no scripture background for it so needless to say that I studied that the following morning.
We had multi-zone conference on Thursday and that was very uplifting. They taught about planning and keep our eye single to the glory of God. After our lunch, we stand and sing the Army of Helaman to the sisters that made us lunch and that always gets me teared up because I imagine Mom standing there serving the missionaries in our stake. Long meetings always kill me because I am so used to being out working that I got a massive headache. I almost threw up because of it. I had to go and get a Rockstar for me to kick the headache, I needed the caffeine. We had a bomb lesson with LQ again and still talked about the spirit world with her and answered more questions. We ALMOST got her to pray out loud with us! We were so close. The difference with that lesson was that we bore testimony after testimony to her and she was actually listening. It is amazing what a testimony can do. We answered Ken's question and helped him to understand more.
Our lesson with Anita went well and she took us out to eat afterwards to Mimi's Cafe. It was pretty good, good French good. I still think American's eat better ha-ha. We weekly planned then went out to teach. Everything fell through again but we did get in to see our next door neighbors and teach with Cashman. I love that kid! We ended up spending the rest of the night with Cashman and we took him out to eat with us. Members gave us money :).
Saturday was Mormon Helping Hands and that was a great project. We helped a disabled veteran with his yard. I am so thankful that Dad taught me how to work hard. There was an RM there that did NOTHING but stand there and talk on his phone. It really got to me and it reminded me of how I DON'T want to be like. We then gave a blessing to one of Elder Coleman's former investigators to help her quit smoking and then stopped by everyone to get them to come to church. It was a long day but we still got our work done that we needed to.
Sunday is always a refreshing day and I love going to church. I have the best ward! Cashman came out with us again and we saw a lot of people. I also failed to mention that Victor's sister was found dead this week at a homeless shelter... That really got to me and I am so thankful for the Plan of Salvation and the comfort that it brings. I am thankful for this gospel and Christ in my life. I know that this is Christ's Church and that He loves and knows me personally. I am so thankful to be here serving my brothers and sisters. Transfer calls are this week so I will let y'all know if I go or not. I really want to stay but that is the Lord's decision. Have a wonderful week and know that I love y’all so much!
Elder Tonini
Monday, March 4, 2013
email: March 4, 2013
Subj: "Pain is temporary but quitting is permanent"
This week was a good one and I am excited to let y'all in on my week
As you know, Ken is on schedule to be baptized on March 12th. We taught him twice this week so on Tuesday we went over and taught him the first part of the commandments. Brother C***** went with us and he was such a help! We taught Ken about the Word of Wisdom and he really didn't have any big issues. He would have the occasional cigarette and cup of coffee so we said that he could give those up. Now, as a missionary we are supposed to leave them with commitments. Brother C***** jumped the gun and started to commit him to quit! He would ask Ken "so do you want to quit smoking and drinking coffee? When do you want to stop?" Ken would say "now, today" and Brother C***** response was "congratulations!" It was so cool to see Ken commit to stop and the help that Brother C***** was to us. We also tried to get him to pray out loud but he still wouldn't so Brother C***** jumped in and committed him to pray out loud on Thursday. We also gave him the baptism questions so he could go over them.
Wednesday was filled with going and seeing people on our ward list that we have no idea who they are. We have started a project that we are going to clean up the ward list and get info on the people that the bishopric has never seen. Even though we really haven't found anyone, we have found more potentials to go bless their home from it. So it is a win-win for us and the ward. Our main stop that night was to the S***** again. I want that family to be eternal family so badly. We asked him to read and to pray about baptism so we will see what happens with him. We set up a time to go and see him again on that Friday.
On Thursday, we went and saw Melissa C, one of my recent converts here in MoVal. We hadn't seen her in a few weeks and we thought it would be good to check up on her and Chris. She is doing well, she is battling sickness with her and the kids so that is why she hadn't been there in a few weeks. Earlier that morning, we got a text asking if we could go and work on the horse ranch again with the Rogers so, of course, we went :). I got to put the boots and Wranglers on and get my hands dirty. We mucked stalls and helped with chores around the ranch. Some of the young men came to help to raise money for camp so that was fun to be there with them. I have grown to love the young men in my ward. Where ever I end up after my mission, I want to be a part of that program. I have come to love it.
We then changed in the truck on the way to Brother P***** house to go to Ken's lesson. Our lesson consisted of finishing up the commandments and talking about the baptism interview questions. He didn't have any issue with paying tithing or keeping the Sabbath Day holy. He has actually seen a difference in going to church every week and feeling the Spirit there. We went over the questions with him and he is having a lot of trouble with the abortion question of the interview. The reason why is because his wife of 30 years had FOUR abortions without telling him. He would have been the father of four children and he has said many times that he wanted to be a father. He feels like he is kind of responsible and feels guilty about what his wife did. So President Crippen is going to interview him, just to make sure that he is okay. Then the greatest thing happened. He said his first audible prayer in front of us! That was seriously one of the proudest moments of my mission. Seeing Ken pray out loud for the first time was incredible. I was on cloud nine for the rest of the night.
We had AP exchanges on Friday so that was super fun. I took Elder Gardner (a really good guy) with me to teach Anita. We taught her about the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Convents and sustaining church officials. We are running out of things to teach her so we are getting creative. We then took her to see the baptismal font stairs. She wanted to see them so we took her there to see it. After her lesson, we went to Chipotle and got a salad. It was über good then we went back to work. We knocked on a lot of doors and talked to a lot of people. We even chased chickens too haha. Our lesson with the S*****'s was hard for me. Brother S***** didn't accept baptism and it seriously broke my heart. It has been such a long hard road with him. I want their family to be an eternal family so badly... So I wasn't in the best mood Friday night.
We picked up a new investigator on Friday and had a funny experience with it. We went to a missionary farewell party for the Stake President's son who is a good friend of ours. He had other young woman come from the other wards where the Sisters are serving. There were all over us like hawks! I was funny, they sure are Elder deprived. But we are going to teach a guy from there so that will be good.
I had a super spiritual experience on Sunday night with our dinner appointment.They were an older couple, just married about 6 months ago. The husband is an amazing man. He went on to tell us a story about this family that really touched me. It is the story of the prodigal son, but in modern times. The parents lost a son who went wayward and never came back. They never hear from him for five years. Well, this couple gets called to a couples mission in Philly. They were on a special proselyting mission so they actually went and knocked doors. They felt prompted to go down this rough looking street and knock. So they did and guess who they found? They found their lost son. They talked with him and brought him back into the fold. He was that prodigal son.
Well, that was my week. A lot of ups and downs. It will be a busy week for me again. Love y’all so much!
Elder Tonini
P.S. Hey Uncle Ross - thanks for the Lance Armstrong quote (above). He may be a cheater but he never quit!
This week was a good one and I am excited to let y'all in on my week
As you know, Ken is on schedule to be baptized on March 12th. We taught him twice this week so on Tuesday we went over and taught him the first part of the commandments. Brother C***** went with us and he was such a help! We taught Ken about the Word of Wisdom and he really didn't have any big issues. He would have the occasional cigarette and cup of coffee so we said that he could give those up. Now, as a missionary we are supposed to leave them with commitments. Brother C***** jumped the gun and started to commit him to quit! He would ask Ken "so do you want to quit smoking and drinking coffee? When do you want to stop?" Ken would say "now, today" and Brother C***** response was "congratulations!" It was so cool to see Ken commit to stop and the help that Brother C***** was to us. We also tried to get him to pray out loud but he still wouldn't so Brother C***** jumped in and committed him to pray out loud on Thursday. We also gave him the baptism questions so he could go over them.
Wednesday was filled with going and seeing people on our ward list that we have no idea who they are. We have started a project that we are going to clean up the ward list and get info on the people that the bishopric has never seen. Even though we really haven't found anyone, we have found more potentials to go bless their home from it. So it is a win-win for us and the ward. Our main stop that night was to the S***** again. I want that family to be eternal family so badly. We asked him to read and to pray about baptism so we will see what happens with him. We set up a time to go and see him again on that Friday.
On Thursday, we went and saw Melissa C, one of my recent converts here in MoVal. We hadn't seen her in a few weeks and we thought it would be good to check up on her and Chris. She is doing well, she is battling sickness with her and the kids so that is why she hadn't been there in a few weeks. Earlier that morning, we got a text asking if we could go and work on the horse ranch again with the Rogers so, of course, we went :). I got to put the boots and Wranglers on and get my hands dirty. We mucked stalls and helped with chores around the ranch. Some of the young men came to help to raise money for camp so that was fun to be there with them. I have grown to love the young men in my ward. Where ever I end up after my mission, I want to be a part of that program. I have come to love it.
We then changed in the truck on the way to Brother P***** house to go to Ken's lesson. Our lesson consisted of finishing up the commandments and talking about the baptism interview questions. He didn't have any issue with paying tithing or keeping the Sabbath Day holy. He has actually seen a difference in going to church every week and feeling the Spirit there. We went over the questions with him and he is having a lot of trouble with the abortion question of the interview. The reason why is because his wife of 30 years had FOUR abortions without telling him. He would have been the father of four children and he has said many times that he wanted to be a father. He feels like he is kind of responsible and feels guilty about what his wife did. So President Crippen is going to interview him, just to make sure that he is okay. Then the greatest thing happened. He said his first audible prayer in front of us! That was seriously one of the proudest moments of my mission. Seeing Ken pray out loud for the first time was incredible. I was on cloud nine for the rest of the night.
We had AP exchanges on Friday so that was super fun. I took Elder Gardner (a really good guy) with me to teach Anita. We taught her about the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Convents and sustaining church officials. We are running out of things to teach her so we are getting creative. We then took her to see the baptismal font stairs. She wanted to see them so we took her there to see it. After her lesson, we went to Chipotle and got a salad. It was über good then we went back to work. We knocked on a lot of doors and talked to a lot of people. We even chased chickens too haha. Our lesson with the S*****'s was hard for me. Brother S***** didn't accept baptism and it seriously broke my heart. It has been such a long hard road with him. I want their family to be an eternal family so badly... So I wasn't in the best mood Friday night.
We picked up a new investigator on Friday and had a funny experience with it. We went to a missionary farewell party for the Stake President's son who is a good friend of ours. He had other young woman come from the other wards where the Sisters are serving. There were all over us like hawks! I was funny, they sure are Elder deprived. But we are going to teach a guy from there so that will be good.
I had a super spiritual experience on Sunday night with our dinner appointment.They were an older couple, just married about 6 months ago. The husband is an amazing man. He went on to tell us a story about this family that really touched me. It is the story of the prodigal son, but in modern times. The parents lost a son who went wayward and never came back. They never hear from him for five years. Well, this couple gets called to a couples mission in Philly. They were on a special proselyting mission so they actually went and knocked doors. They felt prompted to go down this rough looking street and knock. So they did and guess who they found? They found their lost son. They talked with him and brought him back into the fold. He was that prodigal son.
Well, that was my week. A lot of ups and downs. It will be a busy week for me again. Love y’all so much!
Elder Tonini
P.S. Hey Uncle Ross - thanks for the Lance Armstrong quote (above). He may be a cheater but he never quit!
Monday, February 11, 2013
email: February 11, 2013
Thank you for the birthday wishes, I was weird to not have a birthday with Jake but that's okay, he knows that I love him. I thought a lot about him on Sunday, wondering how he was doing. He is such a good kid. I am glad that everyone survived this week with Dad being gone. Nothing really eventful happened this week but I will fill you in on something that happened this week.
I'll skip to Wednesday. We went to Mutual to practice with the youth on their youth program that they were doing for Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. Something cool that happened was that one of our recent converts had a referral for us. It was a friend of hers that lives in Riverside. I sent the referral over to them and come to find out that it was the AP's area and they are teaching her. Her friend was super prepared and she accepted baptism on the first lesson. That was a blessing to see happen as well.
Oh man, on Friday it seriously snowed here in MoVal! It was super cold and it started to rain. Along with the rain came the snow. We have a companionship on bike and boy did I feel for them! I felt so bad that everyone had to be out in that terrible weather. We knocked doors before it got too bad then went to our lesson with Anita. She is making so much progress, it is insane. We had a lesson and at the end, she was asked to pray. Now her fellowshipper was giving her ideas for what she could pray for and I told her that she could also ask when she should get baptized. She already knows that she wants to be baptized but she doesn't know exactly when. Anita thought I was being pushy when I wasn't! I said it in a nice, loving way. I think she was playing around but still, she threw me under the bus during the prayer.
After that, we got a call from our Elders Quorum president that he needs help out at the horse ranch to put up a shelter. So we threw on the boots and wranglers and went to go help them at the ranch. I love going there, I feel so at home. We got so muddy and wet from the pouring rain. Worst part of it all, it was about 35 degrees outside. I am so going to die when I get to Minot... But it was good to spend that time with them.
Saturday was an... interesting day. We went to our appointments like usual, after going to breakfast at the home of the high councilmen over missionary work, then went bowling with a part member family. The father has been a non-member for a very long time and we are trying to work with him to get baptized. I have heard many reasons why he hasn't made the commitment yet but I haven't heard it from him. It was the youngest son's birthday on the 8th and mine was on the 10th so they invited us to come bowl with them. It was a good break and a nice birthday surprise. After that, we went and knocked doors, went out to eat with Jeffrey, and went home to weekly plan.
Sunday we confirmed Ester in the Samoan ward so that was good. Also our program for the youth went VERY well. Both Jeffrey and Blake did a wonderful job. Jeff even got choked up while he was talking. Then we sang the EFY medley and there honestly wasn't a dry eye in the chapel, including mine. I stood between my two boys, Jeffrey and Blake, proud as I could be. Remember Elder Chambers, my trainer? He called me and sang me happy birthday and chatted for a little while. It was a good surprise. He told me that he saw a picture of me on Instagram and Corina posted a picture of me. She needs to talk to him! Anyways, before Chambers called I called Grandpa (Patriarch) Baugh and he came over to help give me a blessing. I told him my situation because he noticed I wasn't me so he knew something was up. So I talked to him about it and we chatted for a little while. I slept for the whole afternoon; we had to cancel our dinner with Ester's sister's family. They brought over food and a present for me. When I woke up, four hours later, I opened my gift. You'll never guess what it was. It was a brand new RED UKULELE! I was so excited! I love it and I play it all the time. I'll send a picture next week. All the boys came over that night and helped me feel better. We also went to the Baugh's because they wanted to check up on me. Their home seriously feels like Grandma and Grandpa Tonini's home. I love it there. Sister Smart called as well to wish me a happy birthday and we had a good visit. She is awesome, I love President and Sister Smart. Hopefully this next week will be better. I already treated myself to a new haircut, I got edged up and faded. It looks awesome. I'll send pictures as well.
Thank you for the package, I really needed those ear socks for my Oakley’s! Next purchase will be new lenses. Well, that's all from me. I love you all and miss y'all terribly. Have a great week.
Elder Tonini
I'll skip to Wednesday. We went to Mutual to practice with the youth on their youth program that they were doing for Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. Something cool that happened was that one of our recent converts had a referral for us. It was a friend of hers that lives in Riverside. I sent the referral over to them and come to find out that it was the AP's area and they are teaching her. Her friend was super prepared and she accepted baptism on the first lesson. That was a blessing to see happen as well.
Oh man, on Friday it seriously snowed here in MoVal! It was super cold and it started to rain. Along with the rain came the snow. We have a companionship on bike and boy did I feel for them! I felt so bad that everyone had to be out in that terrible weather. We knocked doors before it got too bad then went to our lesson with Anita. She is making so much progress, it is insane. We had a lesson and at the end, she was asked to pray. Now her fellowshipper was giving her ideas for what she could pray for and I told her that she could also ask when she should get baptized. She already knows that she wants to be baptized but she doesn't know exactly when. Anita thought I was being pushy when I wasn't! I said it in a nice, loving way. I think she was playing around but still, she threw me under the bus during the prayer.
After that, we got a call from our Elders Quorum president that he needs help out at the horse ranch to put up a shelter. So we threw on the boots and wranglers and went to go help them at the ranch. I love going there, I feel so at home. We got so muddy and wet from the pouring rain. Worst part of it all, it was about 35 degrees outside. I am so going to die when I get to Minot... But it was good to spend that time with them.
Saturday was an... interesting day. We went to our appointments like usual, after going to breakfast at the home of the high councilmen over missionary work, then went bowling with a part member family. The father has been a non-member for a very long time and we are trying to work with him to get baptized. I have heard many reasons why he hasn't made the commitment yet but I haven't heard it from him. It was the youngest son's birthday on the 8th and mine was on the 10th so they invited us to come bowl with them. It was a good break and a nice birthday surprise. After that, we went and knocked doors, went out to eat with Jeffrey, and went home to weekly plan.
Sunday we confirmed Ester in the Samoan ward so that was good. Also our program for the youth went VERY well. Both Jeffrey and Blake did a wonderful job. Jeff even got choked up while he was talking. Then we sang the EFY medley and there honestly wasn't a dry eye in the chapel, including mine. I stood between my two boys, Jeffrey and Blake, proud as I could be. Remember Elder Chambers, my trainer? He called me and sang me happy birthday and chatted for a little while. It was a good surprise. He told me that he saw a picture of me on Instagram and Corina posted a picture of me. She needs to talk to him! Anyways, before Chambers called I called Grandpa (Patriarch) Baugh and he came over to help give me a blessing. I told him my situation because he noticed I wasn't me so he knew something was up. So I talked to him about it and we chatted for a little while. I slept for the whole afternoon; we had to cancel our dinner with Ester's sister's family. They brought over food and a present for me. When I woke up, four hours later, I opened my gift. You'll never guess what it was. It was a brand new RED UKULELE! I was so excited! I love it and I play it all the time. I'll send a picture next week. All the boys came over that night and helped me feel better. We also went to the Baugh's because they wanted to check up on me. Their home seriously feels like Grandma and Grandpa Tonini's home. I love it there. Sister Smart called as well to wish me a happy birthday and we had a good visit. She is awesome, I love President and Sister Smart. Hopefully this next week will be better. I already treated myself to a new haircut, I got edged up and faded. It looks awesome. I'll send pictures as well.
Thank you for the package, I really needed those ear socks for my Oakley’s! Next purchase will be new lenses. Well, that's all from me. I love you all and miss y'all terribly. Have a great week.
Elder Tonini
Monday, February 4, 2013
email: February 4, 2013
From the emails that I got from the kids, sounds like things are going well. I have the best family in the world. Grandpa Baugh (that's what I call him, he reminds me so much of Grandpa Tonini that it is crazy) mentioned that he sent Dad and Grandma Tonini an email. He and Sister Baugh are so good to me. Their youngest granddaughter is stuck to my hip every time that she sees me ha-ha. Kind of reminds me of home. Family in Virginia sent me a bunch of pictures of the family with a little note on it. It was so exciting to see the Tull-Youngberg kids and the Bales. It made my night when I got to see them.
This was a crazy week for me. We had all sorts of meetings and lessons that we went to. I had a very unique experience as well on Tuesday. My Elders Quorum president's wife is a horse trainer. In their backyard, they have over five horses on a three-acre piece of land. They had just picked up a wild Mustang that the wife was going to tame and train. However, this horse was CRAZY and they had to build a brand new stable for Black Ice (that's the horse) because she kept jumping out of the other ones that they had. So they called us to come over and lend a hand so that the stable would be built faster. Boy did I feel at home on a ranch with my boots and Wranglers on. We got it put up and we got to see the wife work with the horse. This horse was CRAZY! And the wife is a tiny woman so it was kind of nerve racking for me to watch her get thrown around like she did. However, she finally got the horse to calm down and she started to work with her. It was amazing to see how big of a transformation that Black Ice went through. I noticed a correlation when it came to the gospel. We are all this crazy, wild spirit that needs some guidance and discipline. Just like how Sister Rogers was able to tame the horse down, that's what the gospel can do for us. Instead of Sister Rogers at the reign, it is Christ who calms us down and brings us back to where we need to be. It was quite a unique experience to be a part of.
Wednesday, we had a random lady call us asking if we could help her out. We had no idea who she was but we went over anyways. Her name was Karina, a single mom with four kids living with her sister and parents. They needed some financial help so they had the impression to call us. So we went over to assess the situation and ended up teaching them the Restoration. Karina was very interested in what we had to say. We set up a time to come back and see them so we were able to pick up three new people to teach! It is crazy how the Lord will lead the people to us that are in need of help and the gospel.
We had our Zone Leader Council on Thursday and talked with all the zone leaders about stuff going on in the mission. Even though that takes up most of the day, I do enjoy being a part of those councils. Now, something crazy happened that night. We had our lesson with Ken and that went very well. He is reading the Doctrine and Covenants every day and is praying. We answered questions and talked more about church with him. As we were about to leave, he seriously blew my mind. He told me that he has a "date". I was confused for a moment but then explained that he has a date in mind for his baptism. He said he prayed about it and he feels like April 6th of this year is the day. Something crazy about that date that he picked: that is Christ's real birthday and the Church was re-organized in 1830 on that date. It blew my mind that he picked a date then when my ward mission leader brought that to my attention, it blew my mind even more.
Our usual zone meeting went well too. Elder Ete did most of the talking so it was nice to see him take the lead on the meeting. We all went to Alberto's afterwards and got carne asada fries.
Oh boy, they were so good! I seriously have the best zone.
We are so close that we could seriously be one big family. And I guess that's how it’s supposed to be. I love that feeling. Saturday was filled with supporting the ward in some of their functions and going out to eat with a RM from our ward to Five Guys. It was good to hear his advice and the time I got to talk with him. His mom even bought us FIVE boxes of Girl Scout cookies! Super good.
Sunday was a very satisfying day because I got to see Blake bless the sacrament for the second time, having him bear his testimony with me, and then to have him be extended a calling as a ward missionary! That was super exciting to see. I love seeing how far he has come. Best part is, his dad is starting to be more accepting to his decision to be baptized. We also had a baptism in the Samoan ward on Sunday. Samoans sure do know how to throw a baptism! There is always food. Y'all should ask Troy Ita if he has any family up here. Overall, it was a good week. Kind of a crazy one but things definitely went well.
I will be looking forward to the packages. I can't believe that I turn 20 in less than a week. Best part is that the youth are doing a special sacrament program that I get to be a part of with. I have grown very close to the young men in my ward. I also hit my year mark in a few weeks. Boy has time flown.
Thank you for your support and love. I love and miss y'all dearly. Have a wonderful week and always remember that I love you.
Elder Tonini
This was a crazy week for me. We had all sorts of meetings and lessons that we went to. I had a very unique experience as well on Tuesday. My Elders Quorum president's wife is a horse trainer. In their backyard, they have over five horses on a three-acre piece of land. They had just picked up a wild Mustang that the wife was going to tame and train. However, this horse was CRAZY and they had to build a brand new stable for Black Ice (that's the horse) because she kept jumping out of the other ones that they had. So they called us to come over and lend a hand so that the stable would be built faster. Boy did I feel at home on a ranch with my boots and Wranglers on. We got it put up and we got to see the wife work with the horse. This horse was CRAZY! And the wife is a tiny woman so it was kind of nerve racking for me to watch her get thrown around like she did. However, she finally got the horse to calm down and she started to work with her. It was amazing to see how big of a transformation that Black Ice went through. I noticed a correlation when it came to the gospel. We are all this crazy, wild spirit that needs some guidance and discipline. Just like how Sister Rogers was able to tame the horse down, that's what the gospel can do for us. Instead of Sister Rogers at the reign, it is Christ who calms us down and brings us back to where we need to be. It was quite a unique experience to be a part of.
Wednesday, we had a random lady call us asking if we could help her out. We had no idea who she was but we went over anyways. Her name was Karina, a single mom with four kids living with her sister and parents. They needed some financial help so they had the impression to call us. So we went over to assess the situation and ended up teaching them the Restoration. Karina was very interested in what we had to say. We set up a time to come back and see them so we were able to pick up three new people to teach! It is crazy how the Lord will lead the people to us that are in need of help and the gospel.
We had our Zone Leader Council on Thursday and talked with all the zone leaders about stuff going on in the mission. Even though that takes up most of the day, I do enjoy being a part of those councils. Now, something crazy happened that night. We had our lesson with Ken and that went very well. He is reading the Doctrine and Covenants every day and is praying. We answered questions and talked more about church with him. As we were about to leave, he seriously blew my mind. He told me that he has a "date". I was confused for a moment but then explained that he has a date in mind for his baptism. He said he prayed about it and he feels like April 6th of this year is the day. Something crazy about that date that he picked: that is Christ's real birthday and the Church was re-organized in 1830 on that date. It blew my mind that he picked a date then when my ward mission leader brought that to my attention, it blew my mind even more.
Our usual zone meeting went well too. Elder Ete did most of the talking so it was nice to see him take the lead on the meeting. We all went to Alberto's afterwards and got carne asada fries.
Sunday was a very satisfying day because I got to see Blake bless the sacrament for the second time, having him bear his testimony with me, and then to have him be extended a calling as a ward missionary! That was super exciting to see. I love seeing how far he has come. Best part is, his dad is starting to be more accepting to his decision to be baptized. We also had a baptism in the Samoan ward on Sunday. Samoans sure do know how to throw a baptism! There is always food. Y'all should ask Troy Ita if he has any family up here. Overall, it was a good week. Kind of a crazy one but things definitely went well.
I will be looking forward to the packages. I can't believe that I turn 20 in less than a week. Best part is that the youth are doing a special sacrament program that I get to be a part of with. I have grown very close to the young men in my ward. I also hit my year mark in a few weeks. Boy has time flown.
Thank you for your support and love. I love and miss y'all dearly. Have a wonderful week and always remember that I love you.
Elder Tonini
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