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

Ready for my week? Let's go!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Elder Tonini

email: November 12, 2013

Subject:  Another week in paradise...

… Oh my goodness, 10 degrees is ungodly cold! I am going to die in February... You know what? Instead of sending me stuff for Christmas, just buy me real nice cold gear for when I come home! That's a better idea haha. Well, ready for my week? Let's shake and bake :)

PDay was an okay time. We got to play some basketball and throw the football around in the stake center. I was running a route and I about racked myself on a table and smashed into the wall trying to catch the football. I tweaked my ankle and so I called it good after that haha. My PDays aren't the same without throwing the softball with Sisters Pack and Gambling. I miss throwing with them a lot! You can't take the ball player outta me haha. It was good to be active and workout. PDays are never long enough! Our dinner was good and then got our OYMs for the day after dinner. Nothing too exciting but we still had a good day.

On Tuesday, I went on exchanges with Elder Thurman. I love that kid to death. Although he hasn't been out very long, he already is a super good missionary. Teaching with him was a blast. We saw Richard again and tried to help him progress. We got money for dinner and so we went and helped to finish up with apartment of the member who passed away last week and then took off to dinner at Panda Express :). Some of the members there helping made some really snide comments to me that really irritated me but I got over it. Elder Thurman and I got to bond really well together and so it was a good time with him. He is a really good District Leader and look up to him a lot. Even though he is young, I still can learn from him.

Wednesday started out by helping Ladio do more drywall. It was super fun, I love helping him and getting to know him. We have done a lot of service with him because other missionaries offended him and we wanted to show him that we are legit and want to help him change. We did that all morning and then ran off to the mission office to have our interviews. They were having a sisters gathering and I got to see all of my sisters! Sisters Gambling, Pack, Hall, Anderson and Allison were all there and I got to see how they were doing. Even though I'm not their District Leader anymore, I still feel like I need to make sure they are doing okay! Interviews got backed up because sisters LOVE to talk so we were there all afternoon. Our dinner was super fun! At first, the dad came off as a huge jerk but then we got to know him and it was okay. It was a super fun dinner! I love Elder Anderson because we gave each other a hard time the entire time. It was great companion unity together haha. We didn't have anything set for the evening and since it gets so dark so fast here, we were stuck doing an obedience walk. We ended up finding this pier near our house over this little pond and so we went there. It was a good time! We played with the ducks and everything :).

Oh my goodness, Thursday was terrible. We had our lesson with Ivan and he told us that he didn't feel the Spirit at church and that it was really sad. I seriously despise testimony meeting... Only one adult talked about Christ. One! Everything else was about the sister who passed away; my only beef with that was that the whole testimony meeting was about that! You don't talk about being buried in your temple clothes over the pulpit! It crushed me to hear him say that to us. He feels the Spirit when we teach him but not during the church service. It seriously was heartbreaking... So needless to say, I was not in the best mood for the rest of the day. We did pick up some promising potentials so hopefully that will translate into something good.

Friday was Mom's birthday! I will be honest and say that I realized that half way through personal study but I still remembered it! We did some weekly planning because I was shot the day before to plan so we got some good stuff done. That afternoon, I got a call from a number in Washington. I know a few missionaries that have lived in Washington so I was kinda scared I was gonna get pranked but it was a telemarketer. I OYMed her over the phone and I got into a bash with her! It was super funny, I loved it haha. We then went and saw Carmen and invited her to church. We then were riding to the Cheesecake Factory when we got stopped by the Indian guy that talked to us for almost half an hour. It was stupid! I found it funny though that he used to work at a Circle K convenience store. I'm not racist, I promise! Hahaha but then we went to eat. At the restaurant though, Anita found the B**** family from our ward in Moreno Valley! Sister B**** is from Italy and she loved me when I was in the ward. She gave me a big hug and we caught up on things going on. It was a fun surprise! Plus I got to see Anita, it was a perfect night! That night will always be special to me :).

Saturday was SUPER long. We did drywall with Ladio again and we did it almost all afternoon. We did the ceiling which was super fun! He had this drywall jack that made it superrrrr easy to do. The reason why we went so long was because I made a deal with him that if we helped him finish then he would come to church. He didn't end up coming... But he told me that if I hit a softball further than he could then he would get baptized. Now mind you, he is someone the ward has been trying for YEARS to get baptized and so I jumped on the chance. After drywall, we got cleaned up and went out to contact people before dinner. Dinner was good even though I didn't agree with the husband's view point on a LOT of things. Plus he couldn't control his kids so it was a huge test of patience. He did, though, have a SICK Kawasaki Ninja so that was cool to talk to him about that. We then had an obedience ride and talked to this one guy again that really irritated me one night. As soon as I saw him, my heart dropped because I wasn't in the mood to bash. But he ended up being nice and talking about stuff and apologized for the other night so that was good. We rode to our ward mission leader’s house and he wasn't there... Frustrating.

I was so dead on Sunday though during church. The talks were super good though! Only if Ivan had been to that one then we wouldn't be in this situation with him that we are now. We fasted for some people we have been working with and so I got a huge headache that knocked me out pretty much all afternoon. We did though go to the bishop's house for dinner and had some fun there. I sucked some helium and sang the Star Spangled Banner because I was playing ball on Monday so that was a good time. The bishop's daughter was taking pictures of Elder Anderson and me at dinner so that was kinda weird... But we had a good lesson and got our OYMs for the day. Overall, it wasn't the best week but we made due with what we got thrown. Gotta roll with the punches and this week we took a lot of punches. But all we can do is get up off the floor and keep going. Gotta go through hell in order to appreciate heaven.

So since yesterday was a holiday, we didn't get to email so here is what we did yesterday! We shopped in the morning and then Robert came and picked us up to go disk golf! We went to a course that we got golf carts and it was a fun course. Even though I hadn't played in forever, I still did really well. I've missed Robert a lot so it was good to see him. We then went and played softball with Ladio. I got swing again and learned very quickly that hitting slow pitch is nothing like hitting a baseball. So I adjusted and started hitting bombs. Like over 400 feet; in other words, I'm kind of a big deal haha. Just kidding. But then it was time for the contest. And guess what I did? Popped all three up and I lost... I was not happy for the rest of the day. Plus I strained my hamstring and my ankle again. I came home, worked out and then went back to Ladio's home to eat dinner and for a lesson. He still wants to take the lessons so it wasn't a complete failure. Hopefully we can keep working with him and get him baptized soon.

Well, this email is super long... Sorry about that! I love y'all and I can't wait to see y'all at Christmas. President gave me the okay to call home when Jake opens his call so that will be good. Send my love to the family. I am loving my time here and it is sad to see it almost be done. I love the people I serve and the Spirit I feel everyday. I love y'all and miss everyone terribly. Work hard and open your mouth this week!

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: September 30, 2013

Subj: "The freaks come out at night..."

Ready for my week? Let's go.

We had our P-Day on Tuesday and that was kind of weird to have a P-Day on a day other than Monday but we still had a lot of fun. We played a volleyball game with the Sisters and I creamed Sister Gambling in the face by accident... Whoops. She got me back pretty good so it all worked out. Brother R*** took us out to go play golf at Echo Hills. I played very poorly but it was still awesome. I love that man so much. I fell asleep after we golfed and we were late to dinner... Good thing the S***** family were super cool about it. We then had no set appointments but we stopped by Jennifer's house to see her. We actually had a lesson with her and we told her that we were going to stop by every day to help her. There is huge promise there with her. But it slowly went down hill.... But I will explain that later.

I decided to hold a DDM on Wednesday and it went really well. I trained on the Creation and how we can relate it to planning. It was kind of another deep doctrine DDM but it went well. I am scared that when I do these trainings that people don't understand it... But I think they understood. We had to run to Target to help the Park Hill Elders get more bike stuff. After that, we made visits to get ready for Bishopric Action Night. I went out with President F**** and we rode in his new sports car. It was super sick! It was a Hyundai Genesis coupe. Super fast and a nice red. Meanwhile, Elder Child went and set a baptismal date for Jennifer. It was an awesome experience for him. She is SUPER crazy and I will explain later.

We did teach four lessons on Thursday and got a lot of work done so it was a good day. We also did service for the Hemet theater and that was super fun. We pulled up carpet and took stuff out of the walls.

Friday was spent down in Riverside in a district leader training meeting. I got to see all of my old missionaries that I have served around. It was good to see them all. I learned a lot about what I need to do to improve so it was good. We saw Jennifer that night with Brother L**** and we threw out all her cigarettes and booze down the drain too. She wasn't too happy... But it was a cool experience.

Saturday was crazy. We did service in the morning for the Hemet theater again and then did our studies to get ready for the lessons we had. Our main goal of Saturday was to get people to come to church. Our lesson with Jennifer fell through. It was crazy, she wrote on a paper towel telling us to leave. She's crazy... Denny came with us and it was crazy. We ended up talking to Denny for the rest of the night and getting to know him better. He's been through a lot. I love him though.

Sunday was good, our meetings went well and I had an interesting conversation with the ward council. I stood up and passed around the towel from Jennifer and told the ward council that we need more quality people to teach. Before we went in, someone got up in the morning ward and said, "If you don't do your missionary work, then you are not going to make it into the Celestial Kingdom." Holy heck! It was pretty sick. We had a baptism after church for the Zone Leaders and we had dinner right afterwards. I got sick after dinner and had to sleep it off so I could finish working. We finished up our night by going to another baptism that we had to participate in. It was a good week overall.

Well, that's all from me. Love y'all and talk to y'all later. Love you!

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: May 20, 2013

Ready for my week? Here we go!

Monday was a good PDay; I played some basketball and then I went home and lifted in the garage. I did legs and I got up pretty high. My power-cleans got up to 225 pounds and my squat was 315 pounds. I was I was doing reps as well so it was a pretty good day. We got our OYMs (Open Your Mouths) and went to our appointments for the night. We got into a part-member family (PMF) and got to teach them. Hopefully we can pick up the husband and the kids as new investigators here in the next few weeks. Our lesson with Nikki on Tuesday went well and we picked her up as a new investigator. We had our usual DDM meeting and then went to Dairy Queen to get our lunch. A member of the stake owns it so we get to eat there for free! Luckily, we only eat there once a week so it is all good. We went and gave someone a blessing we found tracting but she TOTALLY rejected our blessing and didn't feel "anything" so we left. We had dinner with our bishop and we stopped by to see another PMF and tried to get in to teach him. It is a son-in-law to the N*****'s and he is a sweet guy but it going to take some time with him. Our ward mission process (WMP) lesson with the B***'s went well too. We had our less-active lesson with Aaron and that went well. He is a super cool guy and he has been through a lot. I am not a HUGE fan of less active work but I will do some and we are starting to see some fruits of our labors.

We rode our bikes to our lesson with Juan and Courtney to save some miles. After our lesson with them, I was ridding no handed when I heard this huge metal pop. I had no idea what it was so I just kept ridding. Come to find out, I ended up popping a spoke. Wonderful. So we took the bikes to Russ D**** in the ward, he runs a custom bike shop, and get the bike checked. He couldn't fix the spoke so I am going to another shop. That wasn't even the best part of the day either. The ZL's gave us a referral to meet up with a young guy at the Sonic in our area. So we went to Sonic (YES THERE IS A SONIC IN MY AREA!) and met with him. While we were sitting there, this guy came up to us and wanted to talk after he got his sandwich. When he sat down, he asked my comp to open up to Isaiah 7 and then to Matthew 1. My first thoughts were "oh crap, get ready to bash" and sure enough the guy just bashed hard on us. It seriously lasted like 20 minutes then he left to his car. Before he drove off, he yelled a few things to us. Five minutes later, he comes back up to us to apologize that we said all the stuff and then kept bashing! I was BEYOND PISSED. I only said a few sentences to him because I would've lost my temper and he wouldn't listen to us. His points were stupid and his arguments we not even valid. Oh man, it pissed me off. I had to go home to cool down.

Our dinner was with the ward clerk that I got to know better and then off to a bishopric meeting to go over the ward list. We got a list of 50 names to go see. Better get crackin' on it.

Thursday was kind of a slow day, all we did was weekly plan and tract basically. Our dinner was with the M****'s and then we had another WMP lesson with the C****. They are an interesting couple but they were fun to teach. We did though meet with another PMF and picked up the husband as a new investigator. He was taken the lessons quite a bit but hopefully he will come around.

Friday was pretty much the same as every day. We tracted and made visits. We did though, meet with one of our investigators and had a good lesson on baptism. We then got to go do some service for a family in our ward. He is moving to another ward but he needed the big guns to come help move so he called us. We went to Sonic afterwards and then called it good for a night.

Sam A***** in one of the other wards took us to Applebees for breakfast which was a fundraiser for the local high school cheerleader squad. It was a good breakfast and then we came back home and did our studies. We made more visits and then went to dinner with the San Jacinto Elders because we didn't have a dinner. It was super fun, I loved it. The family was super chill so it was fun. Our lesson with the G***** family was super fun. We tried the whole boiled egg and rubbing alcohol lesson and it blew up on us but it was still fun. We took our team-up to visit another PMF and taught the husband and the son. We want to meet the wife but we think there is something sketchy going on there so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Sunday was super fun because I got to go back to MoVal for a baptism! Church went well and we had an interesting guy come to church. When we saw Hawkins, he told him to lift up his shirt, in the foyer, and check out this "dog bite" he had. He wasn't dressed in his Sunday best and he kept going crazy. He got up over 20 times and he was crazy! So Eric S***** escorted him out and the guy told him that he is the French President and that the FBI are stalking his house. I thought he was on meth because of his pick marks on his body but apparently he was skitzo that didn't take his meds. We taught our golden investigator and he told us he wants to be baptized! Ohhhh yeah. I then left to go back to MoVal and that was awesome. I love the Samoan ward! I also got to see Anita so that was good. I met the Sisters and apparently one of them was new to the area and had heard a lot about me and she wanted to meet me. Ohhh boy. But it was good to see Coleman and McClain. I seriously miss that ward! I love all the wards I have served in.

Other than that, things are going well. I am working as hard as I can and working the hardest. I know that this is the Lords work and I love it! I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ! Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. I have the best family ever! Love yall :)

Elder Tonini

P.S. Look up a Fiest family in Minot! I am serving with their son!

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

email: March 25, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Tonini

email: Dec 11, 2012

Subject: It is beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!

Mom and Dad,

Sorry that I am emailing on Tuesday instead of yesterday. The computers were down so we couldn't email yesterday... I heard from the kids that Grandma Hartfield passed away. I am glad that she liked reading my letters and see how I was doing. She was basically my grandmother away from my real ones. But you are right, she is now with her eternal companion again and she will be doing the same work that I am doing here on the Earth. The Plan of Salvation is such a wonderful thing! I love it with all my heart. That is one of my favorite lessons to teach because it answers so many questions that people have.

I am glad that Mom is enjoying her new job. Serving people is the best thing to do! I did a lot of service for people in Beaumont but now I get to serve other missionaries as well that I have stewardship over! I have come to realize WHY I want a family of my own so badly. I like the responsibility of being entrusted of the Lord to take care of people. I have always wanted a family but I could never pinpoint WHY exactly I wanted one. This calling as Zone Leader has now opened my eyes to how special it is to have the responsibility.

This week has a good one. We have taught a lot of people and have given a lot of blessings. I love giving service to other missionaries. We have Sisters in our zone and last week they got a flat tire at 9 pm one night. They called us and we came and changed the tire for them. Even though that is a small act, it makes me feel good knowing that I could do something for someone else. The true meaning of charity is sacrifice. Sacrificing your pleasures to serve someone is exactly what the Savior did. It is an honor to be His missionaries.

We had our Christmas party this weekend and that was a good time with the ward. We had smoked tri-tip and chicken! Super good. Also, one of our investigators/ part member family told us that he wants to be baptized. SO we are going to have a baptism this weekend! Plus we have found more people and have taught a lot more too. The field is white, already to harvest and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with all his might shall NOT perish but bring salvation unto his soul! That is exactly what we are doing, working in the field for the Lord!

One thing that I am so grateful for in going to California is the scriptural knowledge that I have gotten while studying the scriptures. There is a family that we gave a blessing to and invited to baptism that we went back to see. We talked with the husband for almost an hour on his porch, answering questions about our doctrine. A year ago, I couldn't answer those questions but now I can. The gospel HAS been restored to its fullest! We are still going to go back and teach his family so hopefully good things will come of it. Have you wondered why it is so important that Christ was baptized in the river Jordan? Yes, He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness but there is a deeper meaning to it. Christ walked 60 miles to get to John the Baptist. SIXTY MILES! he could have gone to Jerusalem or Jericho where there were priest there that could have baptized Him but no, He went to John because he had the AUTHORITY. The physical location in where He was baptized was significant as well. The river Jordan empties into the Dead Sea, which is the lowest place on Earth at -1,302ft below sea level. Christ was baptized in the river Jordan, near the mouth of the Dead Sea. Nephi teaches us that Christ will descend below all things (1 Nephi 11:26-27). He LITERALLY did that. He went below the lowest place on earth and ROSE above it! The gospel is SO deep that is can keep scholars learning for ages but it is as simple for a primary child to understand. I LOVE IT!

Anyways, things are going well here in Valley View. I have talked to Brother Baugh and he is going to get in touch with Dad hopefully soon. I am going to get Grandma Tonini's address to him; he was asking for it. Our zone is doing well, things are starting to look up again. Elder Spencer and I are working as hard as we can. We actually got to go to the temple on Friday. I love the temple, especially when I am struggling with things. That is a place where I can turn everything over to the Lord and He can be my strength. I love this time of year and the spirit that it brings. Christmas is a wonderful time of year. Let's make this Christmas a wonderful one and remember the true meaning of it! I love you all and cannot wait to see you on Christmas! Love you all and talk to y'all soon!

Elder Tonini

email: November 5, 2012

Subj: It was a good week!

Corina told me about a missionary experience that she had and I was beaming from ear to ear! I love that sister of mine. I gave her some stuff to read up on so hopefully she will do that. Jacob is so funny, I love how excited he is about college! He is going to do so well there. He really wants one of my extra suits that I have. The only thing I am worried about is him being able to fit it. Speaking of that, I have only put on 9 lbs since I left for my mission! That is pretty exciting. Hard work does pay off. On the topic of hard work, here was my week!

On Monday we had FHE with Carol at her house. The Pratt's came as well and their nephew tagged along. Come to find out, he knows the Romney's in Prosper, Texas! Uncle Kimball was his Priest Quorum adviser when they were in the same ward. He sent a picture of us to Nicole and talked to Aunt Heidi as well. He leaves on his mission in 2 weeks so it was good to see him. Our PDay was filled with the usual.

I was able to get my country fix with Austin on Tuesday when we went and helped him buck some hay for his landlord. We used the hooks and everything. It was fun, I actually felt like I was back home in Seminole! We had to cut that short because we had a lesson with our new investigator, Archie. We found three new investigators this week! Pretty awesome when you work as hard as you can for the Lord. It truly is His work here! Austin then took us out to Tacos and Beer to eat :). We seriously eat there at least once a week. The Carne Asada fries with a Carne Asada quesadilla is the bomb! We had dinner a few hours after that so that was kinda miserable. Janie and Corinna both canceled on us again... So we went home teaching with Victor. We got milkshakes afterwards at Baker's.

We never finished that truckload of hay with Austin so we went back and helped him again on Wednesday. We were machines! It was so much fun, we got dirty and nasty but it was so worth it. After bucking, we went and had lunch with Sister O'Harra and some of her employees. We went to Chili's together and talked a lot about the mission. I also found out some interesting news about Mary! She met one of the Mission Presidency and he was so excited to finally meet her. Apparently, her conversion story has gone viral in the mission. President Crippen wants her to meet with an Ensign writer and get her's and Tammy's (her daughter) story in the Ensign. I am going to be in the ENSIGN! I was so excited, she is awesome. She actually went in to the hospital this past week with super high blood pressure but she is okay now. We then taught the M***** family with their neighbor Ashely there. Hopefully we can get her as a new investigator. It was Halloween so we stopped working at 6 pm and went to the zone activity. I played volleyball with a few Polynesians and they were super good! It was a lot of fun. I got to see Elder Faka'Osi and Bingham!

Thursday we went and helped out Stan D** all morning. We helped him spread shavings in the chicken coop and get his quad up and running. While we were in the coop, he has these white pigeons that decided to do a fly by right over my head as I was trying to spread out the shavings. It was a lot of fun. The quad got up and running but because it had been sitting for a long time, it needed to get the carb cleaned out. Our sink got clogged and so the guy came to fix it. That took all afternoon... but we still talked to 20 people! That night, we went and taught Jacob B**** at his grandmother's house. She is already a member and she has tried to get his father to let him take lessons and he finally said yes! Since his name was Jacob, I felt like I was teaching my own brother. When we first started the lesson, his head was down and didn't seem to be paying attention. However, by the end he was fully engaged and he could really feel the spirit. Afterward, he asked if I could give him a blessing. I grabbed him by the shoulder and said "now, you are going to really feel the power of the priesthood." I had no idea on what was going on in his life but the Spirit gave me the words to say. It really hit him hard and he felt the Spirit so strongly. I gave him a hug and told him that I loved him and everything will be okay. I love being a priesthood holder and having those opportunities!

We had ZDM and went to go teach Janie. Before we went, we stopped in GNC to check things out. I ended up buying a blender that was on sale. It was such a good investment! I used it today and it was awesome. After that, we went to Janie's with Victor. She is SOOOOO ready to get baptized! We taught her the commandments to get baptized. I crushed up her last pack of cigarettes! It felt sooo good to do that. I seeing people make those changes in their life. We then went and taught Sister Ethel M*****. She is awesome! Victor took us up to the W*****'s to get some pre-workout that he ordered. Chris W***** told him to eat an Argentine lemon to get his $25 dollars back. He ate it and he went nuts! It was so funny. But he did get his $25. I ate part of a Naga Ghost Chili. That is the hottest chili in the world! It wasn't full strength but it was good. I ended up eating a full one on Sunday. It was good but super hot!



Well, that's about it from here. Send my love to Romney's and I hope Grandma will get better. That worries me about Mandy... I wish I was there to help her. Stu is awesome! And the Sterzer's are having a baby girl?! That is awesome! Send me their address so I can write them? I love you all and happy birthday Momma! I love you! And happy birthday to Dad and Corina as well. I love y'all!

Elder Tonini

email: October 1, 2012

Carol's baptism didn't happen on Saturday. She didn't feel ready so we pushed it back two weeks to October 13th. This is a pretty solid date, we are going to make sure that she is ready! Sounds like things are staying busy there in Seminole. Even though I wasn't there for long, I sure do miss it! Send my regard to everyone back home. I am so excited to hear about the Lira's going to the temple! We are going on Friday so they will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Ready for my week? Here we go:

Monday we had a lesson with Carol with the Pratt's and Chelsa. It was a really uplifting lesson, however we did learn that she wasn't ready for baptism this week... She still needs a testimony of the Restoration. I thought I had taught her that but I guess not... I took it hard knowing that she didn't know that because I felt like it reflected on the type of missionary I am. I really did feel like a failure of a missionary. However, there is always room for improvement and that is why repentance is there so I learned from it and moved on. I won't make that mistake twice!

On Tuesday, we went back to visit a potential that Elder Johnson had found while we went tracting. We showed up to his house and talked to him on his doorstep for two hours! He really didn't see the same way we do and his heart was pretty hard so I noticed right away that he wasn't the elect that we were looking for. However, it was good for Elder Johnson because he taught a lot and learned from the lesson. After that, we went and saw the Mathie's and I got to see my boys. Christopher is doing better, getting better every day. We taught them a lesson about Abinadi and how we can learn from that. We then went and taught Victor about eternal marriage. That was a good lesson, the Spirit was strong there. I love Vic so much, he seriously has become a brother to me. We always have a good discussion when we go over there.

On Wednesday, we went on exchanges with the Spanams. I got to drive a car all day! However, I think being on bike is better. You talk to WAY more people that you do in the car. My comp for the day, Elder Richins, is a greenie as well and doesn't know much Spanish yet so we visited all the families that could speak English. That poor Elder got SOOO stressed out when things started to fall through. I taught him that you have to roll with the punches and do all that you can do to stay busy and be productive. Even if it means walking in the dark and talking to people before a lesson (yes, we had to do that!). Elder Johnson learned a lot as well as we ran the area by himself without me there to give input. Overall, it was a productive day in both areas.

Thursday was our usual weekly planning. After that, we went and visited a less active lady who is 91 years old! She reminds me a lot of Great Grandma Marie Tonini. She is still full of energy at her old age. Our intention of going over there was to help her hang some pictures she wanted to hang up. After that, we taught her about prophets and about how General Conference is coming up. She then came out and gave us some of her husband's old ties and a cuff link set. He passed away about three years ago so she gave some of his old stuff to us. While I was there, I saw this ad for a french cuff dress shirt for $20! I am going to order one this week :) I am super stoked about it! I even get it custom embroidered. That night, we taught Victor again. He always wants to learn more so we go over and teach him whatever he wants to learn.

Friday we helped a sister in our ward move her mother-in-law. They weren't members so it was a great missionary opportunity to give back to the community. We made a good impact on that family and really brought the Spirit into their lives for a short period. We then went over the Carol's to see them and check up on them. Rob worked all week so it was nice to see him.

We taught Tina (Victor's sister) on Saturday. She had just gotten home from the hospital so it was good to see her back home. She is so solid, it is amazing! She is already in the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. We had to push her baptism date back because of her health. Other than that, she is ready.

Sunday we had fast and testimony meeting which was really good! Both Elder Johnson and I got up and bore our testimony. I feel like Oak Valley has become my home ward because of the amount of time I have been here! After church, we went and visited the Mathie's again and taught them about prophets and General Conference. We had dinner with our new Relief Society president, Sister Murphy. Her husband is the head woman's basketball coach at the University of Redlands so he is going to get us some swag (athletic gear)! They are such a wonderful family. I honestly feel like the members trust us and love us being there. We then taught Tina again and talked about the baptismal convents. The work is progressing!

I learned a very important lesson this week. I learned how to apply the Atonement personally to me. Before, I have really taken advantage of it... I never really had to go through anything that has seriously knocked me to my knees EVERY SINGLE DAY, pleading for comfort and strength. Well, I had to hit rock bottom this week in order to apply the Atonement to my life. I was constantly praying, seeking guidance in knowing what to do and pleading for healing. I even fasted for my situation and what was going on in my heart and mind. I have never really felt the healing power of the Atonement until now. My Savior was there to pick me up when no one else was there. He gave me healing and comfort. And come to find out, I fixed the situation and everything is better now. That would not have happened if I didn't use the Atonement. I testify that my Redeemer lives! He is there for us when we need Him the most. I love Him with all my heart and I know that I am a choice Son of my Heavenly Father. When I leave things to Him, He takes care of me. Lean on Him for strength, use His grace that He gave to us. When you hit rock bottom, call out to Him "Lord save me". He will be there, I promise you that and I know that from every fiber of my being. He is there for us through anything! This truly is His work and I am so blessed to be a part of it. I know that my Redeemer lives!

I love all of y'all and miss y'all dearly. Keep working hard and always remember: Your Savior loves you!

Elder Tonini

email: September 4, 2012

We got transfer calls and... I am going to be staying in Beaumont and I will be training a new missionary. Kinda crazy in two regards (1) I will be training when I feel very unqualified and (2) I will be staying in Beaumont. I guess the Lord has more in store for me here in Beaumont. Elder Larson went to be a Zone Leader out in Lake Elsinore where Mary lives. That will be a good learning experience for him as well. I am excited for the new opportunity and hopefully it will take my mind off of things back home. Time to shoot for the stars and help my new companion be the best missionary he can be.

It was a fun week 6 for me. We didn't hit our quota for OYMs but we got 20 lessons, teaching five on Sunday to make it to 20. We gave a lot of service this week so that kinda hurt our OYMs. We even gave service to someone on Sunday; their ox was in the mire so we helped them out. Victor is really progressing and he is seriously thinking about going on a mission. He has even taught a few lesson lately and did really well. It was his birthday on Saturday so we baked him a cake. He has seriously become my best friend out here. That is a friendship that is going to last forever. We are already making plans to go to the temple in San Diego for him to receive his endowments.

We had a good lesson with Robert's wife, Carol, on Sunday night. We were there until 10:30 on Sunday, oops. We think she is sooooo close to being ready to come into the waters of baptism. That will be amazing to see happen. The Lord works in mysterious ways and He has really prepared her to hear the gospel message. We are going over there on Friday for dinner, Robert wants me to cook so I think I am going to grill up some meat Texas style. I have NO IDEA how to cook Texas style so I think I'm going to wing it. I saw that you got the picture's from Momma O'Harra, I don't look too bad in those pictures! Austin O'Harra got his call to Guatemala and he leaves in December which is super exciting.

Well, that is all I can think of. I am learning soooo much here. I deep cleaned the apartment so it looks really nice. If I can learn to be more cleanly then my future wife will actually enjoy living with me! Hope y'all have a wonder week and cannot wait to hear from y'all soon. Keep up the hard work and remember that your missionary loves you.

Elder Tonini

email: June 18, 2012

So I got my new comp this week. His name is Elder Larson and he was actually trained by Chambers! So we do a lot of things the same way. We have had an interesting first week together. We taught 10 lessons, had two drunk people yell and swear at us saying that we are frauds, gave a lot of service, found three new people to teach and I confirmed three people in sacrament meeting. Needless to say, we have been running around being as productive as possible.

The first drunk guy was actually Adam's cousin (a less active guy we have been teaching). Adam told us to come over that evening for a lesson with him and his girlfriend. When we got there, he wasn't there. His cousin then pulled up with Adam's buddy and he started to talk to us. He was using the F-bomb every other word and swearing like a sailor. He told us that he was super unhappy and how Mormons are always happy. He was pretty drunk and we just listened to him rant and rant. Then the next day, we were over at Mary's for dinner and she had one of her "friends" over. She sees us and started to LAY into us. We sat there and took it all. She told us that there is no God, He doesn't exist and how Mormons are so wrong. Elder Larson read her one of the articles of faith that talked about how we let everyone worship and honor as they please and that lady blew up. She told us that she spits on the church building when ever she walks by it. Mother, you have NO idea how close I came to standing there in her face and going off on her. Luckily, I listened to the Spirit and He told me to keep my mouth shut so I did. I came so close to doing something I shouldn't have. I guess I am growing up because I wouldn't have held my tongue like I did.

We seem to attract a lot of service. We love doing it and it is really starting to show in the community. Random people will honk and wave at us and we don't even recognize who they are! Something kinda weird though happened when we were helping Adam move out of his house. His girlfriend kept flirting with me and it made me SUPER uncomfortable. So needless to say, we will limit the amount of time that we spend there. Giving service is something I love to do. Me enjoying service? Haven't changed one bit ;)

We have taught a lot this past week. While we were out tracting, we found a family that we are going to start seeing. They invited us back and we had a really good lesson with them. We are really excited to see them progress in the Gospel. They are three brothers ages 9, 11, and 34. The 34 year old brother is actually a movie producer and a nurse. He has written two movies that will hopefully becoming into real productions soon! We have met all sorts of fun people here. We had another lesson with Jessica and Demetrius. We took a member with us to the lesson, which was a HUGE help. He helped us analyze the lesson afterwards. Jessica isn't progressing like we want her too but Demetrius is still going strong! I did, however, run the idea by President about him baptizing her. He said that we are discouraged to do that so that they can make those covenants on the same day. However, they are still excited about being baptized. I think we are going to focus our efforts on Demetrius so we can get him ready for July 13th.

So on Sunday, I confirmed for the first time on Sunday. I didn't only do it once, but THREE TIMES! Oh boy was I nervous! I thought that the Bishop was going to do it but when we got ready to do it, he told me to do it. My heart was going to literally pound out of my chest! I don’t think I have ever been that nervous in my life. The blessings went well, I just have never been that nervous in my life! 

I sure did miss Dad on Sunday... I always do but it was hard to not be there with him. Hopefully he got my card in the mail this week!

Things are going well here and I am starting to see myself become into the missionary I want to become. I am actually learning how to play the ukulele at night. I love it! It is super super fun. I also learned how to back flip on flat ground today too! Luckily, I didn't hurt myself too bad ;). Have a great week!

Elder Tonini