Scrapbook email

This week during my studies I have been focusing on the section Jesus Christ, Exemplar. I have learned so much about what it means to follow His example and try to become more like Him. I learned a lot about sacrificing. What are we willing to sacrifice to follow the Savior? With Arian's baptism, my testimony grew of this. He flipped his whole life around the follow the Savior and His teachings. When we follow the Savior it brings us so much JOY. He sent us a text after his baptism saying he has never smiled so much in his whole life.  When we invite people to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized, they truly are following His example. I feel so blessed to be able to follow His example by being a missionary while teaching repentance and baptizing converts. The Gospel of Jesus Christ truly does change lives and offers so much hope and joy. I love this work, there truly is nothing else like it out there.

I have so many pictures form the past two weeks that all I am going to do is send pictures for my mass email with a  few comments.

HIKE! We hiked all the way up to the M!! It was exhausting but so worth it. Hermana and I took a whole bunch of pretty pics with the city in the background, but this one is my fav because my comp is such a cutie and laughing.

Service pictures from the Air Force Base

The old car we cleaned rat poop out of

The plane we pushed by hand

The vehicle I drove the other week out to the plane we painted

the plane we painted

When my comp makes my buy a hat because I burn

Baptisms!

Vicky T

NAPOLEON!!!! THE MYTH THE LEGEND!!!!

Arian featured Hna Soto who is our abuela in MoVal.

Baptizing [Father] Converts

WOW WOW WOW this week was full of miracles. First off, we had SEVEN new investigators this week. That may not be a lot compared to other missionaries, but for me, it truly was a miracle because of all of the people Heavenly Father put in our path.

Okay also, service at the Air Force museum was so cool. We physically moved an airplane by hand and we also cleaned RAT POOP out of an old car they are restoring. Then the week before, we got to help repaint an airplane!!! And I got to drive an air force like....cart kind of thing out to the site. I love service here. Especially since my grandpa was stationed here, it just makes it even more special. Pics to come of this.

Multizones were this week and I got to see one of my fav humans Hna Harper.

On Thursday we had the craziest miracle. So, we were at dinner with the Ten***'s, and they have their sister-in-law who lives with them, Vicky. She took lessons like years ago, but never got baptized. She comes to work in primary as like a service calling every Sunday. Well, the hnos were all like, "She just needs a little push and she is there." So we got her to sit in on the dinner lesson and once she saw it wasn't crazy intimidating she agreed to take lessons again! However, we had an appointment to get to after dinner so we had the Elders teach her for us. We got a call from them after they taught her the Resto saying they invited her to baptism and put her on date...but that she asked them, "Why can't I just get baptized on Saturday?" Like, in two days. And she did. So on Friday, we officially picked her up as our investigator and took an hour and a half just to review all of the lessons with her. Like the Plan of Salvation and Gospel of Jesus Christ plus all of the commandments. It was exhausting, but we somehow taught it all. So she legit was our investigator for less than 24 HOURS before her baptism. Like, stories like this don't happen to me. Like, why is Heavenly Father blessing me so much? Her baptism was beautiful and we are so happy for the family. Man, I don't ever want to go home.

Speaking of home, I hit my FIVE MONTH MARK this week. Crazy, huh?

Another miracle was on Sunday my investigator Napoleon was baptized! It was so special to be at the baptism of not only a father but a grandfather as well. I love him so much. He has such a special spirit. As I sat next to him for a couple of minutes before the program started I went back to the first lesson I had with him. How he kept saying "Lo creo. Lo creo." He truly does believe. And it was incredible to be with him from day one to the day of him opening up the door to so many blessing and other covenants to make with Heavenly Father. Every baptism is a miracle.

In spite of having TWO baptisms this week, oh, and having our investigator Arian being found worthy of baptism for next Sunday, there was one miracle that beat them all. This miracle was a prayer. We are working with a less active family and their daughter Monse is on date. Her date has been pushed back because we are trying to get her father reactivated and have him receive the Priesthood so he can baptize his daughter. However, he is very stubborn and doesn't really want anything to do with the church. (He had some bad experiences in the past) Like, he refuses to even pray. Nothing. It was almost difficult to even give Monse the opportunity to be baptized. However, after each visit we can see his heart softening. And when we went by and taught Monse, his wife and daughter tried getting him to pray at the end....like they do every time. Except this time, HE PRAYED. He humbled himself and let his 8 year old daughter teach him how to pray and he prayed. His prayer was beautiful. I have never been touched by the Spirit before in a prayer like that. It was so strong tears streamed down my face during his prayer. He prayed, and that was the grandest miracle yet.

Want to end with a quote from a RM I met from Norway, or one of those countries, this week. He said,

"It was an honor to get spit on and cast out like He was."

It truly is an honor to walk in the Savior's footsteps by being one of His missionaries. To teach and love and sometimes, yes, be rejected like He was. However, I know that miracles do happen today. Miracles have not yet ceased. My love for the Savior has grown so much this week as I have witnessed all of these miracles. I know my Savior lives. Without a shadow of a doubt.

Love,
Hermana Tonini

ps I had to email at the library so pics will just have to come next week sorry!!!

A White Summer

Is every week this transfer a crazy week? I feel like I haven't missionary'd all week and all transfer long. We had back-to-back exchanges this week and next week we have the last exchange for the transfer PLUS multi-zone conferences PLUS another STL/DL meeting. I miss just being able to go find all of the people and teach them Restorations left and right. The work is slow right now, but that's okay. My companion is getting a little frustrated at times, but how I see it, is that I am just going to work hard and be obedient and have faith. And I KNOW these people will come. It just may take more time than we want. 

We had our last interviews with our mission president this week, how crazy is that?? 

Our investigator here is doing great. He is still smoke-free and his interview is this week! He texts us every day to ask us how we are doing and if we are having a good day. He is INCREDIBLE and we love being able to go over and teach him and help him through his hurdles right now. 

Also, I got to go back to Hemet yesterday!!! Ruben was baptized! WOW, LIKE WOW. That was seriously the best part of my whole mission. He had five sister missionaries in there who all played a part in his conversion. I was sitting behind him and  before his service started his eyes were closed as he sat there in humble prayer. He understood the covenant he was about to make. He knew how sacred that moment was. When he stepped into the water in the font, tears immediately sprang in my eyes. Wow. Like words can't explain. The Spirit was strong and no one in that room could deny it. Also, during the baptism our other investigator, Napoleon, was interviewed and was found worthy to be baptized!!!!!! So I am going back to Hemet next Sunday for his baptism! I just feel SO SO SO blessed to be a part of this work. Like, I am already looking forward to being with Ruben when he goes through the temple. I just love these precious souls and la obra misional truly is humbling. My love has increased so much. Whether it be with my companion or investigators or members. This transfer I have learned so much about charity and what it truly feels like to LOVE. 

Here are pictures from the week. Sorry I look terrible in the pictures from the baptism? I look like a straight nugget. Oh well. Also we got chik-fil-a last p-day and I felt true bliss with chicken and waffle fries in hand. 

Voy a regresar...OTRA VEZ

Holy moly this week flew by. And I don't have much to say, so sorry!

So we do a TON of service here in MoVal and we had the opportunity to pick up a million and five American Flags at the Riverside National Cemetery after Memorial Day. Plus, when I was up in Riverside one day this week we threw away old food at Feeding America which was disgusting but fun to be with the missionaries up there.

Then at MFAM, or March Field Air Force Museum, I got to work on building these metal fort thingies. Like legit I was drilling in sheets of metal. They have a couple of these metal covers and missionaries have built all of them!  So there's some pics from some of the service we did this week. Sister Palmer, my half comp, has a ton of pics from this week so I will send them later once she gets them to me. I actually spent half of the week with Sister Palmer because there were THREE exchanges this week. Having a five-week transfer is rough because your STL comp has more exchanges to cram in each week. Like, we had one Wednesday, Thursday was MLC so I was with Palmer for half of the day, and then we had back-to-back Friday and Saturday. AKA I didn't see my companion at all this week.

OH ALSO, here is a picture of Hermana Hernandez Sanchez and I wearing each other's black dresses. Isn't she so cutie?

So, as a mission we are still sharing the Prince of Peace video, and a comment that was made after the video was, "It's incredible how he performed so many miracles and that they haven't stopped. We still see His miracles today, in our own personal lives." Isn't that so true? Well, yesterday we had a little miracle. We role played in the morning, and it was supposed to role play to invite to church. Well, I accidentally goofed and invited Hermana to be baptized instead. Well, while we were doing a little seeking with the little time we had left in the day, a man let us teach him for fifteen minutes, and the lesson went EXACTLY like the role play. Like his concerns were the exact same as Hermana's fake concerns in the role play. So not only was it a miracle that we found a new investigator at the last second possible of the week, but we were prepared! I know without a doubt that if we are prepared then we WILL see miracles in our every day lives, especially here on the mission.

Also, I got a call from Hermana Chandler this week saying that they had a lesson with our investigator Ruben. They were going to change the date of his baptism because there wasn't enough time to teach everything by his date because we could only get in like once a week maybe twice. You want to know what he said? NO. He refused to change his date!!!!! He said he would do whatever it takes to get baptized the 11th. I legit cried when I heard this. And his interview was yesterday and he was found worthy!!!! So Ruben is getting baptized this Sunday and I get to go back for it! I have such an overwhelming love for him, and my joy cannot be described. This work is so rewarding and I just can't get over it. So stay tuned until next week for pictures!

Also, here is the picture of us after Jacki's baptism with her cute little mini quincenera dress.

Love y'all.

Hermana Tonini