Spiritual Time-Outs

WOW WOW WOW. What a week. It has been the longest and shortest week of my LIFE. Hermana Hernandez and I were talking about how it felt like we had been companions for like a month...but it had only been like five days. But it also went super fast because now I only have two weeks left which is surreal. I still feel like it's forever, in a good way. There is still PLENTY of time to find, teach and baptize.

On Tuesday, my comp and Hermana Peters' comp had to go to Riverside for their appointments so Hermana Peters and I had a mini exchange and we saw so many miracles! We were able to find four new investigators, went seeking for three hours, and found three potenciales. IT WAS AWESOME. One lady we found, her name is Mayra and she is so precious! She is from Guatemala and has so much fe aunque she has had SO MANY TRAILS. SO MANY. It was incredible...she told us her whole life story and was doing it with a smile on her face....which on my face my jaw was dropped because this lady has SERIOUSLY HAD A CRAZY LIFE.

With the other three we found, Jose is super elect. He said that the message of the Restoration just made SO MUCH SENSE to him. He is so excited to read the Book of Mormon!!! When I asked him if he had ever wondered why there are so many churches if we all believe in the same God, he was like..."YES!!!" However, the other two family members broke my heart. It was his sobrino y la hija de su sobrino [nephew and daughter of his nephew]. I went to give a copy of the Book of Mormon to Ana and she flat out shook her head at me. She refused to take it, and that broke my heart like no other rejection. Like, people reject us in the streets all the time...but I have never had someone reject me after them letting me in to teach them about the Restoration. They are very very set in their beliefs....but they said we can come back? So we will see what happens with those two.

We had a lesson with our investigator Guillermo and he went to la clase del Libro de Mormon con nosotras el viernes! He had LOTS of questions...and it turns out that he knows nothing about the Bible. He didn't even know who the Jews were when we were reading in 1 Nephi 1. So we have made plans in how we are going to adjust our teaching to meet his needs.

Multi Zones....my last one...wow. I couldn't even begin. I had two trainings, and I think they went pretty well. We all gave our outgoing testimonies...all NINE OF US. Just from two zones. Got some crying out of my system so that was good. I wish I could just write a whole email on everything that happened that day buuuuuuuuut, no va a ser posible [that's not going to be possible].

On Friday I had my exchange with Hermana Chase and she is SO MUCH FUN. I love that girl! We were able to find a family together so that was awesome!!!

Saturday was super cool. During planning, we felt inspired to set a goal of finding someone who would come to church....and the first potential we tried by, Victoria, straight up told us she was going to come to Church on Sunday. Like.....WHAT??? Okay, so she didn't end up coming but it was still really cool to see how fast Heavenly Father answered our prayers. She has a TON of potential and we are going to stop by and teach her this week!!

Then, we decided to go try Eloisa...and they didn't answer the door. So we decided to walk to another potential that lived a couple of streets away. We both felt prompted to knock on the door of this little house, and as we were walking towards it, we realized it was on the same property as Eloisa. There was a woman outside, who was 92 years old AND ELOISA'S MOTHER. She was sitting outside of her other daughter's house (the one we were going to knock on) and so we also met Luz. She said she would come over and join us in the other house. Well, Eloisa ran away from us....literally...when the abuelita [grandma] let us in the garage door. So we decided to go back and try Luz and she let us in!!! She just wants guidance for her two daughters and we had an awesome lesson with her! We can't wait to see her again today :)

Elder Cousineau said this yesterday, "In an apostasy, God puts His people in a spiritual time-out." I am so grateful to help people come out of their state of apostasy and find LIGHT, PEACE AND JOY. I am so excited to soak up every minute of my last two weeks here in the field. There really is no place I'd rather be.

Love y'all!!

Hermana Tonini

P.S. My parents came and toured the mission and I about died. I was going to send a picture but I couldn't decide between all of them.

P.P.S.

My fav little future misionera. 

My two favorite things are my truck and Hermana Chase

My cutie pie companion

White all around

Ummm, I couldn't even tell you what happened this week. We had Multi-Zones and exchanges....so it was a really packed week. So, since I can't seem to remember anything....let's talk about what went down this weekend.

So we had Stake Conference and it was SO GOOD. Elder Jay D. Pimentel spoke about what it means when the scriptures talk about a broken heart. He used a baseball analogy so of course it was fantastic. Having a broken heart isn't like a teenager who doesn't have a date to the Prom or who didn't get a text back from her crush, implying that it needs to be fixed.....it's more like breaking in a baseball glove. He explained how to break in a baseball glove and of course I could say the process along with him. (Aren't you proud of me, Dad?) So here's the thing. If you don't break in your glove, you will have a very difficult time trying to catch it....because it will just fall right out of your glove. Once you do the whole process of breaking it in, the ball stays exactly where it needs to be. He compared it to us...that we are the glove. When we have a broken heart we allow God's hand to work in our lives. He tells us to "Hold to to this. Let go of that. Hold to this. Let go of that." It's all about humility.

We also heard from Elder Taniela B. Wakolo who was INCREDIBLE!!!!  I can't even express into words what the Spirit taught us through his talks. He is such a powerhouse and it was cool to be able to shake his hand as I walked off the stage after translating.

Samantha was able to meet President Hammon which was really good for her! She told us she is good to go with next Sunday! She told her parents she was going to be baptized next Sunday since she will be 18, and they were a little more supportive this time!!! We don't know if her dad will be going to the baptism, but at least there's no more turmoil in her home. So she had her baptism interview last minute right after conference...AND SHE WAS FOUND WORTHY!!!!! SHE IS GETTING BAPTIZED NEXT SUNDAY!!!!!!! Man, it was so good. And then we had Ada's fireside bc she leaves for her mission to Germany in a couple of weeks. She had Samantha bear her testimony.....in front of  a TON of people and she killed it! We cried so hard. It was so precious to not only hear her strong testimony but to also hear her gratitude for missionary work and how it has changed her life. We, as sister missionaries, also bore our testimonies and the Spirit was so strong. It was one of the most Spiritual firesides I have been to in my whole life. Ada's outgoing testimony was so powerful.....lots and lots of tears were shed. It was truly a perfect day.

I love y'all so much. I love this work. I love my Savior. The Lord is truly hastening His work, and what a blessing it is to play a part.

Con amor,

Hermana Tonini

p.s. it snowed for like one day in Anza and it was fun while it lasted!

p.p.s. We get transfer calls on Saturday and who knows what will happen with us honestly.

Leaving, Arriving, Conferencing, Speaking, and Training: The Fun Continues

The following is an edited version of an entry on the California Riverside Mission blog.

Sun peeking through the pine trees overlooking the Mission Home

One of the special times we have with the missionaries is in multi-zone conferences. We have divided the ten zones into four different groups. So, we began on October 17 with Corona and Lake Elsinore;

Corona Zone

It was delightful! Our topics included everything from “Emergency Preparedness” to “Companionship Study” to “Short-and Long-Term Planning” to “Asking Inspired Questions” to “Obedience and Recommitting to the standards found in theMissionary Handbook” to “Finding Joy in Our Trials” to “Mission Elevated.” We also had inspired music throughout the meeting with each zone providing one musical number. What talented missionaries we have in the mission! 

The missionaries singing to the Relief Society sisters in Lake Elsinore.

We had a large group of trainers and trainees come to the Trainer-Trainee Training. As you know, we had 28 new missionaries last transfer. After four weeks, they come to the Mission Office where we do additional training. What a delight to see the progress of the new missionaries. Many of their trainers said, “They came ready to work and learn.” We loved that about them. Five companionships discussed how the 12-week training was going and how using the Book of Mormon has enhanced their training, and what they were going to do differently the next eight weeks.

Outside the front door of the Mission Home

Missionary by Day, Math Tutor by Night

So I temporarily may have lost my camera cable, so this is the only picture I have for this week of cute Sister Harris (who lives in our complex) and I snuggling it up after a long day of missionary work.

Holy cow, where to begin?

So last P-day, after emailing, we went to get ice cream from La Micochana for Elder Thompson and Elder Frisbee because they had to walk 1.5 hours the Saturday before because the Zone Leaders "didn't have time to take them back to their apartment." So we felt bad and got them ice cream. And it started melting immediately. In the five-minute drive back to the church, it was EVERYWHERE. All over my skirt and my purse and the car. Like, straight ice cream massacre. Pics next week of this.

On Tuesday, one of our Hermanas forced us to eat 4X times what I normally eat (we all know I like to chow) of spaghetti. I almost died. Like, she just kept scooping and scooping and scooping...Also that night we went to see Kiwi, but since her parents weren't home we couldn't teach. So we helped her with her geometry homework instead. Definitely different.

Also, I had my first REAL baptism invite (the only other one was with kids that spoke English so does that even count?). We realized afterwards that there was a chance he was drunk so we couldn’t count it in reporting. MY FIRST REAL ONE AND HE WAS DRUNK. JUST MY LUCK.

Not Hermana Tonini

One day this week was super windy and some old man came out of his house while we were Buscando con Fe and I asked him if he came out to enjoy the weather and he responded, "No, I came out to see if your skirts were going to fly up!"

??

I had my first multi-zone today which was 9.5 hours long!!!!! ETERNITY.



COOL STORY FOR THE WEEK:

So President always encourages us to teach a lesson right then when we are Buscando con Fe, and we had just gotten off the phone with him, where he reminded us to do this. The first woman we talked to, we had to ask twice but she finally let us in to teach! Get this, her husband died of cancer, she has cancer, her son has cancer, her other son is in jail, and she just moved in four days previously. She was super emotional, and with her life, I could see why. However, she said she wants to know the truth and go to the true church!!!!! I am so excited for our next lesson with her!

Also, General Conference was INCREDIBLE! Especially the last session because that was the session that Maria came to, and then Elder Joaquin Costa gave that incredible talk directly for investigators!!!!  Like, I have never heard of a conference talk like that before, and it was the one time I had an investigator at conference! And then he talked about Alma 42 and we had JUST talked about using that chapter with one of our investigators who can't get baptized. Like, I had tears streaming down my face that entire talk. So powerful. Love conference.

Also, in this mission we don't use the word “greenie.” We are called “strippling warriors,” so I read the story and I love Alma 56: 45-48, 56 and 57: 20,21, and 27. Go read them and be inspired, because I know I was!!

Love you all, and I will let you know what happens with transfers this next week!

Sister Tonini
California Riverside Mission