Watermelon Shenanigans

SOOOOOOO, HERE ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS:

Fourth of July lived up to the one we had last year. We did lots of watermelon shenanigans that I shall not disclose in this email....but I can say that one of them including putting rubber bands around them until they exploded. Just like last year! :') we also did water balloon volleyball....until Elder Gregory broke the net and we went crazy having a water balloon fight. It was perfect!! I spent the Fourth with ALMOST all of the people I love...what more could I ask?

That day we also ate with the Gonza*** fam X2 and took a cute pic since Ivette and her mom left for Mexico and won't be back until after we are all gone.

I GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE WITH RUBEN!!!!!! It was incredible! We taught Ruben during my training and he is so incredible! It was the perfect way to end the mission, by going with your convert to the temple. To see him in the Celestial room....wow. Like, words can't even describe it. Lots of tears were shed, if that helps.

On Monday we found the cutest fam ever!!! The two sobrinas just came from Guatemala...four months ago....on their own. They are only 16 and 17 years old. Their story is INCREDIBLE!!!! We are going to teach them not only the gospel but English as well! One of them had a smile on her face the WHOLE LESSON. It was so cute!!

I had my last exchange this week....and it was awesome! Sister McDaniel is the sweetest thing ever and we got to have a lesson with this guy who legit had a whole notepad filled with things to bash us with/questions to ask. Thank heavens for the Spirit that lead and guided us in that lesson! She killed it in there!

I finished all of My Plan this week. I had to do the dating and marriage section and I wanted to barf. Just kidding, it wasn't too bad.

We also had MLC and it was really neat because all of the members of MLC that are going home were put on a panel and we were asked questions about the role of faith on our mission. Then, at the end, we gave our 2 minute advice for all of the leaders in MLC who are staying behind. And I only limited myself to two slices of pizza, are you proud of me Dad? #1weektosexy

Tanya went to the Book of Mormon class on Friday and Mayra, her sister, came to church! Our area hasn't had someone to church for a couple of transfers now...so that was a miracle!

Sunday....oh man...Mayra was sitting between both of us and we BOTH FELL ASLEEP DURING SACRAMENT MEETING. Having two comps that are going home together is not a good idea...we are so exhausted! But we also both love working hard, so that is what we are going to do: FINISH STRONG.

Well, email is being dumb, so I will send the pics on a separate email. Love y'all! I will be sending my last email next Monday, so stay tuned!

Hermana Tonini

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

2 Comps 1 Transfer

Well, Hermana Flores got her visa for Costa Rica and we dropped her off at the mission home yesterday! So I am now companions with Hermana Hernandez because her comp was also visa waiting! Sooooooo, yeah. It has been the hardest week of my entire mission. Let's just put it that way.

And I don't want to really talk about all of it on here... so lets talk about the good shall we?

My baby did TWO baptism invites this week, and with one of them she put two on date....AND WE WERE ON EXCHANGES. I WAS SO PROUD OF HER.

Also, my favorite part was when we were talking about her leaving...and she said she didn't know what the point was for her coming to Cali for just three weeks....except to meet me. She then told me that the biggest thing she has learned from me is how to be BOLD and I almost cried because that is what I have been working on my entire mission and it was so sweet to hear that.

I had an awesome exchange with Hermana Peters. We were able to find and teach a family together! I love being an STL and going on exchanges because MIRACLES HAPPEN ON EXCHANGES. ALWAYS.

Anyways, I am going to send another email with a bunch of pictures for y'all to enjoy.

Love y'all!

No Sharks + No Peanuts = Baptism

Oh man, where to begin....maybe with the beginning of the week? On Pday, we went to get sushi to celebrate our last time together as Sisters because we knew Sister Ford was leaving...AND SHE IS GOING TO ANZA WITH MY TRAINER WHO IS TEMP ENGLISH MISSIONARY....so here is a picture of uncivilized Hermana Tonini trying to eat sushi. (And yes, it was delicious.)

This week with studies was super neat. I felt like this week the scriptures and conference talks were just speaking to me. I wish I could just write for hours all of the spiritual experiences I am having on the mission but there just isn't TIME.

We got transfer calls and Hna Moran and I are the only ones in the zone staying together!!!! I am super happy to get to work another six weeks with my best friend and kick trash this transfer.

We had a ton of lessons with Monserrath this week because it was the week of her baptism. In one of the lessons we asked if she was still scared for her baptism and she said she was only a little tiny bit scared because on YouTube she saw a video of a shark coming up out of the water and she was afraid there was going to be a shark in the font. Or jellyfish...or anything dangerous. So I whipped out my planner and made a list of things I needed to check for and things that were okay to leave in the font.

Acceptable:

• sea turtles
• dolphins
• fish

Super duper not acceptable:

• sharks
• jellyfish
• sting rays
• piranhas
• anacondas
• bombs
• cracks (the font would fall apart and she would die....duh.)

So yesterday I whipped out the checklist and we double certified the font was danger-free for Monse.

During that same lesson, she still hadn't decided if she wanted Elder Dew or Elder Spittle to baptize her, so we decided to say everything we knew about the two of them to see if that would help her decide. After going through sports, where they came from, random facts we know like how Elder Dew's sister is getting married and Elder Spittle's sister and dad served in the same mission, I said, "OH I GOT ONE. Elder Spittle is allergic to peanuts!" then Monse's eyes got real big and she goes, "I HATE PEANUTS!"

And that my friends is how we decided who was going to baptize Monse.

Her baptism was incredible, mainly because of what happened the day before her baptism. So their family was gone to Mexico for a whole month this summer because Monse's grandma was dying. Well, on Friday they found out that her grandma passed away and her dad left for Mexico immediately. So her dad wasn't going to be in town for the baptism. Plus her grandma just passed away. On Saturday we were on sick exchanges because Hna Moran is still currently very sick and Sister Mackley wasn't feeling that hot either. So I went with Sister Ford over to the Ayala's house not knowing what I was walking into. One of my strengths is that I am really good at listening when someone breaks down....but usually I never know what to say. I think it is because I am more of a listen and comfort physically instead of comforting through my words. Well, Sister Ford doesn't speak Spanish so it was all up to me. By the end of the lesson, however, Hermana Ayala and I were both in tears. the Spirit just surged through me and I somehow found the words. I was able to share with Monse how I felt when my grandpa died when I was about her age and be able to share the story of Camie and how her dad passed right before her baptism as well. Most of all, I had the opportunity to testify of the Plan of Salvation and of eternal families. Where would we be without our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation? Without knowing that we can see our loved ones again? I truly am grateful for my Savior, because He is central to that perfect plan. Nothing would be possible without Him. I testify that He lives. He loves us. He is our Redeemer and Prince of Peace.

Love,
Hermana Tonini

Buzzed

We went to Bob Davis's Luncheon this week and got some pretty great advice from my district elder who was drying while I was washing dishes. He said, "My mother would always say, 'Wash dishes like a blind person.'" And yes, it was because I missed a spot in the crock pot I was washing. (I swear I know how to wash dishes.)

Also, I took over the area for the first time this week because Hermana Chandler was on exchanges! And all of our citas [appointments] fell through! BUT, we stopped by a potential investigator and I taught him the Restauracion [Restoration] all the way through by myself! Because Sister Dipietro is an English sister, I invited him to be baptized and everything! I tried so hard to get a return appointment but he is pretty Catholic and was just being nice because he knew we had been trying to get in with him for like a month now. But hey, it's a seed right?

Also, we got this text from one of our investigators, "Jany (honey) have mucho calor pegando el tile no tienes ganas de una cerveza?" [It is really hot, don't you want a beer?"] Us: "What? " Turns out his cousin saw the text from us and decided to pull a chiste [joke] on us.

So, yesterday was a really good day, which was a nice way to end a long week. We had a cita [appointment] with Irayne from Cuba and she is so elect. Like, she asked so many good questions that most investigators don't even think about. We had dinner with Hermana Fon*** who is the actual mejor [best]. We picked up two new investigators and somehow invited them to read, pray and go to church before even hitting the section of Jesus Christ? Usually doesn't go that way. Then we had an interesting home visit.

So this Hermana is the only member in her family and she invited her son and his girlfriend to listen in. The girlfriend straight up told us that she was a little buzzed. Also, she doesn't speak Spanish so the whole thing was in English. What was cool was...

• She chastised her boyfriend for not wanting to hear the word. "He did all of that for us and you can't even take a little time to hear the word??"
• We invited Hermana to continue sharing her testimony of Jesus Christ and praying for opportunities to do so, so we invited them to do it as well. She was all, "but I don't enough of Jesus Christ to preach about Him!" And Hermana Chandler was all, "Well, what DO you know about Jesus Christ?" Then she shared three statement about what she knows/believes. I was all, "See, that's a testimony!!!" You should have seen her face light up. I felt the Spirit so strong when I heard her simple but strong testimony. It's so neat to hear those core beliefs. 
• She said, "I'll say the prayer even though I'm a little buzzed." In the prayer she said, "Thanks for sending these ladies so I can change and be a better person". 

YESSSSSS. Since she is English, she went to Elder Thompson, our district leader, and Elder Frisbee. However, I am excited to see where things go with them!

(Side note: no, we do not teach drunk people because they are not accountable, but since we were doing a home visit, she just sat in. Since she wasn't technically accountable, we couldn't pick her up as an investigator or set a return apt)

Love and miss you all dearly.

Love,
Hermana Tonini

Fourth Floor Last Door

HELLO LOVES!

So, a ton of stuff happened this week, but I just want to write about one single story that blew me away.

So, this story starts before I even left for Mexico. About eight weeks ago, a man saw Sister Harris and Sister Bradshaw in Walmart and talked to them. Just a nice casual conversation.

Fast-forward to this past Friday. Hermana Chandler and I were walking down a sort of busy street when a man stopped his car in the middle of the street trying to say something to us. He pulled over and then reversed back so he could talk to us. We ran across the street and he looked at me and asked if I was the missionary from Idaho that he had talked to in Walmart. Me: uh....no. But he was talking about how much he loves the missionaries, so we got his info and drove away with all of his kids in the car. Since he spoke English, we had to send it over to the Little Lake Sisters which kind of bummed me out. He stopped driving in the MIDDLE OF THE STREET  to talk to us, and we couldn't even teach him.

That night I had my first exchange, so I went with Sister Nai, who is from Australia and is the coolest human being I have ever met in my life, to her apartment with her trio. Can you guess which trio it was? The Little Lake Sisters.

So, as Sister Nai and I were out doing your typical missionary stuff Saturday evening, we finally got to our time to go contact Emmanuel. I was so excited, because I was actually going to have a chance to teach this family!! However, once we got to the address we realized it was a HUGE apartment complex...and we had no apartment number. We had two options: a. go to the next backup in our agenda b. go knock on random doors

So we looked at each other. Sis Nai: "My trio has been PRAYING for a family to teach, and I know Heavenly Father follows through on His promises." Me: "There is something special about this family and I want to find them." So, I said a prayer. I prayed knowing that we WOULD find this family.

We started with the front-facing apartments, and the first one we knocked on was a woman who said she didn't know an Emmanuel or an African American family, but that that inside and around the corner were some African American families and maybe we could look there. We went inside and there was a huge square plaza with a ton of apartments. We spent the next HOUR just going door to door knocking...looking for this family. And no one had ever seen this family before!! However, during this whole process we got two contacts, so I said to Sister Nai, "There is a reason we are out here knocking on these doors. Even if we don't find this family tonight, we were meant to knock on those two doors." And Sister Nai kept going on and on about how she was going to knock on every single door in that complex until she found this family. Even if it took a week.

So we finished that one section of that complex, and it was already 8:00 pm, which was the time we were supposed to be back at the Little Lake apt to get ready for exchanging back. However, we decided we were going to finish the last few front-facing apartments, where we started. So we went to the apartment right next to the woman who told us to go check more inside at those apartments. The one we skipped over. And I said, "How funny would it be if we wasted an hour searching when the family lived in the next apartment over?" And Hermana Nai was like, "I feel like this is it..." And the door opened and it was Immanuel's son who was sitting in the passenger seat the day before!!!
I have never smiled so hard in my life. He probably thought I was insane. I even said, "We have been searching for an hour for your family!!!!!!!!" We got his dad's number and as soon as the door closed I just cried. And maybe fist pumped. And then cried some more. We found a family WITHOUT AN APT NUMBER.  

What does this mean?

That woman didn't even know a large African American family (like legit the dad has an African accent) was living right next door to her. She didn't have to point us in the wrong direction to look for this family. But she did, and there was a reason. There were more people who needed our message. Heavenly Father wanted to see how badly we wanted this family and how hard we were willing to work to find them. I feel like His question for us is always: "How hard are you willing to work for it?" We wanted it. We wanted it bad. It was also a test of patience. We had to knock on doors for an hour to see if we had enough patience to know that our prayers are answered on His time, not ours. Heavenly Father always answers our prayers if we don't sit around expecting. We pray fervently, and then go out and do. He always follows through though, and I have a testimony of this.

He doesn't answer our prayers with the second door, he makes us work and grow until we finally open the last door of the night. then at that moment we can marvel at the love that Heavenly Father has for each of us individually and how personally he knows us. He loves His children and has a plan for each of us. I know it.

Love,
Hermana Tonini