I Still Have One More Transfer, Right?

I'm sure you are all wondering how I am feeling right now. I feel like Ecclesiastes 2:17 sums it up quite nicely,

"Therefore I hated life.."

Hahaha, just kidding. But it really has been really rough, but I am getting ahead of myself.

LAST WEEK OF THE MISSION:

So on Monday we saw a tender miracle. We did a noche de hogar with an active family how has less-active family members. We shared a message about how the gospel has blessed our families and asked them to each bear their testimonies of how they have seen the gospel bless their lives. The less-active son usually NEVER lets missionaries share messages with him so just the fact that he was sitting at the table with us was a miracle in itself. This was his response:

"I know I am not where I need to be right now...but every time I have found myself in a bad situation I never ended up crossing that line. That line was because of the gospel."

He talked for like ten minutes and it was SO POWERFUL. Inspired questions are SO IMPORTANT. It was very interesting, because he talked about how it is one thing to talk about how God has blessed you. That's easy. Everything you have in life is because of Him. But when you answer how the gospel has blessed you, obviously the blessings still come from our Heavenly Father, but they are blessings that are only received through obedience and living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Wednesday was the "My Plan" interview with President Hammon. At one point in the interview, tears just began to roll down my cheeks and President started tearing up...I seriously have the best mission president and I am so grateful for him.

Thursday was our outgoing temple trip!! Of course it was super emotional. The room was PACKED. We have 27 in our outgoing group PLUS our rides! I think the most tender part was sitting in the celestial room with Ken, my brother's convert. It was evidence of the fruit of missionary work, and I loved being able to have a piece of my brother with me.

We had an appointment that night with Ana, Abelina and Aurora and I lost it...man...I just love that family so much and we have only met with them three times. We read Alma 2 with them since they hadn't read in the Book of Mormon.  When we asked if they had even a small desire to see if this was a good seed and increase their faith and Abelina responded, "I have a LOT of desire!" I knew that was our last lesson, but I also knew there was a chance it was going to be my last lesson as a missionary. I cried all the way just yearning to have two more years or months or even weeks...

Saturday....wow. Hermana Sorensen and I got to go the temple with HERMANA AND HERMANO GA***. Seriously, I could not have asked for a better way to end my mission. Hermano Ga*** was able to be baptized for his son and then Hermana Ga*** was baptized for Hermano Ga***'s mother. I will never forget hugging Hermana Ga*** after she walked out of that font. I talked to her afterwards in the dressing room and one of the things she told me was that she had goosebumps the whole time, but that she wasn't cold. On the way to the temple, they excitingly told me that they have been starting to recognize more and more the promptings and feelings since they received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Another thing we talked about was trials. When we first starting teaching the Ga*** fam, they were going through a rough time. Hermana Ga*** told me that before we started meeting with them, she would always feel angry at God and ask him why. Why is this happening to ME? But everything changed. For once in her life, her first reaction in facing trials was gratitude. She said that if it weren't for that trial they were going through, she would have never converted. It was during that time that she realized she needed help and support, so she gave us a chance. If their family wouldn't have passed through that challenge, she wouldn't have been standing in the temple with me at that moment. It was so powerful, and we were both in tears.

Sunday...WOW. After church, the ward threw us a despedida/pachanga and it was SO AWESOME. There were members from all of the mission to come see us. There was legit a Hemet table, a Corona corner, and a Moreno Valley bench. Abuelita brought some bomb tres leche, Hermana Beru*** brought pupusas, and Hermana Aza*** brought chile relleno. Let's just say that my Two Days 'till Sexy went out the window.

We had a lesson with Guillermo and it was so fantastic. We tried putting him back on date and we had the best baptism rejection ever. He still doesn't understand the need to be baptized again despite multiple attempts trying to explain it. BUT, he was all, "How about I make you a compromiso?" And he said he will go to the Book of Mormon class on Friday, church on Sunday, AND read and pray about the book of Mormon this whole week. DEAL. The trick for the Elders will be to just focus in on him gaining a testimony of the Restoration because that is the only way getting baptized again is going to make sense for him. I have high hopes for him!

So, that lesson ended at like 8:45 and we still had to do personal study and Hna Hernandez was stressed about packing...I got in the truck and started getting emotional because that was it. But Hernandez was like, "Nah, let's go find us a miracle." Man, you should have seen my face. My eyes got really big and they lit up. So we prayed to know where to go. After like a solid three minutes, a random name came to my mind: Roberto. I had no idea who that was, but I found the only Roberto in the area book planner app, and when I showed it to Hernandez, she was all, "I felt something about him too!" So we sped off, but then after a couple of minutes Hernandez was like, "Hey!!!!!!! There was a lady sitting by herself outside of her house and I feel like we should go talk to her!" So I flipped a hard U-y and we went back. It was super dark outside and it was just about to hit 9:00. SHE LET US TEACH HER. We did like a ten minute lesson with her and we testified with everything we had in us. MAN IT WAS AWESOME. We walked away from her house glowing. We got in the truck, drove home, and sat in the truck, and sobbed. We soaked in every bit. We just felt SO GRATEFUL that we were able to end our missions on such a good note. I felt my Father's love for me and I basked in it.

It was a perfect week. A perfect week to end this 18 month journey. I just want to end one last time with my testimony.

I know that Jesus is the Christ and that He is the head of His church here on the earth. I know that Joseph Smith truly saw Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove. I know that the priesthood has been restored here on the earth and that President Russell M. Nelson holds the priesthood keys to be God's mouthpiece for His children. I am so grateful for a modern day prophet that receives revelation to help us in these latter days. I know the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. I have come to know Him as I have searched and applied the teachings found in that treasure. I know this is the Lord's work here on the earth. I have loved being able to dedicate this time to Him to bring souls unto Christ. I love being a missionary and I love the Savior.

One last time,
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

Mission Tour - Day 2

I will admit that as we approached the Games’ apartment tonight, I was a little apprehensive. Neither Hmo or Hma Games speak any English and none of us speak any Spanish so we would have to rely on their kids to help with the translating.  But as soon as we walked in the door, all of those feelings were discarded and we could feel the love this family has for Hna Tonini.  I was admiring the picture of the kids’ baptism (on Hna Tonini’s birthday last year) when he showed me another framed picture of his daughter, Diana with Hna Tonini.  The picture was surrounded by a huge mat on which Hna Tonini had written words of encouragement and her testimony.  It is displayed in a prominent position in their home.  He also showed me a Family Home Evening chart that Hna Tonini had given them.  On the back, she and Hna Sorenson had written (in Spanish) that we want you.  Further below, there was another sentence which read we don’t want you, we love you!  Ah, the joy of being speaking another language on your mission.  They thought it was hysterical.

Hno Games then started to tell us about his conversion experience.  He had been born a Catholic and was very happy to be Catholic.  Hno Games told us that they had been through many missionaries but it was Hna Tonini that helped them to be converted.  Because of the language difference, there was a lot of animation as he tried to communicate with us.  I am still not clear if they always knew when Hna Tonini was coming because she was always running to their door or that she simply walked very loudly.  She was persistent and determined to get them to church – even setting “traps” as he called it.  One Sunday, she and her companion came over to cook them breakfast, and then accompanied them to Church.  But the turning point was when he told the Hermanas that he would be baptized when he got a sign from God.  And he got one in the form of his son, Daniel.  Daniel had always been a shy, reserved boy (he is only ten years old).  When he heard his son pray for the first time and felt the Spirit, he knew that he had received his sign.  Now he plays with the neighbor kids and is confident enough to provide translation for us.


Hno Games then treated us to the song that he wrote for Hna Tonini.  He explained there is even a verse for Hna Sorenson whose Spanish wasn’t very good at the time.  He plugged the guitar into the amp and serenaded us.  He would stop, his daughter would translate, and then he would continue.  All of us were in tears.  He is writing another song that he will sing at Hna Tonini’s wedding (they had told her that she needs to marry a Latino).



They then invited us to join them for dinner. While the food was delicious, it was even better because of the sacrifice I am sure this family made to feed twice the normal number of people.

Afterwards, it was time for more pictures.  We took almost every possible combination of pictures with everyone there.  Hno Games even instructed me to grab another guitar and we took a picture of us playing the guitar and of us serenading my wife.  (I think my mom got it right – he didn’t want the evening to end so the more pictures we took, the longer the night lasted).

Familia Games

As it came time to go, I felt like I needed to say something.  I told them that my wife and I both served missions and that we taught and baptized a lot of people.  As we look back now, we realize though, that there were one or two families that we were specifically called to Brasil to teach.  For Hna Tonini, that family is the Games family.  I told them that we had been in the temple that morning and that the spirit that we had felt in their home tonight was just as sacred as what we had felt in the temple and how grateful we were for their hospitality, their generosity, and their love for our daughter.  We committed to see each other again in a year when they are sealed as a family in the temple.  (My sister later told me that if possible, she would like to come to their sealing as well).  It was difficult to say goodnight to our new family who just a few hours earlier, had been complete strangers.

As I reflect on the last two days, 563 miles of driving in the LA area, and countless hours of windshield time, a couple of thoughts come to mind.  First of all, touring your child’s mission WITHOUT them is so much better than doing it with them.  The people you met share their feelings for your missionary without embarrassing them and I think you can more fully see the love that the members and the companions have for your missionary.  Second, if there was a common theme of the review of Hermana Tonini’s mission by long-time members, converts, her companions, and her mission president, it would be this:  she worked.  And because she worked, she loved those around her and they loved her.  By that measure alone, her mission has been a success.

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!

Dumpster Diving

Another week? Already?

Well, we are doing better with each week. We got one more than we found last week and we have one more on date as well! We found a family, which was a miracle! We only had like fifteen minutes to seek one day and we found Luis in just that amount of time! We than went back again on Friday, picked up his daughter Denise and invited Luis to be baptized!!

I had my exit interview this week and it wrecked me. We got Krispe Creme afterwards. I'm okay...I think.

We had LOTS of adventures this week from dumpster diving to find the Hermanas' baptism programs that someone threw out, not realizing we left the mission until we saw a building that said Murrietta (I was not driving), and having to jump start the Hermanas' car because it decided to die right before leaving for church.

We did seven hours of service, so it's a miracle we even did proselyting.

Honestly, a lot more happened buuuuuuuut I can't even remember what I had for dinner last night, not to mention what happened this week. We saw miracles, we worked hard, and we put our trust in the Lord.

I am going to be a missionary forever....but when I realize that it isn't the truth, I get anxiety in my belly. I used to talk about my plans when I get home with excitement and longing and now, I just don't want to think or talk about it. All I want to do is serve. I've never been good with goodbyes. They wreck me. And saying goodbye to the mission is going to be the hardest one of my life.

BUT, I have four weeks left so I'm going to stop crying about it, get some dirt in my shoes, pound the streets and get lost in the work.

Con amor,
Hermana Tonini

PACHANGA

Well, my last first week went as fast as it came. This week was nuts. My baby's name is Hermana  Flores! She is from Texas but she grew up in Temecula which is like just around the river bend from here. Legit, there is a guy in our ward that went to high school with her? Pobrecita. But yeah, she's visa-waiting for Costa Rica and it's so weird that we will be leaving together. It kind of makes it hard because we want to work so hard but by the time we finally get to know the members and less-active and investigators that the Elders were working with, we will be leaving. Kind of the buns, but we are up for the challenge! She has some serious greenie fire and is keeping me on my toes! She's so cute!!

I also had my first MLC which wasn't as bad or scary as I thought it would be. I learned a lot and finally got to partake of the infamous MLC pizza!

We also saw a miracle! So we had um...like two hours of prosyleting this week. The first hour we had, we talked to the first man we saw and he let us teach him! So in like one of the only hours we had, we were able to find an investigator!! The other hour we had was teaching our investigator Guillermo! He was straight up like, yeah, the Elders invited me to be baptized. But I don't want to be baptized. Can't I just go to your church and not have to be baptized? NO. Just kidding, I didn't say that. But we taught and testified of the doctrine and by the end when we talked about his baptism date, he was good with it! It was cool to see his heart soften in such a short time! He said he was going to church.....but he didnt... #missionarylife

ALSO, THE GA*** CLAN WAS BAPTIZED YESTERDAY AHHHHHHHH. I cried like a baby it was SO GOOD. It ended up being a two- hour baptism service because the whole Ga*** family bore their testimony at the end and Daniel cried so hard he started hiccuping! Hermana Ga*** said in hers, "Cuando fui bautizada sentí...no tengo palabras para explicarlo...sentí...pues, LUZ." ["When I was baptized, I felt...I don't have words to explain it..I felt...well...LIGHT."]  All of us missionaries sang Asombro Me Da and I couldn't even sing because I was so overwhelmed by the Spirit. I think that's the first time I have sobbed in....months. So I was still a wreck when I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost afterwards. Then, we had a PACHANGA and Hermano Ga*** played the song he wrote for Sorensen and me for all of us missionaries. It was just perfect.

Alejandro

Hey y'all! LOTS happened this week so I am just going to share one miracle.

So, weeks 2-4 were kind of rough. No teaching pool in Idyllwild. Our only solid and progressing investigator paused us. We hadn't found a new investigator in three weeks. I just felt very discouraged...so I knew something needed to change. I had to do something.

I was down the hill on exchanges and I read a verse during my personal study that gave me hope:

"Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance."  (Alma 26:22)

I found hope because I found a promise...that we could bring thousands, or even just a couple, of souls to repentance.

So when I got home, we did a lot of talking during comp study and I shared my finding with Sister Davies. We set goals of HOW we were going to pray without ceasing, repent, bring forth good works, and exercise faith. We worked on those goals all this week and Heavenly Father blessed us with TWO investigators.

I know that as we prayerfully set goals/make plans and bring them to the Lord, then we can see miracles.


I love the work, including the lows. Anza has for sure taught how to be humble and put my trust in the Lord's timing. Everything is in His hands right now and I'm just ready to do what He needs me to do and become.

It's the last week of the transfer and then it will be the start of my last transfer. It's going to be a crazy transfer with...well...lots of plans. I guess you'll just have to wait and see what they are :)

Love y'all!

16 down, 8 more to go...right?

¡MILAGROS! Hermana Harper Skyped me into the end of a lesson with the Familia Ga*** Monday night because they had an announcement! Hermano Ga*** had paletas in his hand and Herman Ga*** had flowers....HE IS DIVORCED! Turns out it DID happen, three years ago. Now the last hurdle is getting the official papers sent up here so those two lovebirds can get married and finally be BAPTIZED! That should be happening in June if all goes well. It will be the perfect way to wrap up the mission.


I also hit 16 months in the mission which was terrifying. But then I just went back to denial and it got better.

Also, it's looking like I will be ending my mission here in Anza!! A Hermana went home unexpectedly so now it won't be an odd number when Hermana Grover goes home in June. It's hard thinking that I spent 1/3 of my mission in English land, but I know Anza is where He needs me most and I love the people here.


Then, my dreams finally came true!! For Sacrament in Idyllwild we had DONUTS instead of bread. This is why branches are the best.




Sorry this was the most random email ever. Life is same in good ol' Anza, so just enjoy some pictures of our adventures which includes me RIDING A BIKE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON MY MISSION and pday shenanigans.






Love y'all.

No Dudéis; No Temáis

WOW WOW WOW.  Samantha's baptism yesterday was INCREDIBLE! during our lesson with her this week we asked her if there was anything she wanted to change to her program before we made and printed it. She decided she wanted to change the closing hymn to a hymn she heard at Stake conference last week that just won't get out of her head......CALLED TO SERVE. So we sang Called to Serve for her baptism! I loved it! Could she be more perfect?

Brother Boyd, my favorite member in the branch, came up to us when we were setting everything up and told me something that brought me to tears. He said that in Elders' Quorum they were talking about divine design....and he asked Daniel (Samantha's boyfriend who is 19 and wasn't planning on serving) if Samantha's conversion and her getting baptized was done by divine design....he said yes....so he then asked if it changes anything about him serving a mission and he said he thinks it does. What a miracle. It's been so neat to see Daniel's part in this whole process and watch him grow just as much as Samantha has grown. He pretty much taught her all of the lessons before we did...he made our job easy! I truly believe that his role as a member missionary is what will get him out on his mission and he is going to change so many lives. I just can't wait. Sister Loranger came up from Hemet to do the Restoration presentation which was really nice because she was also baptized when she was 18 and her family was not supportive....she told us that Samantha told her she is considering going on a mission! If these two go out on missions that would mean everything. Nothing could possible ring me greater joy.

I think my favorite part of the whole baptism was actually right after it happened. She got out of the water and I BOLTED. (with my companion in tow of course) I ran to the bathroom and told her to come out of the stall before she got dressed and she was in tears. We embraced, both in tears, as we soaked in what this all meant for her. This has been a long journey for her....the trials never ceased. Even Sunday morning her and her dad got in another argument..but it never stopped her. She never doubted. She never feared. All she wanted was to enter into a covenant with her Heavenly Father and nothing was going to get in the way of that. Oh how I love that girl, and I am excited to anhelosamente look forward to going to the temple with her this transfer. That's actually what she chose for her program cover....a picture of the temple. Good things will happen here in Anza/Idyllwild with Sister Bryant this transfer. We are ready  and pumped for round two!

Hermana Tonini

Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones

This week has been SO CRAZY! We taught the Law of Chastity to the Familia Ga*** - they are SO incredible, it's amazing. Our ward mission leader is already planning on submitting their names for a calling as soon as they are baptized! There is one issue that needs to be resolved before they can be baptized so I feel like there is just stumbling block after stumbling block for them, but I know that the Lord will provide a way.

We also showed them the Restoration video video this week and when we testified afterwards, there wasn't a single dry eye in the room. Even little Daniel felt the Spirit so strong it brought him to tears. Bishop told us this Sunday that he talked to Enrique and he had told him, "I want to join the Church because I know the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet." Obispo said it made him tear-up a little, and it had the same impact on me when he retold the story! He also said that Isabel, the wife, had also told him that she is not worried, because she knows that the Lord will provide a way to accomplish the things He has commanded them.....a principle she learned from the Book of Mormon! What an incredible family!!! I can't wait to see the miracles that will continue to happen with this family as they turn these stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

We also had an appointment with Javier, an investigator the Hermanas were teaching, and it was a very very very difficult lesson. He was just...very negative and angry about why God is the way He is. He had a lot of question/doubts but wouldn't give me the time to answer them because he would take a little piece of what I said and bring up ANOTHER question/doubt. Like, probably worst lesson of my whole mission. Pobrecita Hna Sorensen started crying in the lesson.....and not because she was feeling the Spirit. However bad the lesson was, he told us that he KNOWS his way of thinking is bad/wrong and wants to have a change of heart. Legit, this man made me think of those stiff-necked people in the Book of Mormon, however he DESIRES  a change. So we made a return appointment. We got in the car and Hna Sorensen turned to me and said in tears, "THAT WAS TERRIBLE. I CAN'T BELIEVE WE ARE GOING BACK TO THAT HOUSE!"

Back we went. I was so nervous. I spent all of my personal study time on him and prayed so hard. What was really neat was that I was praying to finish my last personal study before heading out to his lesson and I asked, "what more do I need to know so I can help this man?" And Alma Chapter Five came IMMEDIATELY to my mind. I rushed through it really fast and found AWESOME scriptures about having a change of heart in there, which I shared with him and he loved it!! The lesson was way better, mainly because he actually let us teach and wasn't so grosero [rude]. I just couldn't stop talking, the Spirit just flowed through me and I was able to hit almost all of his concerns/questions that he had brought up last time. I love being able to receive revelation for my investigators. I am truly not alone in this work!!

Here is our Halloween picture....of us just being normal.






Love,
Hermana Tonini

Feliz Cumpleaños a Mi

SO, background story. We are working with this incredible family named the Familia Ga***. The Hermanas before us were working with them and they had a baptism date for the end of October....well that wasn't going to happen. So we sat down with them and invited them to choose a new baptism date in November and they chose the very last Sunday of the month. Jokingly, I suggested that they choose the 19th because that's the day after my birthday and they were all, "Yeah, we need more time than that."

Then we had our appointment with them this week. Well, we actually had two. The first one was with our ward mission leader and we finished up the Plan de Salvación and really hit eternal families....and they loved it. They are just sponges and love everything we teach them. Well, the next appointment we had this week was AMAZING. We sat down and after talking for a bit, the hermano got really quiet and became very serious. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, "We want to get baptized. We want to be an eternal family. And we want to change our date to a week earlier....happy birthday."

I can't even express in words the amount of love I felt not only from them but also for them. I have never had so much love for my investigators before. It was such a tender moment and I definitely cried....it was just incredible to see the impact of an eternal perspective. They crave to be sealed in the temple for the eternities. 

Not only that, but after all of this happened, I asked Hermano Ga*** who he would like to say the opening prayer and he asked his nine year old son Daniel to offer it. His prayer was so.....well...natural I guess? It was so cute, he talked about how grateful he was to have us in his home because of the alegria we bring. I was smiling during the whole prayer because it was just so good! Then, his dad said the word lagrimas (tears), and I thought he was joking around because he is ALWAYS joking around, but then he put his head in his hands and just started crying!!! We just sat there for the longest time until he stopped and put his head back up. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me that was the first time he had ever heard his son pray. Ever. The Spirit testified to me then and there that there truly are fruits to living the gospel. It was incredible to see how they were already seeing the fruits of living the gospel....seeing the changes in their home and in their family...even before baptism. Can you even imagine the incredible things that will happen with this family when they continue down the covenant pathway?

I love the Gospel. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love being a part of this work, and there's no place I'd rather be. There's more bad days than good days, and sometimes I feel like I just can't do it anymore. However, I see miracles like this and it reminds me why I am here. I know that I am here specifically for the Ga*** Family. I can't wait to see what miracles the next week holds! November is going to be great :)

Love,
Hermana Tonini

J-Shon 2.0

Investigator update:

With the Ni*** family we celebrated Angel's 10th birthday with them on Monday and had a lesson afterwards. We have taught them everything already, so we are just really focusing on the Book of Mormon and helping them gain a testimony. They were really good at reading the children's one for a really long time but every since that threeish-week break when the grandpa was in the hospital, they stopped. We had invited Karly to read the actual Book of Mormon because just reading the kid one wasn't really going to help her get a super strong testimony, but she hadn't read. So for the lesson we read 3 Nephi:11 with them and it was super powerful. Hopefully when we stop by this week they will have read some. They didn't come to church on Sunday which was strange because they have come nearly every Sunday since we have been teaching them... It's difficult because they want to wait until November to get baptized because they want the dad to take the charlas (discussions) and get baptized with them but it's nearly impossible to find him home and we have made little progress with him. I love this family so much and it's going to break my heart to leave them next week.... (95% positive I am getting kicked out of MoVal)

With Destiny, she was supposed to have her baptism interview yesterday after church, but they didn't go to church...? We don't know what happened....we have an FHE with them tonight because Liz wants to know how to do one. We had a cool experience with them last week! So we are teaching Liz separately from Destiny because Liz has been inactive for nearly all of her life so she wants to be taught h everything but not in the child/simple version we give her kids. So when it was just the three of us, she asked us a bunch of questions and somehow patriarchal blessings came up and she was very interested. We went by later that week and she was so happy when she told us she talked to Obispo and she is going to receive her blessing!1 When she told us I felt the Spirit so strong. It has been so rewarding to help reactivate her and help her daughter prepare for baptism. It's incredible the changes that are happening in her family right now..

Man, I love the work.

Then we had a lesson with Olga Me***, who is a recent convert of about 9 months. So when I first got here to MoVal, she was not coming to church. Her son Kai was baptized but never even got confirmed. So at the end of my first transfer we finally got them to church so Kai could be confirmed. He had gone about two months without getting confirmed. With Hna Moran, we have made sure we got her a ride so she and her son can go to church and they come almost every Sunday. Then, with our CR lesson this week, she has kind of just kind of spewed out everything that is going wrong in her life right now. It was super sad really. In the  middle of her talking, a question came to my mind: "Have you thought about going to the temple?" I pushed it aside because she was still telling her stories but the question came to mind again at the end of the lesson and so I asked her that exact question. I asked her if she had desires to prepare herself to go to the temple and  she said yes! And I was all, "Like, you want to meet with Obispo and do the interview this Sunday?" AND SHE SAID YES!!! I am so excited that Hermana Moran is going to be able to help her do family history work and plan the temple trip so she can go for the first time :) So many great things are happening here, and I know I am leaving everything in good hands. (she couldn't make it to church bc Kai has bronchitis but she will have her interview next week)

Then I had ANOTHER COOL EXPERIENCE WOOOOOOW. So, we went to go seeking Friday morning but the place we chose ended up being a neighborhood we sought like a week ago. So I grabbed the gps to find another neighborhood nearby, but we had hit this section of our area pretty hard this transfer. I finally found an area that had streets I didn't recognize, so I was all, "Let's go seek there!" Well I found out why once we got there, I had chosen a neighborhood just outside of our area. I was getting a little frustrated because we had wasted so much time so I handed the gps over to Hna Moran and she picked ANOTHER neighborhood for us to go seeking in. However, there was no parking because there were street signs everywhere saying "No Parking Fridays from 7am-2pm for street sweepers" So then we drove over to a gated complex kind of nearby where one of our members lives and parked there. By this time we had wasted like half of our allotted buscando con fe time and I was feeling VERY frustrated. Not to mention, after walking for 30 minutes we hadn't talked to anyone. There was nobody outside. So, I did what I always do when we go seeking and there's no one outside. I prayed. I said a fervent pray in my heart that we would find at least ONE potential or referral so there would be a reason why we had to go through everything that morning. Why we ended up in this neighborhood at this time. Not even five minutes later we turned the corner and found a man in his garage who we almost didn't even see. After I contacted him and asked him if we could share a message of Jesus Christ he said, "Yeah, come on in, y'all want some water?" It was just so easy. He accepted us in with such love. Jonathon was SO nice and has such a strong faith. He ate up everything we taught him and he accepted a baptism date for October 22nd! He truly was a miracle and an answer to a prayer.

The reason for my subject title is because our Zone Leaders here also taught a Jonathon, a 9 year old boy, and in district meeting they would always call him j-shon....? Never figured out why, but now we have another j-shon in the zone and we are pretty excited about it.

Oh, yesterday I hit my 8 month mark and we also went to a reception of someone in the ward because the mom and signed up for our dinner that day, so we snagged some tacos and made a new friend named Nancy who LOVES missionaries and wanted to take lots of pictures with us :)

Love y'all! Big changes are coming next transfer...I feel it.

Hermana Tonini

P.S. So since my comp is an STL she has to give a training in Multi-Zones. Since there wasn't another STL in the other two zones, guess who had to train with her? Me.  It was terrifying. We worked really hard on it though, and I think it went pretty well!

Where's Your Faith?

We have to leave here pretty soon for Riverside for our Multi-Zone activity so here's my favorite experience from the whole week:

So, we had the coolest experience last night. We were so close to hitting standard three weeks in a row but we didn't have time to fit language study in during the day so we headed in a little early so we could be obedient and get all of our studies in. So we sent in our accountability to the zone leaders and they sent us a text back saying to go back out and work for an hour. We explained we had language study to do, but they were like, "And? Y'all need ONE more investigator until you hit standard." So at first I was a little angry, I am going to be honest. However, anger fires me up so I was like, "ALRIGHT LET'S DO THIS. I WILL BE DOING LANGUAGE STUDY UNTIL 10:30 BUT THAT'S OKAY. LET'S GO." We knelt down to pray after choosing a referral to go see and I don't think I have EVER prayed with that much passion before in my life. My faith was on fire. I knew we were going to find another investigator. Another child of God to bring back into the fold.

So we ran out to the car and went over to the Santiago Trails and guess what??? We had a lesson and picked up TWO new investigators. The whole time I just had so much faith. When she opened the door and we were talking with her in my mind I was all, "I have the faith. You will let us in and let us share a message of Jesus Christ." After we were done teaching I was all, "I have the faith. You will let us come back for a return appointment." AND THEY SAID YES. My chest was on FIRE and I just felt a burn inside of me like I have never felt before. It was incredible. I am so grateful for our incredible zone leaders that push us harder than we ever thought we could go. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have hit standard three weeks in a row and I wouldn't have had that faith-building experience. I am so grateful for these miracles and blessings that we get to see each and every day.

Also, if this picture doesn't explain STL/half companion life I don't know what does. So proud of my companion for completing two transfers of being an STL, she killed it.

The Myth. The Legend. The Tonini.

Soooooo, I made some slightly bad decisions this week. Actually, just one. I decided to try one of the Teno***'s food challenges. This family does crazy food challenges for the missionaries and one of them is the burger challenge. They make a SIX POUND BURGER.

Plus a pound of fries on the side. Obviously, I am not that dumb, so we all signed up to do the half-burger challenge. So, it's still a three pound burger and half a pound of fries. That burger was my Everest. I brought pride to my family's name and FINISHED THE CHALLENGE. Elder Whiting was the only other person who could finish it with me. AKA, I beat out three other Elders. It was so hard. And I won't even get into what went on an hour later after our lesson with Vicky Teno***, our recent convert, after dinner. Luckily, we had time to make it back to the apartment. My favorite comment was from Elder Dew, "You looked so happy in all of my pictures I took, but you definitely were NOT this happy."
#struggles

Update on the family we are teaching:

So we had two lessons with them this week, and all they have left is diezmo (tithing)! We taught Palabra de Sabiduria (Word of Wisdom) and Ley de Castidad with them. Law of Chastity was definitely tricky because we had three different age groups in the family, but we somehow made it all work! Karly, the mom, is being a champ! Her daughter's third birthday was yesterday and she told us she put BYOB (bring your own beer) because she won't buy beer anymore!! She also said she went to a restaurant the other day and looked at all of her options, remembered what we taught her, and decided to just play it safe and get water!! They read in the kid's Book of Mormon every night as a family and Karly told us one night when they were watching a movie, Penelope, the three-year old, brought the children's Book of Mormon up to her and said, "Mom, can we read the Book of Mormon?" AHHHHH! <333333 Now, we are just trying to get the mom and the fourteen-year old into the actual Book of Mormon because they aren't going to gain a super strong testimony of it by reading the kid one.

We saw a lot of miracles this week, and it was really good. Last night Monserrat had her interview and she was FOUND WORTHY TO BE BAPTIZED. So there will be a baptism this Sunday! Our whole zone almost is baptizing this Sunday. Four companionship are for sure baptizing, and I think there will be a couple more. Let the battle for the font begin!

Our cutie member, Hermana Beru*** surprised us by making us skirts, so of course we wore them to church to show them off! Our members in the Nuevo Ward are INCREDIBLE.

I love y'all, keep working hard out there, k?

Love,
Hermana Tonini the 3 lb Burger Champion

P.S. I gained all of the weight that I lost back this week so don't worry, I am going on a diet for sure.