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

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.

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

#momsrule

So, on the way over here my companion told me that I talked in my sleep....AGAIN last night and that I said: "I don't have time for this." "I got to get to work!" and "I WANT TO GO GET *whispers* ice cream." Those three statement pretty much describe my whole mission.

Oh yeah, by the way, I am still here in Moreno Valley but I did get a new companion! Hermana Moran was born in El Salvador but she grew up in Utah! She has the biggest heart ever! I feel like she is going to soften me up because we all know I am not a...hm....flower power girl? I don't know how to explain it :') But, I feel like I am going to learn a lot from her and I love her so much already! She also got called to be an STL, so this is my THIRD transfer as an STL companion....and I miss that RPM life for sure. However......MY HALF COMPANION IS FLIPPING HERMANA HARPER AHHHHHHHHH! The first exchange is this week and I get to go spend a whole day with my fav bad girl in Menifee! So excited!

We had a great week!! We picked up a lot of investigators, but the one I really want to talk about is Destiny. So, in the referral system someone requested a Bible and it said they were a less active family. So we went over and met Liz and her kids destiny and Aaron. Liz was baptized when she was 9, but is inactive now. She wants her kids to grow up in the Church and have the same experiences she had growing up. So we are now starting to help her 10 year old get ready for baptism!! I love teaching 9/10 year olds. I look forward to each lesson and finding new ways to teach them so they can understand the gospel. Liz and Destiny came to church on Sunday and they have progressed SO MUCH and we haven't even known them for a week! As they were sitting next to me, Liz reached over and grabbed Destiny's hand and it just reminded me of how my mom used to do that when we sat together at church. Working with them and with Monse and Hna Ayala, I have loved being able to watch these mothers come back to activity and helping their daughters progress in the Gospel. Mothers just have this crazy strong influence that you can't find anywhere else, and I am so grateful for my mother, because without her, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this email right now. #momsruletheworld

We had a cita with Arian this week....OH YEAH HE WAS CONFIRMED ON SUNDAY SO PROUD OF HIM LOVE THAT GUY....and I felt the Spirit so strong at one point. He asked kind of a difficult question that one of his friends had asked him, and I had no idea how to answer it. Then, I could quite literally feel the Spirit surge through me and I just started talking....and talking...and part of my personal study a couple days back helped me to answer the question and yeah. Like, I can't even explain it.  It was just cool how not only the Spirit brought things to my remembrance but worked through me so I could help Arian. I LOVE THE HOLY GHOST.

Also, I got home one night to a package on my doorstep....that wasn't even taped shut. So like, it was a hand-delivered package. FROM MY BROTHER. Like I recognized his pen chicken scratch on the cardboard box. Drew and Shavaun and Zowie were like....at my apt. How crazy is that??? I opened up a frozen container to find my FAV CAKE:  almond poppy seed cake and I legit cried. (this is also why I love my mother because she is an angel and sends me hand-delivered cake from NoDak).

Well, I love you all and keep up the hard work!

Love,
Hermana Tonini

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!!!

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

And We're Filling the Font

YES! WE HAVE A BAPTISM THIS SATURDAY! Our investigator, a 9 year old from a part member family, was found worthy this week! So I get to come back to Hemet for her baptism!

Yes...come back because I am leaving Hemet! I am headed to Moreno Valley!! My new comp will be Hna Hernandez Sanchez! Hna Chandler used to be comps with her, and from what I have heard about her, I already love her! We also joked around about how it would be just my luck to serve my first area in Hemet with my brother's in-laws and then MoVal where my brother's famous convert lives, and guess what? It happened! Ken's ward is in the same building as ours even! I love being able to find bits and pieces of my brother here! Also so excited to go to MoVal because the work is popping over there! And I will be coming back nearly every weekend for all of our baptisms happening here. June is going to be CRAZY for me. Excited and scared to death of this new change.

So when I was Buscando con Fe the other day with Sis DiPietro, we walked pass guys working on a roof and didn't talk to them because it might put them in danger, like if we scared them. But once we passed the house, I had a strong impression to turn around, and one of the guys ended up being interested! He lives in another town, but what a miracle that the missionaries over there can teach him!

So we did a church tour with Nap because he still hasn't been to church and it was INCREDIBLE. When we walked into the chapel the Spirit was crazy strong!! And guess what, HE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY! He talked with his family and told them that he is going to wait to go to Anaheim on the weekends until AFTER he goes to church with us. He even stayed for all three hours! His baptism date is on the 11th, and I just can't wait. He loves the gospel so much and is so willingly to live it.

So by Saturday we only picked up one new investigator because of how insane our week has been (Hermana Chandler was on exchanges and had to take a sister to the hospital so no work got done in our area for a whole day). So I prayed SO HARD that we could find investigators and that night we picked up three, and they lived next door to each other. So we legit had a Restoration and then walked next door and had another one.

Another thing, so President stressed the importance of walking around for five minutes when a potential or referral who you try isn't home. So we have been trying to do that more. EVERY SINGLE TIME we have done it the past week or two we have found referrals for the missionaries in that area. Just with that extra five minutes we were able to find so many people for missionaries to teach. Like last night we went off four or five referrals because the four or five potentials we tried all weren't home. Missionary work truly is a team effort and it's such a blessing to help out between the Spanish and English missionaries.

So, gave a talk yesterday and didn't totally bomb it? Gabriel D*** (my best friend because he plays little league baseball) ran up and gave me a hug and then ran off saying he was going to riot and talk to the Bishop so I don't have to leave. Leaving is hard, I love these members so much.

Here's to my new adventure.

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

God Truly Answers Prayers

My testimony of personal revelation has grown this week. Here´s what I wrote in my journal on the 27th:

So, we have our new investigators tomorrow, and we had to prepare. Hermana Pavon wanted us to find a BOM verse for it, so I prayed to know where to begin my search and to find materials to help Lucia, who's mad at God for her miscarriages. I went to the Index...Bible Dictionary...nothing. Then I thought of General Conference. Never before had I used General Conference to find a scripture. It was everything I needed and more. God Shall Wipe Away All Tears was WRITTEN for Lucia. It truly was revelation. It´s crazy how normal and accessible revelation is. I always just imagined like prophets...you know? We all have access to personal revelation and it´s so wonderful.
You know what? I´m just going to write all of my spiritual experiences directly from my journal so I don't waste time.

28th:
We taught Lucia today and it did NOT go as planned. The only thing we used from our prep was the story of Paul and the thorn. What was super cool was that when Hermana Monroy was talking, all I could think about was how perfect she could relate. Then, once she finished, Hermana Harper was all: Hay un apóstol se llama...uh...Pedro. Me: Pablo? Her: OH, Pablo.      But like I knew in that moment that she received the same revelation as me at the same time. Like, I was already opening to my bookmark and I took over from there. Super neat.

29th:
We watched the Restoration today, and by the end almost 90% of the Hermanas in the CCM were in tears. Including me of course. It strengthens my testimony of Joseph Smith every time I watch it.
Kind of a cool moment: last night while Hermana Dayes was braiding my hair, we were talking about deep doctrine. We talked about how there are a ton of planets, yet there´s only one Christ and he came to ours. He came here to repent for every world´s sins. Because our world has the most wickedness, but there´s opposition in all things. And today in Devo they talked about it!!!! The speaker even added on how that´s why we had Michael, Gabriel, Peter/James/John, and Joseph Smith PLUS Christ to balance the wickedness. Plus, a neat scripture: D&C 135:3. It was just crazy how an obscure topic was built upon for us in less than 24 hours. Plus, it just added even more "mad respect for Joseph Smith" (as Hermana Harper put it)

31st:
Today was a perfect day. Last night I decided to pray with a question. I always pray for help, but never with questions. Except for when I prayed to know if the BOM was true, but that's really it. I had read yesterday, ´´Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you.´´ I knew I was going to the temple on Pday so I prayed that when I went, I would know if I was good enough. I was feeling so inadequate. And I know those feelings come from Satan, but I was just looking at all of the Hermanas and seeing their strengths. How was I supposed to be good enough to preach about a perfect gospel and a perfect love?

My answer came faster than I thought. It came today. We prepared to teach the Restoration and we started by asking Lucia if she had prayed to see if our lesson about how God loves her is true. She said no. From that point, our whole lesson plan was out the window. We talked about prayer the entire lesson. It was incredible. We listened, we answered her questions, Hermana found a scripture, everything. Afterwards, Hermana Monroy asked us how we though it went and she asked to see our lesson plan because we didn´t read ANYTHING off paper. We had never done that before. We told her how we listened, followed the spirit, and taught people not lessons. She didn't need the Restoration, she needed prayer. She even told us that our lesson will inspire Lucia to pray and "su lección fue perfecto." Perfect. I was a part of teaching a lesson that portrayed the perfect concept of prayer. We moved tables and sat in awe of the power of the Holy Ghost. We felt so much gratitude that we prayed. I started to cry because then, ten minutes after our lesson, the Spirit put into my remembrance my prayer and my question from last night. I'm not inadequate. I can do this. With the Spirit, I can do my best to preach about His perfect love.

(Side note, I know that if we work hard and prepare, that the Lord will make up the rest when we attempt and fail to completely capture His perfect love. I just didn't have a testimony of it. My comp is so good at teaching and testifying, and I felt like I wasn't as good as her. I couldn’t testify with the strength she has. That's why I prayed with my questions of inadequacy.)

This week has been super spiritual, if you can´t tell. And we get to go to the Mexico City temple today!!!!! That´s why I am emailing so early - we are leaving at 12 and not getting back until 6. I will have pictures of the temple next week!

So here in the CCM, I've goofed up a lot. There's always one thing a day. I don´t have time to share all of them, so I will leave you with just one:

"We taught Anastacia today and I messed up. We were talking about prayer so I asked if I could share a scripture in the BOM. I then went on with my whole intro of the BOM and then it was time to read the verse. And that's when I realized the verse I wanted to read was in the Bible. Me: ´"Uh....um....los siento. Actualmente está en la Biblía, PERO leemos en los dos, la Biblía y en el Libro de Mormón."

Classic Hermana Tonini. Love and miss you all.

Hermana Tonini