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

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

Caballitos

It's been a great first week with Sister Davies!! I love that girl so much, it's going to be a good last two transfers with her up here in Anza.

Our recent convert lesson with Samantha was INCREDIBLE. We had given Brother Boyd a list of the things that still needed to be taught so he just straight up asked Samantha which one she wanted hear. You want to know what she chose? Missionary work. Precious. It was really cool because the Boyds are both converts and so they shared their conversion story. Brother Boyd asked me why I am out on a mission. After I responded, he turned to Daniel and said, "Now why aren't YOU on a mission?"

So good.

So we talked about that for awhile. But then they asked them for Samantha's conversion story and Daniel told it from his side....AND HE STARTED CRYING. I have been in COUNTLESS lessons with that guy and I have never seen him cry. Ever. It was such a tender moment. And then Samantha cried when she told her side. It was just so so so good.

Speaking of Samantha, WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!! I have never seen someone so excited to go to the temple before. It was so neat to be sitting on the bench with Sis Bryant as tears rolled down our faces watching someone we care SO much about doing temple work. I can't wait to be back in the temple with Samantha in a year!

ALSO, ANOTHER MIRACLE. So we have been trying to stop by this less-active EVERY WEEK for almost all of last transfer. He's super duper nice, but was always busy at the time he told us to stop by. Even too busy for a two minute video, which was one of our tactics. I was determined to get in with him. On Wednesday though, we finally did it!! Poor Sister Davies, I was so flipping excited when he said he'd meet us around the side of the house...I walked over there like floating on cloud nine. Persistence had PAID OFF.

We also found a new investigator this week which was another miracle because I think it had been a couple of weeks without finding anyone...

AND THEN WE FOUND ANOTHER INVESTIGATOR. SO MANY MIRACLES. His name is Hector and he SPEAKS SPANISH. He seems super solid and we are really excited to start working with him!

Love,
Hermana Tonini

Me Encanta Ver el Templo.

This week was DEFINITELY a roller coaster for sure.

The bad first?

Well, one thing that I have learned on my mission is that I hate numbers. I really do. So, it turns out that the Ga*** parents don't count for "on date" or "at church." Then, our one investigator that we had on date fell off because we haven't been able to see her for the past two weeks. Our other really solid investigator has also not been able to meet with us for the past two weeks (EVERYONE IS SICK AHHHHHH) and with her, we are either putting her on date or pausing her because she didn't accept a date when we invited her in the beginning and she hasn't come to church.....BUT SHE WANTS TO CHANGE. We just haven't been able to get in with her...So by Saturday night we had 0 on date and they both said they couldn't make it to church the next day....so that was going to be 0 at church. We had a TON of potential on Saturday to pick up some new investigators but all of the appointments we set with the people we had found in the streets that week ALL FELL THROUGH. So we also had 0 new. Straight zeros. I honestly felt like a failure. We were working so hard, why weren't our numbers reflecting that??? What was I doing wrong??? So I fasted...I fasted that we might have success in our area. Because besides the Ga*** family, which is the most success I have had in my mission, we have had zero. Well, on Sunday we had our day STACKED. We were going to go see EVERYONE. We didn't find any new....but we did put a family on date!!! It was awesome to see the power of the fast and I can't wait to see what other miracles will come from it. We still had to send in a 0 for new investigators...which was difficult. I have probably done that less times than the amount of fingers on your right hand. I feel stressed and that it all falls on me....BUT, it's a new week and I am going to make some changes to show Heavenly Father that we are worthy for miracles and that we are worthy for the elect and prepared. I am fully going to lose myself in the work and find ways to dedicate and consecrate myself like I haven't done before. I feel like I have been working as hard as I can, but there is ALWAYS another level above where you are. And that's where I'm heading.

The good:

WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK WITH DIANA!!! It was a very long process, but way worth it. It was incredible. The temple president talked to us before we did baptisms and shared this with us:

"President George Q. Cannon, who was counselor to four Presidents of the Church, taught that in these latter days, those who are joining the Church are joining quite precisely because their ancestors have been praying for one of their posterity to join the Church so that they, the ancestors, can receive their essential ordinances by proxy."


The Spirit testified to me like never before of this truth....not only of this truth but that it applied to the name for which Diana would do a proxy baptism. When she entered into the baptism font....for the second time in her life, I cried so hard. Seeing one of your converts in the temple is one the COOLEST things ever, and I loved every moment. I was even able to do own of my own family names, so it truly was a spiritual feast.

What a blessing it is to do missionary work on both sides of the veil. I love being a missionary.

Love,
Hermana Tonini

P.S. We did service at a secondhand store and I MAY OR MAY NOT have made a purchase. There are three more in the cabinet. I have zero regrets.

P.P.S. Also, here's Sister Goodwine and I where we belong.

Her Plans Went Down the Toilet

So uh, Hermana Sorensen dropped her planner in the toilet.

It was pretty funny, not going to lie. She wasn't laughing nearly as much as I was though. She is doing GREAT. The language is great, she is teaching more in lessons, and we are getting along great :) I love this girl so much and I am praying that we get to stay together another one. For 12 weeks this week SHE gets to be the "senior companion" so hopefully it will be a growing experience for her. It will be hard to step down and let her take the lead!

Guess what??? WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE ON FRIDAY WITH DIANA TO DO BAPTISMS!!!!!! Also, we just so happen to be gemelas (twins) at church, so of course we took a pic!

(shout out to Hna Moran's mom for the scarf she sent me)













This week was so crazy....mainly because we wanted the Familia Ga*** to go to the Stake Christmas play but it was all going to be in English! So I made a TON of calls, got my hands on a script, and translated the twelve page script into Spanish with some help from Elder Carrillo (he's from Mexico). All of this in less than a week's time. He also helped out with the actual translating, and we had a lot of fun with it. The Ga*** parents loved it, they cracked up at our enthusiastic translating.



Well, I love y'all.

ILUMINA EL MUNDO

Hermana Tonini

❤ TEMPLO ❤

So I don't have much of an update because I just emailed on Friday. Just know that I feel the most blessed than I think I have ever felt in my life. I love my companion. I love Moreno Valley. My ward is incredible. We are now working with TWO incredible families plus Destiny and a new investigator Norma who came to church yesterday. I love this work with all of my heart and I learn something new every day. I am nowhere close to the missionary I need to be. I falter every day. Sometimes I feel like I still belong in training. However, I am learning to have patience with myself and just learn and move on. Progression truly is such a beautiful gift. I love being able to grow WITH my investigators. I know I am leaving in three weeks and it breaks my heart. However, I am going to make the best of the next three weeks. I love this Gospel and these precious children of God. How did I ever get so lucky to serve a mission? I loved being able to go to the temple this week. The Spirit is to tangible in the temple and I received revelation like I never have before. Oh how I long to be in the temple again...but I know there will be time for that after my mission. It was beautiful to be reminded of the sacred covenants I have made with my loving Heavenly Father.

Hermana Soto is the love of my life and she took us to not only the temple but CAFE RIO!

Isn't the Redlands Temple just stunning? 

My cutie comp let me steal her dress for the day and it was an honor to go to the temple with her. Not only are we doing work for the people that are living, but dead as well. What an honor to work together on both sides of the veil.

Christ is My Redeemer - Week Three

So, we got to go to the temple again today!!! I love the Mexico City temple, it is so beautiful!!!!! I was a wonderful experience both times. However, today I did the whole session in Spanish. It was way cool because the name I was doing was a woman from Mexico, so it was really neat to make those covenants for her in her own language, you know?

I had a wonderful surprise this week!!! I got Krispy Kreme this week, twice, on the same day! Mom and Dad sent me a box and my best friend Tori, who clearly rocks, sent me some too. I actually cried when I picked the two up because I felt so loved!!

This week FLEW by!!! I am already halfway done here at the CCM!!! This email is going to be super short, and I'm sorry for that. I will make up for it with pictures.  

My favorite day this week was Sunday. It was the best Sunday of my entire life of Sundays. This is because the whole day was centered around Christ. The lesson my comp and I gave, the Relief society lesson, David A Bednar's The Character of Christ, and the devotional from my mission president. I wish I could just share everything that I learned and felt, but I just don't have alot of time today since we spent six hours of the day for the temple. Just know that I love my Savior with all my heart. And that's what I came here to do: invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo. 

Love y'all.

-- 

Sister Tonini

California Riverside Mission

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