Dia de la Accion de Gracias

Well, Thanksgiving was a success! It started with football in the morning with two other zones. Our zone, the Corona Kings, KILLED IT OUT THERE. Then we had Thanksgiving dinner with the Familia Ga*** and our Spanish Elders in our ward. To answer your question Dad, we ate birria instead of pavo. Some Hispanics do turkey, others tamales, and in our case, whatever they wanted :) We went out and taught them how to play futbol americano and we even played a little baseball with a plastic bat.

So, last week we invited to Diana to think/pray about when she wants to go to the temple and when we followed up yesterday she told us the 9th of December! Ha, she won't even have her membership record in time for that, but we think we will be able to do December 16th!!! We love the fire in this family. The Familia Ga*** is going to invite a non-member over for a family home evening in a couple of weeks after we do a FHE role play with them next Monday, so we are pretty impressed. MEMBERS won't even do that most of the time. Daniel LOVES the Book of Mormon. He always has questions, and when anyone mentions the iron rod or something that he has a read about he gets SUPER EXCITED.

Well, I love y'all.

#birthdaybaptism

WOW WOW WOW, WHAT A WEEK!!!!!

First of all, Elder Keetch came and did a mission tour, which was AWESOME! I want to share all of my insights and thoughts about what he shared, but then it ended up into my own little general conference talk and I don't have time for that. I will share one little story though:

Elder and Sister Keetch went up to Northern California after all of the fires and they said that there was nothing left of some homes.....just ashes. However, they found a small pot that had survived the flames that was just sitting in the middle of ashes. Why had the pot survived when everything inside the house disintegrated? Because pottery goes through the kiln, it has already been through the heat so therefore it was able to withstand the raging flames when they came. The refiner's fire, this kiln, not only shapes us into something beautiful but it PREPARES us for bigger flames to come.

"For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." 2 Nephi 20:10

So there's my spiritual nugget for the week. My birthday was AWESOME!! We did four hours of service in the morning and the Ga*** kids were baptized! It was an incredible baptism service.....I felt the Spirit stronger than I ever had at a baptism. We were able to do a musical number at the end with the parents and we sang "Mas cerca, dios, de ti" and there were very few dry eyes in the room. I love this family SO MUCH. I told them the other day that I am planning on coming back when Diana gets married and sealed in the temple and when Daniel leaves for his mission. (He said he wants to serve in Mexico (': )

Oh how I love this work. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world than here.

Three Geneations

Diana and Daniel

Big 20

I hit ten months, what is going on?

The Bittersweet Lagrimas

Ummm....Uh......I don't even know what happened this week. Honestly, the highlight had to have been the Primary program. This little girl sang a solo of the "When I am baptized"  and got emotional in the middle of it and I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. SO GOOD. Plus, we had the most attendance our ward has had in THREE years with a solid 140. It's incredible because last year they were averaging in the seventies for attendance. The ward is growing and strengthening and it's incredible to be a part of it.

Update on the Familia Ga***....we had a really tough lesson this week. [edited for privacy] That was the most heartbreaking moment of my whole mission. I have never loved a family more than I love the Familia Ga*** and at the same time I have never working with someone SO elect and prepared with a stronger desire to be baptized. I cried. I cried a whole darn lot. Then what got me even more was when the hermano told me, "Even if I'm never baptized in your church I am dying in your church. I know that this is the true church."

Words couldn't even describe that moment.....sitting on their couch in tears and hearing those words. Conversion is such a beautiful gift. While I am devastated that it may take months or years until they are baptized, I know that nothing will keep them from the fruit they have tasted. I know that miracles will happen and that he and his wife will eventually be baptized and then sealed together for time and all eternity. And I can't wait to be supporting them through each and every step and trial.

Also, there is like a 70% chance that their kids will be baptized this Saturday!!! So we may still be having a #baptismbirthday. Tune in next week to see what will happen with the Familia Ga***! Here's a picture of us from the Halloween activity because it's the only one we have with them :)

Also, for those of you who don't know, Corona was on my bucket list of places to serve in the mission because a) it's as close to Corina as you can get and b) corona means crown soooooooooooooo what more could you want? So of course I had to snag a picture with something that said Corona.

Bonus Pictures

Please enjoy a victory by Hermana Tonini with our loot from Cici's Pizza and our zone in matching tshirts.

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

General Conference Sessions Consolidated

In a message sent to Church leadership and to be read in worship services throughout the world, the Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced changes for future general conferences.

The letter states that "beginning in April 2018, the general women's session will no longer be held on the Saturday preceding the other sessions of general conference. Rather, the general priesthood and general women's sessions will each be held annually, with the general priesthood session being in April and the general women's session being in October." It continues, "These meetings will originate from the Conference Center on Saturday evening following the morning and afternoon sessions of the conference."

According to the letter, consolidating general conference sessions into one weekend furthers Church efforts "of reducing and simplifying the work of the Church and the demands made upon leaders and members."

From MormonNewsRoom.org