The Itsy Bitsy Spider Went Up On Our Ceiling

Hey everyone!

Well this was another week full of ups and downs and also some excitement! Monday was interesting mainly for one reason. We were on our way to do some shopping and we turned a corner to see this old guy in one of those animal shirts (like the face of the lion was plastered on the front of it). Elder Flora had just remarked on the guy's shirt when BAM! He busted a move right there!! It was so awesome haha!! That night we went and painted a ladies house so she can get ready to move.

Tuesday we had to go update our Area Book app and that took forever! We also got a referral from the Sisters but he is going to Africa soon.. We did have a great lesson with John and Paul about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went very well! They really enjoyed it and are trying to get to church!

Wednesday we volunteered at the food bank and Elder Flora accidentally took the key that they gave him to put food upstairs haha! We took it back of course. We did splits that night with the Teachers (14-15 year-old young men from Church) and I tried to see some potentials and we saw a less active. They asked me a lot of questions about missionary work. It was good to see these two Teachers wanting to know how to be better prepared for a mission. On the flip side, Elder Flora and the Teachers he was with got yelled at by an old lady who then chased them down the street trying to to tell them what soliciting is hah!

Thursday we tracted into an 87 year old lady who might be coming to church with us in a few weeks so that was pretty cool. We also put in a dog door for Robin and his family. We had some appointments set up but they fell through...

Friday was very interesting. We had a great ZTM and President Russell established some high goals for us but we can do it! We exchanged with Spanish and I went with Elder Johnson to the Spanish area. We tried to see a lot of people but no one was home. We had dinner with a recently returned missionary and it was good! It was at a Hawaiian BBQ place. After, we talked to a lady who was pretty open to us and we had a good talk with her. She said that the Mormon missionaries are some of the nicest strangers she ever meets! We had some interesting events happen... Right outside the apartment! We had beer offered to us by some drunk guys and then this drunk girl later on tried to get us to go party with her (we OBVIOUSLY said no) We basically barricaded ourselves in the apartment at the end of the night!

Saturday I stayed with Elder Johnson because the Spanish and Philomath Elders had dinner together and we were trying to save up on miles. We taught an internigator (someone who has been investigating the church for a long time) and I did pretty much nothing haha. We tried seeing some more people but no one was home so we headed out to Philomath. After exchanging back, we helped Robin with his talk and did some street contacting.

Sunday we went to church and then taught RJ the Word of Wisdom. After, I went to a wedding!! Haha Elder Flora was asked to be the photographer (it was a recent convert's "daughter" from Vietnam) so he took pictures and I ate cake. We tried seeing Stan but, like everyone else, he wasn't home. We got rained on on our way back so that was fun... We also caught either a wolf spider or brown recluse that was chilling on our ceiling! We let it go in the dumpster (it looked like it was gonna pop with babies!).

I love you all. I'm grateful for the lessons you directly or indirectly taught me over the years. I am so grateful for your support and I hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Elder Tonini