Hey all!
So yeah this week was a decent week. We didn't have too many lessons
unfortunately but we have a lot of good potential for the following
week! You ready? Leggo!
Monday after emailing we did our usual grocery shopping and playing
basketball at the stake center. We didn't do much that evening because
of the late dinner we had with a family in the ward! The other Elders
had taken the car to go run some errands and it took longer than
expected so we were a couple minutes late. The greatest thing about
Monday was I came home and I saw two packages on our doorstep! It was
a box from Aunt Sheryl and a box of cookies from Mom and Dad! And I
got a letter from Grandma! So it was a pretty great day!
Tuesday we had our normal studies before heading down to Santa Clara
for our zone training meeting and specialized training with President
and Sister Russell and the AP's. Before the ZTM, Elder Cook and I
ordered some new nametags and then we went to Goodyear for an oil
change and tire rotation. At the ZTM, we had a couple of lessons from
the zone leaders and Sister training leaders before hearing from Elder
Argyle and Sister Russell. I really enjoyed the message the zone
leaders shared with us about building a celestial area and how we as
missionaries can do that. We then heard from President Russell and he
went into so much depth about the Plan of Salvation that my head
almost exploded. It was insanely awesome! He also challenged us to
stretch ourselves and set a new standards of excellence for the
mission. Elder Bassett and Enman did an exchange with the Santa Clara
3rd ward elders and Elder Fernilius. We had an appointment set up with
Charlotte but she canceled so we tried to see people to end our night.
Wednesday after studies we set out for the church to work on a
Facebook post for both of us. On our way to the church, we found a
drainage ditch that had some water in it that Elder Cook eventually
used as part of his post about sin and the Atonement. As we were
taking pictures, we had more flyovers by military jets! It has been
crazy how many planes we have had flying over the past couple of
weeks. After we did our posts, we saw Bob and Margret and Elder Cook
and I had the opportunity to bear our testimonies of the Savior. We
walked back to our apartment and got changed for Camp Alpine. Elder
Cook and I threw wood onto a trailer and stacked some wood in a wood
shed. There might be a time lapse video included later! We had dinner
with the senior couples and we learned about how the temples used to
work back in the day, like how you had to get a temple recommend for
EACH temple and such! It was pretty enlightening!
Thursday we had weekly planning in the morning and spent our afternoon
trying to see some potentials before we headed up to Gle***.
Gle*** took a lot longer than expected because they had their
monthly meeting that took FOREVER so we were only there helping for
less than 30 minutes. We didn't have much going on for us that day...
a lot of appointments fell through...again.
Friday we had a great day of going through our potential and formers
list planned out.... annnnddd it didn't happen. We went to the church
to plot out where people lived and we realized several things while we
were doing this;
1. Multiple people live 30 minutes or more away from us
2. A couple of addresses were bad
3. The map function on our AreaBook app can't plot addresses very well
So because of the three reasons above, we didn't do much finding. We
helped out Brother Thor*** at the church for a little bit and super
glued Elder Cooks shoes back together (his dad is sending him a new
pair; his sole on one shoe isn't connected to the rest of the shoe).
After dinner, the other Elders picked us up with sad looks on their
faces. Upon inquiry, they told us Roscoe had received anti-Mormon
stuff from a friend of his... The good news is that it just made him
more determined to come closer to Heavenly Father so that's awesome.
Saturday we got dressed in service clothes in anticipation of a move
that was happening at 9 a.m. We showed up at 9 and, along with 15 Boy
Scouts and other members, got the whole truck unloaded by 9:20. The
heaviest items they had were the washer and drier (no pianos!). We
went to the church to help clean but it was decided by the members to
do a quick clean of the building since we had stake conference over
the weekend. The four of us then decided to take some time and scrape
moss off the concrete near the Relief Society room. Elder Cook and I
finally got to see Dotti around lunchtime! After lunch we got dressed
and freshened up for the pre-adult session social that was happening
at the Danebo building. We had a great adult session of stake
conference! President Todd Knapp
talked about the stake's focus on missionary work and what more can we
do to become like Christ. The other members of the stake presidency
gave excellent presentations (just like Dad will this coming weekend
if I am correct!). It's been an awesome experience not being
distracted by cell phones or social media at church meetings because I
stay awake and am more attentive!
Sunday we were on the road at 8:30 with Brother Thor*** so he could
help with the parking. To save miles and to get a good parking spot,
we left the car at the stake center overnight when we showed up for
the adult session. The session started at 10 and it was pretty
awesome! We heard from President Knapp and had a musical number before
turning the lights off for a broadcast from Salt Lake City. Elder KentF. Richards, Sister Jean A. Stevens, Elder Neil L. Anderson, and
President Thomas S. Monson all spoke. They all shared things I know I needed to
hear! The coolest talk (all the talks were amazing; I am talking about
the coolest talk) was from Elder Anderson. He spent a couple of
minutes talking about the World Series and Jeremy Guthrie, a pitcher
for the Kansas City Royals who pitched in Games 3 and 7. Before Game 7
of the World Series, Guthrie shared his experience as a missionary for
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Pretty awesome. In
fact, he is an Oregonian native and his parents live in Ashland! After
stake conference, we had a late lunch with the Ga***'s, who also
invited Roscoe over for the meal. We watched "On the Lord's Errand"
with them before our lesson with Charlotte. We also saw the Goo***
and Brother Thor*** to end the night.
I am so grateful for this gospel. It is an amazing feeling to be
serving a mission right now. Yes I get doors slammed in my face. Yes I
spend hours walking around. However, despite all the negatives, I get
to testify of my Savior Jesus Christ on a daily basis and strengthen
my testimony of the Book of Mormon and also the divine call of
President Monson and the other General Authorities. I cannot believe
that I am almost done with my fourth transfer and will hit my six month
mark on the 21st of November! It is going by so fast. I am so grateful
for the time I have to serve a mission and I hope I make the most of
it!
I love y'all! Have a great week!
Elder Tonini
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