Wait... I'm a district leader now?!

Howdy howdy!

Well this has been an interesting week!

Monday was P-Day! We were out the door to go email at 10 because of a zone activity that was happening at noon. When we arrived at the Jacksonville's Bishop's house, you could smell the food out in the yard! It was some good stuff! Afterwards we played fishbowl and I think and we won (I think because the scorekeeper and time keeper were on our side!). We went and did our shopping and hung out the rest of the day until dinner time with our ward mission leader. It was super fun being over at Brother Thur***'s house. They have some awesome kids!

Tuesday found Elder Galloway and I waking up at 5 in order for him to get ready to go to MLC with the Zone Leaders and Elder Johanson, the other district leader in Central Point 1st Ward. We have three district leaders in our zone but the third one is going home tomorrow so he didn't have to go! I spent the day with Elder Sorenson in his area because they had a ton of lessons set up so we were over there doing work! When we left the apartment for the day, we walked over to McDonald's to sync and get some stuff downloaded on Gospel Library. While we were outside waiting to connect to the WiFi, a lady opened the door and asked us to come speak to her husband about joining the Church. We talked to this couple from Jacksonville for a little while and while the husband wasn't very talkative, we were able to set up a service project for the zone leaders (they cover Jacksonville) and tell them about who their missionaries are in their area. It was super cool to be able to be in the right spot at the right time! However, because we got talking with this lady and her husband (not like that's a bad thing), we were running late for a lesson with a guy named Robert on the other side of town. We decided to stop and pray for a miracle ride and I felt like I should call the Stam***. Brother Stam*** was walking into his house when his wife answered our phone call and he came to the rescue! Although we were cramped in his two-seater truck, we were grateful nevertheless for the ride. We showed up to Robert's house and I saw a cross on his house and around his neck when he opened the door and although I tried to hold back my thoughts that he was going to try to prove us wrong via the Bible, my thoughts became reality. It was a very interesting discussion to say the least. It felt as though he was contradicting himself on how we need faith and works and also how the Godhead operates. He really knew his scriptures well and he also knew a lot of Mormon terminology, which was strange to me! He pretty much had the kingdoms of glory learned and also called the work in the temple "temple work". Anyways, he was a very energetic reborn Christian and although he denied that he wasn't burying his head in the sand like an ostrich and not listening to what we had to say, he pretty much was doing just that! He tried to shut down our testimonies and didn't pay a lot of attention to a clip we shared of Elder Holland's talk "The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent" (which would've probably cleared up somethings for him). The good thing is that it never really became confrontational and we left with an understanding of one another. He said he would read the Book of Mormon and we said that we would read the chapters he wanted us to read so we both received commitments haha! After the lesson with Robert, we stopped by a less active before taking lunch. We went and tried to see a couple of people but they were not home so we decided to see one more person before dinner and that came in the form of Dave, an 84 year old man whose wife died two months previous. He was struggling when we showed up on his doorstep and we decided to make a list of blessings in his life and help him see that despite his hardships the Lord was still blessing him. Dinner was pretty awesome! The Edwards took us to a Mexican restaurant and I found out they are HUGE Cardinal fans! I haven't met a lot of people out here who like baseball haha! After dinner we tried seeing another less active right as the zone leaders pulled up with our companions in the back seat. They told us some of the announcements from MLC and who the new AP was and then the ZL's dropped Elder Galloway and I off at the apartment to end the night.

Holy cow that was a busy day!

Wednesday was pretty slow. We didn't have anything planned for the morning and I wanted to tidy up the apartment a little bit to try to help bring in the Spirit more so that is exactly what I did. I've really learned the importance of a clean home on my mission haha! We tried seeing a couple of people in the morning but no one answered so Elder Galloway mailed off a package so he wasn't hauling a ton of stuff during transfers. After lunch we tried seeing a less active brother named Joe but he said he thinks he got ringworm from his cat! Yeah, not going to be seeing him until he gets that taken care of haha! I then proceeded to break a shoelace and when we found out Gold Hill was in town we asked them to take us to Walmart so I could get some shoelaces. I love having two pairs of shoes haha! I would've been in trouble if I didn't have an extra pair! We tried to see people the rest of the day and the night but we had no success.

Thursday was pretty good. I had a great personal study so that started off my day on a positive note. We weekly planned for Week 1 of the next transfer and I just thought to myself, "Holy cow this transfer flew by!". After lunch we headed over and saw Jay H. and shared a message with him. He is an interesting character to say the least haha! We went over to Dana's house and we watched the "Scriptures Legacy" video with him. It is a great video and although it is a little lengthy, it is a good one to watch! That took us up to dinner and since we were on the other side of town from where our dinner was, we asked Brother Sever*** for a ride. He shows up with his mini van and kids in tow! Haha it was like being in the car when I was a little kid! Anyways, after dinner one of the members texted us and asked us if we wanted Blizzards and we said sure! He also asked if we wanted any food and since we had had soup and I was still pretty hungry, I asked for chicken tenders haha! We have some awesome members in this ward! We walked on over to correlation and for the first time since I have been here, the sisters beat us there! We had a pretty good correlation meeting and we discussed a lot about the Central Point 2nd Ward mission plan. I also found out that the ward chorister wants the ward missionaries and full time missionaries to sing a song on the 15th! When Brother Stam*** heard that we were singing he started telling everyone that I can sing! Haha that was news to me! I was sitting next to him during stake conference and I was singing the alternate chorus and apparently he thought I was pretty good at it haha!!! It was pretty funny listening to him boast about my non-existent singing skills!

Friday we had zone training meeting morning at nine in the morning. From the time we woke up to when we got to the stake center, it was just pouring like crazy! About time I saw a storm like this in Oregon haha! We had a pretty good ZTM! We had a ton of announcements, from Elder Brent H. Nielsen (if I remember correctly) coming at the end of this month to the temple trip we will be having in March. We did a ton of role plays to help us become better acquainted with doing several different kinds of door approaches and OYM approaches so that was fun. We grabbed lunch and then we tried visiting some of our shut-in, less active people but because I am still overcoming my cold from last week we weren't able to see most of them and then some of the other people just weren't available. We had dinner set up with Sister Par** and the Pea*** so Elder and Sister Pea*** picked us up and took us to dinner. When I walked into the kitchen and I saw birthday balloons and Sister Par** tells me that we are going to celebrate my birthday! I wish I had the pictures but I had a straw hat on holding a tambourine (I think) and a scepter. After she was done taking pictures, she told me to close my eyes for a surprise. I did as she asked and when I opened my eyes I saw Sister Christine Martin

standing right next to me! She had flown in to help Sister Par** out with something and they threw me a birthday party! Oh it was so awesome reconnecting and talking to her about Houston! There was a ton of food and I got a ton of candy for presents haha! It was something that I was totally not expecting and it was super awesome. What happened after that was something else I wasn't expecting!! President Russell called Elder Galloway and I and told us that he needed to speak to both of us. He told Elder Galloway he was being transferred to Grant's Pass in the Beacon Hill Ward as a district leader and then he told me that I was to be district leader and take over for Elder Galloway! Holy smokes that was a shocker! It kept me up for a good chunk of the night haha!

Saturday we received a text asking us if we could help with a move and we said yes. Brother Sum*** came and got us around 9 and we headed off towards the storage unit. The sister that we were helping move in had gone on a family history mission in Salt Lake City but had to come home because of a broken foot. She had a ton of stuff for one lady! When I walked into the storage unit, I noticed all the rat poop and I overheard one of the brethren say that she had stored some food in there, making it a target for a rat. Well sure enough as we got towards the back of the unit, a rat popped out and ran over someones foot before hiding again. Not even five minutes later, we had it cornered only for it to escape and crawl up Brother Hu***'s leg! He managed to kick it off and Brother Froeh*** landed some kicks on it before it tried to hobble away. He followed it and killed it. While we resumed packing up Sister Green***'s possessions, a man came over and asked if we could help him load up a U-Haul. Elder Galloway and I were one of the first ones over there and we saw that they had two of the bigger units in the facility and they were jammed pack with stuff! We could only help them with the unit that had a ton of boxes in it because the other one looked like a total mess. After helping them with that one unit, Elder Galloway and I went with Brother Sum*** over to sister Green***'s apartment to help move her in. It was a pretty good move! Brother Sum*** dropped us off and we got dressed in our proselyting clothes before the Gold Hill Elders came and got us so we could go get our supply orders. When we got there, the zone leaders told us about what was happening with transfers. In my first-ever district, I will have a sister training leader, a missionary who is brand new from the MTC, a elder going home, and a former zone leader as my companion. This will really be interesting! We decided to go grab a quick bite to eat at McDonald's and it was pretty inspired because Jay P. was eating there as well! We haven't been able to see him since January 1st I think! As it turns out, he is still actively reading the Book of Mormon and has just been super busy! He even found a leather bound triple combination at Goodwill for a few bucks and was reading that when we showed up! We found out that we are not able to meet in the complex that he is living in but he is good for meeting at the church so that is what we are going to do! We went and saw Adam and share a message about the Atonement with him so that was awesome.

Sunday we didn't have ward council so we showed up to the church at normal time. When we got there, I started getting a headache and it just got worse and worse throughout the sacrament and then trough gospel principles. I mentioned to the gospel principles teacher and she went into the Relief Society room and within two minutes got me the medicines I needed to keep back the headache! I love this ward so dang much! They take care of the missionaries really well! We did have a lesson planned with Spencer and Angelo but Spencer was visiting family so we were not able to meet with them. We spent pretty much of the day at the apartment, allowing Elder Galloway time to pack and then we went out and he said good bye to some of the families in the ward. We had dinner with one of the Idia*** families and we had skookies! There will be a picture included! It is basically a giant cookie with ice cream on top.

Thank y'all for everything that you do for me! Thanks for keeping me in your prayers. As I embark on this journey as a district leader, I will definitely need those prayers! I know this Church is true! There is no doubt!

I love y'all! Have a great week!

Elder Tonini
“Do your duty, that is best. Leave unto the Lord the rest.”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow