Monday, March 30, 2015
Just another week in Central Point
Well folks, I am serving in the Central Point 2nd ward for a fourth
transfer! Because of the transfer, I wasn't able to write as much
about it as I wanted to. I am super excited for this chance to be in
Central Point for almost six months. It is so crazy for me to look back
and realize that I have been a missionary for almost a year and I will
have lived in Central Point for almost half of it! On top of that, I
am also a district leader so that has been fun as well.
Well this week was a slower than usually but that is ok because it was spring break out here so hopefully things start to pick right back up! You ready for my week?
Monday was transfer day. The one good thing about staying for a long time in a area is you get to avoid packing up! We were at the transfer spot around 11:30 and I got to see some old missionary friends and picked up Elder Seymour. He is from Tucson, Arizona and I served around him when I was serving in Philomath. He is a goofy kid! Anyways, we dropped off his stuff and went grocery shopping before heading over to the church to email and play some basketball. Brother Hea*** picked us up for dinner and then afterwards drove us to Brother Thur***'s home so he could meet Elder Seymour. He took us to see Bishop but Bishop had gone to get some frozen yogurt with his kids (which is ok because I was the son of a bishop and it was always awesome when we got a chance to hang out!). So Brother Thur*** took us back home and Elder Seymour unpacked for a little bit. We then headed out to teach the Couvre***'s about family mission plans. It was great being able to be in their home and answer the kid's questions about missionary work or even our life back home.
Tuesday we headed over to the temple in hopes of helping out on the grounds but it was too wet for us to be effective so we signed up for a JustServe project and did some other stuff on the iPads before heading back to the apartment. We finished up lunch and headed over to Don's home. We had an interesting lesson with him. He had a ton of questions, some doctrinal and some historical but we were able to answer them and teach him about modern day prophets and the significance of the Book of Mormon. His only hold back is the limited archeological evidences we have. So we will continue to press forward with him and see what happens! When we finished up there, we were walking back towards the main part of town to contact people but we got a text from Bishop asking us to visit Dana and to get to the local hospital to give a sister in our ward a blessing. Seeing Dana was the easy part. Getting into Medford without a car was a bit tougher. Thankfully, Brother Reitt*** was able to take us there in his truck and we were able to administer to her. When we had finished up there, Brother Reitt*** took us home and we got a ride to dinner. We came back and walked over to the Cro***'s to share a Easter message with them.
Wednesday found me at the stake center doing district leader training with the zone leaders and the two new DL's. This was the funnest one I have been to! We played Jeopardy and just had a ton of fun while learning how to be better district leaders. We grabbed lunch before changing into service clothes for a service project with Elder Pease. A widow's yard had gotten out of control because her lawn mower broke and so Elder Pease fixed it up and we worked on her lawn for a few hours. She had a really big lawn! I spent most of my time weed whacking and trimming bushes. The funniest part was when Elder Pease got his truck stuck in the mud and Elder Seymour tried to help get the truck out and he got covered in mud. We got cleaned up and went to our dinner appointment. After dinner we went to the church and met with Bishop before going through our ward list and figuring the people I didn't know!
Thursday we had weekly planning in the morning and figured how next week was going to go for us. Elder Seymour ate some frozen pretzels that were pretty out of date so he wasn't feeling too good. He was able to get out of the apartment though and we walked over to Central Point East to talk to the members out there. We ended up talking to the John*** for a while. They are a great couple and he had a sick trike! I'll attach pictures! We talked to a couple other members before going back to our main area for dinner. The Couvre*** fed us tacos and then took us to correlation. Brother Sta*** wasn't home so we talked to the Huef***'s and they got their mission call to the Texas Houston Mission as CES specialists! We had ward correlation to finish up the night.
Friday we had good 'ol district meeting in the morning. It went ok, it was just super interesting with having new people in it. When district meeting was over, I went on exchanges with Elder Best and we went to go help Elder Christensen, our housing coordinator, move some people. When we got there though he didn't need our help. However, I got to see Elder West! The Spanish elders dropped us off at Taco Bell and we walked home to grab my stuff. On the way, some people in car made a dumb joke about Mormons and tweakers. It was so dumb it made me laugh! We walked over to Central Point East and shared the new Easter video with Mike and Kenny. We walked back over and headed to the church so Elder Best could meet the members of his ward at their ward party. After we hung out there a bit, we headed to dinner. When we left, I got my hands on a piece of granite from the same quarry that the SLC temple was built out of. I have since forgotten what we did haha! Maybe I will figure it out:)
Saturday we did a food drive at the church and we were there for a while! We tried seeing some people but nothing happened. We were able to talk to Adam but that is about it. We did get Hawaiian hut so that was good!
Sunday was the same story. People are out on spring break and we got ditched for a dog training class so that stunk.
I love y'all so much! Have a great week! This church is true!
Love y'all!
Elder Tonini
Well this week was a slower than usually but that is ok because it was spring break out here so hopefully things start to pick right back up! You ready for my week?
Monday was transfer day. The one good thing about staying for a long time in a area is you get to avoid packing up! We were at the transfer spot around 11:30 and I got to see some old missionary friends and picked up Elder Seymour. He is from Tucson, Arizona and I served around him when I was serving in Philomath. He is a goofy kid! Anyways, we dropped off his stuff and went grocery shopping before heading over to the church to email and play some basketball. Brother Hea*** picked us up for dinner and then afterwards drove us to Brother Thur***'s home so he could meet Elder Seymour. He took us to see Bishop but Bishop had gone to get some frozen yogurt with his kids (which is ok because I was the son of a bishop and it was always awesome when we got a chance to hang out!). So Brother Thur*** took us back home and Elder Seymour unpacked for a little bit. We then headed out to teach the Couvre***'s about family mission plans. It was great being able to be in their home and answer the kid's questions about missionary work or even our life back home.
Tuesday we headed over to the temple in hopes of helping out on the grounds but it was too wet for us to be effective so we signed up for a JustServe project and did some other stuff on the iPads before heading back to the apartment. We finished up lunch and headed over to Don's home. We had an interesting lesson with him. He had a ton of questions, some doctrinal and some historical but we were able to answer them and teach him about modern day prophets and the significance of the Book of Mormon. His only hold back is the limited archeological evidences we have. So we will continue to press forward with him and see what happens! When we finished up there, we were walking back towards the main part of town to contact people but we got a text from Bishop asking us to visit Dana and to get to the local hospital to give a sister in our ward a blessing. Seeing Dana was the easy part. Getting into Medford without a car was a bit tougher. Thankfully, Brother Reitt*** was able to take us there in his truck and we were able to administer to her. When we had finished up there, Brother Reitt*** took us home and we got a ride to dinner. We came back and walked over to the Cro***'s to share a Easter message with them.
Wednesday found me at the stake center doing district leader training with the zone leaders and the two new DL's. This was the funnest one I have been to! We played Jeopardy and just had a ton of fun while learning how to be better district leaders. We grabbed lunch before changing into service clothes for a service project with Elder Pease. A widow's yard had gotten out of control because her lawn mower broke and so Elder Pease fixed it up and we worked on her lawn for a few hours. She had a really big lawn! I spent most of my time weed whacking and trimming bushes. The funniest part was when Elder Pease got his truck stuck in the mud and Elder Seymour tried to help get the truck out and he got covered in mud. We got cleaned up and went to our dinner appointment. After dinner we went to the church and met with Bishop before going through our ward list and figuring the people I didn't know!
Thursday we had weekly planning in the morning and figured how next week was going to go for us. Elder Seymour ate some frozen pretzels that were pretty out of date so he wasn't feeling too good. He was able to get out of the apartment though and we walked over to Central Point East to talk to the members out there. We ended up talking to the John*** for a while. They are a great couple and he had a sick trike! I'll attach pictures! We talked to a couple other members before going back to our main area for dinner. The Couvre*** fed us tacos and then took us to correlation. Brother Sta*** wasn't home so we talked to the Huef***'s and they got their mission call to the Texas Houston Mission as CES specialists! We had ward correlation to finish up the night.
Friday we had good 'ol district meeting in the morning. It went ok, it was just super interesting with having new people in it. When district meeting was over, I went on exchanges with Elder Best and we went to go help Elder Christensen, our housing coordinator, move some people. When we got there though he didn't need our help. However, I got to see Elder West! The Spanish elders dropped us off at Taco Bell and we walked home to grab my stuff. On the way, some people in car made a dumb joke about Mormons and tweakers. It was so dumb it made me laugh! We walked over to Central Point East and shared the new Easter video with Mike and Kenny. We walked back over and headed to the church so Elder Best could meet the members of his ward at their ward party. After we hung out there a bit, we headed to dinner. When we left, I got my hands on a piece of granite from the same quarry that the SLC temple was built out of. I have since forgotten what we did haha! Maybe I will figure it out:)
Saturday we did a food drive at the church and we were there for a while! We tried seeing some people but nothing happened. We were able to talk to Adam but that is about it. We did get Hawaiian hut so that was good!
Sunday was the same story. People are out on spring break and we got ditched for a dog training class so that stunk.
I love y'all so much! Have a great week! This church is true!
Love y'all!
Elder Tonini
Monday, March 23, 2015
The Week that Everything Fell Apart
Hey everyone!
So Monday was definitely a little more exciting than we expected it to be! We were out the door around 9 to go to a zone breakfast that President Thompson, the Central Point Stake president, was hosting for us. We had an excellent breakfast and then he talked to us about Ebenezers and how it can help us. I really really liked what he said about how these Ebenezers are "a stone of help". When he finished talking to us about that, we played some volleyball! Oh man I have missed playing some good 'ol volleyball! I had some sick plays too!! We went grocery shopping soon afterwards and then played some basketball at the stake center. When we finished up with P-Day, we had dinner with the Thurman's. We had Thanksgiving in March! We had turkey, potatoes, stuffing, the whole shebang! It was super good! After dinner, we decided to go see a couple of people before getting an ankle brace for Elder Ellsworth. We were going to talk to a less active but we had the feeling that we shouldn't do it but continue on to Wal-greens instead. When we were walking there, a lady crying in a parked car asked us if we were the guys that had talked to her boyfriend a few days before. We recognized her as the girlfriend and we told her that we were the guys who had talked to her boyfriend. She told us that he is bipolar and he snapped so she ran away with the kids. We tried to help her as much as we could but we knew we couldn't get involved so we said a prayer with her and some advice. That was an interesting way to end P-Day.
Tuesday we were over at the temple shoveling dirt into wheelbarrows. The temple landscape people had dumped off all this dirt on a patch of road right next to the back gate and we moved it onto the grounds. When we finished up with that, Sister Clayson asked us if we wanted to plant the Japanese Thunderheads that we had dug the holes for. We gladly said yes and by the time we were finished and got home, it was about 1 o'clock! We had a tentative appointment with a Jehovah's Witness guy that ended up with us talking on his doorstep and talking differences between our church and his. I learned a lot about the Jehovah Witnesses from him! After we talked to him, we biked over to Sonic for half-off milkshakes for St. Patricks day! When we were done with that, we decided to go out and tract some apartment complexes around our apartment. We found a potential investigator but he was half asleep when we knocked on his door. He took a pamphlet and I think went back to bed haha. We paid the Sta*** a visit and they told us that one of the people we were going to try and see was dead so we went and grabbed a member's new address in this super expensive retirement home. While we were in there, we talked to a guy who said he knew all about the history of the Church. It turned out that he knows all the anti-Mormon history haha! It was interesting. We biked out to the Nada***'s for dinner and on our way back, Elder Ellsworth ended up behind me and noticed that my back brake was moving side to side! Turns out, I had two broken spokes somehow.... Luckily my tire didn't turn into a taco! We were able to see the Shi***'s and set up a family mission plan so that was good. However, we ended up having to walk our bikes home because of my tire!
Wednesday was weird haha. We tried getting my tire fixed first thing in the morning but the bike store closest to us was closed so we ended up mowing Sister Winter's lawn instead. It was a good way to take out my frustrations haha! After we had lunch, we had a lesson with Angelo and Spencer at the DeRura***'s home and that lesson went really well! We taught them the principle of the Sabbath Day and it went really well. When we finished up with that lesson, Brother Sta*** came and picked us up to go to the bike shop again to see if it was open. Thankfully it was and I was able to buy a new rim for my bike. We tried seeing a couple of people out in the boonies but nothing really happened with that. That was it for the day haha!
Thursday we had weekly planning in the morning but we took a break half way through and met up with Jay P at McDonald's. We shouldn't have done it though because he ended up dropping us... That really sucked. That just put a whole damper on the day haha. We biked out to Central Point East and tried to see some people but no one was around. We headed back to our area and tracted Crest and found a potential.
Other than that we have nothing else happen except for transfers! I am staying for my fourth transfer in central point! It'll be fun with Elder Seymour!
I love you all!
Elder Tonini
So Monday was definitely a little more exciting than we expected it to be! We were out the door around 9 to go to a zone breakfast that President Thompson, the Central Point Stake president, was hosting for us. We had an excellent breakfast and then he talked to us about Ebenezers and how it can help us. I really really liked what he said about how these Ebenezers are "a stone of help". When he finished talking to us about that, we played some volleyball! Oh man I have missed playing some good 'ol volleyball! I had some sick plays too!! We went grocery shopping soon afterwards and then played some basketball at the stake center. When we finished up with P-Day, we had dinner with the Thurman's. We had Thanksgiving in March! We had turkey, potatoes, stuffing, the whole shebang! It was super good! After dinner, we decided to go see a couple of people before getting an ankle brace for Elder Ellsworth. We were going to talk to a less active but we had the feeling that we shouldn't do it but continue on to Wal-greens instead. When we were walking there, a lady crying in a parked car asked us if we were the guys that had talked to her boyfriend a few days before. We recognized her as the girlfriend and we told her that we were the guys who had talked to her boyfriend. She told us that he is bipolar and he snapped so she ran away with the kids. We tried to help her as much as we could but we knew we couldn't get involved so we said a prayer with her and some advice. That was an interesting way to end P-Day.
Tuesday we were over at the temple shoveling dirt into wheelbarrows. The temple landscape people had dumped off all this dirt on a patch of road right next to the back gate and we moved it onto the grounds. When we finished up with that, Sister Clayson asked us if we wanted to plant the Japanese Thunderheads that we had dug the holes for. We gladly said yes and by the time we were finished and got home, it was about 1 o'clock! We had a tentative appointment with a Jehovah's Witness guy that ended up with us talking on his doorstep and talking differences between our church and his. I learned a lot about the Jehovah Witnesses from him! After we talked to him, we biked over to Sonic for half-off milkshakes for St. Patricks day! When we were done with that, we decided to go out and tract some apartment complexes around our apartment. We found a potential investigator but he was half asleep when we knocked on his door. He took a pamphlet and I think went back to bed haha. We paid the Sta*** a visit and they told us that one of the people we were going to try and see was dead so we went and grabbed a member's new address in this super expensive retirement home. While we were in there, we talked to a guy who said he knew all about the history of the Church. It turned out that he knows all the anti-Mormon history haha! It was interesting. We biked out to the Nada***'s for dinner and on our way back, Elder Ellsworth ended up behind me and noticed that my back brake was moving side to side! Turns out, I had two broken spokes somehow.... Luckily my tire didn't turn into a taco! We were able to see the Shi***'s and set up a family mission plan so that was good. However, we ended up having to walk our bikes home because of my tire!
Wednesday was weird haha. We tried getting my tire fixed first thing in the morning but the bike store closest to us was closed so we ended up mowing Sister Winter's lawn instead. It was a good way to take out my frustrations haha! After we had lunch, we had a lesson with Angelo and Spencer at the DeRura***'s home and that lesson went really well! We taught them the principle of the Sabbath Day and it went really well. When we finished up with that lesson, Brother Sta*** came and picked us up to go to the bike shop again to see if it was open. Thankfully it was and I was able to buy a new rim for my bike. We tried seeing a couple of people out in the boonies but nothing really happened with that. That was it for the day haha!
Thursday we had weekly planning in the morning but we took a break half way through and met up with Jay P at McDonald's. We shouldn't have done it though because he ended up dropping us... That really sucked. That just put a whole damper on the day haha. We biked out to Central Point East and tried to see some people but no one was around. We headed back to our area and tracted Crest and found a potential.
Other than that we have nothing else happen except for transfers! I am staying for my fourth transfer in central point! It'll be fun with Elder Seymour!
I love you all!
Elder Tonini
Monday, March 16, 2015
I Love To See the Temple
Hey everyone!
To spare all of you from me rambling on about how my week went, let's
just talk about it!
Monday was pretty good! We had a zone breakfast at a member's home before heading over to the mall. Thankfully I walked out of there with only a tie that I only spend 8 bucks on. We headed over to Ross and one of the Elders I was with got me a tie! I call it my Southern tie because it is red white and blue but it leans more towards the confederate flag haha. We had dinner with the Higgi***'s before talking about a family mission plan with the Sum***'s. We were able to share a message with the Cro***'s about how faith can overcome fear and it went really well.
Tuesday found us at the temple digging some big holes to plant some
trees. It was the biggest hole I have dug in my life haha! It was a
lot of fun. We almost busted a buried sprinkler head but luckily we
managed to avoid that. After lunch the Hagge***'s picked us up to do
some service over at their home. We took out a couple of posts and
built a garden box for them! We got back and got cleaned up before
tracting a couple of doors. We found a potential investigator for the
sisters so that was sweet. On our way to dinner, this guy came up to
us and asked us if we were from Utah. When Elder Ellsworth told Ethan
that he was, Ethan asked a random lady to take a picture of us and
took us back to his house! It was pretty sweet! However, it was making
us late for dinner haha! We got a call from the Gor***'s and they
informed us that the members we were supposed to have dinner with that
night couldn't do it because their grill almost blew up! The Gor***'s
offered to take us out and we went to Hawaiian Hut and it was super
good! We talked about a family mission plan with the Stebb*** and
contacted a few people about family mission plans.
Wednesday we walked out to Central Point East to try and contact a less active but he was dead asleep so we went back to the apartment and took lunch. We got a church key from the sisters for our lesson with Angelo and Spencer only for him to call and cancel the appointment.... So the member who was supposed to go with us to the lesson took us up to Old Military road and we contacted a sweet old lady named Carolyn. On our way down the hill, a member from Central Point 1st Ward stopped and took us to the member who was feeding us that night. This is the same member whose grill almost blew up! They took us out to eat instead of cooking haha. We then had them drop us off for a lesson with a less active named Alisha. She is super nice but at a crossroads with her job and such so it is difficult for her to get to church. We had a pretty solid lesson with her and her non-member husband. After the lesson we updated our lessons and synced our iPads to finish the night. While we were planning, the Sta*** called and told us thank you for the gifts us and the sister's left for them! They do a ton for us so we decided to get them a gift! It made me warm inside:)
Thursday was pretty good. We had weekly planning in the morning for
the last week of the transfer. During planning, Jay P. called and told
us he had to cancel our lesson for that afternoon. However, he was
still able to read so that is awesome! We contacted a less active
named Bobby and he is a super nice guy! Hopefully we will be able to
help him in anyway that we can! Brother Sta*** picked us up and took
us to the temple for our temple trip! I love going to the temple but I
learned a lot from this session. We grabbed a bite to eat before doing
a family home evening with the Harn***'. We had correlation that night
and the Sisters informed me that their car got broken into. Among the
things stolen was the GPS I let them borrow for a week.... bummer. At
least they are ok though!
Friday we had district meeting and it went really well despite me only
having one day to plan. We had some great role plays and there was a
lot of great discussions! After district meeting I went on exchanges
with Elder Madsen. We tried contacting a couple of people but no one
was around except for a guy named Scott. We shared a lesson on faith
with him and he liked it. Elder Madsen and I had some time to talk
while we were walking around and it is so weird that he is going home
in a week. He was in my first zone and now he is going home to South
Jordan! We grabbed dinner at this awesome burger joint in Gold Hill
before going to the silent auction that the Gold Hill Ward was
throwing. While we were there, the Sisters found us and asked me about
the GPS because they were filling out the police report. We headed
back into Gold Hill and taught a less active family. At the end of the
lesson, the grandson started crying and I couldn't understand why
until I saw the wasp come out from underneath him! He got stung by the
wasp while in a chair! That was a crazy way to the end the night.
Saturday we headed over to St. Vinny's to do the soup kitchen. It was a ton of fun and I saw a ton of interesting people! The Central Point 1st Ward Elders were there as were the sisters and we had a great time. Afterwards we exchanged back and Elder Ellsworth and I biked over to the more northern part of our area to contact some less actives out there. We had some success but got shut down pretty bad by one lady haha. We finished up out there and came back into town to teach Adam more about the Atonement. It went really well and we cleared up some concerns that he had so that was good. We taught a man named Brandon the first lesson and it went super well! He is looking to get baptized into a church and wants to learn more about what we believe in! I am super stoked to see what happens!
We had a great church meeting on Sunday but none of our investigators came. We hitched a ride from the Stamps back to our apartment and then after lunch we contacted some members near our apartment. Brother Sta*** came back and got us around 3 to contact people up on Old Stage. He took us around to the Tolo road area and when we found this one less-active member's house, he recognized it as a home that was also a pot farm! That could've been a fun experience! We saw a non-member whose wife was a member and we talked with him for a few minutes. He was a super nice guy and I would put his name if I knew how to spell it. He is from the Middle East so that would explain it! After talking to the non-member, we got back to our apartment and contacted people before dinner. We had a great lesson right after dinner with Brad about the Holy Ghost and we read 3 Nephi 11 with him. When we wrapped up there, we took off for a priesthood meeting that was super good! It was a good way to end the week!
I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and your love! Have a great week!
This church is true! There is no doubt!
Love y'all!
Elder Tonini
Monday was pretty good! We had a zone breakfast at a member's home before heading over to the mall. Thankfully I walked out of there with only a tie that I only spend 8 bucks on. We headed over to Ross and one of the Elders I was with got me a tie! I call it my Southern tie because it is red white and blue but it leans more towards the confederate flag haha. We had dinner with the Higgi***'s before talking about a family mission plan with the Sum***'s. We were able to share a message with the Cro***'s about how faith can overcome fear and it went really well.
Wednesday we walked out to Central Point East to try and contact a less active but he was dead asleep so we went back to the apartment and took lunch. We got a church key from the sisters for our lesson with Angelo and Spencer only for him to call and cancel the appointment.... So the member who was supposed to go with us to the lesson took us up to Old Military road and we contacted a sweet old lady named Carolyn. On our way down the hill, a member from Central Point 1st Ward stopped and took us to the member who was feeding us that night. This is the same member whose grill almost blew up! They took us out to eat instead of cooking haha. We then had them drop us off for a lesson with a less active named Alisha. She is super nice but at a crossroads with her job and such so it is difficult for her to get to church. We had a pretty solid lesson with her and her non-member husband. After the lesson we updated our lessons and synced our iPads to finish the night. While we were planning, the Sta*** called and told us thank you for the gifts us and the sister's left for them! They do a ton for us so we decided to get them a gift! It made me warm inside:)
 |
| An Amazing Burger! |
Saturday we headed over to St. Vinny's to do the soup kitchen. It was a ton of fun and I saw a ton of interesting people! The Central Point 1st Ward Elders were there as were the sisters and we had a great time. Afterwards we exchanged back and Elder Ellsworth and I biked over to the more northern part of our area to contact some less actives out there. We had some success but got shut down pretty bad by one lady haha. We finished up out there and came back into town to teach Adam more about the Atonement. It went really well and we cleared up some concerns that he had so that was good. We taught a man named Brandon the first lesson and it went super well! He is looking to get baptized into a church and wants to learn more about what we believe in! I am super stoked to see what happens!
We had a great church meeting on Sunday but none of our investigators came. We hitched a ride from the Stamps back to our apartment and then after lunch we contacted some members near our apartment. Brother Sta*** came back and got us around 3 to contact people up on Old Stage. He took us around to the Tolo road area and when we found this one less-active member's house, he recognized it as a home that was also a pot farm! That could've been a fun experience! We saw a non-member whose wife was a member and we talked with him for a few minutes. He was a super nice guy and I would put his name if I knew how to spell it. He is from the Middle East so that would explain it! After talking to the non-member, we got back to our apartment and contacted people before dinner. We had a great lesson right after dinner with Brad about the Holy Ghost and we read 3 Nephi 11 with him. When we wrapped up there, we took off for a priesthood meeting that was super good! It was a good way to end the week!
I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and your love! Have a great week!
This church is true! There is no doubt!
Love y'all!
Elder Tonini
Vehicle Damage
I hope this went out to parents of all missionaries in the Eugene Oregon mission and not just to us!
16 March 2015
Dear Brother and Sister Tonini,
Before your missionary entered the Oregon Eugene Mission (OEM), they were sent a form to read and sign which is part of the Church's driver certification process. This form is titled "My Commitment to Drive". Some items included in this form, and to which your missionary committed to do, was "Take care of their assigned vehicle, keep items off the roof, hood, and trunk, be careful when transporting luggage or bicycles, note any maintenance problems and report them as soon as possible."
We are having issues in the OEM with minor accidents going unreported such as scratches, dings and dents to our cars. We need to know of this damage as it occurs so that we can discuss how it happened while it is fresh in the missionaries mind and then we can implement policies to curtail this damage.
Mission vehicles are taken out of service at approximately 50,000 miles and prepared for sale. We are currently spending more than $2,000 on average per car to fix the scratches, dings and dents. We are keenly aware of our responsibility to use sacred tithing funds wisely (widow's mite principle). Spending tithing dollars on these repair costs reduces the money received from the sale which reduces the money the church has available to spend on purchasing new replacement cars.
In 2014, to encourage timely reporting of these incidents a new policy was introduced in the mission patterned after the model used by rental car companies. It is referred to as the "OEM Avis/Hertz Policy". The key points of this policy are:
Each quarter the vehicle coordinator, as part of zone conferences, inspects all the cars and records any damage found. The vehicle coordinator also keeps on file pictures that missionaries email when they report damage to their car. Even with all this, at the last zone conference inspection there were a number of cars that had unreported damage. Therefore, we find it necessary to strictly enforce the financial consequences of the "OEM Avis/Hertz Policy."
We hope that there would never be a need to require a missionary to pay for unreported damage and ask that you encourage your missionary to comply with this policy. By being more careful with the church's cars we will reduce the cost of repairing them for sale.
Sincerely Yours,
H. Jeffrey Russell (Mission President) Elder John Dixon (Vehicle Coordinator)
cc: Elder Tonini
16 March 2015
Dear Brother and Sister Tonini,
Before your missionary entered the Oregon Eugene Mission (OEM), they were sent a form to read and sign which is part of the Church's driver certification process. This form is titled "My Commitment to Drive". Some items included in this form, and to which your missionary committed to do, was "Take care of their assigned vehicle, keep items off the roof, hood, and trunk, be careful when transporting luggage or bicycles, note any maintenance problems and report them as soon as possible."
We are having issues in the OEM with minor accidents going unreported such as scratches, dings and dents to our cars. We need to know of this damage as it occurs so that we can discuss how it happened while it is fresh in the missionaries mind and then we can implement policies to curtail this damage.
Mission vehicles are taken out of service at approximately 50,000 miles and prepared for sale. We are currently spending more than $2,000 on average per car to fix the scratches, dings and dents. We are keenly aware of our responsibility to use sacred tithing funds wisely (widow's mite principle). Spending tithing dollars on these repair costs reduces the money received from the sale which reduces the money the church has available to spend on purchasing new replacement cars.
In 2014, to encourage timely reporting of these incidents a new policy was introduced in the mission patterned after the model used by rental car companies. It is referred to as the "OEM Avis/Hertz Policy". The key points of this policy are:
- Immediately, or as soon as it is noticed, report any scratches, dings or dents to the vehicle coordinator.
- Each time a missionary is assigned to different car they are to look over the car and discuss any deficiencies they find, such as scratches, dings or dents with the vehicle coordinator.
- If there are unreported deficiencies, the cost to repair the unreported scratches, dings, or dents will be shared equally with the companionship that previously used the car.
Each quarter the vehicle coordinator, as part of zone conferences, inspects all the cars and records any damage found. The vehicle coordinator also keeps on file pictures that missionaries email when they report damage to their car. Even with all this, at the last zone conference inspection there were a number of cars that had unreported damage. Therefore, we find it necessary to strictly enforce the financial consequences of the "OEM Avis/Hertz Policy."
We hope that there would never be a need to require a missionary to pay for unreported damage and ask that you encourage your missionary to comply with this policy. By being more careful with the church's cars we will reduce the cost of repairing them for sale.
Sincerely Yours,
H. Jeffrey Russell (Mission President) Elder John Dixon (Vehicle Coordinator)
cc: Elder Tonini
Monday, March 9, 2015
It's a hard knock life
So this week had some ups and downs. And when I say ups and downs, I mean biking up and down hills! But in all seriousness, it was kinda rough this week. We had some good lessons but a ton fell through.
On that note, letsago!
Monday was the usual P-Day stuff! Unfortunately everyone bailed so we couldn't play basketball. Elder Ellsworth and I happened to bring our mitts however so we got to go throw the ball around! I haven't been able to do that in a long time. Right before we had dinner, a recent convert texted us and told us that he wouldn't be able to meet with us that night so we tried talking to a couple of the members for a while. While doing so, we realized we were going to be very late for our next appointment! Luckily Brother Sta*** was home and he took us over to our next appointment with the Stan***'s. We had a great FHE with them and committed them to do a family mission plan.
Tuesday was pretty much an all service day. We were at the Sta***'s digging holes and planting plants along different sidewalks in the area. The Hagem***'s picked us up after we had finished with that service project and took us out to lunch before our service project with them. We threw hay into the back of their truck and unloaded it at their home. We got cleaned up and walked over to Central Point East to contact some people that we have on our ward roster. We were inspired to go knock on this lady's door and the lady who answered it wasn't the one we were looking for but we ended up talking to her for thirty minutes or so on her doorstep. She had just retired as a homicide detective and was going through a very rough time. It just broke my heart watching this poor woman going through so much pain. We tried to help her but she wasn't really listening to what we had to say. It was an interesting experience that is for sure. After dinner with the Nich***'s, we had a lesson with Braden. He was baptized a few months ago but wasn't taught the new member lessons so we are staring to do that with him. He is a super cool guy and has a pretty strong testimony! When we finished up with that lesson we headed over to the Hea***'s to pretty much wipe our iPad's clean in preparation for Zone Conference.
Wednesday we spent all day in Grant's Pass in zone conference! We went over the priesthood and other aspects of the restoration. What took up a good chunk of zone conference was setting up our new iPads! That process took a long time! We were in Grant's Pass from about 8 to 5:30! It was a super long meeting but I learned a lot and got a new iPad along with it haha! When we got back and had dinner, we taught the Cole***'s about faith and how faith can help us overcome fear.
Thursday started off with weekly planning and lunch before heading over to Adam's house for a lesson about the Plan of Salvation. It went really well and he really enjoyed it! We used different segments of "Special Witnesses of Christ" so that was pretty sweet. We walked over to the Sta***'s home and had a lesson with Jay Par*** there. We had Brother Huef*** come and he ended up being a huge help. We were planning on going over the rest of the Plan of Salvation but he had a ton of questions about 2 Nephi 9 (the chapter we had left for him to read) so we did that instead. It was a super sweet lesson! We tried seeing some people up on Old Stage Road before heading over to dinner. We tried contacting some of the members in that area before working on getting our iPads set up with videos and other things that we needed to get downloaded. We had correlation with us, the sisters, and Brother Thur***! We covered a lot and the sisters brought Oreo balls!
Friday we had iPad training in the morning over at the stake center. It was almost the exact kind of training I got when I came to the field so it was a good refresher hah! We were able to read a few chapters out of the Book of Mormon with Mike Mead*** and that went really well. He has his own copy of the scriptures now so hopefully he will start reading on his own. We spent a few hours over there trying to contact several more people before biking over to the area north of the middle school. We tried tracting but it was a tough crowd that day! We had dinner and when dinner was over they invited us to go to Yo Twist, the local frozen yogurt place. It was super good haha! We once again tried contacting people but nothing came from it so we updated our lessons and got some things downloaded onto the iPads.
Saturday saw us over at Calvary temple doing the food pantry. It was a short service project for we only had 24 carts come through when we usually have about 55. It gave us time to grab a bite to eat before going to our lesson with Jay H. When we got there, his wife told us that he had left... bummer! So we did some OYMing before going over to the Geor***'s to take down their Christmas lights. Brother Geor*** isn't able to do it because of some health issues so we gladly did it for them. When we finished that, we parked our bikes at the Sta***'s and walked over to the Twin Creeks Xing building to teach Brother Rob***. He is an interesting man that is for sure! He told us why he hadn't gone to church and his problems with the Church. It was an interesting conversation with him. When he finished talking, it was time for dinner! Sarge took us to No Ho's, a local Hawaiian restaurant. It was super good! After dinner we biked over to Central Point East and contacted some people over there. Some were nice and some were just like "Don't ever come knocking on my door again" kinda deal haha!
Sunday was rough. Church was great and we had a ton of discussions in the different classes and it was just awesome. However, everything just fell through for us so we had to revamp our day. Angelo and Spencer canceled and Roxanne wanted to reschedule for next week so we got on the bikes and biked up to Old Stage Road. It was an intense bike ride and I was pretty whupped! We talked to a few people and one lady told us we were a cult haha I think that was the first time that someone had actually said that to me! Despite all the cancelations, we were able to get in and teach Joe Strickl*** and we read 2 Nephi 32 with him. He thoroughly enjoyed it and had some great insights.
Well... that was my week! It was bit of a rougher one but hopefully things will turn around this week! I know this Church is true! There is no doubt!
Love ya!
Elder Tonini
On that note, letsago!
Monday was the usual P-Day stuff! Unfortunately everyone bailed so we couldn't play basketball. Elder Ellsworth and I happened to bring our mitts however so we got to go throw the ball around! I haven't been able to do that in a long time. Right before we had dinner, a recent convert texted us and told us that he wouldn't be able to meet with us that night so we tried talking to a couple of the members for a while. While doing so, we realized we were going to be very late for our next appointment! Luckily Brother Sta*** was home and he took us over to our next appointment with the Stan***'s. We had a great FHE with them and committed them to do a family mission plan.
Tuesday was pretty much an all service day. We were at the Sta***'s digging holes and planting plants along different sidewalks in the area. The Hagem***'s picked us up after we had finished with that service project and took us out to lunch before our service project with them. We threw hay into the back of their truck and unloaded it at their home. We got cleaned up and walked over to Central Point East to contact some people that we have on our ward roster. We were inspired to go knock on this lady's door and the lady who answered it wasn't the one we were looking for but we ended up talking to her for thirty minutes or so on her doorstep. She had just retired as a homicide detective and was going through a very rough time. It just broke my heart watching this poor woman going through so much pain. We tried to help her but she wasn't really listening to what we had to say. It was an interesting experience that is for sure. After dinner with the Nich***'s, we had a lesson with Braden. He was baptized a few months ago but wasn't taught the new member lessons so we are staring to do that with him. He is a super cool guy and has a pretty strong testimony! When we finished up with that lesson we headed over to the Hea***'s to pretty much wipe our iPad's clean in preparation for Zone Conference.
Wednesday we spent all day in Grant's Pass in zone conference! We went over the priesthood and other aspects of the restoration. What took up a good chunk of zone conference was setting up our new iPads! That process took a long time! We were in Grant's Pass from about 8 to 5:30! It was a super long meeting but I learned a lot and got a new iPad along with it haha! When we got back and had dinner, we taught the Cole***'s about faith and how faith can help us overcome fear.
Thursday started off with weekly planning and lunch before heading over to Adam's house for a lesson about the Plan of Salvation. It went really well and he really enjoyed it! We used different segments of "Special Witnesses of Christ" so that was pretty sweet. We walked over to the Sta***'s home and had a lesson with Jay Par*** there. We had Brother Huef*** come and he ended up being a huge help. We were planning on going over the rest of the Plan of Salvation but he had a ton of questions about 2 Nephi 9 (the chapter we had left for him to read) so we did that instead. It was a super sweet lesson! We tried seeing some people up on Old Stage Road before heading over to dinner. We tried contacting some of the members in that area before working on getting our iPads set up with videos and other things that we needed to get downloaded. We had correlation with us, the sisters, and Brother Thur***! We covered a lot and the sisters brought Oreo balls!
Friday we had iPad training in the morning over at the stake center. It was almost the exact kind of training I got when I came to the field so it was a good refresher hah! We were able to read a few chapters out of the Book of Mormon with Mike Mead*** and that went really well. He has his own copy of the scriptures now so hopefully he will start reading on his own. We spent a few hours over there trying to contact several more people before biking over to the area north of the middle school. We tried tracting but it was a tough crowd that day! We had dinner and when dinner was over they invited us to go to Yo Twist, the local frozen yogurt place. It was super good haha! We once again tried contacting people but nothing came from it so we updated our lessons and got some things downloaded onto the iPads.
Saturday saw us over at Calvary temple doing the food pantry. It was a short service project for we only had 24 carts come through when we usually have about 55. It gave us time to grab a bite to eat before going to our lesson with Jay H. When we got there, his wife told us that he had left... bummer! So we did some OYMing before going over to the Geor***'s to take down their Christmas lights. Brother Geor*** isn't able to do it because of some health issues so we gladly did it for them. When we finished that, we parked our bikes at the Sta***'s and walked over to the Twin Creeks Xing building to teach Brother Rob***. He is an interesting man that is for sure! He told us why he hadn't gone to church and his problems with the Church. It was an interesting conversation with him. When he finished talking, it was time for dinner! Sarge took us to No Ho's, a local Hawaiian restaurant. It was super good! After dinner we biked over to Central Point East and contacted some people over there. Some were nice and some were just like "Don't ever come knocking on my door again" kinda deal haha!
Sunday was rough. Church was great and we had a ton of discussions in the different classes and it was just awesome. However, everything just fell through for us so we had to revamp our day. Angelo and Spencer canceled and Roxanne wanted to reschedule for next week so we got on the bikes and biked up to Old Stage Road. It was an intense bike ride and I was pretty whupped! We talked to a few people and one lady told us we were a cult haha I think that was the first time that someone had actually said that to me! Despite all the cancelations, we were able to get in and teach Joe Strickl*** and we read 2 Nephi 32 with him. He thoroughly enjoyed it and had some great insights.
Well... that was my week! It was bit of a rougher one but hopefully things will turn around this week! I know this Church is true! There is no doubt!
Love ya!
Elder Tonini
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Bonus Pictures!
Here are some pictures that Elder Tonini sent that weren't part of his letters.
 |
| Breaking cement someplace. |
 |
| The Articles of Faith engraved on the front of the Kalamath Chapel |
Monday, March 2, 2015
"Isn't God smarter than Steve Jobs?"
Hey everyone!
So this week went by so dang fast! We were busy all week long but our numbers won't show it haha! It seems to be the sick season! But other than that, it was a good week!
Tuesday was pretty dang awesome! We were out the door headed to Roseburg for a mission-wide conference about technology and being disciples in the digital age with Elder Brent H. Neilson of the Seventy and Brother Heaton from the MTC. When we arrived we were herded outside and took a mission picture! There were a TON of missionaries! It was so awesome seeing all my old companions! There was a ton shared and a lot of good things were taught! We even had a sister say "check yourself before you wreck yourself"! During lunch I talked to Elders Walton and Smith and they told me Maxx (the kid I taught in Philomath) is thinking about a mission! I also heard that my nametag that I lost in Junction City was found on the side of the road! Here is a couple of things that were shared at the conference
Wednesday morning found me at the Central Point Stake center doing a district leader training meeting with the leadership south of Grant's Pass. President Russell was there and there was additional training for us to do at district meeting. While we were eating lunch (President Russell bought us pizza), Elder Ellsworth found me and told us that him and Elder Berry had found a potential investigator! When the meeting was over we headed over to the high school to try and see some people but we didn't have much luck. We decided to go over to the La ***'s and talk to them about the Stur*** family and on the way over I hit a pole. Yup. I hit a pole. We took a short cut and I didn't hit a turn as sharp as I could have and slammed my handlebar into the pole. It did not feel good. After we talked to Sister La ***, we biked out to the freeway and tried to get in contact with a less active who lives at the far end of our area. We almost biked into White City haha! We contacted a few people before coming back to our neighborhood and tracting. We weren't able to get any return appointments with anyone but we had some interesting conversations with a Buddhist lady and a Methodist man! A member couple took us out to dinner and then took us over to the Huef***'s to do a family home evening with them.
Thursday morning we planned all morning and prepared ourselves for the week ahead. When we headed out for the day, I quickly found out that I was on the struggle bus! I forgot my bag halfway to Central Point East and then I almost wrecked bad! I survived though! We had to endure some rain so we ended up getting soaked by the time we got over to the east side of our area. We were able to talk to a sweet old less-active lady and we had a great conversation with her. While we were talking to her, we checked the time and realized that we would have to go straight to the Sta***'s for our lesson with Jay P. We somehow got there in time and we had a great lesson with him! We had the ward mission leader from when Jay was investigating the Church the first time and he said there was a ton of improvement since two years ago so that was pretty awesome. We had a lesson with Dana that went well and then we tried seeing some prospective elders and such before dinner with the Olf***'s. We had Olive Garden carry out and it was super good! We shared a message about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon mainly because Sister Olf***'s husband isn't a member so that was pretty sweet.
Friday we had district meeting. It was pretty much all reading from the new handbooks that we had received on Tuesday so it was pretty easy haha! We had a lesson with the potential investigator Elder Ellsworth and Elder Berry had found but our member bailed at the last minute and she wasn't home so it worked out. After we got home I did my first ever exchange as district leader! Elder Porter came to my area and we headed out to Central Point East in the rain. We had a good lesson with Mike and tried contacting people but no one was around. We walked back and tried contacting a former investigator over by the high school only to figure out that the previous elders hadn't put down a building number! We decided to knock on every #5 in the complex and we ended up talking to this Jehovah's Witness guy for a few minutes. Brother Idi*** came and took us home along with our dinner! It was super good! After feasting on the food, we walked over to the Sta***'s and did correlation to end the night.
Saturday we were over in Twin Creeks doing a service project for Brother Sta***. We were digging holes so the homeowners association could plant some bushes and such to beautify the area. While we were doing that, we had the opportunity to do another service project within a service project by helping a family move a dryer to the second floor of their home. We got back afterwards and cleaned up for our lesson with Adam only for him to tell us that his wife was sick so we had to cancel that appointment. We made contact with Brandon and that went ok haha! We got back to the apartment and exchanged back before doing more service! We helped a non-member man plant some rosebushes! We tracted for a little while after planting the rose bushes but we didn't have much luck. We headed over to Twin Creeks and tried contacting some formers but they had moved so we just headed to dinner haha! We had a great FHE with the Hu***'s and then helped out Brother Sta*** a little bit before he drove us home.
Sunday we had ward council in the morning. While we were in ward council, Angelo sent us a text and told us he was sick so they didn't come to church and we didn't have a lesson with them. After church we took a break since it was fast Sunday before heading to our lesson with Roxanne. She wasn't home so we tried seeing a couple people with Brother Sta***. We were able to talk to Brother Ro*** in this retirement complex and it went really well! We decided to try Roxanne one more time and she was home! We were able to help her overcome her concerns of Nephi killing Laban and she promised she would read the Book of Mormon! We had dinner with Brother Underw*** before our lesson with Brad. Unfortunately he wasn't home so we tried Joe and a couple of other people but no one was home. We ended our night updating our area books and syncing them up.
I love y'all so much! I know this church is true!
Love ya!
Elder Tonini
Do your duty, that is best. Leave unto the Lord the rest.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
So this week went by so dang fast! We were busy all week long but our numbers won't show it haha! It seems to be the sick season! But other than that, it was a good week!
Tuesday was pretty dang awesome! We were out the door headed to Roseburg for a mission-wide conference about technology and being disciples in the digital age with Elder Brent H. Neilson of the Seventy and Brother Heaton from the MTC. When we arrived we were herded outside and took a mission picture! There were a TON of missionaries! It was so awesome seeing all my old companions! There was a ton shared and a lot of good things were taught! We even had a sister say "check yourself before you wreck yourself"! During lunch I talked to Elders Walton and Smith and they told me Maxx (the kid I taught in Philomath) is thinking about a mission! I also heard that my nametag that I lost in Junction City was found on the side of the road! Here is a couple of things that were shared at the conference
- God is behind everything from the invention of the car to the cell phone
- "Isn't God smarter than Steve Jobs?"
- We are getting brand new iPads this Wednesday and it will be the one I get to take home!
- We got to watch the new Easter message and IT IS SO AWESOME!
- As a member who made covenants at baptism and in the temple, I've invested my agency in Heavenly Father and in doing what He commands. Like a baseball player who is a free agent, we sign with a team and we follow the conditions listed in the contract.
Wednesday morning found me at the Central Point Stake center doing a district leader training meeting with the leadership south of Grant's Pass. President Russell was there and there was additional training for us to do at district meeting. While we were eating lunch (President Russell bought us pizza), Elder Ellsworth found me and told us that him and Elder Berry had found a potential investigator! When the meeting was over we headed over to the high school to try and see some people but we didn't have much luck. We decided to go over to the La ***'s and talk to them about the Stur*** family and on the way over I hit a pole. Yup. I hit a pole. We took a short cut and I didn't hit a turn as sharp as I could have and slammed my handlebar into the pole. It did not feel good. After we talked to Sister La ***, we biked out to the freeway and tried to get in contact with a less active who lives at the far end of our area. We almost biked into White City haha! We contacted a few people before coming back to our neighborhood and tracting. We weren't able to get any return appointments with anyone but we had some interesting conversations with a Buddhist lady and a Methodist man! A member couple took us out to dinner and then took us over to the Huef***'s to do a family home evening with them.
Thursday morning we planned all morning and prepared ourselves for the week ahead. When we headed out for the day, I quickly found out that I was on the struggle bus! I forgot my bag halfway to Central Point East and then I almost wrecked bad! I survived though! We had to endure some rain so we ended up getting soaked by the time we got over to the east side of our area. We were able to talk to a sweet old less-active lady and we had a great conversation with her. While we were talking to her, we checked the time and realized that we would have to go straight to the Sta***'s for our lesson with Jay P. We somehow got there in time and we had a great lesson with him! We had the ward mission leader from when Jay was investigating the Church the first time and he said there was a ton of improvement since two years ago so that was pretty awesome. We had a lesson with Dana that went well and then we tried seeing some prospective elders and such before dinner with the Olf***'s. We had Olive Garden carry out and it was super good! We shared a message about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon mainly because Sister Olf***'s husband isn't a member so that was pretty sweet.
Friday we had district meeting. It was pretty much all reading from the new handbooks that we had received on Tuesday so it was pretty easy haha! We had a lesson with the potential investigator Elder Ellsworth and Elder Berry had found but our member bailed at the last minute and she wasn't home so it worked out. After we got home I did my first ever exchange as district leader! Elder Porter came to my area and we headed out to Central Point East in the rain. We had a good lesson with Mike and tried contacting people but no one was around. We walked back and tried contacting a former investigator over by the high school only to figure out that the previous elders hadn't put down a building number! We decided to knock on every #5 in the complex and we ended up talking to this Jehovah's Witness guy for a few minutes. Brother Idi*** came and took us home along with our dinner! It was super good! After feasting on the food, we walked over to the Sta***'s and did correlation to end the night.
Saturday we were over in Twin Creeks doing a service project for Brother Sta***. We were digging holes so the homeowners association could plant some bushes and such to beautify the area. While we were doing that, we had the opportunity to do another service project within a service project by helping a family move a dryer to the second floor of their home. We got back afterwards and cleaned up for our lesson with Adam only for him to tell us that his wife was sick so we had to cancel that appointment. We made contact with Brandon and that went ok haha! We got back to the apartment and exchanged back before doing more service! We helped a non-member man plant some rosebushes! We tracted for a little while after planting the rose bushes but we didn't have much luck. We headed over to Twin Creeks and tried contacting some formers but they had moved so we just headed to dinner haha! We had a great FHE with the Hu***'s and then helped out Brother Sta*** a little bit before he drove us home.
Sunday we had ward council in the morning. While we were in ward council, Angelo sent us a text and told us he was sick so they didn't come to church and we didn't have a lesson with them. After church we took a break since it was fast Sunday before heading to our lesson with Roxanne. She wasn't home so we tried seeing a couple people with Brother Sta***. We were able to talk to Brother Ro*** in this retirement complex and it went really well! We decided to try Roxanne one more time and she was home! We were able to help her overcome her concerns of Nephi killing Laban and she promised she would read the Book of Mormon! We had dinner with Brother Underw*** before our lesson with Brad. Unfortunately he wasn't home so we tried Joe and a couple of other people but no one was home. We ended our night updating our area books and syncing them up.
I love y'all so much! I know this church is true!
Love ya!
Elder Tonini
Do your duty, that is best. Leave unto the Lord the rest.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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