Hey everyone!
This was a solid week of finding for Elder Hinton and me! We had a lot
of good things happen and it left me worn out haha! We have had
multiple days of 100 degrees or more so it has been hot as of late.
Let's get down to business! To defeat, the Huns!
Oh wait... wrong song. Anyways.
Monday was pretty awesome! We did our shopping and then had Costco for
lunch. We were kinda bummed when a lady told us that we couldn't come
through the exit like we have been for the last 7 months haha but we
will find a way around it. I enjoy a good Costco dog every now and
then! After that, we headed over to the Juanaperio building to do some
emailing on the computers. We started playing some basketball when we
get a call from the Sisters. They told us that Cameron, a teenager who
has been coming to church off and on for the last month or so, was
trying to get a hold of us. We called him and he told us that he
wanted to start taking lessons and to get baptized! We cut our P-Day
short to go teach him the Restoration. It was a super solid lesson and
he had a ton of awesome questions! He is a golden investigator! We had
a lesson set up for 6:30 with a new investigator but he wasn't home.
While we were walking through the complex, a lady in a wheelchair
started yelling at us and calling us "bible thumpers". It was funny
haha. We went and saw a couple of less active families with Brother
Schm*** to end the night.
Tuesday morning we drove down to Phoenix to continue our service at
the cemetery down there. We picked up 5th ward and then Phoenix before
heading on over to the cemetery. We did pretty much the same thing
that we did last time. I handled a weed whacker for the most part and
we got a lot done. I got talking to a volunteer at the cemetery and he
put his hand on my shoulder and told me he hoped that I will find the
true Jesus haha! It made me laugh. After the service and eating lunch,
I did my first ever exchange as a zone leader with Elder Garrard and
it was a lot of fun! We found a new investigator and had a tough time
with an extremely less active. He was arguing a ton of doctrine and it
was difficult. We tried visiting people in Medford and Phoenix but no
one was around so I did an iPad check at Jack in the Box. I got a free
drink from a nice cashier dude haha!
Wednesday morning we exchanged back so I could go to Cameron's lesson
and also provide some service for the Brum***'s. I killed a wasps nest
haha and we killed some blackberry bushes! We tracted for a little bit
before double dipping on dinner. We had dinner with a recent convert
and then had dinner with a nonmember family! We had a great discussion
with them and even though they go to an Anti-Mormon church in the
area, they really were interested in what we had to say! We had our
Book of Mormon class and then we ended our night watching a youth open
his mission call to the Ohio Columbus mission!
Thursday was sweet. We went to the temple and had a great session!
Some of the Central Point 2 members were there so that was cool. We challenged
the Ashland Elders to a finding challenge and we found two new
investigators! After that we had dinner up at the Zohar farm before
correlation.
Friday we had district meeting and it was interesting! We had a lady
come in asking for assistance and we were able to help her out a
little bit. After district meeting we had another meeting about what
we could do to find more people to teach and it went okay, some people
just shoot the messengers :). We took a kid named Joe for a lesson
with Sister Moses and we talked about humility with her. We had dinner
and then we went into Central Point to watch Madi get baptized! It was
an awesome service and it was so great being able to see her make that
promise to Heavenly Father.
Saturday we got our bike rack off our mini van! It was stuck on there
so a member was able to get it off for us! We tried visiting members
and less actives all morning and into the afternoon before going back
into Central Point for Sally's baptism! It was good but I had to bail
early because they took forever to get to the church! We taught
Cameron for the third time this week and then tracted for an hour or
so before dinner. We tried to meet with Danny but he wasn't home so we
got to talk to his dad instead!
Sunday we had church and we had two investigators come to church.
Afterwards we tried to tract but we didn't have much luck so we lost
to the Sisters for the finding challenge... Oh well, you win some and
you lose some. We had three lessons bail but it gave us the
opportunity to see a couple of less actives and see another youth open
his mission call to the Salt Lake City East Mission!
We had a great week! It was a ton of fun and two people that I taught
got baptized so that made it all the better:)
Have a great week!
Elder Tonini
Hey everyone!
Well, this was a good first week as zone leader in Medford!
Monday after shopping and some basketball, we had my first dinner in Medford with the Brum*** family. They are so awesome! One of our potential investigators, Cameron, was also at the dinner so that was pretty awesome. We then went and visited the ward mission leader, Brother Hazel***. I have a good feeling that we are going to get along pretty well hah! He has seen Three Amigos and went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner right before we came by!
On Tuesday we started off our morning doing some service at the Phoenix cemetery with the Phoenix and YSA missionaries. It was so much fun! I started off with a weed whacker but then I got to do some mowing! It was a great chance to do some service. After we did that, Elder Hinton and I came back and got cleaned up to go try and see some people but one of them was sick and no one was home so we decided to go tracting. We ran into some interesting people! One lady that we tracted into actually lived next to some missionaries in Portland so that was pretty cool. We dropped the van off at the apartment and got picked up at the church by a priest named Kellin for a lesson with Sister Mos***. She is an awesome lady! She actually lived in Spring, Texas so that was fun talking about Houston. We talked about patience and it went really well. Kellin dropped us off at the church and we walked to dinner with the Schm***'s. Brother Schm*** came with us to our lesson with Brent Robe*** in the Robe**'s home. We talked about Christ's life and when we got to the end of lesson, Michelle came in. She is on date to get baptized in July and she has had a CRAZY week. Anyways, we had some time to talk with her afterwards and set a time for Saturday. After we finished talking with her, Brother Robe*** took us to see Bishop Warr and I got to meet him for the first time. We then walked home and talked to the member who lives below us to finish up the night.
Wednesday morning we went over to the Brum***'s to knock out some cobwebs around their home. When we pulled up, Sister Cla*** was there!! She is one of my favorite people here in Medford! Anyways, we also had time to pull up some blackberry vines before we ran out of time. We correlated with the Sisters and then we went and contacted a couple of members and attempted to contact a couple of potentials. We decided to go tracting and we had some interesting visits with some people! We had one guy who tried to tell us that everything in the Book of Mormon didn't happen. We had dinner and then we had our Book of Mormon class. We then walked over to our lesson with the Schreff***'s and had a good talk about families. When we got back to the apartment, Elder Best called me and told me that Geraldine is getting baptized on the 11th of July!
Thursday morning we did weekly planning and I found out how tough it is planning as a zone leader! We had phone calls off the hook! After we finished planning and ate lunch, the Spanish missionaries came over and went through the clothes that have been in the apartment for eons. We were going to go contact potentials but then our phone went off the hook and we had to meet someone named Junior at the church. That was a super weird experience. We went to dinner and taught Sister McHat*** and her son. We went out with a member and he suggested that we contact someone named Sergio and we ended up talking with his son who is super awesome! We connected well with him!
Friday morning we had district meeting and then we helped a family in the ward move. They were moving into a different house in the ward so that made the move pretty easy. We had a lesson set with Junior but he bailed so we street contacted a couple of people and talked to one of our investigators on the street. After we street contacted, we went to youth conference and got over 240 possible referrals! It was super cool! President Cropper gave each of the youth a Book of Mormon and they wrote their names and testimonies in them. It was super awesome! After dinner with President Cropper, we OYM'd a guy named Johnny and we have a lesson set up for tonight!
Saturday was just so much fun! We got to go to the Special Olympics and judge bocce ball! If you don't know what that is, you need to look it up. It was so much fun and I got a free Nike t-shirt. I got super burned though. Anyways, we had a lesson with Michelle and it went really well! She is feeling the spirit and we are super excited to keep teaching her! After our lesson, we took a road trip to Grants Pass to go pick up the YSA Elders' new car that they get to have for the transfer.
Sunday was church. It was an interesting first Sunday in my new ward! I knew a couple of people from before I came into the area so that was fun. We talked about chastity and had the same lesson that I had last Sunday haha! We were supposed to have a lesson with Juanita but she bailed so we contacted potentials until dinner. We then spent the rest of the night going around the zone and taking the missionaries their referrals.
That was my week! I love y'all and there is no doubt that this is true!
Love,
Elder Tonini
Hello!
Elders Tonini and Hinton were at our house this week, helping with some maintenance, and I thought you'd like some pictures! (They are ferocious spider killers!)
We're excited to have Elder Tonini in our ward! (That's my Aunt Lesley in the background, who is in charge of our temple grounds. Elder Tonini helped her many times while he served in Central Point!)
Here's another picture, just after a discussion with a friend of my kids!
Trina Brum***
17 June 2015
Dear Elder Jacob Romney Tonini,
Your purpose as a Zone Leader in the Oregon Eugene Mission is to help the missionaries in your zone understand and live the principles described in Preach My Gospel. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit you will lead your missionaries; teaching and providing the example for obedience, diligence, working by the spirit and humility. Specifically you will lead by example in planning, teaching, finding and working with members.
You earn the missionaries respect when you demonstrate effective work in your own area. As you produce and bring people to Christ, building a successful area, missionaries will want to be like you. You are expected to lead the way with your area; you should lead out in all key indicators. Lead by example - look at the sons of Helaman for an example:
"And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold this was not all - they were men who were true at times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.
Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him." (Alma 53:20-21)
Always be teaching; what you do on exchanges will greatly impact your success. That's when you can demonstrate and develop in them, skills and ability to find, teach and commit. Don't forget the value of teaching your missionaries how to work with members. The most effective training you can do will be on exchanges with other missionaries. That's when you can demonstrate and develop in them skills and ability.
In addition to the above counsel, please see attached specific duties of a Zone Leader.
With profound love and trust!
H. Jeff Russell
Mission President
cc: Parents, Bishop, Stake President
Hey everyone!
So I don't have a ton of time today to write so this will be brief. We
had a ton of good lessons this week and then I got my transfer call! I
am the new zone leader in Medford!
Sorry this is so short!
I love yall!
Elder Tonini
Hey everyone!
So this was one of slower weeks with the amount of lessons taught but
we had a pretty fun week!
Monday after P-Day we had dinner with the Sta*** and then we ended up
staying there until 9! We got talking about the Gospel and such and
then I was showing Sister Sta*** how to use her Gospel Library to her
full advantage! It was a ton of fun being able to help the Sta*** out
in any way that I could! They have done so much for me and I look for
any way to pay them back!
Tuesday morning we got into service clothes and helped out Elder Pease
and the 1st Ward Elders with some service for a widowed lady in the
ward. Elder Pease and I put up some shelving for her while the others
worked on the lawn. I wore my boots for the service project haha!:)
Elder Best and I had something we had to take care of so we left the
Pease's and the other Elders and attended to that. We decided to go
get lunch right after and there we met up with the Pease's and 1st
Ward by accident! It was a good lunch and a great time to be with the
Pease's. They have been so great to me! We got showered and dressed in
our proselyting clothes to go see some people but no one was around.
We met up at the 1st Ward Elders' apartment with the Medford 4th and 3rd Elders
to be able to get Elder White, Elder Sorensen, and Elder Stilwell to
the church in Medford so they could go on their mission-ending temple
trip to the Portland temple! Because of that, Elder Bonham joined
Elder Best and I until his companion got back from Portland. We tried
to see a less active in our ward but they canceled so we just packed
up to go and stay in the Gold Hill apartment for the night.
Wednesday morning we went and shared a message with Brother Mad***
before he took us out to eat. We talked about over coming trials and I
shared a talk from President Kimball where he quoted a scripture that
said "give me this mountain". It was a good little lesson. After lunch
we drove back into Central Point and switched cars to save on miles.
Elder Bonham took us in his car to Eagle Point for a lesson with an
investigator. It was an interesting lesson haha! The investigator is a
teenager and the members there were teenagers as well so it made for a
pretty crazy lesson! She had some deep doctrinal questions but we were
able to answer them. After the lesson, we went back to Central Point
for service and a meal with Sister Hagem*** and her husband. We
chopped up some wood scraps for the same sister we helped the day
before and had some fresh rainbow trout for dinner. By the time we
were all done with that, we were in a state of limbo because the other
Elders were making their way back down and they had an ETA for 7:30
but it kept getting pushed back until like 8:30! I was able to see
Elder Flora again when I picked up the 1st Ward Elders. I am going to
miss that guy!
Thursday we had weekly planning and lunch before going out and about
and trying to see people until our lesson with Madi. We met at the
Kitc***'s home and we went over the Law Of Chastity and the Word of
Wisdom. We used the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet and it went
really well. We then went to the Book of Mormon class and the Sisters
taught it this time around. Geraldine was able to attend so that was
pretty awesome. We had pie and then helped the zone leaders out in
prep for zone training meeting the next day.
The zone training meeting we had Friday morning was probably one of
the more fun ones I have been a part of! The zone leaders started it
off with some team building activities. One was the three legged race
and the other involved groups of four missionaries trying to get to
the end of some bleachers by going in front of one another on the same
step. If that made sense. If not, my bad. Anyways, after working up a
sweat, we heard from the Sisters before it was the district leader's
turn! We played Jeopardy and it was a lot of fun! Lots of good answers
and insights were shared. After ZTM, we went with Eagle Point and 1st
Ward to Subway. Elder Best and I arrived first and we walked in to see
President Thompson, the Central Point stake president! He saw us and
told us he was going to buy for us! Right after he paid for us,
everyone else showed up and were in the process of ordering when
another member, this time from the Medford 6th ward, paid for all four
of their meals! That has never happened to me before haha! After
lunch, we switched vehicles with Eagle Point so they can bring in a
grill for the zone bbq we are having today. That means I get to drive
a Jeep on my mission! It's a nice little car haha. Anyways, after all
of that, we once again set out on our journey to find people to teach
but had little luck.
Saturday morning we were in Gold Hill volunteering at the Gold Hill
Gold Dust Day! We talked to a ton of non-members and we even got a
free brisket sandwich with homemade coleslaw and homemade BBQ sauce!
It was dang good! We had a fun experience while we were there. There
was a booth being run by the same church that I got into a bible bash
with back in Junction City and we stopped and talked with him for a
half hour haha. He was kinda rude and basically told me I was going to
hell. I think I annoyed him when I said I wasn't worried about it!! It
gave me an opportunity to bear my testimony on the Atonement of Christ
and that through Him and doing all that I can do, I will be forgiven.
It was a good experience for us, I'm not sure about him though.
Anyways, that took a little longer than we thought so we weren't able
to see Adam or Mike... We went to the family history center and
printed off some talks and then spent the night contacting.
Sunday was pretty awesome. During the beginning of the third hour, a
man named Brother Cliff*** came up to us and said that his non-member
wife is ready to get baptized and wants to set a baptismal date with
us. Sally Cliff*** is basically a dry Mormon who has been taught for
over 6 months by different missionaries in different places! We set up
a lesson for later on that night! We didn't get out of church until
4:15 and that gave us enough time to come home and get out of the suit
to go to dinner with the Hu***'s. After dinner, we gave the 1st Ward Elders a ride
and then we met up with the Cliff***'s at the church. Sister Cliff***
basically taught us the Restoration and we put her on date for June
27th, the same day as Madi! I hope I stay close to this area so I can
come back for the baptisms.
We have transfers this week so if you are mailing anything later then
like Wednesday or Thursday, send it to the mission office address! I
am 95% sure I am leaving but with my recent history, who knows what
will happen!
I love you all so much! Thank you for your support and your
testimonies! I know that this church is true and I know that my
Redeemer lives! There is no doubt!
Elder Tonini
Hey everyone!
So this was a slow week so I won't bore you with all the details of everything!
Tuesday was super slow until the evening. We had a great lesson with
Maddi at the church. The Kane's came and we did a font-to-table lesson
with her. It went extremely well and we moved her baptismal date to
June 27th.
Wednesday was zone conference. We met with the Medford zone at our
stake center. It was a pretty good zone conference! We talked a lot
about planning and being more effective missionaries. We had a great
lunch and watched the Mother's Day video that we all helped to make.
As soon as zone conference was over, we went to the retirement home
that is right next to the church and had a lesson with Geraldine and
Sister Green***. We went over the Restoration and she agreed to all
that we said. She committed to be baptized but wouldn't commit on a
date. We had correlation to end the night.
Thursday we had planning and then it was a super slow day with nothing
coming from it. We had a Book of Mormon class that went really well.
Geraldine came to it and she really enjoyed it!
Sunday we had one hour of church and then we spent the rest of our day
going out to the boonie areas of the wards and trying to visit the
less actives out there. We also got some lessons set up to end the
night.
Sorry for the short email but that is the gist of the last week!
I love y'all! Have a great week!
Elder Tonini
