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
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
The One Where I Don't Have Time to Write and I'm a Zone Leader!
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
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
Monday, June 8, 2015
The One where we put Sally on Date!
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
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
Monday, June 1, 2015
The One where We taught Geraldine!
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
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
Monday, May 25, 2015
The One where Samantha Got Baptized and I Hit My Year Mark
Hey everyone!
This was a good week and the weekend was pretty dang awesome!
Monday was our normal P-Day stuff. We actually ended up spending most of our day shopping haha! We drove around the 1st Ward Elders so they could get some stuff for when they go home. We played some basketball and then we had pizza dropped off to us at our apartment so we got to chill for a little bit. We had a lesson with Nicolas and his family at the end of the night. We finished up the new member lessons and I ended up not having my iPad for most of it because Nicolas' little sister was hogging it haha!
Tuesday morning we picked up the 1st Ward Elders and did some service at the temple. We dug some holes and planted a couple more plants on the backside of the temple. I can't wait to come back and see all these plants grown haha! We grabbed a quick lunch before driving to Sam's Valley to see the Mitch***'s with Brother Med***. It went really well and there was a lot of good insights shared. After we did that, we tried to get in contact with a couple that are potentials in the Area Book but they were not home. We had dinner and then met with the zone leaders at the church to prep them for Samantha's interview. Samantha and Eric came to the church and Eric met with Bishop while Samantha met with Elder Taito. Samantha finished up right after Eric did and she was found worthy to be baptized and Eric was found worthy to baptize her! That was so awesome to be there in that moment!
Wednesday morning we met up with Brother Mad*** and shared a message with him before going to lunch. We then got out of our proselyting clothes and went with Brother Med*** to see Sister Stam***. We shared a message with her and then we got to work on some yard work that she had for us. We got cleaned up and after dinner we had a lesson with Maddi at a member's home. When we asked her about the chapter we left her to read, she pulled out her phone and pulled up a list of scriptures that she liked! It was pretty awesome! We had a pretty good lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation. We are waiting right now to see what she wants to do about her baptismal date. We had set the date on the day that the youth were going to be at youth conference so we left it up to her to pray about what day it should be on. To end our night, we had correlation in Central Point and made the final preparations for Samantha's baptism.
Thursday was a milestone for me. Thursday marked one year of me being a missionary! I cannot believe how fast time has flown and how much I have grown since I walked into the doors of the MTC! We started off the morning doing weekly planning at the church and we ended up doing it with the zone leaders!! After we did weekly planning, we went and did some service at Sister Pa***'s home with the 1st Ward Elders. To celebrate my one year mark, I burned a shirt that I found in my apartment when I first came into Central Point! It was pretty awesome:) While we were building a shelter for Sister Pa***'s pet emu, a huge thunderstorm (for Oregon at least) came rolling through. Luckily we were just putting on the finishing touches when it got really bad. We got back to the apartment and got dressed for stake correlation. It was a pretty good correation meeting! President Thompson has been one of my favorite stake presidents on my mission and I love being in his correlation meetings. Anyways, after stake correlation, we had our Book of Mormon class and the 1st Ward Elders had one person there! It went really well! We talked about the Great Apostasy and such. That was pretty much the end of our night.
Friday morning I had district meeting. It was a bit dry because another district leader decided that he wanted to do a mass zone role play so I didn't have much to cover. I ended up bailing on the role play because Elder Sorensen was SUPER sick. I helped Elder White get some medication and some Saltine's and Sprite for Elder Sorensen. After we did that for them, we contacted a couple of people before having our lesson with Samantha and Eric. It was Samantha's last one before her baptism! We talked about the laws and ordinances of the Gospel and she loved it. We drove into Gold Hill to go print out Samantha's baptismal programs before picking up dinner at the church. I ended my night with Elder Sorensen so Elder White and Elder Best could go and do the youth sports night.
Saturday was the best day of my mission to date! We were at the church at 8 so we could fill the font and get it all ready for Samantha's baptism!! Samantha and Eric got there early enough so we were able to get them dressed and ready. We had a pretty good turn out and President Russell came! When it came time for Samantha to get baptized, she almost had a panic attack haha! She got in the water and Eric said the prayer perfectly but her hand and elbow were out of the water so he had to do it again. Luckily the second time was perfect all the way around and it was pretty dang awesome:) we cleaned up afterwards and then we visited a couple of people before going on splits with the 1st Ward Elders. Elder Sorensen was still not feeling good so I went out with Elder White and we visited some of the people in his area.
Sunday was a pretty close second to being the best day ever. At least for a couple of hours. Samantha asked us to be a part of her confirmation and we gladly accepted! That was pretty awesome as well. But the most awesome part of the day was when Geraldine came. She was a lady that Sister Gree*** had invited to the dinner we had a week and a half ago. She had some questions at that dinner so we left her with a Book of Mormon and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. Well on Sunday she came to church and said that we changed her life! It was pretty sweet! Other that, church was good and we had a good lesson with the Coleman's.
This was an awesome weekend! Thank you for all your prayers!
Elder Tonini
This was a good week and the weekend was pretty dang awesome!
Monday was our normal P-Day stuff. We actually ended up spending most of our day shopping haha! We drove around the 1st Ward Elders so they could get some stuff for when they go home. We played some basketball and then we had pizza dropped off to us at our apartment so we got to chill for a little bit. We had a lesson with Nicolas and his family at the end of the night. We finished up the new member lessons and I ended up not having my iPad for most of it because Nicolas' little sister was hogging it haha!
Tuesday morning we picked up the 1st Ward Elders and did some service at the temple. We dug some holes and planted a couple more plants on the backside of the temple. I can't wait to come back and see all these plants grown haha! We grabbed a quick lunch before driving to Sam's Valley to see the Mitch***'s with Brother Med***. It went really well and there was a lot of good insights shared. After we did that, we tried to get in contact with a couple that are potentials in the Area Book but they were not home. We had dinner and then met with the zone leaders at the church to prep them for Samantha's interview. Samantha and Eric came to the church and Eric met with Bishop while Samantha met with Elder Taito. Samantha finished up right after Eric did and she was found worthy to be baptized and Eric was found worthy to baptize her! That was so awesome to be there in that moment!
Wednesday morning we met up with Brother Mad*** and shared a message with him before going to lunch. We then got out of our proselyting clothes and went with Brother Med*** to see Sister Stam***. We shared a message with her and then we got to work on some yard work that she had for us. We got cleaned up and after dinner we had a lesson with Maddi at a member's home. When we asked her about the chapter we left her to read, she pulled out her phone and pulled up a list of scriptures that she liked! It was pretty awesome! We had a pretty good lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation. We are waiting right now to see what she wants to do about her baptismal date. We had set the date on the day that the youth were going to be at youth conference so we left it up to her to pray about what day it should be on. To end our night, we had correlation in Central Point and made the final preparations for Samantha's baptism.
Thursday was a milestone for me. Thursday marked one year of me being a missionary! I cannot believe how fast time has flown and how much I have grown since I walked into the doors of the MTC! We started off the morning doing weekly planning at the church and we ended up doing it with the zone leaders!! After we did weekly planning, we went and did some service at Sister Pa***'s home with the 1st Ward Elders. To celebrate my one year mark, I burned a shirt that I found in my apartment when I first came into Central Point! It was pretty awesome:) While we were building a shelter for Sister Pa***'s pet emu, a huge thunderstorm (for Oregon at least) came rolling through. Luckily we were just putting on the finishing touches when it got really bad. We got back to the apartment and got dressed for stake correlation. It was a pretty good correation meeting! President Thompson has been one of my favorite stake presidents on my mission and I love being in his correlation meetings. Anyways, after stake correlation, we had our Book of Mormon class and the 1st Ward Elders had one person there! It went really well! We talked about the Great Apostasy and such. That was pretty much the end of our night.
Friday morning I had district meeting. It was a bit dry because another district leader decided that he wanted to do a mass zone role play so I didn't have much to cover. I ended up bailing on the role play because Elder Sorensen was SUPER sick. I helped Elder White get some medication and some Saltine's and Sprite for Elder Sorensen. After we did that for them, we contacted a couple of people before having our lesson with Samantha and Eric. It was Samantha's last one before her baptism! We talked about the laws and ordinances of the Gospel and she loved it. We drove into Gold Hill to go print out Samantha's baptismal programs before picking up dinner at the church. I ended my night with Elder Sorensen so Elder White and Elder Best could go and do the youth sports night.
Saturday was the best day of my mission to date! We were at the church at 8 so we could fill the font and get it all ready for Samantha's baptism!! Samantha and Eric got there early enough so we were able to get them dressed and ready. We had a pretty good turn out and President Russell came! When it came time for Samantha to get baptized, she almost had a panic attack haha! She got in the water and Eric said the prayer perfectly but her hand and elbow were out of the water so he had to do it again. Luckily the second time was perfect all the way around and it was pretty dang awesome:) we cleaned up afterwards and then we visited a couple of people before going on splits with the 1st Ward Elders. Elder Sorensen was still not feeling good so I went out with Elder White and we visited some of the people in his area.
Sunday was a pretty close second to being the best day ever. At least for a couple of hours. Samantha asked us to be a part of her confirmation and we gladly accepted! That was pretty awesome as well. But the most awesome part of the day was when Geraldine came. She was a lady that Sister Gree*** had invited to the dinner we had a week and a half ago. She had some questions at that dinner so we left her with a Book of Mormon and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. Well on Sunday she came to church and said that we changed her life! It was pretty sweet! Other that, church was good and we had a good lesson with the Coleman's.
This was an awesome weekend! Thank you for all your prayers!
Elder Tonini
Monday, May 18, 2015
The One Where I am halfway there!
Hey everyone,
So this was a pretty solid week for us! We had some good lessons and we are getting pumped for Samantha's baptism on Saturday! Unfortunately, Kevin wasn't able to get baptized this week but hopefully he will be in the next two weeks or so!
You ready for my week?
Monday was pretty dang awesome! I got a call from President Russell in the morning and he gave me permission to call Drew and Shavaun. It was so awesome being able to talk to them and congratulate them in person on their marriage! We did our normal P-day stuff before going over to Sister Kan***'s home for dinner with Maddi, a teenage girl who has been going to church for 6 months but hasn't taken the lessons yet. We taught her the Restoration and set her on date for June 20th (although that is probably going to be moved up a couple of weeks). It was a good lesson and we are super excited for her!
Tuesday morning we picked up the 1st Ward Elders and we went and did service at the temple. We pruned some plants down to the ground and spread some dirt around. I am super excited to be able to come back in the next year or so and see all the plants that I have helped plant begin to grow! When we finished up with that, we stopped by the Family History Center and we created a flier for the Youth Sports night that we are trying to get started up. We got cleaned up and had lunch before doing car stuff all day. We got a replacement seat belt part, tires rotated, and the oil changed. It took a good chunk of our afternoon but we were able to go teach a guy named Keith. He is more into the connection between the Native Americans and the Lamanites but we were able to read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon with him. He is an interesting guy haha he sure does love his weed! We then went and saw the Zim***'s and gave Brother Zim*** a blessing to end the night.
Wednesday morning we collected two weed whackers and went to town on Nikki's backyard! It took us a whole hour to weed whack that thing! It was pretty intense haha we were finally able to get it down to our shins but that is as far as we could get with the weed whackers. We got cleaned up and tried to see a couple of people before having dinner in Gold Hill and then a lesson with Samantha and Eric. The Gor***'s opened their home up to us so we had both Brother and Sister Gor*** there and they were pretty awesome! We taught them the 10 commandments and the law of tithing and the Gor***'s shared some great insights on those two subjects. After our lesson, we went and had correlation to end the night.
Thursday was interesting. I was up at 6 and at a church building in Medford by 7 to catch a ride to a mission wide district leader meeting in Winston. Elder Carroll, Elder Roller, and I rode up with Elder Earl, Elder Lucas, and Elder Goode from the Klamath Falls zone. We had a ton of fun! Elder Earl is companions with Elder Flora, my trainer, so we had a good talk about him. When we arrived at the Winston church building, we were instructed by President Russell and the AP's about how to be better district leaders. It was a good meeting and I felt like I learned a lot from it. We had a fun car ride back which involved a pit stop in Grant's Pass for drinks and then goofing off on the car ride home haha! Elder Best came and picked me up in Medford with the 1st Ward Elders and after we dropped them off at their apartment, Elder Best and I took off for the stake center so I could meet with Elder Roller and Elder Carroll about teaching in the zone training meeting the next day. We went from there to the retirement home near the church for a dinner/discussion with a member and some of her friends in the building. It was pretty fun! One of our former investigators was there so that was cool. We wrapped up there and went to the church for the inaugural Book of Mormon class only for it to flop.... Hopefully we get a better turn out this week! To fill in the time, we made Samantha's baptismal program and took it over to her.
Friday we had zone training meeting in the morning. Elder Best and I were at the church by 7:45 so we could iron out the final details of our segment of ZTM. It was a really good ZTM. We had some fun role plays and the district leader segment went really well. Last time we taught at ZTM, people said we didn't do a good job but we knocked it out of the park on this one! We went and talked to a couple of people after lunch before our lesson with Samantha and Eric. Brother Couvre*** was able to come with us and we had a great lesson about the baptismal interview questions and then afterwards we worked on finalizing her baptismal program. We drove over to Sister Stam***'s for dinner before coming back into Central Point for our first ever Youth Sports Night. However, just like the Book of Mormon class, no one came! We knew that the Eagle Point Elders were doing theirs at that time so we talked to them and got some ideas on what we could do to make our youth sports night a success.
Saturday morning we helped Brother Wil** mix and pour cement for a garage that he is building on his house. It was a ton of fun! We got to use a mixer and I got a good workout in haha! We went to the Family History Center afterwards and put some finishing touches on Samantha's program before going home and getting cleaned up. We shared a message with Dana before going and talking to Adam. We had a good talk with him and unfortunately we took a touch too long because our dinner was supposed to pick us up at 4:30 and we weren't even out of Adam's house till 4:35! Ooops... Luckily they were still at our apartment and took us to Original Roadhouse Grill. It was super funny because the Idiarts asked us where we wanted to go and we said Texas Roadhouse (they said we could go wherever we wanted no matter the cost!) and they thought we meant this Original Roadhouse Grill! They asked us what we thought of it and I compared it to Texas Roadhouse and they said "Wait....this isn't Texas Roadhouse?!". It was really funny but at the same time it was a good thing we didn't go to Texas Roadhouse because we probably would have never made it to our split with Brother Low***! We went with him to see the Cuf***'s. Brother Cuf*** has been investigating the Church off and on for 45 years so we shared a message about the Book of Mormon with him and his member wife. We got back to Gold Hill and we drove over to Brother Vit***' home for correlation.
Sunday was a milestone for me! May 17th 2016 is the day that I get on the plane to come home so yesterday marked 365 days left on my mission! I can't believe how fast time is flying... I feel like I got out of the MTC a few weeks ago. Anyways, Sunday was like normal, just church all day long with a bunch of meetings. The Central Point 2nd Ward set a goal for 20 baptisms for the remainder of the year and I hope that they can exercise their faith and do just that! Samantha came to church but had to leave early to go get their son. Gold Hill was ok, just the normal stuff that happens in a ward filled with old people haha! We didn't even go to Elders Quorum because we had some matters of business to attend to. We had dinner with the Hul***'s and drove into Gold Hill so Elder Best could grab some stuff from the apartment over there. We came back into town and left the truck at the apartment so we could walk around and visit some people. We tried to see Angelo and Spencer but no one came to the door. We saw that Brandon, a guy that Elder Ellsworth and I ran into back in February, was working on his car so we talked to him for a little bit. We were not able to teach him anything but we left him the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet for him to read since he read the other pamphlet. We walked back to the apartment and drove over to the church to update our lessons and sync up. That wrapped up our Sabbath!
I know that this Church is true. I know that my Savior loves me and I know that He lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God as is the Bible. I am grateful for all that each of you do for me and I am grateful for your prayers.
I love y'al! Have a great week!
Elder Jacob Tonini
So this was a pretty solid week for us! We had some good lessons and we are getting pumped for Samantha's baptism on Saturday! Unfortunately, Kevin wasn't able to get baptized this week but hopefully he will be in the next two weeks or so!
You ready for my week?
Monday was pretty dang awesome! I got a call from President Russell in the morning and he gave me permission to call Drew and Shavaun. It was so awesome being able to talk to them and congratulate them in person on their marriage! We did our normal P-day stuff before going over to Sister Kan***'s home for dinner with Maddi, a teenage girl who has been going to church for 6 months but hasn't taken the lessons yet. We taught her the Restoration and set her on date for June 20th (although that is probably going to be moved up a couple of weeks). It was a good lesson and we are super excited for her!
Tuesday morning we picked up the 1st Ward Elders and we went and did service at the temple. We pruned some plants down to the ground and spread some dirt around. I am super excited to be able to come back in the next year or so and see all the plants that I have helped plant begin to grow! When we finished up with that, we stopped by the Family History Center and we created a flier for the Youth Sports night that we are trying to get started up. We got cleaned up and had lunch before doing car stuff all day. We got a replacement seat belt part, tires rotated, and the oil changed. It took a good chunk of our afternoon but we were able to go teach a guy named Keith. He is more into the connection between the Native Americans and the Lamanites but we were able to read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon with him. He is an interesting guy haha he sure does love his weed! We then went and saw the Zim***'s and gave Brother Zim*** a blessing to end the night.
Wednesday morning we collected two weed whackers and went to town on Nikki's backyard! It took us a whole hour to weed whack that thing! It was pretty intense haha we were finally able to get it down to our shins but that is as far as we could get with the weed whackers. We got cleaned up and tried to see a couple of people before having dinner in Gold Hill and then a lesson with Samantha and Eric. The Gor***'s opened their home up to us so we had both Brother and Sister Gor*** there and they were pretty awesome! We taught them the 10 commandments and the law of tithing and the Gor***'s shared some great insights on those two subjects. After our lesson, we went and had correlation to end the night.
Thursday was interesting. I was up at 6 and at a church building in Medford by 7 to catch a ride to a mission wide district leader meeting in Winston. Elder Carroll, Elder Roller, and I rode up with Elder Earl, Elder Lucas, and Elder Goode from the Klamath Falls zone. We had a ton of fun! Elder Earl is companions with Elder Flora, my trainer, so we had a good talk about him. When we arrived at the Winston church building, we were instructed by President Russell and the AP's about how to be better district leaders. It was a good meeting and I felt like I learned a lot from it. We had a fun car ride back which involved a pit stop in Grant's Pass for drinks and then goofing off on the car ride home haha! Elder Best came and picked me up in Medford with the 1st Ward Elders and after we dropped them off at their apartment, Elder Best and I took off for the stake center so I could meet with Elder Roller and Elder Carroll about teaching in the zone training meeting the next day. We went from there to the retirement home near the church for a dinner/discussion with a member and some of her friends in the building. It was pretty fun! One of our former investigators was there so that was cool. We wrapped up there and went to the church for the inaugural Book of Mormon class only for it to flop.... Hopefully we get a better turn out this week! To fill in the time, we made Samantha's baptismal program and took it over to her.
Friday we had zone training meeting in the morning. Elder Best and I were at the church by 7:45 so we could iron out the final details of our segment of ZTM. It was a really good ZTM. We had some fun role plays and the district leader segment went really well. Last time we taught at ZTM, people said we didn't do a good job but we knocked it out of the park on this one! We went and talked to a couple of people after lunch before our lesson with Samantha and Eric. Brother Couvre*** was able to come with us and we had a great lesson about the baptismal interview questions and then afterwards we worked on finalizing her baptismal program. We drove over to Sister Stam***'s for dinner before coming back into Central Point for our first ever Youth Sports Night. However, just like the Book of Mormon class, no one came! We knew that the Eagle Point Elders were doing theirs at that time so we talked to them and got some ideas on what we could do to make our youth sports night a success.
Saturday morning we helped Brother Wil** mix and pour cement for a garage that he is building on his house. It was a ton of fun! We got to use a mixer and I got a good workout in haha! We went to the Family History Center afterwards and put some finishing touches on Samantha's program before going home and getting cleaned up. We shared a message with Dana before going and talking to Adam. We had a good talk with him and unfortunately we took a touch too long because our dinner was supposed to pick us up at 4:30 and we weren't even out of Adam's house till 4:35! Ooops... Luckily they were still at our apartment and took us to Original Roadhouse Grill. It was super funny because the Idiarts asked us where we wanted to go and we said Texas Roadhouse (they said we could go wherever we wanted no matter the cost!) and they thought we meant this Original Roadhouse Grill! They asked us what we thought of it and I compared it to Texas Roadhouse and they said "Wait....this isn't Texas Roadhouse?!". It was really funny but at the same time it was a good thing we didn't go to Texas Roadhouse because we probably would have never made it to our split with Brother Low***! We went with him to see the Cuf***'s. Brother Cuf*** has been investigating the Church off and on for 45 years so we shared a message about the Book of Mormon with him and his member wife. We got back to Gold Hill and we drove over to Brother Vit***' home for correlation.
Sunday was a milestone for me! May 17th 2016 is the day that I get on the plane to come home so yesterday marked 365 days left on my mission! I can't believe how fast time is flying... I feel like I got out of the MTC a few weeks ago. Anyways, Sunday was like normal, just church all day long with a bunch of meetings. The Central Point 2nd Ward set a goal for 20 baptisms for the remainder of the year and I hope that they can exercise their faith and do just that! Samantha came to church but had to leave early to go get their son. Gold Hill was ok, just the normal stuff that happens in a ward filled with old people haha! We didn't even go to Elders Quorum because we had some matters of business to attend to. We had dinner with the Hul***'s and drove into Gold Hill so Elder Best could grab some stuff from the apartment over there. We came back into town and left the truck at the apartment so we could walk around and visit some people. We tried to see Angelo and Spencer but no one came to the door. We saw that Brandon, a guy that Elder Ellsworth and I ran into back in February, was working on his car so we talked to him for a little bit. We were not able to teach him anything but we left him the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet for him to read since he read the other pamphlet. We walked back to the apartment and drove over to the church to update our lessons and sync up. That wrapped up our Sabbath!
I know that this Church is true. I know that my Savior loves me and I know that He lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God as is the Bible. I am grateful for all that each of you do for me and I am grateful for your prayers.
I love y'al! Have a great week!
Elder Jacob Tonini
Monday, May 11, 2015
The One Where I Got to Skype Home!
Hey everyone!
So this was a long week but it was pretty dang awesome! I just wanna start by congratulating Drew and Shavaun for getting married! I love ya'll and I wish I could've been there but I know I am needed out here in the OEM!
Monday was transfers and it was like any normal transfer day. We showed up at the transfer spot and I got to talk to some missionaries that I have served around and got to catch up with them. We went shopping afterwards and then we went and played ultimate and football afterwards. We had dinner with the Central Point 2nd Bishop and then hustled over to Gold Hill for a lesson only for it to cancel...
Tuesday morning we were supposed to meet up with Brother Mad*** but he had to cancel because he got sick so we tried some people in the Gold Hill area before lunch. We stopped by the Gold Hill apartment to pick some stuff up before going into Central Point for lunch and a guy was sitting right in front of our door. He told us he was hanging out with Jesus and we talked to him for a little bit. We didn't have much happen until after dinner. We went to the church and had a font-to-table-to-temple lesson with Eric and Samantha. What a font-to-table-to-temple lesson consists of is us teaching about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and showing the baptismal font to them and then showing the importance of the sacrament and show them the sacrament table. Usually it ends there, but we got a temple in our backyard and so after we talked about the sacrament we went and walked around in the temple grounds. That was an awesome experience. That whole lesson was just awesome.
Wednesday morning we drove to the church for a funeral. It was a member of the 2nd ward and I taught him a couple of times before he died. This member is the third one to pass since I have been here! It was super sad.. Anyways, after the funeral we had to go take the truck in to get a flashing light checked out. It turned out to be nothing serious so that was good. While we were there, we texted Trent and he had to cancel on us so we tried to go see a couple of people when we finished up with the truck. We had dinner and then drove into Gold Hill to go out with Brother Vit*** and see one of his home teaching families. It was a great visit! The husband usually doesn't treat missionaries well but he stuck around and was cordial! We then booked it back to Central Point for correlation.
Thursday morning found us at Sister Par***'s home helping out on her property! While I was there, I got to talk to Sister Martin! I sure do love that woman! We had a load of fun and we got a lot accomplished! We cleaned up and had lunch before doing weekly planning. We then contacted a few members before going back to Sister Pa***'s for dinner! Sister Martin bought me a Texas shirt and a Texas flag! It was super awesome! After we hit a couple of golf balls into Sister Par***'s lake and we helped her get a canoe, we had a lesson with Samantha and Eric. Although Eric's parents were not able to be there, we had a great lesson with the two of them. We talked about the law of chastity and it was easy for them to commit to live it. We then went over what Samantha could expect for her baptism and what happens during a baptismal service. When we finished the lesson, Samantha dumped all their coffee and tea and I dumped out the Dr. Pepper that I had and she committed not to drink tea or coffee and I committed not to drink Dr. Pepper. It was great!
Friday morning I had the first district meeting of the new transfer and it went really well. I used a baseball analogy about working with members and then played a game about companionship unity! It was fun stuff! After lunch I went on exchanges with Elder Burnett, one of the zone leaders over in Jacksonville. We had a lot of fun together! He was born and raised in Austin, Texas so we had a lot to talk about haha! We went and tried a few potentials that lived in this trailer park before heading out with a member to a lesson with a woman named Annette. She is an interesting woman haha! There was a lot of discussion so we were not able to go into depth about the Restoration but she said she would get baptized if she knew it was true! We then went and saw a recent convert and put her non-member husband on date! The member dropped us off after our lesson with Mary and Dave and Elder Burnett and I tracked for a couple of minutes before going to dinner. After dinner, we headed over to the church to help out the Spanish missionaries and Elder Burnett hit a bird haha! Luckily it didn't leave any damage and we made it to the church in one piece. We then tried to teach a young couple that lived in the trailer park we visited earlier but we weren't able to really teach anything... The baby threw up and a lot of other things happened but we were able to say a prayer with them and set up the expectations for when future missionaries come by.
Saturday we headed over to the church to help out the Jacksonville Ward set up for their ward party/auction. It was good that we were down near the temple because I felt like I was able to be at Drew's wedding in spirit! After we got tables and chairs set up, we headed over to one of the zone leader's investigators for some service. Stefano is a super cool guy! He had surgery sometime ago and needs help every now and then with stuff around his home. The thing we helped him out with was cleaning his cymbals (I think that's the right kind of cymbal!) for his drum sets. It was super fun and then at the end he did a cover of "What I've Done" by Linkin Park! It was pretty awesome. We exchanged back shortly after and Elder Best and I went and saw Adam. We had a good talk with him and shared a message with him about how the worth of a soul in the Lord's eyes. When we got out of Adam's house, we got a text from the zone leaders telling us to go check our emails for instructions from the AP's. We drove over to the church and helped out the Spanish Elders get ready for a baptism they were having that afternoon while we waited for our email to come. The email contained instructions for a special project we were supposed to get done by 9 that night and so we were able to get it done before driving over to Kevin's home to talk about the baptismal interview questions. We are really hopefully that he will be able to get baptized on Saturday! Keep praying for him and Samantha! After our lesson with Kevin and dinner at a member's home, we drove into a Gold Hill for a lesson with the Jankow*** family. It was a really good lesson and we got Jeff to commit to come to church! We then had correlation with Brother Vit*** to end the night.
Sunday we were at church all day and we had to sit impatiently during both sets of meetings to be able to talk to our families! Unfortunately we didn't have any investigators come to church due to sickness or moving so that stunk. Elder Best skyped his family before dinner and then after we visited with Samantha and Eric for a couple of minutes we drove to a members home and I got to Skype my mom and dad and the rest of the family! I miss y'all so much haha!
Thank you for all your prayers and your love. I know that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion and I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I know that this Church is true! There is no doubt!
Love y'all and until next time!
Elder Tonini
So this was a long week but it was pretty dang awesome! I just wanna start by congratulating Drew and Shavaun for getting married! I love ya'll and I wish I could've been there but I know I am needed out here in the OEM!
Monday was transfers and it was like any normal transfer day. We showed up at the transfer spot and I got to talk to some missionaries that I have served around and got to catch up with them. We went shopping afterwards and then we went and played ultimate and football afterwards. We had dinner with the Central Point 2nd Bishop and then hustled over to Gold Hill for a lesson only for it to cancel...
Tuesday morning we were supposed to meet up with Brother Mad*** but he had to cancel because he got sick so we tried some people in the Gold Hill area before lunch. We stopped by the Gold Hill apartment to pick some stuff up before going into Central Point for lunch and a guy was sitting right in front of our door. He told us he was hanging out with Jesus and we talked to him for a little bit. We didn't have much happen until after dinner. We went to the church and had a font-to-table-to-temple lesson with Eric and Samantha. What a font-to-table-to-temple lesson consists of is us teaching about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and showing the baptismal font to them and then showing the importance of the sacrament and show them the sacrament table. Usually it ends there, but we got a temple in our backyard and so after we talked about the sacrament we went and walked around in the temple grounds. That was an awesome experience. That whole lesson was just awesome.
Wednesday morning we drove to the church for a funeral. It was a member of the 2nd ward and I taught him a couple of times before he died. This member is the third one to pass since I have been here! It was super sad.. Anyways, after the funeral we had to go take the truck in to get a flashing light checked out. It turned out to be nothing serious so that was good. While we were there, we texted Trent and he had to cancel on us so we tried to go see a couple of people when we finished up with the truck. We had dinner and then drove into Gold Hill to go out with Brother Vit*** and see one of his home teaching families. It was a great visit! The husband usually doesn't treat missionaries well but he stuck around and was cordial! We then booked it back to Central Point for correlation.
Thursday morning found us at Sister Par***'s home helping out on her property! While I was there, I got to talk to Sister Martin! I sure do love that woman! We had a load of fun and we got a lot accomplished! We cleaned up and had lunch before doing weekly planning. We then contacted a few members before going back to Sister Pa***'s for dinner! Sister Martin bought me a Texas shirt and a Texas flag! It was super awesome! After we hit a couple of golf balls into Sister Par***'s lake and we helped her get a canoe, we had a lesson with Samantha and Eric. Although Eric's parents were not able to be there, we had a great lesson with the two of them. We talked about the law of chastity and it was easy for them to commit to live it. We then went over what Samantha could expect for her baptism and what happens during a baptismal service. When we finished the lesson, Samantha dumped all their coffee and tea and I dumped out the Dr. Pepper that I had and she committed not to drink tea or coffee and I committed not to drink Dr. Pepper. It was great!
Friday morning I had the first district meeting of the new transfer and it went really well. I used a baseball analogy about working with members and then played a game about companionship unity! It was fun stuff! After lunch I went on exchanges with Elder Burnett, one of the zone leaders over in Jacksonville. We had a lot of fun together! He was born and raised in Austin, Texas so we had a lot to talk about haha! We went and tried a few potentials that lived in this trailer park before heading out with a member to a lesson with a woman named Annette. She is an interesting woman haha! There was a lot of discussion so we were not able to go into depth about the Restoration but she said she would get baptized if she knew it was true! We then went and saw a recent convert and put her non-member husband on date! The member dropped us off after our lesson with Mary and Dave and Elder Burnett and I tracked for a couple of minutes before going to dinner. After dinner, we headed over to the church to help out the Spanish missionaries and Elder Burnett hit a bird haha! Luckily it didn't leave any damage and we made it to the church in one piece. We then tried to teach a young couple that lived in the trailer park we visited earlier but we weren't able to really teach anything... The baby threw up and a lot of other things happened but we were able to say a prayer with them and set up the expectations for when future missionaries come by.
Saturday we headed over to the church to help out the Jacksonville Ward set up for their ward party/auction. It was good that we were down near the temple because I felt like I was able to be at Drew's wedding in spirit! After we got tables and chairs set up, we headed over to one of the zone leader's investigators for some service. Stefano is a super cool guy! He had surgery sometime ago and needs help every now and then with stuff around his home. The thing we helped him out with was cleaning his cymbals (I think that's the right kind of cymbal!) for his drum sets. It was super fun and then at the end he did a cover of "What I've Done" by Linkin Park! It was pretty awesome. We exchanged back shortly after and Elder Best and I went and saw Adam. We had a good talk with him and shared a message with him about how the worth of a soul in the Lord's eyes. When we got out of Adam's house, we got a text from the zone leaders telling us to go check our emails for instructions from the AP's. We drove over to the church and helped out the Spanish Elders get ready for a baptism they were having that afternoon while we waited for our email to come. The email contained instructions for a special project we were supposed to get done by 9 that night and so we were able to get it done before driving over to Kevin's home to talk about the baptismal interview questions. We are really hopefully that he will be able to get baptized on Saturday! Keep praying for him and Samantha! After our lesson with Kevin and dinner at a member's home, we drove into a Gold Hill for a lesson with the Jankow*** family. It was a really good lesson and we got Jeff to commit to come to church! We then had correlation with Brother Vit*** to end the night.
Sunday we were at church all day and we had to sit impatiently during both sets of meetings to be able to talk to our families! Unfortunately we didn't have any investigators come to church due to sickness or moving so that stunk. Elder Best skyped his family before dinner and then after we visited with Samantha and Eric for a couple of minutes we drove to a members home and I got to Skype my mom and dad and the rest of the family! I miss y'all so much haha!
Thank you for all your prayers and your love. I know that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion and I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I know that this Church is true! There is no doubt!
Love y'all and until next time!
Elder Tonini
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