From the OEM Blog

Yesterday we said goodbye to eight of our missionaries that have served faithfully for two years or eighteen months.

Front row: Sister Ansus, Sister and President Russell, Sister Geisler, and Sister Newsome. 
Back row: Elder Provstgaard, Elder Wells, Elder Fetzer, Elder Roller, and Elder Tonini.

The exquisite joy we feel when missionaries come in is almost  as exquisite the sorrow we feel when we have to say goodbye to missionaries. We wish them all the best!!

http://oemrussell.blogspot.com/2016/05/yesterday-we-said-good-bye-to-eight-of.html

I'm Coming Home!:)

A perk of having an iPad; I can take pictures and email!! Love y'all!

On our way to the airport

Group Picture Outside Security

With President and Sister Russell

One last picture before going our separate ways.

Two Years Are Up and I'm Headed Home

It's been over two years now.

Two years ago, a boy walked away from his family in an airport and traveled back to a place that he had called home. He had left BYU only to return to Provo to enter the MTC and begin a new chapter in his life. When he walked through those MTC doors and got his shiny new name tag with the "dork dot" on it, all he could feel was uncertainty. Two weeks flew by and the next thing this boy knew he was walking down the airport escalator towards his mission president and his wife and the assistants. He felt lost and unsure of himself. He went through some great times and some bad times. He served to the best of his abilities and sometimes he struggled to do so. This boy learned who he really is over the course of two years. Tomorrow this boy, now a young man, will be at that same airport that he came in except this time he is walking towards those doors that will lead him home to his family and his future.

This young man is me.

For the last two years I've had the glorious opportunity to serve my Savior Jesus Christ in the Oregon Eugene Mission. These last two years were the hardest two years of my life yet the most fulfilling two years ever. People say that the mission is the best two years for your life and they are totally right. I've learned a lot about myself and I've changed for the better.

A mission is something that has a lot of ups and a lot of downs. I've had some hard times. I've been in tough areas. I've had difficult companions several times on my mission, some being extremely disobedient. Thankfully I've never wrecked on my bike but biking through Oregon winters is pretty tough, especially when you are biking next to a semi in the pouring rain. Ive been out tracting and have had people yell expletives at me only because of what I was doing. I've endured countless times when people have tried to "prove" that the work I was doing was false and that I was wasting my time. I have gone from teaching a ton to being lucky to teach once a week. I've had times where I felt utterly alone and I didn't know what to do about my situation. There have been times when I felt I couldn't go any farther.

Quitting was never an option. Returning with honor was.

Despite the hardships, I've seen so many miracles and other things occur throughout my mission. I've seen people's lives change forever. I saw a baby who should've stayed in the NICU for months leave in three weeks because of a priesthood blessing. I had someone tell me that I had changed their lives forever. I've been able to serve in different service situations, for members or for the community. I've been able to watch people enter into the waters of baptism and make sacred covenants with their Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ. Now those people are preparing to do more than just that. One is going to go on a mission, another is preparing to go to the temple.

Although the tough times were hard, the good times were amazing to have.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission. Several years ago, a friend's dad asked me why I was going on a mission and not pursuing baseball or some career. I felt like I knew why but now as I approach the end of this journey, I know exactly why I've come to the Oregon Eugene Mission.

It's because I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, called of Him to bring in the last dispensation of times and to restore the Church of Jesus Christ back on the earth. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the Lord's prophet on the earth and that the priesthood authority is found on the earth once more.

It's because I know that the Book of Mormon is the most correct book on earth and that a man would get nearer to God by reading what is contained within and praying to Heavenly Father for an answer.

It's because I know that my Savior lives. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He knows me inside and out. Through His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross, He was able to overcome death and allow me to do the same. It's because of Him that my garments can be made white when I stain them with sin. I'm grateful for my older brother and my best friend Jesus Christ. I know that His Atonement is real and that through His Atonement I can do all things.

It's because I know that families can be together forever and I want everyone to have that opportunity to be sealed with their families. I wouldn't be the person I am today without my parents and my siblings. I'm so grateful for them and forh sir love and support over the last two years.

Those are just some of the few reasons why I have come on a mission.

As my mission comes to a close, I want to thank my Savior Jesus Christ for the opportunities that I have had to preach His Gospel and defend His faith. I want to thank all of you who have supported me in any way. I'm grateful for your prayers and for your love. I'm excited to come back to the real world but I'm going to miss this great work which I have been called to do.

'Till I see y'all again and signing off for the last time,

Elder Jacob Tonini

Oregon Eugene Mission
"Days Never to Be Forgotten"

Last 6 on the Coast!

Hey everyone,

This is going to be a super short email. I spent most of my day in the car traveling to and from Roseburg. Elder Roller got transferred to Roseburg and my new companion is Elder Swiderski! I am pretty pumped up about that! I have served around him before and he is a hard worker!

To recap the week, we had MLC and spent the week planning or trying to deal with canceled lessons. It was a bad week teaching wise but we are going to change that this week! We also did a hike for P-Day so that was pretty awesome!

I love y'all! Thank you for all the support and the love! I know that the Church is true! There is no doubt!

Love,

Elder Tonini

Oregon Eugene Mission
"Days Never to Be Forgotten"

Out to the Coast I Go! Oh, and I am a Zone Leader Again!

Hey everyone,

This was a decent week. We taught a couple of lessons and they were pretty much all to Loretta. She is doing so awesome! We brought Sister Par***, Brother Caldw***, and Bryson out with us to see her. She has been keeping her commitments to the tee(?) and she came to church. We also taught a girl named Catherine and we put her on date for baptism on May 7th!

So like you can see, I got transferred out to the coast! I am now in North Bend and I got made Zone leader again. I am with Elder Roller (which I am super pumped about; we came out together!) and we are going to do some work this transfer!

I love y'all! I know that the Church is true! Keep the faith and keep on enduring to the end!

Love ya!

Elder Tonini

Oregon Eugene Mission
"Days Never to Be Forgotten"

The One Where I Almost Get Us Stuck!

Hey everyone!

I hope that you all had a good week. Elder Andersen and I had a pretty good week and we had some miracles happen!

Monday was transfer Monday. As all of you should have heard, I am staying in Sutherlin and Elder Andersen became my new companion! I was his zone leader in Medford and I am super excited to be serving with him. He didn't get to Roseburg until 3 o'clock so I hung out with Elder Martin and Elder Holman until the transfer van came to get them. We got back to Sutherlin and unloaded Elder Andersen's stuff before going off to dinner with the Hayd***. It was fun as always! :) By the time we got back, it was late so I introduced Elder Andersen to the Caldw***'s and then he started to unpack to end the night.

Tuesday we didn't have too much happen for us. We spent our morning helping a less active move out of the place she was staying. When we showed up, it was only Abe, Sister Parker, and us! We managed to move her furniture out and then one of the miracles of the week was that we managed to fit two couches, eight things of shelves, a queen-sized mattress and box spring, two twin mattresses, and three dressers into a 10X10 storage unit! That was fun haha! After getting cleaned up, we went through our Area Book before trying and contacting people. We ended our night over at Brother Vincent's house to introduce Elder Andersen.

Wednesday we headed over to the food pantry and handed out food until we headed over to Brother Shoema***'s home to meet with our vehicle coordinator so he could fix our tiwi. We then went over to Chelsea's home and went over the Restoration. She remembered most of what we covered the last time and at the end of it, we asked if she has been getting an answer. She said that she feels like she is being drawn to the Church! So we invited her to be baptized and she said yes. We are going to work on putting her on date this next week. We volunteered at the soup kitchen and then we had dinner dropped off to us. We went over to the church and Elder Andersen met a good chunk of the ward at Mutual!

Thursday we did weekly planning in the morning and then we headed out to go contact people. We had received a referral the night before and so we headed out to go contact him. He lives out in the sticks so it took a little while to find him. When we did, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get back down his driveway so I turned off the road. Bad idea. I almost got us stuck. But I did it! Tony was about ready to go and pull us out! He is such a cool guy. He took the lessons eight years ago and he decided that he wanted to take the lessons again! It was so awesome! We had a ton of lessons fall through so I took Elder Andersen to see the Lea***'s.

Friday we had district meeting and it went pretty well. I used some fun object lessons and then we did some role plays about teaching about faith. We went to a Chinese place for lunch and then we went back to Sutherlin. We once again went out former finding but we didn't have much luck. We saw Jackie and we started talking to her about family history work and we committed her to do her family history work.

Saturday was a long day. We had our only lesson cancel so we once again headed out to talk to people in the streets. We discovered that some investigators were never actually taught so that made it a bit awkward. We were on foot for most of the night but no one was out on the streets... We saw Jackie again and we hammered down on going to the temple and also about coming to church.

Sunday was pretty fun. I had to give a talk during sacrament and in the middle of my talk, music started to play over the intercom! I just kept going through it though. We also had an ambulance get called because a lady was suffering a heart murmur. We taught Samantha after church and we finished up the lessons with her. She is so pumped to be baptized on the 30th! We had our dinner cancel so that threw us for a loop. We dropped off a couple of pans and then went and visited with an investigator that I haven't met yet. We ended up getting mauled by her bulldogs! It was so much fun:)

I love you all! Thank you for all that you do!

Love ya!

Elder Tonini

Oregon Eugene Mission
"Days Never to Be Forgotten"

Transfers!

Hey everyone,

So this is going to be a short email but we had a lot of cancellations and sickness happen with our investigators... But we got transfers this week and Elder Fleming is heading out to Reedsport and I am staying and getting Elder Andersen! I am so excited for this transfer! It's going to be great.

Elder Andersen ladies and gentlemen!

I love ya!

Elder Tonini

Oregon Eugene Mission
"Days Never to Be Forgotten"

Thanksgiving and #ASaviorisBorn

Hey everyone!

So this won't be a very long email. I am currently sitting on the transfer van heading down to Roseburg! I am going to be with Elder Fleming in Sutherlin. I am still a district leader so this will make eight transfers in leadership. It is going to be a jolly good time. But to kinda recap this week, this was a pretty rough week for Elder Bowers and I. We had a ton of lessons set up for this week but one by one they all canceled. It made me so frustrated that I couldn't leave Springfield 3rd on a high note. We were still able to teach William and Richard, Brother Halford, and a couple of other people.

Thanksgiving was pretty awesome though. We started off our morning doing Turkey Bowl and it was so much fun! Afterwards I was told I had game by one of the members! I had gotten picked last so I just did work and caught almost every ball thrown to me! We got cleaned up and we took 4th ward to the mission home so one of them could do an interview with President Russell. While we were waiting there, I saw a piece of paper on the kitchen table that had the new transfer information! Apparently I am going home on May 24th instead of May 17th! I am going to be serving a full two year mission haha! We got back to Springfield in time for our Thanksgiving feast with the Bolanders and a ton of other people! There was so much good food! We then did a white elephant and played a couple of games!

That's all I got to report!

However, I do want to mention some of the things I am grateful for!

1. My family and friends for all the support they have given to me over the last 18 months 
2. The gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope that it has brought into my life 
3. Food. 'nuff said. 
4. Being able to have a roof over my head and a way to get around 
5. The Atonement 
6. The companions that I have had on my mission. I have learned so much from them and so much about myself 
7. Baseball! 
8. My church leaders 
9. The example of my ancestors 
10. Being able to go to the temple quarterly 

There are so many things that I am thankful for but I kept the limit to ten! I love you all and thank you for all your support! Keep sharing the gospel! #ASaviorIsBorn

Love ya!
Elder Tonini

With Elders Adams and Webb 

Oregon Eugene Mission
"Days Never to Be Forgotten"

Elder Tonini Pictures from the Oregon Eugene Mission Blog

From the official OEM Blog (http://oemrussell.blogspot.com/2015/09/blog-post_13.html):

...Then, the president calls out a new missionary's name and announces who their trainer is. Neither the missionary or the trainer know who they will be paired with up to this point. They get a little excited and hug when they meet.

Elder Bowers with Elder Tonini

Our new missionaries with their trainers!

Trainer Call

7 September 2015

Elder Jacob Romney Tonini,

The greatest expression of trust that I can give to you is your new assignment to be a "Trainer of a New Missionary" in the Oregon Eugene Mission.  Congratulations - we are very proud of you.  It is with love and tenderness that I extend this assignment; only the very finest missionaries are given this responsibility. We only ask outstanding missionaries to train; thank you for humbly accepting this assignment.

Your purpose as a trainer is to help your new missionary understand and live the principles described in Preach My Gospel; bringing people to Christ. You will have profound, lasting influence on the new missionary's attitude and habits.  Your companion will always remember you. Please follow with exactness and faithful obedience the "Instructions for Trainers" and the "infield training for New Missionaries". These tools are inspired; and when used correctly, will bless the life of your new companion.  Give prayerful consideration to these principles:

• You need to commit yourself to the highest example of obedience and effective proselyting  and do everything in your power to help your companion begin their mission positively.
• Help your companion adjust to missionary life by following the daily schedule diligently,  read daily in the Missionary Handbook and obey all mission rules.
• Hold companion study daily and help your companion develop and improve basic  missionary skills discussed in Preach My Gospel.
• Hold daily and weekly planning sessions to help the new missionary learn how to plan and  help investigators progress toward conversion.
• Make sure the new missionary participates fully as a contributing member of your  companionship, giving them the opportunity to take some part in each phase of the work.
• As you begin,, please spend sufficient time in companion study and planning to thoroughly  introduce your companion to the area, daily and weekly planning and goals, the needs of the  investigators, current finding activities and work with members.
• Report to me and your district leaders on the progress of the new missionary.

Adopt this slogan; "I will trust and not be afraid; the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song (2 Nephi 22:2)." So, embrace this new challenge.  And remember, to be a lifter of all you come in contact with, but especially your companion.

This assignment is a sacred trust between you, me and the Lord.  Demonstrate the highest example of obedience and effective proselyting; and do everything in your power to help your new companion begin their mission positively.

With profound love and trust,



/s/ H. Jeffery Russell
    Mission  President

cc: Parents, Bishop, Stake President

I'm a trainer!

Hey everyone!

So once again it is transfer time! I probably won't have too much time to write so I'm sending a short email letting y'all know that I am getting transferred! I am finally leaving the Rogue Valley for the first time in 7 transfers! I will be in the Springfield 3rd ward and I have been released as zone leader. I have been called to be a district leader and a trainer! It will be a blast!

Basically what happened this week was we had MLC up in Bandon and it was freaking awesome! We got to go out to the beach and enjoy the ocean (from a distance). We then prepared for that all week and we had dinner with Wade and Pearl! He made some awesome steak!

That's the highlight pretty much! It was a slow week but these next couple of weeks will fly by!

I love y'all!

Elder Tonini

The One That is Really Short

Hey Mom!

I won't be emailing much today, it's been nuts. I will send out a big email next week!:) Elder Hinton got transferred and I am with Elder Taito! He was my old zone leader in Central Point! We are going to have a blast!

Cameron is still on date to be baptized this weekend! Pray for him!

Love you!

Elder Tonini

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

Ding Ding! Round 5 in Central Point

Hey everyone!

Well, I can't believe that I am saying this but I am staying for a fifth transfer in Central Point! Holy cow, I couldn't believe it when the zone leaders told me! We have a great transfer ahead of us!

Monday was pretty fun. We had zone breakfast at the place where the zone leaders live and that was yummy! A couple hours later, we got a net set up from some volleyball! It was a ton of fun and it got pretty intense! We took the 1st Ward Elders grocery shopping after we were done and while we were doing that, I realized that I had grabbed another Elder's iPad! Ooops! I was able to get it back by the end of the night so that was good. We had dinner with our new ward mission leader so that was fun!

Tuesday morning we had our normal lesson with Brother Mad***. We read a chapter out of the book of Alma and he really liked it. After he took us to lunch, we tried seeing a couple of people before our lesson with a former investigator named Trent. When we showed up to his place, he had totally forgotten and was going to be heading out the door in fifteen minutes! However, we were able to teach him still and get a return appointment set up for this upcoming week. After dinner, we went on splits with Brother Kub*** and Brother Thur***. I went with Brother Kube and we were able to talk to Sister Jord***. She was super nice and friendly! Her German Shepard though makes for a good guard dog! That was our only real success on the split. We knocked on a part-member's door but we didn't get an answer and we tried a man whom I have never met before and this lady started getting agitated and said "Don't talk religion to me boy! I see your name tag! I know who you are!" Despite the situation, we handled it calmly and asked if this guy lived her and she said no as she slammed the door. That was a fun experience to have on splits haha! After splits, we were trying to figure out what to do because it ended a lot shorter than we thought. The thought popped into my head to try and see Claudia, a lady that Elder Ellsworth and I tracted into back in February. When we knocked on the door, she was home! We shared a message about building up faith in Christ and how we can have a firm foundation in Him. It was fun talking about foundations with her because she is a realtor or something and it was a good way to help her come closer to Christ!

Wednesday morning we drove out to Sister Stam***'s home to dig a hole for a tub of sorts. I don't really know how else to describe it haha! We had to dig a pretty big hole to get that sucker to fit! However, we were able to get that knocked out in an hour and a half and she fed us Mexican food for lunch out on the patio. We went back into Central Point and spent some time at the Pea***'s home and took pictures because there was that possibility that I was leaving and they were leaving the next day for a vacation! After saying our premature good-byes to the Pea***'s, we didn't have very much else go on! We were told to retake an online Mobile Device course on our iPads before the weekend so we decided to go to that. Well it wasn't set up yet so we headed back into Gold Hill to take dinner and prepare for Kevin's lesson. On the way in, Brother Vit*** happened to be in front of us and signaled for us to turn into the local Figaros and he bought us a pizza! It was super good. We had a good lesson with Kevin that night about tithing and fast offerings. We are super pumped about him getting baptized on the 16th!

Thursday morning we had weekly planning and I made some really good plans for what we can do to help out the people here in Central Point. After lunch we went over to the Froel***'s to drop some stuff off and talked to Brother Froel***, one of the former ward mission leaders, about Brother Badizade*** and what we could do to help him. We had a lesson with Dana before driving up to Brother Badizade***'s home. We had another interesting discussion with him. He is such an intelligent man and needs to reason to overcome the probability of something happening. He mentioned all this different things about the probability of this thing happening and the probability of this thing happening. Luckily, Elder Best is very much into that kind of stuff and was able to connect with him well. Unfortunately we weren't able to make much progress with him... We hope we will be able to someday! Right before dinner, Samantha and Eric texted us and told us they need to reschedule our lesson for that night to Saturday because of a trip they were making up to Eugene. We wanted to stop by their place as soon as we got the text but we were about to run late to our dinner so we decided to try to catch them after. Well, because of the way I parked the truck and the path that I took to get to the main road took us by the park near our apartment and we saw Eric and Samantha there! We pulled over and talked to them for a few minutes and left them some scriptures to read. After a yummy dinner at KFC, we had correlation to end our night.

Friday morning was the last district meeting of the transfer! It went pretty well. We were all anxious about our calls haha. When district meeting ended and after we took a zone picture, we went with the zone leaders, Spanish, and the Medford 4th Elders and Elder Carroll to Sonic. Elder Carroll was by himself because his companion, Elder Nash, is the new AP! We had a fun time with them there. We went back to the apartment and got changed into service clothes to go mow some lawns for a couple of members. Sister Winter's lawn was a piece of cake as always. Sister Del***'s lawn was a bit tougher! It was a pretty big lawn to cover with an electric lawn mower and we couldn't even mow the whole backyard because most of it is covered in grass that goes up to my chest. We mowed as much as we could of what was already mowed. We cooled off and got changed to go see Mike. We had a great lesson about prayer with him and he even said the closing prayer! He has not done that in one of our lessons since I have been here! It was pretty cool. We drove into Gold Hill and took dinner there. We had some cash that a member gave us to us for dinner that night so we decided to grab a burger from the local burger joint near the apartment. We both got the burger known as the .50 Cal burger! Three patties, three cheeses. It was so good. The owner was quite impressed with the fact that we didn't get a single thing on our white shirts! When we finished up with dinner, we tried to see a couple of members who were in our teaching pool but we didn't talk to a single one. We had a great lesson about coming to church with the Janko*** family! The son who lives there told us that he was planning on going to church in Roseburg and that he was going to take his girlfriend as well! That was a good note to end on!

Saturday morning we were anxiously awaiting our calls and they came pretty early. We were startled to hear that only four missionaries were leaving out of eighteen despite some being here for a long time! We walked over to Calvary Temple and pushed carts. It didn't take very because we only had to push fourteen orders through! We did get some good stuff though so that was pretty awesome. After lunch, we walked around and talked to a ton of people. It wasn't necessarily about gospel things but we were able to put ourselves out there! The reason why we did that was because there was a city wide yard sale and there were a ton of people out and about! It was a ton of fun! We were even able to talk to Angelo for a little bit at his yard sale before he got swamped with people. We taught Adam a little bit about the Great Apostasy but he kept getting off topic so I am not sure how much he got out of it! After dinner I saw one of the coolest things ever! We had a lesson with Samantha and Eric about the Word of Wisdom and after we taught the lesson, we asked Eric if we could take his cigarettes and throw them out. He grabbed his last pack and took all of the cigarettes out and snapped them in half! He threw it in the trash and when we left we saw him throw the trash in the dumpster! It was super cool!

Sunday was awesome! We were asked to help bless Samantha's baby and we gladly accepted! It was a beautiful blessing and I am so grateful to have been a part of it. Fast and testimony meeting was what Samantha needed to hear also so that was an extra bonus as well! We were in church again from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm. We were pretty tired haha! We drove over to the Froel***'s to pick up the granite and man it looked good. We had dinner with the Sta***'s and then we had a lesson with a less active in the Gold Hill ward fall through so we talked to Samantha and Eric about Samantha's baptism. We had correlation to end our night.

This was a good week for us! Thank you for all your prayers and your love! I'm bummed I am missing Drew's wedding but it is for a pretty good cause I think! I know this church is true! There is no doubt!

Love y'all!
Elder Jacob Tonini

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

Here comes the cold!

Hey everyone!

So this was a very interesting week!

Monday after we emailed we went to the mall so Elder Bassett and Elder Cook could get some things they needed. While we were there, we met Santa! He is a member in a ward down south and was in one of Elder Cook's old wards. We went into JC Penny and they had their clearance tie section so I was looking through that and I found a $30 tie that was marked down to four bucks! I was doubtful, however, and asked the lady at the check-out if she could check the price on the tie. As it turns out, the tie was actually $2.49! SWEET! After the mall we went to the stake center to play sports with the other elders in the zone. We started off playing basketball and then we played some dodgeball! Man, I have not thrown that much in a long time! We came back to Junction City for dinner with the Fr*** and we ended up teaching a short lesson out of Preach My Gospel! They were super pumped up to do missionary work after the stake conference we had this weekend and wanted to learn more about how to introduce the gospel to those they meet!

Tuesday was Veterans Day. I want to take a quick second to thank all those who have served our country! I am so proud to have the grandparents that I have who were both in the military and I thank them especially for their service. It was super cold all day and sunny, which made for an absolutely beautiful day! Unfortunately we did not have much go for us early in the day but we had the opportunity to help a less active member named Cami start her move to St. George, Utah. Her father came up from St. George to help her with the move and we connected pretty well. I ended up bragging to him about my awesome siblings as I helped him organize the truck! I also ended up taking a bed apart by myself! One hand holding the headboard and the other hand unscrewing screws out of the bed posts! It was a great workout to say the least haha! After dinner with the Hi*** we went and saw Dotti to see how she was doing. Knowing that she has had a rough couple of weeks, we shared with her a quote by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland about enduring to the end and she really enjoyed it!

Wednesday we got into service clothes to go over to Cami's at 10 to help her continue her move. We got there at 10 and they were basically already done so we went to the church and did Facebook for a little bit before lunch. We had a lesson with Charlotte scheduled for early in the afternoon but something came up and she couldn't meet with us. We decided to go share a Mormon message with Bob and Margret before we got ready to go to Camp Alpine for the rest of the day. Elder Tucker came and picked us up around 2:30 and took us up there. Upon arrival at Camp Alpine, Elder Cook and I decided we were going to go around with Elder Tolman and get some wood that they had cut up around the property. The first load was pretty easy; pretty level ground and the wood was relatively light. The second load, however, was tough! The load was next to the lake down a small hillside. With me being the biggest and having the shoes with better grip, I decided to go down and haul/throw the wood up. It was probably the toughest workout I have had on my mission haha! I was battling the mud and the incline as I was throwing up stumps of wood to Elder Cook and then he had to deal with hauling the wood through the mud. During this, I was trying to throw up another stump when I lost my balance. I fell forward but the incline threw me down the hill and onto the other stumps. Luckily, I was only battered and I didn't hit anything important on the wood! We wrapped up the second load and got it unloaded before doing a third load near the other elders. We split wood using the splitter and I got to split some wood with an axe before dinner, which consisted of Hawaiian haystacks! We got back into Junction City at the end of the evening and we tried to go see Dotti again but she was passed out! After all that work at Camp Alpine, I was sore and extremely tired and promptly fell asleep after planning!

Thursday was my first taste of the cold rainy weather of Oregon! We had weekly planning in the morning. As we were doing our weekly planning, the potential investigator that we had a lesson planned with for today canceled because her and her family were sick. We decided after lunch to go see Brother Thorenson and share a lesson with him. While we were there, we had ANOTHER lesson cancel on us. Bummer! So after Brother Thor***'s, us and the other Elders went up to Harrisburg to search out the less actives and also try to see some of the people that other missionaries had visited with in the past. The couple of people we tried to go see before helping out with Gle*** either had a bad address listed or just weren't home. We did our service at Gle*** before dinner.

Friday we had district meeting in the morning. We talked about how to get the members more involved in missionary work. After district meeting, we had a pizza party because our whole zone got the mileage reports turned in on time!

After we stuffed ourselves with pizza, we got dressed in service clothes to go clean a house. This house wasn't just any old house however. It was a hoarder house!! There were newspapers and other things EVERYWHERE at least 4 inches deep. It took a crew of about 13 elders 15 minutes before we could even see carpet. There were a lot of things that we saw that I am not going to include in the email because....it is disturbing. You really don't want to know!


Afterwards, we helped Elder Bassett do his last exchange with the 3rd ward Elders and headed back up to Junction City for a much needed shower! We had an excellent dinner at Abby's, a pizza chain that is pretty popular apparently in Oregon. With most of our lessons bailing and Friday night being the night when leadership positions are called, we decided to take an invitation to go play dodge ball at the River Road building to be able to get an inside scoop on who is leaving and who is staying. By the end of dodge ball, two of the district leaders were called to be zone leaders in Springfield and Klamath Falls (one being Elder Bassett!) Elder Cook and I did not receive a call from President Russell or the AP's so we had to wait until Saturday!

Saturday we headed down to Santa Clara to exchange Elder Watson back for Elder Bassett and to go to a baptism that the 6th ward Elders were having. After the the baptism, almost the whole zone was in the Young Women's room to see who was being transferred. The Junction City Elders were the last two sets of missionaries and with us knowing Elder Enman was staying and Elder Bassett was leaving, it came down to me and Elder Cook. I was then told I was going down to Central Point 2nd ward with Elder Galloway, who actually went to the same high school as Elder West! This is my first six-week hitch of my mission! After we found out where everyone was going, we went back to Junction City and got some stuff Elder Bassett and I needed for the weekend. We had a great lesson with Charlotte at 3 o'clock! We went over the chapters she read and shared a Mormon Message about praying to know what path we should take. I got to bear my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the importance of prayer! We saw a couple families in the ward before dinner and then we were invited for a volleyball night at the church. Since we normally did basketball, we agreed and played some volleyball with some of the ward members to end the night.

Sunday all we pretty much did was pack. We had a couple families to go see and had an opportunity to give a blessing. Other than, I have nothing else to report!

I am in the transfer van right now. It is awesome having iPads on the mission because I get to read emails and letters in the van. I am grateful for this wonderful thing called the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the Atonement and that we are being prepared everyday, if we do the right things, to live with our Heavenly Father.

I love all of you! Have a great week and I will talk to you next Monday!

Elder Tonini

Transfers!

Hey all!

So this was a good week capped off with General Conference and transfer calls!

Monday we had a mini-Olympics and man it was fun! Egg tossing, water balloons everywhere, marshmallows, everything! We then played some sand volleyball in the rain and then basketball to end it!

Tuesday we tried to see a couple of people but nothing really happened. We did talk to this guy named James and man he was a character! He was all for polygamy and had a couple of beers so he wasn't totally coherent haha!

Wednesday we were finally able to sit down and teach John M*****! We read 3 Nephi 11 and we felt as though he really took it in so we are hoping things can start progressing with him. We were also able to see Karen, the lady we have the Book of Mormon to last week. She hadn't been able to read but she invited us in and even tried to get her son to come say hi! We also had dinner with President and Sister Russell, who were having dinner with some of the young men and young women.

Thursday we went and helped Ben out with some of the metal he was trying to get off his hands. We had correlation that evening and afterwards we went and talked to Stan. We were there for a long time! However, we decided that he wasn't progressing so we dropped him... I am so bummed about it because he has the urge to change but he doesn't know the way to change is right in front of him!

Friday we had Zone Training Meeting (ZTM). We had some things that we were able to do be banned (as in missionary ball and district lunch) and we had a great ZTM. We learned about this new program called Just Serve, a way for us missionaries to get more involved in the community. After zone lunch (little Caesars, my favorite!) I went with Elder Romero on an exchange. We tried seeing some of the Spanish investigators but no one was home.

Saturday we got calls. I'm now in Junction City! Haha we were at the stake center pretty much all weekend and I packed and did laundry.

Sorry this is a shorter email. I will do better next time! I loved this general conference. There was so much advice and counsel given I can't even begin to describe it! Please take heed to the counsels that the prophets and apostles have shared! They can bless your life!

I love you all so much! I hope you have a good week!

Elder Tonini

Bummer!

Hey all!

Well three months have zoomed on by since I have been out on the mission! Pretty crazy that I am starting my third transfer this week! I seriously wish school would fly by like this haha!

Monday we had our luau and it was great! We had fried pig and lamb along with a lot of other goodies. We also played volleyball and football for a little bit. It was a lot of fun!

Tuesday we had zone conference in Eugene and not only did President and Sister Russell speak to us but so did Elder Brent Nielson of the First quorum of the Seventy and his wife. Everyone have fantastic insights and we had a good Q&A session at the end. The greatest thing, however, was that the Spirit in that meeting was present in our lesson with John later that night and it was incredible. We had started teaching him about the Atonement but it just didn't feel right. I thought the story of Nephi, who broke the cords that held him bound after praying for strength. Suddenly, all we could talk about was prayer and how important it was. It lead to us finding out John and Paul hadn't prayed to know the Book of Mormon was true. After the lesson, we challenged them to pray for a witness that the Book of Mormon was true and we both had the impression to ask them if we could do a kneeling prayer and they said yes. Paul said the prayer and in it asked to know if the Book of Mormon was true. After the prayer they both described feelings that comes with feeling the Holy Ghost. That whole time I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest from being so full! It was the greatest feeling I've ever had while teaching!

Wednesday was basically like a day of service for us. We did try to see some of the potentials we got from the sisters but we got nothing so we did service for a while at the Food bank and then helped Ben move some stuff out of the rafters of his barn. I love doing service so much!

Thursday we went and read some scriptures with Charley and spent most of our day walking around trying to see people and OYM but either we got dropped by some people or they weren't home. That night, however, brought us to tears and helped us remember why we love being missionaries. Maxx, a young man who is dating a young woman in the ward, has been investigating the Church since the beginning of this year and we taught him all the lessons and beyond those haha! We had to hand him over to the YSA elders and we would see him occasionally and encourage him. We got home and our phone went off. It was a text message from Maxx telling us that he is going to be baptized. Elder Flora and I were stunned. I hit my knees as soon as I heard Elder Flora read those words and then I reread them to make sure he wasn't messing with me. I thanked Heavenly Father for everything. We were again filled with joy from the Spirit and we cried a little, Elder Flora a little more than me haha! But yeah that is what happened! Pretty nuts! He thanked us for being there and what not so that made it more special!

Friday we did an exchange and Elder Barton came to Philomath. We tried seeing some potentials (we do that a lot) and Elder Barton got a call from President Russell telling him he was going to be a DL!

Saturday we got our transfer call and I am staying in Philomath and Elder Flora is going to Cottage Grove! We spent our day seeing people and teaching some lessons before going to the apartment and packing.

Sunday we had stake correlation and we got some news about the Chinese members and the possibility there so that was awesome. President Russell was also there! Elder Flora had to do laundry so we did that and saw more people and taught some member lessons.

And today I "cut the umbilical cord" and said good bye to Elder Flora. I have spent the day with Elder Johnson and I am waiting for Elder West to get here!

I love this gospel so so much. We talked about the enabling power of the Atonement and how it can literally be given strength to overcome trials in Zone Conference and it was so spiritual to realize how deep the Atonement goes. I know that Christ lives and that there is no doubt about the truthfulness of the gospel and that this is the only true church on the earth!

I love you all!

Elder Tonini

Sent from my iPad