Week 12 pictures

 

This picture is of the chairs we're sitting in. they were over by the garbage  on Thursday night, so we took them and they're awesome

 

 

 

  the sunsets are always crazy awesome, but I can never quite get it in a picture..

 

heres a really bad panorama of our tiny apartment



Week 12

Week 3 in Oakland 10th!

Hello!!  I hope everyone is doing well!!  Fun fact: Missions are amazing

This week was pretty rough numbers wise, especially because we worked our butts off every single day.  We met with almost every non-active member in Oakland, San Leandro, and basically everywhere except Antioch.  It was crazy.  We met with people that haven't talked to missionaries in years today though, we are so happy with what we accomplished!  Even if the numbers don't show it!!

On Monday we went and had dinner with a member family whose son is 17 and wants to serve a mission, I got to speak a lot of Khmer there so it was awesome, and she sent us off with some awesome grilled fish.  Next we went to a less actives house named M..., he's awesome.  he needed help moving stuff, and he went quiet for a minute, then told us he needed to come back to church, to help his family if nothing else.  it was super cool, I have such a strong testimony of how the gospel changes families after being here.  There are broken families everywhere, and we will like hear a dad screaming at his family, then go knock on the door, and everything stops, we just tell them about the love God has for them, and always at least one person will be paying close attention, it usually ends with the door slammed in our faces though, but we know we are helping someone feel something that wasn't there before we came.  Tuesday we had a district meeting and we had a training on contacting from our sisters, and it was way good.  We went to meet B..., but he wouldn't listen to us, so we taught his sister and his mom a lesson instead, his sister is C..., the one who's super helpful.  It was super funny what his excuse was though.  We asked what was wrong and B..., in all honesty says "I have a really bad cough from smoking too much weed, you guys can take my bag for today if you want, there's no way I'm hitting it today".  Elder H... and I busted up laughing and declined, but told him our next lesson would be on the word of wisdom.  We love B..., even if he ignores us!  We just went contacting the rest of the day and had a couple real solid English referrals we sent to the English Elders.

Wednesday I had a new missionary follow up, and we had some really cool training sessions on contacting that Elder H... and I killed it with, we were so proud of ourselves and grateful to God for allowing us to have so many opportunities to practice contacting.  After that, the lesson we had didn't follow through so we went and had an awesome conversation with these six black guys that loved to talk about religion, and we told them where their nearest ward was and committed them all to go to church and read the book of Mormons we gave them, and to call the missionaries in their area, and they all followed through!  It was awesome!  We were pretty disappointed we couldn't count them.  Ha ha!
We had dinner with a family that had been dodging the missionaries for the past 9 weeks, they're less active, but want to come back now.  The wife is one of the new investigators we got this week!  We had a super powerful lesson on families and the atonement, it was so awesome.  Thursday we went less active hunting!!  It's one of our favorite things to do because we get to meet so many people all over the mission.  We got invited to lunch by this one member that works in downtown Oakland, and she took us to this super cool Vietnamese restaurant, it was so good!  We met these way funny old ladies sitting outside the old folks home downtown, and they loved us, it was cool!  Whenever we go around the streets downtown, people yell at us from their cars, just stuff like "go back to Utah!", it's not anything we can't handle, but this group of guys drove by and were swearing at us while we were talking to the old ladies, and they started freaking out, they were so mad!  Ha ha!  We were so happy that someone downtown liked talking to us for a change!  Ha ha!

On Friday we had a service project with our zone in Walnut Creek all day, so we didn't get to proselyte, but our zone is awesome, they have all been out at least a year except me!!  I'm the only new one, ha ha!  It's awesome!

Saturday was an exchange with Elder L..., and it was good to see how another Elder does his work, but I'm glad that Elder H... is my comp right now, it's perfect!  I got home a couple minutes early that night, so we went contacting in an apartment complex close to ours, and we found like ten Cambodians!!  it was so cool!!

Sunday was great as usual, but this Sunday was special, because I gave a talk!! IN ALL KHMER!!  I had prepared so much for this talk, I was super happy with it.  You have to be super careful about what you talk about with the branch, because they don't have a very big knowledge of the Gospel, it was all about prophets and general conference, it was great.  The Best part was that afterwards people told me that my Khmae was fantastic, and that they didn't think they would be able to understand me speaking, but that it made perfect sense, I was beyond relieved.  The Gift of Tongues is real!!

I love this Gospel more than anything, and I have been humbled so much being able to see the lives people live here and meet people that have lived through things that most Americans have nightmares about.  The Cambodian people are so special, and as cool as it sounds to go to Cambodia, I LOVE the Oakland/ San Francisco mission.  It is the perfect place for me.  God knows where I need to be, and I am ready and willing to work and do everything he requires of me.  Stay true to the faith!!   It changes your life once you let it take over!!  Let it become the thing you base your life off of, I promise you will receive blessings you've never seen before!!  Thank you all for the emails and love you send me, it helps me so much to know I am loved and missed!!

With love, Elder Cameron Tolman

Week 11 Pictures

Me and P....

 

Our Apartment

More of our Apartment

 Apartment View

 Another Apartment View

 Apartment View



Pizza that we made, and burned!

The "Coliseum" where the Oakland Raiders play

"Oracle Stadium" where Golden State Plays!

My new friend T......

The amazing Cambodian Dinner we had

An attempt to take a picture of an Awesome Sunset!

Downtown Oakland

Downtown Oakland

Oakland Temple Grounds

Oakland Temple grounds

Week 11

A bit of East Oakland Hospitality!

Here's the mission address for those asking,

4945 Lincoln Way

Oakland CA 94602-2536

U.S.A.

Anything you send, send it here!

This week was FANTASTIC!  I love it here more every day.  We covered the whole mission this week except for San Francisco, so we did quite a bit of work!!!

Tuesday I went on exchange with an English speaking missionary in Concord, and we met this German guy that said we could teach him if we let him teach us how to seal a driveway, it was fun and he told us like his whole life story.  W had dinner with this family in the other Elder's ward, and we committed to the wife's mom to basically everything except Baptism, and she followed through with everything!  It was really nice teaching an investigator in English, but Cambodian is better.

Wednesday we had a  District meeting, and I got to help Elder H.... give the example from our zone leadership training, it was great.  We went to visit a less active member named M..., and we went up to his gate and he was holding a beer, so we understood pretty well why he wasn't coming to church, ha ha!  We love M..., by the end of our lesson he had told us that he has been trying to stop for his daughter, so we taught him about the Atonement and everything, it was an awesome lesson, and he said he wanted to feed us soon, so we were excited about that. 

We had correlation with the mission leader Thursday, his name is P....rong.  I don't remember if I talked about him, but he is awesome, we love P....rong.  We had a lesson with a recent convert named Lyanna who we've been worried about, the spirit was so strong I couldn't believe it.  We met with one of the two investigators we got to meet with that night, and read the book of Mormon for him since he can't read Khmae or English well, and I love him.  He honestly is one of the greatest people I have ever met!!!  His name is Prim Nyo, an he loves to correct our Khmae, which we love, we need it.  He said he would be at church on Sunday, so we were pretty excited!

Friday was weekly planning, so we didn't get out til 3:30, then we went to see President F....., and then our dinner appointment canceled, so we went to a referral we got that morning, and the lesson was going super well and I asked him to be baptized, and he was like "Oh I already was baptized!"  And he actually really has.  He apparently was baptized in the 80's and his address got los, so we found him!!!  It was awesome.  his wife made us a ton of eggrolls.  We eat a lot of eggrolls.

Saturday we spent the day in an area called Antioch, and met with a member family for lunch.  He's in the branch presidency, his name is T....., and he sells Cambodian ties, and he found out I didn't have one so he gave me one!!!  It's awesome, I'll send a picture next week.  There is also a member family that owns donut shops.  Fun Fact:  basically every donut shop in the bay area is owned by Cambodians!  And they were out in Antioch at one of their shops, so we stopped and taught them a lesson and they gave us a box of donuts!!  Next we went to a less active's house that invited us over for dinner, and we had an authentic Cambodian dinner!!!  We had this awesome curry and rice, and it honestly was one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.  Her name is P...., and her kids are awesome and they all love missionaries.  We love their family.  We went and said happy birthday to M...'s daughter and checked on M..., then contacted some people across the street.  I met a black guy named T... who writes "gospel music" for the church nearby, and he let me have a jam session on his keyboard with him in the driveway!  He loved the idea of the church, so we gave his name to the English missionaries, and he said to stop by again and he would have some food for us.  I love T....

Sunday was great, we were planning on having one investigator and a less active make it to church, but we had three and three!!  It was so great!!  P... brought his alcoholic brother, and he asked if we could stop and teach him this week, and then they brought their dad!  We also had three less active members come, Phuen, Max and another guy who I do not remember his name!  But we were so excited!!!  There was one member that felt bad that Antioch was so far away, and that she couldn't feed us, so she brought us three bags of food and drinks at church!!!  We love her, she is the nicest old lady, and she loves missionaries, so we get along super well, ha ha!  That night we went to East Oakland to visit a less active couple, and they let us in and fed us and had a ton of questions about general conference, and we invited them to our ward activity next week, we're excited for them!  After that it was about time to go home, and we went and contacted some gangsters hanging out at a park nearby, and they could not believe that we were walking around in East Oakland after dark.  And that they had a ton of respect for us, but that they weren't sure if we were brave or stupid!  Ha ha!  They listened to us teach for a little bit, and one of them said "Ya'll better go, we givin' you some East Oakland Hospitality right now, but most ain't so nice"  We weren't sure if they didn't want to talk to us or if they were actually worried, so we just called it a night since it was right about time to head home. 

I love my mission so much!  I love all the people I get to serve.  My companion is fantastic and he helps me learn a ton of Khmae everyday.  I can't wait to be in the Oakland 10th for who knows how long!!  I'm beyond blessed to be a missionary!!!

With Love,

Elder Tolman

Week 10 Pictures

Here we are as a district for the last time at the map in the MTC!!  I'm all alone in the States!

Elder Hibbert and I! ! ! He's Huge!  Then on the right is Chantaa, she works with all the sisters we teach from the branch and feds us a lot, it's great.  On the left is Lyanna and Sierra, they're both recent converts.  They were all at a fireside on Sunday night, so we got a picture after.

Like half the food we brought home from the party!

Some food we were gifted, yum!

Some egg rolls we were given, we eat a lot of egg rolls!

Week 10

I live in California!  Not just any place, in the ghetto of Oakland!!!  I LOVE it!!!

I left the MTC at 4:30 in the morning and had talked to 11 people before I got to Oakland, I felt amazing.  The Gospel is life changing.  In Oakland, I met up with the senior couple that came to get me and the Sister that flew over with me, and we drove to the mission home.   Apparently we got there in the middle of zone conference, it was weird.  But I met my new companion,  ELDER HIBBERT! ! !   He's awesome and Loves to work hard, so we get along great!!! He has no fear in sharing the gospel, he tells basically every person that crosses his vision.  I love it.  He's going to be good for me.  He served for a year in Cambodia, but got sick, so now he's stuck with me!  Ha ha!

Right after zone conference finished we went and taught a lesson in Khmae, it was awesome and I understood way more than I thought I would, even though that wasn't very much.  I still was able to share in the lesson and give a couple thoughts to add on, and the lady said my Khmae was really good so I was beyond excited.  We had another lesson with a less active after that (we are assigned to reactivation for the Cambodian Branch right now, so we mostly deal with less actives), and he had this funny room mate that would sit really close to the door while we were teaching in the kitchen, but refuse to let us teach him.  He just sat and listened the whole time!

The next day we went on a search for less actives all day, it was great.  We met with the branch mission leader, his name is Poamrang Rith (Pamrong Riff) and he's awesome, I love him!  He served a mission and loves to help the missionaries a ton.  he makes our life a lot easier.  We met with him Thursday morning and his mom gave us like 15 egg rolls, it was awesome.  Next we went to find a less active named Sawroy, and he was really sick and all his friends were over for gambling day, it was really fun, and he was really receptive, but still refuses to come to church.  We'll get to him soon.  Next we went to find more less actives, and tried contacting this black lady in a van in the parking lot, and she started freaking out about how Mormons don't even love Christ and stuff, and then she said that when Christ died there "was a loophole or somethin' and all the people before became perfect all at once".  It was hilarious to us, and she said she would be praying for us, so all in all it was a good experience!  The rest of the day we spent tracking down the lost sheep, and we didn't have to much success,  it was a little rough!

The next day was basically the same thing, but today people actually wanted to talk to us!  I loved it!  We had weekly planning so we weren't out til way later than usual.  We went to see our investigator with a baptismal date, and we went to his room cause he was sleeping and he got really mad at us so we said we'd stop by later, ha ha!  He ate some bad cuddle fish and has had really bad diarrhea for like five days now, it's not the greatest.  After that, our next lesson fell through, so we went and tried to find more less actives, and we got in touch with a couple that had been less active for 7 years, and they wouldn't tell us why they weren't coming and it was a little discouraging, but they fed us too, so we all were happy, we're going to stop by again soon.  We met a guy contacting that said to us "don't you worry nothing illegal has happened yet!  Stick around too long and you might be in some trouble!"  We talked to him for like 15 minutes and he kept saying he wanted to go to Europe, ha ha

Saturday we had a zone leadership meeting for Elder Hibbert, and then we had an appointment to talk to a priest named Sean from our branch about mission, it was so fun, He's exactly like I was in high school, so we were pretty good friends right away!  We went to teach a less active right after Sean, everyone calls him King Kong.  A couple months ago he got shot in the head at what we think was a drug deal gone wrong, and he is fantastic, I need to get a picture with him.  Then we went to a members birthday party, where we were fed more food than I had seen the whole week.  It was awesome!  And Cambodians cook really well and are the most generous loving people in the world.  I love them so much.  They tell me my Khmae is really good, which basically is the only thing I need to hear from anyone right now.  We went home with like five plates of food and a box full of doughnuts.  The Church is true!

Sunday.  Holy cow!  Talk about getting thrown in the water.  At ward council meeting they asked me to give a quick introduction and talk to the branch in Khmae and English, but I got nervous and only did it in khmae, but that's a good problem I guess.  Priesthood was hilarious, and I met my favorite person here, named Peng Try (Peng Tree).  He's the nicest, and he is working so hard to learn English and get a better job for his little 3yr old.  I love Peng Try!  Sunday school was all in Khmae and I understood almost all of it, I was so happy!  In sacrament, I got up to speak and after the lady I was translating for said that I had amazing Khmae for only having learned for 2 months, and I teared up because the Lord was answering my prayers!!  Since I left I have been praying that I would be prepared to teach the gospel when I got here, and I was prepared!!!  The Church is true, God gives gifts to those who are diligent and faithful!  My goal is to be fluent in 2 months, and I have Heavenly help!!!  I love my mission and my language and the people I get to serve!  No where I'd rather be! ! !

Lots of Love,
Elder Cameron Tolman

Week 9 Pictures

This picture is with the Laotian Elders in our Zone, the bug guy and the kneeling Asian are our zone leaders, Elder Ahau and Elder Jeung!

This one is with the Mandarin Elders in the dorm right next to us that we got to know pretty well

This one is with my District, out in front of the temple with a Cambodian flag!  

This is my district with the branch President and the Hmong Elders in our zone

This one is with Sister Reddish!  I realized she was here and we quickly grabbed a picture!

This one is with our teacher, sister Davis!  We weren't sure if we'd see her again so we got a picture real quick!

Week 9

It's time!  This week the real work begins!  At 4:50am Wednesday morning I head over to the Salt Lake Airport, board a plane at 8:30am or so, fly out at 9:50am, and I'm in the California, Oakland/San Francisco Mission within the next hour! ! ! !  I cannot wait!

The MTC has been great, but I am beyond ready to leave.  I mostly don't want to get a new companion, but I'll get over that pretty quick.  I can't wait to start teaching the people of California!!

A few fun things this week:

Elder Oaks came on Tuesday and gave a talk, it was awesome!  We are done teaching in the MTC.  No more investigators til the field.  We got hopefully our last sack breakfast this morning.  We've learned a lot about Cambodia, hopefully I'll go there someday.

We are basically done packing already so we can go do whatever all day.  We got to help the new missionaries Wednesday!  We got up in front of all of them and started a couple lessons, it was really fun, there was one missionary that was asking us for tips on teaching and stuff, Elder Hinds and I felt pretty happy that people seemed to think we knew what we were doing.

I can't wait to leave the MTC.  It literally is one of the only things I think about.  I love the Gospel so much, and there is no where I would rather be than with the Cambodian people of California.
Cumreapbliah!!!

Elder Tolman 

Week 8 Pictures

 

I found Elder Jensen! Our dads grew up together, and we were wearing matching ties! Ha ha!

Here's Elder Walker attaching Elder Hinds with a blow up Hammer

And here's a silly string smiley face I made that made our room smell awful for a long time

Here we are getting to the temple really early for the last time as a District