Week 64 Pictures

 

Our kitchen

Bethel Island

 

Pictures of the Elders from the week

this is tara and the Aedo family!

one of chris's decorations



Week 64

Someone told me missions are boring this last week, let me elaborate on how they are not with the outline of my week:

 

Monday- we went on a nice little excursion to Bethel island to meet Robert on his houseboat. Robert is a less active who wants to start coming back. We couldn't find him, but we got questioned for about a half hour for parking on private property, I got to wear my proselyting hat, we found a houseboat village with a dock that rivals the ghettoness of my apartment in Oakland, and then had a miracle and found a few new people to teach living out on boats. Where were we going? I had and still have no idea. Was it successful? Yes. What an adventure. 

 

Tuesday we had ZONE CONFERENCE!!! It was awesome to see everyone I've gotten to be friends with, a whole bunch of elders and sisters I've come to be friends with go home next week, so I am hoping I get to see them all at transfers one more time! We had a few really awesome talks about Christ like attributes, it was great. Afterwards we had dinner with the Strong family, then they gave us a few families they want us to stop by! It was a great night.

 

Wednesday- we had a lesson with Phyllis and she said that she wants to come back to church and get baptized!! It was awesome, we had a member that she is really good friends with come with us and he helped a ton, we are going to go see her tonight and set a date! After that we went on splits with the Marsh Creek ward and met four less active families that no one had gotten in contact with before, it was a night full of miracles!

 

Thursday-  we were so busy, it was ridiculous. We had service for Kathleen and got to meet her husband! after that we finished studies, went to teach a lesson with Mike Hammer, and he is crazy into Halloween decorations. He makes his own and showed us how, we will let you know when we make some, they are awesome. After that we ate dinner, the Larsens bought us a pizza for dinner! Next, we went to teach Tara a lesson on the plan of salvation. She LOVED it! We only got halfway through haha, she had so many awesome questions!  Next we went to go see Chris before our correlation meeting, and that was our whole day. one thing after another all day! 

 

Friday- Lots and lots of planning! We got it done quicker this week and had some time at the end of the day to go and do a baptismal interview for the Spanish sisters. They have been teaching a lady named Amy, and she is so ready to become a member of the church, we will go to the baptism tomorrow! After that we went and started exchanges with the zone leaders! 

 

Saturday- I went out with Elder Johnson and we just worked and worked and worked all day. We met with a lady named Pam and she was really nice, we read the book of Mormon with her! Then we met a crazy guy named Eric, and he was really black, and Elder Johnson is blacker, and he kept calling me racist, and me and elder Johnson just looked at each other and looked back at him and said "what?", it was one of the funniest contacts I have had on my whole mission.

Sunday- Day of miracles. Phyllis went to church with her daughter, and Tara came with sister Aedo!! After church we went to see Tara and finished the plan of salvation with her, she cried and the spirit was so strong, unforgettable. Next we went to dinner with the Magaleis, which was awesome, they are a Polynesian  family and fed us tons and tons of food. After that we took a night stand to Chris because he doesn't have any furniture, and he was having a dance party with his giant Halloween decorations, he is awesome

 

I love my mission more than anything. I get the incredible opportunity to teach what the savior himself would teach if he were here. I am beyond blessed.
Have a great week and focus on developing your testimony of the savior!!!

 

Love,

Elder Tolman

Week 63

Got a referral to jack in the box yo!

 

This week was the greatest. Good times in the life of the Brentwood 2nd elders...

 

So on Monday we had family home evening with the Murff family, and they are one of my favorite families here in Brentwood. They have five kids and they all are super fun, I loved it! They invited a lady named Sister Taylor, we just all sat and had a discussion on the plan of salvation. 

 

Tuesday was district meeting, so we studied for a bit, ate, picked up the Hillcrest Elders, and went to dm, finished and went home to finish studies, then had Dinner with the Brecheisens. Brother Brecheisen plays guitar and is almost done recording an album. Needless to say, I am excited to get to know him. After that we taught Tara!! Tara is doing awesome, she has been praying with her kids and they were in the primary program on Sunday!! We are still working with her on a baptismal date, but she wants really badly to get baptized, it is a miracle for us as the missionaries! After that we went to practice for a musical number that we are doing for zone conference tomorrow. 

 

Wednesday we had our studies, and then went to do service for the lady Kathleen we went to the last couple weeks, we pulled out all the carpet in her house, it was awesome. We are trying really hard to get her to learn about the gospel right now! After that we had dinner with the Swishers, they took us to the habbit and it was delicious. After that we went and taught Garland, then went to splits with the Marsh Creek ward, I love the Elders there, they are totally fearless in going out to meet less active members, I went with Brother Garrison, and we met probably ten people, it was a blast.

 

Thursday we contacted a couple referrals, one of which was for a man named Jorge. It was really exciting, in the referral it said that he wanted to get baptized, so we were real pumped to go meet him. We put in the address, and it took us to the Jack in the box down the street from our house... so we used a jack in the box coupon we had in our car to make up for it, all in all it was a good experience. We had dinner with the Penrods that night too! Then we taught Chris and went to our coordination meeting for Brentwood 2nd.

 

Friday we planned for our area and set great goals with great plans. Exciting.

 

Saturday we had a baptism in the district in Hillcrest!! It was awesome, we were really excited for their investigator, she has been working really hard to be ready for baptism. After that we had a surprise service project where we directed traffic at a big festival in Oakley, we all got really sunburned because it was a 102 degrees and we just stood there. We were told we'd be inside, so it was a great surprise. After that we went to dinner with the Penner family, then went to the visitors center with the MC ward!

 

On Sunday we didn't have meetings, so we got to enjoy our morning. We got to church at 8:30, talked to the members, and a return missionary name Zack Hong came and sat with us and the Blaise family sat by him, it was fun. Tara came to church too, and a couple Less actives came to watch their kids in the primary program, we were really happy. In mc, Derek and Trina  came to church! They are both really awesome, Derek owns his own security business, and Trina is and English teacher at the high school. After church, we went to dinner with the Ridenours, then finished our studies and called in numbers!

 

The over-arching theme in this new area is busyness. We have SO much happening all the time, it is amazing. I have really been gaining a testimony of member missionary work. The members here are totally involved in missionary work, and they expect us to be working hard all the time to fill the needs of the wards. Luckily we like that and are happy to accommodate, I have so much love and respect for the members here and wish I had more opportunities to show them!! I love missionary work and love being a missionary!!

 

Love,

Elder Tolman

 

Sorry, nothing picture worthy happened this week, so I actually don't have any pictures.. haha 

Week 62 Pictures

 

got an owie #notabikemechanic

 

​my record wall

Discovery Bay

Fishing

Big Boats!



Week 62

Another week totally filled with miracles, here we go...

Monday- We taught a RC named Chris in the Brentwood 2nd ward, and he is awesome, I am pumped to get to know him more!!  After that we went home to fix a bike with a tire the other elders picked up for us.

Tuesday- we had DM and we set a goal as a district for 26 baptisms before the end of the year!!! We have 8 on date right now, and it totally will happen. Miracles are coming.  After that we went and did service for a lady in the Brentwood 3rd and moved this massive pool table with the other elders, easily 500 pounds just with the top, it was insane. That night we tracted for a bit and then we went to teach Trina and Derrick.  Derrick is a returning less active, and Trina is a golden Investigator who is totally ready to be baptized, and we are super super lucky to teach them!!!

Wednesday we had a whole lot of stuff fall through, that wasn't so fun, but we found a potential named Jurew, he was real nice! Then dinner was really cool too, it was a bunch of Tongan food.

Thursday we were on exchanges, and me and Elder Crump got to go out together!  We did a lot of tracting in a really wealthy area, so not much success, then we went down this huge long dirt road that had like five houses, and all five said that we could come back!! It was so cool! That night we went to Chris's house to help him get ready to speak at Why I Believe on sunday. Then we had a coordination meeting!

Friday we took a pros break and planned for the next week, we also got to teach that lady named Tara that came to church the week before, and she wants to get baptized!!  We couldn't set a date with her there, but she said that she expects to be baptized 100%, but she wants to learn first. Good things to come!

Saturday we had more exchanges!  We had the Hillcrest Elders come to our area, and I was on bike for the first time for a full day with Elder Campos, and we got a new investigator!! Her name is Phylis, and she is totally deaf and reads lips, it is super super cool, she is the nicest most random 72 year old I have ever met, she kept asking if we wear hungry, because "she could tell we were hungry because of the way we were talking". Cool. We also got a call that a 12 year old girl that has been coming to church with a family wants to get baptized, so we will set a date with her asap.  Lots of cool things happening.

Sunday all but one of our investigators came to church, then we went to visit the Tall Family and share a message with them, and then to dinner with the Blaise family who are the best, they just went to a coldplay concert and they and their daughters told us all about the new coldplay album.  Then, we drove to Oakland and went to Why I believe!! It was so good to go and see all the missionaries I am friends with, Elder Ey is doing great learning English it is so cool!!

Today was cool too, we have been fishing all day in Discovery Bay, if you don't know what that is, Google it and look at some pictures it is beautiful.

I love love love being a missionary, more and more every week. My job is just to love people as much as I can and teach them about Jesus Christ.  How perfect is that?  Too great.  Lots of love and high hopes for every one, have a good week!!

love, Elder Cameron Tolman

Week 61 Pictures

 

New fancy African hat!

 

 

Lunch time!

Week 61

This week was awesome and full of great experiences. heres a rundown...

Monday was great. We went and had a whole bunch of lessons in members homes. We also met a recent convert named Garland. He's 14 and loves the gospel, it is so awesome. After that we talked to his mom and did service for her to show her mormons don't hate african americans, she was real nice and just needed to talk to some missionaries for a bit I guess.

Tuesday we had service with the spanish sisters and the brentwood third elders and got to clear out an old antique shop!! It was so cool, we got probably 50 old records each, and they are records like the Doobbie brothers, creedance clearwater revival, jimi hendrix, the police, tons and tons and tons of jazz records, it was so awesome. then we also got a big batman poster. fun. after that we had District Meeting, then went home to finish our studies. Later that day we were trying to find an address and accidentally left the mission, no good.

Wednesday we had a great day. after we finished studies we got a bit of area organization done to finish up our preparations for teaching and finding here, then went out and started! We had probably 50 contacts before dinner, it was a great effort we were able to give, we got to dinner and just talked about the day with the members, we got to eat with the rogers family, they were awesome, he works for Rockstar in sales and talks a thousand miles an hour haha. after dinner we got to go and Meet with the Bishop in the Marsh Creek ward, and he gave us some good direction to go for, we are excited.

Thursday we had studies, then a ZLC meeting. We talked alot about obedience, and how in the gospel, we have to most often sacrifice and submit our will to the Lords in order to truly experience a change or gain a testimony, and it is almost always something that causes us pain because we are giving up something we love, but that Heavenly Father always gives us something better. it was greater. super cool.  then after that we finished studies, went tracting and did more service and got a cool African hat. we had an awesome coordination meeting too. 

Friday was planning for two wards takes forever. but dinner was cool, we got The Habbit.

Saturday was not too exciting, we taught a couple lessons tracting and got to visit a few members, but that was about it. 

Sunday was awesome. We got a referral at one of our dinners and then they brought her to church, and there was no one else in Gospel principles, so we just taught the first lesson to her! she loved it and we are going to teach her on friday with the Aedo family at their house. cool. that night 

This last week was really hard in regards to finding, but heavenly father blessed us for our work 100%. We are really blessed in this area. I miss Oakland and the Cambodian branch, but this is going to be a great transfer!! I love you all, thank you for still reading about my mission adventures!!

Love,

Elder Tolman