Week 68

Members Members Members!

Another great week down in the books. 

Monday we had pday and went and saw the ocean, it was a blast, but all the pictures are on my camera and not my SD card and I don't exactly have a cord for my camera, so you will have to take my word for it. We drove to Oakland that night for exchanges with the AP's. 

 

Woops, gotta go! we will be back at 1!

 

 

Finnish Pop Singer and VR Designer yo!

 

Tuesday I got to go work with Elder Mason. Have I ever said how much I love Elder Mason? He's the best. We taught two or three lessons, I don't really remember, but we committed both of them to get baptized, it was awesome. After that we went to our home once again. Great great day.

 

Wednesday we had exchanges with the Tagalog Elders, and also interviews with president! I went with Elder Fernandez, and we met one of the less actives named Donnie, and he was a marines officer in Vietnam, he's really cool! After that we had dinner with the cox's and then went and contacted by the lake around the chapel, it was a great night. I am a big fan of Elder Fernandez. 

Thursday was service day!! We went to a food bank owned by a member. After that we went to dinner with the Wright's, he's a scientist!! Their family was awesome! That night we went and contacted 3 of our referrals, then we had an awesome lesson with Rick, one of the less actives in our ward.

Friday we weekly planned, and then sat down with President Watkins!! He was the mission President of the Madrid Spain mission, for two and a half hours talking about missionary work. It was incredible. We definitely know what we need to focus on in this ward! We found out there used to be 3 companionship's in the ward, and now there is just us!!! WE HAVE SO MUCH TO DO!!! Time to go to work!! We went to dinner with a Finnish pop singer named Jonna Christensen after that. (you should look her up, she has a song called smile she showed us, pretty neat), it was awesome, we talked about our favorite scriptures and talked about how to be better missionaries. Her husband works in silicon valley, and he is way cool. 

Saturday was blitz day! we went and worked in the Spanish area first, I got to go with Elder Struve for two hours finding, it was a blast. On the first door this lady flashed us, and when we walked away, Elder Struve was just staring at the ground, and I asked "does that happen often?" and without looking up he said "no...no..." after that we went to eat with the Austin family, and they are SO COOL!! Brother Austin served his mission in Tennessee, and now is the Virtual Reality Designer for Youtube. It is crazy. after that we had another blitz, and me and Elder Tu'ua went to visit a recent convert that moved into our ward last Thursday named Brenden, He is the best, I love him. 

Sunday was great. We ate with the Bonin family, and they just made me feel so happy. They were so excited to talk about the gospel and people they have been trying to share the gospel with. Needless to say, they are some of our favorites. Then that night, we went to visit the Pope family to start off our new focus to work through members, and it went SO WELL!!! We just talked with them about their missions and it was awesome, they told us about how they really wanted to be good member missionaries, and that they would like us to hold them accountable, they were so humble, I love them! This week was just awesome.

We were having a hard time figuring out what we need to do here, but after praying for guidance and meeting with President Watkins, we know exactly what the Lord expects of us for the coming week, and we are beyond excited to go work hard and make sure it happens!!! I feel totally FEARLESS!!! I've been totally swallowed up in the joy that comes from serving the Lord!!! I hope you all have a great week filled with opportunities to share the gospel!!

Love,
Elder Tolman

Sorry I don't have any pictures this week...

Week 67 Pictures

 

Everyone gets to sign bishops table, and I found elder Apostolos's and said he's stupid in Cambodian, but don't tell him

felt like home would be better, so we were heading to the airport, Then the spirit was like, "nah man, serve"

The Leslie's took us out for Sushi, Elder Forsyth had never had it before but has since been converted.

Here we are wondering where dinner is

The bishops wife took us shopping at cosco and spent $300 on us. I'll tell more about bishop's family later...

we may or may not have gotten a flat tire on the freeway to weekly planning. what a good time.

 

Driving across the bay once again

 

*before stake reports*

*after stake reports*

Here's some pictures of our apartment for mom (I love you mom)



Week 67

Eventful. wowzers. "Sweet potatoes just taste like.... *smacks lips*"

Ah. Wow I love this area. I love all my areas, I've been really blessed. 

Monday was great, at the end of the day, we had exchanges with the Fijian elders, that's all I remember.

Tuesday I went out with Elder Sonntag.  He's been out for about a transfer, and he is awesome.  We did a lot of tracting and contacted a few referrals and went to district meeting.  It was awesome, great things.  A member of the stake presidency took us to a place called the counter, it's a gourmet burger restaurant, and it was incredible. Thank you President Roden.

Wednesday we had a lesson with an investigator named Tim, and he is awesome, he is a little bit crazy, but awesome. He loves conspiracy theories and is always on the lookout for what the government is doing, it's great.  We taught him about how he isn't going to know if the church is true if he doesn't read the Book of Mormon and ask God if it is true, you could see that he wanted to know and it was such a special feeling to bear testimony of the fact that God is going to answer his prayer if he asks as sincerely as he asks us, we are excited to see him again!!

Thursday was service day! We also got taken out to eat by the bishops wife!  She said we were going to Costco, and we were already excited, then she surprised us and actually took us shopping!!  Every time she saw something delicious, she said "wow that looks good you should get that".  My jaw totally dropped.  Maybe part of that was due to TMJ, but it was incredible none the less.  Then she bought us a chicken bake, and it was all well and dandy.  Next we went to help and old lady named Sister Gillan at her house, She is really old and even more feeble, so we go once a week on Thursdays and do a few small things before we go to our normal service at a place called Samaritan House, then that night we had dinner with the Leslie's and they took us to a sushi place, but we couldn't find them there it was really funny.  They are a great family, he's the stake young men's president and his wife had to leave early, and he got really excited and yelled "Alright! Guys night! I haven't done this in years!" we love brother Leslie. 

Friday was supposed to be weekly planning, but we got a call from the Housing coordinator for the mission, and some of his boxes he uses to move people got left in San Mateo, so We had to go to Oakland and help him, and it ended up mostly being the fact that he needed our truck, because the A.P.'s were in Antioch that day so there were no trucks around. So we got home in time for dinner with the Dale's (who are awesome, he had the coolest dinner/lesson ever, he works for google and she is the manager for their apartments), then went and talked with bishop about the ward and I got to know them a bit.  Bishop is an Investment manager and was telling us about how he spent 18 million dollars that morning and then took a shower and went to work, he thought it was hilarious. Their son Jarret is AMAZING.  He is 12, but he is totally hilarious, I love their whole family.

Saturday was a bit hectic.  We first were planning on being able to finally contact all our referrals, but then got called to Oakland all day, so moved planning to Saturday.  All was going to be well, except on the way to the chapel, right next to the airport where the shoulder is the biggest, we heard what sounded like a gunshot (and I definitely am familiar with that sound after my first area) and saw pieces of tire flying up from the road. We pulled over real quick and took a look. Somehow the tire just got ripped and exploded. It was the weirdest thing in the world. Anyway, we changed our tire really quick and went to get some gas, then called Elder Robinson what happened, and he told us it was time for a new set of tires anyway and also an oil change, so he had us go to San Leandro across the bay to the mission Pep boys (it's not the churches but all the missionaries go there). We got a call from our nurse that morning telling us to go get our flu shots, and there was a CVS right next door, so we walked in and got our flu shots, except elder Forsyth couldn't roll his sleeve up all the way, and he didn't want to take his shirt off, so instead he ripped off his sleeve, it was hilarious. the pharmacist was this little Asian lady, and she just kept saying "Oh my Gosh! Oh my gosh!" Good stuff. After that we ate dinner at a chapel while traffic died down.  Then we went back!  Except then, I realized i forgot the phone... so we had to go back, and by the time we got back home the day was over.  I was kind of sad/angry at myself. 

I'm actually out of time so I will just leave it with the fact that Sunday was great. Great members, and Incredible priesthood meeting, the spirit was strong. I really love love love the gospel, so much. I love being a missionary just as much. Thank you for all your love and support! The church is true!!

Love, 

Elder Tolman

 

Week 66 Pictures

Last goodbye to Elder Hibbert

Transfer goodbye to Elder Stokes

Me and Jensen and Apostolos

Elder Forsyth in our apartment

Week 66

Zone Leader = computer monkey

 

Home of Youtube, GoPro, Pinterest, Edmodo, and then 90% of the startups in the Bay Area.... San Mateo!!! Tons of rich people, Tons of repentance preached from at the Gates of their luxurious mountain mansions and through the peephole of the bayside apartments. The Dream.

Monday was great, we had a good p day and said some goodbyes. We ate lunch with Tara, and got to finally meet her husband! Good stuff. That night I packed up and got ready to move again. I must have either not listened to the Lord at all and he needed me out asap or I worked hard enough that I had already done what he needed me too. Either way, It was a good run in Brentwood...

Tuesday was fantastic. We got to transfers nice and Early at 9:30 so that Elder Stokes and His new companion could get back to Brentwood before traffic hit. I waited at the Mission home for Elder Forsyth and all the rest of the zone to get all taken care of, then finally at 12 we started the trip back to San Mateo. Our Apartment is awesome, I can't believe it. The carpet is kind of gross, but everything can only get better after my first apartment. We dropped off my bags so no one could steal them out of the bed (oh ya, We drive a gnarly blue Nissan Frontier in this area), then went to work doing zone leader things! Which means that we sat down at computers for the rest of the day because we have to do stake reports...

Wednesday we got up and went for a nice morning run, then managed to get a couple hours of studies in before we got a call from the vehicle coordinator saying that the sisters had to take their car to San Jose to get repaired, and we had to follow them there to make sure they made it. We had a lunch appointment unfortunately, so we met the sisters and taught them how to put water in the radiator in case it over-heated and went to the famous Rainbow Pizza! The bishops wife and son took us out to eat, and it was awesome!! I can't wait to get to know them!! After that, we drove down to San Jose to pick up the sisters, needless to say, it was really strange driving back with a car full of sister missionaries (Don't worry President told us to). We flew over to Oakland after that for all the meetings with the new missionaries, and we ended up with 7 new missionaries in our zone!! It's crazy! We are really excited to get to know them and help them learn what the work is all about! We ended up getting home at exactly 9 after running luggage all over the peninsula for all the new missionaries (if you have a truck you are just a glorified bell hop).

Thursday was great as well. We did service for a ward member in her yard for a quick minute, then she fed us Lunch! Next we went and did some work at a food bank, it was fun, a couple other elders came too. After that we went and got dinner on our own, then kept up our computer work to make sure we got it all done this week.

Friday was a little crazy. We left at 10:30 to pick up a couple missionaries that didn't have a way to get to Oakland for a meeting the new missionaries had, and then went and tracted a bit in Oakland in my old area while we waited for the meeting to end. We also got lunch and looked at the Cathedral downtown after we ate, then went back to the mission home after and helped with some stuff they were doing. The meeting ended up going about an hour over, so we didn't get back to San Mateo until about 6:45, then we got a hamburger really fast and went to a Zone Leadership Council we were in charge of, then planned out the zone training that we had to do the next day.

Saturday we got to go and do some missionary work for about an hour, then went to pick up the sisters car, and then we went to hand out some papers to the district leaders, then we called the Tongan Elders to make sure they were all ready for the baptism. It was two hours before, and their investigator hadn't been interviewed yet, the font was filthy, and it hadn't been filled yet, so we scrambled to go and take care of it to make sure the baptism could still happen. After lots of delays and various problems caused by lack of planning, three people got baptized on Saturday!! It was awesome. Next we went to set up for the training before dinner, and then ate really fast, and then had an awesome zone training. All was well.

Sunday was great! We went to church, studied, and then finished up the last of the computer work. All is going well thus far.

I love being a missionary, The Lord has most definitely heard my prayers and has helped me find people who are YEARNING for the gospel, even if I don't get to be the one to teach them. I am so grateful for the miracle of the restored gospel and am totally committed to share it boldly to all the people I can. The Church is True!!!

love,

Elder Tolman

Week 65 Pictures

 

Here are the Ridenours

Elder Jensen is goin home

The missionaries leaders of the antioch zone

 

Me: Chris can we take a picture?

Chris: can we do it in front of my dragon?

Me: of course

Chris: Do I look like i have breasts? let me put a shirt on

 

 

we are putting missionary clothes on these two to get them concecrated



Week 65

 

"Be ambitious boys." Conference? Yep. Transfers? Yep. San Mateo? Yep again.

Eventful week indeed. Here's what transpired-

Monday we had a lesson with the Ridenours, it was awesome. They are an awesome couple and are crazy involved in missionary work.

Tuesday we had our last district meeting of the transfer and also had a baptism!! The Brentwood first sisters had a lady, Amy, the one I interviewed last week get baptized, and Elder Cox baptized her, and Elder Stokes confirmed her, it was awesome! Later we had a whole lot of time to go and tract, and we met a guy named Mo (short for mohammad) and he and his whole family let us teach them! It was awesome! He said we need to come back this week to teach more when his dad is home, it was amazing. We were walking to contact a referral, and I really felt like we needed to go knock on this door that we were passing, so we did, and we got to teach a whole family! It was a total miracle! It might happen more in other places, but that was the first time I have taught an entire family on my whole mission, that kind of thing is just so much more uncommon here. The very next house we went to, the referral, was a guy named John, and he just moved to Brentwood from the boonies of Antioch, and he let us teach him the restoration, we will follow up this week!

 

Wednesday we had exchanges, I got to go out with Elder Habel, and we had a day full of miracles. First, we met with one of the investigators they have named Lorenzo, and we committed him to be baptized on Oct. 29th, it was a powerful lesson, we talked about the plan of salvation. After that we found two new investigators for them, it's a father and a son, one is Muslim and the other is Pentecostal. It was a good day.

 

Thursday we had a meeting for Elder Stokes in Oakland, so that took pretty much the whole day driving to Oakland and back in traffic. That night we had a lesson with Tara though, and we set a date for Oct. 29th!! We are so excited!!!

 

Friday was weekly planning, but we had a lesson with the Wittman family in the Marsh Creek ward. Her husband isn't active, but he works for a Biochemical engineering company, but we had a great lesson with them.

 

Saturday was great. Conference was great. I don't know if I had necessarily a favorite talk, but a couple that  stuck out to me were Elder Cook, Elder Christopherson, Elder Yamashita, Elder Curtis, and Elder Eyering. I took so much out of conference this round. Wonderful. We got to watch the Saturday after noon session at brother Sot's house haha. Then that night we got Transfer calls!!! so...

I will be transfered to the Crystal Springs 2nd ward, my new companion will be Elder Forsyth!! We will be the zone leaders for the San Mateo stake, which is just all the southern part of the penninsula.  Very exciting. 

 

All is well in the life of Elder Tolman. I am really excited for the next transfer, I get to kill Elder Forsyth (be his companion when he goes home) and do a lot of service for the people and the missionaries here. It will be a growing experience for sure!! I love you all and hope that you spent time watching conference and pondering the words of the prophet!! I love you all, thank you for all your love and support!!!

Love, 

Elder Tolman