Week 102 Pics

Week 102

I did it!

I don't feel like writing anything today, if you really want to know how my week was, talk to me in a couple days, or shoot me an email (: 

My mission has been un-matchable. I love the gospel. I love the Lord for what he has given me while I've been here. I had my exit interview about an hour ago, we have dinner with our bishop tonight, then we will go proselyte one last time, then that's it. I'll be in Oakland for 24 hours, then I'll be home. (:

I don't have anything to say. Hopefully I'll see a lot of Y'all this next week! If you want to see me before Sunday, sorry, you'll have to talk to my Mom. Alright. Deuces.

Love,
Elder Cameron Ellis Tolman

Week 101 pics

Here's last weeks pday...

we went to the Hayward shoreline trail, it was neat. 

 Here's a picture of elder Gomez doing our Monday morning call in the Chinese elders house.

Week 101

 This is if folks!

Days. I feel pretty good. This will be pretty brief.

So this last week we worked super hard. We had a lot of preparation to do for this week with going to the temple, stake reports, and MLC, so we had to take full advantage of what time we had! 

In the end, we didn't see the results we wanted from our work, to be totally honest last week was really slow in regards to finding. Three of our investigators dropped us, we are probably going to have to pass off our only investigators that are progressing to the Oakland Elders so that they can get taught more, and we didn't find anyone new, so this next week we will be hard pressed to find and teach. We had a really good talk with the high councilor for missionary work in the stake this week about what's going on in our ward, and we have some solid goals right now for what we want to see happen! I have a goal to find 15 total investigators this transfer (that's a lot in our zone) and we are at 10 right now, so we will be in search of miracles this week! I hope everyone is doing well! I love you all very much, I try to say that every week because it's true. I appreciate all your letters and support over the last two years. I'm excited to see everyone soon! I have to go, we have short email time today because we are going to the temple tomorrow! Have a good week!!

Love,
Elder Cameron Tolman

PS- I don't remember if I've said this yet, but my homecoming talk is on Sunday June 18th at 

2:50. The Address is 14550 Juniper Crest Rd, Herriman, UT 84096

Week 100 pics

Here's a few pictures...

We found these shoes at our chapel.

Waiting for James and Geri. 

The end of our bike day.

 Rainbow pizza.

Week 100

Haha! The Lord is good ladies and gentlemen...

Monday we had a zone musical number practice for zone conference, but we don't need to talk about that.

Tuesday we had THE LAST APPOINTMENT for Elder Gomez's teeth. It's all finished and he is totally fine now. thank goodness. We ate lunch with the walnut creek zone leaders elder henson and elder Tu'ua after. that was a nice treat. next we headed back to our area and ate dinner haha, then we tried to go see the Assyrian family, but they ignored us... we were really sad to say the least. The rest of our night followed the same pattern of getting ignored.

Wednesday we went out on bikes for the day, president asked us to test sacrificing one day a week to only ride bikes, so we did. the problem was that we only had one bike because elder gomez's bike finished getting fixed that day, so we had planned to pick it up after our service that was close by. It started out really off track, because one of the spanish elders was sick, and they needed to go to a baptismal interview for their investigators, so we walked to their apartment, and I stayed with him while elder gomez went to service and to the interview. After that we walked to the feiks house to grab the second bike, and then brother feik told us they will probably move when he quits his job soon, so that was sad to hear for the ward (everyone in our ward is moving to utah right now, we have lost 43 members since I got here in February). Next we went to put together our training for Zone conference the following day, then we ate dinner with the wonderful Vaioga family, and after that we started to go visit a nearby member when we got a call that two men from afghanistan had just walked into the chapel and asked how they can feel the spirit, brother kelley asked if we were anywhere close to the chapel (which we weren't) and then asked if we could make our way over to teach them. We managed to get there in ten minutes, and then taught them lesson one with lots of Islamic interpolations in between. In the end it all worked out and we got a return appointment for the following day. Cool. Next we had to go back to where we came from and teach james and Geraldine. We got there 20 minutes late because of our mulsim friends showing up and our lack of a car. We went up too the door (with their new home teacher brother Jones) and didn't receive any answer. hmm. Very odd for them to miss an appointment. We waited for them to come, and no one came. It was really strange. anyway, that was sad, but we headed home and worked into the night to finish our training. 

Thursday was zone conference. It was alright, It was all about acting and understanding the spirit, which I love, thats one of my favorite things to learn about, I mostly got to teach about it though, so it was just really long, a blessing nonetheless. After we went out to eat with the Tarbuttons and the San Mateo Zone Leaders. Good times. Then we went tracting and found yet another family! the olnly problem was they speak spanish, but not too big of a problem for elder gomez. Woo! after that  our day was pretty much over.

Friday was stake reports and then we ate dinner at a members and then nothing happened the rest of the day and I feel to lazy to write

Saturday was pretty much the same as the rest of the week, just on exchange with Elder Habel, so it was especially fun.

Sunday was crazy, our bishop set a baptismal date with our investigator again, so that was a problem, but then our investigator came to church with his fiance and his baby mama, and we added the baby mama as an investigator. THEN he was asking us about polygamy after, so we are really scared. Luckily he is only having the baby mama (sorry her name is tasha) around because she was diagnosed with cancer and then his fiance invited her to live with them, so none of it was his plan. Either way, he still needs to get married before he can get baptized, we don't really care to who as long as it happens. Then at the end of church, an entire Indian family walked in and asked if we believe in Christ! We told them yes and that our english meetings were over, and that we could come to their home and meet with them and teach them about Christ, so that was the miracle of miracles for the week. The Lord rewarded us at the very very end of the week greatly. Almost all of the measureable success we had happened on Sunday, it was awesome. I am three investigators away from reaching my new investigator goal for the transfer, and I couldn't be happier. I hope everyone has a great week! 

Elder Tolman

Week 99 Pictures

Here's English class on exchanges

and the Overtons!

We went to Sonic today as well.

Week 99

Goals Achieved

The Lord grants according to our desires ladies and gentlemen...

Let me recount a story. SO Monday we had nothing to do, and we can't visit members on Monday unless we're invited over, so we went to our area book and pulled out some former investigators to go visit, and we got to one that seemed really dumb to go to, they basically hadn't been interested in the first place. We went anyway, and had a really hard time finding it, and got turned down by everyone we met along the way, but we finally found it, and went up and knocked on the door. No answer. Knock again... no answer. too bad, we just started to head out, and were closing the gate behind us, and a man upstairs opened the window and said "one moment! One moment my friends!" so we waited a few minutes in front of his house, and heard people running around inside. My first thought was that we were going to get bashed, and I mentally prepared myself, but then a little kid opened the door and said "One moment!" and ran off, then another older kid opened the screen door and let us in and had us sit down in the living room. The mom came down and introduced herself as Souzana, her husband is Farred, and the two kids are Alleel (12) and Elliee (9). The dad said that he was so glad we decided to come to their home, and that he wanted us to come and talk about Christ often with them. Whoa. We asked if they knew who we were and they had no idea, so we told them, and taught them all the restoration and added them all as investigators! That was the first whole family I have found my whole mission, one of my goals before I leave being to find a family (:

Tuesday we had lunch with bishop, then district meeting, then went to go teach a few less actives, then had dinner! we ate with someone, I can't recall who. The rest of the day is a blur, but not much happened. 

Wednesday was goo! we had exchanges with the Chinese elders, and I went with Elder Smith. We both go home together, so it was fun to go out and work really hard. We found some people for the other elders to teach, but no Chinese people unfortunately...

Thursday we had service, then went out and started to find some people to teach. We found a few potentials, but nothing after that. 

Friday we had weekly planning, then went and met bishop to visit brother Kelley's son who has the same name haha, then we ate with Bishop and Elder Mitchell Nelson who came back to visit, then we went and met with brother barber really fast, then went to a lesson with a less active, then went home!

Saturday was supposed to be super busy, but we ended up having all six of our scheduled lessons cancel, so that was sad, but we were able to go out and find find find, tons of fun. we were able to have some really good visits with a few members also. We went to this old disabled couples house in the ward and taught their son also, it was neat. 

Sunday was great. church was normal until one of our investigators left after sacrament, so we asked where he went, and he said he took his semi-active daughters to get something to eat. he came back, and we didn't want him to go to gospel principles because it was getting soooo off track and not good, so we just taught him a lesson and set a baptismal date for July 1st!! It was one of the better lessons I've taught on my mission, Elder Gomez and I were really happy. After church we studied, and ate dinner with the Tuitavuki's, then went to Why I Believe to watch David and Haelee speak, they did great!

I feel so blessed this week. I have been trying to be more diligent about praying for help to reach goals by specific means, and my prayers were answered. I love knowing I am being directed by the Lord at all times, I have faith in whatever circumstance I am put in because I believe God wants me to be there. It makes me feel pretty confident in myself! I love you all, have a good week!

Love,

Elder Cameron Tolman

Week 98 Pictures

In the elevator

 service this week at Salvation Army 

Saying early goodbyes to the andersons

Elder Gomez talking to the fam

Me passing time in the barbers house while he talks to the fam

Week 98

Infections and rejections.                               May 15, 2017

	Inbox

	May 15

That sums up our whole week, we went out finding after all attempts were made to work through the ward, unfortunately we went all week without finding a new investigator... UNTIL SATURDAY. 

In mild frustration, we went to the neighborhoods of all the strongest members in the ward and tracted all around their houses and mostly set up appointments, but we did manage to find one new investigator named Antonio! He is a high school kid here, and our relief society president gives him a ride to school every day! We shared lesson one and he really liked the restoration, he said it felt good to listen to it, and so after a little talk we told him God wanted to teach him more about all of it, and he said ok, we will teach him again this Saturday! 

As for infections, Elder Gomez had a small emergency where his face swelled up all of a sudden and he couldn't close his mouth, so he got a blessing and we waited it out until we could get some help from the orthodontist in Concord, so we lost two days proselyting to that because of driving and traffic and not being able to do anything with a fat cheek. Luckily Elder Gomez is ok now!

We also had MLC, so that was another day gone, but it was ok because MLC was great this month, I really enjoyed it. there was lots of talk about how the leaders set the standard for the Mission the Same way the Ward mission leader set the standard in the ward. 

Well, we have lots of goals to reach this week, lots of people to love, and lots to miracles to work for. I hope everyone has a great week! I love you!!

love, 

Elder Tolman

Week 97 pictures

Ps- My Homecoming talk is going to be June 18th. Just putting that out there...

Elder Santos Beating up elder Gomez

Saying Goodbye to Elder Santos

Happy Birthday to me

This is Horacio.

We made a cake for ourselves, we both had birthdays a week apart.

We went on a hike today, good times

Week 97

This week was really weird, we had to drive to Oakland a lot. Not as productive as I would have liked.

Monday was great, we just went out and worked hard and finished stake reports. Lots of fun.

Tuesday we had transfers, and that took forever because everyone was late, so we got back home at like 1 o'clock, then did personal study, then met with bishop, went tracting, ate dinner with sister Kaho, and then went and presented the Stake Report, it was funny, because Elder Santos just sat there the whole time, and the Stake President was like "Elder what exactly are you doing here?" and he said "you know President I don't know".

Wednesday was good too, we started personal study, then president called and told us that he was going to be transferring Elder Santos to Castro Valley, because a missionary somewhere else was going home unexpectedly, so he had to make some changes. Short and sweet. we finished studies and then went to service. After service we went out to eat with the TARBUTTONS!! They were in Union City on their way back to San Mateo, and Brother Tarbutton had wanted to take Elder Santos out to eat for the last two year, because he met him in Hong Kong, so I called him and told him we didn't have dinner, and that Elder Santos was with us, it was really cool. I love the Tarbuttons. after that we tried to contact a referral to no avail... we went street contacting after that since there were three of us, so we could talk to tons more people. It was really fun, I met some nice, uninterested folks. That night we went and met with James and Geraldine, it was nice to sit down with them, we are allowed to go to the temple with them now for baptisms, so that will be fun. 

Thursday was ridiculous. We drove to Oakland to drop off elder Santos, and believe it or not people were late again, so that took a bit, but we made it out in a little under and hour. after that we went home and studied, then went to Elder Gomez's follow-up appointment in concord, which was a huge waste of time, so we were gone all afternoon and were late to dinner, but luckily dinner was great, we ate with the Barbers. I don't  remember the rest of the day...

Friday Elder Gomez hurt his back working out, and the mission doctor told him to rest, so I weekly planned by myself and cleaned. boo.

Saturday we gave a presentation to the 50 some Filipino's that came to the 8 year old baptism on Saturday, it was really fun, they gave us a ton of food. Then we had district meeting, then we ate with Maria and Horacio, our investigator! It was really fun, he is a retired professional Chef, and he read Five chapters of 3 Nephi between visits, we only asked for one! It was awesome. after that we went and taught Mae and Ella a lesson, they're some recent converts in our ward, they're these two older sassy black ladies that are really fun, I enjoy visiting them.

Sunday was cool, Gabriel came to church, we set and appointment to meet with his whole family on Tuesday, so if he cancels we will meet with the rest of them still! Cool. Other than that, nothing huge happened, Elder Gomez rested for a bit and then we went out and worked the rest of the day!

I am very satisfied with my work right now, I see the blessings from the Lord on a daily basis for the diligent work I am putting out, I love it. I love being tired every day, I love feeling nervous going and talking to people, I love testifying about the Lord and his church, I don't do anything that I don't enjoy, it's wonderful. Five more weeks of it, I'm very blessed

Love, 

Elder Tolman

Week 96 pictures

Various photos

Morning sports crew

Here's Sister Lee and Sister Abernathy that came back to visit

Week 96

Alrighty. So this week was nuts.

I don't have a ton of time, so I am going to just sum up the week in some time-efficient bullet points.

- We found two new investigators, one of whom wants to get baptized

-Brother Bartlett, otherwise known as C-3PO, took us all out to eat

-We gained some really solid Member trust after our events last Sunday subsided.

-Elder Gomez got his wisdom teeth out. What an adventure. 

-I borrowed a guitar from a member and got to play guitar while he recovered for two days.

-The biggest of all... TRANSFERS. so we got the call on Saturday, and nothing was supposed to change for me and Elder Gomez, BUT, we got a call from President Frandsen about ten minutes ago that we are going to be in a trio with an Elder Santos. President said "I don't want you Elders to cut him any slack, give him a good shake if you need to so he gets going and gets out working". That's all we know about him besides that he goes home with me haha, so this last transfer will end up being one of the craziest of my mission, so get ready for some good stories!!

Love, Elder Tolman

Week 95

This week was kind of a bummer, but it had some neat moments!

It all started Monday night when our member appointment canceled, and went tracting all night, which is fine, we were able to teach a lot of lessons, but nothing immediately fruitful came out of it. We also got a training ready for Zone Conference the next day. Oodles of fun. 

Tuesday we got up and went to zone conference in Castro Valley, it was a good one. We focused the whole thing on the Savior, because for some reason missionaries are not focusing on Him as much as they should. It was really powerful, I don't have my notes with me, but President Frandsen had a cool talk on the house of Israel and how the Saviors teachings are all connected to gathering them, it was neat. Deep doc from P-Fran. after we went to get lunch with our district, then we had to get an oil change so that was lame, then we found out they needed to put on new tires too, so we had to walk five miles to dinner with our Bishop, which was fine because we got to talk to tons of people, and we found a new investigator for the Hayward sisters! after that we had a really cool lesson with Norman, and had a great member present, we basically gave him the run down of what our job is and testified that this is Christ's church, and told him to pray about it if he is really interested in what we are teaching.

Wednesday we had exchanges, I went with elder Barr. We had a good day, met with James and Geraldine and talked with lots and lots of people.

Thursday Elder Gomez went to see the orthodontist, it was great. we ate lunch with Elder Henson and Elder Tu'ua. that was pretty much it. We ate dinner with the President in the Chinese branch. 

Friday was weekly planning and we had a few member visits scheduled that was good, but the members don't trust missionaries because of the missionaries in the past we found out.. so we will be working on that. We went to the vc with James and Geraldine too, it was fun. 

Saturday we had a mini missionary named Christ with us from San Ramone, it was really fun! we went to teach Norman and the Jehovah's witnesses stopped by and told him a bunch of anti stuff, we were pretty sad, but it is what it is. we went tracing the rest of the day and unfortunately didn't have any success.

Sunday we had a ward council meeting, and people were upset that the focus families aren't getting visited, and then we explained how the focus families work and that they hadn't done their job yet, and some things were said by people to/about us that were pretty lame and untrue. we went and picked our mini missionary up again after that, and then went to all the home teachers for the focus families before church and set up appointments with them so that we can show the ward council we are more than capable. We're really excited. We also visited the Furniss family before our day was over, and they asked us to have family home evening with them, it was really cool. It was the best member visit I have had since I got here, the spirit was so strong, they felt bad they didn't have anyone to have us teach, and said that we can come over to eat this week and they will have friends there. Cool.

Last week was frustrating and we lost our last investigator, but it also presented a lot of new opportunities for this coming week that we are excited for. We are expecting a lot of help from the Lord, and we are gearing up to give it everything we have show we need it. Expect and prepare to accomplish the impossible (: I hope everyone has a good week, I love you all!

Love,

Elder Cameron Tolman

Week 94 Pictures

During general conference, we were in the family history center doing stake reports for one session, and we turned on all the computers and got them to play it at the exact same time and it was

super funny, it sounded like all the speakers were speaking as a crowd in near perfect unison. I  thought it was funny at least

Pday Making hot chocolate, another thing that I often do.

You wouldn't believe hot much hot chocolate mix I have collected in two years

Bishop Patolo

 The

Barbers

me burnin things on our porch, as I often do

 Here's the baptism