Week 82 Pictures

Here are the dales

the broadcast

Here we are looking at fancy root beer at the local Bevmo

Here's the McQuays

Redwood Forest!

Week 82

Got a nice smooch this week!

What a great week. Monday... we made progress on our sub-area organization. We have been procrastinating it so we have a lot to do. 

Tuesday we had a list of families we were asked to go and visit that we did some of those, we met a guy named Brad and are going back to teach him tonight! Then we had district meeting. After D.M. we had dinner with the Dales, I like the dales. After Dinner we went tracting by Ricks house, then met with Rick! 

Wednesday we had the Missionary Broadcast, it was really exciting, except our mission isn't really applying all of them yet, so that's ok. We went to IHOP afterwards for lunch, then we went to teach an investigator that moved into our area. She's actually in a psych ward in our area, her name is Cynthia. She was in a nursing home, but acted out, now she's in a psych ward. we had a pass off lesson with the Crystal Springs 1st elders, after getting through three security doors. All the doors had signs warning you to look behind you for possible escapees before you left, it was pretty intense. She was doing well though, when she gets out they will set a date with her. After that we went to the Richards house, we had a really cool dinner with them and they talked about how they want to be better member missionaries and that they feel like the rest of the ward does too. Hopefully the whole ward follows their example and starts making some changes! After that we went and visited the rest of the Less actives we were asked to go see. 

Thursday was great. We did a lot of tracting and visiting until dinner, then we went to the Barlows house for dinner. They're really cool, they had the Shirleys over too. after that we went with President Rodent to go and teach, but our appointment canceled, so he went to his meeting and we went to tract.

Friday was stake reports and weekly planning, then we went to a lesson with Adam! Benj came with us to teach, he was good. Adam got pretty fiery and Muslim, but he ended up on a good note and we had some really really cool opportunities to bear testimony to him, and he gave a Quran that actually isn't the Quran because it's in English and can only be the Quran if it's in Arabic. We are pretty sad to say it but we probably won't be going back to see him much...

Saturday was good, we had a blitz in our area and sent missionaries to a ton of less actives that no one knows in Belmont and met like 20 less actives, it was pretty cool.  After that we had a visit with Cynthia again, and we went in and this guy ran up to us and grabbed our hands and kept saying "Looks like I'm finally at the gates right Peter?" it was super funny, but super sad at the same time. we had a good lesson with Cynthia though, it was fast. after that we went to dinner at Benj's house, then went to retry a few of the address's we had before our ward council meeting. 

Sunday we had studies and then ward council, then a super super cool sacrament meeting where the ex-patriarch/ex-stake president/ex-area authority gave a talk on the symbolism in the temple from John 7 & 8 and it was incredible, i don't have time to type the details but it was awesome. right after church we had a super fun dinner with the McQuays, and we had a few minutes at the end because we ate fast, so we did a puzzle with the little girls at their house and then had a lesson, then went to go and do accountability for MLC this week. 

This week had a few disappointments, and we didn't see the fruits we would have liked to be totally honest, but that's ok. We had a lot of spiritual experiences with the people we were able to meet with and were able to have a lot of success developing better relationships with our ward, so it went very well  in reality! I love missionary work. For sure. I love you all as well, and wish the best for the next week!

Love,

Elder Tolman

PS- The smooch came from Cynthia. we walked in with the elders on Sunday and she kissed up all on the cheek, it was super funny. nothing crazy, just a nice grandma in a wheelchair in a psych ward

A story I forgot is that Tuesday morning we got a call at 5:30 am from the Spanish sisters, and Sister Tripp had passed out in the bathroom and they needed help getting to the hospital, so we ran to their aid and got them there and then waited to see what happened, it all ended up being ok! all is well. 

Week 81 Pictures

Lands End

Week 81

Jesus, peace be upon him

This week had many neat and wonderful things happen, lots of trusting the Lord and working hard and what not.

Monday was awesome. we went to a place called Land's End, then kept going with Organizing our area for President Frandsen. Good night. 

Tuesday was wonderful and filled with district meeting, tracing, Dinner with a former 70/patriarch/stake president and a single sister named Sister Beverly, then tracting and a lesson with the one and only Rick Peyton. We decided with him to set a goal to go to the temple in July and do baptisms, it went well. 

Wednesday we tracted and tried to contact a referral and then had a blitz then started an exchange with the Spanish elders, I went with Elder Gifford.

Thursday was miracle day. We set our goals the night before, and when we were going out, I looked at elder Gifford and said "Do you want to double these?" and he said "Ya I'd like that". Their area covers the more humble parts of the peninsula you could say, so we met plenty of people, and we worked really hard, and by that i mean I would try to talk to someone, they would say they only speak Spanish, and then elder Gifford would teach them a lesson and get a return appointment.  we got four new investigators and had 6 lessons, it was crazy.

Friday there were some zone issues we had to go and talk over with people and get everyone settled down again, then we weekly planned.

Saturday was cool, we finished planning, went to a blitz, went to dinner with the Tarbuttons, (I love them, they are some of my favorite members here), and then went to teach a guy named Adam who's Muslim, and by that I mean he knows his religion inside and out, and he was super curious about us and our religion, and Elder Henson and I taught the best first lesson I have taught on our missions, and explained the Apostasy, priesthood, and the Savior to him perfectly, it was amazing, and when we shared the First Vision, the son just sat there with his mouth open, it was incredible. The holy ghost testified to them that what we were teaching was the truth. At the end, Adam, the dad, said "I think that I do not understand the way you speak of the Son of God, why is he different?" and we told him we would come back and explain why, and he was really excited, it was amazing. 

Sunday was good, nothing crazy. we ate dinner with the argyles, I like the argyles. after that we tried to visit people and tracted by their houses, then went to do Sunday night calls to end the week.

I set a goal to help someone progress towards baptism before I leave this area, and the Lord helped me achieve that this week. We found two people who we were able to teach, and the rest of their family will come. I am so blessed to be here serving the Lord. 

Lots of Love,

Elder Tolman

ps- whenever Muslims say the names of prophets they say "peace be upon him" immediately after, it was really cool

a message of Jesus Christ?

a super ghetto uber cab. it pulled up and picked someone up, I swear.

Week 80 pictures

the first picture is us hemming our pants. both of us have a bunch of pants that aren't hemmed long enough, so we undid it and have been hemming them ourselves in our free time.

Here's the Leslie's at dinner, they were really excited about this hot sauce called Satan's Sweat.

Back in my stomping grounds in Oakland.

Here's the genesis dinner.

Last week i didn't send this I don't think, but we went to see Jonathan and Chanthas baby after MLC, his name is Joshua! BTW... they are going to the temple next month (:

Week 80

What a killer week. Powerful for sure on many fronts.

Monday we had a neat p day, we went to the lighthouse in Pacifica, but we ended up just playing in the rain cause it was raining CRAZY hard!!! we taught Scott after that, it was awesome, and we really figured out what he needs, he committed to read the book of Mormon. awesome.

Tuesday we had exchanges, I went with elder cutler. we taught quite a few lesson to people on the street, but no one was interested in learning more, but we did find a new investigator named Margie!! we are going back to see her tonight!! we ended getting milkshakes by our house. we got to eat with sister smith too at Cheesecake factory. We went out to tract more that day, and there was an insane rainstorm, and all of the power went out in Belmont and south San Mateo.

Wednesday we did some furniture delivery for missionaries, then planned for zone conference, then ate dinner with the Bradshaws, then finished planning for Zone Conference. 

Thursday we had an awesome zone conference where we focused on finding skills for the new missionaries, it went awesome, afterwards we went to Seniores with the whole zone and got lunch. after that we went home and divided up our big area into smaller sub-areas to be able to work more effectively. we went to a lesson after all that with Tomasi, then went home.

Friday was weekly planning and we had to go and help some elders move some furniture for their carpet to get cleaned last minute, then we planned, then we went to a place called Armadillo willy's, then we had another great lesson with Scott, then went to Oakland for an exchanges with the A.P.'s, 

Saturday was neat, it was an awesome day we taught like three lessons on the street and gave some blessings, then we ate dinner at a genesis group party, and there was a jazz band!! I couldn't believe it, I was so excited. we met some Muslim extremist black panther guys, there were not happy campers.

Sunday we had a great stake conference, I met a guy named Michael D. Callaghan, he came and sat with us and me and him talked a lot, he is doing a trip to visit all the temples and is in the bay area for a week, he was really nice. After that we studied and then went to contact a few referrals, then went to dinner with the leslies again, then we did calls!

This week was neat. We had our faith tested and came out with it being strengthened. We had our prayers answered and were able to be the answer for others, I'm really grateful the Lord trusts us enough to use us as tools to help his children. I love being  missionary!!

Love,

Elder Tolman

Week 79 Pictures

our hike last week

 Elder Castillo and Elder Fernandez

here's their apartment

Week 79

Adventures and miracles galore.

Happy New Year!

Wow, a lot has happened, I am just going to give the highlights of the last two weeks....

So, two weeks ago was transfers, and it was great. Elder Prete is with Elder Olone in San Francisco, and they are using public transportation, so they needed a ride up because their zone leaders car was full, so we got to go to San Francisco, it was cool, they have probably the coolest missionary apartment I have ever seen. After that we went and met with Brother Callaghan to do service, then went and taught Rick that night. 

The next thing to happen was Stake reports, it took a while, but we finished it and got to still have a lot of time to get out and talk to people, not any successes to report. 

Next was New Years Eve! we didn't have appointments and all our members were busy that day, so we went contacting in a park downtown, it was fun, really scary though, everyone there was crazy liberal and gave us super dirty looks and we only had conversations with a few people in the end, but it was cool. We watched Star Wars and Zootopia that night with our zone, and the Tongans were having a big party in the gym, so we could leave and get food, it was fun. 

New Years day nothing happened, our president asked us not to proselyte that day.

The next Monday we went to Pacifica and went hiking, then went to the pier and played with the waves. THEY WERE HUGE. IT WAS SO COOL. We got a call from the Tagalog elders after, and they got their car towed while they were in San Francisco, and so we had to go pick them up an take them to the Impound lot, I got to drive the car out it was fun. What wasn't fun was paying the bill, I was the only one with money haha, so I ended up getting a nice fat check from the mission. 

Tuesday we had a great day, we had a bunch of return appointments with less actives and other people we met, and all of them happened!! We met one guy named Jeff Backes, and he used to live in Grandpa Greg's house on 17th!!! It was the craziest thing, we were talking about Pocatello since we both used to live there, and he talked about how he went to visit the house that he used to live in on 17th, and that they went to knock on the door to see if they could walk around really quick, and he saw the church logo on a sign above the door, so he naturally thought it was a mission home and just walked in. He looked around a minute and realized it totally wasn't, so he and his wife took a quick picture and got out really fast. he showed us the picture he took, I couldn't believe it. There was the house we all helped remodel, it had the metal deer statue on the table and everything, I couldn't stop laughing. Anyway, he likes us now and we will be going back to get him active. That night we gave Rick a sweet Schwinn bike that Brother Callaghan gave us. Rick collects them, and he started jumping up and down and Hugged us and got teary eyed, it was so cool. He is going to take us on a bike ride in San Francisco in a few week on his bikes, we're pumped. 

Wednesday was MLC, nothing exciting.

Thursday and Friday Elder Henson had strep, so we stayed in cause he was dying.

Saturday we had exchanges, it was awesome. I went with Elder Terry, we had a blitz, then went to dinner with the Hunters, it was awesome. We went to see a guy named Matthew Colvin, and we were walking down the street looking for the address and couldn't find it, and there was a dude helping his dog and talking on the phone ignoring us, so we moved on. We walked around and couldn't find it still, so we went back and passed the guy again, not thinking too much about it. At this point I felt like we needed to talk to him, it was really weird to do that though, so being lame and not having faith I kept going and we walked around the loop one more time, and found out the building the guy was at was actually the one we were looking for, and he was still there and I still felt like we should talk to him, and then his dog ran up to us and we started talking! It was cool. We asked if we could get in somehow, and then he asked who we were looking for. We told him and he was like "OK, one sec, Hey Frank you'll never guess this, they're lookin' for me!" he hung up his phone call and explained who he was. He was super nice, he is gay and has been inactive for 20 years, but he felt like he was supposed to meet us, so he told us where his apartment is and showed us how to get in the right way and said to stop by later, and if he's there he'll talk with us. It was amazing. 100% a miracle. I love being a missionary. 

That sums up everything that has happened in the last two weeks! Lots of amazing things, the Lord is truly guiding the work in our area in the way that he needs it to go. It isn't quite what we are expecting, but we are more than ok with that. Lots of good is coming from lots of hard work!! I love you all! 

Love, 

Elder Tolman

Week 78 pictures

nothing yet, check back later

Week 78

Hello All! Crazy day.  No time.

Sorry I don't have time to email, I will have to email for two weeks time next week! I hope everyone is doing well!!

Explanation:  We went hiking in pacifica, then after that, the tagalog elders called us saying their truck got towed, so we had to go get it out of the impound lot, and now I am waiting to be refunded for their car release fee. Very stressful. Very good time to trust the Lord. We jsut got back and are off to get our night going! I love you all!! I will have PLENTY of pictures next week!!

Love,

Elder Tolman