Week 11

I have no clue what week it is! It's getting so confusing. The transfer is almost over and no word on my visa, so hopefully this week I hear something! Oh and there are probably going to be lots of pictures this week!

Last p-day we went to Wild Florida. I held an alligator. A guy fed and kissed one and I got to feed birds!

Tuesday we had district meeting and interviews with the President which wasn't bad at all. Didn't really talk about a lot. After that the Hermanas in our district had someone call them saying they wanted to interview an Elder about our beliefs for a paper. Elder Jensen and Fox immediately say that I'm doing it, so I call and had to answer her questions. Both of them were pacing around the room and making me super anxious like I was going to mess up or something but it went super well. Later one of the Hermanas had to do the same and we compared answers and we both had super similar answers! Also for lunch we went to the Amayas' and ate Pallea. Hermana Amaya is from Spain so she makes really good Palleas. They also shared their conversion stories so that was way cool! Another cool experience: so after English class we give a self reliance class but this part is in Spanish. I did not study it at all before hand but the Spirit was definitely helping me to know what to say and when to say it so I was super grateful for that!

Paella de España

Zone Conference from awhile ago

Wednesday went to give Kids the World but we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders so it was me and Elder Jensen and Elder Williams. Got my red tag which means I've served for 5 times. My next badge I can get is if I serve for 39 hours! Anyways we came home after and studied and then went out to find. We talked to two people and one said they will call us for a return appointment but she roasted me for knocking on her door and not knowing Spanish well enough. She told Elder Jensen to next time bring people who actually speak Spanish. Oops! We stopped by Adrian and Rosa's house to teach more about the Book of Mormon and to have them listen to it since both of their vision is bad. Elder Jensen was helping them download the app while I was teaching and like words were coming to me. It was no where close to perfect but I was able to get rid of the fear of not speaking perfectly for a second and say what I needed to. It was a very successful lesson! That night we had dinner with the Davilas! Papi Chulo was on one. Just being super loco and I was laughing at him the whole time!

Thursday. Today was the start of a not so good rest of the week. We did planning but it was super bad. I feel like we never plan specifics and it's just like maybe we will do this or maybe that and then we go out and nothing happens. Then my trainers pick random people who are formers and are like, k let's go here. I never get a say in it so that's dumb too. One good part of the day is before our lunch with a less active family, we were just walking around and Elder Jensen says let's try this house. It ended up being that she was looking for an answer from God so we were able to share some things with her and get a return appointment. Then had lunch and it was super awkward. One of our people we were supposed to have a lesson with canceled so we wrote out Testimonies in a Book of Mormon and dropped it off in her mailbox. Also finally had time for language study in like 5 weeks.

Friday we had trainer follow up where trainers and trainees go to see what they can improve on, then split up into trainees and trainers so if there are problems with companions we can discuss it. There wasn't anything meaningful shared in the trainee side but apparently in the trainer side there was a lot discussed. I was in charge of weekly planning and we were doing super good but taking way too long with some people so we didn't finish but Hermano Matheus had a referral who was moving so we went and helped her move at like 9 pm. We moved her and then Hermano Matheus invited them to church and I gave them Restoration pamphlets! Also convinced them I'm from Puerto Rico so they think my Spanish is good, Haha. Oh I also forgot we had dinner with familia Londoño and gave him a whole bunch of church movies to watch. His son was mad at me for that cause he said they are boring, lol. Also like everyone saw End Game and are trying to spoil it! This is going to be a rough 2 years haha JK! But we also gave Brother Londoño a blessing and I anointed in Spanish!

Saturday: we started planning today and again my companion said he didn't like to plan the full day and all its details because he likes to chose in the moment what we are going to do. That bugs be but whatever. We'll work through it. We went to Kekeys Breakfast Cafe with Hermana Sibbitt. Super adorable abuelita from Mexico. I had French toast! Stopped by a lady today and her and Elder Jensen were going back and forth for a while. I shared a scripture to back up what Elder Jensen was saying but she still wasn't understanding. I think she was too hardened. Finally Elder Fox cut Elder Jensen off and shared some scriptures. She said Elder Jensen is too prideful and isn't going to be a good leader end she likes Elder Fox better, Lol. I felt bad for Elder Jensen, but I don't want to teach her again. Also took a quiz that tells me how stressed I am and apparently I'm not doing good so now I have to study on how to not be stressed.

Sunday went to Church and sat by Hermana Garcia's grandparents but forgot to get a picture again! Bishop gave a great talk and I actually understood a lot of it! We came home and studied then did a role play and I was struggling to say things in Spanish and then would forget what I'm trying to say and so I was stressed and frustrated so I basically just had a breakdown and was trying my hardest not to cry. I have said so many prayers this week and know they helped me get through the week.

A tender mercy from heaven was right after this we had a lesson where we were going to have a member present so we had to prepare him and ourselves to teach so I did not have time to focus on myself. We taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation to Pomales and the member did way good! I had to teach the Atonement and was struggling to get some words down so my companions jumped in. After a few seconds I had gathered my thoughts again to keep teaching but Elder Fox had taken over at that point and I swear didn't even breath or pause so I could jump back in. We had to set new goals for this week for who we are baptizing, setting a date for, inviting to church, and finding. Our past goals have been like 0007 or 0027 which I think is lame so I suggested 0247 and they were like that's way high. I told them that it may be but if we have faith and give our all that it is possible. Long story short I got them to agree so I'm going to be praying a ton but I know with God all things are possible and that if we are obedient and diligent he will prepare a way!

Pomales Rican Rigged trailer

Ecuadorian cookie like a Chilean alfajor but not as good

I am so glad I am here out serving the Lord. It can be hard sometimes but I know that is only to help me grow closer to my Savior. I know that as we turn to Him and take upon us His work and burden to help in the gathering of Israel that He will lighten every other burden that we have! I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to show my love to Him and serve! I encourage all of you to find at least one person you can serve and I promise you that whatever challenge you are going through right now will be lightened!

Les quiero mucho!

Elder Tolman

Week 9? Almost 10

 Hola! Cómo van toda?

Este semana ha sido muy loco y ocupado!

Tuesday: We started off the day preparing a training on family history work and using it in the first two times we teach someone. My companions rely on me because I know the most about family history but we still had to ask around to figure out how to implement it into missionary work. Learned a lot about that. Then we went to an appointment and we were late and she didn't answer. We went knocking for a while and nobody so that sucked, and I didn't even get a tan! We had English class tonight and our class got in trouble for talking to much Spanish, and I was usually using that time to practice my Spanish so now I have to speak English to them and no Spanish!

Wednesday: Today we went to Give Kids the World. My assignment was serving pizza. Towards the end of the shift we were putting the pizza in boxes to take to the break room and I opened the door to this heater thing that kept the pizza warm. As I was opening it, it shattered into a million pieces and they flew everywhere! It made a loud noise and everyone looked over to see me holding the edge of the door with glass all around me. I have no clue how it broke, but the workers told me it wasn't the first time that had happened so I guess that is supposed to make me feel better? After service the District Leader needed our car so he borrowed it for the rest of the night. We studied for our training we are supposed to give about using family history work as a way of finding. The family who was supposed to feed us canceled so we instead went to a neighborhood to contact a former person that had been taught. She wasn't home so we talked to the neighbor and we ended up using what we learned from our training and it went awesome. We exchanged information and are planning to teach her more!

Thursday: First off, this is going to be a longer day! Today we had district council with our new district leader. We talked about how to use the Book of Mormon more effectively in our lessons and how to use it to answer people's questions. After that Elder Fox, Jensen and I gave our training on family history. We did not have a lot of time to train on it but hopefully we got our main message across. After district council we taught William. We talked a lot about Venezuela because that is where he is from and he has children there. We encouraged him to keep reading the Book of Mormon and showed him how to use Gospel Library. For some reason I was struggling to understand anything so I was really frustrated. I was saying so many prayers the rest of the day and fasting so that I could have the spirit with me to understand and teach.

Cool story, while we were studying later in the day, the person we found yesterday called back and had read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet we left her and talked to her boss about it who is a member and he invited her to church. She called us really excited and told us she loved the pamphlet and wanted to come to Church. Of course I didn't get all of this from the phone call but Elder Jensen was freaking out running all around our apartment because he was so excited. It was so funny. When we finished all of our studies we went to Adrian and Rosa's house. Luckily they were home this time and we got to share a message with them about Easter. They told us we are welcome to come whenever so hopefully that doesn't just mean they like company but that they will do the things we ask them to come closer to God. I know it is so important that we all are doing everything we can to progress towards becoming perfect like Christ invited us to (3 Nephi 12:48).

Last experience of the day. Fasting and prayer works! We had an appointment with Jenny, her husband Michael, and their children. We brought a English Book of Mormon for their daughter and then shared a message with them about Easter. They are usually a really quiet family but this time they were asking a lot of questions all of which I understood and I even was able to share what the Atonement and resurrection of Christ is and what it means to us. I know that this is only because I was fasting and praying! You guys might not remember but Michael doesn't ever pray and past missionaries never got a reason why. Well my first time meeting with them we asked him to pray and he said not now so I said he had to say it next time. His wife said the first one because he didn't want to but then I asked him to say the closing and he was hesitant but his wife pushed him to say it. We told him it was simple and gave him a quick outline of what a prayer is like and he said it. After he expressed that it is hard for him to pray because he wants to believe but it is hard for him. But now we know why he doesn't like to pray and can help him from there! I am so grateful for days like this that the Lord allows me to experience. Being apart of his work can be so hard but days like this make it so worth it and I am grateful for the privilege to be and instrument in His hands! Oh I also received my Easter package and my companions and I were way excited. Thanks Mom!

Friday: Today was weekly planning so spent a lot of time doing that. Before we finished the Zone Leaders came and asked us to drive them to the mission office because their car got towed and they had to go pick it up. We go there and they got their car, but before we could go one of the senior Elders saw Elders Jensen and Fox and asked them for help with getting this program to work because they are supposed to be the best with technology in the mission. They took about an hour or two to get it fixed. We finally were able to go finding but we had missed a lot of time so we only saw one person. We drove to the house of the uncle to Hermana Garcia from my MTC district. He was a member but since has fallen away. We knocked and said, "Hi does Mario live here?" Then we hear "Elders!" It was Hermana Garcia's grandparents! They are active members and invited us in. Mario wasn't home but we were able to talk to them and had a good visit! After that we went to a former but they weren't home so we walked in the pouring rain to go knocking (I did not have an umbrella or rain jacket because I did not think it was going to rain). Luckily my shirt has waterproofing so I did not get too drenched!

Saturday: Did some finding today in a complex and didn't really find anyone. One house these people answered. They went to a different church but somehow the subject of family history came up and we were able to show them the family search website. They liked that so we left them with the website and our number in case they needed help or wanted more information. Hopefully they call back! We tried contacting some formers and ran into a family that spoke Arabic. Also had dinner with a family. We shared a message about Easter and then I invited them to do the steps in Elder Uchtdorf's talk in general conference and look for ways to share the gospel with families and friends and co-workers. I invite all you who are reading this to do the same and bless you that in your efforts you will see the Lord's hand in your life, giving you opportunities to share, and that those you share it with will see your happiness and joy and whether they express it or not they will want to partake of that joy. There is a statistic that basically states it takes on average 7 contacts of the missionaries for someone to accept them. You may be the 7th one and are able to convert them or you may be the 1st one and be planting a seed but either way you are helping the gathering of Israel. A cool example of this is the daughter in the family we were having dinner with today. She shared that her friends are always "attacking" her about her religion and she always invites them to church. One friend almost came but her mom prevented her from coming. This young woman planted a seed but still continues to share the gospel. She is amazing!

Sunday: Easter today we had as a Stake Conference. Suni came to church which is the first person that has come that we have taught so that is cool. The talks were so good and I am so grateful for that time we had to reflect on what the Savior has done for us and what His Atonement means to each and every one of us. We also have an opportunity to reflect on His great sacrifice as we take the sacrament which is even cooler. We had a talk in the MTC about the importance of sacrament and I encourage all of you to try your best to focus your thoughts on the Savior every week as you partake of the bread and water that represent His sacrifice for us on the cross and in the garden. Also we had a butt ton of missionaries at the stake conference along with President and Sister Clark. The Davila's (Papi Chulo and Mama Jenny) basically had a huge family reunion with all of us and were taking so many pictures! 

Then after church we met with Pomales (the ciego guy). We got the audio of the Book of Mormon to work for him so he listened to it for a little bit and then we explained how the Book of Mormon and the Bible testify of Christ together and about how prophets in the Book of Mormon were called of God just like in the Bible and shared with him a little bit about the restoration. My Spanish is slowly improving but still kind of bad. I will get info on my visa either this Tuesday or the next.

Que Dios les Bendiga!

Elder Tolman

I made tostones!

Random picture of turtle shell decor

Happy Easter!

Sister Davila sent these today!  

President & Sister Clark

Missionary Apartment Living

Here's a little tour of our apartment!  Maybe we should have cleaned it first😊

Dining/living/kitchen

Study room

Our bedroom

Pond behind our complex, I try to find alligators in it.

Outside the complex

Our car

Week 9

Hola,

Cómo estás? I hope everyone is doing well. I'm loving Florida but can't wait to get my visa!

Monday: after p-day ended we were deciding where to go so we said a prayer and all of us said 2 places which ended up in a three way tie. So we decide to go to this one place we have been knocking where literally no one answers. We knocked the first few no one answered then someone answered saw us and said I already have a God then shut the door. It wasn't until the last two doors we knocked that people answered. We have a return appointment with the last one!

Tuesday: we had zone conference until 4 and we had some really good training but that's a long time to be in training! One of the things we talked about was using family history work in our finding and teaching. I was excited because as some of you know, I love family history! After zone conference we had a dinner with a family. The husband served a mission, I want to say it was in Venezuela. But they were super cool. Fed us hamburgers, then we went to English class to help out there.

Wednesday: we had service at Give Kids the World. This time we had to clean up tables. Its not the funnest job but we ended up seeing a family from the Dominican Republic and they were members so talking to them was way fun! Then we had exchanges so Elder Jensen went down to Poinciana and the District Leader, Elder Tingey came to Kissimmee with me and Elder Fox. We had a dinner appointment, it was really good, but when we tried to leave we ended with our Testimonies and then the husband started sharing stuff. And we ended up being there for 2 hours!

I made Dobladitas, like Miguel makes!

I made guac too!

Thursday: because Elder Tingey was with us we studied in English, except we did one roll play in Spanish where Elder Fox acted like someone who didn't want to pray but didn't know why he didn't. Long story short it was super hard but he said I did a good job, so yay. We had our return appointment with Migdalia (the one we found on Monday) but when we got there she answered and said she had a grandson in the hospital and her daughter was coming to pick her up in a little bit. So we rescheduled and left her a Book of Mormon. Then we left and Elder Fox just drove to random places where former investigators live. One of them we knocked and he wasn't home so we knocked the door next and this guy said he wanted to come to Church so we gave him our address and he said he is going to bring his wife! We then had to pick up two dinners. One for us and then one for the Poinciana Elders but when we picked up dinner for the other Elders she had some for us too so now we have tons of food. We found one more person today and I didn't understand a single thing she said! We have a return appointment or Sunday. Finally at the end of the day we got Elder Jensen back! Oh I forgot! The member who got us and the other Elders dinner asked us for a blessing so I anointed in Spanish for the first time.

Friday: so had like 3 appointments planned today and two of them weren't home, the other asked us to come back another day. Super sad but at one of them who wasn't home his friend was there so we talked to him and come to find out he had the number of the Elders in the area where he lived, just has never called them. So we said call them and he sent it! Called and was like hey Elders. They were really confused because they have never met this guy so we explained to them. Hopefully he can get taught the lessons! Then we went to another neighborhood close by to see a former person the missionaries in the past had taught but they didn't answer so we went back in our car to decide where to go. I saw a woman working outside so we walked over to see if we could help. She was surprised we were so willing because past missionaries were pushy and she didn't like that. She really believed it is everyone's decision if they want to join religion or not. She then asked why we had a Puerto Rican flag in our car and we were like umm... Then she asked if one of us were Puerto Rican so Elder Fox pointed to me. She says but your white! We laughed and I told her my dad is white and that's why. We gave her our number. She isn't ready to hear the gospel right now but I know one day she will be more open to hearing our message. Then ate at this place called Broadway pizza with my 2^nd cousin Marlene and her family. Super cool! And the pizza was delicious.

My Great-Aunt, Marlene, Me & Justin

Saturday: 2 month mark! Also had a lesson with Eva. She has been taught a few times before but we shared an Easter lesson and talked about the Atonement and repentance. I invited her to be baptized and she said yes, so now we are working with her on her testimony of the Book of Mormon as well as getting her a way to go to church because she works on Sundays. We also had a dinner and auction with the ward. It was ran by the Young Women. Spaghetti was amazing and they played music on this huge speaker so it was a blast. Then we had the auction and when the members started to get into it it was super funny!

Turkey Vulture eating dead squirrel

Sunday: Adriano and his wife didn't come. Sad. I understood maybe 50% of what was said at church. Went and visited a blind guy. He can play the guitar! Had a dinner appointment with a family who has a child on a mission. Super cool family. I didn't talk a lot if Spanish until the closing prayer I said. They were impressed with my Spanish so I guess I'm improving but it feels very slow!

Rain coming down hard at blind guy's trailer

I'm loving the work. Sometimes it can feel mundane door after door with no one answering but when eventually one person does that is all that matters. That we were able to help someone in some way. I'm grateful for this time of year where we spend more time thinking about the Atonement and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for Him. I know He lives, that He died and lived again. I know that through Him we can be saved as we repent daily and strive to be more like Him. One of my favorite scriptures about his Atonement is Alma 7:11-13. He knows how to succor us. He has been through all the pains and afflictions of the world. Something I cannot comprehend, but because of this He knows how every single one of us feels. We are not alone and we can return to live with our Father in Heaven as we turn to Christ. I encourage all of you to share this amazing message to all those around you! Try and get at least 1 person to come to Church next Sunday for Easter Sunday or share a family home evening with them.

I love you all and wish you the best!

Elder Tolman