Christmas 2020

 Feliz navidad!

 I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! I sure did! This week was so awesome! The heavens were definitely open as we saw many blessings.

 On Monday we had our Christmas party. We had a lot of food and then we watched the Christ child. Then I convinced Elder Jordan to dress up as Santa. Everyone loved it. 

 Tuesday we had some meetings and then the wifi and internet was being weird at the church so I had to try and fix that. That took a while, but now I know how to do it! Then we went out to visit some people. Leo didn’t come to church and also now doesn’t know if he wants to be baptized. Then later we stopped by a family that seemed like they wanted to learn more. The dad answered this time and told us not to come by. That was super sad. I started to pray to have strength to keep working and to find the those who would hear our message. 

 Wednesday we had interviews with President. I received an official notice that this is my new mission. Then we decided we needed to contact more. We went out contacting and the first three people we talked to all made return appointments! It was such a blessing.  We also have no miles left for our monthly allotment, so we have to walk a whole lot more! One lesson we started talking to the whole family but then they had to leave so we ended up just teaching the dad about the restoration. I'll talk more about him later. 

 Thursday, we ate breakfast with a member named Elvira. She is the sweetest old lady. Got us socks and candy for Christmas. Then we went back for one of our return appointments. The original person we contacted wasn’t there but her brother was and as soon as he saw us he said hello and asked us to come back a different day because he was busy. Then we spent the rest of the night at a member’s playing sequence while we waited for the food. 

 Friday opened our gifts from our families. Got to talk to them. We had lunch with the Andrade Family. They are a little less active. They made tamales and beans and rice and lots of food. They also didn't have the food ready when we got there so we had to wait. Then after them we went to Anniah’s and she gave us a present. I got old spice body wash. Also the owner of Casa de Esperanza gave us blankets. 

 Saturday, we went by a whole bunch of people and we got to teach the guy I talked about that we taught on Wednesday. We asked him if he had read and prayed and he had! He remembered it super well and shared everything he had learned with his family. He said God sent us to him for a reason and he felt like he needed to share everything we were sharing with everyone possible. Then we talked about church and the sacrament and baptism. He understood it really well. He is just working a lot right now but as soon as the holidays are over we should be able to help him and his family get baptized! Then that night we were walking around and saw some people painting a fence. We asked if we could help and for the first time they were like please and thank you and it caught me off guard at first, but we were so happy to help!

 Sunday nobody came to church. Again, we had invited so many people but they all have their agency so nothing more I can do. After church we were able to help this 50-year-old member download zoom so he could get on the Come Follow Me with us. As we were talking, we realized he had never read the Book of Mormon before. We read in 1 Nephi, I think 11, where Nephi sees the virgin Mary. We talked about how this was a revelation about 600 years before Christ’s birth that happened here in the Americas and he was so amazed. It was really cool to talk to him. He is probably my favorite member here in Rio! After that we were able to go give a member a blessing. She fed us tacos and then talked about all the hardships she had but the funny thing is, and not so much funny but awe struck, is that amidst all of her trials she was still so faithful. She would wake up at 5am to walk to church with her little kids that is more than five miles away. She doesn't have much but still gave a lot to her neighbors. Some of her neighbors robbed her 5 different times but she still just showed love and kindness to them and would invite them to church all the time. And then to top it off she mentioned one small little problem her neighbor had and how it must be so hard for her and it made her think about how others have it really hard and she doesn’t! I was amazed! She is such a faithful and humble lady, and I grew to love her so much in just a short hour!

 Finally, I just want to thank everyone who has kept us missionaries in their thoughts and prayers and for those of you who have sent me letters and gifts! I hope to reach out to all of you personally but if I am not able to and you are reading this email know I am super grateful for you and your kindness!

 Elder Tolman

Merry (early) Christmas

 Hola a todos! Feliz navidad! 

 This week flew by super fast so I'm not sure I will be writing much jaja but I hope you all have a great week!

 Monday we did a short little hike. I'll include pictures.

 Tuesday was our multi zone Christmas conference. We had a Christmas devotional with songs and then some games. We played tug of war. Our zone was the smallest one there. We beat the first zone and then we had a break while two others went and then they put us against another big zone who was still fresh so we lost. That was sad and unfair but oh well. It was a good die but also exhausting at the same time. 

 Wednesday and Thursday we went caroling and delivered cookies to less actives to invite them back. 

 Friday we had a meeting all day long in McAllen. Then later that night we talked to Zach and he wants to get baptized on January 16th. 

 Saturday I had the opportunity to go to Zapata. A city about 1 hour away and he with another missionary for the day. It went well. 

 Sunday all of us missionaries gave talks and then after we were in the church forever doing branch stuff. I now know a little how it feels being in a bishopric except they have families to get home to, I don't. 

 I hope all of you can have a Merry Christmas but most importantly that as we rejoice and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ we can remember why it was so important that he was born. That He came into the world to redeem us all. I would like to challenge all of you to become more converted to Him and instead of only thinking about Him this Christmas may we think about Him all year along. 

 Love you all!
Elder Tolman 

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is serving!

 Hola a todos,

 Only 11 days until Christmas!

 This week we went on two exchanges. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. 

We were able to find some new people on those exchanges and I learned a lot from the other missionaries so those were fun. 

 On Wednesday we found another less active whose family aren't members. We were able to talk with his son and he said he wanted to learn more about God so that was cool! Everyone else we were teaching seems to not be progressing which is super sad but I still have hope for them. 

 Thursday for the light the world prompt we looked up stories about our ancestors to post on Facebook and I found some pretty cool ones! We also had a baptismal interview for some people that the sisters in our district are teaching. It is cool to see the change the Lord can make on someone. For example, I had the opportunity to interview someone with a rough history. He had tattoos covering his body, but I was able to see him how the Lord sees him and look past his physical appearance. The Lord works wonders!

 We also have done some service this week. We set up another Christmas tree, trimmed a tree and cleaned up someone's yard and then did the same thing for another guy. Those were super fun. 

 Also, cool experience on Friday, during our exchanges we had planned out the whole day and I was driving. For some reason everywhere we had planned to go I always missed the turn but ended up passing by someone else to talk to.  I can definitely say it was the spirit guiding me. One moment in particular, I saw a guy outside his car about to take groceries inside. I felt strongly to stop and slowed down and was about to roll the window down, but then I second guessed it and kept going. Literally right as I pressed the gas, I had a strong impression to turn around so I did. This guy had talked to missionaries before and wants to get to know God more and know more about the scriptures. It was so cool to talk to him and I am glad I eventually listened to the spirit!

 I want to invite everyone to spend more time this Christmas season serving! However small or big, whether it is noticed or unnoticed. Just serve! The Lord will pour out His love and blessings upon you and you will be filled with more joy. 

 

Elder Tolman

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

 Hola a todos!

 It's one more week closer to Christmas. We are making preparations for the next two weeks full of Christmas activities. It's going to be super busy! Also the Christmas devotional from the First Presidency! That was amazing!

 

Anyways back to the week. We had some really cool lessons this week. It started on Monday when we went over to a recent convert's house and we were able to teach his mom and she was willing to pray and come to church. Then that same night we had a call with a couple who had covid. They were so nice and receptive and asked us to call again the next day. Their names are Martha and Ryne (pronounced Ryan). We called on Tuesday and set up a baptismal date. Ryne is a truck driver and so that is kind of difficult to work around but we will make it work. 

 

Tuesday we had some errands to run for our preparation for our youth activity. We ran to Walmart to get some ink for the printer. Boy are those things expensive! Also bought some cookies and then went to the church to print off some things. Long story short the printer wasn’t working still. We called a member to use his, but we also had to set it up and then his wouldn’t print either! Printers are frustrating!

 

Wednesday we filmed a video that we are supposed to be posting to Facebook soon but I still haven't finished editing it. Then we had a youth activity and colored the flyers we printed out and delivered them to houses with cookies. It’s kind of what our neighbors sometimes do at Halloween when we "boo" people. But instead we "snowballed" them. That was fun. 

 

Thursday the big highlight was our movie night. We watched the Polar Express. We had some parents just drop off their kids and leave which they aren't supposed to do so we had to call a whole bunch of members and one came gratefully. 

 

Friday we had a lesson with Leo and Kassy who are on date for the 24th. Kassy is getting hesitant about being baptized because she doesn’t think she can read and pray everyday and go to church every week. So we are praying she can get an answer from God that she should be baptized. We finally talked to their mom and she said she would take them to church. Then had a lesson with another investigator who is trying to quit some bad habits. We made some goals with her and helped her get rid of temptations. Then hermana Langenstein fed us Taco Bell. That was my first time ever eating it. 

 

Saturday we had exchanges so I had Elder Bunderson with me all day. He woke up sick in the morning which was a big scare but nothing serious. So he didn't feel good. It was like 50 degrees outside so we all had winter coats on. In the morning we just had meetings and planning stuff and then in the afternoon we were able to go visit some people. Then a less active member family fed us!

 

Sunday we had 4 investigators at church. We had a member pick up Leo because he slept in and his mom left him. We also had 4 less actives come to church too! After church we had a come follow me on zoom but none of the members joined. We are barely starting it in Hope's that in a few more Sundays when we start Doctrine and Covenants that people will already have in mind that we will be doing the zoom call. Then later in the day a member called us and asked us to come over and set up a Christmas tree. So that was fun! Then we went to another member’s to eat and watch the Christmas devotional. 

 

I think I have a lot more pictures this week so enjoy! Also feliz fiestas de Quito!

 

Elder Tolman

Another Transfer in Rio!

 Hola a todos! 

Hope you all had a great week and enjoyed Thanksgiving! We sure did! 

On Tuesday we drove to McAllen for exchanges. I picked up Elder Jordan and we came back home. 

Wednesday we met as a zone over zoom and got to know each other. Then we went we taught Leo and his sister Kassy. They were both on date for the 12th of December but they didn’t come to church yesterday so we will have to move that. Then at night we had mutual but no youth showed up so we just made turkey hands and put them on a door of a member to tell them we are thankful for them. 

 Thursday, we had Thanksgiving dinner for breakfast at Elvira’s. And then Thanksgiving lunch and dinner. In between those three meals we were able to have a few lessons which was good but most the day was going around super full and it hurt jaja.

 Friday, we went back and taught some people. We helped Leo move apartments. Then late that night we had a super cool lesson where we had started teaching this guy and his girlfriend. Then one of their neighbors walks up and asks if he can listen. We tell him yes and he is pretty interested. Asking a lot of questions and stuff like that. He said he wouldn’t be able to come to church, but he would read the Book of Mormon. 

 Saturday comes and we had lots of meetings. We had a lot of good lessons and good contacts. The Lord really has been blessing us with success. Our last lesson of the night we went back to teach this family after already sharing President Nelson's message of hope. They loved it and when we said he was a prophet there was no objection. We started teaching the restoration and they immediately started telling us we were wrong. But we kept explaining. Read some scriptures in the Bible. Showed them some pictures of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. Then they gave us time to explain and as I shared the story of the first vision, I could see the husband's demeanor had changed. I had his full attention, and I could tell the spirit had softened his heart. We finished and invited them to pray and ask God if it was true. The wife was still stubborn and stated that she already knew they weren’t so she had no reason to ask God. But the husband turned to her and said "it says that there are in the Bible, I believe it." It was so cool but funny at the same time. Cool that the spirit had touched his heart but funny that he, who didn’t know as much about the gospel, was questioning why she didn’t understand when it was written in the Bible. We are excited to go back this week!

 Sunday, we went to go wake up some investigators and while we were there, we found the guy who had walked in on one of our lessons. He told us he ended up not working and he would come. It was so sad at first but a cool experience. The Lord definitely works in mysterious ways. He came to church and a less active we have been helping also did! We talked to them after and gave a blessing to another member after church and forgot we had to fill a font for some other elders that were going to have a baptism. So, we hurried and did that. We had to start late, but the baptism went very well! Then we headed over to dinner with some members and we planned some activities for the branch. Then we had some more amazing lessons with other people we had found. It’s just amazing how many people the Lord is leading us to!! We are so blessed!

 I hope you all are able to see the Lord’s hand in your life as you give thanks for the blessings you have! I was feeling sad a few days ago. I said a prayer ONLY giving thanks for my blessings and I felt a ton better after. So, I know it works and invite you all to do the same! Have a great week!

 Elder Tolman

 Hola a todos!

 So, Thanksgiving is coming up and we have already had like 3 Thanksgiving meals. Lol. 

 Highlights this week are that we passed by this guy who was being taught before. He is super cool and understands the gospel really well. He has a baptismal date for December 12. 

 We found a less active member and his son is 12. He loves learning about God and asks a lot of good questions. The only problem is he goes to Mexico every weekend. He came to our youth activity which was awesome. 

 Wednesday was my dad’s birthday! Also we were contacting at night and walking down this street. All the sudden I turn and look into this field and there is a tree stump glowing. We went to check it out and yep, it was a burning bush lol jaja but it was kind of weird. 

 Thursday, we had a movie night and all of the people there were our investigators and a less active family.

 Friday and Saturday basically were just a whole bunch of meetings, but even with that the Lord blessed us with time to find new people also! Also, our other person on date tested positive for covid so that's a big rip. We are praying everything is ok with her and her family.

Funny story: Saturday morning we are planning and then we hear an explosion outside. A guy carrying a ton of tile had blown his tire. There was nothing we could do to fix the tire. Then the guy who bought the tile came and we offered our truck. So, we loaded half the tile on our truck and took it to his house. Then other workers got there with their truck, so they did the second half. Then we helped them put on a spare. We got to teach lessons to 2 of the guys and have a return appointment with one of them. 

 Sunday, we got transfers. But before that, we went down this road to visit a guy. They ended up having covid so we left real quick. We followed the road all the way down until it came to the Rio Grande. Had a good old photo shoot. And I touched the water🤫 Elder Allred is leaving and I will be staying. I am sad to have him go. We had a lot of fun together. I will be getting an Elder named Elder Jordan. 

 Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!🦃
 Elder Tolman

"Thanksgiving Dinner"

Sunset over Rio!

Burning Bush

Rio Photo Shoot

More Staples

 Hola a todos!

 Hope you all had a great week! I feel like I was writing last week’s email just two days ago! 

 

Monday, we had a cookout with a member family that hadn't been coming to church. They came to church on Sunday so that was awesome! They made us tacos and they were so good. Then after that we drove up towards Zapata so we could do exchanges with those elders. 

 

Tuesday I was with Elder Anderson all day. We visited some recent converts and had a few killer lessons. It was overall a successful day. Oh ya, we had one guy try and bash with us so we just left him with our number and then the next guy told us we could come back a week ago so we stopped by and he was outside working in the back. He heard us knock and poked his head out and saw it was us so he went to hide. What he didn’t know is that I saw him poke his head out so we went and followed him. But then he got mad and started yelling at us that we were trespassing and stuff. It was kind of funny and sad at the same time because he wanted us to come over but then something changed. 

 

Wednesday we had service at Casa de Esperanza. We went to Walmart to load a truck with food and take it back to start storing it. As I entered the building, I hit the top of my head on the entry way and ended up splitting my head so we had to go to the ER and get that fixed. It took them forever and so we wasted our morning. I was mad. We got some food at 2 and then had to hurry to Roma to do interviews with President. After interviews we switched back. We also found out that Carina, who was going to get baptized got in contact with someone who had covid so we couldn't go visit her and she hasn't been answering her phone. That was sad but we are still praying for her.

 

Thursday, we had breakfast at Elvira’s. She is such a sweet lady. Then we had a few return appointments, and they all went pretty well. The Lord has been blessing us a lot!

 

Friday, we had a really cool lesson. This guy struggles reading and comprehending but wants to keep learning more. And even though he doesn’t understand he still reads. Well we showed him the Ask of God video and the spirit was so strong and we set a date and he was so ready for it. We had some other lessons, but that was the highlight of the day. Then we went back on Saturday with a member and he came out almost crying and trying to give us all his books because his family members had come over and yelled at him for talking to us and said they would disown him if he got baptized. That was super sad to see. 

 

Sunday, we had a less active family show up and two investigators! We were so happy. I wish we could have sat by them though. That's the only downside to having a small branch. We bless the Sacrament every week. But after church we ate at fam Peñas house and that was a blast. They had us laughing the whole time. Later we went and visited a few people and had a super long lesson with a woman we found this week. She is going through a lot and so we are trying to help her take steps to change it. It could be a long process, but I trust the Lord will be able to help her because he atoned for all the sins and afflictions of the world. Because he suffered in the Garden and later on the cross and then was resurrected on the third day we all have the possibility of returning to live with our Father in Heaven and I am so grateful for that great and everlasting sacrifice. 

 

Hope you all have a great week!

Rio Grande

5 Staples!

Horse Jockey

 Hola a todos!

 So this week went by crazy fast! I'm not sure what exactly happened to the time!

 

On Tuesday night we did exchanges. So I went to another area with some Elders for the day. We ended up having to drive to Brownsville to get their car fixed and that took up most of our day. We got home and had 2 lessons before we drove back to Rio. On the other hand, Elder Allred stayed in Rio with another Elder and they found a lot of people and had some pretty good lessons!

 

On Thursday not much happened. An older lady in the branch made us a cake! We had a lesson with Carina though and she is super prepared. She made plans and backup plans to make sure she gets to church. Then we had dinner with a senior missionary couple who is also our Branch President. Then we had a movie night and watched Sorcerer’s Apprentice, but everyone left early so we never finished it. Then we started other exchanges with some Elders in Roma.

 

So all day Friday I was in Roma with the other Elders. We walked the streets for a bit in the morning and met some cool people. Then went to the store to buy stuff for their Branch activity. Later we had a lesson right before dinner and we tried to set a baptismal date. He accepted it at first saying he wanted to be baptized. In fact, he brought it up himself but then after a few minutes totally changed and had no desire to be baptized. That was sad. Then we ate dinner from a member, they bought us Little Caesars. Then we had a lesson with a guy named Jorge. We talked about baptism and he accepted a date and wants to go to church and for his family to come! So that was a huge blessing, and the spirit was soo strong! 

 

Friday night I was back again at our apartment. Saturday went well. We played some soccer with some kids. Then had some lessons and invited a ton of people to church. Also, an investigator family was cooking outside so they invited us to eat with them. There is this street where everyone on it seems to be interested and we are teaching almost all of them. 

 

Sunday Carina came to church. Sadly, no one else did. But we were super excited for her. After church we visited a few people and had some good contacts. We are hoping all the people we are teaching can progress! Because we have found a lot of families recently!

 

Well that's all I have for this week! Hope you all have a great week full of miracles! 

 

Also, I want to challenge all who read this (which at this point might just be my family) to a Facebook challenge. I'll send a picture with instructions!

 

Los quiero mucho! 

Elder Tolman