Carnaval

Hola mis amigos y familia,

This week felt super long and I can't even remember all that happened! Here are the highlights!

So the beginning of the week was Carnaval. We also had to take care of an Elder who was going home and take care of a lot of medical stuff as well. We worked in the offices like normal, but then stayed in the assistants' house to watch the missionary who was going home, because we were so tired from everything that was happening. We were also able to play pool which was fun.

Then on the last day of Carnaval we went to close a house and on our way back home we got sprayed in a drive by. It was already raining so it didn't matter, but there is my experience with Carnaval.

On Thursday we were supposed to travel to Latacunga and Ambato but I woke up that morning at 2 throwing up. I have been sick ever since which really sucks, so I didn't get to travel.

Those are the highlights of this week.

Hope you all had a great week!

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Tolman

That transfer went by fast!

Hola mis amigos y familia!

So we had transfers, which came super fast. Now we, Elder Felix and I, are on our own. It's been kind of fun, but there is a lot to do. First, we had all the departing missionaries come to the offices and I had to buy a lot of food for them and then help out with some English exams. Later the new missionaries arrived. The North Americans came at 1am and then the rest of the Latinos in the afternoon that day. We were super tired. We did a tour of the office and I had to translate, which can be hard if people don't break up their sentences and spit everything out at once. Later I bought more food, and then we had the chance to go to the airport to pick up a missionary who came in later than everyone else. That was super fun and I hope to be able to do it again! Then the rest of the week I made a bunch of phone calls for medical appointments and other fun stuff like that.

We were able to teach the Reyes family this week and we focused a lot on the Holy Ghost. How he can guide us and, more than anything, testify to us of truth. We played a little activity where people share experiences of feeling the spirit or feeling loved and other things like that and then we talked about how everyone feels. They loved the activity. Then today, we were planning a fun pday, but then a missionary fell down some stairs and split his head open, so the first part of our day was spent trying to figure out how to pay for the missionary because he was in a zone outside of Quito. I also forgot to mention that we have started playing soccer in the mornings. I am so sore from it, but I love it. Elder Felix used to play semi-professional soccer, so he destroys everyone. It is pretty cool to watch. The rest of our zone pretty much all know how to play so it is even better now than in any other zone. Oh we also got bored one day so with our senior couple we made paper airplanes and had a contest.

Hope you all had a great week. We are entering Carnaval Ecuador right now which is a fiestal where they get everyone wet, so we aren't allowed to leave the house.

Les quiero mucho!

Elder Tolman

Paper Airplanes

Mama Fanny and her son leaving on his mission

Foam party at Carnaval

Feliz Un Año y San Valentine!

Hola mis amigos y familia!

This week was another adventure full of fun stories that it gets hard to remember them all!

To start off, it is getting to the end of transfers so its been crazy preparing everything for next week and also my companion has officially left me to do things on my own.

The beginning of the week was super stressful because we had to buy sunscreen for the whole mission and then send it off to all the zones in our mission. I worked super hard and slept little so that was hard but now I am recovering jaja.

We had another lesson with Family Reyes on Tuesday and we brought our office senior couple, Elder and Sister Lewis, with us. The family was having some difficulty within their marriage so we taught a little to them and then translated for the Lewis as they bore their testimony. One thing Sister Lewis shared was a picture of a triangle. That represents a couple or any relationship we may have. For example, the two base points could represent a husband and wife. The horizontal line in between them represents their relationship. The top point represents Jesus. The lines coming down from Jesus represent our individual relationship with him. As both husband and wife increase their relationship with Christ, the line in between husband and wife gets smaller. It was such a beautiful message and inspired the family so much. They also accepted a baptismal date!

Later in the week we received a message from President Barlow that he received from someone who lives in Provo. This guy's friend was visiting her parents here in Quito because her nephew committed suicide. We were asked to contact her and help her out. She was hesitant at first to have us come over because of the pressure her family(not members) might feel, but accepted that we could come over to give her a priesthood blessing. We got there and slowly her family members would walk in. It was like that scene in the Hobbit! There were a total of like 7 or 8 people and almost all of them asked for a blessing and listened to us share a little about the Plan of Happiness. They also accepted to come to church and receive us at a later date. The atmosphere was so tender. I could feel their grief but at the same time love for each one of them. Charity is so REAL! I testify that God has prepared a plan and a way for this family to be able to have eternal happiness and I know He has made a way for each one of you! There is no greater happiness in this world than to share this message with others and see the light of Christ enter into their lives!! This Gospel is so true and I honestly have no clue what I would do without it!

On a less spiritual note, we as secretaries, planned with President and Sister Barlow lunch today and it was super duper good. They commented that we are the first secretaries they have done that with!!

Anyways, les quiero mucho! Que tengan una linda semana!

Elder Tolman

Las hermanas hicieron pizza de fruta para nosotros.

Celebramos mi año en la misión con Chilis y quemando una camisa.

 

Cotopaxi Round 2

Hola mis amigos y familia,

So this week I really don't remember a lot of what happened. We worked a lot in the offices and didn't have too much time to go work outside so I don't have stories. We went to Cotopaxi and there wasn't as much snow, like none at all. So I finally got to hike it so I was happy.

I'll share one experience. So we had this super cool family go to church on Sunday. In fact, they brought us food before church. They really loved it, and we were going to have a lesson afterward but they had to leave for an emergency. This whole week we couldn't visit them and it was sad. They wouldn't answer our phone calls at all. Finally on Friday we went looking for them. We remembered the building but it was a big apartment building and we didn't remember what floor or door it was. We rang the doorbell that was supposedly the office and nothing happened. We tried a second time and the door just opened. We walked in and looked for someone but nothing happened so we just went in the elevator and clicked a floor. We knocked on the first door on that floor and it was it! The wife came out telling us she had problems with her husband and was embarrassed to tell us so she never answered the phone. She is still reading her scriptures, praying, listening to hymns even and still wants to come to church despite what is happening right now. It was so amazing and I could feel the Savior's love for her so strong then. It was so hard to express it and comfort her. Over and over I kept feeling like she just needed a hug and it was so hard knowing I couldn't because it was the only way I felt like I could really express God's love for her. It was such a sad but powerful experience. I know that God loves each and everyone of us. We are His children and He will take care of us. I love you all too! Hope you had a great week. I'd love to hear from ya!

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Tolman

The photos are of Cotopaxi and a day when I made burritos for everyone, and all six of us stuck in a taxi for 30 min! Elder Henrichsen was in the passenger seat, so he didn't suffer.

Cotopaxi

 

Working hard or hardly working?

Hola mis amigos y familia!

This week was crazy and I felt like I was doing nothing for the half of it but at the same time working super hard. Let me tell you about it.

So we have been working with an elder so we can renew his visa, but we hit some stumbling blocks, so we started to work on our president’s visa. We had to get everything ready for him and his family. He is super busy so we couldn't just ask him to do it whatever day and hope it worked. So the whole week we went to different government buildings to get more information and to get a lot of documents ready. We were in the office all day and I was itching to get out. Finally on Thursday we had president, his wife and one of his kids come with us all day to different appointments so we could start their visas. I was walking around with their passports and a lot of money so it was scary. After we were done with them we still had to do some other stuff to complete the process that doesn't require them to be there. It was super exhausting. On top of that I have to get new phones for missionaries, make medical appointments, and help temporary missionaries get their visas so they can go to their real missions.

Finally on Friday we were going to go out and work in our sector. Before heading out I searched a bunch of referrals and we went out to look for some. There was one I contacted, and they sounded super excited. They asked us to visit them on Saturday, so we went and they are a family of three. The daughter is super religious, but the parents still want to get closer to Christ. We were able to share a little bit with them and they were super excited to read the scriptures and come to church. We also had another lesson with a different guy. He has so many questions about our religion, but wants to get closer to Christ and help others do the same, he just finds it hard to know the real truth and the best way to help. These people are huge blessings from the Lord and will continue to be instruments in his hands as the come to know their Savior Jesus Christ. This promise is not only for them though. It applies to each one of you that are reading this email right now. I want you to know that God has a plan for you and wants to bless so many people through you, and that as you help others you will be so blessed, sometimes without even noticing it in the moment. The Lord works in mysterious ways, but I know that His ways are just and that He won’t do anything that will harm you because he loves you and knows what is best for you.

Les quiero mucho,
Elder Tolman

A dormant volcano that now has a village in the crater of it!

The Middle of the World

This is the original marker of 0° Latitude but later was found to be slightly off

The corrected marker of 0° Latitude

Shrunken heads!