Goodbye Elder Loo!

 Hola a todos!

 So this week was pretty fun! My companions are super funny and mess around all the time. We are always laughing! We have some inside jokes and funny one-liners that we just bring up all the time. For example, on Monday we got Dairy Queen on our way home that night. Elder Loo meant to ask how much medium fries cost but instead asked what size is the medium. Lol. 

 Tuesday, we had a pretty cool lesson with someone we found contacting last week. After her we had another lesson with this girl named Anayely. She had previously had a baptism date but then cancelled cause her dad said no. We had the opportunity to talk to the dad and he said yes so it was a huge miracle!

 Wednesday we did service in the Casa de Esperanza. It's a food bank type thing so we help get packages together and then take them out to people's car. We had a lesson with Sam and Emilio. It went ok but it was super long, and they had a whole bunch of questions that we were answering. I feel like they could progress though. Then we drove an hour to a lesson in the middle of nowhere and this lady isn’t down to keep commitments, but she did feed us! Then we had a youth activity. We had more than 1 person show up! We played Uno. Then that night we had another lesson with Anayely and she said her mom is now saying no to her getting baptized so she cancelled it once again and is going to tell us later when everyone is in agreement on her getting baptized. 

 Thursday, we set up for movie night. Then we had lunch with the owner of Casa de Esperanza. He is running in the election, so he also gave us shirts and masks with his swag. Then we had a lesson with Carina and she said she wants to get baptized and is going to pray when she should do it! Then that night we were out contacting, and our last contact was this kid playing outside with a PVC pipe. As soon as I called to him a whole bunch of dogs came barking. He kept swinging his PVC pipe at them. His parents weren't home, so I asked him to give a card with our number on it to them. As I was writing our number he turned around to the dog and yelled shut up as he threw the pipe like a spear at it. It was probably the funniest thing we had seen that day and we all started to laugh. You just had to be there. 

 Friday, we did some weekly planning and then went to a lesson. Her and her daughter were home and they seemed super cool and prepared too! Then we had dinner with a member. It was super good! Then had our movie night. The sisters had chosen to play Ratatouille and so we started it, but nobody came so we had to end it and then just found on Facebook. That night we prepared for Zone Conference that is coming up. 

 Saturday, we cleaned the church. Then did more planning for Zone Conference. We also had this funny contact with a lady. She had some peppers and Elder Allred and I asked to try them. He was crying and I had swallowed mine and it was now burning my chest and I couldn't talk. I tried saying bueno and it came out bleno. So Elder Loo had to do the contact himself. Then this German shepherd came out and my companions are kind of scared of dogs. The lady told them that this dog had bit her. It ended up running over to us and so she gave us small sticks to defend ourselves. Luckily, no one got bit and left after making a return appointment. We had a lesson with a friend of a less active member. He has some addictions but reached out to us wanting to change. The lesson was going well until his friend pulled up and started telling him he couldn't change and that he was lying to himself and stuff like that which aren't true! Everyone can change through Jesus Christ. If we repent and use His atonement, then we can be forgiven and have a change of heart! I hope that both of these guys we are teaching can come to understand that more. 

 Sunday Elder Loo was packing for most of the day. We had some meetings and then a dinner appointment. There we played some magic and the family’s daughter has a lot of energy and so we were trying to keep her occupied lol. It was basically impossible. Then we got a picture cause Elder Loo is leaving. 

 I realize now this is a super long email. Definitely didn’t mean it to be so long. Have a great week!

 Elder Tolman 

Welcome to Rio

 Hey everyone! 

 For those of you that might not know, I moved from Brownsville to Rio Grande City. It's about 2 hours northwest of Brownsville. It's a super small city and the branch here is also super small. I forgot to take pictures of our chapel though. Oops.

 So Monday we said goodbye to people in Brownsville and then Tuesday was transfers. We are in a trio. I'm with Elder Allred and Elder Loo. Elder Loo goes home on the 26th so once he leaves, we will be in a normal companionship. 

 Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we had very few lessons and lots of meetings. We had to drive back down to McAllen on Friday too. Members fed us Subway three days in a row. I'm not complaining!

 Really nothing too exciting happened this week. We have two people who could get baptized really quick. One we are most likely going to baptize before Elder Loo leaves and the other hopefully soon after. They have just had some hectic schedules and unplanned things come up. I also had a chance to do my second baptismal interview and it went great! Also I gave a talk on Sunday and talked about Elder Christofferson’s talk in General Conference. We are opening a new zone here in our mission, but the missionaries here are already seeing so much success! We just have to follow their examples! But really I am excited and nervous at the same time being here, but I know the Lord will bless us! 

 Hope you have a great week!

 Love you all
Elder Tolman 

Rio Grande

Trying to teach drunk people

 Hola a todos!

 Sooooooo we got transfers. President decided to do a mission wide call because we were adding 2 zones and changing a whole bunch of leadership. That was super different and long and honestly not as fun as I thought jaja.

 This week was going super well. We had President tell us that we were whitewashing the area on Thursday. So the rest of the week I tried working and leaving behind the best area, where as my companion I think had a different mentality. We ran into so many cool people and it makes me sad to leave! But I have been here in Brownsville since May so it is time for a change jaja. Where I'm going? Not really sure. But I'll be headed to a trio. The area is called Rio Grande. Seems lit. 

 I came across a scripture from a talk by Elder Holland. It was from one of the church magazines. I want to say the New Era, anyways, he talked about a young man who wasn’t worthy to use the priesthood when he needed it most and talked about how it is important to be worthy of the Holy Ghost and the priesthood at all times so that we can bless others. But taking this scripture and thinking of it more of how can I receive more help to battle temptation, or how can I receive guidance of who I can help really gives a great perspective. It's in Doctrine and Covenants 121:45-46. It talks about letting our confidence or trust in Christ and His ability to work miracles for us and, even through us, as we have charity, faith, and virtue.

 The Lord is always looking for ways to bless us as we strive to be more like Him and I have definitely seen those blessings and miracles in my mission. The same blessings are for all, however, not just missionaries. I encourage all of you to increase your charity, faith, and virtue so that the Lord can work wonders in your life!

 Hope you all have a great week!
 Elder Tolman 

 

A dead tarantula we found doing a service.

Last General Conference

Hola a todos!

 I hope you all enjoyed conference like I did! It was so spiritually uplifting and there were so many good talks! 

 This week is gonna be super short. Not a lot happened. We were trying so hard to find new people to teach and so we were on Facebook for half the day and then outside for the other half. Not a lot of people wanted to listen this week, I guess. We did run into a Jehovah that just talked to us forever and tried teaching us "correct doctrine" and how we should teach others and study and on and on. She asked me some questions and I responded. It was one of the few times where I didn’t rise to anger because of their unwillingness to listen and I was able to bear testimony and felt the spirit with me the whole time.

 We had Alexis baptism confirmation on Sunday. She was super nervous before but was smiling ear to ear after exiting the water! So proud of her decision.

 We were going to watch conference with family Turrubiates but they have been ghosting us and don’t really want us stopping by. They feel too pressured and like they have too much work. That was really sad this week. We also found another cool family that only the mom is super down but the isn’t married and so it is sad that we try and help these families so much but they aren't progressing how we want them too. That has probably been the biggest struggle on my mission is loving people so much and wanting to help them, and then when they don’t progress it is the most depressing feeling. But I joy in the Lord and his work because every day, despite our trials and sadness he is always blessing us. We were able to help one more person make a goal of baptism and we have it planned for the 17th of October! We are so excited for her. On top of that, we have been talking to her sister over Facebook and she is progressing as well!

 Anyways I hope you all enjoyed conference and would love to hear what you learned! I know for myself that all the leaders of the church are called of God and receive revelation for us! I had multiple questions all of which were answered by one speaker or the other. God is so good and loving!

 Love you all,
Elder Tolman 

Alexis, her sister and nephew