Exchanges!

 Hola a todos!

 This week was pretty busy. We had to do a few exchanges and so I was barely in our area! But we were still able to teach a lot of cool people!

 So, on Tuesday we had a meeting with some of the leaders in the mission. So, we had to drive to McAllen for that. That basically lasted all day.

 Then on Wednesday we had a zone meeting and then some people to visit. We taught this one family, and they had a lot of questions and weren't quite understanding well. In the end they did but it took over an hour to get through it. We rushed over to a member’s house. They are the 1st counselor in the branch presidency and relief society president. They are our strongest members but because they had COVID-19 we haven’t done much with them. We got some names of families to work with and they said they are going to work more diligently too! I’m so grateful for them. Then we had a lesson fall through and we were supposed to have a member present so instead we brought the member to someone else. We taught the restoration for the third time to him. Hopefully he understood it this time. Then we had mutual, but we had to leave early to do our first exchange.

 So, all day Thursday I was in Raymondville with Elder Allred. I missed being with him and we had a good time! We also set someone on BD! 

 Friday I was back in Rio, but we had to go to McAllen to get the state inspection for our car. They ended up changing tires and oil too so we didn’t get home until 5:30! That was not fun. We did a lot of Facebook and were supposed to have two lessons over Facebook, but they fell through. We went over to a guy named Sergio. Him and his wife came to church last week and we taught them the restoration. They had doubts about Joseph Smith and what they had read online, but we invited them to read and pray and so hopefully they get their answer. 

 Saturday I was in Roma. Back with Elder Taylor and Elder England. They are super good missionaries, just both super young in the mission so their Spanish is still progressing. But they had 2 people on date and while I was with them, we were able to put 1 more person on date. It was pretty exciting!

 Sunday, we had Frank come to church. He didn’t want to but we convinced him to come. So he might not be the most progressing person right now but we hope his attitude will change. Sergio and his family didn’t come which was sad. After church we ordained the sisters recent convert a deacon and then had a little meeting with the branch president. After that we ate lunch and planned our activities out for the month. Then visited some members. We were able to visit someone Elder Jordan had taught while I was gone his name is Rigo. We stopped by and his friends were over and talking about how they can never be happy, and they wouldn't believe us when we said they could. It was sad. But in the end, they left and we just talked to Rigo. He accepted to be baptized on February 13. We are excited for that!

 I hope you all had a great week. Remember God loves you and is always there for you. As we strive to follow the counsel of President Nelson to hear Him, then we will see so many more blessings and miracles in our life!

 Les quiero mucho!
Elder Tolman

Keeping busy!

 Hola a todos!

 This week has been good. I feel like we keep getting busier and busier every week that goes by. 

 I'm also now trying to remember everything we did this week, but I am drawing a blank. So, this email is gonna be a little short. 

 Tuesday, we had a lot of meetings. We also had an exchange with some Elders. Elder McGregor came to Rio with me and Elder Taylor. We taught a lot of restoration lessons. We had a return appointment with Third but we weren't able to finish because he had to go to the bathroom super bad jaja so we ended with a prayer and left. Sister Langenstein invited us over for dinner and we helped her set up her Roku and take down her Christmas tree. 

 Wednesday, we had a lot of return appointments and met some cool people. A lot of people seem really cool on the first contact but don’t keep commitments so that is sad to see. We played gospel Pictionary on Wednesday for our youth night. My team was winning and then we did last point wins and so we lost. 

 Thursday, we had a movie night and watched the new movie soul. It was a good movie and can relate a lot to the plan of salvation. 

 Friday night we started exchanges with the APs. I went to their area for the first time. We dropped off a missionary at the airport. He was going home and then we had a day contacting in the streets. Had some pretty cool lessons and got to give a lady a blessing. It was a good day. 

 Sunday, we had a family of three come to church! We were so excited. Slowly but surely our branch is growing. We had a member who was less active right before I got to Rio. My first week here was the first time the missionaries had been over there. He came to church in colored shirts. Then we started having him bless and pass the Sacrament, so he came in white shirts but never ties. And now he comes in a suit and tie! His sister is also now giving Come Follow Me classes. Our Relief Society president and first councilor are Covid free so now they are ready to get to work and help! We are excited for the coming weeks. We are also setting goals to work better on Facebook. We also met a guy on Sunday, and it was our first time talking to him. He committed to reading the book of Mormon and we even set a baptismal date with him. So hopefully Frank will continue to progress!

 Well, there are some highlights for you guys. Hope you have a great week!

 Elder Tolman

New Transfer

 Hola a todos!

 This week has been a bit wild and lasted an eternity, but looking back at it it passed by super fast.

 Monday, we went to a lookout over the Rio. Saw some people get picked up by the border patrol. 

 Tuesday, we went to McAllen to pick up Elder Taylor. There wasn’t too much happening in our zone transfer wise so we were able to get on the road again pretty quick. 

 Wednesday, we met with our new zone over zoom and got to know each other. Then later we just had a ton of lessons planned. A lot of them fell through. Then had dinner with a member named Sister Portillo. She showed us how to make tamales and then we ate Rosca. Which is sugar bread that has little baby Jesus hidden in it. Whoever got the baby had to make tamales and throw a party. Elder Taylor ended up getting it. Later we had our youth activity and we painted books of Mormon and wrote our testimonies in them. 

 Thursday, we ate with Elvira in the morning, she is such a sweet old lady. Then we went over to another member’s and helped her clean her house and put her things in boxes so she can move out. We were able to have a few more lessons that night. 

 Friday, we had MLC. That took up most of the day and then on our way back we called the other elders who live 20 minutes from us to see if we could do splits because we had lessons and branch work to do. So we made three different companionships. I stayed and did branch work and then a couple hours later we got a call from a member inviting us to eat at Chili's with them. So we got there as fast as we could. They joked that we said we will be there in 20 minutes and it only took us five which is an exaggeration, but we were hungry jaja. 

 Saturday the sisters baptized a guy named Christopher. Again, just a whole bunch of different lessons. Some over Facebook, others over a phone call and others in person. We met this guy named Third. We were trying to teach his sister’s family, but they always were "too busy".  We talked to him and shared about baptism. He asked how come we had never talked to him before and seems super excited to make a goal for baptism next lesson. 

 Sunday we again just ran around like crazy getting ready for church. We had 33 people there, the most ever! I confirmed Christopher. Then we had to do tithing, but a member forgot theirs, so we had to go to their house, and they live far away. Then we did tithing and finally were able to eat. Had some lessons and contacts on Facebook and then went to dinner with a member. After that we had a zoom meeting with all the branches before we were finally able to go home. It was super crazy and stressful. 

 Hope you all have a great week!
Elder Tolman

Happy New Year!

 Hola a todos y un feliz año nuevo! 

 It’s so crazy to think we are in 2021. I feel like just yesterday I was in Ecuador. That was almost a year ago! Crazy how time works. 

 This week we did a lot of contacting and it paid off. On Tuesday we had meetings in the morning until 2 and we were able to go out with a member and walk the streets for a few hours. She knew like everyone we talked to. It was pretty cool.  Later that night we had a lesson with 3 guys that all work together. They are all in different stages of what they believe in but were all willing to listen. We gave them a Book of Mormon each and they accepted the challenge to read from it and pray about it. 

 Wednesday we had service in the morning and then a meeting later on so we had little time to contact but talked to some good people. Then had dinner at a member’s house. We had our youth activity later and played some games. 

 Thursday, we went to eat with Elvira in the morning and then went to Walmart to find Martinelli’s. They didn’t have any! Then we went to some lessons. One was Raul. He is helping a buddy remodel his house, so we helped him out for a minute then shared a lesson. He asked a lot of questions. We had to be back in our house by 7 so we went to eat with a member and his family. They made tamales and menudo. For those of you who don’t know, menudo is cow stomach. Then at home we stayed up playing card games till 12 and celebrated New Year’s Ecuador style. 

 Friday, we had district council and then our mission Come Follow Me. After that we all went and got tacos. Then we had some lessons to go to. Invited a lot of people to church! Dad likes to pray for people so here are some names: Vicente, Doria, Juan, Juan, Beatriz, Isaura, Omar, Iram, Armando y fam, Yesenia, Yanelly, Albert, Lilly, Raul, Araceli and fam.

 Saturday, we helped Raul again and then taught him the Restoration. He takes too long to formulate his thoughts, so the lessons go way too long. Then we had lunch and a meeting and then a pass off lesson, but he left right as we pulled up. We ate at Subway with Sister Langestein and then started a Zone fast. 

 Sunday no investigators came to church but some members who haven't come in a while did. They shared their testimonies, and it was awesome. I have really grown to love them so much. We had a Come Follow Me over Zoom and then we went to a member’s house to give them the Sacrament and a blessing. They talked to us forever after. Then we called people from the church while we worked on some Facebook posts. It's been a while since we have done one. After that we had dinner with Anniah and Joe. It was a good way to end our fast. Their daughter was taking lots of pictures of us because she just learned how to use the camera on her mom's phone. 

 Oh I also forgot to mention we have transfers! Elder Jordan and I will be staying and receiving a new elder who will stay with us for a few weeks before going to his assigned area. His name is Elder Taylor. 

 Have a great week!
Elder Tolman