Another week!

This week has been really good! We had interviews with President, which was super awesome! It is crazy to think that the transfer ends next week!

This month as a zone, we set a goal to have 7 baptisms. This weekend, we had 7! Which put us at 11 for the month. It was super awesome! President told the rest of the mission over conference call, which was super awesome!

This week, we had Randy come to church again! He is progressing a ton and we're super happy with him. It was an awesome Sunday!

Ya'll take care!

Elder Tobler

If you wanna see pictures go to tobzintacoma.blogspot.com

Another week down

I'm sure y'all heard about the new changes from the First Presidency. Yes, I am excited. Yes, I think it'll be good. No, I won't call you.

One of the highlights of the week was that Randy came to church! Randy is the husband of a recent convert, and now we are working with him. He was a little hesitant to come to church, but he did and he loved it! He liked how everyone was so friendly and he loved the Sunday School class. He also attended a baptismal service and loved that, too!

We had Stake Conference with Elder Pearson and Elder Pimentel of the Seventy two weeks ago. It was super awesome. Elder Pimentel shared the story of Jesus' birth, as well as the parable of the Good Samaritan, with a focus on the two innkeepers. He challenged us to look at ourselves and ask ourselves if we were a Luke 2 or a Luke 10 innkeeper. Do we introduce ourselves to new people at church? Do we invite them to sit with us? Or do we keep to ourselves? He urged us to be Luke 10 innkeepers. I know as a missionary, it helps a new person at church feel much more comfortable when other members welcome them and introduce themselves.

The Church is true!

Elder Tobler

White, White, and more White!

I apologize for not writing an email last week. We received a fair amount of snow this week. Last week President Leishman mandated that we all stay in on P-Day, due to the amount of snow and ice on the road. On Friday and Saturday, we got 'record-breaking' snow. So we have done a fair bit of staying in this week, as well as a fair amount of shoveling driveways. Snow isn't a problem here, but the ice that is underneath is, so today was actually the first day since last Wednesday, that we were allowed to drive. There's the first white for the week!

This week we were also able to go to the Seattle Temple. On Wednesday, the weather was clear enough so the Silverdale, Port Angeles, and Bremerton stakes all loaded up on a bus and drove to Seattle. We had about half the mission there. It was super awesome! President and Sister Leishman were there and it was super great! There's the second white for the week.

So the third white this week didn't actually happen. We had an investigator on date to be baptized this last Saturday. However, due to some family emergencies, we had to postpone the baptism. So, ya'll just pray that we can baptize Alexia and that she and her family will be taken care of. 

That's what I got this week!

Elder Tobler

Elder and Sister Pearson

Transfers!

I apologize for not writing last week, the library where we usually write was closed for Martin Luther King Jr Day. 

Elder Clay, Elder Skousen, me, Elder Coons

This week we had transfers! Last Saturday we received our transfer call. I got transferred! I am now serving in the Silverdale 2nd ward. My companions name is Elder Garcia. He has been out for 18 months. He is from Texas. We are serving in an English ward, but we both are Spanish missionaries. We are also the only Spanish Missionaries in the zone, which means we do get to teach any of the Spanish people that are found. We are also in a bike area! Last Saturday we rode about 16 miles. 

Me and Elder Garcia

This week at sacrament meeting, a lady gave a talk on "Growth in times of Change.' It was an awesome talk! It was exactly what I needed to hear as well. I was a little upset about being transferred, but I know that this is where the Lord wants me. In the Wa-Tac we also have a saying, "No comfort in the growth zone, no growth in the comfort zone." This week, I have been out of my comfort zone a bit. But I know that I am growing and learning. It might not always be easy or fun, but in the end, you usually turn out alright.

Take care,

Elder Tobler

Service--my happy zone

A little more service (and I'm on a roof!)

Me and Elder Garcia

Elder Coons, Jose Guzman and me

This week was super exciting! We had some fun experiences!

Last Sunday, there was a super crazy windstorm. It blew over trees and there was a bunch of debris everywhere. About half of our stake didn't have power, so our church actually got canceled. One of the members in our branch had a massive pine tree fall over in her backyard. Nothing was damaged luckily, she just needed some help cutting it up and stacking the wood and cleaning up the debris. It was super crazy because the tree fell perfectly in between all of the stuff in the backyard. It was super fun!

Yesterday we got invited to dinner with our Branch Mission Leader's family. Turns out it was actually his Wife's birthday party. They fed us street tacos and we all sat and talked for a bit. Then they pulled out a big pot full of menudo. They've fed it to missionaries in the past, and most of the time, the missionaries aren't too fond of it. They just wanted us to try it. So we did. It was interesting. For those who don't know, menudo is essentially just cow intestine soup. Its super chewy and fatty. So that was an adventure. 

While Elder Clay and I were knocking this week, we were able to hand out 6 copies of The Book of Mormon! It was super cool. Usually when we knock we're pretty lucky if we hand out two or three. We had to go back to the car a few times to get more! It was awesome! We also found some new investigators, which we have to refer unfortunately. It was super cool!

Elder Tobler

New Years and Baptismal Invites!

This week was a good one. On New Year's Eve, we just came home early and hung out. We were in bed at 10:30. Probably the most uneventful New Year's Eve that I've ever had.

This week we also did exchanges with our District Leader. His name is Elder Sears and he's from St. George, Utah. He's super cool. Elder Nash and I went with him to a lesson that he had scheduled, and we put the investigator on date for baptism! It was super cool.

Last Saturday, Elder Clay and I were tracting and we weren't having any success. We started to head back to the car so we could head to an appointment. We were almost to the car, when two girls turned the corner. I asked them if they wanted to hear a message about Jesus Christ, and to my surprise, they said yes. So we talked for about ten minutes, and we taught them almost the entire Restoration. We showed them the pictures in the front of the Book of Mormon, and we showed them the pictures of Alma at the Waters of Mormon. When I showed her that picture, I felt the overwhelming impression to invite her to be baptized. I got way scared, cause we had only been talking to her for about 10 minutes. But I invited her, and she said yes! Elder Clay and I committed her to being baptized on Jan 26, after talking to her for only 10 minutes. It was so cool! Unfortunately we have to refer her over to the English Elders, but it was still way awesome! If you follow spiritual promptings, you'll never be wrong!

Elder Tobler

Genesis 7:12 "And the rain was upon the earth..."

This past week was awesome! Christmas was fantastic. We got together as a zone and ate breakfast and celebrated together. It was fantastic to be able to call home and talk with my family! I hope you guys all had a great Christmas. 

As you can probably guess from the subject line, it rained a lot this week. Everyone tells us that once the rain starts, it doesn't stop until April. We've had a few rainy days here and there, but they are balanced with sunny days. Well this week the rain started.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, President has asked us to visit members of the branch, and share a quick spiritual message, and ask them to pray for us to have success. Elder Coons and I felt that we needed to visit a family that we've never visited before. So we dropped by their house, but the father wasn't home yet, so they told us to come back in about a half hour. So we came back. I felt prompted to share my favorite scriptures, 1 Nephi 3:7, but I always follow it up with 1 Nephi 4:6. Which reads:

6 And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.

So we shared this scripture with them. We finished our thoughts and bore testimony, and the father just looked at us and said, "Do you know what's going on in our family right now?" He shared some of the challenges that they were going through, and how much they needed to hear this message. It was a really cool experience and the Spirit was present for sure.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true!

Elder Tobler