Nov. 14th, 2011

buenas tardes huecos :)

ok well last week was super fast again. it feels like that when Pday is on Tuesday. but it turns out that I got sick on Thursday, probably the delicious "gringas" here in guat. gringas are pretty much a big quesadilla filled with good meat and then you add your own toppings like lettuce some suaces and then my favorite pineapple. but i chose this seasoned pork meat...not a good choice. me navas and jensen and stone all ate there, haha and me and stone got really bad b.u. and our stomachs were about to explode. so me and him stayed home on Thursday and navas and jensen left to go out and work. it was kinda good though, I got a lot of studying in. but no worries all is well now and im healthy and strong, I think it threw my shot off tho...explain that later.

well on Saturday my comp elded navas had to go to an area called durazno (peach) to do a interview. Usually we don’t do divisions on Saturday but it was the only day this woman could do it and the d.l. couldn’t do it cause he had a baptism. so my comp went over there with them and I did divisions with elder jensen and stone. haha well they have to start over in this area cause they are both new and let me tell you...it’s HARD! all we did was contact and pass by what we thought were investigators, even though they all denied us. It was so good to work with them but to do that every day would be hard.. good thing the Lord knows me so well :)

Well this morning, now that we have 4 good basketball playing gringos in the zone, we started playing some good ball. We played 21 and two on two. It was super fun...except I was SO OFF!!!!!!! even the others were like " dude elder Toolson you suck" yep made me feel real good about my self. By far the worst I have played in my entire mission. I was even missing lay-ups and everything. but then towards the end I started sinking some shots. Then of course every one else came and started playing. lets just say I don’t even like playing basketball when they don’t knows how. other then us 4 the rest just pick up the ball and chuck it from half court and they never dribble and I am horribly scared to go in the center because they hang on you like wild monkeys. so I just stayed out and shot the 3 ball (or at least tried).

I can’t believe this week is the last week of the change! crazy how fast time flies. I love my comp but 6 months is a LONG time :) but we`ll see what the Lord has in store for elder toolson. love you all and don’t be dumb.

November 8, 2011

Why am I writing on Tuesday and not on Monday? Well, it’s because we went to the temple today and on Mondays it is closed.

Last Tuesday we went to concilio with president and it was super powerful. haha I don’t know why but I love when people just give it to you! OK maybe not when its directed personally at me :) but this last concilio presidente talked the majority of the time and just reamed us on how the mission is failing and how God is not pleased with our work. The guy is the most spiritual guy ever. he cried like 3 times and I almost did once. it was an amazing experience. So my comp and I talked to our zone and told them we need to step the game up from now on. What do you know. we actually did super good this week and presidente congratulated us!

An up date on my back. yeah as of right now it feels normal. I can play sports with out pain. I can do sit ups too, I am just scared to do push ups because that’s what hurt me so I `ll wait a little longer.

Hah well we FINALY FOUND THE APARTMENT! haha the ap`s got mad at us for not finding one so they put the other elders with us and the next day we found a house. it just so happened the apartment right next to us just bacame vacant. so when I called up the ap`s and told them the good news about the apartment like how the new one is bigger than the house we had and super nice and super close, EW says "well why don’t you guys move

into that apartment then since its bigger, and you are the zl`s" haha so it turned into us changing the house. yeah the house is way big and cool...but I like the other house better. It was perfect for missionaries and way up high so we could look at our whole area, but now we are down below and its boring. but the new elders are super cool, EJ and ES. both like basketball and EJ is in my group when we leave so we get along just fine :)

On Saturday we had a baptism!! it was amazing! . This kid is super cool and loves the church, and told us after his baptism that he wanted to become a missionary so he could tell people about his conversion and so they could feel what he felt on his baptism. It made me almost cry!

As for P-Day, we went to the temple, yep last time in my mission! It was a great experience. Afterwards we went to an import store where they sell American stuff and I bought Nutella, a 24 pack of root beer, peanut butter, and some Pace Picante salsa! (yes dad your favorite) then we went to Wendy`s and enjoyed an amazing hamburger and a potato with chili and a frosty :)

I love you guys and I know this church is true I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t :)

Elder Toolson

October 31, 2011

October 31, 2011

Family!

Dang, its weird to think that it is Halloween right now!! I didn’t even remember until yesterday at church when the kids were talking about all the parties that were going to be going on. Halloween is definitely not the same here in G town they don’t really trick or treat. I guess there’s some kids that dress up and just walk around in the street screaming "we want candy" but no body gives them any thing, and pumpkins don’t even exist here. pretty much all they do is have a bunch of parties and get wasted. And get this! the school system is different and every one here has break now until January!! so today should be really crazy at night. Supposedly it’s the day of the dead here but only the old people do that. Every one else is partying it up.

Well last week went by pretty fast. My comp and I have still not found a house yet for the other elders. Even presidente called and was like "hey how’s the new elders doing" and then I had to tell them that we haven’t found the house...he seemed a little annoyed but just said to keep looking :) haha I really think the lord just doesn’t want them to come here yet because its almost impossible to find an apartment. Last Wednesday we did divisions with the assistants. I guess president had a week long meeting far away in guat and didn’t need the assistants help with anything so they decided to do divisions with all the zl`s. it was actually really fun. the AP’s are elder W, whos in my group, and elder Gallo who is super cool as well. we both were working in my area. I went with elder W. and my comp went with G. haha its funny how we segregate like that every time :) but in all honesty its what we both want so nobody says anything. Me and elder W worked are butts off. He was in this area before I was. I am the one who took his place. So we worked hard and visited some of his converts. ha it was kind of sad because they are all inactive now... but it was a good experience. we started Tuesday night and ended Wednesday night and it was a fun sleep over.

haha mom funny story. Well I was listening to an EFY cd today in the morning when I was cleaning the house. it was a really old one, ll of a sudden one of my childhood memery songs came on "you dont have to walk the planes to be a pioneer" hahaahah made my whole day! i dont know if you remember that mom but we use to listen to that all day every day and you would make me sing out loud just so you could laugh :) (In all fairness I made him do it so we could all laugh, he was just little and would nod his head to all the words – withough singing them_ until the last word of easch phrase..”trains..planes.. names..) a member gave me a cd with all the EFY songs since like 1994 until now. good times back in the day.

Well I love you all hope all is well in the United states of America!!!

Elder T

October 24th, 2011

October 24, 2011

I`ll just start off by saying last week was...horrible!!!! since the car got robbed presidente wants us to find an apartment for the new elders in the area that we don’t know, and then move everything over there. Well usually its not that hard to find an apartment...haha I swear the lord just doesn’t want them coming right now. me and my comp looked for a total of like 20 hours last week and found NOTHING! well we found some but they were over prices (cause I’m a gringo) or there are already people living in them for another month. then finally we find one just barley over the budget so I ask presidente and he says its ok so we call back the next morning...I guess a woman came by right after us and bought the apartment! just my luck. So all that searching was for literally nothing. and two sweet gringos are coming too, one is named elder J, hes in my group and the other is brand new.

With all that going on we had a sweet baptism planned, and this time I was like, hey I am gonna plan this perfect so we don’t have to run around all day saturday..well it turn out that he didn’t pass the interview, even tho we went over it with him 4 times before his actual interview. and to add to it, i was

sick with a bad caugh and runny nose. it was just a bad week :) I think I am being tested right now haha.

The last three weeks it has been raining non stop. A couple of members houses got swept away and we had to do a lot of service. And of course a cold front comes in and its seriously freezing. Especially because its super humid. every morning I wake up to drops of water dripping off the windows because its so cold and humid. When I go to bed I have to wear a jacket and sweat pants and socks and a beany!!! And we are only in October!!...I have no clue how I am going to last in Utah! I hate the cold with a passion. My comp and me are even working with sweaters because it is so cold outside. The good thing now is that the rain is dying away and it hasn’t rained in like 5 days! So hopefully I can survive these last couple months because I am dying right now with the cold. I did enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate :) but now the members always want to give us “morcaf” which is a mormon coffee and its disgusting. I put like 5 spoonfulls of sugar in there just to choke it down. Well as far as the work is going...we didnt really work all that much with all the service for the members and the searching for the apartment. We had like 15 lessons and we usually average more then 30

every week. But I am hanging in there and I love my mission. there’s nothing better then the mission. love you all.

Elder Toolson

October 17th 2011

Que Honda!?

Well to start off, my birthday was on Friday! haha funny story. The whole week has been crazy with investigators, problems, and zone conference so we had to organize all that stuff we had to do. Well when I woke up I can honestly say I totally forgot my birthday...yeah weird didn’t think that would ever happen. But we had to get up early and right away get stuff ready and prepare my talk and stuff like that so I totally spaced it. Around 10 o´clock in the morning I was looking at my agenda and noticed it was the 14th and just started laughing. Luckly it was zone conference because they brought all my packages and letters:) Thanks for the package!! it made my whole day, and I received some good letters and another package. I felt so loved! haha I am gonna enjoy the 5 pounds of M&M’s I have until the end of the mission!

OK, so zone conference was amazing. we had Elder Amado come, he is a general authority and one of the smartest people I have ever heard. He explained some good doctrine and weird random facts I didn’t know. like for example did any of you know that 80% of all baptisms of the world come from the American continent. crazy . but he talked about teaching the investigators and actually listening and answering, he explained that some times when they are talking we can perceive what they really want to know and ask but we need to just get out of routines that we have and adapt to what they actually need to hear. It was pretty good. Then he talked about all the doctrine of the general authorities and what everything meant. It was really cool to hear all the stuff they do. And of course the spirit was just amazing.

Just a quick thought. Those of you that haven’t read the Liahona or in the states the Ensign, you HAVE TO DO IT! That was probably the best one I have ever read in my life. It only talked about the Book of Mormon and I learned so much! luckily we had extra so I gave them to our investigators.

crazy story:

so we were walking home in the morning at 12 o´clock and we see the assistants in the suite store, so we go in and ask what there doing and they just stair at us with blank faces, so I asked what happened. They tell me that two guys had just stolen there car and everything in it like 20 min before . They took their cell phones, money, wallets, scriptures, packages, 5,000 quetz, and their cameras. The sisters just had a change and put in a trio and so they went to bring them desks and stuff like that. I guess two guys came with guns and robbed everything and told them if they called the police they would come back and kill them. So of course president Watts calls us right after and tells us that we have to get the sisters out of there as soon as we could. So we run over there and throw all there stuff in bags and suit cases and put it all in a members house. I talked to president this morning and he told me that he is moving the sisters to Coban (outside the capital) and putting in elders this Wednesday. haha so we have been super busy trying to find a house and get everything situated. Crazy stuff in G town.

well this last week we had a cool baptism. We activated this family and it so happened they had a 10 year old boy who wasn’t baptized so we got to baptize him on Saturday. Yes when all that stuff happened with the car and the sisters. but it all turned out good, it just started 2 hours late :)..our turn right?

Another cool story:

On Sunday we had some new investigators come to church. one of them we didn’t know, a member just brought him. After church he comes up to us and says ´hey I want you guys to teach me the stuff of your church because I want to get baptized´...what? !!! that was literally one of my dreams in the mission!! So today will be the first time we will teach him. His name is Juan, he’s 25, looks kind of scary but also really humble. The Lord is blessing us a lot these past couple of days. I love being on a mission and my love gets stronger every day. Love you all as well and thanks for your support.

PEACE OUT!!!!

ELDER TOOLSON

Changes Oct. 10, 2011

Well, I will start this letter off by telling you guys about changes. The assistants called us at 10 o`clock last night and told us all the zones changes. When they finished and asked if I had any questions... I said "oh you forgot my change" hahaha and they just laughed at me and said me and my comp were staying together for another change!! yep that means we will be completing 6 months together. I literally thought that would never happen to me in my mission. but with presidente, things are very very different. But hey if that’s what the Lord wants. Our companionship is fine, yes he annoys me sometimes but seriously, 6 months 24/7 with one person I would say I am doing pretty good with my patience right now. There is a lot of work to do here in my area and now that all the members love us its time to just dome rock the area :)

OK, well last week we had concilio with president and the assistants and of course it was amazing. we just talked a lot about the problems in the mission and what we need to do to clean it up, that includes obedient problems and stuff with investigators. and then for the best part we ate some REAL american food! sister W made us chicken parmesan with Caesar salad and garlic bread. yep she broke her own record because it was the best thing I have had in my mission. and then for desert we had cheese cake! haah she makes being ZL so worth it.

During the concilio president talked about a new rule. In this mission the missionaries cook for themselves. But president wants us to change that . we now have to find a little restaurant place to eat at every day for lunch, and only lunch. Which I am not gonna lie I don’t want to do. Because those of you that know latinos know that they put oil and butter in EVERYTHING they

eat. and I am trying to eat better and lose the fat on my belly :) but Luckily for me we have a cool place right next to our house that sells a bunch of stuff so I can choose what I want.

Well I finally went to the doctor. It was weird, usually the appointments are at like 10 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. Well he wanted me to come by at 5 pm. its not that bad but when you live like more then an hour away by bus its kind of a hassle. So we get there and of course he shows up at 6 because he got stuck in traffic. but he told me that my rib pulled my muscle or something and that is why It is hurting by my shoulder blade and my chest. so he said the only thing I can do is just wait it out. Which scares me because he said it might be 3 months!! but i need to work out so we may have a problem. It is feeling a lot better. I am taking some pills to help and some cream. So this week and next week I am not going to work out so I can recuperate, then I am gonna to start up again.

This week is my 21st b-day :) but to be honest I think I am not going do anything. ha and I don’t like telling the members because then they think they have to feed me and now I am on a diet so its better if they dont. and we have zone conference on my birthday so pretty much its going to be a normal day. But today I felt like celebrating early so me and the zone are going to make some cakes! yes my favorite cherry chip cakes :) thanks mom! and the sisters are going to make me some pupusas. One of the sisters is from El Salvador.

I love my mission and its scaring me a little bit that its coming to an end, but I am determined to work my butt off so I can get lost in the work and not think about other things. love you family!!!

Elder Toolson

September 27th, 2011

I just want to start off saying CONGRATS SEAN AND COLBI with your

first little baby boy!!!! (They had a little girl.. I think this is KC’s way of saying “if you had written me more often Sean I would have known she was a girl “ I am so excited for you guys. Dang! everything cool is happening now! keep sending me pictures please I want to see more :) just give me a good 6 years and I’ll have a baby too!

Ok well last week went good and really fast! We found a good family this week and we brought some members to their home and the new family even showed up to church! it was amazing teaching them because we put a baptism date with them and they all excepted it...except the dad of course. but he is super cool and I know he will except it eventually. so I have some good high hopes for this family I just hope nothing goes wrong. Well this week we really worked with the ward and with our mission leader and made a really good plan to get the members more involved. ha we got a new mission leader and he is super excited to help us out and has a ton of dang good ideas to get the members going. So this week

of course to get some stuff started we all gave talks in sacrament, me, my comp, and the mission leader (brother M) . it went really well and then after church we had ward council with all the leaders and we got every one to help us out :) so the ward is really progressing and I am hoping to see some good success here.

ha-ha then Sunday as well the stake President wanted me and my comp to go to a meeting for future elders and give another talk well, not really a talk, just an extended testimony pretty much, then after that we went to a lady’s house and cast out a devil. yep I am not even lying. I thought the bishop was kidding at first but when we showed up to the house all the members were waiting for us and their faces said it all. no one talked and they all had the look of death on them. It was pretty scary actually. So we went inside this tiny little shack made of tin and we all kneeled in a circle and said a prayer then the bishop did his "thing" to cast out the devil. I guess she made her neighbor mad and that practices witch craft and now her house was haunted. yeah crazy stuff here in guat town!

Today I am writing on Tuesday because yesterday we had a surprise conference for all the districts in the zone. The ap`s call us the night before and we have to prepare talks. Monday was a long day. We showed up at 8 in the morning and literally didn’t leave until 6 at night. Luckily and thankfully Sister Watts brought us some turkey sandwiches :) I guess many in the mission were being super

Disobedient and so Pres. W wanted to talk to every one and see what is going on. I don’t know why some missionaries are so dumb! I guess pres W had to send some people home. Me and my comp talked about how we need to follow the spirit in everything we do and how we need to be worthy to have the guidance as well. I think it went really well President even congratulated us because this zone has no problems.

I don’t know what happened but I messed up my shoulder blade pretty bad. one day I was doing bench in the morning and my right peck was hurting but not that bad so I kept going and now I haven’t been able to work out or play sports or anything for a good week now. I have been taking pain pills but nothing helps. it hurts every time I move my right arm. I’m going to call the doctors because I think I pulled something really bad or a bone moved out of place cause its not getting better. No worries the lord will provide :) today we were suppose to go to the temple and have a good time but no!!! I guess one of the 70 told pres w we can only go every 6 months!!! Yeah that’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard. so today we did nothing. Every one played soccer and basketball and I sat there and read a book...lame! Well that’s about it for this week. I am so excited to see general conference! you guys have no idea!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you are excited too and don’t take it for granted. On the mission I have gained a love for general conference. so watch it and learn something :) love you every one!

Elder Toolson

September 19th, 2011

te amo!!

This week we have been working with a great kid named O, who has been investigating the church for over 2 months. We have taught him but he hasn’t really accepted the truth. We finally sat him down and said ¨look, you have been coming to church every week for the past 2 months and you don’t want to accept it, what is stopping you from believing that this is the true church¨, and he confessed that it was the Book of Mormon, that his parents had been talking bad about it. So we explained the book of Mormon for like an hour straight and had a strong spirit in the room, his best friend who is a member was with us and even he testified and explained the truthfulness of the book of Mormon, and at the very End I just felt that I needed to ask if he wanted to accept a baptismal date, and he accepted!!! it was amazing because I know for a fact that he felt the spirit testify to him that it was true and all he had to do was pray about it. It was a good feeling to see the spirit work right in front of my eyes. and now he is super excited for his baptism. We told all the young men in the ward about his baptism and they all got excited for him and its going to be an amazing baptism on October 8th.

Actually all this week we had some bunch of really good spiritual experiences, like on Tuesday the sisters of the neighboring area asked for us to come over and give them a blessing, so we go over there and I guess one was haveing family problems and the other just couldn’t focus on the mission so both of them asked me to the blessings. Tthese were honestly some of the most spiritual experiences that I have had, I really did feel the spirit guide me in what I needed to say. and when I ended with both of them they were both just bawling, yes I know they are sisters and they do that normally, but this time was different and even I got a little water coming out. ha one of the blessings was in English...yeah that was really weird, I have only given two blessing in English in my entire life. but doing it in your own language really does feel better.

Well, today for p-day we went to the sisters house over in Molino because some guy was going to fix their sink and they needed us to protect them or something. one of the sisters is from Honduras and she taught me how to make home made flour tortillas! they were amazing and I made like 15 of them. then we put on some beans and eggs and sour cream and fried platano, it was amazing!!!

Sorry this week was a little boring. I love you all and home all his well. PEACE!

Elder Toolson

September 5th, 2011

September 12^th 2011

Last week went amazing! We went to the area office three Times! ..(.which is 2 hours from my area), because we had to fix every thing for Elder M’s I guess the ambassador is really strict. but they finally dotted all the I’s and crossed every T and all went well.

So this Wednesday we had concilio, which means Tuesday all the zl`s from outside the capital come in to have their P-day and to be here for concilio. It just so happens that almost all the zl`s out side the capital like to play basketball :) so me and the ap`s organized a huge basketball game with all the zl`s at 5:00 in the

high school basketball, so for the mission that is actually pretty good. and we played for at least two hours!! it was absolutely amazing! I kind of messed up my knee the Monday before so I couldn’t really jump but for some reason it didn’t affect my defensive game at all. it was by far the best basketball I had played in about a year and a half :) and my shot was on so I was just killin fools out there! Hahaha I have been getting up at 5:30 every morning to work out so I am getting some muscle back...still skinny but I am getting better. The protein has really helped me, I am starting to do allot more weight now. but I am far from where I use to be. my hops....well those are just long gone, i have been trying to do leg stuff but its just not working for my hops, just the quickness. but i have like 4 months to perfect that :)

Concilio was amazing as always, the one thing that really stuck out to me was when President talked about doing divisions with the other elders, he talked about an experience he had and how we need to show the mission how missionary work needs to be. it just really hit me that honestly as Zone leaders people look up to us. I remember my zl`s when I entered the mission and how I looked up to them. He told us that we can change lives with just the example we do on divisions. Then told a great story about how he still remembers his first zl in Argentina 40 years ago! I always love concilio because it gives me so much of a desire to change, try harder and keep doing my best.

well last week had another baptism!! his name his J Lopez, haha:) he his 32 years old and not married..ok married but his wife left him like 3 years ago. and he has two kids under the age of 8. he is a super dedicated person and loves the church. he used to drink a lot but we have been working with him !! so now he doesn’t drink and loves reading the scriptures!, still kinda hard for him to read the book of Mormon but he reads the bible all the time. The baptism went pretty good, except like every one showed up an hour late, No seriously, the baptism started at 6:00 ...I am not lying when I say it was only me and Elder N, and Elder M until 6:30, then came J and his kids, then finally at 7:00 the bishop came and then every one else. I about went crazy but its ok :) that’s just how it goes here. but it all turned out nice and people finally showed up. J is pretty poor and kind of looks like he will kill you if you look at him wrong but is the nicest guy ever and is actually really smart!

Well as I mentioned earlier, Elder M left. on Sunday for Peru. It was sad to see him go. now it is a lot more quiet. but he will be an amazing missionary!

On Sunday were the elections in Guatemala for the new president and I guess it gets pretty "loco" around here so Pres. Watts wouldn’t let any one go out on Sunday. haha it was one boring day! I read a hundred pages in the old Testament...yeah then I fell asleep :) love you every one!!! hope all is well and every one is healthy. Good Luck Colbi with the baby :)

Elder Toolson

ps if your wondering why I don’t send pics...its because my cable broke

and now I cant!

September 5th, 2011

September 5^th, 2011

Hey Fam!

Last week went really fast! The new zone seems really cool. We didn’t get allot of new guys but the ones we did get are pretty good missionaries. We got a black missionary from the Dominican Republic! He is super funny but sad to say he very un-athletic so that was a bummer. And yes we are still in a trio, Elder M should be leaving this Friday but we are not sure because the dumb visa people wanted to see his seminary graduation certificate to make sure he prepared himself enough for the mission...yeah I guess Peru is getting really difficult

to enter for the latinos.

This last Saturday we had another BAPTISM!!! it is a wonderful 45 year old

woman who is just amazing, and actually well to do by Guat standards :) haha she is super cool and has loved the gospel since day one. She was a reference from a inactive member actually,. her name is Sister N. Gonzales and I just love her. she always cooks for us and she happens to be cook at a really nice restaurant here in Guat. Her husband lives in New York city.

She has a son who is 21 and doesn’t really want anything to do with the church which is sad because he is pretty cool just really prideful. The baptism was nice and allot of people came and supported her. She definitely will have a calling soon because she is a natural leader and loves learning. Even the bishop complemented us for finding such an amazing convert :) I got to confer her as a member of our church. Probably the most spiritual experience of my mission so far. The lord has so many things laid out for this woman. the only thing that scares me is her husband. I dont know him but of what she tells us...he's not gonna be ok with her being a member. so I am praying by the time he comes back to visit, her testimony will be strong enough to handle it.

Well weird story, so here in Guatemala, not sure if its the same in other latino countries but there are always goat herders walking around in the street selling goat milk, and they always have a huge whip that they crack on the ground and its really really loud. So last Saturday we were just sitting in the house in the morning with out any milk because we ran out, then out of no where I hear the crack of the whip, haha so I get the cool idea to just go buy some fresh goat milk...bad idea. I buy 2 cups for 5 Quetz and pour them into my cereal... I don’t know if any of you have ever tasted goat milk but it is really really creamy and for me was really hot and straight up NASTY! haha So it pretty much ruined my cereal but at least now I can say I tried

fresh warm goats milk :)

Well we worked really hard last week and found some good new Investigators this change we are hoping to see some more success. We will have to see what God has in store for us. I love my mission so much and I am so glad that I can be here in Guatemala serving these people. Not gonna lie, some times they just really tick me off and I want to scream :) but those who find and except this gospel are the ones that make this work sooooooo worth it, and every time I see some one enter into the waters of baptism it just makes me want to find more people so they can know and feel what I know and feel. thank you so much for the package!!!! the cd`s are going to help allot and the cookie mix and cake mix will just be amazing :) love you so

much padres!!!

August 29th, 2011

August 29th, 2011

Last week was pretty normal, I tried really hard not to listen or think about changes and just keep focused.

On Tuesday my companion Elder N broke out with a huge rash almost looking like he was a leper. It was disgusting, it was all over his body, his back, stomach, legs, arms, and neck. ok it wasn’t that bad but definitely noticeable. We still cant find out what caused it. So all day we just put this itching cream on it and he took a bunch of pills. Then the next day, it would come and go. but at least we worked. Poor kid, his skin would get really red and puffy. I told him it was because he wasn’t working hard enough.

All ended well, so on Saturday morning we decided to make some cookies for the members. There were two members having birthdays, so we used the peanut butter cookie mix that you gave us( mom :) with the rolos and I had a bag of normal chocolate chip cookies , we ended up making 57 cookies out of 3 bags!!! it was amazing. and the members of course LOVED them and want the recipes...haha we still wont give it to them, we just say its a secret. but seriously, they turned out amazing! and yes we still have extra and I am so excited to go home and eat some after this!

Last night we were going to a members house for dinner at about 7 pm and all of a sudden two ambulances pass us and stop just around the corner. and of course we are really nosey and want to know what’s going down in our area so we walk over to see what’s going on. haha bad idea again! well it was a big shock, there was a dead guy just laying in the street in some weird position like he just jumped off the roof. There was like a gallon of blood coming out from beneath him (he was laying face down), so me and my comps asked what happened and some guy told us that a guy just shot him 5 times in the chest 10 min before!!! we could see all the bullet shells and everything. Crazy that the ambulance (and us) got there before the police did. It was really weird to see, I have never seen something like that in the mission so up close. In my first area that was normal but it was far away. but this time was really wierd. he was a tuk tuk driver. tuk tuks are these tiny red car things that go around giving people rides around the area. I guess some guy tried to rob him and he resisted and so he got shot then robbed. Must be why the church says to just hand it over, never resist. Yeah Guatemala is crazy like that, because that is normal here.


Ok so for changes, haha me and my comp Elder N are staying together for a third change...not really what I wanted or expected but everything happens for reason so I will just go with the flow. Yes I will be completing 6 months in this area at the end of this change. I didn’t think that would happen again but I guess it did. Presidente didn’t make any changes for the zl`s.. I have some good hope for this change because we have some good possibilities. 


I finally get my protein that I have been waiting for. Yeah sorry dad in my zone there is no where to buy it so I had to wait until the ap`s got it for me. But I have a question. because I told them I only wanted whey protein, but they got me some other kind and it has a little bit of creatine in it. will that affect anything for basketball? so dad you need look into that. I am working out every morning, its only for an hour but its doing a little bit for me so I am happy :)
well I love you, and I love this work!

Elder Toolson

August 21, 2011

Hola

This week went pretty well, actually really fast. My companions and I worked pretty hard in finding news and finally got some success. We found a really good family, named family Castro, a family of 5 and they all love to listen to us. It was really weird actually. We contacted them and right away they let us in, they gathered the family and got there bibles and were ready to learn. So we taught them about the book of Mormon. The only problem is that they are... I don’t know the name in English, but they believe the Sabbath day is still on Saturday. It was kind of hard to describe to them that there is a need for another book. but in the end they kind of thought it was logical, then they gave us all apples with yogurt :) which was amazing, usually people give us coke (which we have to say no) and then something fried like french fries or bananas. I have a lot of hope for this family. We are thinking of bringing the Bishop and his wife over to meet with them. But we will see what happens.

Yes one of my comps is still being kind of lazy. A little better but it’s still kind of annoying having to push him to do every little thing. Things are better. I just hope he doesn’t get too baggy because it’s the last week of the change. We should find out what is going down on Sunday so I will let you guys know next email.

There is this poor little old lady who is about 80 years old that we go and visit every other day because she is sick and dying and has no body to visit her. So we have to do it. She has these huge cuts on both sides of her left ankle. First of all she is a diabetic, so these huge, pussing, nasty wounds that won’t heel that she has all started because she scratched her ankle from a mosquito bite. Now the doctors are saying she might have to lose her foot because it’ s so infected and it cant heal. Well, we go over there and we have to clean this nasty infected foot and put cream on it and some other stuff. Then my dang companion Elder N thought it was smart to peel of the giant scab off her ankle so he could clean up all the puss. This poor old lady is very fragile, and she told him not too but he is stubborn and did it anyways, the poor lady just started screaming and crying saying she wanted to die because the pain in her foot was so bad. So we just look at each other and decide to run to the pharmacy and we buy like 20 of her pain pills. Then we call her neighbor over and she injects her with some more pain medicine (yes its normal in latino america to inject yourself with medicine) and finally that calmed her down. haha Then when we were all just sitting there all coming down from what just happened, elder M throws up everywhere!, ha ha he told us that he can’t stand feet, and infected feet and crying women just didn’t mix for him. Then the old lady started laughing at him and said not to be a little girl. She went to the doctor and things are doing much better so no worries. haha I love this country and the weird things that happen here. Today for p-day we went to the central market where all the tourists go to buy all the authentic stuff of Guatemala. Its actually really sweet! I bought a jacket and two shirts and two beanies (yep for Utah). I am not into the whole buying statues and stuff like that because I learned with Ryan and Sean that those are super cool for about 2 months after the mission then they are kind of just dumb. But it was really cool to see all the things people make by hand here. It was a lot like Peru just different styles and no butter flies :) then we went and ate some good old McDonalds and bought some donuts! so it was a good day!

I love you all and hope all is well.

Elder Toolson

August 15th, 2011

Hey!

Last week was a really fun week. On Tuesday we had conference and learned a bunch of stuff about being obedient and having faith in the goals that we have as a mission. President Watts is just amazing! When he talked to us, it was just sharing scriptures that every one knows and talking forever. He pulled out 3 stories about missionaries and all the miracles that they had on their mission because they had the faith necessary. Haha and sweet Sister Watts gave a talk about obedience. She did really well...except it was in English so the lats (who really needed to hear it J) didn’t understand much . Next time I will suggest an interpreter. Over all it was amazing and I learned so much.

This Saturday we had another baptism!! it turned out really good, and a lot of people showed up. The little girls name is Angeli and she amazing. She is 10 years old and actually knows so much about the stuff we taught her. Which is like a big deal here because there are so many adults that don’t even understand things yet. Her and I are like best friends now because I always spin her around and she loves that. haha This Sunday she comes running into the priesthood class and asks for me. So I think she has an important question or something, nope, just wanted me to spin her around. I had the chance to give a short little talk during the baptism because Elder Maldonado did the actual baptizing (his first one!) he was super excited, anyway, I talked about the symbolism of the actual font where we are baptized and what that represents. It actually turned out really well, better then I thought it would. Then, after the whole baptism is finished, her uncle who is not a member came up to me and said that he really liked my talk and wanted us to come visit him because he wants to join a church, perfect right? Well darn, he lives outside the area so some other missionaries will get to teach him.

It is always so amazing to see some one enter into the waters of baptism. Every time I see a baptism I want to have more and more because it makes me so happy to see people change there lives.

OK so this Saturday morning was amazing!! We woke up at 5 am to go to the Stake Center and played basketball with all the Office Elders and AP’s and another companionship from the zone. It wasn’t anything special but most of the people could play so it was fun. It still makes me sad that I have like nothing left in my legs! I had to warm up for like an hour to just barely dunk it...yeah I am a loser. It was amazing to play and they said we are going to be doing it every Saturday. So I had Elder Williams buy me a basketball. It’s sick, red white and blue Nike :) They couldn’t buy protein so I am still waiting for that.

Well I don’t know what happened to my comp, but he’s been... "sick" a lot, and it takes everything for me to get him outside of the house. Saturday afternoon we had to leave at 2:00, that is when we start. He started up again, said that he had a headache and couldn’t leave...I am not gonna lie I was a little low on the patience, and he just wouldn’t get dressed, so I literally had to dress him. I put on his pants, buttoned his shirt, tied his tie and shoes and put his books in his bag, haha it kind of reminded me of you mom when I would throw my little tantrums and refuse to get ready so you had to dress me to go to school or football practice, church haha :) so yeah I don’t know what’s up with him, He is a great missionary, he’s just being really lazy and not wanting to do anything. Whatever, as long as he does what I do without too much fuss, we will be fine.

I love you family! I know this church is true and I love my mission so much :)

August 8th, 2011

Family!

This week was crazy! The one thing that kind of sucks about being a ZL is that there is always stuff to do and it some times it takes away from working in the area. But on Tuesday we had concilio and it was amazing! We talked about the "key indicators" and what we need to do personally and as a zone to complete our goals. I love going to concilio because I always learn so much and it pumps me up to go work my hardest. President Watts is one of the most spiritual men that I have ever met. Every time he starts to talk about the mission or us as missionaries he starts to cry and I can just feel his desire and love for this work! He only has like two months and already he has changed so much. His way of thinking ahead is amazing and he has made these charts for every missionary so they can see two months in advance to see and track their progress. Which I really like because now I look two months ahead and if I don’t have a lot of baptism dates then I feel like a tater so it makes me want to work that much harder. After the concilio Sister Watts cooked us lasagna, (however you spell that) and it was amazing!! Surprisingly that was the first time in all my mission that I had it, and let me tell you it was amazing. Then for dessert she made this cinnamon roll cake. not lying here when I say it was the best think that I have ever had here. It was like regular vanilla cake mix with swirls of cinnamon and toped with the frosting!! mom you have to learn how to make it, its my new favorite. On Wednesday we had interviews. haha they were planned for 9:00 to 11:00. Well the interviews went a little longer then usual and they didn’t end until 5 o’clock, and of course as ZL´s we cant leave until every one leaves because we have the keys. The interview went really well and I just keep learning so much from President Watts. Haha and sweet amazing Sister Watts made cinnamon rolls for every one! first time for those as well. All went well and there are no problems in the zone so that’s good. As for the working part, well with those two days and my comp was sick with the flu so we pretty much missed 3 days. But Sunday night on our last visit we had a family night with some members and some investigators. It was amazing and they had a million questions, it was weird because I have never talked about so many themes in one lesson. We touched on about everything in the gospel but in the end we all felt it was good to put a date with them for baptism and they totally accepted it. They still have questions, but they are very very willing to read, pray and find out for them selves. I guess their priest did something bad so they didn’t attend church any more. Over all it was a pretty good week and yep we are still in a trio. which now I like, I guess because Elder Maldonado is very strongly opinioned and that’s actually really good for some of the investigators we have. We work really well together and love just messin around.

I love being a missionary and I know this is the church of Christ. Everyday I work it is a testimony builder for me that god has restored his church for a reason, and that reason is so that we aren’t so dang confused...like so many here in g town.

love you family :)

Elder Toolson

August 1, 2011

Coma Esta Familia!

I’ll just start off with the good news!! Last Wednesday we received a call from the assistance and they told us that we can officially play basketball!!! :) me and my comp just started jumping and screaming when they called us, it was the best news!

This last week we worked super hard and found some good news. we even put a fecha (baptismal date). we are working really hard on this lady named Alba. Her husband is a recent convert and she never wanted to listen to us before but now slowly she is listening a lot. I really think she will be a good. She had her birthday on Thursday and we made come chocolate chip cookies, haha and they loved them. we’ve made them before and every one is like "what is the recipe for these!" haha so I just tell them its a gringo secret and if they come to church I’ll tell them :) Cookies here are all the same and have like no flavor. They are pretty much really hard flat sugar cookies with out frosting. But sadly enough she didn’t come to church. We are going to stop by and see what happened.

Last week I completed 19 MONTHS! haha AND I received the package parents thank you so much!!! and the money too! it was perfect, we went to the church and made the cherry chip cake...oh my dang I have never had a cake that good in years!!!! and the day before Elder Maldonado completed one month and bought us all McDonalds...haha yeah I know right, he’s got a ways to wait. and then Elder Naves completed one year two days before me and he bought us all baliadas, which are these amazing flower tortillas with meet,beans,rice, letuce, and some chili sauce. haha so last week was a good week for eating :)

This p-day we all went to the stake center and played some soccer and basketball. haha it was amazing and I have literally never been this tired in my life. It is so weird to think that literally I have never run around like that for 19 months!!...let’s just say I have a lot to regain when I get back. We played more soccer then basketball, which was kind of a let down because I forget that so many latinos (ok, missionaries in general) are some of the most uncoordinated people on earth don’t play anything except soccer :) haha so playing basketball was kind of a joke. So I just sat on the 3 point line and just practiced my shot. I can still shoot but my legs have lost any thing they ever had. I seriously feel like I am in 10th grade again. I am pretty scared to go back and just get killed, but I have faith the lord will provide for me. Well I love you all and hope you guys had a blast in California and hope you send me pics!!!

Peace out!

Elder Toolson

July 25th 2011

Hey family.

OK, so first things first, thank you so much for the money! Yes, it is way easier to use Western Union then anything else. I just walked in the office and gave them the code number and my i.d. and they gave me all the money right on the spot. No, sorry I didn’t get the package, but I am pretty sure I will get it this Wednesday so that’ll be amazing. This week was a little different. I don’t know why the assistants keep doing this but once again we are in another trio!! there were like 9 missionaries going to Peru that don’t have there visas so they are in our mission for now. when they first assigned them to us they said it would be 2 days...well it turns out it will most likely be a month or longer. I am betting it will be the six weeks of this change. Our new companion is Elder Maldonado. He is from here in Guatemala about 20 minutes away. He is super cool and a dang good missionary. He speaks almost perfect English as well. but I m not gonna lie being in a trio is kinda hard cause you have to share the time, and its even weirder because me and my comp are pretty much training him and so we have to teach him all the basics. haha sometimes we forget he is new and

just assume that he knows what we are talking about or what we are going to do. He is learning really fast and has a huge desire to work his butt off and be a really good missionary. Last week we had a lot of fun because now with 3 people there is always stuff to talk about and laugh about. So we when we were contacting we would just talk about weird stuff and just have fun. It’s cool to see the faith of the new missionaries, because now days I know who really wants to hear the gospel or is just giving us crap or lying or something like that so I just keep going, but Elder Maldonado is very persistent, which is actually something that I realize I am not. For him every person he talks to has to let us in the house, and if they don’t he has to get the reason out of them. I like it though because it gives me more animo and makes me want to have more faith.

The new people in the zone are way cool. I have a new bud, Elder Underwood. He played volleyball at BYU and is pretty good at basketball. He’s about 6’6” and can jump! so we talk sports and good times before the mission.

Sorry this letter is really boring but your in San Diego so I don’t feel bad at all! I love you all and have fun in California.

Elder Toolson

July 18th, 2011

quo pedo vos!

As some of you know Elder Smith is really sick so his comp. Elder Laines was placed with us on Wednesday. We have been in a trio this whole week. For anyone who has ever been in a trio, you know that it's kind of difficult .. just on a teaching stand point because now we have to share speaking and teaching time with three people. Elder laines is pretty cool. His English is perfect so that was nice and he’s super, super smart and loves to talk, (maybe a little too much haha). Since I am not a big fan of trios we tried to set up splits every day. We get a lot more lessons done and found more news so all around it was better. And I did learn a lot of stuff from him because he has read like every church book you can possibly imagine. We worked really hard and ended the changes with two baptisms. Hopefully next week I can send pictures. The sisters who share the same chapel with us had a baptism as well so we decided to have it together, and it turned out great, around 70 people showed up, the spirit was really strong and we had a nice little refreshment afterwards. ( that’s always nice) . Karen is 11 years old, her dad is a member that got baptized 4 months ago. She is really funny and crazy but.. she cant talk, ok she can but I guess when she was little she got hit by a car so now she cant pronounce her words and she mumbles everything which you can understand if you pay attention. She is so full of personality and she loves the church and loves the members so that’s good. Alijandro is a 16 year old kid who is AMAZING!. He read the Book of Mormon in one month and loves going to seminary and church activities. He has already come with us to teach 5 times because he just loves this gospel. It’s amazing to see this gospel change lives and the people really get the importance. . He is already excited to serve a mission and is reading preach my gospel.

It turns out that me and my comp. are staying together for another change, that’s kind of what I wanted and expected so I am happy :) we get along really well and all we talk is Spanish so my Spanish is getting much better.

Well that’s about all that has happened this week. I love you family and friends. This church is amazing and my testimony is getting bigger by the day as I see the blessings in my life that no body can have unless they experience what this gospel has to offer. Peace!!!

Elder Toolson

July 11th, 2011

Cosmic Bowling

Hola!

This week went super fast for some reason. On Tuesday we had concilio with President and it was AMAZING. We talked a lot about how we need to have more baptism and how we need to put goals into action. President actually taught me something that really helped. I asked what we could do to find out where we are failing, where to start and rebuild. and he told me that in the company of Toyota they always asked the question "why" 3 to 5 times. That way you can start to dig deep into what is really the problem and find out what you can do to improve. Usually it’s just " hey we should do this better, ok" but with the whole ask "why" thing I have learned it actually makes you think and rethink of what you could actually do to better what ever you are doing. President Watts is very smart man, he was president of a company that turned toxic waste into energy...haha or soemthing like that. He really knows how to help people and is very very spiritual, he choked up talking like 10 times talking to us. it was amazing to feel his spirit and desire to really help this mission have more success. then afterwards we ate at his house..oh oh oh my gosh that was the best food EVER! we ate chicken cordon-blue (however you spell that) with mashed potatoes and gravy! and garlic bread and to top it off Sister Watts made brownies with ice cream :) I’ve never been so happy with food in my life!

Last week we worked our butts off and we found some really good news! and surprisingly all 6 showed up to church! it was amazing to see them. A lot of people complemented us for bringing all new investigators to church that they have never seen before. it seemed like they really liked it too, so this week we are hoping to put some baptism dates. but we’ll see if they’re ready to take that step.

This week is the last week of the change I hope me and my comp can end on a bang! I have mixed feeling about leaving because the area I love but... so we`ll see what happens this next week. I should know by the next time I write if I have a change or no.

Today for p-day we went to go to the zoo....and guess what? yep it was definitely closed!!!!!!!!!!! I was so sad. I talked to every one I could about it and they all said it was super cool and really big and had a lot of cool animals so I could barley sleep last night I was so excited, haha but then we showed up in the bus and everything and it was closed. We were so disappointed! So we went to a mall called "tikal futura" which is a new mall they built a few years ago and it was really sweet, Inside they had cosmic bowling! it was super fun actually, I thought for sure I was going to win because no body was that good. haha but then Elder Taco who has never played before in his life and is new in the mission beat us all with 177! and if you saw the way he bowled you would know it was his first time :) which made it even funnier!

I love you all! hope everyone is doing well.

Elder Toolson

New Presidente, July 4th, 2011

Whats up!!

O.K., I`ll start off with the new presidente. His name is President Watts and he and his wife are from Logan Utah. They are both the most amazing people ever!!! on Friday we had interviews with them and they were everything I was hoping and expecting and more. You can tell just by his presence that Pres. Watts is a spiritual giant. The interview was for us to get to know each other. He asked me about my mission, my testimony, my comp, the zone, and all little things in between. I can tell already he is going help the mission so much.

Andnd Sister Watts. hahaha she is literally the sweetest lady I have ever seen, and I am not just saying that. She makes me laugh because she is very, very personable and touchy, and missionaries aren’t used to that :) when I first met her she grabbed my hand and my arm and just started talking for about 5 minutes about everything, and she just has this spirit of happiness about her that makes me laugh. She cant speak any spanish but she is learning now and let me tell you, she is going to learn very fast because she laughs at herself and does not care if she screws up. (Like Sean always said, “if you laugh at yourself, everyone laughs with you!) both of them together are amazing. I cant wait to know them more and more these next few months.

HEART BROKEN!!! ok you know how I was all excited to play sports....turns out that he decided to keep the rule,” for now” he says!! I about died when I heard that. because the meeting right before the interviews he brought up the whole drinking cola drinks and playing basketball and soccer. He says he’s going to keep them because Presidente T received revelation for a reason. Well that sucks for me!!! Me and my comp are determined to keep asking until he says yes. Even the AP`s are mad cause they wanted to play so bad. so I am hoping in a few months he`ll be re-inspired.

Last week me and my comp worked really hard with the FHE stuff and they turned out really well. I definitely felt the spirit in all the lessons very strongly. we found a video called "By Small and Simple Things" but its the longer version with talks from apostles and quotes and stuff and it’s really good! tNow we are waiting for the results. We told all the families to pray and receive revelation to who they need us to pass by and share this message. This week we fasted and prayed that they would keep praying to find out who needs what we have.

Sad story. ok so one of my converts Karina.( the one who finally got permission to get baptized” . well I hadn’t seen her for like two weeks and we passed by like 5 times and nothing. On Saturday I finally see her in the streets and she tells me that these gangsters harassed her then started calling the family asking for 20 thousands quetz or they would kill Karina! They told them all the information where her parents worked, kids went to school, their friends and everything. so Karina and her family had to move way far away so they get found! crazy story right? It’s so sad though, she came to church and bore her testimony for the last time in the ward :( in Guatemala that stuff happens all the time! and i hate it that we cant do anything! but I am sure the lord will help her and her family a lot!

Today for p-day we did something actually pretty cool. We all showed up and the stake center and the sisters made "churascos" which is carne asada, beans, rice, tortillas, pico de gallo, and some good salsa! then the boys bought everything and we played capture the flag :) it was way fun. then we all sat down and enjoyed all the amazing food. dang those sisters can cook. I was so full I couldn’t even get out of my chair.

That is about it for last week. I love you all and hope all is going well!

Elder Toolson

June 27th

June 27^th, 2011

Hola Familia!

OK so last week went pretty well. the only thing that is killing me right now is the RAIN as most of you know I hate the rain. It has been cloudy and rainy for the past week! It used to be sunny in the morning then rainy in the afternoon but now it is dark and dreary allday every day and my "animo" is going downward. haha it kind of stinks to contact for an hour with a tiny umbrella, from the belt down gets soaked every day.

With that said last week went really well.we found some sweet new investigators and made an awesome plan for this week. Ok so to find new people it has been pretty hard. We devised a plan to do a family night with a member family every single night. today we are going to a store and buying cookie mix so we can bring cookies for the refreshments. We are using two videos that talk about and show sharing the gospel. I really have a lot of hope and faith that this will work for us because we have a lot of sweet people in the ward, we just need to use them. Please keep these families in your prayers that they can know who needs to hear the gospel and who we need to stop by and teach.

I got my package, thank you sososososososo much! That is just what I needed for this month! The card is all figured out I just need to go use it :) haha my comp thought the gummy vites where like the funniest thing in the world, needles to say he ate a lot of them!

ok so on Tuesday we had a capacitacion with all the zone leaders. It was just president telling us that we are the motors of the whole mission and how we need to be the example for every one. it was seriously one of the most spiritual and uplifting experiences ever. Although I knew it all, to hear it from president just made me want to work that much harder. Being zone leader has helped me so much as a missionary. Trust me I am really not a good leader, but I think I am here to learn a lot so I can become one in the future. Every meeting we have with President just inspires me to be my best and to step up my game. It was kind of sad because it was the last time I will see President Torres.

Oh, then this Sunday yep I got called on to give another talk again. I still don’t know why every area I am in they always chooses me. I just talked a little about how the young kids need to prepare for the mission and not be little girls. haha I even got them laughing so that was good. We had a lot of investigators in church so that was amazing, especially considering that it was raining and like half the people who usually come showed up !

The new president comes in this Wednesday so next week I will let you know how he is. I am super excited because the assistants are already planning a basketball game for Monday :) so I will be able to play for the first time in 16 months! crazy right?! This Friday we will get to now him.

Well I love you guys. I hope all is well. This church is without a doubt true!

Elder Toolson