March 28, 2011

My District

Straight up Jungle

Toucan at the bird lady's house

March 28, 2011

Family!

Last week was the first real week we had to work and it went really well. Elder Vindel and I work really hard and good together. haha I just have to get on him sometimes because he likes to sleep in a little too long. We actually had a good little one on one talk on Saturday and we got to know each other very well. I found out he’s a recent convert, he got baptized 3 years ago with his family. At Christmas when he called home his mom told him that they were getting a divorce and that his dad has began drinking again and that nobody goes to church now. so the poor guy is scared to go home because everything in his family is falling apart. It is so sad, he’s such a good kid and he is out doing the lords work but back at home his family isn’t doing anything to progress. We talked it out and he said for the first he wants to work hard and be obedient. That kind of hit me hard. It was a good bonding time, I haven’t had a heart to heart talk like that in so long so it was nice. so that is why this last week we worked our butts off. We got over a 100 percent and found a lot of new investigators. Ha but now that it’s April the heat here is already out of control. Remember how I told you that its cooler here....yeah well I was wrong! The last 3 days have been so HOT I can hardly handle it. It’s been perfect weather in Peten the last 3 months and now the sun is just burning me up every day. I think I’m going to be carrying an umbrella from now on, ok, call me gay, but you guys have no idea how ridiculous it gets here,without air conditioning.

The other day we found this lady and were teaching her out on her patio, all of a sudden this toucan comes out of nowhere and starts hopping all over the place, I had no idea that toucans hop like that! It’s wings were clipped so it couldn’t fly away. I tried holding it but those things are actually kind of aggressive.
 The bird lady also had like 20 doves and like 3 of those big green parrots and some smaller colorful ones.

Last week was amazing, it was good to get along with my companion. This week we have General Conference so I am really excited to watch that. We are staying here in Poptun to watch it. I sure hope we can watch it in English or I am going to be really mad! When it’s translated it takes away literally 50 % of the amazingness of it. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I will. General Conference is like the highlight of my mission so DONT TAKE ADVATAGE of it :)

Love you guys and be safe!

Elder Toolson

March 21, 2011

March 21, 2011

Family I love you!!!!

T his week was pretty cool! Not the best for working, but lots of adventures. So it starts off with just say good bye to every one on Tuesday morning. That night we go to San Benito to stay with the zl`s for the night because on Wednesday Elder Bishop leaves for Coban. A bunch of other missionaries were there so it was a fun party night talking with all the amigos in the mission. Wednesday we get up a 4 am and go to the bus station which leaves at 6:00. I was chosen to accompany the missionaries to Coban because there was only one sister and one elder coming back up, so I get on a bus and travel 6 hours to Coban. which was actually really fun because I was with some good friends. The drive was very beautiful. Peten is very flat and really green. Coban is all mountains and jungle . A lot of qeq`chi people leave in Coban so going up there you would see these little bamboo huts literally on top of the mountains with women wearing bright colored skirts made of korte. (bright, shiny plaid fabric like the jackets I gave Connor and Jake). We finally get there but instead of chillin for a few hours and having lunch like I thought I would, it turns out that no body knew what was going on so the hermana I was supposed to collect didn’t even know she was going yet! . So we get there and they cant find her, she is out shopping in the markets. so my two hour "rest" time turned into me and Elder Jennings driving around the city of Coban looking for the sisters. We finally found her and got her bags, then right back onto the bus again for another 6 hour bus ride...it was a very exhausting day!!! With NO food that was the worst!

I also picked up my companion, his name is ELDER VINDEL He is from El Salvador. At first I was scared to have him as a comp. because he has 18 months and is still junior comp and that’s usually not a good sign. He is also very well known for not obeying the rules. So far he has been way chill and nothing bad. I think he was just lazy, but so far he does whatever I do so I got no problem. Ha oh and there is this weird thing going on with his eyes. He can’t look straight at things because his eyeballs move side to side REALLY fast. so to look at things he turns is head so his eyes are to the side so he can focus (if you understand that) so every one thinks he is weird but he is really good with me. We are going to work freaking hard this change and make things happen!

We went to visit some ruins in Dolores for p-day. Which is another area in my district. We walked literally for an hour and a half through thick jungle and mud. It was super pretty and cool to just talk with the district and learn a lot about each other. Ha then when we finally get to the ruins, it was like 6 big rocks with some writings on them.....yeah kinda of a let down but we did find a tiny cave and went in it and found one of those giant nasty looking spiders that are like half spider and half scorpion. We walked all the way back and ate some delicious food at a comedor!

Yeah so this week was fun. I just showed my comp to all the members in the area. I love you guys so much and I love my mission so much you guys have no idea

Elder Toolson

March 14, 2011

3/14/11

Hey Family,

Long week, I was sick Tuesday and Wednesday so we missed a lot of work. My stomach was killing me and I had b.u. like there was no tomorrow! I’m all good now and we finished the change really well.

Well this week we had our district conference here in Poptun and it was really good. President and Sister Torres came and gave some amazing talks. The branch here in Poptun is pretty strong and a lot of people showed up to it. its not as big as San Benito but we filled the chapel up easily. We had 4 investigators come to the conference so that was good. The change is done now, it’s weird because it seemed like just a few weeks ago I met Elder Bishop for the first time.

We got our changes this morning, it turns out Elder Bishop is going to Coban and I am staying here another change. 3 other people had changes in the district too. I am excited to see the new people coming. My district now is sweet so I am hoping no one is coming in and ruining that.

This morning we go to the gas station by out house to meet some guy who said he said he was going to sell elder bishop a hammock. We get there and he says we need to go to his house first. We were like, ok, we can go there to buy them he only lives like 10 min away. So we walk all the way out there and it’s way more then 10 minutes walking, then he tells us. To get on his bikes, we are going on the other side of our entire area to this old woman's house to buy the hammocks from her. So we hop on these crappy Guat bikes that I seriously thought were going to break in half the whole time I was riding. The old lady lives deep DEEP in the mountains. So after more than a 45 minute bike ride through the jungle we finally get to the house. Let me tell you, when you haven’t riddin a bike in forever, we were exhausted! Biking uses a whole different set of muscles than walking! . We get there only to find out that the lady had sold all the hammocks except one, and the only one left was a hammock in the flafg colors of Costa Rica. Hahaha so my comp was super mad that we traveled all that way for the wrong one, but he bought it any way . So needless to say I am kind of tired this morning and I m going to be pretty sore tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am going to San Benito then to to Coban. The AP`s asked me to be the guide for the Coban people coming to Peten. That`ll be fun. Elder Tanner and Elder Thacker are going be on the same bus and I love them so I am excited. I am pretty sure my new companion will be coming from Coban so I will mee up with meet him there. Hopefully he’s cool and likes to work or I am gonna blow up on this kid. haha I thought the mission would make me really patient but actually it’s just the opposite! I always have to do stuff NOW! and when people do dumb things I don’t hold back, I tell them right away, haha Before I was just chill, not now! . Ha so I really should work on that a little bit.

I love you family! Mom I am glad you had an amazing surprise b-day party and enjoyed all the grand kids :) I love you.

Elder Toolson

March 7, 2011

My District On Our Outing to the Museum in Dolores

My Companion Elder Bishop And I

March 7, 2011

I love you!

This last week started off kind of slow because we moved out of our house on Tuesday and it took all day! Some Guats are so slow. The guy picking everything up was supposed to come at 10:00 in the morning to but he "forgot:” so we were waiting and waiting. I finally called him and he said he couldn't come until 4:00 so yeah it took all day. The new house is much nicer, its all tiled and has a heater on the shower and cabinets and stairs that go to the roof so I can do exercises out side in the mornings! So excited but it’s not to be...the zl`s called me last night to tell me that we had to move AGAIN! Some dumb reason ..I don’t know, but I am calling the owner of the house to see what we can do. I will send pics of the shed and the house next week.

This week I went on two divisions, one with elder Rowan, who's in San Luis. We had a good time actually. The area is huge and very hilly, which is weird for me because all of my areas have been as flat as can be so it was kind of hard walking up all these dang hills. Elder Rowan is a young missionary so I tried teaching him the tricks of the trade. Then I went on divisions with Elder Jensen my ZL. haha he like my favorite person, me and him get along so well. so we just talked about basketball and good times all day long. and even had some dang good lessons. haha I like going on divisions because it gives me a chance to know the other missionaries and other areas. It mixes things up and makes them a lot more fun!

So for the sad news, we had a family of 3 getting baptized this coming week but they fell thru because the dads mom just died in the capital so he left to go be with his family for who knows how long. Now we just have to wait. Hopefully he comes back soon his family is so cool, the perfect investigators.

For p-day we went to a museum in Dolores. Every one said it was so cool so we were all excited to go then when we got there and it was like two rooms of bowls and weird statues...haha so it was a little lame. It was cool to see these beautifully decorated pots that were made 2000 years ago that they found in tombs here in Poptun, Dolores and San Luis. its amazing the things they built by hand.

This week is the last week of changes. It’s been so fast. It is so true, the harder you work the faster the time goes! I am pretty positive that I am staying just because I only have one change here and Elder Bishop has 4 changes.

I love you guys! this work is amazing and I don’t want to be anywhere else. It is such a blessing to be in Guatemala teaching these awesome people.

Love you miss you.

Elder Toolson

March 1, 2011

Eating our great lunch provided by Sister Torres and her Posse

The Pasion River Ferry

March 1, 2011

Family!

This week me and my comp found some really good families to teach and they seamed to love the message so I am really excited to see them progress!

We have to move our house this week. The house that we are moving into is really sweet. A lot smaller and more expensive but really cool. But the lady said who owns it said we had to build her a shed to put some stuff in before we could move in. So every morning last week we had to go a build this thing little by little. haha let’s just say I am glad Guatemalans don’t care about perfection because this thing looked so bad :) but she liked it and today in the afternoon we are moving in.

Last Thursday we had a training as a whole zone with president Torres. pretty much he just taught us how to deal with the answer "no". It helped me a lot actually. President T is really smart, he taught a lot on how to really listen to the investigator and give them the answer that I would want if I were in their situation. Which I have never thought about before so I am excited to work on that. During the training session he called me up to do a demonstration and I had to be the missionary, he was an investigator. haha I had to ask him to get baptized and he said no and then I had to explain to him the reasoning why he needs to get baptized and how the gospel will help him. I was sweatin bullets because it was in front of the whole zone and Pres. Torres was not the easiest investigator that’s for sure. In the end he actually said I did very well and he explained to the whole zone on the hows and whys that I did well :) so that made me feel good.

On Wednesday we were building that shed . Sister Urizar was feeling really sick and had a huge headache. she said its the worst she has felt in her whole mission. She asked me to give her a blessing. Before I even began, I was thinking I need to bless her to a full recovery in just a few hours. Then I realized that I couldn’t do that. so I was kind of freaking out because that thought was in my head again and I didn’t know if I should say it or not. When I layed my hands on her head and was saying the actual blessing that thought came again to my mind. so rather than second guess myself, I just took that as the Spirit telling me to do it. so I said she would be completely better in just a few hours. After the blessing she thanked me and had tears in her eyes, and she told me that was an " inspired prayer" and she knew it was true. She went to her room and took a nap. Two hours later she woke up and called me and told me that she was completely fine , nothing was wrong with her! it was an amazing experience. This priesthood we hold is so true and powerful. Today really made me realize how much it effects our lives daily.

Sunday I gave another talk! I just gave a random talk for about 15 min about how we need to make sacrifices in our lives for this gospel. it turned out pretty good, I had them to laughing in the beginning and was really intense at the end :)

This p-day we went to Yaxha! i went there once like 8 months ago my first change in Peten, thats why I am e-mailing late. It was really fun, really hot, and so pretty. I love Yaxha. its not as big as Tikal but almost, and has some pretty views. Then we went and ate some Pizza Hut and loved it.

Things here are warming up a lot. I have been sweating and working like crazy so time is just flying by!

I love you guys, hope all is well and know that I pray for you daily!

Elder Toolson