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