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