May 23rd, 2011

May 23^rd

Family of mine!!!

Last week was pretty good, mainly because I got my sweet PACKAGE on Thursday. that thing made my whole day, I don’t think there was a boy happier here in Guatemala. Thank you so much for the books and all the good candy, guats here love the jelly bellys :)

ok well this week wasn’t the best only because I was sick for like 4 days. it all started Monday and my stomach would hurt every time I ate then I would “lose” it all 2 hours later, then on Wednesday and Thursday it got so bad I couldn’t even leave the house. I would go to the bathroom like every 30 min, so for 2 days i didn’t eat anything because then I wouldn’t go to the bathroom. so I finally called the doctor and she told me I had to take the "bomb" which is the famous pill that just kills everything and anything you have in your stomach, and what do you know, it worked :) she said it would make me feel more sick and maybe throw up or something but I had no side affects at all. the day I took the first pill I started feeling a little better then the second day by the night time I was feeling all better. and now I am fine so don’t worry! but it was pretty boring being in the house all day for two days straight. good thing I got the package because I got the book and read like 200 pages in one day. that thing has so much info it blows the mind. well on Sunday the bishop told us we had talks as he was walking up to the podium to start church, every new area I always think they will not do that but it happens every time. luckily for me I have like 10 talks already prepared so I spoke about how every member is a missionary, it was about 20 min and I think it went pretty well, a lot of people complemented me. haha but when my comp spoke he jusy gave it to them, he straight told them that the ward had too many problems and the members don’t do anything and how they need to step it up and told them that they have ruined investigators that have come...haha it was pretty bad, but amazingly a lot of people came and told us that is true and how they are willing to come and work with us every week. we even had members visit a family we are teaching on there own free will and we got like 10 young men and women to go to the rest of our investigators. so it actually worked out well, we had a couple people call us saying sorry if they ever offended us, so hopefully they get the point and really come out and help us. ok well the week hasn’t been that exciting so I don’t have too much. but i love you mom and dad and thanks so much again for the package. I hope you had fun traveling the world and I wouldn’t mind if you sent me some stuff you learned about Jerusalem, that stuff interests me. well love you all and hope all is good!!

Elder Toolson

May 17, 2011

May 17^th

Family!!!

Well it's good to hear that the parents are doing amazing in Israel. you guys are so lucky because after reading the bible and learning so much I want to go over there and see what it is really like. This week was really wild and a lot happened. Thursday and Friday we had interviews and conference. Interviews were pretty good. haha well actually they are getting more and more boring, because I have nothing to say and niether does he, so i just ask him doctrine questions every time. but it was cool cause we got to watch the elder Holland talk about missionaries and it pumped me up so much! I love that guy, he’s the best speaker in the world. well on Friday we had conference, so the ap`s call us and give us assignments and luckily they don’t give me one so I was happy. When I get there elder Davis tells me that I have to direct the whole dang thing so I about poop my pants. I really wouldn’t have been that scared except it is with 3 zones and as the director I had to sit next to president just in case he had to make corrections. and let me tell you, of all the people I know, president Torres is the most intimidating person in the world!! but no worries all went well and I did ok. we just talked about converting ourselves and learning what we need to hear on the mission to prepare us for after the mission. president even complemented me for how good I did :) which made me happy. then on Saturday we had a baptism, his name is hector fuentes and he is so cool. when i first got here he was having some super doubts about the church. but me and my comp really talked to him about the authority of the church and the restoration and watched a video with him and the spirit was so strong! so he finally decided to get baptized. He is actually really smart and remembers everyhing. when you first look at him he has tattoos and always wears ACDC shirts and stuff and would never think he wanted to hear the missionarys. but hes actually really humble and cool.

On Sunday we had stake conference and it was seriously the best one I have ever seen. I dont know what was so different but the spirit was so so so strong in the chapel. we had 2 families come to church and they loved it. hna and President Torres and a lot of the bishops gave the best talks ever that focused on getting baptized and staying faithful in the church. it really helped a lot with our families that came. I have so much hope for this area and it motivates me to just work my bum off every day. which kind of blows because my comp is super baggy and doesn’t want to contact at all so I have to like force him to do everything. I really gave it to him the other day and I told him that he needs to end his mission better and he cant just give up and be selfish just cause he is leaving in a couple weeks. He took it well and now we have some goals that we are gonna make this week so I am excited. Today we went to the temple again as a zone! once again it was amazing. it was really cool because the entire area presidency of Central America was in there with us and I got to shake there hands and talk to them a little bit. its amazing how you can just tell how spiritual those guys are. it blows my mind. then we went to buy some WENDY`S and it made the whole day so much better! I haven’t had that in 2 years it was amazing.

Love you all and hope all is well

Elder toolson

May, 9th Photos

Karina is going to be a great new member!

President and Sister Torres

May 9^th, 2011

Family!

Last week was amazing!

First things first, we got to go to the temple Tuesday at 6:30 in the morning. It’s been over a year since the last time I went to the temple so it really was an amazing time. it kind of felt like my first time going because I have forgotten a lot of it. All the zl´s went together so it was fun to go with a lot of my buddies. I had a lot of time to think in there and reflect on what i need to do better and different. Tuesday afternoon we had concilio with the president and the ap´s. that is where all the zl´s get together and talk about how the zones are doing and what goals we have and what goals did we meet and all that jazz. it actually was really cool and I learned a lot and me and my companion have some cool goals for the zone that I really think we can do. then after this little meeting, sister Torres cooked us all pork chops imported from the states, some casoral, salad, bread, fruit, and some cake to top it all off!!!!!!!!! made my whole week to eat some home made state side food. I am used to beans and eggs and tortillas. The food really was so amazing. Now I am excited to go to concilio every month :)

It was amazing to talk to you! too bad it was only for a little time though. it made me a little baggy but that’s ok. You should have seen my comp, he only has 4 weeks left so he’s just itching to get home. He is getting kind of lazy but I am gonna kick him back into shape because I don’t want him ruining everything for next change.

Last week we had a baptism!!!! it was a miracle actually. This girl is 16 years old and amazing. She goes to mutual every week, goes to seminary at 5:00 in the morning and helps us all the time. She’s been investigating for 9 months now, the only problem was that her mom wouldn’t give her permission to get baptized. so me and my comp passed by two Sundays ago with our bishop and he talked to the mom for like 2 hours about how it’s an individual choice to get baptized and he had the same thing happen to him but then his mom finally let him get baptized and now he is a bishop. When we finished, the mom was still not letting her. so we left discouraged. The next day we find out that her mom finally let her and she wanted to get baptized that week. so we got it all planned out and president Torrres interviewed her and on Saturday she was baptized. haha the bishop even brought Little Caesars to celebrate!

so that was the week I had. I hope all is going well with everyone and I love you so much!!

Elder Toolson

May 2nd

May 2^nd

Family!

OK, well this week was a lot different. I show up to the change conference and President comes and taps me on the shoulder and says “come with me”, so I am freaking out about what I could have done that I need to talk with him. We sit down in the office and we just start talking about the mission and my last comp and all that, then he tells me that he wanted me to be a Zone Leader...yeah shocked me too. so then when I left the interview t every one was asking me what it was for but I couldn’t tell them. but yeah so I am a zl here in the capital in an area called Zion. this area is so amazing! For the city it is actually a pretty big area and we even have a ward here!!! I am finally not in a tiny branch. The members are amazing as well; there is such a difference here in a ward then a branch. We have so many 18 year olds that are preparing to serve missions here so like every day we bring one along with us or we do divisions. I don’t know the area at all and I am supposed to show him where the investigators are. the area is really hilly and I am dying!, I’ve been in Peten where its about flat as AZ so walking wasn’t hard at all. Then I get here and there are stairs that as I am walking up I almost hit my face because I am kind of leaning over and it is so steep!

ok well my companion’s name is elder Youngberg and he is leaving after this change! weird I have never had a comp like that. but he is from Utah and he’s pretty cool, he’s just a little baggy but I don’t blame him. We get along just fine so I am not worried about arguments or anything.

Our house is on the second floor and looks over like the whole area and it is really pretty. It is really big too so I like that, and the best part is that it has a heated shower so no more cold bucket showers!

the zone is pretty cool, I know a lot of people here and all the areas have baptism dates so that is good. its kind of small though. In Peten we had 30 and here we have like 18, we have the office Elder in my zone so I can get mail way fast now, yes!!!! so I will be waiting for my package.

For p-day I played ping pong, haha yep still undefeated,

Elder Richins owes me a donut this week because I spanked him. Then we played kick ball, haha gringos vs latinos....yeah lets just say This week was amazing I am excited for this change be cause I am going to work my butt off!!!!

love you all family and friends

Elder Toolson

April 11th, 2011

April 11^th, 2011

Family!

This week went by really slow, mostly because I have this thing in my head that says the 4th week is always the longest because it’s right in the middle. But me and my companion got a lot of work done, and found a lot of new investigators. We had a talent show in the church, haha when we showed up to the activity the branch president told us that we had to participate so we had like 30 min. to come up with something. But don’t worry because I had a really good idea to have a little questioner for couples and ask them 10 questions each to see how well they new their spouses. It actually went really well, I went and bought some snickers real fast to give to the winners. We got the people laughing pretty hard with the questions so I liked it. We also got a family to come to church for the first time. This family is progressing really well, so this week we are going to try and put a baptismal date with them. I went on some divisions in San Louis and it was really fun, the place is really hilly and I am not really used to that. We went to this place way out there, we had to take a little bus and we taught a bunch of less actives. The people were so humble and every one offered us a bunch of food, even though they all lived in little shacks with many family members living in a small space.

For p-day today we went to some really sweet caves!!! there are some pretty close in my area, so we had a member family come take the whole district, I got some sweet pics. These caves were a lot cooler than the ones in San Benito cause they had really huge cool stalactites every where. . After wards we went to some burger place and had some dang good hamburgers.

Well thats all I got for this week. Just a heads up next week I wont write you until Wednesday because we have interviews and conference on Monday and Tuesday. Until then I love you so much and I hope all is well!!!

Elder Toolson

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