Week #8

Hey everyone! 

This week went fine! We have been working with lots of people in our area. On Tuesday we got a referral for a young lady and she requested a Book of Mormon that morning and so we stopped by and gave her a copy and then we talked to her for a little bit. She is a super nice girl and had some good questions for us. She was super excited to see us and said that she felt like what we were teaching her is true. We taught her twice and then passed her off to the YSA elders and they said she is a solid lady and already came to church. So that was amazing meeting her. We are working with a lot of less active members in our area. We went to this lady's house named Bonnie for dinner and she is a recent convert and her husband is not a member. We visited with them and mentioned my companion was speaking at church on Sunday and invited him to church and he came. Wow! He is a super nice guy and he said he enjoyed church. Friday we got to go to a member’s eagle court of honor and that was neat because it reminded me of my eagle court of honor. Saturday we had exchanges and I stayed in my area and led for the day. I was with Elder Dusenberry from Kaysville, Utah. He is super fun to be around. Apparently there are 4 missionaries in this mission from Kaysville. Sunday we taught this kid named Noah who grew up in Utah. He is a really great guy to teach and also another great person ready for the gospel. He is making great progress. Elder Groll and I are finishing off strong in this area because he heads home to Kaysville Utah in a week. Today we went to hike a place called a Bridge to Nowhere. It was built a while ago and a storm came in and wiped out the road that led up to the bridge. Anyway it was fun but pretty long. This was a great week! Have a great day everyone. 

Love,

Elder Toller 

Week #7

Hey all,

This was another good week! On Wednesday evening me and my companion taught the young women how to do family history and indexing. There is a really neat video from the apostles called the Promised Blessings of Family History. There are some neat blessings they promise us in that video about doing family history. It made me want to do family history more often. On Thursday we went on splits with some people in the elders quorum. I went with a really nice guy and we went and visited a few people in the evening. On Friday we were able to teach Veronica and her kids and were able to set a baptismal date with her and one of her daughters. It was a super powerful lesson about the restoration and everyone could feel the spirit strong. On Saturday we street contacted a lady getting out of her car and it turned out she was the original yellow power ranger from the TV shows. She is a super nice lady and it was fun to talk to her. We have a return appointment tomorrow with her. We went out with a priest later that day to a few lessons and that was fun. On Sunday we had a "choose your favorite hymn sacrament meeting". So if you wanted to you would go up and say your favorite hymn and why you like it and then we would sing one verse. That was a neat sacrament meeting because I hadn't heard of that before. We had some of our great friends who we're teaching come to church which was amazing! James who we are teaching brought his friend to church. Monday we had zone conference. It was neat but kind of long. We saw a talk by Elder and Sister Christopherson about the gospel scholar. They talked about how this is a once in a lifetime experience we are experiencing now. They also talked about the importance of studying scriptures daily for 1 hour each day. He said, "You are lucky to have that much time to read the scriptures so don't sleep through that time." Scripture study is awesome and I enjoy every minute of it. Then we saw a talk by President Ballard called Faith to Find the Elect. It was good and it talked about talking to everyone you see in order to find the elect who are  ready for the gospel. I want to do better at talking to everyone I pass by on the streets. Today we went to a driving range nearby and that was fun! Have a great day! 

Love,

Elder Toller 

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Week #6 - Another week!

Hey Everyone,

This was a good week. It hasn't been super hot - it has been mid 90's which feels nicer than the 100's. It has been pretty smokey because there is a fire somewhere close to us. We have still been teaching good people. Every Monday night this Spanish family feeds me and my companion and another companionship. They are a super nice family!

 On Thursday as a zone we met with President Wells and his wife. President Wells is a super nice guy! We are going to have zone conference next Monday so I won't be able to email until Tuesday next week. We still have been meeting with James and also Veronica and her kids and Mike and his family. We have been really busy with contacting people and teaching the people we are working with. On Sunday we went out knocking on doors of people we are teaching to come to church and some people weren't so happy but we got James and Veronica and her kids to church which is awesome. Veronica and her kids haven't been coming often so I was glad to see them there - they enjoyed it. This week we were able to find some good investigators by street contacting.

Today we went up to Crystal Lake to fish but there wasn't much water there so we found a lake somewhere else. It was fun being in the mountains because it was nice and a cooler temperature. When we were headed back today down the canyon this car was in the road, stopped with its flashers on. It turns out this older guy went off the road and hit the side of a mountain which smashed the front of his car and pushed it into the road. We stopped and asked if he was okay and gave him some water and there was someone else who called for help. He was okay, just a little in shock at what happened. 

I like Alma chapter 5 verse 45 and 46 which talks about how Alma knows the church is true because he has fasted and prayed. I thought that was interesting because Alma could have said he knew the church was true because he saw an angel from God but he acted himself to find out if it was true by praying and fasting not just relying on the vision he had. I love the gospel and love to see it make the people I get to teach happy as they come to understand the truths taught. 

Have a great day everyone! 

Love,

Elder Toller 

The Dowdle family snapped this picture at church.

Week #5 - 1 month mark

Hey everyone,

It has been another great and hot week in California! Today it is 106 degrees. I can't believe it has been 1 month yesterday since I went to the mtc. We have still been teaching James and he is a great guy. We got him to wear a suit and tie to church yesterday and that was his first time wearing a suit - he looked great! We also have been meeting with Pilar who just got baptized and yesterday I had the opportunity of confirming a member of the church in sacrament meeting so that was neat. On Wednesday I went with the zone leaders to teach some families but they are Spanish speaking so I didn't understand much but it was fun being with them and meeting the people tjey're teaching. Then on Thursday I went on splits with Elder Nichols and we were in the area called Mark Allen and that was also a Spanish speaking area. He taught me a little Spanish so that was a little tough but not too bad. We got our carpets cleaned this week so that's good because they needed a good cleaning. We have been also working with the Newcumbs family and they are a member but the dad is less active so we are helping him the best we can to come back to church. Also we went to stop by some less actives and the Dad is not a member but when he saw us he said, "hey guys, come and teach me as soon as you can." So that was awesome and he really has the desire to go to church. As a family they really want to be sealed and be together as a family.  So that is an awesome goal we have with them. They are such a great family and I hope we can work with them a lot. One scripture I like is Mosiah 2:41 which talks about blessed are the righteous and those who are faithful and God with bless them with spiritual and temporal things and they will be able to live with God in a state of never ending happiness. That is an awesome scripture and I know that as I keep the commandments i am able to be a lot happier. We went to a member's house and they had Korean food and it was good but some of it was super hot but it was something  interesting to try. Today we had a zone barbeque and that was fun. We played some fun games also. Have a great day and week! Hope all is going well! This is a family we visited and did their dishes and helped them clean their house! 

Love,

Elder Toller