This week has been truly inspired. Or inspiring. One of the two.
A couple weeks ago we were having a lesson with a member over Facebook Messenger and during the lesson the member complimented Hna Coronel's hair, and Hna Coronel was like "Thank you! I feel like if I ever cut it I'll lose my wisdom or strength or something" and then the member made a joke about how she's like Samson from the Old Testament.
So anyways, that inspired us to reread the story of Samson as the next episode of our Old Testament Comp Study. While we were reading in Judges 15, we came across the name Lehi and we both looked up and said "huh how cool" and moved on. But THEN. Fast forward to this week. We were having this lesson with a guy we recently started teaching and at the end he goes "I have a question. If the Book of Mormon starts in Jerusalem, shouldn't names like Nephi and Lehi appear in the bible?" And we were like "😏☝️ well".
It was cool to see how God prepared us to answer that question weeks in advance.
In other news, our bff member made a post on Facebook reminding everyone to take care of the Lord's missionaries even during COVID19 and so that resulted in 100000000 members bringing us groceries. We have so much food now, its ridiculous. But we definitely feel very blessed and cared for.
This week we also found new Spanish speakers to teach by calling random numbers in Perris. Don't know why but it STILL shocks me that it works. We were even able to leave a Book of Mormon in one of those people we found's mailbox!
We had lots of other very quality, spirit-filled lessons too. There was one where my companion and I both felt like the Spirit was giving us step-by-step instructions of what to do next. We were calling her to repentance but at the same time felt an overwhelming love and care for her. I sincerely felt that I was being a representative of Jesus Christ. It was cool.
Other than that, we've had lots and lots of cooking successes, Hna Coronel and I. I would attach pictures of all of them but you'd all get bored.
Oh! We also had our Multi-Zone Conference, it was like being sprayed with a fire hose of personal revelation. Something Sister Watson (my mission president's wife) said was that it is God's pleasure to bless us when we're obedient. Something about it hit me in a new way- like, God not only loves us, he likes us. When we pray and ask for help, he doesn't get irritated or impatient. It is his pleasure to help those who will accept them to be their God.
Anyways, I don't think I have anything else I wanted to say. Just that at the end of our service at the SoCal Train museum, the people who work there were like "Ok, are you ready to PLAY?" And we were like "what"
And then they brought out this super old train handcart and let us pump it all the way down the track. It was the most thrilling fun thing I've done in a long time (and that's saying something cause most of my mission has been very thrilling and fun).
Okbyeeveryone,
See ya real soon
Hna Parker's birthday cake
Another cooking experiment
Hna Coronel made homemade ramen
Luna
Picnic at Perris Lake. Don't worry we did NOT go swimming.
Giant wildfire by our house???? Cool I guess. Kinda scary. Idk I dont watch the news, hope everyone’s ok.
Service at the train museum with my district
After weeding at the Train museum, they let us play on the pump car
Here is a list of all our fun special miracles we saw:
-Someone requested a Book of Mormon and when we called her she was actually interested and was like "idk why I just felt the strange temptation to request one" and then we got to teach her about what it is and set a return appointment. It was so cool!
-We had a lesson with this lady who we thought didn’t like us and turns out she’s super solid and texted us after to tell us that she’s already read a bit in BoM!
-We were calling random numbers at the end of the night and the very last one we called happened to be Spanish speaking and happened to want to learn more.
-We had the impression to call this one guy who’s a former investigator. I think his wife answered and she was like "who's this?" And it felt very tense and then she passed the phone to her husband and he explained that right now he's in a very tough family situation because of something his son did and that we should call back another day. We were like "oh okay" but then asked if we could “share a quick scripture with you?" (cause that’s what we always do) and he said yes. We already had the scripture Alma 7:11-12 ready to go but then for some reason I felt like I should turn the page and share verse 23, which is "And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.”
And he was silent for a sec and then he goes "Hermanas. Back in the day when you would come visit me at my house somehow you always shared exactly what I needed even though you didn’t know my situation, like almost as if God was speaking through you. And now, even though it’s over the phone, you just did it again. Thank you and feel free to call me anytime."
And it was COOL! definitely a moment that helps you press forward and want to call more people.
Actually I was thinking about it and even though it’s less scenic, it’s kind of cool how being stuck inside allows us to reach way more people than before cause it cuts out travel time. We can call someone on one side of our area and then immediately after call someone who lives 30 minutes away from the first one without losing any time traveling.
-We got another referral of someone requesting a Book of Mormon and when we called her she was like "idk I had a friend who was reading it and something about it just intrigued me SO much" and then we found out that her dad just passed away and we started sharing about the Plan of Salvation and all the hope that we can have if we have faith in Jesus Christ and she got so happy and excited for our next call.
-We've been mailing the Book of Mormons (+a Come, Follow Me to a different woman we're teaching but that’s another story..) to them cause everyone’s uncomfy with us coming to leave it on their porches with COVID19. But anyways the miracle is that the Post Office has a special deal for mailing books where it goes from being like $8-10 to being like $2-5 so it made all this work of salvation stuff a lot more afforable.
Anyways, I think that’s enough positivity for today (justkidding). But in other news, we had a power outage this week for like the whole day. Hna Coronel has a fear of the dark so once the sun went down it was a scary time cause it was pitch black in our apartment and also very hot.
Power Outage
But. We drove to Panda Express for dinner and then ate it in the car. It was good! And then the power came back on in the middle of the night and all the lights turned on. We were so annoyed it was funny.
We also went to Yogurtland and La Michocana with our fun fun member friend Luna.
Also we made a fun fun video. 😏.
Also we went on a fun fun hike this morning and saw lots of wildlife (like a bunch of jack rabbits! At least I think that’s what they're called.. the ones that are super tall and have long ears that are black on the top and stick straight up?)
Lastly, Hna Coronel and I have been randomly studying the Old Testament during Comp Study and, al pesar de all the weird stuff in there, it’s been very thought provoking and fun.
i.e-
The story of Jacob and Esau.. don't sell your birthright for a bowl of soup! Be willing to handle discomfort or inconvenience for the sake of obtaining a more profitable outcome!
Also Numbers 11. Surprisingly good. God doesn't expect us to bear our burdens alone and also we ought not to complain about the Manna that God gives us.
This week was honestly. Very productive. Nonstop working hard. It feels good.
We had some miraculous lessons, i.e. when somebody actually picked up while we were calling whitepages (when we say 'whitepages' what we really mean is dialing random numbers where the middle 3 numbers are for Perris, CA. Not gonna lie, its mostly something we do to fill up extra time cause it hasn't been very fruitful in the past. Mostly the numbers are disconnected, hang up on you, or are doctors offices or restaurants and you have an awkward face-off of trying to help each other until you realize what's going on haha) OK anyways yes. Back to my story. We had like 10 more minutes left before 9 so we were like "eh 🤷♀️ might as well call some whitepages for the heck of it" and BOOM the very first number we call the guy picks up and we start talking and find that he is a bible NERD. But in the best way. He was like "in the baptism of Christ in Matthew it's very clear that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings" and we were like "" and then we taught about the Book of Mormon and at first he was like "hmm idk, cause what about that one scripture in Revelations that says you can't add on to the Bible?" But we were ready for his question and by the end he was like "honestly Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ and if he wants to go visit another continent and teach the gospel, I don't doubt he could and would do it". So anyways it was just a special surprise. But we had to give the referral to the English elders :'(.
Also remember that horrible lesson from last week? Well we finally worked up the humility to call him again and it rang one time and then he picked up and we ended up having a really awesome lesson about prayer and then he went and liked our Facebook page in English AND Spanish so that was good.
Also we're teaching a woman who has a baptismal date and we had a scheduled lesson with her on Wednesday night at 8. We had had an exhausting day and weren't super excited to 'go to' one more lesson but man oh man, by the end of it we were all feeling the spirit and crying and it was a beautiful thing. She was like "you two are angels sent from God and you shared that with me right when I needed it".
I'm trying to think if there's any other news to give...we did some intense weeding service 2 days in a row and we're very tan and sore from it now. And uhhh, yeah. Oh, I spoke in our little zone church meeting. That was good.
Here's a couple quotes from General Conference for your enjoyment:
"The fact that our Heavenly Father would entrust this power and responsibility [the Priesthood] to man is evidence of His great love for us and a foreshadowing of our potential as sons [and daughters] of God in the hereafter."
-Elder Dieter F Uchtdorf
Your Potential, Your Privilege- April 2011
"Following celestial road signs while in telestial traffic jams is not easy, especially when we are not just moving next door—or even across town."
-Neal A Maxwell
Notwithstanding My Weakness- October 1976
Ok well
Today we have fun things planned cause it's Hermana Parker's birthday so maybe I'll send pictures later but if not then I'll do it next week. I say that as if this post will be lacking in pictures but it really won't because we had a photo shoot with our Tacoma and also took many other pictures this week so.
I hope you all have a great week.
Love ya
-Hermana Tolman
Pictures from a photoshoot with our beloved Tacoma 2020:
Me and Hna Coronel put our heads together and hijacked her lego men to make this video about prophets.
This week went by so quick but was also super eventful and fun.
First of all, I got to see a handful of the fruits of our labors- the first being that the Facebook page in Hemet now has ads!! Meaning that it's been selected by the mission to be one of the pages where they pay to have our posts appear as ads on local resident's news feeds. It's a small thing but when me n Hermana Mecham arrived there the page had like 200 likes and the social media sisters called us and said "oof the Hemet Spanish page needs help" so we put a lot of effort into it and now it's slowly becoming a way for them to find new people to teach so yay woo.
The next fruit was that we got to have a little video call with Eda (an amazing member that we would visit back in Panama) and she said that she'd been feeling very sad one day about her dad who recently passed away and then she got on Facebook and saw our video we made about the spirit world right in the moment she needed it. I'd been praying that that specific video could reach someone who needed it and then she told us that! So it was an answer to prayers and also taught me that even if our videos don't reach that many local nonmembers right now, they can still be a strength and a reminder of the peace of the gospel to members and friends of missionaries alike! :)
Also we've been able to have lots of lessons this week so woo yeah. Except oh no, you know that scripture that says "he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together"? Well we had one particular lesson this week where that was NOT the case, bless our hearts. He was one of the people that we call often and he's always busy or on his way to work so one day we called and left a voicemail (and to be honest we weren't really expecting him to ever call back) but then he DID and for some silly reason in my brain I was like "hmm we need to teach him the Restoration" but the twist is that we were speaking in English and me n Hermana Coronel aren't super experienced at teaching the Restoration in English so it was really bad. We were like "uhh" and he was like "uhh" and we were just not understanding each other or explaining anything well and it was a disaster that made me want to stop living. But only for a couple hours and then the next day it was fine and we had some great lessons.
Anyways, here are some other fun things about this week:
-I went on exchanges in Lake Elsinore with Sister Clyde, who's from our very own South Jordan
- We met President Watson and his family!! Oh they are so fun, I already love them. He has young kids that still live at home and he's also like BFF with all the Apostles cause we was the secretary of the Quorum of the 12 for like over a decade??
- On the 4th of July us and the other sisters had FUN plans to roast Kabobs over our gas stove but it didn't work at all so after much hardship (the sticks burning and breaking in half.. trying to roast hot dogs on metal hangers, etc etc etc) we gave up and just cooked everything in a pan and then put it back on the kabob sticks to eat (which is funny cause I think you're not even supposed to eat them off the sticks in the first place) but then we went out on our balcony and had a big feast of hot dog kabobs, corn, watermelon, Doritos, and all other manner of 4th of July foods.
Also we all wore our matching "straight outta Perris" shirts.
And then we went to the church and played games with our district and then at the end of the night we went out on the lawn and watched all the fireworks going on all around us. It was schoo fun. (We still proselyted that day but we did it in the morning and also did deep cleaning and studies and then in the evening we were allowed to have all these fun activities.)
Anyway uh, I think that's all. I mean,
Wait
I'll finish with a quick little spiritual thought
It is that
This week I've been pondering a lot about the weaknesses and imperfections of the Prophets and Apostles that God calls. From Moses and his slowness of speech to Peter denying Christ because he was scared of what might happen to him, to Joseph Smith and his occasional lightheartedness and yielding to temptation.
God knows how to do His own work. And yet, knowing how to do it, He invites us to join Him in it. He knows our shortcomings and is patient with us. And the cool thing is that He can consecrate all our weaknesses and trials for our good if we let him.
So yeah, that's my special message to you my fun friends. Have a good
July
:)
With love,
Hermana Tolman
Homemade pizza after Fast Sunday
If the kabobs didn't work over the stove, at least we can roast marshmallows and starbursts
Hna Coronel bein silly
Lake Elsinore
On P-day, Hermana Coronel decided she wanted to paint her pants
This inspired Hna Parker to make portraits of me and Hna Coronel for our wall
I returned the favor and drew Hna Parker and Hna Hall
This is that video we made about the Spirit World that touched my member friend in Panama
