Hmmm…
Well so this might be the last email for a whille, or I may have at least one more. So this week has been a little rough for a couple reasons besides the big bad one. So to start this week, we had a couple lessons which was really good. We also had a lot of service, and we were up in Lynden in my first area, working to help the town put new grass in their cemetry and ripping out old dead grass and reseeding. This is important because on Tuesday we got a call that I should come get my package with my inhalers from the mission office, and Elder P by some miracle convinced the assistants to let Elder Durbano and Elder King to accompany us down as long as they take use their dinner/lunch and language study hours, and we spoke spanish the entire way… so that’s what we did and it was a lot of fun. Then on top of that many missionaries in the zone wanted us to get Chic-fil-a while down there since there is one of the two in the mission right next to the mission office. So we got my package and got the Chic-fil-a which was quite the experience. We had to end up getting 4 different orders and all while through their special drive through since the government made WA close all indoor seating, We ended up gettting 30 packets of Chic-fil-a sauce because everyone wanted a lot, a picture will be included.

Then Wednsday, we got the notice that we were now basically isolated, but not quite, we could no longer have in-person lessons, tract or door contact, and we could only be with other missionaries and even then try to keep some distance. It was pretty frustrating considering we had a full day planned on Wednesday, but whatever all was fine we were gonna have a good time. Well then, we did roll around to Thrusday, and we had planned to go to the family history center to, you know, redeem the dead [do family history work and prepare names to do ordinances in the temple]. Well we got there and the STLs (sister training leaders) and YSA (Young Single Adult) sisters were in tears, and it turns out both STLs had to go home. Well, I was sad but was like, haha guess they forgot about me and my asthma… well then 20 minutes later we get a call from President… and there it was.

So the situation is I have to come home because I am at an increased risk to get very sick from the Corona virus. Personally as much as I love my family I’d rather be out here despite the danger and continue the Lord’s work. Thursday, for the rest of the day was pretty rough. I got nothing done. I just kinda wallowed in self pity, which, ironically, I had put as our schedule because we couldn’t go door contacting and had to do pure online pros, not because I knew this was gonna happen. So yeah, I had a pretty rough night and literally cried my eyes out [That must have been painful, and I wonder how he got them back in?].

Friday was pretty rough too and I didn’t eat cause I wasn’t hungry. Yeah but the good part is we got to spend the day with Ferndale Spanish Elders and do language and comp study together as well as our one hour walk time that we have. Saturday and Sunday were pretty much the same but my mood and work level did improve. I still have yet to have truly come to terms with it. I still hope to some how stay here by some miracle. We shall see. Though I have heard that we are low on the flying home priority list as far as mission because we are stateside, so I have until Wednesday or Friday until I get the flight plans so I may have entire other week here. We are now in complete isolation and not even allowed in Church buildings so we have to sit in the car to use WiFi but the world is also now our area so anyone in the world who is interested we can reach out to. Hopefully, I can stay here for the next week because Lucy is still looking like she will be baptized this Saturday, and we can go to the baptism so wahoo. Hopefully all goes to plan.

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See you all soon or maybe not, either way I love you all
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

Hello there,
So I guess I should start with what is on the minds of most people right now in the whole wide world. So, well I am currently not isolated or anything and in this most northern half of the mission there are only three cases in my zone and one death. Als,o we have been told to prepare to be isolated and to use Facebook to continue this work of the Lord. I’m not too worried about it as the Prophet of the Lord said that, “this too shall pass” though still we all should take the precautions to help those who are most likely to die from it. Hope that everyone stays safe and healthy. Besides that, with church being cancelled world wide we, had church as a district. I’ll mention a few other effects of this virus but this is pretty much all I have for yah.

So this week, we decided we would chill a little and just go for about 20 lesson since last week we went super hard and got 30, well we did end up having 17 but about midway through the week we had 4 of our friends (the people we teach) coming, and we had 3 less actives who had agreed to come, and we were on cloud nine… well then church got closed and Elder P’s (and a little bit of mine) motivation plummeted down to the floor. It’s hard to go out and be like “well, we would love you at church but there isn’t actually any you can go to unless you happen to know a member and you can get there and take the sacrament” (which did happen with on of our friends).

For sure the highlight is that we helped Jonathan a nine year old son of a member set a date to be baptized on March 28th! It was super good because initially before the lesson we asked him about it, and he was hesitant and then after we talked about it and explained it he was excited. To get to know him better and for them to trust us, we also played some basketball and cops and robbers which was pretty hard on slacks and a white shirt. The funny part was yesterday we tried to visit their neighbor, and they saw us though the window knocking the door, and they all rushed to the window and watched us hahah. Ultimately their neighbor wasn’t home so we got to talk to them for a little.

What else, oh Lucy. Unfortunatly, we have not had much of a chance to meet with this week so we are going do probably move her date back to be baptized on the 28th as well, because as of now we can still baptize and hold a baptismal service.

In other news, I figured out how to solve a Rubix cube this week which I am pretty happy with that I can finally do it. Elder Durbano recently got into them, and he helped me to figure it out over the phone from our 9:00-10:30 time. It was pretty fun. Overall, despite all the craziness, it was a good week and life will keep going for us almost as normal, plus if anything more people will be home now so boom good stuff. Oh, and I ate a worm on a dare, well half a one with Elder King…. yeah…

A lot of the photos this week came from our district goal for the month of taking some picture with a certain goal for the day, like one was with a stranger another with someone we taught and finally one with someone we did a random act of service for.

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Questions-
I figured out a question to ask you: can you read normal books? Like not church related– Haha, nope we can not. We can’t even read a lot of church related books.

Update on how Covid19 is impacting you and your mission?- See paragraph one

How does Sunday church work for missionaries?- We meet as a district for now and partake of the sacrament and then do “Come Follow Me” together.

Favorite experience sharing your testimony and the gospel of Jesus Christ this week?- It was really cool this week to share that, dispite the craziness right now, the gospel brings peace.

How have you served your companion this week?- How have I served him… hmm, well, I still make breakfast a lot but on top of that I usually try to compliment him a couple times a day

How have you felt the love of the Lord in your life this week?- I felt the love that He has for each of His children and for us because He has given us a prophet who can let us know how things will play out and what matters in the long run.

Love y’all
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

Heyo familia,
So this week was a lot of work, and I’m really tired; but, at the same time, I feel really good about all the work we have been doing. So, the highlights were we have been able to teach 30 lessons this week, and we also were able to find six new people to teach. On top of that, we had two lessons with Lucy over the phone, and she is still looking good for getting baptized next Saturday the 21st. Also, another highlight is that Elder P and I just started going to the club house where we work out and they have a pool table and we just started to go every night after we finish the day and some at lunch and dinner.
As far as cool experiences this week, one is that today for Preperation Day we went to Mount Baker and were driven by super member Hermano Barrett. Okay, well, we didn’t quite make it to Mt. Baker, but we did go to the Ski Lodge on Mount Squalcom, and then near by there was a small hike all on snow, and luckily there was a groomed, and we didn’t sink but any step off of that we would be knee deep in snow. It was so awesome, great views but there wasn’t enough trail to go to a summit where we could see Mt. Baker, but still fun.
The second really awesome experience this week was that we had a lesson with our man Francisco who we found a couple weeks ago. This was our first sit down lesson with him and he was super chill and cool at the door or when we saw him and he would always say, “Primeramente Dios, primeramente Dios.” Anyways we got in and try to get to know him, his wife and his sister and then transition into the Book of Mormon and stuff and Fransisco starts to get a little heated and starts talking about how religions are dumb because we need to have more love between us. Anyways, so we have gotten almost no where in 45 minutes because he keeps interrupting Elder P (who was taking most of this lesson and the heat), and so I prayed that he would be quiet and then proceeded to talk. I just was like, “Hey, the only witness for what we say is really God and you can read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and get your answer.” And he listened, and then Elder P was like, wait I can probably start to teach and in the end we taught the whole Restoration and Fransisco seemed to understand that the Book of Mormon was the word of God and a companion that works with the Bible and is a totally seperate witness of Jesus Christ. Yeah, it was a very cool experience and in the end a good lesson.

Anyways, it’s been good and we are kinda worn from the work, but we keep pushing on and will keep doing all we can to help save and bring God’s beloved children to the gospel light.

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Questions-
Share an insight you gained during personal scripture study this week?- I really like what I read this week in the Book of Mormon in Alma 60 about how we need to use all the talents and abilities we have and then ask Christ, but we can not expect Him to do all of it, though in the end Christ does do what can not for ourselves in His Atonement

Tell us about one of your friends that’s your teaching and a favorite teaching moment from the week.- See above

I was on family search this week and saw you had been actively doing work. How often do you have the opportunity to work on family history?- Every Thursday for one hour we have time do it

Share a self-improvement goal you are focusing on? How is it progressing?- Dignified language- Slowly just because I am so used to saying words like dang and other stuff.

Is there anything that we can do that would be a bless your life while you’re on your mission?- Letters are always appreciated, but don’t expect me to reply. Sorry, I now use as much preperation day time as possible to chill out.

How have you felt the love of the Lord in your life this week?- I felt His love for each of the people, that dispite our flaws, He still loves us. Despite this love, He can still not be happy with our actions, just like our earthly parents (and I have had plenty of experience with this). So yeah, so as a perfect Father he loves unconditionally but still wants us to do all we can for ourselves before stepping in so we can grow. That’s what love is.

Lots of love,
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

Heyo,

So this week was good. A little slower than last week that’s for sure but still good. Highlight was definitely the exchange last Monday through Tuesday with Elder King. So we during dinner and lunch got a little carried away and some Ooblek… well not just some. We had to leave and go buy more corn starch half way through… and we filled the sink in their apartment. Elder Durbano [typing]: “So I walk in and its dark. I look at the clock, and its the red lights from the clock on the oven. I then turn on the light and boom, OOBLECK everywhere. The entire sink is full of this stuff. The apartment is destroyed and then Elder King until 10:45 PM was playing with stuff completly entranced by the oobleck. This is what your son did to my son. So in conclusion what I’m trying to say is that your son has had the best influence on my son [Elder King is his training, so in mission lingo, his son]. In 24 hours he changed him… for that I will be forever be grateful thank you so much for raising the son you did.”

Me again: Oh, Elder King and I also went to Edaleen’s and got ice cream. So basically, I was just ordering ice cream, and we just were joking around (Elder King and I). When we payed, I used my gift card from Christmas, then had to pay like $1.90 in cash and I said “Well I want to feel right today so you can keep the change.” I just didn’t have a place for my 10 cents, and I wasn’t paying attention and Elder King told me that literally killed her. Then, she asked about the name tag and we explained what we do, so all in all we shared the gospel and that’s what matters.

Other than those fun times it was pretty chill. We taught a bunch, and Lucy is still doing really good and looking good to be baptized the 21st of this month. So wahoo. She is so awesome and loves everything we teach and always has really good thoughts and comments. Again, she is amazing to teach. That’s about it though for the week outside the normal.

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Questions-With the spread of the Corona virus have you all received any changes to how you interact with people and teach the gospel? What guidance is your mission president giving for your mission right now? Well it’s in the region but it doesn’t have any real effect on us. But the first death was in my last zone, so yeah. But the mission has plans and now we can no longer shake hands or hug (we only hug other Elders anyway).  

How is the language coming? What percentage of the time do you speak Spanish with your companion? What other things are you doing to help improve your language skills?- I think in Spanish or write spanglish sometimes by accident. 50% but I could do a 100% if I work more at it. Just speaking it and having lessons helps a lot other than that I just read or study some grammer.

In the past week when have you felt you have received an answer to a prayer? I prayed before we went out to find new people to have 5 lessons and find one new person this week I think I did that last week and told you about it but yeah it worked again and we had 6 lessons and found one new friend… prayer is great.

Is there any personal day-to-day living skill that you wish you had learned better before leaving on your mission?- Nah not really better time management because I always feel like I’m not using time wisely enough but Elder Puodziunas says I trying to do too much at one time soo.

Currently what is your favorite message to share during a door approach?- Restoration because it’s so cool and awesome because the First Vision, Moroni and the Book of Mormon and of course our man Joseph Smith… all my favorite things in the gospel.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER NATE. HOPE IT WAS A GOOD ONE❤❤❤

Till next week,

Elder Tonkinson

https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

Hello hello.

This week was so great! It was a lot of fun and we have had a lot of success. So, let’s just get going.

Tuesday night we had a lesson with Lucy. We had intended to teach the Restoration but the Spirit said otherwise, and we switched it up and talked about Baptism. It was an awesome experience and, it was so powerful to talk about the blessings of baptism and our experience and the members  experience when baptized and also how Lucy recognizes the Spirit. So, we, in the end, put her on date to be baptized March 21, the end of this transfer. Yeah, it was so awesome, and she is so ready to receive this gospel and loves reading in the Book of Mormon. So, that was just a great way to start the week. Plus, on Tuesday, we found our new friend Yasmin, who we had a short lesson with on the door step and then had another one on Saturday. She also seems pretty solid and interested, and we hope to progress with her.

Wedensday, we had zone council and the zone leaders announced that they had to make a plan for our zone at mission leadership council (MLC) to increase our unity and to stretch ourselves. So, their goal was to work together towards teaching 600 lessons in the next 5 weeks (until the end of the transfer) and by being unified and working to support and cheer each other on as well as being obedient we could do it… well, yeah, we started off this challenge with a bang. It’s all because we have been diligent in doing the little things as well as the big. Wedensday night, we taught five lessons while tracting and made another new friend while at Pablo and Chica’s so that was super awesome!

Thursday was super good. We also found a lot of people and were able to teach a lot of lesson same with the rest of the week. Yeah, just a lot of good stuff happened this week, and I am excited for the next week. Other than that just been chugging along, not much else to report because I really don’t have any free time anymore even at night, and in the morning we work out and then by the time we get back we have an hour, and I’m slow after exercise. But life goes on and is good, in the little free time I do have I tend to read Saints Vol. II super good.

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Questions-Now that you’ve been out on your mission for a while, is there any are any insights that you have to making that time [when you invite missionaries over for dinner] better, whether it’s a type of food or what to serve or what to discuss? Anything?–Discuss what you can do to help them or accompany them, they will love you. Or, have someone who they can teach with you at your house… we missionaries love that more than gold.

Other questions of the week: In general tell us how the work is going in this new area with this new companion–So good. Soo, so good. We’ve had 21 lessons and 5 new people to teach this last week, and I’m having a lot of fun with Elder Pouziones.

Now that you have a native speaking companion are you spending a lot of time in the apartment speaking Spanish to help you improve your language skills?- I’m working on trying to, not great at it though, but as I keep trying it’ll get easier.

What is one way your companion has served you this week?- He made me eggs once that was good.

How did your dinner plans to make gnocchi workout?-  Good though it was a little bland.

In what way have you been strengthened by the Lord over the past week?- Strengthened, in that we have been directed by the Lord to more people.

Share something that made you laugh out loud this week.- Uh we took some patriotic pictures, and it wa pretty funny to see Elder P. shove a pillow up his hood to make the flag.

What brought you the most joy?- Setting a date for Lucy to be baptized

How is your Spanish coming?- Eh

Do you feel the Holy Ghost assisting you when you teach?- Yes it is key, its crazy because we are so in sync when we tewch because the Spirit is impressing the same stuff upon our minds

What do you admire most about your companion? – Super good teacher

How have you served him this week?- Cook breakfast, sew the holes in his sweater.

Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

Hey hey so guess what I’m back in Bellingham! So I’m the 4th Elder in the past year to come back to the zone and 2 of those went back to the Spanish branch but went from the northern half to the southern half and that’s what I did. So, it was a very big surpise because I thought I was either going to Mt. Vernon or to Lynwood Spanish and didn’t think I would come to Bellingham Spanish, but I am super glad to be here. The people in the zone are largely the same, and I now get to again have some fun with Elder Durbano and his trainee Elder King, who was my replacement last transfer.  And finally, I got a new companion, Elder Pueziunes, who is super awesome and a lot of fun. We already have spent some time making a good goals and plans to make this a really good transfer, and we’re both pretty excited. 

So as far as the work goes this week we in Bellingham found two new people to teach. One is Lucy, and she is the sister of the Hno Zavala and has actually been coming to church with them since my 2nd transfer when I was up here. We just finally had our first lesson with her on Thursday night, which was really good, and we have another one with her tommorrow. The really cool thing was Elder Pueziunes and Elder Brown had a lesson set with just the Zavala family but they called on Thursday to say that Lucy was going to be there. So, we literally had like a golden person lesson automatically set up who already has member fellowship, rides to church, and who commits themself to find if this is the true chuch (which it is). The other friend is Freddy who is roomates with Agustine who the Elders here have been teaching for a while, and we actually just had the first lesson with both of them in a transfer last night and have a lesson this next Sunday. So, that was super awesome because they had been struggling to get a lesson with Agustin and were about to drop him.

Elder P. (so much easier than typing his name and most people say Elder P. because they can’t pronounce his name anyways), and I both attribute these miracles to being obedient to what President asked us to do, which was to delete all pirated music (which is basically all most missionaries have because we share it from one phone to another) and only kept the music we bought (so all music Caleb gave me from his mission) and anything that we can get for free off of the Church website. It’s been super great, and I had been wanting to do it and to just try to listen to only Sunday type music to invite the spirit more, so two birds, one stone. Oh, we also had some pretty awesome service in Sumas which got flooded, so we got to go with a service group called Team Rubicon, gut out an entire basement, and take out paneling and dry wall. I felt like I was on HGTV haha. 

It was really awesome to go back to the Mountain View branch and see all the people I already knew and loved. It was a lot of fun, and I got to speak… yeah that was rough. So I got the assignment from President Quintinilla on Thursday night, and then, because we had so much going on, I only had about 3 hours to actually write the talk.. which isn’t a lot already in English and almost nothing for me in Spanish. So I wrote about four short paragraphs, and I got up there and didn’t read much of it and started to just speak and talk about stuff on the spot. The talk was on resilience and Elder P. unfortunatly/kinda fortunatly recorded it so we could go through and correct me, and I will also transcribe it later. Fun fun stuff.

Oh also Elder King, Elder Durbano’s trainee had a birthday yesterday and we had some brownie mix so we made that and then I made some icing to write H B E. 👑 but we didn’ have any powdered sugar so I had to make some in a blender, I’m pretty proud of that. It was a lot of fun.

Overall I am very excited and think that this will be a very good transfer. Elder P and I plan on working hard and being obedient to have the windows of heaven open more.

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They now make crunchy specaloos… I resisted buying it. Also, the one of the pictures is with the Reyes one of my favorite families in Snohomish my last area.

Questions-Where is your new area and what is it like?- Uh it’s Bellingham and it’s like the bottom half of the zone I was in 2 transfers ago…. so more city like and lots of people who speak Spanish I haven’t met so its great. 

How are you and your companion adjusting to each other?  – Super well, we have a  lot of fun and talk a lot which I enjoy.

Where is he from? – Buena Aires Argentina

How long has he been out? – 14 months almost 15

How is the work? – Seems pretty solid here, definitely more people in the south half of the branch than the north, both members and to teach.

How is the teaching pool?- They have lots of friends but most havn’t had lessons in months… so we’re gonna work on that.

Tell us a little bit about your new companion and share one thing that you appreciate about him.- Elder Puodziunas is from Buena Aires Argentina, and he is a really good teacher like super good. Just asks really good questions and everything, and I expect to learn a lot from him both as far as him teaching me Spanish and how to teach and get to know the people’s needs better.

Share something you have learned and tried to apply to your  from your scripture study over the past few weeks.- Hmm something I have applied,  well I’ve been reading the New Testament and I’ve tried to use those scriptures to support the Book of Mormon more.

How have your prayers changed since you’ve been on your mission?- A lot more thankful amd pray more for others generally than myself. Also, generally longer

Share something that made you laugh this past week.- Elder Puoziunes has a lot of good stories, and we have already just had a lot of fun in the car singing and doing stupid dances while we drive.

Heyo!
So not much to report because I wrote on Christmas. Christmas was way good. Also on Saturday, we had a New Years party which was a lot of fun, like tons! Other than that all I know is I’m getting transferred and Elder Durbano is training and staying… it’ll be fun and a little scary. 

Questions-
How was the rest of your Christmas?-Good just kinda chilled after we played some football and spike ball. We also went to Carlos and Wendy’s and had a great time with them. Super solid first Christmas away from home.

Share a spiritual experience you had over the past week.- Well I felt inspired to go see someone who we hadn’t tried in a while and we had a lesson so that was pretty cool. She was about to leave too, and we caught her and had about a 15 minute lesson with her. If I had second guessed or gone a second too late we could have missed it. So its important to listen to the Spirit immediately.

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What are you supposed to do for New Year’s?- Don’t know yet. I know that as the last day for a lot of the Elders before we get transfered from the zone the so called “promised land” we are going to a nice restaurant together.

Have you been able to share messages about Christ over the Christmas holiday?- yes people are a lot more open, plus not as many people said no when you asked if they wanted to serve.(That was for when I was doing a lot of tracting Spanish people are almost always nice)
Love you all and happy new year!
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/
P.S. Elder Tonkinson is a G. Thanks for all who helped him be the person he is…. he’ll be a great AP (Elder Durbano)

Hey everybody!Merry Christmas!!!! This is by far my favorite holiday of all the holidays, just because of the traditions, the giving of gifts and remembering the greatest gift in the gift of the Savior. The mission is good. There is no too much to report on this week but it was good. We only had one friend make it to church for the special Christams service which was really frustrating for us as we called all 17 of our friends that we have. But all we can do it keep trying to work with them and help them understand the importance of going to church. Church is a time to renew our covenants that we made at baptism through the sacrament and to learn from the sharing of testimonies. This week we also had exchanges which were good and I learned a new analogy which was pretty cool. Last night for Christmas Eve, I being me, left the keys in our car to our car. Luckily the car is one of the remote start ones, so the car didn’t lcok. Bad news is that we left with the other Spanish Elders, Elder Williams and Elder Meador to our branch president’s for dinner. I realized when we got there I didn’t have the keys, I told the zone leaders and they went there and then called us and said, bad news the car is locked… good news it was unlocked before we got there… So yeah a little stressful for me but all good. This week we also used the 7 inch knife we have in our apartment and played fruit ninja which was a blast! It was pretty fun, we probably, maybe won’t do it again as I know what my parents think about that. Today has been pretty fun we are at the Boyd’s (part of the zone leader’s ward) and we have had breakfast and lunch and then tonight we will go to the Funes for dinner. Also huge shout out to the Drapers, Ownbys, Josie (Elder Kitchen’s girlfriend) and my siblings and family for all the shipped Christmas gifts and to the Barretts, Swensens, Quintanillas and Boyds for the gifts here. I invite all of you to remember the Savior through out the day. 

No questions for this week but I do have a question for everyone-What is the best gift you have given or were most excited to give?

So I’m still alive, just had preperation day on Tuesday because I got to go to the temple! What a wonderful experience to go to the House of the Lord and be able to perform ordinances for the dead. Also a big thanks to Brother Luna for driving Elder Holloway, Elder Hart, Elder Whited and I down to Seattle. Also, no preperation day until Christmas, so I will not send a letter next week until Wedensday. Anyways lets just get into the last busy week.

So, this week we have had a bit of success finding new people to teach who seem really open to the gospel and to accepting it now in their lives.  We also found some people who would much rather argue with us in Spanish about doctrine and speak at us rather than have a conversation. Those people were annoying and would immediatly deny all things we taught them. On the bright side of things, in the last week we found Alfredo and Lupe, Cristobal, Eva, and Esmeralda. I love teaching, it is the best part of missionary life and work. So far we are just starting to teach these people, but I have a lot of hope for Cristobal and Eva to start progressing soon as they both seem super interested and are accepting all the restored truths and are understanding.

This week we also had a combined ward Christmas party with Laurel ward and our branch, which was so much fun and had some pretty good food too. It was just so fun to be able to see so many people gathered to eat, sing and celebrate the birth of our Savior. The biggest most important thing that has happened in the past week, is that the Chaj’s daughter Emily was baptized! It was such an awesome experiance and her father got to baptize her. She was so happy and excited. Last night ,we got to have a lesson with them for the last time before they go on vacation for the holidays (also maybe the last time I see them because I could be transferred before they return), and she said that she felt like God was standing right next to her as she was baptized and when she was confirmed a member and recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost. Just a wonderful experiance overall. 

This week in my scripture study I was reading in 2 Nephi 32:2-3″2 Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?
3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”
What really stuck out to me was thatNephi says when we recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost, we can speak with the tongue of angels, and that angels speak the words of Christ. So if we speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, we can speak on behalf of the Savior, which I thought was pretty incredible. Other than that there is not much to tell. Life is good, Christmas is almost here, Christ and God live. 

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Questions
How has Elder Durbano blessed your life this week?- He made my bed a couple times. He has taught me some better Spanish too as he studies it a lot more than I as far as grammer and tenses.
Where have you had to exercise patience recently?- Well we had branch council and they ended it about 13 minutes late… that was frustrating as we did not know how to properly excuse ourselves to try to double check if a family we had invited was coming, because if they had, they could easily walk in, see all the English members, be confused and leave.
Did you get some of your packages? At least the contacts and your medicine–We have zone conference tomorrow so I should get some packages then, but currently I have the contacts and they sit under our tree, which has a box for a base haha.
Can you get around your area without using your GPS or do you still need it most of the time?- Nope don’t really need a GPS that much at all, I can get around most of the area with out, just when we go to some of the middle of nowhere places do I need it.
Share a favorite teaching or learning moment from your week.-  Teaching moment… Well Cristobal we met with Sunday night and man we are now good friends, we just had a good talk to get to know him, and he shared the history of his country. Super nice guy, and he was just loving everything we taught, especially about the Plan of Salvation.
Love you all lots,
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

Hope everyone is doing well in this most wonderful time of the year.
This past week overall was pretty successful, dispite not reaching all the goals we wanted to. For starters this week we did a lot of service on Tuesday. We went over to one of the English member’s home, who are an older couple and put up Christmas lights on the roof, well mostly below the room along the edge. So the rules for heights are now different than in the past where it was your head can not be above 10 feet, it is now “Do not work where you could fall from great heights (such as on roofs or in trees).” But it also says to use common sense and the Holy Ghost. I think you can see where this is going, I have to justify what we did. So I got on the roof to put up some lights where Brother Hillman wanted them, because if we couldn’t he said he would. So Elder Durbano and I consulted and decided that based on common sense, it would be better for us to get on the roof that a 80-year-old man. Besides that it was a lot of fun to help set up for Christmas.

Later that day we helped clean out another members house to help them move and then the Hillmans as we left for that next serves gave us a big 16 oz can of soda… so I did what I have done many times with cans of soda. [see video] Enough said. Oh also we did service at the food bank at this week for the first time in like a month, and it was so funny cause the Hispanics are impressed when I speak spanish cause I am white and blonde hair and blue eyes. Elder Durbano was jealous because he got no compliments because he looks kinda Hispanic hahah.

Later that week we had exchanges which were fun. I stayed in Spanish Land and was with Elder Hart. This was different than any other exchange I had. In the past, we would tract because after the first two weeks, Elder Poncio decided that visiting old people was useless. This time, we just visited old people we had taught and had one lesson, so Elder Hart basically just got to come around for the ride all day haha. Oh, also on Tuesday with Elder Durbano, we had such a fun time visiting some new people we had found last week. Their names are Fernando and Andres. So, we were trying to decide between going back and doing language study or continuing seeing people. So we both said a quick prayer and then wrote it down on our phones and then showed each other, not wanting to even influence the other, and we were in agreement with the Spirit to go over there. So we get over there, and right as week knocked on the door, Andres pulls up. He lets us in and Fernando who had been just chilling was putting a shirt on before he answered the door so right as he comes to the door Andres opens it up, that was pretty funny. Anyways, we sit down and try to get to know them before we start the lesson, say a prayer and then start on the Plan of Salvation. As we get started Jesus, Fernando’s brother walks in and listens and then asks, “What was the name of Cain’s wife?” So we look it up dispite it being totally not important and tell him by the scriptures, we do not know. Then during this time Andres was looking it up on line and plays some audio thing, I don’t know and it basically says, well it was probably his sister, given Adam and Eve are our first parents. They freak out about that for a couple minutes. Then Jesus mentions that the word in Mexican slang for handcuffs is esposas and the word for wife is esposa and after that he goes into a bunch of Spanish play on words, which were hard to understand (one of which is the title of this post). Then after that he stated going on about evolution. Either way, it was pretty weird but we could actually understand most of it. We got it the converstation back on Christ and got their phone numbers, and we’re going to come back and teach them the gospel and English. It was a lot of fun though cause there a lot of funny moments where we couldn’t understand cause of language or where they asked about what English phrases meant, and we explained them as direct translations and then what they meant for like Spanish phases. Much better language study than we could have had at home.

Saturday we went over to the Chaj’s for dinner and they made some Guatamalan tacos which are so good. They had like a slaw out of lettuce, onion, cilantro and lime and then some good pork between two tacos fried in the fat of the pork so like a little sandwich… Oh man so good. Also during that time as we were talking while they finished cooking dinner . . . this is embarrasing, but they have a nephew who has been listening in on the lessons, and who we might invite to be baptized soon, and he only speaks Spanish as he just got here three months ago from Guatamala. Anyways, we were just talking, and I roast him and to make things all good I was just like “Oh Brayan te amo” which means I love you but like super deep love… and I immediatly go “wait wait, me cae bien, me cae bien… oh no” They got a good laugh out of it. I on the other hand didn’t.

Last miracle of this week was last night we were driving home after going to a member’s home for the Christmas devotional. We were stopped at this stop light, at a junction to home or to a trailer park if we turn left. So I’m just waiting, and I’m like… hmmm maybe we should just stop by… nah it’s late and we’ve had a packed day and have only gotten personal study in… but… hmm. So there we are sitting at the front with like five cars behind us. Light turns green… I flip on the turn signal and go from the wrong lane, since it is a left hand turn, and go to the trailer park. Elder Durbano was like… what is going on. So we park and right then the person who we wanted to visit pulls up and parks.. Score. So we go in teach some, and then a minute or two in, his son in law pulls up a chair and starts listening in. So we have a return for the father, and then his son in law lives in another area and we got his phone number so boom. Follow the Spirit. Have patience, because we only have had this success for a couple weeks, and trust the Lord. Seriously that is all we need to do. Trust in the Lord and his timing. Miracles can happen and the things we desire will come as put faith in His power and most importantly His timing. It’s frustrating as we want things now, right now, as Elder Bendar says in “The Character of Christ”(MTC Exclusive.. well and YouTube), we are like cookie monster “Give me cookie now!” That for me is one of the most difficult things, to wait for the Lord’s timing. Do all we can do, do not just sit there and be mad. (This next bit is from John Bytheway, which I think he got from someone else… so I am doubly not original with this but good advice none the same.) Get on your knees. Get the help of God (prayer/scripture study). Get up. And Go!

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Pictures-–The big machine Elder Durbano and I pass every morning, and we call it the “Zombie Destroyer.” Also the sky is from like 9 at night when there was lots of red in the sky and surprisingly bright, we were pretty sure it was the second coming.
Les amo,Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/
P.S. From Elder Harris again. ELDER Tonkinson is the best missionary in the WEM. He needs YOUR support for the best Christmas this year. Please send him gifts. Like money so he can take out his zone leaders to lunch.