Hey y’all

Well this week was a very up and down week. Some pretty good feelings a lot of the week and some lower moments for sure. First off I’m very very tired. We had a lot of lessons set up, but unfortunately about six fell through which was tough. That pretty much describes the first half of the week, which started out pretty high and then pretty low because we had 3/4 lessons fall through on Thursday. However, the best part happened on Friday! We started the day by meeting up with all the other district leaders and filmed a video to hype up the zone for what we are calling ArMargeddon. It’s where we as a zone come together pray and then find for an hour and then come back together and discuss how it went. We’ll be doing that every Saturday from 8:00-9:00. Hopefully it will promote zone unity and get everyone excited about missionary work in these tough times.

Finally, Perla had her interview and she passed! I was so nervous that she would have something come up but it was awesome. She came out happy and ready for Saturday. I guess going back a week we had planned it for noon on Saturday and has asked two of Perla’s friends from the branch to speak, Hermana Esquivel and Hermana Mora, but the branch mission leader somehow thought it was at 2:00 and told everyone in the branch that. Luckily Perla was able to move it to 2:00 and everything was able to work out. So we spend the rest of the night printing the program, and preparing her record to be added which was a little bit stressful but it was still good. We had a little bit of a scare because we couldn’t find a jumpsuit but we were able to go down to Lake Stevens and pick on up Saturday morning. Then we filled the font and were at the church all morning and just waited and Elder Ray practiced piano, and it was a good time.

The baptism itself was great. It went perfectly. Six of the many missionaries that have taught Perla in her 2 years of getting to know the church were able to join in and watch the baptism through Zoom. It was really cool for me to be the one to baptize and it went perfectly. The water was even warm and it was great. Then Sunday, she was confirmed which was also good. Our plan is to help Elian, Perla’s 15 year old daughter to be baptized or be ready to be baptized by the end of February. So that’s exciting.

Then the real low for the week happened Saturday night… Transfer texts came out, and well, half my district is leaving which is very sad. So Elder Ray, Elder Larsen, Elder McGaufin and Elder To’omalatai are all leaving… So that put a real damper on our district call, and we all got off and those who needed to pack started. It has been a very somber last 2 days and we’ve spent all of today together up until now so that’s been good, but still sad. It’ll be weird. I did not expect for me to stay and Elder Ray to leave. It’ll be weird but it’ll be good in the end. Hopefully soon we’ll be able to go into houses as we soon should be able to move into phase 2 here. So that’s hope on the horizon.

Questions –

Any changes with transfers? – See above

What have you learned or found instructive during your personal study this week? – um I finished the Infinite Atonement which was really really good. I also studied in Doctrine and Covanents and it’s been interresting to see the revelations that correspond to church history.

Share something that you are grateful for. – My time spent with Elder Ray.

How is your budget holding up?- It’s alright. Haven’t gone shopping for this week yet so we’ll see haha

What is a challenge you feel you have made progress on recently?- The challenge of feeling satisfaction in the work. Which helps considering we did have the baptism 😁 the first one I’ve ever had, so that was a big for me personally.

Share something that brought you joy recently-My district, probably my favorite district ever, and I honestly feel so close to them and love each of them in spite of their struggles. It does help to be the district leader and be able to call them all.

Oh a rock hit our windshield and it got cracked… So that’ll be replaced this week

Love you all
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

This week besides the eye incident was pretty slow. This week because of holidays, we had a lot of lessons cancel so we only had 6 which is the lowest I have ever had in my mission. It’s just frustrating. Luckily yesterday we worked, and we should have about 13 lessons which will be good. I think we’re going to try and figure out if we can get more consistent lessons with some families. Like every other week or every week if possible.

Let’s see, oh my eye is fine which is good. Nothing to worry about which is good. That was a relief and also frustrating because so much time was spent getting it check out.

Let’s see probably the best thing this week was I had 2 exchanges. One on Tuesday was with Elder Christensen which was pretty good. We spent a lot of the day trying to Facebook finding which was alright nothing too crazy. I learned from him that it is important to work to have companion unity in teaching and to adjust your teaching to the needs of who you are teaching. He just related about how his trainer really would be pretty hard on people and would mostly teach the lessons in a very direct harsh way, when in some cases people needed a message of comfort and empathy. So that was good to learn.

Wednesday we had a good discussion on conceration and that we need to strive to submit our wills to God and that, as Elder Maxwell taught, will actually make us free rather than binding us, which is contrary to our normal way of thinking. So I loved that. This next week we’re going to discuss hope, although I may need to add a part about charity. Most of my district seems pretty down right now, unhappy with leaders and rules. So I am hoping that by discussing hope and focusing on having Charity and softening our hearts towards our leaders and the rules that we can be happier. They seem to feel like the Zone Leaders are disconnected from what is happening in the zone and I feel that too sometimes. I chalk it mostly up to them being busy so my focus may be to try to see how we can be the solution to the perceived problem and try to make opportunities for us to be closer to the zone leaders. Because I know both are very good missionaries who do care about the work and the missionaries, they are also just busy.

Speaking of which I had an exchange with Elder McGaufin on Thursday. He’s probably one of the best teachers I have seen and he really puts thought into what he’s going to say and the planning. He also knows how to adjust his teaching. Like Thursday, we taught Marcus (my cousins son) and he was really good at adjusting to Marcus’ level of understanding and previous knowledge. He also is super generous. Like we got food to end our exchange and he paid for my meal which was unexpected. (Both zone leaders do have like 300 in funds because their members feed them every night and they have hotel breakfast, but still he didn’t have to do that.)

Friday was P-day/New Years day which was fun, we played some football in the rain and called families. It was pretty chill but good. Then we had a lesson with Perla which was good. We finished going over all principles and then gave her a mock baptismal interview. She seems to be ready to for baptism, but we have a lesson on Thursday where we’ll go over everything and double check and then on Friday we should have the interview and on Saturday we’ll have the baptism. I am pretty nervous but also excited for it. It should be good; she feels ready this time which is a big plus and she seems ready to go through with it, so fingers crossed and I guess if you all could pray for her too that would be great. We also had ZLC (Zone leadership council) and we came up with a plan that hopefully will increase the number of new people we have to teach in the zone and increase unity in the zone. Saturday was interviews with President which were good, very short as usual, but he did say if I have questions of need more time we can schedule them for another day with more time. This whole week he is going to be interviewing all 238 missionaries. So lots and lots of time [20 hours at five minutes each] hence why he said we could meet later. This next week is looking good between the increase of lessons and the baptism. So wahoo!!

Questions –
How did you spend your New Year’s Eve? – Inside on Facebook and then I fell asleep at 9:50 haha
What are your plans for the day?- Well we went shopping and then we’re planning on playing football with Harbor View and Jennings Park and then spikeball with the Zone Leaders hopefully. Then just call family and read, because I keep falling asleep when I try to finish the Infinite Atonement because I am always so tired haha.
Are Nerf guns now banned in the mission again?- Not yet
Have you and Elder Ray found some less hands-on ways of blowing off some energy? – We’ve been playing racket ball which is fun.

What have you learned about patience and waiting on the Lord during this pandemic? – Patience is key for sanity. Seriously, if I am not patient I will get more frustrated m so it’s key to my happiness

How do you turn to Him for peace when you get anxious and frustrated? – Prayer and trying to find answers in the scriptures

Can you still play nerf(with eye protection) or was that banned? – Not banned yet but we haven’t played again

How have you served your companion recently? – I make his bed and food a lot. Also Ibtey just to listen sometimes

What gospel book were you hoping to read while in lockdown? – Like here Jesus the Christ

The close ups are my dilated eyes from my eye appointment. Oh I forgot while getting that I got to share a little bit of what we do as missionaries with the nurse who was asking about it all, so that was pretty nice.

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

Yeha so that’s quite the title haha, it’s probably nothing but . . .

So let’s see this week was just a little bit slower than normal. Not a lot of lessons and a lot that we had planned fell through with Christmas and stuff like that. But overall not a bad week. Christmas was really good. I got a lot of food and some things I need or at the very least I am really excited for. One of those is definely The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Calaster. It’s really good, and I’m already most of the way through reading it. It’s been really good to do have it already. It just kinda opened my mind to how big and how comprehensive the Atonement is. It also has pointed out some of the reasons why we needed the Fall [of Adam and Eve] and those things so yeah really, really good and fun stuff. Highly recommended.

Other than that we just played some football for 2 hours which was a lot of fun. I scored about 6 touch downs and that was super great and a lot of fun. Let’s see… Um Sunday we had no church so we had a district Come Follow Me which was good. We won’t have in person church for the next couple weeks, so until then we’ll keep having that which I’m looking forward too. Okay now to the whole ER title. So last night (Sunday) Elder Ray and I were playing with our new Neft Guns and started tackling each other and shooting each other a lot on the side of the head after we had disabled them. Well I had my blue light glasses on, and he tackled me and accidently shot me in the right eye. So yah. I was like, “I’ll be fine.” Then after about an hour and a half there was a black edge to my vision that blocked some of my periferal vision and later that night about 10 it disappeared. So, I thought “I’m fine no need to stress.” Well, I woke up and it was back and it hurt a bit and was more sensitive to light and the vision was blurry (which I may have only noticed because of getting hit [in other words, his vision may be routinely getting worse]). Either way especially after Grandpa’s accident [his grandfather fell, hit his eye, and permantly and completely lost vision in it] I’ve been more worried I guess and probably a little paranoid. And the eye doctor last time I went said that my eye, because it’s elongated from bad eye sight, is thinner in some areas and more prone to retinal detachment.

So I called the mission nurse just to try to get an eye appointment just to double check. She said sure that’s fine keep us updated. So I called the eye doctor and they said well for an eye injury just call and go to an urgent care. So I set up an appointment there for 1:30 and we’ll they basically said after the story we can’t do anything for you. So I called the mission nurse and she said well I kinda feared that. At this point it’s too late to set up an appointment and the urgent care has told you to get the eye checked today, so go to the ER. So I did and that’s where I am now. All alone because Elder Ray can’t come because of COVID so he and Elder Larsen and Elder Tolman are walking around Everett right now haha. I hope it’s nothing which would just show you how paranoid I can be, and if it is something I’ll sure be grateful I came and got it check out. If it is nothing I’ll also be teased about it by the other Elders for a while, and then it’s possibly deserved haha. We’ll see. It’s definely an interesting day and I’m glad it happened on a day that we didn’t have any lessons that we happening. Still annoying though. Also I may be the reason Nerf guns get banned in the mission… Regardless of if it’s actually damaged. So yeha that’s my week the most exciting interesting thing is happening right now ahah. (Also today is not P-Day but we do get an hour to message family)

Well this is an update to it, I’ve been sitting in the ER for almost 4 hours (which makes sense I should be a relatively low priority given that I’ve overhead people with punctured lungs and some other nasty stuff). So I honestly might be leaving soon and try to set up and appointment for tomorrow. Especially now that the dark spot is gone, I have a little pain and it’s a little blurry which might just be eyesight getting worse that I hadn’t noticed. Definitly is trying my patience and it’s pretty annoying. Especially for the other Elders who are constantly asking and wanting to leave. I get it, but I also just want to leave, but if by slim chance it is something I would like to figure it out now.

Some thoughts while sitting here. I’ve seen a lot of people in pain, much more than I. l have seen lots waiting and worrying for loved ones. This is going to sound sappy but I feel for them. I feel the care for their loved ones and I pray for them, that they may receive the care they need. That they maybe strengthened by Christ in their hour of need. I know that Christ can heal them and knows their pain and the worry that their loved ones feel. He has decended below it all. No pain or feeling has not been felt by the Savior, he has experienced all human experiences (an infinite amount of pain) in a very finite amount of time that being in the Garden of Gethsemane through His death on the cross. It is truly marvelous and I am grateful for this period of time I have had to sit and think and to feel His love for these people.

Final bit. I am fine at least externally. Dispite what I was told they didn’t have the tools to do anything more at the ER than at the Urgent Care… The only thing was the urgent care told me that in 20 minutes as opposed to 8 hours. My phone also died and that was a mess (because I was alone remember and the other Elders had the car together) and we didn’t get home until 10:30. So tomorrow or the next day I should be getting to an optometrist and they should be able to take a look at the retina, which I was told at both ER and Urgent Care was the thing to be most concerned about and that it was best to get checked out. That made me feel good as far as knowing at least I wasn’t too paranoid. Oh also President Auna didn’t like the fact that it was a Nerf accident. So even though they’re allowed now, probably not after this week… Sorry everyone. Overall I’m fine though. Tired and frustrated over the whole ER situation yes. But as above there were things to be learned.

Questions –

Nate ” favorite gift given and favorite gift recieved?”- Addie’s gift that I gave her is pretty good. That I received I don’t know, they were all really good. Maybe… Calendar, Scentsy warmer, cubes, stickers, Book of Mormon study edition and the Infinite Atonement 😛

Addie ” favorite thing about Christmas on a mission? ” – hmmm probably just getting the whole day to relax and call family. It was a much needed break after 10 days with no preperation day

Share whatever is on your mind….- I’m in the ER haha

A funny thing that has happened and favorite bite of the week.- This could be funny if not this, hmmm it was pretty funny during district council with our Secret Santa gift exchange. Some pretty funny and good gifts. Like I got a portable ping pong set. Best bite probably idk. We didn’t make anything new or creative soooo. Maybe the overnight oats I made that I actually liked because it was the consistency of pudding and had chocolate and peanut butter.

Favorite scripture study day and why- I’ve been reading the Doctrine and Covanents lately but the Infinite Atonement is a really good book and helping me a grow my understanding a lot.

Love you all,
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

This week was pretty good, and I know this email will be a surprise to all except mom and dad ahah. It’s a surprise to me too, but at the Mission Devotional they announced we will be able to write our families for an hour today, so here I am. Anyways back to the work.

So the biggest thing that I would say happened this week was that we have started to teach Perla’s daughter. So on Thursday, we got there for our normal lesson and only her daughter was home. So she called her mom asking her mom how long she would be and she said oh only 30 minutes. So we ended up talking to her daughter for about an hour because it took a lot longer for Perla. It was good though, from what we gathered she thought missionaries in the past have been weird and basically we just talked to her about our lives before high school and TV shows and movies and stuff. So when Perla got home she decided to stay out and join in on the lesson with us! This was surprising because she said she was freezing and the lessons are normally 45 minutes or so. But it was great! She also said she’ll join for the next lesson on Saturday so yay! It was a really awesome experience and definely showed how important it is that people know that we’re just people.

Another awesome thing this week was that I was able to feel more effective in online proselyting! That was a blessing for sure. I was able to start to talk to 3 new people in Spanish this week which felt so much more gratifying than nothing. So big A+ in my opinion on that hahah. So, as far as my mood this week, it was a great week. Today was good too. We had a half zone Christmas conference and on the way home it started to snow. Elder Ray has never seen snow fall or any of that, so it was really fun to see and I also love to watch snow fall so it was just a nice blessing. We may even have a potential of a white Christmas! So yeah good week. Oh, one last thing I had exchanges with Elder McEntire, who goes home Wednesday morning, last Tuesday. It was a good time; he’s also going into computer science so we talked about that and I actually got to impart some of my college experience on someone and that was cool, like just to ease his nerves about having to get back into school and all that type of stuff. Granted mine was only a year and not two full years.

Questions-

Highlights from your special Christmas Zone Conference. – There was a cool slideshow where everyone sent in one picture from 2020 that made 2020 great that was pretty well done and cool to see.

Share something that made you smile.- snow

Share how the secret elf nativity project is going.- Well the issue is there is no box to put them in so we’ll just drop of the whole package on Christmas Eve… If we’re allowed to drive that is (we can’t on snowy roads)

How have you stayed focused on what matters most this holiday season?- We have an advent with a family every night which helps a lot.

Are you all on your own again for Christmas like you were for Thanksgiving or do you have a few other options? – About the same, we can hang out with district members but can’t eat with them

What have you learned about yourself during the past few months?- Um I am a lot more resilient than I thought I would be with online proselyting

How can that understanding bless your life in the future? – I have no clue, that I can do hard things I guess. I don’t think that far ahead.

What gift will you give the Savior this week as we celebrate His birth? – We have been asked to memorize the Living Christ or the Restoration Proclamation. I chose the Living Christ and have it all shakely minus the last paragraph in English. After Christmas I am going to atttemt to memorize Spanish.

Spiritual highlight of the week – Um probably just being able to share about temple work with Perla and her daughter. That was pretty good.
Best bite of the week- Either the chocolate biscottii or the French toast I made that was based on Basics with Babish (I watched it on Facebook to see how popular cooking videos were made for our video a couple weeks ago and I finally made it)
Most fun – Huh? Probably the snow
An interesting insight from your personal study – I read section 88 [of the Doctrine & Covenants, a book or modern day revelation] which is just packed with a lot of things. A big take away was probably that we have to live the law of the type of life we want. This applies more than to the eternities, but to little things. Do I want to be a Celestial Student and so on.
The best thing you learned from studying and working with Elder Ray. – Um hmmm probably just how important being yourself is whem talking to people which really helped with Perla’s daughter wanting to stay for the lesson
How much are you getting to speak Spanish? Any recent bloopers with it or smack downs on it? – A bit, we’ve had a lot better studies lately and we are speaking a little bit more together
What are your Christmas Eve and Day plans? Is anyone feeding you?- The Mora’s will be giving us Tamales. Beyond that no plans besides opening presents and emailing and calling.

In explanation of my title this week. Elder Ray and I play magnetic darts and who ever has the lower score per round has to do an excersise. So I was doing squats and well some of my pants ripped…. So yeah sorry mom! And no it’s not because I got too fat I’m actually down 10 pounds in that last month and a half so hahaha 😛 [Note the drawings are by Elder Ray]

Love you all!
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

This week was pretty mild. It felt pretty long unfortunately but that’s just life sometimes. But Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty busy and we had a lot of opportunities to teach and talk to people. Unfortunately they changed the rules again, and we are no longer allowed to teach people we know from before the mission without permission from President Auna, so we got permission for six people I think, which is good for us. But for some companionships, it’s not good at all because they taught just a lot of member lessons from home, and it helped to keep them busy, but now they have just more time on Facebook. So it’s tough, but it is what it is and hopefully soon, with vaccine coming out, we’ll be able to get out.

Oh, I guess Tuesday I had an exchange with Elder Tolman which was a lot of fun actually. We taught a lot of people which as nice and the last lesson I’ll have with a returned missionary we had on exchanges. It was with Sister Taukiavea who recently went home. And she’s just got a lot of energy haha and was so excited to see that Elder Tolman and I both got to teach her. She’s really good friends with Elder Tolman and me, so we had a lot of fun.

Wednesday, we had service as normal and then district council. District council was fun we had an extra companionship from Mt. Vernon because of a temple trip that their companion who was going home had and they didn’t have time to go back up to Mt. Vernon. We discussed how we can be better in our online interactions. Probably the favorite thing I learned was that we need to be good listeners. If people know we’re actually listening and care they’ll trust us and it’ll be easier to talk about what actually matters than whatever interest we have in common. So that was good.

Thursday I made lots and lots of Oreo balls to deliver to members and Perla on Friday. That was alright, just long. Friday, we delivered them and gave all members a second plate to give to a friend… Which had instructions on it… That we learned some family members did not read and let’s say that second plate was never given to a friend haha. Saturday we finally had a lesson with Perla and we figured out that in addition to not feeling like she knows enough she hasn’t been able to fully keep the word of wisdom yet. So we’re going to keep working with her and hope for her baptism to still be the 9th of January but we’ll see. She really want to be better and to be baptized to that’s been awesome to see. And that’s the week haha.

Questions –

What have you done to keep focused on the Saviour during the Christmas season? – Well we’re doing and advent calendar with the Morgan family in the branch on zoom. That’s been nice to have.

Are you listening to alot of Christmas carols?- Nope. I don’t have many and what I do have give me a headache… I can’t do the Choir at Temple Square versions, just can’t.

Share something you learned from your personal study time this week?- I learned a lot about how hard seminary teschers must have it considering how much thought I have to put into on district council hahah

One thing you appreciate about your companion?- Um…I appreciate his attempts to speak more in lessons.

Question for you. Caleb and I were discussing my great preference to read physical books and write in a physical journal vs his ability to read on his kindle or phone and take notes there. I decided that while I miss out on the convience of the electronics l personally gain greater focus and insights — I’m way too likely to get distracted on my phone.

So now I’m curious – where do you fall? – I would definitely say physical. It helps me stay focused overall, though I hate the bulkiness of it all ahah. I could probably read on my phone but I definely take better notes physically right now. Plus with how much time we spend on our phones I need the rest while studying. So there is where I fall.

[Editors note: the first picture is of Elder Tonkinson as a young boy with his uncle, Richard Munson, who was the missionary who taught me, now 41.5 years ago. Richard is no longer with us, but his influence lives on.]

Love you all!
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

Well, this week was not our week for Zoom calls that is for sure. So Monday night I had a training to be a district leader. It was pretty good until Elder Pratt one of the assistants called on me to answer a question. My answer wasn’t bad, and it’s not like I wasn’t paying attention and missed it, I just ended in a testimony which again isn’t bad except for it is something I personally dislike a lot of times. I find that many missionaries will end their comment with a testimony and some even say “in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen” and that was why I didn’t like it ahha. Then at the end, we were trying to leave and Elder Ray didn’t know where the exit button was and freaked out, unmuted hahaha. He started yelling “GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!!!” in front of about half the missionaries there. Other Zoom accidents were on Friday I had to go to the restroom so I turned off the camera and on my way back I unmuted, and it it just made a loud russling sound in the middle of Elder Gerard’s talk (A Seventy who did a mission tour this weekend) and our faces showed up for like 5 seconds with our Santa hats on. Finally, on Saturday during zone conference and Elder Gerard’s Zoom meeting in our zone we were reading the First Vision account during Sister Gerard’s talk and Elder Ray and I discussed how uncomfortable it would be on the neck to look up directly above your head. Then we had a discussion on what angle They [Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ] came down at and were using paint bottles to model it to each other. Well, when Elder Gerard started to talk he said something about people building a tower out of pill bottles and being distracting (We realized then that while all the missionaries were on phones and could only see the speaker, President, the Assistants and the Gerard’s had computers and could see everyone at once). Then he said he wasn’t going to name anyone and then says, “Elder Tonkinson and Ray” like 3 times…. So that was not fun. We laughed a lot and sent them a private message and apologized and they laughed and said that they loved us at the end. It was just not a good week for us there but ultimately they were funny and the zone conference and devotional were both really good and I took lots of notes, so don’t roast me for not paying attention because I did.

Other than embarrassing ourselves, this week was pretty good. We did not have a lot of lessons but we did add two new people to our teaching pool, which was nice. These were already people we had taught some but it was nice to have a second lesson and making them friends we teach. Also we hit our goals this week which felt good in spite of the lack of lessons. It was a good feeling and made me realize that we are working hard even if in a different way than the past. Perla is still on date, but we moved it back to January 9th because she did not feel ready, and I honestly agree. So over the next month, we’ll be working on increasing her personal conversion and working to help her set good study and prayer habits to continually learn and increase her gospel knowledge and understanding. Other than that missionary work wise, we worked hard on our video this week. I think it may be one of our best. This time we are doing a cooking video which will come out the 11th [you can click on the text and it will take you there] as part of Light the World. I am so excited for it, and it was a lot of fun to film even though it took a while. Speaking of Light the World it has been awesome to do. I love how simple it is and how each day there is a little act of service or a way to grow closer to God. So if you’re not doing it I highly encourage it and know that through it you can grow to be more like Jesus Christ and have the Spirit with you all more. That’s about it, it was a good week and this week is looking promising.

Questions

How have you let the Lord prevail in your life this week?- Been doing a lot of work to be better at having a good personal study so that’s been good

What have you learned about forgiveness as you have served the Lord full time?- That forgiveness is important for us to be happy. If we don’t forgive, than we can’t feel peace and how can we expect God to forgive us if we can’t forgive others for the small things when He forgives us for the bjg ones.

Share something that has brought you joy?- it was fun to do accounting last night [I assume he means the process of checking in with each missionary companionship that he now does as a district leader]

Something that caused you to laugh out loud?- Getting called out

I am anxious to hear about your experience as district leader, the things you are doing and the inspiration you are feeling – I mean I gave a district council on planning and how important it is to plan specifically. Inspiration I’ve received is just what to share or discuss in district council.

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

So it’s not been that many days since I last emailed so there isn’t a lot to talk about. But I mean I guess the biggest thing is that on Saturday night I got a call from President Auna. We were at the family history center editing the Spanish Page weekly devotional, and so President Auna greets us and he asked if we could speak alone and to let him know when it was off speaker. So, it’s just Elder Ray and me in there, so Elder Ray goes to the other side of the room as far as possible; and I take it off speaker and start talking, and he gave me a little interview and then said that the Lord needed me to serve as a district leader and that I should tell no one until transfer texts were out which would only be until Sunday night, so 24 hours. Well, I get off the phone and motion for Elder Ray to come back over. I get back to stringing the clips together, and he says, “Elder I have something to confess, I heard. I tried to plug my ears and after a few moments I unplugged my ears at the worst time, just to check if the call was over yet, and I heard.” It was pretty funny. Being district leader isn’t much different; I just have to plan on how to initiate the discussion during districtt council and do interviews for baptisms and accountability oh and exchanges. So, not much more and shouldn’t be too stressful at all. Other than that, I mean we haven’t had too much going on since Thursday, just kinda chugging along. This week though we set up a lot of lessons for online with members at church which is awesome. So yeah that’s about it.

Questions-

As you have prayerfully considered ways you can serve during this lockdown. What have you felt inspired to do? – Reach out to friends and try to set up lessons with them more ,and we actually have a lot to do with Light the World on the page. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a good way to help serve over the whole month of December and I recommend you all to check it out at LightTheWorld.org

Can you drop off care packages or share brief messages at the door?- Possibly, that’s a good thought, I think yes.

10 things you are greatful for?- Family, Friends, Scriptures, Prayer, good entertainment, food, the Gospel, Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father and Temples (Not in that order)

Share something you learned in your personal study this week – Um I guess this week I studied most of Section 76 in the Doctrine and Covenants which is about the Plan of Salvation which is pretty awesome. I just loved how it said that only the sons of perdition are those who will experience second death, and I had never realized that (Section 76:32-38) and that is powerful, literally all others will receive some form of heaven.

How are you building personal resilience during your mission?- Um, just focusing on doing what I can and trying to get less caught up on what I can’t. Basically, optimism or hope. I also am trying to pray a lot for that mental strength to keep going in what seem like odds that are not in my favor

Final note: My grandfather suffered a fall and is in the hospital [moving tonight (12/5) to a skilled nursing facility]. He is stable for now but I would like for you all to keep him in your prayers that he can make a good recovery. Thank you.

Alright talk to you all next week,
Love you
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

Happy Thanksgiving! Well this last week and a half has been, well, good and bad all at once. So basically like any other week haha.

So last week was actually pretty good. The best thing was we were able to see a lot of members and share a message. That was due to a couple of things. The first and biggest was President Nelson’s video a week ago almost which was fantastic. So any of you who haven’t seen it go find it. Super good and talks a lot about gratitude which was perfect for this past week and not just because of Thanksgiving. This past week we have been put back into almost full lock down. We can no longer have any in person lessons which is just tough because not many families want to do it at all if they can’t do it in person. But hey we’ll keep reaching out and trying. Anyways, reflecting on gratitude overall has helped but it still isn’t very easy and it’s hard to feel like I am helping as much as I could be. Anyways that’s besides the point, if you haven’t seen the video do it right now. Search in Youtube “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” and then it will be title something like, “Russel M. Nelson shares a message of hope and comfort” and boom you will know how to be happier. It’s really that simple. He as a prophet of God has promised that as we express gratitiude we will feel happier in spite of the challenges and problems we face. I can assure you of that, because I have seen it in my life just this past week.

Other things that happened are on Saturday we worked with our branch and delivered whipped cream, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pies for 5 hours. It, although long, was awesome and honestly one of my favorite parts of the week. We were able to see and share a meesage to 8 families in that time and got to set up some lessons. So yeah it was pretty fire.

Also my Spanish got roasted by a member. We were sharing the quick message and I had to stop and think about a word for a second and I keep going and the member stops me and says in Spanish “You need to really work on your Spanish” and I was like okay I am and moved on and then as I start back up she goes “No really you need to work on your Spanish.” I kinda just brushed it off. I’m used to it, this member frequently critiques missionaries even Elder Klevin and Anderson who when we called people asked Elder Klevin what part of Mexico he was from. Elder Ray on the other hand everytime she does it, which is every lesson, is pretty heated and honestly it’s kinda funny. But yeah it’s true though I need to keep working to improve and never be satisfied enough to say, “Nah I’m done” so good lessons to be learned even from a rude comment. 

Perla is doing well. She, unfortunately, couldn’t come to church this past week because she was cleaning up from her daughter’s quincinara the night before, which was pretty crazy (we stopped by dropped off a pie and wished her a happy birthday for 3 minutes) Luckily though, we still are going to have our lessons and we have one tomorrow over video call. She seems to still be on track to be baptized the 12th of December so wahooo.

Questions-Share an inspiration you have received this past week and how you acted upon it.- Hmm probably the biggest one this week was the inspiration to visit certain people first when dropping off pies, because we caught a family right as they were loading up the car.

How have you felt the love of the Lord in your life this week?- Hmm I felt the love of the Lord this week through being able to recognize my blessings and see that I have a lot more to be grateful for than to compain about, but complaining seems easier but makes thing unneccissarily harder.

What opportunity have you had to serve recently and how has it blessed your life? – The member thing I talked about and the food bank is fun too because you get to see and talk to a lot of people.

Share something that made you smile and brightened your day.- All the takes that we had to do for our latest video, it was a lot of fun.

Oh I guess I didn’t explain the title of the email, Elder Ray and I wrestle sometimes and well this week he bruised my face and I caused him to bleed by hitting a scab and then he landed on my ribs, on accident and bruised them. Fun times.

One last thing I am grateful for all of you. I am grateful for all of you who write me, even though unfortunately I don’t always have time to email you all back, I mean I barely even get this out some week. I am grateful for my family and all the love and council they give, even if some of it can be… uh not what I wanted to hear. Yeah that’s how I want to phrase that. Anyways I love you all and am grateful to have you all as friends and family.

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

Alright hello everyone,
Well this week was pretty standard and definitely had some high moments and some lower ones. To start with the good, we taught Perla the law of chastity and the word of wisdom, and she had no issues with either and fully agreed to live by them; and she came to church for the 3rd week in a row, which I honestly have never seen anyone do ever in my time as a missionary. No person we are teaching has ever come 3 weeks straight which is totally awesome, and I am so happy about that. She also said that she feels a little more sure about baptism and has talked with her husband about it, and he is totally okay with it. So win win win.

The next thing that was pretty good was that we had Elder Tolman and Larsen over for dinner once, and I made some white bean chicken chili it was really fun and a good meal too. Hmm, I guess we also had exchanges this week, and I was with Elder McEntire again and that was pretty fun and chill. The bad thing this week is that the governor of WA is adding a whole bunch of new quarantine restrictions and that’s just not going to be fun. [see the update at the end] I don’t really care about me or like staying inside that much, like yeah it’ll be boring and not fun but the worse thing is that it becomes harder to teach as a lot of people don’t want to be taught over the phone or video call and will only have us in person. So yeah, that might dampen the entire mood. Another not as good thing this week was that a friend we have been teaching stood us up again. He doesn’t intentionally do it, he just works far away and forgets to tell us. We just are trying to set up a lesson so we can figure out if we should keep teaching.

Anyways my favorite spiritual thing this week was studying the awesome experience of the Brother of Jared. It is truly incredible and it can teach us a lot about prayer and about how we can be more specific in them. It’s not that the Lord can not bless us if we don’t pray or pray specifically but in doing so we acknowledge our need for Him and show that we recognize what we need and why we need it or want it. So if you haven’t read it go now and read it, it is super good. It’s found in Ether 2-4 and it’s great and there’s more to learn than what I just said.

Questions-

Have you had any new instructions yet from your mission President due to the new state restrictions?- No not yet but tonight we will probably know [see update below]

What are you making for Thanksgiving dinner? What is your favorite dish to eat on Thanksgiving?- Well even if we can’t meet up physically we decided that we would still go with our plan (Elder Larsen, Elder Tolman and us) and just swap food. So they are making rolls, ham, a chip dip, a drink, salad and we are making candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn, apple pie (we bought it) and ice cream. It should be good.

Share 3 to 5 things (each) you are thankful for about your companion, your mission, and your life.- Elder Ray is super determined like this last night we said we were going on a run and even though both of us didn’t want to we did. He’s funny we have a lot of laughs and finally he’s just energetic so he’s go go go. Mission is great, I love the people and I love getting to serve the Lord. Finally it is a unique opportunity to study the scriptures and serve 24/7 that I will never again. Finally life is good I love eating, sleeping, cooking, exercising, and most of it. Not much to complain about unless I am pessimistic. It really is a good life.

Share a goal or two that you are working on and how you are progressing.- More specific prayers and a daily goal. My prayers are getting more specific and the daily goal helps to give me more focus for the day when I remember to do it.

Share a moment of joy from your past week.- Today at the outlet mall we found some Stants socks that we thought were $5 a pop, which was already a steal but ended up being $3.25 and there was a buy 4 get 6 free. So like what could have been a $90 dollar purchase (apparently these socks are really comfy and also expensive) was $13 and Elder Tolman, and I split it so like $6.50 a person for 3 pairs of socks each. We both got 3 pairs of some subtle gray Star Wars socks haha

Had a Christmas related question for you — what are your mission guidelines on extra reading material? – Only what is in the gospel library and at 18 months we can read the Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister.

Is there anything in particular that you’d like this year?- Biscotti is good. Please just coordinate so I only end up with one bag instead of two and then some that lasts me 2 months even with eating it aggressivily and other than that I don’t know. Maybe a BYU face mask a 2020 special haha

Pictures One of the members had the new Xbox Series X and was playing on a 4K TV when we showed up and man it looks good and I totally nerded out for a moment so that’s why I have the picture (Yes mom I know I’m a weirdo, you too Addie)

Love you all! Have a good week!
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

Update – Please forward to all missionaries: Restrictions issued by the State of Washington allows, “In home faith-based services or counseling with up to 5 people.” When invited into homes, please ensure that there are no more than 5 people, including your companionship, at a lesson. If there are going to be more than 5 people, please have your lesson electronically. Continue to wear face covering and social distance while in homes. No eating of meals, but a family may provide take out. Love you all….

Heylo!
Well this week was honestly pretty good. I mean some parts of it were a little slower but over all a good week. So last Monday we had a packed night but it was super good. We were able to meet with the Salcedo family who we will also have a lesson with tonight. The dad in the family is not a member only because he is not baptized, and we haven’t yet figured out why so we’re working on that. Next we had Family Home Evening with the Esparsa family which was a lot of fun because they have a 5 year old son and he can not focus so we had to figure out an object lesson to do on the fly hahaha. Finally we were able to meet with the Liñans which was really good, and we are set to visit them again tomorrow night. So Monday was fantastic because we got to meet with a lot of families we hadn’t before or not that often and start to work to be there more often. But yeah so good.

The rest of the week was good and about 5 lessons fell through which was tough but that’s okay.
The best thing this week was when we were able to meet with our friend Perla and put her on date [set a baptismal date with her] for December 12th. That was an incredible experience. She still has a little bit to go, and we have to make sure she is doing well on the Word of Wisdom, and she still feels she needs to strengthen her testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon so we’re working on that. But it was so great and hopefully we’ll be able to start to teach the rest of her family soon. Funny thing kinda related to this happened on Sunday. We were in a meeting with our branch president and he asked in Spanish how old Perla’s children were just to see who we could get to help fellowship them and to see if they were old enough to be baptized. Anyways, so he asks and I go what? And he asks again and I still didn’t understand through the mask, and so I just took a shot and said… No… So yeah that was something funny. But yeah that’s about all it.

I guess we also had zone conference which was really good and focused on strenghting our own testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was great and I really enjoyed being able to reflect on how I feel about the Book of Mormon. I love that book so much. I know it is the word of God and that by reading it we can learn more and grow closer to Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon can help us so much to gain a testimony of the Church. Because if that book is scripture then Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and saw the Father and Son and this is Christ’s church on the earth. Just something to think about for everyone.

Questions-

How have you felt the Love of the Lord for others in your life this week?- Through reading the Doctrine and Covanents in personal study it is clear how much Christ suffered and cares about the salvation of all the children of God

How is Spanish coming for you and your new companion?- It’s alright like as you read still some missing of understanding especially with a mask, but it’s better, and we can get the work done. He’s still learning but we’re focusing on him trying to take the lead in lessons and when in doubt to just testify.

A favorite moment from your teaching/lesson this past week?- Asking Perla to be baptized

Favorite bite of food from the past couple of weeks (not from a restaurant)?- Hmm maybe I’m trying to think, Nachos that Sister Mora made us a couple weeks ago were great!

Something that made you smile….? – Elder Ray and I sometimes between studies to just get up and move will chuck a foam football at each other which is fun haha

Pictures- I broke a chair this week… Yeah we have been doing a lot of leg workouts and my legs were dead and I went to sit down and sat on the front of the cheap study chair we have and well my legs gave out and all my weight came down on it haha, the flash light is from zone conference that I got for answer a question right about happy lights and vitamin D and joking that I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to stare into it for 30 minutes. Also I cut my hair by myself entirely this time, no help from Elder Tolly.

Love you all!
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/