Week 44- A week of righteousness

Hola

This week’s title comes from Elder Ray. Like I asked him what the title should be, and there it is.

Anyway, this week was pretty fun. We had several opportunities to teach people and to discuss how to increase faith and the importance of it in our lives, the importance of continuing to grow our knowledge and set goals. Overall, it was very good and pretty busy.

Probably the best thing that happened this week as that Perla finally responded, and we finally set up a lesson with her and had it happen. That was supper good because it had been over a month with only 3 texts and one short call in that time. So Saturday we met and read the Book of Mormon with her to answer her question on where do our spirits go after this life and resurrection (Alma 40). While we were there, we also set up a call lesson for Wednesday and a lessons in person on Thursday. She also came to church with her daughter yesterday which was good. This week we hope to set a date for baptism but we shall see.

Other than her we had a lesson with our friend Eric very similar to what we had with Perla. Finally another really good lesson was with one of my friend’s ex-girlfriend who is working on joining the church. That was super awesome, and she is doing well and continuing to do all she can to strengthen her testimony while she wait to get baptized because of some home things. But seriously she is awesome.

This next week is looking awesome. Today we have 3 lessons with members we rarely have lessons with which is awesome and really exciting and hopefully will be a base point for future lessons. Then we already have like 2 or 3 other lessons planned for each day up until Saturday and Sunday, but those as per usual generally fill out. But if everything goes to plan this next week is going to be absolutely packed and crazy!

Questions-1. Tell us about something that made you laugh or smile this week.- Um hmm well normally during meal times or just for a minute or two between things we’ll shoot on our little hoop in our study room on our door and we’ll say like if it goes in yadada. Generally it’s like do 20 push ups or 10 pull ups or answer this question or next time we see these Elders you have to do this. It leads to some very interesting situations haha

2. Do you have Sunday responsibilities in your ward? How is church attendance during Covid?- Not too bad but it does depend on the week. Our responsibility if needed it to help bless the sacrament

3. What is a principal or doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ that you have gained stronger testimony and understanding of since being on your mission?- The Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ! It is so important to everything. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is key to the plan of Salvation and everything. There is also a lot more depth to the Atonement of Christ that I previously didn’t realize or know. Joseph Smith said something to affect of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is central to our beliefs and everything else are appendages to it.

4 What is something personal that you are trying to improve about yourself over the coming weeks? You can answer that one privately if you would rather. – Nah my personal goal is to use free time better by reading from the teachings of the presidents or writing in my journal or something other than the scroll on Facebook.
5. Share whatever is on your mind. – Hmm okay hi everyone welcome to my mind. It’s pretty different in here so don’t let the overwhelming amount of memes and scripture and occasional flares of “OH I FORGOT TO DO THAT” scare you away.
Photos- We carved Star Wars pumpkins and shared them in Star Wars group and the others are just from one of our walks this week. Oh and a really good sauce from Britain that the Ochoa gave us to try (The rule is not to eat, but they have the food ready on plates when you arrive) but man that sauce from Nando’s chicken is fuego (Not paid sponsorship)

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

Week 43- I have a son (a new missionary to train)

Hello There! So it’s the start of the second transfer back. It’s been pretty good this first transfer, and I think it’ll be good this next one too. So I guess the biggest thing is that in the past week we’ve probably driven about 250 miles, which is crazy. We wracked up the miles because we have been going to and from the mission office so many times. First time was to pick up Elder Tolman from the office to be Elder Larsen’s new companion. Then I had to stick with them until later to go pick up Elder Ray who I am training.

We’ve had a good couple days. We’ve been making some goals and trying to figure out how to fill our time more when lessons fall through so that’s been good. But Elder Ray is super awesome, he is really motivated to learn Spanish and to use time effectively. He also has a really strong testimony which really has brought a strong spirit even if he can’t yet articulate all he wants to say. Probably the best part of the week was Saturday when we had a lesson with Isaac who is the husband of a member. The biggest thing or rather the hardest thing was that Isaac does not know a lot of Spanish and his wife, Susie speaks almost no English. So we had to explain the restoration first in English then in Spanish every couple sentences. It was really good practice and the spirit was so strong, especially when Susie bore her testimony of the restored gospel to her husband.

Oh, also John Bytheway [a popular speaker] spoke to Young Single Adults down in Everett on Zoom. It was really good and made the week great. Other than that thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes this week.

How often are you all speaking spanish in your apartment? – This week we’re trying to speak it as much as we can
Tell us a little more about your companion. Where he is from etc.- He’s from Mesa, AZ, He’s adopted from Russia which is pretty cool and he ran track and cross country.
An impactful moment during your scripture study this week – I read Revelation this week which was crazy and hard to understand to be honest.
Have you voted?- Nope haven’t gotten it yet.

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

Week 42- Out with the old, in with the new

Heylo!

Well let’s just get started. This week was solid. We taught a lot of people. One day we had six full hour lessons planned and none of them got canceled ! It was awesome. Hmm what else… Honestly as far as work everything kinda flows together right now, and there isn’t anything crazy happening that’s super mentionable. Overall, it’s just good. People are learning, and we’re getting to teach. Also, the Spirit is able to be felt and that’s very important. I love being able to teach, and hopefully some real progress can be made as everything just feels like a bit of a standstill. Well I guess on Tuesday, I had a lesson with Aunt Kristl which was a lot of fun, and I got to hear some of her insights on things like faith and how important it is to recognize God in our lives.

Other than the work, Elder Anderson went home this morning… And we had to get up at 5 to make sure we got there on time. And then Elder Larson (his companion, Elder Bingham, went home on Tuesday) and I had to stay near the mission office for another couple hours to pick up Elder King because Elder Poncio (my trainer) has finished his mission and headed home to Guatamala! That’s really exciting for him, and we were worried he might not be able to because up until three weeks ago their borders were close and had been since March. Yeah crazy day today.

I guess back tracking to Tuesday, all missionaries who would be going home today got to go to the temple. They didn’t do any ordinances, but they did get to go inside and talk with the temple president. During that time, I was with Elder King (trained by Elder Durbano and was with him in Bellingham for a transfer, and same Elder King I’m with now until transfers tomorrow) for that day. It was weird because I couldn’t take charge, and we kinda had to throw a schedule together because both of us had different ones and thought we would have been with different people. But it was fun, and we got some good stuff done. The biggest news of the week happened when we went to pick our companions up. President pulled me aside and asked if we could speak for a minute, so we did and he checked worthiness and obedience through some simple questions and… Asked me to train. So tomorrow afternoon, I will be picking up a brand spanking new missionary, fresh off the online MTC.

I’m a little nervous that’s for sure. Especially about my own ability to speak Spanish. But it’ll be okay. I know the Lord qualifies those He calls, and I’ve been assigned to do this under revelation from God. I just hope to be able to help him to love the mission and to adjust to being here. It’ll be a wild ride. This also means I’ll be staying in Marysville probably for the next 2 transfers so that’s until January. Which I’m kinda happy about because I like it here, the members are cool and we have a decent bit of in area work to do.

Alright questions-

Are you planning any making any special dessert for your birthday?- Not really. I kinda celebrated it with Elder Anderson going home. We made a cake and got steaks and that was good.. It’ll just be another day so eh.

What are you doing for your personal scripture study during study time right now? – I am trying to finish the New testament this week. I just finished Preach My Gospel last week which I did about half and half taking super long notes on both. After I finish the New Testament I’ll start up PMG again and start reading the Doctrine and Covenants

What has been your biggest challenge in the past week?- Sadness of people leaving. I’ve just been a bit uptight, and we’ve had some long days full of stuff which is good, but I’m not well rested and only ate dinner like 2 times this week

Share something that you’re thankful for today.- Today I am thankful for Elder Anderson and for him being a great companion and helping me readjust to being a missionary

Tell us about a goal that you’re working on.- Helping my trainee. That’s the goal. It’s broad but just reaching out to some other missionaries and asking what they wish they would have done differently.

What was the best part of your week? – I finally got to meet the Ochoas, which was awesome. They are a lot of fun to have a lesson with.

Are you excited for your birthday?- Eh it’s a day. Not as much as I have been in past years. There’s not much to celebrate, and it doesn’t feel as big these days.

One word that describes your week? – Busy

What is your favorite part of being a missionary during this time? – I like sharing the gospel. It changes people and it’s good to see.

Week 41- Yo: Tengo 19 años Ella: Soprendida

Hmmm what to write…

Well this week was pretty good and decently busy. We had 15 lessons which for right now is a lot but we’re hoping to get 20 this week to help with our zone goal of 1000 in one month. So we’ll see how that goes. Part of those lessons included making two new friends. One is Javi. He messaged the Venid a Cristo en el Noroeste de Washington and we started talking and yesterday we had a call with him. It went well and obviously he’s got some interest as he messaged the page which was great. We have another call with him tomorrow actually which is great.. Usually people are like “oh I can’t” and we come back at the earliest a week later. No not Javi.

Then there’s [Consuela]. Oh man. So I woke up last Tuesday and see a new friend request. We had no friends in common but she lived in [a Spanish speaking country], so I accepted. She started messaging me. We just started and I was like “how’d you find me?” And she said “suggested friends.” Anyways we kept talking and stuff and at some point she was like “how old are you?” I said oh 19 almost 20 and then she sent a voice recording. Well, it was evident that she was embarrassed haha. She thought I was 24 and close to her age… so the other missionaries figured she was hitting on me. Anyways, we kept talking and just being like “how’s it going?” and by Saturday we got it to the gospel and had a lesson that night and have another one this week on Wednesday night… So yeah it was great! Like [Consuela] is absolutely a homie now. But, a bit odd of a way to connect to teach.

But yeah that’s the highlights. It’s been good and we were able to get some people to church and all. But that’s about it to be honest. Oh I guess we did make a video with the Mora family which will come out on Sunday. It was fun but hard because you can’t reshoot or anything. Seriously that’s about all I’ve got in my head.

Questions –
What does autumn look and feel like in Washington?- nice I’ll send a pic of it
What is something you learned during General Conference that you are trying to implement in your life?- Trials make you better. So I’m trying to see what I needed to learn and need to learn from current and past trials.
Share a favorite moment from your personal scripture study this week.- I studied a talk called “The 4th Missionary” which had a really good insight. To paraphrase it said, “God gave you everything, your talents, life, material wealth, family and intelect. Giving those things to Him is very little, so give Him your heart and will.” The take away was don’t with hold your heart back. As a missionary you can go through the motions and serve without giving your heart but you need to. You should to be able to do the best work and so that can change you.

Share something that made you laugh out loud this past week.- Lots of stuff. Just so much stuff haha like Elder Anderson not being able to cook or cut things with a knife very well haha. Or when we realized Liz was hitting on me.
Pictures – Lots of making food this week 🙂

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

Week 40- Guess what?

Hey hey,

So this week has been a good one. Well kinda, not a lot of lessons but conference was fantastic. So let’s see, we had some lessons with Mike and then with Jonathan (online in Panama). Unfortunately Mike we realized is not progressimg and not doing what he needs to to get a testimony and just likes to argue in parables… Like a lot of them, in Spanish. It’s not fun. We need him to follow through with the commitments. Also this week, we had a lot of lessons fall through which was disappointing. We still worked hard, and we got all the lessons rescheduled for this week so hopefully those will happen. On the plus side, General Conference was really good. I had three main take aways, be prepared spiritually and temporally, trials make us better and are for our good, and God loves us so he sent His Son. Obviously, Christ is always central, but I felt this time the speakers focused a lot on His grace, mercy and power to heal. It was super good. But honestly that’s about it this week. There isn’t much to talk about since so many lessons fell through. Oh, I guess we did post another video on Venid a Cristo en el Noroeste de Washington and I was Darth Vader. So check it out!
Questions
What were some of your thoughts and impressions from conference?- One of my favorite quotes was “Suffering and trials qualify us for the Elect of God” – Elder Matt Holland. Also my whole district (just Elders) was going crazy during Elder Oaks talk we were all just freaking out. What a talk and a half.
How is your budget holding up?- Great. We spend like $30 each a week which is great.

What is something you appreciate about your companion / companions?- Companion (single) – He’s good at pointing out kindly where I need to improve. Its good and Elder Anderson and I get along. We’ve also been trying to fill the void left when Elder Klevin left by saying some of his iconic phrases and we put up his several empty jars of peanut butter (he had peanut butter at his desk and would eat straight peanut butter). Yeah very quiet and odd without him hear. He’s now actually up in Ferndale where I started my mission.

When you’re teaching online what is your favorite message to share? – With members Come Follow Me and whatever someone needs. Honestly what we teach doesn’t change at all. It’s still the same where we determine what the person needs and share that.

What has brought you joy this week?- Elder Oaks smack down. Also Elder Anderson and I just have a lot of fun so that’s cause for a lot of laughs and stupid jokes but we still get lots of work done.
Pictures – That drink is a drink Elder McEntire had from Puerto Rico that’s like non alcohol beer… It’s gross. Tastes like raisin bran as a drink… Not fun. It was Elder Anderson’s and Elder Klevin’s first time too. That was from last Pday. Also there are some pictures of the hotel two elders are staying in.

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

Week 39- Gun point

Alright, so this week was pretty good and busy. So let’s just go over the highlights. Let’s see . . . so we had 15 lessons this week which is a high for area since quarantine began. Most of that was thanks to doing lessons with people from out of the area–like online people and family. This week I called Caleb and Hillary and Mom and Dad for lessons, and those were good. Also I had one with the Seigles and I’ll have a one with Luke in a week. So that’s been nice, and it’s a good way to keep us busy. So if anyone is interested in having a lesson hit me up and let’s set one up. Literally anyone member of the church or non member so long as we teach a lesson.

Okay other things this week are that we found 4 new people to teach. One is Isaac; he is English and knows some Spanish but is married to a member of the branch who just moved in. He’s nice, and he came to church this week which was great. They also live out in Granite Falls and across a river (I have a video). But yeah it’s just off the side of the road in a sketchy looking neighborhood; and we were confused for a minute, because across the river is where it told us to go but it said no trespassing and there was a wrecked home on the other side. Yeah well they also have cameras and so Isaac came and was like this way guys. Yeah, it was kinda crazy. Another new person is Eric. He’s super cool. He’s 22 and loves video games and is super super nice. Wonderfully nice and respectful. Haha other than that we don’t know much.

The last set of new people are Serena and Aleberto, and they have been taught on and off for 13 years! Which is crazy. They’re super nice, and they both are open to being baptized when they feel ready. The issue in the past was a lot of missionaries pressured them and then when it didn’t go as quickly as the missionaries wanted they stopped teaching. But from what we can tell, they know the first 3 lessons (Restoration, Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus) well and remember most of it. Yeah, crazy thing is they have had a missionary go off on how they thought they were wasting time because they weren’t getting baptized but were doing all the right things. She also cooked for us a bit and that was delicious. But this point leads me to the title of the email… So we were picking up to leave and I jokingly say, “Wait I we have one last thing, let’s set a date for you all to be baptized” and Aleberto goes, “Alright where’s my pistol!” joking obviously. Well, their nine year old goes flying from the living to the other end of the house and enthusiastically exclaims “I’ve got it.” Serena yells at him to not, and he comes back with a pistol and is like pointing it a bit and stuff. So I was thinking, “Oh man, this is gonna be one of those stories where someone gets hurt by a gun by someone being dumb.” Well about 15 seconds of playing with it he says “Oh its a bb” and shoots the fridge. Yeah that was a blast. We’re hoping to have another lesson with them this week.

Lastly, we are starting to read the Book of Mormon from the start with Perla and hopefully we’ll read twice with her a week, once in person, once on the phone and she’ll read once a week on her own. It’ll be good. Hopefully by the end of next transfer she’ll be ready.

Oh also Elder Klevin is getting transfered which is sad. We’ve had a lot of fun. Especially the last video we made which I’ll send but won’t come out on the page until Sunday. But yeah it’s been a blast, and we don’t know if he’ll be replaced or if we’ll go to a duo. Either way in 3 more weeks Elder Anderson will leave too so… Yikes.

Questions

What are you doing for exercise?- I’m trying to do calisthenics.

How have you felt the love of the Lord this week?- I was able to feel His love in getting to teach.

Share a personal goal that you are working on.-Talking more in lessons which will be easier now that Elder Klevin is leaving. With three and two being fluent, it’s easy to sit tight and say only a little

How often are you cooking for yourself and do you all share meals as a companionship?- I cook for myself most of the time. We cook together about 2-3 times a week.

What is some aspect of the gospel of Jesus Christ you understand that better than now than a few months ago?-The goal of perfection. It’s all over the place. Like the New Testament is filled with references to becoming perfect through Christ.

Also Addie asked birthday presents – Movie soundtracks are so good. Elder Klevin has Rogue One music and video game music and its great. It’s so mellow and chill to have a modern instrumental music in the background. He has Minecraft music which is very very chill. So that is a big thing. We have no official rules on music, besides we have to have bought it ourselves and not pirated it. That’s about it though haha. You can upload it and share it on drive or email it and I can get it that way.

Elder Tolly (Elder Tomooltai [Definitely misspelled]) is cutting our hair today so that’ll be fun for sure.

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

Week 38- Tik-tok star

Hey!
So this week was pretty good. We started off pretty slow though. Tuesday all the lessons fell through, and we spent it mostly studing and online prosoliting. Wedensday we did lots of service and again our lessons fell through. Thursday though was quite the good day. We had four lessons in all. One was with older man who married a Guatamalan woman and was baptized last year. We were talking and mid conversation he stops and gives us each a copy of “The Gospel of Jesus Christ as recieved by Harold Watson” that was interesting haha let me tell you. He then also gave us each a gold plated, silver Donalf Trump 2020 coin. I will keep this coin a reminder of the good lessons we have with him. We’re currently working to reconvert him and get him to be ready for temple. His wife is a faithful member of the church and really hopes to be able to be sealed to him. So with her help over video call (she’s stuck in Guatamala), we’re hoping to make some progress soon.

Then, we had another lesson was with a woman named Nati. She hadn’t been taught since the pandemic started, and Elder Klevin and Anderson had no contact. So we called and decided if she didn’t answer we would drop her from being taught for the time being. Obviously, she picked up and said we could come over. Basically we started out just getting to know her and her family and how things were going. She clearly was very stressed over having to help teach her children at home more and them speaking mostly English and the work also being in English and her having only basic English skills. So we decided to help her, and we helped her son with geography for like 20 minutes. Hopefully we can go back this week.

Unfortunately though, we could not have lessons with our two most progressing friends Mike Coto and Pearla because of their work schedules and neither made it to church, which stunk because last week Pearla and her two kids and husband all made it. Hopefully, this week we can meet, and we might extend a baptismal invite to her this week or the next.

Okay so Friday was chill. We did some studing and had a couple online lessons then at night we went over to the Mora’s and that was a blast. So we planned to teach a lesson and that just didn’t happen. Like we still taught but the plan we had gone. Anyways, we get there and Hermana Mora is live on Tiktok (she has like 25K followers), and she shows us for a second and stuff and then says bye and then for a bit she goes on about how sad she is its going down. So we talk about that, and all the while she and her husband and children bring out rice and refried beans and some good looking chicken… yeha so we ate good… even if we’re not supposed to. Like we can’t turn that down! That’s culture that would be offensive. Anyways, that food was good. Like so good and flavorful, the beans had like pork fat in it and the chicken fell right off the bone and was well seasoned, so nothing not to like haha. Anyways, during dinner she shows us her videos and then shares some storys, and it was a lot of fun. Ultimately we just went over at her request Come Follow Me for the week, which was great too.

Saturday was zone conference which was very good and I learned a lot and then yesterday was chill with church and the Come Follow Me with the district and then both our lessons fell through so we spent time calling people who had been taught in the past. Most of their numbers didn’t work or they didn’t pick up until… Serena. She was a prankster. So we call and say “Hola.” and she’s like hola and we say (all Spanish) “is this Serena?” and she says “yes. who is this?” and we explain and then she goes “oh, nevermind, I’m Patricia!” So we all look at each other like hmmm suurrreee yah are. Anyways we’re like well we teach of Christ and His gospel and she’s like cool I’d like to hear it. “How do you have my address?” And we were like “we don’t.” Then she said “Then how do you have my number?” And we were just like “well. someone messed up because we were told this was for a Serena.” and then she laughed and gave it up. So we have a lesson with her and her family tomorrow which should be good.

Other than that we set up lessons with our family members and anyone who wants to. If anyone member or non member, family or not we can call and talk as long as our purpose is to teach and we teach a lesson So to those reading the blog hit me up on Facebook and let’s talk and we can talk about Christ! It’ll be great!
That’s pretty much it for me so onto the questions.

Did you receive your package?- No the assistants forgot them at the office but the zone leaders are getting them today
What is the situation with the smoke/fires?- Air is back to clear and it smells like rain but if it gets bad again I’ll mention it
As you are learning to share the gospel in new ways due to COVID, what are you finding the most effective or interesting?- I like interest groups because its the most natural. I actually started talking to someone yesterday and got it transitioned to the gospel on a space group.
Share a learning moment from your gospel study this week.- Hmm I guess I’ve been reading 1+2 Corinthians this week and Paul’s discourse on Ressurection in 1 Corinthians 8 is great. It goes over the 3 kingdoms and universal resurrection and all that stuff. Just very interesting.
How is the Spanish coming along? What percentage of the time are speaking only Spanish with your companions?- 60% and its coming. Currently working on just getting used to the feel of it and trying to read it out loud more in study.
How have you felt the love of the Lord this week?- I felt His love this week through President and Sister Auna. We have mission Devotionals on Friday’s and they are just so loving and great to listen to.
Addie’s questions-
What is one thing that makes you so happy you could talk about it for hours, like me and books/words?- I mean you do know how much I love Star Wars and tech haha. But talking about the Gospel is very easy to do. I really like sharing the Joseph Smith story. His life is fascinating.
Something that makes you think, that you find so beautiful and perfect, something you do not understand yet learn from?- Eterity makes me think. I find space and science beautiful (not quite perfect though) and I do not really understand creation yet but I can learn a lot from it.

Along with my question of what makes you happiest and why from my email?- the whole thing was just very you. But I guess your use of the English language that I can not. Or in the physical letter you sent how you roast my lack of English skill.
I have another. What is one word that described your week? Pick a good one please- Beleza – Portuguese for beautiful or in slang dope, cool awesome. Its just a lot of fun to say.

That’s all for this week. Love you all lots!
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

Week 37- Piña

Hello everyone!

So it’s been a while since I’ve been writing emails as a missionary. Just about 5 months. Its been a weird and interesting time, but I’m back in Washington and things as a missionary are different…and also very similar. So for those who don’t know, I went home, and then I have done a semester worth of classes online for BYU and then was planning to go to BYU this fall. Well, four days before classes started stake president called and told me I could go back out. By this point I already had an apartment and was in Utah. So anyways after two days, I decided to go back, and then a week and half later I was put on a plane unset appart as a missionary. So I flew out on the 8th from SLC, unfortunately the flight got delayed for about 2.5 hours, so I was just sitting there for a while but that’s okay. We landed and went to baggage claim and there they were, President and Sister Auna. President said sorry to everyone but that he had to give me a hug. It was good. I missed being a missionary under his kind and inspired hand.

So we get to the mission office, and we have to wait because I had not been set apart because President Auna was still at the airport waiting for another Elder to get in. So he gets back to the mission office at around 9:30, and Elder Anderson, Elder Klevin (my two new companions), Elder Pratt and Elder Haroldson (the assistants) all participate in my setting apart. It was really special and definitely unique.

I’m in Marysville in the Spanish branch, and we’ve actually been pretty busy which has been good. We can call anyone in the world, so we call a lot of the members that my companions taught (they both got reassigned to here 4 months ago and have been together that whole time) back in their original missions. So that’s been good. Plus, we’ve had some lessons with members and people were teaching in person with masks so that’s been good. Other than that, we spend lots of time of Facebook trying to talk to people. Currently the strategy with Facebook is to join interest groups of things we are interested in like video games and sports and movies and music. So now things like watching videos and spending time on Facebook for hours is encouraged. So that’s interesting. Other than that we now have more meetings, institute, two 30 minute walk periods, and an extra hour of time in the morning (30 minutes of meditation and 30 minutes more of excersise) to try and keep us sane. It’s good though it’s good. Other than that not much as far as the work goes. One funny story is my first lesson back was with a member Elder Klevin taught in Mexico named Maria. He warned me she has no filter so don’t be surprised at what she says. Anyways we call I introduce myself and say hi and then Elder Anderson and Elder Klevin catch up with her and she out of nowhere says “Creo que el no puede hablar español” (I don’t think he can speak Spanish) so we explain how I had just gotten back to the field and my situation and we head into the message. At the end we ask her who she wants to say the prayer and she says, “Él que no puede hablar español.” That was funny for sure.

Best moment since returning to the mission field?- Seeing President Auna
Fill us in on where you serving and your companions. Marysville. Elder Anderson served in Peru, and this is actually his last transfer. He actually reminds me a lot of Uncle Randy in how he jokes and even his voice a bit which is fun. Then Elder Klevin served in Mexico and is really funny and a big star wars fan so that’s fun.
Share something you admire or respect about your companion–Elder Anderson has some good insights and is smart and composed. Then Elder Klevin is funny and chill. Both also have incredible Spanish which is really good for me haha.
Have you been able to pick up the Spanish again or are you still trying to get back to where you were before?- I’d say my vocab is down by 10% but my confidence is down a lot, so I trip over my words a lot and even if its right I doubt what I say more. It’ll probably get back to what it was soon, especially with my companions because we’re trying to speak Spanish all the time.
Share a time you have felt the love of the Lord this past week.- My companions both are great and have made this a lot of fun. Also we’re putting out a video this coming Sunday so please even if you don’t speak Spanish go like and share that video when it comes out kn Venid a Cristo en Norte Este Washington.

Something you didn’t expect…
How are the smoke from the fires impacting your life?- Terrible. We’ve been told to try and stay inside. We joke that someone should turn the render distance up on minecraft. I’ll send pictures.
I saw from the mission letter that they are doing the 100 days reading in prep for General Conference. How is that going for you? Did you start from the beginning and are catching up? – This is news to me I shall look into it haha.

This next week should be good. But yeah just taking it a day at a time haha.
Elder Tonkinson
https://eldertonkinson.home.blog/

Week 2-1

The Editor: Elder Tonkinson returned to the mission field on Tuesday. He had been sent home at the beginning of the Covid pandemic because he has moderate (though very well controlled) asthma. He appealed twice to be able to go back, even enlisting his allergist in the effort to no avail. He then completed two terms at Brigham Young University (BYU) working online from home, here in Florida. He planned to start at BYU Provo in the fall, registered for class, paid tuition, signed a housing contract. On 1 August, we purchased his ticked to fly to Salt Lake City on 21 August, so that he could spend a week with his older brothers and their families before starting school.

On August 11, the Missionary Department announced changes for missionary service for “Higher-Risk Health Conditions.” Gideon contacted our stake president, who contacted the missionary department, to determine if he would be eligible to serve, and he waited. Still not having heard by 21 August, he took his flight with everything he need for school (and very little he needed for his mission). On 26 August, Gideon received word that he could return to his mission and that they wanted him there by September 8 if possible. He pondered, prayed, and agonized over what to do, and decided to return. We then arranged for me to fly to Utah with his missionary clothes, books and other materials, which I did last Saturday. His brother, Caleb, and I took Gideon to the airport Tuesday afternoon. Salt Lake was having high winds (they hit 110 MPH the night before), and his flight was delayed a few hours, but he finally arrived to the Seattle Airport and was set apart again as a missionary. Tomorrow will be his p-day, and we should get more information then.

Top two photos at Salt Lake International Airport, middle photos from arrival at Seattle Tacoma International Airport, and last two photos from when Gideon was set apart as a missionary and became Elder Tonkinson again.

Week 36- The Will of the Lord

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.