Elder David Toolson: A Two for One Post

May 4, 2015

Hey y'all!
This week was pretty awesome. I've had a ton of fun this week. Tuesday I had my tradeoff with Elder Mellor. We had volleyball that night and made fun of his hugeness. Also discovered that Burger King has something I actually like. Reese's peanut butter cup pie. Hit that up. I also had a tradeoff with Elder Bell Thursday too and we had an awesome day that day. Taught like 6 lessons! Pretty crazy week this week trying to track down investigators and less actives and working our butts off. Super excited to talk to y'all next week though! Can't believe that's already coming around again... Where does the time go? We are very tired all the time but I guess that's a good thing right Evidence below. Also last interesting tidbit for the week. We bought 15 roast beef sandwiches from Arby's today because we had an awesome coupon. Got 50 bucks of Sammies for 25. Pretty cool. We had a lesson yesterday about not being offended based on Elder Bednar's talk from 2006. I have no idea what it's like in AZ but less actives are a huge problem here. Like there're a lot. Basically he said choose not to be offended. No one can offend you. It is always your choice. Don't forfeit the blessings of the sacrament, priesthood and temple attendance and full fellowship in the church all because someone intentionally or unintentionally offended you. It was awesome!

May 11, 2015

Hey y'all!

I literally have zero idea what to say in this e-mail since I talked to y'all ( or at least some of you) yesterday. Awesome to see y'alls faces yesterday, I'm starting to forget faces, so send me pictures every once in a while! I love them! So recap on this week, a lot of it has basically consisted of us hunting people down and teaching them, or dropping them. We've been doing a lot of clean-up just tracking people down and seeing if they are interested or not, so that's been fun. We had a couple members come out with us this week, but Thursday was probably the best. Brother Michael Musgrove came out with me and Elder Curtis, we were on a tradeoff that day and we tried going to see a bunch of Less Actives that night. We ended up seeing two, but the best was this guy named TC. He's a one-armed black man that used to mow lawns for a living, now that's skill. He talked about some past issues he had but was generally a super cool guy, hope he comes back. we also saw brother Murray that night too. I forget if I've told you about him but he always fattens us up with snickers and all that good stuff. He is the best and lives right behind us. Favorite thing I read this week: Mark 5, where Jesus casts devils out of a man and they enter a herd of swine. It's always been super random to me and never made any sense but thank the Lord for institute manuals. Now its like one of my favorites.“This particular instance of ejecting spirit beings from a stolen tenement is set forth in detail by the gospel writers to show:“(1) That evil spirits, actual beings from Lucifer’s realm, gain literal entrance into mortal bodies;“(2) That they then have such power over those bodies as to control the physical acts performed … ;“(3) That persons possessed by evil spirits are subjected to the severest mental and physical sufferings and to the basest sort of degradation--all symbolical of the eternal torment to be imposed upon those who fall under Satan’s control in the world to come; “(4) That devils remember Jesus from pre-existence … ;“(5) That the desire to gain bodies is so great among Lucifer’s minions as to cause them, not only to steal the mortal tabernacles of men, but to enter the bodies of animals;“(6) That the devils know their eventual destiny is to be cast out into an eternal hell from whence there is no return;“(7) That rebellious and worldly people are not converted to the truth by observing miracles; and “(8) That those cleansed from evil spirits can then be used on the Lord’s errand to testify of his grace and goodness so that receptive persons may be led to believe in him” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 1:311). Woo! I'm always tired but I guess that means we've been working hard so that's good. Love y'all Write you next week and see you again in six months or so. I have a ton of pictures for y'all too.

Elder Toolson (y'alls favorite missionary)