Monday, April 18, 2016

Lots of Ups and Downs and All Sorts of Other Things

April, 18, 2016

Hey Y'all!
     This week has been absolutely ridiculous. Lots of ups and downs and all sorts of other things. Monday was an amzing start to our week. We tried a few people that didn't answer and so we knocked doors. We ended up finding 4 AWESOME new investigators, which never happens. We also found an investigator who has been reading a chapter in the Book of Mormon for the past year and starts off her study every morning with Moroni 10:3-5. It's so awesome. 

On Tuesday we went down to Ocala for their District meeting. It was fun and it was good to see everyone! Since we spent a ton of miles to come to Ocala we wanted to stay for a little bit so we went on a "blitz"(a short Trade-off with both me and Elder Vance in their area, like 2-3 hours usually) with some Elders. I went with Elder Stanley (in Ocala, we have a different one serving in Gainesville) and we had a lot of fun and talked about the area. We knocked some doors and talked to some people. I think we realized at the end that we were knocking a retirement community since everyone was way old. So we get done and we head back into town and end up getting back around 6:30. We went out and knocked doors till pretty much the end of the night and found this Asian guy named Tai. Side note: he is the first Asian guy I have taught successfully and gotten a return appointment with! Woo!

Wednesday I had trade-offs with Elder Fadely from the 2nd Ward here in Gville. It was super fun and we spent most of our day in the ghetto. We taught some amazing people and had a really awesome lesson with, Sheila, one of our 'gators. We taught a ton of other people and went out to teach Emmanuel and actually took him to come and see a few other investigators. I LOVE taking him out with us. And by the end of the night he said he was actually considering serving a mission. I really hope he decides too. But yeah.

On Thursday we immediately went from one Trade-off to another. We weekly planned and then had our trade-off with Elder Ward and Elder Stanely. I went with Elder Ward and we ended up tracting in this super ghetto neighborhood. Elder Ward is a fantastic Elder and I can see him becoming a zone leader very soon. But it was way fun! We talked to some crazy people.

Friday we did service for Sis. Harding and I spread some mulch and cleaned out some gutters. She gave us some cards to get free meals at the Red Onion--this super swanky restaurant in town that she owns.

Saturday was killer. We taught 7 people! In one day. It was awesome. We played basketball in da hood, with Emmanuel and a bunch of his friends. I held my own, but they were pretty good haha.

Sunday was the WORST. And the best, it was a weird, very emotionally taxing day. We had absolutely no one at church. Not. A living. Soul. And we had like 10 lined up to come and 2 rides set up but it just all epic failed. So please pray that we will get someone in church this week because we NEED it. I left church early with about 10 others from the Ward and went to this place called Takachale. It's a mental health institution and we put on a church service for them. We Sang like 8 songs and I gave a 5 min. "Jesus loves you" kind of talk. It was fun and quite different to have everyone start clapping after everything and just shouting out the most random things while you are speaking/singing. After church we ate dinner, and went to a recent convert's patriarchal blessing. The spirit is unbelievable inside a patriarch's home. Afterwards we went to Sis. Bruggeman's house with Bishop to give her a blessing. Afterwards we tried tons of people but no luck. We did end up running into a less active member and taught her and her kids. But yeah! That's my week! Love y'all!


▪️Elder Toolson▪️

T-Shirts and Short Letters

April 4, 2016
No Letter :(


April 11, 2016

Hey Y'all!

This week has been pretty good! Monday we had a golden hour way out in the boonies of our area and found two really awesome people that day. We biked ALL day. 

Wednesday we had a really, really good day. We had zone meeting and I gave a training on how to change your mission based off of this talk by a navy admiral. It was way good. 

Friday we had weekly planning and we taught this lady who had a picture of black Jesus. So of course I had to take a picture. We had stake conference this weekend. It was way good. 

Anyways, we are about to go play soccer, and my desire to write is lessening by the week haha. I'll do my best to write a longer one next week! 

In other news, a while back I made t-shirts for my district in Fleming Island and they FINALLY  got in. The picture makes me look way skinny but I promise I ain't that skinny.

Elder Toolson





These are the Zone Leaders and APs