Three Trade-offs and the Blitz

March 23, 2015

Hey y'all!
     This week has been probably one of the best weeks ever! I went on three trade-offs this week and it was fantastic. Tuesday I was down in Kingsland with Elder Bell and he's pretty cool. He's the zone leader. We went to a member's house and she had me sign my name and my favorite scripture on a card.  She has a whole picture frame full of them from every missionary that visited.  We had some grilled cheese and we went tracting with an investigator and we talked to some awesome people at night and did service for a lady. We traded back the next day and then traded off again like 50 minutes later. I was here with Elder Lewis from Jesup on Wednesday and we had the time of our lives. We tried a ton of people and brought a member out with us and taught this guy Samuel Adams who is super old and knows a lot and has a ton of awards. He says he was one of the last people to sign out before Watergate which is pretty sweet. Anyway we traded again on Thursday with Elder Curtis from Waycross 1st and we had a ball. We could totally be buddies back home. He's from Mesa too which is awesome! We tracted a ton and I've found the more flexible you are in a door approach the better it goes.  We talked to some awesome people. Yesterday was a pretty great day too. We go out teaching with Shane Bennett all the time. He's a recent RM and he's pretty awesome. We tried seeing a few people and had lunch at the bishop's house. We helped them hook up a trailer too. Today, in a couple of hours or so some members invited us to the hog show. Basically people raise their hogs and show them off to the judges. I'll try and get some pics--goin to be awesome. Anyways after that we did a Ward Blitz which is basically a ton of people in the ward came to the church at 5 and we all went out trying to contact a ton less actives and new members and other things. I split and went with Brother Duncan Bennet, the Young Men's President. He's pretty awesome. We saw a couple people and came back but it was fun. Hope y'all had a week as awesome a mine (but probably not :) )

Elder Toolson

 Richmond Avenue, Waycross, GA

Elder Toolson, Elder Curtis, Elder Andersen

David's Zone--Lake City Zone
Back Row: Elder Toolson, Elder Brian, Elder Payne, Elder Walgamott, Elder Vance, Elder Cooper, Elder Monson, Elder Mann
Middle Row: Elder Warren, Elder Abeyta, Elder Collett, Elder Ericksen, Elder Anderson, Elder Stoker, Elder Moose, Elder Crawford
Front Row: Sister Whetstone, Sister Williams, Sister Donahue, Sister Chamberlain, Sister Craig, President Craig, Sister Call (?), Sister Francom, Sister Knoll, Sister Hart

"Oh I Semi Saved Someone's Life so That was Cool."

March 16, 2015

Hey y'all!

     Sorry for last weeks email, it was super short... Anyways more of an update on Waycross. It's awesome here. The ward is super cool, and we have several RMS that just got back that want to come out with us so that's awesome. I've been really bad about writing in my journal so I'll try and remember this week as best I can. Alright so Friday was a Mission Conference down in Orange Park with Elder Kapischke which was absolutely amazing.  We had a lesson with this lady Leslie this week that lasted almost 3 hours. She could talk for days haha. She's super sweet though. Oh I semi saved someone's life so that was cool. This guy was walking down the street and was like super drunk so we talked to him and he said he was on his way to kill himself because his aunt died. I told him how much we loved him and how much Jesus Christ did and a bunch of other things and at the end he kept saying, you saved my life, you saved my life. So that was pretty crazy. The main family in the ward here is the Bennetts which is pretty cool because it reminds me of Eric. They are pretty awesome too.  One of the sons, Shane got back from his mission in Brazil  Friday and is awesome.  He already has come teaching with us once. We spent all last week biking. We are on a car share here so we have the car every other week. We have an apartment but it's pretty nice and a tiny countryish. I totally planted some carrots so I'll send you an update on that. This ward is a lot harder to learn the names of members since it's pretty much double the size of Starke ward. About 160-170 ish people come every week. I'm in Waycross 2nd Ward. Elder Carrington has been out one transfer (6 weeks) longer than me, and he's District Leader. I've been District Leader buddy my entire mission.... He's from Salem, Utah anyway. Waycross has 2 wards and a set of elders and sisters in both. Think that hopefully answers all y'all's questions.  Ask me questions if ya got any. Later. Hope y'all have a solid week.

Elder Toolson

Waycross, GA

March 9, 2015

Hey Y'all! 

Not much to report on this week. I'm up in Waycross, GA now just getting adjusted and all. I love the area and the ward is super awesome. I think I'm going to like it here. Not much has happened here other than just doing work. We have a bunch of new investigators and it's going super good up here. My comp Elder Carrington is pretty cool.Tuesday in Starke the Beckhams came down from Keystone to say bye to me and everyone else called and it was super sad and all that. One of the Cowarts actually called us from Starke yesterday so that was awesome! Hope they're doing good. Well not much to say other than new area, new life stuff. My address is:

503 Union St. 
Waycross,Ga 31501

So hit me up with mail!!!! It's so much better when it's on a piece of paper.

Elder Toolson

Elder Warren and Elder Toolson

So Long Starke

March 3, 2015

Hey Y'all!

     Well, as you've probably guessed from the title I'm leaving Starke. I'm super sad about it, but guess where I get to go now?! Waycross!! I've totally accomplished my goal of serving in Georgia at least once in the mission. I'll be serving with Elder Carrington there and all that jazz happens tomorrow. I can't really remember anything that happened this week to be honest. I usually leaf through my journal before I come here but we've had a crazy P-day today so I'll explain that. The Lake Butler Elders and two of their investigators came over here to Starke this morning and we all ate our free pancakes at IHOP (its national pancake day btw, hit that up if you can). So we ate there awhile and came back to the church. We played basketball for maybe 2-3 hours until we were dead tired. The Beckhams came over to the church while they were in Starke to say goodbye, so that was pretty nice. I'm totally going to miss everyone... Anyways after they left and we got tired we went to IHOP again this time in our P-day clothes and got some more free pancakes. Haha working the system! 

Which brings us to now. Anyways this past week we had zone meeting over in Lake City when we were supposed to get our new ipads but they were late and we ended up getting them yesterday! I'm in the process of trying to recover all of my Mormon Messages and general conference talks that I had downloaded before. We've had pretty good days and pretty bad days this week. On Saturday the Cowart's baptism was put off for a later date so it's pretty depressing I won't be here for that and an investigator dropped us that day too. Nothing to do but move on I guess. But yesterday we had a super good tracting hour and got 2 lessons and some solid new investigators as well as 2 return appointments. A lot of this information is probably irrelavent since I'm going to a new area and won't be able to follow up on it but it happened. 

Funny story of the week, we found this guy yesterday who yelled over at us before we talked to him. He was super drunk and wanted to know why we saw him as a sinner because he drank coffee and smoked and drank and other things. We tried explaining ourselves and Jesus Christ has asked us to become as He is, perfect. But apparently he wrote a thesis on the fact that Jesus was in fact not perfect and was born "a bastard child" because Mary had been raped by Roman Centurions..... so weird the things we hear sometimes. But here's some correct doctrine and a quote I really love from Neal A. Maxwell since I don't have that much in the way of events this week. "Moments are the molecules that make up eternity" I loved that quote. Neal A. Maxwell is very much a speaker to the intellectual inside of us and I enjoy reading and rereading his talks and learn something new each time. So make every moment count, we have so very little time on this earth. When you stand at the judgment seat and are asked what you have been doing down on earth, will you be able to say that you were a follower of Christ and have been busy building up his kingdom? Or merely give the answer we usually do when that question is asked with a "not much..." Hope y'all have a great week and I'll give you the lowdown on Waycross next week!

Elder Toolson

6 Month Anniversary Tie Burning