My Crazy Week

October 19, 2015

Hey Y'all!
     This week has been a great one! Last p-day my email was a little short... whoops. We had a "district" p-day at the stake center which basically turned into a zone p-day haha. There were about thirty missionaries there plus a bunch of members from the YSA came and we all played volleyball. I mostly sat off to the side and talked all day because I got to see Elder Sunderland again! I miss that man. So we basically just talked all day and he caught me up on how Waycross is doing and stuff. It was pretty nice. That P-day ended way too fast. 

Anyway, on Tuesday, we had a Zone meeting over at the institute and President and Sister Craig came. They have been coming to the past several, I think because almost every companionship in our zone is either training or with a greenie. After zone meeting we all went out to lunch at the Ocean Buffet which is legendary around here. It's this super good asian buffet and we got to eat with everyone. The highlight was probably about halfway through when Elder Geist (a missionary on the other side of town) just yells at everyone to be quiet, and we start to hear this tune over the radio, and then Elder Geist just starts singing along because it turns out they were playing "Jesus, O Thou Great Jehovah" over the radio. I thought it was hilarious they were playing church hymns at the Asian buffet. Also side note, something else I about died laughing at is that the 3rd ward Elders were telling us about this members background info and it said this guy believed he was called to be a destroying angel haha. Oh my gosh. 

On Wednesday we biked out into the boonies trying to find some less-actives, we were moderately successful, and we stopped to take a selfie with some horses in the process so it was definitely worth it (don't worry I'll attach it). We met with a recent convert that day and she was being super funny the entire time. she was talking about this Christian book store that hates the Mormons around here and she said if she went in there and they told her she wasn't Christian she would say, "I'm more Christian than you!" that made my day haha. And we taught Book of Mormon class that night. When we got back that night Elder Smith just looked at me and said, " We biked a marathon today..." so I guess we biked 26 miles.

Thursday we knocked into this guy Colton. He's about 17 or so. Anyways he is so golden. He opens the door and we teach the whole restoration right there on his doorstep and then we asked if there would be a better time to come back and teach him a little bit more, and he says, "Well I got some time now" so we basically go in and ask him if he has any questions and they were all about the plan of salvation, so we ended up teaching him that too and then we figured we might as well just go for it and invite him to baptism so we did. He hasn't committed to a date yet, but we'll see. So yeah we basically just taught the first 3 lessons all in one. It was pretty great. We had dinner with the Dahls that night and they gave us cheesecake...super good. We also went out with Bro Lee (our ward mission leader) and saw a couple of less-actives that night. 

Friday we went out to Archer and saw a bunch of people. I guess I was feeling adventurous or something but at the end of the lesson with this Less-active I asked him what plant that was on his front porch and he said it was a plant with super hot peppers. I guess I didn't believe him sooo I ate one. It burned my mouth and I had to hold back tears for like 30 mins. It was terrible but worth the experience. I also totally gave a couple to the sisters yesterday. They are going to hate me... We ate at this super sketchy restaurant in Archer called Los Avinas, and it was actually some of the best mexican I've ever had. We also went out and saw this crazy guy Harold. During the lessons he said if we feel something biting us it's probably fleas... I think that paints a picture pretty well of the situation we were in. 

Saturday we biked about a million miles and had a super powerful lesson with this investigator at the Burger King. And yesterday we had a pretty good church and we had dinner with the Christensens. They fed us spare ribs and they were so darn good. We had a last minute lesson before we were about to head in and called it a week! Love all of you!

Elder Toolson

A Short Note

October 12, 2015

Hey Y'all!
     This week has been a good one! Last Monday we were at the institute most of the day. Usually on the first and last 
p day all the missionaries gather at the institute so it was a lot of fun--about 20 or so missionaries there, pretty packed house. That night we knocked doors ( we've been doing a lot of that this week) and met this awesome guy, Rick. We went and saw another less active family that night too. On Tuesday, I had a trade off with Elder Caputo and we taught like 6 lessons that day-- pretty awesome. I was sick like half the week but I worked anyways... we had some interesting tracting days and ran into some crazy stuff. I don't have a lot of time, basically our whole zone is playing volleyball. 
Love y'all! 

Elder Toolson

the mickey mouse house

a random field we accidentally biked into.

Armadillos and Guns Blazing

October 5, 2015

Hey Y'all!

It's been a great week this week! Lots and lots has happened. Sorry you didn't get my e-mail last week. Something must have messed up but I still have it I think so I'll send it after this one. 

Last Tuesday was P-day (Wednesday was transfers this week and me and Elder Smith are staying together, not a shocker since he is in training...) SO Tuesday EVERYONE goes to the institute building to say our last goodbyes and such. Transfer Tuesdays are always fun. That night we drove out to Newberry (a small town on the edge of Gville) to have dinner with some members, the Browns. It was pretty good and we tried to find some people for the rest of the night. 

Wednesday was good, but exhausting. I got up on Andrea's roof and blew all of the leaves and branches off. I also trimmed up a lot of her trees while I was up there and then we drove out to Howard's to mow his lawn. I was so exhausted, but still having fun. AND then that night, the sisters were supposed to teach Book of Mormon class, but they told us they would be late and to cover the first couple of minutes, which wasn't too bad. But then in the middle of class, we get a text saying they won't be coming, So we had to teach the Book of Mormon class on the fly. It went pretty well and Elder Smith got to practice his "winging it" skills. 

Thursday was super busy and we had a district meeting with our entirely new district basically. It was pretty good. We took Elder Thompson and his trainee Elder Colemere out shopping and to lunch. We ate at this hole in the wall place called Golden Buddha. It was super good. We had dinner at the Andersen's that night and went and saw Nancy with Bro. Christensen. We had an awesome lesson and headed home for the night. On our way into our apartment we saw an armadillo and both of us started flipping out. Not that big of a deal, but we never see an alive armadillo ever, just a bunch of dead ones all over the place. So it was nice. 

Friday we weekly planned and went out to Archer that night. We went and saw Ron and took Bro Lee (our ward mission leader) with us. Our lesson with Ron was really exhausting for me. We were supposed to talk about tithing, but he came out guns blazing with some Word of Wisdom issues and Elder Smith had never experienced this before so he didn't know what to say and Bro Lee was just the member along for the ride. So it was an interesting lesson. 

Saturday and Sunday were general conference days. My bike has a flat (again), so I rode a children's bike without a seat the 4 miles to the church and then back.... my legs are trashed right now. But it was good. I learned a lot, my favorite thing would probably have to be ponderizing the scriptures. I thought that was awesome. Y'all have a good week!

Elder Toolson

David's sweet ride

Creating Memories with his Greenie

David Mowing

Transfer Tuesday?

A Spiritual Smackdown

September 29, 2015

Last week's email I meant to send.

Hey y'all!
        This week has been great! we taught a TON of people this week, almost got twice as many lessons as we did last week so that's good. Last Monday we had dinner at the Frank's house and knocked some doors that night. We ran into these people who talked about their ducks for a solid 15 min., so that was fun. 

Tuesday I got to go to High Springs with Elder Hartvigsen! We actually temporarily came back to Gainesville to help this member get a sleeper sofa (the sofa with a bed inside of it) into the back of his SUV, so that was intense. I basically destroyed my back in the process, good gracious. It's okay though because he treated us to Wendy's after. We did normal missionary stuff most of the day. I was Really tired so I picked up some junk food at a gas station to keep me going haha. That was my last exchange with Elder Hartvigsen though because both he and Elder Purcell are leaving, so that's super sad. Basically our entire district is leaving... the only companionship that hasn't changed is me and Elder Smith, so it'll be an interesting one this transfer. 

On Wednesday, we did service for Bro. and Sis. Willingham. We picked up sticks around their huge yard and got to feed their pet chicken. They call it Black Beauty and I thinks it's the funniest thing ever. This chicken comes in the house at night and is basically an indoor/outdoor pet chicken. Anyways, we had dinner with the Dahl's and taught Book of Mormon class that night to everyone. It was on Alma 8-12, where Alma and Amulek team up and lay a spiritual smackdown on everyone in town and especially Zeezrom. Some good chapters.... 

Thursday I was on my death bed (not really) but I was super sick. I usually get really mad that I'm sick about half way or so through the day because it's boring as all get out. So I sucked it up and went out anyways :) We went to the Valentine's that night for dinner and they had a non-member friend over there too. Good thing we went. 

Friday we planned for the next week and knocked into this lady Debbie. She had met missionaries 20 years ago, but she either forgot or it wasn't us because she thought we didn't believe in the Holy Spirit... we cleared that one up and invited her to church. We actually set up a "church swap" with her and agreed to go to her church if she came to ours. 

On Saturday, we helped a member move out of the ward, and went out to Archer that day. We tried tracking down a bunch of names and saw Howard that night. Sunday Debbie did end up coming to church and it was one of the most powerful fast and testimony meetings I've ever been in. If I could choose the one day I wanted everyone to show up to church, it was this one. So we went to Debbie's church that night around 7. She goes to what's called "The Greenhouse" church over at University of Florida. It was pretty intense. I had a ton of fun. There was a mega loud christian rock band up front and people waving their hands in the air and screaming hallelujah in my ear, it was great! And then Preacher Mike came and gave us a sermon on joy and quoted Philippians quite a bit. It was a good experience for me to get a perspective on the way these people believe. 

Yesterday, was a pretty uneventful day, other than the fact I got to stand about five feet away from this super huge eagle ( I didn't get any closer because I thought it would claw my face off...) but yeah, I'll attach the picture. 

One huge revelation I had this morning was in Mosiah 2:34. I forget if I've told you or not, but I'm doing a Book of Mormon read through on the Atonement, and just decided a couple days ago to start a power scripture wall, just short powerful scriptures I find. It said, "...ye are eternally indebted to your heavenly father, to render him all that you have and are;" 

It's my privilege to even try and pay him back by being in his service these 2 years and the rest of my life. I love my Heavenly Father and I love all of you. Have a good week! 


Elder Toolson

David and his Eagle (Jim thinks it's a Falcon)

Power Scripture Wall

 Florida University Stadium (David is in the corner on the right)

David doing his Florida University Gator Clap

Meetings Galore

September 21, 2015

Hey y'all!

     This week was fantastic! One of the better weeks since I've been here. We got invited  over to the Gordon's for dinner on Monday and they had a non member friend there so we had an impromptu member-present lesson so that was awesome. 

Tuesday was the bomb. We taught 5 people that day! We taught two new people who we were just prompted to see that day. We were just biking down the road and turned left into this neighborhood and I don't even know why but then we taught two people in a row. It was great. We had a powerful lesson with Anne and Nancy (investigators) that night and brought Bro. Christiansen with us. Its about a 45 minute bike out to their house and we had a long, but good lesson. We ended up making it back to the apartment around 10:15 that night. Good gracious, I was so tired. 

On Wednesday it rained ALL DAY. I was so done with it about 4 hours into the rainstorm. But it was good, Nancy came to Book of Mormon class that night, so that turned my night around. Side note, the ride home from Book of Mormon class is super dark and my light is awful, so it's quite the experience every time haha. Elder Purcell was here with me once for it and I heard him yell out behind me, " OH MY GOSH! I feel like I'm in the mist of darkness in Lehi's dream!" I about fell off my bike I was laughing so hard. We also had district meeting that day. 

Thursday we had interviews with President Craig and that went super good. I had my interview and Sister Craig gave an awesome training on stress. It really helped me out a bunch and she used a whole bunch of old pictures of all of us the day we came out and then what we are like now. I'll attach them because I think they are hilarious. Sister Craig made the joke about my picture on my first day and said it looks like I was thinking I could duck behind Elder Nielsen (the huge one) and make a run for it haha. We weekly planned that day too and saw Retha. 

On Friday we had yet another meeting, 3 meetings in 3 days, goodness. We had to drive to Jacksonville for the trainer trainee meeting and it was super weird being on the flipside. We basically just talked about what has been working, what some issues have been, how to fix them, etc. the best part was definitely the free lunch and I got to rehash about Starke with Elder Warren and how everyone was doing during lunch. We saw a few people that night afterwards. 

Saturday was an awesome day. We spent the day out in Archer mowing lawns for the most part. We mowed Howard's lawn and Donna's lawn. They were basically jungles we were mowing with a push mower and it didn't have a gas cap so we had to put a little gas in at a time so it wouldn't spurt out. It was fun though. Doing yard work has become very therapeutic for me.That night we went to this neighborhood and basically everyone fell through there, BUT we just started talking with everyone around the complex and did a street contact with these two women and they just start laughing and are like, Yeah! we are actually in the 2nd ward! So we saved it and had a lesson with them and their entire family (all 7 of them)!

Yesterday was good too. Church was great and our investigator Ron stayed for Sunday School finally! We had to teach the class on the Word of Wisdom. For some reason the new converts in this ward have taken to calling them "the wisdoms".... anyway we finished church and had dinner at bishop's house and hitched a ride with the Yaedes, who also came (they are new to the ward). We knocked some doors for the rest of night. Hope Y'all have a fantastic week!

Elder Toolson

 This is the "After" picture he was talking about.  The First Day picture he sent would not open.  I'll have to see if he can resend it.

David's makeshift rain gear.

Jungle Yards

David's companion helping with yard work

Elder Dube Conference

September 14, 2015

Hey Y'all!

This week was awesome. Last Monday we had dinner with the Foglemans and I burned a shirt there for my 1 year! Woo! It was pretty good times. On Tuesday we did service with Bro. Willingham digging cactus for the first half of the day. I always get stabbed by a piece of cactus at some point haha. So we came back and had a power trade off with the zone leaders and I got to go to their area for a few hours and tract. Then we came back to my area and we had two appointments and found a new guy.

On Wednesday we saw Retha and went to Book of Mormon that night. The poor sisters teaching it... Everyone was going crazy that night. At one point when Amlici (from Alma 2) died a recent convert yelled out, "WOW. didn't see that one coming! That's crazy man!" It was a blast for me since I wasn't teaching :) Thursday we drove up to Lake City and had a conference with Elder Dube of the Seventy. He is HILARIOUS. He was cracking jokes all the time and was just a fun guy. I learned a lot from him and he is a very humble guy. 

On Friday, we went out to Sister Day's house, this super sweet old lady, and moved a bunch of boxes for her. Let me paint a picture of how much family history stuff she had. It took us a solid hour to move them all using 2 Dolly's and it blocked off most of her bedroom. I couldn't even believe it. 

Saturday was THE BEST DAY. We saw Retha earlier in the day and knocked some doors at this one place. We gave away 4 Book of Mormons in like half an hour. It felt AWESOME. And we got two return appointments! Yesterday our Ward had a primary program at church. We stopped on the side of the road and got some free peaches from this really nice guy. We ate dinner at the Christiansens, and I had steak for the first time in a year, and it was magnificent. We ate dinner at a different members house every night this week. I love it here....

One Year Mark- Burning a white shirt

Hump Day--Good! Five layers of PB&J--Not Good.

September 7, 2015

Hey y'all!

     This week has been a pretty good one. I have a lot of pictures I took this week... 

Elder Smith's bike broke earlier this week and we've been borrowing another Elders ever since. It was hilarious. I'm biking ahead and lose track of him and then I just see him come strolling around the corner with his pedal in one hand and his bike in the other haha. So we walked the rest of that night... 

We did LOTS of door knocking this week and met some interesting characters and some awesome potential investigators. My favorite was probably Phyllis. It's this super nice house with a couple of lion statues out front and she comes out rocking some high water shorts and a bunch of clips in her hair. She's like 90 by the way. So we do an approach telling her all about how amazing the Book of Mormon is and she asks us how much she needs to pay us for one and we tell her it's free and give her one, and then right as we are about to go she asks us if we believe in spirits and we said yes. So she goes on about this chair that she has  from the 1530's or something and that a Viking spirit appears sometimes and she doesn't know what to call it so she calls it Sir Viking. Haha it was pretty funny. 

Also I found my dream house that day. I couldn't resist taking a picture. We had dinner with the Foglemans in our ward on Thursday night (my hump day) and they are awesome! The best Mormon family ever. Their kids even made a temple out of Legos. My goodness haha. They invited us back today to burn a shirt since they found out it was my year mark. I'll send y'all pictures. We had Timothy(their son) and Frank out with us a bunch this week. 

A bunch of my bread is about to go bad so I thought it would be a good idea to make a five layer double decker PB and J. I was wrong. 

Saturday was very spiritually exhausting for me. I gave two blessings and had to get in a biblical debate with a couple of our investigators. Very tiring stuff. And then yesterday the Gordon's had us over for dinner and we brought Frank. We went out to Archer and had to change a tire for Donna, a recent convert, at like 8 at night haha. I think it's the strangest thing that I've had to change a tire on a Sunday in every single one of my areas so far haha. 

I usually listen to a conference talk or two a day and something I really loved was President Uchtdorfs take on the grace of God ( a term thrown around a lot down here) and he said this, "When we kneel to pray, is it to replay the greatest hits of our own righteousness, or is it to confess our faults, plead for God’s mercy, and shed tears of gratitude for the amazing plan of redemption? Salvation cannot be bought with the currency of obedience; it is purchased by the blood of the Son of God. Thinking that we can trade our good works for salvation is like buying a plane ticket and then supposing we own the airline. Or thinking that after paying rent for our home, we now hold title to the entire planet earth."

Anyways, that's just about my week. Love you all! Have a great week! Also, thanks mom for the hump day package!!! It was AWESOME.

▪️Elder Toolson ▪️

If anyone wants to send me stuff

1505 Fort Clarke Blvd Apt. 16-203

Gainesville,FL 32606

 David's Dream House

 Hump Day Goodies

 Elder Smith's Broken Bike

Lego Temple