Week 14. Christmas! And some more stuff

  Hello. I'm sorry,  my p days are switched around because of the holidays so the next two Mondays will be normal days but today and new years will be p days. So... MERRY CHRISTMAS   I hope your day is awesome and that you have fun!! Also don't forget the Savior and Heavenly Father! They are the real reasons why we can have the happy moments now and for eternity, so drink it all in and prepare yourself for eternal joy!!

The Biggest Zone Conference ever - it had two zones combined for Christmas.  So after getting a fire instruction we had lunch where I beat Elder Fuluvaka in an eating competition. Then we had a very cool Christmas devotional with musical numbers. 

Brother Berner - we went through the whole ward list with the ward council and so our ward mission leader made way better notes than me, formatted everything, and gave us a list of people to visit in the 4 (but really 5) different towns of our area. It was super awesome that he did that and really mind boggling that there are so many people we don't even know if they still live there or not. So it is an amazing opportunity for us to help the ward and maybe meet some new people. 

Crystal - a less active, we helped her unpack some of her stuff from a uhaul and promised the next day to help her finish. Turns out she did the rest of the truck by herself except for three things. She's a trooper. But the best thing is that she wants to bring her daughter to primary to have that good upbringing and meet some kids her age. So we really hope she can start coming and since our ward is awesome, get some friends. 

John - So we were given two loaves of bread from the senior couple and we wanted to use them for the light the world challenge on the 23. So that day we did some service for Sky, gave her a loaf, and then asked her who she knew that we could give the second one to. She gave us John's name and address and so we went over and talked with him for a bit. He knew who we were and said that he would enjoy having us over after the holidays to talk, so it was an amazing miracle and I hope that his heart is ready. 

Christmas Day - So the day consisted of a lot of talking with familia and partying at the Hymas' house. We played some games, a puzzle, had an amazing dinner, and shared an awesome story. Definitely had the Spirit helping because we had not prepared one and although I shared the same story from a lesson before the message was completely different. It was cool and a very fun day. 

Y'all know the true meaning of Christmas. And I challenge each one of you to think and come up with a commitment that you want to make to become closer to Christ. Whether it be praying everyday, reading the scriptures, come follow me, or serving others through acts of kindness or a mission. Whatever it is, start thinking of it now and make the commitment for this next year to do it and feel the change as you follow Him. I know the blessings that can come. I see them everyday, and I can promise that you can too if you do this. 

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I love you, the Lord loves you and Satan hates your face. 

Pictures

- some ocean photos

- Christmas presents 

-christmas tree and cookies for Santa

- and a Ken doll 

Week 13. I almost baptized someone

 Stuff happened. Lots of traveling, lots of cancellations, and for some reason every meeting at church ended early so that was kinda odd. But here are some highlights:

Transfer Day - So... I am no longer the tallest one in my mission. My new trainee is one inch taller than me. So now not only is everyone making jokes about us both being tall, they are making jokes about me no longer being the tallest one. The youth here are brutal  But Elder Moake is awesome and isn't socially awkward like me so it's great!

Senior Couple - This last district council the senior couple, the Sister, tried to take over. It was very funny and she was trying to bend things to her schedule, saying that district council was taking up her day. It was funny because I think our new district leader is used to having it at 2pm and the Senior Sister wanted to move it to 9 am. But because of our personal study time and the fact that I am a 40 minute drive away we were able to calm her down and let her realize that 11:30 (the time we've been doing it at) is the earliest time we can do it. I promise it would have been more funny if you were there. 

All day in the kitchen - our carpets got cleaned which means that we had to move all the furniture off the carpet so we put our chairs in the kitchen and stayed there for a while so that was fun. We had to join a mission devotional while in there so they got to see our kitchen in the bathroom. You might be able to find that picture on facebook.

Taiva - This random lady tried joining our ward page and so I have been messaging her and once she gets work off on sundays she wants to come to church and learn how to come closer to Christ. It was so cool how it came out of nowhere. So she should be able to come next month and that will be so awesome!

Crowders - So the story is kinda confusing but here it is: Elder Herbst interviewed them but we forgot to get the forms and he left, so I got the forms, got it signed by President and then had them because the Sisters in the area were both getting transfered out. So then I was talking with the mom getting the info for the forms and she said the Grandpa who was baptizing them might not since he got into a car accident so she said she might ask me. 

But the grandpa ended up being fine and I got to watch them get baptized. It was still a very cool experience.

Today I wanted to share a story that I love and will probably botch but here it is: 

Up in the northpole was a kingdom of children who never grew old. By the kingdom was a forest and by the forest was a great wall. And on the other side of that wall, at the top, a house leaned up against it: Santa's house. Every Christmas eve Santa would fill the forest with toys so the children could go out and choose toys to give to their friends the next day. 

One day a man traveled far to come to the city by the wall. He found the children and asked them about their tradition. After the king and queen told him he suggested that they just go and grab toys for themselves so they could get exactly what they wanted. The king and queen thought it was a great idea and made a proclamation to the children that that's what they'd do the next year. 

One boy didn't like the rule because he had a sister who couldn't walk and so he vowed he would get no toys for himself, just his sister. 

The next Christmas eve all the children went out looking for toys but found none. Then they saw that little boy with a bag full of toys. They asked him were he had gotten it and he pointed them back in the direction he had come, but they could see none over there.

It got so bad that three days later they had three children scale the giant wall to ask Santa why he had forgotten them. He replied that Christmas is for giving not taking. The toys were there you just couldn't see them. But that one boy, who was selfless could and he had joy because he could see the joy he brought his sister. 

From that day forth their was a rule that you would always seek for toys to give away. For giving is the true meaning of Christmas. 

I did not do that story justice, but I want you all to know that God loves us and He gave us His Son as the ultimate gift. Because of that gift we can receive so many others. Please remember the true meaning of Christmas this year, and share it with others. I know the great joy that can come as we share the Gospel, as we share our love, and as we give our thanks.

3 Nephi, Chapter 12

        14 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

15 Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house;

16 Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

 You are all beautiful candlesticks, and I love you. Share your light. -Elder Tolman 

PICTURES. hope you enjoy 

(Some cool pics, a sea lion, and some good photos of me  girls in Washington better watch out because my hearts locked)

Week 12. Transfer hit hard

 So this week was a huge punch in the gut. Lots of surprises and traveling. Here are the highlights:

Hochs - I've talked about them before, but this week brother Hoch bought a tens unit and Elder Fuluvaka had some fun shooting electricity into me. Then they gave us some money to buy ourselves dinner at a restaurant called Cozy's and I think it was the best burger I've ever had. 

Power out - Wednesday we had a power outage at 7 in the morning, so no breakfast. The power outage didn't really affect us because we spent most of the day on the main land because Elder Herbst had his Temple trip. But that night we had a lesson. And after we shared our Light The World message the power came on so that was pretty cool

Tiana - She's still the same but is starting to get an open heart and is going to read the Book of Mormon all the way through from the beginning so it'll be good. 

Gone or dead - Our whole ward council got together to go through the list of our 400 members because they wanted to figure out why only have 30 people coming. We only made it through half but this one lady nobody knew so I looked at our notes for her and it said Gone or dead. And I straight up just said that and everyone busted up laughing. 

Training - yeah, so I just got done with training and now I have to train. It's kinda scary, not going to lie. But there was an awesome devotional that morning that I'll talk about at the bottom. 

Seth - He came to church!!! It was the best feeling ever. He asked questions and joined Elders quorum and talked a lot. It was very awesome. 

So the devotional was bomb and I didn't even realize how much until that night when I got called as a trainer and I looked back on my notes for the day. And so I just wanted to share what I had written down from the three speakers and then how I put it all together 

1. The Lord makes up for our inadequacies. It's not what we can do, but what He can do. 

2. We are all children of God. We all have divine potential. Remember that, and find the strength from knowing who you can become. 

3. We become more like Christ by using His Atonement. Give your work to the Lord, and through His Atonement He can help us. 

Our inadequacies are to make us humble and recognize that we need Jesus and His Atonement, and that through Him and His Atonement we can fulfill our divine potential. 

I hope y'all know that, or can come to know that for yourself. It really helped me and I hope it helped you too. I love all of you and sorry for the late email. 

Week 11

 This week has been pretty interesting and pretty tiring. Not as tiring as all the missionaries up north who got to do lots of service because of flooding, but having a chiropractor for a dad I guess I just got used to certain things (#priviledged). This next week will be my last one in training and I can't even imagine transferring to another area right now so hopefully I can stay. Well, here are the stories of the week:

Banding a Cow - I didn't really do anything, I just stood there. As soon as they saw that I was a stick and that Elder Fuluvaka was tongan they told him to get in and help. So I just handed them stuff and watched as the young bull walked around funny afterwards.

Tiana - She is still the same, and is kinda bible bashing, but is really just being super skeptical so hopefully she can have an open heart next time we go back and explain why those scriptures aren't talking about the Book of Mormon.

Cool riddle - Someone told me a cool riddle, email me the answer if you figure it out. There is a house with no way to look inside. On the outside are three light switches, one of which turns on a light inside. You can only enter the house once and then you have to know which one

Seth - We gave him a church tour.. of the wrong building, but it worked out and most are similar so it was still good. Then on Saturday we went with a bunch of young men and elders to chop wood for him. I was using an axe and I was not making much progress but we got all of it done in two hours and it was a lot. But we invited him to church... and he didn't show. But he called and promised us he would come next week so we are so excited!! While we were chopping wood I handed an axe to a 14 year-old, Rickel, (he knows how to use an axe, he lives in Washington) and I told him not to tell his mom that I gave it to him. The first thing I heard when we got to their house was "Elder Tolman, how could you!" Literally the first thing he did was tell on me. But don't worry I got him back (p.s. his mom was joking)

We got Clapped - (That means we got in trouble) On Wednesday we were up in Oak Harbor for most of the day and apparently we had planned a dinner with a member at 4. Stuff happened, but the moral of the story is we got there real late and the husband came out and told us we can't be late, not even 5 minutes late. It was very much needed and I've definitely done better and making sure we leave on time and all so although it was a terrible memory it was an experience I needed to get better. Plus, I think we're good now.

Koran - So we were driving and saw this man holding up lit signs that read Christ saves, or Emmanuel, and stuff like that super cool. So we stopped to get pictures and this man saw that we were missionaries and started to tell us we were brainwashed, but in a nice way, then one of my companions started to try and defend what we believed and it kinda turned into a bible bash. So that was interesting and funny, and sadly I never got a picture because his signs were pretty cool.

Fast and Testimony - This was really fun. One of the teachers, Rickel, was sitting at the front with a mic for anyone who didn't want to walk up, and we were sitting in the back, but he kept motioning for Elder Fuluvaka to go up and bear his testimony. I thought it was so funny because the whole ward could see him shaking his head when Elder Fuluvaka told him to go up. Eventually Elder Fuluvaka went up and said that Rickel would go up if he did. Rickel's head turned so fast . Two more people went up and spoke and he still hadn't moved so I went and said, "I just wanted to give Rickel a bit more time to collect his thoughts..." and after me he went up! His testimony was so good and afterwards it was so funny when he came up to us and punched us in the arm  But his dad came up to us after and said he was so grateful that we did that.

One thing that got me thinking was Koran, when he told me I was brainwashed, because I have been taught this since I was young. And I was so confused, just because we have been taught from a young age doesn't mean we are brainwashed. We are all taught math, and english and all of that, and I guess you could call it brainwashing, but that isn't taking into account my decision. I made this choice, I chose to come out on a mission. I was born of goodly parents, having been taught the gospel, and I know for myself why I am out here. I wanted to share with you my testimony and my conviction because it is something that matters to me. And I wanted all of you to look back on a major decision of your life and look at the reasons you did it. Would you make the same decision? Would you change it?

I asked myself that same question after talking with him and I know the reason I'm out here, I know that what I've been taught is true, I know that for myself. Because of that I am out here helping and serving others. 

I love this part of the year because people show their love more and I hope each of you can see that too. I want to encourage all of you to look at the #LightTheWorld challenge and either do the challenge each day or come up with your own. I know that as we share our love more, that others can see it. And we will start to notice it more not only from the people around us, but from our Father in Heaven. He loves each one of us, and I say this every week because I don't want any of you to forget. 

I love y'all too and I hope this last bit made sense. Have a good week!!!

Me with food, because almost all of my emails have had me and food

Watching The Christ Child with some friends. You should do it too!!

Chop'n Wood