Week 99. Anotha transfer in YSA

 So week 99 was not this last week, but the week before. So hopefully I can get this next one out faster

Bishop's - Bishop had us over for dinner on Monday with the Hardmans since they were leaving. It was a very good dinner and the reason why I add it is because I've been in this ward for 6 months and this is the first time I've been invited over because they've always been super busy 

Transfers + institute - there were a lot of people from my group that went home early for school. So it was sad seeing them go. And then Elder Niven is legit getting sent to the complete opposite side of the mission which is pretty funny and he's not getting replaced with one, but two missionaries. Elder Porter Brown and Elder Casey Nuzman. For institute that night the Hardmans made their last dinner and not only was it amazing but I also got an institute shirt. I've been wanting one for so long and Sister Hardman found them for me one her last couple of days. They are the best senior couple ever

Daniel - we got this referral from a member who's friend wanted to learn how to read and write; and come to church. So we invited him to church and it turns out he is 45. But it was okay because church was in Bellevue for a big conference and so nobody noticed 

Kenny - we had some great lessons with Kenny this week but the coolest part was that he came to church for the first time! And since it was at the Bellevue building, we got to walk around the temple with him afterwards

Caitlin - there was a baptism on Saturday that she came to and Sunday night we met with her and talked about her baptism. She really wants to do it, but disappointing her parents still scares her a little bit. But she has a testimony and knows that she feels the spirit each time she comes and prays about it. She doesn't have a date yet but hopefully in the next 2 weeks

Spiritual thought - One day, two missionaries were walking down the street. They were surrounded by homeless guys and crazy people. Yet, these two BOLD missionaries decided this was the street Christ wanted them to be on. With all of their collective courage, they walked on the street, and talked to a lady, and experienced a huge miracle! Then they left and kept walking. Then they wandered into a group of homeless people and they were surrounded. The homeless people asked for money. These two missionaries lied and said they didn't have any. Then they kept walking. Then they experienced another miracle. Then they kept walking. Then they saw this guy named Alex. Alex said meet me in 5. Missionaries said ok. The missionaries sat on a bench, and Alex came over. He had been struggling a lot and wanted to reach out to God. The two missionaries gave him a Book of Mormon, and helped him do that. Then they left.

I was one of those missionaries.

 - written by Elder Brown

Love y'all and hopefully there will be another today

Week 98. The final stretch

 My trainer always wrote the week in the subject too and when I decided to do likewise he was on week 98. It's odd the small details we remember sometimes. Anywho, here are the highlights for the week

Basketball - every Monday night is basketball and last Monday we had 20 people show up. It was insane, normally the highest we have is 8. But about 6 weren't members and we were able to give 2 of them a tour of the church which was awesome. 

Bracelets - so funny story, a member asked us to help her make 5 friendship bracelets for a friend's birthday. My companion signed me up for it before telling me. So for the next week I worked on them and finished at the last second. I only took a pic of one tho

Ark of the Covenant - we found this small Ark of the Covenant box in this weird gargoyle statue place. So we put a small Bible in it

ASL - went on exchanges into the ASL area for the first time and it was awesome! I learned a lot of sign language and said 2 prayers. I also went out of mission boundaries to go give a blessing to someone 

Caitlin - she had a really awesome lesson while I was gone and then on Sunday night we did a video call and answered some of her questions. A few were some questions I had already gone over with her, but the cool thing is that this time I can tell she's really thinking about things now and talking to her dad about it, to try and figure out what she believes 

Transfer news - found out I'm staying for my last transfer!! YSA 4 life. Elder Niven is leaving to go to Everson and I'm getting 2 new comps to replace him: Elder Nuzman and Elder Casey. 

Spiritual thought - Christ is the light of the world and we are asked to be like Him and share His light. I was reading about Abinadi and read a verse that typically makes me laugh because he wasn't the best at hiding, and then I realized it's because we aren't supposed to. We're supposed to proclaim the Gospel and help others feel of His love and peace. I have 6 weeks as a missionary, but a lifetime of sharing the gospel. And so do you. Good luck and remember God loves you 

Mosiah 12:1

And it came to pass that after the space of two years that Abinadi came among them in disguise, that they knew him not, and began to prophesy among them, saying: Thus has the Lord commanded me, saying—Abinadi, go and prophesy unto this my people, for they have hardened their hearts against my words; they have repented not of their evil doings; therefore, I will visit them in my anger, yea, in my fierce anger will I visit them in their iniquities and abominations.

Pics

I won monopoly, we got Jonathan to wear a bolo, bracelet, and out of mission 

Week 97. Late again

 Hey Everyone, you may have noticed but I've gotten into this bad habit, but if I humble myself I can become better (Ether 12:27) wish me luck, because my parents have been praying for that since I was little and yet here I am. Anywho here's the highlights:

Broken phones, but not foot or car - so a lot of stuff happened this week. First and foremost I threw my companions phone as a joke and accidentally broke it. It's hilarious because my phone is also half broken but we're making it work. I also thought I broke my foot because it's been 2 months and still hasn't healed, but I guess that just means I'm no longer a kid. And then this whole time car brakes have been grinding so we took the car in, they reported nothing, and now it works just fine. Just wack 

Kenny - he's one of our new friends. The Sisters in Spokane (they know Aidan) found him on Facebook, taught him once, and then the next day added us to the lesson video call and left. It was honestly surprising how fast they did it. We talked and then met up on Thursday for Boba. He's a cool guy, who's just seeing what our church is about but he's very willing to do our invitations which is awesome. Wasn't at church this week sadly 

Magic - my companion got me and a couple other Elders into Magic the Gathering (card game) a couple of weeks ago. Since then he's gotten all but 3/18 to get decks and play and we've found 3 people from going to stores and either playing or talking about it. Nerds are awesome 

Jay - Saturday was fun and this time we read Matthew 5 with him. It was a super cool study and it was interesting to hear his point of view on some of the verses. We also got to explain what it means by salt, he's like: "so God wants us to be salty?"

Yes, but also not that way. He's a great guy to study with

Elder Day - went on exchanges after Jay and tried to make a video of people telling us what they were grateful for. We literally talked with so many people and they all said no except for 2. A little sad, but I also found out that day that Elder Day has main character superpowers. It started off as a joke but every time we walked to a bus stop the bus appeared right around the corner. It was crazy. 

Spiritual thought - we were reading John 8 about the women caught in adultery and the question was asked what would we think about Jesus if we had no clue who he was. I thought that was a super cool question. In that scripture you have rabbis, teachers, leaders; coming up to a man, calling him Master, and asking him if they should go against the law of Moses or not. And with just a few words he turns the angry mob away. 

It was cool to think about the amount of power He held, how evident it was, and how he truly loved everyone. The type of leader and Savior you want. That's Jesus Christ. 

I hope your scripture study is drawing you closer to Him because that's where true joy is. 

Love ya lots,  Elder Tolman

Pics

My foot, Luther and us, p day water balloon fight

Week 96. Mos's Decision

 Hey everyone, here's anotha one 

E. Stott - started off the 4th with an exchange. In Shorline with Elder Stott. He's been out for 3 months and is an absolute stud. We had a lot of fun lessons and then got fed a huge barbecue from someone they were teaching. It was nice. 

E. Williams - immediately after that we exchanged with the Lake Union elders and I went with Elder Williams (from my MTC district) . It was super fun. In nearly 2 years and this is the closest I've served with anyone other than Elder Harkness. Crazy. Anywho, we had a great time talking and working together. And then for dinner he put frozen chicken in a crockpot with Olive Garden Italian dressing. It was crazy good

Camille - finally had an actual lesson with her instead of being on exchanges. We talked about Heaven and our beliefs of a place in Heaven for everyone and the Doctrine behind it. Her response was that our belief makes too much sense.   I think her real roadblock is loved ones who would shun her if she joined our church. We'll continue to meet with her and help her how we can. 

Mos's Decision - so if all y'all remember a while back Mos made the decision to decide if he was going to be baptized or not, on the 5th. So we contacted him and met him real fast on the 6th before a trip to Cali. And he said he wasn't sure why he had waited this long to decide to be baptized. Then he chose December 1st as his date. We are so excited for him tho

Saturday - we had breakfast with Jay. I met him my first Sunday in Seattle and haven't really seen him since. Then he invited us over, said he had read the Gospels for the first time and we went over and talked and read Ruth together. It was super cool because he has a really good understanding of the Hebrew Bible and is trying to understand the new Testament. 

Then we met with Caitlin and read 2N31 about baptism and then had dinner with Donovan and his girlfriend. It was super fun

Spiritual thought - 2 Nephi 2:25

Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

I think a lot of people think that when they share the gospel that they've failed if they got rejected or the person doesn't immediately believe. This scripture reminds me that everyone is here to find happiness. The goal of sharing the gospel and being a light is just to help other people find happiness. Some people aren't ready and that's okay, others feel the happiness that comes from the Gospel. The same we all feel, so pls don't put added pressure on yourself or beat yourself up when sharing God's love doesn't go as planned. Just keep doing it, your missionaries will appreciate it, those open to it will appreciate it, and God loves when you do it. 

Good luck y'all love ya

Week 95. No rest for the weary

 Hey everyone! This week was great. There was a ton of stuff and very little time to rest and also my body is breaking down. But despite all of that God is good and I'm loving it. Bada ba ba baaaa

Here are the highlights:

Caitlin - meeting with her is always a blast. There's usually some drama she tells us about and then we have a lesson and help her feel the spirit. This time we weren't able to make a lesson plan, so my companion asked if we could start with a prayer and then said that "Elder Tolman has something to share." There's being thrown under the bus and then there's pushed out the airplane with no parachute. But I had listened to a talk that morning, pulled it up, and scrolled to a random paragraph and shared it. The coolest thing was it talked about receiving Revelation and reading the Scriptures. 2 things that Caitlin really wants in her life. From that we were able to set some good goals with her to help her have Christ in her life more. 

Mos - he's been gone for a week and actually left again but before that we were able to see him. I don't know if y'all remember or not but his decision date (to decide if he wants to be baptized) is July 5th. So we talked about that, his current feelings, and how he can involve Christ more in his life and his goals. And he asked us questions like, "if I'm baptized, could..." it was super fun and he's a great guy. I'll let y'all know what happens next week

ZC - so we knew about this for a week but couldn't actually plan for it until the day before. It turned out really well and we were able to have our stk president talk and have everyone share a miracle from their area, and how that comes from making plans and working with the Lord. 

Ravenna - apparently it was Grimace's birthday today. So we went to McDonald's and got froot loop shakes. Then exchanged and I went with Day to knock some doors and we got Kat to come with us. We didn't get her to knock on a door but she did give someone a pass along card. He was just a random guy who said he wanted to come to church and if there was a dress code. It was pretty cool. We didn't see him sadly. Then on our way we ran into the new bishop of Beverly Park (my old area in Lynnwood) and he got us second lunch. It was a fun exchange

Pizza Exchange - so right after I got home with Elder Day the APs came to exchange with us. So I went to their area and found out they were moving apartments. So we worked on that and set everything up in their new place, and ate a whole loaf of banana bread by myself. Went to bed real late. My watch was 2 hrs behind and it said 10:30. Oops. The next day was fun though, we talked to a lot of great people, got to joke around, and help teach people. The only other thing is by accident and without planning, we had pizza for every meal that day, all from different places. It was fun 

Urgent Care - so I get back from exchanges to find out that my companion, Elder Niven, someone got an allergic reaction to a cat at dinner and it was getting worse. So we got to Urgent care around 9:30 and didn't get home til 12. It was hilarious tho, and sadly I didn't take more pics, but there are some below 

Kyle - Azalee had a friend visiting her this weekend and so we met him on Friday, playing pool at the Institute. He's a pool shark. But we talked to him for a bit and he let us share a message with him. He knows a bit about our church and so we answered some questions then gave him a Book of Mormon and promised it would strengthen his relationship with Christ. 

Later we got a text from Azalee, she had continued talking with him and said he might be interested in being baptized! We talked to him the next day and he came to church Sunday. He's a great dude and is sadly being deployed for 8 months. The timing was sad but I'm glad I got to meet him. I told him with that much time he better be done with it by then

Camille - Elder Niven keeps setting up appointments with her while I'm on exchanges, but this week she came to church for the first time and although there were some things she was iffy about I think she enjoyed it. Hopefully I'll be there for the lesson next week

Spiritual thought - less of a thought and more of just a testimony. I know that enduring to the end can be hard sometimes, but I also know that God will always give you strength when you need it. Some of these days I was really surprised I got up on time and got through the whole day and I know God carried me. I know that even the little effort we put in is enough because God does everything else. It's like riding on an electric assisted pedal bike. Just keep pedaling and He'll do the rest

Love y'all, pics