Mother's Day call and week 89

The first part of this entry will be written by Shannon (mom, blog editor) so that I can share a few of the things Joe told us during our Mother's day skype yesterday. It was wonderful to be able to talk with and see him! Much of our conversation was just catching him up with things that were happening at home, especially the track report, and making plans for when he returns in 7 weeks(!!!) We asked how his week had gone:

Tuesday was the multi-zone conference. My talk was okay, it was supposed to be 15 minutes, but I only went for 13-14. I taught about having unity with your companion. A lot of the Q'eqchi' people are easily distracted, so I did a role play with two missionaries trying to teach me. My goal was to show how it is important to be unified so you can kind of double team the investigator and lead them back on topic when they get distracted. On Thursday I was in Tucuru with Elder Rios-Lazo. On Friday we went back to Vina Rose to work with Rios because his companion was super sick. On Saturday we went to Santo Domingo, we were supposed to do baptism interviews but that didn't work out so we helped out with some Q'eqchi' speaking investigators. We stayed in Santo Domingo for church today. It was cool, because they had a testimony meeting, so I got to kind of say goodbye. It was weird saying how I'd spent almost 2 years here, and now I'm almost going home. Then we walked the hour to La Tinta so we could be at the church to skype.

We asked him how he is doing, and how he feels about coming home:

I was starting to get excited to come home, but now that I have to leave the Polochic next week I have been feeling sad. I mean I want to come home, and I miss everyone there, but it is just really hard to leave my buddies and the people here. If everything goes okay for Mario's family, they will be going to the temple on December 26th or 27th. I want to come back for that.

We talked a bit about traveling back to Guatemala, then asked what was planned for the coming week:

Tomorrow we are going to the castle ruins. It is about 3-4 hours away by Rio Dulce in El Estor's area. It isn't really that far, it just takes a long time because all of the roads are dirt. Tuesday we are planning on visiting Ronald again. We need to give him cincho. He keeps saying that he knows he needs to come to church, and promising that he will be there each week, then he doesn't show up. We have to keep moving his baptism date back because he can't be baptized if he can't keep that commitment. We will also have our last Family Home Evening with Mario's family this week. They are doing okay, they came to church. They still don't know exactly what is wrong with Sergo. When he went to the hospital, they said he needs three different tests. One of them is about 2000 quetz, I'm not sure how much they cost all together. The President of the rama has helped them already, but I'm not sure how much the church can do. They have to be really careful here with money, because if the people hear that one family got help, they all want a lot. When I leave I am going to make a note to the next Elders and ask them to keep visiting Mario's family every week so they can stay on schedule to go to the temple. On Thursday we are going to Tucuru to do interviews, and then on Friday I will do divisions with Elder Rios-Lazo. His birthday is on the 23rd, so we are going to celebrate our birthdays together. We are going contacting in an area that has waterfalls, so I should have some good pictures, then we are going to eat with a family who makes good food. On Saturday and Sunday I will be busy packing and saying my goodbyes to people in Teleman. Monday I will go to Coban for changes. 

No big stories this time, but we did share some laughs about little things that happen in the mission. It is funny talking with Joe now, because he sort of slips in and out of English,Spanish, and Q'eqchi', and sometimes can't remember how to say a word in English. It was different saying goodbye this time, knowing that we will soon be talking with him face to face! Now on to today's letter:

The castle was fun! I got up at 2 this morning to go, so I am kind of tired. We hired a microbus from a member and he drove us everywhere. He charged us 100 qetz (about $13) a person which is a pretty good price. We got there at like 7 but it didn't open until 8, then we were there till maybe 10 or so. We bought some souvenirs, I got a Guatemalan looking shirt.

Mom asked why we point up in pictures. It is something that the Q'eqchi' people do where they say "jun ajwi' li yos" which means "there is only one God," so that is a Polochic thing. After the castle, we went back to El Estor and ate at Gardanias. That is the restaurant that I always ate at when I did p-days there that makes the good tortillas de harina, so that is what I ate. It is only like an hour from the castle, so not too far. We are back in our area now. We were going to write in El Estor but it is about two hours away and we decided it would just be easier to get back and write here instead.  P-day ends at 6. We don't have any appointments tonight, so maybe we will go contact or something.

Tomorrow we have district meeting in La Tinta, and then we will have to get more water and our groceries. There is still no water here. Then we will visit Ronald, and we will have our Family Home Evening with Mario's family. We still haven't decided what we will teach. I won't say goodbye yet though, I will do that on Sunday. It will be a long day with a lot of walking because Ronald lives far. 

I'm glad Mom asked me some questions because I don't really know what else to report on other than what I said yesterday haha. So here it goes!

1. My closest friend that is still in the mission... I'm not really sure, I get along really well with Rios-Lazo, and Zavala, and Nielsen, so it is hard to pick.

2. My answer is still the same for who has helped me the most on the mission, I'm going to cheat and say Heavenly Father and Christ, because I wouldn't have made it past the CCM without them.

3. The happiest part of my mission thus far is being able to help the people in general, and I think the most prominent example of that is Hermano Mario and his family just because of the big turn he has made in his life.

4. The hardest part of the mission is when you have someone that you have worked really hard with, whether it is a convert or investigator, and something bad happens in their life and they don't want to go to church any more. That is probably about one of the most hearbreaking things that can happen.

5. I have learned a lot! But I think the most valuable thing I have learned is how although I can't really do much on my own, with Heavenly Father on my side, all things are possible. I have really been able to strengthen my relationship with Him and the Savior.

6. My most embarassing moment is still my first p-day when I accidently asked for a breast-milk smoothie jaja. 

7. The scariest thing that has happened is probably was when that turantula crawled out of the shower drain, that was terrifying.

8. The sound that best reperesents my mission is probably the sound of the women making tortillas in their houses because you can hear them pounding the dough from like a mile away.

9. Right now the smell is probably the smell of my clothes from my time here in Teleman. The lady we pay to do our wash doesn't wash them super well, and I smell like that all the time, so it is what I am always smelling jaja.

10. The taste of my mission hasn't changed, to this day it is the q'em ha'. There is nothing else like that.

I hope I got all of them! 

My spiritual thought this week comes from an experience I had with my companion. The other night it was like midnight and I was just falling asleep when my he told me he needed a blessing because he felt really bad and couldn't sleep. So I gave him one, and just in middle of the blessing the room just got all calm and peaceful, and afterwards he fell asleep before I did! I am just really blessed to be able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. We get to give blessings pretty regularly, for some reason the men here don't really exercise the Priesthood a lot so we get called to do it. One blessing I will always remember is the one where we healed that lady when her throat was really hurting her. I have received some pretty good blessings while I have been sick too. I can't remember much specifics, it just seems like most of the time I have been sick, I spend like a week trying to fight it on my own, and then I get my blessing and within a day it is already better. So it is awesome. Ninnaw xb'aan li profeet aj Jose Smith, kikojbaak wichik' li choxahil wankilal li yos. Li wankilal a'an nokoxb'eresi ut rik'in li wankilal a'an nokoruuk chixb'aanunkil li sumwaank li tento taqab'aanu re sutq'iiq rik'in li yos ut li qajunkab'lal chi junelik q'e kutan. Jwal osob'tesinb'ilo naq wanko sa' xhoonalil lix paab'al li Jesukristo. (I know that through the prophet Joseph Smith the Priesthood of God was restored, that power guides us, and with it we can make the covenants we need to do to return to live with our Heavenly Father and family forever. We are very blessed to live in the time of the Church of Jesus Christ.)

I love you!

Love, Elder Toolson

week 88

Hey! Things this week were pretty good. We put another fecha with Ronald, but then he didn't show up to church again so it looks like it is going to be the same thing as before. I was going to get to see him be baptized before I left, but since he didn't show up he can't be baptized on the 20th so I will be gone. We did divisions this week so we were traveling a lot. I went with Elder Alvarado (the new missionary) in La Tinta, it was just for an afternoon. He is good, learning slowly but surely. We went to help the Hermanas contact in Q'eqchi'!

We also visited the family of Antonia. We made pancakes with them yesterday because she got baptized and stuff.

Mario's family is doing okay, he came to church this week. We found out his youngest son fractured his leg, and they think something more serious is going on because it hurts if he lifts his arms or squeezes his fingers so everyone is pretty concerned about that. His name is Sergo Palau Ich', I know the family is pretty traumatized, please pray for them. He is like six or five years old, and I think he fell or something. The President of the Rama is helping them get a doctor.

Today I had my interview with President Faundez (more about that in my spiritual thought.) He and Sister Faundez are in the area for a multizone conference. Hermana Faundez told me my hair looked like an olive. I don't know what that means. She said because I style it weird or something. I didn't know the word for olive, so when she told me, I laughed nervously because I didn't understand. She asked if I knew that word and I said no so she gave me cincho (literally "gave me the belt" - means scolded) for laughing, but she gives me cincho every time she sees me because I don't really have any clothes left that don't have some sort of stain. But I got to use my new pants today so it was ok! Tomorrow we have the multizone conference. Thankfully since it is multizone it is just the three zones of the Polochic, so we don't have to go to Coban and I get to stay at my house. I will have to give a 15 minute talk alone which is horrible jaja (jaja is like haha) on unity with your companion while you teach, so we will see how that goes for me. 

Now to talk about the interview, my mission president doesn't know a lick of English so it is all in Spanish. At first I was bummed because he asked how much time I have left and I said "these next two weeks and then another change." And he said "ah, so eight weeks? You are going home!" Then he asked how long I have been in the Polochic. I told him my whole mission, and without hesitation he told me I was getting sent out for my last change. So that is kind of sad. I am going to miss meeting the Apostle when Senahu is made a Stake. I am a little bummed but I know that President and Heavenly Father know best, so no problem. I just need to enjoy these next two weeks while I still can. If I could plan the perfect last two weeks, I would go to Yalijux to see the view when you first enter there, go to Se' Wilix (a waterfall), then go to Tz'aj pek. I would visit Henry and Herlyinda in Senahu, then go to Santo Domingo and visit President's family there, then go to Sepamak and visit that family there that wants me to live by them. I would go back to Se'ranx where I baptized in the river, and the Xochela which is another waterfall. I honestly think I have been really blessed and gotten to see just about everything here in the Polochic.  I am going to ask permission tomorrow from President to go to the castle next week, it will be a good last p-day in the Polochic. Wow, I almost started crying while I wrote that. I am hoping to finally get to train, and to go someplace where I can still use Q'eqchi' at least once in awhile. My best chance is an area called Chisek'. It is a little town that everyone calls a little piece of the Polochic outside of the Polochic because there is Q'eqchi' there. It sounds like that area has been dying out kind of, so maybe I can go help out there a little bit. I already passed on the legend tie and Bible, so I don't have to worry about that. I gave it to Elder Rios-Lazo. I got tired of it because if I didn't know something in Q'eqchi' everyone was like "WHAT! But you're the LEGEND! How could you not know something!" so they were just kind of making fun of me with it. Plus, Rios knows a lot more than I do and can learn a lot faster than I can so he deserves it.

The cool part about the interview comes next. That is also my spiritual thought. President Faundez started asking me how I felt since I started my mission. I said a lot of things about how happy I am here and how much I am trying to apply Elder Bednar's talk from General Conference when he said it is important to learn to love to be worthy. Then he stopped and looked like he was thinking and said "there have been a lot of people praying for you." Then paused again and said "no, there have been a lot of spirits praying for you." When he said that I already felt the Spirit pretty strong. Then he stopped again and said "no, your children have been praying for you, that you can make a change here, and you have made that change, and I am very happy and so is the Lord." So yeah, I was crying right then. It was just nice to see how in tune President Faundez is with the Spirit. I know I don't always agree with everything he says, but I know he was definitely called of God and the Spirit was really strong so it was awesome. I love you!

Love, Elder Toolson

ps - oh yeah, I'll skype you guys for mother's day at like 7 my time, so probably be ready around like 6:50 or so, and don't worry if I am a little late!

week 87: "we got ourselves a kub'i-ha'!"

ALRIGHT EVERYONE. BIG NEWS. FRUIT LOOPS CAME TO TELEMAN. THAT'S RIGHT. THERE ARE FRUIT LOOPS IN MY AREA AND I CAN BUY THEM WHENEVER I WANT. I'm sorry I am just really excited about that! It is the life now haha, except it is sooo hot here! They said it got up to like 45 degrees Celsius. I don't know how much that is (113 degrees Fahrenheit) but I know I haven't stopped sweating like ever.

We had a good week this week, got everyone all baptized, so that was awesome. I got to baptize Sister Antonia, not Angelina, I mixed up her name last week. There was kind of good support from the rama, it was mostly guests from the wedding that stuck around. Her new husband is already a member. You will notice my feet are now whiter than my baptism clothes.

And we met the goal! We were the highest baptizing zone in the mission this month so yay! The bummer is, we can't go to Tiikal because another zone also met the goal. And President Faundez just says that two zones can't go the same change. I am a little confused, but I figure he knows better than I do. So we will hopefully end up going to the castle that I went to about a year and a half ago. Other big news, an Apostle is coming to our mission at the beginning of June! Elder Renlund is coming and I think I get to meet him, but it isn't 100% sure. Senahu is going to convert into a Stake and he is the one who will do it. They are calling it the first Mayan stake! My companion and I aren't in Senahu district, but I am just excited for all the members up there. After being up there for six months it feels like my home district is becoming a Stake. I hope they send me up there to die (finish the mission) but I think the possibilities are pretty far fetched,

Other than the baptism it was a pretty normal week this week. We did some divisions with Saqsuha, I was with Elder Sanchez so we had a good time. The Hermanas (Sister missionaries) set a fecha (baptism date) but I don't know when it is, and Saqsuha put two fechas for this month, so we are excited about that. We will go to do the baptism interviews but I am not sure when.

Right now we are in Coban for the leaders meeting, it was good. We talked a lot about new changes in the mission. There are a lot of little changes happening, like we won't have zone meetings any more, only multi-zone and zone conferences. They took out zone meetings so we would have more time, but we still have the district meetings to go to every week so it is kind of the same. And we can go to the temple now twice a year as a zone and once with a convert, but that won't apply to me since I am going home. After the meeting we did a fun activity where we all went out to the street to give out Books of Mormon and folletas. Lucky me and my companion were able to find some Q'eqchi' speaking people to talk to, so that was fun. 

Oh also! Do you remember the package you sent over a year ago with my new shoes and pants? It showed up! I was a little mad because they made me pay 100 qetz to get it, but I got it today. I guess the church went in to look for it, and the government made them pay to take it out of the storage place it was in. The mail strike is still on so the church went in and took out all the missionaries packages that had been stuck there. It was still in pretty good shape, and there is still some stuff I can eat so it will be good. The shoes actually came at the perfect time because the ones I have now are dying. I was really happy when I heard the package came in for that reason. And Hermana Faundez was certainly happy I have some new pants to wear at meetings haha. 

Mario didn't show up to church but I heard he was really busy. It sounds like the problem between him and his wife kind of cooled off, so we will visit his family tomorrow to see what is going on there. I am going to share the Mormon Message (video) "Enduring Love" about the old couple, where the old man is caring for his wife because she can't care for herself, and talk about the importance of love between husband and wife and in the family.

My spiritual thought is just my testimony again about how the Lord answers our prayers if we do all we can and ask Him humbly. At our leadership meeting they asked us to describe how we were able to meet the goal this last month, and all we could really tell them is that we knelt down in prayer and said "Heavenly Father, we have done all we know how to do and worked hard, please help us." And He did the rest. I know that the Lord is watching over us and never leaves us.

Love, Laj Toolok

P.S. mom, Alma 56:47-48  relik chi yaal, ke'tzole' chaq xb'aaneb' lix na'. maq wo oml'a' neke'wiib'an xch'ool, li Yos tikoleb'. Ut ke'xnumsi chiwu li raatineb' lix na'eb', ke'xye: moko nawiib'an ta li qach'ool naq ke'xnaw li qana' (they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.) 

week 86

This week was kind of a roller coaster of emotions so I will start at the beginning. We had a dinner on Monday to celebrate my companion's birthday. The family who hosted our dinner are members from the rama (branch.) The wife's name is Hermana Betty and the husband is Hermano Turin. They have a really nice house, including the first electric oven I have seen in my mission. I actually asked how she lights it and she looked at me like I was the dumbest person in the world, haha. 

We didn't get to visit Jose and Soña because Soña isn't in town so we are going to go with them another day, and Rafael we tried to contact like three times and he wasn't home.

Tuesday we had Rios-Lazos district meeting, he is in Tucuru and is district leader over the Hermanas (sister missionaries) in La Tinta. It was mostly focused on q'eqchi' teaching for Hermanas. While we were there we found out that three of the Hermana's fechas (scheduled baptisms) fell through, which meant we wouldn't be able to meet our goal, so we were pretty bummed about that. I think they just got postponed, but we still aren't sure. I think one of them left for like a month to go work. So right now they are reporting zero fechas because they aren't sure what is going to happen. Hopefully they can get that figured out.

Wednesday we had Elder Sanchez's district meeting. We talked a lot about keeping our morale up and stuff like that. The other district leader gave it and he shared some scriptures and just talked about how we can take care of our investigadores and stuff, he is pretty new at being DL so he is still learning, but he did a good job. I was never district leader so I don't really feel like I know how to train on that. My companion has some experience, normally I leave all the advice giving to him. We just go do divisions with them and try to help them out as best we can.  

That same day we went to Tucuru to start working with Elders Rios-Lazos and Alvarado there. This picture was taken on our way to the village, it is called Vina Rose.

We stayed there until Saturday because they are trying to get a group started in a village there. (A group is an organized church meeting when you don't have enough people to have a branch. A branch is when you don't have enough for a ward.) So they asked us to go help, and in that time we finally got the interviews done. We were there almost all of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and went home Saturday morning. Most of the time was spent in that village spreading the word that there would be a meeting next Saturday about how they can make it to church. President Faundez is going to come and talk about paying a bus to come pick them up so we will see how that goes. The closest church is in Tucuru, and it is like a four hour walk. There are two little old lady hermanas that make that walk every week up and down the mountains, but they are the only two. The goal is to eventually have a group in Vina Rose, with their own meeting place, but I think that wouldn't be for another 7 or 8 months so they can get trained for leadership positions. I am pretty sure they have enough people to have a group because I heard there are like 60 inactive members up there. The distance is 100% why they aren't coming to church, every time we ask them why they don't go they say "sa' xmaak naq mas najt wan hermano" which roughly translates to, "because it is so far brother!"

While we were there I saw these crazy trees. I don't know how or why but rubber runs off the tree into that dish, and I was playing with it. I have no clue how it works, we just passed it and Rios told me it was rubber so I walked over to check it out because I didn't believe him at first.

On Saturday we found out that Saqsuha' and Santo Domingo each put a fecha, which got us hyped. But then we realized that we were still one fecha away from our goal so we were kind of sad too. That night we knelt down and said a prayer, one of the biggest I have ever said, that Heavenly Father would send a miracle to the zone so we could get 8 baptisms for the month and meet our goal. 

We were going into Sunday with kind of heavy and doubting hearts, and then to top it all off, we found Hermano Mario working his taxi in the street saying that he is having problems with his wife and might not go back to church anymore. I almost started crying right there on the street. I can't figure out what to do for him. The moment we found him we went and talked to the Branch President. He knows more about the situation than us, and he said right now what he needs is some time. I felt extremely sad. But I also felt so blessed that I could feel Christ's and our Heavenly Father's love for him in such a close way that I could feel that sad.

So we went to church not really sure what to expect. Then at the end of the meetings President Walter (our president of the rama) called us in to his office and said "Hey this is Hermana Angelina and she is going to get married and baptized this Saturday!" Me and my companion just looked at each other and we both almost teared up. But we held it in, made the plans to visit the hermana, and went home and said one of the biggest prayers of gratitude we have ever said. The thing about being a zone leader is that you spend a lot of time helping other missionaries try to meet their goals, which is really awesome, but me and my companion were worried that we would never baptize together. But then this came out so we were both really happy, it was definitely an answer to prayers.

We still don't have any water so this will be another interesting week, I guess we will just keep buying it. It seems to be a city thing, we have been asking around and it sounds like nobody has water because it has been so hot that everything dried up, so it isn't just us with the problem. Most people here at least have a hose outside or a tap with running water, but they are all dry.

This week we will teach Hermana Angelina and do Saqsuha's baptism interview. Other than that I think we just have our normal work and meetings. Saturday will be our baptism day so we will be a little busy. There have already been five baptisms in our zone this month and the other three are this Saturday. If we meet our goal, there is a chance we can go to Tikaal which are those really famous ruins that everyone talks about. But if we can't do that we can do something else closer by. We will be in Coban next Monday, so I'm not sure when the trip will be, and it isn't for sure we will get to go either, we are just hoping.

Mother's day is coming! I need to talk with the member about using his laptop again. Talking about my last phone call, my companion just looked at me and said "10 weeks left!" Don't worry, I'm not baggy or anything. I am good, just that time is going so fast! A part of me wishes I could extend and stay. But I am excited too, to see everyone, to not live in a third world country, and not have the stresses of being a full time missionary. Lots of people here are just really racist, but they don't know they are racist so it is ok. And they shout really vulgar things at you in q'eqchi' when you pass them on the street, so it is kind of constant heckling. And like I said with Mario, it is a blessing to be able to feel the Savior's love for people in that way, but sometimes it really hurts too. Maybe that is part of the reason I am a little excited for home.

I guess my spiritual thought this week is that God never leaves us and will always answer our prayers.

I love you!

Love, Elder Toolson

week 85: "kawresinb'ilin anajwan"

So this week was pretty tough because it was Semana Santa. Here they celebrate Easter all week, which means no one is ever home, and everyone is busy, and there are a bunch of drunk people on the street. There were dances and stuff in the town center every night as well so they keep pretty busy. And they always go to the beach to go swimming here, which I think is a tradition. I didn't see anything for the kids. I tried to explain about our whole thing with the Easter bunny to some members and they were super surprised by it, I think they thought it was weird. I was surprised because the Church actually did nothing to celebrate, no special meetings or activities or anything, they didn't even have anything special on Sunday. No special decorations or anything. We went through La Tinta on our way to do exchanges and they do these awesome carpets out of colored sawdust, but here in Teleman there is not really anything like that. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures, my camera was out of battery this week and we lost power.  

I went on divisions with one of the new guys this week, Elder Alvirado. He is from Peru. He has about five days in the field, but he had two months in the CCM (MTC) for q'eqchi' so he came in knowing a decent amount. He seems like he is doing pretty well, so that is good. It was a short one day division. We went out to Canlun and ate some food with a member there and then visited some people.

My companion and I visited some menos activos (less active members) this week. The guy is Jose and his wife's name is Soña. We shared a good video about John Tanner with them, I think it went over pretty well. I don't know if you have seen it but you should look it up! It is only like 20 minutes, but I really like it. Byron wasn't home and didn't come to church, so that was a bummer. We couldn't visit Mario's family because they were busy all week, but I think we will get to go with them tomorrow! As far as I know they still have the goal to be sealed in the Temple in December. I miss going to the Temple. I will get to go on the 4th of July, then I think the 5th is my travel day. I think there are four of us returning to the States that day - me, Elder Barney from Idaho, Elder Lawrence from Arizona, and a sister from California.

This week we are going to try to get in contact with a guy named Rafeal who has been to church once, but has not shown up for the last two Sundays. We already know where he lives we just have to find a time when he is home. We haven't been able to teach him because he is never there. We tried to contact him this week and he wasn't home, so we will try again. We are a little worried he just came to church to impress the mayor, because he is a professor and is paid by government people, but we are trying to be positive. Other than that, we have those two district meetings we always go to, and we will be in Tukuru this week to hopefully finally get those interviews done.

Our water has been out for almost two weeks. Not the whole area, just our house, we haven't been able to figure it out. I know the house we are staying at has always been sketchy, when my old companion Elder Smart was there he didn't have water for a whole change (6 weeks.) We only sometimes have water in our pila outside, so that is a bummer. We are buying our water by the gallons so we can cook and stuff. To bathe we fill up a bucket with the water and then take the bucket to our shower inside the house and take bucket showers. The water is cold, but normally it is so hot here that it isn't too bad, just pretty refreshing haha. We lost the light too, but only for a day or two so that wasn't too bad. The power is back now.

Today we are in La Tinta. We came to teach a Q'eqchi' class to the Sister missionaries. They are doing good! It is just kind of hard because we have two of the same Sisters from last change, one who was in a different part of the Polochic, and one who is completely new to the Polochic, so their level of knowledge is all over the place. Oh, and I forgot - as of this change I am officially the only person in the entire Polochic who came in not knowing Spanish or Q'eqchi'! After the lesson we played some volleyball with the zone. We just play at the church here. Everyone from the zone is here but the missionaries from Santo Domingo, they had to go to Coban. 

Something I realized this week is how the Lord always gives us promised blessings, but only when we put forward our efforts. I started studying the Bible in Q'eqchi' this week. On the days I read, my Q'eqchi' felt on point, but if I missed a day I felt like I was struggling. So I can see that the Lord will bless me as long as I am willing to put forth the effort.

My spiritual thought this week comes from the church movie "Ephraim's Rescue." I always love the part when Brigham Young is asking people to go help bring in the handcart pioneers. Everyone says they can be ready in a few day, but then Ephraim says "I am ready now." In Q'eqchi', "kawresinb'ilin anajwan." That is pretty much how I always want to live my life. Always honor and be worthy of the Priesthood power I have been trusted with so I can be ready to serve at any moment. 

I love you!

Love, Elder Toolson

week 84

So the big news is....I have no change! And neither does my companion, Elder Ibarra! We are going to have three changes together! I am pretty dang happy I am staying in the Polochic. I was super surprised. There was a small part of me hoping for a change of scenery. I'm kind of bummed because this will be my fourth change in Teleman, and I probably will get taken out of the Polochic for my last one. I won't have a chance to get back into one of the mountain areas. But no problem! I am super happy! I felt really at peace this whole time with changes so I think I will be fine. I also realized that this change I will do my last phone call on mothers day, which means I will do half my phone calls here in Teleman, which is crazy. There were a few other changes in the Zone, but nothing too crazy.

This week was good, we weren't in our area very much because we spent some time in Tucuru, Panzos and Santo Domingo. We were supposed to do interviews in Tucuru but they got cancelled. We had dinner with the President of the Rama's family, and there was an activity at the church so we played some soccer and basketball there. We were just there for the day. 

We went to Panzos so we could do an interview for a 13 year old boy. My companion did the interview. They had this minion costume in the house, I'm not sure why, but they let me try it on haha.

In Santo Domingo we visited some of their investiagadores and had dinner with President's family. It was good to see them again. I asked to take a picture and they said no because they were embarrassed they hadn't showered yet. They think I am like fluent in Q'eqchi' now which is far from true. 

We met a new guy named Byron who is trying to stop drinking, and we both feel really good about him so I think things will go well there. Mario's family seem like they are doing really well! We had a good Family Home Evening with them the other night. We talked about magnifying your calling and showed the video "Only a Stonecutter," because John Rowe Moyle was a stud. He is the man who was called to be a stonecutter for Salt Lake temple who had to walk like 20 miles every week to get there, which he did for years. Then after an accident he had his leg amputated, and he made himself a false leg and still walked the whole way. So he obviously went above and beyond in his calling!

Right now I am in Coban with Elder McEntee. He is going home this week, it is pretty hard to say goodbye to one of my best friends. He has gone through a lot out here and has been an amazing missionary and example to me. But I know we will be hanging out a lot after the mission so it is all good. We ate some food, now we will write, then I will go to the Polochic and he will stay here. He gave me the legend tie and Bible, which supposedly means I know Q'eqchi' the best in the mission. I know at least three other missionaries who talk a lot better than me and I tried to tell him, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. About 12 missionaries are finishing this change, I am not sure how many are coming in.

My spiritual thought this week comes from a scripture, Alma 26:11-12 "But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

This is one of my favorite scriptures. I know that I have only been able to do what I have in my mission because of the help of Heavenly Father and through the power of the Savior's Atonement, and I know that I will be able to rely on this for the rest of my life.

I love all of you!

Love, Elder Toolson

p.s. I'm praying for Grandpa Denny, I hope the surgery and recovery go well

week 83

Hey! We had a pretty decent week. We found a guy that wants to be baptized but we still aren't sure if he is married. We have a cita with him on Saturday, but I think he is looking pretty positive. 

We had zone meeting this week and that went really good as well. Me and my companion talked about applying repentance. We did this object lesson using salt and pepper. You put water in a dish, then pour the salt in and say that is your good works, and a little bit of pepper in and say that is your bad works. Then you put some dish soap on your finger and I don't know why, but all the pepper goes to the edge of the bowl so the water is cleaner. We tried to relate that to applying the Atonement in our lives. The Hermanas talked about this talk, "The Purifying Power of Gethsemane" by Bruce R. McConkie, which is one of the dopest talks ever. They also showed a video of church leaders bearing their testimonies about Christ.

General Conference of course was flippin awesome and the best part is I got to listen to every session in English! They had a little tv set up for me and everything! That is the first time in my whole mission so that was the best thing ever. Most of the members came to watch. They had Spanish here in Teleman but we went to Saqsuha' where they had it in all three languages. I loved Elder Costa's talk, when he used that idea about putting his own name in Alma 42 I thought that was super awesome. I want to try to use it with the people we are teaching but I don't know if the Q'eqchi' people will understand it. I felt like every other talk touched on repentance, it was a good reminder on how important daily repentance is in our lives. It is something easy to forget for me. It really was a good conference. I came in with my question of how I can prepare to go home and stay strong and continue to progress once I am there, and in like the first session alone it was answered in like three different ways.

This week will be a good one, I know we have some interviews to do in Tukuru on Friday. We might go to Santo Domingo, my first area, but that is not a for sure thing. 

Today I am with my companion and Elder Rios-Lazo in a trio. His companion is going to some ruins with the other zone because he used to be part of that zone and they met the goal. After we write we are going to Tukuru and eat cake with a family there. Tukuru is in Elder Rios-Lazo's area so we are just going with him. It takes like an hour and a half or so to get there, not too far. It would be like half an hour if all the roads were paved haha. The family are members and I know them pretty well because I used to do divisions with Elder Bos a lot over there and we always went with that family. I'm actually not sure what the cake is for, but they invited us to go, and I am always down for a good cake! We will probably leave here around two or three, we just have to be in La Tinta by four to catch the last bus to Tucuru. We will spend the night there and I think go straight from there to district meeting tomorrow. We have district meeting every Tuesday and Wednesday.

Other exciting news, in two weeks I am going to complete a year with the same parasite! I hear it takes a while to recover, but they give me a bomba (pill that cleans you out) when I go home so it should be good.

My spiritual thought this week comes from Conference. It seemed like they focused a lot on charity, the Holy Ghost, and repentance so I have a lot of notes on that. But there was something that Russell M. Nelson said in his talk "Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into our Lives," I don't think I copied it exactly, but it is something along these lines - "When we reach for that heavenly power with the same intensity as someone drowning, we will get it. If the Savior can feel you reaching, His power will flow unto you." That isn't word for word but it is something along those lines. That just impacted me really hard. We cannot be at a stand still in this life. We have to work out our salvation and we can't afford to rest. There is a line by an inspirational speaker that says "you have to want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe" and I think it is the same with our salvation. We need to feel a sense of urgency to be obedient, to be worthy, to love others as the Savior does. 

Thank you for everything, I love you!

Love, Elder Toolson