The days roll on! 6/27/16

Hola!

So this week has been busy and warm and fun and crazy all in between. Nothing too unique happened other than our investigators are moving right along nicely. God is sooo good. Hermana Gomez and I are having a great time together and life is just bueno. 

Here is a small list of things that  Spanish speaking missionaries serving in SoCal love:

..Smiling while Chihuahuas x10000000 constantly bark, bite, and run after you

..Being fed by the cutest, nicest, and most darling lady Hispanics of every variety.

..Sweating through all your clothes multiple times a day :)

..Meeting all the weird white people.

..Switching between Spanish and English coherently. 

..Learning the definition of "picante"

..Trying to keep all your investigators from leaving the country for long periods of time.

..Practicing the art of stomach expansion

..Kissing the sweaty faces of every Latina who hugs you <3

..Hearing the phrase "otro dia" (not really)

..Shoving our feet in the door. 

..Dancing Bachata in the privacy of your apartment with your native companions.

..Experiencing everything from all Hispanic cultures.

..Loving every second. 

That's all today folks. Thanks for the constant love, support and care that I recieve from you. 

Take Care!

Be Safe&God Speed.

Love, 

Hermana Tobler

Los Cielos got me likeeee 06/20/16

HI Fram!

So I have to put this out real quickly before I begin. 

My writing quality has gone down the toilet on my mission, and I thin learning an new language has a lot to do with it. I hope all that I write makes sense and that nothing comes across as too bold or crazy. I have been adapting to the way a lot of the people speak here and I think it has taken a toll on my English. Please forgive. 

Wow, So this week was a little toasty! We got to embrace some serious warmth on Father's Day and since I didnt have my Dad around to hug, I think the weather played a role in replacing loving arms with fireyheat waves. Although 122 degrees is a little hot, I won't complain because humidity isn't really part of our equation here. 

So one of my favorite parts about serving here is the horses  we have horses EVERYWHERE. In one part of my area, all the Hispanics have horses and Men, teenagers, and little children ride them. It is really cool. They have a special button on stoplights for the people on the horses to push to cross the streets. (Because they're so tall!) The people live ina little horse raising community that is pretty ghetto and kind of scary. We have to be careful when it gets dark. There are SO MANY pitbulls and German Shepard everywhere. I have seen some really weird and ferocious dogs! Anyway across the street from this community is a lot of space for people to ride their horses. Trails, trees, and hills. It is really lovely The only issue is that it is soooo hot.. and NOBODY has enough money for AC so we just sweat. Yes and I love it. 

The Skiess.. I love that the English translation for "the skies" in Spanish is "the Heavens". It is such a romantic and religious language! Anyway, the heavens out here are just jawdroppingly gorgeous and my camera will never be able to capture it but my heart sure is. 

So little update on my situation; the trio died this week as transfers were decided and Hermana Babb is headed out to Menifee. Hermana Gomez and I are going to work our tails of this transfer and baptize darling Lupe and her son Juanito. I am excited and am loving this wonderful work. 

I hope all of you had fantastic week and that all you fathers know how loved you are. 

I love you all!

Stay Safe&God Speed.

Love, Hermana Tobler

Oh how glorious and bright 06/14/16

YO.!.

Hi every body.. What a week it has been! I hope everyone who isn't serving a mission is enjoying their first week of summer. I have been doing my best to refrain from singing the High School Musical song whenever someone talks about summer. haha the temptation is real.  I for one have been grateful for the cooler temps this week, we had some glorious overcast days and that was a blessing indeed.

MIRACLES! I am constantly amazed at how mindful Heavenly Father is of his kids. We were able to accomplish so much this week and had 5 progressing investigators at church on Sunday. 5!! 

I nearly wept.

I am super happy because we are teaching a woman named Lupe and her son Juanito. She has been an investigator on our board all transfer but we haven't been focusing on her as much.. due to the needs of other gators who were progressing faster. HOWEVER... This week we visited Lupe and she committed to come to church.. (for reals reals reals) and bring her son.She soaked up everything and thoroughly enjoyed herself. In Gospel Principles class they talked about baptism and afterwards she leaned over  and said; "How great that we talked about baptism because that is what I want to do!" Yayayaya! So The Spirit has been giving us all sorts of positive feelings with Lupe and her son. Juanito loved primary and told is mom that he couldn't believe that three hours had passed by so fast! My heart wanted to burst I was so glad. 

Hopefully things continue to go well with Lupe and Juanito, we plan on working hard with them to meet their baptism goal on the 10th of July. WHooP!

I just want to insert here that I am absolutely in LOVE with the Book of Mormon. 

I can't describe adequately what that book has come to mean to me on my mission. I know that it is true, and that it is the word of God. Every time I read it, I can literally feel my mind being filled with it's light. I can't wait to give Mormon a big hug someday and tell him thanks for being such a great prophet. He is pretty darn great.

Well I hope everyone has a solid week and good times are had. 

Much love from Riverside Cal. To each of you. 

Stay Safe&God Speed. 

Love, Hermana Tobler

Out "cold" 6/6/16

Howdy Erryjuannn!

This week has been an adventure to say the least and I loved almost every minute. Haha.. 

So first off, we had an interesting lesson with Fernie ( our most dedicated progressing investigator) and things aren't turning out as we hoped. With out going into too much unwanted detail... We found out that he is a clothing designer and that we might have to start being more explicit about following commandments such as the L.O.C. and the W. O. W. That's always fun. Hopefully he sees what needs to happen and changes his life. 

Thursday afternoon was a bit of a "chiller" when our freezer door fell on my head. Let me explain.

We have one of those basic refrigerators with a freezer above and a fridge below. I was putting some things away in the bottom part of the fridge while the freezer part was open. After I finished, I stood up really quickly and by doing so, the force of my head ripped the door completely off it's hinges and it came crashing down on me. Yayyy..! Aside from some dazed confusion, I thought I was fine and continued to go about the work. However, due to the increasing discomfort and soreness, my comps made me call the nurse and the nurse called mission medical and mission medical decided that I was concussed so I had to go to the E.R. as soon as possible. 

I spent Friday night in the Emergency Room with everyone and their hamster only to find out that I was not concussed but I had damaged a lot of the muscles in my neck. So now I am taking medicine that helps with the pain in my head and neck, but also causes me to be perpetually drowsy and dizzy. YAS. 

So since that little incident, our days have been pretty mellow and low key. I am feeling a little better everyday so hopefully I will be at 100% soon. 

The mission is such a great place to learn and grow. There are so many lessons that I learn everyday just by being here. I wish time wouldn't fly so fast! I hit my 8 month mark this week and I am not ready for the down hill slope that is rapidly approaching. 

I love you all and I hope you are all enjoying your first week of summer. Here we are hanging out in the triple digits so please enjoy your lakes and pools for me. 

Stay Safe&God Speed.

LOVE, Hermana Tobler

Bible bashes don't do jack 5/30/16

Hi Everyone!!

It sounds like everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day weekend, I hope you are all BBQing and spending time with all your loved ones.

So this week was so busy, we got so much done and I LOVE the trio life. Y'all would be shocked how much more we can do with 3 missionaries working together. I love it. 

However, this week, we had a lesson with an investigator who (to put it nicely) is a closed door. He is one of those people who smiles sweetly and says "aww you're so cute when you're wrong". I can usually handle that kind of treatment from an old lady but coming from a relatively young man, it was just rude. I found myself deflecting Book of Mormon accusations and defending myself with testimony and simple truths. Unfortunately, when people want to dump their Bible on you, there isn't much more that you can do besides hold on to your Book of Mormon and gasp for air! 

I am so grateful that we have the scriptures to use and learn from. The Bible is so great, it's stuffed with doctrine and contains a beautiful record of our Savior. The Book of Mormon is amazing because it makes the Bible CLEAR and I just feel so enlightened after reading it. The best part is that they BOTH testify and of Christ. I can't think of anything better. 

On a happier, we have been teaching a man named Fernando. We call him Fern. Or Fernie. Between ourselves of course. He is SO GREAT. He has such a strong desire to learn and grow. He is literally a sponge and is soaking up EVERYTHING. I love teaching him. I feel bad for him sometimes because he is so smart and he feels like he needs to know as much as the members. Pobrecito. 

Well!! That's it for this week friends, hope y'all have a good one!

Stay Safe & God Speed.

Love, Hermana Tobler

Man and House of God 5/23/16

DIIISSS WEEEKKKK...

I met an Apostle of de Lord.. And visited His Temple!

Elder Cristofferson came and visited our mission and it was just grand. He is A LOT funnier than I would have ever anticipated and gave an enlightening address. We were able to ask him lots of questions and learn some neat stuff. He shook each missionary's hand and looked into our souls. I almost died. It was pretty spesh.

The Temple is always a good idea. I feel like it has a way of smoothing out all of our worries and concerns
​and replacing everything with fortitude and a strength to keep going. I am grateful that we have the opportunity to visit a little piece of Heaven on Earth. 

SOOO Jurupa Valley. We actually cover 3 cities. 

1. Mira Loma- farm country/mini Mexico. Love it. 

2. Eastvale- land of the wealthies

3. Jurupa- middle ground of both ML and EV. 

The ward covers a lot of cities and we have such great people here. We were so blessed to have 4 of our investigators at church this week and I am loving working with such a helpful ward. I cant say enough about a ward that is willing to do good things for the missionaries

We all jump 5/17/16

I truly feel that jumping into missionary work can be compared to jumping out of an airplane. Some of us jump and quickly grab on to clouds, skyscrapers, or birds to stop our fall. These obstacles make it harder to lose yourself on the journey down. I feel like every missionary is at a different point in their dissent in to the work. Those that fall the fastest and the deepest have the richest experiences and grow immensely. Meanwhile, the others that are slowing their fall are impeding their own progress and ultimately not learning as much as they can. My hope is that every missionary lets themselves fall freely and never stop getting deeper and deeper into the work.

I am learning so much right now on my mission. My trio here in Jurupa is proving to be a big learning experience and I am so excited to see how the Lord's will will play out. 

I hope everyone is doing well and having a great week. I hope my analogy to missionary work made sense- it seemed a lot clearer in my brain.

Love you all!

Be Safe&God Speed.

Love, Hermana Tobler