Bugs under a microscope 2/15/16

Greetings!

February has never been so warm! Could it be possible that I might develop a tan?? Can this guera get a little color? I hope so! The phrase "tenemos mucho color verdad?" is already finding itself a familiar groove on my tongue. 

This week began as any other and by Tuesday evening, we knew we were in for it. Yet another week of complete and utter rejection and refusal. Don't people realize that this is the Lord we are serving and their salvation is at stake?? For Heavens Sake.. HOWEVER.. This week we were blessed with a FAMILY! Whoott!! This lovely family is already super involved in their own church (Harvest is the nemesis of all the missionaries here in Cali) but they have been listening and we had an insanely powerful lesson with them this week. Despite our difficult team up, the spirit reigned supreme and everyone was touched. No matter how much we were rejected, and that only two planned lessons worked out, we achieved the mission Standard of Excellence. Blessings!

Okay so this week in effort to contact some less actives, we had to resort to extreme measures. Most of the homes here in MoVal are gated off from the street. Each individual house has a fence that encompassed their whole driveway, yard, and basically all entrance access. Great for us right? So this week, we dropped by to try and find a way to contact these folks. The second we walked up to the metal gate we heard the familiar sound of quickly approaching dogs. In a matter of seconds we had 2 ferocious pit bulls barking, foaming, and slamming themselves violently against the iron bars that preserved our lives. Shocked, my companion and I leaped back as these beasts howled and snapped at us with volumes loud enough to raise the dead. Fleetingly, we hoped that the ruckus would call attention to their masters.. but alas, our pounding on the gate, calls, and "Helllllloooooooooo!"'s (mixed with all the noise the dogs were making) made not a difference in the world. Uhh! We resorted to writing about 10 little pink sticky notes that had our info and pleas to call us back. We wadded the sticky notes and threw them into the yard, aiming at the hood of the only car in the driveway. Some of our notes bounced off onto the pavement and the possessed creatures pounced on our notes and gobbled them up. RUDE! So we made more, and a war began. Throwing notes to the car, and the dogs mercilessly chewing up our efforts. We had a couple successful notes land on the car and we also stuffed a few into the keyhole of the gate. Feeling slightly triumphant for the moment, I unwisely got right in to the face of the nastiest pit-bull and hollered right along with it. That animal DID NOT like the taste of it's own medicine and it freaked out. Poor thing was already at a level 10 so when I responded the way I did, it shook lividly and bore all of it's teeth.Not too smart on my part... but poor dogs probably have the spirits of the devil in them. Good Grief, I sure hope Blanca appreciates our efforts to contact her....

Bugs under a microscope. SO, for the first time in the history of ever, our MISSION PRESIDENT decided to go out with the Sister missionaries. Specifically, US! OH my GOODNESS! Hermana Bjork and I were to teach a lesson with President and Sister Mullen, take them to MCM with us, and also plan for the next day together. Can yall believe that? President in our little apartment room planning what to do to save the souls in Moreno Valley. We about fainted. Then we kicked it into gear. Saturday night goes as follows:

We met President and Sister Mullen at our church to have a lesson with one of our progressing investigators.... WHO DID NOT SHOW UP. (This is the goober who drinks goat milk and gets sleepy.) For the love of Pete! So we did our best to distract and entertain our leaders despite the severely embarrassing situation. So as our solid, perfect, and angel of a back up plan, we went and visited a recent convert named Elsa. By the way, driving with your president behind you takes road stress to a whole other level. Anyway, we had a BOMB lesson with darling Elsa about the Sacrament. The spirit was so strong and I am grateful for that experience. After that, President and Sister Mullen followed us to our ward missionary meeting. The poor ward missionaries were a nervous wreck. What made it worse is that we forgot to tell them that President was coming and they were pitching their new plan to help the ward get more baptisms. Yet it was so wonderful as President sat there quietly watching us live our missionary lives. At 9 o'clock we drove carefully home to our humble apartment where we bowed them in and seated them while we proceeded to plan. It was the strangest experience. We sat there on the floor by our magic white board and tried our hardest to show our beloved president that we are actually good missionaries. It literally felt like we were being studied like bugs under a microscope. However, President is absolutely adorable and we love him so much so after a couple adjustments everything went well. After we wished them a good night, Hermana Bjork and I fell against the door in relief. PHEWWWW... Not that we had anything to change or hide, it was just a little bit stressful having our President so closely monitoring everything. Haha!

Well, sorry for the long winded stories, but it was a stressful, busy and spiritual week. I am loving this mission so much. 

Everyone, Stay Safe & God Speed.

Love, Hermana Tobler

Gonna hit the ground runnin'... 2/8/16

Pues..... Hola, Hi, and everything in between.

Whilst the harsh grips of winter are still stronger than steel back in Utah- Here in Riverside, we are speedily exiting spring and moving quickly in to the early stages of summer. The wannabe mountains are dotted with tufts of green and fields are beginning to show sighs of growth. The words "verde" and "California" are not typically used together but (for now), we are enjoying the lush beauty. Days are becoming hot and heavy with the heat of summer and nights are balmy with warm breezes. The oxygen that we breathe everyday is rich with the scent of Mexican spiced meats, new plants, and weed. (Depending on where we walk of course). Life couldn't be better here in MoVal Cali and here is why:

TRANSFERS?! Oh no!! My darling trainer and I just love each other so so much. She is honestly one of the most incredible people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Hermana Bjork is a wonderful teacher and has been the best trainer. I was dreading the fact that she might be moved for her last transfer of her mission. (TEARS) So, Saturday night, whilst drowning our sorrows and nervousness in FroYO, We received the call. YES! We will both stay!! I will be the one to kill off my trainer, she and I will get to be companions for nearly 5 months. WOW! We are both so jazzed for the coming transfer and you better believe that we are going to baptized at least 100 people. We also decided that if I teach her how to cook, she will teach me how to fight. She has a black belt in Karate and also did street fighting for years. I am so stoked. Perhaps Rocky Balboa is my spirit animal?

Castidad.... EW. Sometimes members can be little pills. This week, Hermana Bjork, the other Hermanas and I went to our dinner appointment in the home of a member. It was my turn to give the dinner lesson and it was the first day that Hermana Bjork and I were launching our "pornography awareness" message. I began by cutting directly to what we would be talking about, because naturally all members know what the Law of Chastity is right? Wrong. The merciless Hermano proceeded to give me a run for my money as I gave my 100% effort in to explaining what the Law of Chastity is, in the clearest way. I stressed the importance, that like Christ, we too need to be white and pure. To which her replied: "Como? Porque soy moreno!" (How? Because I am brown!) At this point, I finally noticed that all the other sisters were laughing so hard that they had tears streaming down their cheeks. The WHOLE TIME the Hermano knew exactly what I was talking about, he just wanted to make me uncomfortable and explain the Law of Chastity. Well that sure is humbling. I still am a bit miffed that the other Hermanas didn't let me in on the joke. However... I am glad that at my expense, weekly entertainment was provided. 

Miracles!! So the Lord really provides ways for his missionaries to accomplish their work. This week Hermana Bjork and I were hit by an onslaught of cancellations. Nearly EVERY CITA cancelled and it really threw a wrench in things. Still, we kept at it and continued to try to hit our goals. Lots of member present lessons, new investigators, and progressing investigators at church are only a few of the blessings we received. We were able to achieve the new and intensified "Mission Standard Goal" and that was huge for us. I truly believe in the phrase so eloquently stated by Maria in The Sound of Music, "Where God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window". I believe that. 

So apparently synchronized horse dancing is a thing... A BIG thing. In Mexico. We picked up a DARLING 19 year old investigator named Delia this week. She moved here from Mexico 6 months ago to study marketing. SO COOL. Back home she did this horse dancing stuff- she showed us videos on YouTube and it is pretty swell. I suggest you look it up! She was SO open and she asked us so many questions about serving a mission. She even told us that it was something she might want to do! You can imagine our excitement. We are so excited to teach her and get her baptized this transfer. Through the Spirit, Hermana Bjork and I DO WORK. 

I love you all so much. Always remember that missionary work is a call to everyone. There is something everybody can do.
Stay Safe & God Speed

Love, Hermana Tobler

Drink up, the gospel is good fur yah. 2/1/16

Hello hello hello!

What a busy week it has been. My companion is a Sister Training Leader and therefore has to go on a lot of exchanges. So I have been left to take care of the area with the new sister. Scary! Thank goodness the deary is a native Venezuelan and can already speak Spanish fluently. (PHEW!) Our work was really blessed this week and we saw some amazing changes in people. 

FUNNY STORY TIME! 

Okay so we have this interesting investigator that kind of creeps us out. We love the guy but the fact that he sends us emojis and good morning texts is a little off putting. Julio is about 35 ish and has been quietly receiving all the lessons. He is on date, reading his B.O.M. and praying... BUT he is not attending church. This past week Hermana Bjork and I texted him (very frustratedly), Why we did not see him sitting in a pew for the past 3 Sundays...(que paso?!) The first Sunday we taught him, the poor, shy, dear took three steps into the lobby, and because he didn't see us right away, booked it outta there quick. So we are a little exasperated with the guy. This time however, he offered an excuse that went far beyond "oh I was busy", "oh I had work", "oh I was just too tired"... No this excuse belongs in a league of it's own. 

"I really like to drink goat milk on the weekends. But it makes me sleepy. But I really like it. So I will keep drinking it because it has lots of good vitamins."

Um........... -_-

That was his legit excuse guys. Needless to say, we told him we would call 6 times every half hour so he would be awake. Goodness sakes. (SMH)

Spiritual Experience Story:

So this past month has been a bit of an emotional roller-coaster for the Nuevo ward here in Moreno Valley. The spouse of one of the members was diagnosed with the late stages of liver cancer. She has been coming to church on and off for years but has never been baptized. Upon discovering that she might not make it much longer than a few months, the sweet sister knew she had to make a choice about her baptism. The other sisters serving in our ward were in charge of her area and they taught her all 5 lessons in a week. She attended church one more time last week and it was so sad to see her so yellow and sickly. Despite her waiting until the end to be baptized, It is clear that she has had a testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel for a long time. The sister was baptized yesterday and life is good. What a PACKED, SPIRITUAL, and HUMBLING baptism it was. I feel lucky to have been a part of it. 

In case y'all didn't know, I have a testimony that this is the only true church in the world. I see miracles everyday. There is no way that I would give up a year and a half of my life to spread a lie. 

Here are a few photos of our proselyting adventures this week. I LOVE MOVAL <3

Stay Safe and God Speed Everyone!

Love, Hermana Tobler

Drug Wars pt.1 1/25/16

Howdy Ya'll!

Sometimes it is slightly overwhelming to fit an entire weeks worth of experiences in one little email but I will do my best. This week FLEW BY and I am loving almost every minute. The only time I am not pleased is when we get dropped by 5 investigators in ONE DAY! Yes... That happened. Missionary life is a life of rejection, but I believe it is a PRIVILEGE to be rejected 100000 times for my Savior. I love Him so much, He truly gets me.

SO I went to "street school" this week! One of our DARLING members whom I absolutely adore, is a Peruvian. On Saturday she made us a traditional Peruvian meal called papa agua caina. This meal is basically lettuce, potatoes, egg, and a special Peruvian chile cheese/cream sauce... Yah! We also had boiled purple corn juice with fresh citrus, cloves, and cinnamon. It was surprisingly tasty! Of course after we finished our papa agua caina we were served a MOUNTAIN (and I kid you not... a mountain) of rice and chicken. Classic!  HOWEVER, the sweet woman son ate with us and I received a full fledged education in the drug wars of Moreno Valley. WOWZERS. Apparently the black people and the Latinos are at war with each other all the time. He said that everyone is more scared of them than they are scared of the police in MoVal! People die! He also said that at night, Police literally have to patrol the streets, with a loaded gun. I was oblivious to all of this, but now the constant sirens and drug busts multiple times a day make sense. I stared at him wide eyed for about 20 minutes as he changed my perspective of my happy little MoVal. I take a lot of comfort in the fact though that God protects his missionaries. What a blessing!

One thing that is very interesting about Spanish-Land in California is the process of committing people to baptism. When you pop the question of baptism to investigators and they say yes, your first reaction is JOY right? Yes, BUT in this culture, it is very common for families to have a few layers. Typically, women marry very young or have children very young. When their first marriage doesn't work out they leave and find someone else. Because they are already married and don't want to deal with the hassle of working out a divorce, they move in with someone else and start a family with them. Interesting right? So usually we have to break it down for people and make sure that they are married and have resolved past relationship commitments. It definitely puts a huge pause on baptism for sure. GAHH.. 

Okay, remember Felipe? He was my second baptism here and he is an absolute DREAM! He is so excited and loves the church so much. He is 74 years old and is so full of energy. He loves to tell people about the word of wisdom and he shares his darling testimony in every possible moment. We like to bring him along as a team up and he always says the funniest things to us and to other people. Last night he told us that because he is completely bald, he needs to wear his "gurrito" or beanie all the time. Then he told us that it makes him feel like a " cholito" which is a little gangster. As we struggled to breathe from laughing so hard, the 74 year old man lovingly told us that he was our "homie". OH MY GOODNESS> I about died. Old Latino people don't really get all the American slang terms but all that coming out his mouth was a hoot and a half. I LOVE him! 

PUES... This week has been a blessed one and I am learning so much every day. Repentance is such a beautiful word guys. The whole purpose of missionary work and this life is to help people be clean. Repentance through the Atonement of Christ is the means to achieve that cleanliness. WHAT A BLESSING! Remember to use that gift and continue to "turn" yourself to Christ everyday. I love you all!

Stay Safe & God Speed.

Love, Hermana Tobler

Baby in my Bread 1/18/16

Hi Friends and Fam-Bam!

I hope everyone is doing well out there and that you all are sticking to your new years resolutions. Such fun stuff. There isn't too much to report this week but all is well here in Moreno Valley. I have been living off grapefruits and oranges and the sunsets we have are just to die for. I am still not used to seeing all the palm trees and citrus groves everywhere. Every time I see a glossy mandarin orange tree I do a double take and have to remind myself that I am in a land of plenty! 

I have a love/ hate relationship with Sundays. Sundays on a mission are such a struggle.. Every week we work like crazy to get these darling people to come to church. When the feel the spirit and want to change their lives in the lessons you feel like they are ready to be baptized tomorrow! Then, they dont come to church that Sunday and your heart just shatters. I guess slow and steady does win the race!

We had quite a bit of success this week, We were blessed to pick up 6 new investigators this week and that was SO EXCITING.

One of the new investigators is a super sweet lady named Laura. She just escaped from an AWFUL and ABUSIVE husband and is now trying to piece her life back together. She and her 5 year old daughter are looking for peace and friends. Perfect. She and I really connected over a similar trial that I had and that she is going through now.I feel overjoyed to share my experiences and how the gospel is a life changer. SO special. Even though my Spanish stinks and I am in no wise close to fluent, I feel the spirit speak stronger than anything when I stumble through the lessons. I am grateful to have a back up. 

Members Members Members... I love em so much.We taught a Bible study class this week and I took the role of writing all the important points on the chalk board while my companion explained things. The members were so shocked that I could write, they kept saying "Wow she can write but she can't speak Spanish at all!" Haha.. I may not be very good but I can certainly understand them. So funny though. You can't ever be offended in this culture.  With the new year, Latinos have a tradition of eating this special sweet bread with plastic baby Jesus's inside. Ummmm... yeah, so whoever has a slice of bread with a baby in it has to make tamales in February. Of course I got a baby. However, I dont think I will be making tamales this year. Haha. 

Well that's all this week folks! Have a good one continue to turn yourself to Christ!

Stay Safe and God Speed. Xx.

Love, Hermana Tobler

PIT-BULLS & BUNNY-RABBITS 01/13/16

Oh my Gooodnessss! HELLO EVERYONE!

Such a long, wonderful, and crazy week. I am absolutely lovin life and I am grateful to be on the Lord's errand. This week we got dumped on as a precursor to El Nino. (The giant rainstorm that will take over Cali) So much more fun to proselyte in the rain in my opinion! No more dusty, dehydrated, brown/yellow MoVal! We are working our way to green and that is just so exciting to me. Speaking of rain.. cool experience this week! So out of desperation and soaking legs and skirts, my companion and I made a quick detour to Burlington to pick up some rainboots for me. To my dismay, the massive shoe selection consisted of HIGH heels, sandals, and a lonely pair of cowboy boots. (what?) I searched everywhere anyway and soon realized that we were waisting our time there. Frustratedly I said to my companion: "Let's go, there aren't ANY rainboots here..." Then I look down and LO and BEHOLD! A shiny pair of cute black rainboots in my size sat at my feet. Holay Mackerel. I was speechless. In a matter of 2 minutes I was walking to the car holding my $25 gift from God. I was thrilled.

I might as well explain my subject by saying that a less than kind Pitbull decided to finish it's dinner with my leg. Poor Roxy only got to try a little bit a sister missionary but that is definitely okay with me. I was lucky that she was tied up and my getaway was short. After escaping from her claws I looked down at her angry black eyes and huge jaw that were snapping, then locking .. snapping and locking. I felt very relieved. Needless to say, we got outta there quick.

BUNNIES! Bunnies along with some dogs and horses are the only animal that I can abide with. I had the pleasant opportunity of holding a little bundle of white fur and big blue eyes yesterday. As I stared at Candy's tiny pink nose and little paws I couldn't help but think that God is so creative and that Bunnies are way better than Pitbulls. YEET<>.

So on Monday, we had an Elder come from the Quorum of the 70 speak to our mission. Elder Hamula is a spiritual giant and I learned SO MANY THINGS. The main idea of our all day conference was that repentance is not a negative thing. Repentance, or forsaking of our sins, is simply "re-turning" ourselves to Christ. What a blessing it was to hear that, it makes repentance so much easier and so much more positive. I am still on a spiritual high from that meeting!

Thanks to all for everything you do, I pray for you always.

Stay safe and God Speed. 

love, Hna Tobler

Worse than a Break Up. 1/4/16

Happy New Year Friends and Family!

I am rounding on 3 months out in the field and I am just astounded. How has time gone by that fast?? I am grateful that I beginning to lose myself in this work. There are so many wonderful things about missionary work that I simply can't describe them all. As I have come to love the people and this work more, people's agency has a greater affect on me as well. And this week we certainly had a few downer moments. 

Worse than a Break Up... It has to be! 

Hermana Bjork and I began teaching an adorable couple in their 50's about a month ago. They received the message of the restoration with excitement and agreed wholeheartedly to every thing we taught. I was overjoyed because I could literally see Rosa as a Relief Society President and her husband Javier as a Scout Master. It was perfect! Baptism was around the corner, and more than 1 occasion Hermana Bjork and I would dance to the car singing and talking excitedly of the possibilities. So with the holidays it was super hard to have another cita with them at a time that would work for both of us. So this week we decided to pop by unannounced. We excitedly greeted Rosa who answered the door and she welcomed us in. The next 20 minutes were 20 minutes of acute sadness and heartbreak. Right away Rosa proceeded to tell us that she and her husband wanted to stick to what they knew and only study the Bible. She said that her Jehovah's Witness Step daughter and reminded them of only adhering to the Bible and that all other books were an abomination. She picked up the 2 Book of Mormons and pamphlets we gave them and brought them to us. As she stood above us holding these books in her hands, I felt time freeze. It was a moment where she could choose to accept a message that would change her life or it was a moment where she could turn her back on the sweet spirit she felt and knew was true. As she handed the books to me, I literally felt my heart break. Why? Why did this wonderful woman and her darling husband decided to ignore the spirit of truth, joy, and blessings? I testified as well as I possibly could in Spanish and I prayed fervently for her in the lesson, but she was closed. I think she felt guilty because we looked at her as though she had just killed our puppy. We left in silence and when we were safely in the car, we both wept. We wept out of sorrow and out of grief for the loss of these beautiful people. I take comfort in the fact that maybe our job is simply to plant seeds. Perhaps she will open the Book of Mormon that we begged her to keep and find an answer that will change her life. I have faith in that. But for now all I can say is that it was one of the hardest moments of my mission and I know that I really love these people. 

Okay! On a lighter note! Hermana Bjork and I continued to eat our weight in tamales and pazole. I LOVE the Moreno Valley ward and I am so grateful for the darling members. Ahh they are so cute. 

I have noticed the funniest thing as we have been contacting out on the streets at night. A lot of men (and some women) like to get in their cars and do drugs with their buddies. It is hilarious because we will go by and (because we need to talk to everyone) will introduce ourselves and usually crazy responses follow. They are so high out of their minds, they cant think straight at all and they often say inappropriate things so we have to turn and book it. Some times they straight up yell to us that they are doing drugs and they need Jesus! Anyways,I just think it is such a weird idea to go sit in your car and get high like nobody knows... Of course we know you are smoking! We can see the cloud and smell it a block away! LOL....

Well folks. That is all for this week, besides working hard nothing much else has really happened. Hermana Bjork and I go through heck and back to reach the standard missionary goal every week and we are so blessed when we do it. I am grateful that we have goals to shoot for, they make it so much fun. I love you all and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Take care and make this year a good one!

Love, 

Hermana Tobler