Jilted at the Font 7/18/16

a thick stack of freshly printed programs

70 gooey chocolate chip cookies baked

talks practiced and prepared

water pouring into an empty font

a little white jumper selected

a an entire ward waiting by their phones

2 Hermana missionaries frazzled, stressed, and confused.

Yes, Hermana Gomez and I were jilted at the font this week. Our much anticipated baptism for Lupe fell through due to her leaving town spontaneously and her not owning a cell phone. When we didn't see Lupe at church yesterday we assumed that she had gone to San Diego to pick up her son from vacation. We passed by her empty home 4 times before we found out that she had returned from San Diego that afternoon, dropped off her son and her car and left to Santa Ana. We went through hoops of fire to get that information and finally 45 minutes before her actual baptism we received word that she would not be there. 

Frustrated, tired, and stressed beyond capacity my comp and I called all the ward members and apologized for the trouble. With sore hearts We froze all the cookies and I spent my dinner hour with my face in the carpet of our apartment. (Hermana Gomez sang hymns for comfort.) Yesterday it was hard to see the Lord's hand in the situation but today I am feeling much more trusting in the Lord and his timing. Perhaps Lupe and her son Juanito were supposed to be baptized together and things will fall into place as the Lord's will is carried out. I have trust that things will work out Lupe and her son will be able to participate in these saving ordinances. 

I know that the gospel is true and I know the Lord is 100% behind everything in His work. I have complete faith in Him and I know He lives. Like one of my dearest friends says: "After the trials come the blessings". I hope this trial continues to teach me things and the work will be blessed 10 fold.

I hope you all have a great week.

Be Safe&God Speed.

Love, 

Hermana Tobler

Heart explosions on the daily 7/11/16

Heeeelllloowwww!

How is everryjuan? I hope life is just dandy for all and that your summer is nice and cool. I have come to the conclusion that it is easier to feel the spirit when you don't have sweat pouring down your face and flies landing on every bit of your exposed skin. Gotta love those lessons! ;)

This week has been so great! We have received Muchas blessings and I cant handle the fact that we will be baptizing every Sunday for the rest of July. (If all continues to go as planned.) I am so happy because my mission began with so much baptism success and completely died off the next transfer. My comps and I all worked our buns off but we saw little fruit and it was kind of frustrating. Here in my new area I have been blessed in ways that I never imagined and the people are flocking to church every week. I never thought that I would cry over seeing someone walk into a chapel. I am especially excited for the most wonderfully prepared investigator I have ever taught. Lupe has dealt with SO MANY challenges in her life and has been absolutely GOLDEN in her preparation for baptism. Next week she will be entering the water and I have no doubt that my heart will fly out of my chest. Plus her little son, Juan, will be baptized the following week. I can die in happiness. 

So whilst we were walking out on the heat streets this week we found a super cool fellow named Daniel. He was super interested in learning more about God and finding the truth. We got to have really great discussion with him where we briefly explained the message of the Restoration, and gave him a Book of Mormon. After it all he held that book so reverently and looked at it as though it held all the answers to life. (Which it does.) I was about ready to burst with excitement to teach this man but to my great disappointment he told us he was moving to Ontario that day. NOoooo! But selfishness aside, he is SO going to get baptized, serve a mission and become an MTC teacher. (I think the Spirit planted that into my heart.) HORRAY!!

Okay last little funny story.. Yesterday while walking around looking for souls to save, Hermana Gomez and I saluted a middle aged couple in their garage watching TV. After seeing us, they turned to each other and started grumbling: "What are they Mormons? Are they giving out Bibles? Fine I will go talk to them for you.." So the husband took one for the team and lumbered out his garage to talk to us. He clearly told us where to find the nearest Mormon house and tried to run away. But after our invitation to share our message he laughed and said "Unless you two marry me right now, there is no way I will ever be a Mormon!" It was hysterical!! I tried to keep it together but the man had a great come back for us. As much as I want him to be baptized, I will omit from sacrificing my marriage choice. So funny. 

Well thanks again for all the continual support and letters. I LOVE EVERY WORD. 

Have a great week!

Stay Safe&God Speed.

Love, Hermana Tobler

LIVIN ON A PRAYER 7/5/2016

Hola amigas y familia!

Wow.. Half way there. I am not happy that this week marks halfway point on my mission. It is crazy to me because I still feel like I just got here. I have WAYYYY too much to learn still. It isnt fair.

 Oh well I will just have to make the next 9 the best there ever was!

So.. CULTURA CRAZE!

While y'all were out celebrating our American Heritage, I had the opportunity to speak, serve, eat, and live with a whole melting pot of cultures! Including and not limited to people from;

China

Turkey

Persia

Samoa

Mexico (yeah)

Brazil

Nigeria Africa

Philippians

Peru

California is so cool! This week Hermana Gomez and I tried to contact a guy who was standing on the side of the road staring at his giant smart phone. We started talking to him and quickly discovered that he doesn't know 2 words in English. This darling little man from China started giggling nervously and signaled for us to "wait a sec". We waited while he typed on his giant phone and spoke some rapid Chinese into it. He held out the phone for us to see what he had done. Apparently there is an app that allows someone to hold down a button, speak something into their language and the app will translate it directly into (understandable) English. We passed the phone back and forth conversing electronically in person.  It was really fast and really interesting to have a full on conversation with someone this way. Although it was a weird way to form a relationship and quite awkward, it was super neato. And no, He wasn't interested. :( 

Anyway! That is all for this week. All is well, I love the work, my companion, and my mission. I am so excited for all the baptisms coming up this month. Hold on to your seats folks!

Stay Safe& God Speed.

con (mucho) amor, Hermana Tobler​

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