Hello! This week strangely flew by, and my companion and I are both baffled about the inconsistency of the spacetime continuum. But, amid that, we've been on a roll contacting unknown records and teaching lots of member lessons. Some of the object lessons we've used have gotten a pretty entertaining level of involvement with the families we're visiting, leading one such family to have a lighthearted shouting match that somehow ended in a really strong spirit. We each invite the spirit in different ways, I suppose 😆.
Several highlights for you:
•Following some slightly comedic confusion about our meeting venue, we found Brother King hanging out in a Shell parking lot, and when we parked, he promptly climbed into our back seat, and we gave a lesson in the car, twisted around in our seats. Though the setup was a little wonky and we totally let go of our lesson plan to address some trials he's been facing, the spirit was present, and it spoke answers to him beyond what we taught. I wish I had time to go into detail! Later in the week we also went over the oath and covenant of the priesthood with him, and we've loved his dedication to studying it.
•We had Zone Conference this past Thursday. Eric Weddle was our guest this time, and he shared some great insights on being all-in with the gospel. We also appreciated hearing his perspective on holding to standards in trying environments. His football career has definitely put him in some interesting situations as a member of the church. As a side tangent, one of our AP's has been super hooked on the idea of sharing the gospel with Tom Brady, and after Zone Conference he wracked up the courage to walk up to Eric, give him a Book of Mormon, and invite him to send it to Tom Brady with his testimony in it. Eric said he would! Our AP proceeded to get his number so he could follow up on that.
•We had Stake Conference this past weekend, and among other great speakers, President and Sister Merritt came to the adult session on Saturday evening. We also saw Brother Sadleir there (the self proclaimed Ambassador of Positive Thought and Good Cheer I got to meet last transfer). He had a smiley face pin at the ready to give Elder Meilstrup, so my comp has officially joined me as a deputy!
•After we gave up all hopes of seeing Shawn and Grace again (having dropped them on our area book), Shawn randomly texted us to set up a meeting last week! .......and then rescheduled for next week. Our hope is...definitely doing the hokey pokey.
•The heater in our apartment doesn't work, so it's always uncomfortably chilly as we get ready for the day or head to bed, BUT, through a small series of convenient events, our friend Albert spontaneously gave us a space heater! That, ladies and gentleman, is called a tender mercy. Albert doesn't share our belief in God, but we hope he'll eventually come to know that God has been working through him nonetheless!
•A couple weeks ago I shared some thoughts on the comparison between the sun, moon, and stars, and how that relates to God's glory. I came across this verse in Doctrine and Covenants the other day, and was taken with how dramatically it put that analogy into perspective. "And so great shall be the glory of his presence that the sun shall hide his face in shame, and the moon shall withhold its light, and the stars shall be hurled from their places" (D&C 133:49). Our analogies certainly help our mortal understandings along, but we must always remember that they don't even come close to God's scale. Christ can offer more than our understanding can encapsulate. Charity breaches the bounds of our imagination.
•Early this morning we got to attend the temple (using our one opportunity for the transfer) and spent a little longer than normal pondering in the Celestial Room, which was a spiritual delight and a pretty singular chance to enjoy some quiet reverence. In particular, I imagined what it would be like if Christ were sitting there next to me. What would His expression be when He looked at me? What would I say? What would I ask? Can I even begin to imagine how He would answer me? What's my best guess? This thought process went from being a pleasant little meditation to being an exercise that began to stretch my faith and understanding. I had to lean on something I've been told a few times: we know God better than we think we do.
•Sister Luna, a friend from Anne's mission, drove down from Perris, California just to have dinner with us! We loved hearing her testimony, discussing Christ's character, talking with her about the legendary Hermana Tolman.
Hope everyone has a fantastic week!
God be with you,
Elder Tolman
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| The temple has such a majestic glow through the night. It's always a fun contrast entering before sunrise and exiting to a bright morning. |
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| Me and Elder Meilstrup after doing initiatories and endowments. The latter was a unique experience since one of our fellow missionaries who attended that session is deaf, so we got to see the instructional portion in ASL. |
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| Us with Sister Luna! |
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| Some members in the ward own a cat named Sadie who is sadly condemned to wear the cone of shame. |
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| Two Deputies of Positive Thought and Good Cheer proudly wearing our badges |
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| My zone with Eric Weddle at Zone Conference. Am I with my zone in this? Nope! I'm somewhere behind the photographer completely distracted talking with Elder Harmer about Calexico. That was a rough memo to miss. I did console myself with a photo with Eric afterward, but I'm still waiting for it along with the rest of our Zone Conference pictures. |
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| Me and Lou the hibernating tortoise |
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