Snoop Dog lives in Diamond Bar, California!

I was worried that I might get a tad homesick on my birthday last week, but honestly the ward didn’t even give me time to think about home!! It was a day full of wonderful events :) First we did the usual, studied and whatnot. Then went to District Meeting! I LOVE being with a group of missionaries so that was deff a treat! 

My District

Then one of my favorite, Sister Arnold took us for lunch,
then we did some good ole’ missionary work,

Sister Arnold

then had dinner at the Christ home (another one of my favs!) She let me pick the whole menu for the night so you knooooow we had Thanksgiving dinner and then chocolate chip pecan pie for desert :)

Christ Family

literally 10 mins after leaving there we had to go to the Kilburns because THEY had made me a cake too!!!! I thought I would explode!! Then the Jordans had made me brownies…it just never ended! It was awesome. Everyone made me feel so loved and at home. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Kilburn's chocolate cake

Tradition to stick your finger in the cake on your birthday...lol

Birthday shirt!

Needless to say, I’m currently on a diet.

The cutest part about my birthday was that the FIRST people to text me happy birthday was our investigators! The dad of the family we are teaching sent:  “HAPPY B-DAY TO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ANGEL MY EYES HAVE EVER SEEN…hope you have a wonderful b-day and I will pray to our heavenly father for you well being…thank you for bringing so much joy to me and my family!”  UHM. So darn sweet. See, this is what it’s all about. Then to add to the cuteness we go over to their house on Saturday for dinner and they ended up throwing me a little party and had even had me a present! It was such a fun time that I’ll never be able to forget.

Having Elder Neil L Anderson speak to mine and the Redlands mission was amazing! Getting to shake the hand of an apostle of the Lord was even more amazing. There were 400 missionaries there and he shook every one of our hands. A few of the points he made that really stood out to me were:

·         There are 1200 people a WEEK sending in their mission papers.

·         He explained to us that a lot of people get bummed when they find out that they are being sent state side for their mission, but that they save their best missionaries for the states. The states are the breadbasket of the church and if the church quits growing here we will be in trouble. I am, and always have been, so blessed to be in California right now.

·         We missionaries are prayed for more than any other group in the church.

·         We are all so different. It’s okay that we aren’t all the same. The Lord TREASURES those differences. We all grow at different paces. As a wise friend of mine told me recently “Run your own race at your own pace.” (thanks joe!!!) Inch by inch, foot by foot, yard by yard we become more like the Savior. We need to be patient with ourselves.

·         Sometimes when we repent and say we are sorry we expect instant forgiveness. The Lord, to some extents wants us to remember those sins so we don’t make the same mistake over again. So you aren’t NOT forgiven just because you remember your mess ups. He still gives us peace.

·         If we are stressed out or down we should pray to invite the spirit back in..Christ doesn’t want us discouraged! Satan does. If we are dependent on Him, we will have the strength to do what we need to do.

·         50% of the people who join and stay active in the church say they knew it was true the instant they saw and got to know the full-time missionaries. Our countenance says it all and is so important. That’s why we have such high standards to live up to as missionaries.

I saw Hermana (Sister speaking Spanish) Clark - my preschool buddy!

Alright since I’ve been living at the same place for a while I’ve gotten to know a lot of the people who stay there as well.  Well this week we were walking in for the night and saw that a man had left the light on in his car …so we go knock on his door and he asks through the door who it is and before I can finish the sentence “it’s the Sisters, we just wanted to tell you your lights are on!” he swung open the door and is standing in nothing but little boxer briefs!!!! My face was priceless. I just kept saying “focus, Katie, focus. Don’t laugh. Just look him straight in the eyes!!!” to make things even more awkward he just kept carrying on the conversation! He said “so what all have you ladies been up to today?? What all do you do every day?” So yeah, wonderful missionary opportunity. Horrible timing. Sister Hansen and I DIED laughing when we were walking away…like seriously?? Did that just happen? Oh, the stories I’ll be able to share with you all someday :p People never cease to amaze me.

You know Snoop Dog lives here in Diamond bar, right? I think I already told yall this? But if not, pretty cool huh?

Yesterday at church a miracle took place. One of the less active members we have been working with is married to a man who hasn’t been to church but a few times since he got baptized..like 20 years ago or something?!?! Well every time we go over to visit her he never sits in on the lessons or anything, but the door is always open ..so he deffff hears us. Anywho, I go to hug her at church and realize HE is standing right behind her and had come!!!! MY FACE WAS LIKE WHHHAAA?!?!? IS THIS REAL LIFE?!?! I tell you this only because it proves that we are always being watched. People hear the conversations we have, the things we say, they see how we act and how we treat people. This could be a really good thing OR a really bad thing. Lol. We should probably be reevaluating ourselves. 24/7.  We are being examples to people we don’t even realize exists, to people we thought wanted nothing to do with us.

Jenna's little boy Bookie

Sister Hansen and I got so very giggly this week! That’s the good part about staying with a companion for more than one transfer..you get to know each other and it becomes SUCH a good time. You find the dumbest things hilarious because of inside jokes and such. Oh man :)

Good things are happenin’ here in Diamond Bar. I am so thankful to be a part of it all. 

-hugs-

Sister Toolan

20th Birthday on the Mission! #happybirthdaytome

The week before transfers is always interesting. It consists of going around trying to visit anyone and everyone that means a lot to you so that juuuust in case you’re leaving you will have seen them! Boy, am I glad we did that! 
Yes, I am staying in Diamond Bar another 6 weeks (and I am ecstatic) but we are getting another set of missionaries in the ward (6 HONKIN’ MISSIONIARES IN ONE PLACE!!) so we are losing part of our area and won’t be able to visit/teach those people anymore. Even though I’m a little sad about that I’m excited because it’ll help Sister Hansen and I to focus in on the areas we DO have. I am going to give it my all these next six weeks…well, I guess the next 12 ½ months too..but still, you get it! Lol

I love this sarcastic, hilarious man!

Yall. Everyone and their mother have pets out here. This would be great if Jeri Toolan wasn’t my mother and hadn’t raised me in a house where there were NO animals’ lol. Love you momma. It’s so bad. And even though I’m the one that doesn’t like them, it’s like pets are attracted to me for some reason -_- we have a huge lint roller in the car because sometimes we make the mistake of wearing black to a members home who has 5 dadgum pets hahah. So I’m just going to go ahead and make this known in print and everything:

Dear future spouse,

I will agree to marrying you if and only if you understand that we will NOT be having pets of any sort (jk, fish are alright because they don’t shed or smell) in our house.

Love,

Your high maintenance better half :)

I remember at the beginning of my mission I was really sad one day. I talked to Sister Havens and expressed to her that I knew something was wrong because I was NOT being myself. She said “maybe you’ve just changed? That happens when you go on a mission. You become a better person and it just happens. What if you went home today the same that you are right now?” and I looked at her very seriously and said “If I went home like this I would regret going on a mission. Heavenly Father would NOT take my personality away from me. He would not want me to be having to always force a smile. My personality is the one thing that is going to HELP me on my mission!”

Luckily, it didn’t take too much longer and I snapped out of it, but I know that what I said that day was the truth. I was blessed to have the personality that I do. So many people (members, missionaries, ect.) have told me have thankful they are that I’m not some robot 24/7. Yes, we are still missionaries and need to act like it, but we are STILL human and can laugh and have a good time. I might not be good at quoting scriptures or knowing the answer to every question, but darn it I love people and love making them happy and smile and that is enough.

We went and visited with a 82 year old woman that can’t come to church anymore because she isn’t well enough to leave the house and before we left we told her how much we love seeing her and she goes, while crying “Thank YOU for coming. Thank you for bringing a little bit of heaven and Heavenly Father into my house when you come. I need it more than you realize.”
How sweet? It’s true. Us missionaries (depending on whether or not we’ve been obedient) bring the spirit into homes. It’s one of the best tools we have at helping people understand that what we are sharing with them is true. They SEE the difference in their homes when we are there. They want that feeling to stay there. And it can. By being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost just as us members of the church have. Goodness, I love this church :)

Diamond Bar Sister Missionaries

So, you know how Dakota Emily and I would always watch the SNL skit “The Californians”? OH MY GOSH. They were soooooo accurate in that video about the people of California. They really do tell you how to get everywhere by talking about the freeways and stuff hahah. It’s so funny. I laugh every time someone tries to tell me how to get where I need to go by doing that. #nailedit

I have been in denial for a while. I liked to think I don’t really have an accent, but I’ve proven myself wrong this week. So we found out that Elder Neil L. Andersen of the quorum of the twelve apostles will be coming to talk to our mission on Saturday and I kept saying to Sister Hansen “gosh, that’s really hard to say…like with the L and then Anderson!!!” She pointed out to me that it really wasn’t hard I just have an accent…then it hit me…I do. I was saying (now everyone join in and say it with me so you understand :p) Neil “ale” like ginger ale Anderson. I couldn’t just say the “L” normal. Still cant :( lol

I decided to treat myself today since my birthday is tomorrow! I got my naiiiiillls diiiid! Mani/pedi, HOLLA! #divastatus And to top it all off immma try and go find a new dress at daaaaa gooodwiiiiillll! :) so until next week, keep it real homies!

-hugs-

Sister Toolan

Sister Cook left Diamond Bar:(

It's Raining in Cali....baby!

DOWNPOUR
+ 20 missionaries
+ doughnuts
+ a member with a HUGE house needing help moving out
= a darn good time!!! :)

It's raining, it's pouring, missionaries are FAR FROM snoring!

As “sister” missionaries we have to be a little more on the safe side of things. For instance, we can’t knock doors or visit people who we don’t already know after dark. So the other night we were waiting on our Missionary Leader to get to a home we were going to visit and we were a little early so we knew we’d be waiting a bit. My companion and I decided that considering there was still some day light out that we’d go knock some doors. We were scared. As always. But we did it. And the first house we knocked we met a man who seemed pretty interested, asked for a pamphlet and told us to come back on Saturday. (Which NEVER happens)Obviously we came back Saturday and to our surprise ended up teaching his WIFE and finding out they have 2 older daughters and they are catholic but don’t really know what it is they believe. She gave us all her contact information and said we could come back again soon! It was so amazing to us how the Lord provides when we don’t slack off any and work Work WORK!

Double rainbow

This week I had another one of my “firsts on a mission” experiences. For the 1^st time ever I, Sister Toolan, invited a man we are teaching to be baptized, and guess what?!? He said YES! We even set a date! I was so nervous, but we knew he was ready to make the commitment. 

It’s funny because a lot of people we teach will say “I’ve already been baptized before, I don’t need to again.” But see, that’s what makes our church different from all the rest…

Mormon.org explains is very simply: “Jesus Christ taught that we must be baptized by immersion (Mark 16:16; 3 Nephi 11:21-26). He set the example Himself by being baptized to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). We are baptized by someone who has God’s PRIESTHOOD authority for the remission of sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16).”

Ok, so what is the priesthood?

“Throughout time, God has given His servants, the prophets, the authority to act in His name. This authority is called the priesthood. Jesus Christ gave the priesthood to His original Twelve Apostles by ordination (see John 15:16), and they directed the work of His Church after Jesus ascended to heaven. But after the Apostles were killed, the priesthood gradually disappeared from the earth. In 1829 Joseph Smith received the priesthood authority to organize Christ’s Church from Heavenly Messengers who had held this authority anciently including the prophet John the Baptist and apostles Peter, James, and John. In 1830 the same Church of Jesus Christ that existed centuries ago was organized and restored to the earth.”

So yes, baptism by the proper priesthood authority is very important. It’s essential.

I got to see sweet Sister Stouffer this week at zone conference (she was in the MTC with Katie)

Speaking of priesthood, prophets and apostles…next week we have a missionary conference that a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will be at!!!! How neat?!?! What a blessing that will be. It’ll be a cool story to tell my kids one day too :p I am so lucky to be a missionary at this time.

I watched a video this week that really hit me. While watching it took me back to high school. I remember how cruel, spiteful and hateful people could be at times. Even towards me. I remembered how much I hated high school because of this, but also how those times made me a stronger person. You want to know what high school is like for teenagers nowadays?? This video nails it.

 http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3267475157001

“When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm—stop it!” -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

My favorite poly woman, Sister Pulu

This crazy world we live in has enough evil and darkness in it. BE THE LIGHT. Be different. Be nice for a change and help someone! This week we had the chance to do an incredibly simple act of service for a little 80 year old woman. She asked us if we could make her bed for her and we were thrilled to! While making it we realized that this would have been such a difficult task for her frail older body. What took us 2 minutes would have taken her 25. It’s the simple things that make this world a more enjoyable place. Heavenly Father sent us here TO be happy and to help others like Christ did. Not to torment and tear people down. Decide today to only speak kindly of others and to help anyone and everyone in your path.

We find out about transfers this Saturday and I’m not looking forward to it -_- I just love Diamond Bar so much. But as always, The Lord is in charge and I guess we will find out soon enough where He needs me! I love you guys and pray that at some point or another reading my updates will help you in some way, shape or form. Keep on keepin’ on!

-hugs-

Sister Toolan

Rocking the face mask!

MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING

A mighty miracle has already taken place in my life this morning! We washed our car then to Target to get our shopping out of the way and then back home for juuust a quick minute. While we were home I felt like going ahead and writing a letter home (which I don’t usually do until after we go email). Right when I was done I went to get a stamp out of my wallet and realized my wallet was NOT in my purse…which meant I had left it at Target. In the shopping cart. Outisde. :O we left RIGHT then and headed back to see if we could find it. You KNOW I was praying like crazy the whole way there. I had alllll my debit/credit cards in there, stamps, $20 in cash, gift cards, my license, everything.

It wasn’t in any of the buggies (speaking of which: everyone out here makes fun of me for calling them buggies lol. #southerntwang) so we went inside straight to customer service. My wallet WAS there and NOTHING had been tampered with. We got back to the car and while I was saying my “thank you sooo much Heavenly Father” prayer I realized that it wasn’t coincidence that I decided to write a letter way before I usually do, or that we actually had the miles to be able to go back and check, or that He gave me yet another opportunity to put complete trust in Him. The Lord moves in mysterious ways.

Becca drew a picture of me....I didn't know my hand looked like a RAKE!

I HAVE BEEN OUT 4 MONTHS NOW. WHAT IN THE WORLD. WHERE DID TIME GO?! I also turn 20 in 2 weeks….uhhh………no. I am starting to feel old. This can’t be happening.

 I focused my studies a lot around faith this week. I see now that missionary work is all based on OUR faith as missionaries. Without it we won’t be able to accomplish much.

Moroni 7: 33 gave me a wake up call.  

33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.

If I have faith in Christ, He will give me the power to do anything that is expedient to Him and I’m thinnnnkkkkiiiiing bringing souls unto Him is kiiiinda something He’d approve of. Just sayin’. So I just realized that I have GOT to have 110% trust in Him, do my part by being obedient and miracles will happen. It’s simple. Honestly, everything about life IS simple, we just complicate it.

Flashback to the MTC (Missionary Training Center).....I miss it:(

 Random side note: I’m at the library right now and someone keeps letting out stink bombs!!!! SERIOUSLY PEOPLE! SPARE US A LITTLE WHY DON’T YA?!!

 We got to District Meeting this week and our District Leader Elder Newton goes “allllright, we need to come up with a district name and I think I have a good one! After talking with Sister Toolan these past few weeks I see how hyped she always is about missionary work so I’m thinking ‘All the Hype! District!’ How bout it??”

Then we are sitting there having studies one morning and he had sent a text out to all 8 of us missionaries that read “This is it! We only need to find a few more people to reach our goal for the week. If you need to get hyped to0 find/call Sister Toolan!!” I was cracckkkking up! It was a huge compliment to me though. I have noticed these past two weeks that I’m falling more and more in love with being a missionary. I WANT to go out and find people instead of dreading it. I want to only use 30 mins of lunch instead of an hour because I want to get out and get to work.

Yes, I’m becoming “that” missionary :p My poor companion. She is going to hate me before this is all over. I just can’t help it. I see how important this work is.

Switched comps for the day!! Sister Cook is awesome :)

All this walking around trying to talk to people is making my freckles BLOSSOM. They are everywhere and none-hidable. It’s all good, I love freckles :)

Ok, food for thought for all you members and missionaries of the church out there reading this:

When everyone looks, everyone finds.

SHARE THE GOSPEL WITH EVERYONE. Allow the Lord to pour the blessings of doing so into your life.

Love yall.

-hugs-

Sister Toolan

I tried octopus this week.....

Valentine's Day 2014

A BIG HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SENT ME MAIL/PACKAGES FOR VALENTINES DAY! :D  I realize more and more every single day how blessed I have been with the most amazing family/friends a girl could ever ask for. Why my? Why did I get so lucky? Thank you. Thank you for all the prayers, encouraging words, everything. You help keep me going.

Earl Reed #66 hooked a "Sister" up with a sweet Valentine!

I can definitely say that this week was MUCH better than last. This was the first week since I’ve been here that we got (drumroll please…..) TWO New Investigators!!! The most we ever got was 1 and even that was like every other week. 2 NI for some missions is way low, but for us it was a sign that indeed the Lord had been hearing our prayers for more opportunities to share the gospel.

Jenna made me a cute scarf and hat

 While we were talking to one of our investigators he got very serious and said “You know, baptism has been on my mind a lot lately. I love having you lovely ladies come over and teaching me about the gospel. It makes me happy. I see the difference in my life since I’ve met you. I go to work and I tell people I’ve been going to the Mormon church and when they start throwing crazy stuff at me about you I just say ‘no, you need these girls numbers. You need to talk to them! You don’t even know what you’re missing out on! I want everyone to know about the message you share.” And then the cutest thing I’ve ever heard came out of his mouth “You know? I feel like if you girls were only able to help just ONE person on your mission, that’d be a successful mission. I want to be that one for you.”

My face hurt leaving that appointment because I hadn’t been able to stop smiling the whole time :) It is crazy how much people can change when they finally hear the piece of information they’ve been missing their whole life; The gospel of Jesus Christ!

I <3 a good thrift shop find!

When Sister Havens and I were companions we were working with a ton of less active members. There was one in particular that we were able to get back to church after a long time of not coming. She came up to me at church on Sunday (with the cutest little smile on her face) and said “I just wanted to tell you that because you girls have been visiting me and getting me back to church, my son in Georgia is wanting missionaries to come to his house and teach his family. He wants to get back into the church as well. I tell you this because I want you to know that your work is blessing the lives of more people than just the ones here. Thank you for helping my family.”

I think as missionaries we put in a lot of hard work and then, most of the time, we don’t get to see the “fruits of our labors”. How neat will it be for us all when the day comes that we stand beside our loving Heavenly Father and Christ and get to actually SEE the affect we had on people here in this life. “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”:)

 You know what my FAVORITE thing to hear is? We will be knocking doors and trying to talk to people and when they hear we are Mormon they say “Oh, sorry. I’m not interested. We are Christian.” And I just have to hold back my “are you stinkin’ kidding me right now?!?” laugh and say “NO WAY! SO ARE WE!”

I love how people think we don’t believe in Christ when in fact our church is The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints. No, we don’t worship Joseph Smith. No, we don’t grow a tail and horns at night when we get home. No, we don’t have 7 wives and practice polygamy. Yes, we believe in the one and only God you believe in and are trying our best to live up to Christ’s example just as you are.

It absolutely BLOWS my mind and how many things people hear on the street from people that aren't even OF our religion, and then believe. How about this? Instead of assuming and going off of everyone else’s opinion, why don’t YOU go to church one Sunday and see for yourself the kind of people we are and the things we talk about and do. And while you’re at it, go ahead and pray to know if it’s true or not. You have Gods word that He will tell you the answer.

Moroni 10:4-5

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

 This week I am going to get to work and get to work HARD. I am super crazy pumped. NOTHING is going to stop me…unless I get sick again…in which case that will totalllly stop me….but it’s cool because I’m healthy as an ox or whatever right now lol.

 Keep smiling. Keep the faith.

-hugs-

Sister Toolan

Super random purple house I told you about a couple of weeks ago

Honesty is the BEST policy!!!!!

Yeah, I’m gunna be 100% honest with you right now. This week was…uhhhm…pretty crappy? Yeah, that’s the best way I can put it. I don’t want to just write about all the great things happening because I’m still human, I still have really bad days & I still get discouraged just like the average joe. To kinda give you a better idea of why this week wasn’t the best:

Monday- didn’t meet with a single person.

Tuesday- didn’t have any lessons.

Wednesday- the one lesson we DID have planned….cancelled.

Thursday- the family we haven’t seen in like 2 weeks since they came to church cancelled on us..

Friday- yeah…I think you get the point by now.

It just was a very slow, rough week.

Now that I’m done with my negative-nancy rant I must tell you that there WAS good in my crummy week :) there always is!

I experienced a few of my “first as a missionary” kind of things.

1. I had to walk around and try to talk to people in the rain for the first time! It was such a blast. You’d think that people would feel bad for you walking around in the cold wet atmosphere and let you in, but no :) it made me feel like a TRUE missionary though lol. Oh, and back story: California is in some state of a drought and has been for a while. So the prophet of the church asked all the members in southern cali to fast on fast Sunday (feb. 2) for rain…and by golly, the Lord handed us some rain :) we aren’t like out of the drought or anything, but He sure did hear our prayers!

Don't pay attention to my awkward feet!

2. I left the apartment without my missionary tag for the first time. Or so I thought. Come to find out it was in my scripture bag the whole time -_- I felt so…naked…there..i said it..without it. I felt like a normal person, because I looked like one for the first time in a while and I did NOT like it. I like being a missionary :) 

While we were at district meeting this week our district leader asked what some of our problems as missionaries were. I, obviously, said comparing myself to others. He very boldy said (and take note of this everyone) “You literally CRIPPLE yourself when you compare yourself. Everytime you go to compare yourself you need to CATCH yourself.” So true. Heavenly Father just expects us to do our best, then He makes up for the rest.

Also, we got on the topic of how it’s a litttttle (more like very) awkward to talk to EVERYONE, since that’s what we are supposed to be doing and all as missionaries. Then by the end of it I had realized this though: The Lord places people (even ones that are uninterested and mean) in our path to see if He can even trust us to talk to everyone. If He can’t trust us to do that, how can He trust us with those who ARE ready? We must talk to EVERY one. It’s just part of it. We have to find people that He has been preparing because He has.

Sunday came and all the members kept coming up asking us “so do you have anyone coming to church today?!” and I felt soooooo pathetic saying “..no” it made me feel horrible because I knew in my heart we had worked our butts off to try and find people this week to teach and bring but yet it looked like we had just slacked off and been lazy. Well, I saw that jenna (our recent convert) was outside so I went to help her and when I walked out I saw George, her husband and ALL the kids there. George has NEVER come to church. He hasn’t even ever been open to the idea! Now the whole entire family was there!!! I was shocked. We walked in, sat down and I looked at bishop and just started to smile so big my face hurt…that shortly turned into tears and I could hear Heavenly Father say “See Katie. You have GOT to start trusting me. I promise you I know what I’m doing.” George loved church and Jenna was so happy to have her family there with her supporting her in what she knows is true. It ended my so called “crummy” week on the best note ever.

I know that I am going to have really good weeks. I also know that I’m going to have extremely hard weeks. But I’m thankful that the Lord trust me with all the trials He puts before me. I am thankful that He gives me opportunities to learn and to grow into the Katie Toolan He always knew I could be. I am thankful for the bad times..they make you more grateful for the good. I know this church is true. I know that the world is evil and crazy but with the gospel of Jesus Christ in our life we can get through it all; we can even do it with a smile on our face :)

I love giving gifts.....

But you gotta be on a budget....

-hugs-

sister toolan

Still taking selfies!!!!

Stay Golden, Pony Boys

Alright, mom and dad get a lot of questions about what exaccctly  i'm doing out here as a missionary, so i figured i'd just show you our daily schedule:

6:30 a.m.	Arise, pray, exercise (30 minutes), and prepare for the day.
7:30 a.m.	Breakfast.
8:00 a.m.	Personal study: the Book of Mormon, other scriptures, doctrines of the missionary lessons, and other chapters from Preach My Gospel, the Missionary Handbook, and theMissionary Health Guide.
9:00 a.m.	Companion study: share what you have learned during personal study, prepare to teach, practice teaching, study chapters from Preach My Gospel, confirm plans for the day.
10:00 a.m.	Begin proselyting. Missionaries learning a language study that language for an additional 30 to 60 minutes, including planning language learning activities to use during the day. Missionaries may take an hour for lunch and additional study, and an hour for dinner at times during the day that fit best with their proselyting. Normally dinner should be finished no later than 6:00 p.m.
9:00 p.m.	Return to living quarters (unless teaching a lesson; then return by 9:30) and plan the next day’s activities (30 minutes). Write in journal, prepare for bed, pray.
10:30 p.m.	Retire to bed.

so from the time we leave the house til the time we come back we are either 1. at meetings that we have with other missionaries 2. at lessons we have with investigators or 3. walking around, knocking doors trying to share our message about Christs true church on the earth today. it is AWESOME. 

Love me some Sister Edwards

My companion and I had a really neat experience last night. (I deffff wrote about it in my journal lol.) there is a family that came to church last week that we wanted to start teaching. So we go over Tuesday night and have a great lesson! They said they would be at church on Sunday. Well, as the week went on we would call to check on them and stuff and they’d never get back to us or anything so we decided we would drive over and try to see them. We went two separate nights and each time they weren’t home. So Sunday night we were trying to figure out who we should go see and they came to mind but we were a little hestitant because they live so far away and we didn’t want to drive all the way there just to not see them and waste the miles. (as missionaries we only get so many miles a month so we have to be careful lol) so I said “lets pray and ask heavenly father what we should do.” We prayed and just asked for help knowing whether or not to go. As we finished the prayer we sat in silence, thinking.... i felt very impressed that we should go see them. I thought, you know what? We had the faith last night to set a goal for 1 new investigator with hopes that THEY would be that 1, so we have to show heavenly father we have faith in Him and go. So we did….AND THEY WERE THERE :D we pulled up and saw lights on and tears filled my eyes. I was so happy to have been able to follow a prompting from the spirit. It made the ending of a pretty crappy weekend a little bit better.

Rocking the Red White & Blue

One of the less active families we have been working with has a little 5 year old. This week we went to see them and the mom goes “look at this. You’re gunna love it!” she started showing us pictures of the little girl all dressed up as a missionary with a handmade badge, and her scriptures in a lunch box ready to go!  I guess she said “I’m ready to go out and knock on the neighbors doors!” lol, how cute? I hope that one day that little girl will actually get to go on a mission and experience the joy that those little things, like that, bring. I love being a missionary!

Today is pray (Preparation Day) and a wonderful one at that because the elders washed our car for us this morning :D #suckers

I’ve been drinking 3 liters of water a day!!! I’ve also become best friends with the bathroom because of it…..but still! I’m being healthy! Stayin’ fit!

I love you all. Stay golden, pony boys.

-hugs-

Sister Toolan

Throw back to Christmas

Beautiful Cali