Monday, December 31, 2012

Line upon line: Luke 17:11-19

Hey all. The mission is doing real good. Christmas time was pretty fun. Thanks to all that sent letters/packages. 

Instead of telling you about random adventures like cutting my companions hair, or biking 20 miles on the only day of the year it snows, I will share a little about what i learned during my personal study. I am trying to dig dipper into the scriptures and understand them more. When we feast upon the scriptures we understand them better and our knowledge grows.

*Note that this passage of scriptures has only one footnote.
Luke 17:11-19
11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Now i will run through this section of scripture with my notes added.

11 And it came to pass, as He..
HE! This is Jesus Christ. The Son of God. How awesome is it that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
11 went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
He followed his own advice, as revealed to Joseph Smith that
it is not needful for this whole company of mine elders to be moving swiftly upon the waters, whilst the inhabitants on either side are perishing in unbelief. On his way to Jerusalem he passed through and talked many. I could not see Jesus rushing to get to his next meeting.
12 
And as he entered into a certain village,
He really is ANXIOUS to help us. (Ezekiel 34:11) Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
12 there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; The whole need no physician. (Mormon 8:8)
BD: Leper: "Living Death" Both infectious and contagious. They were forbidden to enter any walled city. 
If we feel like we have been rejected or cast out. He will come to help and heal us.
I have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me. (1 Samuel 8:7)
There is never a wall between us and the lord. Nor a pavillion (D&C 121:1)
All have been rejected or cast into a pit without water. (Genesis 37:24) as was joseph, this time without his coat.
13 And they lifted up their voices,
We need to arise and cry unto the lord for his help.
And my soul hungered and i cried unto him (Enos 1:4)
13  and said, Jesus, Master,
He has come. He lives! He is our master! The Master is come. (John 11:28)
13 have mercy on us.
He is Shewing mercy unto tousands that love him and keep his commandments. (Exodus 20:6)
Really his Arm of mercy is extended to all. (Mosiah 24:26)
Trust in the mercy of God (Psalm 52:8)
14 And when he saw them,
If we will step towards him he will brace us.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelations 3:20)
14 he said unto them, Go
I say unto this man go, and he go. (Matthew 8:9)
God has given all of us things to do. To me he said.
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; (Mormon 9:22)|
But no matter what we have been told to do, it is possible. 
The Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. (1 Nephi 3:7)
14 shew yourselves unto the priests.
We need to be as The servants of the most high God, and shew unto the way of salvation. (Acts 16:17)
15 And it came to pass, that, as they went,
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22) (see also 1:24)
15 they were cleansed.
We need to answer the call, Wilt thou be clean (Jeremiah 13:27)
Thou canst make me clean (Mark 1:40)
15 And one of them,
He will rejoice over one sheep. (Matthew 18:13) 
The worth of one soul is great (D&C 18:10) (see also 18:15)
15 when he saw that he was healed,
We have all been "healed" or given a very valuable give as members of this church. not everyone can recognize this.
Many have known not that (he) healed them (Hosea 11:3)
15 turned back,
Let us search and turn back to the lord (Lamations 3:40)
Turn to the Lord and put your trust in him (Mosiah 7:33)
15 and with a loud voice glorified God,
We need to do good works to glorify tour father (3 Nephi 12:16)
16 And fell down on his face ,
The Brother of Jared fell down before the Lord. (Ether 3:6)
16 at his feet
Be like Mary, who sat at jesus feet and heard his word. (Luke 10:41) Choos(ing) that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:41)
16 giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
Always return thanks (Alma 7:23)
Let the heart be full of thanks (Alma 37:37)
17 And Jesus answering said,
Ask and ye shall recieve (a billion times)
He is quick to hear the cries of his people and answer their prayers. (Alma 9:26)
17 Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
Maybe it was to simple. Becuase of the simpleness of the way or the easiness of it, there (are) many who perish. (1 Nephi 17:41) Many forget the Lord (Hosea 2:13) The gospel is proclaimed by the weak and simple (D&C 1:23)
18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God,
For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift. (D&C 88:33)
18 save this stranger.
If you feel like he is a stranger to you maybe even you are a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart? (Mosiah 5:13) Please Look unto (him) in every though, doubt not fear not (D&C 6:36)
19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way:
Arise and shine forth! (D&C 115:5)
19 thy faith  
Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6)
Have faith or a surety for a better world (Ether 12:4)
19 hath made
He spake and it was made (D&C 38:3)
We are made or changed from glory to glory. 
19 thee whole.
Wilt thou make me whole (John 5:6)
Little children are whole (Moroni 8:8)
They are the greatest in the kingdom of God. Because they are humble (Matt 18:1-3)

All i got time for this week. Thanks for the love prays and pencils.

amor, Elder Toomey.



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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

1/3 mark

Bueno.

How are yall. Not much too happened here. We are just doing work. Its almost christmas. The world might end in 3 days. Im content if we all die. I will just get reassigned to the spirit world. and all that good stuff.

Hey i am 1/3 done with my mission

I have been reading the Doctrine and Covenants. Thats what mamaw said that she is reading so i thought that i would read it. I am half way done and have found a lot of cool stuff.

I got to talk to an old investigator!!!!!! back from loudon. David (long hair-ed dude; likely a picture below) i sent him christmas goodies and so he was pretty happy. He is still going to church and letting the new elders teach him more. He found my translator (phew) in his pantry? on the top shelf. not sure how that got there but that makes me pleased. i was gonna buy a new one on ebay but they were $100+. Smiles from here.

I will be here for atleast one more transfer, likely two. which means my addy for the next six weeks+ (until the end of January) is still:
622 S Liberty Hill Rd
Morristown, TN 37813
or you can send it to the mission office at
11320 Station West Dr. Ste 101,
Farragut, TN 37934

Thats probably all.

So bye until next p-day.

Elder Toomey.

D&C 62:1 Behold, and hearken, O ye of my church, saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, your advocate, who knoweth the weakness of man and how to succor them who are tempted.



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Monday, December 10, 2012

Apostolic blessing

Elder Russell M. Nelson left an Apostolic Blessing on each of us that from notes he said the following,
"I bless you to feast on the words of Christ that they may become a part of you. I bless you to yearn to share those truths. I bless you to love the members and non-members you serve & to respond to their questions so that they can be brought to the light of the Lord – Concerning your families, I extend a blessing of healing upon those in need, consistent with the Lord's will."

Your families will be blessed (see D&C 31:1-7)



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Absolute Faith, Service, Love, Music, Q12

Real good week here in Tennesee.

First i got to say congrats to Ali Vincent and Mikelle Pyne on getting their mission calls. Missions are the best. Everyone should do at least one, if not several. Norway and Argentina are pretty cool places, i hope they get to have amazing experiences as grand as mine. It is amazing to look at all of the missionaries from our ward. Bishop Bowen and Brother Alder did a great job teaching the mission prep class. We will continue to have successful missionaries. I am sure that BigQ, Jordon, Halofome (spell check) and Tanner will be dece when they get out here.

I love Christmas time (now) because we can listen to anything christmas-ish I got a Boyz-II-Men album today aswell as the Pentationix album. Also maybe a lil JB. Music really keeps you going.

My companion and I have continued to do good work this week. We had to do lots of tracting, due to the lack of investigators but one day we found 13 new people who were all ready to hear the gospel. Also found a what seemed to be a naked chick (she put on a shirt to answer the door) We taught 7 lessons including a couple to a man named rick. His cousin is a mormon. It seams like if you know a mormon you know how good we are and know the happiness we can receive through the restoration of the gospel, a living prophet and his apostles (see below). It is so incredible to see the faces and lives of people change.

We received a referral from a member last sunday. The man, named Chuck, lives in newport about 40 miles away. Since we have a limit on miles for our car we do not get out there much. Good for us our car reached 50k miles so we found out that we are getting a new car (tomorrow, a ford fusion)... so anyhow. we delivered him a book of mormon and he was astonished because he just talked to the member (at a ice skating rink) 6 days before. (shoutout to member missionaries) We taught him the first discussion and he seemed way interested. He does not currently know what church to go to... -a few days later- we called him and he said that he had read part of the book of mormon and the pamplet about the restoration and got a couple questions so we get to revisit this week.

Jesse is also doing just grand. He is praying to find out a date that he thinks he should be baptized, i look forward to then.

So... Saturday was our Mission Christmas Party/Meeting. and.... Elder Russell M. Nelson (yes that Elder Nelson) came to the conference. He shook everyone's hand and we got a large picture so thats cool. He spoke for a while and then did a q&a. Here are a few of the notes (4 pages) that i took:

-Advice- Sing with your investigagtors (we sang with Lance, Lisa, and Jacob - also thought about singing with deah and rodger back in loudon but we didnt)
Dont be afraid to ask for help from those called to assist, ie members, presidencies, families and so forth.
Heavenly Father is ANXIOUS to help us out.
Who prays for us more that members, the brotheren, our dad or our mom? Heavenly Father does.
(how cool is it that of all the names people refer when talking about God he perfers Father)
Psalms 116:15 it will be a bright homecoming
Missionaries our pouring in. Before conference 700 per week. Since conference 700 per day. Even now!
-How can we grow our faith to be like captain moroni (alma 48:11)?
Continue to learn. Build up your power. President Monson never stops growing.
Demand more of your own growth and development.
Demand excellence.
-How to have a good companionship (or marriage)?
Love you Compaion.
Shut your eyes half way.
Link your eyes. Praise the good, ignore the bad.
Focus on your companion.
-Be ye therefore Perfect
Christ said "on the third day i shall be perfect"
Be ye perfect is an invitation not a commandment.
The sermond on the mount he said be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.
In the book of mormon (3 Nephi 12:38) he says be ye perfect even as i am perfect. (note this is after his Resurrection)
Be more perfect in the way we love people
There will be bad days. Endure to the end. Enjoy the good days. There is no limit to what we can do.
We all have challanges.
I have to be careful about ______.
Everyone has temptations and we can make it through help.
Feast upon the scriptures dont just take a sample.

7 Fassets of the gospel.
1. The Godhead
Read a book by the current pope about the last week of christ life. (gift from other religious leader)
the pope doesnt believe the Nicene Creed. He talks about God Jesus talking to God Father. (haha)
Eternal life is to live with God, Jesus Christ and our families.
2. The paln of salvation.
You write your own funneral speech.
3. The atonement.
The word atonement is in the New testament only once.
In the Book of mormon its in 39 times!!!
4.Restoration/Dispensation.
We will not be limited to time or location. We will fill the entire earth.
The gospel will be taken everywhere.
5.Prophets & Revelation
He knew Heber J Grant. (the 6th of 16 prophets)
6.Priestood and keys.
15 men hold all the keys.
7.Ordinance
for salvation and for exaltation
the difference. eternal life and being as he is.
8.Mariage ande the family.
eternal life is a family situation.
Death is seperation from his family.
I know i will be with my spouses and kids.
Your highest priesthood duty is to care for your wife.
9.The Commandments
These are not new commandments, (Law of C, Word of W)
Moses recieved a health code.
We do it through christ.
Family Proclamation.
Delcare what god has revealed.
Forget about what you did wrong before. (see Hollands talk in april 2012)
Move forward.
There is one Temple in Tennessee (tell this to my grandkids)
Increase the faith of others by sharing your own.

Have a great week everyone. Be blessed. Be happy. Let others be happy.

Love, Elder Toomey

"Make no small plans: They have no magic to stir men's souls. This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the Church than all other English-speaking missions in the world together. There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists, members of the Church of Christ, Methodists, and Catholics who are honorable people, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him. As they see the church veering off to the right or to the left of those basic teachings, they will begin to search for the truth; and as pivotal teachers come into the church and have influence they will see the time when we will baptize hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands, in your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be temples plural in the South States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people. The missionaries love the South. We are making great strides and expect to continue." -President Kimball



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more




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more pics




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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Burn all the money.

Howdy to yall,... i think i say howdy a lot so maybe ill say whats cookin.

Morristown is doing great. My companion and I are getting along for the most part, only thing is he doesnt like waking up on time... So most days we dont have companionship study... And yesterday he didnt get up until about 11 so we didnt get to do much on p-day. Sometimes he is down, and other times he gets crazy and dives 100mph on the interstate. but all will work out. We still have a lot of cool people to teach.

Cool Stories from this week.

-We teaching a lesson and some dude had a seisure in the middle of the lesson. scary
-One guy we are teaching use to be a top 10 drug dealer in TN, until he had a family and changed his life around. He says he has sold every drug that you can think of, but now he is a good guy so thats cool.
-Another burn 45,000,000.00+ Dollars when he was a kid. Suck! thats crazy. It was Confeterit (southern) money so it was worthless in the 50's but now its worth face value. oh boy...

And that the jist of this week. fun stuff..

Also someone told me that the monster (energy drink) logo means 666 in hebrew.. never dranken it but if true thats interesting

Love, Elder Toomey

P.S. Tell my sister Stacie HAPPY BIRTHDAY, she is 5!



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Monday, November 26, 2012

Fwd: D'day from MorrisTown

pics



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D'day from MorrisTown

a large howdy to yall.

 First a thanks to Brother Watts for the christmas card that he sent. Also thanks to Sister Flanary and Sister Wells(?) for the letters also. Morristown is holding down just fine. Other than the work. We have two investigators who we picked back up and other than that  really nothing is going on. There was an earthquake. 4.5 but i didnt feel it because we were in the car. 

Also I have learned a little more hillbilly/redneck talk. check out this word. Jeet. It means "Did you eat?" or "have you eaten already" haha. reminds me of my first day when i like to talk to spanish people more than the deep southerners. Johnny asked me "if there are  twentysix "twenisic" sheep and one of them dies how many sheep are there?" i said twenty five but the answer was nineteen. he said twenty sick sheep not twenty six.. jaja.

Other memories. My last companion Elder Harwood, said to brother Roman, on the way to an appointment. Ten cuidado, el policia me perdio aqui" which he thought ment, be careful. the cops pulled me over here. but really it means the cops gave birth do me. :) life is good as you can see. 

My compaion and i have been having a few afflictions (struggles) but then again who doesnt. The work isnt easy for us and it sure wasnt easy when christ was on the cross. We have not been able to find anyone to teach really, the ward members are cool but the people that we have tracted into don want nothing to do with us. 

When we allow him to help us out all will be well.

PS 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

Alma 26:27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

The real thing to keep in your mind is from the book of Nahum chapter 1 verse 9 i believe.
"What do you suppose against the lord, he will make an utter end? affliction shall not rise up a second time"

Much love Elder Toomey
622 S liberty hill Rd Morristown TN 37813

"Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Habbakkuk 3:18

and Alma 26:12 & 17 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people



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Monday, November 19, 2012

Morristown

New Address:
622 S Liberty Hill Rd
Morristown, TN 37813

The area i am in now is huge. Its over 100 miles from e to w. It goes all the way to the North Carolina border. The ward is pretty good. Its about 230 people. We have sunday school in spanish and next week we get to translate sacrament meeting in spanish. That will be fun. We went over to hmn gonzalez house. We talked for about an hour. (well she talked mostly) but i could understand 97% so thats cool. 

I miss Loudon. That branch was awesome. all the people. Fishers, Carr, Roman, Elkins, Roner, Howard, Haskels, Pulver, Ramseys and especially our investigators David, Dewayne, Deah and Rodger. I got pictures with most of them (see below)

We only have 2 investigators (that we know of, we were white washed) but we are going hard to find more. The ward hasnt reached out yet but were new so they might come soon. 

My new companion is Elder Derrick Ready (pronounced i like to READ+y) He is from downy California, close to LA. He seems like an alright guy a lot similarities, as well as differences, but we work well together. The lessons are in good unity.

My computer time is up but see y'all next week.

Love Elder Toomey

Scripture of the week (I memorized my 200th scripture this week)
John 14:27
Peace i leave with you, my peace i give unto you. not as the world giveth give i unto you. let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
La paz os dejo, mi paz os da. yo no os da como el mundo os da. no se turbe vuestro corazon ni tenga miedo. 
-
Give it a try. See if he will not open up the blessings.



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haskel family

Jc and rhianna



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Ramseys baptism

The last baptism before i peaced out in loudon



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David Key + Dewayne




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Pics




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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Peace out GIrl Scout.

The days here in Loudon are done with. I am getting transfered tomorrow. Thats not too cool. We have to say our goodbyes today. There are so many people and no time at all to talk with them.

We had a baptism on sunday. :) "Al" Cole Hall, the ramseys friend got purified. I am going to miss him and the ramsey family. Pics will come next week.

The work here in loudon is better than ever. We have been so blessed. There were 5 investigators at church this week. David, Dewayne, & Rodger say that they will continue to come everyweek. Sooner or later they will join in on this great work.

Hmmm. Not to much more exciting happening. Well, we went to the apple store yesterday and played with the new ipod nano and ipad mini... they are cool. Also i heard that the jazz are doing good and the lakers are sucking. Thats awesome. They say BYU didnt do to bad. 9-4 or something. Tennessee's football team is probably 2-11.. jaja.

Well Thats all.

Much Love, Elder Tui

Scripture of the week.
Romans 8:16-17



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Monday, November 5, 2012

Two cool scriptures.

MORMON 6:20. But behold, ye are gone, and my sorrows cannot bring your return.

MORMON 8:20. Behold what the scripture says—man shall not smite, neither shall he judge; for judgment is mine, saith the Lord, and vengeance is mine also, and I will repay.

A) Dont frett about the past. its over.
B) Dont waste your time on revenge to those who have done you wrong... Karma (aka god) will repay.

Monday, October 29, 2012

check the label

I got some paint on my shirt so i got the cleaner. It sprayed and got the paint out with some light scrubbing. but i didnt check the lable so it turns out there was bleach. so my black jazz shirt turned orange and white. so i just went all out and now it looks pretty cool. Id say.

Vocal Point comes to Tennesee

Who would a thunk that vocal point would pick Loudon Tennessee out of everywhere in the worlds. I am guessing that one of them served a mission out here. Thats pretty cool. I got pumped when i saw this sign that said "Vocal Point OCT 27" I was pretty pumped... I just got their new CD. "Lead Thou Me On - Hymns" Its bomb. The best song is probably "Near my God to thee" You should defiantly check it out. Its at Deseret book. The only thing was i saw the sign on October 28th. Thats the other part of town where we dont go much. haha. so yup vocal point came. but we couldnt go. maybe we can get in contact and they can perform for us. unlikely. but hey still good mood food here.

This week we have been still with the same investigators. One we taught Kelly and Nghia (from vientnam)... He is very intulectual. Wants everything to be proven. Does not believe there is a God. Although has some belief about a supreme creater. He came to church but that was a hoot. He has no sence of faith or hope. There are a lot of good questions from him. The cool thing is they didnt believe about jesus christ but thats why the book of mormon is so important.

Scriptures are still going good. We are continuing to do good work..

Also we are having a double baptism in two weeks. WOOOO that will be awesome. Cole Hall. Yeah!

Rodger also came to church. He will likely be baptized but he is on parole so it will take a couple months. He should not have a problem quitting smoking.
David key also still has a date for three weeks.

All is well in tennesee. (except their football team)
I heard byu is also terrible.
and the lakers are going to be stupid.
but lets go.

Will write more in a sec. including a small lesson i learned being away from the mom.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Busy.

Bueno!

So of cource time is flying, not just looking back. Daily, weekly, and in a whole. The work is going really good. We have about 14 different people/families that we are teaching right now. The ward can see that our work is paying off. They all like us. and really even though this branch is real small. 50ish people, they are all the kind a people you want to be around. They are feeding us dinner daily, thats a big plus! Helps a little with our budget. We have had three birthday parties this month and my companions is next week. Also a fall festival which was real good. We had a few less actives come and also Deah and her daughter dreamah. and a man named frank with his two kids. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun eventhough it got dark early and the party was only an hour and a half long. It was still good to chill just for a bit and talk...

Cole Hall is a friend of the ramsey family, i think i have mentioned him before. He is ready to be baptized any time. Just one think is we need permission from his parents and they are not home. We will try them later tonight maybe... ya prob. Cole almost always come to church. Also Deah's roomate Rodger. He seemed to enjoy church more than ever yesterday, event though all the lessons were about the word of wisdom which is the one think that he has been struggling with.

One spanish less active we were able to bring back to church, she has come 4 times since i've been here. But she left right before sacrament ended. Her son is a lil noisy. We are killing it on the spanish work right now. We got three spanish families, two single men and two less active. So our spanish is in full force. And the branch missionaries, especially brother roman are teaming up with us so we are not alone. its so sweet.

We get out just a couple times a week to team up with a member of the branch. hopefully more sooner. Also since my companion, still elder harwood, is the district leader i get to go on exchanges every 10 or so days. I learn a lot and get to teach everyone how its done. three or so weeks ago i went with Elder (justin) Warhurst. He is a pro missionary. They just strarted picking up in the work, anyhow he works really hard and has memorized a scripture everyday his entire mission. i picked that up after our exchange and now i got over a hundred. i guess i have too much spare time.

Nothing too big to write about this week. still great adventures all around.

Much love til later.
Elder Toomey

P.S.
I had a Lucid Dream on thursday. That was cool. only my second of my life, that i can remember. I just flew around the house, although i had to flap my arms... hmm :) PAZ&AMOR

Monday, October 15, 2012

pics


Time be flying. We be working

Howdy Y'all

Another fine week here in tennesee. Much thanks for all the birthday wishes, including those on facebook which i do not see. I got a book in the mail from my dad, called 'The Continuous atonement'... Its really good. I read the entire book in 24 hours. dang. That surprises me. Im not much of a reader but i guess this book does a good job of understanding the atonement and his healing process and such. (see online at http://deseretbook.com/Continuous-Atonement-Brad-Wilcox/i/5013881).. Mom also sent me some cool stuff :)

So a few weeks ago we gave brother delori a blessing. He went to the doctor also, but didnt take his medicine because he had already been feeling better. Now three weeks later he is better than ever. He had asthma for twenty years and had to take an inhaler. Thats cool to see that faith and a good blessing through the power of God really works.

As i had reported last week (sorry this book will be really jumply, like always) I just started memorizing bible scriptures. I am currently at 70... and counting. Its been really usefull in our lessons. now if i just got to start working on a few in the book of mormon.

We are still teaching David Key, and his roomate Dwyane. It turns out that Dwyane really wants to quit smoking also. They are helping eachother out so that should go good. David smokes occasionally but Dwyane makes him go in the bathroom dwayne. They, nor any of our investigators, showed up for church. But next week i will have a different story to tell.

Lastly at church yesterday Lisa Fisher (the mother of the family we just baptized) shared her testimony in sacrament. Its was real cool. Mentioned how president pulver's spirit was real sweet and thats what made the difference for her. I guess my companion and i might of done a little but really so many things aligned for all of us. We are blessed. I imagine he (lisa's wife lance) will be a stake president some day. (our stake president here is a convert...)

Before i leave i promised to share with you my favorite conference tals (i got my notes not)
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We got 139 temples. dang. and 27 under construction. 166!!!

Dieter F Uchdorf (sat morning)
We are all mortal. Spend time with people you love. Dont waste time on the internet. being busy is not an accomplishment. Find your unknown, unimanged talents, let yourself be happy. Avoid the regrets for tomorrow but following christ today. Do, be, become better. Begin to walk today.

M. Russell Ballard (sun aft)
A bee makes 1/12 of teaspoon of honey. work is lighter when we all work together. Have coopertive energy. Service is the definition of pure religion. (james 1:24) Be anxiously engaged in a good cause. Daily practice for everyone. During your morning prayer ask for oppertunity to serve. When you see one. Jump up and do it. Prayers often get answered through other people.

Robert C. Gay (watch at http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/what-shall-a-man-give-in-exchange-for-his-soul?lang=eng)
My favorite... What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Would you sell your soul for a nickle? Dont justify sin. Will we shrik or finish the call. Its more than just not doing bad. (to him that knoweth to do good, and does it not. To him it is sin james 2:24 i thinks?) God is mindful of each of us. Follow the spirit no matter what the time.

Dallin H. Oaks. - also find online for yourself.
Protect the well being of a child. CHild a buse in worst form... Deny them birth. 40,000 abortions a year. (matt 18:16 it were better drown in depth of sea then offend little child) Teach by example. 41% of birthds are to single moms. (your not alone) Be a Role model to your children

Anthony Perkins (priestood)
6 steps to deep conversion.
1 pray alwasy. (never stand taller than when your kneeling)
2 study scriptures
3 participate in ordinations (be a worth priestood holder)
4 show genuine love
5 pay your tithing (duh)
6 fully live law of chastity.

Dieter F Uchtorf
Its easy to find somethign to complain about. Priestood cant be baught. Spiritual power is a heavenly law. Everyone wh is thirsty can come and drink (isiah)

Henry B Eiring (Sun Morning)
God is nto far from us. he is aware fo us. dont put a pavilian between you and god. Have a desire to know, and do his will. dont insist on oru timetable. he has the best wasys. (my thoughts are not your thoughts isiah 55:8-9)

Jeffery R. Holland.
DO you love me. Strong talks. take a look for yourselves.

Thats all i got time for. wooo wee this is a long letter. Thanks everyoen much love. Bye.
Elder Toomey

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Veinte Uno!!!

Holy cow. That was a great conference ay! Starting out with the announcement by President Monson about the change of missionary work. I can wait to hear all of the people that will come out and do this great work. If Jordon decides to go on a mission I will still have a couple months with him before he gets shipped out. Also If y'all see Halofome, Roman and the rest of the young men, tell them that i dont want to see their face for 3 1/2 years! I also hope that more sisters will be able to serve. Its a great thing here the lord designed for us.

There were also many other talks which i enjoyed. My favorites (i will write more next week, i forgot my notes) Elder Walter F. González talk on "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul" Matt 16:26 (i am still memorizing scriptures, as of now im only doing bible scriptures, I am at 31 now) - He spoke about a youth experience about getting a 12 year old movie ticket at age 13 and bragged to his father. Of cource that did not workout so much.

I also love the one Saturday night (possibly by Dalin H. Oaks) about children. The one think that really stuck out to me was "The worst form of child abuse is to deny the child to be born" Listen or watch online. Also the talk by Elder Holland on sunday "Do You Love Me?" and the talk by elder Uchtdorf..

We actually watched the last session in spanish. :) The only one who came to the church was a less active spanish man. I didnt understand elder scott's talk about family history work but the rest i got 95% That was pretty amazing.

This week... hmm. We are still teaching Deah and Rodger. They are both so cool. Rodger is a little more wanting to push forward, they have made so many changes to bring them closer to the gospel. They didnt go to conference but we watched the joseph smith movie with them and saw the sacrifice that was made in the early day of the church.

David Key, we have been teaching him for about three weeks. He went to priestood session, had to take a couple smoke breaks but he really love the talks. He enjoyed hearing a living prophet and his apostales. Right before president monson he was out on a smoke break and his wife called (She left three months ago and he didnt expect that she would ever call him back) He talked to her and his daughter but had to let them go so he could listen to the prophet. The next day brother Jim Elkins went to his appartment, david couldnt go but he asked elkins to pray for him. They ended up saying a kneeling prayer and the second they said amen the phone rang again. He was jumping for joy so high.

Today we taught him (tuesday, the library was closed yesterday due to columbas day) We covered the priestood, which he wants so much, he know what we teach is true and he wants to make god happy. We also got to the word of wisdom and although it will be hard to stop smoking he knows that god will push him through. We are aiming for a date in about a month.

Now to the wozer thing. On saturday we were told by brother deloire that he had a friend who he wanted us to teach and to meet at the church monday at 7pm. We rearanged our plans to make room for it. We were going to go out to eat with Johnny Howard but it ended up that Gary Smith was in the hopital so we went and gave him a blessing. Then Johnny dropped us off at the church. We met Bro Delorie and his friend a 15 year old boy and headed to the relief society room to start the lesson. I took one step in as a large SURPRISE came with the light flickered on i saw 20 or so of the people of this great branch. It was so cool. We had a party with Carrot cake that said Happy Birthday To Me (not sure why i told that to johnny last week) and spagetti and all this other stuff. I sure didnt expect that to happen and it brought a big smile to my face. (PIctures will come soon)

My time is up. Much love to all.

Elder Toomey

Monday, October 8, 2012

Pictures

From helping out at Habitat for Humanity. Fun Stuff.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Trained.

My addy until next year.
613 Reeves St - apt #1
Lenoir City, TN 37771

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Que tal che?

Another positive week here in the TKM. We got to go mini golfing last week so that was cool. It was Sister Irion's birthday. (Her dad is Russell M Nelson of 12) We gotta eat cake twice and had good times together. The misson home is just the city over from us so we see them quite a bit.

Side note. I found out that Brother Ray. (Dr. Ray) is the reason i am in tennessee. He is in the same ward as our mission president and he is pro at the throat and all that stuff. So its his name that brought me here. I gotta thank him sometime. :) Well today he is taking our entire district to Brazerios. (Like Tucanos, but better so i hear) I gotta team up with the doc when was on an exchange in farragut last week.

Our main investigators, Deah & Rodger (+ Dreamah), and David Key are doing just dandy. Diedre (deah), rodger and dreamah all came to church. They seem to do okay in it. Dreamah absolutely loves primary. She ran into her class seconds after sacrament meeting had ended. I got called on last second to teach the lesson in sunday school. The meeting was pretty good. She (Deah) made a few comments and both seemed to have a good time. Although they are not use to the 3 hour block yet so they left asap.

David Key should be coming to church next week. We taught him the plan of salvation and he really likes it. The thought of raising his kid (died in first hours) and being with him in heaven was really cool. He had questions of where we came from, our purpose and where we go after so the lesson was a hoster for him.

The reason that i had to teach the sunday school lesson last minute is because lately we have been doing a lot (thanks again dianne) of work with the less actives, especially the spanish people. We had a few come (not as many as hoped for) so the original teacher and my companion took the spanish class this week. Speaking of spanish. My companion and I have decided to speak only spanish (well 95%) spanish to eachother this transfer. Its actually not that bad, and when you get in the "zone" it makes it that much easier to teach in spanish. Todo esta bien aqui.

Since we have been here 12 weeks the branch is really starting to get to like us (especially cause we had a bap) we have a meal appointment every week. Thats a huge blessing.
 
Random other thing but every week we do Habitat for Humanity. The service there is pretty fun. Normally we just do easy labor and a little hammer and nails. Last week we got to go up in the attic and work with a bunch off cool toys. We had to wear a full suit thingy to protect us. It was pretty hot up there. All the wood had rotted (if thats a word) We got to replace lots and had to james bond it up so we didnt fall through the ceiling. (this house is 70 years old) I will upload picures in a bit when we get to a members house. The library wont let you hook up anything.

Thats about all for this week. Tune in next time as the aAadventures of Elder TOOOO-ME return.

jaja. A member, Johnny Howard is going to buy me a cake. He says he'll go to the grocery store, food city, and tell them he wants a cake. When they ask what to write on it he'll say "happy birthday to me" haha i wanna see their face. I bet its not to often you write that on a cake.

Also pss. I have started memorizing scriptures (first time since mtc) Due to another elder who had memorized 100 in just 5 months. I have been doing it for now and it is really cool. I use many of the ones i memorized in our lesson yesterday and its cool. Everyone here in the bible belt thinks i know the bible good because i can quote a few verses. I know the Book of Mormon so much better but i am learning them both, and utilizing them big time.

Paz y amor
Elder Toomey.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Ten is a 10

G'day people of Utah (and afar)

What a beautiful day we have today, no importa what day today is. We can make the most of every day. Well i am doing dandy right now. Tennessee is a ten right now. We are working real hard and having lots of fun. We got to go on three exchanges in the past ten days. I went to Knoxville with Elder Shoemaker and everyone is crazy about U.T. football down there. Its a pretty big city and that is where they have dollywood. (id say between size of provo and slc.) I also had Elder Warhurst come down. We worked out with Johnny and he did us hard. We were both hurting for the next 24 hours. He hadnt done anything for over a year so he was a lil sore. Finally i went with Elder Michael Snow to farragut. Thats a higher class part of town. He is from Pleasant grove, yes a bout 3 miles away. (just off artic circle) and he actually worked at walmart when i worked at subway inside walmart. We never met, maybe seen each other but thats pretty cool.

Lets see, we moved the smith family (larc) It took 8 hours. Which is pretty good for moving. It was cool. We ate pizza and got chatting with the neighbor. Hopefully we could teach him sometime soon.

Amazing lesson learned while moving the smith family. I thought that i was showing real love and doing good service with them. Until the appartment we were moving into was the one we helped an investigator move out of last week. I told Sister Smith i would had helped him move faster had i known it was her who was moving in. It really caught me after i said that. If i was helping them both as i would want others to help me i would had helped move both of them in and out faster. Charity is just what we need and thankfully i got a step closer to having it after this experience.

Deah and Rodger are still doing good. Rodger is gonna continue to go to church and he really likes it now. Everyone is nice to him. The whole branch loves us also. We got meal signed up twice the first three weeks of the month and the next three are full. (a. a new relief society president (sis wick) and b. we just had a baptism) so thats all cool. Its been a pretty quick week with not too much big things. But i got pics again so enjoy them (see below http://bit.ly/elder2me )

Although I have only been out here for 10 weeks we have done so much work. The fishers are continuing to do great work; feeding us, as well as other branch members, and teaming up with us. They are hoping we can come over and teach their neighbor. Lance taught them the plan of salvation a few days ago. Last weeks baptisim was so amazing. I cant be content. I need to keep working and find more peace seekers ready for the peace of christ.  (see John 14:27)

Cool music by Alex Boye: Its a remix of "Have i Done any good in the world today" This helps me on those days...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIeA_5yYgB4

Much Love,

Elder Toomey

Monday, September 24, 2012

pictures:

Justin Harwood, Joe Carr, Steve Francis, Jim Elkins, Me
Luis Roman (romeo)

Monday, September 17, 2012

Fwd: Three more in his hands-

Good day to all; and what a good day it is!

This week has been great. We have been working really hard. Two hours after i emailed last week we received an text from Lance Dale Fisher, "Hey guys. We are ready to be baptised!" WOooooooo whooooooooooo as johnny would say. We were jumping with joy when we recieved that text. The entire week we were working on the plans and all that. We went over on thursday to teach the last lesson and go over everything with jacob. He knew it was true and will do good work soon. He has read the book of mormon. "its scriptures in a sence" haha. His dad said that when he was younger jacob wanted to join the military and lance said no your joining god's army. He wasnt so into that idea. Then a few days later he talked with president pulver and next time we saw him he was talking about how he was saving up ten grand so he could go on a mission!!! how cool is that. Jacob is legit.

The baptism was Sunday night at 6pm (9/16/12) Lance was baptized by president pulver then after the comfirmation and priesthood ordinance he got to baptize his wife, lisa, and jacob. When Lance came out he said "hallelua, Praise God" Soo sweet. The spirit was extremely strong. Especially as the 70 (yes seventy people came to the baptism) were singing hymns. It was louder than back home so that was peaceful. After Lance baptized his wife. He had to do it twice because he held her hand out of the water. We showed a few mormon messages (mormonmessages.com) they show alot of good things and talks but sinked down to 3 or 4 minutes. One good one about one boy who opened his mouth and his friend joined, who brought a friend and so on. They had 1 man then now they have 36. Wow. We are all missionaries and its good work.

My companion Elder Harwood comfirmed Lisa. Then i did Jacob. I went in with my mind completely blank. It was a good blessing i hope, i only remember saying he will be an instrument. Then lance gave jacob the priesthood and all was well.
 
Only been out here 70 days and we have been so blessed with this fisher family. The zone leaders said they will put in a word so harwood and i can stay here a little longer. I wouldnt mind that. The branch is good and our sucess is just getting started. If that happened i would be in loudon, Tn for 24 weeks of the 92. Im happy wherever i go.

As far as our other investagator, Deah, her daughter Dreama and the roomate Rodger are great. Some days are up and down but they also came to church and are continuing to read and pray daily. Deah is on page 240 after only having the Book of Mormon 17ish days. Nice job sister!

I am attatching pictures.
people in pictures are
Me: The cool guy.
My companion: Elder Harwood from Mesa.
Brother Qualls: works at cannery, first to make contact with fishers.
The Fisher Family. Lance Dale Fisher, Lisa Michelle Anderson-Fisher and (15) Jacob Craig Anderson.

Much love to all.




Monday, September 10, 2012

May is quick.

Buenos dias hermanos!

first a joke.

There is a Latin man at the store and he asking for some "calcetines" (spanish for socks) the clerk holds up different items but cant figure out what calcetines means. finally he holds up a pair of socks. The man jumps up with joy and says "Eso Si que es" (that, yes, thats it!) in which the clerk replies "you could of told me you could spell"

haha. good one i thought. Also the missionaries here say "lechuga orar" which means "lettuce pray" haha :)

Now with the real stuff.

This week has been a little slow. The fisher family is still doing strong, altough they missed church. I know they are going to be baptized real soon. That will be packed to because they are more active than most members of the ward. They go to church, ward activities and service projects. Their son, and his friend are going rafting with the ym this weekend.

David Key, zulie's friend, isnt really to into the gospel. We had brother roman, a spanish fellow from DR pick him up but no one was home. We helped david move and are real nice to him but its hard to see progression in that area.

Speaking of Hermano Roman he has been a real good help with the spanish. We have been finding spanish people at doors but no really good return appointments. Although we teach maybe three lessons a week in spanish between larcs and investigators.

The entire branch is really supportive, we dont get dinner every night like other areas but we get a lot of help on team ups. Last week we had 10 teamups. The support in this small group of followers is amazing, unfortunately most of our lesson fell through this week so the numbers were not that good.

And while im on the subject of bad news one of our top investigators Deah was really up and down this week. She was so happy saying this was the first time she felt joy in 5 years and was working hard on the word of wisdom. She gave up coffee in a day and smoking was coming. then everything fell through and she said that mormonism was not for her and she like having "fun". Many other walls were put up due to the big changes in her life. She said that the only reason we were allowed in was because she had a crushon my companion. But of course that isnt the case. She was working so hard. She read over 200 pages in 10 days. Went to church with strangers and her prays are so good. Not to mention the dream she had talking to God about this church and how she was going to recieve many blessings including a "calling" (didnt know what that ment) and that a man would come into her life. So i dont know where we will go from her but yup.

A pretty down week but that the best part of the mission. We got another week that starts today and we are going to make the most of it.

Loveeee
Elder Toomey.

PS. Take a look at 1 Corinthiens chapter 13. Its a real clicker.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Week 17 in the mish.

Bullet points for those who dont like to read.
- Tennessee is doing good.
- Crazy Rain.
- 10 Lessons with a member present (double the norm)
- 7 investigators at church.
- 4 will be baptized this month (fingers crossed)
- We knocked into a naked man.
- We are taking 1 Investigator to teach another.

Hello to y'all's smiling faces.

The mission is going great here in Tennessee. We are working really hard; actually its not bad. But its turning into good thing. There is a good talk by elder bednar, given at byui, called "character of christ". You should google it. (your gonna have to read it, no video/audio) but its cool. Cool meaning really uplifting and insightful.

So yea, we were blessed enough to ride our bikes twice this week. That went well. Its great to be a lil billboard for the church. Especially with how good romney is doing. There is a lot of attention around mormons.So the lady we met last week, Diedre (dia) cooxey, 27, she is reading an hour a day. after less than a week she was on page 160. dang girl. She knew we were sent by god and has really been chaning her life around. She turned down her old boyfriend and felt really about not giving in to the temptaion. She was doing everything she should and it was so happy. She went to church with a neighbor and it was all good. Testimony meeting, usually crazy here. (zulie and steve) but it was spirituall and all that good stuff. Then in sunday school the teacher decided to go ham about the word of wisdom, tithing, chastity and food storage and it overwellmed her, we hadnt taught the word of wisdom yet. so ya she freaked out but our other investigator calmed her down and its cool. We are taking one investigator to teach the other. nice job i'd say.

Other note of interest. We were going around and one door we were gonna knock. Door was open with glass door there. and the man walked across the room butt naked, luckly he didnt see him. We just waited a few minutes and ended up sharing a message with him for an hour. jaja.

Lance and Lisa are doing pro.Lance has always wanted to be baptized and now lisa is just about on the same boat. she was the one fellowshipping. They seem like lifelong members at church, fit in real good and can comment for everything.

Its been almost two years since they have had a baptism in this branch so everyone is really happy that the work is going great. We will just take it a step at a time and befor ya know it...

Thats pretty much it for this week but check in again.

Paz fuera.
Elder Toomey.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Its the beeeest (day) week eeeevvver (spongebob voice)

These last two weeks have been the best. My companion and I have been striveing hard to have exact obidience, especially 630am and 1030pm bed times. We were just off by two or three minutes but following the rules has helped us have the spirit more and the energy to perform our labors. Although the number of people we teach has gone down since my arrival, the people we are teaching have an open heart and are wanting to follow christ. The lord has put people into our paths and they know that.

Our Thursday night appointment had been canceled. Late at night, just after eight thirty, we were opting between going home to finish our studies or go trackting. Although the easy decision would be to do more studies that we had not had time to do earlier due to service projects, we let the lord guide us. With a pray from each of us we drove down a small street which looked like it led to nothing. Having been there before, we would turn around quickly. Coasting just a block the holy spirit led us to an appartment complex. We parked on the very right away from other cars. After knocking a few doors without success we crossed all the way to the left building. Just three doors down we met a nice lady, although the feeling i had was of unintrest and lack of time.

She mentioned how at times she had heard things about our religion but our rules were to strickt. After a pray she seemed to open up. From word of mouth she had misconceptions about our church that we could clear up.

For the first time, in my sixth month time out in Tennessee, we started with the third lesson, to this day i am unsure how or why we jumped there. This includes the five step program to get to heaven. She had faith, small but knew the basics, was in the process of repenting and changing her life around for the better, aswell as had been baptised by a former pastor. When we came to the Holy Ghost she had a look of astonsihment. She had not know about this and this gift of knowlegement and help from God was a gift that she knew could help her life. We explained the Restoration of the gospel and she understood completely about the authority. We gave her a book of mormon and left with high hopes.

Before walking away she asked if we had been sent by God. She had just began to pray again for the first time in years just 4 days prior. With great excitement we smiled and could tell god had been preparing her.

Just 48 hours later we stopped by her apartment again. She was out front reading the Book of Mormon. What a site! She mention more signs she had recieved from God including a news report about the Mormon Faith (centered around Mitt Romney) and that God was telling turely leading her her. The Plan of Salvation was a success and she has plans to live with her family and her Lord in the Celestial Kingdom.

She asked if she could get baptized because her soul felt dirty and we were richious men who had the power from God.
--
The thrusday night appointment had been rescheduled after our branch service project, which they also attended. Lance Lisa and Jacob Fisher have been working so hard. Jacob, age 14 has been working really hard. Lance is a freak and has read the Triple combination twice. He wants to be baptized and sealed in the temple asap. Lisa has a small problem, due to lack of reading, about jesus coming to the americas. We know through pray she can come to know of the truth and the baptisms with poor in.

The windows of heaven are really pouring out. We have commitments from 14 people to come to church next week and more work to be done.

Alma 26:36 Now if thsi si boasting, even so will I boast; for thsi is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea blessed is the name of my God...

Elder Toomey.

Monday, August 20, 2012

We having more fun than you can imagine

Greeting from the state of the 1994 National Champions. TENNESSEE!

There are a lot of vol fans around here. They are almost as good as byu fans. Many flags out side homes most cars have a T on their car. They have a lil rivalry here. The mixture of Kentucky. (they say Can-Tuck-E) fans makes it a lil fun. Dont know much about whats going on, or if sports are even being played. I think College Ball starts in a couple months...

The Days here are actually pretty nice (not just saying that jaja) The weather is not to bad and i dont mind the humidity anymore... It still suck to ride bikes but i can suck it out.

We were trackting a few weeks ago and found a lady who just moved in and was looking for a church. Really nice. We tried coming back several times. She seems interested but her husband got upset, Just saying its not a good time, maybe he'll soften up. He has told us twice to come over on a certain day and then ended up not being there. (figures).

The main man when i got here David (may have mentioned this last letter) is doing terrible. He has been smoking a pack+ a day, we got him from 5 packs to 1 cig. We have not been teaching him for two weeks now. We just gotta be his friend and it will all work out.

The branch president (60 people in this branch) is a way nice dude. He is pretty young. Maybe 30. He has us over for dinner, we usually go out to eat, once a week. Its real cool. Tennessee is still america but ive tried out some new things. I went to cracker barrel for the first time. (3x now) its pretty good. Kinda weird that i never been cause tyler works there. but ey. Also i went to Texas roadhouse. Never been there before and heard it was way expensive. It wasnt bad. we went before five so they had good specials. The food (we all got chicken?) was way good.. hmmm. also i tried shrimp. Just taste like seafood food. Ya know. Not to bad.

The best people ever (yet) in ten are The Fisher Family. Lance and Llisa are way nice (see past letters) He has come so far. He bore his testimony in sunday school and its comming along good. He knows more than i do in a lot of fields. He can memorize scriptures like crazy. (well he was a preacher for 8 years) but he knows that god has been walking him up the latter. Leading him to the truth.

Its cool i never knew how much our church knows. The simple truths have been unseen from others. They are so happy (everyone) when they find out what we really have and who we really are.

Friday we ran into a man, John Burleson. He is 88 (in two weeks) and his wife just died after 65 years of marriage. He doesnt know that he can see her again. We talked to him real long time. He is lonely. Wife passed in july. We get along good. Hopefully we can show him and excite him.

A man in the branch brother Luis Roman, 70 has been a member for a year and now he is so happy. He is learning quick. He helps us out every once in a while with the spanish. its going good. hopefully we continue to work hard. (lady we taught tuesday said we speak like children, word by word, were getting better). Joe Carr also has been learning the bom with us.

Three days a week we work out with Johnny Howard. (you dont care the names but i might want them for future reference) He is 68. He got divorced years ago but still has a good life. Member for 4/5 years. He has been working out all his life. At one point he could bench 450+ lbs. Dang. Still he is almost 70 and he lifts 200 now. I remember working out at AF with Nafe and Cody (shout out to them in canada and Virginia) and i could barley do 80. (jaja) they got me good, and grew me into the man i am today. Johnny has been pushing us just as hard, well harder. His workouts are tough. We have only benched twice but saturday i benched 160 and it was pretty easy; well not easy but i didnt struggle. so thats nice. I have strech marks on my biceps. jaja. chiste. Hopefully the working out is what cause me to gain 20lbs here and not all my eating.

With love equal to timon and pumba, i bid adeu.

Elder Toomey.

P.S. i realized yesterday the people here still speak with a terrible accent. I can just understand it now. hahaaaa. bye now

Monday, August 13, 2012

Its been a while

Hello to all friends and fam.

The mission life has been picking up here in the Tennessee. We are working hard and slowly they are coming into his hands; Riding bikes isnt much fun. The gears on my bike are a lil whacked but i survive. Yesterday we rode around for two hours to different houses whom we had appointments and blanked out. Its really frustrating how much we do and they seem to fall through a lot. (shout out to Dianne and here facebook pic its "a lot" not "alot" you never say "alittle", helped me) so yeah. Its going.

Its amazing to see how God places people in our hands at the right times. We tracked around a neighborhood and only three people answered in 25 houses. The last one being a 16 year old kid. He did not fully understand our church and after we answered a few questions He said he would check out the Book of Mormon (his aunt, a member, gave him) And we got another appointment. So couple days later we went back to these people. His mom answered the door and freaked out on us. Saying a lot of crap like Joseph Smith wasn't a prophet and the bible and book of mormon contradict eachother. So we talked to here for 10 minutes and she calmed down, and invited us to come back to teach her and her son. Said didnt know how much she could learn but her son could choose how he wanted. Hopefully that turns out good.

The best family we have ever is Lance and Llisa. They are so nice. He said on our appointment wednesday that he has received the revelation and that the church, book of Mormon and all is true. He wants to be baptised asap. Just one thing. He wants to go in with his family. Llisa has been raised differently, like she didnt feel comfortable siting in on the lessons, cuz she's a girl? But we are getting her. Them women are important. (1 cor 11:11) we aint nothin with out the great daughters of god, especially our mommas. They pretty cool most of the time.

The language has come along good. (Not so much Spanish but the Southern) They have a whole new vocabulary with Youins, Yall, ralph and more things. Its pretty different than Utah. One kid we were talking about said you have two choices after high school smoke pot or move out of Tennessee. Everyone smokes ciggys out here also. They one of a kind, really nice folks is what we got.

Well thats all from here. I will be writing some hand written letters so keep your eye out.


Hasta ver,

Elder Toomey
---
Obvio yo quiro cartas.

613 Reeves St - Apt 1
Lenior City, TN 37771 

Knoxville Zone Picture

Picture from our zone.

Monday, August 6, 2012

hace frio!

hollar from tenn. This week has been looong. Not to many exciting things have happened around here. Its been pretty slow.
Last Pday we played basketball at this park. It was so hot. The 1on1 game to 5 took half an hour. haha. Originally we had planned for David (our Investigator) to get baptized saturday but he keeps relapsing on smoking. He said he was down to 1 ciggarett a day. We cleaned off his porch (covered with dirt & buds from last 5 years) It looks really nice. He is a cool dude but a little mixed up. He is so happy when we come over to chat with him. (a chatter box) there is never an awkward silence with him.

Lance (former pastor) is doing so well. He has real the entire standard works. He came to church last week so thats going good. I hope we can get him and his wife a baptism date when we see him next.
 
As far as the spanish. Its fine. We still get about finding 3 or so spanish people at the door and teach 5/6 entire lessons in spanish a week. Yesterday i taught Gospel Principals Class (sunday school) in spanish. It was pretty cool. An unactive lady we're trying to bring back to the church. (stay in church kids). So yea id say spanish is my favorite thing about the mission so far. Its quite cool to be able to communicate with people you thought were speaking gibberish just a few months ago.

im so tired every minute. Its exhausting. but the wrk must continue. Now with nothing more to say i will rant of in spanish.

ay caramba. los dias son grande. no me gusta andar a bicicleta, esta rompado, :(. pues siempre tengo sueno. Estamos trabajando muy duro pero hay mas cosas hacer. vamos a encontrar investigator nuevos, quizas 5 esta semana. supongo. no voy a jugar a balencesto porque. Tengo fiebre. no bueno. tengo que yacer y relajar mas. no mas energia. hasta la semana proxima. somos el de reys. eldereys. he of king. hijo de dios.

amor y paz.
Elder Toomey.



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Monday, July 30, 2012

Aloha

Saludos de Tennessee!

Hola amigos, como estan. todo esta bien aqui. mi companero y yo andar bien. hoy ejerciermos con un miembo se llama johnny. el tiene 62 anos, pero puede trabajar muy duro. estaba divertido. ejercemos tres dias por semana. estoy animado porque vamos a jugar a balencesto despues de la biblioteca. encestare ochena puntas. jaja. pues no pueden entender castellano. voy a terminar en ingles.

Its been a great week. The Work is going wonderful. We do so much study and so much work. Its exhausting. I like trackting although its hard for the first couple houses. Once you find someone that has interest you get a little more faith and you really get in a groove. My favorite people to talk to when trackting is spanish people. Yesterday we were biking on this walking path to talk with a member, who missed church, and i talked to 4/5 spanish families and gave them pass along cards for the free Christ video. The seemed to understand me fine. I still cant spit out sentence after sentence but its getting there.

We also teach a lesson in spanish a day normally. Right now we have two spanish investigators one Jose and another Talia. Also a meeting with another on Thursday. So we will see how it goes. I need to pop the bubble and talk to everyone but slowly its comming. I guess i just have an attachment to English, its so easy to walk up to someone and speak spanish.

My companion (been out 14 months) says i understand the people better than he does. jaja. neither of us get everything but the point gets understood. The last lesson we taught was really good in unity. Twice they asked us to repeat what we said maybe twice. But they seemed to like just talking to someone that knew their language.

Time really has been flying. The hard work has been paying off. There isnt much time for trackting because we have so many investigators. Which is nice, unless they fall through, or you get two of them mixed up, long story. 

Our branch had a fellowship picnic. There was a bunch of free food and stuff, a lot of fun. We invited maybe 15/20 people to go and half seemed to really like free food, but only one showed up. Its David (sab4) He has really progressed. Yesterday he went the entire day without a cigarette. The first time in over 30 years. He says buy next weekend he will be done. I hope. He is such a great guy and his testimony, although small is strong.
 
I've learned so much and have so many more experiences ahead of my life. Back to work, but first imma ball.

Until next time,
Its Elder Toomey!

613 Reeves St apt #1
Lenoir City, TN 37771



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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Day 3 in Argentina.... pause NOT!

So we were suppose to leave on monday for argentina but the visas did not come/ and we aint find out until friday night. so now we are getting reassigned tomorrow (26/4/12) We have a big white board filled with guesses to which state we are all going to. i even heard some are headed to chile because supposedly you dont need a visa to be there. who knows. Since we didnt leave we still had class but our teacher thought we left or somethin so for the last two days we didnt have a teacher... jajaja.  ahhhhh. :)

Other exciting stuff here in the MTC. Clark House left to Japan. He will do well. We talked much and my entire district made friends with him. Which reminds me i have to find out how Jay is doing.
On Sunday we did the Cereal Tower Challenge. Its a huge tower of cereal in the lunch room. we chose Froot Loops. We ate over 100 bowls all together. I had like 22ish. it hurt so bad. Our mouths were all cut up because of the froot loops and they started to bleed. ja. but we finished the tower with only 6 1/2 people. it was nice. i say six and a half because one member of our district ate two plates of normal food first than a couple bowls. and my companion hates fun (ask anyone) so he didnt join in) we are quite opposite. i am over crazy and he is "guys thats not funny, we should eat dinner in ten minutes to get 30 extra minutes of study time" kind of person. But we learn alot from eachother and our hears are loosly knit together (mosiah 4:18ish)

AND Yesterday.... We got to hear from our FIFTH (5) Apostle. Elder Nelson. He did a very sweet talk. but i find it interesting how simple this gospel really is. like how jesus taught. real simple. Which goes to what Bishop Riggs use to say to me how the mission would be a "vacation" because we only have to work 14 hour days. and before i worked 90 a week sometimes and up to 19 straight. im never tired at night but it takes alot of energy to continue to study the scriptures and this language thingy. spanish is hard. i finally can talk in past future conditional and all the other conjigations so once i learn a few more words ill be a native. also practice practice practice because then we can talk faster with out having to think and translate into spanish. it will come. were working hard. stay up to date.

Love all yall

Elder Toomey



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Thursday, April 19, 2012

4-ish more days in Sprit Prison (MTC)

Hola Familia!!!

They threw me through the ceiling. jaja. its a square white thingy ceiling and my shoulders went through. lo fue comica. I have the best district ever. We get along real nice. and have plans to frio after our mish.

The lastest new on my life is VISA. We are suppost to leave on monday to argentina. (a 20+ hour travel day) but because we dont have visas we can either stay here for a couple weeks or get shipped out to stateside. Last night i had a dream i got shipped out to West Virginia (shoutout to J-Riddle) (did kyler messanger get his call?) but we wont find out until friday. Others that dont have their visas are headed to conneticut. I dont know. anywhere right now is good. i feel ready to go out and mess up spanish. My spaish is bueno. i feel like i can talk about anything with the vocab i have. i dont know all the words but i can find my way around. i can teach any lesson in spanish and have a few scriptures to share and a couple memorized. two or three for each of the first four lessonsish.

My companion does not life fun. We are opposite of eachother. i am a extreamist and he is dull. its a good medium.
My companions of our room are E. Whetten and E.Draper. Whetten looks like the devil, he's from NM but a pretty chill dude. acton (orem) is crazy like me.

OHHHHH!
I gave a talk in sacrament last week. it was about faith in jesus christ. I owned. and talked about the relation between the 2k strippling warriors and us. We both have to preapare early in the morning. Have very long days. Have difficult work, in a land we are unfamilliar with. We do things we have never done before. The have hard battles, they get scrapped up, but in the end God does not let a single one fall. They doubt not. Ive never talked to a girl. ive never talked to a stranger about chruch. ive never had a full on conversation in spanish. Now i have to go out and do all three with out fear. with out doubt. without limits. Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against?

Be of happiness.

Elder Toomey.



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