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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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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