Dear
Mom, Dad, Kenzie, Cami, and Livi
How
is life at home? I have been told that it is mostly the same, Cami is
experiencing the greatness and the difficulties of High School, Kenzie is a
Senior and already staring at her adult life, Mom and Dad I understand that you
both are doing fine and thank you for all of your support. And Livi! She
is growing up, and being a kid. I received the package you sent for Valentine’s
Day this week. I also have received the letter from the Cases and a
second Letter from Sister Johnson, who lives in the Villas. Please remind
them that if they wish to send more letters, it would be cheaper + faster if
they sent it through the US mail address. How is the Ward doing? I am
understanding that the structure of the organizations is at times a bit
peculiar but has grown. I am interested to see the needs of our Ward are
addressed from this perspective.
Elder
Jiménez has been a wonderful companion and trainer for this past weeks. I
do not have time today to describe him more, but this next week I will have transfers
and odds are certain that one of us if not he both are going to be changed.
The
Language is at a temporary standstill, but I am working hard in constructing
the lessons, scheduling appointments, and keeping Elder Jiménez focused in this
area. I can understand the people, I can learn new words, but I still
fault fluency and connection in my sentences, much less the accent. As
for the scriptures and the lessons, I can for the most part answer the random
or the critical questions that are asked by my investigators. All I can
do at this point is to continue to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish along
with the Liahonas that we have to give away. And man! There were two
stacks of old Liahonas from the previous year when I arrived here, and
within the past month I have personally given away all but the two in my Hero’s
Satchel! The messenger bag I carry around is very durable, at time a
little small or big, but it serves me well. A member who joined us for a
lesson with a progressing investigator referred to my scriptures as two
pistols- in one hand the Stick of Judah, the other the stick of Joseph.
Sunday
was one of the most successful days of the mission! And it is not because of
the numbers. We left our apartment an hour and a half before church,
waking people up and inviting them to church. It began a Little sketchy. When
nobody came with us inside the chapel, but through our efforts the night
before, that morning, the members, and the desire the Lord has sparked in this
Ward we had five investigators and five different less active families assist
sacrament meeting, and a few more showed up in the following hours. All
of these names listed were just people from our half of the Ward, the other
missionaries also had people arrive at church.
Alright,
the list of food that I have eaten these past two weeks- Chicharon (fried
pigskin), Birria (shredded pork or roast), mini tacos for 5 pesos, Menudo (if
you want to know what that is, look it up), and panbasos. The chicharon
is very tasty, and if it was not so caro I would buy some to eat in the
evenings with the jerky Dad sent me. XD The birria is meat that just falls
apart and is quite delicious with whichever kind of tortilla. The mini
tacos I ate today, and even though they are cheap, I was still hungry after
eating eleven with a soda. Yeah coach, I said soda, but here in this
Mex-American clash of culture, the community live on punch and soda. Panbasos
are, well, a mix between our French Dip, a sub sandwich, and enchiladas.
And the Menudo is one of the many soups that they eat here, it is not extremely
common. I liked it, but there are many tastier dishes and soups to eat
for Comida. The Ward had been very nice to us, and they know us
missionaries very well, especially My Companion Elder Jiménez. He will be transferred
this upcoming week, but he has completed seven months within this sector and
has honed his skills to the point of applying them once again in another part
of Baja California.
I am
grateful for this chance to be a missionary, and now after this first twelve weeks [in the field] I pray that I may apply all of the newly retained knowledge and work even
harder to invite souls unto Christ. We were watching the Preach My Gospel
Videos for Ideas on how we could help our investigators, and I realized that
before my mission these videos seemed erratic, and jumpy, skipping from one
investigator to a random Less Active member that may never appear again.
And far too often the Field is just like this, and more. Extremely busy,
very involved, and there is not a lot of time for learning what you missed
before your mission. I am grateful for the lessons I have been taught in
seminary, for my Sunday school teachers and everyone else who have supported my
spiritual growth before my mission. Much like Mormon, describing maybe
the hundredth part of the events that are happening, even within these stories
I am glad to express the spiritual strength, humor, joy in being part of this
army of spiritually armed brethren, bringing people up to the mountain of the
Lord.
Until
the following week, your Son and Brother,
Elder Tobler
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