Chapter 4: "Yes, I know...it's Wednesday, not Monday!"

(I took the names out of the letter she sent.  In case you are wondering about the blanks.]

Hello Everyone!

Yes I know... It's Wednesday. Not Monday. Our zone had the wonderful opportunity to go to the temple out here in Kennewick this morning so they switched out P-Day to Wednesday just for this week. Boy do I love getting out to the temple :) just what I needed, to get to soak in the Spirit there and not fret about anything. Perfection!

I'm not ever really sure where to start! It's been such a crazy full week! Lets see... We landed in Pasco on Tuesday and spent the whole first day in interviews with President White, learning about the history of the area, and catching our breath a little. Funny story, I managed to lose my name tag on the plane ( as if I didn't have enough to think about) but the flight attendant was very helpful looking for it and ultimately, one of the elders found it :) No stress there! That night we went to the temple and had an amazing testimony there. I'm not sure I have ever felt the spirit so strong as 20 missionaries bore their hearts about their love of the gospel and how they are here because they love out Savior. While I'm not always certain why God needs me out here in Washington, I know that there's a plan. I know that God knows what I'm going through and He gives me the strength to keep going even when I'm tired of getting up at 6:30 every morning. He is EVERYTHING to me.

Wednesday I got my companion! Sister Miner. Goodness she's a saint, or at least it feels like it sometimes. She has such a strong testimony and a love of sharing it. I hope to be able to take a few things from her to become  a much better missionary than I could have ever been without her example to me. She's very patient with me which is awesome. Of course there is a learning curve out here but having a great trainer makes it all so much better. Our first night out we had a lesson that the Elders before us had set up with ________ , _________, and_________ .   __________ is a less active member and _______ is her husband. Their daughter, has already expressed her desires to be baptized so we are teaching the whole family to help them come to that same desire together. We want the daughter to have that support once she is baptized so we keep teaching :). We plan to go back on Saturday to keep going on the lessons.

We are also teaching this couple,  and they are so wonderful I can't even express it. So elect. They have been taking the discussions for about 2 years now and they get so close every time to baptism and something changes. I am so happy to say that after our lesson on Friday, they are set to be baptized on October 8th! I am so excited to get to work with them in the coming weeks to help them prepare for that date. They already have such a testimony of Christ and they have a real desire to make it to the temple and be sealed together for time and for all eternity. There are people out there who are just waiting to be found, who are looking to increase their relationship with God, and we pray every moment of the day that God will lead us to them . I know He will and that He does, daily.

One more person we are teaching.  She's a sweet lady living with her niece who is a member of the Church. We've gone by I think 2 times now and she is tentatively planning to be baptized on the 24th of September. She isn't quite set on that date yet but that's her goal. She knows it's true and she has a desire to live with God again, she just has a few fears that we are hoping to ease as we continue to meet and help her deepen her testimony.

Let's just say that we knock A LOT of doors here and I can be honest, it's not my favorite part of the work. But I'm totally willing to do it to find those people like_______ and  _________ who are ready for the gospel and who are ready to make changes. My confidence is building a little bit ever day in my ability to share what I know to be true on a strangers porch. It's kinda funny when you start to have favorite doors after looking at so many in a day. I guess that's the life of a missionary in part :)

Thank you all for all of your support! It makes me smile to get on and see so many emails and so much love flooding in from all around the country. I love you all and I'm so grateful for the examples that y'all have been to me.

I know this gospel is true with all my heart. Honestly, I wouldn't be out here in 100 degree weather if I didn't know it. This gospel has changed my life. It has made me a better person. It has helped me to find confidence in myself and in my Savior. No matter what, God is always there. When life seems to hard to bear, turn to Him in sincere prayer and I know for a fact that he will answer you. In fact, turn to Him always. I invite you all to sincerely pray to Him tonight and pour out your hearts to Him. Tell Him what has been on your mind! Open up to Him and I know that you will feel an outpouring of love from Him. I have learned it for myself.

I love you all!!!

Sister Tobler  

-- 

Sister Lindsey Tobler

Kennewick Washington Mission

Sister Miner and Sister Tobler

The Sisters in Lindsey's zone.

Chapter 3: I'm Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

Hello!!!! 

So they let us get on a day early so that we could send out a quick email before we head out in the morning! Only one day left! Honestly, I think I will miss the MTC ( not the lines in the cafeteria though. I don't think I'll ever miss those). I've made a lot of really good friends here and I can't wait to read their emails and see how much they grow over the course of their missions. 

You'll never guess... WE FINALLY HAD A GENERAL AUTHORITY COME SPEAK TO US!!!! It was Elder Neil L Anderson and of course, it was the best. He talked all about how being a missionary isn't complex, but it isn't easy either. Sometimes the hardest things we ever do are the most rewarding.

Oh! And hosting the missionaries was so much fun!! While most of the missionaries in my district only got to host about 3 or 4 missionaries, I got to host 8! because I took a few foreign missionaries around. One was from China and the other from Sira Lanka. It was so cool to get to talk with them about their decision to serve a mission and how they were doing being in the states for the first time. Such great faith.

Lets see.. what else happened this week... Oh ya! Our lesson with Anna went so well! We were teaching her the Plan of Salvation and right as I finished talking about the three degrees of glory I had the most overwhelming prompting from the Spirit I may have ever felt in my time here so of course, I followed through. I asked her if she had a desire to get to live with God again in the Celestial Kingdom and when she said yes, all my fears melted away as I said, "Then Anna, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ, and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" I think I may have shocked my companion a bit because we were only planning on asking her to pray about the things we had talked about that day but she said yes. ANNA SAID YES! I couldn't have been happier at that moment. 

I wish I had more time to write but we are all running around like crazy trying to get laundry done and packing before taking off tomorrow. I want you all to know that I have a testimony of this gospel and of Jesus Christ. I wouldn't be here if I didn't know that it was true. I know that through Christ and His Atonement I can be made perfect again. I want to live with God again so I will do my part and be the very best that I can. I love proclaiming His gospel and helping others to come unto Christ. We watched "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox and I want to leave you with a thought for the week. "Jesus doesn't make UP the difference. He makes ALL the difference... I have been saved by grace, but even more important, I have been CHANGED by grace."

I love you all! 

Sister Tobler

-- 

Sister Lindsey Tobler

Kennewick Washington Mission

Chapter 2: This Mission isn't about Me

Hello everyone!!!!

The MTC is so amazing! Let me just start off with that. I love it here and I feel myself growing everyday in my relationship with my Savior and in my ability to love and serve the investigators here. I feel myself growing all over the place and it's hard to imagine what I would be doing right now without the MTC. I know that this is exactly where my Savior needs me to be. That being said.... Guess who got her travel plans this week?!? That's right!!! This Sister did!!!! We leave on Tuesday morning! It feels like we just got here and already it is time to start packing up and leaving!

I had the neatest experiences about one of my investigators this last week. I think I may have mentioned her last week. Her name is Masha and she has been one of our more challenging investigators. She kept asking really deep questions about symbolism in the Bible that Sister Coffey and I simply didn't have the answers to. I'm not sure I have ever prayed so hard to know how to teach someone before but one night last week I suddenly woke up and just knew exactly what we needed to teach her. I knew that if we taught her using the Articles of Faith that she would be able to better understand what the Gospel of Christ was all about and why we do what we do. I know that it was the Spirit who woke me up to give me that inspiration and I know that if I had waited till morning to write it down, it would have been gone from my mind. Our Heavenly Father is there and he does know our deepest desires and when we turn to Him in prayer, He will give us whatever guidance we are looking for. We simply have to be ready at any time of day (or night) in order to receive the answers we are seeking. Before our last visit with Masha we marked up a Book of Mormon with our favorite sciptures and stories and we labeled a lot of things in it to try and help her better understand it as well as sticking our testimonies in the front with our emails. Not that I was surprised, but I was a little surprised how well it was accepted! She loved it and told us that she would email us for our addresses when she got home to Armenia in a few weeks. She want's to send us postcards and she's also going to write us 1 Nephi 3:7 in Arabic for us. Pretty cool right!?!

We also got two new investigators this week, Jack and Anna. Jack is a little trickier to understand but I love the challenge of leaning what makes him tick and helping him to feel the spirit. I really hope that he grows to see everything that God could do for him but ultimately, the Spirit is the ultimate teacher so we rely totally on Him in all this. Anna is such a sweetheart and I love how open she is to the gospel and how much she wants God to be a bigger part of her life! With all of our investigators it's beautiful to watch them grow in their relationships with their Savior.

I think by far my favorite day this week was Saturday. We spent seriously the entire day studying the scriptures for hours on end. I know that sounds a little crazy that I could get so excited from reading the Book of Mormon and Jesus the Christ for hours on end but it's true. I've come to realize that I will never have time like this to study the scriptures like this possibly ever again just because life will get away from me. Whatever time you have now, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT! If ou have a goal to become well versed in the word of God, START TODAY! because you may not have time tomorrow. 

Another exciting thing.... WE ARE HOSTING THE NEW MISSIONARIES TOMORROW!!! We are all so excited to get to meet all the new missionaries coming in and to get to help them get all set up. Rumor has is that we will be greeting the foreign missionaries so tomorrow could be a great big game of charades. 

Thank you Aunt Corby for the cookies! They were AMAZING and the fellow sisters who I share a room with have decided that I have the best family ever :). I love getting to hear from family and friends and thank you all for your encouraging words!

One of my favorite quotes of the week has been this. "It's never going to be about me ever again so I might as well get over it and start serving." This mission isn't about me, it's about serving God's children. It's about helping others to come closer to Christ and I know that I will have been a successful missionary even if everyone I teach only comes to know how much God loves them and knows them. God loves all His children and He desires to bless us all. He wants to build a relationship with all of us. He wants us to pray and simply tell Him about our lives. He is our Heavenly FATHER and as such, He loves us. I know this and I've come to understand it even more as I have grown closer to Him through prayer.

I love you all!

Sister Tobler

P.S. There wont be a letter next week seeing as I'll be flying! Love y'all!!!

-- 

Sister Lindsey Tobler

Kennewick Washington Mission

Chapter 1: It's True! All of it!!!

Hello everyone!!!!

Before I get started... HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOE!!!!! I hope you had a spectacular day and know that I was thinking of you from afar! I love you and I'll give you a proper hug in 18 months :).

So much has happened this week that it's hard to get it all into one letter it feels like and especially in our one hour of email time but I'll try.

So how my day looks... We get up at 6:30 every morning and are given about 25 minutes to get ready before breakfast. For some sisters that it harder than others but I value my sleep WAY to much to wake up any earlier. We spend roughly 9 hours everyday in the classroom learning how to better teach with the spirit and how we can pray to know exactly what our investigators need to hear. Lets just say that my companion and I are getting very good and the beginning of the first lesson because thus far, all our investigators haven't known how much God loves them! That's right. Our investigators. We started teaching the second day here and currently we have three investigators, Emily, Taylor, and Masha. We wrapped up teaching Tila last week and it is incredible the love that I have been able to feel for these women as we teach them. I know that God loves each and everyone of us and he places specific people in our lives in order to help us feel of that love.

My companion, Sister Coffey is a sweet sister in Christ. She's pretty short compared to me (4 ft 10 to be exact) and she has such a love for the gospel that she just wants to share with everyone. She's had a rough go of things since she got here dealing with an injury she got right before getting here but she's working through it because we do want so badly to get the work done! 

Now here's a surprise for you... I helped with a musical number for Sunday this last week... but it wasn't singing. That's right. I Sister Tobler, accompanied a departing district in their musical number. I know that there is no way that I could have done it without the comport of the Lord. I didn't even shake like a leaf when I got down! I played "God be with you till we meet again" while they all sang and I can't believe that I was able to keep it all together. It's hard to imagine that in just two weeks, that will be me saying goodbye to my district. They have become family and I will miss them so much.

I'm trying to remember what else I'm doing up here because there is so much in a week! I'm singing with the choir and tonight for devotional we will be singing "Lead, Kindly Light" and I just want to encourage all of y'all to go and look up the story behind it. I wish I could type it all up for you not but I don't have the time. That's your homework :). It's a story all about trusting God as He leads you through some of the darkest times of your life and just knowing that you will never be alone. 

Today we went to the temple as a district and it was so wonderful, as always :). I love to get to go to the temple often and to get to feel of the special spirit there and feel so close to God. The spirit is everywhere here but it's especially strong on the grounds. Hopefully I can figure out how to send some pictures from our walk there on Sunday. 

Thank you Mangum Family and Knudson Family for the package! It's so much fun to get that bright slip of paper during dinner saying that you have a package so I absolutely loved it. Especially the mints :) How'd you know ;).

I love you all and I want you to know that I know for a fact that this gospel is true. I'm still learning more everyday but I know that as we diligently seek after knowledge, God will grant it to us. He know's us better than anyone else and He wants us to pray to Him and to get to know Him better. I know it's true!

Love you all!

-- 

Sister Lindsey Tobler

Kennewick Washington Mission

The District