Chapter 35: #PrinceofPeace

Hello Everyone!

It's been a busy week! As usual :). I don't even know were to start. 

C_____ is doing just wonderful. Loving the Book of Mormon and having the neatest insights on a daily basis. I just love getting to meet with her. She is getting ready to go out of town soon sadly but that just means that we get to meet with her more often until then! Now I get to see one of my favorite investigators 3 times a week :) Woohoo!!! It was so exciting when we started talking about General Conference with her and she was just like " oh ya! I'm already planning on watching that. I told my husband that I get the little TV and I'm going to shut myself in there all day". :). That made my little missionary heart so happy!

Speaking about Conference.... any one else as pumped as I am?!?! And boy, the Women's session was just fantastic! One of the less active ladies we are working with came and just loved it. I especially loved Sister Burton's thought on being a "certain woman". Made me think, how can I be a more sure, dependable, steady, and firm woman for the Lord? What more can I give to serve Him? I love that we have the opportunity every 6 months to hear from these servants of God. How lucky are we to have such easy access to their words?!? Its just amazing. 

We also had our Zone Conference this week which is always fun :). I love President and Sister White and it is so evident that they pray for us often. One of the many highlights from out meeting, THE NEW EASTER INITIATIVE!!! That's right :) Tis' the season! and I love the theme for this year. Learn principles of peace from the Prince of Peace. Truly our Savior is the only way that we find peace in this world full of disappointments.

We got to help one of our potential investigators move this week and it was actually really fun! She had SO much stuff but its amazing when you get a few missionaries together how fast the work can go. And plus she was super appreciative :) Sounds like we are going to be eating dinner with her and her family soon :). I love service. And I love it more when I think about that verse that says " when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." I love serving God and I love getting to see the smiles on His children's faces as we serve them. 

I love this work so much. Its crazy that so much time has flown by. I could keep doing this forever! and I love that truly I never have to stop. While one day my full time service will have to end, I never have to quit sharing my love for the gospel. I love this great work with all my heart and I love yall too!!! Till next week!

Sister Tobler

Chapter 34: Not today Satan!

Hello Everyone!

I can hardly describe the joy I feel right now! C___ came to church this week :). Can I just say that again??? C____ S______ CAME TO CHURCH THIS WEEK! That's right. The 7th day Adventist who said God would smite her/ turn her into a pile of ashes if she walked into a Sunday believin' church. She came. And loved it :). The whole walk to the church she was just shakin' like a leaf and saying that she might walk in and then right back out if she got nervous. We sat her down front and center in the chapel where everyone would be able to see her :). So many people came and introduced themselves and she felt so welcome :). I love this ward. I love C____. She makes my heart so happy. In our lesson this week we talked about baptism again because she has expressed the desire, but hasn't really followed through on that. We walked in and she said that it is taking her too long to read the Book of Mormon. She wants to read it faster so that she can get to the promise in the last chapter. The spirit just swamped in there as we testified and helped her to work the gospel library app. She is now ( finally!) preparing to be baptized on April 22. My heart is so full of joy :).

It has just been an insane week. Lots of trying by potentials. We spent a whole day in the Columbia Basin ( SO SO FUN!) and trying to find some less actives out there ( I'm getting pretty good at navigating the basin :))

Here's one last tender mercy :). After a bit of a tough day ( no one home/ not interested/ just a crazy day), we got a text from Sister Stark asking if we could stop by right before we stared heading home. Little background, we LOVE the Stark family. Their girls decided that they wanted to serve missions after they came out with us a few times and saw that while missions are hard, they can be super fun! They come out with us probably at least once a week now :) Now back to the story. So we headed over and they bring us into the kitchen where the island is just covered in snack and fruit. We couldn't believe it. They said it was a "thank you" for us and all that we do. SO SWEET! I could have burst into tears right there. The church really is a big family. We all take care of one another. It reminds me of that scripture in Mosiah. That their hearts were KNIT together in unity. That truly is the Gospel right there :) We are here to strengthen and serve one another as our Savior would do if He were here among us. I love that I get to do that everyday. It really is the best thing ever :). Satan tries to get us down and discourage us, telling us that we are doing this alone, but we aren't! We stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the greatest people this world has ever known. Just some food for thought :).

I love you all!!! Till next week!

Sister Tobler

The whole crew

Chapter 33: We're Stayin' Put!

Hello Everyone! 

We got the transfer calls this morning and Sister Calder and I are both so happy to report that we will be staying in our beloved Pasco for at least another transfer :). Phew!!! Sadly though, one of my favorite Sisters is headed off to my "birth area" to be an STL! It's crazy how close I have gotten with these sisters but I know that she will do AMAZING things and be able to touch so many lives. It makes me grateful to know that the Lord truly does qualify those who He calls. I didn't think that I would be able to train a new missionary and look at me now! Every time the Lord trusts me with another responsibility it simply gives me another opportunity to grow. I am so grateful for the trust that He puts in us.

Now onto my week :)

Sister Calder and I sang in the Columbia Basin ward yesterday :). What made the experience even more sweet was that one of our favorite members (Sister R___) came to church to watch :). She hasn't gone to church in over 5 years! Our buttons were nearly bursting with joy when we saw her walk in the doors, wearing a fur coat and all :). So many of the ward members were crying they were so happy to see her too. I love being a missionary :).

We also had a wonderful lesson with C____ this week. Sometimes I wonder if we are making an impact in her life because she does take very small steps, but it is truly amazing when you are sitting in a lesson and you ask them if they will be baptized and they say that they already know that they want to be. It just makes our spirits soar! True, she doesn't feel quite ready to accept a date yet, but we know that God is working on her heart and preparing her to step into the waters of baptism. We just know it.

We have met so many wonderful people this week and I wish I could go into lengthy detail about them all. Just know, the work is hastening :)

Kinda neat, we have been working with a recent convert for a little while and this week, he finished his recent convert discussions! We have felt so lucky to see him progress so much in the gospel and now he is preparing to go to the temple! So cool! He was a little sad that we have finished "class" with him ( as he puts it) so we gathered up some missionaries and headed to his home to clean up his yard. I should have taken before and after shots because boy does it look 100x better now :) and it was so fun to serve in the rain with the district. I rub shoulders with some pretty great missionaries :)

I LOVE the gospel so much if you couldn't tell :). It's amazing to be able to give everything that I have to God for 18 months. It's insanely hard but I know that with Him I can do all things. That has been a huge focus of ours this week, trusting in God. It's hard to do, but when we trust Him, He is able to lift us to greater heights. Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways knowledge him and he shall direct thy ways for good ( or something like that. I don't have my Bible in front of me :))

I love you all so much! Thank you for all that you do for me!

Sister Tobler

Locked out by Sister Calder

Chapter 32: Called To Serve!

Hello Everyone! 

Things are just fantastic here! I love the people here in the 10th and Columbia Basin wards. They are just so wonderful and it has been interesting to see them grow to love us as they have gotten to know us better. Let me think of where to start about all that has gone on this week. 

So Sister Calder and I were selected to attend MLC this week ( a special council for the zone leaders and STLs). They had people from the missionary department there doing a special training on how we can better teach and plan for the people that we are seeking to teach. Such an amazing experience! I'll admit, I was scared out of my mind because I didn't want to have to role play with APs or zone leaders or anything because, ya know, that's a little intimidating. It ended up being super great though and I was so glad that Sister Calder was able to be there with me so that we could take the things that we learned and apply them immediately to the work in our areas. Already we see so many blessings as God realizes that we are willing to take and act on whatever council we receive.

Let me tell you a little about our lesson with C___ this week :). First, I'll fill you in on a brief background of her cause I cant seem to remember what I've told y'all. So she is a 7th day Adventist who found the Book of Mormon on her own! She was reading in Revelations and I guess somewhere in there she found that an angel holds a little book and decided that it must be the Book of Mormon! She's been reading in by herself for a while and just loves it! She literally teaches herself because she knows that this is a true book from God. She feels the good it is bringing into her life. Here's an example from her studies. So she's reading about King Noah and how wicked he was. She find that one word used to describe him is a "wine bibber" and immediately she's like" well I don't want to be a wine bibber so I decided to switch over to sparking cider. I don't feel so guilty now that I'm not drinking wine". I know right! This is a real person! I love her so much. Her only hold up has been going to church on Sunday because she is afraid that God will smite her if she walks in the building on Sunday ( like turned into a pile of ashes...) but she has made so much progress. She knows that's the next step for her and so.... guess who committed to come to church on the 19th to hear me sing in church!?! C___!!!!!!!!!! So so excited for her :)

One last miracle :). So we ate dinner with the Stark family last week and their daughters expressed that they are interested in serving missions but weren't sure because they've heard lots of bad things. We had a great conversation and didn't really think much about it for the rest of the week. We saw one of the girls on Sunday and started chatting it up with her just about how adorable she looked. Later in the day her mom came up to us  just expressing so much gratitude. Her girls love us and because of our positive example and light, they made the decision that they want to go. AND they want to come out with us this week! We are so SO excited! And we are going to have FHE with their family to help them prepare for missions. They are planning to start papers here soon so we are so excited that we were able to play a part in helping them make that choice. Just image the ripple effect we all have when we make good decisions and chose to serve God in all sorts of ways. They will be able to change lives and bring the light of Christ to others. those people in turn will look for more opportunities to serve. Its a ripple and we all play a part. I just love the gospel so much! It's so true! I love that I get to help bring for His kingdom here on the earth. What a great thing :). I love you all! Till next week!

Sister Tobler

Chapter 31: 7 months!!!!

Hello Everyone!

Happy 7 months! It's so crazy to think that I've been out that long! Where has the time gone?!?! I've been a missionary for 7 months TODAY :) and I have loved every moment :) I love that I get to spend literally all my time in the serve of God. There is no better way to live I believe :) Spiritual "high" 24/7. Its the greatest :)

So onto this week, it's been pretty interesting. So we didn't really have a lot of lessons per-say, but we had lots of opportunities to work with ward members and build trust with them. I think I can honestly say that we have officially won over the Columbia Basin ward :) they love us and we love them so much. They see the work we are putting in to try and bring people unto Christ and it is increasing their faith and desire to share the gospel with their friends. I love it so much :) 

We did lots of tracting and had goals to testify boldly to everyone that we met this week and it totally paid off! so many return appointments! I love it :) Ya'll should have seen us at all the doors that didn't speak a lick of English. And Y'all know me, I don't speak a lick of Spanish, except for like "Where is the bathroom" and "please and thank you" :) That was entertaining :) But we managed to communicate to get contact info for Spanish missionaries to go back! So fun!

We had interviews with President White this week too and I just have to say, he is a great man. You can tell that he loves and cares for each of him missionaries and that he truly is inspired. He was dropping a few hints that something big might be coming my way and I'm just praying for the courage and confidence to do whatever I am called to do. 

I love y'all so much and I feel so grateful to have so many people supporting me in this work. We have been thinking a lot about faith this week in conjunction with miracles. An elder in our district said, " the miracles don't increase our faith, but our faith does increase the miracles." All we have to do is go out there and do what God asks with even a grain of faith the size of a mustard seed, and God will bless us with so many miracles. It's pretty simple and I have tested Him. It is true. It's all true.

Love y'all!

Sister Tobler

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