Chapter 7: Photos

 Lindsey in beautiful Kennewick!

Sister Miner, Lindsey's favorite companion, so far!

Chapter 7: More Miracles

Hello Everyone!

Let me just start out with out with our huge miracles this week....We had so many people come to church this week with us!!!!! So there was S______ and O_______ who are now both on date! Brother and Sister S________ ( who are less active ( i'll tell you more about their miracles in a minute)) and R________!( O_________ mom who has been inactive for years and told us a week ago not to teach her because she wasn't interested in the church at all). They were all there and they all LOVED it! We could hardly contain our joy as we saw all these people walk into the chapel and to think of all the progress they are making in coming closer to their Heavenly Father. We were trying not to make to much joy but our little missionary buttons were bursting through all of church. 

We are so excited that O________ is now on date to be baptized! October 8th! Yay!!!! She knows it's true and her family is being so supportive of her. Probably the best thing that we ever did was invite members to those lessons with her because now her Mom has so many connections to the church and is comfortable with coming and even participating a little more in the lessons. I can't wait to see where the next few weeks take us with their family and I know that God has it all under control :).

This Wednesday we went to see the S_______ as usual and boy, their countenances were so changed! The first time that we met them they seemed so sad because they felt that their testimonies were drowned out by their doubts of the church and that they could never feel certain again because of questions. We gave them a homework assignment before we left last time and said that we would only answer their questions if they read in the Book of Mormon every day. When we texted them a few days later they said their still hadn't started yet and that we had better have a good presentation put together. We made their assignment more specific and assured them that we had answers but that we would keep them to ourselves if they didn't do their part ( we are a little sneaky that way (:   ). When we came to their house their scriptures were out and they seemed to be glowing. As we talked about the miracle that is modern revelation and how amazing it is that we have a prophet here on the earth today, their worries melted away. Something clicked and I know that it's not really anything that we said. It was all the Spirit. 100% Him. The Spirit testifies of truth and they were able to have more confidence in what they already know to be true. 

We have taught a few other lessons this week to some new investigators but I will give more details as they progress more :). We had a lot of lessons fall through this week but I've realized that it's okay. As much as we can plan and set goals, people have their agency and we can't change that. Once people have a desire to change, to repent, and to come closer to God,that's where we come into play. We are simply guides for others on their journey closer to God. I am so grateful for this gospel. Because of Him, I don't have to feel alone as I lay in bed at night and wonder if I did enough. I don't have to wonder if I'm doing this "right". God makes everything right I know that in His timing, I'll be able to better understand everything about His plan for me. I am so grateful for all that I'm learning everyday through prayer and studying His word. Christ understands us perfectly and for that I am eternally grateful.

I love you all!!!!

Sister Tobler

-- 

Sister Lindsey Tobler

Kennewick Washington Mission

Chapter 6: Miracles Galore!

Hello everyone!

I'm not ever sure where to start! Such an amazing week! So So Good!!!! Okay I'll give y'all the highlights. 

1. SHARLEEN IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!! on September 24th!!!! We are so excited for her to start this journey with God. She has asked her nieces husband to baptize her and we are just super duper excited for their whole family. Best feeling in the world when someone realizes that this is true and that they want it.

2. We met this lady named _________ while out tracting this week and she asked us to come back. After teaching the restoration she said that she'd start reading the Book of Mormon because she wants to find truth. She's not afraid to admit that her church is missing something and just want to come close to God with her family. We can't wait to go back!

3. We met so many people while knocking doors yesterday and a few of them want us to come back!!! Seriously, such a good feeling to know that some people really do want to learn more and that God has been preparing them to meet us. One guy said that he has been praying for help to strengthen his relationship with God. Another said he believes in God because a friend of his served a mission years ago and he wants to know more. Another said he was an atheist untill a member of the church invited him to church. Another has seen so many missionaries and has been hoping that someone would come talk to him about the church. Isn't it amazing how God works? He has a plan for everyone. He knows everyone and is so aware of us. 

We have made many visits to the less actives in the ward and have been trying to help them rekindle their testimonies. It is hard but really, what more rewarding thing is there, than to endure to the end? And it's not really "enduring" per say because we have Christ there with us every step of the way. We can give our burdens to Him and He will strengthen our backs so that we we will be able to bear the burdens placed upon them. 

I know that this is the true gospel. I have seen to many miracles to ever deny it. I know that it's true. I have felt God's hand in my life. I have seen him soften the hearts of even the toughest. I have seen so much love and mercy in my life that I could never deny Him. I have been SAVED by Grace as we all have but even more, I have been CHANGED by Grace. Because of grace, I live every day trying to be better, trying to say what He would say, go where He would go, and do what He would do. He is my Savior and for that, I will be forever grateful. 

I love you all and thank you so much for all the love and support!! Y'all are the best!

Sister Tobler

-- 

Sister Lindsey Tobler

Kennewick Washington Mission

Bonus Picture

The mission office sent us this picture of Sister Tobler with the Mission President and his wife.  She says they are the best, most cool, awesome ever!

Chapter 5: My Soul has been Fed

Hello everyone!

So I realized that there are so many things that I forgot to mention in my email last week! Sometimes I can't keep everything straight but I'll try and remember it all this time around :)

So I am serving in the Kennewick stake right now in the Grandridge and Rancho Reata wards right now. I LOVE THE PEOPLE SO MUCH. The wards have been such a support and are always willing to help whenever possible. It makes it so much easier to do the work when the wards are involved! If I  had known how important the members are in missionary work I think I would have done so much more! If you have people on you mind who may be interested in hearing more about the gospel, tell the missionaries! We love referrals so much and take them very seriously. Your friends are in good hands :) I promise :). 

We live in a little one bedroom apartment but it strangely feels really big when there are only two of you living there. I was a little surprised that we weren't sharing it with another set of sisters but then I learned that we are the only set of sisters in the district! Crazy right!? Maybe not but it felt a little funny to me. 

In regards to the heading of my email... So of course my soul is fed by the scriptures and prayer and church and whatnot, but today it has been fed especially.... by Great Harvest. :). Was I the only person who didn't know that Great Harvest has a cafe? Well it does and as we are about to check out a member from another ward came and talked with us and bought our lunch. How nice is that right! I know that's random but it totally made our day :)

A little tidbit about my companion Sister Miner... She's pretty much the best person EVER. She's so positive all the time and she's always humming a little tune ( about 50% of the time they are ones that she has made up herself). She's from Utah and Colorado ( she says both because... well I dont know why but she does) and she loves honey. That's right. like the sticky stuff. She just finished off a bottle this week and I find it hilarious until she reminds me how many cucumbers I eat. Whoops! Anyways, she's fantastic. Simple as that :).

So onto my week! We have had a few really good lessons and we've done a lot of tracting. Still not my most favorite activity but I no longer feel like I'm going to have a mini heart attack every time I knock :). Positive thoughts right!?! Anyways, We had another lesson with ______ and she came to Stake conference this week! And she liked it! Woohoo!!!! She's planning on coming to church with us this week and we have another lesson set with her for Thursday. She's still praying about her baptismal date of Sept 24th but she really wants be be baptized and we are so excited for her to take that step. 

We have spent a lot of time with the less actives in the area this week. Some of them are stronger than others but the common thread has been that they all still have a testimony which makes me so happy. It's never to late for anyone to come back to church. ever. It is so rewarding to see the light of testimony begin to grow within them again and to help them get through any reservations they have. I have loved especially working with the _______ family and helping them to realize that they do have enough faith. Even if we only have a tiny seed of faith, if we turn it over to God, He can turn it into a magnificent tree. 

One other family we are teaching is the _________ family. They are recent converts of about two years if I remember correctly. They are fantastic. I love them so SO much. We are now helping them to prepare to be sealed in the temple! How fun is that!?! While we do love to have baptisms, really it comes down to seeing those families in the temple. We want to see them all in the temple one day making covenants with God to be better than they were the day before. We can all always improve in some way and to see them have the desire to grow in their relationship with God, Gah! it's the best thing ever!

I have seen so many miracles in my life this week and because of them, I know that God knows me personally. He knows when I'm having a rough day. He knows when I'm on cloud 9 after a really good lesson. He knows when I'm tired. He knows me. He knows each one of us. Pray and you will feel that He is there. I know it but don't just take my word for it. Ask Him. 

I love you all and Thank you so much for all the support you give me! I feel your prayers and I'm so eternally grateful :)

This is a picture of beautiful Kennewick!

Love you all! Till next week!

-- 

Sister Lindsey Tobler

Kennewick Washington Mission

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