Chapter 46: Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice

Hello Everyone! 

Such a crazy week and so much to tell so I'll try and give a play by play real quick. The latter half of the week is much more interesting. Literally everyday we woke up thinking that we should have a fairly normal day but that never happened.

Mon: Got a call late in the afternoon that we were having 2 more sisters move in with us so we had to spend the evening in moving furniture and making room for another companionship! Lets just say 2 sisters trying to move couches around in a small apartment is very amusing to watch. Thank goodness for saintly Elders who get permission to come help us. Even if they do break our light in the process.

Tues: Taking a new missionary out for the first time! Sister Carey :) Goodness she's a sweetheart. And interesting thing, she didn't go to the MTC!!! She went straight out to the field. Some new pilot program the church is trying out I guess. Anyways,she was fantastic. She even invited someone to be baptized and they said YES!!!!

Wed: Transfer day. We were safe, but that didn't mean that we were not busy. We got called to help the new sisters get all settled in their apartment and we had to give up our car to the elders for the day. Lots and Lots of walking but that's okay :). The pay off is great from so much walking. 

Thurs and Friday: Filled with Lots of service and planning. We have a big training coming up and lets just say that Sister Cram and I are probably the craziest and most fun STL's in this mission ( not to brag or anything). Our training involves a skit.... and fire.... stay tuned for pictures to come next week. 

Sat: MISSION CONFERENCE WITH ELDER ANDERSEN!!!!! Oh my goodness it was so good. We had great seats because I had to lead the music :) Perks of being a musician I guess :) He is definitely helping us to raise the bar in our missionary efforts here but I'm not too worried about it because I know that God will help us to meet these higher expectations. We also got some really cool promptings that were fulfilled on Sunday.... Also, I got to shake his hand :)

Sun: STAKE CONFERENCE WITH ELDER ANDERSEN!!!! So good again! After the conference we decided to go and visit a Part Member family that we thought about on Saturday and when we showed up they had just experienced a major family crisis and she was so overwhelmed. I guess no one would answer her calls because she just needed to talk about what was happening and at the moment she was about to sink back into her depression, guess who knocks on her door..... us. God watches out for His children. He prompted us to go see her 24 hours in advance because He knew that she would need support. I love getting to be his instrument. This really is an amazing work.

We also met this really cool couple. J___ and H___. They have a little 5 month old but kinda sad/ crazy thing, they are still in high school... but they have such a light and desire to know for themselves if God really is there and wants to help their little family. I am so excited to help them find that... Not sure how it's all going to play out, but I have faith that God has a plan for them and will bless them as they seek out truth. 

There were so many highlights from Elder Andersen's visit that I don't really know what to share! One of my favorite stories was about his grandson. He said that he and his wife were watching them and from the back room they heard the younger one scream. After comforting him they asked what happened. They younger one said " Clayton hit me!!!" Then they went to go talk to Clayton and asked him why he hit his younger brother. " Mimi" he said" I'm sorry, but I lost my CTR ring so now I can't choose the right." I just about died laughing inside when he said this but how often do we say similar things? How often do we blame our circumstances on others? That's why I love repentance. We can own up for our mistakes and try and little harder to be a little better everyday. No one has traveled beyond the reach of divine love. We all can become clean and new again through the atonement of Jesus Christ. We just have to use it. It's that simple. I love that I get to spend everyday teaching others how to access that. Its a very special think and I'm so glad I still have so much time to do it :) I love you all and thank you for your love and support!

Till next week!

Sister Tobler

Chapter 45: Transfers

Hello Everyone!!!!

I know I say this every week, but this week was so crazy!!!! We literally had meetings everyday except for Tuesday and Saturday so that kept us really busy! First off I should probably let y'all know, we got transfer calls this morning and.... I'M STAYING!!!! WITH SISTER CRAM!!!! WOOHOOO!!! This next transfer is going to be so great!!! So excited!! We are getting almost all new sisters in our stewardship! So weird! But I'm excited to get to know these new sisters and feel God's love for them :). I love being a missionary. 

So many miracles this week! We took the V____ family on a temple tour yesterday and the spirit there was so wonderful. We have been struggling to help them to finally pick a date for their baptism but she was able to finally decide. It may not be as soon as we hoped, but I know that God will continue to prepare them for August 18th. God is all over this and He knows exactly what they need and the timing for their family. We are so excited for them. Their are adopting a little boy in July so even he will be able to be there on their special day. Eternal families are so amazing and its awesome to see them desire that. 

Can I just say how grateful I am for members and their willingness to help with the work? We have been working with the L____ family ( returning Less Active family) for a while and we love them so much. They do so much for us and when we were looking for fellowship for J____ and her family, they were the first people to come to mind :). And they were so willing to help. A hour with both families at the L____ farm and there started a beautiful friendship between the families that will totally help them to feel comfortable coming to church and all. Members are so needed to help with the social conversion because it takes BOTH, spiritual and social conversion, to help a convert stay active throughout their lives. I love the members for all that they do to help our investigators grow in the gospel. 

I love this work so much. We have been talking a lot about obedience this week in the mission. Of course we always talk about it, but with Elder Andersen coming on Saturday, there's a HUGE focus now :). President gave an incredible thought about obedience. In this mission, we are known for being VERY strict. We have lots of little rules and many don't make a lot of sense, but we obey because we want the blessings. President said " Ya know, I don;t think wearing logos will keep you out of the celestial kingdom. It just wont... BUT. Your attitude behind the rule ( commandment) will." When we disobey because a commandment seems silly or not of eternal significance, we are turning away from God, and that is the bigger sin. It made me think about what I can do better. I may not be disobedient ( I promise I'm not!!!! :)) but what more can I do to hand my life over to my Savior. What more can I do to be a better servant. I am so excited to see the changes that come in myself as I do so. 

I love you and I love my Savior for all that He has done for me. Thanks for all your love and support! Till next week!

Sister Tobler

Chapter 44: 10 months!

Hello Everyone!!!

I literally have no clue where to start with this week. In short, it was full of ups and downs. LOTS of them. But it has been really cool to see that through it all, God supported us and the work in our area. So many miracles happened this week! I'll try to keep it concise :)

We had 2 lessons with J____ this last week! Funny thing, we discovered that her husband isn't actually an evangelical missionary... he actually went to jail..... that was weird.... and then at our second lesson he was back. Still have no clue whats going on there, but anyways! So neat. She is searching for truth and really wants to make the right decision and come closer to God. After teaching the restoration and asking her thoughts she immediately said that she knew it could happen. She knew that this was good and that we were sent from God right in the moment that she needed help. We taught her and her kids how to pray and the spirit in her apartment totally changed. it was incredible. 

I got to go on exchanges with Hermana Malone this week and man i wish that I had remembered to take a picture!!!! Most of you probably don't know, but we went to girls camp and everything together! Grew up in the same stake :) How nutty is that!! Anyways, it was super fun to get to spend the day together in Cottonwood and learn from one another. She has such a fire for the gospel and loves sharing it and I felt like I learned so much from her. She's totally gonna take every area she serves in by storm. 

Can I just take a quick moment to second to praise my companion? Sister Cram is literally the best. She is so good at supporting me in all my goals an endeavors. Good companions make all the difference in an area. God is so good and has blessed me with an amazing companion. 

Here's a little thought to get yall through the week. President Uchtdorf said " With Christ, darkness cannot succeed. Darkness will not gain victory over the light of Christ." I totally saw that this week. We have a light about us as followers of Christ and no matter how many people try to bring us down or make us doubt who we really are, the cannot, for light always chases away darkness. When we cant seem to find the light, look to Christ. He is always there. Always. 

I love yall! Till next week!!!

Sister Tobler

p.s. I'll try to have the member take a video of it today, but I'm singing and playing the uke in a missionary talent show today :) SO PUMPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 43: I fear no man!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

This has literally been one of the most insane weeks probably of my entire mission. I don't even know what made it so crazy but it was :). And just looking at our planner for next week, it's gonna get crazier! Nutty!!!

Super cool thing happened this week. So we went to go check on the V__ U___ family early on in the week and they were telling us that they decided to take some of the extra mothers day treat from church to one of their neighbors whose husband passed away a few months ago. She is getting ready to move out soon because she cant afford her home anymore so she was having a big yard sale but was super overwhelmed by everything that had to be done. Amber took us over right there to introduce us and we were able to offer our services. Fast Forward two days and there we are putting price tags on everything in her garage and arranging it beautifully. You would have loved it Mother. So many antiques!!! I was just in heaven. And she was so appreciative and said we could come by any time. Service works miracles. It's the truth!!!

Lets see, what else happened this week. I went on exchanges with Hermana Englehart this week in Benton City! So fun! It was amazing to see how the light in her eyes just shone brighter and brighter throughout the day. They serve in a tough little town. They have less that 1,000 people to try to share the gospel with so you can bet that everyone has heard of the church or taken lessons at some point. They were a little discouraged about the work but as we counseled together about new finding ideas that are a little out of the box, they just got so excited to get going! It was so fun to be a part of that excitement and we even found a new investigator that night! 4th floor last door for sure! God is preparing people in EVERY area. Of that I am sure.

Crazy story from this week! So we went to go contact J___ ( a referral from the elders) and she lives in the apartment complex that's super hard to get into. Tight security ya know? Its amazing how God puts people in just the right spot so that we can talk to His children. We went up to go talk with her and she welcomed us in openly and set up a return appointment. We met her husband there but he didn't look all that excited to see us. He actually left as we were talking with her. We're walking down the hall to head back to the car and he comes out of the stairwell and asks us to walk with him. Sister Cram is so good at keeping cool but you can bet my heart was beating so fast. He closes the door behind him in the stairwell and starts telling us that he is getting ready to leave for an evangelical mission. Somethin' about how he has to go serve God for 7 years to earn his wife like Jacob. Here's where it gets crazy. You can bet we thought that he was going to tell us to get out and never come back. WRONG! He says that he has been praying God would send someone to help their move to Richland go smoothly and the Elders showed up the next day. Then he prayed that God would send someone to take care of his wife and bring her out of the dark place that she's in, and we show up. God is truly so aware of each and everyone of his children and he truly does answer prayers. I know this is true with all my heart!

I am so grateful to be able to be an instrument for God. I love being in tune with His promptings and being in just the right places at just the right times. It is an honor to be able to serve my God and my King. I love this work. Thank you all for your love, prayers, and support! 

Love ya! Till next week!

Sister Tobler

Chapter 42: Mother, I Love You

Hello Everyone!

I love Mothers day :). I love Moms. I love the gospel. I love it all :). I am just so happy! Getting to talk with the family was so fun and now I feel so ready to take on the next 7 months. I'm gonna take the tri-cites by storm!! Woohoo!!! Families are the best and I'm glad that I get to be with mine for all eternity :)

This week was just a whirlwind. SO much happened! Lots of zone meetings, mission meetings, and planning trainings. YIKES! Whoever put Sister Tobler in charge of training other missionaries wasn't quite thinking that one through but luckily the Spirit made up for my many flaws :). We had to give a training on how living the Word of Wisdom can be a faith promoting experience when we apply the atonement. You can believe that they stumped me on that one. But it was cool to see as we studied it more how important the atonement is in every commandment that we are given. The Savior died for our mistakes. He paid a terrible price for us and because He paid that price, we can find the strength to overcome our mistakes and be made whole again. My testimony of living the commandments increased 10 fold this week :). Love it.

Super exciting! We had our Missionary Shindig this week!!! ( I think I mentioned in an email before or something) It was a huge success! Let me preface what happened that day though. So we wake up, birds are chirping, the sky is bright and clear, not a cloud in sight, it looks like its going to be a beautiful day. We decide to walk to save miles and talk with people on our way to our visits. We make it to the other side of our area ( about 30 min away) and we feel raindrops. Dang it.... Then,... hail. yes. hail. We almost decided to take cover in a members house but realized that if we gave up now, there was no way that God was going to bless us with the weather that we needed for our shindig.  So we kept walking and smiled and waved to everyone walking by :). And you know what happened? The rain stopped 5 min before our activity officially started. God is good. All the time. We played a scripture game and then capture the flag and it was so fun! out of the 30 people we had there, 6 of them were not members of the church. it was so great and they all said that they would totally come again :). Its cool to see what can happen when we simply invite. Now all those kids recognize the missionaries in the area and we can start building relationships with them that can hopefully lead to some questions about the gospel. Entering the city by another way. Its a real thing and it totally works. Plus it's a lot more fun than having people slam the door in your face. 

Look up Alma 44:2-4. This was a thought that we gave this week. We all face battles everyday. Satan is trying to throw us off our game daily and its up to us to be strong enough to face the challenges he will through our way. We have to do our part. We have to be STUDYING our scriptures and praying DAILY. We have to really BE at church, not just attend because we have to. We wont be given that power if we are just going through the motions. We have to show God that we want His help and He will grant it every time. I have see that so much as I have faced battles as a missionary and pre-mission battles. We have to arm ourselves. And God is so willing to help :). 

I love you all! Thank you so much for all your love and support! Till next week!!

Sister Tobler

Chapter 41: the Life of an STL

Hello Everyone!!!!

This week has been absolutely insane. I honestly had no clue how much our mission leaders do for us and I didn't appreciate it until I became one. These missionaries literally give their every waking moment to helping us become better and more obedient servants worthy of miracles. Every single companionship we are over has been struggling with something.... 2 of them were being stalked, 1 has been battling homesickness, and another has been finding their faith in the work dwindling. Talk about baptism by fire, I had no clue what to do going into the exchanges that we had this week, but it's amazing how God truly does magnify us as we trust in Him.

 My first exchange took me out to Grandview with Hermana Prescott. In  case anyone wasn't aware, I don't speak Spanish.... Like at all. No bueno. But miracle!!!! I was able to understand almost EVERYTHING that was said!!! The gift of tongues is a real thing... okay, I wasn't able to speak but I knew where these people were coming from and I could tell that my companion was so in tune with the spirit. She knew what would help those people to feel of Gods love for them and was able to convey it. I loved getting to be apart of that, especially since Hermana Prescott finishes her mission this week. Back 4 months ago she was my STL so it was fun to see how much she had grown since then and what a powerful missionary she is, even to the very end :) I just love missionaries :)

Right after that exchange we had to book it over to West Richland so I could exchange in Candy Mountain! With Sister Johns!!!! It was seriously deh jah vu. Just like old times. We made a few people double take, cause it's been so long since I served there but it was super fun. Its crazy how the work can change in an area in just a few months. Back 4 months ago, we couldn't keep up with all the work going on.... now..... it's dead... literally.. all of the investigators died. or moved.... or came out as compulsive liars... that wasn't so fun... so we spent most of out time talking about ideas for finding new investigators, serving in the community, and visiting returning Less Actives. Even though things are so different, the amazing how you can still see God's hand guiding the people there! God is preparing people in EVERY area. Its just our job as missionaries and members to find them! Woohoo!!!

That was pretty much my week for ya :). We also had MLC which was just great to get to talk about how we can help the missionaries achieve their goals and become all that God has in store for them :). Its a lot of work but its the best work :). I love being a missionary. I love getting to serve my fellow missionaries. I have never been so tired in my entire life. My heart always feels like its going to burst with love for these sisters I get to work with. My knowledge that Gods love is individual for each one of His children has grown so much. He ministers to us one by one and he uses His angels, His servants, US, to do it :) This I know. 

I love you all so much! Till next week!!!

Sister Tobler

p.s. We are having our missionary shindig this week and I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!! Its gonna be big!!!!

p.p.s. I said a prayer in Spanish on exchanges!!!! and I totally fooled them into thinking that I speak Spanish!!! woohoo!!!

Chapter 40: Miracles Galore!!!

Hello Everyone!

This has been just such a fantastic week :). I don't know if I have ever felt so on fire as a missionary ever and it's just so exciting! We have so many things just around the corner that I'm so excited for!!!

The V__ U___ family is still doing wonderful :). As usual. They are actually getting ready to adopt a little boy in about a month and are so excited to be able to introduce him to the church. Its amazing to see their understanding of how the gospel blesses families and how much they want that for their little family. The gospel is so true. And it brings families together and brings the greatest happiness that we can find in this life. 

We had this fantastic idea this week to get the youth more involved in missionary work. We wanted to create an environment where youth could get together and just feel uplifted and surrounded by good people and have fun. Thus the Missionary Shindig was born :). Its grown a lot since we thought of it on Friday but its going to be awesome! We've gotten the other wards in the area involved and lots of people are bringing treats and games and we will provide a spiritual thought and  oh I'm just so excited!!!! SO PUMPED!!!! and that way all their friends will be able to meet missionaries and realized that maybe we aren't super duper crazy :) Just a little :)

We have so many great ideas just popping up ( like popcorn!) to help the work progress here! I'd explain but I fear I wouldn't make any sense. Just know that we are taking Richland by storm!! we are talking to everyone :) Maybe not everyone is prepared to accept the gospel now, but they're close :). I can feel it.

A tender mercy this week. We have been having a difficult time knowing how to help the sisters under our stewardship simply because they are so far away from us and outside the zone. We were talking with one of the Legendary elders of this mission and he gave us some ideas for how we could do more for them. As we continued to ponder that day we felt prompted that we needed to do more than just give them a call every once in a while. The next morning we jumped in the car and took off for Benton City ( after calling our leaders first of course :)). We pulled up at just the right moment and we able to talk some things out with them and help them to feel more confident in the work they are doing. What was amazing to me was that as we were giving our final goodbyes they just kept saying over and over " you have no clue how much we needed this." and "its so good to know that you are in tune enough to come whenever". It was such a testimony to me of the power of the spirit. I had no clue why we were needed there and honestly, I feared that we could be wasting the Lords time, but God knows them better than me. He knows their needs, and when I put myself in the right place, I can be a tool for good. I love being able to serve Him and these Sisters. I honestly love them so much, because I know that God loves them and I can feel that everyday. Its the best. 

One more thing. If you haven't heard of the 40 day fast, y'all should totally look it up. Its amazing. Sister Cram and I started it this week. Its so hard, but its the best and we are seeing so many wonderful things happen as we purify ourselves for Christ. I'll tell you more next week! 

I love y'all! Thanks for all your love and support! Till next week!!!

Sister Tobler!!!

Sister Tobler tries her hand at golf.

Sister Cram