The last letter from the mission field

Dear Family, 

The last few days in your mission are weird haha you feel like you are just going to a different area that you will still be here and that there is always another change left..but i have also been forcing myself to come to the reality that this it for now as a full time missionary maybe ill be blessed someday to do it again or in some way but at least i know that it wont be as flashy or crazy like a full time missionary but that i can still be one it will just have to be a little more quiet more private but just as important because there is always someone that needs to be invited lift up and receive help. 

It has been like dad said mixed emotions I'm excited to start something new have new experiences and meet more people i like changes i got blessed to always have them and do new things but i also don't want to have to let things go its hard for me to say goodbye i don't like doing it very much and it gets harder every time 

But sorry i cant write as much there keeping me busy here we have to go open a area right now so I will have to tell you everything just in your faces i love you all so much thank you for everything

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

He's home!

Welcome Home Elder Hunter Toma!  Well done thou good and faithful servant!

Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goals

Dear Family, 

Well it is come to the end here huh it still really hasn’t hit me and I have no idea what to expect so don’t even ask me ha-ha. I had my last interview with President Markham it was really good and crazy at the same time I’ll have to tell you all about it. 

 But we had a baptism yaya!!! His name is Nestor he is part of a family that has been receiving the missionaries for like almost a year and they are finally starting to come to church with us!! And we are hoping to baptize his sister as well her name is Betsy so please pray for us we are seeing some miracles here in el frutal please pray that we will baptism all of the investigators we have we need at least 9 to complete or goal and we have exactly 9 people that are going to get baptized so please pray for the zone that we can do it. 

Well it looks like Elder Nelson won’t be coming after all it turned out that it is really dangerous her during elections so we will be seeing him through satellite this Friday not as good but good enough. 

This change has been crazy we have pretty much have not worked in our area the whole time it has been a little frustrating but we have seen the miracles in completing our assignments as leaders a couple of missionaries got robbed somebody broke into the house and stole just about everything so we had to rush over there and help them out and find a new house for them and we did it all in less than an hour we are professionals in house moving (but I hate house hunting). Also something crazy that happened is one of the converts of the sisters went crazy and just started doing the weirdest stuff like stalking them sending weird letters and banging on their door and throwing rocks at their window it got to the point that the sisters were scared and annoyed and on day he got up on the roof of the sisters house and that when I had enough so we went to go looking for him and we had a long talk and we took care of the problem but seriously the things that happen to the sisters is endless. 

But I love you all and my last letter will be good I promise. 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

Hit the ground running

Dear Family, 

Well this week has been like it says on the title hitting the ground running we have in the zone right now 22 baptisms lined up. Which is fantastic it never has happened before here in this stake so we are super stoked and excited and grateful me and my companion have at least 2 baptisms for this week and we are going to try and go for more the next week and the zone as well. So lease pray for us and the zone that all of these baptism will come through!!

This week has been a little crazy we went to one of our areas to do a secret mission with the assistants ha-ha it was interesting. We also had our pday as a zone which was pretty fun we went to a place that the church has bought so that they can do efys and campouts and oall that it was pretty cool but one of the sisters fell of a obstacle course and hurt her leg which ended up being five missionaries carrying here with stick between here legs in a mountain for like 30 minutes. There never is a zone pday that something doesn’t happen. 

President Nelson comes next week and I hope we get to shake his hand with the other two apostles we did it so we will see what happens I’m excited!  

it still hasn’t hit me that I am going home even though I have seen my air plane ticket (that about got me ha-ha) but I really am not that homesick I haven’t been my whole mission I don’t have time to be homesick ha-ha. But it made me realize I have no Idea what I am going to do when I get home but it doesn’t really matter right now have you heard what track I got right now????

Thank you all for the letters you have written me they mean a lot especially to motivate to finish hard. 

I love you all see you next week. 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

Como le explico

Dear family, thanks for sending the pictures that was fun to see how everybody is and what you have been up to. You all look different to me.  I wonder  how much I will think everything has changed when I get back. I don't feel any different haha. 

Sorry if this letter is really short but I didn't use my time wisely.  I looked at the photos for a good while and only have 3 more minutes to write! But me and my companion are doing good. I'm trying to figure out why is it that I am here.  Why did I have to stay in el frutal?  But I'll tell you about it maybe next week and I promise I will make sure that I will write everything first.  

But I love you all thank you for your support and encouragement.  It helps  me a lot more you think!.,

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

Note:  Elder Toma will return home on September 3. 

Que la vaya bien!

Como estamos mi familia!? 

Sometimes I forget that I can speak in Spanish I see Spanish and English as the same language now almost ha-ha. I have planes though from having to learn 2 languages in my mission I’ve discovered that I like learning languages so I have goal to learn a couple of more I noticed from all of the general authorities I have met and the apostles they all can speak other languages which to me is incredible so I want to learn more and one of them is Japanese. I don’t know if I told you guys but President Nelson will be coming to visit our mission it has everybody in Guatemala going crazy especially my president because apparently this doesn’t ever happen so everybody is wondering what he is going to do with us. So when we had our council of their leaders of the mission on of the missionaries asked what should we do to prepare for elder nelson and our president just said repent! Ha-ha I got lucky though usually you only get to see two apostles maybe only one in your whole mission. But I have a question did Elder Nelson seal grandma and grandpa or was just there? 

 But me and my companion are doing good we are hoping to baptize in these weeks that are coming it’s been tough just because we haven’t been working in  our area at all because of just somethings we have been doing lately. So please pray for us that we can have some miracles and start baptizing.

 This week we played tennis that was pretty fun on of the converts we had was a champion for Guatemala and was going to start playing internationally but something told him not to do it and now he is a member but he is pretty good at tennis he showed me a couple of tricks do you even play anymore mom? 

 We have had some crazy stuff happen to us me and my companion I don’t know if we are stupid or something but we have hit our heads like 7 times this week on just about everything my companion also tripped on the floor and fell because we were running I almost fell into a ditch and a car because the door opened while we were driving that was crazy ha-ha I would just joke with my companion that Satan really wants us ha-ha. 

 I am about to do division with a group of missionaries in an area that is called the los Dolores which literally means the pains ha-ha but the area is really god and has a lot of potential so I’ll be going there to see how these elders are doing. 

But I will see you next week and the photos??? When you going to send those? 

but I love you all nos vemos mas ahí 

 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

Going strong to the end

Dear family, 

It sounds like you are all having a good time just one question do you know a Erick Cabrera I don’t know if its my memory but I don’t remember anything ha-ha. 

But these weeks have been crazy it’s been a little frustrating because we haven’t had any time to work in our own area just ben traveling the whole time to help out other missionaries. Me and my companion got a call at 830 from a couple of elders that had to people that wanted to get baptized but the problem is that they live 3 hours away from us. But they wanted to get baptized the next day in them morning so we called a couple of members ended up in the back of a pick-up truck traveling at 9 at night and getting there at about 11 ha-ha. the same week we ended up going back and got stranded there because there was no buses so we called the same friend member and he took us to our house at 8 at night and got there almost at 10 hah we have slept on the floor on beds made out of wood and in chairs but it’s all good lots of adventures. 

It’s been a little tough we haven’t baptized anybody for a month now it’s not that we don’t have the people it’s that we are never there to be able to teach!!! We keep finding people that are super positive but we never ended up visiting them to seal the deal but we are going to find away me and my companion have put a lot of commitments and are trying to plan out everything better. 

I don’t know how to describe how it is to finish a mission it’s hard for me to think that it will all ended I feel that I still have more time but I have to tell myself that this it and I have been focusing on being able to do all that I can with the time so short I almost only have a month left and that is nothing in mission time ha-ha lots of things to finish and no time. 

But I love you all keep having a good time. 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

JUST KEEP CALM AND DO the divisions

Dear Family, 

So it sounds like you guys are going to be busy these couple of weeks.  Send me pictures ha-ha.

Sorry it took me so long to write we have been doing a lot of division and we haven’t had the chance to be able to write we are just traveling everywhere lately but it’s been good.  

There’s nothing better than being busy you feel more accomplished.  Well with the elder that I talked to he has changed dramatically and the district they are in is just setting the tone for everybody else. He ended up telling me thank you and that he had been waiting for something like that to happen and for someone to tell him what he needed. 

This week has been great for us we have been just finding people left and right we found a man named George who is from Belize.  Belize it’s above Guatemala but there they are all decedents from Africa and they speak English. Well George had been going to church for a long time but never got baptized because he wasn’t married to his wife and they couldn’t do it because she was married to another but  apparently the other guy died so they can now get married and baptized so we are working with them now. 

We also are teaching a family that are deaf so I’m learning sign language right now ha-ha. It’s been really interesting teaching them for their disability but it has reminded me and taught me that it’s not the words that make people believe it’s the spirt testifying through us that it is true we just simply have said that we love them and god loves them and that were here to teach truths and for them to receive the confirmation that these truths are from god. I have been learning that we are here really just to remind people of the truths they have already learned. Because we learned about the gospel of Jesus Christ and of the plan of salvation before we even came here it’s for that reason that when people hear the gospel for the first time it sounds familiar to them. 

We also went to the temple this week probably the last time I will go but it was really good I learned a lot a lot a lot something we have to always remind ourselves is that God’s language is by symbols that’s how he reveals and how he hides things and you just learn all over the place when you look and try and receive its great. 

To answer dad on the questions about assignments... something all say and others I won’t till I get back but if I learned one thing in my mission is who I am serving I love the poem by Meade McGuire master where shall I go today? My love flowed warm and free. He pointed out a tiny spot and said ¨Tend that for me'. I answered quickly oh no, not there not anyone could see no matter how well my work was done; Not that little spot for me. When he spake he was not stern but answered me tenderly ' Little one, search that heart of thine; are you working for them or for me? Nazareth was a little place and so was Galilee.  

At some point in the day you have to ask yourself that penetrating question.  Am I working for him or for them? Who am I working for? At first I did feel bad because I knew  more than once what was going to happen  and every time it changed for some little thing and I felt that I’ve done everything I could have done that I should have done that I possibly could have done  why can’t I do this? I felt that if I wouldn’t get to that spot I wouldn’t amount to anything. But I have learned that he is the gardener here and he will get me to where he wants me to go I’ve been studying my blessing and it talks a lot about just submitting myself ALOT. But through that I become even more. and it has been a great experience that I have had here in el frutal I’ve learned a lot here in my time and there really is nothing better than have one on one experiences  helping missionaries and embalmers and people. But next week will be changes so we will see if I will be finishing here or maybe have one more surprise. 

But I love you all 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

Another day, another adventure

Dear Family, 

How are you all it sounds like you all had a fun time in DC I can barely remember Dc now ha-ha I cant even imagine how big it is and I  remember it’s not the biggest city in the world but a lot bigger than any city here ha-ha. 

This week has been great we have been finding a lot of people that are ready and willing I get amazed every day in the people that God just puts in your path and they have just been waiting for you just to talk to them. I have always pondered on the reasons I am with the companion that I have or why  am I in this area why certain things didn’t happen like they were planned why is it that I have to go through this at this moment even if I was doing what I was supposed lots of things (someday I’ll tell you all of them) But I have never doubted where I have gone or where I have been has been a mistake I know I am where I am supposed to be even if it isn’t what I was hoping for or what others told me was going to happen. I’ve helped a lot of people and sometimes it has been for my companion but recently it has been for the missionaries that I am watching out for. 

Today I had an experience with an elder in my zone we had our zone training today and we talked about how to teach by the spirt how to work by him what we need to do to be worthy to feel it and be guided by him and everything to do with that. 

Well it turned out to be very powerful and everyone felt and learned a lot. Except for this one elder...he asked to talk with me and I talked to him and  with my companion  and his and he just started to go off not in a yelling very rude manner but he started to try to blame you can say us because he claimed that he didn’t feel the spirit at all especially when I was talking and he wanted that I asked him for forgiveness for not feeling the spirt (because he claimed that is humility) I looked at him not mad but incredibly sad I could understand more how Jesus felt even when he taught people accused him to be of the devil and that they felt nothing...I looked at him and simply said Elder I’m sorry that you lost this great chance to learn but you need to understand something it isn’t my fault that you didn’t feel the spirt it’s your own there is nothing I can do to make you feel the spirt I can invite him to take part in the lesson but for you to feel him you got to let him in. Well he didn’t like that and he began saying I wanted to learn I wanted to feel the spirit but I didn’t. It came to the point I began to see his problem he believed that through words and from who it comes from it can make them feel the spirt and that the person can transmit the spirt to them just by that and it’s for that reason he thought it was my fault that he didn’t feel the spirt because he felt that it was my responsivity to transfer the spirt to him...I have always felt that it really doesn’t matter what you say especially if its pure knowledge but that you say it with enough humility even if it’s just simple words like I know this is true and with feelings and  love that the spirit magnifies it and just puts it in the heart of the person and if they accept it the accept it and know it is true but if they reject it they do it by their own will. I’ll have to finish the story the next week because I don’t have time but I love you all 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

La Gira with Elder Alonso

Dear Family,

Well this week has been great it’s starting to pick up with rain again so it’s been a lot of days of just walking around wet head to toe ha-ha.

But we have also seen a lot of miracles and the truth is God just does everything he really doesn’t need us but he permits that we can work for him for our own benefit and the benefit of others. 

We have had some miracles lately of just people randomly showing up at church from members or friends and them just being ready to accept the gospel and a lot have just recently began assisting and its interesting how these people just began assigning or investigating why not a month ago? Or a week ago? Or a year ago? Why now? and I have realized that it’s on gods time and not our own and he also knows the type of person they might need to help them or it could be promise that were made long long ago and they are finally being competed.

All I have come to realize is this God knows who he wants in his church and there is nothing that we can do to stop that he will just guide them there with or without us. The only thing that we will lose is the opportunity to progress through helping others do it.

I also got the chance to do a presentation in front of 3 zones and my mission president and also  a general authority ha-ha  and it went well he actually ended up quoting a lot of things that I had said his wife as well  so that was really net. He also gave us a lot of correction and it became a powerful reunion and there will probably be a lot of things we will be changing in the mission one thing he was talking about is that we baptize here a lot but he told us that once a week is not enough we need to baptize EVERYDAY!! So we will see how we baptize everyday now ha-ha it will be interesting we have the meeting with all of the leaders this Thursday so I’m sure we will be talking about it. But we will also be writing next week on Monday not Tuesdays because we will be doing something else that day just to let you know. But I love you all see you later

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

Adentures in El Frutal

Dear Family,

This week has been great well you all know I’m in a new zone and a new area and the first day we just wandered around because we had and knew nobody ha-ha but we found all the people we needed and you know one of them is this man that we found named Erik that had been listening to the missionaries for more then 15 years!!!! Well we had a miracle we baptized him!! So that was a great miracle people are prepared where ever you go and it doesn’t matter how much time you have in the area or mission he will guide you to them you just have to have the courage to look listen and respond when you he indicates you. But here in the zone we are doing well we are baptizing here more than normally has happened and the missionaries are working hard this change is going by fast though we are already in the middle of it now. But yeah it’s been a crazy change we have to wards we have to go to which just makes things more complicated because now you have two of everything two bishops two ward mission liters etc. But it also helps you to be more organized that’s for sure. The zone as in missionaries wise is smaller which is nice especially from leaving the biggest zone of them all ha-ha but the areas are father apart ha-ha so we travel for some time now.

tomorrow we will be having a meeting of all the zones in the city because one the seventy Elder Alonso will be coming to visit us and guess who got called to give a talk on obedience with exactness and diligence ha-ha it’s going to be fun talking in front of other missionaries and the president don’t make me that nervous it’s in front of a seventy that gets me going a little bit but I’m not too worried about it should be good.
but everything is good down here we are starting to just see the miracles and find people that are ready if somebody had to ask me what is my secret and how do I do it I would just respond as this Gordon B Hinckley said once said kneel and pray later get up and do the will of God. Something I like about prayer is why we do it in the bible dictionary it says the purpose of prayer is an act in which the will of the father and the will of the son or daughter come together in correspondence one to the other. so if I ask give me people to contact then I need to get out there and the first person I see I’m going to contact because he put them there but if I don’t do it I just prayed for nothing and I lose the Spirit and the trust that he has in me until I work and regain the Spirit and trust again.

But sorry I didn’t download photos my camera died but I love you all see you next week with the next report.

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

El Frutal!

Dear Family, 

So you all know that I have had changes well yeah I had to say goodbye to Amatitlan and say hello to El Frutal!! so I am now the new zone leader in the zone el Frutal its pretty close to villa nueva and villa Hermosa which I both I have been in it is in the city ha-ha I think more than half of my mission has been in the capital now. But it is great my companion is from Salvador I think my first from there his name is elder Henriquez he is a good guy has a little bit more time then my last companion. But there are a couple of catches with all of this one is that me and my companion are opening the area so we have no idea where we are and we don’t know anybody in the zone or in the 2 wards we have to assist or the members our first day we just kind of winged it ha-ha you can see how my President likes to mess with me. Also my companion is a new zone leader so I am training him at the same time and also this stake has only been a stake for less than 2 years so it’s super young still. Ha-ha so we got a lot to do here but I have also seen the hand of the lord in all of this and I never doubt that where you go is a mistake. The moment me and my companion have gotten here we have seen nothing but miracles the very first day the lord just guided us and we found so many people that the last elders were teaching by sheer coincidence it got to the point we found one of our missionary leaders by accident and he showed more of the area and the investigators. We also have seen a lot of miracles in the zone we have a lot of fechas for these weeks which is not normal here at all we are going to be baptizing this week alone more than they have baptized in a change so I am just happy right now ha-ha but please pray for us that these people can be baptized that we can baptize these all the people this week,  

 Me and my companion also have been seeing some miracles we are going to be baptizing this week whooo!!! It is a pure miracle of a man named Erik he is married to a member and has a step son that is serving a mission but he has listened and gone to church for a long time for 15 years!! and we didn’t even find him till Sunday we saw him in the area book and I had the impression we needed to find this guy because he will be our baptism for this month well we called him he couldn’t meet us for work but we got him to commit to go to church well Sunday he came we talked to him and this is when it got interesting he told us look elders I have been thinking a lot for a while...I want to get baptized I know that this is the truth and the church that I need to be in. Wow!! Well we definitely told him okay and he will be baptized this Sunday God is a God of miracles.  

 But I love you all see you next week!!!

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

Hay cambios!!!!!!

Querido familia 

How are you all doing? I am doing fine. well it is official I am leaving.  Where and what I will be doing I don’t know exactly I could just be going to a different zone will see what happens tomorrow but it has been great being here in Amatitlan I learn something new every area I get and I have learned a lot here in Amatitlan that I know will be helping me in the future.  

 

I am doing better now thanks don’t have to worry about me. 

But this week has been really great we had a miracle baptism of this other lady named Elvia she is older to ha-ha I never was much for baptizing older people but here I am doing it a lot but it’s great to see these people no matter how much time they got being willing to change their lives and commit themselves. It was a miracle though with her we haven’t been able to see her for over a month and then one day we found her we visited with her and we challenged her to be baptized and she accepted and was baptized this last Sunday!!! We as a mission have changed a lot we now challenge people to be baptized on the first visit and it is really working a lot of people are just simply waiting for the invitation to change you just have to have the sweet boldness and courage to invite them to do it. 

Today I did my last zone training here in Amatitlan and we focused a lot on Jacob 5 which talks about the vinyard right everybody knows this parable but as we talked about it we focused on the inspired questions that God asks what more could I have done more for my vinyard and who has corrupted it and why did it get corrupted? And we asked these questions to the missionaries and we talked about how the vinyard doesn’t have to be the area it doesn’t have to be the people it could just be us and our hearts. Satan doesn’t have to corrupt the area or the people he just has to corrupt the worker (missionary) so that the vinyard doesn’t grow. We talked about a lot how we need to stay focus on the savior and we read in 2 Nephi 25:25 and focused on where it says that we are alive in Christ and we asked what does that mean to you? To be alive in Christ? We talked about how Satan is really attacking this zone because we are the biggest and most successful but also the most with potential and there are plans to divide the stake so that it is two and because of that Satan is throwing some punches to stop us. I started to think  a little bit how we really are a little bit like rocky ha-ha if you pay attention he had all of his success because he kept remembering what his trainer taught him and it gave him the strength to get back up when he was down. We also have a trainer and master and if we remember him he will pick us back up and tell us to keep throwing the punches and get in there and give it your all!! That’s how I feel we are alive in Christ because he gives us the breath and strength we need to get up and keep throwing the punches even when we are so tired we can barely stand like rocky. 

I like a lot what mom told me that God takes you and makes you better then you really are he makes the things you do better you take rocky who was a bum and really was a nobody and he goes up against the champ of the world and gives him a run for his money and everybody just sits there shocked wondering how does he do it. I have seen missionaries that I really didn’t think could do much and they should me I was dead wrong. These type of missionaries have something in come they put their trust more in God there trainer more in themselves and that’s what makes them so successful I have seen it in myself going to areas I really didn’t think I would have success but I would just keeping going along just taking the hits and giving it a little till at the end we had success and I can only look back and realize that the whole time I had someone holding me up and not letting me stay on the ground to long and just telling me to get back in there and fight. That to me is what it means to be alive in Christ. And I love the scripture in Samuel 1 Samuel 16; 7 that talks about how God only looks upon the hearts of man not in their stature or looks or you could say in their positions or any of that stuff and that is what I try to look for in the missionaries and in my investigators. 

But I love you all I’ll tell you where I am and what is going on the next week!!

 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

 

CHINKINGUEA the dreaded plague!!!!

Querido Familia, 

This week has just been a week of craziness first we started of our pday going to a auto safari which is like a zoo but in car that was really cool and I have never gotten so close to a lion before I started to freak out when our guide started to just go right for them and get close enough that I could pet it if I wanted to. It was awesome. 

but with that.....there is a sickness here that is called chinkingua it’s a sickness that you get from mosquitos well I got it and it absolutely wrecked me for three days ha-ha I was walking around like a zombie just trying to teach everyone that we could. It got pretty bad though and the first time in my mission I stayed home a day and just slept ha-ha I felt pretty lazy but it felt awesome to sleep this sickness takes it out of you. So my pour companion just worked all day with other members while I just slept ha-ha I love the guy. 

WE did though have a great Sunday we had what we call a white Sunday were everybody in the zone baptisms and it turned out good it wasn’t all of the baptisms that we hoped for but it was a lot. I’ve learned a lot this change like our President likes to say that pain is the greatest teacher and that is so true and well I can say is that I have learned a lot this change. 

Well changes are next week and.... they’re going to be interesting ha-ha  we’ll have to wait and see but my time here in amatitlan is coming to an end. It will be sad to say good bye here but ha-ha it will be nice to through off this huge rock of stress but I think I’ll be putting on one that is even bigger ha-ha so I don’t know which is better. 

 

We as a mission have been changing a lot we are now challenging people to be baptized on the first visit and because of it we know have 2000 people that have accepted to be baptized on a specific day which is just incredible and we hope and are working on getting more of these people actually committed and ended up in the water just imagine 2000 being baptized at the same time it would be another Pentecost. But it has taught me the power to have the faith that god is preparing these people and they are waiting for you and with the sprit you need to invite them and if you do it with love and the spirt they will accept and then before you know it they will be in the water being baptized one example of this is this lady we baptized last week in the white Sunday her name is Villma or in English (Wilma) she was a lady we just found she had a friend that invited her to go to chu8rhc and we saw her there we started to talk to her and the very first visit we challenged her to be baptized she accepted and got baptized the next week so you can see THEY exist there are people that God knows and wants in his Church and there isn’t really anything we can do to stop that all we can do is be a part of it by inviting others to be a part of the true church of God. 

We have another baptism of a lady that is the grandma of the first counselor of the bishopric we just started teaching her she started to go to church and she now has accepted to be baptized and she will be baptized this Sunday her name is Elvia Menendez so please pray for her that she can be baptized this week and that the zone has right now planned 13 others that will be baptized this week pray that they all can do it.

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

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

Dear Family, 

Yeah so the reason that I wrote in the morning I was sending in the dates of the zone and I took advantage to say that tomorrow will be our pday so I won’t be able to write tomorrow but it will be today surprise!!! But this week has been a week of just miracles and fighting for mircoules ha-ha. We have as a zone planned out to baptize more than 30 this weeks and this is the last week of May so it’s all for nothing so please pray for us that we can help these 30 souls. 

We had ourselves a great miracle we had a baptism whoohoo of a man named Angel he is from the family Hurtarte that we have pretty much all baptized little by little that whole family will be members. This week has been pretty much work we have been working hard to find news and working hard to help the people we have to be baptized and doing lots of divisions which are always fun ha-ha I got to do divisions with Elder Johnson which was pretty fun actually it was the first time I have done divisions with the Assistants that’s pretty lame they just never worried about us I guess or they just never wanted to hang out with me ha-ha one of the two.

You can see in this photo that I sent of a pizza absolute wrecked well my companion and I were running to the house with this pizza in his hands and I could hear him moving it around a lot and I kept telling him hey be careful or you are going to ruin the pizza and he would just keep saying that it is fine don’t worry about it well we got home I went to the bathroom and all I hear is my companion screaming (in Spanish) what the heck and then I come in and just see the pizza destroyed...I learned a lesson that day never let your Latino companion carry the pizza. I feel that in this change I have really been learning how to have patience with someone and help them to be better and to also accept them for who they are and that they are not perfect I love my companion he is a good guy and very humble.. at times ha-ha but he definitely taught me those things. I have learned something new with every companion I have had all of them I have gotten along with but some more than others and some you just click right away and you are the best of friends and those are the best changes you have. 

It definitely taught me to be careful with who I chose to marry that’s for sure I can get along with just about anybody but it doesn’t mean that I like to be around them all the time ha-ha the mission definitely teaches you what to do and what to look for in someone (especially when it comes time to live with them in the same house). 

I have a question for you all and let’s see if you can answer it in D&C 103: 9-10 it says that we are a light to the world but also saviors so my question is this How can we be saviors of men? So you can write your answer to me and I have one and we will see you got it  ha-ha. But I love you all see you next week!!! 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

Dreams are real!

Dear Family,

This week has been a pretty crazy week we had a baptism!!! Her name is Virginia like our state!!! She is 83 years old (the oldest I have baptized) and she was hard to baptize at first ha-ha she is a tough old gal with a lot of attitude. She has 60 grand kids!!! That by itself shows how tough she is. 

But I just remember the whole time I was visiting her just seeing her in white the whole time and being baptized we would just keep visiting her telling her how much God loves her and we love her and that he wants her in his church and we do to. And she finally accepted and is now a member of his church. God knows who he wants in his church and there is nothing that we really can do to take that away. 

We can just be a part of it and help him in this work and see our personal progress from it or not and lose a chance to be more complete as a child of God. 

I received an email this week from an old investigator that I had her name is Gabby she was an atheist when I found her we began to talk a lot about God and how we can know that he is real. she is very intelligent and we were seeing some serious progress in her but she wouldn’t go to church for some personal problems that she had in her family well changes came and we know what happened I left and came her to Amatitlan and unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to say good bye to her she was very kind to us. Well turns out I found out that the Elders were looking through the area book that we left and saw Gabby and they felt impressed to go visit her and they began to teach her and she and her kids got baptized in the end and are active strong members in the church that by itself is a miracle but something more is this she wrote me and told me this she once had a dream as a young young girl a young man come to her and begin to teach her  she never forgot his face even through all these years . But as the years past she has always had some type of connection with the church either through family or friends but never had nobody invite her to go to church never had nobody teach her or even discuss what the book of Mormon is. until one day me and my companion were just walking and we felt impressed to go to a little store and ask just for water and that is when we meet Gabby and began to invite teach and help her understand what God had in store for her and that young man she saw in the dream was me. 

That’s not the first time that has happened to me her in Guatemala there are a lot of people here that believe in dreams ALOT and I wasn’t much for dreams but sometimes God will revel through dreams when he feels that it is necessary but the point of this story is this there are many people that are waiting just for YOU because YOU promised them that YOU would go find them and help them to come back to their heavenly father and he will use YOU no matter how weak you are and make you his hands. 

I love this work because of what it does for others but also for me. 

I love you al we also have the miracle of baptizing 12 this week and 48!!!!! The next please pray that they all can be baptized so that we complete the goal. 

We have 8 that are personally ours their names are  

1. Angel Hurtate 
2. Marijose
3. Eder 
4. Bessi 
5. Fransico
6. Paola
7. Araceli 
8. Villma Obando  

Please pray for each one of them so that they can be baptized. 

  
 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

 

Dios les Bendiga!!!! (God bless you!)

Dear Family, 

It was really great to talk to you all on skype sorry I was running around everywhere everyone seems to need Elder Toma ha-ha. but I was great at least to talk for some minutes it feels like I just saw you guys a couple of weeks ago the time just keeps going bye faster than I can keep up with it. My mission I feel has been that way since I entered my mission President told me that once  that for some reason he feels that my mission is going by faster than others and I need to take advantage of it while I can. It feels that it has only been a dream but my body says otherwise ha-ha. But thank you dad that scripture helped me a lot I am now going so hard my companion is having to run on my side to keep up ha-ha. I have felt that promise that your body will be rejuvenated being fulfilled.

And thanks for the advice about the gift of discernment and capacitating the district leaders we are starting to do it and will keep on making it more on them then us. 

We had a special meeting today with the whole zone where we had the stake Presidents and our mission President talk to us it was great pretty much everything you told me they told them ha-ha and I loved it.  It made me feel like a load was lifted. But I loved a video that one of them showed of Henry B Erying where he talked about how that they Never send a missionary in the wrong place in the wrong mission. And he said it with such seriousness that I have never seen him do before he just kept saying you be careful in other words don’t you dare even think that. It made me really think that we are where we are supposed to be with the companion we should be with in the area the zone and with the missionaries and that has built me up that God knows every single one of us and what we need. And with that who needs us my companion and I were walking  and out of now where a guy in is motor bike flags us down and so we walk over to talk to him (because how many people flag you down in a motor bike) he began to talk to us and turns out he is a member of the church went in active but he got married and has 2 kids he began to talk to his wife and they agreed to investigate the church and in that same day he saw us walking and now he wants us to go and teach their family. We were where we were supposed to be at the time and place.

 I have had a lot of experiences in my mission some to personal to share. I told you the success that I have had in my mission and that it is not common at all and when I say that I mean it. The only thing that I know is that there are people that are waiting specifically for you and that doesn’t have to be in the mission we had a member give us some references of a family and a women they both have accepted to be baptized she was where she need to be doing what she was supposed to do. 

We had the counselor of the stake president and the bishop go over to a house of an investigator that we have had for a long time she didn’t want to progress she would go to church but that was about it. We baptized her son but she had some problems that stopped her but when this president and bishop when to her house they talked to her and challenged her to be baptized she is 84 years old the oldest investigator I think I have had she has 60 grand kids and 43 great grand kids and she is getting baptized this week they did what they were supposed to and where they need to be. 

I have learned like Henry B Eyring to be careful to doubt for doubt is the enemy of faith and courage. 

But I love you all be faithful and challenge everybody to share what we have. 

 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

Happy Mother's Day

Dear Family, 

 Well this week has been a crazy one a lot of reunions and meetings. But the food is always good ha-ha. 

 We got to go out one day and work with President that was pretty fun we just drove around in the car the whole time it was NICE and when we would walk we would kill the president ha-ha but he got me back when I decided to play mercy with him.... That was a bad mistake ha-ha. 

 We are doing good as a zone we have a big goal this change 72 and we need all the prayers we can get because we are down on missionaries but we are seeing some serious miracles.  We already have 16 sure baptisms this week. But please pray for us to complete this goal. 

 But the truth is to answers moms questions I don’t know how we do it but we have been having a ton of success even as I have been a leader and literally have had 0 time to work in my area we still baptize.  Normally leaders in the mission will baptize maybe 3 or 2 or just 1 but me and my companion we had 7 which is just crazy and we already have plans to baptize 8 this change so I don’t know how we do it we just have people that are ready to accept the gospel. This week we have a little sister that is like 80 that is going to be baptized her name is Virginia please pray for her that she will be alright and that she can do it and will be baptized this week. 

It has been hard to be a leader.  Sometimes it’s a lot of work you have to think about others the whole time and sometimes they can be just obnoxious or have a lot of problems but I have seen the way that God can change you and help you seem them for what they are and can become and that has helped me a lot and I have helped a lot of missionaries change and start to reach there potential and there is nothing better than to see that. 

 And I have learned how to love sisters because they... can be a handful sometimes ha-ha just ask Sister Toma. 

But I will be skyping my time at 520 so your time it’s at 620

 But we have been really focusing on teaching the missionaries to teach by the spirit and that its really through that not how we teach that will convert people like dad was saying and I think I was very blessed to understand that very early on in my mission and that has really made all of the difference I never worried to much what to say but I always had the courage to open my mouth and just say whatever came to me and be simple and clear but sincere  and just challenge people and invite them to be baptized and it always just  come off very powerful and I have a lot of special experiences of it being so strong we all would just start crying and seeing the spirt it work through me it is just the best thing there is and there really is no other way to teach the gospel I have found the gospel is more of a feeling  then just material I have asked many converts which included my companions and they have told me before they got baptized and afterwards they knew absolutely nothing they didn’t really get anything and then I would ask them why did you get baptized then and they would always joist say because it felt right it felt real and true and something I should do. So I have a strong testimony that the gospel is not in words not in books its something that you live and you will feel and see the difference like dad was telling me in this last email. 

 
But I can’t wait till see you on mother’s day till like 5 days!! 

Love you 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

No changes for me!

Dear Family, 

 Well it looks like I will be staying in Amatitlan for another change.  We didn’t have changes. I wasn’t surprised. President isn’t moving around a lot of zone leaders because there just are so many that are leaving and so many that have to move up right now.  Lots and lots of news in this mission right now it’s like the complete opposite of when I came in.  When I came in there was a ton that where in the middle, little going home and smaller coming in. 

But yes!! We have finally left the rat infested house.  We killed one right before we left ha-ha I’ll have to show the video some time it was funny just my companion and me screaming like little girls with brooms trying to hit the dumb thing and my companion ended up squishing it with his foot on accident. 

It took us FOREVER TO MOVE OUR STUFF.  I now know two things: I don’t like moving and finding a house to live in ahha I don’t know what I will do when I have to do the two. But it’s all good it’s over. It sounds like Sister Toma is getting all fancy with the iPad we definitely will never be using those things.  If everybody knew we had iPads we would be finding 190 missionaries getting guns and knives pulled on them ha-ha got to love Guatemala. It definitely is interesting how different each mission is and it just makes me have a stronger testimony that you are where GOD and those PEOPLE need ¨YOU to be. And that it will bless you in the future because you will become and learn the things you need to become and learn it really is incredible.  

But this next Sunday I’ll be skyping with you guys again for the last time so just send me your user name and all that. 

 But sorry it’s short I’ll make sure next week it’s a lot bigger. 

 But I love you guys!! 

 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

La Vida esta Rica

Dear Family, 

This week has been just craziness! They took out some elders and put in some sisters so we had to go and teach them there area and investigators and members so we pretty much weren’t in our area for two days and we slept on wooden boards because they didn’t have any more mattress ha-ha so that felt really great I woke up filling like I got out of a hard football game ha-ha. 

And then we had to go and do splits and teach a couple of missionaries in different areas and go off and help move sisters to a different house  we probably only worked in our area on for a day it was ridiculous but god blessed us for, these sacrifices and we baptized}!!! It was a straight up miracle his name is Rolando he is 17 years old and a good guy we literally found him on the day of interview asked if he was worthy he was we took him he passed and got baptized I don’t know how but it happened and it was awesome. God is a God of miracles if you have the faith for them. 

 To answer dads question we do A LOT of training every week because everyone in or zone is training and we have the biggest zone in of all of the mission so the blessing just keep on coming  so we have to see how that is going so we always have splits and reunions every week with the leaders and missionaries. 

To answer mom it is starting to rain here and you know how it rains here in Guatemala just rivers ha-ha I love it and people just look at a tall gringo and a short little Latino running their butts of in the rain and just thinking what the ha-ha I love it 

But our house isn’t terrible it’s a little small but we are going to be moving next week before changes to a house that is pretty sweet we also have been having rat problems....it’s terrible those things are straight demons so we are happy to be leaving because there are three!!  But it is more rural then urban it’s close to the capital but also the coast so it’s a little different. But my companion Elder Guzman is great I love Latinos there a lot different but he is good we like to joke around a lot together I have learned that your companion is there to help you relive your stress and support you. 

I have been learning a lot with how to work with people we have been having reunions with the stake presidency and with our mission president and with both together!! That is when it is crazy but an awesome experience on how to see how to work and what it is that they do in a stake our stake is by far the most organized stake I have seen here in Guatemala it is really cool to be a part of. 

It incredible the things that you learn in the mission that prepare you for future things in life  

But I love you all till next week

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission 

Zoological

Dear Family, 

Well this week we had success as a zone we completed the goals that we put for baptisms so that was refreshing ha-ha. We just pray that we can complete them for the whole month it’s been a fight for the last couple of months with everybody being new but we are really trying to teach the new generation how to do everything efficient but always the two most important principals for missionary work will be diligence and obedience with exactness there is nothing more important than those two. 

We have been teaching that over and over again so that they get converted to that I know that I have only seen the success that I have seen is because I was willing to go a little bit harder talk to a little bit more of people and strive to be as obedient as possible and the miracles just come like for this week we had three baptisms two from a less active that we reactivated and the third form a straight miracle of a friend that just simply invited her to go to church I have a strong testimony that the key to missionary work is the members we need more members that are willing to stand up and take a stand and proclaim their faith and beliefs and invite others to participate in it if we all did that we would be having more success and more members with stronger testimonies and deeper conversions than before that’s why the apostles and prophets have always been inviting all to be participants in this great work like joseph smith said when all is said and done the most important task at hand is to proclaim the gospel.

I really loved the talk that by Elder Ringwood about being truly good without guile and how is main theme was of ordinary people doing things great things without getting recognition and what he said exactly is something that I try and put into practice myself in a world where praise, position, power, accolades, and authority are sought on every side, I honor those wonderful and blessed souls who are truly good and without guile, those who are motivated by a love of God and their neighbors, those great women and men who are “more anxious to serve than to have dominion

 I honor those who selflessly serve each week in wards and branches around the world by going above and beyond in fulfilling callings. But callings come and go. Even more impressive to me are the many who without formal callings find ways to consistently serve and lift others. One brother shows up early for church to set up chairs and stays after to straighten up the chapel. One sister purposely selects a seat near a blind sister in her ward not only so she can greet her but also so she can sing the hymns loudly enough that the blind sister can hear the words and sing along. If you look closely in your ward or branch, you will find examples like these. There are always members who seem to know who needs help and when to offer it and I have been thinking aloud how calling do  come and go but always being a son or daughter of God with his children and being a follower of Christ or missionary for that matter  does not. 

But I don’t have more time to write so it will have to wait till next week ha-ha 

People need me. 

Love 

Elder Toma 

Guatemala Ciudad Central Mission