Pres Drew Page's email to us :)

I checked up on Elder Toolson today.  He is doing great!  His mission president and the AP's speak very highly of him.  We saw him just before he picked up his new elder to train.  Very fun to see him.   Obviously, a great missionary.

 

It was fun to see him!  We asked him if he wanted us to pass along anything to you guys.  He thought for a minute and said "no," I said it all in my email.  :-).  He is clearly focused on the work.  I told him that he was about to start what might be the most important thing he will do in the mission field (training).  He seemed excited.

 

We also talked to an older couple set of missionaries (the Black's from Mississippi).  I told them we were from Elder Toolson's stake.  Sister black shared that she went to a zone conference after Trey's first week or two.  He did a role play of teaching the Plan of Salvation.  He did such a good job that Sister Black cried When she found out he'd only been out a week or two, she cried again.

 

We accompanied the new missionaries through the Temple and Whitney store today.  What a great place to serve a mission!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look who Vaccationed into Treybien!

President Page and Family!! Awwww, So Sweet!

I think they are pretty LUCKY to be hugging on that Elder right now :)

 

PS... Those Other cartoon Photos sent w/this weeks letter, were taken with Elder Toolson's new camera, finally. Yay! We will now get photos from him more frequently I hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

13th Letter: Go Elder Ty Toolson!

Ty, in your farewell you said you have been a missionary since you were 12. I want you to know that you have been a missionary all of your life, you are just realizing and seeing it now more prevalently. A missionary invites other to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. you have done all of these things ever since I can remember. I know you have done these things, because you have done them unto me! You have been my missionary, my friend and my brother. When I listened to your talk I could feel your love the the people in Honduras. Amazing, you already love them! That is the mark of a missionary that is prepared to serve with every part of yourself. you make me want to be better and you have been that way your whole life. I love you Elder T4. I love you my brother. you're going to kill it!!

 

Tiara, you have been called to lead because you lead naturally. people want to follow you and want to be with you because they feel loved and happy when they are with you. I witnessed it time and time again. I know that you will do an amazing job Tiara!! If you ever need anything T, turn to those that love you. You do remember who loves you? :) RIGHT!?! ME!!!! I want you to know Tiara that I love you with all of my heart. You are one of the greatest blessing that I count everyday. I love you.

 

So you know that one week when I broke all of the bikes. I kept thinking, of that scripture that is in Alma that talks about how the sons of Mosiah had endured they're afflictions with patience. Their afflictions weren't, "Aw man my bike got a flat, Oh not a big problem, I can fix it..." their afflictions were, "So you want to kill me? How about I serve you? maybe until the day i die." So you just threw me in prison and left me there malnourished and bound with strong chords for most likely months on end, how about I teach you how God loves you and I serve you?" You know what... I HAVE BEEN A PANSY!!!!! So I decided to "buck up" and just deal with the fact that I have used, broken bikes that aren't easy to fix. After afflictions there are blessings though right? YES!!! WE FOUND AN INVESTIGATOR!!!!!! His name is Ronny!! He has 3 daughters and the oldest is about 8 I think. He wants to understand who Christ was along with his daughters. we are so excited for this opportunity and thank our Father in Heaven for it.

 

Also, My trainer, Elder Houser is being transferred and has been called to be a zone leader. It has been a sad week but an amazing one as well. He and I just really clicked this last week and we have truly come to love each other for who we each are individually. I have learned so much from him and he has learned from me. We had dinner with a family, the Andersons, the guy who gave a talk last week that loves UFC, we were leaving a short message with them and were saying our goodbyes with Elder Houser. The Spirit was so strong as we were with them in their home. They told us something that almost brought me to tears. they said, "All missionaries are great, but you two, are such a great team, a dynamic duo." Then they also let us know that if we ever visit that we should feel free to stay with them during our visit. sister anderson reminds me of my Mother :) Whenever you leave you feel more loved, uplifted and positive. Sister Anderson is another one of my mission moms for Parma.

So going along with how Elder Houser leaving that means I will get a new companion. President Vellinga has asked me to be a trainer. I am so excited for this opportunity and nervous at the same time. more excited but still. Actually I don't know if it's nervousness or just hoping that I raise him right, which I guess could be considered nervous.

 

I know that this is the work of god. I feel so often the help of angels. pushing me forward when I feel I can't go on, lifting me up when I want to collapse, and filling my heart, mind and mouth with the things I need to say, feel and do. I know these things to be true. I know This church is gods only true church on the earth today with his authority and power.

 

Fight the fight, stay the course, and keep the Faith

Love,
Elder Trey Toolson

 

 

12th Letter: Spirit Sunday

Hello Family and Friends, 

This week was incredible!!! we went on exchanges and I learned so much from Elder Biddulph!!! but as we were talking about life and what not, he asked, "do you know Emily Huntsman at Byu-Idaho?" AND I DO!! It was crazy figuring out that we have a friend in common!!! Biddulph is a stud and super chill!!! We went tracting and we found this lady Amanda who seemed interested and amazed at the fact that we spend 2 years away from home doing this and wants to know why we are so dedicated. I said that it's because of the Book of Mormon, the bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ. She said she wants to learn more. the thing is, a lot of people say stuff, so we'll check back with her. then after the exchange me and Elder Houser were riding along and this guy asked if we did bible studies. we answered in the affirmative and he got so excited and wants us to teach his family of 3 daughters and girl friend.... we'll deal with that later but THIS WEEK HAS BEEN AWESOME!!! While we were riding home from our discussion with Ron (the guy mentioned above) Elder Houser reminded me that I have never ridden a bike without hands.... so I did it!!! I was so stoked!! Elder Houser was so proud of me and he wrote it in his journal! ha ha

Do you remember the investigator Victoria? (If so awesome if not, bummer. :) anyway, Victoria has been falmming our appointments (not showing up) and not responding to anything we send or our calls. we really don't want to but it might come down to dropping her as an investigator. we have been struggling to avoid it but. this is hard. we know she feels it, she just wont!!! it's o frustrating!

Alright, now down to the best part of the ENTIRE WEEK!!! maybe even the entire time I've been in the field!! SUNDAY!!!!!!!! this Sunday, yesterday, was incredible!! This 12 year old YM named Griffin gave his first talk EVER on faith in sacrament meeting and it was awesome!  love that kid and his family is awesome! Then Brother Anderson gave a talk on the atonement. Brother Anderson loves UFC, wrestling, football, basketball, and is the "coolest" guy ever! Needless to say... He's a stud! :) Then these twin girls Morgan and Kendall and another girl Emily sang a BEAUTIFUL song. then Bishop Pylick got up with tears and bore his testimony about the spirit that was there in such strength... it was beautiful. The entire meeting was almost like being in the temple. Then brother Orr gave a talk and that was an amazing talk. He is a flight instructor so he made a lot of plane analogies, so it was like Pres. Uchtdorf :) then 2nd hour me and Elder Houser taught the gospel principles class on agency. Again the spirit was there so strong and there were 2 or 3 investigators there. I also taught and testified, ended up crying by the end of it. I was trying so hard but, that's one of the ways the spirit manifests himself through me. 

 

I know that Jesus Christ didn't have to suffer, he didn't have to die, and he didn't have to love me. He chose it. His love for us is incomprehensible and I know that to be true. Our father in heaven gave us the option to chose what we want, and in doing so, he risks loosing us. When I am teaching someone and I know they have felt the spirit testify of this gospel, and then choose against it, I hurt. I am so sad for them and want to plea for them to just accept what they know is true. But, it is their choice. I am coming to know of my Saviors love so much more here then I could have ever known. I know this to be true!

Fight the fight, stay the course, keep the Faith!

Love from Cleveland, OH

Elder Trey Toolson

 

 

11th Letter: Bikes in OHIO

Hello to My Family and Friends!

 

So this week was one for the FREAKIN books!! I definitely set a record!! I somehow managed to break 3 bikes in 1 week!!!!

 

Oh yeah, I'm a biking area now. they gave the car to the Spanish elders because they cover the whole ward because they're Spanish and we just cover a section so it makes sense. I started with my bike and after riding it for a while I realized my peddle was getting SUPER loose. So we checked it out and saw that there is a washer missing that keeps the peddle from doing that.  I then had to borrow Elder Menlove's bike. at the end of the day we were heading home and I heard this hissing sound and it was getting harder to peddle... flat back tire. So we walked it home and luckily it was the last appointment of the day so I didn't have to worry about till the next day. Then I realized that there was only one bike left for me to use... "the last...melon". Elder Warner's bike, ha ha. As I'm trudging along heading over to this lady who we are trying to set an appointment with my chain pops off. What? We look at it and the gear changer thing/doohickey is completely loose and we don't  have the tools to tighten it and we are 4 miles from home. So I ride ever so gingerly back home at a pace that was hard to stay straight because it was so slow. Needless to say... I was TICKED!! But we only had dinner scheduled next so we didn't miss anything that was important. I fixed Elder Menlove's flat tire and now I'm on that until we can get the other 2 checked and tuned up. I usually don't get frustrated too easily, but that day bugged me baby! :D

Several good appts. still brought spiritual experiences, one especially that I will always remember. We were teaching Paula, an AWESOME investigator who is totally a "dry Mormon" soon to be baptized we hope and she brought up temples and how she wants to be sealed to her fiance as soon as she can. She brought up this picture of none other than the SAN DIEGO TEMPLE with the caption, "If this is not his castle, then he is not your prince." then she looked directly at me and with tears welling up in her eyes said, "It reminded me of your sister Tiara, she is a princess and so am I. I want the temple to be my castle too." She can't be married in the temple, but with time and faith she will be sealed in it!!  :) Even though Tiara is so far away in California, she is still effecting peoples lives for eternity in Cleveland. I am proud to call her my sister <3 and I am proud we share the name Toolson.  I am proud to be a worthy holder of the priesthood and wear the holy and sacred name of Jesus Christ. That is who and what I represent, that is who I am trying to emulate and serve others as He. I am a son of God declaring His message to the world.

 

Bring on the Broken Bikes!!!

 

Fight the fight, stay the course, keep the Faith!

Love to you ALL,

Elder Trey Richard Toolson

 

 

10th Letter: Need Contact

This week for me has been crazy! so we get mission funds for food and what-not every month. Ever since the first week we each have been below 5 dollars. we have been eating nothing but hotdogs for 2 weeks hahaha!!  it was quite the adventure. We also have been trying to find people to teach which is more difficult then I thought it would be. All of our lessons this week with investigators were cancelled but we have a huge amount of less-actives here so we have been trying to meet with them. most of them say DO NOT CONTACT but we stopped by anyway and they didn't seen too mean, and they let us set up a return appointment!! So reactivation is huge here!! Of course trying to find people to teach as well is the top of my list.

Our ward boundaries just split so we have ANOTHER set of missionaries!!! We already have 3 sets but we're adding another one!? But this change will be HUGE for the work!! we have a stake conference that seemed a little familiar. the speakers were saying how much growth will take place and how this will help, and some members were super frustrated with the boundaries and were having a rough time with it... yeah... sounds familiar!! :D I know that because of my experience with haveing a boundary change that was hard at first but was of amazing benefit in the long run! be patient and trust in the lord.

 

I am loving my mission because it is so FREAKIN HARD!!!! this will make me the man that I want to be and the man God needs me to be. I know that  I am doing the work of god here on earth on a place where Jesus Christ , the living son of god has appeared to the prophet joseph smith who truly was a prophet of god and translated by and through the power of god, the Book of Mormon. and the best part is, I get tell it to people!!  I have no idea why god trusts me with this much, but he has. so we'll see how I do :)

Fight the fight, stay the course, keep the faith
Love
Elder Trey Toolson