Christmas

Things are going pretty good here. I got your package but I haven't gotten grandpa Latimer's yet. Hmong is still interesting as ever. In the mission we are having a Christmas devotional where I think we are going to read the gospel of Luke? I don't know something of that nature. I can't believe that this will be me last Christmas as a missionary. Time does fly by on a mission, it's so well re to think in a year I will be home. I don't know if you heard but training in the MTC for English was changed from 2 weeks to 3 weeks so that made my missions week longer so instead of coming home Dec. 6th, I am coming home Dec. 13 just thought I should let you know that.

Love. Heart. Gooey emotional stuff. Elder Tomlinson

 Hey, just wanted to let you know that I did get both Hannah and grandpa's cards. Hannah's didn't make a lot sense though. I already bought shoes with the gift card to because I couldn't wait. Guess I will talk to you guys on Friday. Oh ya I'm no longer Hmong. It's really complicated so I just tell you guys on Friday. Here's a picture of the shoes I got.

12/7

No, I haven't received anything in the mail yet. Things are very
interesting in the mission field being in a Hmong branch. Sunday's are
extremely confusing! I never know what any one is talking about. It's
crazy that I am half way done with my mission by now, time has gone by
so fast. I heard from one of my former coworkers that Takoda was
working at Taco Bell. Tell Jake he need to quit being a lazy bum and
get a job already. Things are going good here.

Love. Heart. Gooey emotional stuff. Elder Tomlinson

Hmong

Just so you know I have no idea what you just said. I had my companion translate it and he said it made no sense. Yuba city is a big city and is mostly trashy. It isn't so bad being in a Hmong branch because most of the members speak English but during church 95% of it is in Hmong so I just sit there with no idea of what is going on. I am not expected to learn Hmong, I will only be in this area for 2 transfers at the most and I am only in this area because of a shortage of Hmong Elders for the time being. My new Comp is weird but in a good way, his name is Elder Stephenson

Or his Hmong name is Elder Vam Xeeb. I probably get a Hmong name pretty soon too which will be cool because then I can get a Hmong name tag and not a lot of missionaries get to do that. There are book of Mormons in Hmong although I am told that translation is constantly being fixed to make more sense. Thanksgiving was great, we had two dinners and they were normal turkey dinners and yes, Hmong people celebrate Thanksgiving. As for my size, I would guess Medium but I'm not 100% sure on that so you could just have Jake try it on and go from there.

11/23

Hey, sorry I haven't written in a while things have been really crazy. My companion went home and so I have been in a tricompanionship for the last couple of days. Transfers are up and I am being transferred to the Linda Hmong mission in Yuba city which will be interesting because I don't speak Hmong. We only have 4 Hmong elders on the mission and one is going home so president is having me take his place. I don't know how I feel about it because every lesson and sacrament meeting I will just be sitting there with no idea what people are saying. It is crazy that I am so close to my year mark. They say in the mission that days feel like years, weeks feel like months, months feel like weeks, and years feel like days. I'm not sure what my plans for thanksgiving are because I am going to be in a completely new area. Some things that would be nice for Christmas is a jacket like just a normal looking jacket for when it gets cold. My sunglasses also broke so some more like those would be nice, they are called the wayfarer style. That's all I can think of right now if I do think of anything else I'll let you know. I'm counting down the days too.

Love. Heart. Gooey emotional stuff. Elder Tomlinson

Halloween

That's awesome that Jake got his eagle. What is Hannah supposed to be? I had a good Halloween. I got to carve some pumpkins and I'm not trying to brag but my was pretty awesome. Yes I love my companion, I was with him in the MTC so that's cool. I'll put some pictures of my amazing pumpkin but that is pretty much all that happened. I don't know what else to say so. Talk to ya later. Elder Tomlinson.

Oct 26th

Things in the mission field are going great. Nothing new really to report. I am still but my companion in now Elder Wadsworth and we are getting along great! We  were in the MTC together so it is pretty fun to have a comp that you have known your whole mission. Sorry about not writing last week but things just got really hectic and president doesn't want us emailing after 6 and before I knew it,it was already past that time. Finally Jake got his eagle. It's really nice to hear about all the people who are just going out on mission because then I just get to come home before all those suckers. lol. that wast laugh out loud that was a person drowning. I don't have a copy of my blessing, I forgot to bring it with me and I tried getting one from online but salt lake say that our Patriarch never sent it to them. I'll try to keep up the good work but California is California. Talk to ya later.    

Elder Tomlinson

October 12th

Things are still moving along here in the mission, it must have been impossible to get Hannah to clean it out as always. There's a great talk I have been wanting to tell you about for a while now. It's called "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. it was a devotional given at BYU. Its really great and will give you and entirely different perspective on the Atonement. Transfers came up and I am getting Elder Wadsworth. I was in MTC with him, he is a cool guy and i will really enjoy being comps with him. Our investigators right now will take some time before there are anywhere exciting teaching wise. Here is another picture of my recent convert Blake. He is awesome. He's on house arrest right now for something he did a year ago but the mission president said it was okay to baptise him so we did. You can see his ankle monitor in the picture. He still has thirty days left on it which means I will be here when he gets off. It's so amazing the see the gospel bring miracles in his life. So I took the challenge to ponderize scriptures and right now I am ponderizing 1 Thessalonians 5:16. Hope you guys have spooky court of honor.

Elder Tomlinsonoct

Service Project

I did have a good pday. The baptism was amazing and I really enjoyed
being a part of it.

As my ward mission leader, who is way too old to be using these kind
of word so, said general conference was Awesome. In all caps just like
that. My favorite talk was probably the one Elder Utchdorf(if that's
how you spell it) talk during priesthood session. I don't know if you
saw that one or not. I recently watched a talk by Brad Wilcox called
His Grace is Sufficient. I don't know if you have seen it already but
if not it is a really good talk and I would highly recommend it.

Isn't there a saying that a dog takes after it's master? Just kidding.
You can't blame Carly, the last dog she was around was Scout and he
died so....

Nothing has really changed in the mission field, transfers are next
week so idk what will be happening there. 

 Here are some photos of me at a
service project this last week. I don't know why one of them is in
black and white, my companion is kinda a photography geek. Talk to ya
later.

Baptism

Yes, the baptism went really well and I did the confirmation, I was really nervous so I'm not sure how I did as far as that goes. Blake is probably the best investigator I have had so far he never faltered when we were teaching him and he is probably the only person I've baptized where it's not even a concern if he won't stay active. he is on fire. I attached some pictures of us at the baptism. That's awesome that Jake's team is winning so much. Too bad he doesn't get to play very often. You'll have to send me a picture of the dog Devon got just because i miss having a dog. I'm always at a person's house and they dog come up to me and they are like "sorry, 'll get him off you" and I say "no, please let them stay" so it's funny. nothing much else is going on here. talk to ya later.

Elder Tomlinson

Baptism this saturday!!!!

I have a baptism this Saturday! Our investigator, Blake, is getting baptized and he wants me to confirm him. I am pretty nervous since I have never done that before but I think I will be alright. He is probably the most solid investigator I have had my entire mission so far. I am so excited to see him get baptized especially since when he goes to the temple I will be able to go with him which will be awesome also. Not much else has happened here in the past week. We had transfers a while ago but they didn't affect me. I was pretty sick on Saturday but I am feeling a lot better. We played 21 today and I made everyone look like a fool on the court. Let me know what is going on down in Missouri and I'll make sure to get you some pictures of the baptism on Saturday. Talk to ya later.

Labor Day

Things are kinda boring here as well. I hurt my toe really bad today jumping down some stairs and it's bruised really bad. One of my investigators drives sprint cars and he let me get to see it and he turned the engine on and it was loud! Four cylinders and louder than any truck I heard before. Here's a picture.

Poor Piano

Things are still going good in antelope. Our investigator is on date for the 12th. The weather is still hot not looking like it is cooling off at all. Transfers happened and a few people in our zone got transferred but Nothing happened to me and I still have the same companion. Missionary work is exhausting, I feel like I am permanently tired. Here's a picture of my zone.

So from top to bottom and then left to right there is elder Christensen, Elder McClurg, Elder Caceras, Elder Beazer, Elder Shaker, me, Sister Grosland, Sister Hiel, Sister Reber, Sister Davis, and Sister Mackay.

I got to destroy a piano this is the before and after.

Talk to ya later

Elder Tomlinson

Playing Peter

Not a lot has happened since last time except for my investigator that
is on fire has had some issues that is going to delay his baptism so
that stinks. Here's some pictures. The sisters in my zone attached our
door. And I pretended to be Peter for sharing time in primary and my
companion was Lazarus.

July 27th

Things are going great here in Cali. I did get your package and it was awesome, the ties are pretty good ties. So I had all those fruit smiles and my companion had a bad cold that he caught from his last comp so he kept telling me that I was going to get it but I told him since I was eating all these fruit snacks with lots of vitamin C that my immune system wouldn't allow me to get such measly diseases as colds and I never caught it. As far as investigators go we have two on date for baptism that are really promising and then we a few more that aren't on date yet but will probably be soon. It's really exciting. I'm in a car area finally since we are covering two wards and I am also the designated driver so I live in constant fear of getting into an accident even if it's one that isn't my fault but it's nice to be driving and have a car. That's all the excitement that's around here I just got into this area so I don't know much about it.

Talk to ya later

Elder Tomlinson

Study Selfie. Shhh. He doesn't know.

Got my oreo fix.  Thanks fam.

 



Another shout out to my family for the awesome new basketball.

Being Transferred

No surprised that jake wore his red shorts as part of his scout uniform and you couldn't pay me enough to listen to the sounds Hannah was probably making when she broke her arm. I'm getting transferred! I'll be covering two areas, Antelope 1st and north-highlands 2nd so that will be exciting especially since I think I get a car now. My new comp is Elder Christensen. So I'll be in antelope which isn't far away from where I am now at all. It isn't like when I had to drive three hours from Redding to Roseville. This is like 30 minutes at max. I haven't gotten your birthday package yet but I think that with transfers coming up the mission office probably didn't want to send it to me and there be a chance of me not being where they send it.  Anywho, that's all that's going on with me.

Talk to ya later

Elder Tomlinson

 

 

More quotes from this week:

"Why don't we do blood sacrifices?"

"Well it's called the gospel."

-Elder Tomlinson(Roleplaying as an investigator)

-Elder Beard

"I can speak a little Chinese"

"He's Japanese, you racist mother Russia"

-Elder Beard

-Elder Tomlinson

"My name is Jesse James the outlaw"

"Well in our church we called each other brother and sister so can I call you Brother Jesse James the outlaw?"

-Elder Beard(pretending as an investigator)

-Elder Jensen

"Notice how the only the sisters answered taco breath"

"I answered taco breath, are you calling me a sister?"

"No, I-"

"You come into my house; try to change my gender, take away my identity and on this the day of my daughter's wedding!?"

-Elder Cevering

-Elder Tomlinson

Elder Tomlinson's 19th Birthday

Birthday Week

Hey,

So for the fourth we had dinner at one of our recent converts house with the guy who baptized him and his family so we had some giant burgers and lit some fireworks but the mission prez wanted us in by 7 which was lame. I am still waiting on the next transfer which is in two weeks.

Yes it is my birthday this week which is pretty important. As far as request go just Oreos and fruit smiles(which btw Linda sent me some of them and I hadn't had any in such a long time and it was mana straight from heaven) some money would be nice. I don't have a basketball which is a problem because we ball every pday or just some ties and when you're picking out the ties just think "is this Riley?" And you'll be fine.

So the story with my comp and the golden investigators we had goes like this:

It was a less-active member and his nonmember wife so we were planning on having our fourth lesson with them on a Wednesday because that is we he texted us was good for him so my companion told the. That he would have to call our dinner first so we could see what time we would be available so obviously they took it as dinner was more important than them. Needless to say, I handle everything on the phone from now on. 

We have a few investigators but none of them have really any promise. The work in this area is so slow.

I don't remember what we did exactly, I want to say we did double it and make four 8x8 but it's been over a year ago so...

Also I started a quote book as a joke. Here it is so far.

Quote Book:

"I have convincing evidence that I am immortal....I haven't died yet"
- Elder Tomlinson

"We're in the Pacific Ocean!!!!!"
-Crazy Guy at Panda Express
"He has a point, I mean we are in the Pacific Ocean."
-Elder Kokkola

"And I'll never forget what it said...dang it I think I forgot it"
- Elder Coutu

"Have you no shame?"
-Elder Stephenson

"It's like you got Autism and start speaking"
-Elder Herrador

"I've been in prison so I know what it's like to be violated...no, not
like that!
- Brother McClung

*McClurg laugh*

- Elder McClurg

"Y'all need quezacoatl"

- Elder Tomlinson

"Willis is like 30% gay and Wilding is like 70%"

"What if you put them together?"

"They were definitely 100% gay together"

-Elder Beard

-Elder Kelly

-Elder Tomlinson

"We really need to get this done"

"What if, and just give me time to explain this all, okay, just okay, hear me out here, okay, just, okay, we do it... tomorrow?"

-Elder McClurg 

-Elder Tomlinson

 

"I'm so full!"

"But we just made this dessert"

"...go on"

-Elder Tomlinson

-Every member ever

"That's not the best idea and that's not me saying that"

"Really? Because you just said it"

-Elder McClurg 

-Elder Tomlinson

"Put some makeup on because your face sucks"

-Sister Rexlinger 

Talk to ya later

Elder Tomlinson

Patience

Hey things are going good here. I wasn't able to reply son Monday due
to the fact that a seventy is going on a mission tour in our mission
and so our p-day was changed to today. The work is going alright, I
think I have finally started to get the members to understand that our
baptisms come from their referrals. We had a referral but my comp and
them had a misunderstanding so now my mission president is teaching
them. I'm in the Roseville 1st ward. Right now with my companion, I'm
honestly having a hard time with him. I think the Lord is trying to
help me grow patience because this is the 3rd transfer I have had a
companion I couldn't stand. My patience has definitely grown because I
am just surprised I haven't yelled at him yet. Love the pictures.

Elder Tomlinson

Lots of Pictures

You want pictures? Well your in luck because last pday we had a
professional take a bunch of pics around downtown Roseville. They are
a lot of pictures so it might take a couple of emails to send them to
you. How is everyone in Houston doing because I hear that it flooded
quite a bit down there. Things are still going good here. Transfers
came but I am in the same place with the same comp so nothing changed
for me. Got a birthday in a month which is exciting. I'm hoping that I
get to train next transfer because we have 15 new missionaries coming
in and I am at the point where president has people train. I am really
excited to train, I don't care about making district leader or zone
leader I just want to train, mostly because my line of trading goes
all the way back to 2002 which is further than most so I need to keep
up the legacy anyways I'll get those pictures to you asap so you can
go ahead and do your scrapbook.

Balut Eating

Hey how's it going over there for you guys? Things haven't changed
much since I last emailed you guys. One of the families in another
ward was getting baptized and they fed us balut. Balut is a Filipino
delicacy, but it is basically a duck fetus so that was interesting
eating that I have a video of it which I will add to the email.
 I really don't know what else to talk about so I guess
I will talk to you later. Here's the video.

Memorial Day

Things are still pretty good over here. The weather has started to get
hotter so when I am out proselyting, I feel like I am going to melt.
Not much has changed here since I talked to you guys last. I've almost
been out six months in a little over a week here. I almost finished a
fourth of my mission. So it is definitely going by in a flash. I'm
kinda insulted that Hannah and jake are going to Houston. I really
want some Shipley's and Whataburger, but all I get is Krispy Kreme and
In-n-out. I heard the Houston Astros were actually doing really good
this year which is surprising considering they haven't had a good
season in a long time. Hannah's email still didn't make much sense but
I will try to reply to it. Hope all is well with you guys.

Elder Tomlinson

Day after Mother's Day Call

Hey I know we just yesterday and not much has changed since. I just
wanted to tell you guys that you jinxed me. For dinner last night I
had chicken enchiladas and strawberry shortcake for dessert. So you
guys all suck for saying that because it happened.

April 6

Sorry it took so long for me to reply. To day was a mission temple
trip, which was amazing as always but it made it super difficult to do
all the things that I need to do on p-day. Things have been going
pretty well here. This email probs won't be in response to the email
you sent me since I don't have wifi right now and this will also be
fairly short today so a thousand pardons if I don't respond to
anyone's else's today. Also I was at the temple and wondering how the
Smiskeys were doing. But I'mnalready pushing the envelope with prez by
sending it this late. Talk to you later. Lots of love.

March 30th

Hey Mom,
I did get the package from the ward and it was awesome tell everybody
in the ward thanks. I was thinking about writing a letter to the ward
that you could give to the bishop or someone and he could read it over
the pulpit. Do you think that would be a good idea or no? Dad doesn't
have a calling? Why don't they just call him as bishop already? Joke,
that was a joke.
I'm still in redding, the work has kinda slowed down here which is why
I'm hoping to be transferred this next upcoming transfer. I'm also
having a hard time getting along with my companion, but don't worry
,as far as he is concerned, we are best friends. It's a good thing I
brought another pair of dress shoes because the ones that I am wearing
right now are starting to fall apart from all the walking and biking.
I also found a spare bike I our garage that I am riding for the moment
so it's not like there is a rush on fixing mine like I said in the
last email, I couldn't activate my card for some reason. Congrats on
getting a job, finally putting that fancy ,high society education to
good use. That's all from me.

Elder Tomlinson
 P.S. Tell jake that if his phone was making alert noises for no
reason that I'm sorry and I was just bored so I used the Find IPhone
app to do that to him.

March 23rd

Hey,

   Things in redding are still moving along. Transfers were last
Tuesday so I got my new companion and his name is Elder Willis and he
is a good guy. I've had to take over the area which means that I
decide where we go and who we visit which I don't think I like too
much but I'll probably be transferred out of redding in 4 weeks since
this is a short transfer so I won't be in charge for too long. Also I
tried activating the card that you sent me and I couldn't activate it
which is incredibly weird. It keep telling me that the security code
was invalid so I don't know what is going on there. How is everybody
doing? I still haven't gotten my Christmas present from Brooke. Still
upset about it. For breakfast, I've started eating toaster strudels
and I started making art with the icing, mostly faces. I must say I'm
getting pretty good at it.

March 9th

Things are going good here. It's gotten pretty warm with the 90 degree
weather today. Missionary life is honestly really slow right now there
isn't a lot to talk about except for the fact that I will probably get
a new companion next transfer which next week. Hannah hasn't enjoyed
soccer before so why would she enjoy it now? I've been meaning to ask
is there a warranty on my bike? It's still rideable but the gears are
stuck, so that would be nice to fix. That pretty much it around here.
You might get this email on a different day because the wifi is being
buggy.

Letter to Dad

Dad,
Things are going great here, the work keeps moving along and people are stubborn as always. I feel like the hardest struggle while working out in this area is that people don't want to change their lives. It's easier for them to believe that if they just acknowledge Christ then they are "saved". So even when I teach people it's hard to get them to keep commitments. We have a couple of internigators(meaning instead of investigating,they know all they need to and have a testimony of it but for whatever reason aren't baptized). We also have a lot of drug use in this area. The other day we were eating at Panda Express and some crazy guy was yelling at an imaginary person and yelled out "We're in the Pacific Ocean!" And my companion, Elder Kokkola said jokingly(or at least I hope) "I mean he has a point, we are in the Pacific Ocean". I don't know if that guy was tweaking or just mental but either way it was weird. So redding can be an interesting place. Talk to ya later

Elder Tomlinson

Letter to Mom

Things are still going pretty well here in redding. The more I been out on my mission the more glad I am that I made the decision to come out here. Guess what my companion's favorite place to eat at is? Taco Bell. I don't remember if I told you that or not, all the days sort of start to blur together. Also I did the math and if Taylor leaves on June 10th then we will get home on the same day. Because a mission isn't really 2 years or 18 months. It's that amount minus 4 days. Except for me because I came into the field on a transfer that was a week longer than usual. So mine is 2 years plus 3 days. So we will both come home December 6th, 2016. Funny coincidence. Tell everyone back home I said hi and tell Brook I'm still waiting on my Christmas present. It got a little cold here too which was weird but in the summer it will hit triple digits which will be just great. I know you can't detect sarcasm in an email but I hope you at least got that. Not much else to talk about but hope you have a good day and maybe see this email early and message me back.

February 16th Letter

Things are going well here. I had a baptism on Saturday and I'll send
you a picture. The big guy did the baptizing and the smaller one was
the one baptized. His name if Jeff Kobbe. And you can also tell that I
gained a little weight in the picture.

Letter to Jake

The mission is going good. The coolest thing I think has happen is
that I met an investigator through a member who at the time is home
less so I tell you his story real quick. The man's name is Jeff Kobe
but his sign from his time in the army is Yeti. Jeff was riding on a
motorcycle when the driver lost control and he went face first into a
pole. While in the hospital he went almost completely blind and the
doctors discovered that he had intestinal cancer. Unable to get a job
because all forms of ID were destroyed, he was forced into the
streets. He then heard a voice telling him that he needed to find the
people that would show him the truth. After much prayer and study, it
was later confirmed that we were those people he was told to find. A
member who we used to fellowship Jeff is now buying him a cabin to be
place next to his house to give him a place to stay and they have
worked tirelessly so Jeff could get 2 forms of ID so he could get a
job. While we were teaching him one day he looked at me and said "I
am so happy I found the gospel, if I hadn't I would have been just
another dead hobo that no one cared about". It was so amazing. The
food's alright some good some bad been able to go to in n out a lot.

Elder Tomlinson

January 26th Letter

Hey I told Dad and I'll tell you I sent Jake a awesome story that's
happened to me so ask him to tell you because I don't feel like typing
it again. Here are some photos after we ate a a place called Los
Gordos and when we went to play laser tag last P-day.