Dear Family and Friends,

This has been one of the best weeks so far since I have been here. Everything is going well and I'm loving the work. The older generation of Korean missionaries just left this week and it reminded me how excited I am to be heading to Korea in four weeks and how important it is to do all I can here in the MTC so I don't have to waste as much time learning it all in the field.

A couple cool bits of news that I think a lot of you have heard about is that there is going to be a new mission in Korea! They combined the Seoul missions into one just a few years ago, but they are re-splitting them in the near future. I have heard that the new boundaries are going to be the same as when the Seoul mission was two missions before, but I don't know for sure. I think that does mean that there is a possibility I could be transfered to the new mission. It would be interesting to be a part of a new mission, but I would like to stay in the Daejeon mission if the Lord will allow it. But I know that if I do get transfered, it will be the Lord's will, so it would be fine.

One reason that I am pretty excited to be in the Daejeon mission is that the Korean Branch President here at the MTC, Pres. Shin, has been called to be the new mission president in Daejeon this summer! He has been a branch president here for about 10 years or so and he is an incredible man. Everyone loves him and he is a native Korean, so I think he will be an incredible mission president. It will also be a cool opportunity to be able to work with him here for the next few weeks before he is a mission president in Korea. A couple other cool things about him is that he works for Samsung and I think he is like a regional CEO in America for the company, which is pretty crazy. He is an amazing man, so I hope I get to serve under him in Daejeon.

My first week of duties as a Zone Leader has definitely been a bit more busy, but it hasn't been too bad and I really enjoy it so far. It's not easy being responsible for the decisions and progression of others, but I'm excited to do my best. I had the opportunity to hold interviews with some of the District Leaders and I loved it. It was a cool experience to counsel with them to try to understand God's will for us to meet the needs of these missionaries. I am so grateful for opportunities I have had in the past to work with people and to have some leadership training. Sunday was pretty busy with all the meetings, but the hardest part was that evening. Since all the older Elders were leaving, the other Zone Leader (Elder Gardener) and I had to sign off their cleaning/checkout sheets before they would be cleared to go. They were leaving super early, so we had to get it done before going to bed. The native Korean elders were up cleaning pretty late, so we didn't finish until just after midnight and got to bed around 12:30. It was kind of crazy, but still fun to visit with them for the last time.

Our teaching has been going well, both with our progressing investigators and with the TRC. I'm getting better at needing less and less script during the lessons, which is really exciting. I'm happy to see some improvement. The Korean in general is going well. This week we were challenged to memorize the first vision in Korean, so I finished that this Sunday. It's pretty cool. I really love Korean. We also got to watch a couple church films in Korean on Sunday. I didn't understand much, but I could pick out lots of little things, which was fun. I still have a long way to go, but it's definitely coming.

One of the coolest things I did this week is that we finally had the chance to perform our musical number. We even got to do it at the MTC devotional like we had hoped. It went really well! I forgot the words for a second, but apparently nobody noticed, so that was a little bit of a miracle. Everyone said that it was amazing and I felt good about it. It was a cool experience. They record all the devotionals, so I might ask if there is any way I can get a clip of it, but I don't know if that is even a possibility. But I guess it doesn't hurt to ask.

That is pretty much it for the week. Thanks for all your love, support, and prayers! One thing that I have thought about this week is the power of the God in our lives and the way that it is manifested. For the first week or so here, I kept waiting for some huge increase in my ability to learn Korean and for miraculous experience of me saying things I had never learned and understanding things I had never heard. When it never came that way, I was wondering how much the Spirit was really playing a role in my learning or if I was just learning fast on my own like I had before my mission. But over the past couple weeks I have realized more and more that I think God usually doesn't work in ways that are distinctly beyond expectations. He usually doesn't just throw miracles in our path and allow us to stumble upon them. I think more often the change and the power is in us, not in the situation. He helps us to become better and to be more capable of fulfilling His desire for us to act and not be acted upon. He molds our mediocrity into magnificence. So even though I haven't seen surprising miraculous events, I can definitely testify that my ability to learn and serve is being magnified by the power of God. Like Ammon said, we truly are nothing without God, and yet when we rely on Him, He can do so much good through us. I am grateful for the intimate role that God plays in my life and in all of our lives. He truly is in the details of our lives and His love and His power is made manifest in everything we do as long as we humbly look and recognize that He truly is there.

I love you all! Thanks for being wonderful! Be magnificent!!!

-Love, Elder Tolman

A Great Week!

Dear Family and Friends,

I think that this has been one of the best weeks here so far. I have been healthy and happy. I have been a bit less tired in general. I also think that my companion and I have been a bit more effective. I was getting annoyed that we weren't very effective or organized in our planning and preparing for lessons, so we have been working on making our own pre- and post-lesson review sheets that we fill out to keep us focused on what's most important and to keep a good, organized, detailed record of the progress of our investigators and their lessons. I don't know if we have really perfected it yet, but it really seems to be helping so that we have specific things to focus on every time rather than being up in the air for forever for every single lesson. It has been really good.

My Korean is going well. It's beginning to be harder to notice distinct changes in my progress since last week, mostly because I don't feel like I've learned much new grammar or big changes, so I've just been focusing on vocabulary and becoming faster at thinking of and comprehending the things I already do know. I've made it a goal to memorize at least 10 new words every day so that by the time I leave the MTC, I should have anywhere from 700 - 1000 Korean words memorized. It has been going well so far. I am just grateful that I have been blessed with the ability to memorize fairly easily. That has really helped me a lot in learning a new language.

Probably the biggest thing that happened this week, is that because the older group of Korean missionaries is leaving next week, they released all the leaders and called new ones. So this Sunday I was called to be one of the two zone leaders for the Korean Branch. I'm really excited for the opportunity, but at the same time it is pretty intimidating to be responsible for the progress and well-being of so many missionaries. It's going to be difficult, but I also think it will be an incredible opportunity to learn, to grow, and to hopefully help others to do the same. I don't really know much of what I'm doing yet, but I'll do my best to keep learning and doing my best to magnify the calling. If any of the brothers have any specific advice about missionary leadership, then I would be happy to hear from them!

We also had a great fireside by Brother Shane Littlefield this Sunday and I was wondering if that is the same Littlefield family we are related to... He was a great speaker, he was really funny, and he really testified of the divinity of this calling. I was just wondering. As for the musical number that I auditioned for, we haven't been assigned to perform yet. We were getting pretty worried because 3 of the 5 performers are leaving on Monday, so we didn't know if we'd be able to perform or not. So to clear things up, I went and talked to the people in charge of musical numbers yesterday and they said the we have been penciled in ahead of time to be singing on Sunday, which is a good sign. They usually decided on musical numbers each Thursday, so the fact that it is already penciled in for next Sunday is a really good sign. It doesn't guarantee anything, but I'm pretty sure we will get a chance to sing, and hopefully at the MTC Sunday devotional. I'll let you know next week how it goes.

The MTC is getting so packed! It was fairly busy the first week we got here, but over the span of 4 weeks, I can see it getting busier and busier. I think there are about 3200 missionaries here right now and I have heard that they are planning on having about 7000 by mid-summer. The crazy part is that I think the MTC is designed to accommodate about 3000 missionaries. It is crazy. For example, I came to do my laundry this morning and it was completely full by about 7 am with most of the washers already claimed to be used when the first load was finished. And for devotionals, the whole auditorium is pretty much filled 30 - 45 minutes before it starts. They have 2 or 3 overflows to hold the rest of missionaries. You have to go about 45 minutes early if you want a seat. And for the choir, they have had to make a new rule that if you want to be in the choir it's first come, first serve because they don't have room. They will fill one whole half of the bleachers and then you're out of luck if you don't get a seat. The meals can get pretty crazy too. Luckily I have a bit earlier meal time, so the lines aren't too bad, but sometimes the lines are all the way out the door and even almost outside at times. It really is pretty crazy, but at the same time it's an amazing problem to have to have. It's exciting to be a part of this tidal wave of new missionaries.

That is pretty much it for this week. I appreciate all of your love and support in everything you do. I have begun to realize more and more how much this work is really so much bigger than me or any one of this. This really is the Lord's work. That means that we really must do it the Lord's way and we can't do it without His help. It's not possible. It can be overwhelming, but I know that the Lord trust me enough to let me represent Him, so if I give my very best, I know He will magnify my efforts. The same applies to all of us as we seek to do our best and share His gospel and His love. He will always support and deliver His covenant people.

Thank you so much for your letters, your prayers, and your love! Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Tolman

-Finish musical number

-MTC is packed!!!

week 3 at MTC

Hello Family and Friends!

 

This week has been slightly less eventful as we begin to settle into the groove of things at the MTC, but it has been a great week nonetheless. I got your packages and also the cookies that Ann sent and I am so grateful for all of them! They are wonderful!

 

I have been doing well with everything here. The language is still coming along and I'm trying to be more diligent in learning it on my own as much as possible along with learning it out of class. Korean is a really cool, pretty powerful, and I think pretty logical language, which is really cool. It is just so different and backwards from English, so it's difficult. But once I get past the fact that I pretty much just have to say my sentences all backwards and inside out, I think I will love speaking Korean. We also have the really cool opportunity of having 15 or so native Koreans who came this week. It is really fun to talk with them some, to listen to them speak, and to learn from them. It's a bit intimidating, but still lots of fun. I am getting to the point where I can pick up quite a bit of what my teachers are saying when they speak Korean, so I was hoping it would be somewhat the same listening to the Koreans, but it definitely isn't. It think the only words I have understood when the Koreans are speaking are the words for Elder and Sister. I've got those down. But I guess the other hundreds of words will come with practice. All in all, though, Korean rocks and it's coming along with the help of God.

 

I am happy to say that I think my legs are fully back to normal. Since my silly workout, I think it took about 6 days before I could jog and when I was finally able to actually run it felt like a miracle. It feel sooo good to be able to stand up, sit down, and go up and down stairs without taking an hour to do it. Now that I can actually use my gym time to do things other than just stretch for an hour, I have been able to actually work out and feel great. I think I've been healthier here in general than I have for a while. I feel great! The only thing that would be better is if my body finally decided that it was ok with the 8 hours of sleep every night. I'm always pretty tired throughout the day and usually fall asleep briefly at least once during some study time or sometimes in class, but I'm trying so hard to stay focused and attentive. I'll keep doing my best and just pray that I keep having the energy to be as focused as I would like to be.

 

The classes and opportunities to teach are also all great! I love going to class and my teachers are awesome. Teaching lessons in Korean is becoming less of a challenge, but it is still by no means easy. It still takes us quite a while to try to prepare effective lessons in Korean, but I think we're getting better at it. This past week we taught 7 lessons all in Korean, which was pretty crazy. The worst was that we taught alesson at the end of Friday night, again first thing Saturday morning, and then 2 lessons in the TRC that afternoon. It was a crazy couple days, but it was a great learning experience. For the 2 lessons in the afternoon I hardly wrote down any Korean at all. I wrote down some sentences in English and then just translated in my head into Korean. I was pretty happy I was blessed to make it work. My companion isn't quite there yet, but he is progressing fast and I am keeping him on his toes.

 

Here's just a couple random funny/cool things that happened this week. For one, yesterday we had our weekly service time and we always just got help clean one of the buildings. In the past, I have mopped floors, washed windows, and cleaned toilets, but this week's duty was my favorite by far. We got to vacuum all the entryway mats, but instead of using regular vacuums, we got to use the backpack vacuums. I felt like a Ghostbuster. It was pretty cool. The other funny thing this weeks is that I had a pretty funny miscommunication. Last week I mentioned an Elder Leavitt here who said he was friends with Garrett Heiner from Mesa. It turns out that there happens to be a Gary Heiner who lives in Mesa and this whole time, Elder Leavitt thought I was saying Gary when I was actually saying Garrett. The best part is that we both wrote home telling our families about the funny connection, when, in fact, there is not connection at all. We just found out today and it was pretty funny. But I still wonder if there is any family connection there...

 

One of my favorite spiritual thoughts of the week was in a film by Elder Holland where he talked about how as missionaries, we have been set apart with the authority to bring people to Christ and if we are worthy, we are entitled to the power to do so as well. That being the case, if I keep myself worthy, dedicated, and devoted to His work, then I can press forward without hestitation knowing that I have the power and authority from God to help in this great work. The thought especially applies to missionary work, but I think that we can all be more confident in pressing forward in the work of the Lord, knowing that we have God to back us up in our efforts as we turn our lives to Him.

 

Anyway, I'm glad to hear you are doing well! Happy birthday to Dustin and Cameron! You are all wonderful! I love you all! Have a wonderful week!!!

 

-Love, Elder Tolman

 

Hello Family and Friends!

I Korean-in letter write want-(past tense)-but I enough words know-(negative). Instead, I Korean grammar to use fun would be think-(past tense)! Dash word previous word's end-to is attached means. But, time is short-and this is hard-because I normally write-(future tense).

I probably didn't even get all of that right, but that's a general taste of what Korean grammar is like - it's crazy. But I think I'm starting to get the hang of it and it's a lot of fun learning Korean. This past week has been great and I am doing really well. Last week I was nicknamed "The Chosen One" by my district because I seem to always know the answers to anything Korean. I think it's mostly because I put a lot of effort into learning before I came, which has really helped, but I am also learning quickly and picking it up pretty well. I actually haven't learned a ton of new things in class that I didn't learn before I came, but there are always little things that I do learn and it's always good to practice and solidify what I already do know.

Probably my greatest trial this week has been a set of very sad, sore legs. Last Wednesday, I had this great ambitious idea to "hammer" my legs with my companion during gym time. I did a wall sit for a while, then we did frog leaps all the way around the track in the gym and then did lunges for half a lap. It might not sound that bad, but it was so hard. I literally could barely walk after we were done and almost collapsed multiple time while trying... I would have loved to have a good workout like that, except that I forgot that I haven't really worked out my legs for quite a while... So rather than just having a good hard workout, my legs have been incredibly sore for pretty much the past week. For the first couple days I could hardly bend my legs, walking was just a pain, and going up and down the stairs was torture. But it has been getting better over the last couple days. They are still pretty sore to the point that I don't think I can jump at all and even a light jog is really hard and pathetic, but I think I will be back to normal pretty soon. Unfortunately, because I've been hobbling around all week, I managed to lose my title of "The Chosen One," and now I am "Old Man Tolman." It's pretty funny.

Aside from my legs, though, I have been feeling really well. My cold has been gone for a few days and I feel pretty healthy. I will definitely be glad to actually be able to use my gym time for something other than limping around and trying to stretch out my quads. We have continued to teach lessons in Korean pretty often. We taught 5 lessons to one investigator, 윤 서 영, and it went pretty well. We also got another teacher this week and she is really good and really cool. I'm enjoying the classes and being able to learn about my purpose as a missionary, how to become better, and to learn the Korean language. Teaching lessons all in Korean is pretty difficult and stressful because it takes so much planning, but we're getting better at it and I'm able to understand and speak more without having to script it out. And even though it is tough, it is a lot of fun and I enjoy the lessons.

 

One of the coolest things that has happened this week is that a few of the Elders in the older group (who have been here for about 8 or 9 weeks) knew that I like to sing and asked me if I would sing in a musical number with them. I was thrilled to say yes. I thought we would be performing in Sacrament meeting or something, but it turns out that they were planning on auditioning to be a musical number for one of the MTC programs, possibly even a full MTC devotional or something. It was a tiny bit intimidating, but mostly exciting. We learned an absolutely gorgeous arrangement of "Lord, I Would Follow Thee." It love the song. What is even cooler, is that one of the Elders who is singing with us, Elder Smith (not Tucker, unfortunately), is the guy who arranged it! It's pretty incredible. We had to have in memorized for the audition, so we learned it and memorized it in a couple days (which was a miracle because the song is pretty tough) and we auditioned on Thursday. After we sang, the ladies in charge of the auditions said they absolutely loved it and that it was amazing. They said that we are a definite yes which means that they will assign us to sing at one of the different MTC programs in the next few weeks and let us know. I hope that it is at a devotional or fireside so everyone can hear it, but I'll be happy to perform no matter what. I'm so grateful they let me sing with them and have this awesome opportunity! Oh, and before I forget, one of the other Elders singing in the quartet is Elder Leavitt from Mesa and he happens to be pretty good friends with Garrett Heiner, which is pretty cool. He is one of the Zone Leaders here along with Elder Smith (the one who wrote the arrangement).

 

I have been getting all the DearElder's that have been sent (I think) and I love them, so if you get a chance and want to just say hi, I am always happy to hear from you. I also got the package you sent and I love it. Thanks Mom and family!

 

This Sunday we had a lot of talks about testimony, so here is a portion of mine! I know that this really is the work of God and not of men. Because it it God's work on the earth, I know that the callings, the leaders, the commandments, the principles, the doctrine, the scriptures, and everything else that is associated with the Gospel of Jesus Christ is given to us by God and is truly inspired. I know that as God leads His work, He will bless and magnify our efforts to help us more fully love, serve, and learn from all of those around us. I know that God depends on each of us to make the most of the time, the talents, and the testimonies with which we have been blessed and it is essential that we give our very best every single day to help feed His sheep and bring His beloved children back unto Him. 저는 여수 그리스도의 복음이 참되다는 것을 알고 있습니다. 저는 몰몬경이 하나님의 말씀이라는 것을 알고 있습니다. 저는 하나님께서 모두 자녀를 사랑하다는 것을 알고 있습니다.

 

I love you all! Thanks for all your love, your prayers, your example, and your support! 사랑해요!

 

-톨만 장로 (Elder Tolman)