This week is transfers!! My companion, Elder Paskett will be transferring. To America.... He has been such a good support and is such a good example! I am so grateful I had the opportunity to serve with him and learn from him! My new companion will be Elder 권동엽 (Dong-Yup Kwon)! We were actually companions just a couple transfers ago, but I guess God needs us back together! He was an amazing companion then, so I'm excited to be serving with him again!! Also, Elder Dursteler, my greenie will be serving in the same ward as me, so it will be fun to see him often!
Last Saturday 김윤현 (Yoon-Hyun Kim) had a baptismal date, but his work schedule is so unpredictable and we had to cancel a couple days before because he just didn't have time. Elder Paskett really wants to see him be baptized before he goes home, so we are trying to find a way to make that happen... We also met with Jacob (정희철) a couple times and he's doing great! He is really sincere about listening and he's willing to at least try acting on the message. I think he will be baptized soon. He said that he feels he is going in a good direction and he is even going to the Young Single Adults conference this weekend. He'll make it for sure.
We saw a cool little miracle this week. There is a lady who works at a convenience store that really likes missionaries but has a hard time really agreeing to come to church or keep any commitments. Last time we visited, her husband politely but very directly said that they have absolutely no interest at all in religion and that they only like us as good people (pretty much implying to just not waste time coming back). But this past week we were in the area and decided to drop by one more time before Elder Paskett leaves. As we were heading in, we had the thought that it would be fun to buy them some ice cream from their own store, so we grabbed a few from the little freezer outside and headed in. We were pretty worried because the husband was the one at the counter and I was sure he would just get frustrated and tell us to leave. But we went for it anyway and headed up to the counter to buy the ice-cream bars. When we said that one of them was for him, he tried to give us back the money and say he would buy it, but we insisted. He then began to talk a little, gave us some advice about not getting discouraged when people rejected, and the conversation kept going from there. Little by little, he began to open up his heart and by the end of a 10-15 minute conversation, he admitted that he had told us they had no interest but that he rashly judged us and that he was wrong. He said that he was impressed that there were pretty who were teaching about religion that actually lived what they preached. We didn't have much time to talk, but it was amazing how he completely dropped his guard in all of 20 minutes or so.
I learned two lessons. First, the spirit really has power to soften hearts, especially when we follow Christ's command to let our light shine. Second, small and simple acts of service can bring about great things. I'm almost positive that if we hadn't bought him a 50 cent ice-cream bar we would never have had the opportunity to talk with him and change his entire perspective of us and our church. The small things make all the difference.
I'm so grateful to serve as a missionary and to preach the restored gospel! I know that God lives and that He loves us! I'm grateful for each one of you and I love you all! Have a great week!
-Elder Tolman
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