This week 신효면 got baptized! He is such a funny cute old man and his desire to learn and live the gospel is so incredible sincere. He's maybe read more of the gospel library than I have in the past 4 weeks or so since we met him. And to think that he was just another man on the street that we could have just as easily passed up without a word!!! The worth of a soul truly is great in the sight of God. He will do everything He can to do to help His children come back to Him, including using us as tools in His hands. It's so important to be prepared and willing to do so!! 

We have a lot of potential with our other investigators and potential investigators, one of whom will hopefully be baptized in the next week or two (구병철). I'm hoping this week we will really be able to get things moving a little more. 

For Christmas, one of our amazing members whose son is now engaged to a British girl here in Korea invited us over and served us a British style Christmas dinner. It was sooo good! It was weird to pass food around the table like normal and use a fork for a whole meal. It was fun.

My companion, Elder Dursteler has been sick this past weekend, but he's doing a bit better today. He works so hard and is such an amazing missionary! I have been so blessed with such amazing companions. 

On Saturday we saw a pretty cool miracle. We were debating whether to stop by our recent convert's restaurant or just wait to see them on Sunday, but they've been struggling a bit, so we decided to just go for it. It was a little stiff at first, but he ended up putting up a bunch of wallpaper that day, which was an answer to our prayers for a way to serve them and show them we love them. When we sat back down to finish our meal, the customer next to us, who we had briefly introduced ourselves to a little earlier, asked us "What's the name of your church again? It's kind of long..." We told him and he replied "I want to attend your church." He explained how he's never attended church before and feels like he needs to, but doesn't want to just show up alone. He called us the next morning because he was at the church about 45 minutes early!! He stayed all three hours and also for the baptismal service after church. It was amazing! 

God is so aware of His children! I feel like I say that every week, but it's so true! I have seen witness after witness that God really does love us soo much!! I know that because He loves us, He sent His Son as our Savior and has restored all the truths we need to utilize the eternal and personal power of the Atonement! "Oh is it wonderful that He should care for me enough to die for me!" I know this is the true and restored church of Jesus Christ!

I love you all! Have a wonderful new year!!

Love, Elder Tolman

A week of miracles

This has been another great week! Our two main investigators right now, 신효면 and 구병철 are both doing great! They both are pretty excited to be baptized and now we're just working on helping them use that desire to keep the commandments and overcome any challenges. They are so amazing!!

 

We didn't have a lot of appointments this weekend, so we spent some time in the Subway because there's lots of people waiting around and it's warm enough for people to actually want to have a conversation. We ended up having pretty miraculous success within in the last couple days as we prayed to find people willing to listen and God seems to be answering those prayers. There was a pastor who walked up to us, said he was really interesting in learning about our church, and we set up an appointment for tomorrow. We also met a man yesterday that said he wants to find religion and to stop smoking and drinking. There was another man who used to have religion, but never really felt like he understood it or felt sufficient and we might be able to meet with him this week. I know that God really is aware of us and helps us to accomplish His will according to our faith!

 

We are reading the Book of Momon from start to finish this transfer as a Zone and one of the scriptures that stood out to me recently was 1 Ne. 21:15-16. It talks about how Christ will never forget us because we are engraven upon the palms of His hands. He cannot forget and He never will forget. He knows us perfectly and knows How to succor us in every need and every trial (Alma 7:11-13). Let's not forget Him, especially this season. A big part of that is not denying the fact that He not only suffered for us, but also for all those around us! Let's have faith that the atonement applies to them too and that there is nobody that is not worth inviting to come unto Christ through the restored Gospel. I know that as we have faith in the Atonement and seek opportunities to invite others, we will be blessed with the ability to do so!

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

Love, Elder Tolman

A wonderful new transfer

It has been an interesting week with transfer and the change of responsibilities, but I feel that I am adjusting well. I definitely have so much to learn and I have a lot of imperfections, but I know that God is perfectly aware of my strengths and weaknesses and He will qualify me to accomplish His will, whatever that may be. I am so excited to strive to live up to the higher expectations and learn a lot along the way.

My new companion's name is Elder Dursteler (pronounced Dur-Stell-Er). He is absolutely amazing! I have been so blessed to have so many absolutely incredible companions. He is fresh out of high school (graduated this last may) and he is a 6' 4" football star from Logan, Utah who is so enthusiastic to serve God and just ready to work. Right from the first day, he was so eager to just talk to everyone in his limited, broken Korean. He's a great example to me. I am really excited to spend the next 6 weeks, and very possible more, with him. 

The work went well this week. We had a hard time meeting our investigators this weekend, but 구병철 (Gu Byung-Cheol) came to church for the first time and we met a really cool new investigator named 박지상 (Park Jee-Sang). He's willing to meet 3 times a week and seems to really be open to listening and trying. In our first meeting, he said "Please invite me a lot!" I'm excited! For 신효면 (Shin Hyo-Myun), we've had to keep pushing back his baptismal date because he hasn't made it to church yet. We'll be focusing on that this week.

I had an interesting though this week as I read in 1 Ne. 8 about Lehi's dream. I thought it was interesting that in verses 11 and 12, as Lehi partakes of the fruit, experiences the blessings, and desires others to join him, the thing that he desires to share is not his own. The tree was already there and the fruit was already provided for Lehi to partake and for others to come and join him to do the same. Neither the tree nor the fruit was Lehi's. He just wanted to share the fruit so others could experience the same joy. As I thought about it that way, I realized that sometimes I go about sharing the gospel the wrong way. I sometimes let fears of whether or not my ability to give is good enough, if others will like "my church," or if "my message" will really be what other people want to hear. The problem is that there is too much of "me" in all of those concerns. This is God's work, Christ's Church, and His perfect message. The fruit is already prepared! We are just inviting people to partake of the love of their Father in Heaven and He will provide us with the opportunities, strength, and ability to do so according to our faith and desires. I am so grateful to a part of the work of God!

I love you all! Have a fantastic week! 

Love, Elder Tolman

Today is transfer calls!! Elder Strahl is leaving and I will stay. He has been such an amazing companion! I have progressed so much with him and I feel so blessed to have spent the last 6 weeks learning from his diligent, loving example. I will be training again next transfer and will also be the new district leader over the 8 missionaries in 충장 와드 (Chungjang Ward). Our ward is doing really well right now and is one of the areas leading the mission, so it will be a pretty big, fun responsibility doing my best to help us all keep up the good work and be worthy for God's blessings. It's slightly intimidating to train and go district leader, but I'm not worried. I know it's God will, so I know He can provide the way. It will definitely be a learning experience.

This week we met a new investigator on the street. His name is 신효면 (Shin Hyo-Myeon) and he is 61 years old. He's pretty poor and doesn't really have a regular job, so he met us every single day from Tuesday to Saturday last week. He learns really well and is beginning to understand what we teach and he said he wants to be baptized! He's been a pretty big miracle this week and I am so excited to keep teaching him this week and help him come unto Christ through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! 

We also have done a lot to improve the way we teach by finally making our lessons more interactive. Why didn't I do this earlier?! It has been really helpful to both make it easy and simple to understand and to help us teach more simply and directly. It has been a lot of fun figuring out those changes.

I have thought a lot this week again about opening my mouth. We have the promise in the scriptures that if we open our mouths, they will be filled. I have come to the realization again that I think in my efforts to talk to everybody and teach everybody, sometimes I find my self talking and never really opening my mouth that it may be filled. I have felt the difference between when I open my mouth with words already there that I hope to say, and when I open my mouth with trust in the promise that God has something He wants to say and it will be given to me that which His children need to hear. I had a really cool experience with this yesterday as we visited a less active. We ended up changing the scripture we were planning to share mid-lesson and just focused on testifying about our Savior and she began to cry because the Spirit was so strong. I know that God had something He wanted her to know and that we were willing to really open our mouths that God could fill them with His words, not just our own. This really is God's work and I know it! We really do have a Savior and He lives! Through Him, according to God's perfect plan, we can gain peace in this life and eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God. So amazing!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week and don't forget to open your mouth that it may be filled!

Love, Elder Tolman

Wonderful Baptism in Chungjang Ward

Today at 8:58 PM

On Saturday 조백열 and 민유란 were baptized!! They have made a huge change in their lives and in their entire countenance over ther past few months. I have only been here for the end of the process, but only a couple months ago they would hardly let the missionaries talk to them about anything spiritual, but now they are eager to learn, to act, and now to begin a new life under sacred covenant with God. Their daughter converted to the church a couple years ago and is currently serving in Seoul, but she came down for the day to attend the baptism of her parents and it was so amazing to see the joy the gospel can bring, especially as these amazing people begin to enjoy it together as a family. It was an amazing experience!

 

We've had some struggles meeting and teaching a lot of our investigators this week, so we'll have to focus more on finding new people this week, but I am so excited because we have so much good potential for God to work some miracles this week! It is getting pretty cold and wind lately so chances are it won't be an easy week, but I know that it will all be worth it because the worth of souls truly is unfathomably great in the sight of God!!

 

I made the interesting discovery recently that soy milk is actually really good! I don't know if it's just because Korea doesn't really have a lot of real milk and I'm just deprived of what milk is supposed to taste like, but soy milk is cheaper than normal and it turns out to taste so good too! Who would have thought!

 

I also have been impressed this week by an interesting pattern with Koreans. I don't really know the reason, but it seems like Korean people are really "dreamy/visionary" people in general, and not just within the church. I have heard multiple experiences of people who have had some pretty incredible, meaningful dreams and apparently it's not rare here. For example, one of our members' non-member mother had a dream before she was born of her as a missionary with other missionaries, which ended up being one reason that softened the mothers heart enough to let her daughter serve a mission later. It's really pretty interesting. I wonder why...

 

This week I have focused on hope! I learned more that hope is trusting that God will fulfill all His promises according to our faith and obedience. I have realized that God makes sooooo many promises to us and almost all of them are dependent on our willingness to trust Him enough to obey His commandments. I think that definitely applies with missionary work, both as a full time missionary and a member. God has promised us the ability, opportunity, and guidance to share these precious truths with His children. We just have to have the faith, the hope, and the love to put forth our imperfect, yet diligent effort to try!! I know He has the power to bless, guide, and consecrate our efforts as we rely on Him!

 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderul, hope, faith and love filled week!!

 

Love, Elder Tolman

A wonderful difficult week Nov. 17

This week has been bitter-sweet. We had so much potential at the beginning of the week but had such a hard time meeting people. Some of them were just busy and some stopped answering calls. I think that Satan knows this is God's work and that God is prepared to really pour out His power and blessings on our mission and our area and Satan is doing everything he can to hinder it. But he can't compete. Bring it on. 

Regardless of our setbacks, Brother Jo and Sister Min, our beloved investigators with a baptismal date for next week, are still on track! He finally threw away all his cigarettes and is ready to quit. It's going to be tough this week, but he has so much desire. During our lesson on Sunday, I mentioned he would have to be clean for this whole week and he cut me off and said "No, I need to be clean for eternity." He's definitely got his sights set. I'm so excited for them. They are amazing!

We also have just had a lot of opportunities to learn and improve ourselves this week, which was such a blessing. I have been thinking a lot about the beauty of the promise of sacrifice. In True to the Faith, it mentions that sacrifice is giving up something we value for something of greater worth. God provides us countless opportunities to give up ourselves, our things, or our ways with the loving promise that it will always be worth it and that he will overcompensate every cost. Every commandment and every principle of the gospel is an opportunity to partake of the promise of sacrifice, trading our imperfect selves and accompanying results for God's glory, power, and blessings. I am working to more fully sacrifice myself with faith in the reality of the power of Christ's atonement.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Tolman

Another great week in 충장 Skyler Tolman

 

Nov 10 at 8:23 PM

This has been another great week. Our two investigators with baptismal dates are doing well, but they are progressing kind of slow and I don't know if they will make it by the 23rd, which is their baptismal date. 조백열 (Jo Baek-Yeol) is still struggling with Word of Wisdom. I know they will make it to baptism, so if not on the 23rd, then definitely soon after. They are amazing.

 

We also met with another new investigator this week who is pretty amazing. His name is 김형호 (Kim Hyeong-Ho) and he is 72 years old! We met him on the street and he is just a really sincere adorable old man who wants to follow Christ and is willing to study and act in any way he needs to to do so. We set a baptsimal date for December 8. I love teaching him.

 

I have been doing well this week and have been thinking a lot about progression and such. Something I feel like I have come to the conclusion of again and again, especially on my mission, is that God cares a lot more about us learning, growing, and gaining experience than He does about most results. I also know that as we seek to improve and progress, the only way to truly do so is through the atonement of Jesus Christ. This morning I reviewed Ether 12:26. The closer we get to God, the more we will realize our imperfections, but as we consider them as opportunities identified to progress and then rely on the cleansing and enabling power of the atonement through humility and faith, God can really help us to be more than we could ever become on our own.

 

I know that this really is God's work and that He really is such a real part of it. Let's truly become a light to others and let the joy and power of the Gospel shine!

 

I love you all!

 

Love, Elder Tolman