New Emails

Here are some of Alex's new emails!
haha this week was so nuts and SO FAST! Anywho haha it was so insane! We had like 8 or 9 lessons taught all the way up until friday again. Then, the good Lord stepped in and let us find 12 new people on Saturday! AWESOME RIGHT! Well that Saturday was nuts. We met this girl named Rachel who was totally hitting on me. She kept asking me, JUST ME, to come inside! I kept saying sorry we cant there has to be another man in the house. She didnt give up, she kept saying "but is so cold, are you sure?" haha she was insane, so after we get done teaching her Elder AK had invited her to church. We walk off and I get an impression that we cannot get her for church haha so I tell him i'll pray and see what God thinks. Well long story short we end up picking her up with a member. I was with Elder Lunt though because elder AK and sorenson went to the Camden branch for church so it was just us on an exchange. Elder Lunt goes "watch we'll go to pick her up and she'll be wearing something way immodest to try and catch your attention" and he called it completely. We get there and I have never seen so little clothing worn on the top half of a womans body other than swimming. So pretty much I dont even look at her the whole time haha I know that sounds mean but I wouldnt look at her. Anyways so we get to church and take her into Relief society and everyone is screaming at each other, so Elder Lunt and I are like what the heck haha. We walk out and after we talk to a way cool member named Sister Talbot, and she said a lady who comes to church named Michelle was teaching false doctrine. A little back ground on Michelle, she is a lady that elder fatiau and I met in my first 6 weeks. We started teaching her and she wouldn't ever let us teach, she would just always try and teach us. She comes to church because she loves to learn. She goes to 6 other churches besides ours. Within the first 2 weeks of attending church she asked our Branch President for 350 dollars for rent, we go over the next day and she has a candy store set up in her house. She wont control her 2 year old boy and just lets him run around and all over the stage during sacrament meeting and he falls a lot and get's hurt and she just screams in the middle of sacrament "Get up michael!" haha so yeah pretty much we have a handful with her! This Sunday everyone but 12 people left church because of her haha so we are praying things will get better and her heart will soften. So yeah this week has been pretty... interesting to say the least haha. Well then yesterday I didnt get to email you because we got to move into our new house, it is SO SICK! It's HUGE (missionary standards), haha so we are livin the life right now! As for skype this upcoming week I am STOKED! I'm 99% sure im staying here because im supposed to train for 12 weeks, so if I stay I already know where I will be skyping from. But if I get transfered on the 20th that would be awful and it would pretty much be last minute to let you know where I'll be skyping from. So just pray I stay! Well I will pray for you both continually, especially you for finals, you'll do great! Send me a picture of your baby bump! :) I LOVE YOU GUYS! Oh, and remember my new address is 201 Oak street Selma AL 36701, so any birthday or christmas packages anyone you know is planning on sending, make sure they go there, thanks :) haha you two are the best!

Okay first things first :) My new address is 201 Oak Street Selma AL, 36701. So start sending everything from here on our there, because we are moving tomorrow. Well that part about the hurricane blew my mind. Have you talked to anyone who lives in Kaysville that I know? Mostly Jessica? I heard it hit WAY HARD in Kaysville, so please get in touch with her. I'm very grateful to hear you are all okay though. That worries me. I guess I know how you must feel though haha I'm in hurricane and tornado country all the time haha. Well once again the time is just flying by! It's going way to fast haha I pray that it will slow down! Today was so amazing! We had a ZONE MEET, and President Memory (a lawyer), took 28 missionaries all to Golden Corral and then BOWLING! It was so much fun! I got to see Elder Fatiau and just hang out and get to know all the other missionaries, probably the most fun (as far a temporal fun, not spiritual :) ) I've had in a while! Oh I totally get where your coming from though about the Benadryl haha I was just doing what our Mission Nurse said to do haha apparently she struggles a little with dosages :). This week was really nice though. Thursday Elder Andoh-kesson and I went to Birmingham to a Trainer/Trainee meeting. It was so amazing to listen to President Holzapfel! In all modesty and respect, I will not be surprised to see him in the quorum of the 12 after his mission. A couple reasons why, the biggest one being, "Gospel Principles", yeah, guess who WROTE THAT? PRESIDENT HOLZAPFEL! How INSANE is that! Everyone in the whole world studies the "Gospel Principles" book that he wrote! Anyways this week was way fast! Elder Andoh-kesson and I are becoming so close! He is such an amazing missionary and has such a strong testimony! We are seeing success more than I could have ever imagined! I thank the Lord each day for the opportunity to be a trainer and work with such great missionaries right off the bat. I can definitely see the Lords blessings in my life as I am obedient, patient and desirous in my teaching, finding and training. I can't wait to talk to you guys on Christmas, I just want you to hear my voice haha I already sound like a red neck haha, but that doesn't change the spirit of my testimony! I hope you both had the privilege to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last night. It was so spiritual and uplifting, and made me more grateful for my savior Jesus Christ and for my WONDERFUL family who never gave up on such a rebellious soul, such as mine. You are really such a blessing in my life, and I praise God each day for your lives, your health and your wonderful examples to me! There isn't really any stories that stand out in my mind about this week, but I only wish you could feel the spirit that is so abundant in my missionary work each day. This is truely the Lords work. I love you all so much! Oh and to answer your question about the "Less-actives", a scripture I love to use 3 Nephi 18:11-12. In twelve it says "this commandment I give unto you", and it's talking about the sacrament, so we always NICELY show them, that if they are not partaking of the sacrament, they are not only missing out on God's blessings, but they are breaking a COMMANDMENT of God and Jesus Christ. So I hope that helps you out! Can't wait to talk to you next!

I'm so excited to talk to all of you at Christmas! I'm planning on starting the Skype at 1, I hope that works out! That will mean it's going to be about 12 o'clock for you! I'll most likely be calling you all anyways if something goes wrong with the Skype or we cant figure it out. So just plan on being at shaylee's around that time okay :). Well good news, Elder Andoh-kesson and I are staying together, how awesome is that. I knew we would! Elder Lunt is getting transfered because he has medical problems and he needs to be closer to better medical care. Elder Sorenson from Logan is staying here in Selma so it should be pretty awesome! We have met the most LEGIT people this week! I'm so excited to start teaching them, because they've been waiting forever to have a change in their life, and this is the biggest and the best one! This week we went to President and Sister Holzapfel's home for a christmas social. It was SO GOOD! I got to hang out with Elder Fat again and just relax and talk with all the other missionaries. President gave us all some special gifts too. We got a CD of the TAB choir, and he order us all the COOLEST belt ever. It's a new model and kind of belt, and half of the money goes to people in need, so he got all of us one. He also gave every missionary a 72 hour backpack which is very helpful. Our new house is so awesome! There is so much room to just lounge around when we have off time. There is also the most comfortable lazy boy chair that is the BEST to read in! Well this week was way fast as far as time goes, but really slow considering the work. We had so many places to go, and parties to attend for the three churches we are over. We had to go to B-Ham so we taught a huge total of..... 13 lessons haha but the Lord helped us find some amazing people even considering those low numbers. Saturday and Sunday we went on an exchange and stayed in a retired couples house in a town called Magnolia. It is just a little branch, but it was really nice to go and celebrate christmas with them! We met with a lot of less active members and had probably the most powerful lessons I have had yet. The spirits promptings were SO STRONG it was almost like someone was talking to me, no joke. I shared two scriptures that were completely off topic, but that changed the whole spirit of the lesson and changed their desire completely to attend church. No doubt in my mind, they will be there sunday. The Holy Ghost is really the most amazing gift that heavenly father has given us. If we could just always listen to it and be in tune with it, we would not only live a much happier life, but we would live a more fulfilled and exceptional life. I have really seen the power and protection the spirit will bring, and I promise if you will just do what asked of you, keep the commandments and live your life according to heavenly fathers will, you will never be led astray. This church is true, Christ lives and loves us, and if we let him be our guide and our light we will not fail. Keep being exceptional, and always look for ways to improve. I love you both more than you could ever know.

Transfers

This week has been pretty amazing! Well to start off how cool it was, we get to transfer meeting on Wednesday. How they do it is you sit there in the chapel, and they put you and your new companions picture up and say your area (I already knew i was staying in selma, but for the other one), then you stand up, give your old companion a hug, and go meet your new companion and give him hug, and then sit it your new zone. They only put two pictures up at a time, so honestly it is so nerve racking! Well so I'm sitting there trying not to cry haha and elder fat's picture comes up and he is training a elder named elder Yogo from Kenya AFRICA! So he stands up hugs me and leaves, so I go stand in the back and wait for my picture. So as I'm standing there, the SELMA area pops up, and my picture isnt there haha so im freaking out thinking they made a mistake or something. Then they go to the next slide! SELMA again! There is now four missionaries in Selma! But the best part I look and see who my companion is! A brand new elder i'll be TRAINING from GHANA AFRICA, named Elder Andoh-Kesson!!! He is way SWEET! So I walk over and give him a hug and we go sit down! Come to find out I'm the "youngest" missionary to ever train in the Alabama mission! Before me the earliest a trainer has been out was 7 months! I've been out 3! how crazy is that! It's so awesome to know that I am going to be setting the foundation of how this missionary will most likely be for the rest of his mission! What a responsibility right!? Well that's awesome, then to top of my week, I baptised that family of 5! It was so amazing! We this week has been awesome! I've honestly been completely overwhelmed by the spirit this week in every way shape and form! Well to carry on that's really all that happened this week! Because we were either saying goobye to people for elder Fat or in B-ham! So this week has been slow, yet GREAT! but anywho all the new missionaries out here are awesome! Pray for us! OH actually haha one funny story real quick. The first day here all four of us are riding to meet some of the people in the branch and people we are teaching, and elder lunt and I are in the front, and we come to a light behind a car, and he looks back to see where the other two were haha and didn't know that the light turned red and the car didnt go, and all I had time to yell was "WAIT" haha and he ran straight into the back of this car haha, the car didn't even do anything either it just drove off! Well my testimony is growing like crazy and I'm learning a ton! Keep praying for me! I love you guys! Pray that I'll be the best trainer I can be! I love you guys!

Alofa ia te oe,

Elder Tolman

New emails!

I got to preform my first baptism!! Can you say AWESOME??!! The spirit was OVERWHELMING! haha this is gonna sound weird, but it felt so MANLY! hahaha. I just felt so awesome being able to use my priesthood for that! This was on Saturday though, but the whole week before was HORRIBLE! We had only taught 6 lessons in 4 days haha, pitiful I know. All of our plans just kept falling through, and NO ONE would answer their STINKIN DOORS! haha but we kept the faith. Saturday after the baptism, we took three of the youth out with us, they are between 14 and 15, and we all split up into teams. I was with a kid named Neil, and Fat was with two kids name Jay and Fredarius. We taught 16 lessons in ONE HOUR! found 4 new investigators, and all in all we have 13 scheduled for baptism! BALLIN'! :) So it turned out amazing once again! Just keep in mind there will ALWAYS be a trial of your faith, always. So don't ever give up on the Lord, he doesn't give up on us. :) Oh and HEY, Elder Fat and I protect each OTHER haha come on, it goes both ways. Just because he's Somoan.. :) All though he does look pretty mean haha he has a HUGE tat on his arm that looks pretty scary when we play ball haha. Brock and Shay I love you all to death! Your the coolest ever! Thanks for being so good to my companion, the mangos were great! Can't wait to talk to you next week, and I'll try not to beat up the gangsta's to bad later today haha. Tell my friends, once again, that I love them. I pray for them, and that I know with all my heart this church is true! I love the Lord and I love my God! Don't ever lose faith, and it's never to late to be forgiven, trust me, I would know! The atonement is continuous, with Eternal BLESSINGS! I LOVE YOU!

Alofa ia te oe,

Elder Tolman

P.S. If it's a girl, and you've all been playing with my mind haha IM GONNA FREAK!!

Well.. This week was AWESOME! I don't even know where to start!! Once again the beginning of the week was AWFUL haha we couldn't seem to make any progress in finding and teaching. We couldn't meet any of the goals we were setting each day, and things just kept falling through. Luckily my faith has grown just a little bit ;) so i didn't get down at all, we knew the Lord would provide. So up until thursday we only had 6 lessons taught. Our goal for the week was 23. So Friday things got a little better, we get five lessons taught and found a new investigator, but still not close to our weekly goals. Then, SATURDAY rolls around. We decide to take three of the young men with us, who are 14 and 15, to teach some lessons. Elder Fat and I split up into teams with them. I was with a kid named Neil, and Fat was with some kids named Jay and Fredarius. In one hour, between our groups, we taught 16 lessons, found 4 new investigators, and had an ending week with 13 scheduled to be baptised!! What an AWESOME DAY! To put the cherry on the cake. About an hour before we took the kids out with us, I had the opportunity to baptise a man named Robin! What an overwhelming feeling of priesthood power and the holy ghost! I must say it's days like that, that make you so thankful for the privilege it is to be on the Lords errand! So yeah, this week was so amazing! Well my personal study has been pretty awesome this week! I love READING!! I can hardly put down the Book of Mormon or Jesus the Christ. I have also been reading a lot from the new testament this week. That's been really good to deepen my understanding with, through Jesus the Christ, so that I can relate to my investigators here in "the bible belt" haha. This week really has been awesome all together. The temple sounded like it was great, I'm so jealous I only get to go every so often. Take advantage of that blessing you have, it's as close to heaven as you'll get down here! :) To answer your question, yes, I doesn't snow that much here. But the winter chill with the humidity honestly chills you to the bone, especially while riding bikes! So it may not look dark and cold, but it gets cold haha. Well thats all I can think of to say, but it was a nice week. Thank you so much for your prayers, they help! I hope you can see mine helping your lives as well! The church is true, I know it from the bottom of my heart and soul! Jesus lives, and has made it possible for us to be forgiven. The atonement is CONTINUOUS, so continue to us it! Of all people, I know of assurity that it is NEVER TO LATE to be forgiven! Your the biggest blessing of all time to me, and I'm so thankful I have all of you to spend eternity with. Keep on keepin' on, and always do what's right. I love you more than you could ever know, and so does heavenly father!

Well first off, I was FREAKIN out once again in the Library haha because you both told me forever ago it was a BOY and now it's a GIRL hahaha you two are off the freakin chain. I was honestly freaking out so bad tears were in my eyes haha I dont know if it was because I was so excited/shocked/happy/sad haha they just started coming out! I think I know why all the people in BAMA think the missionaries are crazy haha, because they sit at Library computers and cry hahaha. Well shoot I'm excited to meet this little McKinley when I get home! :) (that's my vote by the way). You two are gonna be the coolest parents ever. Well this week was pretty good, not the best. Honestly EVERYTHING feel through this week. We'll start with Monday. Well I played basketball with probably 80 black kids haha, that was crazy! They all either call me "white boy", "slim" "slim shady" or "eminem" hahaha crazy people. I definitely felt out of place though haha but I soon felt in the crew when I started ballin them up :) hahaha. Tuesday and Wednesday we pretty okay. A lot of our lessons fell through. Tuesday we went and taught a named Clint Moore, he's the one who feeds us ribs like twice a week haha. We played some darts with him, the game where you count down from 301, you better believe I'm the overall champ. Wednesday was sloooowwww..... we rode our bikes everywhere that day and only got 4 lessons.. Bummer. Thursday was pretty sick though. Elder Fat had to go to a Leadership training, so I got to go to Clanton and do some exchanges. I was with two Elders named Elder Haderlie and Elder Banks. Elder Banks is an OG! He's from DC, and was way fun to work with. He was in the MTC with me, I was Zone Leader over his District. We helped Clanton out a lot, I actually committed two people to baptism for them ON THE DOOR STEP! :) that was pretty awesome. Friday was depressing, we had 12-13 lessons planned and all fell through but 3. Saturday was better though. We rode about 55 miles up to the Craigs Field Airforce base and tracted. We found 3 new gators and taught 8 lessons in about an hour and a half, so that Lord helped us out a lot. :) Sunday was pretty awesome, we had 6 new investigators at church, and it was a pretty spiritual meeting, so we hope they will come back :). But other than that, that's about all that happened this week. Transfers are coming up on the 9th, pray that Fat and I will have 1 more transfer together. We have 13 baptisms scheduled, and it'd be awesome to see them all preformed.Keep on the straight and narrow, don't let go of that rod! I love you two more than you could ever know, your truely the greatest brother and sister ever! and soon to be some of the greatest PARENTS! Keep on keepin on.

Tasi Alofa (ONE LOVE) as Bob Marley would say :)

Okay this week has been OFF THE HOOK! :)

Lets just start out with day by day of what happened. Monday, we BALLED UP so brothas haha and got threatened haha. We played with about 80 black kids, and one white kid (me) haha, can you say JUNGLE BALL. There was about 30 playing 21 on each side of the court at one time. Then the 2 Highest scores get "ups" and they choose 3 people each to have a 4 vs. 4 game. They get pretty intense haha. Tuesday stunk haha, we had a District meeting with Elder Kendall over the phone, that was pretty good, but other than that every lesson fell through hahaha AGAIN! So we rode about 35 miles that day for nothing! Wednesday was sick!! We had a Multi-zone conference in B-ham. President Holzapfel talked on the atonement. WOW is all I can say! He is by far the best speaker I have ever heard! Honestly he is going to become a member of the 12 like a week after he gets off his mission. I really cannot explain to you how incredible his talks are, they would BLOW YOUR MIND!! Other than that haha that's all the happened Wednesday because we got home late, so by that time we planned, worked out and went to bed haha. Thursday started looking up. We tracted quite a bit and taught five lessons and found 2 new gators, so it was an okay day. Once again though, FRIDAY comes to save us haha. Within a period of two hours we had already taught 11 lessons and found 4 new gators, yeah buddy :) Then Saturday was awesome. We went with the youth up to a place close to Birmingham called the DeSoto Cavern. It's a cave that they have found bodies 2000 years old in. They are bodies of ancient indians too. So yes, I was chillin in a cave with a bunch of dead lamanites in it haha. The inside is HUGE! It's about 12 stories high and as big as a football field. This was a way fun activity for the youth. After that they have an amusement park haha or so they call it out here. The rides we so red neck haha. One of the rides, you side on TOILETS that have wheels and an engine on them haha and you race around a tract thats circumference is maybe 30 feet hahaha. Alabama continues to impress/surprise me. After that we went to a members house and ate. He told us we could come at 7 but that he wouldn't turn off the TV haha because he wanted to watch the Bama vs. LSU game. Just to make them mad we go for LSU, and of course LSU won haha he was livid. I think Bama and LSU are going to the National championship. Well anyways moving on haha Sunday was pretty awesome too. I LOVE FAST SUNDAY! The power of fast continues to build my testimony each time I do it. I never knew how important it really was. I havent missed a testimony meeting yet. I bear it everytime. :) Our testimony meetings are good! Even though we are just a little branch, we have some BIG HEARTS! Well hmm.. you asked about some of our investigators.. Well we are teaching a girl named HAWATHA, and her kids TYRONE, TYREL, ASHANTI and TYSHAIRE. Awesome names haha I know, quality african american names. Hawatha is a DJ, her name is Lady-Watha. We are actually baptising their whole family this week!! :) All five of them! I'm stoked! We are also teaching a guy named Dennis. I don't know if you saw the picture where I'm standing by the old red restored Mustang Mach 9 I think it is, but if you did that's his car haha. He's a pretty cool guy, he is going to be baptised on the 26. We are teaching these two girls name Catherine and Linda, but we think they are Lesbian, so they might be a struggle, but they are supposed to be baptised on the 26 too. Hmmm.. there is a lot of them so I'll leave some for next time haha. That story about old creeper was hilarious haha. Elder Fat and I were bustin up in the library haha. Old men have the hots for you sis haha. Is that why you like her Brock, so you can feel older, sorta like a mountain man haha? :)Well I hope your all having a good week and a good up coming week!! I love you all so much! Brock and Shay your gonna be AMAZING PARENTS! Keep reading and praying everyday! I pray everyday that the baby will be healthy and strong too! Keep the faith! I hope I'm setting a good example for you guys, hopefully a making up for all the bad ones! I love you so much! Until next time! (another week down until skype :) )

alofa ia te oe,

Peace, Love and Blessing,

Elder Tolman

P.S. I cried like a little baby today. Elder Fat is getting transfered, so when you write him express your love for him please. We are both pretty sad, but we know everything will work out. Pray for us and this mission. Thanks! LOVE YOU!

New fun!

This week has been a pretty successful week. Last P-day we played some more ball, it was pretty intense and fun haha we had 8 people this time, so it got pretty crazy. Tuesday was awesome. Well Wednesday we pretty crazy, we were tracting by some "projects" called GWC homes, and there is a club right by it. We heard some gun shots and later on that week we found out a kid had got kicked out of the club for trying to start a fight, so he went out and got his gun, and started firing about 12 rounds into the club, he hit 8 people, but only one died luckily, but unfortunately it was his sister he hit and killed. So that was sad, there was three people shot and killed all through this week though in Selma, it's crazy how violent this place is, for the size of the city, it has the 3rd highest murder rate in the country. So yeah.. Wednesday was nuts haha. Well Thursday wasnt good, all our appointments fell through, and we only found 3 lessons to teach the whole day. But once again we made up for it on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All together we taught 18 lessons in those three days, committed five to baptism, and found four new investigators, so once again, our faith was tested and proven strong :) Well Sunday was AWESOME! We went to stake conference in Montgomery, and I got to see all the missionaries in the zone who I was close with in the MTC, like Elder Anderson and Craner. Thats the sad part about the areas we are in though, is we have to really be alert, because the girls do anything to get you attention, and I mean ANYTHING. So it's amazing to see how strong the spirit works, when I'm keeping myself aligned with heavenly fathers commandments. Well back to stake conference, it was really good. President and Sister Holzapfel are so amazing, especially President. His talks are honestly like baptist preachers, he is up there pounding, and speaking so boldly haha but it's incredible to see how much he knows with being an historian and stuff, just him teaching at BYU makes me like it just a LITTLE bit more haha. So yeah, that's about all that has happened this week. As far as waking up early, yes its been a habit for a while now. It's not that it's hard to get up or anything, it just takes me like 5 or 10 to fully wake up. I've decided though, that i wasted A TON of time sleeping haha but i figure now I have eternity to rest, why not get everything done while I can :). Well you can send whatever you want for halloween haha doesnt matter to me :) Send some stuff for Elder Fat too :) Well I love you guys, I know this church is true. I know that Christ is my savior and redeemer, and that he lives. Keep on exercising yourselves spiritually, as well as physically. Your body is a temple for you spirit, so keep it healthy and strong, just as we would any of the temples on earth today. I love you so much, keep up the good work and pray for me. I miss you guys a lot, but not enough to come home haha sorry. Well until next week.

Love, Peace, and Blessings,

Alofa ia te oe, Elder Tolman

Awh family, another p-day :)

Well things went great this week. My knee is feeling quite nice now :) Elder Fatiau did not get your package, but I'm sure he will today. But don't worry about the small box haha he really gets excited over the smallest things now. To answer your question though, Yes his family are members, and neither of us know why they don't write him. No, he didnt go home for his mom's funeral, Elder Fatiau said he gets over things really fast, so he said it was hard for 3 days, then he went back to work with full purpose of heart :) He's an amazing trainer. Well yeah, the city Camden is awesome, we have had a lot of strong investigators there, we just don't get to go there a lot because of the distance. Well this week was pretty crazy, i already wrote about his story in mom and dad's email and im running out of time so i'll give you the short version, but you have to go read it on there. So we are across the street and hear gun shots haha, so we just think nothing of it cause we hear it all the time. We find out later that day that some kid got kicked out of the club, started firing randomly into it, and out of all the people he hit, he hit and killed his sister, CRAZY I KNOW! Thats awesome about snowbasin, I miss that place so much, especially the mountains! Tell the pace's they will have to do that letter writing thingy more often haha that honestly made my day. Well thats sad to here about the play. It's amazing to see how in just a couple of months, i've began to see the illusions that satan comes up with, to change our standard just little by little, and do lead us further and further from the gospel. Morality of women, the repect men have for them and the things men do that are right, begin to slowly twist and transform, until Satan has us in his snare. It makes me sick to my stomach so see this, but on the other hand so thankful that i have the gospel and have come to the realization of this to be able to withstand it in any aspect or form it comes in. Well keep me update on everything, I LOVE to hear about life :) Yes you can send me any type of picture you want, through email or mail. :) so send me this picture of grant haha. Keep on keepin on. I love you guys more than you could ever know, and so does our eternal father in heaven. Pray to him, and thank him daily for you blessing. Pray for me, as I always do for you. Your the greatest family in the whole world, I couldn't have asked for better people to spend eternity with. Tell my friends i love them so much, and that I continue to think about them and pray for them. I hope their lives are going great, and that they are continuing to stand as a witness for our heavenly father in everything they do. Until next time.

This week in 'Bama

Why hello there :)

Haha this has been a pretty average but successful week. It was kinda just the same old same old. Except for Monday while playing ball I twisted my knee and I seriously thought for a second I tore my meniscus, I couldn't walk the next day and my knee was SO SWOLLEN. There is a bruise the size of a grape fruit on it now haha but I can walk to all is well :). Elder Fat's birthday was on Saturday, and he still hasn't heard from any of his family. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen watching him walk to the mailbox that morning to open it up and see nothing inside. Mom and Dad sent him a package though and it made his DAY, MONTH whatever it be. He couldn't stop smiling. So that made me happy and him too. We were successful this week, but it all came in good time. The beginning
of the week was so slow we couldn't accomplish anything, all of our plans kept falling through, and things kept slowing down the work. We prayed so many times this week for help and strength the keep going, and it worked. Friday and Saturday we found 8 new investigators and taught 16 lessons, now that's what I'm talking about! I can't wait to get the letter your talking about, I'm sure it will be awesome! I'm still extremely upset though that you didn't buy me a shirt, you PROMISED! haha It's so amazing to find people out here that I can relate to like that. So you'll have to ask Bronson, Bryce and Grant if they remember him haha, well and Brock, do you know him?? Anywho fun stuff. We have 9 baptisms schedule not including the 8 we new gators we found this week, so I'm planning on coverting them all haha so we'll have 16 schedule at the end of the week haha jk, but I hope so :). We actually met a kid out here who's religion was motocross hahahaha it's call MX for Jesus hahaha how hilarious is that! Well there's not anything I can think of that I need haha besides a Taylor Swift shirt... :( Thanks for praying for me, continue too, and I always do for you. :)
ear Family,

This week has been a pretty successful week. Last P-day Elder Fatiau and I played some more basketball over at Martin Luther King Park, it's kind of a beat down area. Some brothers came over to play with us, and during the game I twisted my knee wrong and hurt it way bad. I couldn't even walk the next day without limping. I have a bruise the size of a grape fruit on my knee now, and it feels a lot better. I was afraid I tore something in my knee with how bad it hurt, but the lord blessed me :) The start of this week was really slow, things just kept coming up that were slowing down the work, and we were not able to use our time as effectively as we wanted. It was a little discouraging at first, but when you realize it's just the adversary working hard, it makes us work even harder, and of course, we came out on top. :) We found 8 new investigators in two days, Friday and Saturday. And in those two days we taught 16 lessons, so this week turned out pretty good. We have 9 baptisms scheduled but I'm sure we'll have a lot more after this week. It's sad to have to keep moving some of our baptisms back, but when we feel they aren't ready we have to listen to the spirit and move it back, but it will all work out. I've finally had some southern BBQ, and I had it 5 times this week haha. A man named Clint, who isn't a member, always calls us and tells us to come over and talk with him. He is the nicest person I think I've ever met and he is so humble. He just likes to talk with us about Christ but doesn't really want to change his ways. Anything Clint has though he offers you. I have never met a man who literally gives anything and everything he has, to someone who is in need, or even someone who isn't. Best of all those he is an AMAZING cook!! So two nights this week he cooked us up some wild hog and beans, and a ton of RIBS!! :) (they were delicious!!) Then Elder Fatiau's birthday was on Saturday. It was an amazing day. The amazing part was all the people we found and talked with. Then a man named Danny cooked us BBQ chicken and ribs, and bought him a birthday cake. (Danny is the one who reminds me of dad). Oh and by the way the cookies and carmel corn in the package were to die for! Will you E-mail me the recipe pppllease :) About the gloves and the shirts, i just want one more long sleeve, and the rest short, but can you please make sure they're the TALL and THIN or FITTED? They always come untucked while I ride and it's annoying haha. As for the gloves I just want the black ones I bought the day I forgot mine, please. Thanks your the best. :)Your planning on going to the cabin haha? Your all crazy, you'll freeze, but i'll pray for you haha :) How excited are you guys to be GRANDPARENTS hahahaha YOUR SO OLD!! This week has been awesome, I'm so addicted to reading, all I do while in the car or during personal study or free time is read Jesus the Christ, Our search for Happiness, True to the Faith, and I'm starting our Heritage this coming week. I have learned SO MUCH, that I am just realizing how much I missed out on not reading at home. Jesus the Christ is probably my favorite though, because if I more fully understand Christ, especially out here in Bama, it makes it easier to explain the application of the atonement in our lives, and the meaning of the miracles he preformed. One that stood out to me was why did he turn water into wine in Cana? It wasn't because the people needed more wine to drink, it's because the people did not believe in his authority and power, and it was to show them the godship he held. You'd be suprised out here how many people we teach the Word of Wisdom, and the first thing they say is "Well Jesus drank wine" or "Jesus turned water into wine, so why can't we drink it" haha and this has been a wonderful explanation for that. The memory card you sent back to me, did you save all those pictures to the computer back home?? If not be sure to tell me so next time I know if I can delete them or not. If they are saved though, when you start sending them back please clear the memory card, because it takes FOREVER to delete them haha thank you. :) Anywho how did you like those new pictures?? :) I'm trying to take a lot but it's kind of hard when you've already seen everything in the other pictures haha I'm telling you Selma in tiny. Well thats about all for this week. I love you guys so much. I know that heavenly father loves you so much, and that he will continue to bless you with everything you need both temporal and spiritual as you live the commandments. Anywho the church is true, and heavenly father continues to witness it to me, and continues to help solidify my foundation, as he will yours as well. I miss you all so much, but am busy in a more important work at the moment :) Keep it up, exercise and stay healthy. Continue to pray for me as I always do for you.

Alofa ia te oe,

E Faavavau aiga,

Elder Aleki Mareko Tolumane

Backup emails :)

Hi, here are pieces from Alex's last three emails, we've been behind!

GGGGGOOOOOOOO UTES!!!!!!!!!!

Thats sick that the utes did work! Thats something that is huge here is College football, its CRAZY! but thats awesome haha BYU aint no thang :) But yeah haha that sucks about my bike right? this week has been so unlucky!! Im FINE! actually better than fine, im EXCELLENT! I've never been so happy in my entire life! If i pray for you and you pray for me we'll all be fine, "oh ye of little faith?" hahaha just playin.but thats awesome, ill be honest if i wasnt so happy i here i might be jealous of what your all doing :) that sounds pretty fun! tell everyone hi and that i love them. But that story you told about the family being baptised is sick, thats a good one, i might have to use that in some of my talks here in Selma!! I love you all so much! I cant believe its almost been two months, if time doesnt slow down i might have to extend it haha :) but your all truely a blessing to me, even the fig. I love and pray for you both daily! I have put my faith in the lord, and i know that everything will work out. "I can do all things through Chirst, which strengtheneth me" its true, you can, you just have to believe! I cant wait to tell you about this coming week next time! Pray of Elder Fatiau and I, We ALWAYS do the same!

Oh FAMILY!!

This week has been nuts!! To start off like you already know, on Tuesday we were going about 70-75 on the highway 21 and the bike rack on our car snapped and both of our bikes were thrashed!! Luckily mine was covered but elder fatiau has to buy a new one :( so he is riding an old piece that we got from our branch president haha. But my bike hasnt come yet, they had to actually ship it from Ohio because the bike i have they dont make anymore, so they are sending me a SPECIALIZED bike that is actually nicer than TREK, and more durable. So i guess i got the good end of that deal, but it should be here thursday :) Secondly our phone broke on thursday so we couldnt contanct any of our investigators or members so our numbers this week SUCKED! Third, On Saturday was car appreciation day so we couldnt use our car, we didnt have our bikes, and we didnt have a phone. So pretty much we walked twenty miles all day to teach 3 lessons. But the upside of us walking, is Elder Fatiau and I got the impression at the exact same time to go and tract this street, we went and knocked on the first door and met a lay named Veronica with 4 kids. We shared our message with her and she accepted it and was thrilled that we had stopped by. she wants to learn more and have her children learn too. After we left we realized we had already tracted that street haha, and we knew that we got that impression just so we would tract into that house! The lord truely works in mysterious ways!! :) but other than a kind of depressing week, it was good. We have 8 baptisms scheduled and its sure to be nine after we commit veronica tonight :) I was supposed to baptise a guy named Lloyd this week, but we both felt like he needed more time, so we moved him back a week. I was going to be the one baptising him, but we decided that we are just going to ask him who he wants to do it, i would love the opportunity too, but it doesnt matter who baptises him, it only matters that he is being baptised for the right reason :) So i could be baptising someone this week or i couldnt, guess you'll just have to wait until next week to see :) I cant WAIT to send my memory card home, these pictures are hilarious!! Your going to love them! But the package you sent was perfect! Elder Fatiau is in LOVE with your cookies!! They were SO GOOD! OOOOOHHHHHH and the worst part about this whole week!! I GOT STUNG!! the day we were walking everywhere a bee flew into my hair, so i swatted it out, and it started flying towards my leg, so i tried to kick it haha and it flew up my pant leg, i slapped my leg and it fell down to the base of my ankle and stung the top of my foot! My foot swelled up SO BIG that it was cutting off the circulation in my foot! My whole leg went numb and my face started tingling so i started freakin out. President mott had given us his phone like 20 minutes before to use so we called him and asked him to come pick us up and take us to get some medicine for it. We went to a pharmacy and said i couldnt get anything like an epipen, because i didnt have a prescription. So they told me to take some benadryl, so i drank the whole bottle haha, about 20 minutes later i am TRIPPIN OUT!! Im seeing full on double vision. So the rest of the day i have pretty much forgotten, elder fatiau told me everything else that went on. I guess we walked to a members house haha which i have no memory of. We ate dinner haha and the only part i can remember about the whole night is looking at this plate where food used to be (i ate it i just couldnt remember) and thinking i was SO TIRED! Then all of the sudden i was waking up sunday morning not knowing anything that went on haha! But i guess they told me to go and lay down on the couch and i fell asleep instantly! this was around six. then they carried me out to the car because i kept falling asleep when i was trying to walk and i would just start falling face first towards the ground haha. And then i guess i went into the house and i was just saying all this random stuff haha and i was laying on the couch and elder fatiau said he kept talking to me but i dont remember anything. he said i kept saying something like "im soooooo tired" and "whats going on?" hahaha But the swelling went down and i was good by that sunday morning, just a little groggy haha. But thanks for putting that money in my account for YOU KNOW WHAT. I cant wait until you all see it, its AWESOME! but you guys are the best!! Thank you so much for you support! I continue to pray for you every single day and night! But oh wait Utah won? 51-10? oh yeah that sounds about right hahaha BYU usually doesnt even hit the double digits im kinda impressed :) hahahaha go UTES! Well Selma is still crazy!! We hear gun shots go off about every other night, the other day they were just around the corner, CRAZY!! haha but im not scared, as long as im not stealing money, girls or crack from them im okay :) But mom i was gonna play a prank on you, but i figured since i was actually out on my mission calling, that it might be a little mean haha. I wanted to say that i was coming home or something haha but that would have been rude! But you sounded amazing!! i loved hearing your voice! i miss all of your voices so much!! Lucky i can still have your smiles in pictures so thats good .Dad i never thought i would say this but i am, i have found one of my investigators named Danny, to act just like you! Even the jokes, and it makes me miss your jokes a ton, so im sorry that i was rude or disrepectful to you when you were just trying to enlighten the mood! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!! but my testimony has already grown so much, there is no doubt in my mind at all, i know this is the true church, and that heavenly father continues to reveal truth and blessings to his righteous followers and to a Latter day PROPHET! I can truely see the blessings, and feel of my heavenly fathers love for me, so strongly every minute of everyday that i am sharing his gospel, and being obediant to the rules!

Oh and one more thing, my new favorite song is hymn 335 Brightly beams our fathers mercy! So now whenever you hear it think of me, because that song is what im doing and what everyone can do! "Some poor fainting, struggling seaman, YOU may RESCUE, YOU may SAVE"!! :)

Love, Peace and Blessings,

Alofa ia te oe, E faavavau,

AIGA!!!!! (FAMILY)!!!!!,

Im glad you liked the picture, sorry it's not amazing i didnt have a lot of the stuff i needed out here, but i made do with what i had :) i hope its okay i sent it later, rather than never, i felt i needed to keep my promise. So happy birthday and WEDDING hahahaha. can you say 2fer one? ;) But the mission is going awesome! i said my first prayer in Somoan on Saturday, can you say GANGSTA? We have 9 baptisms scheduled in the next month or so, so that should be cool. :) We had my third baptism on Saturday, it was an awesome experience. There lord is gathering his sheep into the fold, and its happening right before my eyes! What a blessing! I never thought i'd admit it, but i lOVE READING! i wish i would have read before i came out, there is so much to learn, and so many things i missed out on, and now that i have to catch up with! But what better time to learn then on the Lords time and under his direction right? Im almost done with Jesus the Christ, and im pretty close to finishing the book of mormon. My new goal is to read it in 2 weeks when im finished, its going to be sweet!! Elder Fatiau and i play the coolest game ever out here called "book of mormon baseball" so what you do is one person says "pitch" and starts flippings randomly through the book of mormon, when the other person says "swing" they have to stop on that random page and say "left or right", the other person then chooses a side. Whatever side they choose you say the number of scriptures that go through it, for example verse 1-17, the other person then chooses a verse and the pitcher reads it, you then have to guess what book, and chapter the scripture is in. You get three stikes until "YOOOUUURRR OUTTTTT" haha. Say you guess its in Alma and you guess chapter 12 and its really chapter 17, you then say "stike one, higher" if they guess chapter 19 then it's "stike two, lower" haha it sounds lame but its actually pretty fun when that's the only type of game you can play :) and you become more familiar with the BOM or BIBLE :) i cant believe grant is already coming home, thats nuts haha, you'll have to tell him and brice to write me :) But i look forward to conference this week! Watch and listen carefully, i always took this for granted when i shouldnt have! We have a latter day prophet upon the earth, and we would have to be CLUELESS not to listen to our heavenly fathers words revealed through him!! I love you and know this church is true with all my heart! I pray daily for my family and friends in English and Somoan haha :) i love you all, pray for me!

Alofa ia te oe,

Love, Peace and Blessings,

Elder Tolman

Well to start off the BEST NEWS of the day!! IM STAYING IN SELMA for another transfer with Elder Fatiau!! YAY! i couldnt sleep last night because i was so nervous i was gonna leave!! I know the lord will put me where he needs, but all the ward members all express how wonderful we are doing with baptisms and church attendance, and said they were praying we didnt leave haha so i guess their prayers were answered! This last week we went from 45 people attending to about 70! Its SO AWESOME out here!! Elder Fatiau is a wonderful trainer!! He has definitely started me out how i need to be! This week was pretty good though. We had a baptism on Saturday, Brother Underwood (our ward mission leader) baptised him. We felt that was best just so when we do get transefered he will always have him to keep him going and strong in the church! But we have about 9 schedule in the next month or so, so i should get my chance soon :) I'm learning Somoan so fast haha i said my first prayer in Somoan on Saturday, i gotta say it was pretty awesome! On sunday i got to say the closing prayer in sacrament, that was pretty nice. We met a lot of people this week! Saturday we went tracting for 7 hours straight haha it was cool. Things are going to amazing out here! I'm almost done with Jesus the Christ, and my new goal is to read the book of mormon is two weeks, after i finish it this time and finish marking it. Think i can do it? :) hmmm what else is going on. Oh i got my new bike, its pretty sick! Its a SPECIALIZED HARDROCK, its a way nice bike! Well there is a peom ive been reading whenever i am discouraged, and i know that it can help everyone in any aspect of life, not just a mission, so here it is...

He's Been There Before

The alarm rings at 6:30; I stumble to my feet I grab my companion's bedding and pull off his sheet. A groan fills the room. It's already time to arise?" It seems like just a second ago I was able to shut my eyes. The morning activities follow: study, prayer and such When its time to leave the apartment, you feel you haven't accomplished much "We have a super day planned," my Companion says with a grin. I lowly utter a faithless breath, Yea, if anyone lets us in. With the word of God and my faithful schwinn, we ride off in the street. Prepared to face another day of humidity and heat It's 9:30 in the evening, the day is almost through. My companion and I are riding home, not accomplishing what we thought we'd do. We ride up to the mail box hoping to recieve a lot. Only to look inside and hear my echo reverberate "AIRBOX" We go up to our apartment; the day is now complete the only thing to show for our work is a case of blistery feet It's past 10:30 Pm, my companion is fast asleep. Silence engulfs me all about and I begin to weep In the midst of sadness I kneel down to pray; I need to talk to Father, but I'm not sure what to say. "Oh Father," I begin, "What happened to us today? I thought we'd teach somebody, but everyone was away My hands, my aching hands worn, hurt and beat If our area was any smaller,we'd have knocked on every street." Why on missions are the days so much alike? the only difference about today was the flat tire on my bike. Will you send some cooler weather? the heat is killing me! I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes. Its very hard to see. Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn't your protection enough? People always laugh at me and call me stupid stuff. Please send us investigators so I may give them what they lack; I want to give them Books Of Mormon, the weight of them hurts my back." And what about my Family? They don't have much to say. I'm sick of not hearing from home day after day after day. Oh Father,why am I here, Am I just wasting my time? Sometimes I just want to go home, I'm sorry but that's on my mind. My Companion, Heavenly Father, what are you giving me? The way he rides his bicycle I don't know if he can even see! Now you have it, I can't go on. I DON'T KNOW what to do! That, my Father in Heaven, is the prayer I leave you." My prayer now finished I stand up, then jump right into bed. I need my feet for tomorrow; we have another long day ahead Sleep starts to overtake me, I seem to drift away. Then it sems a vision takes me to another time in another day. I'm standing alone on the hill, the view is very nice. A man walks towards me and says, "My name is Jesus Christ." Tears of joy well up inside, I fall down to His feet. "Arise he states, follow me to the shade you and I need to speak." My attention towards my Saviour, total and complete He says, "Your Mission is similar of what happened to me. I understand how you feel, I know what your going through; In fact, it would be fair to say I've felt the same as you. "Even know how you felt when no one listened to you At times I felt not quite sure what else that I could do. I know you don't like to ride a bicycle for you a car would be sweet. Just remember the donkey I rode I was not equipped with 21 speed. I understand you don't like sweating, in fact it's something to hate. I remember when I sweat blood from every pore, " Oh, the agony was great. I see you don't like your companion you would rather have someone else. I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth. It's hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you. I remember when they put thorns in my head and called me King of the Jews. So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack. I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back." Your hands hurt from tracking and knocking on doors all day I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way. It's hard not to hear from home when your family was not there to see. I lost communication on the cross and cried, "Father, why has though forsaken me?" We have a lot in common, but there is a difference between us you see. I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and do like me." He embraced me with his arms, His light filled me with His love. With tears in my eyes, I watched as he went back to the Father above. I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head. I listened and heard the alarm, when I realized I was in my bed. My companion let's out a groan, "6:30 already, no way!" I sat up and said. Come on, I'll even carry your scriptures today!" No matter what we go through when we feel we can't take more, Just stop and think about Jesus Christ, He's been there before what an amazing poem right? that poem can change the most discouraging days into the most successful, and fulfilling day. I encourage you to print off a copy of it and hang it somewhere in the house, and when you look at it always remember, "he's been there before". :) Well the mission is awesome!! Keep praying for me!! I pray for all of you so much, i hope you can feel of heavenly fathers love for you daily! continue studying and praying as a family! I promise you'll see the blessings in you life and i will see them as well! It's extremely humbling to be out here, and see how little people have, and how open and humble their hearts are. Strive to be christ like in everything you do, and heavenly father will see you good works, and pour out blessings that there wont be room enough to recieve them! I love you all so much! THE CHURCH IS TRUE! OKAY not only was this the GREATEST EMAIL I have EVER READ, but it made me by far the most JEALOUS!! TAYLOR SWIFT???!!!! What are you trying to do get me to come home hahahaahah jk, but that's SO SICK!! PLEASE TELL ME you got me a shirt!! Remember you PROMISED!!!! Awh I am laughing and crying right now in the middle of the library because I loved this so much, people are gonna thing I'm all cracked out hahaha.Your the best brother and sister in the world, i could never express in words how thankful i am for you both. Pray for me, and I continually do for all of you. Let my friends know i pray for them daily by name, for strength, comfort and guidance. I can't wait to hear from you next week. Oh and yes brock was right, I loved the talk by Callister, it was PERFECT for our investigators. Good luck in school and life. Let god be your priority and all will fall into place, I PROMISE. No sacrifice is gone unnoticed by the Lord. WOW is all I can say about this week!! It has truely been a blessing to listen to living prophets and apostles on the earth!! I have never taken in so much information from conference, as I did this last Saturday and Sunday sessions. That was the biggest boost of confidence, and the greatest reassurance I could have ever asked for as a missionary. My heart is filled with the happiness and joy of knowing that I am able to spend eternity with you, my loved ones. The Lord continues to show me his tender little mercies daily, as I strive to humble myself, and to be an obedient servant. We had 6 investigators attend general conference with us this week, it's the most we've had a church so far. It's so incredible to not only hear, but see the miracle of those inspired men and the message they brought to our investigators about the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Each investigator expressed to Elder Fatiau and I the joy and comfort they received, from hearing these wonderful men and women explain to them, the importance and standards of the church, related to the rest of the world. They then realized what it really means to be a Latter Day Saint, not just a mormon. I am faithful and confident in the Lord, and know that he will provide for Elder Fatiau and I, as we strive each day to be obedient tools in the hands of the Lord. I have been reading the Book of Mormon non-stop these last couple days. My knowledge of the gospel is continuing to increase at a rapid rate, but most importantly my understanding. I have realized out here that you cannot convert someone past your own conversion. So I strive daily to further my knowledge and understanding, so that I can more fully convert the Lords investigators that he places in my path. My hope and prayers each day, center around my family, friends, investigators, companion and knowledge. It is my prayer that you will continue to set those high standards for yourselves, and like President Monson said, "Stand up". Mom and Dad I can't explain the love I have for the people out here. All I know is that it grows daily as I continue to humble myself, keep the commandments and read and pray. It's so amazing to see that I can truely desire to love and help someone receive salvation, that I don't even know. The Lord has blessed us with these wonderful leaders and the Book of Mormon as our guide. Now it's OUR responsibility as members and saints, to spread this great and marvelous work. I am truely blessed to have you in my life, not many parents could have put up with a handful like me. You never gave up on me, your child, and the Lord will never give up on you, His children. Continue to show that faith in the Lord, and he will guide you back to him. Man I feel like I haven't stopped smiling since conference. I absolutely LOVED the priesthood and relief society sessions! President Uchtdorf continues to touch my heart in everything he teaches, especially the "Forget me not". That's the awesome thing about being missionaries out here in such a small town. Is that we get to set up the satalite, and watch EVERYTHING and ANYTHING the church puts on, it is truely incredible. I'm extremely glad to hear that you enjoyed the poem. I think any missionary who reads it feels the same as I did, and that is blessed. I read that and my blessing each morning, what a marvelous and straight forward promise the Lord will give me, if I just keep his commandments and repent daily. Well I had an amazing experience yesterday. We were teaching a less-active member and I got the STRONGEST impression to teach her about enduring to the end. As I told her about the topic we were planning to teach, and asking her if we could first open with a prayer, I prayed that we would be guided by the spirit and touch her heart. As i finished the prayer not knowing where to start, I asked heavenly father in my heart to lead me to something, I then opened my book of mormon, and the first page I opened to was Omni, with the PERFECT scripture about enduring to the end after baptism. We then explained why it's so important to come to church each Sunday and renew that baptismal covenant, she replied "well it says in the bible that we don't meet a building to be forgiven, but in our hearts", I then again prayed for help and got impressed to go to the index and search "sacrament", the first verse I saw was in 3 Nephi 18, it tells us why we need to go to church and partake of the sacrament, and renew our covenant, and not only is it suggested, but a COMMANDMENT, she then committed to attending church :). What a blessing it is to be so enveloped by the Lords spirit, so that we can be guided and directed, if we just DISCERN the needs of our investigators. Well you guys are such a blessing in my life, pray for me, and pray for the Lords almighty hand in helping you through this immoral world, that the adversary so diligently seeks to DESTROY and DIMINISH. I love you all from the deepest parts of my heart, and look forward to the next E-mail. Keep up the good work, and trust in the Lord. Alofa ia te oe, Peace, Love and Blessings, Elder Tolman.

New emails- last week

Sorry this post is up a little late, crazy week! Here are parts of the emails to Brock and I and my parents-

FAMILY :)

This last week has been awesome! We had another baptism Saturday, it was a way cool experience. His name is Danny Wilson, and he's honestly the funniest man i have ever met! when i send you the pictures from this area, you will see him, he's the really big black man hahaha and some of the things he says reminds me of Dad! But he is about 52 and when he was standing in the font the spirit was SO STRONG! He told us after that he saw his mother who had passed away, standing outside of the font smiling at him! He told us that Saturday was a day that he'll always remember, and that he'll always know that this church is true by that experience. Elder Fatiau baptised him, and i got to comfirm him yesterday! It was so cool! I love exercising my priesthood, especially as a missionary, because im truely as in tune with the spirit as i can be, and it makes it that much better! But we have another baptism this week, his name is Lloyd, ill be baptising him, im WAY EXCITED!! but then the week after we have two more and the week after that we have FOUR! So i hope i dont get transfered out of this area, because i want to be able to baptise those people with elder fatiau!! So pray for me! :) Elder Kelley our other companion got transfered early, him and Elder Fatiau werent getting along, because elder kelley likes to start arguments, and that only leads to contention, and the spirit can't dwell where there is contention, so he got transefered up to B-Ham. This week went by pretty fast, i swear it just keeps speeding up!! but anywho, i love hearing about all the fun times you guys are having! I continue to pray for you and my friends as well daily! but it makes me so happy so see your continuing on in righteousness! I KNOW that families can be together forever, and i want to be able to be with all of you and the rest of my family in the Celestial kingdom! So keep it up!! :) Jesus the Christ in an AWESOME book!! it blows my mind everytime i read it, and im learning a ton! Same with the BOM and BIBLE! Im so happy that i have your support as a family, and that you never gave up on stubborn little alex, even when i was going the wrong way! I know that Alabama is where im supposed to be, even if i am 1 out of 9 white people here in Selma haha! But continue to pray for Elder Fatiau (fot-e-ow) and I, we could use all the help we can get!! Tell all of my friends that i miss them very much, and that i love them to death!! Well i cant wait to hear from you next week, im sure it will go by extremely fast!! I hope everything at home is going well, i try not to worry about you all but it just happens, so please STAY HEALTHY and RIGHTEOUS so i dont have to worry!! :) Fai fai Lemu, alofa ia te oe (take it easy, I love you!!) REMEMBER E Faavavau aiga (families are FOREVER!)

Fiafia ma olioli,

Peace and Blessings,

Elder Tolman

WASUP!! :)

This week was pretty sick! The tornado didnt end up hitting so that was good!! But yeah the weather has been good its really starting to cool off!! I lOVE IT NOW! its still humid but ive gotten pretty used to it! But yeah playing ball with all the brothers is sick, we are like on of the crew now haha. Its pretty scary sometimes though because they get super mad at basketball, especially when they are losing, (which is most of the time ;) ) haha but they are all tatted up and have tear drop tats under their eyes and stuff, most of them are gang members, so it can get pretty crazy when they lose, but you know what they say, dont hate the player hate the game haha so they dont mess with us ;) but we had another baptism this week and i got to do my first comformation, it was way awesome!! its a pretty long story and im almost out of time, but get it from mom and dad haha :) sorry i love you. But we have 7 MORE BAPTISMS scheduled in the next three weeks, so hopefully i dont get transfered on the 28th so i can see these people get baptised! But im really growing to love Selma, the ward family is awesome!! Im super proud of the companionship we have, yesterday we DOUBLED the attendance at sacrament meeting!! DOING WORK!! but its okay haha but i better get a package soon, im getting bored of looking in the mail everyday and having nothing haha, but you'll be getting a package from me for you birthday so be ready :) its going to be at mom and dads house, but you BETTER LOVE IT! :) but i miss being able to come over and kick it at your house, but ill be fine :) dont game to hard with out me! You two are the best, i couldnt have asked for a better sister and brother, and soon to be nephew :) I pray for you daily and promise that the lord will bless you through you faith that you put in him that EVERYTHING is going to be OKAY :), just have faith.. you two are awesome i really cant wait to set up the skype and talk to you on christmas, just so you can see how skinny ive already gotten haha! Well Fai fai lemu, alofa ia te oe (take it easy, i love you)!

Fiafia Ma Olioli,

Peace and blessings, Elder Tolman

New emails!

But any who, this last week went by so fast!! It was a very successful week!! Your gonna think im crazy, and that this isnt really me emailing, but i am ADDICTED to READING!! there is SO much you can learn, and just being out here and seeing how much there really is for me to know, makes me want to just learn all the time!! from the time ive been here ive read through half of JESUS THE CHRIST, im almost done with the BOM, i have a mini king james version bible i read from everyday, and im working on True to the faith, Our Heritage, and Mans search for Happiness. Is that crazy or what!! I have learned so much here! but anyways about my successful week, we found 11 new investigators, 5 of whom are already committed to baptism!! Now that's what im talking about!! It was actually really cool because we were tracting in the pooring rain, just soaking wet, (there were even flood warnings) but we kept on going, and right as we were getting discouraged the last 3 houses we knocked on we got those 5 investigators who committed, they were very receptive to our message, it was so awesome. The Lord definitely works in mysterious ways!! But we have a baptism this week of a guy named Danny Wilson, he is so awesome, he reminds me exactly of Dad, just the way he talks and the things he says, so i take to him really well! He calls me Marshal Mathers (or Eminem the Rapper) because he says i look just like him, it's probably only because im white though, but he is a cool guy! The cooking is coming really good, Elder Fatiau and I are the cooks, i have actually learned some awesome Somoan recipes from him that are fast and really filling, and the best part.. CHEAP! He taught me how to make this really good homemaid bread, CURRY CHICKEN, fried rice, and some other good things that i can whip up in about five to ten minutes. Im continuing to lose weight just not as fast, im down to about 188, but to be honest ive actually gotten more ripped out here because of the weight ive lost, and we work out every night and run every other day, so its really good! My legs have gotten way strong, biking everyday has really done its job! i can dunk a basketball with ease now! We play ball every P day with the street negros, they have taught me a thing or two about basketball. It awesome here, Selma is the "promised land", i hope i can stay here for a while!! the area may be scary at times, but i dont worry at all because i know ill be protected! The temple last Wednesday was AWESOME!! I got to baptise for 30 names, i baptised 3 people each for 10 names, and then Elder Anderson baptised me for 10 also. We also did an endowment session with all the missionaries in our zone, that was pretty awesome! Elder Fatiau is teaching me Somoan, i have actually learned a lot, we can talk in whole sentences now to each other. If i knew how to spell all the things i can say, i would tell you what i know, but i cant haha so im sorry. but i can tell you this one (its the one i use most often haha) its Ma'puni Laonco, it means "shut your mouth" haha, its kind of an inside joke between us. but the days here are awesome, and i dont regret any minute of them, i cant wait to get a package from you guys, those are the most exciting to get. make sure when you send your picture holder, that you put some pictures of the family and stuff in there okay :) but oh, im only supposed to email family, so if my email is on face book please just put my address instead, i need to be obediant with exactness in order to be the best missionary i can, and thats exactly what i want. but Dad im glad you wrote the other two missionaries, but just for the sake of being obediant, try not to email them, but they told me last week at the temple that they love you guys already!! but you are awesome!! i love you guys so much!! thanks for not giving up on me even when i was stubborn! I fasted this week for you guys, shaylee and brock, and my friends and family!! I hope you can see the blessing and help it brings!! You are all truely a blessing in my life!!

I have taken some more photos and stuff that i have to send, so ill probably send them at the end of this transfer, which is on the 28th of this month, so make sure to send that memory card :) But i have a surpise coming that ill send home with the memory card at the end of this month!! but i love you all so much, and i cant wait until get to Skype with you and tell you about how AMAZING this is!! christmas is pretty close right ;) well keep on keepin' on as they say here :)

Peace Love and Blessings,

Elder Tolman

haha im glad that i get to write you guys after mom and dad because all the things i forget, i can just tell you to tell them! so why were are on this topic, tell them not be nervous, but im encountering my first tornado sometime this week!! haha scary i know, there has been tornado warnings all over the state, its supposed to come right through central alabama!! Yesterday wind speeds got up to 65 MPH, try biking against that :) haha but any who the guetto is pretty scary, we are actually going to tract the projects today :) there was four shootings there last week haha, but what can ya say, its all a part of the game! but yes im am still in a trio, the transfer meeting is actually on your birthday haha so i will be in a trio probably until then. But about the tornado that happened, yes i have seen the aftermath and it is pretty crazy, they have a lot of it cleaned up but there is still huge bridges and stuff that are down. My daily schedule is this, wake up at 6, work out for an hour, make breakfast and shower until 8, personal study until 9, companionship study until 11, make lunch, leave the house at 12, usually go tract for 3 - 4 hours, we have appointments set up at the end of the day most of the time, then we usually tract after until we go home! We get home around 8-8:30 most of the time, then we plan for the next day until 9, then we make dinner and work out, and write in our journals until bed time at 10:30 :) and thats a regular day for me haha. biking hasnt been that far the last week or so because elder fatiau has a hemroid and it hurts his butt to ride hahahahaaha so we got of easy last week :) our car is a 2011 ford fusion! its SO SICK! so thats what we drive on P day and to church! i miss you two like crazy!! but the temple is in Birmingham!! it was pretty awesome!! i got to do an session and baptisms for the dead! it was way cool!! Tell luke i say hi!! and that i love him like crazy!! Tell him to please write me i wanna hear from him!! haha but slacklining huh? that sounds... cool.. ;) haha so your starting up a pace family circus i see? awh man you guys are so funny, i cant wait to Skype with you on Christmas!! im sure ill blink and it will be here so im excited!! but i cant wait to get your package!! you should go with Mom and Dad to the store and get me some more jordan shorts, size XL, cause my other ones ripped playing ball with the street negros. And if you do get some, make sure they are SICK!! :) oh and then since youd be sending those, send me ALL of my jordan shorts at home, because these ballers are crazy, and my shorts are getting ruined haha! Oh and if you would ask mom to let me know every email how much money is in my AMERICA FIRST CHECKING account okay :) you guys are the best, i love you so much!! Dont forget to send that stuff its IMPORTANT :) haha well since ive been learning Somoan, "Fiafia Ma Olioli" (happiness and rejoicing)

Elder Tolman :)

Second week in Alabama, email to the fam

HELLO FAMILY!!

this week has gone by so fast!! it feels like i was just talking to you the other day haha!! but today has been awesome!! i got to DEDICATE a grave!! the son of a lady in our ward died, and she asked that i dedicate it! by far it was the most humbling, spirtiual, heavenly guided message i have ever had/given. As i began to offer the blessing in front of all these people who i didnt know, the spirit over came my entire body, and i offered the most heart felt, spiritual blessing i had ever given. The mom of the son came up to me after (she is less active) and told me that she is going to be to church on sunday, and that my blessing made her have so much peace that she knew she had to come back! i got impressed in the blessing to say these exact words, "i know jamie is looking down on all of us smiling. He is at peace and couldnt be happier" as i said that i swear i felt Christs arms wrap around my shoulders, it was the most touching thing of my life! This Church is so true!! and unless we continue to humble ourselves like i had too, and still have too, we cannot come to know of its truths, unless we are desirous and willing to search for his truth in his gospel!! Well theres my cool experience for the week!! :) We also Elder Clarke from the quorum of the 70 come and talk to our mission!! He built my confidence and faith as a missionary so much!! he is an AMAZING person!! He taught me so much!! I have lost 21.3 pounds exactly haha who would have figured... and i thought i was going to get FAT!! We had my first baptism on Saturday, it was a 10 year old girl name Jaiya (Sulu), and it was an awesome experience!! Elder Fatiau was the one to baptise her and elder kelley confirmed her, it was so cool!! I have already talked in sacrament meeting twice!! Our ward only has about 30-50 active members, and thats on a good day, but i love them!! i am taking pictures, but its hard to take a lot when i am so focused on the work!! but i wish i could take a picture of everything i see!! i call them the two G's, GREEN and GUETTO haha this truely is the HOOD, there is about 3 deaths a day here in Selma in just gang fights alone!! but they dont mess us, they are really the most humble and respectful people to each other and everyone, as long as you show them respect. Everything here is yes ma'am or yes sir. its a huge difference from utah. Mom and Dad i am SSSOOOO sorry for how i acted back home, if i acted like that here i'd be dead!! Thanks for never giving up on me!! Its truely shown me the true meaning of responsibility and respect here!! The mission itself is awesome!! President Holzapfel is the most intelligent person i have every met, he knows so much about the gospel, he knows the bible in both greek and hebrew translations also!! he's awesome!! and his wife is like our mission mother, she is so loving and i couldnt have asked for two greater people for these next two years, i am truely in good hands!!

i have been just a little dicourage some days, the physical strain here is harder than anything ive ever had, on friday we rode 65 miles in 97 degree heat and 103 % humidity!! but after the day is gone and done, its nice to look back and see how much i accomplished!! its just hard not to get discouraged when your riding sometimes!! but ill get better!! My goals this last week have been pray for the love of the people and my love to them, to let go of myself and not be selfish and serve only others, to always smile!! Pray for me and my investigators. I pray for you guys, my friends, president and bishop and our ward and stake. we need the hearts of these people softened, so please pray often for us. You are all truely a blessing to me, i have seen blessing out here that i know have come from your obediance and righteousness in the gospel!! I cant wait for this next week to tell you more stories!!

But Mom, Dad, i love you guys so much, thanks for all you support!! Mom dont worry about me, ill be fine no matter what. FAMILIES ARE FOREVER!! Continue to do those things that are right, i promise you'll be blessed!! TEll Jared if he doesnt write me that im going to hire a hit man here in bama to go out there and get him if he doesnt ;) so have him write me!!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!! i can bear a personal witness of that from the things i have seen!! Every member a missionary!! "let the lower lights be burning, send a gleam across the wave, some poor fainting, stuggling seaman, YOU may RESCUE, YOU may SAVE" I love you guys!!

Peace love and blessings, Elder Tolman

Second week in Alabama

Hey ya bums!! Do you read mom and dads emails? if not do so, i say alot in there that is way to long to repeat and type up haha!! but any who, i have no tried anything weird, i had collar greens and those suck haha but other than that everything has been pretty good!! but im chilling in the library and i started laughing out loud when i read that story about brock ahahah what a nerd!! awh i love and miss you guys like crazy!! but the mission is awesome!! everyday my area gets scarier and scarier haha but its okay, ill be good, but its so guetto haha!! but i have lost so much weight its awful!! haha ive lost 21.3 now!! NUTS I KNOW!! but you guys are the best!! So YES you do need to send me something!! just make something small like a pic and some food and treats or something, maybe something brock liked to get on his mission, and send it to me, that would be way cool!! i love getting stuff its like christmas everyday!! but yes FAITH is the key to a lot of our church!! just having the DESIRE to have faith, is having faith!! so keep on the faith, and i promise everything will be okay, im sure of it!! But that is scary about Elder Burke, we listen to the weather everyday on our portable radio and we always hear about that!!  Oh and I forgot to put this is mom and dads letter, but i get to go to the temple this wednesday!! im so excited!! but you guys are the best ever, your such good examples and i wouldnt asked for any better brother or sister!! I LOVE YOU!! cant wait to tell you stories next week!! i love you!! SEE YA!!

MTC Pictures

Alex sent us some MTC pictures!! We don't know who most of these people are but we loved them!

Alex and his MTC companion, Elder Henry.  He loved this guy!

Apparently wearing that badge makes you have skills from the Matrix!!

Dew..... of course!

I'm sure he meant this for me!

Action shot!

These pictures remind me of wedding pictures...

 Beatles, baby...

 Disgusting!