Getting a New Companion in Casper

So everything is going good. Don't have a lot of time today but I had a good week.

We had a crazy hail storm at the beginning of the week, Golf ball size. Elder Juarez and I had to run out in it to get food from a member and it felt like paintball shots. no fun. Nothing else really happened this week. I was super happy to get the letter from hannah. Saturday we found out that Elder Juarez is getting transferred. He is leaving Wednesday to Gillette Wy. He has been in this area for a year so thats crazy. My new companion is Elder Juglar. I got to meet him today. He is a really nice guy. Hopefully the two of us can speak enough spanish. He is a spanish missionary so we will be ok. But thats all that happened hope you had a good week. Talk  to you later.

-Elder Tomlinson

Pictures from Casper

Twenty Questions from Elder Tomlinson

Things are going good here in Wyoming :) We are having transfers today and Elder Juarez and I are both staying here. Which is really good :) Still working on my Spanish. Elder Juarez says its really coming along...I disagree...

Its so good to hear about every one.  What all is Hannah up to? What does she do at summer school? Is she riding her bike a lot more now that she know how to ride it? Are you going to go on family bike rides again like we use to? Riley or Jake can use my bike. I'm not going to use it for awhile. Where is Jake going for scout camp? What merit badges is he trying to get?

Maybe Riley should get a second job..? The Price Chopper seems to have flexible hours so get a job with more hours and work around that one... Work at like Zona or something. Riley went to Scout camp too? or did he go to High Adventure? He only has a month and then he can go on his mission! 

Elder Juarez younger brother just put in his mission papers because he just turned 18. Crazy! A mission is the best thing ever. Really hard though. He will love it.

Grandma is there!!!! I was just about to send  a postcard to her house today. When will she get back? Nauvoo would be really cool. You could drive here :) Its pretty far... What movie does Hannah want to see? Yeah that all sounds like fun.

Linda and Leslie and you all together?!?!?!? That's just asking for trouble. I miss Aunt Shelly and Aaron. Wish I was there. Is jake liking the waterpark?

Not much going on here. We had stake conference this past weekend and so we went to the adult session on saturday night and then the sunday session. A lot of members from the spanish group are out of town and we had no investigators come to church because it was Stake Conference mostly because its in english. We were translating for them in the Relief Society room and no one was there. It was funny cause the Stake President started off by thanking the spanish group for being here and for the opportunity to have translators...and no one was there.. haha.

But work is going good. We still have a ton of investigators and 5 on date to be baptized July 5th. Im super scared cause I don't know how to baptize them or give them the Holy Ghost in spanish.... :/ There is no way I could do learn that by July 5th. Everything else is good. Spanish is better, not great.

I miss all of you so much :) I will email Riley and Jake but they got to email me back....Tell everyone that I love them.

-Elder Tomlinson

Heard from Devon!

Hey Mother :)

I'm sorry I didn't write last Monday. Our Mission President instructed us not to have P-day on Monday because it was a holiday and that it was a perfect time to find families. But we had no success. It sounds like you had tons of fun on Memorial Day. We went and did service to a family in Casper 1st ward helping them make a wall of rocks and then the McIntoshs invited us and a couple other missionaries over for some BBQing outside. It was fun. The McIntoshs are really nice and help us all the time. They are from Brazil so I try and speak Portuguese with them. Doesn't work out so well. I'm so glad that everyone got a job this summer. Here the weather is really starting to feel really good. 

Hannah is going to have fun at summer school. Sounds like that will be a blast. 

Keep on pushing Riley to get his Eagle done. And make sure he is ready to go out on his mission. One thing I wish I would have done is go out with the missionaries every free moment I had. Looking back on it I should have gone out alot more than I did.

This site will help: http://lds.about.com/od/programs3foldmission/tp/prepare_lds_mission.htm

And read Preach My Gospel all the time. It is your life out here.

I received my Ipod. thanks so much but I have to turn it in on Saturday because one missionary on the other side of the mission was looking at things he shouldn't be so ipods are not approved now. Which stinks cause I downloaded tons of Mormon Messages and was showing them to little kids and it was awesome. Plus I know of at least 10 missionaries in this zone that have ipods and President Anderson is coming to pick them all up.

Everything is going good. We are teaching alot of lessons. On Wednesday, we went on exchanges with our District leader which are the missionaries in Casper 8th ward. But I stayed in my area speaking Spanish and Elder Gardener was with me. He is a new missionary only been out about a month and doesn't speak Spanish. But it was really good. I taught 4 lessons by myself and had we had dinner with some investigators and its so much harder to just talk then it is to teach but it was tons of fun. But now they think I speak Spanish when i was just trying my hardest.Now they expect me to always speak an take over and what not. It was so hard. and now Elder Juarez thinks I can take over even when he is there. It was tons of fun.

this last Sunday we had "Break the Fast" and had tons of investigators come. It was a good time. 

About my visa. I emailed the travel agency and told me this:

Elder Tomlinson,

Your visa application is currently at the Consulate and not additional documents are needed at this time.  If at any point something changes we will notify you and your temporary mission office immediately.  There is not a standard wait time, each missionary will have a unique situation.  It is likely that you will have to wait until after the World Cup ends in July.  However, we will notify your mission president once a visa is received.

Thank you,

Yep so wont be getting my visa til after July. for more info go to:

https://www.lds.org/callings/missionary/missionary-travel/global-location/south-america/brazil?lang=eng

Well I love you so much :) How is everyone doing? How is Jake and Dad and Carly????

Can't wait to hear from you :)

-Elder Tomlinson

Wyoming News

Well Things are going good in Wyoming. It hasn't snowed for like a week now. I think Its done snowing for a little while. Which is really good because we can bike everywhere. When it rains or snows we have to call everyone for rides. But everything is going really good. We are having about 6 investigators come to church each week. But they are always different investigators. We are trying to work with all of them to come each Sunday. But i think they all get together and plan out when to switch off or something. No but its going really good.  We are trying to teach around 20 lessons per week. And really trying to take members with us. because we have so few that speak Spanish its hard. But tonight we are having a big Family Home Evening with our whole Spanish group and Alot of our investigators are coming. 

Yep things are going good here. Just waiting for my visa. 

Love you,

Elder Tomlinson

Letter 5/12/2014

Hello Everybody,

Everything is going really good here in Casper. This week has been pretty good. We put two people on date to be be baptized for the 24 of May so we are super excited about that. They are really good people. they came to church on Sunday and they are really trying their best and are really excited for baptism. If everything goes good that would be my first baptism. 

All week we have been biking everywhere. Which is no fun because of all the hills but saves or miles for p-day. Going to bed is nice because our legs are tired and from being out in the sun all day we just crash. But we don't mind biking at all. We get all the work that we need to done. Whats funny is I have the same bike that Jake has back home. But the most exciting day this week was yesterday, Sunday. Saturday night we received a call from our Spanish group leader asking us if we would give the talks in Sacrament meeting tomorrow on Mothers day....in Spanish. I freaked out. I started putting together my talk in English and then I translated it to Spanish. Elder Juarez made many corrections to my Spanish. But I was so nervous up until I gave my talk. While I was giving my talk my face got super hot. I was trying my best not to look at my notes and just talk but I was so scared I was going to say something wrong. Elder Juarez said I did good. But when he gave his talk he didn't have notes or didn't really prepare. He made it look so easy. Then after church we were able to Skype our families for Mothers day It was super amazing. I miss my family so much. its hard to not be able to talk to them. Its almost been 4 months and I feel like everything has change already.  So it has been a really good week. Can't wait til this week. I love you all and at the end of this letter is my talk that I gave on Sunday. Hope I spell it all right.

-Elder Tomlinson

Hola hermanos y hermanas. Feliz dia las madres. Me an pedido que pueda hablar hoy acerca de la inportancia de las madres. Estoy tratando de hacerlo en Espanol, entonces espero que no serian. En el capitulo 56 de Alma, Habla acerca de los des mil Jobenes Lamanitas. Los dos mil Jovenes Hijos de Helaman peliabon con un maravilloso poder, y ninguno de ellos fue muerto. En Alma 56:47-48 dice... La rason por su sabiduria, fuerza, y poder fue por lo que sus madres les ensenaron. Nuestras madres nos an ensenado muchisimas cosas. Como misioneros, nosotros somos soldados del Senor. Nosotros dependemos en todo lo que nuestras madres nos an ensenado. Yo estoy exremadamente agradecido por mi mama. Les contare que: Mi padre esta en las fuerzas armadas. Cuando era mas pequeno, mi padre fue reclutado muchisimas veces. Y tenia que viajar mucho por muchos anos. A un punto mi madre tenia 3 ninos, todos a la edad de menos de 5 anos. Ella es una de las personas mas fuertes que conosco. Pero una de las cosas mas importantes es que ella le enseno a mi hermano y a mi, cual importante la oracion es en la vida, y como obtener un testimonio del evangelio.

En Mosiah 13:20 dice... Dios nos manda a honrar a nuestros padres y nuestras madres. Mi meta en esta vida es que ellos esten orgullosos de mi. Me gustaria agradecer a todoa las mamas, usteded an sido llamadas por dios a ser madres. Hacegurensen que sus hijos les agradescan. Hay 2 videos en lds.org acerca de las madres. Les invito a todos a verlos hoy en la tarde.

Then I bared my testimony in english.

Digo estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo amen.

Pictures of New Apartment

New Apartment

I moved into a new apartment last night. We moved because some other missionaries were not in their area and they didn't have a car so they had to walk really far just to get in their area then walk to the appointment. Since our area covers all of Casper cause we are the Spanish Elders so they moved us. We are not complaining at all the new apartment is super nice and our old one was well old. If you look on google maps at the street view you will know what I'm talking about. We felt really bad for the missionaries moving into our apartment so we cleaned it for 5 hours yesterday.

Anyways the new apartment address is:

1470 Trojan Dr. #4

Casper, Wyoming 82609

On monday I will try to send pictures of the inside :)

Please send letters :)

-Elder Tomlinson

Letter to Hannah this week

DEAR HANNAH,

Its crazy to hear about the Easter bunny. He came to my apartment too! You need to send pictures next time. Have you played with the sidewalk chalk yet? Dont forget to draw me :) Do you like your scooter? How is all of the family? How is all the grandparents? Do you still fart on Riley and Jakes heads? Be sure to write back soon :) I will attach a picture so know what I look like to draw me with the chalk.

Love, 

Devon

Wyoming News 4/21/2014

Hey Everyone,

How is everyone doing?????? 

This week has been pretty crazy. 

So last Monday all of the missionaries in our zone got together and we had a big barbecue and soccer game. Elder Holman supplied all the food which was really nice. Plus all of us love to play soccer so it was twice as awesome. It was tons of fun. Plus last week me and Elder Juarez went bowling. Because a member owns the bowling ally games are only 2 dollars for missionaries. He won the first game so we played best two out of three. I won the second game and he finished the match. I told him that loser would buy him lunch so I did. I got him Little Ceasers(which missionaries get free because a member owns them). So that was tons of fun. 

Then on Wednesday we received a call from someone in our ward telling us that there was someone in the hospital that needed a blessing. Once we got there we found out that they were not members and  so we taught them a lesson about the priesthood and then gave the father a blessing. He was having heart surgery that week and the family is from Utah so they knew about missionaries so they called us up. But the crazy thing is when we were leaving the hospital we saw Sister Sauque in the waiting room and we asked what was going on and her husband (Brother Sauque) had had a seizure while he was driving. They both were okay which is really lucky cause he  accelerated when it happened and clinched up so she couldn't move the steering wheel. He wasn't able to breathe afterward and was passed out and Sister Sauque was just is shock. We gave both of them a blessing that night and got in a little bit of trouble from out district leader because we return to our apartment late.

Thursday night we got to go to one of our investigators children's birthday parties. I love Mexican birthday parties. Everyone was dancing and there was a panyata and i got a video of Elder Bell hitting it and some pictures of Elder Dudley Hitting it. Elder Juarez and I didnt want to. But it was tons of fun :)

Friday night the missionaries hosted a international night and had people bring tons of food from all over the world. Elder Juarez and I made two dishes for it. He made Munuelos from Guatemala. and i made Brinckaderas from Brazil. They were amazing :) Plus it was a great turn out. We had tons of investigators come. We showed the "Because of Him" video. Which is the best video ever. :)

On Saturday we had Dinner at Brother and Sister McIntoch's House. We had one of our invetigator families come with us and it was so much fun. The McIntochs are from Brazil and only speak Portuguese and English and the Valdez family only speak Spanish so it was fun. They made tons of dishes from Brazil and it was so good. I cant wait to go.

On Sunday we had a fun Easter. The Easter Bunny still came to our apartment. :) 

Juarez still hasnt found the green egg. :)

No word on the visa.

Well I cant wait to hear from all of you :) I have to go :)

Love you all

-Elder Tomlinson

News From Casper on 4/7/2014

HEY EVERYONE!

 

HOWS EVERYONE DOING? I DONT HAVE VERY MUCH GOING ON HERE. JUST THE SAME OLD EVERY DAY STUFF. I WOULD LOVE TO HERE FROM ALL OF YOU. MY ADRESS IS:

 

146 S. WASHINGTON #15

CASPER, WYOMING 82601

 

SORRY ITS IN ALL CAPS. THE COMPUTER IM ON THE CAPS LOCKS BUTTON IS BROKEN....

SO EVERYTHING IS GOING GOOD. HAVING TONS OF PEOPLE TO TEACH IS NICE AND WE ARE PLANNING FOR A COUPLE BAPTISMS THIS MONTH SO THAT IS AWESOME. BUT NOTHING EXCITING HAS HAPPENED. MY LANGUAGE IS DOING OK BUT I HAVE GIVEN UP ON DOING MY PORTUGUESE BECAUSE IT IS CONFUSING ME LIKE CRAZY.

 I WILL SAY A WORD IN PORTUGUESE BECAUSE I DONT KNOW IT IN SPANISH AND THEY WILL ALL LOOK AT ME LIKE IN NUTS. WHATS NICE IS WE HAVE AROUND 50 INVESTIGATORS AND OUT OF THOSE WE HAVE AROUND 25 PROGRESSING INVESTIGATORS AND ABOUT 2 OF THEM SPEAK ALITTLE ENGLISH. I FEEL SO BAD FOR ELDER JUAREZ BECAUSE WE WILL GO AND TEACH AN HOUR LESSON AND I WILL SAY A COUPLE WORDS THAT I KNOW AND THE CLOSING PRAYER ( WHICH IS SO SHORT) AND THATS IT. IM TRYING SO HARD TO JUST LEARN MY TESTIMONY. BECAUSE OF WHAT I KNOW IN PORTUGUESE I CAN SOMEWHAT UNDERSTAND WHAT EVERY ONE IS SAYING BUT I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO SAY ANYTHING BACK. IT TAKES ME THE WHOLE TIME THAT WE ARE AT AN APPOINTMENT TO COME UP WITH A SENTANCE AND SOME OF IT IS IN PORTUGUESE. THE LORD IS REALLY TESTING ME. IM UP FOR THE CHALLENGE BUT IT IS JUST HARD RIGHT NOW. TUESDAY (TOMORROW) I GET TO GO ON EXCHANGES WITH OUR DISTRICT LEADER AND HIS COMPANION SO I GET TO TRY TO SHARE THE GOSPEL IN ENGLISH. IM FREAKING OUT ABOUT THIS BECAUSE ITS MY FIRST TIME TO DO SO AND I DONT KNOW ALL THE WORDS TO SAY IN ENGLISH. THEY WANT US TO HAVE A "PREACH MY GOSPEL" VOCABULARY AND I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON JUST SAYING SIMPLE WORDS IN TWO DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. SO I HAVE BEEN READING AND MEMORIZING AS MUCH AS I CAN FOR TOMMORROW IN ENGLISH. ITS GOING TO BE A DIFFERENT EXPERIANCE.

THE BEGINNING OF MAY, ONE OF THE MEMBERS IS STARTING A SPANISH CLASS FOR ME BASICLY. SO HOPEFULLY AFTER THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO HELP ELDER JUAREZ AT LEAST ANSWER THE PHONE. BECAUSE I CANT DRIVE YET WE HAVE TO PULL OVER SO THAT ELDER JUAREZ CAN TALK ON THE PHONE. I WISH I COULD HELP.

ONE EXCITING THING THAT HAPPENED IS THAT YESTERDAY AFTER CONFERENCE WE DONT HAVE TO WEAR SUIT JACKETS ANYMORE. SINCE LAST OCTOBER CONFERENCE THE MISSIONARIES IN THIS MISSION HAD TO WEAR ONLY SUITS TIL THE APIRL CONFERENCE. IT DIDNT EFFECT ME AS MUCH CAUSE I ONLY HAD TO WEAR MY SUIT FOR A COUPLE WEEKS BUT IS NICE TO JUST WEAR A WHITE SHIRT AND SLACKS. SO THATS PRETTY NICE.

CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING. WE GOT TO WATCH IT IN ENGLISH WHICH WAS NICE. WE WERE ABOUT TO HAVE TO WATCH IT IN SPANISH WHICH WOULD BE SO SCARY. SOME OF THE BEST TALKS WERE IN THE SATURDAY SESSION. I TOOK SO MANY NOTES. PLUS I DID MY NOTES WERE I WOULD DRAW THINGS THAT I LIKE OR STORIES AND SOME OF THE MISSIONARIES THOUGHT IT WAS PRETTY COOL.

I CANT WAIT TO GET THE LIAHONA (ENSIGN IN SPANISH) AND READ ALL MY FAVORITE TALKS IN SPANISH.

TODAY IS GOING TO BE TONS OF FUN BECAUSE ME AND ELDER JUAREZ FINNALLY CONFENCED ALL THE MISSIONARIES IN  OUR ZONE TO PLAY SOCCER (FUTBOL) INSTEAD OF BASKETBALL.  SO ITS GOING TO BE A BLAST. AND THEN TONIGHT WE ARE HAVING A FAMILY HOME EVENING WITH OUR SPANISH BRANCH AND MOST OF OUR INVESTIGATORS SO TODAY IS GOING TO BE THE BEST.

I LOVE YOU ALL.

BELOW IS JUST A COUPLE PICTURES OF ME AND ELDER JUAREZ

-ELDER TOMLINSON

3/31/14

Hey Everyone,

So as you know I'm in Casper Wyoming but what I didn't know is how much it snows. It snows every other day here. Which is tons of fun. Elder Juarez and I try to go running every morning but if its snowing we just look at each other and just do our morning workouts inside. But Nothing much else has been going on. Last week we had ward conference which was weird cause our Spanish ward meets with the 1st ward so I didn't really get to meet anybody. But Yesterday I had the amazing opportunity to bare my testimony and give a small talk in Spanish. Very small talk. That was pretty hard. I had been practicing all week for my 2 minute little talk and I forgot everything when I got up there. But Elder Juarez said he could understand me so I guess I did okay. Yesterday was really nice because I got to see and meet everyone in our Spanish Branch/Group. We are not very big but we are growing fast. Plus we have tons of investigators so that's good. We have 3 Couples in the Spanish group that speaks Portuguese which is cool cause they are helping me speak the language better. Every once and awhile a  family from the first ward that speaks English to feed us dinner which is a nice brake from the Portuguese and Spanish. We are getting fed really well here. Anytime we go teach any of our investigators at any time of the day they feel like like need to feed us. The food is really amazing but Elder Juarez and me can barley do anything by the end of the day because we are so full from eating about 6 meals a day and we have been skipping breakfast and lunch.  My weight really shows it though. Before I left to the MTC I was 165 pounds. I stepped on the scale last Friday and it said I was 183. Must of been broken.  So I tried another scale and it said 187. I have decided that all scales are broken. Elder Juarez and I are scared so we are working out hard every morning. But everything is going really good. All of the families we are teaching are going really good. We have two baptisms in April and are hoping for a third. But we are going to have tons in may. Everyone is excited about the gospel in this area. I really want to share my love for it but my Spanish isn't that good yet. But really getting better. We don't have a lot of tracking time, mostly on Tuesday mornings because everyone is at work, but I have been taking the lead in talk which is fun because we can only teach people who speak Spanish, so someone who doesn't speak Spanish opens the door we can teach  them a little but then have to had them over to the other elders. We are constantly going from English to Spanish and I start to get head aches and speak in Spanish when I'm suppose to speak English. So that's fun. Plus I forgetting my Portuguese. Brother Macintosh came up to me on Sunday and started speaking to me in Portuguese and I responded and he said Elder Tomlinson that's in Spanish and I was like oh sorry. Its going to be a struggle once I get my visa to learn Portuguese again. No news on my visa yet. But i hope everyone is doing good. Please Email and write :) I will try my best to respond as fast as I can.

-Elder Tomlinson

Update from 3/25/14

Hey Everybody,

Just an update on everything that's going on. I am in Casper, Wyoming. In the Casper Spanish 1st Ward. Which is a Spanish only mission which is funny cause I don't know Spanish.... My companion is a really good guy. His name is Elder Juarez. The only tough thing is he doesn't know very much English. But we have been really progressing this week in our language studies. I have two hours of language studies. One hour for Spanish and One hour for Portuguese. So maybe by the end of my mission I will know three languages. 

Our Investigators are going crazy. I feel like everyone in this area wants to know about the gospel. We have around 30 investigators and right now 4 on date to be baptized next month. Which is crazy. It has been really had trying to help Elder Juarez teach them cause no one speaks English. Basically I have just been  bearing my testimony and praying in Spanish and then trying to understand at least some of what they say. They have been cooking us some really good Mexican food that really reminds me of home (TEXAS). But everything is going really good. Our Apartment is super small and falling apart. My companion is loving me because I have been fixing tons of stuff. And he is also loving me because I have been cooking some of our breakfasts and i showed him my egg sandwich and he loved it!!! This next week we are going to make some creamy jalapeno sauce. So it has been tons of fun. 

Usually my p-day is on Monday but we spent all day at Martins Cove doing service. Tat was such an amazing experience to learn about the pioneers. Plus I got to meet the main actor from Ephraim's Rescue. I haven't seen the movie but it was way cool to learn about the movie and hear his prospective about the story of the pioneers. After Martins Cove, another elder and I got to go on top of Independence Rock just outside from Martins Cove. That's such an amazing experience. I miss you all. Hope everyone is doing good. Talk to you all next Monday. Its really good to hear from yall.

Love,

Elder Tomlinson

Inside the Martins Cove Visitors Center. (Elder Juarez is beside me) 

 Martin's Cove

On top of independence rock

Who Would Have Thought Casper, Wyoming

I only get a second to tell everyone whats going on. I'm in Casper, Wyoming in a Spanish speaking ward. Which is super hard cause I don't know Spanish. My companion Elder Juarez is a really cool guy but doesn't know English very well. Every investigator we have taught and all the members don't know a word of English so I feel really bad for him but I'm trying to learn Spanish now as well as Portuguese. Whats really good is the members make us Mexican food which reminds me of home. My new address is 146 S. Washington #15 Casper, Wyoming 82601. The apartment is kinda small. We don't have a room really. everything is kinda connected. The whole apartment including our study room, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen is smaller than Riley's room, so its fun. This has all been a big shock. Today we went shopping for food and my companion loves me cause I can cook? i was just telling him about simple stuff like grilled cheese sandwiches and he called me a chef. But everything is going good. Before I forget mom, I NEED A DRIVING RECORD FROM THE STATE IN ORDER TO DRIVE HERE. We drive everywhere and I feel bad cause Elder Juarez has to drive everywhere. So if you could please sent that that would be awesome. Thanks so much. Well I love all of you. I have to go now and teach in Spanish...yay :/ Love you all.

-Elder Tomlinson

Made it to South Dakota!

I just need to make sure I don't go over 50 pounds on my luggage. I pack today so I have to fit all the crap I got here at the MTC. Its so exciting to hear about jake applying to be a lifeguard. Now all of your sons will have been lifeguards. Im sorry for not sending letters. i havent had time to because of all the in-field meetings all week and i havent had any money to buy stamps. Im so scared to go to South Dakota mission. Its like the biggest mission in America. I dont know what state i will even be in. But i have been talking to alot of missionaries from there tell me how amazing it is plus more than half of the missionaries there have ipads :) And some of my best friend here got reassigned to Texas mission. Well Texas east. But they are in Ashley and Toms area so thats really cool. And one of the missionaries in my district, Elder Delap, is going to your area. so look out for him. he is a really good guy. I will try my best to call dad at the right time. he will be the first one i call. then i will call you all so be prepare to talk because i have a limited amount of time. Cant wait to talk to you all. :) love you :)

-Elder Tomlinson

A Couple of Boys from Richmond, Texas!

Devon and Parker after growing up together went into the MTC on the same day and finally got to see each other.  Thanks to Tim Milligan for sharing this great picture with me!

Hey Family, 

     Hey y'all, I love you all so much. Its crazy how long I have been at the MTC but its only been 5ish weeks. I can't believe that I only have one week left then I leave....to....um.... So my week was really good. We started to learn some really hard grammar that has blown my mind. I'm so scared for when I go to Brazil. Good thing I have more than one week now before I leave to Brazil. We had a Substitute in class yesterday that lived in Brazil before his mission and then went on his mission to Brazil. So he didn't know English very well. He told us of how amazing Brazil is. It really put our minds at ease. But the rest of the week was amazing. My memorization skills are through the roof. I can read a Scripture like a couple times and send like 15 mins memorizing and I have it memorized in Portuguese. Its so crazy. I have memorized so many things since I got here. Every Tuesday we have a speaker come and Talk to us and he is living Brazil. Its so crazy, everyone from Brazil is so happy. He was from Sao Paulo though...I forgot his name cause it was really long but it started with an "A" so Brother A. Wednesday I got to Host again for the second week in a row. Hosting is when you help all the new missionaries coming in on Wednesday and take them to get there stuff and take them to their room. It was so much fun. This next monday we get to host but its all the internationals so it might be hard to communicate with them. I'm just hoping they speak Portuguese... But this last Wednesday when we were hosting I talked in a British accent the whole time. It was so funny :) They all thought it was so funny :) But then on Thursday we got to skype to members in Brazil. We just gave a short message to a Sister in Sao Paulo. Its so amazing that we were able to understand what she was talking about even with her talking so fast. She told us that it was super hot so bring tons of sunscreen. I so ready to tan. I hate been in cold states where you are just white. Anyways Friday and Saturday  are always the best days. Yesterday we had to teach our investigator on the move. We clapped outside her door ( same as knocking in Brazil) and she came out and said that she had to run to the grocery store and that we could teach her on the way. It was so hard, me and my companion had prepared to teach this long lesson on The Commandments and now we only have 2 mins to teach. We just taught her about the word of wisdom and gave her a pamphlet and had her pray about the things she reads and we will have more time to explain everything monday. So today everyone in my district got their reassignments except Elder Apo which means he got his visa. My companion (Elder Beardall) is going to New York, New York. Which is funny cause he is from a small town in Colorado and hates big cities. I'm going to....... The South Dakota Rapid City Mission! Which is going to be so cold. Thanks mom for the winter coat. While I'm at the airport on a week from this Tuesday I'm able to call family members so everyone send me your phone numbers. It will be at like 2 in the morning and i will be on a pay card so my time will be limited but I would love to hear familiar voices. Sorry but my time is up. I love you all. I cant wait to hear from you all.

Love, 

Elder Tomlinson

Hey Everyone!

This is Elder Devon Tomlinson if you were wondering. I'm at the MTC in Provo, UT. Tomorrow marks 4 weeks out of my 6 weeks that  I will be here. If anyone wants to sent me anything by mail my address is:

Elder Devon Austin Tomlinson

MAR17 BRA-RIO

2007 N 900 Unit 46

Provo UT 84602

My time here at the MTC has been amazing. The spirit is so strong. Its amazing how the lord works with the spirit to bring to pass so many things. The language is moving at a very fast past. By the second week you are are already carrying on conversations. Last Saturday my companion and I had to to teach our investigator (our teacher acting). We had taught this investigator about 4 times now but he had no desire to carry on. My companion and I were stuck. So every Saturday we get to go to the temple and we decided to pray for our investigator will all our hearts asking the lord for guidance on what to teach him. After the temple the spirit was so strong. My companion and  I were ready to teach the lesson. We head into the room and begin with a pray and right away our investigator begins to tear up. We asked if he was okay and he replied with a short "I'm good" and we continued to teach the lesson. I began teaching about prayer and the importance that it has in our lives. The investigator, David, had told us that he didn't believe in God, so I taught him about the first vision of Joseph Smith and about how he is a great example about praying to know the true and answers to your questions. I was being guided but the spirit like crazy. The spirit was showing me what to say in Portuguese. Words were just rolling off my tongue, the gift of tongues is so true. But then I realized that I was talking the whole time and didn't let my companion speak at all so I turn to him and all he does is give me a thumbs up and end with baring my testimony. David (our investigator) ended by baring he testimony about how he knows what we are talking about are true and then prayed to know if it was true. I'm grateful for the spirit and the role that it plays in my life. 

I apologize for how short this letter is. I have tons to do on PDAY! Its crazy how much they put you to work. Please send letters. I can read and write letters any day of the week so it would be amazing to hear from anyone :) 

I love you all :) 

Sincerely, 

Elder Devon Tomlinson

Yeah I would love for you to start a blog. But you are a much better writer than me mom :) 

Tons of people have been getting there Visas here but it seems to all be happening in the middle of their 4th week here so good thing we got that FBI clearance in :) Just have everybody cross there fingers and pray to get my visa. 

I haven't got any letters from any of you guys. Maybe the mail has just been slow. I sent Riley a letter... did he get it? I Love you so much. 

This last week has been almost the same as the last. Last weeks schedule and the next couple of weeks are all the same so they are all starting to feel the same. Except the language. Last night a  couple members came in from Brazil and we had to talk with them like when the missionaries come over to a families house. It was so amazing.  He didn't know any language and had kinda an accent so we were having a harder time understanding him but the spirit was so strong that i was saying things that i didn't even know. He started to ball and bare his testimony to us and i teared up. The gospel is so true. its crazy to feel it in another language than English but I feel its much stronger. Just get ready for me to only speak Portuguese when I get home.

So how is school going for everyone? I don't know whats going on. Haven't heard from you guys about whats just going on around the crazy town of Platte city. I miss all of you so much, especially Carly. I miss just having her cuddle up beside me. So grandma sent me a box of cookies but I forgot to write down her home address before I destroyed the box. What is it? and what's her email address so I can email her. And idk if you have heard of dear elders but it is a program that the church set up so you basically type a letter online and they print it out here at the MTC so you don't have to pay for stamps and I get it that day and can read it that day. Please tell all the grandparents about that if you could. and if you could give me Bishop Klomp's email and Bishop Gillespie's email.

I really miss talking to everyone. Ok I have to go. I already spent an hour on the computer.

Amo Vovê

Elder Tomlinson

Tchau

Oh here is a picture of  a bunch of elders in my zone. Elder Apo (like my best friend here at the MTC) gave us a lava lava to wear when we sleep and on p days. He is from American Samoa. 

Hey mom :)

i got the box! thank you so much :) and i got a letter from Eli Emms!!!!!! By the way please send  me letters. I only get to read my emails on saturday (p-day) but i can read and send letters any day of the week. Letters are such a pick me up. :) AND GUESS WHAT????? i beat the record for the mile run. I was 5:12 and i ran a 4:57. My name is on the wall now. Its a big deal :) Its getting harder and harder here. I feel more stressed out. Dont worry, its just me getting ocd about the language and cleaning everything and making everything perfect. They are having us do full teaching investigators and door approaches in full portuguese its crazy. I am kinda forgetting how to say my prayers in english because i have said them a hundred times in Portuguese. Our last investigator we invited to baptism and she accepted. i know it wasnt real but we put so much effort into our lessons that i just wanted to go crazy when she said yes. The spirit is so strong when we are teaching. More than half the time when we have the spirit you can understand every word that they are saying and then you have the gift of tongues and then you leave and you have no idea what just happened. Its so incredible.

 so about the pictures.....

The first one is of me and my companion playing a nerf war. we dont goof off like that all the time only on pday. im serious when i say we have no time to rest. they have the whole day booked everyday. the second picture is me eating a cricket that a elder in my district's girlfriend sent him from her mission in japan. so we all ate crickets. the third picture is of my companion (elder Beardall) and the two roommates (Elder Apo) (the one next to me) and (Elder Shupe) (the far one). We are all in front of the temple :) we go every pday and its so amazing :)

First Letter from MTC

Hey Mom, 

The first week here has been challenging. From day one the teachers have been speaking only Portuguese and yesterday we had to teach the first discussion to an investigator in Portuguese. Its kinda like school but I have learned way more in the past 2 days then i did in the past two years of Spanish. I was going to type in some Portuguese but the computer I'm on the keyboard is only in English. My companion's name is Elder Beardall. He is kinda messy but he is a good guy. He is alot like Riley only he was home schooled. My other two roommates are Elder Shupe and Elder Apo. They are awesome guys too. we have been working hard together in almost everything we do. Everything is going really good though. I got assigned to be District Leader which makes me in charge of all the missionaries in my district. Plus im doing pretty well with the language. Dont get me wrong, its the hardest thing i have ever done but i can carry on a full conversation now and it has only been three days!!!! But every thing has been going well. I moved in great with no problems at all. My P-days are Saturday so i will only have an hour to write every Saturday while im here at the mtc. but you can always send me letters  or packages to me at:

Elder Devon Austin Tomlinson

MAR17 BRA-RIO

2007 N 900 Unit 46

Provo UT 84602

Thats my address while im here. if you could i forgot a couple things.... my retainer, my Brazil jersey, and could you send my running shoes. They have a indoor track for when we go to gym time and there are record on the fastest mile and its only 5:27. I know i can beat it, i just need some lighter shoes.

I love you all and Miss you so much. Hows everything going? Anything new?

Tchau,

Devon Tomlinson