I'M ALIVE! (Cleveland Week1)

​Well Fam... im definitely alive! Its only been about 12 days since we could email or have pday but it's all good! haha

But last time I spoke with you I was at the MTC! I am now doing work here in the Cleveland, Ohio mission. We got here last Wednesday and met our Mission president, President Brown and his wife along with most of the mission directors. After that we got up at 5am to take a tour of the Kirtland Temple and Kirtland Visitors Center! It was so awesome to see how a huge part of Church history was right here in good ol' Kirtland Ohio. Anyways I got my new Companion/Trainer, her name is Sister Gren and she is from Spanish Fork, Utah! She is awesome and I have definitely learned so much from her in the past week that i've been here. But my new area is Euclid and its right in between Kirtland and Cleveland. Its kinda Ghetto but I love it anyways. Proselyting and going around is so hard but so funny as well. Have had a few doors shut in our faces but for the most part people are really kind.

We already have a few investigators that we have been working with! One of them's name is Gloria and she is a 60 year old woman who has been looking for the right church since she was like 10. She believes in everything that we have been teaching and absolutely loves the Book of Mormon. Gloria had never been the the VC so we took her on a tour of all the sites of Historic Kirtland and she bawled the whole time cause the spirit was so strong. We want her to get baptized already and she does too... so im still not sure why she won't just accept yet. haha we'll get down to the bottom of it soon I hope. Another one of them is a guy named Chris we found on teaching center (When we get online to answer questions from Mormon.org and do referrals). He has some mental problems but meets with the missionaries all the time and has a baptismal date for the end of August which is super cool! He loves to call us just to talk about/read the Book of Mormon and pray too. 

As far as the visitor center goes it has been crazy. I literally got thrown into the fire aka the peak of the busy season. At first I almost died because I literally knew about 1% of the information about the tour. So I just testified of different things and was like the sheep herder gathering people from the back into the next room. lol But now I am able to almost give the whole tour by myself which is crazy to think about how much i've learned from the spirit and from the visitors center in just a week. Also, there are so many sets of sisters. hahah there is like a total of 26 of us here but not all at one. Some are in there area's and out proselyting during the days we are at the visitors center. But there are also like 10 senior couples here who are like grandparents who are hilarious. They are some of my favorite people ever and take care of all of us girls. Also giving tours to youth groups is probably my favorite but also took women on tour who were 90 and 100. Everyone else in the group was 80+ and climbing stairs and walking around like champs. I just hope im that spunky and youthful when im that age. They were hilarious though, always making jokes about things. The 100 year old lady looked at the iron and said that looks like the one we used when I was a kid... Which honestly does not suprise me at all.. hahah It was a good time with them. But lastly we give 3-6 tours a day and each one lasts about an hour to an hour and a half. It is so exhausting but so much fun! 

On a fun note we got to go to a play called "This is Kirtland" and it was put on by some of the members from our ward in Euclid and surrounding wards. It was basically a recap of everything that happened during the 8 years the Saints were living in Ohio! It was actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be considering it was a musical effort lol. But also we got to help out with the Historic Kirtland 5K race. and when I mean help I mean we gave water to the runners, drove a golf cart and listened to REAL MUSIC! probably the biggest highlight of my life haha President Brown only allows us to listen to Mormon Tabernacle Choir and General Conference talks. It's been good but I can't complain cause all I have is church hymns stuck in my head all day. Also, We already had exchanges so I spend the day yesterday with Sister Adame and she is the cutest ever. She is like 4'11 and this is her last transfer before she heads back home to Salem Oregon! Spiritual Giant is all I can say about that.

But thank you everyone who writes me emails and sends me pictures! Its so fun to keep up with everyones lives and yes I do read all emails! lol But I love you all and keep you in my prayers. This gospel has made me so tired as a missionary but it is so rewarding and I can't imagine any place else I would rather be for the next 16 and a half months then Ohio! 

Love Always,

Sister Togisala

MTC Week 4. The Finals Days

Well fam this is it. My last few days in the MTC.

Its crazy how fast everything goes by. I swear it was just yesterday that my family dropped me off at the MTC! 

Happy Late 4th of July to everybody! lol We got to celebrate last saturday with fireworks from the stadium of fire so it didn't feel like we were missing out to much! Next 4th of July ill be watching fireworks somewhere in Ohio! Needless to say im pumped to be leaving soon!

But this week has changed so much. So start off with all the elders from our zone all left to go to the Salt Lake City South mission! That was actually a lot sadder than I thought it would be. We have all gotten so close with each other over the past few weeks and now they are gone. But good luck to all of them because I know they will do great things. Also shout out to my other sisters that left this week! Sister Matautia, going to the Phillipines Cebu Mission and Sister Kaufusi in the Sacremento California Mission! love and miss you both. 

As for us girls that are left here we finished off our normal MTC training and started Visitor Center Training on Wednesday. We do a whole lot more than I thought we would at a visitor center. We had to learn how to manage the floor and approach people, how to run chat online, along with answering phone calls and doing referrals. Its been nuts but so much fun! Our teachers Sister Rae, Donakey, Shmitz, and lewis are hilarious and make VC training so much fun! We have online time tonight when we are talking to people over the internet and teaching them lessons. Its great fun till me and Sister J get hit with the hardest questions. Its all good though, because it turns into a great learning experience for both of us! Tomorrow we have a brief class in the morning and then have practice TRC's to give tours of the "MTC Visitor Center." Which is basically when we give visitors tours of the front part of the MTC. We have to prepare lessons and then apply them to the Visit if we feel necessary. But preparing is so different from normal preparation. You kind of have to go by the spirit and study what you feel is necessary because you never know who is going to walk through the doors. But the spirit is definitely the teacher here, We are just mouth pieces that it goes through. 

Anyways tomorrow we head up to the SLC Temple Square Visitors Center to go on splits with the Missionaries up there. We will get a taste of what working a visitor center is like before we all head out to our VC's! (Kirtland im coming for ya!!) But that will be a great experience to be able to grow and learn from the lead ladies at temple square! So im pumped for that... also we just get to leave the MTC for most of the day and see real people! It's been a while I feel like ive been in the same place for 278 years now lol

Just on top of everything I got sick as of yesterday which was the worst timing ever. Sister J, Being the best companion ever, made me go to the doctors and get a check up because we leave soon and didn't want to take any changes. I swear I had a head cold and guess what when i got to the doctors he told me a had a Virus... aka a little worse version of a head cold. haha he gave me a perscription that way I hopefully get better by the time we leave!

But i love you all and the church is still as true as its ever been! Ive gained such a huge testimony of our saviors love for each one of us and see people in a christlike way. The atonement is so real and im glad that we have to opportunity to become cleansed of our sins and be pure again. The mission has been such a huge blessing already and I can't wait to see what the next 17 months will be like! Thats right ive already been here for a month now haha time flies when your engulfed in the lords work!

Love you all and im so grateful for the support in all things! Ill keep you update cause the next time I write ill be in the OHIO CLEVELAND KIRTLAND VISITORS CENTER! im pumped to meet my new trainer and to just be able to get things started out in the great state of Ohio! Stay blessed.

Also, will you guys keep my friend Elder Mataele in your prayers. His dad passed away while he was here in the MTC and he leaves to Tonga on monday! Thanks!

Love Sister Togisala

Week 3

Hey fam,

This week flew by and i can't believe its already pday. This week has been a blurr and so im just gotta say a few things and make this short lol Today we were supposed to go to the temple but its closed for the next few weeks for cleaning. So we get to have a party and clean the temple today! YAY! haha but the provo temple is gorgeous so im excited. Also shout out to my cousins on their missions. Elder Magleby had his first baptism this week and Elder Togisala was just called to Zone Leader. I love them both and im so proud of the example that they have set for me and so many other people.

First off this is the last week we had with our district. Most of the guys leave on monday to go to the SLC south mission. its really bittersweet and im gonna miss them all! As for the girls we start Visitor center training on Tuesday! Im super pumped for that and know its going to be amazing experience. Next saturday we have the opportunity to go to the SLC visitor center at temple square. I know if the weeks fly by as fast as they have it'll be here by tomorrow!

As far as our investigators this week we got two new ones Diana and Dylan. Diana is the sweetest girl from Equador who moved here about 2 years ago to attend school at BYU. Her cousin was a member and referred her to the missionaries. She has had a few discussions but we talked to her about the plan of salvation and how her family can be together forever. She was overjoyed and said that she felt so much hope for her family back in equador. It was an amazing experience to be able to see how touched she was by the spirit to know that what we were discussing was true. She wants to know for herself that what the missionaries are talking about is true before she fully commits to baptism. Its a process but I can see how much she thinks about it when we talk to her.

Dylan on the other hand was probably the toughest investigator we've had so far. Our first day he hit us with some hard questions that made it really difficult to answer in the moment. He has been really skeptical because he hasn't received any personal revelation knowing that what we were talking about what truth. Until last night we went straight to the book of Mormon and he started to feel the spirit as he asked us questions and different things. It was such a strong testimony builder that the book of Mormon is so true and it really does have a huge effect on peoples lives. He was speechless after our message and didn't know how to respond. Which is crazy because he has questions about everything!! literally everything.​​​​​​​​​​​​

But the MTC experience is almost over. We are supposed to get our travel plans today to know when we head out to Cleveland on the 12th! Im so excited to be out there already, but feel like im not even close to being ready to leave. Even though im ready for some real food and not sitting in a classroom for 9 hours a day! The only thing that saves me is when we have gym time and get to play volleyball for an hour. i know that this church is 100% true and there is no where else I would rather be than right then where i am right now! Hope you all have a great week! Excited for the things that are in store for the future!

Love, Sister T

Week 2 of the MTC!!!!

Hey fam,

So make it through my first full week in the MTC! Its feels like i have been in here forever! But I wouldn't trade it for anything.

So this week we got TRC's (training resource center) this week and thats when we teach real investigators that come there to the MTC. Sister Jensen and I got Emi and Olivia. 

Emi is a cute little 50 year old Japanese lady who moved to the states about 2 years ago to study English at BYU. She is the sweetest and barely speaks english and has a heavy japanese accent (Gift of tongues is so real even when your speaking english.) But she had a LDS friend over in japan and that took her to church and a few places. When she moved here she said the LDS were so nice she wanted to know more. Monday was the first day we taught her and we had a huge lesson on prayer and how to recognize answers through the spirit. She has been stressing about school and a huge argument paper she had to write but didn't know how to choose a topic. We taught her that heavenly father wants to hear her prayers and anything that she might have questions on. So she asked us if it was okay if she prayed about the topic of her paper and we said of course! (mind you we can barely understand her but gift of tongues again is so real). The next day when she came back she had a huge smile on her face and said after she prayed and felt the spirit, but then later had 2 topics to chose from. So she prayed again and felt the spirit strongly with one of her topics. She was so excited to tell us about how her prayers had been answered and now she prays all the time! which is great. We also got through the whole restoration with her and asked to pray about the book of morman and joseph smith. She is so open and willing to learn to become a better person and it builds my testimony every time we teach her. anyways she came back again and told us that she knew the book of morman was true. she prayed about it all the time and continues to keep reading it everyday. I feel so blessed to be apart of seeing her grow closer to our heavenly father. But last night she told us she had a boyfriend and he is lds and wants to get married in the temple. She prayed about temple marriage and knows that its right. So she wanted to know what she could do as part of being worthy to enter the temple. We had a huge lesson on baptism and repentence which she totally took to heart. She almost wanted to get baptised right then and there but said I will pray about it and let you know. She offered the closing prayer for us and included me and sister J in along with thanking us for the lessons that we have gotten to teach her about and asked if baptism was true. Sister Jensen and Emi had such a cool bond when it came down to talking about the gospel. They connected on such a spiritual level that it was so cool to see her really understanding and growing from her. I had cold chills the whole time and the spirit was so strong. Im sad because tonights the last night we get to teach her cause we get new TRC's next week. But she has helped me see how the gospel blesses lives and I could see the spark in her as she wanted to strive to be closer to our heavenly father.

The next girl we had was Olivia Galletta. She just moved from portland oregon about a year ago because her LDS friend got her a job at the dental office. She said she has always been intrigued to learn more about the LDS faith. Her roommates are LDS and many people she dated were LDS so she decided to come to the source in order to know more. The first night we really didn't get to teach her a ton because the missionaries that taught her before went 10 minutes over. So we got to know her and kinda of where she was spiritually at the moment. The second time around though we had a huge lesson on the savior and his atonement. She had so many question on baptism, repentence, bishops and prophets. She wants to know everything before she committs to baptism. I love her so much  though. All of her questions really make us think which is so good because I know that they will be common questions out in the field. but last night we had a huge lesson on the apostacy and joseph smith restoring the church on the earth. We went through a few passages in the book of morman and had her read it. She loved that we went into the scriptures to teach her cause the other missionaries hadn't done that before. We also went into baptism and repentence with her and the spirit was so strong as we were discussing all of this. You could tell she was really thinking about everything that we were telling her. last night she said she would pray about baptism and we gave her a few scriptures to read on her own as well. Tonight is our last night with her and she wants to know more about the word of wisdom and what we believe about that. So sister J and I gotta get that lesson together. But I love that she asks questions and really makes us think about things. She has helped my testimony to grow because if your in tune with the spirit and so are they words just seem to come out of my mouth and I don't recall alot of what I say because I know its coming from the spirit. Im so grateful for olivia and hope that she comes to know the truth of what we have taught her as I do.

But we yesterday we got to have a lesson from the new mission president of the Ohio, Cincinnati Mission (Thats right Sister Iketau I met your mission president before you did! lol) but they are super cool. We had a lesson on stress management and how to deal with everything. But the coolest thing is one. they are going to Ohio (the coolest place ever) and 2. His wifesgreat great grandfather was a morley. So the issac morley farms in my mission is part of her ancestry. So Sister J and I connected with her about that! I feel like Ohio must be the place to go lately haha

Oh funny story. So sister J and I have a tutor to help us with a few things her and there. but we met her for the first time this week and she is the sweetest crazy lady ever. We met her and followed her to a classroom, but when she turned around her skirt was tucked up in the back so you could see everything. It was so funny we were laughing so hard and trying to figure out how to let her know that. But we told her and she was so embarrassed. She said she was glad that she hadn't seen anybody else while coming to get us or she would have been even more embarassed. anyways we still laugh about that because that was our first impression of our tutor lol

But other than that the MTC is great and I love my district and my Zone. The teachers here are amazing and I feel like I have grown so much here in the last week. The food here is alright. It has been better the last week because they are having a New mission Presidents Seminar here at the MTC and we get all the leftovers and stuff from them which are amazing haha. But the first presidency has some meetings hereto so the security has also been on high alert. They are by like every door and its nuts. I feel like im in a spiritual prison with all the security. But Anyways the BYU people have been feeding us this week because we got kicked out of the cafeteria and are now eating in the gym. But we have had some good food. We had chick fil-e, Polynesian food (it was alright still good tho lol im not complaining lol), taco bell, grilled burgers, papa johns and subways. Lately I have been on this huge fruit kick and thats alot of what i eat. a big bowl of honey dew, watermelon, cantelope, and pinapple. So I guess we are spoiled cause the food I hear usually isn't that great hahah anyways I love you all and pray you have a great week. This church is true and im so blessed to be able to share a little but of what i know with the people of the MTC right now and then later on Cleveland Ohio!!!​

Oh I heard from everyone that the Cleveland Caveliers won. Must be the land of the chosen people hahahah the church is true.

I MADE IT!

Holy Cow Fam..

It has been such a crazy few days but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now. The first 3 days Ive been here literally feel like I have been here for FOREVER. Well first off I when I got to the MTC I met my companion and her name is Sister Jensen. Funny story about her. We actually had met 2 days after we opened our mission calls and were both called to the Ohio Cleveland Visitors Center. So we had actually met up a few times to go to the temple and just get to know each other before we left. So it was funny when we ended up being comps. But she is amazing and teaches me so much. Anyways so first day here and they really didn't even give us time to breathe. We dropped our stuff off and went straight to class to meet up with our districts and meet our new teachers. We have Sister Smyth and Brother Smith. They are awesome even though we haven't met Brother Smith yet.. but we had a short lesson and introductions that we just ran straight to the next activity. 

This was my favorite part ever. All the new missionaries met up in different rooms where there were investigators who wanted to know more about the church. At first it was kind of intimidating because there were so many people and often it was hard to try and get a word in cause some talks a lot more than others. But there was one older guy that all of us taught who's name was Dominique. He came from a Italian Catholic Church and was raised going to bible schools from preschool till college. He had a few discussions with the missionaries so he had a pretty good idea of what was going on before hand. His daughter was a convert and was married in the temple and after all there kids were baptized in the church as well. He told us he had a 73 year old relationship with god and he wanted to know about why are beliefs are different. We went along and just asked tons of questions but then there was one elder who just got up the courage to ask if he wanted to be baptized. The spark in his eyes you could tell he had never been asked that question even after be taught by the missionaries a few times. He replied and said "I have never really thought about out it but it gives me something to ponder." I honestly can't wait to see that spark of hope in peoples eyes when im out in Cleveland. It was the most amazing feeling ever.

The next day felt like 5 years in a day. We woke up and had to go straight to class. When we got there we had to prepare a lesson to teach an investigator. So after we went to breakfast Sister Smyth came in and taught us how to break down our lessons according to the needs of our investigator. Afterwords each of us had to take turns teaching "Nikki" or sister smyth in disguise. It was so nerve racking because 1. She was our teacher but 2. She did a really good acting job and made me believe she was a whole different person. but we talked to her about prayer and how to strengthen her personal relationship with god. It was such an amazing experience though because the spirit was definitely there while teaching which made it a lot easier to open my mouth and speak from the heart.

The end of the day we had a super cool activity when we learned how to love the people we will be serving. They showed videos of people from all walks of life and had us discuss in groups how we felt about the people and how god felt about them. It was super spiritual being able to talk to everyone and see how they viewed different things. because there are going to be tons of people with different backgrounds and come from different areas that we might never understand. But we just have to love them for who they are which is God's children.

I feel like im just on this spiritual high all the time and its the coolest thing ever. I have never felt so close and loved by our heavenly father. I know he loves each and everyone of us. and its definitely the biggest blessing knowing that he is cheering me on and all of us on and wants us to succeed in all that we do! I know this is where im supposed to be right now and im so grateful for the opportunity to serve others and to get lost in the work of our savior! I know this is not the longest email ever im just happy to be here and wanted to let you know im still alive hahah Love yall and hope you have a wonderful week....end lol hahah talk to you soon

Love, 

Sister T! ​

Ohio, Cleveland Mission