Love, your favorite missionary,
Elder Tobar
Friday, August 7, 2015
Busy week
Hi, I love you all! This week was great but I don't have any time to write today, I'm so sorry, how's everything?
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Quick weekly update
These last two weeks have been so busy so here we go with your weekly El Salvadoran update ...
- Fatima got baptised!
- We hiked Mt. Chingo with some Elders and had an awesome bbq on top... in Guatemala! At the top is the divide between the two countries and there is a monument on top.
- We helped at a ward activity for pioneers in the area
- We helped a members whose entire roof fell in.... no one was hurt but it was crazy.
- And we survived countless rainstorms haha
I love this place more and more everyday and time is flyyyying by. I feel like I was in the states just last week. love you all!
Elder Tobar
- Fatima got baptised!
- We hiked Mt. Chingo with some Elders and had an awesome bbq on top... in Guatemala! At the top is the divide between the two countries and there is a monument on top.
- We helped at a ward activity for pioneers in the area- We helped a members whose entire roof fell in.... no one was hurt but it was crazy.
- And we survived countless rainstorms haha
I love this place more and more everyday and time is flyyyying by. I feel like I was in the states just last week. love you all!
Elder Tobar
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Out for 2 months!
Wow, time is going by so fast, this week was a blur. We had zone meeting this week that was cool. We spent most of the week visiting with contacts and members, most days in the rain. It rained so much this week it was nuts.
We have a baptism this week on Saturday! Fatima, we've been teaching her for three weeks now. Her parents are inactive but we got the whole family to an activity on Saturday. The Rama had an activity celebrating the first members in the rama. It was a lot of fun, the members are so funny. People are just so different here, I like it. We have been focusing a lot on getting the members involved in the work. There are so many less active and inactive members that we don't have time to visit them all. They need to feel the love and fellowship of the members! We got the bishop to start the rama reading the Book of Mormon together starting next Sunday with one of those chapter coloring sheets.
Mondays are awesome. Last week we played futbol with some other elders and the kids in the area, it rained so hard on us.
Next week we are hiking Mt. Chigo. It's an inactive volcano on the other end of my area. I'll be sacrificing my writing time next week because we need to go early in morning but I'll send pictures. I've wanted to hike it since I got to my area and the branch president's sons is going to take us and a few other people.
Love you all, till next time,
Elder Tobar
We have a baptism this week on Saturday! Fatima, we've been teaching her for three weeks now. Her parents are inactive but we got the whole family to an activity on Saturday. The Rama had an activity celebrating the first members in the rama. It was a lot of fun, the members are so funny. People are just so different here, I like it. We have been focusing a lot on getting the members involved in the work. There are so many less active and inactive members that we don't have time to visit them all. They need to feel the love and fellowship of the members! We got the bishop to start the rama reading the Book of Mormon together starting next Sunday with one of those chapter coloring sheets.
Mondays are awesome. Last week we played futbol with some other elders and the kids in the area, it rained so hard on us.
Love you all, till next time,
Elder Tobar
Monday, July 6, 2015
Walkin' in the rain!
I don't have a ton of time but this week went by so quickly! We went to San Salvador on Tuesday for some immigration stuff which was fun. All my CCM friends came with us so it was super cool to catch up with them and hear their stories after a week in the field. I'm starting to really get to know the area and the people. It's so hot and humid and I've never walked so much in my life but it's so beautiful here and the people are so humble. There is fruit everywhere and a ton of fruit that you can find in the states. Oh man, the mangos!! We always look for ripe ones in the trees, then throw rocks to knock them down haha it's pretty funny. They taste sooo good. Talpas are pretty great too.
Sundays mornings are pretty crazy. Every morning before church we run around (sometimes literally) tracking down our investigators to get them to church! One girl Fatima who is going to get baptized this month lives in the middle of a huge cane field and is too young to walk to church so we have to get her before and drop her off after. But she is so sweet.
One last story, last night we were in our last appointment and it started to pour! It was the biggest thunderstorm I have ever seen in my life. We tried waiting a little but it didn't let up at all. We had to get home so we walked 40 minutes in the downpour. I thought we were going to get struck by lightning hahaha it was crazy. Love you all.
Elder Tobar
Sundays mornings are pretty crazy. Every morning before church we run around (sometimes literally) tracking down our investigators to get them to church! One girl Fatima who is going to get baptized this month lives in the middle of a huge cane field and is too young to walk to church so we have to get her before and drop her off after. But she is so sweet.
One last story, last night we were in our last appointment and it started to pour! It was the biggest thunderstorm I have ever seen in my life. We tried waiting a little but it didn't let up at all. We had to get home so we walked 40 minutes in the downpour. I thought we were going to get struck by lightning hahaha it was crazy. Love you all.
Elder Tobar
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Buenas Dias todos!
I finally left the CCM! We woke up super early and took a bus to the mission office in Santa Ana. We got split into two groups and half of us went to a plaza and contacted people while the other half did paper work. After we had dinner at the presidents house. We slept at some elder's houses that night and woke up early for exchanges. I got assigned my trainer Elder Rodriguez, he's a short Honduran. Hes been in the mission for 20 months, his english is pretty broken. My first area is called Magdelana, it's the biggest area in the whole mission. Its so beautiful here but everyone is so poor. Our area is pretty rural and a little dangerous so we can't live there. Our house is a 45 minute walk from our area. So every morning we have to walk 45 minutes or if we're lucky catch a bus just to get to our area! We walk soooooo much. We spend most of our days walking though the mountains and visiting members, less actives and investigators. We have 2 baptism dates and about 6 investigators now. The people here are so poor but so humble, most live on dirt floors. Enjoy a few hot showers for me! I got to go but keep the faith!
Elder Tobar
 |
| Bus ride - Guatemala to El Salvador |
 |
| No explanation necessary ... |
 |
| Elderes Rodriguez y Tobar |
 |
| Nuestro apartamento y estudios |
 |
| It's so hot!! |
 |
| the elders that live behind us. We climb over the roof to eat and ask for things they're super chivo. We raided their kitchen on Sunday because we had no food in our apartment haha |
Friday, June 26, 2015
Arrived in El Salvador!
Here's an email from Tad's mission president after he arrived.
--------
We are happy to announce that Elder Tobar has safely arrived in our mission. The night of his arrival, we enjoyed getting to know him during dinner at the mission home, and we can tell that he is going to be a great missionary. We are grateful for the sacrifices you and your missionary have made that allow him to be here. We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will pour out his blessings upon your family. We are very happy to have your son with us and we know he will bless the lives of many people here in the great country of El Salvador.
He has been assigned to the area of Magdalena in the Chalchuapa Stake. His companion is Elder Rodriquez from Honduras. He is a determined, hardworking missionary who is diligent in the Lord´s work. We expect to see great success from this companionship.
Sincerely,
President and Sister Spjut
--------
We are happy to announce that Elder Tobar has safely arrived in our mission. The night of his arrival, we enjoyed getting to know him during dinner at the mission home, and we can tell that he is going to be a great missionary. We are grateful for the sacrifices you and your missionary have made that allow him to be here. We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will pour out his blessings upon your family. We are very happy to have your son with us and we know he will bless the lives of many people here in the great country of El Salvador.
He has been assigned to the area of Magdalena in the Chalchuapa Stake. His companion is Elder Rodriquez from Honduras. He is a determined, hardworking missionary who is diligent in the Lord´s work. We expect to see great success from this companionship.
Sincerely,
President and Sister Spjut
Monday, June 22, 2015
Semana 5 en la CCM
Don't have a lot of time but here we go!
First off thank you everyone for your letters and emails I love to hear from you and how you are all doing! This week was pretty rough. The day after P-day, Wednesday, I got crazy sick with the stomach flu so I was out for 3 days in my room. Wasn't fun but I'm better now. We got the new Latinos and they are probably my favorite.
We have been studying Spanish like crazy and everyone is getting really excited because...drum roll...We finally leave on Tuesday! I can't wait to get out of here. Don't get me wrong, I love it here and the people I've met but I'm a peacock you gotta let me fly! (sorry if you didn't get that reference). We had some great devotionals and get to watch "Meet the Mormons" this week before we head out. I'll miss the CCM and President Cox but Eccl. 3 "there is a time and place for everything". I got some pictures from the plaza so enjoy. Sorry this week was so short but I'm out of time! Love you all, Keep the faith!
Love,
Elder Tobar
First off thank you everyone for your letters and emails I love to hear from you and how you are all doing! This week was pretty rough. The day after P-day, Wednesday, I got crazy sick with the stomach flu so I was out for 3 days in my room. Wasn't fun but I'm better now. We got the new Latinos and they are probably my favorite.
We have been studying Spanish like crazy and everyone is getting really excited because...drum roll...We finally leave on Tuesday! I can't wait to get out of here. Don't get me wrong, I love it here and the people I've met but I'm a peacock you gotta let me fly! (sorry if you didn't get that reference). We had some great devotionals and get to watch "Meet the Mormons" this week before we head out. I'll miss the CCM and President Cox but Eccl. 3 "there is a time and place for everything". I got some pictures from the plaza so enjoy. Sorry this week was so short but I'm out of time! Love you all, Keep the faith!
Love,
Elder Tobar
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Semana 4 en CCM
We had such a crazy week here. Every minute is packed with classes and devotionals. These last two weeks have gone by so quickly. This week we got the opportunity to teach some inactive families that were brought to the CCM. We taught a single mom and her adorable daughter. I remember starting asking her questions and asking her when was the last time she went to church, it had been 4 years. We taught her about prayer and testified it could strengthen her testimony again if she read the Book of Mormon and asked God if it was true. The spirit was so strong in that room. I remember looking at the daughter and thinking how badly she needed the gospel in her life.
Sunday was amazing like always. We have great devotionals and testimony meetings. At the end of the night we went up to President Cox's apartment again for another devotional and cookies made by his wife which is awesome haha. I just love them. Today is P-day and this time we got to go on a field trip. After the temple we took a bus to the capital of Guatemala just in front of Presidents Palace to a plaza to place some Books of Mormon! Oh we had the best time. It was so beautiful. We visited a market before and I bought a sweet hackysack for 5Q haha. We visited a huge cathedral right next to the plaza which was really cool as well. In the plaza we only had 30 mins but my companion Elder Aldous and I talked to three contacts and gave them Books of Mormon and got their address for missionaries to stop by. Two of them were students and another from the town. It was amazing that I could understand and teach complete strangers. I mean granted they have us eating, drinking and sleeping Spanish here, it felt very rewarding.
On the way home on the bus we got everyone to sing hymns (cough cough totally started that haha) which was so fun! Hermana Cox said out of all the missionaries we were the first ever to do that. Now we're back in the CCM all the old nations are gone out into the field and new ones will be trickling in today and tomorrow. Its crazy to think this will be the group we leave to the field with in two weeks. I love you all and love hearing from you. Keep the faith.
Love,
Elder Tobar
Sunday was amazing like always. We have great devotionals and testimony meetings. At the end of the night we went up to President Cox's apartment again for another devotional and cookies made by his wife which is awesome haha. I just love them. Today is P-day and this time we got to go on a field trip. After the temple we took a bus to the capital of Guatemala just in front of Presidents Palace to a plaza to place some Books of Mormon! Oh we had the best time. It was so beautiful. We visited a market before and I bought a sweet hackysack for 5Q haha. We visited a huge cathedral right next to the plaza which was really cool as well. In the plaza we only had 30 mins but my companion Elder Aldous and I talked to three contacts and gave them Books of Mormon and got their address for missionaries to stop by. Two of them were students and another from the town. It was amazing that I could understand and teach complete strangers. I mean granted they have us eating, drinking and sleeping Spanish here, it felt very rewarding.
On the way home on the bus we got everyone to sing hymns (cough cough totally started that haha) which was so fun! Hermana Cox said out of all the missionaries we were the first ever to do that. Now we're back in the CCM all the old nations are gone out into the field and new ones will be trickling in today and tomorrow. Its crazy to think this will be the group we leave to the field with in two weeks. I love you all and love hearing from you. Keep the faith.
Love,
Elder Tobar
ps We take a new picture every two weeks. They took our individual cameras while we are in the CCM.
Semana 3
This week has flown by. The old group of Latinos left and we got a new group come in on Wednesday. Which makes us top dogs on campus now. We get so many questions on how everything is down and they all look to us for a example to follow. I love the Latinos here and the teachers. My favorite day is by far Sunday. We get to have a lot of awesome lessons and devotionals from the Presidents and broadcasts. They know so much and are so full of life, I love hearing from them. I love getting to visit the temple every week and love my District. Can't wait to get in the field but I'm learning a lot while I'm here. Ask me questions about what you want to hear about and keep me posted on all the news.
Love
Elder Tobar
Love
Elder Tobar
hahaha so if you're wondering why my hair is so short...they buzz everyone's hair here every two weeks. no joke he took max 1 min on it.
Guatemala City MTC, 02 June 2015
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Semana 2 in CCM
Wow This week flew by so fast! Today we visited the temple and later we get to leave the CCM and go to the market. When I step outside the CCM gates I always feel a bit weird haha we spend so much time in here. In other news...I got called to be the Zone leader for the next 4 weeks! So that puts me pretty much in charge of helping everyone I can and setting an example to the other Elders and Hermanas here in the CCM. We had tons of classes this week on teaching and Spanish. On Sunday we had some amazing firesides from the mission President Cox and the Mission president from the area.
Okay so funny story my companion Elder Aldous and I were teaching our teacher a lesson on the restoration and his profile was a blind man! he is the funniest guy. SO we go up to knock at the door and see him through the window gazing out even though he was blind wearing this bucket hat and a tracksuit over his tie with white frame sunglasses and bright blue polarized sunglasses! it was so funny we both started laughing as he hobbled over to the door. We composed ourselves and once we got inside we started to teach him how to pray and to kneel. Anyway my companion and I forgot how to say in Spanish "bow your head" so we basically told him in I'm sure horrible Spanish to "look at the ground with your head", so Hermano Noack puts his hands behind his back, kneels down, and puts his face on the ground asking us if he was doing it right! hahaha omigosh we laughed so hard and tried to keep quiet but it was so funny.
In another lesson we taught him he played a different role my companion and I had not prepared for. We taught him the restoration and the importance of the priesthood. The spirit was so strong during the lesson as we taught and testified I'll never forget that experience. I'm trying my best to take advantage of the opportunity I have in the MTC here to prepare. oh and the Spanish is going really well I just try to focus on speaking outside the classroom with the Latinos. I'm excited to be the new Zone leader for the rest of our stay here in the CCM and try to help my companions succeed. Love you all.
Okay so funny story my companion Elder Aldous and I were teaching our teacher a lesson on the restoration and his profile was a blind man! he is the funniest guy. SO we go up to knock at the door and see him through the window gazing out even though he was blind wearing this bucket hat and a tracksuit over his tie with white frame sunglasses and bright blue polarized sunglasses! it was so funny we both started laughing as he hobbled over to the door. We composed ourselves and once we got inside we started to teach him how to pray and to kneel. Anyway my companion and I forgot how to say in Spanish "bow your head" so we basically told him in I'm sure horrible Spanish to "look at the ground with your head", so Hermano Noack puts his hands behind his back, kneels down, and puts his face on the ground asking us if he was doing it right! hahaha omigosh we laughed so hard and tried to keep quiet but it was so funny.
In another lesson we taught him he played a different role my companion and I had not prepared for. We taught him the restoration and the importance of the priesthood. The spirit was so strong during the lesson as we taught and testified I'll never forget that experience. I'm trying my best to take advantage of the opportunity I have in the MTC here to prepare. oh and the Spanish is going really well I just try to focus on speaking outside the classroom with the Latinos. I'm excited to be the new Zone leader for the rest of our stay here in the CCM and try to help my companions succeed. Love you all.
Love Elder Tobar
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
HOLA! Semana 1 en la CCM
I Made it everyone! I feel like I live in a classrooom now. I love the launguage though and the work. I feel so blessed to have this time to devote myself to stucing the gospel 24-7 Ive learned so much already. The MTC expereance is something else! Its beauticful here in the heart of Guatemala city. I love the mtc president cox and my teachers! they are all so funny and filled with the spirit. We have
some crazy amaziong firesides and lessons. I along with 4 other Norte Americano Compeneros are the only white people here! We are surrounded by the Latios! I am the TALLEST person in the whole MTC. I love them they are so fun loving and helpful with the launguage. We are only allwoed to speak spanish at the MTC here so its always a fun challenge to communitcate with them. We play alot of volleyball eveyday during sports and every time it has rained. And im not talking sprinkled...it pours! I love it though i already have had so many stories and experiances it is amazing today we went to the temple which was very cool the temple is very small. They feed us crazy well! I only have four minutes left but i love you all like crazy. i think about you all and will keep you in my prayers.
With love from Guatemala, Elder Tobar.
ps. funny story my comps name is Elder Aldous here in the mtc and i actually met him in alanta! I just saw this young white kid sticking out like a sore thumb so i went up to him haha now hes my comp in the mtc crazy the lord works in amazing ways.
some crazy amaziong firesides and lessons. I along with 4 other Norte Americano Compeneros are the only white people here! We are surrounded by the Latios! I am the TALLEST person in the whole MTC. I love them they are so fun loving and helpful with the launguage. We are only allwoed to speak spanish at the MTC here so its always a fun challenge to communitcate with them. We play alot of volleyball eveyday during sports and every time it has rained. And im not talking sprinkled...it pours! I love it though i already have had so many stories and experiances it is amazing today we went to the temple which was very cool the temple is very small. They feed us crazy well! I only have four minutes left but i love you all like crazy. i think about you all and will keep you in my prayers.
With love from Guatemala, Elder Tobar.
ps. funny story my comps name is Elder Aldous here in the mtc and i actually met him in alanta! I just saw this young white kid sticking out like a sore thumb so i went up to him haha now hes my comp in the mtc crazy the lord works in amazing ways.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Monday, May 11, 2015
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Welcome
Elder Tad Tobar
El Salvador Santa Ana Mission
Guatemala Missionary Training Center
Bulevar Vista Hermosa 23-71
Vista Hermosa I, Zona 15
01015 Guatemala City
Guatemala
(*No packages are accepted to the Guatemala MTC.) I love you all so much and will try my best to write you all. Thank you to all my family, friends, and church leaders who helped me to get to where I am today. I love you guys!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)