Spiders In Recliners and Following Promptings

10.30.17

Hey squadron!
 I don't have any more jokes about the fires so don't expect any. Here is this week summed up: Spanish lessons I don't understand but we got two baptismal dates out of them; hot tracting; a lot of calling people; trunk or treat, spiders in recliners; an amazing community; and following a prompting that turned into something spectacular! 

The Spanish lessons: we have been using members who speak Spanish to help us teach Carlos and Rosita and they accepted baptismal dates! I'm praying that they can keep progressing! Carlos comes to church every week without fail and he can't even understand any of the words. It's a really great thing to see his dedication to the Spirit.

 I'm sure that Thomas, Matt, Dallen, and a bunch of others can attest to how hot it is everywhere else but Utah in October. That makes tracting fun because there really aren't any clouds here ever so it's direct sun all day long. All hail short sleeve shirts. 

We also acquired a list of the part member families in the ward. There are over 60! We have been calling a ton of people and setting up appointments every once in a while. Mostly it's either they moved, their number doesn't work, or they do not want to be contacted. But there are a few that are really nice and want to talk to us. 

The recliner thing is self explanatory.... I saw the spider hiding in one of the cracks and so we sprayed it with ammonia and disposed of it.   It was great. 

And finally, the prompting that we followed! Really something that changed my perspective on what I'm supposed to be doing out here. 

So this past Thursday we were out visiting part member families and less active members. Everyone was relatively close except for two houses which were out in the middle of nowhere. Elder Siebach and I said that we weren't going to go out there because it was really far and we were really tight on miles. Somehow we ended up driving out there though.... We found this family's house and we talked to the father for about 30 minutes or so. He is an inactive member and none of his family is baptized but he told us about his mission experiences and how he could never deny any part of the Gospel. He had just strayed from the church over a long period of time and hasn't gone back in a number of years. He said though, that he had been thinking about the church a lot in the days before we showed up, no coincidence!  After we had a good conversation, he said he would contact us if he felt as though he could make the commitment to come back. We said alright and we left. That night, we had a few questions for our Bishop. We talked with him at his house and we found out that the Bishop had been talking to this brother a lot during the past week, trying to get him to come back. The brother had told the Bishop that if he came back to church, his wife and daughter would too and that they would want to be baptized soon after. Through direct inspiration, the Bishop actually extended a pretty demanding calling to this brother. The brother was unsure about this because it was such a big step for him to take, but then told the Bishop that the exact same calling was one that his father held for a number of years. The man told Bishop that he would let him know if he accepted the call or not on Saturday. Saturday came and the man told Bishop that he needed some extra time but would be at church the next day! He came to church on Sunday with his mission scriptures and sat next to Elder Siebach and myself. That in itself was cool! He and the Bishop talked in Bishop's office for the entire second hour of church. After church, Bishop told Elder Siebach and me that the man was going to consult his family about what they would be doing and that they would also like to start having the missionaries over once a week to teach the lessons!!!! I'm so excited to help bring this great family closer to Christ, that is my purpose after all. 

Other than that, we go around and visit people and we tract and we offer service. We helped a member move into an apartment on Saturday and arranged for him to get a ride to church on Sunday. He is really great and funny. 

On a different note, I haven't driven a car in almost two months and I'm starting to lose my mind. I might just see if craigslist has anything cheap and get my own car. Also, I always have these different songs running through my head that I wish I could listen to. Which leads me to the song of the week: The great Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" which talks about how music is a universal language that everyone can feel. It's a really great song so I would suggest you go listen to it. Except for my missionary friends.... don't do that unless you wanna be OC. You guys can listen to anything by MercyMe, specifically "wishful thinking" or "heavens here" 

We are getting smart phones soon which is super weird but I guess the Lord is hastening his work and we can use them effectively in California. 

That's about it for this week, enjoy some of the pictures and let me know whats going on in your lives! I can read emails pretty much any time so say hey! 

A quick shout out to the Geeshter boys from Scrusstown as I'm wearing my Welcome To Scrusstown shirt. I love you all! 

-Elder Thompson

Corn Maze with his district

Dixon apartment and the recliner, pre-spider discovery.

I'll have to send him some Thin Mints to deliver to this house!

Elder Siebach reclining 

I Don't Speak Spanish ~ 10.23.17

What's up friends and family and other people who somehow know me well enough to receive this email!! Another smokin week here in NorCal!! 

This week I went on exchanges with our District Leader who is a Spanish elder. I spent the night in Woodland, California and we were able to do some really effective street contacting. The missionaries here tell me that I'm really good at talking to everyone and that I don't act like a normal greenie because I "look" like I know what I'm doing. I tell them that I used to get in trouble every day at school for being too social but it's working out for me here.  so take that East High. 

I had no idea what was being said when Elder Morais would start speaking Spanish but I could feel the spirit so strongly and that was a really cool experience. The next day, we had interviews with President Wright. Some of you may have seen him on the news in recent days. He is the greatest man ever! He really loves us missionaries and will do everything that he can to set us up to be successful. I have been so blessed to have a Mission President like him. 

The other day, while knocking doors by our apartment, we knocked on this lady's door and she started talking to us. She is a college student studying to be a botanist. She is Pagan and her husband is an Atheist. After about 20 minutes of talking to her about why we go around knocking doors and following a crazy schedule, she invited us back the next day to help her teach her husband about God. That was a cool thing. The next day we went back and nobody was there.... weird. So we went back the next day and she opened the door and was kind of not there in a way. She told us that she had gotten in a bad car accident the day before and to come back like next week. Now, I'm not sure what kind of crap satan is pulling here, but he better stop messing with our potential investigators! We are praying for her. 

One more cool experience this week. We meet with this recent convert, Ron, who doesn't really believe what we do... but he has it really rough and his life has been really hard so we go over and talk to him twice a week. He is in his mid 60's and arthritis is setting in pretty hard for him so he cant do much work. Anyway, this investigator family that we had dinner with one night had a mattress in their front room. We asked them what it was about and they said that now that they have two kids, they can't have this queen sized mattress anymore because they need twin beds so they were getting rid of this pretty much brand new, super soft, queen-sized mattress. They asked if we knew anyone who needed it. We said that Ron would probably really appreciate it because he doesnt have much. Well, we went over the next day and gave it to him and he seemed kind of shocked and speechless that people could be so kind. The next day at church, we talked to him and he said that the mattress was such a Godsend because it was the first day in years when he hadn't woken up with shoulder and back pain! I'm glad we were able to help him out. That's about it for this week. I've written all of the interesting stuff so if you've stopped caring, you can stop reading now. 

I've been thinking about all of my friends in SLC and around the world as well. I've also been thinking a lot about India since our 1 year mark of going there is coming up next month so shoutout to my YMAD fam! Love you guys!

Let me know what is going on in life! Also the song of the week is the acoustic version of "layla" by Eric Clapton. That one has been stuck in my head for the past little while. Everything is going well here in Cali. I think the fires are coming to an end but I'm a missionary so I don't know anything. 

Onward and upward, squad up and squad out, and welcome to Scrusstown.

Love,

Elder Thompson

Companion study in a nearby park

Hank and his trainer, Elder Siebach

Smoky Life In Dixon

10.16.17

What's up everyone who is still reading these?! I'm impressed you made it this far. This week was pretty lit. not sure if that is too soon, but it was actually great. 

To start off, I'm sure you're all wondering about the fires. We haven't gotten any word from the mission about it besides what we hear from Facebook.  It's business as usual.  We got a lot of smoke here on Wednesday and Thursday but then it got way windy so all of the smoke blew away. That probably wasn't very good for the fire though. We are continuing to pray for everyone affected by the fires. We have seen some amazing people though, families that have lost everything but only focus on how they can help others. It's incredible. 

We have been told to be ready to evacuate at any time so Elder Siebach and I each have a suitcase ready to go,  but we won't put them to use I'm sure. 

Last Tuesday after district meeting, we went to do some community service. We ended up building a park for the city of Winters... it was a crazy park too. We were carrying around and setting these 16 foot posts into the ground. It was really good service and it was also really difficult. 

Here in Dixon, our main focus in on part-member families because there are a ton here. We go and visit people and mostly people aren't really interested but there have been a few that invited us back! One family invited us to dinner and then expressed their concerns about the church. They were pretty tough concerns so Elder Siebach and I are taking this week to study out their questions and go back to answer them. We also do things like help this family make shirts for the wife's job because she does a lot for the community. She is the only member of the church in her family so I think she likes having our influence in her house. 

On Wednesday, we got an investigator to commit to coming to church! It was a really great thing to see. She says she is bringing a little girl that she cares for next week. That should be great! 

I can tell I'm getting better at talking to people because I was able to secure two return appointments while tracting within just a few houses! It was a good feeling. 

The 13th of this month was my 1 month mark in the mission. It went by so quickly looking back at it, especially this week. It's crazy how this works. Saturday we helped a family in the ward move a few blocks away. Another good workout. 

Two great experiences this week!! 

1: Yesterday, after church, we were going to an apartment complex that we had tracted the week before to go to a return appointment for a guy named Rudolfo. sadly he wasnt there.... so on our way back, we passed this part member family's house who we had been trying to contact for like two weeks. We saw the mom walking into the house! Score! We walked up to the door and knocked and there was no answer.... keep in mind there are like 6 people at this house at a time but they just seem to hide from us. We knocked a second time out of habit and still no answer.... as we were about to turn back and go tract but Elder Siebach had the feeling that we should knock a third time, but both of us at the same time. Unheard of! haha. So after a good 7-8 second long knock, one of the daughters came to the door! It seemed as though we had woken her up from a nap but that's okay, this is more important than a nap. We talked to her for like 30 minutes on the doorstep and got her phone number and facebook information! She said she would be more open to talking on facebook so we said great! That was a cool thing.

Experience 2: This morning while at Walmart, we pulled in and saw a guy pushing his car. I walked up hoping to be able to help jump start him but after a further look, it seemed that he had a bad starter. We walked back to our car because it seemed like we couldn't help him. We then saw him start to push his car again, which was weird because we're in Dixon where there is nothing and Walmart is a few miles away from anything. I felt like we should help him. Elder Siebach and I ended up pushing the car about a mile on the highway while the guy steered. What a workout!! We finally got to the shop down the road and the guy got out and gave me the biggest Canadian hug ever. He was so grateful and I was really happy to have been able to help someone out. There's no way he would've been able to get the car there himself. We were at the Walmart at that time for a reason, to be able to help someone! Turns out we had helped him out more than we knew, he was driving from San Francisco to Reno and his car broke down in Dixon, so he spent the night in his car in a Walmart parking lot not knowing where he could get help. That was a cool experience this morning too. I got a really good cardio/strength workout too. 

Sorry this is long, if you made it this far I'm really impressed. 

We can withstand spiritual fires by relying on Jesus Christ as our foundation. Everyone watch the mormon message "Daily Bread: Experience" by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. It really is amazing! The Gospel is true. Go Jesus! 

(p.s. we had a fire in our sink because we felt left out here in Dixon. Just kidding, we actually just had to get rid of some member information because we got an updated area book, so we did what any missionaries would do, set the old papers on fire in our sink! (now you have to put the picture of it in, mom:) )

Love, 

Elder Thompson

"The Dixon Fire" (not what a dad who owns and manages apartments likes to see)

"It's flat in Dixon." 

View from the front door.

Fire engines headed to Santa Rosa, a common sight.

The sun is orange or red every day and the smoke makes for some pretty sunsets.

10/9/17 First week in CASRM and it's on fire... literally.

Elder Henry Thompson
1225 Linford Lane Apt. D3 
Dixon, CA 95620

*Dixon is about 70 miles east of Santa Rosa.  All CASRM missionaries are safe and the Mission Home and Mission office narrowly escaped the path of the fire.  Entire neighborhoods are incinerated and so many Santa Rosa residents have nothing left.  Hank is anxious to help but for now, he will stay in Dixon so that Santa Rosa isn't overwhelmed with volunteers taking up the resources that the residents need most.   
Hey everyone!! This past week was a crazy one! We woke up around 3am in Provo and then took a shuttle to Frontrunner to Trax to get to the airport. We got on the plane to Oakland and I was able to get a much needed hour long nap. We then got to meet President Wright and his wife. They're the greatest people. Such an answer to my prayers. Pray for them though, as they were evacuated from the mission home because of all of the wildfires in Sonoma and Napa valleys.  California needs to get a grip. Anyway, my trainer is Elder Siebach from Dover, Deleware. He is great. An obedient and hardworking missionary who is also human. I'm really grateful for him. We don't have very many investigators who will talk to us still so we've been doing a lot of finding. Good thing I missed the 120 degree heat during the summer! It's been a pretty good temperature most of the time. There are a lot of palm trees and pine trees here, it's a weird mix. Also, people here don't consider this "northern California" this is just California. Up near Oregon is actual "norCal". The ward and people here are super nice. They offer to help us with lessons and service! What great people. It's interesting to think that this is home now. I have to say though, its a pretty good one so far. Our apartment is nice and we've met some great people so we're pretty blessed. 

Yesterday though we had a cool experience, we tracted an entire apartment complex and out of about 50 doors knocked, 5 people answered. Of those 5 people, three spoke no english and one wasn't interested in the slightest. But that 1 person out of 50 was willing to talk to us. His name is Rudolfo and he invited us to come back and talk with him! Major success! That's about it for now, we're just working hard and being tired all the time which I've heard never goes away. It's alright though,  I'm getting external strength that I didn't know that I had. I've been blessed so much in my life and now it's time for me to give a little back. Let me know what's happening in life! I hope all is well. Also, shoutout to Kennedy Mcdonald for heading out this week! You'll be great!

Love you all! 

Elder Thompson

Coffey subdivision after the fire

Coffey subdivision before

Arriving missionaries 10-03-17

Salt Lake Airport boarding the flight to Oakland