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
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| "The Dixon Fire" (not what a dad who owns and manages apartments likes to see) |
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| "It's flat in Dixon." |
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| View from the front door. |
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| Fire engines headed to Santa Rosa, a common sight. |
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| The sun is orange or red every day and the smoke makes for some pretty sunsets. |
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