Not So Silent Night - Chocolate Cake Roasting On An Open Fire

Hey friends and family, Merry Christmas to you all! 

It's my favorite time of the year and the best time of the year to be serving others. For me, my service is to Jesus Christ and the people in Northern California. It's a great blessing to be here for Christmas, in one of my favorite places! 

You can read Luke 2 in preparation for tomorrow as well as serve someone and help them to feel the Christmas spirit! 

This week was really long because we were preparing for Zone Conference and dealing with other things within the zone so I haven't gone to bed before 11:30 for the past couple of days.  That might not seem like a big deal but when you get up at 6 and you have to be going all day, you need all of the sleep that you can get! 

I'll try to keep this short but I have a cool experience that I'd like to share with you:

A few weeks ago, we met an elderly woman while tracting. It was about 6:30pm and she told us that she didn't open her door that late. We asked if we could come at an earlier time in a few days and she said sure. Well, we set up to go see her on Wednesday and we were about to do companionship study but we felt like we should go see her before studying. When we got there, there was a loud alarm going off from inside her house. Turns out it was the fire alarm. After a few knocks, she came to the door and told us to go away because there was a fire in her oven. We asked if we could help her out because she is old and there was smoke coming out of the door but she still said no.... super weird. She had 3 dogs barking in there and smoke everywhere, it was just really chaotic.  We insisted that we come in and help her out with turning her alarm off and making sure that the fire had gone out. She let us in, thankfully. We went inside and while Elder Staten turned the alarm off, I checked the kitchen for the fire. Thankfully it had gone out but there was still smoke everywhere so we opened up all of her windows and made sure everything was okay. It wasn't too serious, she was just trying to make a cake and it caught on fire in her oven. So after we got her dogs back inside, they'd run out during the chaos, we offered to play her a Christmas song on her piano. We played and sang  "The First Noel." She loved it and she said it helped to calm her down. We taught her about missionary work and how we can help her. She told us we could come back after the first of the year and teach her more! So that's the story of how we met our friend, Marie. It's cool to see how Heavenly Father will put us in situations for good as long as we listen and obey the little promptings he sends us. I'm grateful that we followed a prompting that day. 

We had Zone Conference this week which was great! We learned all about teaching more effectively with the main theme being, "If the Savior stood beside you, what would you do differently?"  It's always great having Zone Conference for many reasons, two of my best friends in the mission are the assistants right now so I get to see them a lot! I also had a big heart to heart with President Meservy after. He is such a great man and I know that he was called here for a reason by God. 

One last thing, we had a lesson with a recent convert who has been going through the refiner's fire the past couple of months so we shared a few scriptures with her from the 121st section of the Doctrine and Covenants where Joseph Smith is wondering where God is and why all of these terrible things are happening to him and the Saints. God gives him a great answer in verses 7-9 that we should all remember when things are not so great:

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

Our afflictions make us stronger and will eventually be for our benefit, even if it doesn't seem that way in the moment. 

Remember the real reason for the season, Jesus Christ!  We celebrate His birth and what His life means for all of us. All of the love to my family and friends at home and on missions. I love all of you!

The Song of the Week this week is, of course, the Mariah Carey version of "All I want for Christmas is you"  It's more of a meme than anything and we could all use a good laugh occasionally.  

Everyone have a Merry Christmas!!!!

Love,

Elder Thompson 

F

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQViqx6GMY

All I Want For Christmas  Mariah Carey

Light The World, West Coast Style

Hello everyone! 

As I look out over the thick morning bay area fog, I write to you the events of my past week. Hopefully you enjoy it and are able to make it through the whole thing. I'll make it as painless as possible. 

Last Tuesday, we woke up early and drove down to San Rafael at about 7 to go talk to some of the other elders in our zone and help them out. But the worst part about California is definitely the traffic. So as everyone is going to The City for work in the morning, it makes a 40 minute drive take an hour and 45 minutes, which is terrible. Man how I miss those 75-80 MPH speed limits that Utah has. It makes so much more sense

. 

We started teaching this family the Spanish elders found for us last week. They seem super promising and I am really happy to be able to teach families. Families are such a big part of the gospel! Speaking of family, happy December birthdays to Millie and Chad! 

On Wednesday we went to a park in our area to try and tell people about Light The World and other gospel subjects but nobody was at the park. Literally a ghost town. So we decided to take our tactics to the street.   At a nearby stoplight, whenever the light was red, we would run out to all of the stopped cars and trucks and we would give them Light The World cards. It was a fun experience! People were pretty cool about it actually. 

We also met up as a district and did a big Light The World table in downtown Petaluma. It was raining pretty hard so that made it fun! We handed out cards and candy canes and free hot chocolate! We went really hard contacting people and telling them about the initiative. I met this lady who had a little bird on her shoulder and I asked her if I could have it. She said sure and put it on my shoulder so I got to walk around for a few minutes while she was getting hot chocolate and I talked to people with a bird on my shoulder, in the rain! I got some funny looks but I did have to give the bird back. We named it Rick Ross. 

Light The World

Rick Ross the bird who enjoys contacting with me in Petaluma

Northern California in the winter isn't necessarily cold, it's just humid so it feels colder.  Mostly it's just really foggy and rainy. It's pretty cool to see the fog set in in the evenings. 

So yesterday, it was raining pretty hard, and you already know I was about to have a good time! I love going out in the rain. I think it makes things interesting. We talked to a lot of people and they were really confused as to why we were out.  We got soaking wet but we did have some nice people let us in. They mostly just wanted to talk to us about their religion which is great but we left them with a Book of Mormon.  They told me to give props to my parents for helping me to do what I am doing. So props to you guys! It was nice though that they would let us in from the rain for a bit. 

We had an awesome lesson with Branden and Anissa and they also came to church! I want to see them join the church so badly! We are just going to send it on the baptismal invitation this week. Pray for us that it goes well! I took a picture with their baby daughter this week because they told me that she loves cameras and selfies. They're a great family. 

Baby Bella

The Song of the Week is "Stranglehold" by Kevin Garrett. This was a good one when I saw him live! Go check him out, he is one of my favorites! 

Have a great week everyone! Crazy to think that it's almost Christmas and that 2018 is almost over.... Time flies you guys. 

Also go check out a talk by Henry B. Eyring called "Act In All Diligence" from April 2010. It is so good. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/act-in-all-diligence?lang=eng

Love, 

Elder Thompson 

Five Guys and their matching ties

Elder Van Katwyk falls asleep randomly

Ward Christmas party

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXDNlRDG7ZU  Stranglehold Kevin Garrett

If You Hit My Truck I Won't Join Your Church

What's up friends and fam?!

 This week was pretty crazy. We spent a lot of it in Santa Rosa and that was sweet to see a lot of people but it was tough because we weren't able to do as much work as I would have liked. 

It all started on Tuesday, we went to transfers and I picked up Elder Staten, from Tooele, Utah. We get along nicely.  We cleaned the apartment and did some good work as well. We had a fantastic church tour with Barbara this past Tuesday! We had some wonderful members come with us and while they were pulling in to park, Barbara thought that they were going to hit her truck and when she got out she said, "if you hit my truck, I'm not joining your church!" haha, it was pretty funny. She loved the church tour and seemed like she was more comfortable with coming to church on Sunday now that she had seen what it would be like. We have another lesson with her this Tuesday and we are going to talk about baptism! I have faith that it'll go well. 

On Wednesday, we went to the trainers meeting to meet Elder Van Katwyk, from Tracy, CA. He is a great guy and he adds a lot to our companionship. He wants to work and be obedient, which is what every trainer wants! 

Staten, Van Katwyk, Thompson

We had more meetings on Thursday which made for a long day but it's alright. 

On Friday, we had another meeting, ugh. It was MLC though so it was fun.  But dang, so many meetings! I got to see some good friends and that was great. We were invited to the mission home and had an amazing lunch with the Meservys and their kids...  it was super fun. It was a nice thing for them to do for us.  The Mission Home here is crazy nice! It's up in the hills of Santa Rosa in this little separate community.

Mission Home MLC

We had the ward Christmas party on Saturday night and that was fun as well. We also had another meeting on Saturday morning.  So sorry this is short but the whole week was meetings. 

This upcoming week, we will have more time to work and more people to find!

We found a really awesome guy named Morgan, who let us right into his home and we taught him. His pitbull wouldn't stop barking so I had to stand and pet it the whole time so it wouldn't bark like crazy. It was a cute pitbull so I didn't have a problem with it. 

We found a few others this week too which was nice, hopefully we get in contact with them again! 

Huge shoutout to the Foothill 7th Ward for the killer Christmas package!  It was a great surprise to get!  Thank you for thinking of the many awesome things to put in there! I definitely feel the love! Foothill 7th is the very best!

The Song of the Week is Simple Man by Lynrd Skynrd.  That is a great one! 

Have a terrific week this week! Remember to follow Light The World and make this world a better place. Merry Christmas everyone and also remember the real reason we celebrate this season. 

Love, Elder Thompson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMmTkKz60W8  Simple Man  Lynyrd Skynyrd

High Fives for Five Transfers

Merry Christmas everyone!! 
Boy have I some stories for you this week, it was a good one! 

First off though, transfers: We found out that I'll be staying for my 5th transfer in Rohnert Park, which is great!! I asked members to pray for me that I would stay. Sadly, we forgot to pray that Elder Pearson would stay as well - and Heavenly Father definitely answers prayers - but I guess we have to be more specific next time because Elder Pearson is leaving.... I'll be getting a new companion (Elder Staten) and in addition to our current responsibilities, we will be training a brand new missionary together. That is exciting stuff! I'll be living in the 3rd 5-man I've had in my mission. It's going to be interesting to figure out the bed situation and everything.... I'm glad that I get to stay in the ward and also that I don't have to pack, haha.  But this week will be filled with trainer meetings, MLC, and transfers and all of that other stuff. This week we also have lessons galore so that will keep us busy! 

Last Monday night, while leaving a lesson, we heard this super drunk guy talking to himself loudly in the apartment complex. So naturally I went toward the voice. We ended up talking with the man for like 20 minutes.  He definitely didn't remember anything the next day but we were able to convince him to take a Book of Mormon! 

We also had 2 families let us right into their houses this week! That never happens here so anytime you get into the house, it's a big deal! We are going back to teach one of the families, the other one wasn't super interested sadly, but one day, they might feel differently. 

Here are some other highlights so that this doesn't get too long:

-Doing service at an Elderly home on Dec. 1st to kick off Light The World! 

https://www.mormon.org/christmas

-teaching the Plan of Salvation to a college student on Wednesday night.  He soaked it right up and enjoyed it. We are going back on Wednesday again. As we were leaving, he turned the Cowboys game on and in the background  "The Less I Know The Better" by Tame Impala was playing. A tender mercy for me. I'd make that the Song of the Week, but it swears I think, so my mom would probably veto it. 

-doing a baptismal interview for a woman and seeing how happy she was when I said  I think she is ready to be baptized. 

-having Jamaican soup with a recent convert who is Jamaican and watching Bible videos with him. 

-Our windshield getting roasted by a rock flung up by the truck in front of us

-Finding huge spiders in our backyard and putting them into a bowl to see if they would fight.

-We called Barbara so that Elder Pearson could say goodbye and she asked, "aren't you going to be here for my baptism?" and we haven't even brought up baptism yet.... but I guess we will have to now! 

I'll definitely miss Elder Pearson, I've learned more about cows than I ever wanted to, we saw a lot of miracles, helped a lot of people, and worked really hard. I guess I'm meant to stay here because I still have work to do.  We have some solid baptismal candidates: Scott, Janet, Laura and her kids, Branden and Anissa, Barbara. Lots of people who are progressing and doing really well. It's been a blessing to witness it. This is a great place to be! The ward was really sad when they found out that Elder Pearson is leaving but they were still really happy to still have me for another transfer. I love these people. 

The Song of the Week is "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder. A classic again! 

Have a great week everyone and remember to follow the Light The World campaign and try to help everyone out, as the Savior did, this Christmas. 

Much love,

Elder Thompson 

met a semi-pro basketball player whose nickname is "Icecream Jumpshot" who wants to learn more about the gospel. He gave us his stickers. Cool guy. 

best pumpkin award

Saying goodbye to Elder Siebach (Hank's trainer and 2x companion) who finishes his mission this week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUj9frKY46E  Signed, Sealed, Delivered   Stevie Wonder

THANKFUL

Hey everyone! Get ready for a good read this week! Actually, I'm not sure how good it's going to be so just be ready for anything. 

We saw some great miracles this week! I'll highlight a few things before I talk about our big miracle for the week. 

-Finding a husband and wife to teach last Monday night.  We initially got in with their adult son and had a lesson at their house. We invited them in to join the lesson and by the end of it, they both asked for large print Books of Mormon so they could read them. 

-Thanksgiving was great! We went over to my "mission grandparents" house, the Hollingsworths. They had a lot of their extended family there who are also in the ward so it was a fun get together.

 We got stuffed for sure. It was raining all day super hard though which was a blessing to get the smoke out of here. Finding and working was harder that day because everyone was cooking dinner for that night and didn't want to talk, but we made it! 

-In honor of 2 years since India, I found an Indian store and bought some Limca for Elder Pearson and me to drink. It brought back some good memories of not being able to drink even the filtered water over there haha. 

-We had a member family invite us to their house for a surprise lunch because it was raining so hard on Friday. We were very appreciative. This ward loves Elder Pearson and I because we have been together for such a long time and we have gotten to know the ward really well. It will be hard if I have to leave in a week.... 

-People still trying to kick us out and threatening to call the cops on us. I honestly think it's hilarious. My stubbornness is actually helping out here, everyone! Mom would be proud. 

-Shoutout to the UTES baby!!!! Keep putting BYU in its place. The members we had dinner with yesterday, same as the ones for Thanksgiving, are all diehard BYU fans. I got to rub it in their face a little bit and we teased each other. They said that I'm lucky they like me because they usually don't allow Ute fans in the house. I had a member tell me the final score so I woke up on Sunday really happy!! 

Now for the Miracle of the Week: We went and saw Scott and Janet because we hadn't heard from them in a while. They opened the door right up and we had a small lesson with them. They are still reading and still praying, just really busy. But later that day, Elder Pearson thought that we needed to go tracting on a certain street, I told him that sounded fine. As we were going up one side of the street, we ran out of Books of Mormon because you already know we are handing out those bad boys like crazy. So we went back down to our car to restock. On our way back to tracting after we got our books, we spotted a woman across the street. We yelled across the street and asked if we could share a message about Jesus Christ with her. She said we could and so we ran across the street to talk to her. We helped her take some stuff inside from her truck and then we started talking about the Book of Mormon and all of that good stuff. She really enjoyed learning about it and then told us that her parents have been meeting with missionaries as well but it was unlikely that we were the same ones. She told us where they lived and we asked for their last name and she told us. Turns out, we had just found Scott and Janet's daughter!!! She said that they really love us so that was a good thing to know. So now we are going to teach Scott, Janet, their daughter, and her 3 kids as well, all at the same time! It was a huge miracle for me. Also she was really into ranching and stuff so Elder Pearson got to talk cowboy to her, he always enjoys that. 

The Song of the Week is "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2. That was an amazing concert back in 2011. My sister Molly even fell asleep at that one, man she can fall asleep anywhere. (she was 7, it was late)

But anyway, the church is still true, there is no way it's otherwise! I've seen too many miracles out here. Everyone participate in the Light the World campaign to make this world a better place. I know that the Lord has His hand all over this work that I and so many other great people that I know are doing. It's a special thing and I wouldn't give it up for anything else. 

Much love, 

Elder Thompson 

P Day excursion to Point Bonita Lighthouse 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZWSrr5wFI Where The Streets Have No Name U2

"Go To and Labor in the Vineyard, With Your Might..." Jacob 5:71-72

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! 
I hope everyone enjoys it and gets to eat some good food on Thursday! 

- The smoke is still bad. We had to get masks on Friday because it is so bad. Everyone we talk to is like "what are you guys still doing out here?!" it's pretty funny. The mask is so annoying but hey it's for my own good I guess. People think we are hardcore for wearing them around. I guess there is some sort of scale for air quality levels and at 200 it's dangerously unhealthy and right now in Rohnert Park we are at 174, so dang. Other places yesterday it was like 270, so I'm glad I wasn't there. Keep praying that they can get those fires put out soon. 

I'm kinda tired of nobody being outside and having to wear a mask for hours on end, but my problems right now are very miniscule compared to the thousands who have been affected, the people who are missing and people who have lost their homes and everything in them.

Hate the masks love our lungs

- I scared the literal pee out of a big dog this week. We were knocking doors out in the country and this big dog came barking at the door, I guess it was pretty scared because when I knocked for the second time, It ran away peeing everywhere. I felt bad for the owner but Elder Pearson and I had a good laugh over that. 

- We had interviews with President Meservy this week, which is always great. He is a great man with some wise counsel. We got some Wendy's afterward in Petaluma where I got my first Baconator; not all that it is hyped up to be but it was still good. 

-We had a great lesson with Branden and Anissa this past Saturday. We shared with them the Plan Of Salvation and they enjoyed it! They feel like the Book of Mormon is true (because it is!) But it's just a big step for them which means that they would have to stop attending their current church which they love.  I know that God will provide a way. 

- We were knocking an apartment complex, and a woman told us that we couldnt solicit there and that we had to leave. I thanked her for her warning, nicely, and then kept going after she closed the door.  A few doors down, we met Obadiah, who let us right into his house to share a message about Jesus Christ and we taught him about the Book of Mormon. He was a little apprehensive because he is very big Bible reader, but we helped some of his uneasiness. If we would have listened to the woman a few doors before, we would have been robbed of the opportunity to meet Obadiah! I think that opposition means that you are going the right way. Henry B. Eyring said, "If you're going the right way, it will always be uphill."

-We also had a great lesson with Barbara, who continues to read the Book of Mormon and enjoys it! She loves having us over, which is always good. We taught her about the Plan Of Salvation as well and most of it was about how the Fall of Adam and Eve was a good step forward and not a bad thing. It was a hard thing for her to get, because she has been taught her whole life that The Fall was a bad thing, but I think she gets it now! That God has had the same plan since the beginning and he knew that The Fall was going to happen! 

-Ethan continues to meet with us and we read from the Book of Mormon with him. He says he likes it and will put Moroni's promise to the test! He quit his job this week so he says he has a lot more time to meet up! 

-Kenya and Steve are also great, we are going to set a goal date for them to go to the temple together! They can't wait. I will definitely be coming back for their sealing next October! 

A huge shoutout to Operation Ashabadi for 2 years since we left for India!!  Man, I miss all of you guys and love all of the memories I have from that trip. I still think about those kids all the time and miss them too. One day I'll go back! It's crazy how fast 2 years goes by, so we need to make every day count! 

The Song of the Week is Come Together by the Beatles. You can also check out the cover that Michael Jackson did of it, that one is a cool 80's rendition. 

Missions are amazing! I've seen myself change in a lot of ways. I'm sure a lot of people from high school would be surprised haha. The Book of Mormon is true and a divine book and that is my favorite thing to be sharing with people every day. It's made me really happy and so I get to share that happiness with others. I know that we have a loving Father in Heaven who has a plan for each of us individually and that if we follow His son, and do our best, then everything will work out the way it's supposed to. Sorry this is long, I guess I have a lot to say. 

Have a great week everyone! I'm thankful for you all.

Much love,

Elder Thompson 

Skating in San Rafael

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45cYwDMibGo   Come Together The Beatles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubR9cXWkXv8    Come Together  Michael Jackson