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