Elder Henry H. Thompson: Malibu Miracles and Transit Teaching

It's crazy to think it's already 2019. 2018 flew by and this year probably will too. I have to make the most out of the time that I have left!

New Year's Eve was fun, we had to be in early so we just hung out and talked for a little bit. We stayed up until midnight, which was a mistake because waking up at 6 was tough, I made it though. I was still feeling the effects of that for a few days though. I wrote a lot in my journal that night about what I learned in 2018 and how I've grown as a person and missionary. It's wild how a mission and the gospel can change a person. After witnessing how it's changed me, I can better tell other people how it can change them. But, suffice it to say, the mission is one of the best things I've ever chosen to do and I'm blessed with a strengthened testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the things that go along with it, like prophets, apostles, scriptures, and the priesthood. I'm so grateful to be out here.

Here are some more highlights before I get into the nitty gritty:

-starting off 2019 with some cinnamon rolls.

-going on exchanges with Elder Larrea from Lima Peru (shoutout to Elder Fetzer) and while we were knocking a trailer park, a Spanish JW tried to bash with us.

-having a 4 x 4 at In N Out

-on Wednesday, we were about to go finding but Elder Staten got a bad bloody nose for like 45 minutes..... After that, we decided to go finding in a different place than we had planned and we ended up running into 2 former members of our church and we are going back to teach one of them and his family! Then we talked to a guy down the street and we shared the Restoration with him and turns out he has a childhood friend who is member! God is in the details and He puts us where He needs us.

-having Andi and her son come to church and loving it!

-a member took us out to Round Table Pizza and The National Junior League Hockey Championship game between USA and Finland was on. tender mercies.

-in the pouring rain yesterday, a woman answered the door and said "Don't you have anything better to be doing?" we were like, "No, this is literally the best thing we could be doing right now." she closed the door.

Here is the nitty gritty:

On Thursday, I had one of the most spiritual lessons I've had on my mission, with Barbara. We decided to just send it. I told her that she has been studying diligently for quite a while and that it was time for her to get her answer. Basically the most bold I've ever been on my mission. As she was praying, I was saying my own prayer. The spirit flooded into the room and it was powerful. After a while, Barbara finished her prayer and she was crying and said she felt a little shaky. After explaining to her what the Holy Ghost feels like and how it is different for everyone, she said that she had never felt it like that before. She was smiling so big! She said that she wanted to confirm what she felt during her prayer that night and to call her in the morning. We left her house on one of the biggest spiritual highs ever. When we called the next morning, she said that it's a huge change that she isn't quite ready to dive into yet but that she is going to keep reading the Book of Mormon and praying. It is a big change and it takes time. But the Spirit was there and it was there to testify of the truth. I'm excited to see where this goes and willing to wait for Barbara to feel ready.

That morning, our car along with pretty much every other mission car, was in the shop. Ours was getting a new windshield. The problem was, we had so many appointments crammed together, we never would have been able to make them all. So we were able to borrow another set of Elders' Chevy Malibu for a while, and then our vehicle coordinator told us our car wasn't going to be ready by the end of the day like we thought. Big bummer. But, he said, he could do us a big favor... The mission Ford Transit van, the one they use to take all of the stuff around in and take all of the office people to zone conferences, was finishing up its oil change in Santa Rosa and we could take that. We gratefully agreed and went to pick up our trusty steed! It was so fun driving a bus all day, I'm pretty tired of the Toyota Corolla. But because we had our van, we were able to get to all of our appointments and get invited into 3 separate houses!! It was great! We picked up 4 new friends that day... it was the day we had Malibu Miracles and Transit Teaching.

First 2019 Song of the Week is Shake Me Down by Cage the Elephant, it's a good classic CTE song so give it a listen in honor of me.

Have a great week! Happy 2019 and RIP 3 hour church!

Much love,

Elder Thompson