Elder Henry H. Thompson: Rising From The Ashes

What's up everyone! Here we are again on another Monday.

This week was a lot of preparation for Zone Conference as well as a ton of service we were asked to do. It was fun, but it took up most of our week.

The service we did was helping people take stuff to their cars and lifting heavy things at this huge kids sale at the Santa Rosa fairgrounds. It was in a pavilion full of baby and kids items: strollers, cribs, clothes, toys, food, anything you can think of. Thousands of parents came to this sale and it was our job to help them. It took up most of Wednesday and Thursday but it was good. I even got to see some members from Rohnert Park up here!

Which reminds me, Yanping, who I baptized last year when I first got to Rohnert Park, spoke in stake conference yesterday in San Rafael. Some members down there told me it was a wonderful talk, which I believe. I think it's probably the greatest feeling to know that someone you helped into the church is still active and really progressing in the gospel. You can just see how much it changes people for the better.

In between service and preparing for Zone Conference, we met Tim. Now Tim is not a member of the church but his wife is, and she doesn't really come.... but Tim brings his kids with him to church almost every week. The previous missionaries had to stop teaching him because he and his wife aren't technically married yet living together. But he is super solid! They are actually getting married soon and Tim told us that he wants to be baptized still. He started the Book of Mormon over again and is making changes in his life to prepare to be baptized. I'm excited to see what happens with him and his family.

We also met another great family who had met with missionaries before, but had never tried asking if the Book of Mormon was true. So we invited them to read it and pray about it and they said they would! I know that if they do it with a sincere heart, they will get their answer.

Santa Rosa Zone

Other than that, we helped Elder Pickett's relatives move into their house in Coffey Park. If you remember from 2017, it was one of the parts of Santa Rosa that was absolutely destroyed in the fires. I got to learn a lot more of their experience with the fires. I remember driving through Santa Rosa before the fires and seeing how beautiful it was and then a month later coming back and everything was burnt to the ground. Where neighborhoods used to be, you could see out forever over all of the ash with only chimneys still standing. But as I went through Coffey Park again this past week, I got to see the wonderful resilience of all the people who live there. Many houses are rebuilt and people are living there again. When you drive into the neighborhood, there is a big banner that says "Rising from the Ashes," and that's exactly what's happening! It's truly a sight to see. I'm grateful I got to be here for the fires, as terrible as they were for so many people, it was wonderful to see everyone coming together to help one another out. #SonomaStrong

Coffey Park - Rising From The Ashes.

The Song of the Week is "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin, in honor of Murphy's birthday. Also Happy Birthday to Jack and Tanner this week. Love you guys.

Today we are going to have a barbecue at the Mission President's house so that should be fun! I'm still loving it out here in Santa Rosa. California is a pretty cool place to be. I'm lucky!