Thompson and Justus take on Fortuna

May 7, 2018

Hey there everyone happy May!! 

So there's some transfer news this week!  I'm staying in Fortuna thankfully and I'm becoming a District Leader with my friend Elder Justus! We will see how that goes. 

The one really significant day I had this week was Wednesday. I was on exchanges with former AP Harker.  I wanted to go really hard with him and hit the streets. We set a goal of 4 new investigators for the day. We had found 3, mostly from contacting or knocking some doors. It was getting late and also we had comp study coming up. I told Elder Harker that we weren't going to go in for study until we found a new investigator.  He agreed and we set off again. After countless doors with nobody behind them, we went to see a couple of potential investigators who lived In the area. As we were pulling up to park, we saw a woman walking her dog.  I rolled down the window and asked if we could share a message about Jesus Christ. She said yes! We shared with her the amazing message of the Restoration and it seemed to really resonate with her. She told us that as she has been getting older, she has started to have more questions as to what is really right. She had always been religious but didn't know where to go. 

We gave her a pamphlet and then she asked for a Book of Mormon!! We set up a lesson for Tuesday evening and then we were off to go back home.  We achieved our 4 new investigators goal!  It was such a testimony builder that the Lord puts people in your path if you are patient, diligent, and faithful. 

That's about it for this week! I say goodbye to Elder Kelly and hello to Elder Justus tomorrow.  We are going to go super hard and I'm really excited!  The work is about to move forward in leaps and bounds and we are going to baptize nations!! 

Song of the Week is Angels by Khalid.  

Love Elder Thompson 

Elder Kelly saying goodbye to the Harrison family

let the dogs loose on Elder Harker

Exchanges with Elder Harker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2CP7DoECnc  Angels by Khalid

Pizza and The Plan of Salvation

4.30.18

First off, I want to shout out Kate for getting her mission call!  I couldn't be more proud and I know that Jacksonville is getting the best there is!

This week not too much happened, but it was still a good week!! 
I went up to Arcata for the day for exchanges with Elder Justus.  We worked hard which was good and I also got to talk to a guy about jeeps for a while so I'd call that a success!  He had a perfectly restored CJ-7 in his driveway so of course I had to knock his door! They are going to follow up with him soon so if I hear something good I'll tell you! 

Other than that, we spoke again at the Miranda branch and will be speaking again in 2 weeks.... lots of talks. I gave a talk about the Plan of Salvation and it was very spiritual because about 95% of it was plagiarized from Preach My Gospel haha but the branch loved it still!  We had a feast with them after complete with pizza, homemade bread, salad, and cake and ice cream but i didn't have any sweets because I gotta stay healthy out here. 

I'm trying to finish the Doctrine and Covenants next transfer and so far it's been great! I've learned a ton about what the Lord expects of me as a missionary. Along with that, I've been reading and marking up the Book of Mormon and also the New Testament! My testimony is only growing. 

Thank you for all the support everyone! Have a great week! 

The Song of the Week is "Little Bit of You" by Kevin Garrett, one of the greatest artists ever! Check it out of you have like 3-4 spare minutes after you've read your scriptures!

Much love from the 707 

-Elder Thompson 

Arcata exchanges with Elder Justus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUS7NqDzzzk  Little Bit of You  Kevin Garrett

Zone Conference and (unofficial) Holidays in Humboldt County

4.23.18

Hey there everyone, how's it going?
 I've got some good stuff for you this week so don't worry... I'm happy to add to the plethora of missionary emails that you get every Monday. 

We had a wonderful Zone Conference this week.  It usually consists of a bunch of people teaching us aspects of the work that we can work on, people like President and Sister Wright, their assistants, senior couples, zone leaders, and sister training leaders. Using a lot of practices and role plays, we focused a lot on helping investigators make and keep commitments with things like daily contact and asking inspired questions. It was great and the Spirit was strong. Zone Conference always motivates and inspires me to be better. 

The next cool thing that happened this week was we were down in Weott looking for a person named Greg. Greg wasn't home but his wife was. She was outside going through some storage bins and reading some sort of journal. I asked about it and she said it was her mother's journal who had recently passed and that she was actually a convert to the Mormon church! How cool! Not that her mom died but you get it.... We showed up at the exact right time. We set up another time to teach her because she was busy then but we are going to teach her and her husband now. It's a pretty cool feeling being guided by the Spirit to someone who is ready to listen. 

Spending #4/20 in Humboldt County (National Weed Day in the weed capital of the world) surprisingly wasn't that insane.   

The Song Of The Week this week is one of my mom's favorites. It's called "My Favorite" by Gabe Dixon. I know she would like that. 

Had a good week this week. I hope you all have a good one this week too.

Love, 

Elder Thompson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eig5zDdy4AU  My Favorite  Gabe Dixon

April Zone Conference

Fern Canyon ("one of the coolest things I've ever done")

McKinleyville

no caption needed

Ministering in Miranda

4.16.18

Hey everyone!

Another short email because my companion found out he has bronchitis. He will be alright though. 

We spoke in sacrament meeting down at the Miranda branch. We spoke on ministering and what it should look like. I talked about President Nelson's talk during the priesthood session on ministering. The story about someone who he was assigned to minister and eventually brought him back to the church.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/ministering-with-the-power-and-authority-of-god?lang=eng

I have a strong testimony of ministering. I know that it is inspired of God and that the Spirit will tell you what you need to say and where to go. 

The people down in the branch are super appreciative to have missionaries come down and speak. They told us how great it was and also fed us a wonderful lunch and sent us home with two  loaves of homemade bread! If I ever feel unappreciated as a missionary, I'll just go down there. 

I encourage you all to try to feel the influence of the Spirit as you go throughout this week. Take time to listen to others and really care about them. 

Thanks for all the great emails this week! I really love them!  Song of the Week is Lovely Day by Bill Withers.

Have a lovely one! 

#7months 

Elder Thompson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYi7uEvEEmk  Lovely Day   Bill Withers

There's A Reason They Call It Work

4.10.18

Hey everyone! 

The work is kind of slow at the moment, which happens sometimes, but we have been teaching all of the recent converts in our ward and it has strengthened my testimony to see these people so dedicated to a church that they have only been a part of for a little bit. 

One cool story this week to show you how the Lord provides: 

Friday I was feeling kind of down and frustrated because the work has been slow the last couple weeks.... I got home to a package from my bishop and his family. I was so stoked! In the package they included some uplifting notes and updates on their family.  It made my day so much better and I felt greater motivation to keep trying. I promise that the Lord watches over all of us and he knows what we need.  Thanks so much Perrys!

I Love the promise told in John 14, "I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you" I know this to be true. He is watching over all of us and cares for us. All you have to do is ask. 

Hopefully soon I'll have some investigators to tell you about but for now, things are good because I get to teach this amazing gospel every day. 

The Song of the Week is Dance The Night Away by Van Halen! I used to jam out with Thomas to this song a lot so it brings back good memories! 

Have a great week everyone! 

Love Elder Thompson 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ9pYwCKopE  Van Halen  Dance The Night Away

On the bank of the Eel River

Redway, California

Epic Conference!

4.2.18

Hey everyone! 

First of all, big congrats to my cousin, Nathan Fetzer on his mission call!!  Super excited for him, headed to Lima Peru West in June!!
Not a ton happened this week because my comp was sick for a lot of it but man, what a heck of a General Conference huh? A few cool things from this week: 

We picked up an investigator this week who also watched Conference with us and was even taking down notes! How awesome is that?! I'll update you guys some more on her next week. 

Also, our recent convert and her husband watched all of the sessions of Conference and also had us over for one of them. They absolutely loved them. I was so happy. And to add onto that, they got their temple recommends this week and were interviewed for their Patriarchal Blessings! That is such a success! 

Some of my favorite talks from Conference include those of Elder Bednar, President Oaks, Elder Holland, and President Nelson. I know they are all men called of God as prophets.  I loved how much President Nelson spoke.  The Spirit was so strong for me when they were speaking.   I'm super happy about the new temples announced! India needs one for sure. I'm so happy for them. 

The song of the week this week is: It Feels Like We Only Go Backwards by Tame Impala. Solid song. 

Remember to read the BOM every day and listen to a Conference talk that you liked. Share one with a friend. 

Have a great week! 

Elder Thompson 

Here's me blowing some bubbles for dogs. They liked it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wycjnCCgUes  Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

Earthquake! Now that I have your attention, watch General Conference!

3.26.18

Hey all it's been a week for sure! Some highlights include: teaching a great lesson; singing at a baptism; and also experiencing my first earthquake!  So you could say it was a pretty good week. Elder Kelly and I will be staying together in Fortuna for another transfer, I'm pretty stoked about that.

We taught the Restoration to our investigator Starla. It was going really well and then before we were about to teach her about the Book of Mormon, she asked for one! It was quite amazing! We invited her to the small branch down in Miranda . Pretty successful! 

On Friday, a group of 2 sisters and one other elder and I sang, "Lord I Will Follow Thee" at the baptism of someone that the Eureka sisters taught. I'd say it turned out well and it brought the Spirit so that's all that matters! 

We had a small earthquake which was cool. We were just sitting at the church about to play basketball and it just started shaking for a few seconds. It was kinda neat actually. Everyone up here just shakes them off, no pun intended.

General Conference is this week! I'm very excited. We might go watch a little with our recent convert.  I would highly suggest watching it for sure! Hearing the words of these prophets, apostles, and leaders is such a great thing. Invite a friend to watch with you or send them a quote that really jumps out at you, there will be several.

Song of the week: The Nights by Avicii.  It's a good one.

Much love,

Elder Thompson 

Eureka Zone

Pre-transfer basketball

sticker on the back of this Slow A** Bus 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtF6Jej8yb4  THE NIGHTS  Avicii