Killer Day for Kenya

Hey all!

This week was so great!  I was reminded once again of who I have been called by and who backs me up during this great work, that is Jesus Christ!

I went on exchanges with the APs so I got to be companions with my MTC companion, Elder Hutchinson, because he is in a trio with the APs.  We literally RAN from door to door and the urgency of the message was present!  It was super fun!

A great situation that happened this week is we had a few minutes until we had to go to dinner so we decided to go visit a part-member family.  On our way there, some random lady pulled out of a parking lot right in front of me, cutting me off and forcing me to hit the brakes hard.  If you knew me and had driven with me before the mission, you know that I didn't really appreciate that. But I kept my cool and avoided an accident.  As we got to the house where we were headed, someone we've been teaching but haven't seen for about a month came right out of the very house we were going to try and see.  We talked to her outside and caught up on what's going on with her.  We will be able to meet with her again soon!  I stopped to think about that situation later that night.  Being cut off by the person on our way over made it so the timing was just right to cross paths with someone we needed to see.  This shows me how much the hand of God is in our lives.  He will guide us and help things fall into place so that good things can be accomplished.  And while we might not know why things are going the way that they do, we can always be assured that as we do the right things, it will always go the Lord's way. 

Another wonderful day was Saturday because Kenya was baptized!! After about a year of being taught, she finally felt she was ready to be baptized so we went for it!!  It was such a beautiful thing to witness.  The Spirit was palpable and Kenya was so happy!  

After the baptism , Elder Pearson caught a big lizard that had gotten into the church.  We named him Kyle, he pooped on Elder Pearson, and I had a good laugh.  We set Kyle free but we both secretly wanted to keep him.

I also finished reading the Book of Mormon this past week.  I've been studying it hard this year and my book is overflowing with notes, quotes, and insights.  I started it in January and am just barely finishing so it's taken a long time!  I have received multiple witnesses of its truthfulness and divinity.  I have never felt more uplifited than I have now since I've gotten to know and love the Book of Mormon better.  It is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet.  The Book of Mormon brings happiness and answers any questions we might have.  I love that book!

The Song of The Week is "Killer Queen" by Queen.  Such a good one!  I miss that song and so many others but this work is more important and I can wait!   Also, I heard that Ritt Momney came out with a new song so go check it out!!  
I love you all.
Have a great week!
Love, Elder Thompson

Makeover for Elder Pearson

Success!

P Day mini golf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZBtPf7FOoM  Killer Queen  Queen

General Conference For The Win

What's up everyone?

I seriously can't believe that it is October still and that General Conference has passed already. It was honestly one of my favorites! I'll talk about that a little later but let's get down to business. 

On Wednesday we had a lesson with Grace and also the APs came because they are the YSA missionaries. The Spirit was super strong during the lesson and we just went down the line, each of us speaking straight doctrine. I think she knows it's true, she is just really worried about how her family is really not cool with it. We are going to help out with that this Wednesday as well. During the lesson, she shared Moroni 10:3-5 with US! She said it was one of her favorites and one that she reads a lot when she is feeling discouraged. She has a ton of scriptures marked in her Book of Mormon. She is really serious about finding the truth, I love it! It is no coincidence that she found us a few weeks ago. Heavenly Father puts us in situations to either teach people the gospel or to learn more of the gospel ourselves. 

She, as well as Scott and Janet, watched Conference and said that they loved it! Scott and Janet are some other people we are teaching. We tracted into Scott and he invited us right back. He had actually kept the commitments that we left with him to read the Book of Mormon. He always tells us where he is and what he thinks about it so far! We went to their house in between sessions of Conference and we told them about it. They wanted us to show them how to watch it because, "you don't get to hear from a Prophet too often!" That made me happy. 

As for me with General Conference this one was so great!  I felt the Spirit strongly and felt as though the messages were directed towards me and more importantly, directed towards the people we are teaching who were watching. I loved hearing the counsel from Prophets and Apostles of God. I think one of my favorite parts was hearing the people shout for joy in the Conference Center when each new temple was announced. Yuba City is pretty close to me. I think it's in the next mission over but that is still so cool. Everyone pray every day for the  next 6 months for a Santa Rosa temple. 

I stand with Elder David A. Bednar when I say the Lord is hastening His work and He is doing so now. Everyone read the Book of Mormon this week. Even if it is one verse per day. It was given so that people in our day can have more happiness and hope in a world that seems so far away from good. It's true, I've studied it deeply and I've seen the blessings which can come from it.

The Song of the Week is "This Is It" by Michael Jackson.  Another good one! 

Everyone take care this week and make sure to continue studying the talks given in Conference!

Much love,

Elder Thompson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_SLU3m6uCA  This Is It   Michael Jackson

Seeing Miracles This Week!!

Hello all,

This week has been one of the more crazy weeks in the mission field and it was great!
 I'll start off with a few highlights (or weird or funny things):

- having an older, large, and naked lady yell at us from her window after her husband politely closed the door. She told us to never come back to that apartment complex, so you know I had to go back the next day. We actually saw her again, this time clothed, thankfully. Her attitude had not changed though. 

- helping a guy break into his own car. He locked his keys in his trunk and so we went home and got a metal hanger and used it to break in. It was great fun. 

- finding $20 on the ground - don't worry, I'll pay it forward.

- eating a fig for the first time.

- hitting our goal of finding 6 new people this week and getting 2 new ones to church!!!! (I'll tell a few stories about them in a second)

- capturing a tiny spider during weekly planning, giving it an equally tiny piece of the Big League Chew that I brought, and finding out that spiders love Big League Chew. RIP Steve. 

- the Primary Program

- the free-for-all book table at church yesterday where I got an old red-leather copy of Jesus The Christ and The Articles of Faith by James E. Talmage and where Elder Pearson got lucky and found a complete set of the old missionary reference library complete with the discourses of Brigham Young, among other cool old books.

 

Now, I'll give you 2 miracle stories and then I'll let you get out of here:

Grace: we were trying to do some online work because we are pioneers in this whole technology thing and nobody really knows how to use it. Elder Pearson HATES being inside, he can't do it for more than like 20 minutes before he goes insane haha.  So we decided to do our online work outside of the church and pulled a few chairs outside. While out there, a college-aged girl came up to us and introduced herself as Grace. She had investigated the church last year down in SoCal but her parents forbade her getting baptized and joining. Then she moved up here for college and while she was on her run past the church, she saw us sitting outside and felt the Spirit prompt her to come talk to us. (WHAT?!?!) So she did. While talking to her, she told us that she had actually brought her Book of Mormon WITH her to college. She said she can't help but feel drawn to it. Tender Mercies. She came to church yesterday and stayed for the whole thing, even the Linger Longer at the end! 

Andi: Okay, so shoutout to Kennedy/Sister McDonald for teaching me the ways of Facebook. I was taking her advice this week online by adding anyone I could find who lives in Rohnert Park and whoever adds me back, I message. (we were actually doing this when Grace found us) but someone actually messaged me back and we had a great conversation about eternal families and the Book of Mormon. She even accepted the invitation for us to come by and give her a copy!! We are going back to teach her again this coming Friday. So Facebook can actually work you guys! I hope to find more people in this way. It was great! 

Well that's about it everyone, I literally only took one picture this week so I'm sorry for being a scrub. I'll do better. But this week was awesome! We saw these and so many more miracles. On top of that, I'm almost done with the Book of Mormon. I'm in Ether right now and I've been marking it up like crazy. I started it in January so it's taken a while. That book is true and powerful. 

I love you all! Go watch General Conference this weekend! I promise you will find answers to any question that you might have! 

Song of the Week is "Keep Me" by Khalid.  Love that one.

Love, 

Elder Thompson 

Knows how to make a mom's day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfpWDPkKw_Q  Keep Me  Khalid

Who Are The People In Our Neighborhood?

Hey,  here is your weekly update about what's happening in the California Santa Rosa Mission. Buckle up everybody because boy, have I a story for you. 

This week, we were supposed to have a lesson with a super awesome family and also a recent convert but BOTH of them fell through; wonderful. So we decided to try to see someone who was in the area and maybe tract a little bit in another area because we now had 2 hours of unplanned night ahead of us. We went tracting which was kind of eh this time, we felt like we shouldn't be there. We prayed and asked God where it is that He would have us go. We both felt like we should go to the plaza in the "downtown" part of our area, where there are normally a lot of people. So we went there and the second person we talked to was an older woman named Rebecca. She was sitting against her car and it seemed like she was in deep thought.  We approached her (keep in mind, it's really dark by this time) and she asked if we were LDS missionaries. We said yes and talked to her more - turns out she is an inactive member who has been moving around a ton and has had missionaries come across her a lot recently. Her conversion story is crazy: she ended up in jail on false charges for something and her cell mate was a Native American woman who was also an inactive member. But still, they talked about the gospel and Rebecca just had to know more as soon as the charges got dropped and she was released.  She met with missionaries after that and got baptized but then she got really sick and was supposed to have a blood transfusion but she wanted to get a priesthood blessing from her stake president beforehand. She did, and went back to the doctor and she was completely healed, she no longer needed to have a transfusion. We sat in a pavillion with Rebecca and taught her a quick lesson about how God is watching out for her and we also shared some scriptures from the Book of Mormon to help her out. As we were finishing up, a man came and sat down behind us just minding his own business. I felt prompted to give him the Book of Mormon that was in my hand because what was I going to do with it?? So I asked if I could give it to him and he said yes, kind of confused almost. I bore a short testimony about how it has helped me in my life and then said goodbye. We walked Rebecca back to her car and talked again for a second when from behind me I heard, "some crazy things just happened, guys." I turned around and it was Joe, the man who I had just given the book to. He told us that he had been thinking about his son, Noah, the whole night and as he was flipping through the pages of the Book of Mormon, he randomly landed in the Index and the first word on the page was 'Noah'. He took that as a sign from God and told us that he was going to read the whole book because of that. We exchanged information and he told us that he wanted to bring his girlfriend to church with him on Sunday. We are going back to talk to him this week! Just a story about how God knows what we are going through and he knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts. And if we keep trying, even when things seem discouraging, He will put us in situations that will help build our testimony even more! 

That's basically the update from me for this week, but I need to wish my Grandpa Jeff a Happy Birthday, along with Kadi, Cole, Mason, and Todd. 

And a huge shoutout to my cousin, Sarah Jane, who has been called to serve in the Berlin, Germany Mission!!  It's a special place for our family because both my great Grandpa Eric and great Grandma Phila served in that mission and they got married in the mission home there.  Also, great Grandpa Eric's hometown of Zwickau is in that mission. And finally, my other Great Grandpa Stew was a missionary there too. There are no coincidences.

The Song of the Week is No Grey by The Neighbourhood. Basically any song by them will be good, I think. 

Have a great week! 

Love, Elder Thompson

Zone Conference - sorry my eyes are closed, I'm a scrub.

Stinson Beach

A foggy, cold day at Stinson Beach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsLf2p0659M  No Grey  The Neighbourhood

Laboring In The Garden of Weeden

Garden of Weeden

Hello Hello everyone!

This week was pretty crazy. We had transfers and we had to drive a bunch of people everywhere and had places to be so we didn't have much time to do other things. 

We had the Mission Leadership Council this week and it was long. It goes from like 9 to almost 5ish.  We got back just before dinner. It was great though, we are trying to figure out how to use technology better in our mission. 

September MLC

We also had District Council where we taught everyone what we learned at MLC. We have to sit up there for a straight hour and talk and it's super boring because we just throw a bunch of new information at our zone and try to keep them hyped about everything. It worked out in the end. 

Miracle from last week: when I first got here in June, we met a guy named Ulysses while tracting. He was super cool and interested and then we lost contact with him for about 2 1/2 months. We tried to go by his house every week but he was never there or he was in the shower or something. But last week, we were in front of his house and this was going to be the last time that we try to see him before we moved on. We got out of the car and he opened the fence in front of his house as we were walking up the driveway and he invited us in right then and there!! We taught him and his wife and daughter all about the Plan of Salvation and also the Book of Mormon. They loved it and we are going back this week. I was praying for a family to teach recently and this is one of the many ways that Heavenly Father tells me that He listens. Ulysses and family have been reading the Book of Mormon as a family and praying each night. I'm grateful for them.

In other news, time flies. Last week, I hit my 1 year mark in the mission. It seems so unreal that 6 months ago, I was in Eureka and it was raining every day haha but I loved it up there. And now I can't believe that this is my 3rd transfer in Rohnert Park, I feel like I just got here. Over this year, I've grown to love the scriptures and the words of the prophets.  I've also gained a much greater love for California and the people in it.  I love having the opportunity every day to be an instrument in the hands of God. I love this work and I love being a part of the Lord's church once again established on Earth. 

Throwback MTC pic - one year ago

Shoutout to Kathleen for her birthday yesterday and also to Erica for her birthday today! I love you both! 

The Song of the Week is: XO by John Mayer. Not sure if I have done that one before but it's a solid one!

Much love to all! Here's to another great year as a missionary! 

Elder Thompson 

Rare CJ-8 that dad would love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L-Rwxoc2jU  XO John Mayer

Livin On A Prayer - WEEK 52 in the CASRM

Hey all, what's going on? 

Happy Birthday to my dad this week, you can offer him some cake but he might "pass on that deal".  Give him a big hug for me when you see him!  Love you dad!!

This was a pretty good week again. I know I say that every week probably but they are actually really good weeks when you look back. We had some cool stuff happen so I'll just jump right into it. 

I'm staying in Rohnert Park for another transfer with Elder Pearson, so I guess I'll get to learn a lot more about cows?? cool.   Actually, we get along well and we work well together.  I like the ward here a lot even though one of the members blamed me for giving her strep throat last week - but I didn't even have strep throat so joke's on her.  I guess she was sick the same day I was and we had eaten dinner at her house the night before, so that's how she correlated it, but I'm calling bull. 

We went out to the middle of nowhere again this week to a town called Bloomfield, population probably 50? maybe?  It was really cool because we tracted out the ENTIRE town (didn't take much time) and as we were doing that, we said a prayer so that we could be guided where to go. We felt like we should go straight down a street and then turn right. We did that and then we knocked into Joe, who just moved to Bloomfield like 2 months ago.  He was actually an attorney for missionaries in Greece who would get thrown in jail for no reason back in the day. So we started teaching him and we are going back on Thursday!  Elder Pearson likes it there because it's a lot like his home. You should see this guy's face light up whenever he sees a cow. I now know more about cows than I ever have/wanted to in my life, and it's defintely more of a curse than a blessing. 

Bloomfield

We were in a place in our area called 'M Section' (the areas of the town are designated into letters of the alphabet and all of the street names in that area correspond to a specific letter. i.e. all of the street names in M section start with the letter M) and we had a few minutes so we decided to go see a person who we haven't seen in a long while. He lives in M section but whomever is home at his house NEVER answers the door so the only time we can catch them is if they are outside. So we said that if they weren't outside, we were just going to drive by. We went there, and sadly they weren't outside.... but we felt prompted to knock even though I KNEW that nobody was going to answer the door. So we knocked and I was right, nobody answered the door.  BUT, as we were walking away from the porch, Yoki (guy we were looking for) pulled into his driveway!  We talked to him for a little bit and he was having a hard time because someone in his family had just passed away.  We set up an appointment for the next day and we went over and talked to him (again outside because nobody answered the door) about the Plan of Salvation. He really enjoyed it and we are going to go over again this week. 

Kenya is having some surgery this week which makes it a great time for her to quit smoking... keep the prayers coming for her please.

In other news I also found out that my baby boy, (Elder whom I trained) Elder Jones, is skipping the District Leader stage and hopping right up to the Zone Leader position. I'm super proud of him! He also trained last transfer so my posterity will grow exponentially over this next year. 

Speaking of that, I'm pretty excited because this Thursday marks one year since I left on my mission. That will be pretty amazing.  I'll try to not start the Santa Rosa Fires Part 2 this year while burning a shirt because I'm honestly so sick of fires now. And thus, here it is, the 

Song of the Week -   I bet some of you could have guessed this but it's going to be 

Livin on a Prayer by Bon Jovi. A classic. 

Keep doing all the good stuff everyone, 

Love, Elder Thompson 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDK9QqIzhwk  Livin On A Prayer  Bon Jovi

Missionary Menu: Indian, Tongan, Lessons and Pie

Hey y'all, what's up? 

We had a pretty good week here on the West Coast. A good update on California: it's still hot and the traffic is still as bad as ever... so there's that for you.

We found some great people this week, namely Ben and Julia, Nancy and Mike, also Kaci! We are hoping to continue teaching them.  It was definitely a blessed week for finding though. 

On Wednesday, I went on exchanges with Elder Walker from Logan. We tracted all day and it was pretty fun meeting some interesting people.  Nobody was really interested that day but it's alright. Elder Walker shared with me a letter called "The Riccardi Letter" and let me tell you, it's one of the most motivational reads you could ever read! It is a letter that a man wrote to someone he knew who was in the MTC at the time. He wrote about his experiences as a missionary in England and particularly his trainer, Elder Riccardi. It's full of amazing stories and life lessons learned from a great trainer. I would encourage all people, missionary or not, to look it up and read it! 

Elder Walker and I also ran into a group of college kids living together who all happened to play lacrosse! It was great to hear about how the D1 schools are doing and everything. We made some awesome friends that day and they said that whenever we are having a bad day, just come on over and they'll talk to us for a bit! 

We did some service for Mike and Nancy, which turned into a lesson and pie! I was grateful for that. Nancy actually kept our commitment to read the Book of Mormon and she actually really liked it! We are going back this week to teach them! It was hard service though, lots of yard work and it was hot! Totally worth it though. 

We got to go to a traditional Tongan dinner this week and it was awesome as well! They live on a sweet farm with lots of chickens, pigs, cows, and more. It was fun to see and I really love the Tongan culture.

Cool story from this week: we didn't have a dinner so we went back to the apartment to eat. Then, one of our members called us and invited us out to eat. Of course we said yes! She took us out to Indian food which brought back some great memories. The smells and tastes were very familiar. I got the Chicken Tikka Masala and also some Momo's (dumplings). Reminds me of the time that Isaac Thorell accidentally ordered 10 momo's from a street vendor in Chamba haha!! Much love to my YMAD family. But here's the cool part:  our server asked us what religion we were and when we told her, she said that she used to go to our church when she was little and that she loved it. We had to leave soon after for some contact attempts, but our member stayed and talked to her a little bit more. Our member ended up being an awesome missionary!  She gave the server her phone number and the church's address and start time. The server said that she would want to come back to church and how much she loved it. The Lord places us right where we need to be, when we need to be there...  but only if we follow the small promptings of the Holy Ghost. 

The Song of the Week is Don't Stop Me Now by Queen - one of my all time favorites and such a classic. 

Love you all!! keep it up!! 

Elder Thompson 

Ignacio Trail Hike/Novato

Elders Walker and Thompson

Pacific Ocean view

Ignacio Trail

Elders Thompson, Walker, Pearson and Inga

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzGwKwLmgM  Don't Stop Me Now - Queen