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

The legendary Transit Van flying down the 101

"I saw a big truck with a huge tailpipe and of course I thought to myself,
 'I could fit my head in that,'   You're welcome."

Rollerskating and repping Ritt Moms

Post skate sushi... I'm coming for your record Bryce!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v27TRan1SBI  Shake Me Down  Cage The Elephant

California Love

December 31, 2018

Happy New Year's Eve! 
Crazy to think that 2018 is almost over. It has been a great year, definitely full of ups and downs, but the ups outweigh the downs by far. I'm grateful for the knowledge that I've gained of Jesus Christ and His gospel that was restored to the Earth for us. For sure it's a blessing to enjoy. 

I'm going to try to make this short but no promises. Last week, it was great to talk to the fam and a bunch of friends as well. Christmas was super fun, we had a breakfast and a dinner appointment with some great families. I was stuffed but that's how holidays should be out on the mission! We also went out to a fun diner here in town to finish it off.

Christmas Caroling

Christmas pj's and the aftermath

Here are some highlights for you though:

-We played beat-to-teach basketball against this guy at a park while we were tracting and I was on fire. I could probably beat Bryce and Isaac at this point. We beat the guy, but he still wouldn't let us teach him, which was the deal so that's pretty dumb.  Happy we wrecked him anyway.

-Going on exchanges with one of my greatest mission friends, Elder Brinkerhoff.

-District Council on Christmas.  I wore a tan suit that I found at Goodwill for $13. What a steal!

-Yesterday, running late to an apartment community to tract a little bit, the first person we saw was just getting home from work let us right inside to teach him. God's timing is perfect. Then, the guy in the complex that we were actually looking for was just leaving his house so we got to talk to him as well! 

-Tracting a street where someone we are teaching, but haven't seen in a while, lives.  We knocked on her door and she let us right in and we taught her and her son! She said it was a sign and that it was perfect timing for her because she is always busy but she was able to have a quiet night at the time we showed up! No coincidences.

-Right after that, going to see another family that we have been trying to see.  They were taught by missionaries yearssss ago but stopped for some reason. We got in contact with them and the mom was asking us great questions and we set up an appointment to go back next week! Super solid! This was actually the day that we prayed to find a family! 

-and right after that, going to see a guy named Eduardo who we have been teaching for a while but weren't able to see last week.  He was right on his porch when we walked up and we were able to set something up with him as well! 

I've stopped believing in coincidences completely. To paraphrase the wise Elder Maxwell, the same God placed the star in orbit thousands of years before it appeared over Jerusalem the night that Jesus was born, pays equal attention to us and our lives and if we listen to what He says, He will place us exactly where we need to be in order to be a light to others. 

I'm grateful for this year that I have had in the service of the Lord. It has been a huge blessing in my life and the lives of those who are close to me. I've learned a lot, grown a lot, and sacrificed a lot, so have many other missionaries in the world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored by the Savior through Joseph Smith is real. I know that better now than ever. Here is to 2018 and what it brought and also to what 2019 will bring! I'm excited for it. 

The final Song of the Week in 2018 is California Love by Tupac

Much California love to you all!

Elder Thompson 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWbXQQG9B6c  California Love  Tupac

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