Navidad en Mexico

Lunes:

Today we went to the city center with Elder Gomez and Elder Trendler. We first went to the best panadero in Puebla and got some superbueno pan. Also, it was a good day to go because all of the stalls were open today. I was able to find a cool sweater, carved eagle whistle, and a cool top. That night we had a good lesson with Carmen and her grandaughter, Diana, about the Book of Mormon and getting answers.

Martes:

Today we ended studies earlier to go with an investigator that works in our area. Her name is Elizabeth and she run a superbueno tomale and atole stand. We tried to rekindle her faith and get her to commit to reading the Book of Mormon every day. Later that day we had to go to the area of the Hermanas to do the baptismal interview of their investigator. While Elder Clawson was interviewing her we got to watch Mormon messages on their TV. The Hermana´s investigator is worthy to have her baptism next week.

Miercoles:

Finally had a opportunity to teach Rafa again. We mainly talked about destroying his habit of smoking. We told him to brush his teeth after every meal and we were going to call him everynight (He has not answered our nightly calls yet 26/12). We also went to one of our recent converts named Osmar, who wants to go on his mission. We tried to help him prepare to ask his Dad (not a member). We also had the opportunity to teach the menos activo familia of Salvador y Alma. Elder Clawson shared his testimony and vision of what they could become if they start going to church again. It was super powerful.

Jueves:

We had another lesson with Carmen and Diana today. We started out talking about the Book of Mormon and if they had done their assigned reading. The granddaughter, Diana had and Carmen hadnt. We then asked Diana how she felt during the reading and she said she felt really good. We then asked them both if they would like to be baptised and Carmen went off listing reasons why she could not get baptised, but while she was going of Diana said Sí. We still have to see if Dianas mom will let her get baptised, but we hope she can.

Viernes:

Today we got attacked about Jose Smith. We went to a cita with an old couple and while we were talking their daughter came out to talk or more accurately argue with us. She just basically came out of the gate saying there is nothing in the Bible that says anything of Jose Smith. Nothing from Genesis a Apocalypses. I tried showing her Ezequiel 37:15 a 17 and she just stared at me and said it doesnt convince me. After more arguing we finally shared Santiago 1:5 and said the only way that she could know for herself is if she asked God. We then bore our testimonies and left ending the discussion.

Sabado:

We had a lesson with Arietna today. She has gone to Church 3 times and could get baptised very soon, but we need to teach her all of the lessons first. We talked about the Restoration in the home of a member and extended the baptismal invitation for next week. She is willing to get baptised but she says she needs to talk to her mom first, but we are hopeful that the spirit can help increase her desire to get baptised.

Domingo:

We opened all the presents from the package loved every single one. Thank you mom that was awesome!! Alma and her kids came to church today and they look like they enjoyed themselves. Then we went to Osmar´s house to eat and call my family. It was kind of weird more than anything, but nice to see everyone again.

I love and pray for you all

Elder Thompson

First Blisters on Feet

Thanks you so much for the package everybody. It is so cool all of the stuff that you guys were able to send. Uncle John that is a sick Nacho Libre. I couldnt stop laughing at it and remembering the movie. My companion and I have always joked that that movie is the second most true movie on the world (the first being the first vision of course). We got Luchadors (My favorite name so far is Sexi Maravia), We got Catholics, and We even have his bike/motorcycle/cart thing here. It is hiliarious to see the similarities. Again thank you everybody that contributed to the package!!!

Lunes:

Today was our zone activity. The elders got together super early so we could play soccer with Elder Tehuitzel, who was transfering to a different zone. We played soccer for two hours and got super burnt and super sore. After we played games like charades, king of the chair, and told a story in different accents. My personal favorite was when Elder Cruz had to act like Donald Trump. He ran between hugging my companion (an american) and being angry at Elder Laguna. Later that day we tried to teach a less active Hermana english to help her with her classes. I think we made some good progress.

Martes:

Today almost all of our appointments fell. We walked from pueblo to pueblo trying to get a lesson with somebody and everybody was busy. We had another cita with a member that night to go talk to a less active member and we were meeting at a bus stop. However, when we got there he just started walking towards a pueblo that is about 20 min away by bus. That was a hard walk, luckily we didnt walk all the way to the pueblo. It was the first time I have every had blisters. However, we were able to find the less active member and set a solid apointment with her later on in the week.

Miercoles:

We had interchanges with the zone leaders, Elder Castro and Elder Laguna, today and this was the first time I have been leading were we were going, lessons, and talking with people. All of our citas fell, but we were able to contact alot of people and set new ones. It was good to see where I am at without Elder Clawson alwys there to help me.

Jueves:

Elder Castro took me to a little pueblo in our area that we have never visited before. We got 6 new investigators from that pueblo. One thing that I learned from Elder Castro is that we can always share a little lesson no matter how small the amount of time the investigators have. After we ended interchanges, we went to the ward activity for Christmas. It was supposed to start at 6 but apparently that means start setting up until 7:30. It was amazing to see 3 menos activo members participate in the activity. Jorge Pacheko basically helped with every part of the activity, the familia picaso was a part of the nativity play, and Salvador and Alma, who never show up to anything, came and had a blast.

Viernes:

We were able to have another lesson with our recent convert Georgina. We taught her about the Spirit and it was super powerful to have her husband bear testimony about the power of the Spirit. We were also able to have another lesson with Olga and her family. They are super prepared all they need to do is pray to get an answer and I am sure they will want to be baptised.

Sabado:

We were going to a cita with our Recent Converts Rosa and Wendy and bumped into Aguileo. It is super sad to see him time after time completely drunk. We honestly have no idea how to help him with his problem. We want to have a lesson with him but he is always drunk we come to to teach. Please pray for him and if you have any advice we would be glad to have it.

Domingo:

We finally got one of our investigators to church. Luis has always struggled getting to church, but he was finally able to come. It was amazing to see how welcoming and loving all of the members were towards him. I especially loved our Ward Mission Leader because he went around introducing Luis to everyone, and during class he kept Luis's kids calm and peaceful. I am super grateful for all of our Members. 

Late Night Run

 

Lunes:

After our time to relax on P day, we went to a contact a reference named Olga. She lives in a pueblo named Chautla. In this pueblo everything seems to be at the top of these two hills so we had a great workout that day searching all over for her house. After we finally found her and started talking about why she wanted to talk to us. She wants to find more knowledge about God and know how to help her family better. It is amazing how alike all of us are as children of God. Everyone wishes to know more, help more, and become more. Sadly we one got to teach a short lesson, but we were able to share the Book of Mormon with her and hopefully she will have a desire to learn and pray about it. We had to leave early from the lesson because we had a Family Home Evening that night as well. For some reason we could not flag down a combi that night so we had to run two miles to San Pedro to make it to the Family Home Evening on time. Luckily it was late at night so there were not to many people to shout ¡Corre Gueros!

Martes:

Today we had our first lesson with Ignacio, who we met across the street from some of our other investigators. Ignacio is an ancient catholic man, who likes to talk (Like alot of the people here lol) He is a supér nice guy and funny too. When we could get in a few words we were able to share a quick message about the Book of Mormon. We are hoping to have a full lesson of the Restoration with him next time.

Miercoles:

One of our recent converts, named Wendy, had her baby shower today. We were able to get our Ward Mission leaders family to attend the party as well. It was fun to relax and eat cake and Jello with these members. At the end of the party they sang Happy Birthday to the unborn baby in Español and then we had to sing in English. I dont know if this is a custom here or what but I thought it was funny.

Jueves:

Not much happened today. We had some super great tacos with the Truhillos for lunch. All of our appointments fell so we basically contacted all day.

Viernes:

Today we had another lesson with Mario and Martha. We decided to go back to the basics with them because of their focus in deep doctrine of the Testigos de Jehovah. We read the Visitation of Christ to the Americas to help strengthen their desire to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. The spirit was super strong until Mario drove us of course by talking about the second coming. The conversation turned to discussing what the Book of Revelation meant. Please pray for them to gain a desire to READ and PRAY to know if the Book of Mormon is true. If they do this then all this deep doctrine stuff does not matter.

Sabado:

We had a lesson with Dinorah and Osmar, who were baptised by Elder Clawson and his old companion before I came. We decided to recover the Restoration again to hopefully give her a desire to go to church. She has a very strong testimony of the church so the lesson was very powerful. Something that Elder Clawson has told me is no matter what reading the First Vision will always bring the spirit and know that this is absolutely true.

Domingo:

We were able to attend the Christmas devotional with Dinorah´s son Osmar.

I loved all of the music and especially the talk that Elder Eyrings talk about finding peace during Christmas. Attending the Church Devotional and doing some of the ideas of service from Illumina el Munda have really made me come to apreciate my savior and all that he has sacrificed for me. 

First Baptism

 

Lunes:

After 6 Elder Clawson and I went to visit a member that lives by our pueblo. His house at the top of a very large steep hill that overlooks the city. Luckily we still had our cameras so we can show you all how beautiful Puebla is at night. After admiring the great view for awhile, we went and talked with the member named Jose. He is a convert, who just needed somebody to talk to. We managed to get in a word or if we were lucky two words in our two hour long conversation with him. We missed are other meeting because of our conversation, but Jose is a funny guy I enjoy listening to him rant about things. We managed to escape to our next cita with Agileo. Agileo has some serious issues with drinking. The first time we met him he broke down crying because of his drinking problems. When we got to his house he was drunk again. So we were not able to teach him, because he would not remember anything the next day. However, we were able to comfort him and encourage him with scriptures.

Martes:

We went to teach one of most important investigators today named Luis. He is a Panadero who lives right next to us. Sadly we were not able to teach him a lesson today because he was busy making pan, but we were able to visit with him while he worked. It was amazing to watch him make conchas, ohaldras, and many others. He also showed all the animals he could make out of pan like turkeys, turtles, and dogs. It was super cool! We want to go there for our P day and learn how to make a few different types of pan. Later on that day we went to go teach other important investigators named Mario, Martha, Fernanda, and Erik. We started teaching them, but then Mario and Martha stopped us and sent Fernanda to buy groceries to make us dinner. While, Fernanda was out buying groceries they told us how Fernanda has begun seeing a married man about 20 years older than her. However, before we could get more information about the situation Fernanda returned. Since then we have been trying to find the best way to help Fernanda and her Parents with this situation.

Miercoles:

We had are last district meeting today because this is the last week before changes. We were able to get pictures with our district (Hermana Flores, Hermana Solorio, Elder Walgamott, and Elder Gomez). They are such great missionaries. We also had the opportunity to teach Georgina the last lessons required for her baptism this weekend. It is interesting to see how the spirit can make people so ready for baptism. Her entire family are members and she just told us one day that she wanted to be with her family for eternity. It was so cool to see how everyting just flowed with her.

Jueves:

Thanksgiving!! We had the opportunity to eat lunch today with our Ward Mission Leader, Hermano Truhillo. They were going to make us Turkey, but that is pretty expensive here. However, they still cook some great food for us. We also had the opportunity today to kind of teach one of our new investigators named Angel. He owns a fruitstand and works from 6 to 9. So we had to teach him while he was working. We are hoping that we can get him to stop working on Sundays so we can get some real lessons with him. Aparantly his kids have been reading the Book of Mormon and the Folletos we have been passing along. Please pray that he can find an opportunity to hear a good lesson from us. We also had greatest Thanksgiving Burritos

Viernes:

We taught Rafa the plan of Salvation and he accepted it pretty well. We are still trying to get him an answer about the Book of Mormon and to stop smoking. However, every time we visit with him he has new questions and is constantly studying the Book of Mormon. We tried to teach Luis today and managed to teach him about half of the Plan of Salvation, but his wife, who is uncomfortable with us, came home so we had to leave. However, I feel lke Luis is very preparred for the Gospel. He wants to get baptised. All he needs to do is go to Church consistently.

Sabado:

Today was Georgina´s baptism. She was so happy and excited to make this promise with God. It was amazing to see how huge her family was. Almost as big as our family lol. I also had to give a talk which hopefully made a little bit of sense.We taught Salvador and Alma (some Menos Activos), but seem as unreceptive as ever. We invited them to Church the next day, but they did not come. We were able to set up a Noche de Hogar with Hermano Truhillo for lunes. Hopefully the faith of the Truhillo family can rekindle their desire to attend church.

Domingo:

Georgina looked so happy when she got the gift of the Holy Ghost. She always seems to be smiling when we see her. It was awesome to see her rapid progress. Today we did not have to much work so we contacting alot and tried to spread the word about the new Church initiative, Illumina el Mundo.

This initiative is cool. I want to encourage everybody to check it out. Every day of December the Church has provided a attribute of Christ, a scripture, and ideas for service that complement that attribute of Christ. Christ was the light of the world and we can be too. It is so cool to see all of the videos and ideas the Church has provided. It would be awesome if all of you guys could participate.

I love you all!

Feliz Dia de dar Gracias

Elder Thompson

Razors in Cheesecake

 

Last P day we were making a oreo cheese cake with Elder Walgamott and Elder Gomez. It took several hours to travel on public transport, buy all the ingredients, and then travel all the way back to bake. After we baked our cake we wanted to put blueberry pie filling on top, but we did not have a can opener. So being "smart" missionaries we decided to break open the can with a razor blade and our keys. We ended up with a can filled with holes and broken razor blades in the filling. We had to search for a few hours to find all the razor blades, but it was worth it. The cheese cake tasted so good!! Maybe its because I have not had cake for a while. 

We had the opportunity in the past week to watch a nation wide conference for México. President Nelson and Elder Hales spoke to us about the fundamentals and the commandments. They focused on paying tithing and going to the temple to be sealed to your family for eternity. It was super powerful hopefully we can use this conference to help some of the less active members to reactivate.

This week we have been working hard to teach the investigators we have. The investigator that has been progressing the most is Georgina, who is the wife of a less active member. We have progressed through the lessons so quickly. She had her interview this Sunday and is worthy to have her baptism this Saturday :D We also had the opportunity to take Luis to a baptismal service this past weekend. He is still ready to get baptised, but he needs to come to church at least two more times. Please pray for him to have the desire to come to church.

Our two other investigators that I want to talk about are Rafa and Carmen. Rafa is still struggling with his habit of smoking. However, he is also devouring/studying the Book of Mormon. Every visit He has questions for us. Please pray that he can overcome his habit of smoking. We had our first lesson with Carmen last week about the restoration. It was very powerful because we were able to share how we gained our testimonies and the Member that came with us, Mosiah, was also able to share his testimony. Please pray that she can recieve an answer about the Book of Mormon.

We also had a Noche de Hogar activity with our ward. We had to sing Love at Home in Spanish and English fue feo.

Sorry for the long email. I had to squeeze two weeks into it.

I love and pray for you all,

Elder Thompson

Downtown Puebla

This week I got to go on my first companion exchange on Tuesday. I got to go with Elder Laguna, one of the zone leaders of Valsequillo. Their area is more in the city and it was cool to see more of the city of Puebla. It was a little intimidating at first to be companions and only speak spanish. However, it was a lot easier than I was expecting. We had some good laughs trying to translate what the other was saying. It was also great to take an actual shower that night.

I transfered back to Elder Clawson the next day. We had a very powerful lesson with a man named Rafa. We talked about change and becoming more and more like the example Jesus set for us. He has a habit of smoking in the evenings so we helped him make goals and we are going to check to see how he is doing every few days or so.

We also got in contact with a man that has had lots of surgeries around his abdomen. I believe his name his Theodorro. He has to get a blood transfer every month or so. There were times where he broke down crying and other times when he knew God had a plan for him. He seems to be ready to hear the Gospel. Elder Clawson and I have been praying to try and find the best way to help him.

Today for our preparation day we got to go to the City center. The Cathedral of Puebla was very awe inspiring. I wish I could have shown you pictures of the inside, but it is sacred. Every inch of the walls has paintings, sculptures, golden crosses or metal work, and beautiful flowers on altars everywhere. It was awesome to see how much time, thought, and skill was put into every inch of the cathedral. It is interesting to see all of the work they put into for the Saints. It was very beautiful. Pictures never do justice.

I also finally had the opportunity to take pictures of the murals that artists did for Dia de los Muertos.

Sounds like all of you are doing great. I love you all.

Dia de los Muertos

 

Things are going pretty great down here Mexico. It has been a pretty slow week with investigators because everybody has been celebrating Dia de los Muertos. It has been cool to see all the traditions that they do during this weekend. Friday almost everybody made bright orange trails of flowers going to their front door. We also visited a member and got to see a table dedicated to their grandparents. It had flowers, candles, and pictures all around it. On Saturday and Sunday it has been a massive party in our pueblo. Lots of cars are parked on the streets from visiting members and dance music lasts late into the night. There have been a few artists who have painted murals as well for Dia de los Muertos. I did not have the opportunity to take pictures of them today; so I will send them next week.

A regular day for Elder Clawson and I starts at 6:30. We say our companion prayer and personal prayers right when we wake up. Then we start heating our water for showers in a bucket with resistance cords (it takes about 30 to 45 min) Then we do our daily exercise and cook breakfast (cereal or pan from a panderia). Then we bucket shower and get ready for the day. At the beginning of each of our studies we start with a prayer. We do Personal Study for an hour, Companion Study for 2 hours (usually one for regular missionaries but I am still in training), and one hour of Language Study. After studies we leave the house at 12 and hopefully go and give a lesson with an invistigator.We have lunch with members around 2:30 to 3:30 and eat great food (I left my list of the names of food at home). Then we travel around to other pueblos using convies and buses teaching, contacting and contacting until we return home at 9. Then we plan who we are visiting or teaching the next day for 30 min. Then we usually cook pasta and go to sleep at 10:30.

We have had a few opportunities to serve this week. We got to cut down 8ft tall malierbas with a machete at 7 am. After we met an investigator named Elizabeth who was very kind and gave us atole (super good hot chocolate/oatmeal/cinamon drink thing) and tomale sandwiches. We also helped a member who owns a ribbon making factory. He had 100s of foot long cardboard cilanders that we had to throw away. After, we got to eat Milanesa for lunch with him (super good chicken burger thing). After a hard day we also got some pity burritos from a local restaurant. They were super good.

 

The pictures are from our zone activity today sorry I dont have a lot of time to explain.

I'm out of time

Love you all,

Elder Thompson

Valsequillo & New Trainer

 

So this week was my first time out in the field, or in other words my first time actually being a missionary. Monday I got to meet my companion, Elder Clawson. He is a great missionary, obedient, and is very helpful.

On the way to Puebla I got to see the volcano Popo, but I did not have my camera on me to take pictures. Puebla city is just like Mexico City. There is the central city and then little pueblos just outside or connected to the city. Most people and we missionaries travel to these different pueblos in buses or convies (white vans) for a few pesos. It is sad to see how little people have here. Most people build their houses out of concrete with a store in the front where they make their money. We once visited a man with lamenium (sheet metal) for his walls and roof in a 10 by 10 house. They can basically build where ever they want, the government does not regulate to many things.

All the food I have eaten has been pretty good here. I have only had stomach aches on one night. I have tried Puebla's famous mole and it is good and very spicy. Today we had soft tacos with the other missionaries in our zone at a restaurant. The tacos were very good.

This week I had the opportunity to teach a few different investigators. I especially enjoyed teaching Mario and Martha. They own a little food joint by the road and have fed us some good food when we eat there. They are ready to get baptised but Mario needs to get divorced from his ex-wife so he can marry Martha and then be baptised. Apparently this is a common problem down in Mexico. People get married and then separate to other people without getting divorces. The other man that I enjoyed teaching was Luis. I had the opportunity to extend Luis the baptismal invitation and he accepted, but first he needs to come to church a few times. I also was able to take part in a confirmation of a woman who was baptised before General Conference.

We live in a house with two floors, but our boiler and the showers do not work. So we have to shower with buckets that we heat with resistance coils. We also have to do our laundry by hand and air dry. It is a nice house with a fridge, a place to study, and comfy beds.

I hope you all are doing well. If I forgot to talk about anything or something does not make sense email me so I clarify.

Last Week at CCM

This week has been pretty crazy. It is my last week at the MTC and then I am going to head of to Puebla on a two hour bus ride. I got called to be the travel leader, which means I have to tell everybody what they are supposed to do when I am not that sure myself. However, I think I got it all sorted out for everyone. It has helped my spanish trying to explain what we need to do to the Latinos going to Puebla.

This week I feel a little bit better about communicating in Spanish. I can have pretty good conversations with the Latinos in my casa now. We talked about swimming, movies, and music. However, I feel like communicating in TRC was very hard. TRC is where less active or actual investigators volunteer to be taught by us, the missionaries. Elder Trendler and I had the opportunity to teach the brother of my teacher, who has not been baptised yet. During this lesson it was very difficult for me I felt like I was not connecting with him, and could only understand half of what he said because he spoke so quickly. However, I think I did an alright job bearing my testimony at the end of the lesson. We also taught a less active member named Luise. I could understand more from him. He cleans houses and is going to college. I felt like I actually could communicate decently with him.

Elder Trendler started having feeling sick yesterday. So we stayed in the casa yesterday for GYM time so he could get some rest and I was able to work and study. Today he seems to be doing a lot better. Talking and hanging out with the whole district has seemed to help him alot. Today I also got my first hair cut in Mexico. I think this is the shortest my hair has been since I was five. They go hard core with the clippers here, but at least I do not have to worry about combing my hair in the morning.

This Tuesday we also had the opportunity to listen to a live broadcasted talk by Elder Bednar one of the Apostles of the Twelve. Elder Bednar talked about how 45 years ago he had the opportunity to watch General Conference in the MTC, but it was called something else. He taught us how he liked to take notes in General Conference. He takes a sheet of paper and divides it into 3 columns. First column is Doctrine and Principle. Second column is Invitation. Third column is Promised Blessings. Then he listens for those three things in the talk and writes them as well as the Spiritual promptings he gets. He can then restudy the talk, apply it to the scriptures, and live it. I have included some pictures of the notes I took for the clips of talks he showed in order for us to practice.

I love and miss you all,

Elder Thompson

PS. Here are some pictures of Elders we liked playing ultimate with, the comedor, my classroom, and the streets of the MTC