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.