Coco

EVERYBODY GO SEE COCO RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As all of you know I am a huge pixar fan. So yesterday when President Alcala told us we had permision to see COCO I was ecstatic. We got permision because the Area Presidency sent out an email to all mision presidents saying that the movie COCO explains the doctrine of the Plan of Salvacion very well. This movie teaches a ton of principles very well like the autosuficiencia, family history, and practicing your talents but the message that made me tear up (si llore un poquito) was about the Redemption that is coming. COCO taught in a way very well that every misunderstanding, mistake, or flat out evil will be corrected. I know that the Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ is of the utmost importance to our well-being. He will be there to reunite us as eternal families correcting every mistake. I know that this letter is very short but it was because I was learning alot from COCO. The last thing I want to say is that I am eternally grateful for all the family and friends I have in my life. I know that every single one of us was put together for a specific reason. I love you all and I am excited to see some of you this next week in skype.

Elder Thompson

White Wash

Just have enough time to tell you a quick experience about fasting. Elder Robles and I are in a process that missionaries call a white wash where we both arrived to Teotitlan without knowing anything or anyone. After some time we started to find the people that can really progress towards baptism and for our monthly fast this December we decided to fast for a few of our key investigators.

We asked that the Hermana Amparo could have powerful experiences to increase her testimony, that we could recieve Mission leaders in our branch, that one of our citas that day would go well with the new family, and that we would work well with the members with our Ilumina el Mundo tree.

After ending our fast it was not to hard to see the miracles and the hand of God in Teotitlan. Amparo made it early to church and the Christmas Devotional, even though she has not asisted in months. Both of the Branch Presidents have named specific people that could be our branch mission leaders. We had a fantastic lesson with the Familia Garcia of six people, who all seem to be very receptive to the Gospel (a few even went to church for the first time). Everybody seems to understand the concept of Ilumina el Mundo and putting ornaments on our tree to work togethor to decorate the arbol de rama with misionary acts and sharing Ilumina el mundo.

It was so cool to see how powerful a fast can be when we ask for specific blessings. I love working out here and I hope you all have a Merry December week!!

Elder Thompson

Photos

Emerica got Baptized

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!

I am glad that everyone seems to be doing well. I hope that you all enjoyed eating alot of good food like mashed potatoes, turkey, 7 layered gello, pie, and the most important food of Thanksgiving: the GRAVY (sorry Im a little bit hungry right now). I had a wonderful Dia de Dar Gracias here in Mexico even though nobody celebrates it. We had a banquete de tomal, soda (or should I say coca), chips, and some pie. It was actually pretty good.

Like the day of Thanksgiving the rest of my week was pretty good as well. We had our interviews with Presidente Alcala this week, which helped me greatly. I never recieved the training to train another Elder, but basically Presidente helped me understand that we can not hold the new missionaries back. We want them so surpass us so that the mission can keep on progressing. The gospel is not a competition to see who can progress the farthest because in the end we will all end becoming perfect if we keep on trying. I think this helped me out alot from my interview.

After the entrevista con Presidente Alcala we went to go contact in the street because we could not do divisions with other Elders because they were busy. It was a super fun time to help out another area by contacting. Elder Robles and I were laughing and having a great time contacting and knocking on doors for a few hours. It was fun to pass all the referencias that we had to the Hermanas after our day. We also we able to do divisions with Tehuacan Tehuacan (My old area) later in the evening. I went and showed them where some old investigators lived and I found out the Emerica got baptised. Emerica was the 15 year old girl that I taught with Elder Smith until she told us that she couldnt listen to us anymore. It was cool to see the Pictures of her baptism. After it was time to go back to the church to head to the house of the Lideres de Zona we made a quick stop with Hna Wendy. It was so cool to see her and talk about what has been going on in the ward (It will be even more weird when I come back in a few years).

This week we had the oportunity to help a few menos actives this week in Teotitlan as well. We taught a powerful lesson to Hermano Carlos in the street about the Atonement. The spirit guided us to help him with his family problems and the Palabra de Sabiduria. We also taught a cool lesson with a menos active young man named Kevin. It was cool because we applied the principles of the Gospel to his studies.

I also learned a powerful lesson with the President of our district Ignacion Mejia. Sometimes I get frustrated because I feel like the Ward Council is inefictive and just the same problems over and over agian. However I know that this is escencial coordination with the members so we always ask to have ward council. Presidente Cuello did something different this time. Instead of doing the same inefictive thing over again, he did a small training session of Ward Council. He said he knew that many of the lideres de la rama were new and needed help to know what to do. He taught me that we constantly need to recover the basics so that we do not end up with inefictive meetings.

Anyways I learned alot this week and I am always learning something new. I hope that you all have a great week and I want to let you all know that I love you and I am praying for you!!

Elder Thompson

Training Elder Robles

Hey Everyone!

It was a super fun day because of the futbol, pizza, and seeing old friends. It was super fun talking to Elder Clawson and Elder Cruz again (two of my old comps and good friends). Elder Cruz even cut my hair agian for free (love that word)!!  It is amazing to see how powerful and viejitos on their missions. We played soccer for almost 5 hours and I was super sore for a few days.

We went and ate with a Brother and Sister, who live in a adobe house that is at least 60 years old. They live in a pueblo that is 40 min away from where we live in Teotitlan. We went there in the back of a pickup truck. The hermanos are converts of about 30 years and have never missed a Sunday even though they live 40 min away and are about 60 years old. They are a huge example to me of dedication and love of the gospel.

We traveled all the way up to Puebla to have a meeting for new missionaries and trainers. We recovered some of the basics that every missionary needs to review once in awhile and I also like the message from the asistents. They had an object lesson where we had to hammer a nail into a board with a banana, a book, or a shoe. Obviously none of these things were very efective. We then went to the scriptures of the story of Nephi with his boat. We talked about how Nephi made tools out of what the Lord wanted him to use. It all reminded me of the talk my Mom had sent me "When your Bow Breaks" When we pray we need to ask God where we can find the materiales necessary to make our tools. We often go to the Lord with frases like "Bless me with" or "Give me the Knowledge", when we can just ask a normal question. When we ask "What can I do to..." the windows of heaven will be opened and we find the steps we need to take.

The rest of the week God has helped us so much to find work here. I remember being worried about finding work here, but thankfully God has always given us something to do. I am excited to stretch myself and try and work more closely with the members here. Elder Robles is a great missionary and I think we should have lots of success.

I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week!!

Elder Tonzon

Catholic Migration

Hey everyone we got permision to email you guys real quick because we got stuck behind a big "Catholic Migration" in our bus just so that we can let you guys know that we are alive. I had cambios de emergencia and I am now training an Elder named Elder Robles. I am a little sad to leave Izucar because I want to keep helping the people progress, but for some reason I have been called to serve in Oxaca in a pueblo named Teotitlan. Just want to let you all know that I am fine and I should have more time next week to write more.

Agua Fria

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to drop a quick line. This week has been awesome for me because we have been working with lots of different challenges. One of the things we had to do was change our house because of the fractures that we had in our old house from the earthquake. In the new house we couldnt get the boiler to start and we did not have electricity for a few days. The cold water of the shower always gave me a jolt to wake me up. This week has been kind of like that metaphorically. I feel like I have been awakened more into how to be a more caring leader and how the challenges of God help us change and humble us.

I have especially loved reading the talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf called the Greatest amoung You from the last general conference and the talk called when your Bow breaks. They are both super great talks and I think have helped guide me during this week of activity.

Also we are preparing a super great investigator for Baptism in a few weeks named Ricardo. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and is trying to apply the things he learns into his life. We hope that we can keep on animating him and helping him along his path. Im sure that your prayers will help him as well. I love you all. I am praying for you all as well.

Elder Thompson

Elder Mills to Elder Ricks

Hey Everyone just shooting out a quick email because today was CAMBIOS so we didnt have to much time. I am sad to see Elder Mills go, but I am also super happy to have Elder Ricks as my companion. I hope that you all have a great week, I love you all, and I am praying for you!!

Zone Monkey Shirts

I hope that you all had a great week and are all feeling fantastic. I have just been here working in Mexico and reading and using the talks from General Conference a ton!!! This past general conference has been so powerful we have been trying to share the talks with as much people as we can.

We first shared the talk of President Thomas S. Monson from last conference with a menos active family here in Izucar. They run a icecream buisness here and are almost always working. We are trying to get them to focus on the basics again like Reading the Book of Mormon, Attending church, and Praying (RAP jaja). When we had the oportunity to share our testimonies and this video with this family to invite them to read the Libro de Mormón. After sharing those two things they started remembering how God had helped them through some rough trials and helped them gain their icecream buisness. It was a cool experience for me.

We were also able to share with Hermana Nancy the talk from Tad R. Mccalister coupled with the powerful Alma 32. We hope that this will help her overcome her doubts and crush her temptations.

With one of my favorite investigators, who is named Ricardo, we shared the first vision and the same video from Tad R. Mccalister. This lesson was especially important because he had still not taken the challenge to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It was one of those lessons that just emanates with the Spirit. I know that God is carefully preparing every one of his children to recieve the Gospel. I also know that he is relying on us to invite, share, and bring the spirit into their lives. I Know That The Book Of Mormon Is True and that it is the key to the questions we have in life.

We also had interchanges with Elders from Tlapa and Acatlan, which were very fun to see old friends and meet the new missionaries coming to the mission.

I also just wanted to share some of the key lessons and topics that I heard in the General Conference...

Search for the Lord´s Voice and Way and follow it without doubt or fear

Trust in the Lord's changes and impressions that you recieve in your life because he has perfectly planed out every step of the way

When we see our Leaders with faith in the way that the Lord sees them; we will recieve the inspiration and revelation that we need

Do more than Read the Book of Mormon every day

I love you all and hope that you have a great week!!!

Love

Elder Thompson

Nonsense Drawing

Hey Everyone,

We got the presidenta of the Sociedad de Socorro (Relief Society) to take us to meet a menos active family out in a pueblo about 30 min from Izucar. It was cool to see the miles of sugar cane fields in the valley as we traveled in a small combi to the pueblo, Rijo. We had the oportunity to teach this big family and give them some priesthood blessings. While we gave the blessings it was awesome to see how the Spirit guides every blessing. I am so greatful that God has this type of relationship with us, which is one by one.

We also had a lot of divisions with the Elders from Tlapa. One of them has trouble starting conversations with people and building strong relationships. As we were walking and trying to figure out how to fix the problem I recieved a memory of the game I played with my aunt Alesha. In the game you place two lines, shapes, squiggles, or other nonsense on a piece of paper. Then the other person would have to try and make up a drawing from that nonsense. We thought about how often times we dont need to know exactly where we are going to start off, but eventually with creativity we can end up with a drawing or a good conversation. We then went on to teach an antiguo investigador that did not have confidence in the missionaries, but to our suprise he started warming up to the Elder that has problems with conversing. It was cool to see how the spirit teaches then helps us apply.

This week has also been nice because we have been starting to work alot better with the members of the branch here in Izucar. The Lider Misional Miguel is always excited and ready with ideas of activities to share. However this week he passed a reference of a family of 6 that have been waiting to hear the gospel. We are still in the beginning stages of gaining the familys trust, but they are good people and could be ready to accept the gospel. I hope we can start getting some good coordination with this branch.

Here are all the delayed pictures that I have been waiting to send. Thank you all for your patience!!! Have a great week !

Elder Thompson

Tossing House off of Cliff

We had our big huge zone activity this week!!! We started off with the worlds favorite sport soccer, which was a blast. I did not realize how much I had missed soccer being in a zone with only hermanas (no contact sports). Then we got to the super cool stuff. Izucar is the hottest zone in all of the mission so we had the great idea to have a water fight. We filled up almost 400 water balloons to attack each other. Then we divided up into two teams and played capture the flag water balloon style. We also had a cool carne asada after the fight with the Mexican famous coca cola

We also had our interviews with president this week, which was super cool. We just talked about how I was doing in the mission and about life. President Alcala told me to keep on working with the goals I have and to keep helping others along the way. When our food got canceled that day we went out to get pasole with President as well which was super good.

Elder Mills and I also traveled down to another area to do some service for a Member of the Tehuitzingo branch. All of his house had caved in so we had the task of taking all of the rubble out to toss over a cliff so he could begin to rebuild. We also had cut back some the vegetation to give him more room with machetes and everyone knows using machetes is fun!! jaja

One day while we were waiting for a Menos Active family in the church for one of our citas, we began talking with the family history consultants. They are both super fun grandparents, who are super excited to share the gospel and family history (Like some people I know). When our family arrived we were guided to invite them into the office of family history to teach them there with the consultants. At first it was awkward to teach because we normally do not teach about this, but soon everyone was laughing and smiling. I especially liked the prompting we recieved to do an activity of writing out their family tree. It was fun watching them remember their ancestors and then reminding them of their sealing within their family. It was fun and different lesson and I know that Family History is one of the things that sets us apart from other churches. It was super cool to see them arrive at church this last Sunday as well.

Well the computer is still refusing to accept the pictures of my camera so I will have to see what else I can do next week to change that. However, I want to let you all know that I love you and I wish I could write you each a specific letter.

Elder Thompson

Favorite Conference Talks

Hey everyone it has been one of those weeks super fast and busy. Today we had an activity de zona so we got out late trying to clean everybody up. This conference was awesome though. I loved the talks of Ronald A. Rasband, 1st of Dieter F. Uchtdorf, and Niel L. Anderson. I know that these men are apostles of God and that the seventy are key witnesses as well. I cant wait to tell you all more about my week... but I will have to do it next week. I am so sorry keep doing well and know that I am praying for you all.

Love ya

Elder Thompson

Also for some reason the computer cant connect to my camera so pictures are coming next week as well

SORRY

Esta Temblando!

So yeah my second day here in Izucar we had the huge earthquake, where one of the epicenters was ten minutes from our house... so that was fun. Luckily we were not hurt and no one we knew got hurt or killed. There are a few people that had some damage to their houses though. Alot of the city center got trashed as well because the buildings are old and made out of clay and rocks. Alot of the old Catholic buildings have had some damage as well...but more on the earthquake later.

Im in Izucar de Matamoros with my new companion Elder Mills. He is a super cool missionary and we were actually in the CCM together. Its has been awesome catching up and talking about life in the mission. I also really like my new area because it is alot like Huejotzingo. The only problem is that it is super hot every day. I have been sweating buckets since I have gotten here because I think its like 85 degrees every day. However the city is very pretty and tradicional and it has Dominos pizza which is great as well. It also has all the great stuff of mexico like borrachos that try to talk to us in english, stray dogs, and people that say guero at every turn jaja.

My second day in Izucar we left the house and started visiting people. In one of our lessons we were teaching a woman named Luisa (who is preparing to be baptised) in her economic kitchen about the Holy Ghost. Right as we were about to share a scripture in Mosiah 4: 2 to 3 another woman ran through the kitchen screaming "¡Esta temblando Esta Temblando!" Then we noticed how everything in the room started shaking up and down like we were in Coke bottle getting shaken up. The hermana Luisa ran out screaming, while her bottles of coke fell and exploded on the floor. Elder Mills and I walked slowly out of the trembling building to see the whole street of buildings shaking. It is was super weird because I didnt feel like I was in the earthquake just watching it, maybe we were in shock. After about 30 seconds everything was pretty calm again. After that we spent the rest of the day just visiting people and trying to locate all the members. We also didnt have signal but we also managed to get contact with all the missionaries. It took us until nine to get in contact with all of the missionaries here in Izucar.

For the past couple days we have found alot of people scared in their houses with their families. We have been able to share some scriptures that are in the Book of Mormon for times like these in Helaman 5 that talk alot about the comfort of the spirit. These words I think have helped alot of the new people that we have found, our investigators, and also alot of the members. No matter what happens we just need to focus in on the fundamentals of Christ to make it through these perilous times.

We have also done alot of service like helping people clean up collapsed houses and moving alot of furniture out of unsafe houses. It has been a huge blessing seeing all of the help arriving from other states. There have even been some people that have come all the way from Monterrey to help everyone here. We have had the oportunity to serve with some of them. 

Elder Mills and I also had the opportunity to share talks later on that week during the sacrament meeting. It was cool to share what happened to our ward during the Black Forest fire. The revelations that our Bishop recieved to clean up all of the pine needles and also all of the service after the disaster. Although I was not affected by the forest fire it was cool to share the experiences of my friends and also all of the service and help that our ward did to help one another. I was and still am truly blessed for all of the people that I knew in the Blackforest Ward.

We also recieved a ton of materiales from members from all around Mexico right after our Sacrament Meeting. It was super great to see and help give food and other necesities to our ward. Also a great experience to pack up trucks to send out to other branches and wards in the zone. It was super cool to see how fast and powerful our church can help people.

I know that this is the only true church and the people really do try to build their foundation over the rock of Christ. I know that he lives and loves every one of us

Love you guys!!!

Elder Thompson

Bendiciones...Bendiciones en todos lados

First of all I want to tell all of you that I love you all and I am praying for your safety. There have been alot of natural disasters lately and my companion Elder Cruz has gotten into the habit of sharing Helamen 5:12...

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty stormshall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

My mission has taught me alot about how to rely on the rock and how to work together with family, companions, members, investigators, and all different types of people to make sure that we all return home safely. Something that I have learned alot here in Huejotzingo is how to love and have strong relationships with people. I am so thank ful that God has placed every person here in my life and I am also super grateful for the impact all of you have made on my life helping me build on the rock of Christ.

First off the day of the earthquake Elder Cruz and I got back to the house super tired so after making a few calls with some missionaries we went straight to bed. I have no idea how but Elder Cruz and I slept through the earthquake and I slept very well. Everyone was joking with us the next day that our Beds were levating in the rapture, or that we are not sinners so were not worried for our sins and the end jajaja and thats why we didnt wake up but who knows. After making sure that everyone was fine in Nealtican we got another phone call from our asistente. He started telling me that there was an emergency that the volcanoe that is in our area was going to explode. After I started yelling at Elder Cruz to start calling everybody again the asistente told me laughing that nothing was going to happen. So that woke me up too!

We were also able to participate in the baptism of Roberto, who shared a super awesome testimony about eternal families after the ordananza. I think I have said before that listening to testimonies after baptisms is my favorite part of these meetings. The brothers and sisters are so clean, hopeful, and motivated to follow the will of Christ. We are hoping to get Roberto ready to recieve the Priesthood real soon and get him excited to get sealed with his family in the temple. He has come a long way from when we found him and I am super thankful that God has been preparing him all this time for his baptism. In the picture Roberto is the tall mexican in white and hermano Jehova is the shorter mexican in white. They are both some of the funniest and humblest men I know.

I love you all and I am so thankful for all of your love and support. Keep fighting the good fight

Elder Thompson

Journal