Nathan has his MISSION CALL

How is it going everybody?!! I am doing great

Lunes:

We had our activity de zona today. We did a whole bunch of different minute to win it games. Like eating pan without hands, grabbing random objects from around the church, coing spinning and stopping, and many more... I got to play a game where you have to kick your shoes onto the table and answer questions while a balloon is being filled with air above my head until it explodes. It was pretty fun. We also had another lesson with Oscar one of our investigators that has some trouble progressing.

 

Martes:

We had our entrevistas with presidente today! We went into the Sumo Consejo cuarto in our church to have the interview and before I could say anything Pte Stellmon said, "I have something for you" I was not sure what to expect... Maybe I had done something wrong... or cambios de emergencia. After letting me sit and sweat for a bit he whipped out his cellphone to shoe me an email from my mom. It was super cool to hear that Nathan is going to Guatemala. I sitting grinning from ear to ear the whole interview and for the rest of the day. We also had the opportunity to talk about where I can progress and improve, which was super cool. We visited a menos activo named Omar when it started pouring here with rain and hail. Luckilyit stopped when we headed out to teach another person. We had another lesson with Francisco trying to get him prepared for baptism.

Miercoles:

We had intercambios with the Leaders de Zona, los Gonzalez (They are both named Elder Gonzalez jaja) today after the junta de distrito. I had a super good day in our area with Elder Gonzalez. We found some new people to teach. Especialmente la hija de Maria named jeovana. She is not to young like her sister samantha nor to old like her mom to understand our message. She could learn our message rapidly and be an example for her family. We also had an entrevista with Oscar, who didnt pass his interview for questions with his testimony. We are hoping to fortalize his testimony a little more so that he can be baptised soon. We also got to talk to our deep doctrine investigator named Ricardo. While Elder Gonzalez and Oscar were doing the interview Ricardo showed me his huge timeline of the Geneologia de Adan hasta quien sabe. It was super cool. We are hoping to focus in a little bit more in our studies because he likes to talk alot about his ideas like dinosaurs the lost tribes and all of those shenanigans.

Jueves:

Today was our last lesson with Emerica. When we arrived to teach Humberto and Emerica Humberto just looked at us and said that they are having family problems and Emerica would not be able to see us anymore. So for our last lesson we testified of the Libro de Mormon and how it will help her in her life if she reads it. We also shared the promise in the back of the book to help her realize its importance. It was super sad, but God has a plan for everyone. Hopefully she can find her way back to the gospel. We still plan to work with Humberto to help keep him happy and active. The rest of the day was a little hard because all of our citas fell.

Viernes:

We taught our golden investigators today named Elizabeth and Francisco. The first time Elizabeth went to the church she felt it was true. Also throughout our lessons she is constantly asking inspired questions that lead to the next point in the lesson. At the end of todays lesson we tried to set a date with them for the 6 Abril and they were a little bit confused at first why it was so soon. So we invited them to pray about it and testified that they could be ready for this Fecha. Elizabeth asked, "Why are you so sure? You look like you know something we dont". We then explained how we can recieve revelation when we are planning for our investigators, but they still have the opportunity to excersise their agency and ask God. Super cool experience!!

Sabado:

We had another lesson with a new that Elder Gonzalez and I found named Angel. His sister was also able to join us for the lesson named Angela. It was a pretty good lesson and they have a lot of potential como investigadores. If you could all pray for them in this next week I know it will help them alot. We also had the opportunity to go to a few citas with Hmo Andreas, who is such an example to me because we just showed up on his doorstep and asked him to come with us on the fly and he just said let me change my shirt and lets go. We had a cool lesson with him with a less active member named Almachio and his esposa. They havent gone to church for years because of some ofensive act a member did. There are so many menos activos like this. It is a testimony to me that we need to be more cautious as members in what we do and also not hold grudges for small things in the eternal perspective. Hmo Andreas shared a quote from Howard w. Hunter that helped alot I think he said, "Brothers and Sisters please forgive us and please come back... please come back into the church"

Domingo:

We had lunch with Oscar Brito today, whcih was super fun. Oscar Brito just barely married his wife 3 months ago, was an actor and a model, and now has a dancing academy. It was fun talking to him and his wife about there life experience and eating super good food. We also had another day when our citas fell through once again.

I had a super great week and I just want to say Felicidades Elder Thompson se que vas a ser un poderoso misionero en Guatemala. Tu eres mi mejor amigo.

Have a fantistic Week

Elder Thompson

(Pictures- Zona actividad, hamburgesas that tasted like home and almost made me cry, soccer in the dark and burning a camisa with our vecino Omar exmisionero)

Pinas and Zone Conference

I hope you are all having a great week. This week was super fun and awesome!!

Lunes:

Today and we finally found something that can charge my camera. I also bought the jersey of the Puebla futbol team. We did not have to much success today we were basically walking the whole day after our Pday ended, but we stopped by Hma Wendy and had a great talking about the vida misional.

Martes:

We had another lesson with Humberto the Menos Activo about how God can help him. He has been feeling kind of depressed with his job and taking care of Emerica and her family. We talked about the power of prayer and how iif he thanks God for all the blessings he has in his life he will feel the love of God filling up his soul. Moroni 7:48 We then got to eat some pizza with some members for lunch and went to do service for a Hma named Hma Canaán. We helped move guide lines to taller points on her trees. A few times I didnt understand where she wanted the Guidline and she started saying "Am I going to have to climb up this ladder to do it?" She is about 75 years old. She also made us some super good tortas of eggs and frijoles for dinner.

Miercoles:

We had a few lessons today with Oscar, Fransisco, and Naomi y Cesar, but there was not to much progression.

Jueves:

Today was a the Capacitacion de zona. The Capacitacion was super cool because I had a prayer answered. I have been feeling stressed out a little bit and the zone leaders decided to show a video from the apostle David A. Bednar. In this video Elder Bednar was doing a Q and A and one of the questions was "How can I keep equilibrium between my work, church, and my family" and in true awesome apostalic fashion Elder Bednar said "You cant equilibrium is a lie" He then gave us two pieces of advice. The first was we cant be in two places at once so When your at work be at work not at church and not at home, When your at Home be at home not at work and not at church, When your at Church be at church not at home and not at work. We need to focus in the present and not in other times. He also gave an example of a chinesese acrobat. These acrobats can place a plate on a stick and then spin it. Some acrobats can have three plates on there body at a time. The plates are never spining at the same rate at the same time. The acrobat is constantly rotating through the plates to give each one a spin. He talked about how he would sometimes be leaving for a meeting and his son would ask the heartrenching question "Dad can you play with me now?" and sometimes he would have to say no i cant right now and then left for his meeting. Other times he would say yes lets play for a while and then went late to his meeting. Through this method Bednars son learned how to respond to no and that his dad loves God and him as well. We dont need to worry about it to much as long as we give each plate a spin once in awhile.

Viernes:

Did some more service for Hma Canaán in the morning. We were working until we had to leave for lunch, but Hma Canaán wanted to give us something to eat to pay us back for our service. We gave in and said she could make us one mamela (basically a tostada). We left to go get dressed while she mad us some food. We came back and sat down and she walked to our table with a huge mamlota about the size of the plates about 12 inches cackling like all grandmas can. This mamela was about the size of four other mamelas. We finished eating and laughing and shaking our heads while she asked us if we wanted another mamelita. we also had another lesson with Francisco about the Palabra de Sabiduria. He was having a hard time understanding why it is necessary to get rid of things that are not terrible for our bodies. The scriptures about Moses and his golden serpent came to mind. In order for the Israelites to be saved from the venom of the serpents they only needed to look at the golden serpent that Moses made. That is something wierd and some israelites thought it wouldnt work but if we have faith in prophets we will be saved no matter how dumb it looks or seems.

Sabado:

We had a lesson with Elizabeth and her Husband Francisco. They are two very prepared investigators. During our lessons they always ask questions that is answered with the next part of the lesson. It is cool to see the Light of Christ helping them to remeber the things they were taught in the preexistence. They just need to have the lessons and then they can be baptised. If you guys could pray for them that would be great. We also stayed up super late talking to our neighbor exmisionero Omar about life while eating tacos.

Domingo:

We had to travel super far to meet with a menos activo in Sn. Isidro. It was a little wierd talking to him he has converted to another religion because of a dream he had, but we will find out more in our next cita.

I hope you all have a fantastic week Keep killing it in life

Elder Thompson

Super Cool Elder Martinez

Lunes:

Nuevo Cambio Nuevo Compañero

Elder Martinez is super cool companion. He has a ton of energy is always looking to have a good laugh. Super great missionary too. He knows how to work and how teach very well. Also played professional soccer before his mission too, which is sick.

Martes:

We had to head to the city center today to get Elder Martinez's ear checked out. He cant hear out of it and he feels a dull pain. Turns out that he has an infection in his ear they took out a whole bunch of gunk out of his ear and gave him some medications to take throughout the week. Please pray for him so that he can feel better. We talked with the Recent Converso named Luis today about his studies. He has a ton of work so we are trying to help organize his schedule so that he can keep reading the scriptures and feeling the spirit. We also had the opportunity to have a Noche de Hogar with a member and her non member husband. He is super Catolico but we are hoping to gain his trust so that can progress a little bit more.

Miercoles:

Today we got to eat with Hma Canaán again today. She is the member he gave us patitas de pollo the last time we ate with her. The food was super good we ate alot of chicken and sopa that all tasted pretty good. We also were abe to teach a few lessons with Hermana Luz about staying true to her faith as she tries to convince her husband to get married so that she can be baptised. We also taught the family de Oscar

Jueves:

We taught Emerica and Humberto again today, but I dont know how we can help them. Emericas dad does not want her to get baptised. Also he is not living in Tehuacan, but apparantley he is going to return in Mayo. We are going to keep on working with them to see if they progress. We also decided to head out to un "pueblote" named Mihuatlan of about 9000 people. We got super lost over there looking for directions, but we are going to head back with a member one day because it has a lot of potential. We then went to go give a blessing to some members in the area of Libertad, but the hermanas were not there to guide us so we went to the wrong members house. We showed up at the restuarant named Kachito Mio and all of them were like "oh sure I need a blessing". It was super funny that night learning that they were not the members that needed the blessing.

Viernes:

Today Hma Wendy couldnt host us in her house so she brought us takeout chinese food which was super good. We taught Luis again about the chapters he read in the beginning of the Libro de Mormon. We also taught a exmisionero who is menos activo named Omar. We are trying to reactivate him and find out why he cant go to church other than he his busy.

Sabado:

We taught Hma Veronica a menos activo about how she can gain a answer agian mediante leyendo las escrituras y oracion. We ate with Oscar Brito and we had a great time joking around with him. We taught the menos activo Familia Garcia Rodriguez, but they still seemed closed off for some reason. We are trying to find the reason why they dont go to the capilla.

Domingo:

We set another Fecha with Francisco for this next saturday this General Conference had a huge impact on him. He seems more confident about the church and we hope we can prepare him well for this saturday. We also had the oportunity to sing hymns for 91 year old member here in Tehuacan to help animarle. She is super funny and active for her age she reminds me of Grandma Jackie.

Anyways sorry that there arnt any fotos my camara doesnt seem to be working. I hope you all have a fantastic week. keep killing it up there

Love you all

Elder Thompson

Moving a Fridge and Elder Smith Leaves

Lunes:

Elder Smith had his birthday that sunday. So a member brought us some sushi for lunch that was super good. I may have to go to a sushi bar with you when I get home dad. We also had some fortune cookies that were super specific to our missions. Super cool, but a little weird. We also had the opportunity to teach a Noche de Hogar with a family of menos activos. It was super cool during the lesson because the Dad, marco, broke down crying when he started talking about eternal families. After they have their baby I think they will be able to start going to church again.

Martes:

We had one of the Rencent Converts named Luis accompany us for two hours to our different citas. It was super cool because we had the opportunity to talk to Fransisco, who has a little bit of fear about baptism. It was super cool to see Hmo Luis testifying about how that decision changed his life. As we were leaving the cita Luis even said, "I will see you at your baptism", which made Elder Smith grin. After the cita we went and bought some really cheap tacos from a Club America local. They were ok but it was fun just talking with Luis and Elder Smith.

Miercoles:

I had taken my shoes to a zapatero miembro de la iglesia a week before to fix them up and make them black. Today I just got them back and they are soo comfortable and its weird to see them in a different color. He gave us a deal because we were misionaries but overall it costed like $2.50. Later that night we had a noche de hogar with another Menos Activo familia named the Familia Cordero. They have a daughter that is over the age of eight and are very excited to return to the church. We decided to do another Noche de Hogar about progressing little by little. We played the dice game with a rubix cube and talked about how through small and simple means we can accomplish our goals.  They then got us a pizza which was super nice and awesome.

Jueves:

Today was super fun. The Hermanas of Libertads fridge broke so we got to bring them a new fridge. After having a few lessons in the day we went to a members house who had a truck at 9 to go pick up the fridge at the zone leaders house. We had to hike four floors down with the fridge down to the truck which was fun. It was also super cool riding around on clinging to the back of the truck with a fridge. Then we got to the Hermanas apartment we had to hike up another three floors with the fridge. Anyway super fun experience. As we were walking back to the truck the Member, who knows a little bit of English, said, " Next destiny tacos". As we were heading home they were super nice and bought us some super rico tacos. Super fun day.

Viernes:

We got to see the new curch intiative, el principe de paz. It is a super cool video that talks about all that our savior did for us. The music is also super awesome. We also had the oportunity to finally teach a friend, named Elizabeth, of a member. She has gone to church 3 times and is super prepared for baptism. She said the first time she came to our church she felt super happy and peaceful. I think Elizabeth is going to get baptised super soon. We also had the opportunity to bring Elizabeths husband to a Carne Asada at the church. It was super cool to see all the members including him and being his friends. We also were able to get Ricardo, another investigator, to join us tambien.

Sabado and Domingo:

I dont have alot of time but Conference impacted me alot. For me all of the speakers seemed to be talking about changing my heart. Even if we give two years of our life to service it wont be to our benefit if our hearts are not in the work. Anyway here are some qoutes that I loved.

Miracles require the spirit working through people like you and me

Im not sure you better ask Heavenly Father

Look to the future with eyes f faith

Until we are no longer satisfied with our sinful state

We need to focus on the light not on the mists of darkness

Weaving a spiritual tapestry requires more than one thread

Come as you are but dont plan to stay as you are

Go all in

We are imperfect people trying to learn a perfect language

Love being worthy. Stay worthy

Dont take yourselves so darn seriously

What is the most important calling in the church? The one you have right now

Dont shoot Im a Mormon

When we respond to the first prompting we will get it right 9 times out of 10

....

And many others that I dont have time to qoute. I know that god has a specific relationship with each of us. For example an investigator named Fransisco arrived late to conference during the talk of D Todd Christopherson. The very next talk by Joaquin F. Cosa was to investigators. He covered all the points that Fransico wanted to know. It was super cool to see God working with him as well as me.

Right now Elder smith has left for another area and I should get a new companion soon. Anyways love you all and hope you have a great week

Elder Thompson