I dont know why but I have just super happy this week and I want to let you all know that I love you a ton. I want to thank all of you for all that you have done in my life. Just have enough time to send you all some pictures, but keep killing it up there in the states. Also the video is for presidents birthday.
I don't have to much time this week but This week was a little hard but super great at the same time. Bad first we had to drop one of our families that could be baptised like next week because they don't want to upset their parents. Also we were going to have a entrevista with Oscar this week. He didn't show up because he got in a fight with his wife and got drunk. It is ok though we are going to try to work with him through 12 pasos a church addiction recovery program. The good news of this week is that we found tons of new people to teach. We are hoping we can help them progress and also every area in the district has fechas so that is super awesome.
Another quote to brighten your guys´s day
"When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest in that moment God will endow us with power." Ezra Taft Benson
Have a great week
Elder Thompson
So officially am a fourth of the way done with my mission, which is not ok. I feel like I am just barely learning how to be a missionary. It feels like yesterday when I was in the CCM. I don't know time flies I guess.
This was pretty great we actually had some pretty good lessons with our investigators. We shared the first vision with Fransisco and talked about how sometimes our first answer is not always from God. Sometimes we need to wait and endure a little more before we can receive our answer. We also met a man named Ricardo while we were waiting for the bus. We had a cita in the church and very quickly we found out how much this guy likes to read and learn about things. He is super intelligent and I hope that we can help him understand how our great creator gave us a specific path to learn by. We also taught a menos activo that Elder Smith found with his last companion named Patrick. That was a hard experience to see how much sin has cost Patrick. He is living in a 9ft by 5ft room with no chairs and only a hammock for a bed. He has a bad job and it looks like his teeth are rotting. Through this experience and others I know that drinking is a very life destructive habit. It5 is super sad to see this and I hope that we can help him.
There was another time this week when we did not have anything to do. Somehow we ended up in front of a house and we decided to try and knock on the door. When a woman answered we said we were looking for someone named Philpe Sanchez (sometimes we use this to try and start a conversation). Then she said oh you mean Philpa Hernandez and then told us that she and her Grandma, Philpa are members menos activo. That was a cool experience being guided by the spirit.
Anyway I am having technical difficulties with my camera so I will send my awesome pictures next week here are some others.
Love you all Keep being awesome
Elder Thompson
Hola Todos,
So this week was super great like every other week in the mission lol. This week were kind of stuck in the same part of our area the whole week. We would have a cita drop and then we would set one for the next day and that would drop. So basically this week was a vicious cycle of our appointments dropping.
However I got to meet a lot of super cool people and I think we are going to have a lot of success in this next change. I met a Menos Activo named Jose Antonio this Monday. He is a zapatero and super humble and teachable too. We talked with him about Alma 32 and how if we want more knowledge or spiritual power we need to be constantly nurturing our seed of faith through church attendance the scriptures and oracion con verdadera intencion. I also love one member of our ward named Wendy. She teaches seminary, primary, is part of the presidencia de la primaria and she still finds time to help us. For example this Thursday we had to give an entrevista in Chilac for las hermanas. She went out of her way to find another youth to accompany us so she could drive us there. It was like 45 min away I am super grateful to her and how she is always willing to help us.
So that Thursday we had to travel two hours back to puebla for a conferencia with the president for new district leaders. We got stuck in traffic and we arrived a little bit late, but we didn't get in trouble because president stellmon is awesome. The conferencia was about having a vision for you district and how we can make our districts united. I learned a ton and I am excited to apply them to our district this next week. We also got to practice entrevistas that have problems with question 4 (Have you ever committed a crime? Have you spent time in jail for this crime? and other questions like this) with the other district leaders so that was super fun and awkward. We also had super good pizza at the end of the meeting. Then we traveled two hours back to Tehuacán for my first interview in Chilac. I interviewed a kid of 9 years of age named Jesus and he passed. Jesus was baptized this Saturday so that was super cool.
Anyway learning a lot and hopefully I am becoming better too. I hope you all have a great week and that God will bless you all
Adelante con fervor
Lunes:
Today we went to eat cemitas in a street stand with the elderes from the Guadalupana, Elder Novelo y Elder Gonzalez. After we ate we went to the Gran Abominable in the center of Puebla. It is always interesting to enter but it kind of gives me the creeps of all the art of Christ dying and the saints being killed. I dont know whenever I see a crucifix I always think of the scripture "No esta aqui ha resucitado." Mateo 28:5-6 After the catolica fuimos al Gran Bodega to buy a couple things for the week.
Martes:
I had the opportunity to have an entrevista with presidente stellmon today. He shared two stories that I think we can all use today. First he talked about Hair Coats. En ye olden days monks used to make coats out beaver or otter skin because of the little spines that they have in their fur. They would turn the rough fur inward so that it would rub and irrate their skin. They did this so that every moment they moved the would get pricked and remember that they are sinners and separated from God. He talked about how sometimes we need to turn our coats outward to Christ. He wants us to pick ourselves up dust ourselves off and get moving because we have work to do. Then we started talking about prayer and how powerful our connection is with God. He asked me to ask this question in my nightly prayer, "God what do you want me do?" He then told me a story of a missionary that asked this question. He recieved the distinct impression to clean his bed. At first he thought This is stupid Im not gonna make my bed Im just gonna through the covers back like I always do. He heard make your bed the second time and finally decided to make his bed. While he was making his bed he found a whole lot of trash underneath his bed. He cleaned it up as well and kept making his bed for a few days until his companion decided to make his bed too. Underneath the bed of his companion they found a whole bunch of garbage too. They then realized how dirty their house was and how the spirit could not deal in their apartment. President then told me how sometimes we dont recieve answers to our questions but then testified to me that every time we ask this question we will recieve an answer. No matter how stupid or small the prompting is it is something that God wants us to do and we will grow in the process.
Miercoles:
Intercambios con Elder Novelo. We were basically walking the whole day because everyone was busy, but I learned alot from Elder Novelo. He is about to complete his mission and is a super great elder. One of the things I learned from him is how there are three factors in baptism. Our efforts, the agency of the investigators, and the will of God. Only when all three of these factors is fufilled will our investigators be baptised. Then to finish off the night we ate crappy pizza with ketchup on top with a liter of coca and traded nuestros bandas favoritas de rock alternativo.
Jueves:
The elders from the Guadalupana and us bought 66 blocks of cement to help a member of our ward finish his house. It was super fun that day cementing blocks into walls. Because we only had one cuchillo elder novelo made another one out of a sardine can which worked suprisingly well.
Viernes y Sabado:
Mis ultimos burritos de San Pedro
Domingo:
We finally have a bishop and its hermano Mariene Perez. He is super young but I know he is going to do great. We also went to visit Nicholaus and he estaba bien boracho. So we couldnot teach him but he talked about how when he saw our rostro "countanences" He knew that God existed. It was super sad because I am not in my area anymore to help him. The asistentes called us at 11:30 and told me I am going to tehuacan. After scrambling to get everything together and getting a few hours of sleep we left for the capu and I left Elder Hernandez and took a two hour bus ride watching Dragon Ball z to tehuacan. My new companion is named elder smith just barely finished his training. So we are going to if two gueros pueden vivir in méxico. I´ll let you all know this next week goes.
Love you all Keep smiling and improving,
Elder Thompson
We finally got Luis baptized!!! After his entrevista this Tuesday we set a fecha for this Saturday. It was a trial of our faith and patience on that day. The baptism was scheduled at 4:00 and we arrived at Luis´s house at 3:30 to head to the baptism. We were going fine in his volkswagon beetle until we exited our pueblo at an intersection and the car stopped working. We pushed the car out of the intersection and Luis crossed the street to take a combi back to our pueblo. A combi passed full of people, and another passed, who was not working. He took a bus back to entrance of our pueblo and walked back to a mechanic. They returned and "fixed" the engine and started racing to the baptism. Then the car gave out again and we pulled into an OXXO. We ditched the car and went to the baptism in a bus arriving around 5:30.
It was super cool to see Hmo Luis baptized and confirmed the next day. I know this will help him and his young family. He is such a humble guy and siempre wants to become a better person. Please pray for him to listen to the promptings of his new gift.
We also had the opportunity to teach people with a young man named Joaquin, who just got out of rehab. Please pray for Joaquin to be strong now that he is clean of his old life. It was super fun walking around with Joaquin and meeting his very catholic family. We met his 90 year old grandpa who kept saying that we needed to be sanctified by the Papi. While waving his bible around with 2 pictures of the pope on the cover he said, "I have my bible and you have your Libro de MAMON"...After that we left jajaja
We also had a Conferencia with the president about the atonement. It was super cool studying the scriptures and hearing the insights del Presidente Stellmon. I especially loved the song he showed us written by david Bednar called One by One. It enfasis on how we each have a one on one relationship with our lord. It is super pretty I recommend everyone to listen to it.
I hope you all have a wonderful week. Let me know if you have any questions for me.
Elder Thompson
"Brotherly hands and Determined arms reached into the abyss of death to save us from our fallings and our failings our sorrows and our sins." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
We did not have to much work this week, but this area should have two baptisms pretty soon. Primero Luis por fin completed his 4 asistencias. We have a fecha set for this Sábado. It has been great getting to know Luis. He was one of the first people I met when I arrived in this area. He is such a humble and willing spirit. If you could all pray for his baptism this week and for his testimony to grow acerca de la Día de Reposo that would be great.
We also got Salvador a entrevista with the president of the stake. This family has gone from inactive to going to church every sunday. I am pretty sure at the end of this month If Salvador completes the goals that he and the stake president set, he can baptise his son Edwin. Estoy super emocionado.
"We may not know when, or how the lord´s answers will be given, but in his time and his way, I testify, his answers will come."
Robert D Hales.
(Sick pics of the entire mission, Yo y mis piñas, Gracias Mama)
