Helping with EFY

Everything is going great here in Huejotzingo and Nealtican. We had a super fun week with lots of different stuff to do!!

Lunes:

We had a super fun day we went to Plaza Sn. Diego and had a great time joking around, buying fresa crepes, and some fancy ties. Elder Rick, Elder Torres, Elder Mangum, and Elder Cruz are super fun. I am super glad that I have had this opportunity to get to know them better.

Martes:

We got to have another lesson with Margarito. He is a super friendly investigator and loves talking about every detail of everything. Somehow he got on a bunny trail about conspiracy theroies and started talking about how the aliens built the pyramids. He is so close to recieving his answer. He already believes in the first vision and thinks that the church is a good church, but there is something holding him back. We are hoping to find this desafio and destroy it through the guidance of the spirit. We also got to eat in a Buffet which was cool, but it was a little weird hearing the music of the world again haha. We also had the opportunity to talk to the Presidencia de Sociedad de Socorro here in Huejotzingo. I dont know why but it was super cool to talk with them and organize the work. Hermana Cinto, Patty, Dabila, and Moratin are all super strong members. Alot of our talk with them was about helping some hermanos to get reactivated so that they can bless their spouse and their family. At about 9:30 pm we were running around trying to find some rocks and pebbles for an object lesson for an EFY tomorrow. It was super funny and weird what we were doing but we had a good time.

Miercoles:

We finally decided not to use the Big rock object lesson after all of the drama of last night, but we thought are lesson about time management went pretty well. We gave an hour lesson about how the youth of Efy focus in on their vision and then the process of setting goals. We loved sharing the talk from Elder Ballard from this ultimate general conference Return and Recieve. We also got to give some short examples for the youth on how to teach their friends and family so that they can accept this church. It was super cool and stressful to work with the youth of the church.

The rest of the week we have been working super hard with some powerful investigators.

We had another powerful lesson with Margarito about the World of Spirits and Temples. We are hoping that his Dad is egging him on from the other side of the veil. He wants to go on the next temple trip which would be awesome.

We also had the opportunity to teach 4 spouses that can be baptised if we can help them with their problems. Their names are Ernesto, Carlos, Antonio, y Pablo. They are basically all in the same situation. They all know that the church is true they just have the fear of taking a step. Please pray for us so that we can help them by finding their stumbling blocks and help them overcome them. I know that the spirit will help guide us and give us the words we need to help them.

I love you all have a great week!!!!

Bienvenido Brother Thompson

Just wanted to say bienvenidos a mi hermano Elder Thompson en la mision de Guatemala. This week we didnt have to much go on. Just trying to help people take the step of Baptism, which has led me to self reflect and try to figure out what else I can do to become a better missionary. I think life is usually like this we are climbing up a super steep mountain and we are getting stronger and getting better with every step. Then we hit a flat spot where we reflect on all that we have done and how much we have improved. Then we look back to the mountain and see how much we still have to do. Basically I am in one of those moments where I am trying to become a better missionary and get up this super steep mountain. We have not had the chance to teach Jonathan and Asucena because they are always super busy with work. So if you all could pray for them that would be great so that we can help them. I love you all have a great week!! Climb the mountain!

Jedi Council and Minute to Win It

These past two weeks have been super crazy. I did not have time to write all of you last Monday because we were buying, doing, and cleaning up after the zone activity. Also everyone showed up late so we did not have time to send out an email to everyone. Sorry once again.... but good news is that I have a ton of super awesome spiritual experiences to share for these two weeks.

We had our first mini Conferencia with Presidente Alcala he seems to be a super cool guy. He really shows his love for others and for his family. I think I will be able to learn a lot about the attribute of Charity with him. It was also super cool and funny to see him and his family sing to us. They also brought us some good burritos and I had the opportunity to talk a little bit with Elder Slaugh. Who I met my first day as missionary. It was super fun to catch up and to see how powerful he is. We also had our second lesson with Investigator named Jessalin, who has read from the introduccion del Libro de Mormon until the end of Primer Nefi in like three days. We are hoping we can help her see the good things in life and help her to trust in God because she is super prepared.

We went to the Jedi Council as everyone calls it here with the Mission President to talk about how the Mission is doing. It was such a fun experience to see all of my friends like Slaugh, Trendler, Clawson, and Gonzalez and see all of the miracles that have happened in their missions. I am super grateful for their examples and all of the lessons I have learned from them. During our meeting it was super cool to see how President Alcala teaches and to have him clarify a few things for us in the mission. I think I can honestly say my favorite part of that day was having a Carne Asada with Presidente and talking and catching up with a lot of the people that have touched my life. (also good news this time Puebla did not convert into a ocean because of rain this time)

We had the opportunity to help two hermanas get two menos activos kids baptised from the US who were visiting here in Mexico with family. Basically a Miracle from out of no where. I know that they were the two miracle baptisms that the Hermanas have been searching for. Its so cool to see how sometimes God just places a big huge blessing in our life jaja.

We had some investigators that came to Church last Sunday and then during our lesson after they asked us what they needed to do to be baptised. Jonathan y Ausucena are two investigators that have alot of potencial. We just need to help them get married and then their faith and diligence will take them the rest of the way to their baptism. Their humble circumstances is something that has made me think and grateful for the blessings of God for me. Please keep them in your prayers if you can.

Actividad de Zona

We made the world famous kick the can ice cream with the whole zone monday. It was super cool to see all of the Hermanas and the Elders laughing and smiling as they were throwing around bags of icecream around to try and get it frozen. We got about half of the bags to point were it was icecream but I think everyone enjoyed themselves. We then ate some super ricos tacos de Tacos Willy (I think I ate 8 or 10 ¡no me juzga!) We then played alot of minute to win it games with a missionary relay to end the day. It was super fun and I think many enjoyed themselves. The hermanas capacitadores also got all the birthdays of July cake and sang happy birthday to us which was cool. Many people almost got shoved into the cake until one hermana finally got a face full of cake.

I got to go in intercamios again with Elder Ricks and Elder Torres. We had some cool things happen like teaching their Fecha Alberto, who got baptised this Sunday, and doing a bunch of service for a family of 6 like me. However most of the day was just walking from cancelled cita to cancelled cita until Elder Ricks and Elder Torres decided to go visit an hermana that has been bed ridden for a long time. As we were teaching this strong and faithful hermana we recieved a powerful impression after she talked to us about how most of her kids are inactive. We recieved a reaffirming witness that trials are to strengthen and help us become who God wants us to become, but our trials are also for others as well. Through our trials people will see how we conquer our tests of faith and their testimonies as well will be strengthened. I think thats why as humans we love reading about the sacrifices of others so that we can learn and become better people as well. Life is hard but it helps to remember that a lot of our friends and family will grow based on our example. That is something that the spirit hit home for me.

For my birthday I got to eat two cakes! My comp bought me one for the district meeting and a investigator made me one as well.

That was basically my two weeks sorry once again but I hope that you guys enjoy the videos that my comp took and my pictures love you all!!!​

Comp Hair Cut

Hey Everybody

This week has been a blast!! It has been hard because we had a lot of our appointments drop and walked a lot, but that made the miracles that much better.

One of the miracles that we had started one week ago. We have started walking around with a Book of Mormon in hand because of how powerful the book is. As we were walking one day a man from a stall of clothing stopped us and asked us about our Bible. We were heading to another appointment so we just handed him the book, gave him a quick explication, and a set a day to talk to him. We had our first lesson with, Victor this past week. It was a super powerful lesson because we could feel the Spirit testifying with us. Victor also told us at the end of lesson how he wanted to learn a lot more and how out of ten other religions we were one of the few that asked him to just pray about our message. I know that our Bible... The Book of Mormon has power within and I know that prayer is an essential principle to receive knowledge from heaven.

I also want to testify of how powerful the members of the church are. One of my first days here in Huejotzingo we were carrying a Book of Mormon around and a Member walked up to us and asked us for a copy to give to a friend. After a week the Hermano Cinto had a appointment for us with his friends. It was so cool to meet up with Hermano and head to the appointment. Hmo Cinto has a super happy spirit and a fiery testimony. After we had a powerful lesson with his friends about the plan of salvation we found out how he is a convert of 2 years and he just recently got sealed in February. I am so grateful for all these people that have helped me in the mission.

I am sorry that I have to write and run another time, but next week I will write a low down of the whole week. I know this Church is true!!

I love and am praying for you all!!!!

Elder Thompson

Shoes

Another super quick email. I am still in Huejotzingo, but I have a new companion named ... (cheesy drumroll) Elder Cruz. We both actually started in Valsequillo together. We even had a few fotos together haha.

This last change and week flew by. We had so many miracles this week like...

I was sitting in the church listening to a conference talk by Niel L. Anderson about overcoming the world for our class, when out of the blue two people came up and knocked on the window. They started pointing around the room and everyone was super confused until they said "Elder Thompson". It was super wierd when we went out to go talk to them until we realized that they are family de Claudia a friend of my mom who lives in the United States. The family of Claudia live in Puebla and drove 2 hours to give me a pair of shoes that I needed (Mine others fell apart). I am so grateful and humbled by the love that this family showed me just to give me shoes. Thankyou so Much!!!! We all have angels around about us!!

We saw a woman washing her car with her two sons (5 and 6). They were all laughing and having a great time and they reminded me of Nathan and I and our family. They were all soaking wet from spraying each other. Anyways we decided to contact them and we had a super powerful lesson with them sitting underneath the tree in their yard. We are hoping to visit them more often and help them progress.

We finally found our family of 5. We were going through some old registros from the hermanas and we decided to visit an hermana that they were visiting before. After searching "for very little time because Mexicos streets are very organized" we finally found the house and started teaching the hermana and her sister. Every so often another one of their family would arive to listen to us untill we were teaching 5 new people. We learned that their mom was baptised in the United States and that she sent the missionaries here in Mexico to contact her 5 kids. We are super excited to see how far this family can progress!!

New compañero and basically new area in white wash it should be a fun and interesting week. Keep working hard!!! I love you all!!!!!

Have a great week

Elder Thompson

80 yr old illiterate with a Heart of Gold

 

Hey everybody,  

This week has been a little bit crazy, but super awesome too!!

Lunes:

It was basically just a normal PDay we cleaned, wrote, washed clothes, ate cemitas jaja, and then we went out to the edge of our area with Elder Ricks and Elder Torres. We were checking out an old abandoned hacienda, which was super cool. We climbed up some super unstable walls that were like 2 meters high and they crumbled and freaked us out a little bit, but we all made it out ok. We also got some cool pictures and didn't find any snakes which was nice. After that we headed back to the internet cafe because I had forgotten my cell. We started calling my cell phone we found a kid that had it in his pocket, who very quickly told us he had found it in the seat next to him and he was saving it for the owner haha.

Martes:

Today was a super hard day because all of our citas fell and it was raining too yay. So I was walking around a little bit grumpy and tired, but after realizing that I am trying to change those aspects of myself I forced a grin onto my face. We then decided to go contact a house and a old man answered us and super quickly ushered us into his house. It was super cool how quickly God can bless us when we just change our attitude.

Miércoles:

We had the opportunity to eat with a family that is experiencing some trying times right now. The husbands father had just recently died that day so it was a super hard experience to see him crying. I don't know what was going on with his wife, but she just kept on talking about how her father in law had never accepted the gospel and shame on him and how her family has 3 generations in the church. I just looked at her and couldn't help but think can't you see that your husband is in pain. The husband left half way through the comida to go to hospital. After we finished eating the scriptures de 2 Nefi 32 came to our minds. We shared how as members we have the gift of the Holy Ghost and that this means that we can talk with others like angels. We talked about the angels in our lives and how we have been changed by their influences. So many times in my life I think I have been like this hermana only thinking in the negative and saying things negatively, but now I know how important our influence can be in helping others receive peace and consuelo. Please be angels for others!!

We also got news that we are going to change areas with the Hermanas in Huejotzingo tomorrow which means we are going to be cleaning and getting everything ready for the hermanas all night long yay. haha jkjk

Jueves:

We had two interviews with baptism candidates and mine was with an 80 yr old grandma. It was such a sweet experience because she really wants to be more close with her family. She has the verdadera intention to be baptized. I felt a lot of Gods love for her especially when I learned that she can't read or write. It was such a special experience to tell her that she can now be baptized and be clean of all the mistakes that she has made in her life. I also felt a lot of caridad for her when she signed her name on her registro, which was only three loops. I thought about all of the people that don't have as much opportunities as we do. I hope I can help a few of them in the short time of my mission. I am eternally grateful for the blessings I have received in my life.

Don't have to much time but...

Viernes more changing around stuff with the hermanas de Huejotzingo

Sábado Baptism of Martina the 80 yr old grandma. Super awesome to hear her testimony at the end of her baptism

Domingo: Elder Gonzalez has served in Huejotzingo before and we found a family that he used to teach. It was super cool to see how much God has prepared this family during this year that missionaries didn't visit them.

I love all of you thank you for reading some of the boring stories that I like telling.

Have a great week!!

Elder Thompson

Go on a Mission

I hope everyone is doing great. I have been having a fantastic time in Nealtican because I am learning a lot about who I am. I have been learning a lot about humility and caring for others. The only things that we need to focus on in this life is our personal relationship with God and how we can bless other people. I just wanted to tell you all that I believe that my mission is the best decision I have every made in my life. I have learned so much about how to work in the church, how to study, how to be obedient, and who I really am and where I am going. It is very hard for me to see blessings in the moment but always looking back in the past I can see the hand of God shaping me (sometimes pounding, rolling, squishing me like kindergartners with Playdoo) All that I can say is that I know that God exists for what has happened and I have felt. I can honestly say that this Church was organized by God and he directs it, the only trick now is to see if I can be directed by him.

Hey Young Men that are waiting for an answer if they need to go on a mission here it is: GO ON A MISSION and your mind is going to be blown.

Few quick miracles of the week:

We were looking for some old investigators and were not having to much success. When out of the blue a Hermana of our ward walked up to us and told us to go contact one of her friends named Beatrice. We were able to teach Beatrice for 5 min before she went to pick up her kid, but it was such a blessing to have a new investigator

We had ward activity of ELOTES como Nacho Libre they were super good and We were also able to find other new people

I went in intercambios with Elder Torres and we had the opportunity to teach algunos Menos Activos and at the end of the day we had the opportunity to knock on one last door. The member menos activo opened the door and started talking with us with her television blaring in the background. My attention shifted from listening to the hermana and the TV to her 5 year old son. For some reason he was smiling and super joyful and I felt the Love of God super strongly for this young family. I also learned something really powerful that Satan distracts us with things like TV and other good technology so that we sometimes lose moments super precious with our family

I also had the opportunity to participate in a Council of the Mission were we discussed what needs to be happening in the mission. It was a super powerful experience to be in the same room with super powerful missionaries and Presidente Stellmon in la Casa de la Mision. Oh and after we were lugging all of the materials of the zona in my suitcase when it started pouring. All the calles de Puebla turned into rivers. We got soaked and the Materials got a little bit wet but all is well. I felt like we were on the disney african safari in the buses because all of the calles were rivers.

Anyways love you all keep being awesome!!

Elder Thompson