Temple with Elizabeth

This past week I had the first opportunity to go to the temple in like a year and a half. Here on the mission we are not allowed to go to the temple unless a family we baptised is getting sealed. It was amazing to do almost all of the ordinances (still not ready to get sealed). I felt the peace of the Lord and his great power to bind people together for the eternities. Love you all and for those of you that have a temple close by I invite you all to attend!! 

Empty Carpeta in Atlixco

Thank you for all the birthday wishes and for all of your prayers. I am really thankful for all of the support that I have had this far on my mission. Wow I now have 2 decades and a year here in "this thing we call life". I am starting feel old... on the mission. We are officially the oldest generation here on the mission, but I am supper happy to reflect on all of our memories and for what lies in the future on my mission.

For those of you that do not know I had a change of area two weeks ago. I am now serving in Atlixco with a new missionary fresh off the bus. His name is Elder Garcia and comes from Nicaragua (if you all could pray for his country and family that would be great!). Elder Garcia has the excitement of every new missionary and is ready to work hard, which is something that we need because we are opening a new area.

We opened up our carpeta de area (book of registers of members and people getting to know the church) on our first day and it was empty. We immediately hit the streets to start filling it with a lot of contacts. The blessings and miracles that we received in this first week were amazing. God placed many people in our path that seem to be pretty prepared to receive the gospel.

There was one time where we were walking looking for a address and we passed by a joven of about 14 years. After walking about 10 feet we immediately decided to turn back and contact this joven. His name is Isaac and we learned that he is trying to build a stronger relationship with God. In our first lesson he said he started feeling happy and pressure in his chest, which is the Holy Ghost helping him to receive an answer. We have also talked to his brother and sister, who are also interested in the Gospel. If you all could pray for his parents so that they can be receptive to the Gospel as well, you would help us out a lot.

We are hoping to take some of the people that we contacted this week to church so that they can begin their journey to baptism. We have a goal to baptize 5 people this change (in 5 weeks)

Other news!!!! The hermana Elizabeth (someone I had the opportunity to baptize) from Tehuacan is going to the temple to get sealed to her family. She has invited me to accompany them. I am so happy that she and all of her family got baptized. It is going to be a special day with them in the temple.

I love you all and I hope that you have great weeks!!

Elder Thompson

Training in Atlixco

Today was changes and I am heading out to a different area! I am going to be finishing as a trainer in a place called Atlixco. The funny thing is that I am going to be living in the same house as two other Elders (Lideres de Zona) and guess who they are.... I am going to be in the same house as Elder Cruz again haha. I think it is going to be a fun time. I am also going to have a good friend of mine named Elder Smiley as my district leader. This place is also pretty turista so let me know if there is anything you guys want from México.

Erick, Laura and Miriam

God gave us the opportunity to baptize three people this week named Erick (the red head) and Laura and Miriam. They were awesome baptisms where you could feel the holy spirit of promise. I also had the opportunity to confirm Erik, which helped me feel the power of God and have more peace. I am also super grateful for the Priesthood. My companion Elder Montez gave me an amazing blessing when I was feeling a little disanimated this week. He let me know that I am giving a good performance here on the mission and that happiness is the reason why we are living on this world.

Leonardo Baptized

I am feeling pretty great out here in Valsequillo (as you can see we have a buffet in our zone haha). I am especially enjoying the work out here because God is helping us to have success. We had the opportunity to baptize Leonardo one of the most prepared referrals that we have ever gotten from members. His "friend" haha is an ex missionary that was teaching him the lessons before she passed the reference. The testimony of Leonardo is super powerful because he was willing to be baptized even though some of his family were not 100% ok with it. It was a special experience when we saw him the Sunday after his confirmation, paying his tithing. It looks like he has good comprehension of the gospel as well because he likes participating a lot in Sunday school.

We also have some other super awesome people that we are working with. One of them is named Erick and he is about our same age. He also works in a taco stand called "los gordos" and is always trying to give us free food. We have been inviting him to pray about the gospel so that he can receive an answer that this is the true church. One night he finally decided to pray about how this message could help him and he immediately received a strong answer. God blessed him with a impression telling him that gospel is the only thing that could help his separated family. He immediately went to work inviting his ex-wife and his daughter to church. We received the three of them that Sunday with huge grins on our faces. The answer that Erick received helped him establish a goal to be baptized for this Saturday if everything works out okay.

We are also working to try and get a couple married so that they and their oldest daughter can get baptized this Saturday. Carlos and Laura own a panadaria and have made a huge effort to come to church to prepare for their baptism. If you all could pray so that they could get married that would be a great help.

I also want to share with you all that through blessings that I have both given and received I know that God work miracles through his priesthood. I especially know that, when a person is desanimated or just feeling like they have bad reception with God, blessings can be the spiritual energizer that we all need. I am so thankful for this wonderful gift that God has given us to help others. I know that people can be healed from sicknesses through the miracles that I have witnessed.

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

Elder Thompson

Ward Attack

Hey Everyone I hope you all are having a great summer!! I am doing pretty good here in Valsequillo and it is pretty cool to see some familiar faces again like Obispo Marin. As a zone we are doing pretty good and we are hoping to help a few people into the waters of baptism. We organized a Ward attack in our ward where the members in our ward and all the missionaries in the stake combine forces to visit investigators and contacts that we have. It helped Elder Montez and I a ton with the work in our area.

I am really enjoying my time in the Book of Mormon this time through. I especially liked this scripture that we are trying to apply to our companionship and the zone that can be found in the words of Mormon 1:7.   " And I do this for a ^awise ^bpurpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord ^cknoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he ^dworketh in me to do according to his ^ewill." I love how the prophets like Alma papa our so willing to follow the workings of the spirit. They recieve great miracles and teachings from above in their work.

This week God guided us to find many people that are willing to learn more about Christ. We felt wisperings to knock on doors and talk with others in the street while walking. This week God has also blessed me with wisperings in what my life will be like. I love how direct God can lead us to success and happiness in this life if we are willing to work hard.

I feel like the power of God is something that I have learned to see and use alot here on the mission. I never want to have a second class experience and not unlock my full potential in this life again. I know that God loves us and is willing to help. I hope and pray that you all can recieve the power of God this week in your lives.

Elder Thompson

Senior Companion the Spirit

Really Quickly I wanted to share you all a cool experience!!

Anyways for those of you that do not know I am in the Zona Valsequillo and we are focusing on making the Spirit our Senior Companion. He will be the senior companion in contacting, teaching, planning, and everything else.

One day Elder Montez and I decided to pray for his guidance asking where we should go and what we should do. We recieved a strong impression to knock on a certain door. A young man named Alfonzo answered us with a warm smile and asked who we were. We explained how we teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and he ushered us into his house to talk to him and his girlfriend Aranza. They were both super open and happy in accepting our message. Both even said that they would be baptised if they recieved an answer about the church. We hope to keep on progressing with them and with others!!

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