Started in Valsequillo and Finishing here

So yesterday we did not have time to write but we got permission to write today. So yeah I am still alive... I did have changes as well and I am back in the first ward that I started in, Valsequillo (different area though). My new companion is Elder Montez he is one of the Elders that was with me in Ignacio mejia.

Pamphlets at Stop Light

This week was pretty fun because I had the oportunity to talk to my family and for another quick experience that I want to share with you guys.

We had interchanges with the asistentes (Elder Nunley and Elder Cruz) and I went with Elder Nunley. I was with Elder Nunley in Tehuacan at the start of our missions and then later on he was my zone leader when I was training Elder Robles. We got to a point in their area where we started contacting people around a dirrection that we were looking for and then Elder Nunley had a great idea. We had been talking about the comfort zone and we decided to get out of the zone and do something different.

We were in the city of Puebla one of the biggest cities here in Mexico and we decided to go hand out every pamphlet that we had at the stoplight. We would wait for the red light and then we would go down the line of cars handing all that we had. It was super satisfactory experience becuase we literally gave it all we had.

This memory is also super great because some people even offered us money for the pamphlets that we were handing out. A member actually gave us 10 pesos and told us to go buy a soda and to get out of the street hahaha. There were some other people as well that called us back to ask for more pamphlets for the rest of there family.

Anyways love you all and hope that you all have a great semana.

Elder Thompson

Mission Council

Just wanted to send out a huge thank you to Hermana Claudia and all the help she has done for me. I am glad that I have had the time to get to know her family and her niece Yolanda. I will pray for Yolanda and Jared so that both of them can be protected spiritually and physically. I had a great time in the Mission Council because a lot of my CCM friends were there. I am really thankful for all the people that I have gotten to know here on the mission. Love you all and hope that you have a great week.

Goldfish

First off I thank you for sending me the awesome package with Claudia. It helped me out a ton and the snacks were super good. I also had a cool experince using the package in a lesson. After we had left Claudia and her family we went to a cita with the Familia Trifundio (those two girls that we baptised named Esmeralda and Alondra). We decided to recover tithing to help them understand better what they could do with money that they earn. We recieved inspiration to use the goldfish from the package as a representation of money to better explain what tithing is. We gave everyone in the family different numbers of Gold fishes and we then asked them to sort out 10 percent of their goldfish. They really liked how simple everything was and how tasty the Gold fish were. Pretty soon the whole family were open and laughing during the entire lesson, which made it one of my favorite lessons that I have had with them. It was a cool little experince that taught me that God will always give us a gift so that we can bless those around us.

We also had our zone conference this week and it was super great to catch up a little bit with Elder Cruz again (my companion from Huejotzingo). My favorite part of the Conference was talking about the 3 pioneers from the Sweetwater Rescue. It is the story of 3 men that go to rescue a pioneer company trapped in bitter winter conditions. These three men find the company have frozen to death and travel with them until they get to a frozen river. The exhuasted band could hardly stand and much less cross a freezing river on foot. These three men then decided to carry each person one by one over this frozen river sacrificing their energy and warmth to help others. Eventually all three died of hypothermia but they had saved the company. I hope that I can follow their examples of sacrifice. This is a true example of Christlike love.

I hope that you all have a great great week sorry that the email is so short.

Elder Thompson

Family Trifundio

We finally got two of the Family Trifundio baptized. Their names are Esmeralda y Alma. We are hoping that all of their family will reactivate and will remain strong in the gospel. I hope that you all have a great week. 

Baptism

Baptism

I hope that you all are loving life and working super hard as always. Things here in the Mission Mexico Puebla Sur are still going pretty swell. As you can probably see from the photos we have had a few meetings with a few familiar faces. I am extremely grateful for all the great friends that I have gotten to know here. I love joking around and seeing how old we are in the mission with Elder Slaugh and Elder Mills. It is also cool to see and talk to old companions and friends like Elder Clawson, Elder Smith, Elder Montez, Elder Ackerman, and Elder Mangum. The zone of Cholula is also being consistent as we work as a team to meet our goals. This last month we had 6 baptisms and we already have 2 baptisms for april (Super exciting).

I am really grateful that we had the oportunity this last week to baptize a 18 year old Raymundo. The conversion process of Raymundo has been very exciting because he was at first just invited by his friends to seminary, and then right after he was invited to a Family Home Evening where we were attending. He has gone to church consistently for about 6 weeks and has lots of support from the ward. The support of the ward was actually one of the miracles of the week!!!  So many members from our ward came to our baptism that we didnt have enough chairs to fit them all. I am also super happy and excited for Raymundo because their are two other converts named Cesar and Abram (that got baptized a year ago) that are preparing to go on missions. I hope that he can follow the great examples of Cesar and Abram by serving a mission later on as well. I am a little bit sad that my camera is not working to well so I cant send you all photos of his baptism but maybe next week.

The ward of Cocoyotla is such a cool area for me because of the people. One of our investigators named Aranza also wants to get baptized. She went from a street contact to avid investigator that has received all of the mission lessons and is currently treasuring up the Book of Mormon. Aranza also wants to wait to get baptized with her boyfriend, but maybe she will understand that she needs to be an example if you all could pray for her. This is her last trial before she accepts to be baptized on a certain day. Your prayers would be much apreciated! We are also working very hard with the Trifundio family. They went to Young womens camp and the ward is helping them to reactivate and to be baptized. They are also super close to the border of becoming a happy family after their baptism.

I really loved General Conference because my testimony got fortified in some different parts of the Gospel. I do not know if you all felt it, but it was amazing for me to receive a confirming witness of the prophet Russell M. Nelson during the solemn assembly. I actually was a little bit worried during the transmission in January that announced his ministry because I didnt feel the spirit. However I received my witness during this conference and I am excited to see the direction he gives this church. I also received a big testimony of how God gives us answers through general conference. I fasted to know the answers of a few GIANT questions that I have been having and within the first session I received answers to every question.

Here are some key teachings that I think are going to help me alot:

As long as we have the faith the size of a mustard seed we can remove mountains of doubt and fears.

Does God want to talk with me? YES

SERVICE is one of the best ways to receive the Spirit

To show our love to others (including God) we have to be willing to make sacrifices for them TURN OUTWARD NOT INWARD

We should MAGNIFY our calling no matter where we are called or what we are called to (Imagine God telling you your calling personally)

BE MEEK

Hope that you all have a great week and Keep on receiving divine Guidance from God!

Elder Thompson