HALF WAY!!! 9 MONTHS Y'ALL

November 23, 2015

Cicily Oblad, Ally Oblad (my sister's sisters-in-law) and Elder Thompson

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hit 9 months on Wednesday!  That's a really weird feeling actually. Some days it has gone by so fast and other days I die a little thinking there's 9 more. The mission is great though. Our area is really swell too. The other day we took an Animo break and drove to the beach. I took a swim with the sharks and dolphins. Not really, but we did go to the beach. It was pretty. 

This is Elder Hodgson.  He wouldn't let me cut his hair and trusted another Elder to do it. The other Elder made it look REALLY bad and I was humble enough to fix it for him;) I told him he should have just let me cut it in the first place. 

We have been teaching Karl a lot lately. I don't remember if I told y'all about him. He is 35 and not married. He is partially paralyzed but can still walk and he coaches basketball which is really inspiring. He came to church yesterday for the last hour. They had a lesson on home teaching. We went over to his apartment later that night and asked if we could have a prayer and he told us because it's his house that he gets to choose who says it. We had a good laugh because he said that's what he learned at church. Tonight we are meeting him at Barnes & Noble for hot chocolate and we are going to teach him the plan of salvation. It should be good. He has a special place in my heart. I really do love the people we teach and being able to help them be happy. I love that moment when they learn about things they didn't even know or could feel without the gospel. It's rewarding. 

I've been practicing the piano and this is my little set up. Yes mom, you were right that I would regret quitting when I'm older. 

Our leaders had a meeting in McAllen for 3 days of this week. Our district leader Elder Felix put sister Painter in charge as the new "DL"  So we called it "3 day P-day" because all the leaders were gone.  I think he regretted that decision. Not really. We did go to lunch with the other elders and we had some role plays and trainings too. It was a good time.

It's actually starting to get really cold down here. It got to 61 the other day but with the humidity I was freezing! I'm ashamed at how easily I get cold now; the struggle is real. I bought a sweatshirt and a coat the other day too.

We also had a member take us to PF Changs. I was a very happy person to say the least!  It's always awkward when people ask us (frequently) "So how does God feel about the school being blown up the other day or the shooting that happened?" I'm always like "....Well, first off I didn't even know about that!" Sometimes it throws me off because I forget that Texas isn't the only place in the world.

My companion is really cool though. We have the same sense of humor. She is probably more sarcastic than I am. It's nice to be able to say what I want and know that she won't cry and be offended. We have the same teaching style too and that has made it easy to help the people that we have. In fact, Karl always points out when we say the same thing at the same time or when we finish each others sentences. It's really funny that he notices that actually. Sister Painter is from Chicago.  She played basketball and she went to BYU before the mission. She graduated in 2012.  She has a torn ACL (for her whole mission) so we don't bike at all. Bitter sweet. She is a hard worker too and cares a lot about making others happy.

The only picture of us

I love you all. The gospel is true. The mission is great. God loves you. Jesus loves you. I love you. Have a good week! 

Con amor, 

Hermana A. Thompson