New Calling

January 25, 2016

Our sweet rides

This morning during personal study I was having a good ole spiritual time when the phone rings. We have a scary ring tone set for if the mission president calls!  This scary ring tone started to go off and I saw that it was president so I hurried and handed the phone to my greenie and was like "It's President, answer it!" (perks to training) She answers it and he asked for me so I talked with him for a little bit and he told me that I am called to be a STL (Sister Training Leader) which is like the girl version of a zone leader. I am being transferred to CalAllen, which is in the Sinton zone (35 minutes away). My new companion I think is Sister Tervort.  She and I lived together in San Benito. She was Sister Tovars last companion. We are in charge of the Sinton Zone Sisters and the Corpus Christi Zone sisters.  Sister Castro is staying here in our area so I will still be able to go on exchanges with her. We are going to be living in a members home.  I was on an exchange there earlier this week and had the thought "I'd hate to live here",  so God has a sense of humor. She has the UGLIEST dog too and I want to drop kick it!  It will be great.  I am excited for this next step and the things I will learn. I told the zone leaders that I probably got called by default because they had nobody else to ask. I guess I have changed a lot this transfer. The district, zone leaders and president all told me that at different times. I hope in good ways! 

A few miracles this week! After 4 years of neck and shoulder pain I finally found out what is going on! About 3 weeks ago I finally decided to call the nurse again to go to the doctor. She told me I could go to the doctor and have him refer me to physical therapy or go to the chiropractor. I prayed about it and had the impression to go to the doctor and get an x ray of my neck. I told her that I wanted to go to the doctor and take that route. When I went he wasn't going to do an x ray but I insisted on one. He gave me the recommendation for one and I went. On Monday I had the follow up for the results of the x ray. After forever waiting we got in there and he looked at the results and told me that I have Cervical ribs and that they are super rare. People usually only have one when they have them but I have two! So I have an  two extra ribs up by my neck area! I told him that I should be in the circus! He laughed and then was like "Hey, wasn't Eve made from the rib of Adam? You could go make yourself a boyfriend!" I guess from the trauma of the snowboarding accident to the shoulder made it worse.  They are painful because where the nerves and veins come out there are ribs right there pinching them and causing neck pain.  I'll be doing physical therapy and getting a T.E.N.S unit and tough it out until I get home and then I'll have to have surgery to take them out.

We had Taryns baptism on Saturday. It was such a special day for all of us. Everyone that prayed, sang, talked and even the baptismal prayer, were in tears. The family has been waiting for a long time for that day. They had family from Houston and San Antonio come down. They were so grateful to us for teaching her and helping her to take those steps. We are very proud of her and the example she has been and will continue to be for her family and especially her dad. They all come to church and it makes me so happy! 

Taryn's Baptism on Saturday

Right now I am in a trio with two greenies.  Sister Northcott finished her mission and so I'm in charge of her greenie too. It's been nice. We have been using it to our advantage to go in our single men's houses that we have been teaching; like Karl and Robert. It's been a headache too. There have been lots of tears about transfers and so I'm already getting to practice my "comforting skills" as a STL. I kind of have a headache already! It's been such a fun transfer. I have learned so much about myself through training and being here in Corpus. It has been one of my favorite areas. I am super butt hurt to leave. We have SO many people that we have found and are teaching. They have all been progressing and coming to church but I know Sister Castro will take care of them! I have grown to love this ward so much and the people here. Everyone who has come into my path has become a little part of me. I feel like I'm going to throw up and my heart is going to explode. I really do love and care about these people and I think I have a little taste of what coming home is going to feel like! 

This work is great. There really is nothing greater than helping another person become happy. I have made so many life and eternal long friends along the way. Some old friends from the pre- mortal life too. Being a missionary is hard. You feel EVERYTHING. One lesson you go from the happiest moment ever and the next lesson you go from crying from the pains people share of their lives. I literally feel so bipolar but that's how different the people we are teaching are from each other! When I first started the mission I used to think about home a lot during lessons and things but now during lessons I'm thinking about other lessons previous and worrying about them or being happy for them. I can't even imagine the thought and care that Christ feels for all of us! Are we making Him cry or are we making Him rejoice with us? The price is already paid for us to choose!

Saying bye to the Oblads (my brother-in-law's brother)

I love you all! Thank you for your love and support! Have a great week! Sending love from Corpus.
Love Sister Thompson 

11 Months Done!!!

January 19, 2016

This was a little library thing in front of someone's house.  It was "take a book" and "give a book."  I gladly gave the Book of Mormon and traded it for my favorite childhood book, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" :)

This week was a good one! We did lots of service. I've never used a machete more in my entire life. We chopped some banana trees down and I loved every minute of it. The guy we were doing service for told me that I had the biggest grin on my face; but for reals it was awesome. 

Cutting Trees

We have another baptism! This Saturday Taryn is getting baptized. I don't remember if I have told you about her-- I think I have. Her grandpa is a bishop up in San Antonio and gave us a call a few weeks ago and pretty much told us to go make sure she receives the lessons and gets baptized. We have been working with her and we are excited for her to be baptized this week!

We are still teaching Lisa and her two girls. We had a lesson with them at our members house on Sunday. We taught them the plan of salvation with a dry erase board and I drew pictures for them. They told me afterwards they were impressed that I could draw so well upside down. We also set a baptism date for them on February 21st. They are so excited. Jalyssa asked if she could be baptized right then! It was cute! Afterwards we taught the girls and Lisa how to pray. We had them each pray and when it was Lisa's turn to pray she prayed that she could find a job. The next day she gave us a call early in the morning and she got the job at Burger King that she applied for!  She was so excited that God answered her prayer and helped her to get a job.

Gabby wants to be a missionary too!

Yesterday Sister Castro went with Sister Northcott (a sister we live with) down to go see if the Elders had flour so they could make cookies. In the parking lot this man yells "PRIMA" to sister Castro. Turns out he is her cousin who she hasn't seen in 14 years! He lives in our apartment complex! It was crazy that he even recognized her! We went to lunch with them. I don't think they are members so we are going to get them baptized too;) She was super excited about that. They are from the Virgin Islands. Their Spanish is cool sounding.

We have transfers this week on the 24th. The zone leaders keep telling me that I am going to be a STL (Sister Training Leader) next transfer. I kind of hope they are wrong. I have a hunch that I am done in Corpus but I could see myself staying to finish training too. I literally can't tell what neighborhoods I have knocked on because I feel like they all look the same and so it's been a struggle lately. Our area is doing great and we are seeing lots of great things here.

Missionary work is hard but so satisfying at the same time. I love all the people we have here to work with. They are all so different and great. I have learned so much from each of them and from this transfer too! Thank you for your love and support!

Love Hermana Thompson  

Brrrrr from Corpus!

January 11, 2016

Island Model

Another week gone! They are getting faster and faster! Today we went to the aquarium with our zone and that was fun right up until the end. I was having a joyous time petting the sting rays and one of them was doing this weird suction thing on my hand and as I was giggling it bit me! I did not know they had teeth! I can cross that off on my list of animals that hate me, right next to parrots, octopus, goats and horses. But for reals...my finger is bleeding. I was SO mad! 

My hurt finger from the stupid sting ray!

View from the aquarium

New outfits for days!

My lover- he's waiting for me!

We are teaching a single mother and her two girls. The mom is Lisa and the two girls are Jalyssa who is ten and Bella who is 6. One of our members found them and took them to the homeless shelter a few weeks ago. The mom had to go to the hospital and didn't have anyone else to call but our member. They took the girls in and watched them and brought them to church. The little 6 year old Bella loves me for some reason. She called us after church to see if we were going over to the members house they were staying at and then she was like "I will see you soon. I love you!" We went over to the members house after church for dinner because we eat with them every Sunday. We rode bikes with the kids and played hide and seek. They went and picked the mom up from the hospital and we all had dinner. Afterwards we showed them the video  "The will of God" which is a favorite of mine.  It was one of the most spiritual messages I've given as a missionary. This cute little family already has my heart. Bella called us later that night again to say, "Goodnight, don't let the bed bugs bite." It tugged at my heart strings a little bit. I was telling my companion, "Why can't we all be like little children? So accepting and loving so easily." What is it that makes us change that? I feel like the Lord feels that way towards all of us. 

Racing bikes up the street

The gang

I love all of the people we have the privilege to teach. Most times they teach me more than I teach them!  Whether it's the lessons we have that go from thinking "I'm going to getting murdered during this lesson" to people you love right from the start we are all on this earth for the same reason whether we know it or not and I love all the people we get to meet and teach.

We are in charge of the YSA Ward as well as our own Ward.  We are the only missionaries in our Ward too!  It's been good.  This is us at Institute.

Riding bikes at night

The work is great and our area is blowing up! I'm glad that the Lord is blessing us with such a successful and miracle filled transfer! I love you all! Have a pleasant week! 

Love Sister A. Thompson 

2016

January 4, 2016

We were so cold! It was raining all day.

My new years' resolution is to not make a new years' resolution! For New Years we watched "The Polar Express." We had the church couches brought into the gym and we all got food from Wendy's and watched it on the projector. Half of us made it through the movie without falling asleep; the other half were "greenies."  I could barely stay awake. 

On the way home I drove us and the other sister we live with.  I had the feeling to just stay on the frontage road and not get on the freeway.  As the freeway went up I stayed on the frontage and about 30 seconds later someone lit off this huge exploding firework right where we would have been!  We made it home without dying.  There were a lot of drunks.  We went to bed at the late hour of 9:30.  I was actually super happy about that.  I was afraid of turning into a pumpkin at midnight so I thought I'd play it safe this year. 

Last Sunday after church we didn't have super set plans, which I normally wouldn't leave the apartment, especially training but we decided to leave and go look for old formers.  After about the third one I decided that we were going to go by a super less active that the Bishop gave us.  He just randomly popped in my head so I went with it.  We got over there and another guy answered the door.  As soon as the door opened I felt uneasy.  He saw us and came out and talked to us on his porch.  By this time it was dark outside and it was super cold. We had a 40 minute talk with him. During the first maybe 10 minutes I had the thought that his eyes looked kinda creepy but didn't think anything about it.  As the conversation continued he was talking about the church being in the Illuminati and about Ouija boards and chem trails and crazy stuff.  His thoughts made sense but they didn't connect like a normal persons chain of thought would; it was from one random thing to the other.  One of the first things he told us was that "I'm far out there."   I could tell that he obviously wasn't inviting good things by the things he was reading and talking about. During the conversation maybe 30 minutes into it I realized that he hadn't looked either of us in the eyes up to this point. I don't even remember what he was talking about at that point, I was just focusing on how long it would be until he looked me in the eye.  After about a minute of consciously waiting for him to look he looked Sister Castro in the eye and then at me and then looked away and didn't do it again the rest of the time.  He was then telling us this story of how he went to the Bar and on his way home a girl came home with him.  She was a normal young girl but she didn't have a body.  He told us that he had looked in the mirror right went he got home and she had scratched him all over. As he was telling this story,  I'm not kidding... the wind just randomly blew SO hard I thought the tree in his front yard was going to snap in half.  It felt like we were in an eerie Halloween movie. By that point I told him we had to go. We got in the car and Sister Castro started to cry. She obviously felt the same thing I did. We went home after that.  I felt like I had just rolled around in the mud and felt so drained and heavy.  It was the grossest feeling ever. 

The birds have migrated south apparently because there are a billion of them! Normally you can't even see the telephone wire because there are so many!!

We have been working with Robert a lot. He went in the hospital for his throat and so we went and visited with him there and taught him a few times. On the way into the hospital I grabbed three Books of Mormon out of the trunk. We gave one to somebody in the elevator and the other one we gave to Robert so that he could read it. (he is on chapter 20 now!) While talking with him I had the thought to give him a little challenge. I gave him the other book and told him that he had to give it to somebody before we come back the next time. We taught more about the priesthood and he got a blessing and that was great. The next morning we got a call from Robert saying that he gave to Book of Mormon to his nurse. He said he was talking with several people wondering who to give it to and he got talking to his nurse about God and he wrote his number by our number in the book and gave it to him!  It was super awesome!

Teaching Robert at the hospital

This week was a good one. We worked hard and saw lots of miracles. I've learned that there is no discipline in discipleship if you're doing it right. It's all for love!  Do what you love and love what you do. I love you all. Have a great week!

Love Sister Thompson