17 MoNtHs!!!!!!!!!!

July 25, 2016

I can't believe how fast time has gone!! This week has been a good one! 

Miguel will be getting baptized this upcoming Sunday! So keep that in your prayers. He had an interview with the district leader and they both decided that this coming Sunday would be best. He is doing super great. He came to all of church yesterday too so that was awesome! He has been reading out of the Gospel Principles book. He also gave us a referral to a lady's house that he painted. She has cancer and so we went by and shared a message with her. She isn't in our area so we had to pass her off to the other sisters. I feel like all of the solid people we have been getting lately we have to pass off! But I'm happy that we are finding some great people down here! 

We made caramel apples

P-day downtown

This week I went to traffic court for my speeding ticket. That was fun. We joked that we were like Peter preaching in jail! The judge asked if I pled guilty or not guilty and of course I told him "not guilty" and so he asked if I wanted to be tried by a jury or a judge. I had like five seconds to pick so I picked the judge. I have another court date this Wednesday to find out if they will drop it. So hopefully I'll baptize the judge this time around! So that's still going on. 

The other day we were on an exchange and we were super hungry. So we said a prayer that someone would feed us. We kept working and we went by a member's house to see how they were doing. In the middle of talking she randomly was like "I have egg salad sandwiches do you want one?" We told her yes and after eating we told her our prayer and how she answered it. She looked so happy because I think that we were an answer to her prayers too. She told us that she had been praying to be able to help people. I love that the Lord always answers even the simplest of prayers and through other people! 

On exchanges with Sister Phalwane

This week has been super busy. Nothing really too big happened but just a lot of little miracles that always seem to add up. We had 3 inactive/less active families come back to church yesterday. That was a happy moment. We have been working with them for awhile. One family hadn't been to church in almost a year. We were talking about them during branch council and one of the members was like "they always use the excuse that their car is broken" then another member was like "they always make it to work or activities they need but they can't ever make it to church" Then another member was like "well apparently their car is Mormon because it always keeps the day of rest!" I laughed a little too hard at that one! I love working with these people! This Branch has grown so much since I've gotten here (not because of me) but I love being able to see growth and progress in people! Our Branch members are amazing and they take good care of us! 

The work is going great! We have been busy busy busy and I love it! I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

                           Love Hermana Thompson 

We had a hard day so we did masks!

Stories from Brownsville

July 18, 2016

Howdy!! 

This week was another good one!! We passed off Julio to the other sisters who are in YSA. He came to two different sessions of church! 6 hours! Miguel is getting baptized this Sunday!! We are hoping that Julio will too:) Miguel told us that he will do it this Sunday if there is music at his baptism. I have been practicing my opera singing so I can sing a solo haha- no I haven't but we are super excited for him! On Saturday we were on bikes and we had a lesson with him at the library and then we rode our bikes a good distance to our area. We had been working for about 2 hours when we realized our phone was gone. We looked and looked and finally came to the conclusion that we left it at the library. We biked all the way back and when we got there we found out that it closed 20 minutes earlier! The library didn't open until 1:00 the next day and our church starts at 1:00 so we were going to have to go get it after. During church I told Miguel that we didn't have our phone! He was super worried about it! Well during priesthood when we weren't with him he sneaked off to the library and asked if they had found our phone! They didn't. He went in the computer lab and called it and found it under a desk! He showed back up to church (we didn't even know he left) and handed us our phone!! It was a huge tender mercy because if we would have went to the library we wouldn't of found it! We were also worried that it wouldn't look good if people saw the Mormon missionaries at the library on a Sunday. So it all worked out! It's crazy how such a little thing came out to be a huge blessing for all of us! God is in the details even when we do dumb things! 

Me reading a Spanish story for district meeting about cockroaches

Before church yesterday Sister Eggett and I were sitting in the car for a minute talking before we went in because we were super early. This guy came up to our window and we talked to him. He told us that a belt in our car sounded like it needed to be fixed. We got to talking with him and we told him that we were missionaries and we were going to church. I invited him to come and he said he had somewhere to be so we told him it ended at 4 if he wanted to come to the last part. He said he might. We didn't think much of it because we have heard that a thousand times ha! So during church towards the end we look over and it's the guy! He came back and stayed the last hour of church! It was super awesome! We got his information and he is probably going to be baptized soon;) 

District picture

Can you find the cat? :)

There is this lady named Mariel who has just gotten out of prison. She is a member but hasn't been to church in over 14 years. Yesterday was her first day back at church. After church we went to visit some members and she was there. She has been staying in this little camper in their neighbor's backyard behind their trailer. We were talking to her and asking her how her first day back at church was and she told us that she was sitting in the second class and she didn't want to comment or say anything. She wanted to leave but something told her to stay at church. She was called on to answer a question but wouldn't talk. During third hour sister Eggett and I taught Relief Society. She commented a lot during that class. While preparing for the class I was super nervous to teach it in Spanish! I have always not liked teaching in bigger groups but as a missionary it's not about what I like. Mariel told us that our class brought back a lot of memories for her and that she felt the Spirit! She told us that she has a 12 year old daughter who isn't baptized and she wants her to grow up in the gospel and be baptized! It's so amazing to me that God works through our weaknesses. I know it wasn't anything that I said during the class but the fact that I was able to grow from the experience and be a part of helping someone else to feel the Spirit and have the desire to be better. 

We got locked in the apartment!

Well I love y'all a lot! Have a great week! Thanks for everything! 

                     Love Hermana Thompson 

We look hot and tired! ha ha!

LaSt ChApTeR

July 11, 2016

The Elders got us snap backs

So tomorrow I officially start my last transfer!! We got transfers last night, which was probably the first time my whole mission that we got them that early! I am..... STAYING. And so is Sister Eggett!!!! We are super excited. She has officially given me the nickname of "grandma." We both were praying so hard that we would stay together so we are pretty excited about it! 

This week was a great one! We are sitting here in the library currently and we just got a text from Miguel that says, "Sister I broke up with my girlfriend and I gave her the Mormon book I told her if you some day you want to come back reed the Mormon book and she left." He is doing super great! He didn't come to church yesterday but we are so so proud of the progress that he is making. He told me that he wants to get baptized in Utah when I get home. We have other plans for him to get baptized down here! So we are working on that. The other day he called us and told us that he was going to bring a friend from work with him to our lesson. We met up with him and his friend is super interested! His name is Julio. He came to church yesterday and stayed all three hours! He is 27 so we will probably have to hand him off to the YSA missionaries but Miguel is talking to a lot of his friends about the church! It's been a huge testimony to me of you save one soul and you save many. During the lesson with Julio we were explaining to him about the Book of Mormon and Miguel got mad and was like "you need to tell him about Mormon first!" We explained to him we have to explain it in order or he will get confused. It was great. 

Little bananas

The whole transfer Sister Eggett has been trying to run a mile in 7 minutes. She has been at about 8 for most of the transfer. The other day she was determined to do it in 7 minutes and 30 seconds. I got out the stop watch and rode my bike along side of her as she ran (I am still the world's worst runner). Anyways so she was at half a mile and I yelled at her "you are at five minutes hurry up!!" She had been running super fast! Well I lied to her because she was only at like 3 minutes but i wanted her to get faster than her end goal. She pushed through super hard and when she finished she looked like she was going to pass out. She asked me what time she got and she made it in 6 minutes and 48 seconds! We both gained a little testimony of support. We joked later that she wasn't a "circus elephant" It's amazing the things that we can do when we have loved ones by our side (even on a bike) pushing us along the way. 

I was having a bad day and was tired of biking so I hung onto Sister Eggett's backpack and she pulled me :)

Speaking of circus elephants. The other day i was jumping on Sister Eggetts bed and we heard a big crack! I broke her box spring in half! HA! She slept on it that night. Her bed looked like one of the beds that you see in the hospital that are like folded in half. She complained the next day that her back hurt! So last night she moved her mattress on the ground! She wouldn't let me trade her beds! That has been the joke of the week.

We taught the primary kids the 10 commandments yesterday. We played cherades and Pictionary with them. We still had time so we did role plays with them where the missionary would try to get them to break a commandment and they had to stand up for it and tell us why it was bad. They got really funny.

This week we have been teaching our members the story of the anti-Nephi-Lehis where they bury their swords. So we would make little swords with them out of paper and have them put things they were going to bury and promise God that they weren't going to do. We were at the Falco's house the other night and they had been giving us a hard time and teasing us. We were getting them to stop drinking coffee and that they should bury it too. They wouldn't! We tried pretty hard. So we just took the little paper swords out to go bury them and when I dug into the ground I dug up their plant! haha! They jokingly told us that we weren't allowed to come back; that we were ruining all of their things;) 

"Hanging out" with our recent convert, Jennifer

The other day we were at another members house eating with them. I asked the mom for a servesa which means "beer' in Spanish instead of a sirvilleta which means "napkin," She looked at me and said "como?" haha! oops. We gave talks yesterday in Spanish! I was SO nervous and I am so so happy it's over! It went better than I thought it did so that's good! 

This is the Leichammers. She only speaks Spanish and he only speaks English due to a car crash and a stroke that they had. She told me that she hasn't talked to him in two years! She can understand him but can't respond and he can't understand her at all.

The mission is going great! I'm super excited for this upcoming transfer and all of the success and miracles that we are going to see! I love you all! Thank you for the love and support! Have a blessed week!

Hermana Thompson

July!!!!!

July 6, 2016

We have morning basketball with our Zone almost every morning at 5:45.
These were the outfits we wore for the 4th of July.

Happy Wednesday!!! 

On Monday we had "Celestial P Day" because normally we have to go out to work by 6 pm Monday but because of the holiday we had to be in our apartments by 6 and so we didn't work the whole day. It was super weird. We all went bowling as a zone earlier that day and that was really fun. I bowled a 56! They didn't have any bumpers! We live in a 2 man apartment and so it was just Sister Eggett and I celebrating the fourth of July by our lonesomes. She made stir fry and I practiced the guitar. When it got dark we opened the blinds to see the fireworks. When it was time to get ready for bed she says, "Well I think I saw one firework!" I told her "I think I saw a bird!" It was a cool bird though. We had a good laugh. 

Yesterday the leaders of the mission went to McAllen all day for a leadership meeting. We have one at the first of every month. There were only two companionships (leaders) who hit their baptism goal for the month and we were one of them:) The Lord has been good to us in our efforts of helping His children to grow and change. It was our first leadership meeting with President Torres and his wife. They are awesome! We talked a lot about faith and about doing things now in the moment and not tomorrow. He shared with us a story about circus elephants. When they are babies they put a ring around their leg and chain it to the ground so that it can't go anywhere and when they are grown they take the ring off. But the elephant is so used to not being able to move that it doesn't know how far it can go. Then he called us all elephants haha. He related it to missionary work and inspired us to do more now. It was really good! 

President and Sister Torres

Last week we had our first interviews with him. We all met in Harlingen and there were about 60 missionaries. Oh speaking of that, on the way there I got a speeding citation!! It was super lame. I don't know how much it is for but I have to go to traffic court on the 20th of this month! I'm hoping I can get out of it! I figure everything is for a reason and that maybe I need to get the Judge baptized or something;) Or the reason was because I was speeding.....

Our mission president is super great. He and his wife are super inspiring. 

Zone Conference

We are still teaching Miguel. He came to church again on Sunday! He stayed until after sunday school and then left. He is doing really well. That was his 3rd time to church. We are hoping to have a lesson with him here in the library today and invite him to be baptized this Sunday. Miguel has been reading tons in the Book of Mormon. On Sunday one of the Senior couple missionaries came up to Miguel and said (translation) "Hello I'm Elder Clark." Miguel's response was, "Nice to meet you, I'm a Lamanite." I about died I was laughing so hard. He is always saying stuff like that and it makes me laugh. 

Zone Conference
Elder Felix was one of my favorite District Leaders

Right now we have a challenge that the STLs in the mission can't knock doors and ask for referrals we have to get them from members. So lately we have been passing around a meal calendar to all the members and so we get fed 1-3 times a day. Sometimes we will eat at 4 then 6 then 7. Like full on Mexican dinners. I feel like a beached whale when I ride my bike afterwards! Its been super fun though. We are gaining a relationship with all of them and helping our Branch to grow especially in missionary work. 

We saw this old lady out in her yard and so we talked to her a little bit.  She had some wood laying out and we asked if she needed help taking it out and she did.  She said she needed help cutting it.  We obviously offered and had a good time!

SIster Eggett and I are giving talks this Sunday about missionary work and service. I found a story this morning that I'm going to share in my talk about the Pastor and the sheep. This man found a little baby sheep by itself in a field nearby his home. There were no other sheep around and he didn't know whose property it was. He knew the baby sheep would either be eaten by wolves or starve to death. It was so tiny and skinny that he decided to bring the sheep home and let his son take care of it and be its shepherd. The son would play with it and feed it milk. He nourished it back to health. He knew that he never had to lock the gate because the sheep wouldn't run away from his care. One night while he was in bed he heard his sheep Baa Baaa (yes im going to Baa in my talk haha). The sheep sounded in distress but the boy didn't want to leave the comfort of his bed. The next morning he went down to find that his sheep that he had taken so much care for was killed by a dog that got out. When the dad came home he asked the boy "Can I not trust you with one sheep?" This story relates to us as members. We are the shepherd to our friends in spiritual distress. The Lord trusts us to be the good shepherd and help those in need. We need to leave the comfort of our "beds" and help those who are in need. Which is everyone who doesn't have the Gospel! 

A random fruit at HEB

I love you all! I hope that you have an amazing week! Thank you for all that you do for me and all of the support that you have given me!

              Love, 
Hermana Thompson