HOWDYYYYYYYY

Hola!!

Where to start! This week we got mini missionaries. My companion got one and I got one for the whole week. If you don't know what a mini missionary is; it's basically teaching a 16 year old how to work and not snap chat every five seconds. I decided I was going to have a nice fun day of hard core biking with my mini (I'm so mean) So I took her up to the very end of our area which is literally off the grid. There is no map of it and it's all dirt roads. Every person we talk to up there always asks us if we are afraid to be up there because there are no police! We literally hit our goals of contactng and receiving for the week in one day! At first I was nervous to get a mini because I had no idea what I was doing but I just made it all up as we went and it turned out well. We met some cool people. The first house we talked to we got a baptism in the first 5 minutes. I also learned that Texas can't ride bikes! I got in my first bike wreck of the mission! My mini crashed maybe 8 times! One of the times she just laid there for like 5 minutes (this was after she complained the whole day about hating biking) So I was like " K im leaving you!!" and I took off! I got like 1/4 of a mile down the dirt road and turned around to see if she was coming and she was still laying there in the sand! So I took a video of me yelling at her to "GEETTT UUUUUUUP" Poor kid. Hopefully she still wants to serve a mission;)  I told her I hope that she gets called to a biking area. She didn't think it was very funny.

I just layed there after my bike crash. No scratches though. It was my minis fault. she cut me off and just stopped!

She Loved Me!

Another day I took my mini to a retirement neighborhood to switch things up a bit. There are some rude old people out there! Someone needs to change their diapers. We met this old couple named Harold and Laura. The old man just opened the door without asking who it was and told us to come in! So we did. The old lady said "IM A METHODIST" I told her that was fine! We just wanted to share a message about Jesus. Then we got talking about gambling in Vegas with this 80 year old couple! They were a hoot. Another trailer we knocked on this little old lady opened the door and says "Who sent you?!" I was like, "Um Jesus did!" She slammed the door on us as fast as a little old woman could slam the door. (sllloooowww) We also got lost in that retirement neighborhood. Don't worry we eventually found our way out.

Van Ride with the Minis

So the Jehovah Witnesses love to come by and try and bible bash with us at our apartment. I kept trying to INSIST that she take my Book of Mormon. She wouldn't! One day I'll get her. The other lady told us "That it's good that we were young and wanting to preach the word of God but that she would feel pretty bad if she were wasting her time preaching wrong doctrine." I was so close to slapping her across the face with my Book of Mormon! The next day they had two other ones come over and try to talk with us and so we just sat in our study room and they wouldn't leave our door because they could see us through the window. So I finally got up and answered it and was like "Hello I only speak English" and they were like "What about the other girl, where is she, does she speak Spanish" I was like "What? I  don't know what you're saying?" Then they left.

i look gross but this is one of my favorite families after we helped them move

We also did a lot of service this week. We moved branches for one family and helped plant mango trees and that was fun. Then we went and helped one of my favorite families who is actually from Idaho Falls but they are stuck down here now:(  We helped move them to their new place down here.  Sister Kingsford and I moved a fridge! I was more than happy to help them but I was even more happy to wear pants! It was magical. After that we had a little time before it was 9:00 so I went and bought a strawberry Fanta at a corner store and we went and drank it outside sitting in the dirt with my favorite little family. They have a single mom who works so we usually go by when we can and play with them or help teach them things. They love it when I bring a soccer ball and they make me teach them how to rainbow. They are getting pretty close! Pretty soon I'll have the whole valley pros;)

Cactus

My little thing of inspiration this week was that as missionaries and even in life we do a lot of things that aren't accounted or recognized. Those are the things that matter. Once we are doing things out of pure love to help someone else and not out of recognition of others is such an awesome thing. It's the small things in life that count and it's also the small ways to help others that count. Whether it's taking time to drink a soda in the dirt with some kids or to smile at somebody, those are the things that keep others moving forward; little pieces of love and kindness. My challenge is to do something for someone else this week that you wouldn't normally do and you will see the blessings from it.

Another Sunset

I love you all.  Thank you for your love and support and for your prayers! Keep smiling!:)

Love Hermana Thompson

Giant frog I caught while doing service