Howdy From TEXAS!!!!

Hola familia y amigos!!

Where to start!  I wasn't supposed to get a P day until next Monday but I guess the computers weren't working yesterday so I am able to write today so that is nice!!

We got up at the crack of dawn and said goodbye to everyone. Hermana Browning and I were on separate buses and that was hard. We said bye and I may have cried the whole bus ride to the train station. I felt like a loser.  When we got to the train to go to the airport we sat up on the top level. There were quite a few missionaries. At one of the stops this guy got on and came and sat by me and we talked for awhile. It turns out he works for the church and designs the pamphlets and stuff. He designed the Preach My Gospel book and he is a main editor for the Liahona magazine. He told me many missionary stories because he has missionaries write him for the magazine. He made me feel more calm about going to my mission. The first flight was okay. I sat next to a fat man who smelled like BO but I did get a good nap in. We had like 20 minutes to make our connection to McAllen and I turned into dad when we travel... the anxiety was for reals, but we made it on time. On that flight I sat next to this woman who was from Cuba. She moved here 35 years ago and she travels a lot for work. She told me that she hadn't been back to Cuba since she left and that all of her family is there. I asked her the places she traveled to for work and small talk. One of the places she told me was Utah. She showed me some pictures and one was actually a picture of one of the church buildings around temple square. She later asked me what I was going to Texas for and I told her that I was serving a mission for my church. She hadn't heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of ultimos dias. I asked if she had heard of the Mormons and she had!  I noticed several times that she would say little prayers on the flight during turbulence and so I asked if she went to church. She said when she lived in Cuba she was atheist but now she is Jewish.  She told me she was slowly working her way to believing. I told her we were christians and I gave her a pass along card with the Salt Lake Temple on it which was perfect because we talked about Utah a lot. I asked if she had seen the temple and she said no so I told her she could have the picture because she liked it so much. I also told her that if she wanted to know more about our church there was information on the back. It was my first real missionary experience and I hope I planted a seed in her heart! It's hard not knowing the end results of what will happen for her or if what I said affected her !

After our flight we went to the mission home and watched really cheesy videos about safety and such. Then we put together our bikes. After that we had dinner at the presidents house and his wife made the best mexican food ever!  I'm going to get fat. But I'll be the happiest fat person alive. We slept at some sisters apartment.
This morning we got up and went and had breakfast at the presidents house and found out where we are going. I am currently in the Mission Zone and I am in the city of La Joya. Our area is called Palm View.  It is extremely ghetto here and I love it! I guess a few months ago there was a shooting next door from the missionaries house so that's exciting. We are literally right on the border of Mexico. I guess it's not uncommon to see the border patrol chase down a group of illegals. I'm hoping I get to see that soon. It's super hot and humid here as well and it's going to get so much worse! Our apartment is decent. It's not very homie because its all tile but it's a place to sleep. My companion is Hermana Kingsford. She is from Logan Utah. She went to Utah State and studied wildlife management. She is kind of a hippie like me and I love it. We talk about hiking and chacos. She is really cool so that was a huge relief for me. Tonight we are going to teach like five different investigators which I'm a little nervous about because my spanish is.... not so good. I hope everyone has a great week! Thank you for the love and support!! My address is  200 W. La Vista Ave.     McAllen TX 78501

                                   Love Hermana Thompson

Extra P Day

Como esta?! 

I guess I get to write home today since we won't have much time on Monday. I'll still be able to check my mail this Monday and write that I made it safe to Texas, but that's it. Its like 7 in the morning so I haven't woken up fully, obviously. So if my letter doesn't make sense sorry;  not sorry. And iI didn't know we were writing today. Things have been pretty decent here. Our district has been pretty down in spirits because nobody wants to leave. I'm ready to get out of this dump! Things are just too easy here and I don't feel like I'm progressing anymore so I'm ready to get out there. But I am pretty sad that we are all not in the same mission. Yesterday we said goodbye to all of our teachers, even my hot Spanish teacher so that was a little depressing. I did give him my email tho;)  I think this is the first conference I have been excited to watch and it will be the first conference that I've watched the whole thing! Pretty crazy. I'm not excited to sit in the hard chairs in the gym tho! Boooo. Also I'm getting pretty tired of wearing dresses everyday. Its like a little part of my soul died. I feel like I repeat myself so much in my emails home. I forget what and when things happen. I also thought today was like Thursday so that was weird. This morning we had a companion exchange because Hermana Browning and I are leaving on Monday so we have to do laundry and such. I love when we get to be companions. Anyway we were going to get breakfast and after breakfast we were walking here to the computer lab and were talking and Hermana Browning ran into a pole and smashed her sack breakfast into it too! I almost fell on the floor I was laughing so hard!! We also had our in field orientation on Thursday, which is basically a 9 hour meeting that could have been 2 hours.  It was like learning how to talk to people in the field and how to work with members of the ward. Stuff we already knew. That's 9 hours I could have used to learn Spanish.  Don't worry we have also had many spiritual experiences this week, some I wont share just because of time but it's definitely been an emotional roller coaster. Also as much as I hate to admit I kind of wish i would have stuck with piano lessons. I'm a little ashamed that I played for 8 years and can barely play. I've been practicing though. It's been a nice Easter season to spend out on a mission. Holidays become more meaningful. Everyone enjoy conference today and tomorrow. Conference is like reading the scriptures, if you don't have a question in mind before reading/watching you won't get as much out of it. So my challenge to you all is to have a question in your life that you would like help with or need an answer to and pray about it before you watch and I promise you that you will receive an answer and guidance. Don't forget what Easter is really about! Enjoy your weekend! I literally can't remember what happened this week so sorry for the vague letter. Can't wait to here from you all on Monday. Love you!! 

                                                                       -Hermana Thompson