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 

One Week Left! Then off to TEXAS!

Howdy!! (I'm practicing for Texas)

This week flew by so fast! We got our itineraries on Wednesday. I leave a week from today!! Crazy! We leave on April 6th. Our fight is on United Airlines and our flight number is 5244.  We fly out of Salt lake at 8 am. And our second flight is flight number 5241 from Houston to McAllen. We should arrive at 2:00 in the afternoon.  Next time I write home I'll be in Texas!! Our Zone and District is super close. We all have fun teasing each other everyday. There are 14 elders in our zone and I get my fair share of teasing probably because I make fun of them all. I dared one of the elders to eat a banana with the peel still on it and he did!! So then I had to eat a grapefruit with the peel still on it and it was awful. Hanging around a bunch of 18 year old boys all day has kind of turned me into one! To say the least I haven't matured one bit) Today we were eating lunch outside and I was complaining that my salad was warm and how gross it was but I just kept eating it and then a few minutes later I found a dead caterpillar in my salad and I may have over reacted a little! All of the Elders gave me crap for that. It's been fun getting to know people from different places and backgrounds. And I'm getting pretty tired of saying goodbye to people! It's going to be hard saying goodbye to everyone this week but we are all off to bigger and better things! Hermana Browning is letting me cut her hair today.  We will see how that goes. Pray for me. Actually, pray for her. I've noticed the past few weeks that the little things in life really are the best things! Like finding out your skirt has pockets or the days when the cafeteria has sprinkled donuts or oatmeal (pathetic I know).  This week nothing super special happened. We finished teaching our investigators and I'm actually super happy about that. I always left super frustrated each lesson because I can't express entirely what I want to because of the language barrier. I'm sure its going to be ten times worse when i get to Texas and the investigators are real. This week I heard a quote that says, "Get on your knees and pray as if everything depended on the Lord, then get on your feet and work as if everything depended on you".  I LOVE that quote. If we work our hardest then the Lord will provide if we turn to him. Nothing super exciting happened this week, just more Spanish learning and a billion devotionals! I'm getting pretty tired of sitting through talks and such. Everybody have a great week! Enjoy watching conference in your pajamas because I have to sit on hard chairs in a skirt. (boo) Thank you for all of the love and support!! Buenos dias. 

                                                                                                            Hermana Thompson 

2 Weeks Left

Hola familia y amigos?!

I have 2 weeks left!!! OLE!!!! My spelling and English are already getting bad.  It's super annoying but at the same time I'm too lazy to spell check so sorry.  Not sorry.  This week has been good. It went by pretty fast and slow at the same time.  Time here is really weird.  I also learned that nothing ruins your Friday like realizing its only Tuesday.  

I quit the choir because I didn't get kicked out.  Hermana Browning and I study and talk while our companions go to choir.  We get along really well.  I would literally go insane if she wasn't here.  On Tuesday while choir was going on, she and I decided to go outside and sit on the grass and while we were talking we saw this cat walking around the middle of the MTC campus.  Obviously I went and caught it and snuck it inside to our classroom.  I named it Nalga.
 

I was getting pretty tired of doing crappy chores for our "service" in the mornings so I may have flirted a little with the janitor so that he would give us a good chore for once.  We got to vacuum the chapels with ghost buster vacuums.  Also,  I decided that Sundays are the worst here.  The food is always disgusting and I'm tired of sitting through a billion devotionals.  I had to give a talk in Spanish in sacrament meeting and I forgot the paper that my talk was written on!!  I had to wing it! it was on faith in Jesus Christ and  I told them I forgot my paper and that I was having faith in Jesus Christ without it.

Feeling the spirit all of the time is so great, although it does make me tired.  Kind of weird. Ever since I got set apart as a missionary I haven't had stomach problems other than the orange juice incident.  Before I came I was debating whether to wait and get everything figured out with the stomach issues etc. but decided not to. It was the biggest leap of faith for me not knowing what was going to happen but I know that God is watching over me and over every one of us and that through sincere prayers and faith he will answer them!  It's a feeling of peace knowing that I am where I need to be and for some crazy reason the Mexicans in Texas need me to come and feed their souls and I can't wait for it!  I can't wait for all the trials that are going to come my way and for the life long lessons I am about to learn. Thank you for all of the prayers and support! I love you all!  Have a good week!!

Hermana Thompson 

Disclaimer

HOLA!!!

So I do have a disclaimer before I begin. When we are teaching people in Spanish and I don't understand what they say I usually just giggle or say "ah muy bien" or I'll stare at them like a deer in the headlights because I don't know what's going on.  Last week when I told the story of how we were teaching that couple about prayer and we told them you pray for things you are grateful for and he said he didn't have anything to be grateful for because his mom died.  Right after he said that I laughed because I didn't know what he said... and my companion leaned over and told me that he had just told us his mom just died. I learned not to laugh if I don't know whats going on. That could have been the reason he cried too. But other than that the lesson went really well!  

This week went by pretty fast. Learning Spanish has been much easier probably because we got a new Spanish teacher and he is super "Hot", so that's nice. I'm also forgetting how to spell things in English and its super annoying, so now I just look stupid in two languages.  Everyone has been telling me to not drink the orange juice here because it makes you get mad diarrhea. Seeing that I already get sick I was like "whatever" and I accepted the challenge. One of the Elders told me when I was drinking it, "I feel bad for you... well actually I feel bad for the toilet!"  He was right.  . Then of course my "super cool" companion comes in after awhile to make things worse by saying "Is everything okay sister?!"  I learned two things! Number one I can't even be alone when I poop and "number two" (haha)  I really do know to NOT drink the orange juice here!  

The other day I decided to actually work out during gym time and go running... I forgot how awful it is. So basically I'm sticking with my naps in the middle of the track. Also the other district in our zone left and we got a new district that has 8 elders in it! So there are 14 boys, my companion and I, and the other two sisters. I thought having 4 brothers was bad. Its been fun though. Our branch president and his wife are really nice too. Except every time his wife hugs me she wraps her arms around my neck and basically chokes me out!! I cringe when I see her but luckily  I have had lots of practice holding my breath from Landon trying to make me pass out all the time growing up. 

I still haven't been kicked out of the choir (YET).  On Tuesday we sung at the devotional and Elder Cook of the 12 spoke. It was kind of a cool experience. I also realized that It doesn't take much to make my day here. There is this table in the girls dorm building that is the "free food" table and I found a push pop on it! It was the best day ever! 

I  love you all! Thanks for all of your support, letters, thoughts and prayers. It takes more than finding a push pop to get through some days! Have a good week!!  

Love, 

Hermana Thompson 

Week 2 of the MTC

Howdy!!

So I have basically aged like 60 years since Ive been here! I eat oatmeal for breakfast. I'm sore from doing nothing (probably from my crappy bed)  We have dinner at like 4 in the afternoon. And I literally fall asleep wherever I sit down!! When we go to the gym I go up to the track and start to do yoga but I always fall asleep! Yesterday they had this big meeting for all of the sisters in the gym so half way through I obviously started to fall asleep but I woke up to a bunch of girls screaming because there was a bat flying around the gym! They make us do "service" cleaning twice a week but it's really just cleaning the MTC at 6 in the morning. I can't help but imagine it's what Hell is like.... mopping floors before the sun is out. Also everyone here sings wherever they go and it's really weird. I sometimes feel like I'm in a really crappy musical. So this one time I was walking past the bathrooms and nobody was really in the building, but there was a girl in the showers singing at the top of her lungs, so naturally I walked in there and screamed to scare her! I'm sure she peed the shower because she screamed so loud it was hilarious! On Monday it snowed here so after class we were walking to lunch and I made a snowball and hid behind a tree to throw at one of the Elders who I'm friends with. So I'm waiting behind this tree for the Elders to come out of the building and when I saw them I threw the snowball as hard as I could and the Elder I meant to throw it at saw me and dodged it and so my snowball hit another Elder in the crotch!! We had a good laugh... well at least I did. Since I've been here I joined the choir they have and we sing at the devotionals. I'm awful and so I'm surprised they haven't kicked me out yet. I like it though because we get to leave class early. This past week we starting teaching "investigators" (in spanish) and some of them are members of the church and some are not but they won't tell us who isn't. The people we teach is an older mexican couple named Hely and Jose. The first lesson we taught them was about prayer. Probably in the worst Spanglish ever. We taught them that in our prayers we say what we are thankful for and Jose told us that he had nothing to be thankful for because his mom had just passed away. I had only practiced talking about our prayer lesson in Spanish so I was a little worried that our lesson was about to go in a different direction and it did. So I taught him the best that I could that families are essential to God's plan and that I knew that he would see his mother again. He cried. The spirit was so strong in that room and that's when I realized that although I didn't know the language perfect, I'm not the one teaching these people, the spirit is. This week has been much better. Thank you all for the DearElder notes, support, prayers and love. I am thankful for them everyday and couldn't make it without them! Love you all!  

- Hermana Thompson

My New Boyfriend 

First Email From The MTC!

Hola mi familia y amigos!!

Where to start... This has been the longest week of my life!! My companions name is Hermana Webb. She is from somewhere it Utah Valley, I forgot. We are nothing alike.  She likes to sing and she draws dragons. I made her draw me a dragon to put in my scriptures. She is super nice though and has taught me a lot. I'm not used to having a companion. . The only time I get to be alone is when I poop, so I guess that's nice. There are ten of us total in our District. I'm the oldest. Six Elders and four Sisters including myself. We have all gotten pretty close since we have 8 hours of Spanish classes everyday. The Elders are hilarious. All of the Elders are going to Texas. My companion is going to Georgia. The other two sisters are going to Virginia and Arkansas. Spanish is hard and I hate it. My district is used to seeing me cry at least a few times per class. We all had a good laugh when I got up to throw away a tissue box because I had cried through a WHOLE box. (pathetic I know) I think learning Spanish is worse than math. Things are starting to go better though. I got to have two naps today, it was magical. My favorite part of the day is gym time. The Elders are pretty impressed with my awesome basketball skills. I've beat them in a few games of lightning. The food here is like eating at a elementary school cafeteria but with lots of choices. So I eat a lot of fruit and chocolate milk. I also get to sleep on a bunk bed which was kind of cool until I realized my mattress is made out of rocks and the whole bed squeaks when I move, but its the first twin sized bed where my feet don't hang off so that's a plus. Yesterday was fast Sunday so when we broke our fast we went to the cafeteria and I was super excited, but for dinner they had this gross fake plastic steak and shrimp that we were supposed to break our fast with. I was so mad! So I had like five rolls.Today we went to the Provo temple and did a sealing session and that kind of put in perspective the whole reason why we are here to be missionaries is to bring families to Christ here on Earth. It's calming to be here but overwhelming at the same time. It's hard not knowing a soul but we are all here for the same purpose which makes it easier. My mind is having a hard time but my heart and soul are in the right place. I love you all. Thank you for the letters and support! 

Until next week,  

Hermana Thompson